Monday, December 30, 2019

The Next Steps for Accountable Care Organizations, Bundled...

The Next Steps for Accountable Care Organizations, Bundled Payments, and Health Reform The University of Texas at Dallas The American Health Care System HGMT 6320 The Next Steps for Accountable Care Organizations, Bundled Payments, and Health Reform With the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in March 2010, health care reform has become the law. The legislation will extend health care coverage to more citizens, stabilize health insurance markets, enhance regulation and consumer protection, and improve the affordability and quality of health care in the United States. Changes in payment system of health care proposed by PPACA have led to the development of Accountable Care†¦show more content†¦The goal of the initiative is to increase efficiency of care, improve quality of care, and lower costs. This initiative consists of four different bundled payment models. The first three bundled payment models are retrospective payment arrangements based on patients’ historical data. However, the fourth model is proposed for the future. Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services (CMS) make a single bundled payment to the hospital for all services during inpatient stays for hospitals, physician s, and other medical professional specialists. In the first model, the episode of care is the length of time the inpatient stays in the acute care hospital. Medicare pays the hospital a discounted payment based on the payment rates established under the Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS), which starts at zero percent for the first six months and then rises to a minimum of two percent in the third year, based on the IPPS. Physicians are paid under the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Hospitals and physicians are to share in any costs. This model benefits Medicare patients by reducing their costs, but not hospitals and physicians because they must share in any expenditures. The second model, which is also based on IPPS, is different from the first model because it includes inpatient and post-acute care from either 30 or 90 days following discharge. This bundled payment includes physicians’Show MoreRelatedThe Healthcare Reimbursements Should Be Linked At The Quality Out comes And Performance Measures3271 Words   |  14 PagesProtection and Affordable Care Act. The legislation provides various reforms that either provide incentives to healthcare providers for better quality services and outcomes or reduce their payments if certain quality standards are unmet. This paper talks about the different reforms under PPACA, aimed at introducing payment variations based on quality of care such as, Hospital Value Based Purchasing (VBP) program, improvements to different quality reporting programs, payment adjustments for hospitalRead MoreHealthcare Quality And Affordable Care Act ( Ppaca )2810 Words   |  12 Pageshigh quality care remains unaffected. In order to address this problem of healthcare quality improvement and affordability, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or Obamacare) was signed in the year 2010. The main aim behind PPACA is to improve healthcare quality and accessibility, at the same time keeping it cost efficient. To f acilitate its goal PPACA is trying to achieve the cost effectiveness through reducing the Medicare price growth and regulating the quantity of care by encouragingRead MoreEssay On Healthcare System1802 Words   |  8 PagesThere is significant opportunity and a tremendous need to improve health system performance in the United States. The U.S. health care system is the costliest in the world, yet it ranks last or next to last on five dimensions of a high-performance health system quality, access, efficiency, equity, and healthy lives. Within our own borders, there is wide variation in performance across states on indicators of access, quality, and costs, demonstrating that. Although, there is much to learn about improvingRead MoreElectronic Health Record Adoption For Long Term Care4004 Words   |  17 PagesElectronic Health Record Adoption in Long-Term Care Health care in the United States is currently facing a looming crisis that requires an urgent response of intervention. With the baby boomers population on the rise, there will ultimately be an increased need for long-term care (LTC) services. Pratt (2015) defines baby boomers as â€Å"the name given to the large number of people born in the period following World War II, between 1946 and 1964† (p. 17). According to Mikulaschek (2013), â€Å"BeginningRead MorePhysician and Nursing Shortages Essay3012 Words   |  13 Pagesï » ¿ Physician Nursing Shortages Impacts they have because the Affordable Care Act and Reform Marquitha Howell 9/28/2013 Healthcare reforms including Obama Care, formally named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act greatly impacts physicians and nursing shortages. There are several provisions which could direct impact physicians and nurses through incentives for potential recruitment, grants, training and retention. Through potential initiatives, the act may indirectRead MoreThe Affordable Care Act Of The United States2341 Words   |  10 PagesThe Affordable Care Act Health Policy in the United States Abstract In 2010 during the term of President Barack Obama something needed to be done due to the rise of healthcare costs and the number of people who were uninsured and unable to pay their healthcare bills (ehealthinsurance 2014). United States spent more on healthcare than any other country but yet was only the 34th in life expectancy. These are some of the many reasons why The Affordable Care Act came about and was signedRead MoreInformation Technology And Healthcare : Past, Present, And Future Of Quality Care3287 Words   |  14 Pagesin Healthcare: Past, Present, and Future of Quality Care When I was born in 1987 I was one of several screaming babies in a small room at Northwest Hospital in Houston, Texas. The only things that proved we existed were birth certificates, a handwritten armband, and maybe a shaky VHS tape from an overanxious father. Nearly all health records and clinical data were paper based since 1928, when the American College of Surgeons birthed the health information industry in attempts to improve standardsRead MoreAffordable Care Act2840 Words   |  12 PagesAFFORDABLE CARE ACT 1 Affordable Care Act Upper Iowa University AFFORDABLE CARE ACT 2 Abstract The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is also known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) this law is the landmark health reform legislation passed by the 111th Congress and was signed into law on March 23, 2010. The legislation includes a long list of health-related provisions that began taking effect in 2010 and will continue to be rolled out over the next four yearsRead MoreThe Impact Of Evidence Based Medicine ( Ebm )3017 Words   |  13 PagesINTRODUCTION/OVERVIEW In health care, patients’ lives are in the hands of the health care practitioners, health care organizations, insurance companies, and to some degree, even health care technology. The growth and future implications of evidence-based medicine (EBM) through improvement of technology in health care are important today, because health care practitioners and organizations want to ultimately decrease cost, improve quality of care, and increase access to health care (Glandon, Smaltz, Read MoreThe Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act3372 Words   |  14 Pagesthe current implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and Medicare’s performance-based payment incentives, a streamlined model to help improve patient outcomes and decrease healthcare costs must be developed for the perioperative setting (Berwick et al 2012). Established in 2010 by the PPACA, Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) hold multiple providers accountable for achieving high quality of care and reducing the cost per capita when they are directly involved in

Sunday, December 22, 2019

The Hunger Games And The Gladiatorial Games Essay

Hunger Games vs The Gladiatorial Games ~ by Sophie Elborough 10MO FIX CITATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 104511@cloud.rangitoto.school.nz sophieeschoolwork@gmail.com Sophie Elborough, 10MO Classical Studies 1.5 Roman Gladiators vs The Hunger Games The gladiatorial games were the most popular form of entertainment in Rome and continued to be held for more than 650 years. The Roman Empire spent vast amounts of wealth on such games and lavish amphitheaters to host them. One of which, The Colosseum, still stands today, a reminder of those bloody spectacles of honour and skill. The contemporary book The Hunger Games has strong parallels to ancient Rome which are explored throughout this report. There are many key similarities and connections between the Hunger Games and the world of ancient Rome specifically both culture’s fans, values, gender and age. There are also many direct links between the reasons for staging the gladiatorial games and the Hunger Games as well as many connections between the city of Panem, where the Hunger Games is held, and Rome in ancient times. However, a main reason is that the classical world of ancient Rome influenced Suzanne Collins, the author of the Hunger Games, just as the historical, socia l, cultural and political aspects of today’s civilisations continue to influence us. Roman Gladiators vs the Hunger Games Tributes: The Hunger Games Tributes have strong links to the gladiators of ancient Rome. TheseShow MoreRelatedThe Hunger Games vs. Gladiatorial Games1358 Words   |  6 PagesThe Huger Games The Hunger Games is a game, that occurs annually and it is set up by the ruling Capitol to show the other 12 districts of Panem that the Capitol owns them and that they are in-charge and it also serves as a merciless reminder to the price of rebellion against the Capitol. The hunger games consist of twenty-four teenagers, a male and a female from each twelve districts and they range in ages of twelve to eighteen. They are put in an arena, that differs every year and they have toRead MoreEssay on Cultural Analysis of The Hunger Games989 Words   |  4 Pages101-068 Matt Stark October 16, 2013 The Hunger Games The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, is set in a dystopian country called Panem. This country is split up into twelve districts, and the districts are lead by the Capitol. Annually, the Capitol forces children of the districts to fight in the Hunger Games until only one child is left alive. The Capitol uses the games to show their power and to discourage the people of Panem to start another war. The games are very entertaining to the peopleRead MoreThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Essay827 Words   |  4 PagesThe Hunger Games is the first book that makes up the famous trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. Katniss, the book’s main character, is a sixteen year old girl, who lives in Panem, a country divided in 13 different districts. Each year, a reaping is hold, where every district chooses one boy and one girl to participate to the games. The participants have to kill each other for their survival, and only one person can end up as a winner. Because of Katnissâ₠¬â„¢ ingenuity and strategies, both tributes fromRead MoreThe Entertainment System Of Ancient Rome Essay1028 Words   |  5 Pageswould retain power in his empire. The Roman Emperors used gladiatorial games to distract, control, and oppress Plebeians living during his reign as emperor. Emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, afraid of losing the next election, as a form of distraction created the gladiator games we know today. Aristocrats tried to fight for control of the government, forcing Caesar to increase the growth of gladiatorial games across the empire. Without the games Caesar would lose popular vote with the Plebeians, and largerRead MoreHunger Games Prac Essay1735 Words   |  7 PagesHave you ever been taken away from your family and friends? Been forced into a game where to stay alive is the only way to win? That is what the hunger game is. The novel is dystopian and is set in a futuristic society that is totalitarian, meaning none of these individuals have freedom. There is a futurist world, that used to be North America, called Panem. Panem consists of twelve districts and one Capitol. The Capitol controls and rules all of the Districts, and they have done so for 74 yearsRead MoreThe Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins1299 Words   |  6 PagesThe book The Hunger Games takes place in the U.S many years after a war that put the world in total chaos. The last semblance of civilization is the capital Panem, and its 13 surrounding districts. Rebellions started to erupt through the districts to overthrow the capitals rule, but in the ended lasted in the defeat of the rebellions, and the destruction of district 13, who were the coordinators of the rebellion. As punishment for the rebellion, the capital has an annual competition named â€Å"TheRead MoreThe Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins1230 Words   |  5 PagesThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins in a classic example of a dystopian Text as it is a futuristic, imagined universe in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through a bureaucratic, technological, or totalitarian control. Throughout the book their are many forms of powers from wealth, gender, the Capitol, and Peeta Mellark. The totalitarian government run by the capitol is clearly one of the most obvious and dangerous form of power in The HungerRead MoreSocial Control and The Hunger Games Essay1110 Words   |  5 PagesThe Hunger Games, a film based off of a novel written by Susan Collins, was released in March of 2012. The film, and the book it was based on, chronicles the struggles of a girl named Katniss Everdeen, a girl who lives in a poverty stricken province or â€Å"District†, until untimely circumstances forces her to play in the Hunger Games, a gladiatorial like contest where children between the ages of 12 and 18 are forced to fight to the death. A contest that was set up by an oppressive and authoritarianRead MoreThe Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins1257 Words   |  6 PagesThe Hunger Games is a fantastic science fiction novel by the great and renowned American writer Suzanne Collins. This book is written in the voice of sixteen year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in the nation of Pa nem in North America. The Capitol is considered as the highly advanced metropolis as because this capitol exercises political control on rest of the nation. The Hunger Games in the book is the annual event in which one boy and one girl aged twelve to eighteen from each of the 12 districtsRead MoreThe Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins2032 Words   |  9 Pages The Hunger Games is a book trilogy that was turned into a movie series. The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay are a part of the original book trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. The books quickly became an extremely popular hit, and they were turned into a mainstream movie series franchise. The movies based off the popular books are The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay Part 1, and Mockingjay Part 2. â€Å"With more than 26 million books sold and box office receipts grossing $68.3 million

