Whole Language versus Phonics Essay -- Education Language Communicatio

Whole Language versus Phonics Whole Language versus Phonics has been a question among many top educational groups for years. Which is the best way to teach kindergarten children the proper way to speak and learn the English Language? There are many valid reasons why experts argue for both phonics and/or whole language. Both seem to be exceptional ways to master the English Language. The purpose of this research paper is to compare phonics versus whole language and to determine how technology can support each approach. The history of the use of phonics dates back to the 1700’s. Backs then, children were taught to read through their memorization of the twenty-six-letter alphabet. Since many books hadn’t been written, their primary textbook was the Bible. Although there is no accounts for when whole language originated some believe that it was around the same time as phonics. The whole language reading method was widespread for thirty years, from around 1940 to 1970. From around 1970 to 1990, phonics was popular. Whole Language gained the most recent foothold around 1990. (Stahl 1996) Several times they have gone back and forth. The debate over whole language and phonics has gone on for years. Which way is best in teaching children how to read? The education world has been debating this issue for years and there still are no exact answers. In more recent year’s instruction specialist have argued that some sort of middle ground should be reached because it would give children the benefits of both. (Cromwell 1997) Some form of middle ground needs to be obtained if children’s needs are going to be met. What is whole language? It is the process of learning a language through whole word teaching. Combining reading, writing and s... ...1997). Phonics vs. whole language: Which is better? Retrieved May 2, 2004, http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/features/reading/phonics.shtml IRA. (December 2001) Integrating Literacy and Technology in the Curriculum. Retrieved May 3, 2004, http://www.reading.org/positions/technology.html Stahl, S. (1996) History of reading. Microsoft Encarta 96 Encyclopedia. (CD- ROM). Washington: Microsoft Corporation. Ghate, O. (November 20, 2003). Modern "Educators" vs. Reading. Capitalism Magazine, Page Unknown, Retrieved May 3, 2004. http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3337 Sanchez, R. (March 19, 1998). A mixed approach to reading. Washington Post, Page A02, Retrieved February 26, 2004. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A99123-1998Mar19Â ¬Found=true Young, Laura (2004). Interview at Alpine Elementary, Pearblossom, California.

