The Legislative basis for the assessment of the Smiths needs; Essay

The Legislative basis for the assessment of the Smiths needs; provision of service; and types of services available - Essay Example The standards include the concepts of; dignity; privacy; choice; safety; realizing potential; and equality and diversity. In conjunction with the Regulation Act, the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 seek to promote equity, choice and dignity among clients like the Smiths, by shifting the focus from institutional care and promoting a collaborative approach by health and care services. However, there have been concerns voiced by critics that some of the objectives of these Acts are undermined in terms of discriminatory practices, especially toward elderly citizens. It appears that age discrimination is widespread across health and care services, present in day-to-day language where it is considered 'benign' and evident in beliefs, values and attitudes that perceive the older person as characteristically different from the rest of society. This view is reflected in the chronic under funding of social care for older people. The Smiths, like many elderly within the population of Scotland, have ongoing health care costs, the need for social support, the need for education and up-to-date information pertinent to their social welfare and health needs, as well as idiosyncratic personal needs and expectations, such as assistance and support with their son going to court (Sim, 2005). In this respect, there is a critical need for a review of social and health provisions to the elderly who are living at home. Provision of Services The Scottish Ministers ensure that the provision of services meets a high standard of quality service by regularly reviewing the national care standards that apply to care services, and this includes the delivery of services to the elderly. To enable the optimum provision of services, the standards and services are continuously evaluated with the inclusive consultation of those who are the end users of the services; such as the Smiths. The Scottish Social Services Council's codes of practice are also taken into consideration. The code states the responsibilities of employers when regulating the activities of social service workers. As a code of practice, a list of expectations of social service workers details standards for professional conduct and practice. The code ensures a standardisation of care services across the Scottish community.Hence, an employer must ensure that a competent social worker is part of the services workforce, and this means they must understand the responsib ilities of their role. Policies, procedures and protocols must exist in hard document form to enable social workers to meet the code of practice standards. Training and ongoing professional development opportunities must be made available to social worker staffs. Policies must address issues of discrimination and dangerous or exploitive behavior. And finally the code must be promoted among social workers as well as the wider community. Types of Service For a couple like the Smith's several service care options are available; housing support services (which provides assistance, advice, and counseling) to support the elderly to live within their home; home care services; an independent health care service; a nurse agency; respite care;

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

Socialism - Essay Example    America is perceived as an exceptional country by many of the political thinkers. In fact the term American exceptionalism is generally used when people try to compare American societies with other societies. â€Å"There is no questioning the fact that, from the last quarter of the nineteenth century on, the most developed country has been the United States† (LIPSET & MARKS). In other words, the conditions of the working class was comparatively better in United States than in any other country in the world from the latter half of 19 th century onwards. So, American workers never thought about forming a political party to safeguard their interests as it happened in Europe and other parts of the world. Engels attributed the political backwardness of American workers to the absence of a feudal past. Thus, he wrote in 1890 that Americans "are born conservatives—just because America is so purely bourgeois, so entirely without a feudal past and therefore proud of its pur ely bourgeois organization" (LIPSET & MARKS). Unlike many other societies in Europe and other parts of the world, feudalism had not much roots in America societies. In other words, the working class never experienced much trouble from the dominant wealthy community even though American economy was a capitalist economy.