Saturday, December 14, 2019

The novel “Frankenstein” can be seen to have been inspired by events and experiences in Mary Shelley’s own life Free Essays

Mary Shelley’s young age while writing the novel â€Å"Frankenstein† in 1816 seems not to be distinguished with serious life experience which could influence her world famous work. This first impression proves to be wrong when reading her biography. We find a lot of personal, literary and political-philosophical factors forming her mind. We will write a custom essay sample on The novel â€Å"Frankenstein† can be seen to have been inspired by events and experiences in Mary Shelley’s own life or any similar topic only for you Order Now The life of the tender woman is marked by grief from the very beginning. It is not impossible that she has carried some feeling of guilt because only a few days after she has been born her mother dies. The arrival of the new daughter instead of bringing happiness to the family throws it into deep despair. It is possible to link this first tragic event in Mary Shelley’s life with the thoughts of Frankenstein before his death: â€Å"I, not in deed, but in effect, was the real murderer. â€Å"(p. 90). Later after the discovery of the body of Henry Clerval, analysing Frankenstein’s bitter conclusion, we could build our reflection into the same direction. Why not assume a subconscious guilt to have followed Mary Shelley all her life? She could think that her half-sister might not have committed suicide if their mother has been alive. The next tragedy – finding Henrietta (P. B. Shelley’s wife) drowned – could also be associated. Psychologically it is not an exception for a wife abandoned by her husband to kill herself. A nearly direct reminder of a possible self-accusation by the writer is the first person form of the Frankenstein narrative: â€Å"I called myself the murderer of William, of Justine, and of Clerval† (P. 171). A similar collection of negative features could lead us towards the sinful heroes of Godwin’s book â€Å"Caleb Williams†, 1794, (Kindle. M. The claims of Caleb about himself are very close to those of Shelley’s hero: â€Å"My offense has merely been a mistaken thirst for; knowledge† It seems the shadow of the dead parent has haunted Mary even without any actual memory of the funeral of her dead mother. Impressions are apparently included in the idea for the similar picture over the mantle-piece in Frankenstein’s library which has â€Å"represented Caroline Beaufort in an agony of despair, kneeling by the coffin if her dead father. † (p. 75). It is understandable that Mary is acutely depressed after losing her first baby just one year before he beginning of the writing of â€Å"Frankenstein†. According to the notes in her Journal (Hindle M. p. xv) it has been very difficult for her to accept this death and she has had dreams that by rubbing the baby before the fire it could come back to life again. Obviously such a vision is prominent in the whole novel, subtitled â€Å"The Modern Prometheus†, being impressed not as much by Aeschylus’s version of the legend as by Ovid’s one. The English author includes in it many of the progressive ideas of her epoch, especially those coming from science. There is firm evidence of Mary Shelley’s substantial education and profound interest in the latest biological research. She is attracted by the contemporary work of the physician Dr. Erasmus Darwin and the chemist Sir Humphry Davy, just as Frankenstein is impressed by an early experience with electricity. The young woman has not been a stranger to active political life either, due to the direct involvement of her father in it. We could link all the conservative attacks against him with the reaction towards the monster. Under the sway of the French Revolution, William Godwin shows explicitly his atheism, i. e. his differentiating from everyone. Inheriting and sharing her father’s unusual ideas, the daughter displays her insight in the novel about creating life in contrast with the wide spread tradition. The-influence of her history studies is transformed into Frankenstein’s over sophisticated conclusions about some important world happenings. Pondering on the interference of his laboratory work with his family relationship he generalises: â€Å"†¦ f no man allowed any pursuit whatsoever to interfere with the tranquility of his domestic affections, Greece had been not enslaved; Caesar would have spared his country†¦ † (P. 54). Being well educated, Mary Shelley is probably aware enough of the real reasons for the events her hero lists. The purpose of such unjustified estimation is more likely to be the author’s aim to show Frankenstein’s excessive self-confidence in his own intellectual potential power and the exaggerating of the individual significance. His forename is not chosen accidentally. It is like a prediction of victory. Unfortunately we discover a hidden irony there. The insanity of his desires protrudes from the background of the looming mighty Alps in the numerous magnificent descriptions of the imposing mountain chain. It is not enough to underline the unison or contradictions between the characters’ actions and the grand natural pictures. The presence of the awesome Alps in the book is not only an influence from the splendid location where the novel was conceived but also we receive the impression that the mountain has even an independent role in the narrative. The silent â€Å"actor† helps us to see clearer the contrast with the monomaniacal performance of the main hero. We understand that the might belongs only to Nature and that nobody should dare to compete with it. As such fighting takes a lot of time and effort, during the long six years Frankenstein devotes all his attention to the planned hard experiment. The researcher’s engrossment in the scientific enterprise could be an allusion to Mr. Godwin’s busy style of life. The lack of emotional contact with his daughter is presented both in the letters of Frankenstein’s father and especially in the character of the monster. His determination to kill those dearest to Frankenstein is driven by the need to demonstrate the misery of being without friends and family. Despite the ferociously conducted duel between the main players, the author endeavours to invoke our sympathy for the appalling looking hero. Her searching, restless spirit dictates the tendency towards the unconventional and astonishing. Mary Shelley dares to be in contradiction even with the genre she uses to write the book. It is commented on immediately in 1818 by Sir Walter Scott in his article introducing the new title in Scotland: â€Å"†¦ he tale, though wild in incident, is written in plain and forcible English, without exhibiting that mixture of hyperbolical German with which tales of wonder are usually told, as if it were necessary that the language should be as extravagant as the fiction. † (Scott, W. , 1818). Mary Shelley changes the face of the Gothic genre being inspired by Cervantes’ â€Å"Don Quixote† which she reads while writing â€Å"Frankenstein†. She follows the example of the great Spanish prosaic who comes to the idea of contradicting the existing knight’s literature exactly as Shelley achieves a unique Gothic novel. Cervantes’ influence is not only on the level of motivation but also hi presenting of the main heroes. While both desire to help other people they bring them nothing but misery. The scene with the dying Frankenstein on Walton’s ship reminds us intensely of the mad speeches of Don Quixote. Both heroes try to contaminate with their ridiculous ideas the people surrounding them – Sancho Panza and other servants or the mariners who prefer to continue their journey back home. The distinguishing features of Mary Shelley’s presentation on the literary scene are widely discussed. Her contribution to the development of English is also noticed by other critics. Just like her parents she is not afraid to think and act differently. The â€Å"excellence of language and peculiar interest† impresses the critic for The Belle Assemblee who says: â€Å"This work†¦ has as well as originality and an easy energetic style†¦ â€Å". Even today’s readers, whose opinions are often based on mass-media productions, are pleasantly surprised by the delightful manner of writing. Despite the expectation of finding a story of horror and nightmares, the plot is saturated with lyrical diversions. These appear due to the direct sensitive influences of both family and close circle of friends. Among the contemporaries Mary Shelley reads with serious excitement romantic poets. Her imagination is preoccupied by the Coleridge’s â€Å"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner† whose ideas she puts in the minds of both heroes – Dr Frankenstein and Captain Walton. Both are obsessed by the rhythm of the poem and quote from it to describe their own condition or determination. This brings additional charm to the gripping story. Reading nearly any stanza from the â€Å"Ancient Mariner† we can envisage the fascinating power of the epic over the young writer. Its elevating sound is extremely topical just after the time of the French Revolution: * Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony. The spread out alliteration expands the boundaries of the immeasurable ocean as ajnetaphor of freedom and independence. Similar feelings have thrilled Mary Shelley while reading â€Å"Emil† by Jean Jacques Rousseau. It encourages the ideas of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity -the stimulation for the armed insurrection and the insistence on human rights through the character of the monster. Rousseau’s ideas elaborated by Godwin in his â€Å"Political Justice† are the best explanation for the transforming of the creature into a villain due to treatment by society. A lot of other writers and their books have contributed to forming the views which Mary Shelley conveyed in her riveting novel. Whatsoever is the impact on â€Å"Frankenstein† one is undoubted – the envied talent of Mary Shelley to combine all her knowledge, intuitive capacities and innate genius for developing a real masterpiece. How to cite The novel â€Å"Frankenstein† can be seen to have been inspired by events and experiences in Mary Shelley’s own life, Papers

