Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Have you ever had an experience of morning paralysis where you see yourself lying down, and you think you're awake so you try to get up, but suddenly you realize that you can't move? I have, several times. They have been the most frustrating and scariest times of my life. As I try harder to move, concentrating all my energy into moving one arm, the deeper I seem to be sinking in this indescribable feeling of entrapment. I hear the people outside my room and try to get their attention by screaming. Instead, I hear a soft slurred sound coming from my throat. Then I start to panic. I can't breathe! My energy is depleted and my body is exhausted. Eventually, I start to relax. The first time this happened to me, a mosquito landed on my big toe while I was thinking of what to do. Without being consciously aware of it, I move my big toe. My body jerks and suddenly I can move! Thank God for the mosquito, otherwise I wouldn't have known that all I had to do was move my big toe towards me. Eve r since, whenever I would have another one of these experiences, I would relax and gently move my big toe towards me. If you've had one of these experiences, then you've probably had a glimpse of how it feels to have a fully developed amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurological disorder that involves the degeneration of motor neurons. A-myo-trophic is derived from the Greek language. A connotes something negative or none. Myo means it has something to do with the muscles. Trophic translates to "nourishment". (1) The term Lateral is attributed to the parts of the spinal cord that ALS usually affects. (2) The scarring that results from the degeneration of these neurons and nerves in the spinal cord is known as sclerosis. (2) In 1941, Lou Gehrig, a famous baseball player, died of ALS. His name has been associated with this progressive fatal neuromuscular disease ever since. (3) Another person whose name is associated with this disease is the French neurologist, Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot. He was the first to identify that motor neurons from the spinal cord are the main part of the nervous system affected by this disease, in 1869. For that, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis is also known as maladie de Charcot.

Middle Class Morality in Pygmalion Essay

Pygmalion is a brilliant play written by Bernard Shaw that gives us an idea of the value in the Victorian era through the witty and rousing lines of his characters. The message Shaw tried to limn through his genius work is vividly drawn and is dearly ambiguous to anyone who is paying attention. In Pygmalion, Shaw focused his theme on the Victorian decorum of the contemporary society, which is named in many parts of Mr. Doolittle’s speech in the play as the â€Å"middle class morality†. In the Victorian times, the rich were distinguished from the poor vehemently as they lead distinct lives-they dress differently, they act differently and they even speak differently. Above all, the ethics exercised by the rich deviates from the poor, if there were any for them in the first place. Thus, nothing is expected from a pauper whereas everything is expected from a sufficient (middle class). The first and most potent item of middle class morality is the obligation of men to protect and foster women regardless it is needed or not. In the very first act of Pygmalion such burden is observed through the harsh demands of Clara (woman) to Freddy (man), compelling him to find a taxi for her. Freddy, as uneager as he was, still obliged and carried out his role in the middle class morality, only to find that his endeavors were in vain as his darling mother and sister were long gone upon his return. Another example of this is also from Act I, where nosy bystanders (men) stood out for Eliza (woman) with the silly sense of heroic conquest to save her from the vile Higgins and his notes, but soon learnt that it was merely a mistake. These deeds, however, were not chivalry, they were more like the empty prayers before dinner made in a sanctimonious fashion-a hypocritical routine. On the other hand, women also bears expectation from men and other women during Victorian times to find a wealthy man to support her because she isn’t supposed to work but to polish herself and other trophies like her  children or household. Professor Higgins believes in such a virtue, as he intended Eliza to be a â€Å"consort for a king† and is stunned at her decision of marrying Freddy. Also, Eliza’s stepmother decided to marry Doolittle again as â€Å"middle class morality claims its victim†, meaning that she was in a way coerced into the action. Mr. Doolittle, a minor character in the play, takes a rather big role interpreting middle class morality. After his unlikely fate with the Wannafeller Moral Reform World League and the fortune that comes along with it, he became a living contrast of being poor and being rich. By his own words, he stood testimony to the joy of poverty and the woe of prosperity-â€Å"I have to live for others and not for myself: that’s middle class morality†, portraying an ironic picture of the poor enjoying life more than the rich-the world of Pygmalion and the Victorian times. From his script, we can see all the not-so-subtle offenses Shaw made to taint the idea of middle class morality and it becomes a prominent factor that made the strong tale worth reading and studying.

