Take a positive or a negative position for a debate on the following topic: "Liberalism is a failed ideology due to all of the challenges it...

In a political context, liberalism has two main components that could create challenges. The first is a desire for a more robust government regulation of things like banks, corporations, and manufacturing. While some simply object to this on the grounds that it gives the federal government too much power, there are more nuanced arguments that are worthy of consideration. For instance, the heavy regulation of manufacturing like standards imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency can cause overhead to dramatically rise for an individual company, leading to the stagnation of wages or growth as they try to manage the cost of compliance.

The second aspect of liberalism that can be challenging is a call for greater tolerance of diversity. In pluralistic nations like the United States, the population is comprised of people from a wide variety of religions, races, and ethnicities. Tolerating and celebrating such diversity can reduce the likelihood of social bonding and increase the potential for conflict born out of misunderstanding and poor communication. For example, people often look back on the 1950s as a period of peace and success for the United States. This was due in large part to the fact that many people made a conscious effort to fit into a small number of groups and made an overall commitment to an American identity, which often required setting aside or stifling aspects of heritage and culture that would have challenged the social bond.

Having said all of that, it's worth noting that conservatism can be equally challenging. Limiting regulations on business and manufacturing led to some corporations engaging in questionable behavior that has had long-term implications for the environment, among other things. From a social perspective, the dominant group's disinterest or refusal to tolerate diversity has led to conflict between sub-cultures and contributed to a less welcoming environment for those who fall outside of the dominant culture.

What are examples of characters and their secrets in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre?

Jane Eyre is a book full of secrets. Mrs. Rochester is without question the biggest one, but many characters have secrets, or are involved in deceptions of one sort  or another. Here are some, other than Bertha:

Mrs. Reed receives a letter from Jane's rich uncle asking about Jane's whereabouts, which she doesn't tell Jane about until her conscience gets the better of her at the very end of her life. Another kind of secret that she is "keeping" from her deceased husband is her treatment of Jane. Jane calls her out on this: “My Uncle Reed is in heaven, and can see all you do and think; and so can papa and mama: they know how you shut me up all day long, and how you wish me dead.” Young Jane's ability to see through Mrs Reed is quite shocking!

Jane adopts a false identity after she leaves Thornfield, telling everyone that her name is Jane Elliot. St. John discovers her real name when he notices that she has absent-mindedly written "Jane Eyre" in the margin of a drawing.

Diane, Mary and St. John are secretly Jane's cousins, a fact that Jane learns only after St. John uncovers her true identity.

Rochester pretends to be a fortune teller and tells the fortunes of his guests, including Blanche and Jane. Everyone is fooled except for Jane; when Rochester reveals himself to her, she is, or pretends to be, angry: “I believe you have been trying to draw me out— or in; you have been talking nonsense to make me talk nonsense. It is scarcely fair, sir.”

Mr. Mason's secret is that he is Bertha's brother -- his sudden appearance causes Rochester to go "whiter than ashes."

Then, of course, there are secrets that are not revealed in the text, the missing parts of the story, like Bertha's history, or who Grace Poole might really be, or Rochester's relationship with his father and brother. These "negative spaces" in the story shape the meaning as much as the actual narrative itself. If you pay attention to the secrets in the novel, you begin to see a pattern of truth and falsehood that marks all the characters, and which resolves itself into Jane's final union with Rochester, a marriage in which, at last, there are no secrets.

How would you describe the encounter between Montmorency and the ferocious cat in Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome?

This incident happens in Chapter XIII of Three Men in a Boat. Montmorency is a fox terrier who accompanies the three men on their trip along the Thames River. The narrator tells us that Montmorency doesn’t like cats and that he has always seen them as enemies. But the dog meets his match here when a large black street-savvy and battle-scarred tomcat confronts him – ironically, by giving him the cold shoulder. The dog runs up to the cat, who turns around and just looks at him quietly but firmly. The narrator imagines a silent conversation between the two of them, with the cat asking what the dog wants, and the dog backing down, claiming to have mistaken him for someone else. After a few minutes, the cat trots away, and Montmorency returns to the boat, “fitting what he calls his tail carefully into its groove.” We’re told that the dog has become quite wary of cats from this moment on.

Why did M&M run away in That Was Then, This is Now?

M&M is the quintessential hippie who is sensitive, has long hair, and promotes peace. In Chapter 3, Bryon goes over to M&M's house to pick up Cathy for a school dance. While Bryon is waiting in the house, Mrs. Carlson talks to him and asks Bryon how he can tell M&M and Cathy apart. Mr. Carlson overhears their conversation and makes a smart comment about M&M's hair. Mrs. Carlson says, "Now, Jim...We agreed not to say any more about M&M's hair" (Hinton 50). After Mrs. Carlson asks Bryon about his grades, Mr. Carlson mentions that M&M is failing math and gym. M&M's father says, "How anyone can flunk gym is beyond me" (Hinton 51). Bryon comments that M&M could hear the entire conversation and was pretending that he wasn't listening. When Bryon gets into the car, Cathy voices her concerns about M&M and is worried that her father is picking on him too much about his grades and hair.

In Chapter 6, Bryon is driving everyone around the popular part of town known as the Ribbon, when M&M tells him to drive by the hot-dog stand. When Bryon pulls up, M&M hops out and tells them that he has some friends around that he's going to hang out with. When Bryon and Cathy ask what time he wants to be picked up, M&M says, "Not ever. I'm not going home" (Hinton 103). M&M walks away, and Bryon and Cathy drive around the Ribbon until one o'clock in the morning looking for him.

In Chapter 7, Cathy comes home and explains to her father that M&M ran away. Her father is not concerned and tells her that M&M is simply going through a stage and says that M&M will be home tomorrow. Cathy blames her father for causing M&M to run away. She mentions that M&M ran away because he was sick of his father picking on him about his hair and flunking gym.

What is Prader-Willi syndrome?

Causes and Symptoms

Prader-Willi syndrome is caused by a spontaneous deletion involving chromosome 15. Although this disease is genetic in nature, most parents of children with Prader-Willi syndrome have normal chromosomes. Some research indicates an association between the disease and fathers employed at the time of conception in fields associated with hydrocarbons, such as lumbermen, chemists, or mechanics. That connection might implicate an environmental trigger in some cases.

Prader-Willi syndrome occurs in one in 12,000–15,000 births and affects both genders and all races. Newborns with the disease appear floppy, with low muscle tone. They often had a low birth weight, and males may have undescended testicles. Small genitalia are common, as are small hands and feet. These babies feed poorly and display poor motor development. Mental retardation is common, ranging from mild to severe.

Between the ages of two and four, children with Prader-Willi syndrome develop an insatiable need to eat. They will do anything to get food and will eat without control. Obesity and other related health problems are major concerns for these patients. Many patients also suffer from behavioral disorders related to excessive eating, compulsive or repetitive behaviors, tantrums, and psychiatric disorders including depression and, in extreme cases, psychoses.

Treatment and Therapy

Primary treatment for Prader-Willi syndrome centers on the many health concerns related to obesity, in addition to meeting the educational, social, and emotional needs of patients as they grow and mature. Studies indicate an abnormally high level of the hormone ghrelin in these patients. It is the only appetite-stimulating hormone produced in the stomach and was touted in the early twenty-first century as a possible breakthrough in treatment.

Dietary restrictions, including types of food and portion control, are critical with these patients. Since they are unable to control their cravings for food, cooperation among family, school personnel, and community members is essential. Regular exercise is also recommended. Because patients with Prader-Willi syndrome are often small in stature, growth
hormones are often used to facilitate growth and decrease the percentage of body fat, thus helping improve both strength and agility in patients. Special education services, including speech, behavioral assistance, and psychological or psychiatric services, are also important components of treatment.

Perspective and Prospects

Prader-Willi syndrome was first defined as a syndrome by Andrea Prader, Alexis Labhart, and Heinrich Willi in 1956. Prader and Willi refined the syndrome in 1963. Since the mid-twentieth century, researchers have focused on the influences of hormones and genetics in the development and treatment of this disease. Treatments evolved based on increased knowledge of how genes and hormones influence human biology and behavior.

Bibliography

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-5. 5th ed. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association, 2013.

Cassidy, Susanne B. “Prader-Willi Syndrome.” Journal of Medical Genetics 34 (1997): 917–923.

Jones, Kenneth Lyons. “Prader-Willi Syndrome.” In Smith’s Recognizable Patterns of Human Malformation. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders/Elsevier, 2006.

MedlinePlus. "Prader-Willi Syndrome." MedlinePlus, May 13, 2013.

Prader-Willi Syndrome Association USA.Prader-Willi Syndrome Association USA, n.d.

Sadock, Benjamin J., and Virginia A. Sadock. Kaplan and Sadock’s Concise Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry. 3d ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009.

What is the setting of "The Story of an Hour"?

The setting of this story is the home of Brently and Louise Mallard.  Louise's sister, Josephine, breaks the news of her husband's death to Mrs. Mallard, and then Mrs. Mallard proceeds to spend the majority of the story in her bedroom, in a chair by the window.  She only comes down the stairs at the end of the story, after her sister has begged her to come out because she's afraid to leave Mrs. Mallard alone. 

As far as the time in which this story is set, the references to telegrams and railroad travel help us to place the story at the end of the nineteenth century or the beginning of the twentieth.  The old-fashioned names of characters, names like Josephine, Louise, and Brently also help us to locate the story during this time period.