Friday, December 6, 2019

Combining Heterogeneous Service Technologies †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Combining Heterogeneous Service Technologies. Answer: Introduction: The all embracing term integrated marketing communication is the idea to advance the communication of steady messages to the partner of organizations. Giving nature of services and products to the clients is by all account not the only methods for increasing authoritative picture and notoriety. Keeping in mind the end goal to accomplish the acknowledgment business specialists need to speak with the hierarchical partners legitimately so the relational connection winds up plainly more grounded. Integrated marketing communication empowers the marketing executives to recognize limits while keeping up the promotional mix. Integrated marketing communication is constituted with three noteworthy methodologies including inside approach, outside approach and cross utilitarian key approach (Thorson Moore, 2013). Communication then again is the way toward trading musings and thoughts adequately. At least two than two people are included inside the communication procedure for sharing their perspectives and in addition thoughts. Integrated marketing communication is the most stretched out type of communication process. So as to improve the requirements and requests of the partner business associations need to influence a viable communication with each individual partner to be it inward or outside. Keeping in mind the end goal to present a particular brand past going the local market a powerful promotional technique is very required with the goal that individuals having a place with various land limits can get an inside and out diagram about the unwavering quality of the brands and in addition services. Without making a powerful communication with the clients brands can't be coursed in various topographical limits. This specific examination has centered to make an itemized investigation on how c ommunication is vital for keeping up a powerful promotional campaign for presenting a specific brand (Mihart, 2012). Coles is a famous Australian supermarket chain, which is now owned by Wesfarmers, another supermarket giant. For more than 100 years Coles has been known to continuously deliver the best quality products to their customers, also offering excellent customer service and great value to the extensive population of Australia. Today, Coles is working towards long term goal of committing for helping in growing a sustainable future for Australia. They have made lasting relationships with Aussie farmers and have supported the local food industry. Coles have invested in the local interest by launching the Down campaign, in which they have dedicated themselves to providing quality food at lower costs. This campaign has helped them establish themselves in the market as the provider of low-priced groceries (Coles Supermarkets, 2017). According to the assessment of marketing manager of Coles, communication is more essential than offering prevalent nature of services. With the assistance of a viable communication the brand managers can extend their brands and services in different geological areas to draw the consideration of global clients also. According to the feeling of marketing managers mass communication is a standout amongst the best methods for making integrated marketing communication techniques fruitful. Electronic media, social media, print media, digital media are the best instruments of speaking with the general population of various territories. In the meantime, mass communication is successful in increasing the messages past going local market too. In this manner, so as to utilize integrated marketing communication the significance of communication is verifiable (Yeshin, 2012). Theoretical Communication Model of Integrated Marketing According to the theoretical communication concept of Belch et al. (2014), integrated marketing communication is one of the real parts of achieving the doorstep of clients having a place within various topographical zones. According to the perspective of this mentioned scholar, promoting is a standout amongst the best devices with the assistance of which the target clients can get an inside and out review about the unwavering quality of brand and additionally service process. Promoting can be directed with the assistance of different media vehicles. With a specific end goal to draw the consideration of worldwide clients marketing managers expect to lead the online promoting by utilizing the prevalence of social media. This particular scholar has feeling that promoting through social media is having a large portion of the real restrictions. The author has expressed that social media is sufficiently powerful in drawing the consideration of young generation as it were. Clients having a place within various age assembles are not especially acclimated with the social media and propelled technology. In this way, customary media instruments are especially valuable for that gathering of clients. Conventional media instruments suggest print media, electronic media, standards, hoardings and so on. In the meantime, electronic media is especially compelling for giving the clients a sound and visual impact. Notwithstanding, the author has portrayed on how publicizing majorly affects the general performance level of the business association. Individuals having a place with various land limits don't know about the general products and services of a specific brand. Promoting with the assistance of various media instruments is sufficiently viable in drawing the consideration of clients (Belch et al., 2014). Keeping in mind the end goal to keep up a viable integrated and marketing communication procedure Coles has taken after probably the most compelling methodology so as to speak with the target clients. The basic role of successful business advancement is to speak with the clients appropriately so the marketing executives can get a top to bottom diagram about the requirements and requests of the clients. While making the promotional exercises, Coles has concentrated on the prevalence of new media for drawing the consideration of worldwide clients. Then again, keeping in mind the end goal to drag the consideration of various age gatherings, Coles has targeted conventional media also. This particular part has centered to say the distinctive methodologies of Coles for keeping up ICM techniques (Lewis Huber, 2015). Marketing mix theory Marketing mix is the concept of advancing the whole business process in various topographical areas by giving utilizing different devices. With a specific end goal to advance the brand in different land corners, the marketing managers have principally centered around four noteworthy viewpoints including product, promotion, price and place. These four parts of promotional segments are generally named as 4Ps of communication (Percy, 2014). Product: Coles is similarly accessible for both male and female purchasers. Pieces of clothing, basic needs, shoes, sacks and embellishments are accessible in the counter of Coles. With a specific end goal to draw the consideration of worldwide buyers the product managers have chosen to plan assortment of products and additionally services. Therefore, individuals having a place with various geological markets are demonstrating their enthusiasm for speaking with the service suppliers of Coles keeping in mind the end goal to get the service procedure (Gordon, 2012). Promotion: The marketing executives of Coles can speak with the clients just when the executives might want to utilize different media vehicles for their business promotion. The media vehicles that the marketing executives of Coles have utilized for speaking with the clients incorporate social media vehicle, webpage promotion, and electronic media and in addition print media. According to the business technique of Coles, online media apparatuses are more successful in speaking with the clients instead of pennants or hoardings (Baker Saren, 2016). Price: Reasonable price run is a standout amongst the best business techniques of giving a noteworthy risk for its rivals. The marketing executives by actualizing minimal effort system have dragged the consideration of substantial number of clients. Therefore, the marketing communication managers have improved the scope of target market consequently (Armstrong et al., 2015. Place: Sydney is a standout amongst the most advantageous places of Australia where individuals don't need to confront troubles in profiting the stores of Coles. According to the business technique of marketing managers clients' communication ought to be powerful dependably. Place is majorly affecting the general customer conduct (Palmer, 2012). Direct marketing and communication strategy According to the supposition of a portion of the prominent scholars direct marketing is constantly productive in making a successful communication with the clients. With the assistance of direct communication the clients get a chance to collaborate with the service suppliers directly. On one hand, the clients feel free in giving direct criticism seeing the quality off brands and also services. Then again, service suppliers can show signs of improvement review in changing their business methodology and strategy in the wake of interfacing with the clients directly. Online media promotion is particularly compelling in increasing the messages in various land areas. Then again, it is obvious that online promotion does not enable the service suppliers to make a top to bottom cooperation with the clients (Baker, 2014). The conventional and promotional technique for integrated communication marketing suggests a brand promotion with the assistance of customary media, for example, TV, radio, flag, billboard, storing et cetera. Conventional media can connect with the clients of various age gathering. New media is particularly limited with a particular gathering of individuals. In this way, individuals of various age assemble don't get the degree in getting outline about the brands and products. Accordingly, organizations like Coles were losing the target clients from different age gatherings of individuals. Keeping in mind the end goal to conquer this sort of circumstance, the marketing specialists have chosen to utilize customary communication devices for drawing the consideration of clients from differing age gathering (Bruhn, Schoenmueller Schfer, 2012). According to the sentiment of a portion of the prominent scholars the development of new media has turned out to be more successful in speaking with the workers instead of utilizing customary media or direct marketing procedure. Individuals having a place with various geological markets don't know about the brands if the authoritative managers end up plainly confined inside nearby promotion as it were. The domain of social media is immense that can without much of a stretch speak with the general population of various land limits. Keeping in mind the end goal to draw the consideration of clients the business managers of Coles mean to utilize social media platform for making online promotion of their products. According to the marketing technique and arrangement the business managers of Coles have a tendency to make the promoting campaign such that individuals having a place with various geological limits can comprehend the substance. The products have not been composed in a biased wa y. Therefore, the interior communication between the marketing executives and the clients are especially compelling (Bagdikian, 2014). Conclusion In the wake of assessing the diverse methodologies of integrated marketing communication it can be expressed that IMC is a standout amongst the best business techniques and approaches for drawing the consideration of clients who have a place with various land markets. Giving the better nature of service process than the clients is not by any means the only vision of a business association. In the meantime, the managers should execute some compelling arrangements inside the procedure with the goal that clients demonstrate their enthusiasm for obtaining the products and services. Integrated marketing communication can be compelling with the assistance of actualizing some significant communication strategy. In this specific investigation, the IMC techniques of Coles have been featured from different purposes of perspectives. The IMC strategy of Coles infers that the organization should utilize different media vehicles keeping in mind the end goal to drag the consideration of various cli ents having a place with different land limits. Social media is the ideal media apparatuses with the assistance of which Coles has spoken with the clients past going the local market. Then again, customary promoting media empowers clients of various age gathering of getting an inside and out learning and data about the products and also services. This specific investigation has featured the negative effect of social media instruments too. In any case, actualizing marketing mix strategy inside the promotional exercises is a standout amongst the best methods for keeping up a compelling communication with the target clients viewing the concerned brand and services. References and Bibliography Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., Brennan, R. (2015).Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education. Bagdikian, B. H. (2014).The new media monopoly: A completely revised and updated edition with seven new chapters. Beacon Press. Baker, M. J. (2014).Marketing strategy and management. Palgrave Macmillan. Baker, M. J., Saren, M. (Eds.). (2016).Marketing theory: a student text. Sage. Belch, G. E., Belch, M. A., Kerr, G. F., Powell, I. (2014).Advertising: An integrated marketing communication perspective. McGraw-Hill Education. Bruhn, M., Schoenmueller, V., Schfer, D. B. (2012). Are social media replacing traditional media in terms of brand equity creation?.Management Research Review,35(9), 770-790. Coles Supermarkets. (2017).Coles.com.au. Retrieved 25 August 2017, from https://www.coles.com.au/ Gordon, R. (2012). Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix.Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ),20(2), 122-126. Lewis, T., Huber, A. (2015). A revolution in an eggcup? Supermarket wars, celebrity chefs and ethical consumption.Food, Culture Society,18(2), 289-307. Mihart, C. (2012). Impact of integrated marketing communication on consumer behaviour: effects on consumer decisionmaking process.International Journal of Marketing Studies,4(2), 121. Palmer, A. (2012).Introduction to marketing: theory and practice. Oxford University Press. Percy, L. (2014).Strategic integrated marketing communications. Routledge. Schultz, D., Patti, C. H., Kitchen, P. J. (2013).The evolution of integrated marketing communications: The customer-driven marketplace. Routledge. Silen, K. S. (2013). Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). InExhibit Marketing and Trade Show Intelligence(pp. 1-13). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Thorson, E., Moore, J. (Eds.). (2013).Integrated communication: Synergy of persuasive voices. Psychology Press. Yeshin, T. (2012).Integrated marketing communications. Routledge.

