Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Research Paper

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor - Research Paper Example Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) binding to TrkB is an important component of phospholipase Cg, mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (MAPK/ERK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathways, all transducing signals into and out of cells. With roles in transmitting signals, changes in BDNF will thus be highly manifested as changes in memory, behavior, and cognition. Bipolar disease (BD) is a pathologic condition of the nervous system caused by both environmental and biological factors. It affects structures in the brain that affect mood, cognition, and behavior such as the limbic system, striatum, pallidum, thalamus, and cortex. Particularly, highly implicated in the development of the disease is the impairment of neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity, as mediated by BDNF, high quantities of which are found in the cortex, limbic structures, olfactory bulb, and cerebellum. Briefly, these parts are important in attention, memory, smell perception, and emotions, respectively. Because BDNF is found at high concentrations on brain areas highly affected during BD, many studies have looked into its particular characteristics with and without the disease. Because of the multiple pieces of evidence implicating BDNF to BD, several studies have looked into BDNF at a genetic level to better understand the disease. Many studies have found that a change from val66val to val66met is highly critical in the development of BD. In particular, val66met was found to cause lower cognitive task scores, partly because it results to lower volumes of the limbic system (hippocampus and parahippocampus), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and temporal lobe as compared to that of the val66val variety. Â  

Cultural Features of China Today Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Cultural Features of China Today - Research Paper Example The people of China have been heavily influenced by these changes in China. This paper discusses some of those changes that signify the contemporary Chinese culture and society and discusses their impact on the people of China. One of the most remarkable changes the world politics has seen in the start of the 21st century is China’s rise of power. The culture of China today serves as a resource for soft power whose use has helped China surface as a powerful country in the world. â€Å"THE SOFT POWER OF A COUNTRY RESTS PRIMARILY ON THREE RESOURCES: ITS CULTURE (IN PLACES WHERE IT IS ATTRACTIVE TO OTHERS), ITS POLITICAL VALUES (WHEN IT LIVES UP TO THEM AT HOME AND ABROAD), AND ITS FOREIGN POLICIES (WHEN THEY ARE SEEN AT LEGITIMATE AND HAVING MORAL AUTHORITY)† (Nye and Jisi 25). One of the most important outcomes of the rise of China’s soft power that has affected the lives of the people of China is growth of multiculturalism. Chinese students are studying with fore igners in their own universities and colleges, and the streets and beautiful places of China have attracted the attention of tourists from all over the world. Overall, the exposure of Chinese people to the global scenario and foreign cultures has increased manifolds. This has helped the Chinese people easily integrate into foreign cultures and reap the benefits of studying and working in advanced countries. â€Å"WHILE THE VOICE OF AMERICA WAS CUTTING ITS CHINESE BROADCASTS FROM NINETEEN TO FOURTEEN HOURS A DAY, CHINA RADIO INTERNATIONAL WAS INCREASING ITS BROADCASTS IN ENGLISH TO TWENTY-FOUR HOURS A DAY† (Nye and Jisi 26). The importance of soft power in China can be estimated from the fact that it has entered the official language of China. Hu Jintao, in the speech that he made at the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) 17th National Congress, emphasized upon a need for the CPC to â€Å"ENHANCE CULTURE AS PART OF THE SOFT POWER OF OUR COUNTRY TO BETTER GUARANTEE THE PE OPLE’S BASIC CULTURAL RIGHTS AND INTERESTS† (Jintao cited in Nye and Jisi 28). He recognized culture as a very important source of innovation and national cohesion whose significance in China’s strength has grown over the decades. Public diplomacy as a cultural trait has developed in China comprehensively and systematically. A major example of this is the cultural-cum-language center of China, the Confucius Institute that has been designed and established to increase the drive for learning the national Chinese language that has rapidly spread in the recent years all over the world. Similarly, â€Å"IN 2004, CHINA ESTABLISHED THE LEADING SMALL GROUP FOR FOREIGN CHINESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION UNDER THE STATE COUNCIL, WHOSE OBJECTIVE WAS TO ESTABLISH 100 CONFUCIUS