Thursday, November 28, 2019
The Effects of a Neurotoxin on the Mammalian Brain free essay sample
A paper which studies the effects of the Superfund Neurotoxin Methylazoxymethanol (MAM) on brain dendritic spine density in long hooded Evans Rats Rattus norvegicus. The paper shows that in the study of structural development in the brain there have been several proposed biomarkers for quantifying brain plasticity. These include but are not limited to cortical thickness, dendritic length and branching, expression of neuronal proteins, and the presence of DNA adducts. The paper discusses the theory that a measure of brain plasticity emerging late in embryonic development will be a very sensitive biomarker for detecting subtle damage suffered by brain cells during earlier stages of brain development not detectable by other means. The paper shows that to test this, the effects of a neurotoxin on the late developing dendritic spines were studied. A significant decrease in spine density was observed as the neurotoxin, methylazoxymethanol, increased. The author of the paper shows how the implications are widespread in the study of neuro-degenerative disease. We will write a custom essay sample on The Effects of a Neurotoxin on the Mammalian Brain or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Fifty years ago, Donald Hebb demonstrated that the conditions under which laboratory rats were housed could significantly affect their performance in a variety of complex spatial tasks later in life (1). The complex environment rearing paradigm has been valuable in assessing plasticity of a variety of brain components including cerebral cortical microvasculature, astrocyetic morphology, dentritic branching patterns, synaptic number, and synaptic structure are all affected by complex environment rearing (2). It has been suggested that multiple synaptic contacts (spines) may play a role in the spread of the additive effect of learning known as potentiation, among neighboring unstimulated neurons. A lack of these spines and their connection with boutons of neighboring neurons could then result in a decrease in the capacity for learning. Some recent work has indicated that the presence of multiple synaptic contacts may be altered by experience. Most of this research has focused on struct ural changes in the hippocampus. Dendrtic spines show great variability in structure and connectivity, both within and across brain structures, including 10-fold differences in length and diameter as well as variations in the number of branches and spines per dendrite.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
Affirmative Action Overview
Affirmative Action Overview Affirmative action refers to policies that try to correct past discrimination in hiring, university admissions, and other candidate selection. The necessity of affirmative action is often debated. The concept of affirmative action is that positive steps should be taken to ensure equality, instead of ignoring discrimination or waiting for society to fix itself. Affirmative action becomes controversial when it is perceived as giving preference to minorities or women over other qualified candidates. The Origin of Affirmative Action Programs Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy used the phrase â€Å"affirmative action†in 1961. In an executive order, President Kennedy required federal contractors to â€Å"take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed†¦without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.†In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson issued an order that used the same language to call for nondiscrimination in government employment.  It was not until 1967 that President Johnson addressed sex discrimination. He issued another executive order on October 13, 1967. It expanded his previous order and required the government’s equal opportunity programs to â€Å"expressly embrace discrimination on account of sex†as they worked toward equality. The Need for Affirmative Action The legislation of the 1960s was part of a larger climate of seeking equality and justice for all members of society. Segregation had been legal for decades after the end of slavery. President Johnson argued for affirmative action: if two men were running a race, he said, but one had his legs bound together in shackles, they could not achieve a fair result by simply removing the shackles. Instead, the man who had been in chains should be allowed to make up the missing yards from the time he was bound. If striking down segregation laws could not instantly solve the problem, then positive steps of affirmative action could be used to achieve what President Johnson called â€Å"equality of result.