What is the role of social media in the field of journalism-LITERATURE Term Paper

What is the role of social media in the field of journalism-LITERATURE REVIEW - Term Paper Example acquire more traffic especially from the young generation, media corporations have also followed their consumers onto online space by creating social media sites. Apart from generating traffic, media corporations have also embraced social media forms of journalism in a move to be at par with competitors (Kerrigan & Graham, 2010). Apart examining values of journalism, the study will also analyze its contribution to the online community. In the current generation, it would be quite unfortunate for journalism corporations not to embrace the rapidly growing technology, especially in social media. This is due to the fact that social media is of great importance to the journalism network. Embracing social media is no longer an option since it is one of those things that are a â€Å"must have† for all journalists. Unlike previous generations, the current one is quite literate and normally spends most of the time seeking information on the internet; this is clear indication that it is rare for them to get information from hard copy materials such as books, magazines and newspapers. Because of this, journalists ought to change the ways in which they relay information to the public. Since most people depend on social media for information, journalists have no option but embrace them too. Studies so far conducted show that apart from Facebook, other common social media platforms include twitter, LinkedIn and MySpace ( Oh, Agrawal & Rao, 2013). The 21st generation is quite inquisitive to the extent that it is not possible for them to wait until the next day so that they can read about a trending story. To them this is a long time for a generation normally yearning for information. Therefore, by embracing social media, journalists are in a position to post up to date information on what is trending not only in the US but also globally. By doing so, people will become interested with journalists and media corporations that post instant news hence resulting to traffic that is

Alcohol Consumption and Smoking During Pregnancy Essay

Alcohol Consumption and Smoking During Pregnancy - Essay Example In the interview, I verified that all the three women have limited knowledge of the effects of smoking and alcohol consumption on their unborn children. They had often ignored these facts. They further explained that drinking or smoking in small amounts would have no effect on the unborn child. Furthermore, Mary also was not aware of inhaling cigarette smoke from another person. She also did not tell her health care provider of smoking during the pregnancy for fear of intimidation. Betty was a recovering alcoholic addict. She quit drinking after she realized that she was three months pregnant. She joined numerous online women groups campaigning for sobriety during pregnancy. She also joined communal activities. The most interesting observation was that the three women were unaware of the effects of smoking on the physical and psychological well-being of their children in the future. The women also did not know that smoking might trigger sudden infant death syndrome while alcohol cons umption triggers the fetal alcohol syndrome. It was interesting that the women did not have such information that we had studied in class. However, the US government has invested heavily in ensuring that health care providers educate pregnant women during prenatal care visits. The women also informed me of the role of heredity, poor parenting and lack of social support services as key driving factors for smoking and drinking. Age also plays a significant role in determining tobacco use/drinking preference and cessation of the habit.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

An Occurrence at Owl Creek - Essay Example Hence, with the exemption of past time, time itself is a matter that is not real but is just perceived, with surprising and dramatic effects, to convey a conclusion. This essay will discuss the aspect of time in Ambrose Bierce’s writing, An Occurrence at Owl Creek. An Occurrence at Owl Creek refers to a short story written by Ambrose Bierce, an American author. The tale, set during the Civil war, is identified for its irregular time sequence, as well as a twisting ending (Bierce, 1948). The book is Bierce’s most anthologized writing. An Occurrence at Owl Creek, according to critics, is a richly devised explanation on the fluid of time during the civil war. The book’s structure, which shifts from the current to the past to what is portrayed to be the anticipated present, mirrors this fluidity along with the tension that which exists between competing notions of time. The second section, in the writing, interrupts what, at first, seems to be the ongoing flow of the execution happening in the present moment. Farquhar, posed on the edge of the bridge, closes his eyes as an indication of slipping into his own edition of reality (Bierce, 1948). Farquhar’s reality is one that is unburdened by numerous responsibilities to the law of time. As the minutes/ticking of Farquhar’s watch slows and more time elapses between the strokes, he moves into a timeless reality. When Farquhar pictures himself falling into the water, the author compares him to a "vast pendulum" immaterial, as well as spinning madly out of control. At this instance, Farquhar moves into a transitional space, which is neither death nor life, but a ghostly realization in a globe with its own regulations (Bierce, 1948). In the brief window of time between Farquhar’s actual death time and the officer stepping of the plank, time slows and changes in order to accommodate a comforting view of the subject’s safe return to his family. In spite of Farquhar’s m anipulation of time, he however, cannot escape realm. Whether Farquhar days are prolonged or just a few moments, death ultimately claims him (Bierce, 1948). Trying to blend time to his personal will is meaningless. One of the most remarkable elements in the book is Bierce’s sensible rendering of Farquhar’s alternating conception of time. The author’s suggestion of time is that the nature of time is, to some level, subjective (Bierce, 1948). Time, according to the author, is even more disorienting since it turns out that all of the long accounts, as well as events, which should have taken a lot of time happen within the marvel of a thought, took a short moment in time. Also, some of the themes discussed in Ambrose Bierce’s writing are as discussed earlier the fluid nature of time and the blurred line between illusion and reality. Some of the significant quotes are discussed below: 1. â€Å"As these thoughts, which have here to be set down in words, were f lashed into the doomed man’s brain rather than evolved from it the captain nodded to the sergeant. The sergeant stepped aside.† This line appears at the end of the first part of the story, right before Farquhar falls into his death and shows a significant turning point in the story (Bierce, 1948). The execution itself resumes in the third part of the story where Bierce gives details concerning Farquhar’s past. Following this flashback, in the second part, the writing comes back, not in truth, but in fantasy. 2. â€Å"