Hydrolysis of Phosphomonoesters Study

Hydrolysis of Phosphomonoesters Study Introduction Site-directed mutagenesis was the primary basis of this portion of the laboratory directed toward determining the active site of the enzyme catalysis for hydrolysis of phosphomonoesters. The criteria was to turn the original sequence with Arginine 166 into Glutamine 166 through a point mutation. The primer location is located in the 401511 sequence of the phoA gene of alkaline phosphatase in E. Coli. The primer sequence is: 5- G CTG GTG GCA CAT GTG ACC TCG CGC AAA TGC TAC GGT CCG AGC -3’. The mutated primer sequence is: R166Q1 5’-G CTG GTG GCA CAT GTG ACC TCG CAG AAA TGC TAC GGT CCG AGC-3’. The reverse complementary mutated primer sequence is: R166Q2 5’-GCT CGG ACT CGG ACT GTC GCA TTT CTG CGA GGT CAC ATG TGC CAC CAG C-3’. A calculation for the melting temperature can be determined by the following equation: TM= 81.5 + 0.41 (%GC) – 675/N- % mismatch The TM value for Gln-166 was determined to be 85.95ËÅ ¡C. It is necessary for the TM value to be above 75ËÅ ¡C for successful mutation. Running on the null hypothesis, it would be clear that nothing would change for the kinetic parameters. If something were to change, the kinetic parameters for the Michaelis constant (Km), which determine the velocity of an enzyme as well as calculated to be  ½ the Vmax, would be hypothesized much higher after the mutation to glutamine since the mutation allows for 61% more accuracy from arginine’s CGG at 25% to glutamine’s CAG at 86%. The increase in the binding affinity creates the hypothesis that since it is bound closer together creating a stronger binding affinity, the maximal speed (Vmax) would be reduced since it does not require as much conversion between substrate and product. Mechanism of Alkaline Phosphatase Alkaline phosphatase (APase) is an enzyme located in the periplasmic space of E. Coli. The structure of APase, usually in the form of a dimer, shows two zinc metallonzymes and a magnesium ion in the active center. There is a bridging ligand with the protein Asp51 in the active center for the two zinc ions and the one magnesium ion. There are four phosphate oxygens; two phosphate oxygens form a phosphate bridge between the two zinc ions and the other two form hydrogen bonds with the guanidinium group of arg-166 (Coleman, 1992). The dimer is two identical subunits that each contain 429 amino acids. (Coleman, 1992). The most important amino acids located at the active site of APase are the four Cysteine residues represented as combined intrachain disulfides. The phosphorylated residue was Ser 102, which is phosphorylated during phosphate hydrolysis, to begin the nucleophilic attack on phosphorus. Each monomer contains a leucine rich environment of 22 residues. (Coleman, 1992). The first zinc ion is necessary in activating the leaving group of the ester oxygen in order for Ser 102 to phosphorylate (Coleman, 1992). The second zinc ion is necessary for the ester oxygen of the serylphosphate to begin activation of the phosphoseryl intermediate during hydrolysis of Ser 102. When the phosphoseryl intermediate is formed during the first zinc formation, a hydroxide is formed. (Coleman, 1992). Figure 1: this figure represents the monomer of alkaline phosphatase showing the zinc triad with magnesium in the active center. (Coleman, 1992). The proposed mutation as discussed, is mutating the arg-166 to glu-166. It is speculated that there will be no effect on the enzyme during the mutation. Arg-166 is located in the guanidinium group and is an electrophilic species while APase is being phosphorylated. Arg-166 is speculated to play a role in stabilizing the developing negative charge on the oxygen of the leaving group, pentacoordinate transition state, or help bind the phosphate group. As discovered byButler-Ransohoff et al, it is discovered that Arg-166 has no effect on the hydrolysis of phosphate monoesters and therefore will not be effected after mutation. Competent Cells Competent cells are used to help the DNA get into the cell. DNA is negatively charged and the calcium ions from the competent cells of DH5-ÃŽ ± cells are positively charged. The purpose of calcium chloride’s positive ions is to create an equilibrium between negative charge on the cell membranes phospholipid heads and the phosphate group on the plasmid DNA. This is where the genetic modification occurs. Therefore, they help by binding to the DNA and move it into the cell after the cell goes through a heat shock cycle. Competent cells have a very high rate for transformation efficiency. The proposed understanding of how this works, is that the calcium ions are positive and therefore weaken the electrostatic repulsion, which in turn weakens the cell walls. When the cell goes through heat shock, it causes the pressure to increase opening the cell and allowing the competent cells to bring the DNA into the cell by allowing pores to be created with the weakened cell wall. This forces the plasmid to become supercoiled so that it can pass through the pores created by the charge difference and heat shock. The competence comes from the cold bath of DH5-ÃŽ ± cells in calcium chloride which shocks the cells causing pores and then heat the cell to 42ËÅ ¡C for roughly 2 minutes, more than this could cause the cell membrane to denature and the pEK-154 mutated plasmid would become denatured. DH5-ÃŽ ± is a strain from E. Coli commonly