What is the time period in the story The Blue Stones by Isak Dinesen?

Isak Dinesen was the pen-name of Baroness Karen von Blixen-Finecke of Denmark. She wrote during the first half of the 20th century, though most of her stories are set during the 19th century. The time period for her stories is not always explicitly mentioned, so we must rely on context clues to discern when they are set.

One clue we can use to determine the time period for The Blue Stones is the naming of the city Trankebar (or Tranquebar.) From 1620 to 1845, this Indian town was part of a Danish colony. Today, the name of the town is Tharangambadi, but the Danes still call it Trankebar. Because Dinesen wrote in English, we could infer that she might use the name of the city as it is known in English if the story were set after the Danish colonization. Because she uses the name Trankebar, we can narrow down the time period to sometime between 1620 and 1845. Her use of the English name for the city of Elsinore backs up this supposition- she would not likely have used one English place-name and one Danish in the same story to refer to events which took place in the same time period.

The skipper in the story sails his ship from his home in Elsinore, to Trankebar in Danish India, to Portugal, presumably as part of the Danish East India Company trade network. The Danish East India Company was in existence from 1616-1650, then dissolved due to complications with the Dutch trade companies. It was reinstated between 1670 and 1729, dissolved again, and in 1730 was re-founded as the Asiatic Company. The skipper helped a "native king" flee from Trankebar and the traitors in his homeland. Depending on how  much Dinesen knew about the conflicts in India, information doesn't really help us narrow down a date any further than the late 17th to mid 19th centuries, as rule in and around Tamil Nadu changed hands many times, especially during the Maratha-Mughal conflicts. 

My best guess for the setting of this story is that it occurred during the 18th century, during the active years of the Danish East India or Asiatic Company, coinciding with some territorial conflict. 

How does the tone of Nick's description of Tom reveal Nick's feelings about Tom?

Nick's tone towards Tom  reveals how deeply he dislikes his old college friend. Nick really doesn't like Tom. Nick, for example, opens with a description of Tom that contains one the classic disses in American literature; locating Tom's top moment of glory in his days as a college football player, Nick says he was:

one of those men who reach such an acute limited excellence at twenty-one that everything afterwards savors of anti-climax. 

It's not great--at all--to have someone conclude that you hit your high point in life at 21. Nick follows this by noting Tom's "hard mouth," his "arrogant eyes" and the "effeminate swank" of his riding clothes. These are not compliments.

He then offers a recounting of Tom's racism. Tom declares that the "Nordic" races are in danger of being overrun. And Nick offers that

Something was making him [Tom] nibble at the edges of stale ideas.

Not only is Tom chasing after stale racist ideas, he can't even comprehend them fully, according to Nick, but can only nibble the edges. 

Overall, Nick seldom misses a chance to get in a dig at Tom. Follow the emotional ups and downs of the novel, and it's easy to note that when Tom is around, misery follows. Contrast social events centered on Tom, such as the small party at Myrtle's apartment where Tom hits Myrtle in the nose, with Gatsby's parties: where do you, as a reader, end up having more fun? We know Nick, in any case, is a lot happier at Gatsby's house. 

What is cholera?

Causes and Symptoms

The comma-shaped bacterium Vibrio cholerae causes the life-threatening disease
cholera. The organism is spread when people ingest water or raw food contaminated with fecal matter. Studies have shown that the bacterium can live in both oceanic salt water and freshwater. In the ocean, it adheres to a type of zooplankton called copepods, which are eaten by certain types of shellfish. Therefore, people who consume shellfish grown in contaminated water can ingest the cholera organism. Also, people eating crops fertilized with human feces can ingest the organism.

Cholera affects particularly underdeveloped nations with poor sewage disposal and sanitation practices. It is endemic in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and Central and South America. Even in developed nations, however, cholera may emerge after major disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes. Most of those cases were caused by the ingestion of contaminated raw shellfish. In 2011 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 589,854 cases worldwide; 32 percent of cases were in Africa while 61.2 percent were in North and South America, mostly attributed to an outbreak in Haiti that began after the 2010 earthquake there. The WHO's reports do not include an additional estimate 500,000–700,000 unreported or misdiagnosed cases.

After a person ingests contaminated food or water, between twenty-four and seventy-two hours elapse before the symptoms of cholera develop. Normally, between ten million to a billion V. cholerae
bacteria must be present to cause infection, due to the large number that die in stomach acid. If an individual has taken antacids to neutralize stomach acid, however, then only about one thousand organisms are necessary to cause infection. Fewer organisms are also required if they enter the body via food, because the food protects some of the bacteria from the stomach acid.

The organisms that survive travel to the small intestine, attach to the epithelial cells there, and produce a toxin that causes a tremendous loss of water and electrolytes though extreme diarrhea and sometimes vomiting. Patients can lose more than twenty quarts of fluid per day. The extremely dilute feces are primarily a whitish liquid containing flecks of solid mucous material resembling rice grains, and hence are commonly called rice-water stools. The tremendous loss of fluids and electrolytes can lead to hypotension (low blood pressure), an increase in both pulse and respiratory rates, cardiac arrhythmia, kidney failure, and the appearance of sunken eyes and cheeks. Shock, resulting from changes in blood acidity and extremely low blood volume, can lead to death within a few hours, especially in children.

Some strains of V. cholerae may produce almost no symptoms or only mild diarrhea in some individuals, but the majority of infected people experience very severe disease. Left untreated, approximately 60 percent of patients die; however, immediate rehydration therapy normally saves all but about 1 percent of patients. Nonfatal cases spontaneously resolve themselves after a few days, since both the organisms and the toxin that they produce are ejected from the patient’s body in the diarrhea.

Treatment and Therapy

The best method for controlling cholera is prevention. Societies with adequate sanitation and sewage treatment are normally protected, except for contaminated seafood. Underdeveloped nations should be encouraged to improve their sanitation and sewage treatment practices and to cease using human feces as crop fertilizer. Also, especially in infected areas, raw foods and unpurified water should be avoided.

Although different vaccines have been developed, the immunity that they produce appears to be short-lived and not effective against all strains. Prophylactic antibiotic treatment for travelers entering affected areas has not been shown to be effective. Given the large number of bacteria needed for the disease to occur, however, proper hygienic practices alone should provide sufficient protection.

Treatment for cholera patients is primarily supportive, with rehydration and restoration of the electrolyte balance being paramount. Secondary treatment with antibiotics may reduce the presence of organisms and their production of toxin, thus ameliorating the symptoms. Because of the high volume of watery diarrhea, the antibiotic tends to be released from the body very rapidly. Doxycycline is usually the preferred drug, but trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole or tetracycline have also been used. Unfortunately, certain strains of V. cholerae have been discovered to be resistant to the latter two antibiotics. Using antibiotics to more effectively eliminate the organism may be important, since it has been estimated that up to 20 percent of patients continue to carry V. cholerae asymptomatically for a time after recovery from the disease.

Perspective and Prospects

Historically, cholera has been a very important epidemic
pathogen credited with causing seven different pandemics. These pandemics have affected various areas, including Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Between 1832 and 1836, two pandemics (the second and fourth) affected the North American continent, resulting in two hundred thousand American deaths. While studying and trying to limit the effects of the 1854 cholera epidemic in London, physician John Snow founded the science of epidemiology and introduced techniques that are still in use today. The seventh pandemic occurred in 1961, starting in Indonesia and spreading to South Asia, the Middle East, and portions of both Europe and Africa.

In 1991, Peru suddenly reported new cases after being free of cholera for more than a century. Contaminated bilge water discharged from a freighter into the Peru harbor has been hypothesized as being responsible for the disease’s reappearance. The water supply in the capital city of Lima was not chlorinated, and the organism rapidly multiplied and infected the inhabitants. In two years, more than 700,000 cases and 6,323 deaths were recorded in South and Central America, and spread of this cholera strain continues today.

The 1961 pandemic strain caused over five million cases of cholera and more than 250,000 deaths. In 1992, a genetic variant of this strain appeared in Bangladesh, causing an epidemic and spreading to neighboring countries. In January 2010 an earthquake hit Haiti and devastated much of the country's capital and the surrounding areas. The first case of cholera was confirmed in October 2010 and the disease quickly spread; by January 2013 the epidemic had killed more than eight thousand people and affected more than six hundred thousand more.

Bibliography

Badash, Michelle. "Cholera." Health Library, November 26, 2012.

"Cholera." MedlinePlus, May 30, 2012.

"Cholera - Vibrio cholerae Infection." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 24, 2011.

Ezzell, Carol. “It Came from the Deep.” Scientific American 280 (June, 1999): 22–24.

Pennisi, Elizabeth. “Infectious Disease: Cholera Strengthened by Trip Through Gut.” Science 296 (June, 2002): 1783–1784.

Reidl, Joachim, et al. “Vibrio cholerae and Cholera: Out of the Water and into the Host.” FEMS Microbiological Reviews 26 (June, 2002): 125–139.

Wachsmuth, Kaye, et al. “Vibrio cholerae” and Cholera: Molecular to Global Perspectives. Washington, D.C.: American Society for Microbiology, 1994.

Zimmer, Carl. “Infectious Diseases: Taming Pathogens—An Elegant Idea, but Does It Work?” Science 300 (May, 2003): 1362–1364.

How did Americans go about expanding the territory of the country?

