Health care management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Health care management - Essay Example This paper explores how this new role would affect my personal life, and identifies a number of possible ward problems and possible approaches for tacking these problems are suggested. These include expectations from the team that I should do more hands on work, instead of planning; the problem of interpersonal conflicts, e.g. between nursing and administration teams, and complexity compression. One problem case in particular, that of an underperforming nurse colleague, is examined in more detail using the control (ie checking and quality control) management process. The first challenge that will face me upon taking up this responsible position will be the need for me to make personal adjustments to the new role. It is not easy to suddenly become a person who is held responsible for others in a team, and I anticipate both a high workload and an increase in stress caused by the fact that I will encounter new issues that I have not had to deal with before. It will make sense for me to scale down family and free time commitments as far as possible for the first few months so that I can keep focussed on the job. It would be a good idea to plan a specially rewarding holiday for my first leave period a few months down the line. The transition into the nurse manager role is difficult if one attempts it alone, and yet discussing personal worries or problems with members of the ward team would not help them to trust my judgement. It has been suggested (Belcher, 2006) that it is a good idea for new managers to actively seek out a mentor figure who is not in the same immediate area of work, but who knows the organization and the general demands of the role. This author suggests locating someone with good chemistry, clarifying what the mentor is expected to do, and using that mentor to find out all the ins and outs of the larger organization, including shortcuts to the people who hold key information or who have power in particular areas (Belcher, p. 150-151).

The Human Genome Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Human Genome Project - Essay Example As the reported given by the US Department of Energy said "The ultimate goal of this initiative is to understand the human genome" and "Knowledge of the human genome is as necessary to the continuing progress of medicine and other health sciences as knowledge of human anatomy has been for the present state of medicine." Officially, the project was founded in 1990 by the US Department of Energy and the US National institute of Health. It was estimated that the project would take 15 years, but advances in sequencing technology led to a faster completion of the project, the project being completed 2 years earlier that estimated, in 2003. Ari Patrinos, who is the head of the Office of Biological and Environmental Research, led the Human genome project that was initiated by the US Department of Energy. However, in the US, the Department of Energy was not the only institution that explored the human genome. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) also gave an effort in determining the huma n genome. From 1988 to 1992 the head of the National Center for Human Genome Research (NCHGR), which was a part of NIH was James Watson, who in April 1993 was replaced with Francis Collins, due to issue of patenting genes. The NCHGR) was also renamed in 1997 into National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). ... At any given time, the Human Genome Project funded about 200 separate principal investigators. There were also many private research companies that conducted genome research. The most famous privetly owned company that was involved in the Human genome project was the company owned by Craig Venter and his company Celera Genomics, which gave considerable improvement to the project. It must be mentioned that this was also an international effort. There were at least 18 countries who had human genome research programs. Some of the larger programs are in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, European Union, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States. Some developing countries also participated in the project, mainly by studying sequencing techniques for genome research. The Human Genome Organisation (HUGO) coordinated this international effort. The estimated finances that were allocated to the Human genome project are around $ 3 billion. These not include the privately funded organizations and companies, but only the government projects. Celera Genomic states that around $ 300 million dollars were spend for the project, which was much less than the government-funded project. There were several main goals of the Human Genome project. The goals did not include only identifying the 3 billion nucleotides located in the DNA and to the discover 25 000 genes located there, but also to: Store this information in databases, Improve tools for data analysis, Transfer related technologies to the private sector, and Address the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) that may arise from the project. Due to the massive funding, interest and international effort as well