used in laboratory practices due to it having the phoA- gene deficiency. This is necessary and desirable because it is easily transformed for creating competent cells. DH5-ÃŽ ± cells are used because they are a common strain in E. Coli and are commonly used for cloning. In addition, they promote stability and help improve the quality of the plasmid when using the Miniprep kit. (Dagert, 1979). A growth curve was created after incubation of the cells for competent cells. This was done to show the growth period during the lag phase is depicted by the highest point on the growth curve. This is taken to determine how much growth you have and is determined through a logarithm vs. time on a graph. The method used is optical density (OD) at 600nm to measure the transmittance on a spectrophotometer. If the value for the OD600 is high, the protection factor by a filter is lower and vise versa. This method is used to determine how much light is absorbed through the bacterial cells. Site-Directed Mutagenesis The sequence chosen for the point mutation from Arginine 166 to Glutamine 166 was sequenced in Ann Arbor. Site-Directed Mutagenesis synthesizes two complimentary oligonucleotides double stranded DNA template with glutamine 166 mutation, which is tagged with unmodified nucleotide sequences to a single stranded DNA template to allow mutation to occur and then reforms the new double strand DNA template during thermal cycling. When this occurs, the newly single stranded DNA template forms complementary strands with the enzymes and nucleotides to produce a higher result of strands. The purpose of site-directed mutagenesis is to make specific changes to the DNA sequence of a gene. Quik Change Lightening Mutagenesis kit provides a faster and more reliable insertion of the mutation with a simple three step method. The multiple cycles are subjected to a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method. This allows multiple sets of mutated DNA to be produced within a short period of time. PCR works by heating and cooling the samples, since the double DNA is subjected to separation when heated it causes the srtands to separate allowing nicks in the template to occur. pUC-18 is a control plasmid used for determining if a mutation was successful and efficient. Figure 2: pUC-18 plasmid DNA genetically mutated to contain the LacZ gene as well as the ampicillin resistance gene. The polylinker cuts the section of the DNA by the Dpn1 restriction endonuclease creating a linear DNA strand allowing for the binding of the mutation of Arg-166 to Glu-166 to occur. pUC-18 is a circular double stranded DNA molecule. The reason pUC-18 was chosen as the control positive plasmid is because it was genetically manipulated to contain an ampicillin resistance gene as well as a ÃŽ ²-galactosidase enzyme known as LacZ. The lacZ gene is essential for DNA mutation because it contains a region to insert a polylinker, which recognizes the Dpn I restriction endonucleases during digestion causing the plasmid to become linear and bind to the mutated plasmid DNA that has also been cut with the Dpn I restriction endonuclease. A pWhitescript is used as the positive control plasmid used for mutagenesis. The control plasmid is combined with pEK154 plasmid containing the phA gene of APase and the vector double stranded DNA. The two oligonucleotide primers are the opposite ends of the vector. pWhitescript has the stop codon TAA inserted that stops the ÃŽ ²-galactosidase enzyme from producing. The two oligonucleotide control primers create a point mutation that turns the T residue of the stop codon to the C residue of the glutamine codon (Gln, CAG). That allows enzyme ÃŽ ²-galactosidase to be produced after pWhitescript is subjected to mutagenesis. There are two oligonucleotide with the mutation primer as discussed earlier. New DNA polymerase called Q1 enzyme was used for double stranded DNA template when combined with dNTP mix it extended the two-oligonucleotide primers as well as allowing the new plasmid DNA to construct. PCR Cycling parameters were used during Quik Change Site-Directed Mutagenesis for the transformation of arginine to glutamine by the use of the Pfu Enzyme. As visible from table 1, the cycling parameters were set up for this specific reaction for a point mutation. After cycling, the non-mutated parental supercoiled double stranded (dsDNA) is digested. Table 1: Quik Change Site-Directed Mutagenesis Parameters Segment Cycles Temperature Time 1 1 95C 2min 2 18 60C 60C 68C 20 sec 10 sec 30 sec/kb of plasmid length (3min) 3 1 68C 5 min The first step of the three step simple method for Quik Change Lightening Mutagenesis kit is Thermal cycling at 95ËÅ ¡C for two minutes. During this time, the DNA template becomes denatured allowing the primers to be subjected to heat treatments, which denature the pEK-154 template DNA strand and synthesizes the primers to extend linearly and cause nicks with Pfu Fusion-based DNA polymerase, which are then sealed by components within the Pfu enzyme blend. This polymerase allows for exact replication of original template and does not disrupt the orientation. The original mutated pEK-154 was used as the supercoiled double stranded DNA template Figure 1: during thermal cycling, the double-stranded DNA Template is nicked and subjected to point mutation for arginine 166 to glutamine 166 and then sealed with components in the Pfu enzyme blend. In the