The meaning of life Essay Example for Free

The meaning of life Essay All praise be to God, the Sustainer of All the Worlds,and blessings and peace be upon our master Muhammad,and on all his Family and Companions. [Brother! You wanted a few words of advice from me, so listen to a few truths included in eight short stories, which since you are a soldier, are in the form of comparisons of a military nature. I consider my own soul to need advice more than anyone, and at one time I addressed my soul at some length with Eight Words inspired by eight verses of the Qur’an from which I had benefited. Now I shall address my soul with these same Words, but briefly and in the language of ordinary people. Whoever wishes may listen together with me. ] The First Word Bismillah, â€Å"In the Name of God,† is the start of all things good. We too shall start with it. Know, O my soul! Just as this blessed phrase is a mark of Islam, so too it is constantly recited by all beings through their tongues of disposition. If you want to know what an inexhaustible strength, what an unending source of bounty is Bismillah, listen to the following story which is in the form of a comparison. It goes like this: Someone who makes a journey through the deserts of Arabia has to travel in the name of a tribal chief and enter under his protection, for in this way he may be saved from the assaults of bandits and secure his needs. On his own he will perish in the face of innumerable enemies and needs. And so, two men went on such a journey and entered the desert. One of them was modest and humble, the other proud and conceited. The humble man assumed the name of a tribal chief, while the proud man did not. The first travelled safely wherever he went. If he encountered bandits, he said: â€Å"I am travelling in the name of such-and-such tribal leader,† and they did not molest him. If he came to some tents, he was treated respectfully due to the name. But the proud man suffered indescribable calamities throughout his journey. He both trembled before everything and begged from everything. He was abased and became an object of scorn. My proud soul! You are the traveller, and this world is a desert. Your impotence and poverty have no limit, and your enemies and needs are endless. Since it is thus, take the name of the Pre-Eternal Ruler and Post-Eternal Lord of the desert and be saved from begging before the whole universe and trembling before every event. Yes, this phrase is a treasury so blessed that your infinite impotence and poverty bind you to an infinite power and mercy; it makes your impotence and poverty a most acceptable intercessor at the Court of One All-Powerful and Compassionate. The person who acts saying, â€Å"In the Name of God,† resembles someone who enrolls in the army. He acts in the name of the government; he has fear of no one; he speaks, performs every matter, and withstands everything in the name of the law and the name of the government. At the beginning we said that all beings say â€Å"In the Name of God† through the tongue of disposition. Is that so? Indeed, it is so. If you were to see that a single person had come and had driven all the inhabitants of a town to a place by force and compelled them to work, you would be certain that he had not acted in his own name and through his own power, but was a soldier, acting in the name of the government and relying on the power of the king. In the same way, all things act in the name of Almighty God, for minute things like seeds and grains bear huge trees on their heads; they raise loads like mountains. That means all trees say: â€Å"In the Name of God,† fill their hands from the treasury of mercy, and offer them to us. All gardens say: â€Å"In the Name of God,† and become cauldrons from the kitchens of Divine power in which are cooked numerous varieties of different foods. All blessed animals like cows, camels, sheep, and goats, say: â€Å"In the Name of God,† and produce springs of milk from the abundance of mercy, offering us a most delicate and pure food like the water of life in the name of the Provider. The roots and rootlets, soft as silk, of plants, trees, and grasses say: â€Å"In the Name of God,† and pierce and pass through hard rock and earth. Mentioning the name of God, the name of the Most Merciful, everything becomes subjected to them. The roots spreading through hard rock and earth and producing fruits as easily as the branches spread through the air and produce fruits, and the delicate green leaves retaining their moisture for months in the face of extreme heat, deal a slap in the mouths of Naturalists and jab a finger in their blind eyes, saying: â€Å"Even heat and hardness, in which you most trust, are under a command. For like the Staff of Moses, each of those silken rootlets conform to the command of, And We said, O Moses, strike the rock with your staff,1 and split the rock. And the delicate leaves fine as cigarette paper recite the verse, O fire be coolness and peace2 against the heat of the fire, each like the members of Abraham (UWP). Since all things say: â€Å"In the Name of God,† and bearing God’s bounties in God’s name, give them to us, we too should say: â€Å"In the Name of God. † We should give in the name of God, and take in the name of God. And we should not take from heedless people who neglect to give in God’s name. Question: We give a price to people, who are like tray-bearers. So what price does God want, Who is the true owner? The Answer: Yes, the price the True Bestower of Bounties wants in return for those valuable bounties and goods is three things: one is remembrance, another is thanks, and the other is reflection. Saying, â€Å"In the Name of God† at the start is remembrance , and, â€Å"All praise be to God† at the end is thanks. And perceiving and thinking of those bounties, which are priceless wonders of art, being miracles of power of the Unique and Eternally Besought One and gifts of His mercy, is reflection . However foolish it is to kiss the foot of a lowly man who conveys to you the precious gift of a king and not to recognize the gift’s owner, it is a thousand times more foolish to praise and love the apparent source of bounties and forget the True Bestower of Bounties. O my soul! If you do not wish to be foolish in that way, give in God’s name, take in God’s name, begin in God’s name, and act in God’s name.

