Stress and Coping Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Stress and Coping - Coursework Example initial appraisal is important as it helps one to assess and understand the implication of a problematic situation and the probability of such an event occurring. Elicitation of preliminary efforts. This helps in assessing the impact of the stressors and if one is able to cope with them by taking an imitative and efforts to try something which is likely to bring a solution to a situation. Aldwin formulated person-based and environment-based theories of coping with stressful situations. For purposes of this study, environment-based theories will be considered as the most highly applicable and relevant model to actual stress related issues because they allow individuals under stress to cope with situations depending on the demands of the environment. As such, one is exposed to different types of solutions since the different types of stresses demand application of different types of coping strategies and solutions. For instance, the different stresses such as getting laid off from work, getting sick, losing a loved one or dealing with any other type of stress requires one to cope differently in order to successfully solve a stressful situation. Practically, there is numerous evidence in the real word, showing that most of the people under stress react differently towards varying types of stressors. Stressful situations can be categorized in varied ways. One category is to determine whether a particular situation has already led to loss of a loved one or any other harmful effect, if the situation has potential future harm such as if it entails some kind of threat, or if it can be seen as challenge that has potential of yielding positive outcomes. Stressors can also be classified according to content types. In this case, there are illnesses, hassles, interpersonal problems and deaths. The major coping strategy here is to help individuals relate multiple stressful conditions and compare how the coping strategies can be used successfully across the problems. Due to

