Why does the caged bird stand on the "grave of dreams?"

In Maya Angelou’s poem “Caged Bird” she creates a vivid image with the line “But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams.” This is a death image. The hopes and dreams of a whole race of people are dead.

Angelou uses the images of a free bird and a caged bird to compare the lives of those who are free to create their own destiny, and those who are oppressed based on their race. Those who are oppressed have hopes and dreams but they are unattainable not because the people are incapable, but because they are born as people of color. She goes on to say that the bird, representing the oppressed people, lives with its feet “tied” and wings “clipped,” which renders it devoid of choices to better its situation. In spite of the dire circumstances, the bird chooses to sing. In other words, its spirit will not be broken.

What is the effect of the scene of the men who wave from the beach in "The Open Boat"?

The effect of the scene where the men wave from the beach in Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat" is contradictory. Four men are stranded in a small lifeboat on the rough seas, and they are looking for any glimpse of salvation. When they see the life-saving house and later see the men waving, this gives the men hope that they will be saved. If someone sees them from the beach, surely they will be rescued, they think. At first they are exhilarated by the possibility that the people waving on the beach will send someone to save them. However, later, when they realize that the people waving are not waving at them but are simply people on an omnibus who don't see them, their hope is dashed. So while at first the people gave them hope, they later made them lose hope. Indeed, no one on the beach sees them--we realize this by the end of the story.

Examine Helen's education in Radcliffe College as described in The Story of My Life.

Helen attended Radcliffe College in Massachusetts.  She "began [her] studies with eagerness" at Radcliffe.  She found that the "lecture-halls seemed filled with the spirit of the great and the wise."  Helen soon found that the college was not all that she expected it would be.  She found that there was not enough time to think and reflect because of all the required tasks and work.  Someone spelled all the lectures into Helen's hand, and she used a typewriter to type up her assignments.  She took a mixture of classes that she enjoyed and classes that she was not as interested in during the first two years.  In her third year, she enjoyed her classes more.  Despite this, she found her mind to be "overtaxed" with information.  Helen dreaded final exams each time they came.

`(1/5)x + (1/2)y = 8, x + y = 20` Solve the system by the method of substitution.

Express `y` from the second equation: `y = 20 - x.` Then substitute it into the first equation:

`(1/5)x + (1/2)(20-x) = 8,` or

`(1/5)x - (1/2)x + 10 =8,` or

`-(3/10)x=-2,` or

`x=2*10/3=20/3 = 6 2/3.`

Therefore `y = 20 - x = 13 1/3.`

The answer: x=6 and 2/3, y=13 and 1/3.

List and describe five different processes of our daily life showing exosmosis or endosmosis.

Endocytosis and exocytosis are both types of bulk transport that move substances in and out of the cell via the use of secretory vesicles. Exocytosis is the process by which materials are moved out of a cell. Endocytosis is the process by which materials are moved into the cell. Endocytosis and exocytosis both require the use of energy in the form of ATP. Types of endocytosis and exocytosis are listed below. A definition and examples of each process are identified.

Process 1, Example of Endocytosis: The Golgi complex creates secretory vesicles around macromolecules within the cytoplasm such as digestive enzymes or hormones. These secretory vesicles fuse with the plasma membrane and are exported from the cell via exocytosis.

Process 2: Phagocytosis is a form of endocytosis. Phagocytosis means “cell eating”. During phagocytosis, a cell’s plasma membrane surrounds a macromolecule. This vesicle then pinches off into the cell to form a food vacuole. The food vacuole then fuses with a lysosome. The hydrolytic enzymes within the lysosome help to digest the contents within the food vacuole. Phagocytosis is a non-specific process.

Process 3, Example of Phagocytosis: Amoebas use phagocytosis in order to obtain energy.

Process 4: Pinocytosis is a form of endocytosis. Like phagocytosis, pinocytosis is also a non-specific process. Pinocytosis means “cell drinking”. During pinocytosis, a cell’s membrane surrounds a fluid. A vacuole that is smaller than a food vacuole of phagocytosis is formed. The solutes within the vacuole then enter the cell.

Process 5: Receptor-mediated endocytosis is a selective form of endocytosis. Receptor-mediated endocytosis uses selective receptor proteins that are located within coated pits of the cell membrane in order to determine what can enter the cell. If the shape of an extracellular molecule does not match the shape of the receptor protein of the coated pit, then that extracellular molecule is not allowed into the cell. If the shape does match, then the coated pit pinches inward to form a coated vesicle. The coated vesicle then fuses with a lysosome so its contents can be digested.