†Some opponents of affirmative action saw it as a â€Å"quota†system that unfairly demanded a certain number of minority candidates be hired no matter how qualified the competing white male candidate was. Affirmative action brought up different issues concerning women in the workplace. There was little protest of women in traditional â€Å"women’s jobs†- secretaries, nurses, elementary school teachers, etc. As more women began to work in jobs that had not been traditional women’s jobs, there was an outcry that giving a job to a woman over a qualified male candidate would be â€Å"taking†the job from the man. The men needed the job, was the argument, but the women did not need to work. In her 1979 essay â€Å"The Importance of Work,†Gloria Steinem rejected the notion that women should not work if they do not â€Å"have to. She pointed out the double standard that employers never ask men with children at home if they need the job for which they are applying. She also argued that many women do, in fact, â€Å"need†their jobs. Work is a human right, not a male right, she wrote, and she criticized the false argument that independence for women is a luxury. New and Evolving Controversies Has affirmative action corrected past inequality? During the 1970s, the controversy over affirmative action often surfaced around the issues of government hiring and equal employment opportunity. Later, the affirmative action debate shifted away from the workplace and toward college admissions decisions. It has thus shifted away from women and back to a debate over race. There are roughly equal numbers of men and women admitted to higher education programs, and women have not been the focus of university admissions arguments. U.S. Supreme Court decisions have examined the affirmative action policies of competitive state schools such as the University of California and the University of Michigan. Although strict quotas have been struck down, a university admissions committee may consider minority status as one of many factors in admissions decisions as it selects a diverse student body. Still Necessary? The Civil Rights Movement and the Women’s Liberation Movement achieved a radical transformation of what society accepted as normal. It is often difficult for subsequent generations to understand the need for affirmative action. They may have grown up intuitively knowing that â€Å"you can’t discriminate because that’s illegal!† While some opponents say affirmative action is outdated, others find that women still face a â€Å"glass ceiling†that prevents them from advancing past a certain point in the workplace. Many organizations continue to promote inclusive policies, whether or not they use the term â€Å"affirmative action.†They fight discrimination on the basis of disability, sexual orientation, or family status (mothers or women who may become pregnant). Amid calls for a race-blind, neutral society, the debate over affirmative action continues.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Hange and the importance of adapting to a dynamic world Research Paper
Hange and the importance of adapting to a dynamic world - Research Paper Example He cites the example of the economic growth of â€Å"emerging markets†(612), such as China, India, Brazil, South Africa, and Russia to support his argument. An aspect of this new order is the shift in power from the nation state to non-state actors: NGOs, the private sector, cities and localities, and the media (617). Economic prosperity, and the dissemination of diverse national perspectives by the media, fosters nationalism and a new view of the world, independent of the Western vision. The Kyoto accord, and the increasing irrelevance of the UN, is proof of this (617). However, Zarkaria quotes statistics to show that the US still remains â€Å"the most competitive economy in the world†(619). Zarkaria believes that if America realistically faces the challenges of the new global order, discards its political complacency, and accepts the necessity â€Å"to allow other countries to become stakeholders in the new order†(621), it can deal successfully with the irr eversible trends of globalization. It must be admitted that Zarkaria’s worldview accurately reflects the contemporary political stage. In From The Young and the Digital, Craig Watkins draws attention to class divisions prevalent in social-networking sites. His main argument is that â€Å"The class divisions which shape American cultural life off-line are clearly discernible in the communities which form on-line†(Watkins, 2009, 506).... ins uses the examples of Facebook and MySpace to show that the social inequalities, class divisions, and racial discrimination, which characterize the physical world, are very much a part of the virtual world. Contrary to early belief in the internet being the great leveler of social inequalities, racial perceptions and biases are very much a part of social-network sites, forming a â€Å"digital divide†(506). Watkins uses the data from his study of such sites to support his argument. White college student’s preferences for Facebook â€Å"illuminate the sharp and powerful differences race and class make in the on-line communities young people participate in†(510). The negative attitude toward MySpace is not just about aesthetics and demographics, but has undercurrents of race, class and geography. Watkins concludes that this on-line division is but a reflection of the middle class wish â€Å"to maintain clear boundaries between themselves and the classes they v iew as less cultured†(511). The digital divide is an extension of real gated communities, and the attempt to preserve social privilege and status. Watkins’ evidence of the existence of the digital divide based on social inequalities makes for interesting reading, and makes the reader regret this unfortunate prevalence on the internet. Steven Johnson’s Why Games are Good for You attempts to persuade the reader that, contrary to popular perception, video games have beneficial effects on the player. Johnson admits the undisputed advantages of reading, and the cognitive benefits and mental exercise which books provide. He then goes on to argue that playing video games offers two advantages: â€Å"cognitive benefits - attention, memory, following thread, and so on,†and â€Å"different mental skills†(Johnson,
