Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Inappropriate Behavior Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Inappropriate Behavior - Research Paper Example The sexual harassment committed by Marwan has been quite offensive in nature. Marwan’s performance in the role of a pirate in the Studio Five Theme Park has been appreciated to a great extent by the audience and the guests who have been watching Marwan performing over a period of some time now. Marwan’s behavior has not been appropriate while interacting with the guests of the park after the performance is over. Marwan has the tendency to become cozy with the female guests of the park. He even went to the extent of placing his hands on the back of the ladies while posing for photographs. This behavior of Marwan was inappropriate in nature as the female guests of the park did not expect Marwan to engage such kind of unwelcome conduct. The behavior of Marwan towards his junior fellow colleague who was female and newly hired was very offensive and could be treated as an act of sexual harassment without any debate under the civil rights laws of the country. Marwan not only grabbed her breast but also threatened to get her fired if she refused to go on a date with Marwan. This was an inappropriate behavior of Marwan under the context and was totally not welcomed by the female junior colleague. This is a serious case of sexual harassment committed by Marwan and was strictly prohibited under the civil rights laws of the country. The complaint by the junior female artist against Marwan led to his termination from the contract of performance in the Studio Five Theme Park. The legal nature of employment of Marwan was contractual in nature.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Isolation of β-Amyrin from Plant Parts of M. barteri

Isolation of ÃŽ ²-Amyrin from Plant Parts of M. barteri ISOLATION AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITY OF THE TRITERPENE Î’-AMYRIN FROM THE AERIAL PLANT PARTS OF MAESOBOTRYABARTERI(BAILL). Abstract Maesobotrya  barteri(Baill), belonging to the family EUPHORBIACEAE, is a medicinal plant growing widely in tropical Africa. The Aerial plant parts of Maesobotrya barteri (Bail) were collected fresh from Orokam, Ogbadibo local Government of Benue State, Nigeria in July, 2013. Taxonomical identification was done by Mallam Musa Abdullahi at the Herbarium unit of Biological sciences Department, ABU, Zaria, Nigeria. Pulverized aerial parts of Maesobotrya  barteri (960g) was exhaustively extracted successively using petroleum ether, chloroform, ethylacetate and methanol and concentrated in the rotary evaporator at 40oC. The ethylacetate fraction having the highest activity against test microbes from preliminary crude microbial screenings was subjected to phytochemical studies, antimicrobial analysis and column chromatography (CC). The column chromatography yielded fraction EN, which was further purified using preparative thin layer chromatography to give EN1. The structure of the isola ted compound was established using 1-D NMR and 2-D NMR spectroscopic analysis and by direct comparism with data reported in literature was confirmed to be ÃŽ ²-amyrin. The bioactivity of this compound was carried out using some clinical pathogens and the activity compared with standard drugs and this was found to be comparable with the standard drug. Keywords: Maesobotrya  barteri; Medicinal plant; bioactivity; Ethylacetate extract; ÃŽ ²-amyrin Introduction Maesobotrya sp is a variety of flowering plant belonging to the family Phyllanthaceae, or by some authors classified in Euphorbiaceae. The Euphorbiaceae plants are shrubs, trees, herbs or rarely lianas [1]. Plants of the Euphorbiaceae are known to be rich in terpenoids (69.5%) [2]. In Nigeria, the species M.barteri is under-exploited although the tree is of both medicinal and nutritional importance [3]. Maesobotrya species are used medicinally in different regions in Africa [4]. It bears succulent black-purple