Evolutionism Essay Example for Free

Evolutionism Essay Essay Critically discuss the Nineteenth Century theory of Evolutionism in relation to the social development of cultures. special development of cultures. Anthropology originated in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Missionaries, traders and travellers in Africa, North America, the pacific and elsewhere provided the first great anthropological works. Anthropology is the holistic study of the biological, social and cultural aspects of mankind, paying particular attention to the relationships between our physical and cultural natures and between culture and the nvironment. Anthropology is basically the study of the human species and its immediate ancestors. Early thinkers such as Hume, Smith and Montesquieu wrote about primitive institutions which they argued about amongst themselves. Their conclusions were not based on any scientific that could be tested but from principles found in their own culture. They laid the foundations for modern social anthropology believing that universal laws found in nature could be applied to human society. The thinkers were concerned with social evolution and progress. The term evolution was opularized during the 19th century by Herbert Spencer to mean cultural evolution. Evolutionists were those who believed that the cultures and life forms being studied are evolving toa particular form. Evolutionism is the idea that this universe is the result of random cosmic accidents, life arose spontaneously through chemical processes and all life forms are related and share a common ancestor. Evolution is a process of formation, growth and development from generation to generation. Socio- cultural evolutionism describes how cultures and societies have changed over time. In the nineteenth century Edward B. Tylor maintained that culture evolved from simple to complex and all societies passed through three basic stages of development which was originally suggested by Montesquieu. The three stages are called the lines of human progress which states that man evolved from savagery to barbarism and finally to civilization. Man became civilized after discovering pottery. To account for cultural variation different societies were at different stages of evolution. Simpler people of the day had not yet reached higher stages. Some ocieties were more evolve than others. Evolutionists believed Western Europe had evolved from a backward society to a more advanced society. Simpler contemporary societies were thought to resemble ancient societies. More advanced societies exhibited traces of earlier customs that survived in present day cultures, this was known as survival. Pottery is an example of survival, earlier people made their cooking pots out of clay, today pots are most often made with metal because they are most durable but dishes are preferred to be made out of clay. Tylor correlates the hree levels of social evolution to types of religion: savages practicing animatism, barbarians practicing polytheism, and civilized man practicing monotheism. Tylor includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society, Tylor believed that because of the basic similarities common to all peoples, different societies often find the same solutions to the same problems independently. Tylor also noted that different cultural traits may spread from one society to another by a simple means of diffusion hich means the borrowing by one culture of a trait belonging to another as the result of contact between the two societies. Lewis H. Morgan was one of the most influential evolutionary theorists of the nineteenth century. In his book Ancient Society, he divided the lines of human progress into the three stages and further divided savagery and barbarism into upper, middle and lower segments. Each stage was distinguished by technological development and connected in patterns of subsistence, marriage, family, and political organization. Middle savagery was arked by the acquisition of a fish diet and the discovery of fire, upper savagery by the bow and arrow, lower barbarism by pottery, middle barbarism by animal domestication and irrigated agriculture, upper barbarism by the manufacture of iron, and civilization by the alphabet. Morgan believed family units became smaller and self contained as society became more developed. Johann J. Bachofen developed a theory of evolution of kinship systems which was agreed upon by Morgan. Morgan believed in the theory of primitive promiscuity, which means that human society had o sexual prohibitions and no real family structure. Primitive promiscuity can be divided into matriliny where descent was traced through the female only, patrilinV where descent was traces through the male only and polyandry were several husbands shred one wife. Morgan believed that family units became progressively smaller