INSTITUTES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD† (Cho and Jeong 471). Such measures have facilitated the people of China a lot. Wherever they go in the world, they get to meet people who understand their language and c an communicate with them in their native Chinese language. This has helped the people of China overcome the effects of their deficiency of competence in the English language. â€Å"NOW, WHAT IS IN COMMON WITH NEW YORK, HAWAII, KANSAS, CALIFORNIA, MEXICO, FRANCE, SERBIA, SOUTH KOREA, EGYPT, AUSTRALIA, RUSSIA, AND RWANDA? ALMOST NOTHING, EXCEPT THAT THEY NOW HOST THE CONFUCIUS INSTITUTE, A LANGUAGE AND CULTURE CENTER MASSIVELY PRODUCED BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT AS ONE OF ITS LARGE-SCALE CHARM OFFENSIVES TO ENHANCE ITS SOFT POWER† (â€Å"Background Information†). Establishment of these institutes has helped the government of China strengthen the Chinese language as well as soft power. Concluding, two of the most important features of the contemporary culture of China include the increased use and

The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin

The Story of an Hour Kate Chopin The early 1900s was an era where society inflicted standards that suppressed women mentally and physically. From birth, women had to overcome many cultural and societal boundaries because of their gender such as being told how to converse and clothe, and even who to marry. Women in those times lacked many rights such as freedom of speech, the right to an education, and skills that would help them become employed. Every stage of their lives was controlled by a male figure, starting with their fathers from birth to their husbands during marriage. Unfortunately, a womans ideal role for men was to perform domestic duties inside the house and other duties such as sexual deeds; a womans voice and concerns were never considered priority nor were given respect. The stories of â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, by Kate Chopin and â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, by Irwin Shaw, expose a dominating attitude towards women and illustrate how they could be trapped in unsatisfying marriages because of their husbands thoughtlessness, exploitation, and domination. The protagonists in these stories have accepted their roles in their marriages by being passive spouses. Kate Chopins â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, is a story regarding a woman, Mrs. Mallard, who is trapped in a suppressing marriage and dreadfully wants to escape. This story describes an hour of freedom that has been given to her. Although a very short story, it seems like every sentence has an intense significance and meaning to it that makes the reader think in depth. Even though her husbands full name is given to the readers, â€Å"Brently Mallard†, she is only referred to as â€Å"Mrs. Mallard†, giving the hint of the oppression she had to go through and the degradation society enforced upon women in that time period. Mrs. Mallard, the protagonist of the story is troubled by her heart condition and is oppressed by her husband who loves her and does not want to purposely suppress authority, but sadly, it was the society that built the peoples personality and character, and set the standards in the nineteenth century. Interestingly enough, Chopin uses the techniqu e of foreshadowing in the first sentence of the story indicating the readers that something terrible is bound to happen to Mrs. Mallard, perhaps a heart affiliated problem. The quote,†Knowing that Mrs. Mallard was afflicted with a heart trouble, great care was taken to break to her as gently as possible the news of her husbands death.†(Chopin 1) misinforms readers in to believing that everything will be fine. Irony could be noticed from the way Mrs. Mallard acts in response to her husbands death. Normally when a widow is informed about their spouses death, they become sad and express their grief; however, when Mrs. Mallard heard the awful news from her sister Josephine, she accepted it and proceeded to her room where she could be alone. This allowed the reader to adopt a similar prospective through her point of view, a new life and a chance to live oppression free. When she proceeds to her room, she sits down on a roomy, comfortable arm chair facing the open window. The reader should instantly inquire the use of the term â€Å"Comfortable† (Chopin 1), and question the fact that she is not miserable. While looking outside the window, she observed nature carefully symbolizing her excitement for a new life. The quote, â€Å"She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life†¦ the delicious breath of rain was in the air†¦ the notes of distant song†¦ countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves†¦patches of the blue sky showing here and there through the clouds† (Chopin 1) describes this scene adequately. At this point of the story the reader is puzzled by Chopins use of foreshadowing whether she is sad at all due to her observance of all the beautiful aspects of nature. While fantasizing about her new life, it seemed like her conscious was trying to put a stop to her happiness, leading her to realize that she was loved by her husband even though he was s uppressive time to time, his intentions were good; however, Chopin was trying to tell the readers she had only loved him time to time and that most of the time she had no love for him, as this quote describes, â€Å"And yet she had loved him-sometimes. Often, she had not.