In the United States, territorial expansion occurred over a long period of time, from the arrival of the Puritans in Massachusetts Bay Colony to the annexation of Hawaii and Alaska in the mid-20th century. In some cases, the territory was taken by force, as in the case of much of New England during King Philip's War (1675-1676). In other cases, it was obtained through treaties (legal agreements) with the Native tribes that occupied the land.

Rapid expansion, which is sometimes referred to as "Manifest Destiny," began in the early part of the 19th century, due in part to Jefferson buying the Louisiana territory from the French. The Louisiana Purchase was somewhat controversial because at no time has the president possessed the authority to purchase land on behalf of the government. Moreover, territorial expansion was not very popular with the American people, who believed that having more territory would bring more "undesirables" (immigrants). Nevertheless, Jefferson was able to convince them that it was a good idea and over the course of the century the nation spread to the west coast.

How the government went about acquiring land is a very complicated story, but more often than not they would begin by attempting to legally purchase the land from the Native tribes (as was required by US law) in exchange for land in the West, resources, and money. This approach was rarely successful because most tribes weren't interested in relocating, so government agents would then try to bribe certain tribe members or threaten them by suggesting that they would be harmed if they didn't agree to the deal.

In the early years of expansion, many treaties with the tribes contained carefully worded language and loopholes that would allow the government to come back at a later date and take more land. By the mid-to-late century, however, several tribes in the West were actively trying to defend against losing their land, which resulted in a series of violent conflicts collectively known as the Indian Wars. Nearing the end of the 19th century, most of the tribes had accepted that they couldn't fight the US government, who were bigger and better-armed, and they gave up.

What is self-assessment in psychology?

Self-assessment results from the introspection of one's own qualities and abilities. Self-assessment is useful in discovering one's personality type, reviewing individual values and skills, and evaluating strengths and weaknesses. Some people engage in self-assessment before making important life choices, such as choosing a college major or making a career change. Others self-assess to gain perspective on problems in their lives or to reflect on their identity and the ways in which they fit into family and society.

Personality Research

Researchers in social psychology have identified three elements that affect the formation of an individual's identity. All three reflect the idea of self and the assumed social nature of humans. They also contribute to the psychological health of the individual. First, the individual self includes factors that make a person unique, such as personality, skills, experiences, preferences, and interests. A second part of identity is the relational self, or that part of a person that is shared with another, such as a spouse or romantic partner, a parent, a sibling, a child, or a close friend. This self usually shares some interests, values, and experiences with the other person in the relationship that helps to nurture the bond. Third, the collective self reflects membership in one or more groups with which the individual has something in common. While less important than the first two, group membership also contributes to the well-being of an individual. Groups can include coworkers, clubs, a church community, sports teams, or other organizations. Although the relational and collective selves are important facets in the makeup of an individual, in self-assessment the individual self is most important.

Interest in assessing personality developed in the early twentieth century. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung first developed the idea of personality types within his analytical psychology. While Jung applied his observations only to his patients, Isabel Briggs Myers later expanded the research and applied the ideas to the personalities of ordinary people who did not suffer from psychological disorders. She worked with her mother, Katharine Briggs, to develop the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which allowed everyday people to self-assess their understanding of the world around them. Each of the sixteen personality types indicated by Myers-Briggs reflects a combination of four factors taken from four pairs of opposite traits: introversion/extraversion, intuition/sensing, feeling/thinking, and perception/judgment.

Self-Assessing Personality

When people engage in self-assessment, it is often to explore or verify their understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. There are many paths to self-assessment, including online testing, books on personality type, and assistance from professionals. Usually the person taking the assessment answers questions on scales ranging from "always" to "never" or similar means of evaluation. Certain tools require interpretation and discussion, while others are designed to help with career decisions as people seek new directions or move up the corporate ladder. Self-assessments are also available for learning competencies, which can help individuals evaluate their intellectual strengths in preparation for classes or careers.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator offers two choices, called dichotomies, to indicate preferences. Individuals answer questions that place them in four different personality categories based on their levels of introversion or extraversion, use of senses or intuition, and preference for thinking or feeling, judging or perceiving. Each category is represented by a letter, and the combination of the four categories identifies types by four representative letters. For example, a person who is introverted, intuitive, feeling, and perceptive is identified as INFP. These categories help individuals understand why certain activities and occupations are comfortable and rewarding, while others are stressful or frustrating.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is one of several personality rating scales used by certified professionals. Other psychological assessments can be found online. The Internet offers a wide variety of tests, some of which give free, instant feedback while others require payment. Many include the opportunity for professional evaluation. Once completed, the self-assessment can guide the individual in making choices or understanding feelings and inclinations.

Faulty Self-Assessment

In some cases, individuals approach self-assessment by using a selective process to verify or enhance their existing self-concept rather than seeking or accepting new information. As a result, they tend to focus on positive outcomes regarding their abilities and personality traits, see ambiguous findings as affirmative, and avoid or ignore weaknesses or limitations. Furthermore, a person who lacks competence in a given area is by definition unable to judge competency in that field. For example, a man who has poor driving skills is not qualified to judge his own performance behind the wheel, but that might not stop him from considering himself a skilled driver.

Others wish to verify their own views about themselves, both positive and negative, through feedback that is consistent with what they expect. If they believe they are good at writing but poor at math, they tend to hear and absorb only information that matches their own self-assessment. In other cases, individuals use misleading feedback to judge their positive and negative attributes. For instance, they do not take into consideration social factors such as the tendency for people to offer positive comments rather than criticisms regarding the abilities of others. Even when they readily agree that they themselves do not provide honest criticism to others, people accept positive comments as accurate assessments of their abilities.

Bibliography

Carter, Travis J., and David Dunning. "Faulty Self-Assessment: Why Evaluating One’s Own Competence Is an Intrinsically Difficult Task." Social and Personality Psychology Compass. Blackwell Publishing LTD. 2008. Web 19 Mar. 2015. http://cornellpsych.org/people/travis/materials/Carter-Dunning-Self-Assessment%20Intrinsically%20Difficult-PSPC-2008.pdf

Fay, Adam J., Alexander H. Jordan, and Joyce Ehrlinger. "How Social Norms Promote Misleading Social Feedback and Inaccurate Self-Assessment." Social and Personality Psychology Compass. Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~ajordan/papers/Fay,%20Jordan,%20&%20Ehrlinger%20%282012%29%20-%20Social%20Norms%20and%20Self%20Assessment.pdf

"Key Competences for Lifelong Learning." British Council. British Council. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. http://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/britishcouncil.uk2/files/youth-in-action-keycomp-en.pdf

Kruger, Justin, and David Dunning. "Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. American Psychological Association, Inc. 1999. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.64.2655&rep=rep1&type=pdf

"MBTI Basics." The Meyers & Briggs Foundation. The Myers & Briggs Foundation. Web. 19 Mar. 2015. http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/

"Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)." The Way We Work: An Encyclopedia of Business Culture, Vol. 2. Ed. Regina Fazio Maruca. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008. 262–264. Print.

Sedikides, Constantine. "Assessment, Enhancement, and Verification Determinants of the Self-Evaluation Process." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. American Psychological Association, Inc. 1993. Web 19 Mar. 2015. http://www.people.vcu.edu/~jldavis/readings/Sedikides%201993%20self%20enhancement.pdf

Sedikides, Constantine, et al. "A Three-Tier Hierarchy of Self-Potency: Individual Self, Relational Self, Collective Self." Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Vol. 48. Ed. James M. Olson and Mark P. Zanna. San Diego: Academic Press, 2013. 235–296. Print.

What can you infer about the mother's character in "The Veldt?"

Lydia, the mother, recognizes that the children have become too attached to the nursery. She also fears the nursery, which is why she asks George to lock it up for a few days. She is also the one who suggests that they turn the entire house off for a few days so that she will have things to do. She is wise enough to realize that the house has become the children's parent: 

I feel like I don't belong here. The house is wife and mother now, and nursemaid. Can I compete with an African veldt? Can I give a bath and scrub the children as efficiently or quickly as the automatic scrub bath can? I cannot. 

She feels that the house (technology) has made life so convenient for them that they are starting to feel useless. She sees how the children are addicted to the nursery and how unhealthy that is. All of this has led to her feeling more anxious and nervous. She is so nervous that she has begun to believe that the lions might actually be real. Lydia and George have let things get to this point, so the fault is theirs. But Lydia does show the proper concern about their family's unhealthy reliance on technology. However, she lacks the fortitude to keep the nursery locked because she's developed a habit of letting her children have their way. 

How does the All Writs Act of 1789 give the FBI power to compel Apple to unlock Syed Farook's iPhone?

The All Writs Act of 1789 is part of the statute that created the federal judiciary. It has never been overturned, in all its years, and so it is still perfectly good law.  It allows a federal court to issue an order, to put it simply, which might seem like something that would not be necessary, but the reason for the need for this lies in the issue of over whom a court has jurisdiction.  As a matter of course, when people go to court, a plaintiff versus a defendant or the state versus a defendant, the court can issue orders to the parties because it has jurisdiction over the parties. So, for example, the court can issue a subpoena to a plaintiff or defendant for records.  They must comply, even if it is a question of having to write new software to do so because the court has clear authority over them as parties. However, Apple is not a party in any proceeding in the court. It is a third party that in some way has nothing to do with what is going on, which is an investigation into the acts of an alleged terrorist. The All Writs Act is the mechanism by which the government has chosen to force Apple to provide the evidence it seeks.  Whether or not a court should be able to order a third party, over which it has had no jurisdiction at all, is a question that is of concern in a democracy, since any federal court anywhere could issue a sweeping order that would require great inconvenience, great expenditure, great loss of security, or actual harm to the customers of the third party.  Since the government has chosen to invoke the All Writs Act in this manner, the specter of these potential consequences has been raised, legitimately, in my own opinion, and while getting any kind of precedent from the Supreme Court right now is problematic, there is some likelihood that Apple will challenge the government's use of the Act all the way to the Supreme Court.