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Statistical Models for Forecasting milk production Statistics Project
Statistical Models for Forecasting milk production - Statistics Project Example In time series analysis, an autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model is a generalization of an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model. In theory, the most general class of models for forecasting a time series are stationary and can be made stationary by transformations such as differencing and logging. ARIMA models form an important part of the Box-Jenkins approach to time-series modeling. A non-seasonal ARIMA model is classified as an ARIMA (p, d, q) model, where: p is the number of autoregressive terms, d is the number of non-seasonal differences and q is the number of moving average terms.Estimation At the identification stage one or more models are tentatively chosen that seem to provide statistically adequate representations of the available data. The parameters are estimated by modified least squares or the maximum likelihood techniques appropriate to time series data.Diagnostic For adequacy of the model, the residuals are examined from the fitted model and alternative models are considered. Different models can be obtained for various combinations of AR and MA individually and collectively. The satisfactory model is considered which adequately fits the data.Method selection The best model is obtained on the basis of minimum value of Akaike Information Criteria (AIC) which is given by:                               AIC = -2 log L + 2m                                               Where m = p + q                                                               L is the likelihood function p& q are orders of Auto-Regressive and Moving Average models respectively - number of parameters, Akaike (1974)
Monday, November 18, 2019
Remote connectivity solution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Remote connectivity solution - Essay Example On the other hand, these both issues have direct influence on workers’ efficiency as well as the company’s profits. In order to deal with these issues, a large number of technologies and tools are extensively available, and Cisco’s Virtual Office solution is one of the most excellent solutions that offers a wide variety of capabilities such as safety, administration, agility, large scale deployment IP telephony, complete tool and service suite accessibility and resiliency. In addition, Cisco’s Virtual Office offers a visible end-to-end solution that allows business workers to manage jobs remotely as if they were on-site at a business center, which ultimately leads to improved efficiency and minimizes functional costs (Cisco Systems, 2008; Davis & Dhillon, 2006; Tomur, Deregozu, & Genc, 2008; Cascio, 2000). Best Practice The Cisco technology system has developed Virtual Office to provide a solid foundation and a model for how it visualizes corporation and h ow to assist and maintain remote/distributed workers to improve efficiency, increase worker happiness, and reduce security threats along with overall corporate operational expenses. In addition, the Cisco technology community expects that this project application will openly tackle 4 major aspects of change: a site-to-site â€Å"for all time on†VPN (virtual private network) link with the client, that is completely incorporated into the business network. The implementation of this technology will facilitate with a complete variety of communication technology based systems. In this scenario, a firm can communicate via voice, transfer data, real-time communication and video collaboration services all work effectively over the systems. Moreover, these practices will offer a capability to remotely apply, handle, and implement business strategies/standards across a network of extensively dispersed remote access points, at the same time as facilitating the development of the teleco mmuting network with an effective solution to deal with security vulnerabilities (Landau, Vollath, & Chen, 2002; Cisco Systems, 2008; Tyson, 2013). Advantages The implementation of this technology renovates a number of traditional practices of a business organization. Basically, the implementation of this technology will offer a capability to remotely handle and push business policies/standards throughout a network of extensively scattered remote access points, at the same time as allowing for the development of the telecommunication network without creating new network security based issues and vulnerabilities. This solution encompasses a variety of best practices to improve the capability to offer complete visibility of the communication through remote site and remotely organized router in a way that is transparent to the end user. Additionally, these practices also offer excellent support for a wide variety of converged systems. In addition, with this solution a business organiza tion puts together IP telephony into the remote site/home. This offers the capability in "single-number reach-ability," with workers having the same phone number at the business desk and in the home office, which results in less additions and telephony\ accounts to handle and considerably lower
