Meet Neve The Lightweight Theme Built for Speed in the Gutenberg Era

Weve had a busy few months here at ThemeIsle, and were finally ready to unveil the fruits of our labor; our latest lightweight theme Neve. And boy, are we excited!Most of our excitement is because Neve has something for everyone. For the acronym aficionados, we have highly optimized SEO and AMP optimization. For the WP warriors busy preparing for WordPress 5.0, we have full Gutenberg integration. For page builder fans, we have full compatibility with Elementor, Beaver Builder, and others.Heres an introduction to Neve, plus the great features and wonderful benefits it brings. Page builder users will love the seamless integration of Neve with the standard page builder blocks. Did someone say blocks? Neve is also ready for the new Gutenberg editor with full compatibility already available.If you are running an e-commerce site, then you will love the fact that we pared back the source code to the essentials. This will guarantee fast loading times to keep visitors on site while also givin g you the freedom to build more functionality into your storefront.You can even translate Neve into many languages and make your site multilingual. The theme comes with full WPML compatibility, which gives you the freedom to use more than one language interface at once.For bloggers, the highly optimized SEO code ensures your site will be easily crawled by Google and working with the Google Search Console is now easier than ever.If you are just looking to build a portfolio, or you are a business or agency, then Neves subtle animations will help make your site pop.The simplicity of the design will help you to add some personal flair to your website. As you build your site you will find the design makes it easier than ever to integrate page builder blocks seamlessly into your web design.If youre nervous about the impending arrival of the Gutenberg editor in WordPress 5.0 then youll be happy to see the homepage is ready for custom content blocks from third-party plugins.Why did we build it?Building a theme from scratch can be a daunting process especially following a period that saw the remaster of our popular Hestia theme. While that was a great success, we decided it would be worthwhile to build an entirely new theme with a focus on page builders while also introducing new concepts that are ready to work with Gutenberg.Thus, Neve was born. 👠¶We had a strong vision of how Neve should develop with performance and speed at the top of the list. This opened the gates for us to develop Neve as a tool to help users unleash their creativity and easily realize their vision.We wanted users to have the freedom to customize the key elements of their site without limitation. The goal with Neve was to enable an experience thats as close to true front-end editing as possible.This means we put in some hard work into building a theme that allowed users to seamlessly integrate blocks from both page builders and Gutenberg block plugins like Otter Blocks.We are excited to sa y we did it!How? Thanks to the brilliant team of developers behind it. Everyone in the team had a role in making Neve a reality and were very proud of how everyone pulled together to make such an exciting theme.A special shout-out for Andrei BÄÆ'icuÈ™ who took the lead on this one. We have to say that he did an awesome job, and we think youll agree.Neve featuresGutenberg compatibility is total in this theme with the back end and the editor integrated seamlessly. This means you will get an editing experience that is as close to WYSIWYG than we have ever seen before.But thats not all! Neves settings are also displayed live in the editor as you change them. This means your editor experience is closely aligned with the front-end appearance. Fewer nasty surprises.Neve has integrated the Gutenberg editor seamlessly into the backend. Now your edits will look almost identical to the front end.All of your headings, fonts, colors, widths, and settings will appear in the editor as if you w ere looking at the front-end. And, just wait until you use popular 3rd party blocks because they will still look good and align with the theme design.Better yet, the entire Gutenberg integration maintains the themes overall goal of enhanced usability. Lets hear what Andrei has to say about it:We had multiple meetings to pinpoint exactly how some settings from the theme should behave when altered. The user should get a result matching their expectations when changing settings, and nothing else. Otherwise, the user gets frustrated and using a theme shouldnt be frustrating.Andrei BÄÆ'icuÈ™, Neve project leadWe built the theme to provide compatibility with all of the major page builders. So no matter how you approach Neve, you will find an easier, more enjoyable building experience.When youre ready to build a page, you will find that Neve is able to take advantage of many a page builders unique elements to complete the page entirely without leaving the builders interface.We all know that the future is mobile, but with over a third of Black Friday 