In Chapter 15 of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, what does Atticus say about the Ku Klux Klan?

At the beginning of Chapter 15, Sheriff Tate and several other community members visit Atticus Finch's home to talk about the upcoming Tom Robinson trial, and whether or not the Old Sarum bunch will look for any trouble when they move Tom to Maycomb's jailhouse. Jem, Atticus' son, is impatiently watching their discussion through the living room window. When Atticus comes into the house, Jem asks him if the men standing outside were part of a gang. Atticus explains to his son that the men he was talking to were their friends and that there are no gangs in Maycomb. Jem says, "Ku Klux got after some Catholics one time" (Lee 196). Atticus tells Jem that he is confusing that with something else, and that way back in 1920 the Ku Klux Klan existed. Atticus says it was more of a political organization than anything else. Atticus tells Jem that they could not find anyone to scare, so they paraded around Mr. Sam Levy's home one night, and Sam made them ashamed when he commented that he sold them the very sheets on their backs. Atticus concludes by telling Jem that the Ku Klux Klan is gone.

How does Percy show that he is a hero in Chapter 17 of The Lightning Thief?

In Chapter Seventeen of The Lightning Thief, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are wandering around West Hollywood in search of DOA Recording Studios (the location that holds the entrance to the Underworld).

After a run-in with a group of wealthy kids with knives, the trio runs into a store called Crusty's Water Bed Palace. There they meet Procrustes (Crusty for short), who invites them to try out a few of the water beds. Annabeth and Grover do as he suggests, but Crusty suddenly binds the two to their beds with magical ropes that he summons by snapping his fingers and saying, "Ergo!" Crusty will only release Annabeth and Grover if Percy makes them fit their six-foot-long beds by stretching their bodies out. Percy realizes that this is the mythologically infamous "Procrustes the Stretcher" who attacks people by stretching them or amputating their limbs. 

Percy shows that he is a hero in his ability to outwit and defeat Crusty. He convinces Crusty to lay down in one of his own beds and uses Crusty's own trick to bind Crusty to the bed. He then decapitates Crusty with his sword, Riptide, and frees Annabeth and Grover so that they may continue on their journey to the Underworld. 

How can you explain two main effects of the New Deal programs?

President Franklin Roosevelt developed a series of programs to try to help deal with the impact of the Great Depression. These programs were called the New Deal. The New Deal Programs tried to bring relief to the American people and reform to our society.

Several New Deal programs tried to help the American people deal with the impacts of the Great Depression. There were many programs that created jobs. The Civilian Conservation Corps created jobs for young, unemployed men. These people went to the western part of our country to work on various conservation projects. The Civil Works Administration and the Public Works Administration created jobs for our people. These jobs were in the construction industry. They worked on projects that included building roads, schools, and bridges. Farmers were paid not to produce crops with the passage of the Agriculture Adjustment Act.

The New Deal also tried to bring about reforms to help try to prevent another significant depression from occurring. The Glass-Steagall Act prevented commercial banks from investing in the stock market. It also created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This program insured savings accounts to reassure people that their money was safe in our banks. The Securities Act was passed requiring companies to give complete and truthful information to investors. The Security and Exchange Commission was created to monitor the stock market and to prevent fraud.

These New Deal programs were designed to provide relief to our people and to create reforms to help to try to prevent another Great Depression from occurring.

How is Friar Laurence's decision to leave the tomb without Juliet an emotional decision?

When Friar Laurence comes into the cemetery in Act V, Scene 3, he is immediately worried because he meets Balthasar, Romeo's servant, and sees a light at Capulet's tomb. He knows that Romeo never received the message about the plot to fake Juliet's death. He says,

O, much I fear some ill unthrifty thing.

The Friar is obviously afraid of what Romeo may be doing and his fears are recognized when he sees blood stains on the opening to the tomb. By the time he gets inside he finds Romeo dead and Juliet just waking up. A number of emotions must have passed through his mind, including regret, anxiety and fear for his own life. He reveals this emotional side when he hurriedly leaves the tomb without taking Juliet. He believes his plans have been ruined by some higher power. He says,

I hear some noise.—Lady, come from that nest
Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep.
A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away.
Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead,
And Paris, too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee
Among a sisterhood of holy nuns.
Stay not to question, for the watch is coming.
Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay.

This sudden display of emotion seems to go against Shakespeare's earlier characterization of the Friar as calm and logical, with an answer to every problem that arises for Romeo and Juliet. He wisely tells them to take things slowly when he marries them, and when Juliet finds herself facing a marriage to Paris, he again has a reasoned (though desperate) solution. That he should show such raw emotion at the end of the play and flee for his life is out of touch with his earlier actions. As with the character of Lord Capulet, who uncharacteristically changes his mind about Paris and then berates Juliet, Shakespeare apparently needed Laurence and Capulet to reveal their emotional sides in order to move the plot to its tragic ending. 

Why does Laurie's mother miss the first P.T.A. meeting in "Charles"?

In the ironic short story "Charles," Laurie's mother misses the first P.T.A. meeting because the baby sister has a cold and the mother stays home with her.

The mother/narrator is very disappointed because she "wanted passionately" to meet the mother of such a boy as Charles. For, she is incredulous that such a child can exist. This is, of course, very ironic since the reader later learns that "Charles" is a fictitious name created by Laurie for himself.
However, this irony is believable because the mother is deluded about Laurie, her "sweet-voiced tot" who "forgets" to wave good-bye to her on his first day of school, and who misbehaves constantly at home. Certainly, she never reacts to his speaking "insolently" or his acts of disrespect to her. Nor does her husband respond to Charles's insolence when, for instance, the boy "climbs" into his chair at the dinner table and says to his father, "Hi, Pop, y'old dust mop."

Neither one of the obtuse parents detect the exaggerations of Laurie about the student "Charles." Nor do they realize that clearly no child would continue with such behavior without professional intervention occurring. So, when the mother attends the next P.T.A. meeting and speaks with Laurie's teacher, she is, indeed, surprised as she finally deduces that she is the parent of "Charles." 

Why is the Securities and Exchange Commission important?

The Securities and Exchange Commission was created by the Securities Act, which was passed during the Great Depression. This law was passed to reform conditions that led to the stock market crash of 1929.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has several important functions. It is designed to regulate the stock market. It also works to prevent fraud. Prior to the passage of the Securities Act, companies didn’t have to provide factual information to investors. Today, a company must give potential investors information about the company. There were few laws and few regulations regarding the stock market prior to the Great Depression. The Securities and Exchange Commission proposes rules for the stock market and ensures that those rules are being followed. It also regulates the brokers who make investments. The goal of the Securities Act and the Security and Exchange Commission was to restore the confidence of investors in the stock market. To this day, the Securities and Exchange Commission plays an important role in the investment industry.

What does the sign say at the beginning of the story in "A Sound of Thunder"?

The sign tells customers that they can go to any time period and shoot any animal.

The story takes place at some point in the future where the technology exists to travel through time.  In addition to traveling through time, they apparently have developed some pretty sophisticated weapons.  They can shoot animals like dinosaurs. 

People have used this technology for what may seem like the frivolous practice of time travel safaris.  Time Safari, Inc. has a sign at its entrance to greet customers.  Eckels seems fascinated by it when he first comes in.

TIME SAFARI, INC. SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST.

YOU NAME THE ANIMAL. WE TAKE YOU THERE. YOU SHOOT IT

Apparently the technology to travel through time and shoot dinosaurs is common enough and inexpensive enough that it can be used for commercial purposes.  However, this activity is government regulated.  There is heavy regulation because going back in time can change the future. 

“We don’t want to change the Future. We don’t belong here in the Past. The government doesn’t like us here. We have to pay big graft to keep our franchise. A Time Machine is finicky business. Not knowing it, we might kill an important animal, … thus destroying an important link in a growing species.”

Eckels hired Time Safari to take him back to the time of the dinosaurs to shoot a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  He was a big game hunter, and wanted a more challenging hunt.  He paid ten thousand dollars to hunt the T-rex.  Yet when he was face to face with the dinosaur, he panicked.  It seemed too big and scary to actually hit.

It turns out that stepping off the path does change the future.  Eckels gets so frightened by his experience that he accidentally kills a butterfly, and when he returns the lettering on the sign has changed just enough that we can tell that the future was altered.  A different man is president.  It is the butterfly effect.

What are your impressions of the narrator in "The Raven"?

My impression of the narrator is that he is a man who has recently lost his beloved, a woman he calls "Lenore," and in enduring her death, he is coming face to face with both it as well as his own mortality.  He is grief-stricken, so much so that, when he hears a knocking at this door at midnight and sees no one there, he immediately assumes that it is her spirit, returned.  The narrator is trying to move past his grief, to distract himself from it, but he cannot; this makes him quite sympathetic and pitiable because this is likely a situation to which many of us can relate.  Then, when a raven flies into his room, his first thought is a logical one: that the raven simply repeats, over and over, the only word that it knows.  However, from there, the narrator makes so many strange assumptions that I can only assume he is grappling with something far more significant than a weird bird, but that he is struggling to face and accept human mortality.