fruits that are edible and stain the tongue. The nutritive values of the fruits and seeds have been studied in Southern Nigeria [5]. Thus, this study aims at validating the antimicrobial effects of the aerial plant parts of Maesobotrya barteri used in traditional medicine in Orokam town of Benue State,Nigeria, as well as potent compounds that can be used as precursors for synthetic drugs. The presence of secondary metabolites in plants generally has been confirmed by [6], [7] and [8] through useful procedures and suggestions to get to targeted precursors which are of useful aids in the formulation of modern drugs. Plant Material The aerial parts of Maesobotrya barteri were collected from Orokam in Ogbadibo local government area of Benue State in the month of July, 2013. They were properly identified at the herbarium, Department of Biological Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. The whole plant was sorted, air dried under shade, segregated and pulverized by mechanically pounding them using wooden mortar and pestle. The pulverized plant material was stored away from moisture. Extraction 980.54g of the pulverized plant materials were carefully weighed and loaded into a Soxhlet extractor. It was extracted successively with Petroleum ether (60-80oC), Chloroform, Ethyl acetate (76-78oC) and Methanol by hot continuous percolation method in the Soxhlet apparatus for 72 hours respectively. Solvents used were those of JHD and general purpose reagents The extracts were concentrated in vacuo at 40oC using rotary evaporator and subjected to air drying to give dried crude extracts. Isolation The ethyl acetate extract was the most sensitive extract from the antimicrobial screening and was subjected to column chromatography (CC) for fractionation. Solvents used to run the column chromatograghy were sealed and are products JHD with 98% purity. Fifteen grams (15g) of the extract was dissolved in ethyl acetate and preadsorbed on 10.0g silica gel (qualikens 60-120 mesh). The dried pre-adsorbed extract was transferred to a mortar and ground to give a fine powder and was added at the uniform layer on top of the column. The petroleum ether descended on a horizontal line indicating that the column was well packed. A total of 105 fractions (50mls) each were initially collected using gradient elution with a solvent combination of petroleum ether and ethyl acetate, starting with 100% petroleum ether with an increasing polarity of 1% ethyl acetate. Similar fractions were pulled together based on monitoring from TLC. Fractions F20-F25 were pulled together at the ration of 8:2 and where subjected to further purification using Preparative thin layer chromatography to obtain a solid white amorphous substance which after several trails using different solvent combinations showed a single spot which was visible under the UV lamp and after spraying the TLC plate with 10% H2SO4 and oven dried for 5minutes at 60oC. The solid white amorphous substance produced was insoluble in ethyl acetate or petroleum ether but soluble in chloroform. Results and Discussion From the preliminary antimicrobial screening of the crude aerial plant parts extracts of M. barteri, ethylacetate extract exhibited the highest activity against the test microbes used via their zones of inhibition. Therefore, an activity guided isolation was undertaken. Bioactivity of Compound EN1 Pure Isolate The antimicrobial activities of compound EN1 isolated from ethylacetate extract of the aerial plant parts of M. barteri was examined and agar disc diffusion method [13] was employed for the determination of the antimicrobial activities. The pure compound was determined using some pathogenic microbes; the microbes were obtained from the department of Medical Microbiology Ahmadu Bello University Teaching- Hospital, Zaria, Nigeria. The determination of minimum inhibitory concentration was carried out using the nutrient broth susceptibility assay prepared according to the manufacturer’s instructions, as recommended by