2018 sales completed on smartphones we can agree that the future is now. Luckily, we built Neve with full mobile compatibility.This is more than having a nice responsive site that adapts to devices. It is also about having a structure that is optimized for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Neve will help you ensure your site renders as native AMP and keeps you on Googles good side.We really wanted to make Neve an inclusive theme, so we performed an accessibility audit to reduce the amount of work needed to make accessibility-ready site.The theme has good keyboard focuses to help your users navigate the page without a mouse. With functional buttons and menus your users will find it easy to get around your entire site. The skip navigation link at the top of the page will help guide your users get through the page.If you are moving from Zelle then Neve will remove all of the stress and anxiety with the migrating process. O ur onboarding process will transform your old Zelle frontpage into an Elementor template. It will also import all of your old content.Neve demosNot moving across from Zelle? Thats cool, weve still got something to offer you; a list of diverse starter sites that is constantly growing. Better yet, they are easily available from the WordPress dashboard with full previews.Here are some of the demos:Restaurant themeLawyers themeDoctors themeAt the time of writing, all of the demos were built with Elementor making them flexible and adaptable to any project. They have all the benefits of Neve, so you will have no trouble adapting them to your own purposes. (Stay tuned for Gutenberg specific demos!)Where can you get the theme?The good news is that you can take Neve home with you today for free! Thats right; all of the above features, demos, and benefits are available in the free version. Get NeveFinal words on NeveWhat can I say? I am excited that Neve gives users a chance to build a fast, well-designed site with enough flexibility to adapt to future trends in both WordPress and web development.The page builder compatibility makes it easier than ever to build a beautiful site without breaking the bank or your spirit. We also have something for beginners to build confidence. Our growing range of starter sites is the perfect way to learn how to build a website.All the while Neve puts you in the strongest position to take advantage of growing mobile use with a combination of responsiveness and AMP-readiness.Finally, WordPress 5.0 is almost ready, and it is essential to have a theme that can seamlessly integrate Gutenberg blocks. If youve been searching for your dream theme, were happy to tell you the search is over. Meet Neve: The lightweight #WordPress #theme built for speed in the #Gutenberg era

The impact of Schizophrenia and Psychopathy to offending behaviour. The WritePass Journal

The impact of Schizophrenia and Psychopathy to offending behaviour. Introduction The impact of Schizophrenia and Psychopathy to offending behaviour. IntroductionReferencesRelated Introduction For many years people have associated mental disorders with offending behaviour and in particular, violent offending.   According to Jones (2006 p, 383) evidence has been found that individuals who are mentally ill are at greater risk of arrest then the general population.   He argues that in an attempt to investigate the relationship between mental disorders and offending behaviour studies have been conducted which have mainly focused on mental disorder in convicted offenders and offending rates in psychiatric populations.   As a result of these studies schizophrenia and psychopathy are the two disorders that appear to be most associated with offending.   This essay will attempt to describe the terms schizophrenia and psychopathy in some detail and discuss the relation each in turn has with offending behaviour. Schizophrenia, according to Davenport (1996 p,172), is a severe mental disorder characterised with symptoms of disintegration in the thinking process, in emotional responsiveness and in contact with reality.   Social relationships become impossible and cognitive functions are disturbed.   Sufferers of schizophrenia may withdraw from other people and from everyday reality, often into a life of odd beliefs, or delusions, and hallucinations.  Ã‚   The symptoms of schizophrenia can often make stable employment difficult, resulting in impoverishment and homelessness.   The strange behaviour displayed by schizophrenics and the lack of social skills may lead to a loss of friends, a solitary existence and sometimes ridicule and persecution. The German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin (1896, cited by Gross, 2008. P.791)   was the first to recognise schizophrenia as a separate mental illness.   He described it as a distinct disorder which he called ‘dementia praecox’, meaning early insanity.   Kraepelin believed that the symptoms were due to a form of mental deterioration that began in adolescences.   