Thornton Wilder's Our Town addresses expectations of normalcy in terms of a historically oriented American Dream. What modern day cultural texts do...

Although their styles and genres are very different, both Thornton Wilder's play Our Town (1938) and Sandra Cisneros' short story "Woman Hollering Creek" (1991) show how a young woman anticipates a normal life pursuing the traditional American Dream. The protagonist of "Woman Hollering Creek" is a young Mexican woman, Cleofilas, who leaves her home to marry an American man who lives in Texas. More than perhaps the man himself, Cleofilas is attracted to the lure of America. She imagines money, and she envisions herself wearing modern fashion like the women on television. Her house, she expects, will be lovely enough to cause her friends to be jealous, and the couple will add on to it when the children come. 

As in Our Town, however, the young woman doesn't really get to experience much of the American Dream. Emily Webb Gibbs marries young and has a few years of running the farm with her husband and has one child, but she dies bearing her second child. Cleofilas also has one child when the story opens and is pregnant with her second. However, she has never really experienced the American Dream. Her husband is abusive and a philanderer. Two American women take it upon themselves to help Cleofilas escape back to Mexico, and only at that point, as she is leaving the country, does Cleofilas really experience the joy and freedom that can be hers. 

While Our Town paints a sweet though sad picture of life in small town America for a young woman, emphasizing the joys of family and simple pleasures, "Woman Hollering Creek" is a story of empowerment and the ability of a woman to overcome an ill-advised decision before it completely ruins her life. Although in one sense Cleofilas doesn't experience the traditional American Dream, the story gives a glimpse of one woman in particular, Felice, who does. Felice has a job, drives a pick-up, and is obviously empowered. The story shows that the American Dream is alive and well in Texas for women who choose to holler, not in sadness or pain, but in power and joy. 

How much sodium bicarbonate is needed to fully react with 25mL of vinegar?

The chemical reaction between sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and vinegar (CH3COOH) is given as:

`NaHCO_3 + CH_3COOH -> CH_3COONa + H_2CO_3`

Thus, 1 mole of sodium bicarbonate reacts with 1 mole of vinegar.

The molar mass of sodium bicarbonate = 23 + 1 + 12 + 3 x 16 = 84 g/mol

The molar mass of vinegar = 2 x 12 + 4 x 1 + 2 x 16 = 60 g/mol

The density of vinegar is 1.05 g/cm^3 or 1.05 g/ml.

Here, we have 25 ml of vinegar or 25 x 1.05 g = 26.25 g of vinegar.

This is also equal to 26.25 g x (1 mol /60 g) = 0.4375 mol

From the balanced chemical equation, 1 mole of vinegar will react will 1 mole of sodium bicarbonate. 

Or, 0.4375 mol vinegar will react with 0.4375 mol sodium bicarbonate.

This is equivalent to 0.4375 mol x (84 g/mol) = 36.75 g.

Thus, 36.75 g of sodium bicarbonate is needed to react with 25 ml of vinegar.

Hope this helps. 

In Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, are the missionary ladies sincere in worrying about the Mrunas?

A great deal of hypocrisy is exposed during Aunt Alexandra's missionary circle meeting in Chapter 24 of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. While the ladies of the circle express concern for the Mrunas, in truth, they are only concerned because no white people are able to approach the Mrunas, except for J. Grimes Everett. The ladies of the society feel that only white people are able to set Christianly examples for so-called heathens. Since their sentiments are riddled with hypocrisy, we can say that the ladies of the missionary circle are not genuinely concerned for the Mrunas; they are only concerned that the Mrunas are not the sort of people the ladies of the missionary circle want them to be.

Scout hears Mrs. Grace Merriweather preach to the missionary group about the conditions of and express sympathy for the Mrunas, as Scout narrates in the following:

[The Mrunas] put the women out in huts when their time came, whatever that was; they had no sense of family--...--they subjected children to terrible ordeals when they were thirteen; they were crawling with yaws and earworms ... . (Ch. 24)

Later, during refreshments, Scout attempts to make polite conversation with Mrs. Merriweather by asking her about the Mrunas. Scout even notes that Mrs. Merriweather grows teary-eyed when she speaks of the Mrunas as "the oppressed"; however, what's particularly interesting is her statement to Scout, "Not a white person'll go near 'em but that saintly J. Grimes Everett." In other words, through her reference to white people, Mrs. Merriweather is exposing her opinion that the Mrunas are in the condition they are in simply because they don't have the influence of Christian white people.

The members of the missionary circle further expose their hypocrisies by referring to the Christian African Americans who live in their own hometown as people who live in darkness and immorality.

In The Conjure Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher, what do the outside scenes of Frimbo's chambers add to the story?

The majority of the story in "The Conjure Man Dies" takes place inside the front room of the main character's apartment, where he conducts readings for his metaphysical clients. When Frimbo is allegedly murdered, each one of the visitors to his apartment is questioned, which leads to them retelling a memory of their lives that helps explain why they went to see Frimbo.

Each outside memory not only adds depth to the character being questioned but provides an opportunity for the author to describe the many different lifestyles that converged in 1930s Harlem. Rudolph Fisher paints a vivid image of Harlem culture during this time and provides keen insights into each character's personality and struggles.

One example of a powerful outside scene in this story is when Mrs. Snead, a married woman who sought Frimbo's help to stop her husband's alcoholic ways, describes her difficult life. Easley Jones is another suspect whose exploits as a traveling Pullman car worker are used to show the duality in Harlem between hard work and play. Each of these scenes helps flesh out the cast of suspects and create a strong setting for the narrative.

How does "The Ransom of Red Chief" reflect O. Henry's life?

The message of "The Ransom of Red Chief," although it is a funny story, is that "crime does not pay." Sam and Bill have been traveling all over the Midwest for years, trying one crooked scheme after another. They must think of the kidnapping plan because they are running out of ideas. After all these years they have only $600 between them.

O. Henry had served several years in state prison on a felony conviction of embezzlement. He met countless career criminals in and out of prison and came to the conclusion that most of them were losers. He never got over the disgrace of having been a convict. He changed his name from William Sydney Porter to O. Henry and lived in fear of having his past catch up with him. His feelings of guilt, shame, regret, fear of exposure, and so forth were undoubtedly responsible for the fact that he was known to drink two quarts of whiskey a day while he was living in New York and writing for the newspapers. He died at the age of only forty-seven from alcohol-related diseases. 

Another well-known story in which O. Henry expresses the same moral that crime does not pay, or that honesty is the best policy, is "A Retrieved Reformation." Jimmy Valentine is a successful safecracker, but the story opens while he is serving a term in prison. He is still young, and he is beginning to realize that a life of crime is a terrible choice. He can't lead a normal life. He is always looking over his shoulder. When he falls in love at first sight with Annabel Adams, she is not the cause of his reformation but the catalyst. He has been gradually realizing that "success" as a criminal only means attracting more pursuers. He is articulating O. Henry's sincerely meant message when he writes in a letter to an old pal:

Say, Billy, I've quit the old business—a year ago. I've got a nice store. I'm making an honest living, and I'm going to marry the finest girl on earth two weeks from now. It's the only life, Billy—the straight one. I wouldn't touch a dollar of another man's money now for a million.  

What the are main arguments in Kwame Anthony Appiah's "In My Father's House"?

In this collection of essays, Appiah is writing about the modern Pan-African Afrocentric movement. Pan-Africanism is the idea that Africa is (or should act as) a unified political and cultural entity. It claims that African people share a common culture and/or a common political ideology. Pan-Africanists generally assert that African and African-descended people should unite in solidarity toward a common political destiny. 

Appiah argues that Pan-Africanism doesn't work because it is based on false assumptions. He argues that Africans do not all share a single, monolithic culture. There are many diverse cultural, religious, ethnic, and linguistic groups represented on the continent of Africa. For Appiah, there is no single cultural practice or ideal held in common by all African people.

Appiah argues that the notion of race is itself an invention ("an illusion," in his words). He demonstrates how the notion of race is deeply problematic; it cannot serve as the basis for identity or ideology.

Instead of a race-based ideology such as Pan-Africanism, Appiah calls for an inclusive approach. He argues that we must stop seeing the problems of Africa as uniquely "African" problems. Instead, we must see them as human problems, and lose the illusion of race. 

What was the effect of the Industrial Revolution in India?

India did not benefit from the Industrial Revolution in terms of developing its economy. In fact, because of the dominance of the East India Company and the British Empire, Indians actually took several steps backwards in this period. The Industrial Revolution was a dark age in India. Learning and science declined and warfare and poverty were on the increase. Britain exploited the subcontinent for resources for its textile industries and Indians lost their political autonomy. Indians actually had to import food from Great Britain because they were forced to grow cash crops like cotton and tea.

The Industrial Revolution did introduce modern financial practices to India as modern banks and postal systems were instituted. The transportation infrastructure was also improved with the construction of canals and railways. While these improvements were made to benefit the British, they did ultimately help the Indians as well.

What is circulation?