and more self-contained as human society developed. However, his postulated sequence for the evolution of the family is not supported by the enormous amount of ethnographic data that has been collected since his time. For xample, no recent society that Morgan would call savage indulges in group marriage or allows brother-sister mating. Modern social anthropologists regard these reconstructions as over amplifications of events that can never be known in detail. The efforts of early writers were only historical enquiries. At this stage it became clear that there was no evidence which could detail the earliest stages of society and few societies developed in total isolation of other human cultures or outside influence. The evolutionists became unpopular by the nd of the nineteenth century. The school of Diffusionists became popular, they brelieved tahat cultural change and progress were mainly due to borrowing because items of culture were mainly transmitted from one society to another. Despite the errors of the nineteenth century scholars, modern social anthropology owes much to their efforts because of their interest in the social institutions of different societies and the methods used to draw conclusions. The current anthropological view concentrates mainly on the institutionalized aspects (kinship, marriage and religion) of culture taking into ccount systems of belief, values and ideas. Modern anthropology relys mainly on fieldwork which is the gathering of data which organizes, describes, analyzea and interprets to build and present that account which may be in the form of a book, article or film. The latest investigations regarding early humans is that mankind civilization through the slow gain of knowledge. Reference: * Introduction to anthropology 101 (course book 2010) * Culture vs civilization http://www. edward]ayne. com/culture/fallacy. html http://www. as. ua. edu/ant/Faculty/murphy/436/evol. htm * Wikipedia

Preventing Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer (CDC) Strips

Preventing Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer (CDC) Strips Novel Strategies Halt Cardiovascular, Diabetes, and Cancer Strips Summary Since the authors found firstly there are cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancers (CDC) strips and disclosed their mechanisms, classifications and clinical significances, there is an arising problem how to prevent and halt CDC strips. Fortunately, the authors had already developed new strategies which based previous works for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CVD), cardiovascular events (CVEs) and healthcare, etc. These novel strategies, which including sleep, emotion, exercise and diet intervention (SEEDi), E (e)nvironment + SEED intervention [E (e)SEEDi] and even Hu’s healthy lifestyles[E (e)SEED-BasED ones] intervention (HHLi), also called â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†, as the core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†, play an important role in the prevention and management of human chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) when combined with RT-ABCDEF strategy, for example, obesity-OSA-hypertension (OOH) sy ndrome, C-type hypertension (CtH) and sudden cardiac death (SCD), and especially in halting CDC strips the authors discovered. Keywords: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, prevention, healthy lifestyles Since the authors found firstly there are cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and cancers strips and named them CDC strips, and disclosed further their mechanisms, classifications and clinical significances,1 there is an arising problem how to prevent and halt CDC strips. In this article, with several conceptual and technical breakthrough, the authors will introduce several novel strategies which were developed based on previous work for effectively preventing and halting CDC strips.2-6 The authors have already developed new strategies in previous works for the prevention of coronary heart disease (CHD), cardiovascular events (CVEs) and healthcare (http://www.chinagene.cn/CN/news/news370.shtml).3 These novel strategies, which based on sleep, emotion, exercise and diet (SEED) intervention, was also called â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†. As the core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†, they play an important role in the prevention and management of human non-infectious chronic disease (NCD) when combined with RT-ABCDEF strategy,5 for example, sudden cardiac death (SCD) and obesity-OSA-hypertension (OOH) syndrome Dr. Chun-Song Hu and Prof. Da-Yi Hu discovered and first named,7 especially in halting CDC strips. Introduction of Novel strategies Since healthy â€Å"SEED† rulers were developed in 2005 according to great clinical experiences, authors conducted positively these novel strategies in clinical for primary and secondary preventions of CVD, CVEs and healthcare, and cited the related article,2, 3, 6 then developed further into â€Å"E (e)SEED† due to the important role of environment. Together with Prof. Sheng-Shou Hu, these new strategies were still developed into more novel â€Å"E (e)SEED-BasED† healthy lifestyles by innovated idea, and named â€Å"Hu’s healthy lifestyles (HHL)† in 2009. The key tips of these strategies for NCDs, especially CDC strips are showed as follows (Table 1). 