However Bleuler (1911, cited by McGuire, Mason O’Kane, 2000, p.162), a Swiss psychiatrist, disagreed with Kraepelin, he believed that the disorder did not necessarily have an early onset and the name ‘dementia praecox’ was inappropriate.   Bleuler proposed his own term for the disorder, one that is still used today, schizophrenia.   Schizophrenia is taken from the Greek word schizein, meaning to split, and phren, meaning the mind to describe a disorder in which the personality loses its unity. Individuals with schizophrenia can significantly differ from one another and as  Ã‚   Kring et al (2010, p.321) explains this is   because the range of symptoms in the diagnosis of schizophrenia is extensive and people may only have some of them at any given time.   The symptoms of schizophrenia are divided into three categories.   The first category refers to positive symptoms and these are based on Schneider’s first rank symptoms (1959, cited by Gross, 2008 p.791) which are subjective and include delusions, hallucinations and thought disturbances.   Delusions are beliefs that are held contrary to reality and firmly held in spite of disconfirming evidence.   Hallucinations which may be visual, these are often unpleasant and frequently include violence and destruction, but are most commonly auditory, typically as voices commenting or giving instructions.   Thought disturbances are where thoughts are inserted into the mind (thought insertion), removed from the min d (thought withdrawal) or broadcast to the mind (thought broadcasting) by external forces. The second category refers to negative symptoms that are based on Slater and Roth’s major symptoms (1969, cited by Gross, 2008, p.792). These   are directly observable from the patient and include thought process disorder, disturbance of affect, psychomotor disturbance and lack of volition.   Thought process disorder refers to the inability to keep to the point and becoming easily distracted.   Disturbance of affect refers to affect that can be flat and expressionless or alternatively it can be inappropriate such as anger without provocation or laughter at misfortune.   Psychomotor disturbance can take the form of bizarre facial grimaces, repeated gesturing or excited agitation of the body; alternatively unusual postures can be adopted and held, in a state of immobility, for long periods.   Finally lack of volition refers to a lack of motivation and an absence of interest in or an inability to persist in what are usually routine activities including work, self care, social activities and affection for friends and family. The third category according to Kring et al (2010, p.324) refer to disorganised symptoms which include disorganised speech and disorganised behaviour.   Disorganised speech refers to problems in organising and maintaining a logical and coherent flow of information, whilst disorganised behaviour refers to bizarre behaviour which can take many forms, sufferers seem to lose the ability to organise behaviour in a way that conforms to usual standards, performing everyday tasks also becomes difficult. Many studies have been conducted to examine the relationship, if any, between schizophrenia and offending behaviour, some of these studies have shown that there is a relationship between the two. For example Green (1981, cited by Jones, 2006, p. 389) conducted a survey of 58 men admitted to mental hospitals after they had killed their mothers and discovered that 75% of them were suffering from schizophrenia.   Taylor (1986, p.76) conducted a survey of life sentence prisoners in London and discovered a high level of schizophrenia. These findings are inconsistent with the work of Monahan and Steadman (1983, cited by McGuire, Mason and O’Kane, 2000, p.165) who conducted an influential review of research that was conducted prior to the early 1980. Their findings suggested that there was little if any relationship between offending behaviour and schizophrenia.   They argue that many of the studies that appear to suggest a link between schizophrenia and offending behaviour have failed to take into account demographic factors such as poverty and unemployment.   When these kinds of factors were considered, the apparent relationship between schizophrenia and offending behaviour, particularly violence, disappeared. However, Mullen (2006, p.241) suggests that many of the factors that produce offending in the general population are important in producing offending in schizophrenia.   These include disturbed backgrounds, poor social conditions, unemployment and substance abuse, among others.   But those with schizophrenia may be more vulnerable to those influences and this in turn may increase offending behaviour. Whilst Walsh, Buchanan Fahy (2002, p.490) acknowledge that until the early 1980s the general opinion was that people with schizophrenia were no more likely than the general population to be violent they claim that view is now outdated.   They conducted a review of the main studies that have influenced current thinking about the association between schizophrenia and offending, in particular violence, between January 1990 and December 2000.   