Liberal democracy Essay

As a citizen of a democratic country, we depend too much in our newspapers, magazines, tabloids and all kinds of media for information, mainly because almost everything is shown in it, we don’t even know whether it is true or not, but because this is our flow of society we believe in it. But isn’t it invading our privacy? And our right to live in security? This is journalism the science of ruining or building lives. But primarily its purpose is to expose certain events, critical issues and mainly the lives of people, their private lives that they don’t want other people to know, the exaggerated tales and the gradual destruction of ones life. It is like showing your cards in a poker game without you knowing it, people taking advantage of it and using it against you. Look at the Valerie Plame scandal. After her career has been ruined by exposing her identity as a CIA agent, saying that she have leaked some information as an intelligence officer and making herself a public icon by showing herself in the front page of vanity fair other magazines and newspapers, professional journalists just took off the scene after the case have been dismissed instead of clearing their mistakes. Another example is the paparazzi, they make celebrity lives really difficult and even drive some of them to their deaths because of the stories that they fabricate, the pictures that they took, the private stories and pictures that shouldn’t be known by the public which creates an even more stress and pressure on them. Just like what happen to Princess Diana, who died because of a car accident in Paris, France due to the never ending chase of the paparazzi. In the war between US and Iraq, the progress of the US was certain, the US was reluctant to stop the attacks though the Iraq parliament appealed for a month long cease of attack, what do the media do?! They ignored all the press releases of Iraq and launched a â€Å"shock and Awe† campaign to expose and insult the Iraq parliament, making the situation worse. As what Lt. Col. Oliver North said that the media won’t make them (military troops) safe in the war that has been going on in Iraq, and he also said that it has become a weapon which attacks Iraq that supports the media’s claim that our democracy has attained its limits. Freedom in every little way has also its limitations, though we have equal rights and some believe that it’s the journalist right to do his job, I do also believe that freedom, our liberal rights meets its limits when we are actually hurting somebody because of our so called freedom of expression. Journalism, for the sake of its name creates not only destruction of lives but also of believes and relationship. Little by little, journalism is slowly ignoring our freedom of privacy, it cares for nothing except a good story, an interesting story that may destroy a life, it cares for no one, it exposes everything without even thinking the results of such act and mainly some of stories are exaggerated to give it a more interesting twist. Privacy is an experience that people should have the luxury of using, it is not a piece of data that we can tell everybody whenever we want to, we live in a democratic country, with democratic rights and equal opportunity, we must let everybody have their own piece of security as we do, who would want to live in a world where everything is exposed and there is nothing that you can keep to your self? I wouldn’t and I think no one would want that because if so, why would the government create liberal policy? Why do we want to have security? Journalism is really powerful, it can manipulate us in every way that it wants, it can even made us believe the things that they say; which may and may not be absolutely true, it also create a world of doubts, where we no longer know whether this piece of information is reliable or not, is it true or is it just a fraud? The word fair is not in its vocabulary and even respect. Exposing everything that creates interest to them and to the people, every thing will be exposed with or without consent, launching stories that shouldn’t be known by the public that may cause trouble not only to them but also to the innocent people around. Like when they publicize the American Iraqi war, when they follow people around etc. Isn’t this a clear violation of liberal rights? We must be skeptic of everything that we are told, because we are critical beings, we have our brain enlarged and neurons to use in such cases, we have our own set of opinion, let us become non-conformist and stop the inevitable exploitation of journalism in destroying our liberal rights. What’s the use of liberal democracy if we would allow this journalism to uncover every little piece of information about us? Journalism is like a disease seeping in every hole in our liberal rights, it is a cancer, a malignant one that we can’t seem to fight easily, but it is possible, I’m not saying that journalism only has disadvantages, we know that everything has two sides yet as we weigh their cons and pros we should know that it is slowly killing our democratic rights as a person and as citizen of this country. Let us prove that we value our freedom more than the interesting stories that this journalist made, let us have a world where there is security and freedom to have a private life that every one of us should deserve. Cure the disease that slowly deteriorates the country and make it a place where there will be no lives that are ruined due to exaggerated stories and expose that the media and journalists made. This is a free country, yet freedom in order to remain real should be handed down not only to those who can afford it but to everybody in this nation and in every nation around the world. Journalism should limit their scope and make our lives easier. Stop the exploitation and the lies, journalism must be honest and it should respect our liberal rights so as to avoid misunderstanding and destruction. Works cited: Connors, Michael. Howard’s Australia: The Democratic Paradox. 19 April 2006. August 21 2007. < http://www. newmatilda. com/home/articledetail. asp? ArticleID=1510> Leiby, Richard. Valerie Plame, the Spy Who Got Shoved Out Into the Cold . Saturday, October 29, 2005; Page C01. Aug. 20 2007: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/28/AR2005102801172.html