Case Analysis for Nursing Ethics Paper Essay Example for Free

Case Analysis for Nursing Ethics Paper Essay Overview A forty-eight year old female patient was brought into the emergency department with petechiae/purpura distributed over her skin. Her husband reported that she started to bleed from her nostrils and mouth. She suddenly appeared to have had what seemed to be unexplained bruises on her body and was semi comatose. In a state of panic, her husband brought her to the emergency department. With a heart rate of 180, her blood pressure was 60/24 and she was going into endotoxic shock. She received emergency care that made her stable enough to be transferred to the ICU where she became conscious and able to communicate. The medical team explained the seriousness of her condition and their plans for her treatment but she declined their proposal for further care and complained about inadequate insurance coverage for that hospital. She further professed her faith in God for divine healing. The medical team was then faced with offering this patient treatment regardless of her ability to pay to avoid the imminent danger of her leaving the hospital at that time. Medical Indications This forty eight year old female patient, who had no medical history in this hospital was diagnosed with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC). DIC is a rare, life-threatening condition that prevents normal blood clotting in an individual. A treatment refusal or decline may hasten the disease process resulting in excessive clotting (thrombosis) or bleeding (hemorrhage) throughout the body leading to shock, organ failure or even death. Prognosis varies depending on the underlying disorder and the extent of clotting. Regardless of the cause, the prognosis is often poor, with 10-50% of patients dying. The goal of treatment is to stop bleeding and prevent death. According to WebMD (2007), in DIC, the body’s natural ability to regulate clotting does not function properly. This causes the platelets to clump and clog small blood vessels throughout the body. This excessive clotting damages organs, destroys blood cells, and depletes the supply of platelets and other clotting factors so that the blood is no longer able to clot normally. This often causes widespread bleeding, both internally and externally, a condition that can be reversed if treatment is carried out  promptly. Current indication for treatment include interventions such as transfusion of blood cells and other blood products to replace what has been lost through bleeding. Numerous tests to establish the probable cause of this condition have to be done because it is usually a first symptom of a disease such as cancer or it could be triggered by another major health problem. Patient Preferences The patient is informed of the benefits of follow up interventions after emergency care as well as the likelihood of losing functions of major organs and even death without following interventions being implemented. The principle of autonomy comes to play since it is her right to choose where, when and how she gets her health care. Based on the medical report and her personal reasons for deciding to leave the hospital against medical advice, there seems to be no evidence that she is mentally incapable. There is also no justification in disregarding her requests nevertheless, it is doubtful if she actually understands and appreciates the situation. Her preferences were to be signed AMA (against medical advice) so she can find cheaper, alternative care. Her husband, who was present with her, tried to convince her to accept the teams’ proposal but she insisted that she could not afford it. In my opinion, the patient decision was as a result of her ignorance of what choices was av ailable to her. Quality of life The quality of life for this patient is severely compromised because of the symptoms associated with this diagnosis (bleeding, syncope, weakness, shortness of breath, etc). As stated earlier, DIC could be as a result of an underlying disease such as cancer. If so, chemotherapy and radiation could help alleviate symptoms and give her a vibrant life expectancy. Also, there is the possibility that she would experience tremendous medical progress with treatment if her diagnosis has to do with platelet malfunction. However, we cannot tell, since she turned down any advice by the team to carry out blood tests. Without immediate treatment, she runs the risk of damage to major organs of her body, which could eventually lead to death. Time is of essence here because the longer she delays intervention, the more likely she has irrevocable damage that might negatively alter her previous  quality of life. Ethical issues that would arise with this patient is the emergency care she got, it got her stable enough to where she could refuse treatment. An assumption that we could make about receiving that care is, ‘what if she got into a DIC coma and had to be on a ventilator?’. She would have been unconscious and would probably not be able to debate whether she receives care or not. Contextual features Without casting aspersions, the reason, obvious to me, for refusal of care is financial. The patient talked about shopping for cheaper healthcare. This is a patient born to American missionaries in Brazil. As an American citizen, she took up the calling of her parents and was also a missonary in Brazil for most of her life. She married a man from England who is unaware of how the American system works. Her reason is justified because she probably had little to no social security and with her sojourn in Brazil, we can say that she has been accultured. Therefore her outlook and way of thinking would affect her decision about healthcare in America. Another contextual feature is that of religion and faith, the patient said that her faith in God would heal her but failed to see that this might be why she was at the hospital at that time. It is difficult to attribute her decision solely to faith or finance alone but one thing that stands out is the fact her husband tried to convince her otherwise. Still, she kept saying this was what she wanted. Her husband seemed helpless as he tried to communicate with the team however the patient kept saying that this was about her not him. My patient’s lack of insurance, her job as a missionary and her inability to pay acts as a bias that would prejudice the providers’ evaluation of her quality of life. Analysis The goal of medicine involves promoting health, curing disease, optimizing quality of life, preventing untimely death, improving function (maleficence), educating and counseling, avoiding harm (non-maleficence) and assisting in a peaceful death. The ethical dilemma is deciding to let her go based on her wishes (autonomy) versus doing what seems to be the overall right thing (paternalism), which is giving her treatment (beneficence), thus preventing harm (non-maleficence). The maleficent