Nitric oxide therapy

There is not much use for the lungs during the fetal life. At such stage, the function of the lungs is carried out by the placenta through the umbilical cord. Fetal life is characterized by a high pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) with pulmonary blood flow being restricted to a less than 10% lung-directed cardiac output. Blood vessels that connect the heart and the lungs are constricted, sending the circulating blood back to the heart through the ductus arteriosus, a blood vessel that functions only in fetuses. In other words, the lungs in the fetal stage are bypassed.At birth, when the lungs finally assume the function of gas exchange, the PVR decreases, allowing for an increase in pulmonary blood flow. The blood vessel that is previously constricted, favoring blood flow to the ductus arteriosus is now relaxed, simultaneously with the permanent closure of the ductus arteriosus. This happens as the lungs become ventilated and the alveolar oxygen tension is increased.Persistent Pulm onary Hypertansion occurs when at birth, the lung circulation fails to achieve the normal drop in PVR, preventing the transition from fetal to newborn circulation. This failure results in the continuous functioning of the ductus arteriosus which impairs the flow of blood from the heart to the lungs and limits the amount of oxygen that can be picked up by the blood to be delivered to the different parts of the body. The blood that flows back to the heart remains in an unoxygenated state which could lead to the development of refractory hypoxemia, respiratory distress and acidosis.It is only in 1987 when nitric oxide (NO) was recognized as a key endothelial-derived vasodilator molecule. From then, research has been expanded to establish the role of NO throughout the body, and to discover its therapeutic potential.   To appreciate the effects of NO in alleviating pulmonary hypertension, it is important to gain understanding of its chemistry and mechanism of action.Nitric Oxide is a g aseous compound that rapidly diffuses across membranes and has a single unpaired electron. This explains its high reactivity, especially to Hemoglobin (Hb) in the blood. This nature of the compound accounts for its noted biological significance. It has been discovered to function as stimulant in the release of hormones; as neurotransmitter; a significant participant in the magnification of synaptic actions and learning processes; and an inhibitor in platelet aggregation, which makes it a marvel in the field of cardiology.In the field of pulmonology, nitric oxide is valued for its vasodilatory effect in the blood vessels. This effect can be explained by the mechanism involving the compound's diffusion from the vascular endothelial cells to the subjacent smooth muscles of the pulmonary vessels. From here, NO activates the enzyme guanylate cyclase to change conformation to promote smooth muscle relaxation by converting GTP to cGMP.   This vasodilatory effect signals the mechanism to modulate blood flow and vascular tone.Given the mechanism of action, it is easy to surmise how NO can be utilized as a therapeutic agent in the management of blood-vessel-related diseases such as those related to the heart (hypertension), the reproductive system(erectile dysfunction) and in this case, the lungs (Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension in infants (PPHN)).Before NO, treatments used in infant PPHN are hyperventilation, continuous infusion of alkali, tube vasodilation and vasodilator drugs. A study on the effects of these various treatments was done by Ellington, Jr., et. al., (2001) showing no specific therapy clearly associated with the reduction in mortality in infants. In determining whether therapies were equivalent, the study showed that hyperventilation reduced the risk of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) with no oxygen increase at 28 days, while alkali infusion increased the use of ECMO as well as an increase in the use of oxygen at 28 days (Ellington, Jr., et. al., 2001). ECMO is a highly invasive procedure that requires major surgery, performed in serious cases of PPHN when patients fail to respond to treatments.It is only after post-lab studies were able to identify the role of NO-cGMP signaling in the regulation of lung circulation that NO therapy was developed for PPHN (Channick, R., et. al., 1994). Like previous treatment methods, NO therapy improves oxygenation as well as reduces the risk of ECMO in infants with PPHN (Oliveira, et. al., 2000). But because nitric oxide is capable of acting on its own upon inhalation to relax the blood vessels and improve circulation, it is considered as a less invasive procedure in the management of infants with PPHN compared to the previous treatments mentioned in the preceding paragraphs.The efficiency of the treatment procedure can be determined by observing its effect on the patient's ventilation and blood flow, which is a determinant of the efficiency of transpulmonary oxygenation and partia l pressure of oxygen in the systemic arterial blood (Ichinose, et. al., 2004). NO therapy enhances the mechanism by which blood flow is redistributed toward regions in the lungs with better ventilation and higher intra-alveolar partial pressure of oxygen (Ichinose, et. al., 2004).Other treatments used in the management of PPHN such as tube ventilation, alkalosis and intravenous vasodilators were shown to be effective in ameliorating pulmonary hypertension in some infants, but in many instances, it does not, as ECMO almost always becomes a necessity in saving the life of the infants (Ichinose, et. al., 2004). A type of hyperventilation has been proven not to increase the risk of ECMO, but unlike NO-therapy (Ellington, Jr., et. al., 2001), it is invasive as to require a tube inserted inside the infant's trachea.In patients with moderate PPHN, there is an improvement in arterial p a O 2, reduced necessity of ventilator support and low risk of progression to severe PPHN (Sadiq, et. al., 2003) and this, without the risk of increasing the incidence of adverse outcomes when the age of 1 year is reached (Clark, et. al. 2003). Inhaled NO is able to rapidly increase the arterial oxygen tension and increase the blood flow in the lungs without causing systemic hypotension (Roberts, 1992; Kinsella, 1992). No apparent increase in morbidity has been shown after one year of treatment with NO (Aparna and Hoskote, 2008). For high-risk infants with PPHN, inhaled NO has been found to lessen the risk of pulmonary hypertensive crisis (PHTC) after congenital heart surgery (Miller, et. al. 2000).Studies on the role of NO in the management of PPHM show that while it is therapeutic, it also prevents the occurrence of chronic lung disease which affects morbidity. Vascular cell proliferation and pulmonary vascular disease have been shown to decrease with NO in the newborn (Roberts, et. al., 1995). In addition, while NO treatment can be more costly, it is the most cost-effective among oth er methods because of the reduced need for ECMO (Angus, et. al. 2003). For these reasons, it is understandable why NO therapy seems to have taken over in the area of PPHN treatment.ReferencesAngus DC, Clermont G, Watson RS, et al. (2003). Cost-effectiveness of inhaled nitric oxide in the treatment of neonatal respiratory failure in the United States. Pediatrics. 112, 1351–1360.Aparna U., Hoskote, MD., et. al. (2008). Airway function in infants treated with inhaled nitric oxide for persistent pulmonary hypertension. Pediatr Pulmonol. 43, 224-235.Channick R, Hoch R, Newhart J, et al. (1994). Improvement in pulmonary hypertension and hypoxemia during nitric oxide inhalation in a patient with end-stage pulmonary fibrosis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 149, 811-814Clark, RH., Huckaby, JL., et. al. (2003). Low-Dose Nitric Oxide Therapy for Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension: 1-Year Follow-up. Journal of Perinatology. 23, 300.Ellington Jr, Marty, O'Reilly, et. al. (2001). Child Health S tatus, Neurodevelopmental Outcome, and Parental Satisfaction in a Randomized, Controlled Trial of Nitric Oxide for Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn. Pediatrics,107.Ichinose F, Roberts JD, et.al. (2004). A Selective Pulmonary Vasodilator: Current Uses and Therapeutic Potential. Circulation. 109, 3106-3111. Kinsella JP, Neish SR, Shaffer E, et al. (1992). Low-dose inhalation nitric oxide in persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. Lancet.   340, 819–820.Miller O, Tang SW, et. al. (2000) Inhaled nitric oxide and prevention of pulmonary hypertension after congenital heart surgery: A randomised double-blind study. The Lancet. 356: 9240, 1464.Oliveira cac, et. al. (2000). Inhaled Nitric oxide in the management of persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn: a meta-analysis. Rev. Hosp. Clin. Fac. Med. S., 55 (4): 145-154, 2000Roberts JD Jr, Polaner DM, Lang P, et al. (1992). Inhaled nitric oxide in persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. Lan cet. 340, 818–819.Roberts JD Jr, Roberts CT, Jones RC, et al. (1995). Continuous nitric oxide inhalation reduces pulmonary arterial structural changes, right ventricular hypertrophy, and growth retardation in the hypoxic newborn rat. Circ Res. 76, 215-222.Sadiq HF, Mantych G, et. al. (2003). Inhaled Nitric Oxide in the Treatment of Moderate Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn: A Randomized Controlled, Multicenter Trial. Journal of Perinatology.   23, (2).98

