Carbohydrates exist in both simple and complex forms. Some of the simple types of the macromolecule are monomers referred to as monosaccharides. These monomers include fructose, galactose, and glucose. Combinations of two of these monomers create a new class of carbohydrates known as disaccharides, which include lactose, sucrose, and maltose. When multiple monomers combine, they form carbohydrate polymers or complex sugars. The polymers include starch, fiber, and glycogen. In lipids, polymers are categorized into sterols, phospholipids, and triglycerides. Proteins are categorized into conjugated, derived, and simple proteins (Sheehan et al. 2020). Examples of simple proteins are albumins and globulins. The conjugated proteins include phosphoproteins and glycoproteins while the derived proteins are the peptides and denatured proteins.
The various biochemical techniques are used to test for different macromolecules. According to Sheehan et al. (2020), Benedict’s test is used to test for sugars. While the reducing sugars react with Benedict’s solution when heated briefly giving a red-brown precipitate, the non-reducing sugar does not provide this color change. The iodine solution is used to test for starch whose presence results in the formation of a blue-black color. When the biuret test is used, the objective is to test for proteins. The reagent detects peptide bonds, a characteristic feature of proteins. The Sudan III and emulsion tests are used to test for lipids.
Each of the three macromolecules is required in the body where they perform specific functions. As such, an abundance or deficiency of any of the three causes a corresponding effect. For instance, the abundance of carbohydrates leads to the production of energy for growth, development, and other body activities (Sheehan et al. 2020). Excess carbohydrates are converted from their glucose form to starch and fats for storage. On the other hand, deficiency of carbohydrates may lead to abnormalities such as constipation, muscle cramps, and headache.
Reference
Sheehan, C. E., Nielsen, D. A., & Petrou, K. (2020). Macromolecular composition, productivity and dimethylsulfoniopropionate in Antarctic pelagic and sympagic microalgal communities. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 640, 45-61.
Shortfalls Of Descartes Mediation
The aim of Descartes’ Mediation 1, “Meditation on the First Philosophy,” is to present the philosopher’s radical doubt and its implications for people’s abilities to know anything. To a great degree, Descartes breaks down the knowledge and reality in order to reconstruct it on more reliable and science-based grounds. The philosopher presents his project of building a new framework of philosophical and scientific understanding by implementing the method of doubt. According to Descartes, a human being cannot trust his or her senses and reason so long as it is possible due to the mistakes in what they can deliver. However, even though the arguments put forth by the philosopher are well presented and elaborated, there is a lack of evidence to support the claims.
People are usually familiar with the standard errors in perception, and this should imply, in Descartes’ powerful philosophical framework, that it is possible to reject the evidence offered by the senses entirely because they are not infallible. However, there is undoubtedly a difference between a regular or ‘local’ mistake, such as seeing a rectangular shape as round in the distance, and a more significant ‘global’ mistake, which is associated with the false representation of the entire world around people. Because any veridical experience of the senses can be reproduced as a dream, if there is no way to distinguish between wakefulness and dreaming, one cannot be sure whether the experience lived accurately reflects the world beyond the mind or not. Therefore, the philosopher holds if there could be an evil spirit with complete control over an individual’s mind, then it could deceive the person all the time, and then there could be no certainty that even the simplest of thoughts are real. Therefore, it appears that a person can be sure of nothing.
Despite the fact that Descartes makes a solid argument, his case does not actually support his skepticism to the extent that it claims. Initially, it is worth mentioning that the senses can be deceiving in some instances, the skepticism that the philosopher has towards them is unwarranted. To support his case, Descartes offers an extensive range of examples that the philosopher has found the senses to be deceiving: “I am in the habit of sleeping, and in my dreams representing to myself the same things or sometimes even less probable things or sometimes even things, than do those who are insane in their waking moments”.1 He draws a parallel of sitting near the fire and looking at his hands in reality while also seated near the fire and looking at his hands in his dream. However, to make justifications in the claim that the senses deceive, an individual would have the capacity to recognize that a mistake in judgement has taken place.
Specifically, to know that the mirages resulting from the heat that occurs on paved roads are deceptive, one should have the baseline knowledge that they are optical illusions; hence, what a person sees is not what actually exists in real life. Although, having such knowledge, a person can differentiate deception and, as a result, avoid being mistaken. It is ironic that through offering examples of how the senses deceive people, Descartes shows how one can see through the deceptions, therefore undermining the claim that is being argued. Therefore, on the one hand, the philosopher suggests that the senses are deceiving and cannot be trusted. On the other hand, he also argues that one can easily see through such deceptions.