second step of the kit the template digests the parental DNA strand with methylated and hemimethylated DNA using the enzyme Dpn I endonuclease and subjected to thermal cycling for the second segment. The un-mutated pEK-154 plasmid DNA is the parental DNA while the mutated pEK-154 is the plasmid DNA with the desired mutation. With the nicks, the mutated plasmid with the two oligonucleotide primers is mixed with Dpn I endonuclease for methylated DNA that targets the sequence 5’-Gm6ATC-3’. This sequence helps digest the pEK-154 parental DNA template and has not been introduced into the methylase enyme allowing methylation to not effect the DNA and therefore will not be digested with the parental DNA strand. Similarly, the un-mutated is also digested in Dpn I restriction endonuclease to be methylated. Figure 2: Dpn 1 enzyme endonuclease digests the parental DNA template with methylated and hemimethylated allowing for single stranded DNA for transformation. Step 3 is the last cycling step where transformation of the newly mutated glutamine 166 single-stranded DNA. The DNA is added to Dpn I restriction endonuclease, which forms it into linear DNA stranded DNA duplex forming a double stranded DNA for the newly synthesized mutated DNA. After the mutated vector DNA with the primers has been nicked it is transformed into CaCl2 competent DH5-ÃŽ ± cells. This transformation must occur to repair the nicks caused during cycles to separate the DNA strands. The pWs, which is used as the control DNA is also transformed with competent DH5-ÃŽ ± cells to help repair the nicks. Transformation Control screening used X-gal and IPTG to determine if ÃŽ ²-galactosidase activity. The newly mutated pEK-154 cells are screened for alkaline phosphatase activity. This helps screen for ÃŽ ²-galatosidase enzyme in E. Coli is a Lac Z gene that codes for this enzyme. This enzyme is useful because it breaks the lactose into galactose and glucose. A Lac operon contains an operator and a promoter, which binds RNA-polymerase that starts transcription for the Lac I gene for I protein which can only bind to operator or lactose, but not both. When I protein is bound to lactose, in this case Isopropyl-1-ÃŽ ²-D-galactopyranoside (IPTG) which mimics the structure of lactoase allowing RNA-polymerase to bind to the promoter to produce ÃŽ ²-galactosidase. 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-ÃŽ ²-D-galactopyranoside (X-gal), which is a substrate that cleaves galactose in ÃŽ ²-galactosidase to produce a blue color. If no ÃŽ ²-galactosidase is present they turn white on the agar plates. This determines if the cells contain the mutated CAA codon for glutamine instead of the stop codon TAA of the unmutated protein. 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolylphosphate (BCIP) is used to determine if alkaline phosphatase is present. BCIP like X-gal is a substrate that cleaves the phosphate group off of alkaline phosphatase producing a blue color.

Flirting and Courting Rituals of The Victorian Era :: Victorian Era

Flirting and Courting Rituals of The Victorian Era In Victorian society courting rituals were put into effect to keep the young ladies pure and the gentlemen confused. Courting usually began at balls and dances where young girls were first introduced into society during their â€Å"coming out.† At every gathering of Victorian society the young ladies were chaperoned by their mothers or some other married woman so that nothing improper would happen that could ruin the young lady's reputation in society. The young ladies and gentlemen at the dances and balls were introduced through a third party and their Christian names were prohibited from being used because it would have been to forward and improper. After placing their name on the dance card of the young lady they could then proceed to dance no more then three dances because any more then that would be inappropriate in Victorian society. â€Å"After this formal introduction the gentleman would give the young lady his card to remember him by and at the end of the evening the young lady would look through her cards to see which gentleman she would allow to court her† (Powell). She would give the gentleman permission to court her by giving that gentleman her card and the right to call on her at her home where the courtship must take place. In Victorian society there were certain criteria that each party followed to find the perfect suitor. If they followed these rules to pick their mate their personal shortcomings would balance out when they married. Certain criteria consisted of â€Å"not marrying a person with the same eye color as yourself, marrying someone that was opposite of you in physical and mental characteristics, and marry someone with straight or thicker hair if your hair was curly or thin† (â€Å"Finding† 2). After a suitable suitor is chosen and the young lady and the gentleman begin to court certain rules must be followed. These rules were in place to keep the ladies pure until marriage. â€Å"The courting couple always had to be chaperoned, the couple needed permission to go out during the day, the gentleman could never stay late at the young lady's house, he could never call without permission and the young lady had to say goodbye at the parlor door† (â€Å"Love† 21). Because Victorian society was repressive towards true emotion, gentlemen and their ladies could not publicly express their love for one another.