† (Chopin 2). Chopin confuses the reader by using another method of foreshadowing making the ending even more surprising, â€Å"She breathed a quick prayer that life might be long.† (Chopin 2), and that she considers herself to be a â€Å"Goddess of victory† (Chopin 2). Chopin uses an ironic ending for her story when Mrs. Mallard is surprised to death when her husband enters the house looking perfectly healthy without even knowing the accident took place. The paradox prolongs when the readers find out that she dies due to heart disease caused by joy. Earlier when she heard the agonizing news of her husbands death, she was fairly pleased of the idea of being free, having no authority figure gover ning her life; however, she was not eager to go through that life again, causing her to die once she saw her husband alive. Irwin Shaws, â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, depicts a couple whose marriage is in jeopardy due to the husbands lack of consideration for his wifes feelings. The story starts with the protagonist of the story, Frances, and her husband, Michael, enjoying a walk on a Sunday afternoon in New York City, part of Francess plans to spend the whole day alone with her husband as deliberated initially. While walking down the street, Frances caught her husband checking out a pretty girl who leads her to protest against it, â€Å"Shes not so pretty†¦Anyway, not pretty enough to take a chance breaking your neck looking at her.†(Shaw 1). When confronted of his actions, Michael carelessly replies, â€Å"I look at everything†¦I look at women and men†¦I casually inspect the universe.† (Shaw 2). This statement provides the readers with an idea of Michaels character who is the dominating figure in the story, who is lacking respect for his wife and is explo iting her weakness of not ending their relationship. Divorce was uncommon in the early 1900s even when men commit adultery. Francess feelings were depicted well as the author wrote, â€Å"She began to cry†¦someday youre going to make a move†¦Michael didnt say anything. He sat watching the bartender slowly peel a lemon.† (Shaw 4). Irrationally, Michael lets Frances know that â€Å"Sometimes I [Michael] would like to be free† (Shaw 4), and that eventually one day hell â€Å"make a move† (Shaw 4). Unfortunately, Michael treated women as objects who were merely around to perform sexual favours, he even depicted his wife as a sexual object when they arrived at a bar for some drinks, as this quote describes, â€Å"She got up from the table and walked across the room†¦Michael watched her walk, thinking, what a pretty girl, what nice legs.† (Shaw 4). Interestingly enough, Michael turns everything around by stating â€Å"Its a nice day and we both feel good and theres no reason why we have to break it up.† (Shaw 4), by declaring this, Michael blames the fact that their day is turning out to be unpleasant on Frances, and due to her has low self-esteem and insecurity, she accepts the claim by saying, â€Å"All right. I dont know why I started this. Lets drop it. Lets have a good time.† (Shaw 2). By stating this, Frances portrayed herself to be a submissive individual; meanwhile, Michael was careless and disrespectful. Throughout the nineteenth century, a womans purpose was merely based on performing domestic duties in their homes, and they did not contribute to the household income in any way. Women were dishonoured and exploited by men to a point that they were simply degraded to a childs level in society. Excessive male dominance and authority guided countless women getting the sensation of feeling trapped in their household, incapable to flee from the imprisonment enforced upon them by their spouses. The stories, â€Å"The Story of an Hour†, and â€Å"The Girls in Their Summer Dresses†, both depict tolerable house wives who are dominated and exploited by their husbands and have acquiesced to their role in their relationship and are submissive individuals who do not rise up and rebel against their husbands. These stories truthfully exemplify how women in the 19th century had to accept their husbands for who they were, and did not have many alternatives other than accepting to live with the repression until death did them apart.