Friday, November 29, 2019

Ethics, Moral Character and Authentic free essay sample

The four components of authentic transformational leadership (idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration) are constrasted with their counterfeits in the dissembling pseudotransformational leadership on the basis of 1) the moral character of the leaders and their concerns for self and others; 2) the ethical values embedded in the leaders’ vision, articulation, and program, which followers can embrace or reject; and 3) the morality of the processes of social ethical choices and action in which the leaders and followers engage and collectively pursue. The literature on transformational leadership is linked to the long-standing literature on virtue and moral character, as exemplified by Socratic and Confucian typologies. It is linked, as well, to the major themes of the modern Western ethical agenda: liberty, utility and distributive justice Deception, sophistry, and pretense are examined alongside issues of transendence, agency, trust, striving for the congruence of the values, cooperative action, power, persuasion, and corporate governance to establish the strategic and moral foundations of authentic transformational leadership. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethics, Moral Character and Authentic or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Contracts can be skewed in favor of those with more resources, contacts and bargaining power. People often appreciate leadership which points the way out of dilemmas whether it comes from others within their own collective or from external authority. Leaders as divergent in their politics as Mao Zedong and Shimon Peres agreed that the task of leadership is to sense the problems of their followers and to articulate solutions which satisfied their interests. Rost, reminiscent of Nozick and Rand, asks for leader-follower distinctions be erased to reach true participative democracy. Burns (1998) partially agrees and would substitute for leaders and followers, initiators, supporters and opponents. But the counterarguments are that if everyone in a group is responsible for its leadership, no one is responsible. Furthermore, if a group is initially leaderless, the members compete with each other for leadership. One or more leaders emerge who initiate and propose more than the other members. Followers emerge who are responsive to the leaders, and non-responsive isolated persons remain who are passive (Bass, 1954). If trying to align the values of members of an organization with the good of all stakeholders is unethical , then it is unethical to contingently reward prison inmates with time off for good behavior or for transformational teachers to move pupils to internalize the values of good citizenship for the benefit of society. Libertarians would agree that one’s life plans are paramount but they are close to espousing anarchy as are the OD extremists who charge immorality if the transformational leader intervenes in the individual follower’s life plans(Bass, 1998A, p. 79). With this line of thinking that it is immoral to align the values and behavio

Monday, November 25, 2019

The Partition of India and Creation of Pakistan

The Partition of India and Creation of Pakistan The Partition of India was the process of dividing the subcontinent along sectarian lines, which took place in 1947 as India gained its independence from the British Raj. The northern, predominantly Muslim sections of India became the nation of Pakistan, while the southern and majority Hindu section became the Republic of India. Fast Facts: the Partition of India Short Description: At the time of Indian independence from Great Britain, the subcontinent was broken into two partsKey Players/Participants: Muhammed Ali Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru, Mohandas Gandhi, Louis Mountbatten, Cyril RadcliffeEvent Start Date: End of World War II, the ouster of Churchill, and the ascension of the Labour Party in BritainEvent End Date: Aug. 17, 1947Other Significant Dates: The Jan. 30, 1948, the assassination of Mohandas Gandhi; Aug. 14, 1947, the creation of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Aug. 15, 1947, the creation of the Republic of IndiaLittle-Known Fact: In the 19th century, sectarian Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu communities shared Indias cities and countryside and cooperated to force Britain to Quit India; it was only after independence became a potential reality that religious hatred began to roil.   Background to Partition Beginning in 1757, the British commercial enterprise known as the East India Company ruled parts of the subcontinent beginning with Bengal, a period known as the Company Rule or Company Raj. In 1858, after the brutal Sepoy Rebellion, the rule of India was transferred to the English crown, with Queen Victoria proclaimed as Empress of India in 1878. By the latter half of the 19th century, England had brought the full force of the Industrial Revolution to the region, with railroads, canals, bridges, and telegraph lines providing new communication links and opportunities. Most of the jobs created went to the English; much of the land used for these advances came from the farmers and were paid for by local taxes.   Medical advances under the Company and British Raj, such as smallpox vaccinations, improved sanitation, and quarantine procedures, led to a steep rise in population. Protectionist landlords depressed agricultural innovations in the rural areas, and as a result, famines broke out. The worst was known as the Great Famine of 1876–1878, when between 6–10 million people died. Universities established in India led to a new middle class, and in turn, social reform and political action began to rise.   The Rise of Sectarian Separation   In 1885, the Hindu-dominated Indian National Congress (INC) met for the first time. When the British made an attempt to divide the state of Bengal along religious lines in 1905, the INC led huge protests against the plan. This sparked the formation of the Muslim League, which sought to guarantee the rights of Muslims in any future independence negotiations.  Although the Muslim League formed in opposition to the INC, and the British colonial government attempted to play the INC and Muslim League off one another, the two political parties generally cooperated in their mutual goal of getting Britain to Quit India. As British historian Yasmin Khan (born 1977) has described,  political events were to destroy the long-term future of that uneasy alliance.   In 1909, the British gave separate electorates to different religious communities, which had the outcome of hardening of boundaries among the different sects. The colonial government emphasized these differences, by such activities as providing separate restroom and water facilities for Muslims and Hindus at the railway terminals. By the 1920s, a heightened sense of religious ethnicity became apparent. Riots broke out at such times as during Holi festival, when sacred cows were slaughtered, or when Hindu religious music was played in front of mosques at prayer time.   World War I and Afterward Despite the growing unrest, both the INC and the Muslim League supported sending Indian volunteer troops to fight on Britains behalf in World War I. In exchange for the service of more than one million Indian soldiers, the people of India expected political concessions up to and including independence. However, after the war, Britain offered no such concessions. In April 1919, a unit of the British Army went to Amritsar, in Punjab, to silence pro-independence unrest. The units commander ordered his men to open fire on the unarmed crowd, killing more than 1,000 protesters. When word of the Amritsar Massacre spread around India, hundreds of thousands of formerly apolitical people became supporters of the INC and the Muslim League. In the 1930s, Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) became the leading figure in the INC. Although he advocated a unified Hindu and Muslim India, with equal rights for all, other INC members were less inclined to join with Muslims against the British. As a result, the Muslim League began to make plans for a separate Muslim state. World War II World War II sparked a crisis in relations between the British, the INC, and the Muslim League. The British government expected India once again to provide much-needed soldiers and material for the war effort, but the INC opposed sending Indians to fight and die in Britains war. After the betrayal following World War I, the INC saw no benefit for India in such a sacrifice. The Muslim League, however, decided to back Britains call for volunteers, in an effort to curry British favor in support of a Muslim nation in post-independence northern India. Before the war had even ended, public opinion in Britain had swung against the distraction and expense of empire: the cost of the war had severely depleted Britains coffers. The party of British prime minister Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was voted out of office, and the pro-independence Labour Party was voted in during 1945. Labour called for almost immediate independence for India, as well as more gradual freedom for Britains other colonial holdings. A Separate Muslim State The Muslim Leagues leader, Muhammed Ali Jinnah (1876–1948), began a public campaign in favor of a separate Muslim state, while Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) of the INC called for a unified India. The INC leaders such as Nehru were in favor of a united India since Hindus would have formed the vast majority of the Indian population and would have been in control of any democratic form of government.   As independence neared, the country began to descend toward a sectarian civil war. Although Gandhi implored the Indian people to unite in peaceful opposition to British rule, the Muslim League sponsored a Direct Action Day on August 16, 1946, which resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Calcutta (Kolkata). This touched off the Week of the Long Knives, an orgy of sectarian violence that resulted in hundreds of deaths on both sides in various cities across the country. Indian Independence Act of 1947 In February 1947, the British government announced that India would be granted independence by June 1948. Viceroy for India Louis Mountbatten (1900–1979) pleaded with the Hindu and Muslim leaders to agree to form a united country, but they could not. Only Gandhi supported Mountbattens position. With the country descending further into chaos, Mountbatten reluctantly agreed to the formation of two separate states.   Mountbatten proposed that the new state of Pakistan would be created from the Muslim-majority provinces of Baluchistan and Sindh, and the two contested provinces of Punjab and Bengal would be halved, creating a Hindu Bengal and Punjab, and Muslim Bengal and Punjab. The plan gained agreement from the Muslim League and the INC, and it was announced on June 3, 1947. The date for independence was moved up to Aug. 15, 1947, and all that was left was fine-tuning, determining the physical border separating the two new states. Difficulties of Separation With the decision in favor of partition made, the parties next faced this nearly impossible task of fixing a border between the new states. The Muslims occupied two main regions in the north on opposite sides of the country, separated by a majority-Hindu section. In addition, throughout most of northern India, members of the two religions were mixed together- not to mention populations of Sikhs, Christians, and other minority faiths. The Sikhs campaigned for a nation of their own, but their appeal was denied. In the wealthy and fertile region of Punjab, the problem was extreme, with a nearly even mixture of Hindus and Muslims. Neither side wanted to relinquish this valuable land, and sectarian hatred ran high.   Ravi C. The Radcliffe Line To identify the final or real border, Mountbatten established a Boundary Commission under the chairmanship of Cyril Radcliffe (1899–1977), a British judge and rank outsider. Radcliffe arrived in India on July 8 and published the demarcation line a mere six weeks later on August 17. Punjabi and Bengali legislators were to have a chance to vote on a potential split of the provinces, and a plebiscite for or against joining Pakistan would be necessary for the North-West Frontier Province.   Radcliffe was given five weeks to complete the demarcation. He had no background in Indian affairs, nor did he have any prior experience in adjudicating such disputes. He was a confident amateur, in the words of Indian historian Joya Chatterji, chosen because Radcliffe was supposedly a nonpartisan and thus apolitical actor.   Jinnah had proposed a single commission made up of three impartial persons; but Nehru suggested two commissions, one for Bengal and one for Punjab. They would each be made up of an independent chairman, and two people nominated by the Muslim League and two by the INC. Radcliffe served as both chairs: his job was to put together a rough-and-ready plan for dividing each province as soon as possible, with the fine details to be resolved later.   On Aug. 14, 1947, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was founded. The following day, the Republic of India was established to the south. On Aug. 17, 1947, Radcliffes award was published.   The Award The Radcliffe line drew the border right down the middle of Punjab province, between Lahore and Amritsar. The award gave West Bengal an area of some 28,000 square miles, containing a population of 21 million people, of whom about 29 percent were Muslims. East Bengal got 49,000 square miles with a population of 39 million, of whom 29 percent were Hindu. In essence, the award created two states in which the ratio of the minority population was almost identical. When the reality of the Partition hit home, residents who found themselves on the wrong side of the Radcliffe line felt extreme confusion and dismay. Worse still, most people did not have access to the printed document, and they simply did not know their immediate future. For more than a year after the award was made, rumors spread through the border communities that they would wake up to find the borders had changed again.   Post-Partition Violence On both sides, people scrambled to get onto the right side of the border or were driven from their homes by their erstwhile neighbors. At least 10 million people fled north or south, depending on their faith, and more than 500,000 were killed in the melee. Trains full of refugees were set upon by militants from both sides, and the passengers massacred. On Dec. 14, 1948, Nehru and the Pakistan Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan (1895–1951) signed the Inter-Dominion Agreement in a desperate attempt to calm the waters. The tribunal was ordered to resolve the boundary disputes growing out of the Radcliffe Line Award, to be headed by Swedish judge Algot Bagge and two high-court judges, C. Aiyar of India and M. Shahabuddin of Pakistan. That tribunal announced its findings in February 1950, clearing up some of the doubts and misinformation, but leaving difficulties in the definition and administration of the border.   Aftermath of Partition According to historian Chatterji, the new border ruptured agricultural communities and divided towns from the hinterlands that they had habitually relied on to supply their needs. Markets were lost and had to be reintegrated or reinvented; supply railheads were separated, as were families. The result was messy, with cross-border smuggling emerging as a thriving enterprise and an increased military presence on both sides.   On Jan. 30, 1948, Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated by a young Hindu radical for his support of a multi-religious state. Separately from Indias partition, Burma (now Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) gained independence in 1948; Bangladesh gained independence from Pakistan in 1971. Since August 1947, India and Pakistan have fought three major wars and one minor war over territorial disputes. The boundary line in Jammu and Kashmir is particularly troubled. These regions were not formally part of the British Raj in India, but were quasi-independent princely states; the ruler of Kashmir agreed to join India despite having a Muslim majority in his territory, resulting in tension and warfare to this day. In 1974, India tested its first nuclear weapon. Pakistan followed in 1998. Thus, any exacerbation of post-Partition tensions today- such as Indias August 2019 crackdown on Kashmiri independence- could be catastrophic. Sources Ahmad, Nafis. The Indo-Pakistan Boundary Disputes Tribunal, 1949–1950. Geographical Review 43.3 (1953): 329–37. Print.Brass, Paul R. The Partition of India and Retributive Genocide in the Punjab, 1946–47: Means, Methods, and Purposes 1. Journal of Genocide Research 5.1 (2003): 71–101. Print.Chatterji, Joya. The Fashioning of a Frontier: The Radcliffe Line and Bengals Border Landscape, 1947–52. Modern Asian Studies 33.1 (1999): 185–242. Print.Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017. Print.Wilcox, Wayne. The Economic Consequences of Partition: India and Pakistan. Journal of International Affairs 18.2 (1964): 188–97. Print.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Composition titled there is nothing that we as individuals can do to Essay