John Locke Paper Essay

Throughout the 17th century, John Locke presented society with his teachings and theories that clarified the order of natural law and fulfilled humanity’s divine purpose for living. It all began in 1647, as a young boy when he attended the prestigious Westminster School in London under the sponsorship of Alexander Popham. During his years at the Westminster School, he found the work of modern philosophers more interesting than the material being taught at the university. Much of Locke’s influence and later work was characterized by opposition to authoritarianism, which focused on both the level of the individual person and on the level of institutions such as government and church. Locke wanted each of us to use reason to search after truth rather than simply accept the opinion of authorities or be subject to superstition. He wanted us to proportion go along with the proposition to the evidence for them. Locke came to the conclusion that there must be a balance and mutual understanding between individuality and social institutions where society will not feel suppressed under man made law and restrictions. John Locke believed that all knowledge comes from experience. Experience is composed of two parts: external and internal. External experiences are ideas of supposed external objects. These objects enter our minds through sensation. Examples of sensations would be hot, cold, red, yellow, hard, soft, sweet and bitter. Internal experiences are reflections that make us understand the operation on the objects of sensation. Examples of reflections are thinking, willing, believing, doubting, affirming, denying, and comparing. Once again Locke goes back to his foundation of principles by reaffirming that in order to achieve success and sensation there must be a working relationship between individual goals and the law of society. Sensation and reflection are called the two fountains of knowledge. All of our ideas we can naturally have or have so already come from these two experiences. Sensible qualities convey into the mind, and they produce most of the perceptions and most of the great sources of ideas we have. Sensation and reflection differ from each other because sensation is what happens outside the body, and reflection has to do what happens inside the body with our mind. Also reflection has to do with the ideas it affords being such only as the mind gets by reflecting on its own operations within itself, the mind takes over its own operations and the manner of them. Besides having sensible qualities one also contains primary and secondary qualities. Locke explains that these qualities are two kinds of properties that an object could have. Primary qualities contain solidity, figure, extension, motion and number. They are properties that are objective and independent on senses. On the other hand, secondary qualities consist of color, smell, taste, sound and touch. They are properties that are subjectively perceived. In Locke’s, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, he states, â€Å"sensible qualities; which, whatever reality we by mistake attribute to them, are in truth nothing in the objects themselves, but powers to produce various sensations in us†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (John Locke, 77). In other words, secondary qualities are dependent on the primary qualities. According to Locke, ideas are anything that is â€Å"the immediate object of perception, thought, or understanding† (William Lawhead, 91). Locke states that sensation and reflection are classified as simple and complex ideas. Simple ideas are red, yellow, hard, soft, etc and for example, you touch an ice cube, your mind is telling you its cold and it’s hard, you learn that from experience. Locke believed that the mind cannot know an inexperienced idea or create a new simple idea. Although the mind cannot create simple ideas, it can process them into complex ideas. Complex ideas are made up of several simple ideas, such as beauty, gratitude, a man, an army, the universe. Complex ideas are also broken down into three parts: ideas of substance which is a constant collection of simple ideas, ideas of mode which is a combination of several ideas, which form a mode, like a triangle, last but not least ideas of relationship, which is a comparison of one idea to another. From experience it goes to sensation and reflection, and those are based on simple ideas and that’s all contained in the passive mind, after simple ideas it goes to complex ideas and that’s located in the active mind. Overall in Locke’s theory he uses epistemological dualism, which is the mind that consists of knowing and its ideas. He also states the object in the external world is known by ideas, and our ideas represent those objects. After researching about Locke’s theory of knowledge I would have to agree with what he has stated. Locke states that you go through an internal and external experience and I feel that today’s youth do go through the motions of the internal and external experiences. As a result the youth are able to gain the knowledge from those experiences by allowing the mind to willingly accept these new ideas. For example, when I was younger I put my hand near a hot stove and from the heat irritating and pressuring my hand my mind told me it was a negative stimuli and it was essential to remove my hand from the stove and to keep that memory as a basic instinct. Society goes through experiences throughout life of internal and external and eventually gains knowledge through these experiences. John Locke also stated that the mind does all the knowing and its ideas are known. I agree with what he is saying because your mind is always working, it’s always active, we receive ideas internally through our mind and we receive ideas from the outside that goes into our mind. The balance is necessary between internal and external factors to keep society and individuals stable and yet progressive to adapt to new changes that rise up.