Three different approaches were examined and these included studies on violent acts in those with schizophrenia, schizophrenia in individuals who have committed violent acts and violence in those with and without schizophrenia, regardless of involvement with the mental health or criminal justice systems.   They found that the majority of studies conducted over the past two decades have demonstrated a statistical association between schizophrenia and violence.   Furthermore that people with schizophrenia are significantly more likely to be violent than members of the general population. Finally that the proportion of violence attributed to people suffering with schizophrenia is small. The second mental disorder that is most associated with offending behaviour is psychopathy. Psychopathy, according to McLaughlin and Muncie (2006, p.323) is a collection of personality traits that lead to emotional or behavioural problems serious enough to require psychiatric evaluation.   Psychopaths have no concern for the feelings of others and a complete disregard of any sense of social obligation.   Psychopaths are characterised by lack of empathy, poor impulse control and manipulative behaviours.   Kring et al (2010, p.368) argue that psychopathic people have no shame, and their seemingly positive feelings for others are merely an act.   They are superficially charming and use that charm to manipulate others for personal gain and satisfaction. Psychopathy was first recognised in the early 1800s where the term was used in Austrian psychiatry text books but as Jones (2006, p.392) explains, it was not until 1976 in his classic book The Mask of Sanity that Hervey Cleckley drew on his clinical experience to formulate diagnostic criteria for Psychopathy.   Cleckley’s criteria for psychopathy focused less on behaviour as such and more on the person’s thoughts and feelings.   Kring et al (2010, p.368) explain that Cleckley produced a checklist which consisted of 16 distinguishable characteristics of a psychopath, although various researchers have tried to identify the typical characteristics of a psychopath.   They go on to argue that there has been widespread approval of 6 key elements described by Cleckley, they are lack of guilt or remorse, an inability to learn from experience, an inability to delay gratification, an inability to form emotional ties, the constant seeking of stimulation and a superficial cha rm. The most commonly used scale that attempts to operationalise the concept of psychopathy and make assessment more reliable according to Kring et al (2010 p,270), was developed by Robert Hare in 1991 and is called the psychopathy checklist revised, known as the PCL-R test.   The checklist, based on Cleckley’s criteria, is a 20 item clinical rating scale that is completed through interview and information gathered from other sources including criminal records, social worker reports and case histories.   The scale divides into two linked factors, factor one includes interpersonal items, such as superficial charm, grandiose sense of self worth and pathological lying, and affective symptoms such as lack of remorse or empathy.   Finally factor two measures socially deviant or anti social lifestyles, such as proneness to boredom and delinquency. The exact relationship between psychopathy and offending behaviour according to Mclaughlin and Muncie (2006, p323) has not been completely understood but it is clear that psychopathic charachteristics are highly associated with offending.   Among offenders who score highly on the PCL-R test there are also high levels of criminality and violence.   Hobson and Shine (1998, p.504) findings supports this view, they found that once imprisoned, psychopaths display more violent and aggressive behaviour and are more frequently segregated from other prisoners.   Furthermore, after release, the likelihood of reconviction is significantly above that for non psychopaths, particularly for violent crimes.   This view is shared by Hemphill et al (1998, cited by Gross 2008, p.842) after his Meta analysis study found that psychopathic offenders were three times as likely to reoffend and four times more likely to violently reoffend within a year of release than non psychopathic offenders. The criteria of the PCL-R test may show how psychopathic characteristics relate to offending behaviour.   According to McLaughlin and Muncie (2006, p.323) the criteria of factor one for example, which   includes grandiose sense of self worth and arrogance, highlights the need of psychopathic individuals to feel they are of high status, this need could be satisfied through various types of offending.   Being pathological liars can also facilitate certain types of offending behaviour.   Psychopaths do not feel the usually constraining emotions of guilt, remorse or empathy; as a result of these lacks of constraints the likelihood of offending behaviour in psychopathic individuals is increased.  