Conflict between Free

Conflict between Freewill and Fate Essay Sophocles lived in the 5th Century BC, arguably the age at which the Greeks started questioning the validity of their Gods and Religious beliefs. As a playwright and as a keen social observer (he is credited with winning the maximum number of awards for his plays during his lifetime among his contemporaries), Sophocles might have felt an obligation to emphasize that Fate and Gods were what guided the human life. A healthy respect for Fate was required to accept Life in its entirety. The underlying concept of the story of Oedipus Rex is the all encompassing power of coincidences. One might choose to call it Fate or a deterministic Universe. For Sophocles and all his readers, it is the amazing possibility of symmetry in events. What is Free Will? Freewill is the ability to take independent decisions, and it also includes a deep rooted desire to counter any attempt to predetermine future. Freewill always tends to adopt measures to break loose from any prediction. This tendency to try and break away from any foregone conclusion has been the chief motivation for progress. But, in the limited context of Oedipus Rex, predictions, instigate the freewill to try and rebel. Prominent evidence of this struggle from Oedipus Rex â€Å"An oracle Once came to Laius (I will not say Twas from the Delphic god himself, but from His ministers) declaring he was doomed To perish by the hand of his own son, A child that should be born to him by me. †(lines 713-715) Jocasta and Laius were forewarned through a Prophecy that a son born through their union shall slay Laius. But this only led them to banish the child to be killed in the hope that the prophecy is belied. At the same time, the prophecy to Laius and Jocasta was not complete – it did not talk about the incestuous relationship their son would have with his mother. â€Å"†¦Apollo sent me back Baulked of the knowledge that I came to seek. But other grievous things he prophesied, Woes, lamentations, mourning, portents dire; To wit I should defile my mothers bed And raise up seed too loathsome to behold, And slay the father from whose loins I sprang. †(lines 816-821) Thus was Oedipus forewarned. He had gone to the Oracle to find out if there was any truth in the scandal that was spreading in Corinth that he was not the son of the king Polybus of Corinth. Instead of giving him any clarity on his confusion, the oracle set him on the course of his life that would fulfill the prophecy. When he learnt that he shall commit murder of his father and incest on is mother, Oedipus was still under the impression that Polybus and Dorian were his parents. To avoid any such possibility in his life, Oedipus decided to leave Corinth and that journey (prompted wholly by the prophecy) actually set him on the path to his destiny – A self fulfilling prophecy. These two are the most important manifestations of freewill trying to rebel against a rarely revealed future events of fate. When it is prophesied that certain events of great magnitude or villainous impact are about to happen in the future, it is the absolute nature of the freewill to try and avoid it. Arguments suggesting that Sophocles does not support the supremacy of Fate over Free will Eminent scholar E. R. Dodds in his â€Å"misunderstanding of Oedipus Rex† criticizes the most significant ways of understanding Oedipus Rex. His most important grouse is that the scholars and students alike fall prey to viewing Sophocles’ work through the prisms of philosophical thought processes which were non-existent during Sophocles’ time. Besides, the student community that studies Oedipus Rex tries to ascribe motive where none might have been intended. Point wise rebuttal to Dodds’s arguments Dodds. In his scholarly analysis of the popular misunderstanding of Oedipus Rex puts forth the following points in defense of his arguments. †¢ Sophocles does not intend Oedipus to be a villainous person being punished by Gods for his evil thoughts and actions. †¢ Sophocles does not intend Oedipus to be the prototype Greek tragic hero, whose one tragic flaw creates all the tragic consequences in the drama. †¢ Sophocles does not intend to state that there is no scope for free will and that the Fate reigns supreme. The first point of the argument is valid as Sophocles designs the character of Oedipus as heroic and it is prominently mentioned in most conversations of the stand alone characters and the chorus. His valor, his compassion and his ability to seek truth even if it be detrimental to his own self are heroic characteristics designed to evoke a mixture of admiration for his strength of character and sympathy for the travails he undergoes. The chorus sing the virtues of the king in unequivocal terms and all the incidents that lead to the story of Oedipus Rex establish his character as admirable, if not entirely beyond reproach. (his suspicion of his brother-in-law might be a lapse, but not a flaw of character) â€Å"Upraise, O chief of men, upraise our State! Look to thy laurels! for thy zeal of yore Our countrys savior thou art justly hailed:†(lines 53-55) Tragic Flaw While trying to relieve Oedipus of the tragic flaw, Dodds tries to reason that the concept of hamartia led by hubris is not evident in the Sophoclean hero. It can be argued that â€Å"Poetics† of Aristotle was a guiding light to playwrights and was a great contributor in shaping Greek literature. But it was within the capacity of the playwrights, creative geniuses all, to reinterpret the laws or rules of Poetics to further their own literary achievements. Even while adding his own interpretation to the concept of tragic flaw, Sophocles remains loyal to the concept per se. The tragic flaw of Oedipus might have been the fact that even when he was forewarned of a future in which his life shall harbor aberrations that the natural universe abhors, he had the courage to try and avoid it. A lesser man would have hid behind the inevitability of Fate or made such drastic changes to his won character as to avoid any such possibility. As Dodds suggests, some of the readers of Oedipus wonder why