Impressionism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Impressionism - Essay Example It started as a movement in painting in France in the late 1860s and various artists such as Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Auguste Renoir, and Alfred Sisley are associated with the founding of this movement. The main features of impressionism as an art movement includes its emphasis on naturalistic landscape, subjective aspect of art, the topics of modern urban life and other commonplace subject matters, portrayal of light in its varying qualities, etc. Most essentially, this movement influenced and inspired trends in other areas such as sculpture, music, and literature. Specifically, impressionism influenced literature in various ways and helped in the growth of literature considerably. As Marlies Kronegger (1973) maintains, impressionism in literature built up its own style and techniques, although painting dominated all the other art forms during the period 1875-85. From the time it originated, it has been one of the prevailing literary styles existent in world literature today and the impressionist creations in various countries are derived from the same basic idea. (Kronegger, 33) Therefore, it is important to maintain that impressionism is one of the key literary terms today as it refers to the literary styles and techniques based on the general framework of impressionism as an art movement. This paper makes a comprehensive exploration of the term impressionism in order to define and explicate impressionism as an extremely valuable rhetorical tool in literature today.

The Body Shop Essay Example for Free

The Body Shop Essay Body Shop is a brand with a difference. Marketers consider this brand as an Icon. Body Shop has created a brand image without the aid of conventional advertising. 2006 saw this iconic brand draw up serious business plans for India. Body Shop brand was created in 1976 in Brighton United Kingdom. The brand and the brand owner share a common personality that is very much linked to each other. Anita Roddick the legendary founder of the Brand created this brand from a small shop in UK started to support her family. Body Shop in India is sold through the master franchise Planet Sports . The brand is expecting to ramp up the operations to major metros by the year 2008. Body Shop is differentiated from other conventional cosmetics by the values that the brand adheres to and the brand image created through the unique association with those values. The brand is famous for its association with ethical practices and the environment friendly world view. The products reflects these values through the use of only natural ingredients and the products are never tested on animals. The ackaging and the merchandising are carefully prepared to highlight the brand values. For example , Body Shop uses refillable packs and recycled [recyclable papers. Although the use of refillable packs were used to keep the price low, it evolved into an element that reinforced the brand positioning. The brand also was careful in the messages displayed in the shop and other POP merchandises. The messages were simple, enthusiastic and informative. These elements made Body Shop a different cosmetic brand. The brand was essentially an extension of the founder herself. Anita Roddick is an ardent environmentalist and naturalist. Her views about the nature supported with her activities and associations created a positive reinforcement for the brand. Customers were seeing a brand that does things while others Just give hope. More over Body Shop was able to communicate with the customers at a higher level rising above beauty and fairness that other cosmetics talked about. There was honesty associated with the brand. The shops also reinforced this attribute. All the shops reflected an environment of honesty, excitement and fun. It is reported that Ms Anita Roddick takes personal interview with the franchises to ensure that they share the same passion with Body Shop principle. Although Body Shop is starting serious business with Indian consumers only now, the association with India dates back to the initial years itself. India was a sourcing partner for Body Shop during the creation of the brand. The success of the brand was because of the unique business model of Body Shop. The brand relies on PR and word of mouth to make sales. The Indian launch was also