2. Novel strategies for the early evaluation of RFs CVD is the number one killer and a leading cause of death in the world. There was 17.5 million death cases every year, which bring a big burden and great challenge for public health. Moreover, it plays a key role in the development of CDC strips. Single gene defects, target diseases have now come to include multi-genetic and multi-factorial diseases, such as CVD, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinsons disease, T2DM or T1DM, and human cancer, especially CDC strips. Therefore, to screen and evaluate early CV status is very important to the prediction and prevention of CVEs and CDC strips. Both previous experimental and clinical studies confirmed the role of single factor in the development of human disease. However, little is known about multi-factors’ role (more than 5 to10, even 20 or more). The authors developed Chinese E (e)SEED-BasED score (CEBS) according to â€Å"E (e)SEED-BasED† healthy lifestyle. These healthy elements and related RFs play a very important role in human health. That is to say, if people intervene early with these RFs, they can keep effectively from CDC strips. As showed in last table, the authors have already developed these new strategies for better healthcare. In Round 3 application of GCE project (http://www.grandchallenges.org), authors further developed a novel strategy that was based on a QA list and CEBS (Table 2). According to CEBS, people can determine CDC strips hazard levels from low, moderate to high, thus, adopt effective measures including follow-up, and intervention with SEED, E (e)SEED or HHL, these are SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi. The authors believe CEBS will be better for the early evaluation of NCDs, especially CDC strips based on previous work and this creative idea. Here, the authors may compare easily with other scores, such as QRISK a new CVD risk score for the United Kingdom,8-11 Framingham CVD algorithm (FA) and Scottish score (ASSIGN) (Table 2). These scores focus on standard, common, classic, multiple modifiable or non-modifiable (eg. positive family history) RFs, but the authors think that CEBS is advantaged, validated, global with 15 classifications of core RFs. 3. RT-ABCDEF strategy and Grade 210 prevention for NCDs or CDC strips RT-ABCDEF strategy developed in previous work is very suitable for the management and prevention of human disease,5 especially NCDs or CDC strips. The key tips as follows (Table 3): As we all known, early prevention is the best choice of treatment. Efforts to achieve the ambitious goals of Healthy China or World 2020 require new synthetic strategies for delivering healthy policy, primary and secondary prevention. Here the authors named it â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Due to HHL containing preventive and care strategies for these core RFs, it’s core elements of â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Therefore, it’s worthy of conducting and application in the global nations, not just healthcare providers and medical organizations. Of course, collaborative efforts among governments, private healthcare providers, insurers, policymakers, nonprofit organizations, and the global public are necessary for â€Å"Grade 210 prevention†. Generally speaking, it’s a synthetic core strategy of healthcare for everyone or anyone and from birth to death. 4. SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi for CDC strips Most of patients with NCDs, including chronic heart failure (CHF), particularly those with more severe HF, and T2DM or T1DM, need the option of palliative care as assessed by symptom burden, depression, and spiritual well-being just as advanced cancer patients do.12 That is to say, palliative care is effective on most of CDC strips. The development of CDC strips results from the shared many RFs related to lifestyles according to the authors’ â€Å"Bad SEED† +/- â€Å"bad soil† Theory or Doctrine.1 Thus, it needs synthetic strategies to prevent and control the development of CDC strips. Therapeutic lifestyles interventions, such as SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi , which based on E (e)SEED-BasED lifestyles, eg. HHLi related rational drug interventions (Table 4), can significantly improve nutrition and physical activity behavior and can reduce many of the RFs associated with common NCDs, especially CDC strips. The authors think that it was very useful and effective to most of CDC strips in the global. Therefore, people may call it â€Å"Chinese vaccine† or â€Å"hero for human health (H.H.H)†. It may help reducing in morbidity and mortality of CDC strips. For example, among 74,607 men and women, aged 60 or more, without CHD, stroke, or cancer