nature of medicine propels the team to convince the patient of what they think would restore her  health. In a bid to ‘do good(maleficence), she got emergency care that made her stable enough to communicate and state her wishes. Apart from maleficence and non-maleficence there are multiple ethical issues embedded in this case; the medical team is faced with honoring this patient’s autonomy and letting her go when they know she could be dead in a few hours without treatment. Nevertheless the patient is exercising her autonomy at her own detriment because she and her husband got adequate disclosure communicated clearly by the healthcare team about the reasons for treatment and the benefits burdens related to her decision. The team’s scope of disclosure covered her current medical state, the possible interventions to improve prognosis and their recommendation based on clinical judgement. In addition, they are faced with medically determining her decisional capacity because of the possibility that her mental state might be affected by the pathology and her inability to afford care. If proven to be incompetent, then interventions are carried out regardless of what she wants. Hence, the medical team will deliberately override this patient’s autonomy because of their perceived notion of beneficence (paternalism). As medical practitioners, the team weighs the consequence (utilitarianism) of letting her go. To them, the action that would produce the best overall result is to go ahead and give her treatment. The ethical theory of deontology gives the team, the moral duty and obligation to do good and prevent harm. Compassion and sympathy (Ethics of care) also play a big role here, consider a patient who had committed her life to helping others, yet in her time of need could not get reciprocity. These emotions should play a major role in how the team decides to proceed. The nurse involved with this patient has an obligation to get to know this patient so that she can effectively advocate for her. Inasmuch as I know she has the right to refuse treatment, I strongly believe that her refusal is based on the insubstantiality of information and her lack of knowledge of what is accessible to her. Recommendation I recommend that the patient’s autonomy be empowered not overpowered by giving her information on what is available to her. An advocate (her nurse, case manager or social worker) should be assigned to her. In addition, the Chaplain should be invited to offer spiritual counseling. Asking the right questions, getting to understand her fears and giving her hope. Many  hospitals and clinics have patient navigators that can help determine financial aid for patients who cannot afford care or who do not have Medicaid/insurance. The team should encourage the patient that at this point money is of no consequence, her life and health come first in other words everything will be done to get her aid. I also recommend that the team critically asseses the decision-making capacity of the patient since it determines whether a patient’s health care decisions will be sought and accepted. Furthermore the patient should also be educated on and encouraged to put in place advanced directives to promote her autonomy and avoid a situation where there is no one to decide in case she is incapacitated. Justification In my opinion, Individuals respond favorably to people, things, beliefs and circumstances that hold significance, value and passion for them. Pesut’s (2009) article, confirms that incorporating spirituality into care where appropriate, has the potential to maximize health care quality. For this to be effective, the healthcare team has to look at the patient holistically, they have to put into consideration her profession of faith and how getting the chaplain involved will convince her that the medical team does not just want her money rather they value her worth. Subsequently, paternalism as a recommendation seems to be arbitrary and counteracts the autonomy of the patient, yet Whitney and McCullough (2007) in their article Physicians Silent Decisions: Because Patient Autonomy Does not Always Come First, give support to selective paternalism. They argue that Patients values and preferences play varying roles in medical decisions (Whitney et al. 2004). Indeed my patients refusal to accept care was not because she wanted to die but because her values of faith and her preference to spend within her means trumped getting the immediate intervention. Suffice to say that culture can be considered in this case because it influences values and preferences. My patients background was Brazilian, this is a country where there is little trust for the healthcare system. Hospitals and clinics are more interested in how much money they can make. So, Individuals that reside there, do not have routine checkup, they often wait till they are about to die before they go to a physician. And in this time they are constantly visiting places of worship in belief that they would be miraculously healed. As a result, my  patient probably had many symptoms over a period of time but did not go to the hospital, incidentally when she was brought in, it was a matter of life and death. With the team’s knowledge of her diagnosis and its prognosis, my patie nts preference became largely irrelevant. Yet, the physicians wanted to respect her autonomy and her sense of dignity by maintaining her part in the decision-making. As medical practitioners we uphold the goals of shared decision-making and of empowering patients to make important choices. However, these objectives provide important insights, not universal answers. In medicine, as elsewhere, individual choice, however highly we value it, must compete with individual welfare and with constraints of time and money hence the decisive factor will depend on the particular situation at hand. (Whitney and McCullough 2007 p. 37). Next, they explained that decision-making, whether silent or spoken by the physician must be understood in terms of the clinical encounter. In fact the overriding of her autonomy was for her own good. My rationale for encouraging advanced directives especially if she is deemed competent at the moment is, in the event that she can no longer make a decision in the future, something and someone will be in place to help. It will help to guide future clinical decisions and promote confidence in the decision of the surrogate she choos es. According to Lynch, Mathes and Sawicki (2008), patients are in the best position to make choices for themselves, or at least a position that is superior to that held by any other party. Therefore, patient directives must be enforced, though not through the mechanism of strict liability. (p. 158). Therefore, a decision written and signed by the patient legally would prevail, in the event that she becomes incapacitated and cannot decide she would already have that in place. Medical practitioners are