Essay --

Introduction The National Security Agency (NSA) is considered to be one of the largest components so the U.S intelligence community stands. It is primarily responsible for gathering intelligence report from detailed communications with the active involvement of the various intelligence tools. It was established in 1952 from the code breaking effort adopted by the handful of military officers and civilians and by and by and by the agency grew in stature and marked its position to gain the role of signal intelligence which is also known as SIGNIT. All of this has resulted from the initiatives taken by the congress and actually it is the congress that helped in providing it the required framework required NSA to carry out its various activities and the enacted laws skilfully guides the limits of NSA. From the perspective of electronic surveillance of US persons and also they are supporting and taking due notice of the public pertaining to the issues at NSA and the related reforms that are directed to make NSA more and more equipped in meeting up with the quotidian technical as well as geopolitical challenges. At present, NSA is constantly coming across multitude of challenges and as well as seeing through a difficult operational environment that brings in certain limitations to its work areas like spending levels for intelligence reports into queries for the future prospects of NSA. The European Parliament has also came forward highlighting the interest of the public who allege that the US along with few other countries are constantly involved in systematic electronic eavesdropping so as to be able to launce the commercial interest of US operations in full effect. (Linda B. 1999) In response to the huge amount of congressional conc... ...concern of the Congress concerning the activity of the NSA is very unlikely to finish and the researchers are of the opinion that amidst attacks on NSA, members of the European parliaments and the members of the Congress jointly may come up and criticize not only the operations and activities as undertaken by the NSA but also its roles and missions. Funding for the efforts being undertaken on part of the NSA has widespread results from the consideration of geopolitical as well as technological work environments that needs to be put into some sort of balance against other prevalent requirements. (Jeremy S. 2000) And more so to a much enhanced degree as compared to that of the past, the Congress is expected to continue to indulge itself in internal challenges in the agency designed to gain in capabilities from the perspective of boosting the technological framework. â€Æ'

Defending Liberal Arts Essay

William Butler Yeats is accredited with once saying â€Å"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.† It seems this idiom no longer rings true; today’s preferred education encompasses the regurgitation of technical jargon in the hopes of finding a job. People now deem Liberal Arts degree worthless; it’s too expensive and impractical in today’s job market. The sciences and career colleges are where the jobs lie. In the battle over higher education, through his iconoclastic article â€Å"The New Liberal Arts,† Sanford J. Ungar stands as a lone crusader against an onslaught of â€Å"misperceptions.† I for one agree with and applaud his effort, although he could use some additional support in presenting some of his counter arguments. Unger first battles the misperception of the value in a liberal arts degree for first-generation, lower income college students; these degrees are for the elite upper-class. As Ungar’s imagined antagonists put it, â€Å"A liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. ‘Career education’ is what we now must focus on† (191). Ungar contends that although skyrocketing tuition makes it increasingly difficult to pay for a college education it is now a more prudent investment than ever before (191). Continuing his crusade against naysayers by suggesting that â€Å"the career education bandwagon† (191) is not a smart investment, asserting that â€Å"It is far wiser for students to prepare for change—and the multiple careers they are likely to have—than to search for a single job track that might one day become a dead end.† (191) Ungar shows the pitfalls of having a narrowly focused education. Moreover, Ungar seems utterly disgusted with the notion that an education in the liberal arts is one for the upper class, the rich and the privileged; those who are not of this stratification are better suited implementing the ideas of the elite, not coming up with ideas of their own (192). He brands these accusations as â€Å"condescending† (192) and â€Å"prejudice† (193) and rejects the idea that the lower-class’ only duty is to implement the ideas of the upper-class. I believe that Ungar is correct on these assertions; however, Ungar’s argument would be better served if he acquiesced to the fact that a college education, much less one in the liberal arts, is not right for everyone. Higher education is not a one size fits all discipline. There has to be some to fill the factories, work the land, pave the roads and power the service industry. Unger is accurate in saying that the liberal arts should be available to everyone and everyone could benefit from this type of classical education; nonetheless not everyone is suited for such an education. The misperception that the liberal arts are for the elite is one that has been heard before but not nearly as much as the old â€Å"employers do not want to hire people with useless degrees† line which Unger obliterates with his next argument. Ungar continues his defense of a liberal arts education by refuting the claim that employers no longer hire someone with a â€Å"useless† degree, such as French. Showing how not only a specific degree such as a foreign language is one that is wanted by employers but the usefulness of other liberal arts degrees, emphasizing â€Å"A 2009 survey for the Association of American Colleges and Universities actually found that more than three-quarters of our nation’s employers recommend that college-bound students pursue a ‘liberal education.’