at enrolment, the Mediterranean diet, modified so as to apply across Europe, was associated with increased survival among older people and is associated with longer life expectancy among elderly Europeans.13 These results also help explain the role of SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi or HHLi. â€Å"Rainbow diet† we conducted in HHL is also very helpful due to balanced nutrition. For example, coffee consumption was verified to be helpful in the prevention of NCDs,14 including CDC strips. Besides, green tea and grape are also useful foods as interventional choice of diets, because increasing consumption of vegetables and fruits may elevate the levels of anti-oxidative components.15 According to updated study in Nature,16 diet is the main factor which linked with gut microbial ecology and health because unbalanced dietary nutrients can cause intestinal inflammation, and induce human aged. Another clinical t rial showed that both walking and vigorous exercise are associated with substantial reductions in the incidence of cardiovascular events among postmenopausal women.17 Yuga, Chinese Taiji and Qigong are also useful physical activity for the prevention of CDC strips. As a part of HHLi, rational drug choice also plays an important role in initiation, progression, treatment and prevention of NCDs, especially in effectively halting the development of CDC strips. These drugs include aspirin (ASA),18, 19 ACEI/ARB, CCB, cannabidiol (CBD)20 and coenzyme Q-10,21 as well as others. Several animal experiments and clinical trials showed, as chemo protective agents, statins (pravastatin, rosuvastatin) did not only prevent and decrease CHD and CVEs,22, 23 and not indicate an increase in over all cancer risk (simvastatin, pravastatin),24, 25 but also be protective against the development of DM and various cancers (lung cancer,26 pancreatic cancer,27 RCC,28 colon cancer29) , and PCOS (atorvastatin) (Table 4).30 That is to say, statins may help preventing and halting CDC strips. Glutathione (GSH) plays important roles in antioxidant defense, nutrient metabolism, and regulation of cellular events, and its deficiency contributes to oxidative stress, aging and the pathogenesis of many diseases,31 of course, including NCDs, especially CDC strips. Thus, the authors think that GSH is an effective cytoprotective chemo agent for treating NCD,32, 33 such as CDC strips (Table 4). As essential and critical trace elements and antioxidants, studies have indicated that selenium and zinc may play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and be useful for secondary prevention of CHD.34-36 However, their deficiency associated with numerous diseases including CVD, DM, and cancer.37, 38 Hence, these antioxidants may be useful as therapeutic agents for CDC strips. Besides, Vit D and n-3 fatty acids,39 and Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM),40-45 eg. Ginseng, Barbary Wolfberry fruit, Cordyceps militaris, Ganoderma lucidum, SR10 and Astragalus are also very helpful in the preventive of CDC strips (Table 4). Of course, when people dedicated to reducing morbidity and mortality from CDC strips, enhanced collaboration is critical because CDC strips share many RFs and opportunities for prevention, eg, by assessing and regularly updating an individual’s family history. As to a positive history of family, eg, patients with CHD and T2DM or cancer, just like successful gene therapies,46, 47 RNAi or knockout technology is a new choice when all strategies are no use, but need to evaluate its early and late effects as our trials.48, 49 At the same time, it still need to make sure the protection of some genes,50-52 not just medical hypotheses. Moreover, it’s necessary to identifies susceptibility loci when began RNAi or knockout technology.53, 54 An updated research showed that an intensive lifestyle intervention focusing on weight loss did not reduce the rate of CVEs in overweight or obese adults with T2DM.55 This confirmed that it needs comprehensive strategies, just like SEEDi, E (e )SEEDi, or HHLi, for CVD, T2DM, cancers, of course, including CDC strips, not just focusing on weight loss. Some times, it even needs RNAi. One of the authors’ goals is to stimulate substantial improvements in Grade 210 prevention, and early detection through collaboration between key organizations, greater public awareness about HHL, legislative action that results in funding and staff for and access to China Center of Research and Development for Hu’s Healthy Lifestyles (CCRDHHL, a preparatory organization we expect and an effective platform for prevention, early detection, and treatment of NCDs, especially CDC strips, http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=spaceuid=71966do=blogid=491168) programs and research, and emphasis of a series of new concepts authors conducted, and meets the need for curriculum-based health education regarding â€Å"the Grade 210 prevention† and motivation of people to incorporate HHL practices into their daily lives. 