Composition titled there is nothing that we as individuals can do to prevent climate change - Essay Example They suggest that efforts to reduce  Ã‚  emissions are unnecessary and dangerous to economic growth and development.† (University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) The emission of Carbon Dioxide from burning of Fossil fuels is primarily cited as the cause of greenhouse effect, which has caused climate changes like global warming. Our lives are heavily dependent on energy obtained from burning of fossil fuels to keep our industries, homes and transport systems running; therefore, it is impossible not to use it. Scientists are not sure what impact will minimizing greenhouse gas emissions have on climate change. Therefore, even if we as individuals try to limit the green house gases, it would have no effect on the overall climate change because after all it is a global phenomenon and it has already been triggered. The rate at which the climate is changing is so fast that we as individuals can do nothing to prevent

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Culinary Arts Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Culinary Arts - Research Paper Example The experience is great because class sizes are small, technical training, and allows students to work. Culinary groups are split into two shifts, morning and afternoons. Students get a real-chance of creating these dishes as it applied to their major. Students also encouraged to think freely and question the preparation meals in order to encompass it in their food making skills. The students prepared a tofu dish for a vegetarian customer, separated duck meat, and other appetizers. The dining team also prepares a wine base to ensure that the soups are being made. The baking and pastry team cut the dough and prepared the dish along with the tiramisu. A narrative of a student along with other chefs is captured in which every meal is elaborated. Meanwhile, the service team is preparing dining tables for the guest to ensure that they are ready for serving their guests. The wine team also prepares the hierarchy of wines, which provides a comprehensive accumulation of the model restaurant. Overall, all the students did a wonderful job to provide a comprehensive dining

Monday, November 18, 2019

Scientic psychology cannot live with folk psychology and cannot live Essay

Scientic psychology cannot live with folk psychology and cannot live without it - Essay Example Folk psychology explains people actions in terms of their goals however scientific psychology explains actions of individuals based on what leads them to undertake these actions. Despite the distinction scientific psychology still has some normative aspects and for this reason cannot live without folk psychology. Folk psychology has been challenged by scientific psychology and this is based on how folk psychology results are achieved, in most cases folk psychology results will conflict with results of scientific psychology. For this reason therefore it is very difficult to choose which results best explain human behavior, due to conflicting results of the two disciplines scientific psychology tend to criticize the results of folk psychology and for this reason scientific psychology cannot live with folk psychology. Folk psychology assumes that people already know why they tend to believe in their actions and why they take these actions, according to scientific psychology people are not aware of why they take certain actions, this is a conflict of assumption and therefore it is evident that scientific psychology cannot live with folk psychology. According to Stephen Stitch it is possible to undertake scientific psychology without folk psychology where he gave an example using beliefs. ... gave an example of a day that had rained and the two characters X and Y are asked to narrate on what had happened, X said that the day had rained very heavily and Y said that it did not rain very heavily. He posed the question who of the two individuals was telling the truth, however Stephen Stitch said that these two persons may telling the truth but it depends on their understanding and observations on the way they have learned from the groups, that is family or friends on how they belief in a particular aspect. According to J.B Watson it is possible to identify someone's behavior at his or her current age as long as he or she is not in the childhood age but it depends on how the person behaves and socializes. For this reason therefore Watson verifies that it is only necessary to study the persons behavior without taking into consideration believes of the individuals, in his statement he states that it is possible for scientific psychology to live without folk. Folk Psychology assumes that an individual can directly explain the different feelings they experience, this is to say that individuals are well aware of what they feel and why they feel it, on the other hand scientific psychology agues that individuals feeling are based on the inferences about changes in what they are undergoing. For this reason therefore there is a conflict of assumptions that people are ware of their feelings and for this reason both disciplines will yield different results, for this reason therefore scientific psychology cannot live with folk psychology. Why scientific psychology cannot live without folk psychology: Despite the many reasons why scientific psychology cannot live with folk psychology it is evident that scientific psychology cannot live without folk psychology, folk

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Episodic Dystonia and Hallucinations Due to DLAT Genes