† (192) Ungar deals with this common misconception methodically by first stating â€Å"what people believe† and then contesting that belief with facts diversified with his own opinions. Although he is correct and he brandishes documented facts to back up his assertions Ungar may have missed the mark by not including actual job numbers. By displaying irrefutable proof that those who have a liberal arts degree are more likely to get a job in any field and by showing those jobs are more lucrative for degree holders than those who are not, Ungar could put the nail in the coffin naysayers. For his next dose of perception breaking, Ungar skirmishes with the following idea: Liberal arts degrees are antiquated, the Sciences and Career colleges are where the smart money is, and the STEM fields are much better suited for today’s economic reality. Ungar contests this misperception by showing that a degree in liberal arts also includes the sciences. He illustrates that a traditional liberal arts degree includes the sciences: â€Å"the historical basis of a liberal education is in the classical artes liberales, comprising the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music)† (193). Many of Ungar’s points are valid; his handling of this misperception is deft and detailed. However, I feel that Ungar is stretching with his response to this argument. Although a liberal arts degree does offer some glimpses into the STEM disciplines, it is not comparable to a degree in those specialties. A student wishing to become a chemist would not be well served pursuing a degree in History. In showing that these misperceptions are just that, Sanford Ungar single-handedly makes the case for a classical liberal arts education. He does a wonderful job tackling the misperceptions being thrown around today about a college degree in the liberal arts. He takes each one of these common misconceptions and thoroughly disproves each claim skillfully and without hesitation. By doing so he reopens the door to higher education. Perhaps if he and others like him continue to confront the onslaught of misinformation doled out upon the masses we can return to a world where a traditional liberal arts education is once again commended and no longer forsworn. Works Cited Ungar, Sanford. â€Å"The New Liberal Arts.† â€Å"They Say I Say†: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing: with readings. Eds. Gerald Graff, Kathy Birkenstein, Russel Durst. New York: W.W. Norton and Company Ltd, 2012. 190-196. Print.

Increasing Age Diversity in the Workplace

In this paper we will discuss the factors that relate to the relationship between the employee and employer in regards to age diversity and how organizations can handle this form of diversity. Managers have a unique challenge with having such a diverse workforce as they need to be able to prevent it from occurring. They also need to be watchful as even with the best policies discrimination can still occur and they must be able to handle the quickly and efficiently.No person should feel discriminated against in their place of employment and possibly with everyone adhering to the policies this may one day be the case. Increasing Age Diversity in the Workplace In a country that is diverse as the United States one would think that discrimination would not occur. Unfortunately differences in age, culture, and sex still represent some of those that are being discriminated against. Companies are taking steps to prevent further occurrences but even this is not enough as there are still docum ented cases of discrimination that have occurred.We also have no way of quantifying the amount of cases that have gone unreported. Anti-discrimination laws have been passed, now it is up to the companies to implement policies that adhere to these laws and ensure equal opportunities to all of their employees. As the population begins to age there are several factors that may occur in regards to employment relations. With aging comes an increase is diseases and comorbidities. This represents higher costs in health care for the company and their insurance companies.In order to make up for the increase in costs there may be a need to increase the premiums for those particular patients. The children of the aging patients may also require more flexible scheduling in order to take care of their aging parents, as most families may not be able to afford the costs of assisted living. Managers have a unique challenge when dealing with the age diversity in their companies. Although there is leg islation in place in regards to equality, there is a real gap in between the law and what actually occurs.Each company has their own practices of preventing discrimination in their facilities but it needs to be followed thoroughly. The managers will need to monitor their practices, on a regular basis, to make sure that they are not discriminating against their employees. They themselves may not believe that they are indeed discriminating against