NCCLS [14]. Minimum inhibition McFarland turbidity standard scale number 0.5 was prepared to give turbid solution. Normal saline was prepared and was dispensed into test tube and the test microorganism was then inoculated into the normal saline, incubation was at 37oC for 6hrs, dilution of the microorganism in the normal was performed until the turbidity marched that of the McFarland by visual comparison at this point the microorganism had a concentration of about 1.5à Ã‚ ¥108 cfu/ml. Minimum Bactericidal and fungicidal concentration of compound EN1 was carried out to check whether the test microbes were killed or only their growth was inhibited. Mueller Hunton agars were prepared according to the manufacturer’s instruction, as recommended by NCCLS [14]. They were boiled to dissolve and were sterilized at 121oC for 15 minutes, the media were cool to 45oC and the medium (20ml) was poured in to sterile Petri dishes, the plates were covered and allowed to cool and solidify. The contents of the MIC in the serial dilution was inoculated on to the media, the media were incubated at 37oC for 24hrs for the bacteria and at 30oC for 1-7 days for fungi, after which the plate were observed for colonies growth. The MBC/MFC was the plate with lowest concentrations of the extract without colony growth. Table 2 shows the Zones of inhibition (mm) of the pure the compound EN1 from the ethyl acetate fraction which showed remarkable activity against twelve of the sixteen organisms tested. Compound EN1 could not inhibit the growth of Corynebacterium ulcerans, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, Aspergillus fumigates, Aspergillus nigre. The various minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum Bacteriocidal concentration and fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC) for the different microbes are as shown in Tables and the bioactivity of the aerial plant parts of M. barteri is comparable to the drugs Ciprofloxacin, Fluconazole and Fulcin used as positive controls. Table 2: Zone of inhibition of Compound EN1 against the test microorganism Test Organism Compound EN1 Ciprofloxacin Fluconazole Fulcin Staphylococus aureus 32 37 0 0 Streptococus pyogenes 30 35 0 0 Streptococcus feacalis 32 39 0 0 Corynebacteruim ulcerans 0 32 0 0 Escherichia coli 32 38 0 0 Klebsiella pneumonia 32 40 0 0 Salmonella typhi 30 42 0 0 Shigella dysenteriae 30 40 0 0 Candida albicans 0 0 35 0 Candida krusei 27 0 37 0 Candida tropicalis 0 0 32 0 Candida stellatoidea 25 0 37 0 Microsporum sp 26 0 0 38 Aspargillus fumigates 0 0 0 32 Aspargillus nigre 0 0 0 34 Trichophyton rutarum 28 0 0 38 Table 2 and 3 shows the activity of the compound EN1 which the spectroscopic analysis was proposed to be a ÃŽ ²-Amyrin or ÃŽ ²-Amyrenol, (C30H50O, 426.7 g/mol). Antimicrobial screening reported from other natural products has also confirmed the microbial properties of ÃŽ ²-Amyrin. ÃŽ ²-Amyrin was isolated from Ardisia elliptica [9], a medicinal plant used for alleviating chest pain, fever, liver poisoning and parturition complications. It was found that ÃŽ ²-Amyrin was six times as active as aspirin in inhibiting platelets aggregation. ÃŽ ²-amyrin was isolated for the first time fromLaurencia microcladia, marine algaedistributed widely in Egypt found to have antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeurginosa [10]. Table 3a: Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) Test Organisms 3.12 µg/ml 6.2 µg/ml 12.5 µg/ml 25 µg/ml 50 µg/ml Concentration Staphylococus Aureus o* + Streptococus Pyogenes o* + + Streptococcus Feacalis o* + Escherichia Coli o* + Klebsiella Pneumonia o* + Salmonella Typhi o* + Shigella Dysenteria o* + Candida Krusei o* + + Candida Stellatoidea o* + + Microsporum Sp o* + + Trichophyton Rubrum o* + + KEY: = No turbidity (No growth), o* = MIC, + = Turbid (Growth) Table 3b: Minimum Bactericidal Concentration and Minimum Fungicidal Concentration (MBC/MFC) Test Organisms 3.12 µg/ml 6.2 µg/ml 12.5 µg/ml 25 µg/ml 50 µg/ml Concentration Staphylococus