Episodic Dystonia and Hallucinations Due to DLAT Genes Title: Carbamazepine responsive Episodic Dystonia and Hallucination due to Pyruvate Dehydrogenase E2 (DLAT) gene mutation Fatema J Serajee1, Salman Rashid2, and AHM M Huq1 ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: PDH E2 deficiency due to DLAT mutations is a very rare condition with only 4 reported cases to date. METHODS: We describe a 15-year-old girl with mild intellectual disability, paroxysmal dystonia and bilateral basal ganglia signal abnormalities on brain MRI. Additional neurophysiological, imaging, metabolic and exome sequencing studies were performed. RESULTS: Routine metabolite testing, and GLUT1 and PRRT2 mutation analysis were negative. A repeat brain MRI revealed Eye-of-the-tiger-sign. Exome sequencing identified homozygous valine to glycine alteration at amino acid position 157 in the DLAT gene. Bioinformatic and family analyses indicated that the alteration was likely pathogenic. Patients s dystonia was responsive to low dose carbamazepine. On weaning carbamazepine, patient developed hallucinations which resolved after carbamazepine was restarted. CONCLUSIONS: PDH E2 deficiency due to DLAT mutation has a more benign course compared to common forms of PDH E1 deficiency due to X-linked PDHA1 mutations. All known cases of PDH E2 deficiency due to DLAT mutations share the features of episodic dystonia and intellectual disability. Our patients dystonia and hallucinations responded well to low dose carbamazepine. Introduction: Pyruvate Dehydrogenase (PDH) E2 deficiency is a rare pediatric neurometabolic disease due to mutation in DLAT gene (Head et al., 2005; McWilliam et al., 2010). Only 4 cases with DLAT gene mutations have previously been reported (Head et al., 2005; McWilliam et al., 2010). All share the features of dystonia and some degree of developmental delay and characteristic globus pallidus signal abnormalities on brain MRI. This disease tends to have more benign course as compared to PDH E1 deficiency (Head et al., 2005; Huq et al., 1991; McWilliam et al., 2010; Patel et al., 2012). We report an additional case with DLAT mutation with new phenotype and treatment information. Case Report A 15-year-old girl presented with paroxysmal episodes of left lower extremity weakness and stiffening for the last 8 years. These episodes were triggered by exercise but no exacerbating or relieving factors were noted. There was no associated aura, alteration of consciousness, incontinence or other associated neurological symptoms. Her parents were second cousins, but family history was negative for known genetic disorders. Birth and past medical histories were also unremarkable. Patient had a speech delay but met her other childhood milestones appropriately. Later, she developed academic difficulties and at 15 years of age she was performing at a 4th grade level. At presentation, the patient had a normal examination except for some cognitive and reading difficulties. At the time of initial presentation to a pediatric neurologist at 7 years of age, an MRI of the brain revealed bilateral T2 hyperintensities in the basal ganglia. In addition, she was found to have decreased NAA peak an d the suggestion of a lactate peak on MR spectroscopy. EEG, EMG and nerve conductions studies were unremarkable. Over the years the patient was considered to have paroxysmal kinesiogenic dyskinesia and was treated with carbamazepine (100 mg daily). The patient was initially evaluated by us at age of 14 years. Metabolic work up for serum lactate, serum amino acids, acyl carnitine profile, serum copper and ceruluplasmin and GLUT1 or PRRT2 mutation analysis were unremarkable. Repeat MRI revealed basal ganglia signal changes including Eye of the tiger sign (Figure 1). MR spectroscopy studies were suboptimal. Exome sequencing was performed through Ambry laboratory as previously described (Serajee and Huq, 2015). The patient had homozygous c.470T>G (p.V157G) alteration in the DLAT (Dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (PDHC E2) gene suggesting the diagnosis of pyruvate dehydrogenase E2 deficiency, a rare cause of pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency. Both parents and one brother were heterozygous carriers and another brother was homozygous normal. The p.V157G alteration (c.470T>G), is in coding exon 3 of the DLAT gene, results from a T to G substitution at nucleotide position 470. The valine at codon 157 is replaced by glycine, an amino acid with dissimilar properties. The V157 amino acid position is highly conserved in all available vertebrate species. The p.V157G alteration is predicted to be probably damaging by Polyphen and deleterious by SIFT in silico analyses. The V157 amino acid is located within the biotin/lipoyl attachment domain of the DHAT protein. The DLAT c.470T>G alteration was n ot observed in healthy cohort databases such as NHLBI Exome Sequencing Project (ESP) or the 1000 Genomes Project or the Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP). Based on data from the HGMD, only the four alterations reported by Head et al. (2005) and McWilliam et al. (2010) have been observed within the DLAT gene to date (Head et al., 2005;McWilliam et al., 2010). These include one missense alteration, two splice alterations, and one small in-frame deletion. Based on the above evidence, the homozygous c.470T>G (p.V157G) alteration was considered pathogenic. Her parents refused treatment with the ketogenic diet. When carbamazepine was weaned off due to parental concerns of side effects, within few weeks, patient developed hallucinations. Parents reported resolution of symptoms after carbamazepine was restarted. Discussion: The Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex functions in the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvate to acetyl coenzyme A. The complex contains three subunits: E1, E2 and E3 (Patel and Roche, 1990). The most common form of pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency is due to mutations affecting the E1 subunit, and results in a variety of clinical manifestations depending upon the residual function of the enzyme (Huq et al., 1991;Patel et al., 2012). E1 subunit is encoded by PDHA1 gene of X chromosome. Most patients present in infancy with lactic acidosis, ataxia and hypotonia, either chronically or episodically (Huq et al., 1991;Patel et al., 2012). The mutation in our patient is in the E2 subunit (dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase), which forms the structural core of the enzyme and functions in accepting the acetyl groups and transferring them to coenzyme A, an essential step preceding the entrance of glucose into the TCA cycle (Head et al., 2005;Patel and Roche, 1990). E2 subunit is encoded by DLAT g ene located on chromosome 11q23.1. To date, however, there are only four reported cases of pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency caused by alterations in the DLAT gene, making it a very rare cause of the condition (Head et al., 2005;McWilliam et al., 2010). In addition, Robinson et al reported an additional patient with reduced E2 dihydrolipoyl transacetylase enzyme activity (32% of the control and undetectable E2 immunoreactive protein (Robinson et al., 1990). For this patient, no gene mutation data is available (Robinson et al., 1990). The patient reported by Robinson et al. had a different phenotype compared to our patient and four other genetically confirmed DLAT mutation cases and had profound retardation and microcephaly (Robinson et al., 1990). Head et al. (2005) first described two unrelated individuals with PDH deficiency caused by homozygous non-protein truncating mutations in the DLAT gene (Head et al., 2005). One patient demonstrated a deletion of glutamic acid in the outer lipoyl domain of the protein, whereas the second expressed a missense mutation in the catalytic site, leading to a substitution of leucine for phenylalanine. Both patients were male children born of first-cousin parents. These patients presented with a less severe phenotype compared to individuals with the more common type of PDH caused by alterations in the PDHA1 gene encoding the E1 subunit, and their common features included episodic dystonia, hypotonia, ataxia, and developmental delay(Head et al., 2005). Episodes of dystonia were often triggered by stress or fever, and developmental progress appeared to slow after the episodes as well. Additional reported features included inconsolable crying, nystagmus and abnormal eye movements, ptosis, drooli ng, jerky head movements, arching of the body, bottom shuffling, stiffening of the limbs, episodic clenching of the hands, head lag and hypotonia. Brain MRI findings in each patient included focal signal abnormality in the basal ganglia with high T2 signal and low T1 signal in the globus pallidus which was compatible with an abnormality of energy metabolism (Head et al., 2005). The authors concluded that mutations in the DLAT gene are an extremely rare cause of PDH deficiency and that patients with this type of PDH may be more likely to respond to a ketogenic diet (Head et al., 2005). McWilliam et al. (2010) also described two sisters born of non-consanguineous parents affected with pyruvate dehydrogenase E2 deficiency caused by compound heterozygous splice mutations in the DLAT gene (McWilliam et al., 2010). Clinical features were like those described in Head et al. (2005), including progressive episodic dystonia, cognitive impairment, and globus pallidus hyperintensity on brain MR I. Both patients were treated with a modified ketogenic diet and the parents reported improvements in concentration, fine motor control, and decreased fatigue (McWilliam et al., 2010). Previous reports noted the phenotypic overlap to patients with PKAN, and suggested investigation for PDH E2 deficiency in patients suspected to have atypical PKAN with negative genetic testing (Head et al., 2005;McWilliam et al., 2010). PKAN is one of several diseases classified under the umbrella of neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation (NBIA). It is caused by a mutation in the pentothenate kinase 2 gene, an abnormality of coenzyme A metabolism (Zhou et al., 2001). CoPAN (Coenzyme A synthetase protein-associated neurodegeneration) is another NBIA that affects the synthesis of coenzyme A. It is caused by a mutation in coenzyme A synthetase (COASY) gene (Schneider, 2016;Tonekaboni and Mollamohammadi, 2014). Clinical features of PKAN and CoPAN also include ataxia, dystonia, chorea and Parkinsonism, cognitive decline and psychiatric manifestations (Schneider, 2016;Tonekaboni and Mollamohammadi, 2014). In NBIA, whether iron accumulation is a cause or an effect of the disease pro cess is still not known (Schneider, 2016;Tonekaboni and Mollamohammadi, 2014). In our patient, the pattern of MRI changes in the bilateral globus pallidus is remarkably like that seen in PKAN and CoPAN, revealing the eye-of-the-tiger sign . On brain MRIs of patients with PKAN and CoPAN, the central hyperintensity of the eye-of-the-tiger sign is thought to be due to the tissue necrosis, while the surrounding hypointensity is attributed to the iron accumulation (Dusi et al., 2014;Kumar et al., 2006). Other diseases including cortical basal degeneration, multisystem atrophy, multiple sclerosis and neurofibromatosis may have similar neuro-radiological findings. However, these diseases differ from PKAN in their clinical behavior and pattern of MR abnormalities (Kruer et al., 2012). PKAN and CoPAN also affect the substantia nigra (Kruer et al., 2012); however, the involvement of the substantia nigra has not yet been reported in cases of PDH E2 deficiency due to DLAT mutations. Out of the four previously reported cases of PDH E2 deficiency due to DLAT mutation, only t wo patients had serial MRI scans. In one patient, the brain MRI was normal at one year of age but follow up at 6 years-old showed an abnormal hyperintense T2 signal in the bilateral globus pallidus. In the other patient, similar lesions were noticed at 15 months-old that remained unchanged on follow up at 2 and 6 years of age (Head et al., 2005). As opposed to the eye-of-the-tiger sign seen in our patient, all the previously reported cases showed homogenous basal ganglia hyperintensities (Head et al., 2005;McWilliam et al., 2010). As discussed above, PKAN and CoPAN result from a defect in coenzyme A synthesis (Schneider, 2016;Tonekaboni and Mollamohammadi, 2014). PDH E2 deficiency due to DLAT mutations, on the other hand, affects the transfer of acetyl group formed by decarboxylation of pyruvate to coenzyme A (Kumar et al., 2006;McWilliam et al., 2010;Patel and Roche, 1990). It is possible that the clinical and radiological similarities of PKAN, CoPAN and PDH E2 deficiency are due t o shared abnormalities in the acetyl-CoA metabolism. Like our patient, the 4 previously reported DLAT mutation cases presented with dystonia and intellectual disability, with a more benign course than those affected with the PDH E1 subunit deficiency (Head et al., 2005;McWilliam et al., 2010) . In this regard, PDH E2 deficiency due to DLAT mutation is like PDH deficiency due E3 binding protein deficiency (Head et al., 2005). Serum and CSF lactate were elevated in only one patient, but all demonstrated characteristic hyperintense T2 and hypointense T1 signal in the bilateral globus pallidi on brain MRI. In 3 out of the 4 patients, ketogenic diet was helpful in alleviation of the disease symptomology(Head et al., 2005;McWilliam et al., 2010). Our patients had hallucination, which was not described in other 4 reported patients. Her dystonia and hallucinations responded to low dose carbamazepine. Our case thus expands upon the phenotype for PDH E2 deficiency associated with the DLAT gene mutation. Reference List Dusi, S., Valletta, L., Haack, T.B., Tsuchiya, Y., Venco, P., Pasqualato, S., Goffrini, P., Tigano, M., Demchenko, N., Wieland, T., Schwarzmayr, T., Strom, T.M., Invernizzi, F., Garavaglia, B., Gregory, A., Sanford, L., Hamada, J., Bettencourt, C., Houlden, H., Chiapparini, L., Zorzi, G., Kurian, M.A., Nardocci, N., Prokisch, H., Hayflick, S., Gout, I., and Tiranti, V. (2014). Exome sequence reveals mutations in CoA synthase as a cause of neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 94, 11-22. Head, R.A., Brown, R.M., Zolkipli, Z., Shahdadpuri, R., King, M.D., Clayton, P.T., and Brown, G.K. (2005). Clinical and genetic spectrum of pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency: dihydrolipoamide acetyltransferase (E2) deficiency. Ann. Neurol. 58, 234-241. Huq, A.H., Ito, M., Naito, E., Saijo, T., Takeda, E., and Kuroda, Y. (1991). Demonstration of an unstable variant of pyruvate dehydrogenase protein (E1) in cultured fibroblasts from a patient with congenital lactic acidemia. Pediatr. Res. 30, 11-14. Kruer, M.C., Boddaert, N., Schneider, S.A., Houlden, H., Bhatia, K.P., Gregory, A., Anderson, J.C., Rooney, W.D., Hogarth, P., and Hayflick, S.J. (2012). Neuroimaging features of neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation. AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol. 33, 407-414. Kumar, N., Boes, C.J., Babovic-Vuksanovic, D., and Boeve, B.F. (2006). The eye-of-the-tiger sign is not pathognomonic of the PANK2 mutation. Arch. Neurol. 63, 292-293. McWilliam, C.A., Ridout, C.K., Brown, R.M., McWilliam, R.C., Tolmie, J., and Brown, G.K. (2010). Pyruvate dehydrogenase E2 deficiency: a potentially treatable cause of episodic dystonia. Eur. J. Paediatr. Neurol. 14, 349-353. Patel, K.P., OBrien, T.W., Subramony, S.H., Shuster, J., and Stacpoole, P.W. (2012). The spectrum of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency: clinical, biochemical and genetic features in 371 patients. Mol. Genet. Metab 105, 34-43. Patel, M.S., and Roche, T.E. (1990). Molecular biology and biochemistry of pyruvate dehydrogenase complexes. FASEB J. 4, 3224-3233. Robinson, B.H., MacKay, N., Petrova-Benedict, R., Ozalp, I., Coskun, T., and Stacpoole, P.W. (1990). Defects in the E2 lipoyl transacetylase and the X-lipoyl containing component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex in patients with lactic acidemia. J. Clin. Invest 85, 1821-1824. Schneider, S.A. (2016). Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation. Curr. Neurol. Neurosci. Rep. 16, 9. Serajee, F.J., and Huq, A.M. (2015). Homozygous Mutation in Synaptic Vesicle Glycoprotein 2A Gene Results in Intractable Epilepsy, Involuntary Movements, Microcephaly, and Developmental and Growth Retardation. Pediatr. Neurol. 52, 642-646. Tonekaboni, S.H., and Mollamohammadi, M. (2014). Neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation: an overview. Iran J. Child Neurol. 8, 1-8. Zhou, B., Westaway, S.K., Levinson, B., Johnson, M.A., Gitschier, J., and Hayflick, S.J. (2001). A novel pantothenate kinase gene (PANK2) is defective in Hallervorden-Spatz syndrome. Nat. Genet. 28, 345-349. Figure 1 Legend:   Ã‚   MRI of the brain: A. Axial T2 image showing hyperintensity in bilateral globus pallidus, which is surrounded by a hypointense signal B. Axial T1 image showing hypointensity in bilateral globus pallidus C. Coronal T2 FLAIR image showing hyperintensity in bilateral globus pallidus, which is surrounded by a ring of hypointense signal (eye-of-the-tiger sign)