Oedipus did not give up fighting (even in self defense) against people older than him or in engaging in physical relationship with women older than him. Dodds answers saying that we are not to question what is not in the play. In fact, this might be the tragic flaw of the protagonist. Even after he is warned of the possibility of patricide and incest, Oedipus does not leave behind his virtuous qualities of valor (which leads him to kill Laius) and compassion (which leads him to free Crete from the songstress and take Jocasta as his wife). His sense of righteousness makes him leave Corinth to avoid patricide and incest as he believes Polybus and Dorian to be his parents. This flight is in the strongly held belief that he detests the unnatural acts of patricide and incest and it is within his capacity to avoid them by charting his own course and at the same time retaining his primary character traits of compassion and courage in the face of adversity. Dodds stresses his argument that Sophocles does not intend to make any statement on the finality of Fate and he bases it on two points. †¢ Sophocles is not the victim of any knowledge of determinism which was a later stage philosophical development largely credited to the Kantian determinism. †¢ Sophocles does not intend to preach the supremacy of fate because most incidents of the Play are a result of the exercise of Free will. Sophocles might not have been privy to the philosophical leanings of the determinism of the late 18th and early 19th century. But that does not exclude the gamut of his knowledge from knowing anything of that. In fact philosophical treatises have been, for the most part, clarified pronunciations of the existing thought derived through scientific observation. Determinism as a clear treatise might not have been available to the Greek playwrights but the concepts of a superior design to life which has the power to supersede human interventions has always caught the fascination of creative contributors as evidenced from the earliest forms of literature. The French concept of Poetic justice or the Christian concepts of adequate justice have been used in works earlier than these periods but they have been recognized and grouped only in the last four to five centuries. It is not that the critics are viewing the older works through newer prisms but the scholars are able to identify the evidence of such concepts even in earlier works. This is intellectually honest analysis and it is hard to understand why Dodd argues them to be invalid. For instance, if Pasteur discovered germ theory of disease in the early part of the 19th century, why is it not valid to find that similar germs or micro-organisms were cited in the out break of any contagious disease in the previous centuries. The scientists and philosophers in both cases have only discovered what was either already existent or known in some different form. Therefore, it seems invalid to argue that Sophocles might not have had the supremacy of Fate or determinism in mind when he crafted the symmetrical cycle of events in Oedipus Rex. Dodds says that Oedipus Rex is a manifestation of Free will. In his own words, â€Å"Oedipus might have left the plague to take its course; but pity for the sufferings of his people compelled him to consult Delphi. When Apollos word came back, he might still have left the murder of Laius uninvestigated; but piety and justice required him to act. He need not have forced the truth from the reluctant Theban herdsman; but because he cannot rest content with a lie, he must tear away the last veil from the illusion in which he has lived so long. Teiresias, Jocasta, the herdsman, each in turn tries to stop him, but in vain: he must read the last riddle, the riddle of his own life. The immediate cause of Oedipuss ruin is not Fate or the gods—no oracle said that he must discover the truth—and still less does it lie in his own weakness; what causes his ruin is his own strength and courage, his loyalty to Thebes, and his loyalty to the truth. In all this we are to see him as a free agent: hence the suppression of the hereditary curse. And his self-mutilation and self ¬-banishment are equally free acts of choice. †(Dodds 1985, p71) But these are not manifestations of free will but the struggle of free will against an all powerful fate. All the attempts made by the wise and virtuous Oedipus to avoid the aberrations of nature at his won hand are defeated partly by design and partly by curious coincidences. Conclusion Aristotle’s Poetics suggests that Greek drama is not pure entertainment. It had a communal function to contribute to the development of the community. It is easy to believe that Sophocles was a strict adherent to this principle because he won the most competitions during his lifetime compared to any of his contemporaries. His dramas were popular with both the entertainment-seeking public and the critics. Therefore it is safe to assume that Sophocles tries to establish the depravity of the acts of Patricide and incest through Oedipus. The message that resonates is that if a man of great wisdom, courage and all admirable qualities like Oedipus can fall prey to the hands of fate and commit the most heinous of acts, it is but the duty of the wider public to guard against any temptations that might make them break the natural or communal law. Besides, if Oedipus could not over come his guilt even after trying his entire life to avoid such acts and if the guilt is so all consuming that he blinds himself and seeks exile, it is better for the normal man to watch out for any of these sins. The all-consuming guilt is so over powering that no man can remain nonchalant after committing any of these crimes knowingly or unwittingly. A good moral for a drama that retains its mystique and appeal due to its craftiness and perfect symmetry in the cycle of events References Dodds. E. R. (1985). The Ancient Concept of Progress and Other Essays on Greek Literature and Belief: And Other Essays on Greek Literature and Belief. New York : Oxford University Press (Translated by Malcolm Heath). Aristotle. 1996. Poetics. London: Penguin Classics