Friday, November 15, 2019
Observations of The Joy Luck Club
Observations of The Joy Luck Club Quotes Observation 1) p3 On her journey she cooed to the swan: In America I will have a daughter just like me. But over there nobody will say her worth is measured by the loudness of her husbands belch. Over there nobody will look down on her, because I will make her speak only perfect American English. 2) P3 This feather may look worthless, but it comes from afar and carries with it all my good intentions. And she waited, year after year, for the day she could tell her daughter this in perfect American English. (I.Prologue.4) 3) P56 I was still screaming after two laughing men grabbed this man and, shaking him, said, Joe, stop it, for Chrissake. Youre scaring that poor little girl and her maid. (II.2.38) 4) P121 I know this, because I was raised the Chinese way: I was taught to desire nothing, to swallow other peoples misery, to eat my own bitterness.And even though I taught my daughter the opposite, still she came out the same way! Maybe it is because she was born to me and she was born a girl. And I was born to my mother and I was born a girl. All of us are like stairs, one step after another, going up and down, but all going the same way. (IV.1.4) 5) P129 In the afternoon, my mother spoke of her unhappiness for the first time. We were in a rickshaw going to a store to find embroidery thread. Do you see how shameful my life is? she cried. Do you see how I have no position? He brought home a new wife, a low-class girl, dark-skinned, no manners! Bought her for a few dollars from a poor village family that makes mud-brick tiles. And at night when he can no longer use her, he comes to me, smelling of her mud. (IV.1.90) 6) P 145 My daughter did not look pleased when I told her this, that she didnt look Chinese. She had a sour American look on her face. Oh, maybe ten years ago, she would have clapped her hands hurray! as if this were good news. But now she wants to be Chinese, it is so fashionable. And I know it is too late. All those years I tried to teach her! She followed my Chinese ways only until she learned how to walk out the door by herself and go to school. (IV.3.6) 7) P 145 How can she talk to people in China with these words? Pee-pee, choo-choo train, eat, close light sleep. How can she think she can blend in? Only her skin and her hair are Chinese. Inside she is all American-made. 8) P149 And then I saw another sign across the street. It was painted on the outside of a short building: Save Today for Tomorrow, at Bank of America. And then I thought to myself, This is where American people worship. See, even then I was not so dumb! Today that church is the same size, but where that short bank used to be, now there is a tall building, fifty stories high, where you and your husband-to-be work and look down on everybody. (IV.3.50) 9) P 154 Cannot be helped, my mother said when I was fifteen and had vigorously denied that I had any Chinese whatsoever below my skin. I was a sophomore at Galileo High in San Francisco, and all my Caucasian friends agreed: I was about as Chinese as they were. But my mother had studied at a famous nursing school in Shanghai, and she said she knew about genetics. So there was no doubt in her mind, whether I agreed or not: Once you are born Chinese, you cannot help but feel and think Chinese. (IV.4.2) 10) P 156 And then I whispered, Theyll think Im responsible, that she died because I didnt appreciate her. And Auntie Lindo looked satisfied and sad at the same time, as if this were true and I had finally realized it. (IV.4.29) 11) P 158 Hello, I say to the little girl. My name is Jing-mei. But the little girl squirms to look away, causing her parents to laugh with embarrassment. I try to think of Cantonese words I can say to her, stuff I learned from friends in Chinatown, but all I can think of are swear words, terms for bodily functions, and short phrases like tastes good, tastes like garbage, and shes really ugly. And then I have another plan: I hold up the Polaroid camera, beckoning Lili with my finger. She immediately jumps forward, places one hand on her hip in the manner of a fashion model, juts out her chest, and flashes me a toothy smile. As soon as I take the picture she is standing next to me, jumping and giggling every few seconds as she watches herself appear on the greenish film. (IV.4.53) 12) P 166 And although we dont speak, I know we all see it: Together we look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish. (IV.4.146) She wants her daughter to have a good life in America. She dreams of her daughter