Structure and Functions

The cardiovascular system is made up of the heart, arteries, veins, capillaries, and lungs. The heart serves as a pump to deliver blood to the arteries for distribution throughout the body. The veins bring the blood back to the heart, and the lungs oxygenate the blood before returning it to the arterial system.

Contraction of the heart muscle forces blood out of the heart. This period of contraction is known as systole. The heart muscle relaxes after each contraction, which allows blood flow into the heart. This period of relaxation is known as diastole. A typical blood pressure taken at the upper arm provides a pressure reading during two phases of the cardiac cycle. The first number is known as the systolic pressure and represents the pressure of the heart during peak contraction. The second number is known as the diastolic pressure and represents the pressure while the heart is at rest. A typical pressure reading for a young adult would be 120/80. When blood pressure is abnormally elevated, it is commonly referred to as high blood pressure, or hypertension.

The heart is separated into two halves by a wall of muscle known as the septum. The two halves are known as the left and right heart. The left side of the heart is responsible for high-pressure arterial distribution and is larger and stronger than the right side. The right side of the heart is responsible for accepting low-pressure venous return and redirecting it to the lungs.

Because of these pressure differences from one side of the heart to the other, the vessel wall constructions of the arteries and the veins differ. Strong construction of the arterial wall allows tolerance of significant pressure elevations from the left heart. The arterial wall is made up of three major tissue layers, known as tunics. Secondary layers of tissue that provide strength and elasticity to the artery are known as elastic and connective tissues. As with the artery, the wall of the vein is made up of three distinct tissue layers. Compared to that of an artery, the wall of a vein is thinner and less elastic, which allows the wall to be easily compressed by surrounding muscle during contraction.

While the heart is at rest, between contractions, newly oxygenated arterial blood passes from the lungs and enters the left heart. Each time the heart contracts, blood is forced from the left heart into a major artery known as the aorta. From the aorta, blood is distributed throughout the body. Once depleted of nutrients and oxygen, arterial blood passes through an extensive array of minute vessels known as capillaries. A significant pressure drop occurs as blood is dispersed throughout the immense network of capillaries. The capillaries empty into the venous system, which carries the blood back to the heart.

The primary responsibility of the venous system is to return deoxygenated blood to the lungs and heart. Much more energy is required from the body to move venous flow compared to arterial flow. Unlike the artery, the vein does not depend on the heart or gravity for energy to move blood. The venous system has a unique means of blood transportation known as the “venous pump,” which moves blood toward the heart.

The components making up the venous pump include muscle contraction against the venous wall, intra-abdominal pressure changes, and one-way venous valves. Compression against the walls of a vein induces movement of blood. Muscle contraction against a vein wall occurs throughout the body during periods of activity. Activity includes every movement, from breathing to running. Variations in respiration cause fluctuations in the pressure within the abdomen, which produces a siphonlike effect on the veins, pulling venous blood upward. Valves are located within the veins of the extremities and pelvis. A venous valve has two leaflets, which protrude inward from opposite sides of the vein wall and meet one another in the center. Valves are necessary to prevent blood from flowing backward, away from the heart.

The venous system is divided into two groups known as the deep and superficial veins. The deep veins are located parallel to the arteries, while the superficial veins are located just beneath the skin surface and are often visible through the skin.

Disorders and Diseases

Numerous variables may affect the flow of blood. The autonomic nervous system is connected to muscle within the wall of the artery by way of neurological pathways known as sympathetic branches. Various drugs and/or conditions can trigger responses in the sympathetic branches and produce constriction of the smooth muscle in the arterial wall (vasoconstriction) or relaxation of the arterial wall (vasodilation). Alcohol consumption and a hot bath are examples of conditions that produce vasodilation. Exposure to cold and cigarette smoking are examples of conditions that produce vasoconstriction. Various drugs used in the medical environment are capable of producing similar effects. The diameter of the lumen of an artery influences the pressure and the flow of blood through it.

Another condition that alters the arterial diameter is atherosclerosis, a disease primarily of the large arteries, which allows the formation of fat (lipid) deposits to build on the inner layer of the artery. Lipid deposits are more commonly known as atherosclerotic plaque. Plaque accumulation reduces the diameter of the arterial lumen, causing various degrees of flow restriction. Plaque is similar to rust accumulation within a pipe that restricts the flow of water. A restriction of flow is referred to as a stenosis. The majority of stenotic lesions occur at the places where arteries divide into branches, also known as bifurcations. In advanced stages of plaque development, plaque may become calcified. Calcified plaque is hard and may become irregular, ulcerate, or hemorrhage, providing an environment for new clot formation and/or release of small pieces of plaque debris downstream. When pieces of plaque break off, they may move downstream into smaller blood vessels, causing a blockage and restricting the flow of oxygenated blood; this can cause tissue death, stroke, and heart attack.

An arterial wall may become very hard and rigid, a condition commonly known as hardening of the arteries. Hardened arteries may eventually become twisted, kinked, or dilated as a result of the hardening process of the arterial wall. A hardened artery which has become dilated is known as an aneurysm.

Normal arterial flow is undisturbed. When blood cells travel freely, they move together at a similar speed with very little variance. This is known as laminar flow. Nonlaminar (turbulent) flow is seen when irregular plaque or kinks in the arterial wall disrupt the smooth flow of cells. Plaque with an irregular surface may produce mild turbulence, while a narrow stenosis produces significant turbulence immediately downstream from the stenosis.

Many moderate or severe stenoses can be heard with the use of a standard stethoscope over the vessel of interest. A high-pitched sound can be heard consequent to the increased velocity of the blood cells moving through a narrow space. (A similar effect is produced when a standard garden hose is kinked to create a spray and a hissing sound is heard.) Medically, this sound is often referred to as a bruit. Bruit (pronounced “broo-ee”) is a French word meaning noise.

Patients with significant lower extremity arterial disease will consistently experience calf pain and occasionally experience thigh discomfort with exercise. The discomfort is relieved when the patient stands still for a few moments. This is known as vascular claudication and occurs from a pressure drop as a consequence of a severely stenotic (reduced in diameter by greater than 75 percent) or occluded artery. If the muscle cannot get enough oxygen as a result of reduced blood flow, it will cramp, forcing the patient to stop and rest until blood supply has caught up to muscle demand. Alternate pathways around an obstruction prevent pain at rest, when muscle demand is low. Alternate pathways are also referred to as collateral pathways. Small, otherwise insignificant branches from a main artery become important vessels when the body uses them as collateral pathways around an obstruction. Time and exercise help to collateralize arterial branches into larger, more prominent arterial pathways. If collateral pathways do not provide enough flow to prevent the patient from experiencing painful muscle cramps while performing a daily exercise routine or to heal a wound on the foot, it may be necessary to perform either a surgical bypass around the obstruction or another interventional procedure such as angioplasty, atherectomy, or laser surgery.

Claudication may also occur in the heart. The main coronary arteries lie on the surface of the heart and distribute blood to the heart muscle. Patients suffering from coronary artery disease (CAD) may experience tightness, heaviness, or pain in the chest subsequent to flow restriction to the heart muscle as a result of atherosclerotic plaque within the coronary arteries. These symptoms are known as angina pectoris, or simply angina, usually occurring with exercise and relieved by rest. Intensity of the symptoms is relative to the extent of disease. A myocardial infarction (heart attack) is the result of a coronary artery occlusion.

Unlike the arteries, the venous system is not affected by atherosclerosis. The primary diseases of the veins include blood clot formation and varicose veins. A varicose vein is an enlarged and meandering vein with poorly functioning valves. A varicosity typically involves the veins near the skin surface, the superficial veins, and is often visualized as an irregular and/or raised segment through the skin surface. Varicosities are most common in the lower legs.

Valve leaflets are common sites for development of a thrombus. Thrombosis is the formation of a clot within a vein, which occurs when blood flow is delayed or obstructed for many hours. Several conditions that may induce venous clotting include prolonged bed rest (postoperative patients), prolonged sitting (long airplane or automobile rides), and the use of oral contraceptives. Cancer patients are at high risk of clot formation secondary to a metabolic disorder that affects the natural blood-thinning process.

Because numerous tributaries are connected to the superficial system, it is easy for the body to compensate for a clot in this system by rerouting blood through other branches. The deep venous system, however, has fewer branches, which promotes the progression of a thrombus toward the heart. A thrombus in the deep venous system is more serious because the risk of pulmonary emboli, commonly known as blood clots in the lungs, is much higher than superficial vein thrombosis. The further a thrombus propagates, the higher the risk to the patient.

Lower extremity venous return must take an alternate route via the superficial venous system when the deep system is obstructed by a thrombus. This is known as compensatory flow around an obstruction.

Perspective and Prospects

Historically, the vasculature of the human body was evaluated by placing one’s fingers on the skin, palpating for the presence or absence of a pulse, and making note of the patient’s symptoms. Prior to the 1960s, treatment of the circulatory system was very limited or nonexistent, resulting in a high death rate and large numbers of amputations, strokes, and heart attacks. The development of arteriography (the angiogram), a procedure in which dye is injected into the vessels while x-rays are obtained, revealed more about the vasculature and the nature of disease involving it. In conjunction with arteriography came corrective bypass surgery.