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Inner Truths in The House of the Seven Gables :: House of the Seven Gables Essays

Inner Truths in The House of the Seven Gables It was Hawthorne’s belief that romances deal with inner truths, while novels are based on "mere fact." Because he held himself to be a romance writer, inner truths were elemental themes in The House of the Seven Gables. The truths that he conceived, and expressed, in the story range from the concept that death and suffering do not discriminate based on one’s position in society to the karmic effects one generation may have on those of future generations. Hawthorne saw these themes as important concepts that went beyond simple didactic commentaries. As a romance writer he wanted his reader to understand his conceptions on a complete level, and to achieve this he realized that he must delve into an unusual space in the reader's mind. The supernatural plays an important role in this goal in The House of the Seven Gables. The Supernatural challenges the reader to use her imagination and step out of her usual stereotypes and beliefs so that she may observe the story as Hawt horne wrote it. This challenge is meant to help the reader grasp Hawthorne’s conceptions. Maule’s curse at the gallows is the beginning of the development for one of Hawthorne’s central themes: guilt will stay for generations. In regards to this "karmic" theme, Maule’s curse, a supernatural power, foreshadows the future of the Pyncheon family. Maule insists, "God will give him blood to drink!" and as we read on it appears that this portion of the curse does indeed come to pass. But the effects of the curse do not end there. As men began to build the Pyncheon home on Maule’s land, the famous spring water on the property "entirely lost the deliciousness of its pristine quality." The land that Colonel Pyncheon intended to have for his family immediately started losing its value as the "pristine" well became foul. As the story goes on it, becomes clear that the curse will similarly effect the Pyncheon family, making what once was rich very poor. Maule’s supernatural power is further developed with the use of ghosts. The use of these spirits implies that all inhabitants of the house are in a state of unrest. Although Colonel Pyncheon was the one to commit the sin against Maule, all his relatives will pay for the deed. Alice Pyncheon was said "to haunt the House of the Seven Gables and.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Heathcliff has been described as both an archetypal romantic hero and an intrinsically evil villain

â€Å"She abandoned them under a delusion† he said, â€Å"picturing in me a hero of romance and expecting unlimited indulgences from my chivalrous devotion. † Heathcliff is portrayed as a villain but at the same time, a romantic hero. It seems that he is double edged. He schemes to get Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights, but he is not always so vengeful and rancorous. For example, when the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw came to the window, he wept for her and begged for her to come back. â€Å"Come in! Come in! Cathy do come. Oh do once more! Oh! My heart's darling! Hear me this time, Catherine at last! † in this he shows his hypersensitive side and emotional side. He begs Catherine to go to him and be with him forever. However, his vengeful side does get the better of him quite often and demonstrates him to be gothic, dark, evil and morose. â€Å"Though it's as dark, almost as if it came from the devil. † This explains his gothic and dark approach. The evil and morose trait is unveiled with Hindley, where he swears revenge on him for all the grief and pain Hindley inflicted on Heathcliff. Hindley was so callous and malicious towards Heathcliff and always belittled him as well as treating him like a dog, that this made Heathcliff become so vengeful, he became bitter, twisted and calculating. This vengeance has built up inside Heathcliff stemmed from the mistreatment that he received as a young boy. The fact that he ran away from Wuthering Heights was because of an Earnshaw, just not Hindley, but Catherine. An archetypal romantic hero is one that was typical and habitual. They can be dark and moody and vampiric, like Heathcliff, or hypersensitive, passionate and emotional, also like Heathcliff. In the Victorian era, there would've been lots of heroes like Heathcliff, called Byronic heroes. Bronti challenges the morals of the Victorian era, by creating a dark, bitter, twisted mind that is Heathcliff. Also she challenges the morals of the Victorian era by giving Catherine the more dominant role. Her husband, Edgar Linton, is made out to be more feminine than Catherine is. In the Victorian period, the male would've played the dominant role traditionally. Bronti defies convention by portraying Catherine as the more dominant of the two. Bronti depicts Edgar as somewhat womanly up against Heathcliff. She describes Heathcliff as a tall grown man and up against him; Edgar looks and acts more pale and feminine than normal. Bronti also makes Edgar out to be the weaker sex. He is always being pushed around by Catherine and is a complete walkover. He never sticks up for himself around Heathcliff and cannot fight Heathcliff on his own. Edgar is constantly hiding behind his men or Catherine because he is so weak and anxious. Even his sister, Isabella, completely makes him out to be superfluous and unneeded. Bronti also defies convention by giving the females the authoritive role. She gives Nelly the role of the person who stirs things up and blows things right out of proportion. Nelly always interferes with other people's business and meddles in other people's affairs. She stirs up a rumour about Catherine and Heathcliff ‘arguing' and tells Edgar. This sparks off a massive argument between Catherine and Edgar because he won't fight Heathcliff on his own. Catherine is thought to be attention seeking by Nelly, who doesn't believe her at all. By being an attention seeker, Catherine gets what she wants, and if she doesn't, then she will do her damnedest to make sure she gets it. Because she cannot have both Edgar and Heathcliff, she makes herself terribly ill because they have both broken her heart by arguing. By doing all of this, Catherine makes herself so ill, that she eventually dies. But before she dies, Heathcliff wills to see her. He is portrayed as the romantic hero then towards Catherine. He cries when she is drastically ill and dying in his arms. â€Å"Oh Cathy! Oh my life! How can I bear it? This shows how hypersensitive he can be. He truly loves Catherine and doesn't want to lose her. He blames her for inflicting pain on him by making herself ill. He hates her for it but he still madly and deeply loves her and cannot find it in himself to hate her forever. He has an absolute determination to be with her for as long as they both shall live and even when she dies, he cries. He detests being away from her and wills her to haunt him. He cannot bear the thought of someone else having her, which is why he was so cut up about Catherine and Edgar getting married. He believes in transcendent love and wants to carry on loving her but wants to be with her. He wants Catherine to come back to him so they can carry on together. Whilst he is with Catherine, he turns quite violent on her and shouts at her, demanding to know why she has been making him suffer so badly. She is very apologetic towards him and begs for his forgiveness, as well as wishing she wasn't dying so she could be with him for even longer. Heathcliff is intent of pushing the boundaries so as he and Catherine can be together forever. Towards Hindley's son Hareton, he deviously takes away his rights, but at the same time, makes Hareton love his oppressor. Because Hindley has neglected Hareton due to his drink problem, Heathcliff has taken the liberty of acting like Hareton's parent, but at the same time, taken all of Hareton's rights away from him and downtrodden him to the level Hindley walked over and belittled Heathcliff to. This is one form of many ways of revenge Heathcliff has on the Earnshaw family. We wouldn't have expected this of Heathcliff, because Nelly described him as a sweet little boy who never stirred whilst ill. Heathcliff has shown and intrinsically evil villainous side to him. He is a born evil character and is always seeking revenge on everyone who mistreated him or anyone who did something to him or did something he didn't like, such as Edgar and Catherine getting married. An intrinsically evil villain is one who is pure evil, 100% evil even. He or she will stomp and trample over anyone to get what he or she wants and will not stop until they get it. His actions and evil motives are essential to the plot because he is the most unpredictable person in the novel. What he does is so unpredictable, yet so obvious. This reading of Heathcliff is backed by his mistreatment of Isabella and Hareton, his scheming to get what he wants (namely Wuthering Heights, Thrushcross Grange and Catherine) and his violence towards Hindley. â€Å"If you don't let me in, I'll kill you! † this evil quote was spoken by Heathcliff and aimed towards Isabella. This was when she locked him out in the cold, just like when Hindley made him sleep in the stables. We cannot however, deny the fact that we are secretly impressed with his cleverness, shown through his scheming and wickedness. We are impressed because we are all a tiny bit envious of him because of his cleverness and amazed at how he gets away with the scheming. Not only does he act a role of the villain but he also challenges the generic description of a romantic hero. He has no morals, his behaviour is devilish and demonic, his gothic and vampiric connotations and his sheer enjoyment of being with the dead. He is, to some extent an anti-hero, yet has the charm and with to win over anyone he chooses. He is cunning, conniving, scheming and hell-bent on revenge. This type of behaviour makes him out to be an anti-hero. He is so outrageous and demonic, he lacks all heroic, admirable morals and qualities and is so evil, and it is hard to describe him as a hero. Throughout the book, Heathcliff only ever shows his ‘romantic' qualities he has to Catherine. He doesn't show them to Isabella, who really he should because she is his wife. He is totally iniquitous towards Isabella. However, she does antagonise him by taunting him about the death of Catherine and derides him about how he is going to live without her. It doesn't help that she locks him out of his own house. We sympathise with Heathcliff over the way he treats Isabella because she is silly and has a terrible attitude. His vengeance also stemmed from abuse he suffered as a young child from Hindley. Although he was a calm and peaceful child, his revenge grew and grew. So we fell his actions towards these two individuals is justifiable. For some strange reason he always has our feeling that, however unscrupulous his behaviour is, he is always right and justified. We see him as a villain but sympathise with him on the night of the funeral for the reason that he is distraught at the thought and reality of losing Catherine. Bronti is making a stand against convention. She feels that by giving males the dominance in novels and life is unfair, so she makes a stand against it. She wants people to be shocked by reading this novel and feels the only way she can do it is by doing the normal, then flipping it upside down. For example, Catherine is a rich female living with her husband. However, she is the more dominant of the two, which would have been strange to individuals in the Victorian era. The novel at the time was received with great criticism. One review of the novel quotes â€Å"too disgusting for the eye or the ear to tolerate, and unredeemed, so far as we could see, by one single particle either of wit or humour, or even psychological truth, for the characters are as false as they are loathsome. † This was one of the reviews that many people would have agreed with. They would have agreed with this because the characters were indeed eccentric and officious, but they were what they were. They were characters in a kind of love triangle. They were ordinary people who had very tumultuous relationships but deeply loved each other. Edgar loves Catherine, Heathcliff loves Catherine and Catherine loves both Heathcliff and Edgar. The novel was considered to be evil and immoral. Bronti wrote about females dominating some men in the novel. She defied convention to try and shock the reader into reality. She truly believed that women should have had the same rights as the men had. She criticised the way that women had to give up themselves and remain silent. This means they had no say in what happened. They could not work. They had to sit at home all day and sew or serve. Bronti didn't like that, so she wrote a novel that would make the reader see reality and hopefully change the way women lived. To publish the novel however, she used a pseudonym. She used the pseudonym ‘Ellis Bell'. If women wrote anything for example, it would not be published. The world then was considered to be male. The only way for women to heard was if they somehow managed to present themselves as male. This is why she used the pseudonym Ellis Bell. Her sister, Charlotte Bronti, also a writer, used the pseudonym Currer Bell, so as her novels, including Jane Eyre, could be published. Emily Bronti challenges stereotypes and the archetypal heroes that the readers are familiar with. She criticises the people who do not stand up for what they believe in. in Heathcliff, there is a character that everybody has to love because he poses a threat to conventional order and morality. Without Heathcliff, the novel would lack all passion and be boring and tentative. Bronti's suggestion in this novel is that people should follow their heart and not convention. Heathcliff and Catherine's idea of heaven is returning to the Heights. This is highly unconventional and totally unchristian. The raison d'itre of all the tragedy and evil in the novel was a result of Catherine doing what every other women in the Victorian era, not standing up for what she believed in and not standing up for what she really wanted. Heathcliff is full of contradictions. He has been described by many as a villain and also described as a romantic hero. He is intrinsically evil and contradictory. He is also an archetypal romantic hero. He flouts the typical description of him as a romantic hero and swears he is not a romantic hero. He seems to be double edged and has an absolute determination to be with his one true love forever. He is a great believer in transcendent love and assumes he can push the boundaries and be with Catherine for as long as time. His connotations with the devil and death are clearly stated and he refuses to be classed as a hero. He fascinates yet repulses us. We seem to take his side no matter how awful and immoral his actions are. I think that Bronti challenged the Victorian critics because she wanted to change the way life was. Women were not allowed a say in anything that happened, and she felt that that wasn't fair. Personally, I don't think Heathcliff is a very approachable character. He is moody, self-centred, annoying, vile, hypocritical and malevolently malicious. He only cares about himself, even after 150 years he is problematically difficult to understand. â€Å"His black eyes withdraw so suspiciously under his brows† is a perfect description of the demonic, evil mortal he is; he denotes the demonic qualities of a flea. He is annoying, you wish he wasn't there; you purposefully avoid anything like him and certainly do not want to be another victim of his cruel, malicious, blood sucking nature.