aureus o* + + + Streptococus pyogenes o* + + + Streptococcus feacalis o* + + + Escherichia coli o* + + + Klebsiella pneumonia o* + + Salmonella typhi o* + + + Shigella dysenteria o* + + + Candida krusei o* + + + Candida stellatoidea o* + + + + Microsporum sp o* + + + + Trichophyton rubrum o* + + + KEY: = No turbidity (No growth), o* = MBC/MFC + = Turbid (Growth) Spectra results The structure of compound EN1 was elucidated using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR), 1-DNMR and 2-DNMR and also by comparing the obtained data with already existing literature. The results obtained are as shown in the table. H1NMR: 7.2401, 5.2346, 3.2100, 3.2021, 3.1911, 3.1836, 2.3241, 2.1768, 2.1585, 2.0742, 2.0181, 2.0023, 1.9942, 1.9793, 1.9727, 1.9067, 1.9012, 1.8923, 1.8865, 1.8621, 1.8455,1.8379, 1.8227, 1.7276, 1.7067, 1.6857, 1.6669, 1.6529, 1.6353, 1.6302, 1.6127, 1.5952, 1.5890, 1.5669,1.5463, 1.5230,1.4987,1.4836,1.4667,1.4579,1.4402,1.4276,1.3730,1.3429, 1.3195, 1.2990, 1.2780, 1.2630, 1.2329,1.1813,1.1514,1.1169,1.0870, 1.0639,1.0316, 1.0195,0.9989, 0.9759, 0.9681, 0.9404, 0.9322, 0.9217, 0.9088, 0.8927, 0.8841, 0.8680, 0.8591,0.8450 0.8341 13CNMR: 137.9624, 125.9002, 79.0731, 77.2169, 77.0054, 76.7938, 55.2568, 52.7408, 47.9239, 47.5759, 42.0388, 39.5194, 39.0811, 38.8495, 38.7715, 38.6441, 37.0200, 36.7105, 33.0001, 30.6267, 29.6969, 29.3557, 28.1492, 28.0359, 27.2530, 24.2027, 23.5770, 23.3098, 21.1608, 18.3150,17.0954, 16.9846, 15.5986, 15.4777. The 13C NMR spectrum (Figure 3) showed thirty (30) major recognizable carbon signals, eight methyl groups at ÃŽ ´37.0200 (C-22), 28.0359 (C-23), 15.5986 (C-24), 15.4777 (C-25), 16.9846 (C-26), 24.2027 (C-27), 17.0954 (C-28), 28.1492 (C-29), 23.3098 (C-30) and a secondary hydroxyl bearing carbon 79.0731 at (C-3). It also showed some recognizable signals at ÃŽ ´ 125.9002 and 137.9624 ppm which is assignable to the double bond at C-12 and C-13. In addition, ten methylene groups, eight methyl groups , six quaternary carbons atoms from DEPT experiment were observed. The chemical shift at ÃŽ ´137.962, 125.9002 which are C-12 and C-13 and the consistent flow of methyl groups from C-23 to C-30 were characteristic peaks for a ÃŽ ²- Amyrin type of skeleton [11] and [12]. 1HNMR, 13C NMR and DEPTH spectra of the proposed compound ÃŽ ²-amyrin Figure1: 1HNMR Figure 2 : 13C NMR Figure 3: DEPT Table 4: Comparison of 13C NMR spectrum data of ÃŽ ²-amyrin Obtained from the Aerial parts of M. barteri with literature Carbon Position ÃŽ ´13CNM ÃŽ ´ppm ÃŽ ²-amyrin, Experimental ÃŽ ´13CNMR ÃŽ ´ppm ÃŽ ²-amyrin, Literature [12] ÃŽ ´13CNMR ÃŽ ´ppm ÃŽ ²-amyrin, Literature [11] 1 38.8495 38.7 37.3 2 27.2530 27.2 28.28 3 79.0731 79.3 71.85 4 38.7715 38.5 37.30 5 55.2568 55.1 36.81 6 18.3150 18.6 21.12 7 38.6441 32.4 42.35 8 39.5194 39.8 45.90 9 47.9239 47.6 50.18 10 36.7105 36.9 36.55 11 23.5770 23.6 24.33 12 125.9002 121.7 121.70 13 137.9624 145.2 140.81 14 42.0388 41.7 44.36 15 29.3557 26.2 26.13 16 21.1608 26.1 23.11 17 29.6969 32.6 48.48 18 47.5759 47.2 45.89 19 39.0811 46.8 39.82 20 30.6267 31.0 36.49 21 33.0001 34.7 34.00 22 37.0200 37.1 31.71 23 28.0359 28.0 29.3 24 15.5986 15.4 19.84 25 15.4777 15.4 19.10 26 16.9846 16.8 18.90 27 24.2027 25. 9 18.30 28 17.0954 28.4 19.20 29 28.1492 33.8 36.18 30 23.3098 23.7 19.42 Proposed structure EN1-(C30H50O, 426.7 g/mol) Name: ÃŽ ²-Amyrin or ÃŽ ²-Amyrenol Conclusion The isolation of ÃŽ ²-Amyrin from the aerial plant parts of M. barteri, whose bioactivity was established from this work by its zone of inhibition, is comparable to the drugs of Ciprofloxacin, Fluconazole and Fulcin. This justifies why the plant really serves as a general purpose antibiotic in traditional medicine in our society. The preliminary phytochemical screening also shows that the ethylacetate extract contains other classes of compounds that can be further isolated and tested for microbial activities and this can lead to chains of discoveries as the quest of precursors for modern drugs are continually on course.