William Faulkner’s An Odor of Verbena †An Act of Courage :: Odor Verbena

William Faulkner’s An Odor of Verbena – An Act of Courage William Faulkner’s short story "An Odor of Verbena" is the tale of a young, Southern man, Baynard Sartoris, who must come to terms with his father’s sudden (but not entirely unexpected) murder. Because this murder takes place in the decade following the Civil War, young Baynard is faced with the South’s ancient honorary code. This code dictates that, as the only son of his father, he must avenge this death. Should Baynard fail to retaliate on his father’s behalf by confronting the murderer, Redmond, who once was his father’s business partner, both Baynard and his family would lose face within their community. Faulkner uses the two primary women of the story to represent the two options open to young Baynard—each is trying to pull him in an opposite direction. Drusilla, Baynard’s stepmother, and his Aunt Jenny represent the two conflicting views and solutions that Baynard must struggle with. Does he challenge Redmond to a duel? or merely walk away from the situation. Both women try to work on Baynard’s emotions and intellect in their attempt to sway him to their conflicting points of view. Either choice could have a lasting or fatal consequence for Baynard and his family. In this story Faulkner appears to be using Drusilla as the primary voice representing the old Southern honor system, an honor system that is distinctly masculine. As the grieving widow, it is Drusilla who seems to be pushing the hardest for retribution in the form of a duel—an option that would put Baynard’s life at risk. Baynard is barely home after his long ride back from college when Drusilla directs, not asks, him to take the dueling pistols (Faulkner 459). Drusilla expects Baynard to challenge her husband’s killer with "the long true [dueling] barrels true as justice" (Faulkner 459). She is inflamed and passionate about Baynard’s chance to kill and speaks glowingly of what so many Southern men in the same position must have thought: "to be permitted to kill, to be permitted vengeance, to take into your bare hands the fire of heaven that cast down Lucifer" (Faulkner 460). Drusilla expects that Baynard one day will be grateful for her support. She tells him that "you will remember me who put into your hands what they say is an attribute only of God’s, who took what belongs to heaven and gave it to you" (Faulkner 459).

Lactase Enzyme Essay

This lab will examine the specificity of an enzyme (lactase) to a specific substrate (lactose). Students will observe the actions of the enzyme and how shape is important to enzyme reactions. Background information: Lactose, the sugar found in milk, is a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose (both six-sided sugars). Sucrose, ordinary table sugar, is also a disaccharide composed of fructose and glucose. Glucose is a six-sided sugar and fructose is a five-sided sugar. Lactase is an enzyme that breaks lactose down into galactose and glucose. Lactase can be purchased in pill form by people who are lactose intolerant. These people lack the enzyme, lactase, and cannot break down the sugar lactose into its component parts. Although lactose is similar to sucrose, lactase will break down only lactose because of the shape of the sugar. In this lab, you will see lactase break lactose down into galactose and glucose. You will also observe what happens if the shape of lactase is changed due to heating. Materials/ resources: * Lactase tablets: these can be bought in any drug store or grocery store. Fifteen milliliters of milk: any milk will work. Water: used for dissolving the lactase tablet, dissolving the sucrose and boiling the lactase. * Sucrose: five grams per group. * One hundred milliliter graduated cylinder/ten milliliter graduated cylinder: measuring water and enzyme amounts. * Three four hundred milliliter beakers: used for dissolving the lactase tablet, dissolving the sucrose and boiling the lactase. * Five test tubes: these tubes hold the different solution mixtures. * Test tube rack: hold the test tubes. * Marking pencil: mark the test tubes so that confusion does not occur. * Clock * Hot plate with a Pyrex test tube for denaturing the enzyme. Glucose test strips: these strips can be found in any drugstore. Stirring rod: helps to mix up the lactase tablet in the water. Lab procedures: 1. Gather the materials. 2. Label the test tubes with the following labels: 0 A. Test tube with skim milk and enzyme solution. B. Test tube with skim milk and water. C. Test tube with skim milk and denatured enzyme solution. D. Test tube with sucrose solution and enzyme solution. E. Test tube with sucrose solution and water. 3. In test tube A add two milliliters of skim milk and one milliliter of enzyme solution. 4. Time for two minutes and test for glucose with the glucose test tape. Record this data in table 1. If there was glucose present mark a ‘+’ in the table. If glucose was absent, mark a ‘-’ in the table. 5. In test tube B add two milliliters of skim milk and one milliliter of water. 6. Repeat step 4. 7. In test tube C add two milliliters of skim milk and one milliliter of denatured enzyme solution. 8. Repeat step 4. 9. In test tube D add two milliliters of the sucrose solution and one milliliter of enzyme solution. 10. Repeat step 4. 11. In test tube E add two milliliters of the sucrose solution and one milliliter of water. 12. Repeat steps 4. Results: Glucose Presence in the Following Solutions| Type of Solution| Positive or Negative Glucose Result| Test tube A: milk and enzyme solution| Â  | Test tube B: milk and water| Â  | Test tube C: milk and denatured enzyme solution| Â  | Test Tube D: sucrose solution and enzyme solution| Â  | Test Tube E: sucrose solution and water| Â  | | Conclusion and Questions: 1. Diagram and describe the lactose and lactase reaction (may need to research this). 2. Why did the enzyme react to lactose but not to sucrose? 3. What happened when the enzyme was boiled? 4. Another way to affect the enzyme is by lowering the pH of the solution. However, lactase is supposed to be able to work in the stomach. Would lowering the pH of the enzyme solution affect the enzyme? Why or why not? 5. What type of reaction is this? Dehydration or hydrolysis? Content to be covered in conclusion paragraphs: It should explain the general conclusions of the lab. May refer back to background information to help explain the conclusion of the lab. Should refer back to the GENERAL data in the results. Restate the purpose and state whether the hypothesis was correct or not and why. Clearly state and explains how at least THREE errors may have occurred in the lab. Also explains common pitfalls a person SHOULD avoid.