5. Clinical practice in CDC strips OOH syndrome the authors found and first named in 2006 is one of classic NCD and a synthetic killer which including 3 independent risk factors and characterized by â€Å"a shaped and sounded killer at night, but a shaped and no sounded killer at day†. According to the authors’ preliminary clinical data (manuscript not published yet), it’s high risk to occur T2DM, CHF and various acute CVEs, even cancers, eg. prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women. That is to say, it’s a status of pre-CDC strips, or already met a branch (Type A) of CDC strips. Recently, the authors found that a group of patients with hypertension which related to â€Å"new type stress† due to bad lifestyles, and named it for â€Å"C-type Hypertension (CtH)†. Its main clinical features are on that there is temporary absolutely increase or continuously slowly increase levels of human cortisol, a biomarker of CtH, and it often appears among young or middle aged subjects and is a new ignored killer due to easy to suffer from AMI, CHF, Stroke or SCD. Thus, CtH results from bad â€Å"SEED† bad lifestyle, not bad â€Å"Soil†Ã¢â‚¬â€genetic factors. Some patients with hypertension among OOH syndrome may diagnose as CtH because here obesity resulted from bad lifestyles. OOH syndrome and CtH are easy to develop to CDC strips if there are long-term lasting co-RFs which would lead to T2DM and cancers. SCD as an acute CVE, often occurs in patients with CHD, younger or older, especially in patients with OOH syndrome, CtH or CDC strips (Type A or B). And SCD often occurs as the endpoint event of CDC strips. Because both OOH syndrome or CtH and various SCD have the common RFs, that is to say, â€Å"Bad SEED† +/- â€Å"bad soil†, therefore, SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi is a good choice for halting the development of CDC strips in OOH syndrome or CtH and for removing RFs induced SCD. All in all, OOH syndrome, CtH, CDC strips, and SCD are highly linked, they need urgently SEEDi, E (e)SEEDi, or HHLi to enhance quality of life (QOL) and life expectancy, and the earlier, the better. Maybe people can call this â€Å"OCS status† (OOH-CDCs-SCD). Update, the authors developed general formula for management of human disease, especially NCDs, which including OOH syndrome and CDC Strips as follows: General Formula = 3Ãâ€"RT-ABCDEF + E (e)SEED-BasED + 210. As to detailed explanation of this formula, people may easy to know from above.

Boston Ballet Refuses to Fall :: Dance Dancing Papers

Boston Ballet Refuses to Fall What happens when a ballet company’s classic Christmas tradition is unwrapped, discarded, and replaced with a glitzy and glamorous moneymaking expenditure? Many dance enthusiasts are left with this lingering question as The Boston Ballet struggles with a recent announcement from the Wang Theatre, its lifelong performance home, that next year’s production of the Nutcracker is being replaced by a touring show of the infamous Radio City Rockettes. "Im pretty certain this decision was driven by money, which draws the question in everyone’s minds: Which is more important, tradition or money?† said Andrew Kaminski. Kaminski is a Boston Ballet II member and performs in the corp de ballet with the company. He joined this apprentice position in August of 2003 and thinks Mikko Nissinen, the Boston Ballet’s new artistic director, is doing great things for the company. " I really like the direction we are headed in but unfortunately Mikko has been dealt some unfair dealings. I am just grateful the company has been so open with us about everything,† Kaminski said. According to Kaminski, the company was informed of what was happening with the Wang Theatre at the end of October. During this time, a company meeting was held and a Boston Ballet Memo was distributed to the dancers from Valerie Wilder, the Executive Director of the Boston Ballet. â€Å"Basically the Wang informed us they had signed a note of intent with Radio City. We were immediately notified after this. We were told the Wang wanted to bring in the Rockettes for monetary reasons. Touring companies are more profitable. The Wang can charge them more plus the tickets are more expensive,† Kaminski said. The memo to the company included general facts about the Nutcracker’s current situation and its history. It also had a section titled, â€Å"Further Talking Points,† which expressed the company’s opinions on the situation. â€Å"In choosing to align itself with a touring production, the Wang Center is undermining a 35- year-old tradition and the work of a resident ensemble with year- round presence in the community. The Wang has thus placed commercial interests over cultural purpose, which is inconsistent with its mission as a not-for-profit,† the memo stated. The Boston Ballet Company is a non-profit organization, which hosts a dance school that trains young children through adults and a renowned ballet company that has artistically entertained the city since 1965. On their IRS form 990 filing, the company stated their objectives for the fiscal year beginning November 1, 2003.