Drama assignment Essay Example for Free

Drama assignment Essay Hale is one of the most important characters in The Crucible. All of the characters contribute to the problems in Salem to some extent. But Hale is the catalyst to the hysteria beginning and it is how is awareness of this increases through the play that causes the major changes we see in his character.  Hale himself, as we are told by miller, nearing forty, a tight skinned eager eyed intellectual. He feels great pride at being asked to come and identify the signs of witchcraft and sees it as a compliment to his experience in his chosen field. Unlike the other characters his experience gives him no reason to jump to the immediate conclusion of the involvement of the devil. Because of this he is perhaps the most common sense of the officials in Salem. Hales entrance in act 1 creates a big change in the direction of the scene, but it is important to remember he is unaware of this. How miller uses Hales entrances effectively is that he calms down the situation between Giles and Putnam when they cease their argument at his arrival but eventually he will excite the scene even more with his powerful redemption of Tituba and Abigail.  After his initial entrance in act 1 Hales attitude is reasonably light hearted as he greets the other characters, he refers to the devil in an of hand way as the old boy. Yet he still treats the situation in all seriousness as he listens to the Putnams talking about their daughters ailment, picking up clues from what people say. When Hale is investigating the supernatural, leafing through his books, asking questions and listening to the other characters etc, it should be shown that he does not treat this as a chore or just his job, but that he is genuinely interested and eager, his investigations are what drives him.  His attitudes to the other characters in the early part of act 1 are interest in meeting people he has heard of, and his respect for the more distinguished company. who are there. His use of the phrase shows a wish to make a good impression with those who are higher in the village, but his interest in meeting Rebecca Nurse and talking to Giles shows that he is in no way biased to position. As we enter the increasingly hysterical ending to this act, Hales role in causing this is obvious. His quickening questioning of her is perhaps caused by his anger at her apparent lack of concern for Bettys condition and her attempts to evade answering his questions. (grasping Abigail): abigail it may be your cousin is dying. Did you call the devil last night? you cannot evade me, Abigail.  Hale is excited at the end of act 1 because he believes he has got to the root of the problem when Tituba and Abigail redeem themselves and pass the blame to Good and Osburn. Because of this both hale and Parris see the problem as ending not beginning. Hale has obviously seen the situation last a lot longer than he expected when he enters in act 2. he is different now- drawn a little, and there is a quality of deference, even of guilt, about his manner now. This shows us the beginning of his realisation of the consequences of the accusations that he has caused to be made.  This is the second time Hales entrance changes the course of events in both this act and for the rest of the play without him knowing it, his entrance has stopped John Proctor from leaving just when he had built himself up to confront Abigail to stop the accusations, so he makes things worse again, but still unintentionally. His attitudes to the Proctors in this act are mixed. He sees them as good and honest people, but knows that there is evidence that would say otherwise even if none of its serious enough to entirely incriminate them. His nervousness is also caused by him being unsure how to tell them Elizabeth has been accused, without making it sound like he is accusing them himself.  We last see Hale in the final scene of Act Four we see the total change in his opinions to the authority of the court, the guilt of those charged and in his faith. His motivation is now to try and save proctor from his fate. He is confused and wrought because of how his faith has caused so many problems. To conclude, Hale changes most of all the characters, yet like the others he changes in that his main characteristics are strengthened. His honesty and sense of public duty are there throughout the play, how they change is to which end theyre directed. He is initially convinced of the presence and existence of witchcraft, and works vigorously to combat it in the only he knows how. Yet he is the only of the prosecutors who is convinced of the innocence of the accused, he still believes his first duty is the protection of others, but loses his principles to do so at the end. He is more open minded and humane than the others, but the message of the play tells us to reject the position to which he finally comes. He doesnt reject just the religious fanaticism of the times but rejects religion itself. His attempts to save John Proctor ultimately fail, because in turning his back on the church, he has turned his back on what Elizabeth believes is right, and so his argument is worthless to her.  Perhaps Millers idea in Hale is that where the simple farmer sees the mistake in preferring life over personal integrity the learned Hale does not.