The Necessity Of Responsible Parenting

This is because, it is mostly true. For example, how does a person become sophisticated or fancy? How does someone become barbaric? How does someone become holy? Of course a sophisticated/fancy person grew up with sophisticated people (I. E. , Mother, Father, Relatives etc.. ) and of course a barbaric person grew up with barbaric people and holy people grew up with other holy people. Imagine how can a fancy person grew up at the â€Å"squatters area† given the case that their family has trouble eating three times a day?Sure, it can be possible. But the odds of it to happen is unfavorable. Getting straight to the point, one of the factors that contributes to the child's character reflects on how he is raised and his rounding's. Now, how DOES responsible parenting help produce a successful child? According to the scientific researches, children often follow their parents' behavior. Which means, that imitation is a fundamental part in the growing process Of a child because it is one Of the natural ways Of learning.Therefore if you're a parent and you show him proper etiquette and good manners, the child will grow up into a well behaved individual. Another important influence of good parenting is that it promotes the academic success of students. After leaving pre-school or kindergarten, children approach an entirely new environment, the primary school. They must change their habit of playing whatever they want and whenever they want to an inevitable horrifying fate, which is the responsibility for studying well.At this very first stage, children integrate their studying method from the elder members in their family, like their mom or dad, when the child sees their mom and dad work hard because of the possibility that they mightn't brought home some of their work, then the child will try to imitate that and may result to a better study habit, which really affects their results in the long future. All of these would exult in an excellent academic aftereffect. And the last but not the least, children would be healthier in account of their parents' concern.The diet of children is mostly prepared by other family members. The way parent control various nutritious elements forms the children's habit, which can hardly be changed. If they get familiar with a balanced diet, they may enjoy a healthy life style in the future. Besides, a good, loving and responsible parent would explain to their children the large importance of physical exercises and encourage them to do these beneficial things to stay fit and healthy for being lately will benefit them in the long run. After stating all of these, you the reader, what will you do now?

Czech mass media essays

Czech mass media essays The Czech mass media market after the Velvet revolution had to overcome many levels of evolution, but also several crises. These could be naturally connected with the problems of such a difficult transformation from the communist to the capitalist ideology. One of them is the media control another one is the ownership itself, others can be considered as issues related to economical and political tensions in the Czech Republic for the last fourteen years. The authors of the text Changes in the structure of Czech Mass Media are guiding us throw the history, the development and the possible future situation of the mass media in the Czech Republic. Even though, I fully agree with the overall insight to the Czech media world, I would say that the authors are concentrating mainly on the print media. In my opinion, it could be very interesting to highlight the situation of the Czech audiovisual media in more detailed scope as well. Therefore, I would like to concentrate mainly on the role a nd the switch of the Czech audiovisual media from the communist era to the democracy. Beginning with the past, I would like to spot the role of the television in former Czechoslovak Socialistic Republic. Considering the fact that the television has the unparalleled ability to expose, dramatize, and popularize cultural bits and fragments of information. When, it does so in routine transmission of entertainment programs, news and commercials. The bits and fragments then become ideological currency in social exchange. The television may be the most obvious conveyer of such dominant ideologies. This is also how the socialist or communist ideology worked in the Czechoslovakia. The communist used to stress nationalistic rhetoric with ever lasting bond of the Soviet Union. Together with the use of censorship and socialistic propaganda, people used to think that their life is not as bad. The Czechoslovakian media presented the world behind the boar...