How to Create a Character Profile

How to Create a Character Profile How to Create a Character Profile How to Create a Character Profile By Ali Hale Have you created character profiles for the main cast of your novel? While not all authors use character profiles, many find them a very handy tool for keeping track of their characters – and for developing and fleshing out those characters in the first place. Done well, a character profile can help you harness your creativity and really dig into who your characters are.   Sometimes, though, writers treat character profiles as a form-filling exercise, coming up with their character’s eye color, hair color, first job, etc without investing any of this with a deeper meaning. They might diligently complete character profiles for every character in their novel – even the bus driver who only has a walk-on part in chapter five – but they’re not any closer to having any real insight into their characters. So what should go in your character profile and how should you use it? What to Include in a Character Profile Firstly, not every character in your novel needs a profile at all. Characters who have a minor role (like your protagonist’s mother, who only appears briefly a couple of times) don’t need to be fully fleshed out. Of course, you might want to make some brief notes about them but this definitely doesn’t need to be an entire profile. Your main characters, though, should have individual profiles. That probably includes any viewpoint character. If you have an antagonist then it’s worth creating a profile for them too (after all, even if your main character just doesn’t get where the antagonist is coming from,  you  should). It’s entirely up to you how you structure your character profiles. In general, though, I’d suggest that: You don’t focus too much on physical details. You may want to include things like hair color and eye color if you’re ever likely to mention them – but you can leave them out if they’re not going to be relevant. The same goes for height and build: unless they’re unusual and significant, you don’t necessarily need them at all. If you are including physical details, think about how they relate to deeper aspects of your character. For instance, in Harry Potter, the fact that Harry has green eyes is significant because it’s the physical characteristic that links him to his mother. You spend some time exploring deeper questions about your character: things like what’s the mistake they regret most? or in what situations would they lie? or what false beliefs do they hold? These sort of questions will result in a much richer, more real character than a simple list of physical characteristics. The first ebook I ever bought online, back in around 2007, was Holly Lisle’s Create a Character Clinic. This is still one of my favorite resources for character creation: it goes far beyond the typical character questionnaire to dig deep into what really makes characters tick (and it includes lots of examples, too). If you’re using a template or questionnaire that you’ve found online, don’t feel that you need to complete every single part of it – especially if it’s a long one! Focus on the bits that are most impactful or that help you to imagine your character more fully: if you do decide to fill in the rest, you can simply do it at a later stage. Don’t get hung up on creating the â€Å"perfect† character profile before you begin writing – because it’ll almost certainly change as you go along. Which brings me on to Why Your Character Profile Will Need Updating Regularly If you create your character profiles during the pre-writing phase of your novel, you’ll almost certainly find that your understanding of your character shifts as you write the first draft. Perhaps the thing you  thought  they sincerely regretted from their past turns out to be something they’re actually quite proud of – at least initially. Perhaps you realize that it makes much more sense for them to have grown up somewhere rural, not in a city. Perhaps you change them radically: maybe you merge two characters together, or you change a character’s gender or age. (Or their name: a lot of my characters end up changing names part-way through the writing process as I figure out a name that’s a better fit.) Your character profile definitely isn’t set in stone. It’s fine to change your mind and rework it – but do make sure that you actually update it to reflect the changes you’ve made during the writing process. Otherwise, it can be very confusing several chapters later when you want to bring a character back in but you can’t now remember if they’re supposed to be 35 or 25, or whether they’re tall with dark brown hair or short with strawberry blonde hair. Character profiles can be a great tool for creating and fleshing out interesting characters for your novel; they’re also a useful working document that you can use to help you stay on track and keep things consistent during the writing process. If you’ve never created a character profile before, why not give it a go today? Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of PhrasesBetween vs. In BetweenThe Difference Between "Phonics" and "Phonetics"