Applications Of Lanthanides For Medicine

Applications Of Lanthanides For Medicine Lanthanides have been used for medicinal applications since the 1980s but the development of technology has led to a demand for new developments.1 Lanthanides, known as rare-earth elements, have a wide range of photophysical properties that are amenable to spectroscopic and crystallographic studies.1 This, along with the absence of lanthanides in biological systems, makes them ideal for studying protein structure and interactions. The chemistry of lanthanides arises from the shielded electrons in the 4f orbitals, located within the outermost filled 5s/5p orbitals2. This shielding means the luminescent f-f transitionsehibited by lanthanides are almost ligand-dependent. Despite their chemical similarities each lanthanide gives its own distinctive colour, luminescence emission spectra and nuclear magnetic properties.2 They are electropositive, very reactive and favour the Ln3+ oxidation state. It is these properties that make them useful as medicinal agents.1 Figure The f block lanthanidesLn3+ ions have similar ionic radii, donor atom preferences and coordination numbers in binding sites as Ca2+ ions which means that to some extent Ln3+ can mimic Ca2+ behaviour.3 For drugs molecules to reach their target they first need to be absorbed across the cell membrane a calcium dependent process. Calcium concentrations of mM are needed for efficient drug uptake, but these are rarely achieved under cellular conditions and even when it is the cell is likely to become damaged.3 It has recently been found that Ln3+ can perforate the membrane at concentrations as low as 10-5 M. It is therefore no surprise that co-administration of drugs with Ln3+ has led to an increased intracellular accumulation.3 This property has allowed lanthanides to be used as a co-administer to drugs, as a drug itself and imaging agents.3 Medicinal applications Anti cancer agents Lanthanides have been known to be anti cancer agents since the early 1990s primarily through the induction of apoptosis.3 Lanthanides, particularly Tb3+, increase the infux of Ca2+ into cells thus increasing the intracellular levels. This increases the endonuclease activity, leading to DNA cleavage and therefore apoptosis.4 The same result is achieved by the inhibition of phosphodiesterase, the molecule responsible for the degradation of cyclic adenosine 3,5-monophosphate (cAMP).4,5 The molecule cAMP has an important role in DNA replication and an increase in its levels leads to a corresponding increase in the protein kinase (PKA) levels. This has two effects both of which lead to apoptosis; the increase of endonuclease activity and the expression of apoptosis genes.3,5 However, these methods were not selective and influenced healthy tissues as well as cancerous ones.4 New developments have targeted this drawback in an attempt to limit the side effects of treatment. Titania nanoparticles (NPs) have the potential to target tumours in a non-invasive manner.4 Titania, a wide band gap semiconductor, produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) following excitation of valence band electrons to the conductance band upon stimulation.4 These photoelectrochemical reactions can be promoted by x-ray irradiation which allows non-invasive penetration of the human body. Two papers, published by H.Townley et al. and A.Gnach et al., reported the discovery that the interaction of titania-NPs with x-rays can be optimised by using lanthanides as dopants.4,5 Normal cells can tolerate a certain level of exogenous ROS due to a reserve of antioxidants which counteract the ROS activity.3 Cancerous cells have metabolic abnormalities which increase the intracellular ROS levels. This makes them more dependent on the intracellular antioxidant system and vulnerable to exogenous ROS levels.4,5 Lanthanide doped NPs generate higher levels of ROS, due to the lanthanides allowing increased x-ray absorption, than general NPs thus playing on this vulnerability. The increased levels cause DNA and mitochondrial damage, causing apoptosis.4,5 NPs have the capability to accumulate in tumours as a result of the defective tumour vasculature. This gives them the potential to be selective to cancer cells thus reducing side effects. The NPs can also be coated with moieties for specific targeting and activation further limiting the damage to healthy tissues.5 These properties of the NPs are enhanced by lanthanide doping thus giving a new application for lanthanides. The best results have been seen for [emailprotected] and [emailprotected] Imaging Figure The traditional contrasting agent with Gd3+ bound to the chelate ligand and the water molecule under observation.Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has been vastly improved due to the use of contrasting agents (CA) since 1988.6 These act to improve the contrast between healthy and pathological tissue by influencing the relaxation rate of protons of bound water molecules, T2.7 The faster the relaxation rate, the higher the intensity and the sharper the image achieved. Relaxation rates are increased when the water molecule is close to a paramagnetic centre. Gd3+ has 7 unpaired electrons and is used as contrasting agents in MRI due to its highly paramagnetic centre.6 The traditional contrasting agents used Gd3+ bound to a chelate ligand through eight donor atoms (figure 2). This gives the complex the stability and strong binding needed to ensure that Gd3 is not released into the blood.6 However, Gd3+ is unselective and distributes over a wide region of extracellular space. Develop ments have been made to make the distribution more selective by linking Gd3+ chelates to moieties that cause accumulation in areas of interest.7 However, the increase of the magnetic strength from 64 MHz to the present 125 MHz has led to the decrease in the efficiency of Gd3+ based CAs. Therefore developments have had to be made to meet the technological demands. Current commercial contrasting agents are based on Gd-DPTA, Gd-DOTA and their derivatives but utilizing the magnetic and luminescent properties of other lanthanides has allowed the developments of new CA.8 A paper recently published by C.Andolinia et al. described how the near infrared (NIR) luminescence of the lanthanides Dy3+Â  and Yb3+ has been combined with the traditional MRI-CA to create new multimodal imaging agents.6 These complexes act as light harvesting antenna due to the bifunctional chelators/chromophores present. They surround the reaction centre, in this case the tissues, and funnel absorbed energy to the reaction centre.8 It is through this method that more of the incoming radiation is absorbed and the contrast is improved. Optical probes absorb photons from the excitation source within the visible region as well as absorbing the photons caused by biomolecules.6 Therefore the absorption and luminescent emission of optical probes are both in the visible region which l eads to a decrease in the limit of detection as well as the depths that the photons can reach. The NIR probes have the advantage that the depth of light penetration is increased due to their excitation wavelengths being outside of the biological window.6 Evaluation of all of the lanthanides has shown Yb3+ to be the most efficient NIR and MRI bimodal imaging agent.7 Osteoporotic treatment Bones are involved in a very precise cycle of the resorption and desorption of the bone tissue, see figure 3. Osteoporosis is a skeletal disease in which the bone density is decreased through higher levels of resorption than desorption. It is most commonly treated with biphosphonates which inhibit resorption thus preventing bone degradation.9 However, this class of drugs is poorly lipophilic and thus have a low oral bioavailability. To counteract this, the drug must be administered in high concentrations which causes GI tract problems, low patient tolerability and suspected osteoporotic issues in the jaw.9 Figure The continuous cycle of bone degradation and rebuildingIt is well known that lanthanide ions preferentially accumulate within the bone3 where they have an inhibitory effect on osteroclasts (bone degradation) and a stimulatory effect on osteoblasts (bone making). Due to the chemical similarities of Ln3+ and Ca2+ mentioned before, Ln3+ can potentially replace Ca2+ ions within the bone and affect the bone turnover cycle.3 Y.Mawani et al. discovered that heavier lanthanide ions show a 50-70% accumulation in the bones compared to lighter ions which have a >25% accumulation.9 The half life for a lanthanide ion in the bone is 2.5 years compared to an elimination time from soft tissues, such as the liver, of 15 days. These properties have led to heavier lanthanide ions being used for osteoporotic therapy.9 Furthermore, adjustment of the ligand structure has allowed the improvement of oral availability leading to an increased uptake and reduced side effects. Previous lanthanide comple xes were found to be poorly soluble in aqueous phases therefore reducing the absorption across the GI tract.9 This led to small levels of lanthanide ions accumulating in the bones therefore making the treatment inefficient. The development of an orally active drug that can pass through the GI tract has allowed efficient delivery of lanthanides to the bone. Conclusion Despite the initial disregarding of lanthanides due to suspected toxicity they have shown to have excellent properties for use as medicinal agents. The similarity of Ln3+Â  and Ca2+ has allowed lanthanides ions to be used as anti-osteoporotic agents as well as for increasing the permeability of cells to other drugs. New developments have seen lanthanide ions being used as cancer agents, by causing increased levels of ROS, as well as improving the already existing imaging techniques.