encouraged to inform all patients’ about the importance of advance directives because it removes the burden of dealing with what the patients would have wanted. In summary, the discussion and justification of proceeding with medical intervention yet disregarding the patient’s decision, proves that autonomy can be respectfully countered. This is congruent in continuing with medicine’s obligation to do no harm, do good and serve in the best interest of the patient. Evaluation The desired outcome was that this patient receives the care and intervention  that she needed in time to prevent gross damage to her body thus altering her quality of life. With the input of the chaplain, her husband, the advocate and careful communication with this patient, the patient admits that she wanted the best care. She accepts the offer for financial assistance and receives the appropriate intervention. The nurse and medical personnel express satisfaction in saving her life (maleficent), Her husband is elated and he also signs an advanced directive for himself. It seemed difficult to convince the patient at first but once the suggestion for financial aid and the Chaplain was received, the patient complied with all other recommendations. References Lynch, H. F., Mathes, M., Sawicki, N.N., (2008). Compliance With Advance Directives: Wrongful Living And Tort Law Incentives. The Journal Of Legal Medicine, 29:133–178. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.proxy.medlib.iupui.edu/pubmed/18569439 Pesut, B. (2009). Incorporating patients spirituality into care using Gadows ethical framework. Nurs Ethics. 2009 Jul;16(4):418-28.Retrieved from http://nej.sagepub.com.proxy.medlib.iupui.edu/content/16/4/418.long WebMD, (2007). Retrieved November 26, 2012, from http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/disseminated-intravascular-coagulation-dic-topic-overview Whitney, S. N., McCullough, B. L. (2007). Physicians’ Silent Decisions: Because Patient Autonomy Does Not Always Come First. The American Journal of Bioethics, 7(7): 33–38, 2007. Retrieved from http://mcr.sagepub.com.proxy.medlib.iupui.edu/content/early/2012/10/31/1077558712461952.long

Copolymerization of Styrene and a Cyclic Peptide

Copolymerization of Styrene and a Cyclic Peptide Putting peptides into the backbone chain of polyolefins: the radical copolymerization of styrene and a cyclic peptide containing the disulfide bond Anja C. Paulya, Daniel Rentschb and Fabio di Lena*a. Supporting Information ABSTRACT: For the first time, a vinyl monomer such as styrene has been radically copolymerized with a cyclic peptide containing the disulfide bond. A new class of bio-hybrids is obtained in which the amino acid sequence is statistically distributed within the polymer’s backbone chain. The structure of the copolymer has been confirmed by means of conventional as well as diffusion-edited 1H NMR, MALDI FT-ICR mass spectrometry, FT-IR spectroscopy, TGA, DSC, and a series of control experiments. With the aim to combine the advantageous properties of biological macromolecules such as, for example, the biological function, molecular recognition, and chirality, with the solution properties, processability, etc. of synthetic macromolecules, polymer chemists have started to develop the so-called bio-hybrid polymers. Bioconjugates are the most studied class of bio-hybrids.1 These are block copolymers in which a protein, polysaccharide or nucleotide is chemically linked to a synthetic polymer such as a polyolefin, polyether or polyester. In this type of structures, the constituent blocks maintain their individual properties, which make them, in many ways, similar to polymer mixtures. At odds with block copolymers, statistical copolymers do not exhibit the characteristics of polymer mixtures but behave like homogeneous materials with peculiar physical and chemical properties. Here we report the preparation of a new class of bio-hybrids in which, much like in statistical copolymers, an amino acid sequence is incorporated directly into the backbone chain of a polyolefin like polystyrene. The polymers are prepared by the radical ring-opening copolymerization2of a cyclic peptide containing the disulfide (S-S) bond and styrene. Cycles containing the S-S bond are known to undergo radical copolymerization with vinyl monomers such as methyl acrylate, vinyl acetate, acrylonitrile and styrene.3 The driving force behind the research is our interest in finding new, simple and industrially friendly ways to turn commodity polymers into specialty polymers with high added value. To our knowledge, the only examples of polyolefins containing amino acids in the backbone chain have been prepared by Wagener and co-workers by means of acyclic diene metathesis (ADMET)4 polymerization of dienes containing a single amino acid residue conducted in the presence of a ruthenium carbene catalyst.5 The approach we describe here is metal-free, enables the incorporation of sequences of amino acids and employs radical polymerization, a process with which more than 50% of all the polymers produced worldwide are made. Scheme 1. Radical copolymerization of styrene with the cyclic tripeptide cCLC. Styrene and the cyclic peptide S1,S3-cyclo(L-cysteinyl-L-leucyl-L-cysteine), from now on referred to as cCLC (or CLC when ring-opened), were chosen as model monomers. They were reacted with a molar ratio of 94:6 in dimethyl sulfoxide Table 1. Polymerization conditions, yield, number average molecular weight, polydispersity index, degradation temperatures, glass transition temperatures and CLC content of the copolymers. Copolymer P1 P2 Styrene/cCLC/AIBNa) 94/6/5 molar ratio 94/6/2 molar ratio Yieldb) 40 % 43 % c) 2,500 5,400 PDIc) 1.79 1.64 Tdeg1 198 °C 215 °C Tdeg2 417 °C 419 °C Tg 66 °C 54 °C CLC contentd) 6 mol% mol% 1M in DMSO. After precipitation in water and dialysis in MeOH. Determination by SEC in THF on the basis of polystyrene calibration. Determination by comparison of the integrated peaks in the 1H-NMR spectra of the isopropyl unit in CLC and the phenyl unit in polystyrene. (DMSO) at 70  ºC for 12h with two different amounts of azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) affording the copolymers P1 and P2 (Scheme 1, Table 1). The copolymers were purified by precipitation in water and dialysis in methanol so as to remove, among the other possible impurities, unreacted cCLC and/or cCLC-derived by-products. The overall yield was equal to 40% for P1 and 43% for P2. When analysed by means of size exclusion chromatography (SEC), the copolymer P1, obtained by using a higher amount of AIBN, resulted to have a number average molecular weight () of 2,500 and a polydispersity index (PDI) of 1.79. On the other hand, P2, synthesized by using a smaller amount of AIBN, turned out to have a higher molecular weight () and a comparable PDI of 1.64 (Table 1). The SEC traces of both copolymers are shown in the Supporting Information (Figure S1). The