Ã‚   The emotional volatility of psychopathic individuals may also explain the increased violence that is evident from the studies previously mentioned. The second factor of the PCL-R which includes characteristics like proneness to boredom, impulsivity and delinquency can demonstrate w hy offending behaviour in psychopathic individuals is increased. The examination of any relationship between psychopathy and offending behaviour is not helped by the unsatisfactory definition of the disorder. Jones (2006, p.393) argues that   the definition is circular in that there are certain behaviours that are used to help assess the disorder, the disorder is then, in turn used to explain these behaviours.   He goes on that there is already an established link between psychopathy and offending behaviour as it seems crime is incorporated into the definition of the disorder, he concludes that by the very nature of the characteristics of psychopathy, in essence, psychopathic behaviour is criminal behaviour. On analysis of both mental disorder in convicted offenders and offending rates in the psychiatric population it is easy to establish a firm relationship between the two mental disorders described in this essay and offending behaviour.   Schizophrenia is the disorder that is probably the most associated with violent offending, although the actual number does appear to be very small.   There is also an established link between psychopathy and offending behaviour although, that does seem to be incorporated in the definition of the disorder. References Davenport, G.C. (1996). Essential Psychology. (2nd ed.). London: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Gross, R. (2008) Psychology The Science Of Mind And Behaviour. (5th ed).   London: Hodder Education. Hobson, J., Shine, J. (1998). Measurement of Psychopathy in a UK prison population referred for long term psychotherapy. British Journal of Criminology, 38,3, 504-515 Jones, S. (2006). Criminology. (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press Kring, A., Johnson, S., Davison, G., Neale, J. (2010). Abnormal Psychology. (11th Ed). West Sussex: Wiley Sons Ltd. McGuire, J., Mason, T., O’Kane, A. (Eds) (2000). Behaviour, Crime and Legal Process .   West Sussex: Wiley Sons Ltd. McLaughlin, E. Muncie, J. (2006). The Sage Dictionary of Criminology (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications Ltd. Mullen, P.E. (2006). Schizophrenia and Violence: From Correlation to Preventive Strategies, Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 12, 239-248 Taylor, P. (1986). Psychiatric disorders in London’s Life Sentenced Offenders. British Journal of Criminology,   26, 63-78 Walsh, E., Buchanan, A., Fahy, T. (2002). Violence and Schizophrenia – Examining the Evidence. British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 490-495.

Organism Physiology Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organism Physiology Paper - Essay Example There is an oral sucker around the mouth region and a ventral sucker which is present in the middle of the body and is used for adhering to the host organisms. There is no definitive body cavity and the organs are present embedded in a matrix composed of connective tissue. Somatic muscles pass through the tissue and attach to the outer tegument. The alimentary canal along with a muscular pharynx and esophagus is well-developed in flukes. The intestine is a branched tubular organ which may contain secondary and tertiary branches. The main branch however, leads to the excretory vesicle which also collects the two lateral collecting ducts of the excretory system. In the process of digestion food enters the sac-like gut from the mouth and gets digested. The undigested food then comes out from the mouth as the excretory system is not very specialized. As most trematodes are hermaphrodites with the exception of the blood flukes, they carry the male and female reproductive organs in the sam e body. The male organ is composed of two testes along with accessory glands and ducts that leads to the cirrus, which is equivalent to the penis. The penis then enters the common genital tract. The female reproductive organ contains a single ovary with a seminal receptacle and yolk glands which connect to the oviduct and later expands into the oocyte. The female uterus extends from the oocyte and enters the common genital tract. The fertilization is through self or cross-fertilization. The eggs of the female assemble in the oocyte and then pass through the uterus via the genital tract into the genital pores where fertilization occurs. In the case of the blood flukes, the general body structure remains and the male and female remain in close association within the fold of the tegument on the ventral surface of the male (Castro, 1996). The characteristic flat shape of the flukes is the physiological response of the organism with regard to

In what ways are horses used as symbolism in the plays The New York Essay