Another argument that Descartes makes that may be countered is his dream argument. Despite the fact that the philosopher claims that one can never be certain that one is not asleep, there is evidence to suggest that it is quite the opposite. Based on the personal experience and anecdotal accounts of other people, the state that is referred to as dreaming and the state of being awake in different ways. Specifically, the key difference is that the world that one sees in a dream does not have the same continuity as the waking world. For example, when a person is awake, the things that they experience one day to another are similar and familiar. After waking from asleep, a person still has the same house or the same car, but in a dream, things can change and vary and cannot transfer into reality no matter how one wishes. The rules of law are also very different in the worlds of waking and dreaming. For example, it is common for a person to fly in a dream, for dead people to resurrect and speak to the living, as well as for TV and cartoon characters to come to life. Much of the things that take place in people’s dreams cannot happen in reality, which is why it is quite easy to differentiate between fantasy and reality.
The third point made by Descartes that may be countered is concerned with the evil demon example. Although it is a great opponent, the devil may be quickly diffused by a person making careful consideration of the possibility of the demon taking. Even though there is a possibility that there are evil deities, the purpose of which existence is to deceive a human being, the claim that they can exist is heavy. Such a claim requires significant support from evidence, and with the absence of any justification, there is no reason to accept even the possibility of a demon taking control over the mind of an individual.
Even though Descartes has clear considerations of even the most remote possibilities in his method of doubt, all that the philosopher offers in his Meditation I are the claims of something existing or not existing. Nevertheless, there is hardly any reliable evidence upon which Descartes could build his case. To some extent, it is ironic that the skepticism that the philosopher aimed to transfer in his writing has shown to undermine itself. As one doubts their reality and thinks about whether they are dreaming, it is also doubtful that any deceiving agent or existing. For the devil to produce a significant level of doubt, as suggested by Descartes, there is also doubt regarding the possibility of its existence. The critical problem is that the philosopher does not offer enough support besides hearsay in order for his claims to have any possibility. Therefore, the argument concerning the evil demon fails because it does not warrant the degree of doubt that the philosopher claims. Overall, considering the shortfalls in Descartes’ arguments, it is reasonable to suggest that despite good reasoning, the arguments are not powerful enough for creating the desired level of doubt.
Bibliography
Descartes, René. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 1. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
Footnotes
- René Descartes, The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 1 (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 145.
Interpersonal Communication Between Kuzco The Emperor And Pacha
Interpersonal communication skills are essential in everyday human life. To safely communicate with another person, it is not enough to choose a convenient time and place. It is also necessary to build behavior so as not to cause an adverse reaction from the interlocutor. The topic of this essay is the relationship between the Emperor’s new groove’s main characters who, by the will of fate, found themselves together on a dangerous and fascinating journey. Their relationships have undergone intense changes if the beginning of the adventure and its end are compared, and, therefore, it is exciting to analyze them.
One of the main characters is Kuzco, a young but selfish and narcissistic emperor of the Incas (Emperor’s New Groove HD). One day, he invites the village headman, Pacha, to his palace and informs him that he wants to demolish his native village to build a water park. Meanwhile, Yzma, a former adviser to the emperor, wants revenge on him for firing her. The woman aspires to become an empress herself and plans to poison Kuzco at dinner. However, her assistant, Kronk, confuses the poisons, and the emperor does not die but turns into a llama. Instead of getting rid of the llama, Kronk hurriedly drops the body bag into Pacha’s cart.
When Kuzco comes to his senses and realizes what happened, he blames Pacha for turning into a lama. Kuzco orders his new companion to take him back to the palace, as he thinks that Yzma will help him. As a result of their journey, Kuzco realizes who is guilty of what happened, asks for forgiveness from Pacha, and then they go to Yzma’s secret basement. After that, the emperor becomes a human again, cancels the building of a water park, establishes a friendship with Pacha, and sends Yzma to community service.
It is worth starting with the definition of interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication is a complex process of interaction between one individual and another, during which information is exchanged. The main goal of interpersonal communication is the development of contacts and relationships between individuals. The relationship between the cartoon’s main characters is complicated from the very beginning since the characters are of entirely different social statuses. Several patterns of interpersonal communication can be identified and analyzed between the main characters.