signals in the 1H NMR spectra of P1 (Figure S2) and P2 (Figure 1A) could be assigned to both styrene and CLC units. On the one hand, the peaks at 0.87 ppm and 1.10 ppm, visible also in 1H NMR spectrum of unreacted cCLC (Figure S3), could be assigned to the iso-propyl residue of CLC. On the other hand, the two groups of peaks at 1.54 and 1.92 ppm, and at 6.55 and 7.05 ppm correspond to the aliphatic and the aromatic protons of polystyrene, respectively. The remaining proton signals of CLC could be assigned with a lower degree of confidence due to the overlapping signals of solvent and/or polystyrene. By comparing the area underneath the peak at 0.87 ppm relative to the iso-propyl group of CLC with the area underneath the peak around 7 ppm relative to the phenyl ring of styrene, it was calculated that the peptide makes up 6 mol% of copolymer P1 and 9 mol% of P2. A different degree of co-monomer incorporation is not odd if one considers that the composition, like other properties of a polymer, is function of the chain length up to a critical value that depends on the specific system. It is then reasonable to assume that such critical value for had not been reached in the present case. The topic has been extensively investigated and the interested reader is referred to the literature for details.6 In the diffusion-edited mode, in which the 1H NMR spectra were recorded applying a flow-compensated double-stimulated-echo with a gradient strength up to 40%,7 a similar set of signals were found for the styrene and CLC units (Figure 1B and S2). By exploiting the fact that the translational diffusion in solution is size-dependent, the diffusion-edited NMR is able to discriminate between signals relative to low and high molecular weight species.8 Since only the solvent signals disappeared, the NMR data are a strong indication that the peptide is incorporated into polystyrene rather than forming a physical blend with it. It is worth noting that the diffusion-edited NMR is not quantitative and thus the molar composition of the copolymers could be determined only from the conventional 1H-NMR spectra. The analysis by MALDI FT-ICR mass spectrometry9 substantiates these conclusions. A mass distribution (Figure 2) that accurately matches that of monocharged polystyrene chains each containing one CLC moiety and AIBN-derived isobutyronitrile groups as both ÃŽ ± and ω-chain ends was indeed obtained. Figure 1. 1H-NMR spectra of the copolymer P2 (A), 1H-diffusion edited 1H-NMR spectra of the copolymer P2 with gradient strength of 40% (B) in THF-d8, and the corresponding chemical structure (C). The results of all the other analytical techniques used to characterize the copolymers are in line with what found above. In the FT-IR spectra, for example, signals belonging to both styrene and amino acid moieties could be detected (Figure 3), which are: (i) the bands at 1735 cm-1 (carboxylic group) and 1654 cm-1 (amide group) of CLC, which are also present in the FT-IR spectrum of unreacted cCLC; and (ii) the signals of the aromatic carbon-carbon bonds (1492 and 1452 cm-1) and carbon-proton bond of the phenyl rings (736 and 696 cm-1) of Figure 2. MALDI FT-ICR spectrum of the copolymer P2 in the positive mode (A), the magnification of the spectrum in the mass range 4600 – 5000 with the comparison of the theoretical and observed m/z (B), and the corresponding chemical structure (C). polystyrene. Furthermore, two distinct mass losses, one around 200  ºC and the other at 417  ºC, can be seen in the thermogravimetric (TGA) traces of the copolymers P1 and P2 (Table 1). By direct comparison with the TGA of the constituting materials, which show a mass loss at 208  °C for unreacted cCLC and one at 418  °C for pristine polystyrene, the two steps observed in the TGA of both copolymers could be assigned to the degradation of the CLC and styrene units, respectively (Figure S4). The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermogram of P1 displayed a glass transition occurring around 66  ºC, which is identical to the glass transition temperature (Tg) of a polystyrene of prepared in our lab (66  ºC). Therefore, the amount of CLC incorporated in the polymer turned out to be too low to produce a measurable effect on the glass transition. In contrast, the amount of CLC in the copolymer P2 turned out to be sufficient to produce a change in the glass transition temp erature, which was measured to be 54  ºC (Table 1). This is significantly lower than Tg of polystyrenes with (75  ºC) and (89  ºC) prepared in our lab. The DSC scans of the two copolymers P1 and P2 in comparison with polystyrenes with similar molecular weight are shown in Figure S5. The relatively high Tg of polystyrene is classically rationalized in terms of a reduced chain flexibility due to the bulky phenyl groups that hinder the rotation of the backbone’s carbon-carbon bonds. We surmise that CLC increases the chain flexibility by acting as a spacer between the styrene units, which results in the lowering of the glass transition temperature. It is worth noting that the Tg and the of (atactic) polystyrene are positively correlated up to , after which the Tg reaches a stationary value of ca. 108  ºC.10 Hence, the use of polymers with similar molecular weights is essential for comparing, meaningfully, the glass transition temperatures. In absence of cCLC, the polymerization of styrene under the same experimental conditions afforded polymers with in 76% yield and in 73% yield for the Figure 3. FT-IR spectra of the cyclic tripeptide cCLC, the copolymer P2 and Polystyrene. lower and higher amounts of AIBN, respectively. In both cases, the molecular weights and reaction yields for pristine polystyrene were higher than those of the relative copolymers. This is not surprising since disulfides are known to act as chain transfer agents in and to produce a certain retardation effect on radical polymerization.3 When the polymerization was repeated omitting the styrene from the reaction mixture, no polymer was obtained. Hence, cCLC, like other cyclic disulfides,2 does not homopolymerize in the presence of a radical initiator. This control experiment suggests that the peptide should not be blockily distributed along the polymer chain. Moreover, the possibility that the copolymer could be alternating is ruled out by the fact that the degree of peptide incorporation is well below 50 mol%. It is therefore reasonable to assume that both P1 and P2 are statistical copolymers of styrene and CLC. Peptides like cCLC are peculiar in that they bear unbound amine and carboxyl groups while being cyclic. This makes them and their copolymers either cationic or anionic or zwitterionic depending on the pH. Charge-bearing polymers are often reported as bioactive, e.g., hemostatic11 and/or antimicrobial12. Consequently, the class of materials here described might show bioactivity without containing intrinsically bioactive, amino acid sequences. Furthermore, apart