Friday, November 8, 2019

150+ Useful Character Quirks (Plus a Few Clichés to Avoid)

150+ Useful Character Quirks (Plus a Few Clichà ©s to Avoid) 150+ Useful Character Quirks (Plus a Few Clichà ©s to Avoid) Writing great characters is a constant balancing act - you want each one to have certain quirks and flaws, but you don’t want them to be SO zany that they’re off-putting to readers. So how can you come up with realistic traits that humanize your characters, without falling into clichà ©?Luckily, this post offers a list of over 150 unique character quirks and traits that avoid clichà © and can help make the people in your story much more relatable! But before we get into that, here are a few notes on what character quirks are in stories and how to use them. Check out this list of over 150 character quirks (that you can steal for your book). What are character quirks? Making sourdough - so quirky! (Photo by  Nathan Dumlao)This section contains suggestions for unique strengths and talents, as well as weaknesses or negative traits one might possess.Strengths/talents:Fantastic cook or bakerSkilled musician (piano, guitar, violin, etc.)Artistic talent (drawing, painting, sculpting, etc.)Model athlete (football, hockey, swimming, etc.)Great at voices/ventriloquyCan do sleight-of-hand - may be a pickpocketSpeaks multiple languages, even obscure onesKnows everything about historyMathematical or scientific geniusBrilliant coder and can hack into any databaseSkilled mechanical inventorCan build or put together anythingSuper-quick logical reasoningExceptional memory/genius IQ (several of the above might fall under this one)Special connection with animalsSuper empathetic and understanding of other peopleExtremely fast runnerContortionist (can twist their body into any shape)Psychic talent (can predict the future)Amazing mechanicSuper strength, flying, in visibility or other superpowersUnusually high tolerance for painSurvival skills like hunting and fishingQuick reflexes, acts fast in a crisisBrave and fearless, not scared of anythingAble to talk their way out of any trouble/invent stories on the flyWeaknesses/negative traits:Awful driverAlways running lateIllegible handwritingTerrible at public speakingSocially awkward - hard for them to make friendsHas tons of credit card debt from online shoppingSelf-destructive and always wants what’s worst for themGets blackout drunk every time they go outExtremely conceited or arrogantCompulsive liarManipulative of friendsGets jealous over nothingOften mean for no reasonUnbelievably self-centeredExtremely passive-aggressiveArachnophobia (irrational fear of spiders)Coulrophobia (irrational fear of clowns)Agoraphobia (irrational fear of leaving the house)Pantophobia (fear of everything)Be careful how you incorporate these strengths and weaknesses, as you don’t want their inclusion to seem unnatural. After all, personality traits tend to reveal themselves on a daily basis, but this may not be true for their special talents and fears.Indeed, sometimes the best way to use quirks like these is to surprise your reader with it at the right moment. Maybe it’s the eleventh hour, and your MC has nowhere else to turn, only for their friend’s special skill to save the day!Also, as you can tell from both lists, there’s quite a range of strengths and weaknesses you can give your characters. Some of those talents require more practice than others, and some of the weaknesses are greater flaws than others - for instance, being a mean or manipulative person is obviously much worse than having bad handwriting. However, it’s good to be familiar with a wide range of both major and minor quirks so you can create more well-rounded characters.MiscellaneousThese are idiosyncrasies that don’t really fit into any of the above categories, but could still be of good use in your story.Dresses all in one colorBedroom is decorated exactly like a Pinterest pictureWon’t drink still water, only sparklingRefuses to use headphones and blasts their music in publicAlways dresses too nicely for the occasionWalks around barefoot, even in stores and other public placesHates being inside, sleeps and goes to the bathroom outdoorsCan’t help but look in every mirror they passWears a small plastic backpack everywherePreps their meals three weeks in advanceDrinks shots of espresso all day longSings opera in the showerMakes their own (terrible) abstract art and hangs it on their wallsGets super excited about Christmas and then really depressed in JanuaryRefuses to wear glasses even though they need themCarries around a secret teddy bearHas been wearing the same friendship bracelet for three yearsFastidiously lint-rolls all their clothingWill a shop or restaurant if someone walks in with a babyExtremely superstitious (knocks on wood, avoids the number 13, etc.)Drops everything other people ask them to holdLikes to go out dancing by themselvesPrefers to have the lights off or dimmed at all timesOnly reads books written before 1900Only watches movies that get really bad reviewsAlways wears multiple sweaters on top of each otherWon’t eat anything that doesn’t have bread (at least on the side)Thinks they’re a time-traveler from the medieval eraGives friends and family excellent homemade presentsLeaves the office last every day so they can push all the chairs inHates jagged numbers (always fills their gas tank to the dollar, sends emails on the hour, etc.)Has an imaginary friend they still talk to, even in adulthoodOwns a lizard that they try and use as a guard dogListens exclusively to Britney SpearsLeaves little notes in library books for future readersUses tissues to hold onto poles on public transportationWears their hair in Princess Leia bunsNever goes a day without talking to their momHums â€Å"In the Hall of the Mountain King† when they get stressedClucks their tongue while walking, so they sound like a horseQuotes Pulp Fiction all the timeLoves hanging out in completely empty placesConvinced they’re going to die in a freak accidentGrows all their own food in their vegetable gardenNever pays for train or bus ticketsCan recite Shakespearean sonnetsRecycles and eats vegetarian, but only out of guiltHas a â€Å"vision board† posted on their ceilingLoves the beach but hates swimmingFlicks people in the forehead when they get annoyedLaughs at everything, even bad jokesCurates a great Instagram feed of street art Sings opera, owns a lizard, plus 50 more original quirks to use in your story 🎠¶Ã°Å¸ ¦Å½ Clichà ©d â€Å"quirks† to avoidGiving your characters interesting tics can cross-over into ham-fisted writing if your quirks are used way too much, like the following:Pale skinCrooked smileâ€Å"Intense† stareRelentless clumsinessArtificial hair colors that are supposedly naturalCharacters thinking they’re unattractive when everyone else thinks they’re beautifulBasically, any archetype that hasn’t been developed enoughWhen readers see these traits on the page, they roll their eyes and think, â€Å"Ugh, not again.† Many of these aren’t even quirks, but fairly common traits that the writer attempts to romanticize. Traits like these signify to the reader that the author has barely put any thought into developing their characters - they’ve just chosen ostensibly quirky features that are actually overused and ineffective. So stay away from them at all costs!As we said, the business of selecting and integrating quirks is more compl icated than it seems. But after reading through this guide, you should have a much better understanding of what they are and how to use them†¦ not to mention a tremendous variety of quirks from which to choose! So will your character be a gum-chewing code genius or a short-tempered contortionist? From here on out, it’s all up to you.What are some of your characters' quirks? Tell us in the comments below!