Friday, October 25, 2019

The Tragic Hero of Sophocles Antigone :: Antigone essays

The Tragic Hero of Antigone In Sophocles' Antigone, the question of who the tragic hero actually is has been the subject of a debate for years.   It is unlikely for there to be two tragic characters in a Greek tragedy, and there can be only one in the play Antigone.   The king Creon possesses some of the qualities that constitute a tragic character, but does not have all of the necessary traits. Antigone, however, contains all of the aspects that are required for her to be the   main character.   According to Aristotle's Poetics, there are four major traits, which are required of the tragic character.   The character must be a good and upstanding person.   The character must focus on becoming a better person, must be believable, and must be consistent in his or her behavior. Due to the fact that Antigone represents these four character guidelines, as well as several other protagonist traits, she can definitely be defined as the tragic hero. In order for Antigone to be the tragic character, she first must be a good   and upstanding person.   Antigone is indeed a good-hearted person and has committed no crime up to her decision to give her brother, Polynieces, a   proper burial.   There is no doubt that Antigone is upstanding and a person   of importance in Thebes.   She was scheduled to marry Haemon, the son of   Creon, and was considered a princess.   Aristotle stated that the aspect of a good person was first and most important when creating a tragic character.   The fact that Antigone is a woman makes no difference, because Aristotle   expressly said, "Even a woman may be good.though the woman may be said to be an inferior being."   Aristotle's second rule for determining a tragic character is that the   person must aim at propriety.   The character must work towards becoming a   better person.   Antigone illustrates this second guideline by her effort to   clear her conscious and bring honor to her family by giving Polynieces a   decent burial.   By taking this responsibility, and by denying Ismene's   involvement in her crime, Antigone shows that she has acquired a greater   courage within herself than she had possessed before.   In no way does Creon comply with Aristotle's second guideline.   Throughout the play, he does not   allow himself to see the point of view from other people, such as when   Haemon tries to reason with him, and he neglects the blind prophet,   Tiresias, when he warns Creon of his actions.   The last two expectations of a tragic character are intertwined. According   to Aristotle, the character must be true to life and be consistent in

Thursday, October 24, 2019

12 Steps to Recovery Essay

Addiction of any substance is an extremely difficult thing to accept. When we finally realize that We have a problem it is up us to admit it. Once we have accepted that we are addicted we have made the first and most important step to recovery. We learn that once recovery is what we want in our lives there are steps to take these steps is to mean we are ready to completely give yourself to a higher power. This higher power can be anything or anyone we want it to be, whether it be God or someone we can really trust and depend on. There are 12 steps to recovery that will help us stay clean and help us be successful in staying in recovery. This we call the â€Å"12 Step Program. † The first step to recovery is we admit we’re powerless over our addiction and our lives have become unmanageable. This means admitting weeven have an addiction problem. By saying your life has become unmanageable states that we don‘t want to continue living your life the way have been during your addiction. Our addiction has taken over our life, and admitting that we’re an addict helps us take responsibility for our actions instead of blaming others as we did before. The second step is we have come to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity as we knew it. See more:  The Story of an Hour Literary Analysis Essay For most of us our higher power is god. We would give everything to our higher power and ask him for forgiveness. We then would recite the Serenity Prayer to help us. The Serenity Prayer is â€Å"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference! † This is a very powerful prayer as I feel today. The third step is that we’ve made the decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understand and know him. We allow him to guide us through the recovery process we are going through. He lets us know that we are not alone in this, and we will never be alone again as long as we have him in our lives. The fourth step is making a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. We look inside ourselves to find out what our morals are and to figure out what we believe in. We figure out what we stand for and learn what we think is right and wrong in life. In this step you must become brutally honest with yourself knowing that there’s nothing we can do to change the past. This does not mean you are a bad person but that you