This period of development was followed by vast improvements in diagnostics, treatment, and knowledge of preventive maintenance. Today, synthetic bypass grafts are commonplace and are used to reroute flow around an obstruction. In many cases, procedures such as atherectomy and angioplasty, in which plaque or a thrombus is removed through a catheter inserted into the vessel, are often performed as outpatient procedures. In cases where an artery been seriously narrowed or weakened, a stent, a small mesh tube, may be inserted into the blood vessel to keep it open and unobstructed following the angioplasty procedure.

Diagnostic imaging of the cardiovascular system and the study of hemodynamics with the use of ultrasound have been useful for patient screening, the monitoring of disease progression, and the postoperative evaluation of surgical/interventional procedures. Ultrasound is a particularly valuable diagnostic tool because, compared to x-rays or arteriography, it is less expensive; it is also quick, painless, and noninvasive (no radiation, needle, or dye is required).

In addition to technological advances, new medications have been made available to reduce the risk of graft rejection, hypertension, and clotting, and to lower blood cholesterol. Preventive measures such as a healthy diet, weight maintenance, and regular exercise, however, constitute the most effective approach to good cardiovascular health. Much new information has been made available to improve the knowledge of the general public regarding diet, exercise, and the avoidance of unhealthy habits such as cigarette smoking as the way to create and maintain a healthier cardiovascular system.

Bibliography

Ford, Earl S. "Combined Television Viewing and Computer Use and Mortality from All-Causes and Diseases of the Circulatory System among Adults in the United States." BMC Public Health 12.1 (2012): 70–79.

Guyton, Arthur C., and John E. Hall. Human Physiology and Mechanisms of Disease. 6th ed. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders, 1997.

Marder, Victor J., et al., eds. Disorders of Thrombosis and Hemostasis: Basic Principles and Clinical Practice. 6th ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2012.

Marieb, Elaine N., and Katja Hoehn. Human Anatomy and Physiology. 9th ed. San Francisco: Pearson/Benjamin Cummings, 2012.

Saltin, Bengt, et al., eds. Exercise and Circulation in Health and Disease. Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, 2000.

Strandness, D. Eugene, Jr. Duplex Scanning in Vascular Disorders. 4th ed. London: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2009.

In market analysis, how can I determine the educational level, age and economic status of the audience I want to reach?

The answer to this question depends entirely on the types of product or service you are trying to sell or promote.

Your first step in determining this is researching the basic demographics for the type of product you are selling. For example, if you are a member of a marketing department at a symphony, you might look at the Princeton Center for Arts and Cultural Policy. You would note that educational level is highly correlated with attendance, with 40 percent of people with some graduate school education having attended a classical music concert in the past year. Additional research will show that consumers of classical music tend to be relatively wealthy, with over half of season ticket holders having annual incomes over $150,000 and relatively elderly, with over half being over the age of 65. This means that if you are marketing or talking about classical music, your most probable audience is well-educated, elderly, and wealthy.

On the other hand, if you were marketing cigarettes, your typical audience would be far less educated. Only 5 percent of people with graduate degrees smoke, while over 40 percent of people with GEDs use cigarettes. In general, smoking also seems to correlate with lower income and is more prevalent among adults 18-64 years old than in people over 65. 

In all cases, you need to adapt your talks or marketing plans to the appropriate demographic. 

What does the following text mean: That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the...

This passage is from the Declaration of Independence which was written by Thomas Jefferson.  It was signed on July 4, 1776.  I am not sure what your question was, so I will dissect the different parts and give an explanation for each section.  The Declaration of Independence was the means by which the colonists communicated the rationale for dissolving their relationship with England.  

...That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed... 

This excerpt communicates the colonists belief in popular sovereignty and the idea that governments are formed by people to serve the needs and interests of the people.  In other words, since the citizens create the government, the government is created in their interest.  

...That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it...

This concept from the Enlightenment period is the idea that people have the right and responsibility to replace a government that is tyrannical and oppressive.  The Declaration of Independence also lists the various grievances the colonists held against England.  These grievances form the justification for separation.

and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

This portion is rather obvious in that if you destroy one system of government, it is necessary to replace it with another form.  This also speaks to the idea of a government that is responsive to the needs of the people.  

What is cardiac surgery?

Science and Profession

Cardiac surgeons are part of the broader field of thoracic surgery that includes all physicians who perform surgery on organs in the chest. Thoracic surgeons specialize in surgery of the chest that includes the lungs, the area between the lungs, the esophagus, and the chest wall. Surgery on the heart and the large vessels near the heart are performed by cardiac surgeons.

Cardiologists are also physicians who specialize in heart disorders. However, cardiologists do not perform open-heart surgeries. They diagnose and treat heart ailments using medications and cardiac catheterization procedures, in which a thin, flexible tube is inserted into a major blood vessel in the arm, upper thigh, or neck and threaded to the heart. If major surgery is needed, then a cardiologist refers the patient to a cardiac surgeon.

One of the major diseases treated by cardiac surgeons is coronary artery disease, in which the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle become blocked with fatty deposits. Failure to treat coronary artery disease adequately can result in a heart attack. Heart valve problems are also surgically repaired by cardiac surgeons. If a heart valve allows blood to leak back in the wrong direction or is blocked, then the valve can be repaired and normal blood flow can be restored. Heart failure in its early stages is managed by a cardiologist. In its later and more severe stages, heart failure is treated by cardiac surgeons, who can either put in a ventricular assist device that helps to pump the blood or perform a heart transplant. These procedures will help the heart pump the amount of blood necessary to keep the patient alive and improve quality of life.

Another condition treated by cardiac surgeons is atrial fibrillation, in which the upper chambers (atria) of the heart contract so fast and chaotically that they fail to pump extra blood into the lower chambers (ventricles). In its early stages, atrial fibrillation is managed by cardiologists. Prior to the refinement of cardiac catheterization techniques, cardiac surgeons would perform the Maze procedure, in which the conducting pathways of the atria are interrupted by intentionally damaging the tissue to form scar tissue that can interrupt unwanted electrical impulses. Cardiologists can now perform this procedure using catheterization, but when other procedures that require open-heart surgery are needed, the Maze procedure can be done at the same time by the cardiac surgeon.

An aneurysm is a weakening in the wall of the heart or a blood vessel. A major concern is the rupture of the aneurysm and the subsequent loss of blood through the opening. One common location where aneurysms are found is in the aorta, the major artery that carries blood from the left ventricle of the heart. If the aneurysm gets too large, then a cardiac surgeon can repair it. As with other heart ailments, a cardiologist generally manages the treatment until the condition becomes severe and then surgery is performed by a cardiac surgeon.

Becoming a cardiac surgeon requires extensive education and training. Typically, four years of undergraduate education is followed by four years of medical school. In the last year of medical school, students apply for a general surgery residency program. During this five-year program, residents complete rotations in various surgical specialties, including cardiothoracic surgery. In the fourth year of the general surgery residency, the student must apply for another residency in cardiothoracic surgery, which will last another two to three years. Upon completion of the residency program, the newly trained surgeon must pass the American Board of Thoracic Surgery exams. To specialize in cardiac surgery, an additional fellowship of one to two years is required. The actual years of training at the various levels may be slightly different in the many training programs available.

Diagnostic and Treatment Techniques

Most diagnostic testing for heart conditions is performed by cardiologists. Cardiac surgeons deal primarily with the surgical treatment of heart ailments. A major intervention performed by cardiac surgeons is coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The purpose of this procedure is to restore adequate blood flow through coronary arteries that have blockages from coronary artery disease. The surgeon will open up the chest by sawing through the bones of the rib cage and then stop the heart. Blood is pumped by a heart-lung machine during the surgery. A blood vessel is removed from another part of the body, usually the upper leg. The coronary artery is cut above the blockage, and the transplanted vessel is sutured at the incision. The coronary artery is then cut below the blockage, and the other end of the transplanted vessel is sutured to the coronary artery. The result is a bypass around the blockage and through the grafted vessel, restoring normal blood flow to the heart muscle. The heart is restarted, and the incision is closed. If there are multiple blockages, then multiple bypass grafts can be performed in one surgery.

Another common surgery performed by cardiac surgeons is valve repair or replacement. The procedure begins like coronary artery bypass surgery by opening the chest and stopping the heart. If the valve can be repaired, then the surgeon may sew a ring around the valve opening to strengthen it. Sometimes the surgeon modifies the valve to make it function better by cutting and separating tissue. In more severe cases, the valve can be replaced with a biological or mechanical valve. Biological valves come from pigs, cows, or human donors. Mechanical valves are made from synthetic materials. Mechanical valves last longer than biological valves but require blood-thinning medication for life so that blood clots do not form. After the damaged valve is removed and the new valve is sutured in place, the heart is restarted and the chest is closed.

Aortic aneurysms that have a risk of bursting can be repaired by a cardiac surgeon. Usually the surgeon will open the chest. The location of the incision is dependent upon the location of the aneurysm. When the aneurysm is exposed, the surgeon replaces the affected area with a synthetic graft. The material of the graft is stronger than the damaged aorta, thus eliminating the bulge.

Sometimes cardiac surgeons perform the Maze procedure, usually in conjunction with other open-heart surgeries. Maze surgery begins by gaining access to the atria of the heart. When performed by cardiac surgeons the chest is opened and the patient is placed on a heart-lung machine. Some patients are able to have the surgery without a heart-lung machine. This is called off-pump surgery and is performed while the heart is beating. In either case, the surgeon makes small incisions in the left and right atria. These lesions will interrupt unwanted electrical impulses through the atria. After the procedure is completed, the chest is closed.