In what ways are horses used as symbolism in the plays The New York Idea by Landgon Mitchell, and the play Mazeppa by Henry - Essay Example In order to understand why horses are used in both stories, we must take a closer look at the general perception of what horses stand for. According to Psychics and Mediums Network, a fantastic website dedicated to the interpretation of dreams and symbols, horses in a dream mean the following: Wild forces that have been tamed are symbolized by the horse. Horses are also a symbol of sexuality and were considered by Freud to represent the terrifying aspect of the father. To dream of ridding an out-of-control horse, may indicate that you are being ‘carried away’ by your passions, whereas a tightly tethered horse may show that you inhibit these natural feelings. Therefore, horses reflect on the feelings of individuals—where they are going and what they are doing. This concept is certainly used in both Mitchell and Milner’s works. As noted above, horses are used to judge different individual actions. In the introduction of â€Å"The New York Idea,† Mitche ll states, interestingly enough: â€Å"The temperament of the race-horse has to be considered—much more, that of the 'star'.† (2). This is an important concept in relation to what we have already been discussing. The author is basically admitting the purpose of the horses in the play itself—to reflect on the actions and emotions of individuals. In Mazeppa, we see a similar stance. The bulk of the narrative focuses on a romantic journey on a horse, the horse serving as sort of escape from reality, or one’s emotions and personal responsibilities. This is especially accurate if we compare this with the Freudian interpretation of horses above. Horses can represent one being carried away by one’s passions, and this seems to be in line with what is going on in Mazeppa. Therefore, the general interpretation of what horses can mean symbolically certainly ties back to what Mazeppa is trying to reveal a horse can mean. Another concept present in Psychics and Mediums network is the reflection of what horses generally mean in mythological terms, and again, this concept can be used to better understand the symbols present in both stories that we are discussing. According to Psychics and Mediums Network, horses can myth logically mean the following: In some myths and fairytales horses speak. In dreams, this represents the voice of your unconscious- a message from your innermost self. In Greek myth, horses were associated with Hades, the underworld and death. However, dream prophecy says that to dream of horses indicates that you will receive news from a distance. And it is extremely lucky to dream of a horse being shod. So, the journey of the horse in â€Å"Mazeppa† can be related to the ultimate end of all human journeys—that of death. Basically, there is the sense that no matter what we do with our lives, all of us will eventually face this end of the journey, or the ultimate end, of relinquishing our souls. This concept is not as present in The New York Idea, but if we think of the races present in the story as a type of journey for the horses, then we see a similar concept present; that of the journey and the finish, and whether ones wins or loses it does not really seem to matter when one reaches the final end of all things. The other interesting point to note about this interpretation of horses is the concept of receiving news from a dista

Internet Firewall Security Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Internet Firewall Security - Term Paper Example Considering all these cons, one must ensure that a good firewall is in place to keep the hackers at an arm’s length, keeping them at bay is an arduous task. This paper will shed light upon internet firewall security and how a good firewall can protect a person from malware, Trojan horses and other undesirable viruses. Firewall Basics: â€Å"The term "fire wall" originally meant, and still means, a fireproof wall intended to prevent the spread of fire from one room or area of a building to another. The Internet is a volatile and unsafe environment when viewed from a computer-security perspective, therefore "firewall" is an excellent metaphor for network security.† (What is a firewall?) Firewall is not something general, it means several specific things and it is supposed to do several important things to ensure that a user is safeguarded against attacks. Packet filtering is perhaps the most important job of a regular firewall. All the internet activities like downloads, chats and so on are done in packets, and these packets contain information. Firewall must ensure that these packets are either allowed or disallowed based on the source of the internet protocol address known as the IP address. The destination port of these packets is also very important, the firewall is supposed to allow or disallow these packets purely on the basis of their destination port. Firewall must follow a protocol and allow or disallow packets or information based on the set protocol. This method of packet filtering is highly effective against malware and other dangerous attacks but this is not a foolproof plan. All traffic can be blocked by a firewall which does not make much sense; it should allow certain packets which are safe for the user to receive. It has its weaknesses like it becomes very difficult for a basic firewall to detect spoofing which means the information contained in the packets is falsified. Allowed packets may contain a bug which can retrieve a passwor d and cause unwanted actions, a basic firewall is vulnerable to these dangers. Circuit relay is another type of firewall which provides enhanced security, application level gateway is perhaps the most advanced of all and provides even better security. Static Packet Filtering: â€Å"Static packet filtering is a firewall and routing capability that provides network packet filtering based only on packet information in the current packet and administrator rules.