Case study(Leadership) Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

(Leadership) - Case Study Example The leader who seeks to bring about organizational changes should understand the need for change, the change processes, implementing change, and possible reactions. Bass (1985 cited in Shackleton 1995, p. 113) and Burns (1978 cited in Shackleton 1995, p. 113) put forth the concept of transformational leadership. In spite of some variations, there is broad agreement in the concept suggested by Bass and Avolio through their "Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ)" and the "Managerial Practices Survey (MPS)" of Yukl, which includes managerial practices such as clarifying, supporting, inspiring and team building. (Tracey and Timothy, 1998). Ultimate Office Products realized that changes in the atmosphere such as intensified competition and heightened consumer expectations called for improvements in customer service such as electronic order processing, tracking and servicing. The company instituted the new department of information systems with Richard Kelly its director. Richard observed many unnecessary activities and bottlenecks were slowing down work processes. He installed new computer workstations and software to speed up and control the processes. However as most departmental heads - Richard's peers resisted change it could not be implemented. The CEO authorized constituting a number of cross-functional teams under Richard to report to a steering committee composed of departmental heads. The task forces were constituted to identify changes required in work processes. An outside consultant was called in to advise the task forces. The 'task forces' met with key customers to understand customer preferences and improve the efficiency of order filling system. They made recommendations to the steering committee often attended by the CEO to emphasize its seriousness. With the cooperation of all departmental heads, the company eliminated many unnecessary processes and within a year, was able to double order processing speed. The 'change for the better' brought about a change in peoples' attitudes too and many of them now volunteer to work on teams that design ways to improve service quality. B. The leaders' behaviour The CEO was able to see the environment driving change: discount merchandisers and office product super-stores altering traditional distribution channels. Manufacturers were challenged with demands for rate cuts and speedier processes for billing and filling orders. This necessitated process automation, which is primarily a change in technology and entailed in the creation of the new department of information. Richard Kelly the director of the new department installed the components for automating processes, the computer workstations and software. However installation of new technology by itself cannot bring about desired changes without making efforts to bring about simultaneous changes in the attitudes, skills and roles of various stakeholders. Richard, was not able to put the equipment to use as some of the key stakeholders, managers from sales, production, accounting, shipping and customer service, who were his peers did