from the specific functionalities, the peptide is likely to confer improved degradability on the polyolefin. Experiments in both directions are presently ongoing and will be the subject of another publication. In conclusion, we have shown that a peptide sequence can be incorporated into the backbone chain of a polyolefin via radical polymerization. Styrene and a cyclic tripeptide containing the disulfide bond were chosen as model monomers. Although cyclic disulfides are known to ring-open via the homolytic cleavage of the S-S bond in the presence of certain radicals, the result reported in this work is not trivial since the efficiency of such a reaction depends significantly on the disulfide used. Investigations are presently underway in order to explore the monomer scope, in terms of both the olefin and the peptide, the bioactivity and degradability of the copolymers, as well as the possibility to extend the process to reversible-deactivation radical polymerizations13 such as ATRP14. The preparation of a whole new range of functional and degradable materials is anticipated. ASSOCIATED CONTENT Supporting Information Detailed experimental procedures as well as spectroscopic, thermal and chromatographic data. This material is available free of charge via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org. REFERENCES 1.Lutz, J.-F.; Bà ¶rner, H. G., Modern trends in polymer bioconjugates design. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2008, 33 (1), 1-39. 2.Sanda, F.; Endo, T., Radical ring-opening polymerization. J. Polym. Sci. A Polym. Chem. 2001, 39, 265–276. 3.(a) Stockmayer, W. H.; Howard, R. O.; Clarke, J. T., Copolymerization of vinyl acetate with a cyclic disulfide. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1953, 75 (7), 1756-1757; (b) Tobolsky, A. V.; Baysal, B., The Reaction between styrene and ring disulfides: copolymerization effected by the chain transfer reaction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1953, 75 (7), 1757-1757; (c) Suzuki, T.; Nambu, Y.; Endo, T., Radical copolymerization of lipoamide with vinyl monomers. Macromolecules 1990, 23, 1579-1582. 4.Baughman, T. W.; Wagener, K. B., Recent advances in ADMET polymerization. Adv. Polym. Sci. 2005, 176, 1-42. 5.Hopkins, T. E.; Pawlow, J. H.; Koren, D. L.; Deters, K. S.; Solivan, S. M.; Davis, J. A.; Gomez, F. J.; Wagener, K. B., Chiral polyolefins bearing amino acids. Macromolecules 2001, 34, 7920-7922. 6.(a) Mirabella Jr, F. M.; Barrall Ii, E. M.; Jordan, E. F., Jr.; Johnson, J. F., Copolymer composition as a function of molecular weight and the effect of conversion on this relationship. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 1976, 20 (3), 581-589; (b) Mirabella Jr, F. M.; Barrall Ii, E. M., Determination of copolymer composition as a function of molecular weight by preparative gel permeation chromatography and comparison to the rapid stop-and-go gpc/ir method. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 1976, 20 (4), 959-965; (c) Mirabella Jr, F. M., Monte Carlo simulation of copolymerization and compositional inhomogeneity of copolymers: comparison to experimental data. Polymer 1977, 18 (7), 705-711. 7.Jerschow, A.; Mà ¼ller, N., Suppression of convection artifacts in stimulated-echo diffusion experiments. Double-stimulated-echo experiments. J. Magn. Reson. 1997, 125 (2), 372-375. 8.(a) Chen, A.; Wu, D.; Johnson, C. S., Determination of Molecular Weight Distributions for Polymers by Diffusion-Ordered NMR. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1995, 117 (30), 7965-7970; (b) Lucas, L. H.; Larive, C. K., Measuring ligand-protein binding using NMR diffusion experiments. Concept. Magn. Reson. A 2004, 20A (1), 24-41. 9.Zhang, L.-K.; Rempel, D.; Pramanik, B. N.; Gross, M. L., Accurate mass measurements by Fourier transform mass spectrometry. Mass Spec. Rev. 2005, 24 (2), 286-309. 10.Claudy, P.; Là ©toffà ©, J. M.; Camberlain, Y.; Pascault, J. P., Glass transition of polystyrene versus molecular weight. Polym. Bull. 1983, 9 (4-5), 208-215. 11.di Lena, F., Hemostatic polymers: The concept, state of the art and perspectives. J. Mater. Chem. B 2014, 2 (23), 3567-3577. 12.Muà ±oz-Bonilla, A.; Fernà ¡ndez-Garcà ­a, M., Polymeric materials with antimicrobial activity. Prog. Polym. Sci. 2012, 37 (2), 281-339. 13.Shipp, D. A., Reversible-Deactivation Radical Polymerizations. Polym. Rev. 2011, 51 (2), 99-103. 14.Matyjaszewski, K.; Tsarevsky, N. V., Macromolecular engineering by atom transfer radical polymerization. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136 (18), 6513-6533. ToC 1

Topics of Discussion in Educational Studies :: essays research papers

Topics of Discussion in Educational Studies I read the article â€Å"Another Look at what young Children Should Be learning† because the title interested me, how do we decide what to teach and when? Who controls the standards for a school? Is it up to the teacher or is it something that the teachers were told to teach? In many cases I understand that it is a mixture of both the teachers influence and what the teacher is required to do. This makes me think back to my own experiences in school, being taught different thing and now I think, why was I taught that? This article came up with some very interesting points about education.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some of these things that I read in the article I can directly relate to my own experience. In my high school and junior high we always had learning goals. They would come up with acronyms to help us remember them and make us do project involving them. In high school they were called the ESLERS, what it stood for escapes me now. I guess the school thought it was a good idea to make sure that every classroom had these learning goals posted on the wall. I thought that was always a little silly, but I can’t think of a better way of using them. It never really helped me personally but I could see how it could help others. Learning though interaction at a young age was also mentioned in the article, I have memories of this in use as well. In my elementary school we would always have these weird things that would be secretly teaching us something. Like our first grade teacher introduced us to algebra in a way. He drew this machine on the board, and then he said that he is putting a number in one side. Then he showed us what came out the other side, and we had to figure out what the machine did. He let us put in different numbers, and it was fun. If I become a teacher I hope that I could be that creative when it comes to teaching.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the article they talk about how some methods of teaching could be good in the short run test scores, but not in the long run education of the student. They say that the amount of drills and practice in reading is a good way to teach reading, but could undermine the students’ disposition toward reading.