Bilbo :: essays research papers

Magic in the Making The main character of the book is Mr. Bilbo Baggins. He is the hobbit who led the dwarves to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim their treasure from the dragon named Smaug. Bilbo is middle aged and resides in a clean, warm burrow dug into the side of a hill. In the beginning of the story Bilbo is a very weak character. He is easily frightened, and very shy. One of his strengths though, is that he is of the mythical race called hobbits. Hobbits are known for their skills in thievery and spying. There are several main characteristics of hobbits that separate them from normal humans. One, hobbits are very small. They only grow to reach the height of about three feet if they are lucky. Secondly, they have large feet that are covered at the tops by thick hair. This hair is used to keep the hobbit’s feet warm because they do not wear boots. Another characteristic of hobbits is that they normally don’t wish for any excitement or adventure. They thrive on repetition and dull activities such as gardening. Hobbits also love to eat. Bilbo’s favorite foods are: cake, bacon, sausage, eggs, wine, bread and any other fattening things that can be thought of. Some other important characters are as follows: Gandalf, he is the wizard that accompanies Bilbo and the dwarves on their quest; Thorin Oakenshield is son of the king of the dwarves who were driven from the Lonely Mountain. Smaug is the dragon of the Lonely Mountain who hoards the treasure he stole. Gollum is a slimy creature that was born a Hobbit but had the ring too long; this is the character that Bilbo steals the ring from. Bard is the archer that kills Smaug. Bilbo is the main character of the story and also the narrator. The main conflict of the story line is Bilbo versus himself. Bilbo has to overcome his fears of dragons and other creatures in order to carry out his part of the mission. Another conflict is the whole party vs. Smaug. The party of dwarves along with Bilbo and Gandalf, have to be able to destroy the dragon in order to claim their so deserved treasure. Bilbo completes this task by finding the dragon’s weak spot and relaying the location to an archer in Lake Town. Both of these conflicts are won by the end of the story.

Greek Mythology Research Paper Essay

Do you know any historical background on the word giant? Greek and Roman mythology is present all around us. Many new and interesting words were created from the Greeks. There are many types of myths that we hear about including; gods, goddesses, mythical heroes, other heroes, monsters, and villains. When looking up these myths, research will show that many of the words we say today come from these gods and goddesses. An example of this is the words gigantic and gigantism comes from giant. The word giant has a long, unique, and mysterious background. According to dictionary. com, â€Å"Giant is very large; abnormally great development in size. †(dictionary. com) Prior to my search, I predicted that a giant was a very large man that lived in the forest and had no connection with either gigantic nor gigantism. I inferred this because of movies and books. When I saw the word gigantic I remember hearing it and I thought it meant a large person, but I had no idea it was related to Greek or Roman mythology. Gigantism puzzled me because I’ve never heard it before. As I came across the definition of gigantic, I found out that it meant very large which connects to giant and gigantism. (dictionary. com) upon conducting research, I learned more about the root word giant, coming across information about its etymology and actual story behind it. Perrizo 2 Giant’s roots go all the way back before gods or even humans existed. The etymology relates back to Greek mythology the giants were the children of Uranus and Gaea. They were involved in a conflict with the Olympian gods called the Gigantomachy, which was eventually settled when the hero Heracles decided to help the Olympians. The Greeks believed some giants lay buried from that time under the earth and that they resulted in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Many stories have been written about giants in lots of cultures. In Norse mythology, the giants are the origin of most of various monsters, and in the eventual battle of Ragnarok the giants will storm Asgard and defeat them in war. The gods themselves were related to the giants by many marriages, and there are giants such as ? gir, Loki, Mimir and Ska? i, who have little difference in status to them. In Bulgarian mythology, giants called ispolini inhabited the Earth before modern humans. They lived in the mountains, fed on raw meat and often fought against dragons. Ispolini were afraid of blackberries which posed a danger of tripping and