International operation and risk management of ICAP plc Essay

International operation and risk management of ICAP plc - Essay Example The company is a public limited company and is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The company was founded in the year 1986 and has more than 5000 employees who provide the risk services in the company. The company focuses mainly on the key principles of leadership, Integrity, entrepreneurship as well as respect for control. Performance - Financial Trend A ratio analysis has been conducted for ICAP in order to understand the financial performance of the company. Ratio Analysis       2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Liquidity Ratios Current Ratio 1.026 1.004 1.003 1.002 0.999       2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Cash Ratio 0.089 0.017 0.016 0.025 0.014                Profitability Ratio Gross Profit Margin 0.990 0.989 0.984 0.765 -       2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Operating Profit Margin 0.145 0.160 0.163 0.176 0.191       2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Net profit Margin 0.030 0.083 0.109 0.074 0.117 Leverage Ratio Debt Ratio 0.939 0.985 0.984 0.981 0.966       2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Debt Equity Ratio 15.31 66.19 60.37 48.89 28.68                Profitabilty Indicator Ratio Return on Assets 0.09% 0.17% 0.49% 0.24% 0.55%       2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 Return on Capital Employed 0.41% 0.33% 0.40% 0.58% 1.78% Liquidity The current ratio of the company has increased by 22% over the last one year from 1.004 in 2012 to 1.026 in the financial year 2013. The inventory of the company for all the years is equal to zero. This means that for ICAP the current ratio and the quick ratio are the same (Atrill and Mclaney, 2008, pp. 142-178). The increase in the current ratio means that the company has efficient cash management and that the company can meet its short term debt obligations quite comfortably (Kieso, Weygandt and Warfield, 2007, p. 738). Thus ICAP has sound liquidity position. Profitability The profitability levels of the company can be estimated from the profitability ratios as shown in the table above. The gross profit margin for the compa ny has increasing steadily from 2011 to 2012 and then from 2012to 2013. The gross profit margin for the year 2013 is 0.939 which means that the company has been able to use the different resources that it has in the most appropriate way (Williams, Haka, Bettner and Carcello, 2008, p. 266). Source: ICAP 2013, p. 03 The operating profit margin for the company fell almost more than one percent in the year 2013. Thus it shows that the company has not been able to achieve economies of scale for the last one year but the steady figure over the years reflects the efficiency of the company in maintaining the scale of operations (Gallagher, 2003, pp. 94–95). The different compositions of the operating profit of ICAP as per the different businesses have been shown in the dough nut chart as above. This means that most of the operations of the company are equally prosperous and has been able to achieve the desired scale of operations for the long term (Weston and Brigham, 1990, p. 295). The return on assets for the company is 0.09% in 2013 as compared to 0.017% in 2012 and 0.27% in 2011. Looking at the steady level of net income of the company it shows that the company has increased its assets over the phase of 3 years which has resulted in a declining ROA (Tracy, 2004, p. 173).

Revitalization & Tradition and Continuity & Perseverance and Essay

Revitalization & Tradition and Continuity & Perseverance and Transmutation - Essay Example Most religion see rebirth as a full membership to the religion. Rebirth can be done in so many ways; the first way is through initiation. When one undergoes some traditional methods of initiation he is considered to be mature and so moves from being a junior member of the religion to a senior member of the religion. By so doing the person is seen to have crossed the line from childhood to maturity and can do a lot of things including marriage. Some religions also baptize their members through fire and some through water and others through different methods. When this is done then the new member is now considered to be reborn and to have changed from the old self to the new self (OlupoÃŒ £na, 1991). A lot of traditions are still practiced by the modern African religions. Traditional activities such as circumcision that used to be done as an initiation process in the past are today done by the modern African religious sects as a religious activity and not as a traditional activity. Other activities such as worshiping objects have been turned into a religious practice whereas the same activities were done in the past as a cultural activity. Many activities that were done in the past as cultural activities have been replaced as religious activities. This shows that the African religion is in a way trying to preserve the traditional African culture by making them look as if the activities are religious. This is mainly done to make people to accept the culture and not consider the activities to be primitive as is always the case with most traditional African cultures (OlupoÃŒ £na, 1991). In most African traditional myths, death and suffering is as a result of sin that was caused by human disobedience. To them suffering is for all men and will only stop to the good people, the people who do good while they are still alive. When these people die they will be transformed into other people who will suffer no more. However to all those