anyone but this is where they need to be educated further so that they will be cognizant of their actions.Geert Demuijnck writes in his article, â€Å"The mere fact that practices are designed and implemented does not imply that inequality automatically is reduced† (Demuijnck, 2009). Discrimination is not a straightforward problem. Companies will need to implement policies and possibly change practices several times until there is a satisfactory outcome. Another challenge for managers is the ability for the aging workforce to learn an d implement new technology. By no means does this mean that they cannot learn, but there will need to be programs set in place that will train them to use the new electronics.This will need to be offered to all employees, not just the older population, as you do not want to unintentionally discriminate against the younger employees. It could be voluntary and/or it could be an incentivized program that would give each person who passes the course a certificate and increase in pay. The aging workforce should not be disqualified from working just because there is new technology that is being implemented every day; they just need on the job training to acquaint themselves with the new software and equipment.Managers also need to understand how to work with the vast differences in generations. There are four different generations in the workforce today and the way they interact and perceive their lives and careers are vastly different. Not only will managers needs to be able to accommoda te the aging employees, but they will also need to understand the differences between the generations and equip them to work together to promote their strengths and become productive group.Organizations can cope with the differences with discrimination by setting a clear policy in place and making sure that the policy is distributed to all of their employees. This could be done through a handbook or a pamphlet. Once the policy is in place there should be clearly defined guidelines and penalties for not adhering to the policy. Before the policy is rolled out, managers should be trained on how the policy will work and how they are to identify other employees that are not adhering to the guidelines.The policy should be clear cut as to how an employee may file a complaint. If an employee or another manager is found to be breaking the policy then a progressive penalty system should be issued starting with a verbal warning and progressing to the possibility of being let go from the instit ution. It may not be easy to follow but the policy will need to be adhered to fully. Secondly, if an employee feels discriminated against the organization may have to cope with the legal matters and legal expenses if the person decides to press suit.The expenses may not always be monetary; the expenses could include the time spent by personnel gathering documents for the defense, also loss in morale and reputation. As previously described, companies need to have the policies set in place to prevent discrimination from occurring thereby also preventing litigation and the financial costs associated with it. As companies set policies in place to eliminate discrimination, they must also examine their existing policies to ensure that they do not discriminate in any way.Policies that have mandatory retirement dates may need to be modified or be completely removed. Most positions can be filled with an employee of any age provided, of course, that they have the skills for the position. Earl ier it was discussed that programs could be provided to keep the aging workers up to date with the technical changes, these programs must be offered to each employee. If the companies only offer the programs to specified age groups this could be argued as a form of discrimination. Healthcare premiums are offered at a lower cost if a person is healthy.Naturally when you age your health begins to deteriorate so decreased premiums for those who are younger or healthier may be taken as discrimination. Unfortunately these incentives are put in place to help promote healthier lifestyles but they do, in a way, discriminate against those that are aging. To change this would be difficult. One way would be to stop offering the discounted premiums to those that are healthy all together. Another option would be to offer the discounts not based on what diseases you have but on what kind of lifestyle you live (not smoking, increasing exercise).Certain things such as genetics predispose people tow ards medical conditions that they have no way of preventing and they should not be penalized financially for this. In conclusion, there is no question that there has been a decrease in documented cases of age discrimination over the last several years, but even with the changes made in the workplace we know that it continues. Companies must educate their managers on their anti-discrimination policies and also educate their employees in regards to how to discuss their concerns if they feel that they are being discriminated against.There is no easy answer to the discrimination argument as everyone perceives situations differently. As the saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. Preventing the discrimination from occurring is the offense. Also employees need to feel that discussing their concerns with their managers will not have repercussions on themselves and managers need to be educated in order to handle their concerns properly. This will improve over time but the companies must constantly monitor and make changes as necessary.