When the heart muscle is damaged, often due to a heart attack, it becomes weaker and begins to lose its shape. Cardiac surgeons can reform the ventricle with a surgical procedure called ventricular remodeling. The surgeon first opens the chest and stops the heart. A heart-lung machine pumps and oxygenates the blood. The correct size and shape of the ventricle is calculated, and a balloon of the appropriate size is inserted. A patch and circular sutures are used to bring the ventricle back to its preferred shape. A mesh stent may also be inserted to help the vessel remain open. The balloon is removed, and the heart maintains the new, optimal configuration. Then the heart is restarted and the chest is sutured shut.

If the damage to the heart is extensive, then ventricular remodeling may not be possible. In severe cases, patients may need a ventricular assist device or a heart transplant. Candidates for a heart transplant must go on a waiting list for a donor match. When a match is found, the surgery is scheduled. The cardiac surgeon opens the chest and connects the great vessels to the heart-lung machine. Then the patient’s heart is removed. The donor heart is sutured to the patient’s great vessels and then started. The heart-lung machine is removed and the chest is closed. If a donor is not available, then a ventricular assist device can be implanted. This device weighs one to two pounds and is placed in the chest. The pump is connected to the major vessels. Generally a tube is passed through the skin to connect it to batteries and controls. Sometimes the pump is placed outside the body with the controls and batteries. The ventricular assist device may be temporary until a donor is found or can be permanent.

Some traditional open-heart surgeries can be performed using minimal-access cardiac surgery. Cardiac surgeons, instead of opening the chest, use scopes to reach the heart through smaller openings in the chest cavity. This technique can be used for bypass surgery on one or two vessels, some valve repairs and replacements, Maze surgery, and some types of aortic aneurysms. If minimal-access procedures can be used, then there is generally a quicker recovery and less time in the hospital for the patient.

Perspective and Prospects

Surgeries on the heart date back to the late 1890s. They were generally to repair penetration wounds to the heart. Open-heart surgery has been performed since 1960, when an effective heart-lung machine was developed. The heart-lung machine made many heart procedures possible. Heart surgeries increased in numbers and types through the late twentieth century and into the twenty-first century because of this machine. In the 1990s, off-pump heart surgeries were developed, so that the heart continues to beat during surgery. Techniques to stabilize the moving heart made this advance possible, but not all patients are candidates for this surgery.

Minimally invasive heart surgery techniques have been developed as well. These surgeries can be performed with three small incisions. The instrument used is a robot controlled by the cardiac surgeon with three scopes that are inserted through the holes. Minimally invasive techniques are expensive, but the recovery time for patients is much less.

Another technique that is reducing the need for open-heart surgery is cardiac catheterization. Cardiac catheterization was first used on humans in the 1930s. Over the years, more applications to heart surgeries have been discovered. New catheterization techniques continue to be developed to replace open-heart surgeries because they are less expensive, have fewer risks, and require shorter recovery times. In the future, open-heart surgeries will continue to be replaced by minimally invasive and catheterization procedures.

The techniques used by cardiac surgeons continue to evolve, and as the population ages, more people will likely need heart surgeries. Cardiac surgeons will continue to have patients in need of surgery and better surgical techniques to correct the various heart conditions.

Bibliography

Bhimji, Shabir, and David Zieve. "Open Heart Surgery." Medline Plus, May 6, 2011.

Bojar, Robert M. Manual of Perioperative Care in Adult Cardiac Surgery. 5th ed. Hoboken: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.

"Cardiac Procedures and Surgeries." American Heart Association, March 22, 2013.

Kouchoukos, Nicholas T., Eugene H. Blackstone, Frank L. Hanley, and James K. Kirklin. Kirklin/Barratt-Boyes Cardiac Surgery. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier-Saunders, 2013.

Morris, Charles R. The Surgeons: Life and Death in a Top Heart Hospital. New York: W. W. Norton, 2007.

Stoney, William S. Pioneers of Cardiac Surgery. Nashville, Tenn.: Vanderbilt University Press, 2008.

Weisse, Allen B. Heart to Heart: The Twentieth Century Battle Against Cardiac Disease: An Oral History. Piscataway, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2002.

What is the point of view in "Everyday Use"?

In "Everyday Use," the point of view is first person. Mrs. Johnson, mother of Dee and Maggie, appears as a character in the story and is our narrator. From Mrs. Johnson's first person narration, we get her perception of her two daughters.

According to Mrs. Johnson, Dee and Maggie are completely different. Dee (Wangero) is confident and attractive. Maggie is shy and awkward. Maggie is reserved and feels that Dee has had a much easier life. "She thinks her sister has held life always in the palm of one hand, that 'no' is a word the world never learned to say to her." 

Mrs. Johnson daydreams about Dee becoming famous and having some type of dramatic moment on national television with her. Mrs. Johnson quickly follows this daydream with more realistic, less glamorous descriptions of herself and her life. From these descriptions and the conversations with Dee/Wangero, Mrs. Johnson demonstrates her criticism of that glamorous, modern way life while also demonstrating her appreciation for a practical, honest way of life. In this way, she shows solidarity with Maggie.

However, the story is more complicated in terms of how Dee tries to incorporate her African heritage with her American family history. If the narration would have been third person omniscient, we might know more about Dee's thoughts and feelings. Such additional information might portray Dee more favorably. But since we only have Mrs. Johnson's point of view, the conclusion seems to suggest that Dee is largely superficial and only embraces African culture and modern social movements because they are fashionable.

Why did Jimmy change his name to Mr. Ralph Spencer? How does Ben Price know Jimmy? Why did Jimmy look at Annabel so strangely? Cite specific...

Jimmy Valentine moves to Elmore, Arkansas to establish a new identity and to start a store as a "front" from which to continue to operate as a safecracker but look like a respectable businessman. He chooses to open a shoe store because he has had ten months experience working on shoes in prison. His choice of the name Ralph Spencer is purely arbitrary. It could have been any other alias. He sensed that he was getting too well known in his old territory in Indiana and that vicinity. For example, the warden seemed to know all about him. And the man called Mike who runs the restaurant and rooming-house where Jimmy lives shows too much curiosity.

“Got anything on?” asked Mike Dolan, genially.

“Me?” said Jimmy, in a puzzled tone. “I don't understand. I'm representing the New York Amalgamated Short Snap Biscuit Cracker and Frazzled Wheat Company.”

This statement delighted Mike to such an extent that Jimmy had to take a seltzer-and-milk on the spot. He never touched “hard” drinks.

Mike's place is probably a hangout for numerous shady characters. If Mike knows about Jimmy's business, then he must discuss it with all his other customers. Jimmy wants to maintain a low profile. Ben Price, an operative for a private detective agency like the famous Pinkerton's, also knows all about Jimmy, and Jimmy probably knows that Price, his nemesis, will be on his trail for the four bank jobs he pulled right after getting "sprung" from prison.

Ben Price knew Jimmy's habits. He had learned them while working on the Springfield case. Long jumps, quick get-aways, no confederates, and a taste for good society—these ways had helped Mr. Valentine to become noted as a successful dodger of retribution. It was given out that Ben Price had taken up the trail of the elusive cracksman, and other people with burglar-proof safes felt more at ease.

Ben Price knows Jimmy because he arrested him for a bank job in Springfield. That is why Jimmy is in prison when the story opens. He put up a fight when Ben arrested him. The evidence of the fight is still in Jimmy's old room at Mike's place.

There on the floor was still Ben Price's collar-button that had been torn from that eminent detective's shirt-band when they had overpowered Jimmy to arrest him.

In those days all the men wore shirts with detachable collars. The collars were held in place with a collar-button. The idea was that men could wear the same shirt for several days but change the collar to look fresh.

So Jimmy wisely moves a long distance to a small town and changes his name. But he falls in love at first sight with a beautiful small-town girl named Annabel Adams.

”Jimmy Valentine looked into her eyes, forgot what he was, and became another man. 

Jimmy decides on the spur of the moment, not just to pose as an honest businessman, but actually to become one. He wants to win Annabel's love, and he knows he can't do that and remain a crook. He is successful as a businessman because he is smart, good-looking, talented, and extremely likable. 

O. Henry does not state how Ben Price traced Jimmy to Elmore, Arkansas. But Price is a top-notch detective and would know how to trace people by asking a lot of questions.  O. Henry specifies that Jimmy is very distinctive-looking. For example:

The clerk was impressed by the clothes and manner of Jimmy. He, himself, was something of a pattern of fashion to the thinly gilded youth of Elmore, but he now perceived his shortcomings. While trying to figure out Jimmy's manner of tying his four-in-hand he cordially gave information.

And Ben Price works for a big detective agency. They have operatives and informants all over the country. Price refers to Jimmy as "Dandy" Jim. He can send out a precise description of the man he is looking for and get all sorts of feedback by letter and telegram. The fact that Price is able to trace Jimmy to Elmore is proof of his power and acumen. O. Henry doesn't even bother to explain why Ben Price shows up in Elmore. The reader would assume that the detective was an expert at finding people if he wanted to find them. And Price is strongly motivated to find Jimmy because he pulled four bank jobs around Indiana.

Ben Price investigated the scenes of the robberies, and was heard to remark:“That's Dandy Jim Valentine's autograph. He's resumed business....Yes, I guess I want Mr. Valentine. He'll do his bit next time without any short-time or clemency foolishness.”