having it better and only being judged because of her capability and not based on who she is married to. Her child will have a voice of her own and wont be looked down on just because she is American. There is a language gap between mother and daughter. In order to get her daughter to understand all of her love and intentions, the mother needs to wait and communicate in her daughters languageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦which might never happen. Seeing an Asian woman and what appears to be a white girl, peoples first conclusion is that the Asian woman is the girls maid. Despite An-meis best efforts, her daughter still followed the mold of Chinese women who are voiceless and shoulder all the emotional burdens. An-mei speculates that the long matrilineal line is like a staircase that: although each step is in a new place, they are all going the same direction. Suyuan Woos is ashamed of her life. She hates how she doesnt have any rights and unhappy because she is treated just like property. It disappoints her how this is how she must live because of Tsing. She has to be grateful to him since he is the one who created her social life and position. Waverly doesnt like hearing she isnt chinese from her mother. Part of that may be because its trending but Waverly still likes to believe that she is chinese even though she is American. She wants to believe its a part of her, but when her mother told her that they will know shes an outsider just by doing nothing when they are in China, it upsets her. She is saying that chinese traits are in her blood and that they were passed on to her and when she goes to China it will come out. However, she is still American so there will be things that make Waverly stand out. She may look the part but she doesnt fit it completely. Lindo is basically saying that American people treasure wealth rather than their own God. She says that Americans believe that money is the most important thing in our society and that can say a lot. Suyuan says that you cant choose your nationality. Being chinese is a part of you and its always going to be inside of her or in her genes. She cant just choose not to be chinese. Jing-mei feels guilty because she thinks she wasnt a good daughter while her mom was alive. There are also the other sisters who didnt get a chance to also be good daughters for their mom when she was alive so that causes her to feel even guiltier. Although she wasnt able to talk to her verbally, she was still able to communicate with her in some way to show we was a friend. The language barriers can be broken down. ing-mei is able to accomplish one of her moms dreams. They all have a connection with each other and their mother. They are like her and look like her too. This is a way for the mother to still be with her daughters even if she has passed. They all have a part of their mother in them.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Women Heed Stroke Warnings Better Than Men :: Essays Papers
Women Heed Stroke Warnings Better Than Men I read an article from the American Psychological Association Monitor. The article deals with women and the fact that studies show they heed stroke warnings better than men do. A stroke awareness program in central Illinois significantly increased public knowledge of stroke warning signs, but more among women than men, a team of medical researchers found. According to the article, the study’s lead researcher, psychologist Wayne Dornan, PhD, believes the key to women’s better performance can be found in the results of a two-year-old study, which found women fear motor impairments from stroke more than death and men fear death more than any deleterious consequence of stroke. In the more recent study, Dornan and his colleagues evaluated people’s understanding of the risk factors for stroke among residents of the twin cities of Bloomington and Normal in central Illinois before and after they implemented a five-month intensive stroke-awareness campaign. Overall, the number of people who knew at least one stroke warning signâ€â€including weakness or numbness on one side of the body, difficulty speaking or understanding simple statements, and sudden blurred or decreased vision increased from 57 percent to 78 percent. But most of that increase could be accounted for by a rise in women’s awareness 67 percent to 81 percent. Men’s awareness barely increased at all apparently, more than half were unable to name a single stroke warning sign before and after the awareness campaign, the researchers found. The researchers obtained their data by surveying a random sample of more than 1,314 of the 100,000 residents of the twin cities before the campaign and 1,216 residents afterwards. Dornan said in the article that new time-sensitive pharmaceutical treatments for stroke have made it more imperative than ever that people recognize the symptoms of stroke and seek immediate treatment,. And another new study, noted by Doman published in an issue of Stroke suggests that the number of strokes in the United States is dramatically higher than previously estimated: 700,000 annually as opposed to the earlier estimate of 500,000.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)