have made some bad decisions in our lives, that we as human beings are not perfect. The fifth step is when we have admitted to God, ourselves, and another human being the exact natures of our wrongs we have done during our addiction. Completing this step gets the monkey off your back pursay. More than most people the addict lead a double life. This means we are only showing what we want people to see. Not being honest and showing our true colors. We still continued to lie and expected to be able to stay clean. Through this step we learned that this is not possible in order to stay clean and live a honest life through recovery. Those of us that belong to religious sanctuaries can confide in the proper person of that faith . Others that are not religious may find someone they can confide in such as a doctor or therapist. Someone that we can trust to keep what has been said in confidence. We cannot disclose anything to our family because we are not allowed to say things to them that will make them unhappy. We cannot save our own skins by making someone else unhappy. By doing so our fears come closer and we begin to realize that our life is opening up and showing what our life was really about . This is the scariest thing we will do. And the hardest step to complete out of all 12 of them. The sixth step is when we ask God to remove these defects of character. Which in turn means we surrender our whole self to God? When we are ready, we say to him something like this: â€Å"My Creator, I am now willing that you should have all of me, good and bad. I pray that you now remove from me every single defect of character which stands in the way of my usefulness to you and my fellows. Grant me strength, as I go out from here, to do your bidding. Amen† The seventh step we become willing to ask God to help us to remove all of our shortcomings. This is not a long step and like I said previously it’s not one of the hardest steps to do during recovery.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Compare Contrast Fall of Han China and Roman Empire

The Roman and Han Empires were the most powerful empires among the Classical Empires. The Han Dynasty and Roman Empire were similar in their falls because they both fell to nomadic invaders, and because they both fell because of a decline in economic trade. The Han and the Roman Empires were different in their falls because the Han suffered from serious revolts whereas the Romans did not; also the effects of their falls were different because China was able to make a fairly quick comeback whereas Rome was never able to do so. The Roman and Han empires were similar in their falls because of they both fell to nomadic invaders. Nomads attacked the empires to try and conquer them. The Romans were attacked by Germanic tribes and Han China was attacked by the Huns. Because both empires borders were so large, they were unable to fully protect their borders making it easy for their invaders to defeat them. The Han and the Roman Empires failing due to nomadic invaders is similar to the fall of the Gupta because one of the main reasons they fell was because of nomadic invaders conquering them and then splitting them up into regional kingdoms. The Roman and Han empires falls’ were similar because of their decline in economic trade. Trade was extremely important for the Romans and Chinese so when it began to decline, so did the rest of the empire. As both empires borders expanded, they had to take more of the military to defend the borders rather than the trade routes, so the trade routes became compromised. People began stealing goods from merchants making the routes extremely dangerous. Because their was much less trade, the taxes to the government were greatly reduced so they had to tax the people more. Most people could not afford the hike in taxes so the government was still unable to get all of their money, thus resulting in decline. This is similar to the decline of the Qin Dynasty because the Qin Dynasty had to raise taxes on peasants to try and support the government, causing it to decline as well. The fall of the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire are different because the Han fell to revolts whereas it was not a major cause in the fall in the Roman Empire. The Han Dynasty had many revolts; an example is the Yellow Turban Revolt, caused by frustration in the government. In Rome there were not many revolts because the government provided the peasants with bread and circuses in order to boost morale and keep them loyal to the government, which worked fairly well. The effects of the falls of the Han and the Roman Empires are different because China was able to make a comeback whereas Rome was not. After the Han fell, China was able to pull together, largely due to the economic and culture unity, whereas Romans were unable to do so. The Roman empire fell separately so the people in the eastern and western halves were very different, along with the economies. They were so different they could not come together, the government was far to fractured and the people were no longer united.