Personal Narrative- Life as a Journey Essay example -- Personal Narrat

Personal Narrative- Life as a Journey The journey of life follows a predetermined pattern; we evolve from needing influence and guidance to finally reaching that point where our lives are up to us. I consider myself very lucky up to this point in my journey. Some people become sidetracked and wind up on a far different course than initially planned, but the detours I made have only assisted in embellishing the individual instead of devouring it. According to Freud a person's most important period to grow personality ranges from birth to six years. In that span my biggest influences came from my family. When I think of that time before kindergarten, the single most important person to my development was my grandmother Carmen. She didn't graduate from college or sell wheat futures in the stock market, but she had wisdom and tenderness so few possess. My parents worked, so each morning my mother would drop me off at Grandma's house. I didn't realize it then but in retrospect, this woman has led a remarkable. She birthed three sons all by Caesarian section, lost a husband in middle age, and then all but raised a grandson for half a decade. She taught me how to walk and gave me my first piano lessons. She remains close to all her grandchildren yet her and I both know she holds a special place for the first one. When I began school, friends began to shape path for this journey. In the beginning we hardly know these classmates. Common interests and experiences bond or repel certain people to others. I didn't understand what friendship meant until August 16, 1997 though. That morning, I fell asleep at the wheel of my car and ran into two utility poles and a tree while going 40 miles per hour. An ambulance rushed me to Memorial... ...will become the ultimate test between temptation and my inner-strength and the morals I have placed for my own behavior. Possibly the biggest choice of any person's life remains what vocation to go into. Even areas people have skills in may not give enough satisfaction to turn into a career, whether that satisfaction stays financial or otherwise. Whatever occupation I choose, I sincerely hope that the trek will remain on its uncertain and awesome course. Throughout this journey of life many outside forces manipulate whom all of us become. Who created my personal connotation? Through every relative, friend, and composition it boils down to me. I have taken all these beliefs and crammed them into a 6 feet, 2 inch frame. The real journey lays ahead, the journey from young adulthood to old age. I only pray this journey includes many travels and few destinations.

Characteristics and behaviors of an effective counselor Essay -- Psych

Characteristics and Behaviors of Effective Counseling The purpose of this paper is to analyze counselor behaviors and characteristics utilizing a case study from the COUN 6100 learning resources (n.d.). The first section will include aspects of the counselor’s responses I find to be effective. The next will examine areas where I see the counselor’s interactions as ineffective. The final section will feature an overview of how the factors in the preceding sections might impact the case study session. Effective Characteristics and Behaviors Levitt (2001) stresses active listening as a key element of successful counseling interactions. This listening style includes a number of verbal and nonverbal skills that give the client a sense of being heard and understood (Cooper, 2010). I was only able to analyze the verbal aspects of the counselor’s interactions due to the nature of the case study. The counselor in this scenario does a good job of asking several open questions and paraphrasing the client’s thoughts. An example of an open question is when he says, â€Å"Tell me about what anger issues look like for you.† This gave more control to the client and elicited specific information to deepen the conversation (Cooper, 2010). There is a time in the scenario when the counselor suggests that the client’s wife come to the session, despite the client’s earlier comments about his wish to focus on himself. The counselor realizes his mistake and apologizes to the client immediately. He then reflects on how that exchange might have felt, which is validated by the client. This could be effective in strengthening their relationship. The summary is another important way for the counselor to help the client organize key thoughts, feelings and... ...tentiveness, I think that the therapeutic relationship started in this scenario can be productive. References Cooper, J.B. (2010). Counseling microskills. In B.T. Erford (Ed.), Orientations to the Counseling Profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (pp.148-162). New Jersey: Pearson. Levitt, D. (2001). Active Listening and Counselor Self-Efficacy: Emphasis on One Microskill in Beginning Counselor Training. Clinical Supervisor, 20(2), 101. Tape Transcript. (n.d.). [Learning resource]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/76294/CRS-WUPSYC6205-6211712/6100_Wk_5_Tape_Transcript_1.26.10.doc Sheperis, D.S. and Ellis, C.M., (2010). The counseling process. In B.T. Erford (Ed.), Orientations to the Counseling Profession: Advocacy, ethics, and essential professional foundations (pp.124-147). New Jersey: Pearson.