† (Statistic Packet Filtering) Static packet filtering is based on the following important things: The administrator defines rules. The allowed ports and IP addresses are set by the administrator and only the allowed ports are allowed to send and receive packets. The transport layer contents, the network and the packet contents are all determined by the administrator. Better level of security is provided by the dynamic packet filtering. Static packet filtering does not look at the contents closely, on the contrary dynamic packet filtering screens contents very closely, previous connection states are also considered by dynamic packet filtering which static packet filtering fails to do. The packet headers are very important under static packet filtering, the information stored in the headers determines whether packets should be allowed or dropped. These headers are compared against the control policy which is set by the administrator. Below is an illustration which presents the same concept very comprehensively. (Static Packet

The Characteristics of Retroviruses

The Characteristics of Retroviruses Retroviruses have various characteristics that make them unique as gene delivery vehicles. Their life cycle includes an integrated state in the DNA of the host chromosome. Retroviruses are the only animal viruses that integrate into the host cells genome during the normal growth cycle. They use an integrase that acts in a site-specific manner to join the ends of the viral cDNA to target sequences in host cell DNA. The linear ds cDNA made in the cytoplasm is transported to the nucleus where it is also found as circles and as integrated DNA. Two forms of circular DNA are generally found: one having a single Long Terminal Repeat (LTR) and one having two LTRs. It is now thought that the original integrated proviruses were linear molecules with two LTRs. The retroviral promoter can direct high-level, efficient expression of genes encoded within the viral capsid of its genome using chromatin. The retroviral genomes can accommodate changes to its configuration. Retroviruses offer gene therapy researchers aid for delivering genes to target cells at high efficiency that allows for long-term, stable expression of introduced genetic elements The retroviral life cycle begins in the nucleus of an infected cell. At the beginning of the life cycle the retroviral genome is a DNA element integrated into and covalently attached to the DNA of the host cell. Full-length genomic mRNA is made starting at the beginning of the repeat at the 5 LTR (Long Terminal Repeat). The free particle can infect new cells by binding to a cell surface receptor. The specificity of the virus-cell interaction is determined most commonly by the envelope proteins of the retrovirus. Infection leads to injection of the virus nucleoprotein core (consisting of many gag-derived proteins, full-length genomic RNA, and the reverse transcriptase protein). Once inside the cell, the nucleoprotein complex accesses intracellular DNA nucleotide triphosphate pools, where the reverse transcriptase protein initiates and creation of a double-stranded DNA copy of the genome of the virus is prepared for integration into the host cell chromosome. When reverse transcription is completed, the viral enzyme integrase looks for an appropriate storage place for the DNA, which the integrase clips the host DNA to and binds the double-stranded DNA into the host DNA. The virus is the able to initiate a new round of replication again. 3 major proteins encoded in a retroviral genome Gag is a polyprotein and is an acronym for Group Antigens (ag). Pol is the reverse transcriptase. Env is the envelope protein. The group antigens form the viral core structure and are the major proteins which comprise the nucleoprotein core particles. Reverse transcriptase is the essential enzyme that carries out the reverse transcription process that take the RNA genome to a double-stranded DNA preintegrate form. General transcription and proteins are encoded from spliced mRNA of retroviruses. Transcription proceeds through the genome and mRNA is polyadenylated and processed using signals in transcribed regions from the 3 LTR at the end of the transcribed R (repeat). The full-length message can be spliced to lead to production of envelope proteins (or other proteins depending upon retroviral class). Unspliced full-length mRNA can give rise to gag-pol proteins. Gag and Pol are made