dying, so they offered sacrifices to that plant. Giants stand for the Basque people not willing to convert to Christianity who decides to stick to the old life style and customs in the forest. Sometimes they hold the secret of ancient techniques and wisdom unknown to the Christians, like in the legend of San Martin Txiki, while their most outstanding feature is their strength. It follows that in many legends all over the Basque territory the giants are held accountable for the creation of many stone formations, hills and old structures, with similar explanations provided in different spots. There are many similarities and differences in the words giant, gigantic, and gigantism. Gigantic is big: very large, tall, or bulky. Giant is a very tall imaginary creature: in fairy tales and legends, an imaginary being who resembles a human but is much taller, larger, and stronger. Perrizo 3 Gigantism is the quality of being giant: the quality or condition of being much taller, larger, or stronger than is usual. These three definitions are similar to each other because all of them have to do with being large. Today these words are all used to describe how tall, strong, or big someone is. All of these words also share the same Greek, Roman, and other origins. These he creatures. This particular word has a very long and precise background, whereas gigantic and gigantism have a short and not informational background. Not only is the word giant relevant in today’s world, famous playwright William Shakespeare alludes to the word in one of his plays. In Shakespeare’s play much ado about nothing, Claudio uses the word giant in act 1 scene 3. â€Å"He is then a giant to an ape; but then is an ape a doctor to such a man. †(line 2276) Shakespeare uses the monsters name as an illusion to illustrate the comparison between a giant, an ape, and man. Perhaps Shakespeare wanted to show the difference between stupid and so-called smart. Giant is being used to illustrate that a giant and an ape are two unintelligent creatures. Aside from Shakespeare’s use of the word, giant is used in the following quote from measure for measure. â€Å"O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, lest thou a fevorous life shouldest entertain, and six or seven winters more respect than a perpetual honor. Darest thou die? The sense of death is most apprehension; and the poor beetle that we tread upon, in corpual sufferance finds a pang as great as when a giant dies. † (isabell). The word giant is used in reference to emphasize the greatness of a giant dieing with Claudio dying. perrizo 4 Whether giant is used in Shakespeare or other forms of literature, the words etymology seems to be prevalent in today’s world. The word Is regularly used today, ranging from a gas company, to a disability center. The general meaning of giant hasn’t changed over time, but only people who are educated about the word know its true mythical meaning. For example gigantism organization is an organization for the tallest people in the world. I did not find a relevant industry on website on giant or gigantic. When writing this paper, I learned a plethora of information about the word giant, and its ethnic background. Not only did I learn about this interesting monster, I gained experience on learning how to evaluate reliable sources and search the web cautiously. This essay taught me that the majority of the words we use today have an origins that dates back to Roman and Greek times. Giant originated the words gigantic and gigantism, and I found a great deal of information that connected giant to both of the other words. Furthermore, locating the information necessary to complete the project was easy and fast, but then I began to write my report, I had to think about where to start and how to organize the information I had into a cohesive essay. Finally,, I learned that people can misconstrue the meanings of words easily if they do not understand or use the words correctly. All people need to develop their communication skills and look up unfamiliar words or inquire about the origin of words so they learn about the amazing history of our amazing language. Perrizo 5 Works cited et, al. http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/giant. N. p. , 6 2012. Web. 6 Nov 2012. burton, robert. http://www. bartleby. com/100/151. 5. html. N. p.. Web. 11/6/2012. encyclopedia britannica online . † http://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/232937/giant. encyclopedia Britannihjca, 24 2012. Web. 7 Nov 2012. Lindemans, Micha F.. â€Å"giant. † http://www. pantheon. org/articles/g/giant. html. N. p. , 03 1997. Web. feb 24 2004. shakespeare. â€Å"merchant of venice. † http://www. opensourceshakespeare. org/concordance/o/? i=768422&pleasewait=1&msg=sr. university 2012. Web. 2007-2012.