Process 6, Example of receptor-mediated endocytosis: Cholesterol, in the form of low-density lipoproteins (LDLs), is taken into mammal cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis.

What is the difference between the processes of deductive and inductive reasoning?

Inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning are similar in that they are two logical approaches to exploring data and to drawing conclusions. They differ in that they approach logical, research, philosophical, psychological or other problems from differing perspectives, one moving from the specific to the general and the other moving from the general to the specific. Induction begins with specific ideas, details, data or observations and ends with general principles, conclusions, concepts, rules, hypotheses or theories, while, in the converse, deduction begins with general overall principles, rules, concepts, conclusions, hypotheses or theories and ends with specific data, ideas, details or observations (these are then used to narrow down the hypotheses and clarify the theories they support or contradict).

While the concepts of inductive and deductive logical reasoning are the same regardless of the labels used to identify and refer to them, there are differing ways of referring to the processes of inductive (specific-to-general) and deductive (general-to-specific) reasoning. Sometimes, the differences in reference are a result of the field in which induction and deduction are being applied to research, logic or experimentation. For example, regarding inductive specific-to-general reasoning, in the field of astronomy, the reference may be to observation and hypothesis while in philosophy or in the study of logic the reference may be to premise and conclusion. Whereas in various fields of research, inductive reasoning may be referred to as bottom-up reasoning as it is based on individual ideas and data gathered from experiment participants or results, conversely, deductive (general-to-specific) reasoning in research may be referred to as top-down reasoning as it is founded in theory and hypothesis, then supported or contradicted by collected data. To refine inductive and deductive reasoning in research further, inductive reasoning methods may be called qualitative analysis while deductive reasoning methods may be called quantitative analysis (Soiferman, "Research Approaches").

Inductive and deductive reasoning are the same in that both are built upon the specific and the general, and both are applied across varying fields of study and investigation, and both may be used to explore the same questions. Yet they are different in that they represent different methodologies, and they have different starting points and end points within the specific and the general, and they have different ways of and focuses on examining truths across wide disciplines and fields of study.

Another important difference that comes from having unlike starting and end points (i.e., either specific or general starting points or end points) relates to the certainty or probability of reaching true conclusions. Because it moves from the specific to the general, inductive reasoning can result in only probabilities of truth: general conclusions cannot be certain truths when starting data or premises, starting specifics, are themselves not proven. Because the other moves from the general to the specific, deductive reasoning can result in certainty (varying degrees of certainty): specific situations can be understood with certainty when the starting principles of hypothesis and theory are true.

Note: It's not easy to find clear, easily understandable explanations of inductive and deductive reasoning online. The explanatory language is often vague or confusing, with terms that are interchanged without clear indication as to why. One of the clearest is provided by ERIC Institution of Education Science, eric.ed.gov (under the U.S. Department of Education), in an article called "Inductive and Deductive Research Approaches" by L. Karen Soiferman of the University of Manitoba, from which some of this answer is drawn. Another useful explanation, though not without its confusingly interchangeable words and confusing sentences, is provided by Norman Herr, Ph.D. of the California State University of Northridge science department. One of the difficulties in understanding these logical reasoning concepts is that while the component parts are the same (e.g., premise-conclusion, hypothesis-observable data), the use and end results are very different. As Norman Herr states it:

Scientists use inductive reasoning to formulate hypothesis [sic] and theories, and [use] deductive reasoning when applying them [i.e., hypotheses and theories] to specific situations. ("Deductive Reasoning")  

Why and for whom did Charles Dickens write A Christmas Carol?

A Christmas Carol was published on December 19 1843, just months after the release of an important government report into child labour. This report was compiled by Dr Samuel Scriven, at the request of the Home Office, and detailed the lives of children who worked in the pottery industry in Staffordshire. 

As well as being a novelist, Dickens was an active social reformer who read this report with a combination of interest and disgust. Through his observation of 173 potteries, Scriven found hundreds of children working upwards of 12 hours per day, in dangerous conditions and for very low wages. The vast majority of these children were barely able to read or write and suffered a number of health and development problems because of their work. According to the report:

"In numberless instances they, are required to labour on to eight, nine, or ten, and this in an atmosphere varying from 100 to 120 degrees; all these extra hours being occasioned, nine times out of ten, by the selfishness or irregularities of their unworthy taskmasters."

Dickens was thus inspired to bring the plight to these children to the public's attention and decided that the best way to do it was through the medium of story-telling. As for the recipients of the story, it seems likely that he wrote A Christmas Carol for those people who were ignorant to life for poorer people in society or, perhaps, for those children in the potteries, to give them a reason to be happy at Christmas.