Initially, Kuzco does not respect Pacha, rudely interrupts him, not even wanting to listen to his words, so their interpersonal communication can be described as primitive. It can also be said that the concept of gender did not play any role in Kuzco’s attitude to Pacha since he treated women as disrespectfully as he treated men. In turn, Pacha initially treated Kuzco with respect, not because of his personality or actions but because Kuzco was the emperor. Therefore, from the point of view of Patch, their communication can initially be called functional role-playing. At the beginning of the story, Kuzco had deficient listening skills, not wanting to take into account, for example, Yzma’s anger or Pacha’s despair.
There were constant arguments between Kuzco and Pacha, one of the types of verbal communication, especially in the first half of the cartoon. The characters were arguing when Kuzco woke up and firmly decided that Pacha turned him into a lama. As a sign of disdain for Pacha’s words, Kuzco often rolled his eyes or even showed his tongue, a mimicry, and one of the types of non-verbal communication. In addition, there was a constant exchange of various messages between the main characters. Kuzco gave Pacha motivational messages when he ordered him to be taken to the palace. Pacha, telling Kuzco about his village and its beautiful views, gave him informative messages. Furthermore, a great emphasis in the cartoon is placed on sensory perception, the perception of the interlocutor from the point of view of the senses (smells, tastes). Thus, many details make the interpersonal communication between the main characters very bright and exciting.
To analyze and better understand the relationship between Kuzco and Pacha, the following concepts can be used: elements of the communication process, ego conflict, power, conflict management styles. The aspects of the communication process are what human communication usually consists of. The main communication elements are a source, message, channel, receiver, noise, feedback, and context (Tietsort et al.).
Communication between Kuzco and Pacha was not always effective because some components of communication were disrupted. For instance, Kuzco, most often being the source of the message, was not always interested in the feedback that Pacha was supposed to send him. Moreover, the context often did not contribute to communication since the characters were constantly in danger. In addition, Kuzco treated Pacha terribly, passing messages to him in a pompous and commanding tone. To improve communication, the characters should make the context of communication more calm and reasonable. Moreover, Kuzco should pay more attention to Pacha’s feedback and the ways of passing messages.
Ego-conflict is a conflict in which the original cause is ignored, and the disputants argue only for the sake of argument (Richards and Lynch). Kuzco and Pacha are very different characters in temperament and outlook. Unfortunately, their disputes often flared up over small things. Of course, Kuzco bears the primary blame because of its selfish nature. Quite often, he would start arguing with Pacha only to prove his case. For example, he did not want to concede to Pacha in his decision to demolish the village and then turned personal, calling Pacha an uncouth redneck. Kuzco should have shown less selfishness and valued the opinions and views of other people more.
Power is the ability to impose a point of view on other people, even if they think completely differently, the ability to influence someone else’s opinion. It is evident that in the cartoon, the character of Kuzco is constantly trying to demonstrate his power. Finding himself in a difficult situation, he tried to command Pacha, treating him as his servant. Kuzco pursued his goal without paying attention to the opinion of Pacha, trying to suppress it and impose his vision. However, Pacha did not fall for manipulation and eventually managed to change the emperor’s attitude toward people, building a friendship with him.
Conflict management styles are various actions that can help the interlocutors to resolve the dispute without aggravating the relationship (Wenxue and Wang). Kuzco tried to solve the conflict with the help of competition, imposing a solution on Pacha. After Pacha refused to take him to the palace, Kuzco changed tactics and used avoidance since he could not defend his interests. On the other hand, Pacha tried to use the most successful approach – collaboration, since he believed that only through joint efforts could they cope with all the difficulties. Kuzco should have listened to Pacha, cooperated with him so that the communication process would be more effective.
This cartoon can give some essential lessons on interpersonal communication. If Kuzco had developed practical interpersonal communication skills from the beginning, he would not have gotten into such trouble. It is necessary to listen to others, remember that everyone has their own opinion and worldview. It is impossible to be guided by selfishness and self-love in the process of communication because communication is the interaction of two individuals. It is necessary to be open and fair to others, appreciate their efforts and time.
Works Cited
“Emperor’s New Groove HD”. YouTube, uploaded by ChildrensAnimation LessEye Candy. 2018. Web.
Tietsort, Cris J., et al. “Free Listening: Identifying and evaluating listening barriers through empathic listening. “Communication Teacher 35.2 (2021): 129-134. Web.
Lu, Wenxue, and Jishuang Wang. “The influence of conflict management styles on relationship quality: The moderating effect of the level of task conflict. “International Journal of Project Management 35.8 (2017): 1483-1494. Web.
Richards, Arnold D., and Arthur A. Lynch. From ego psychology to contemporary conflict theory: A historical overview. Routledge, 2020.