Israeli Prime Ministers Since Establishment of the State in 1948

Israeli Prime Ministers Since Establishment of the State in 1948 Since the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, the prime minister is the head of the Israeli government and the most powerful figure in Israeli politics. Although the president of Israel is the countrys head of state, his powers are largely ceremonial; the prime minister holds most of the real power. The official residence of the prime minister, Beit Rosh Hamemshala, is in Jerusalem. The Knesset is the national legislature of Israel. As the legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the president and prime minister, although the prime minister is ceremonially appointed by the president, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. Israels Prime Ministers Since 1948 Following an election, the president nominates a member of the Knesset to become prime minister after asking party leaders whom they support for the position. The nominee then presents a government platform and must receive a vote of confidence in order to become prime minister. In practice, the prime minister is usually the leader of the largest party in the governing coalition. Between 1996 and 2001, the prime minister was directly elected, separately from the Knesset. Israeli Prime Minister Years Party David Ben-Gurion 1948-1954 Mapai Moshe Sharett 1954-1955 Mapai David Ben-Gurion 1955-1963 Mapai Levi Eshkol 1963-1969 Mapai/Alignment/Labor Golda Meir 1969-1974 Alignment/Labor Yitzhak Rabin 1974-1977 Alignment/Labor Menachem Begin 1977-1983 Likud Yitzhak Shamir 1983-1984 Likud Shimon Peres 1984-1986 Alignment/Labor Yitzhak Shamir 1986-1992 Likud Yitzhak Rabin 1992-1995 Labor Shimon Peres 1995-1996 Labor Benjamin Netanyahu 1996-1999 Likud Ehud Barak 1999-2001 One Israel/Labor Ariel Sharon 2001-2006 Likud/Kadima Ehud Olmert 2006-2009 Kadima Benjamin Netanyahu 2009-present Likud Order of Succession If the prime minister dies in office, the cabinet chooses an interim prime minister, to run the government until a new government is placed in power. According to Israeli law, if a prime minister is temporarily incapacitated rather than dies, power is transferred to the  acting prime minister, until the prime minister recovers, for up to 100 days. If the prime minister is declared permanently incapacitated, or that period expires, the President of Israel oversees the process of assembling a new governing coalition, and in the meantime, the acting prime minister or other incumbent minister is appointed by the cabinet to serve as an interim prime minister. Parliamentary Parties of the Prime Ministers The Mapai Party was the party of the first prime minister of Israel during the formation of the state. It was considered  the dominant force in Israeli politics until its merger into the modern-day Labor Party in 1968. The party introduced progressive reforms such as the  establishment of a welfare state, providing a minimum income, security, and access to housing subsidies and health and social services. The Alignment was a group of consisting of the Mapai and Ahdut Haavoda-Poalei Zion parties around the time of the sixth Knesset. The group later included the newly formed Israel Labor Party and Mapam. The Independent Liberal Party joined the Alignment around the 11th Knesset. The Labor Party was a parliamentary group formed in the course of the 15th Knesset after Gesher left One Israel and included the Labor Party and Meimad, which was a moderate religious party, that never ran independently in Knesset elections. One Israel, the party of Ehud Barak, was made up of the Labor Party, Gesher and Meimad during the 15th Knesset. The Kadima was established towards the end of the 16th Knesset, a new parliamentary group, Achrayut Leumit, which means National Responsibility, split off from the Likud. Approximately two months later, Acharayut Leumit changed its name to Kadima. The Likud was established in 1973 around the time of the elections for the eighth Knesset. It consisted of the Herut Movement, the Liberal Party, the Free Center, the National List and Greater Israel Activists.