Article Critique: the Tyranny of Choic Essay

I will be writing a Article Critique on the article â€Å"The Tyranny of Choice† by Barry Schwartz. In this Critique I will addressing many psychological concepts, including what is a maximizer and satisficers. Also I will test myself to see which one fits me the most with the decision I made in my life and the ones I will make in the future. A maximizer is someone who tries to get the best out of ever situation or tries every options until they found the best one. (Schwartz,2004) A satisficers is someone who would settle for OK even if the best is out their for them. Maximizers spend the most time on everything because they spend most of the time comparing any and everything they find. Satisficers may browse and look around but when they find something that is right for them then they eliminate any further browsing. A scale was develop to distinguish the two and it is called â€Å"The Maximization Scale†. When you use the scale and and you are higher than 4 then you are considered a maximizer. If you score lower than 4 then you are considered a satisficers. Many say that a maximizer tends to become more depress than a satisficers mainly because they tend to think about the many choices they turned down to get the â€Å"best choice†. Sometimes the choice they chose isn’t that much better then the other choices they turn down. So they would dwell on the thought and it would get them upset and start to become depress. Whereas with satisficers they get depress but not as much, because they are upset about their other choices but since they lowered their standards they are pretty acceptable with their decision. (Schwartz, 2004) My score is 4.3 which means that I am more of a maximizer. When I make a decision I do all of my research before I try or do anything new. I weight out my pros and cons before I attempt to do anything, mainly because I do not want to make a mistake in the long run. At the end of the day though I am happy with the decision but some how I see better choices that I either overlooked or didn’t pay attention to. When I figure out those choices I tend to get upset or mad with my self, because some time I think the magic what if Some try to put their all in their getting what they assume is the best choice. â€Å"The more we invest in a decision the more satisfaction we expect to realize from our investment.†(Schwartz,2004,pg 74) What ever they invest in, they expect to be able to use it or learn from it for a long period of time not a short one. The reason I say that is because they wouldn’t want to spend all their hard work and time on something that will not last that long. If that do happen then the person will be upset and soon become depressed about their wrongful decision. In my opinion I thought this Article was very interesting to read. I saw myself reading and thinking that I do the exact same thing I am reading about. I am a online shopper never go to the store and shop, but I tend to start site hopping. Which is simply me going from site to site trying to find the best choice or the best value. At first I didn’t know they gave people who find the better item and people who settle a name. I also tend to try to put my all in something I expect to last quite a while Example, I wanted the new Ipod touch, but it cause 300 with everything, now I sacrificed going out, getting fast food, and limiting my spending. Now the only reason I did that is because I expect the iPod to last for a long time now, but if it was to last for a couple of weeks or months then I would not have done all of that. Overall this article was a well put together article in which I learned a lot of information from that I can use later in life, it also explained a lot of thi ngs in my life at this time. In conclusion, â€Å"As the number of choices we face increase, the psychological benefits we derive start to level of†(Schwartz,2004 ,pg75) It seems like the more choices you are faced day by day the more it will start to bother your emotions and feelings. You are faced with so many choices on a day to day basis, and you try our to make the â€Å"ideal choice†. At the same time your mind may drift off and say â€Å"What if I chose this or that† then the pressure increase. This article was to help you realize somethings about yourself. Also it was something that would help you better yourself in the years to come. References Schwartz, B. (2004, April). The tyranny of choice. Scientific American, 290(4), 70-75.