as either Gag protein or a Gag-Pol precursor. Translated proteins assemble a retroviral particle at the cell surface. Full-length genomic unspliced mRNA is bound by gag-derived proteins and incorporated into the budding particle. Virion structures In retroviruses particle shapes can be divided into distinct categories: A-type particles are immature intracellular forms derived from endogenous retrovirus-like elements and the immature form of MMTV. B-type particles correspond to the extracellular form of MMTV and are characterised by prominent surface protein spikes and a dense asentric nucleocapsid. C-type particles form at the surface of the cell at the site of budding. Lentiviruses bud like C type particles but have a distinctive blunted cone shaped core. D-type particles are the MMPV related viruses of sub-human primates, and differ from B-type particles by a lack of surface spikes. The gag (group specific antigen) gene encodes the viral matrix, capsid and nucleoproteins The protease encodes a product that cleaves the gag polyprotein precursor. It can be encoded as part of Gag or a Gag-Pro-Pol polyprotein The major read-through product is derived from the pol gene which encodes the reverse transcriptase and an integrase which is involved in provirus integration. The envelope gene encodes the surface glycoprotein (SU) transmembrane (TM) polyprotein. Viral entry Retroviruses enter by at least two different manners, dependent upon the retroviral subclass. The viral envelope is critical in each case for recognising appropriate surface receptors to initiate viral fusion to the host target cells. The RNA genome in the free retrovirus is arranged as a diploid genome with identical sequences. The mRNA associates with a tRNA primer (pro, trp, or lys) that is bound by complementary base pairing to 18 base pairs to the U5 region. The integrated form (proviral) of all retroviruses contain transcription regulatory sequences primarily in Long Terminal Repeats (LTR). LTR sequences are derived from sequences unique to the 5 end of viral RNA (U5), from sequences unique to the 3 end of viral RNA (U3), and from sequences repeated at both ends of the viral RNA. The integrated provirus is larger than the viral genome but its complexity is the same because of duplication of U3 and U5 during synthesis. Replication of retroviruses is sensitive to the transcription inhibitors Actinomycin D, alpha-amanitin nucleoside and analogues like 5-bromodioxyuridine and cytosine arabinoside. 5 bromodioxyuridine and cytosine arabinoside are thought to inhibit DNA replication.

essay on beowulf :: Epic of Beowulf Essays

In Beowulf, both pagan and Christian elements are present which add religious contrast to the poem. The poem begins with the king, Hrothgar, taking the throne of the Danes. During his reign, one of Hrothgars’ accomplishments included the building of the great Mead hall which served as a place of relaxation for his troops. Years passed and an evil monster came and terrorized the Hall. Then the great warrior, Beowulf, a foreigner offered to help rid the town of the monster. In the end, good triumphed over evil as he defeated the monster and returned the city to it’s people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Present in this poem are certain forms of evil. The greatest of these is the descendent of Cain’s evil against his brother Abel. After Cain killed Abel God punished him by exiling him from the kingdom of God. From Cain’s soul came evil monsters, one in particular, Grendel. He was a demon; a fiend who haunted the moors, the wild marshes and made his home in â€Å"hell† (actually earth). King Hrothgar finished a great mead hall for his warriors to relax and reside in when away from war. Grendel, amused by the sound of drunkenness coming from the hall, kills all who reside there. This punishment and evil went on for twelve years. The people turned to the worship of pagan Gods, hoping they would take the demon back to the pits from whence it derived.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After the failure of paganism Hrothgar searched for warriors that could defeat the beast. A decorated warrior, Beowulf, sailed from the land of the Geats to help. This shows how God works in mysterious ways. Grendel keeps on attacking the great mead hall but refuses to go after the king’s throne. God protected the throne. This is saying that God will defeat any evil that stands in his path. An example that God controls life and death is the line â€Å"God must decide who will be given to death’s cold grip†. Death is not the last part of life. The mead hall’s gargantuan size symbolizes the people’s desire to be closer to God. It’s reason for construction, so the people could reach the heavens.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the poem good clashes with evil. One example would be Grendel taking over the Mead hall. In this instance the mead hall would symbolize safeness and good harmony. One major important clash was when the townspeople gave up on Christianity and went back to paganism to get rid of the monster.