Statement of Purpose Computer Science

Your 1st question would be why would this guy want to do MS in Computer Science? I was first introduced to Computer when my brother brought me a laptop. Like all kids, my first application was a game. My 1st question was how did this actually work? I was very fascinated by the graphics and how easily the computer understood my moves. I never knew the man sitting behind the screen is nothing but just a few lines of code. This fascination and curiosity led me to take computers throughout my career.First I learnt basics in high school then I took up 4 years undergraduate degree and now I want to pursue masters to research my childhood dream: What is actually behind the computers? I always had a liking towards mathematics be it getting 96% in 10th standard or getting A+ during 1st year of under graduation. I grew more and more fond for mathematics which in turn reflected in my analytical decisions and reasoning skills. I knew I had to choose computers for my undergraduate degree. I got i nto xyz college which is among the top ranked institutes for engineering in India.The courses helped me gain a strong background in the fundamentals of Information Science. These were aptly complemented by the laboratory courses. The challenging assignments that were a part of the laboratory courses helped me to develop the required technical and programming skills. I also started taking part in extracurricular activities and organized technical events, which have helped me develop team spirit and good leadership qualities in me. As being part of these great events, taught me to interact with people and taking decisions. As a part of my final year thesis project, in a team of 2, I built a â€Å"Wikipedia Search Engine†.We noticed this project on the abc University Computer Science website and were very intrigued by it. We decided to test our knowledge and took up this challenge. The project was aimed at building a search engine which would semantically search the Wikipedia an d display the links to the Wiki pages which are closely related to the query given by a user. The search engine would take a phrase from the user as input, go to the related specific Wikipedia page, extract all the inner links and based on the number of count of the input phrase, it would populate the search page with links in their decreasing order of their score.This project gave me profound knowledge and expertise on Java and database concepts. In the third year, I got an opportunity to build a website for Department of Environmental Science. It was a great learning experience as I got exposure to many web technology tools and gained expertize in JavaScript, . NET, CSS. Further studies were always a priority for me but it was my belief that I must gather some valuable work experience in order to gain a larger perspective of the industry. In keeping with this idea I joined Mind Tree. I got trained in .NET technology. When I started working on the project, I realized the difference between course work during 4 years of college and the hands-on knowledge and skills required to succeed in the corporate world. I worked at Mindtree for 10 months and thereafter I got an opportunity to work for McAfee, the world pioneer in network and security. My work experience turned out to be extremely enriching for me on a host of levels. The amount of thought process which goes into building a product is tremendous. Working at pqr and fgh were very different experience.Former has helped me in sharpening my research skills whereas latter has inculcated team spirit and the ability to interact and work with both colleagues and seniors in a proactive manner. It has helped me in accepting the challenges involved to expertise new domain and new technology, getting familiarized to new concepts and has developed a sense of professionalism in me. In my old company, I was a developer working on . Net technologies and database whereas in my current company I’m working as a qualit y assurance engineer.I think, after experiencing corporate world and knowing my strengths, it is the right time to continue my studies to become a pioneer in my field of interest. I strongly believe that the research oriented graduate studies would help gain in-depth knowledge in the field of computer science and thus help me scale up to new heights in my professional career. I am confident that the higher education will give me the desired push towards a career in research and an opportunity to do well in my chosen career. I found your University to be one of the best Universities to pursue research oriented graduate studies.I am eager to work under the guidance of the distinguished faculty members of the University. I found the Department of Computer Science website a very helpful source of the information. I have been able to get good idea about the courses offered at the University and I feel that these courses and research work would help me reach my goals. I am confined that I possess the requisite background and intellectual ability and a high level of personal motivation that will enable me to successfully complete the research work and courses I undertake. Statement of Purpose Computer Science Your 1st question would be why would this guy want to do MS in Computer Science? I was first introduced to Computer when my brother brought me a laptop. Like all kids, my first application was a game. My 1st question was how did this actually work? I was very fascinated by the graphics and how easily the computer understood my moves. I never knew the man sitting behind the screen is nothing but just a few lines of code. This fascination and curiosity led me to take computers throughout my career.First I learnt basics in high school then I took up 4 years undergraduate degree and now I want to pursue masters to research my childhood dream: What is actually behind the computers? I always had a liking towards mathematics be it getting 96% in 10th standard or getting A+ during 1st year of under graduation. I grew more and more fond for mathematics which in turn reflected in my analytical decisions and reasoning skills. I knew I had to choose computers for my undergraduate degree. I got i nto xyz college which is among the top ranked institutes for engineering in India.The courses helped me gain a strong background in the fundamentals of Information Science. These were aptly complemented by the laboratory courses. The challenging assignments that were a part of the laboratory courses helped me to develop the required technical and programming skills. I also started taking part in extracurricular activities and organized technical events, which have helped me develop team spirit and good leadership qualities in me. As being part of these great events, taught me to interact with people and taking decisions. As a part of my final year thesis project, in a team of 2, I built a â€Å"Wikipedia Search Engine†.We noticed this project on the abc University Computer Science website and were very intrigued by it. We decided to test our knowledge and took up this challenge. The project was aimed at building a search engine which would semantically search the Wikipedia an d display the links to the Wiki pages which are closely related to the query given by a user. The search engine would take a phrase from the user as input, go to the related specific Wikipedia page, extract all the inner links and based on the number of count of the input phrase, it would populate the search page with links in their decreasing order of their score.This project gave me profound knowledge and expertise on Java and database concepts. In the third year, I got an opportunity to build a website for Department of Environmental Science. It was a great learning experience as I got exposure to many web technology tools and gained expertize in JavaScript, . NET, CSS. Further studies were always a priority for me but it was my belief that I must gather some valuable work experience in order to gain a larger perspective of the industry. In keeping with this idea I joined Mind Tree. I got trained in .NET technology. When I started working on the project, I realized the difference between course work during 4 years of college and the hands-on knowledge and skills required to succeed in the corporate world. I worked at Mindtree for 10 months and thereafter I got an opportunity to work for McAfee, the world pioneer in network and security. My work experience turned out to be extremely enriching for me on a host of levels. The amount of thought process which goes into building a product is tremendous. Working at pqr and fgh were very different experience.Former has helped me in sharpening my research skills whereas latter has inculcated team spirit and the ability to interact and work with both colleagues and seniors in a proactive manner. It has helped me in accepting the challenges involved to expertise new domain and new technology, getting familiarized to new concepts and has developed a sense of professionalism in me. In my old company, I was a developer working on . Net technologies and database whereas in my current company I’m working as a qualit y assurance engineer.I think, after experiencing corporate world and knowing my strengths, it is the right time to continue my studies to become a pioneer in my field of interest. I strongly believe that the research oriented graduate studies would help gain in-depth knowledge in the field of computer science and thus help me scale up to new heights in my professional career. I am confident that the higher education will give me the desired push towards a career in research and an opportunity to do well in my chosen career. I found your University to be one of the best Universities to pursue research oriented graduate studies.I am eager to work under the guidance of the distinguished faculty members of the University. I found the Department of Computer Science website a very helpful source of the information. I have been able to get good idea about the courses offered at the University and I feel that these courses and research work would help me reach my goals. I am confined that I possess the requisite background and intellectual ability and a high level of personal motivation that will enable me to successfully complete the research work and courses I undertake.