Characteristics of the Classic Monster Movie

Monster movies took hold in the early 1930’s as a new spin on the horror-psychological thrillers beginning to debut.   The monster movie genre as a whole has taken much criticism as to its merits, but it holds its weight in the box office with nearly 15% of all movie sales (Fischoff).   And, while many things can be said about the monster movie as a genre, the monster movie can be taken apart and illuminated to pick out the three core, salient characteristics found in all movies of the genre: the type of monster, the psychological aspect of the monster, and the plot of the movie, or, more succinctly, the monster’s motive. Fundamentally, certain genres lend to certain types of story arcs.   While the romantic comedy often follows a more character driven plot, where the characters find the meaning of true love, the monster movie follows a definable plot driven format.   And basically, in the plot driven movie, the overall story illustrates the efficiency of a town’s characters and how well they are able to stand up to the monster, before, either they are killed or the monster is finally neutralized or vanquished in a final, climax of a scene. To be honest, the end result of the town and its people doesn’t really matter, and any ending is entirely plausible.   But, the intrigue that makes a good monster movie is to be competently presented with the monster, the origin of the monster, and for the audience to discover what that monster wants out of the society they are terrorizing.   While the monster makes the lives of the characters in the story miserable, the audience is torn between wanting the characters to win, or actually feeling sympathy for the monster because of the conditions presented surrounding that monster’s origin. Moreover, monster movie plots have been known to fit into the plot categories and monster types to such a degree that a generator was actually created by David Neilsen.   Among the other completely hilarious and surprisingly useful generators to be had, the Monster Movie Pitch allows a user to create their own monster movie pitch by filling in the required fields.   Once filled in, the monster movie pitch is instantly created and a visitor can do what they want with the results. Because this generator actually serves to illuminate the points within this paper, a short detour will be taken.   With that said, the generator dictates that a male lead, female lead, and male sidekick are required, as well as a title.   Then the setting must be chosen: either a dark and forbidding forest, a sleepy little town, a mental institution, at sea, or ancient ruins.   Then the monster type must be selected: either the undead, extra-terrestrial, scientific abomination, creature of folklore/myth/legend, or nature gone bad.   And finally, the monster motive must be defined: revenge, to feed, to protect its young, its slumber has been disturbed, or it seeks to destroy humanity. Now, let’s see what fun can be had.   The selections have been made for the practice monster movie entitled, The Big Bad.   The rundown: heroic Zack and best buddy Trent, live in a sleepy little town and will come across an extra-terrestrial, leading lady Emily, and who seeks to destroy humanity.   Simple and sounds like a blockbuster.   Plugged into the generator, here’s the actual movie pitch: Critically acclaimed Egyptian filmmaker Aslad Assop brings his nightmare back to the screen with The Big Bad. This long awaited sequel to his international hit, Gong of Deviled Oxen, reunites aggressive shepherd Huche Ramman (Zack) with his holy guide Hammotep (Trent) in their biggest adventure yet. This time, Huche discovers messages in the entrails of his sheep and the trail leads to an extra-terrestrial temptress (Emily) who wishes to use sin to destroy all of humanity. Now the temptress is invading Huche’s Sleepy Little Town of Grozer, Egypt and only Huche’s faith can save the world! Sounds better than some of the monster movies out there.   Now, the purpose of the generator was not merely for amusement, though it was a bit of fun; however, it also serves to prove and illustrate the core, salient characteristics of the monster movie which are the type of monster, the psychological appeal of the monster, and the plot, or, motive of the monster. Because Neilsen states the monster types right out, it’s easy to realize, once they are presented in such a manner, that every monster movie (probably ever made) fits well into the categories, without even needing wriggle room.   To be precise, Neilsen states that there are five basic types of monster. The first type is the undead monster.   Now, the undead monster movie began in the 1930’s with Dracula and continued well into the freaky zombie thrillers of today like 28 Days Later and Resident Evil.   The undead category is not only chilling, but is perhaps the most used of all the monster types.   Even pop culture revolves around vampires, zombies, and the undead with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Supernatural.   This type of monster has the greatest impact on an audience because of the psychological aspect and appeal behind that monster. Moreover, the second monster type is the extra-terrestrial and is evident in movies like Alien, War of the Worlds and Predator.   ET actually fits this category as well, though that alien is more cute and cuddly than frightening.   Now, this monster type usually has the same motive, that to destroy all of mankind, and is the least escapable of all the monster types because they take more to vanquish than simple guns and grenades.   Characters in these movies die rapidly and often, and do little but to illustrate the irk of the monster. The third monster type is known as the scientific abomination.   This is an interesting monster category because it actually encompasses many different sorts of monsters, from Frankenstein, to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, to the Invisible Man.   In all cases, this type of monster is created, even purposefully manufactured, and the outcome is accidental and tragic.   The creator of the monster is often murdered, or lost to his darker evil side, and the characters again, serve only to be killed off as the mad scientist almost realizes his folly. The fourth type of monster is the creature from folklore/myth/legend.   This category encompasses monsters from The Mummy, to monsters in The Relic, Cerberus, and After Dark.   These monsters all have the same motive, and all, actually, seem to have become a plague to the characters because of that motive: being disturbed from their slumber, which serves to kill off most of the characters in the most violent and brutal method possible. Finally, the fifth monster type is nature gone bad.   This fits the Armageddon sort of flick, where birds, bats, plague, or impending asteroids kill off a good portion of the characters.   Movies like Stephen King’s The Birds, Armageddon, 10.5, and The Day After Tomorrow fit this category well.   The problem with this last monster type is that it differs the most dramatically from the genre because a great deal more time is spent on character growth than on the priorities of the monster, being nature, but in the end, nature usually wins out, despite how great the characterization is. Furthermore, Stuart Fischoff’s study commented on many things monster but one conclusion was striking, that â€Å"film monsters have proven to be such unforgettable characters that in many instances they have become part of our culture.†Ã‚   In fact, they are unforgettable to the degree that â€Å"most Americans would recognize a picture of Frankenstein, Dracula, King Kong, Godzilla or the Mummy before recognizing a Supreme Court Justice† (Fischoff). This conclusion is not only remarkable, it is entirely true.   John Rutledge is one of the most recently discussed Supreme Court Justices, but his name means nothing unless that person has been thoroughly engrossed in the newspaper for the past two years.   On the other hand, a person doesn’t even have to watch Godzilla to know that Godzilla is a dinosaur-like creature that wreaks havoc on Tokyo or that Dracula is a vampire with unconventional vampire powers. Additionally, the second core characteristic of monster movies is the psychological aspect and appeal of the monster.   This aspect can roughly be defined as not only the type of monster, but the character of that monster and what affect that monster has on an audience.   Fischoff’s study was also to survey a group of people and conclusively determine who the â€Å"King of Monsters† was. Turns out Dracula wins, though not because he is the most violent, nor is he the best killer among the monsters to choose from.   Freddy Krueger and Hannibal Lector obviously had the mass-slaying thing down, but they could never have the staying power that Dracula has because their nature is for violence and they lack the extreme psychological aspect that makes Dracula not only frightening, but also seductive. Monster movies are great to watch when the monster is a monster.   But, when man becomes a monster, as in the case of Hannibal Lector in Silence of the Lambs, for reasons pertaining to his youth and not some botched experiment, the movie experience becomes nearly transcendently frightful with the very real aspect that Hannibal could be a real person in a very real neighborhood.   Same with Freddy Krueger, though he at least has that whole dream-killing thing happening which makes him, in reality, a bit less plausible, though his deeds are no less terrifying. Fischoff offers some insight into this phenomena, stating that â€Å"it is believed to be the thrill of fright, the awe of the horrific, the experience of the dark and forbidden side of human behavior that lures people into the dark mouth of the theater to be spooked† (Fischoff).   Even though the man-monster takes off on a different path from the genre, hitting horror and the psychological aspect harder than ever before, people still flock to these movies in droves due to the need for fright, to experience the thrill without living the thrill (how scary would it be if Hannibal lived down the street?).   And, the best monster movies are able to produce at least that much. Moreover, according to Fischoff’s survey, the top ten monsters of all time, in order, are: Dracula, Freddy Krueger, Godzilla, Frankenstein, Chucky, Michael Myers (Halloween), King Kong, Hannibal Lector, Jason Voorhees (Friday 13th), and Alien.   It is interesting to notice when looking at this list that the monster to man-monster ratio is an exact split between the ten.   Five genuine monsters and five men-turned-monsters.   When it comes to monster movies, the best monster is obviously a cross between the most horrific and the most frightening. Furthermore, the third characteristic of monster movies is the use of plot as a device to form the movie around the monster.   Like Neilsen’s generator was helpful to suggest, there are five different plots that make up the monster movie genre, almost, in its entirety.   And, these plots all revolve around or are centered on, the motive of the monster. Basically, the monster can be out for revenge, need to feed, need to protect its young, their slumber has been disturbed, or they want to destroy humanity.   All movies created in the early black and white era actually follow this format, the most famous of them setting up the very archetype known as monster movies today. To begin with, Frankenstein (1931) demonstrates the classic revenge plot.   Dr. Henry Frankenstein wanted to make a man out of stolen body parts and actually managed to do so.   In fact, Dr. Frankenstein’s monster would have been a medical marvel if not for the criminal brain secured for his construction.   Because of that tiny little fatal flaw, the monster rises with a vendetta for Dr. Frankenstein.   And because Dr. Frankenstein screwed up, he becomes the obsession of his own creation. In Dracula (1931), Count Dracula, something of a real estate tycoon and upwardly rich aristocrat, preys on the people he comes across in Transylvania.   Dracula is different than the average monster because of his strikingly literal human nature.   He also has the enhanced ability to seduce his victims beyond their control, which makes him exceptionally difficult to properly vanquish.   The story also ends heroically as Van Helsing is proven right and is able to destroy Dracula.   Dracula’s main motive, besides amusement, is simply, to feed. King Kong (1933) differs from many monster movies because the character relationships are vitally important for the movie to progress.   There are two main relationships developed throughout, that of Ann and Jack and that of Ann and King Kong.   King Kong’s motive, once he falls for his new companion Ann, is to protect her from the evils in his jungle environment, and later, the evils he sees New York City.  Ã‚  Ã‚   One of the final lines in the movies, â€Å"it wasn’t the airplanes, it was beauty that killed the beast† strikes a cord in any heart and makes King Kong perhaps the most lovable of all movie monsters because of his human desire to protect Ann. In The Mummy (1932) a priest is resurrected accidentally by an unwitting team of archeologists and sets about seeking his lost love.   Bad things happen along the way, one of the archeologists is taken as a replacement for the mummy’s lost bride, but the mummy is vanquished in the end when the archeologists destroy the scroll that brought him back to life.   The mummy, Im-ho-tep, basically sends his wrath out on the world and spends the movie causing mass destruction because his slumber was disturbed.   Simple as that. Finally, in Godzilla (1954), Godzilla is a monster god (more like un-extinct dinosaur) that preys on the countryside of Tokyo and fits the classic monster out to destroy humanity plot.   The natives sacrifice virgins in an attempt to appease the monster, but Godzilla seems to enjoy wreaking as much destruction as possible.   The monster attacks every few scenes, with the people in a panic as to how to destroy him before they are all killed.   And, even though they manage to kill Godzilla in the end, the result is not joyful as the people still fear another Godzilla is just moments from rising from the sea. Overall, all movies follow a specific formula which can be calculated and defined based upon the genre they fall in to.   The monster movie is a cross between the horror film and the psychological thriller and has certain core, salient characteristics that define the monster movie as a genre.   Neilsen helps to illuminate the various forms of monster and monster motives with his monster movie pitch generator, and it can be said that, categorically, monster type, psychological aspect of the monster, and motive of the monster as demonstrated in the plot combine to form the core characteristics of the monster movie. Works Consulted. Fischoff, Stuart, et al.   â€Å"The Psychological Appeal of Your Favorite Movie Monsters.† International Scientific Communications, 2003. —-.   â€Å"The Psychological Appeal of Movie Monsters.†Ã‚   Journal of Media Psychology, 2005. LaBarbera, Michael.   â€Å"The Biology of B-Movie Monsters.†Ã‚   University of Chicago, 2003. Neilsen, David.   â€Å"Monster Pitch Generator.†Ã‚   Brunching Shuttlecocks, 2001. Waters, Cullen.   â€Å"The Plot Archetypes of Giant Monster Movies.†Ã‚   WordPress.com, 2005.   Zoombaba.   â€Å"Creature Feature: Monster Movie Roleplaying.†Ã‚   Accessed March 22, 2007.