Platypus Essays - Monotremes, Sleep, Dream, Neurophysiology

Platypus The platypus, apparently, is a surprisingly deep sleeper. What's more, it spends more of its time in so-called 'REM' sleep than any other mammal. These are the conclusions of a study on sleep in the platypus by Jerry M. Siegel of the Sepulveda Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, North Hills, California and colleagues. Their report appears in a special number of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society devoted to the biology of the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus), celebrating the bicentenary of the discovery, in Australia, of this remarkable animal. 'REM' stands for 'rapid eye-movement' and is the kind of sleep in which the brain can be more active than in it is while awake, the animal twitches, and the eyelids flicker ? hence the name. In humans, REM sleep is associated with dreaming. But does the platypus have an extraordinarily rich dream life? Possibly not, say the researchers: "cats, opossums, armadillos and other mammals not known for their intellectual achievements have far more REM sleep, whether calculated in hours per day or as a percentage of total sleep time, than humans." And why study sleep in the platypus anyway? After all, the platypus is an obscure and extremely primitive creature, distantly related to humans. The answer lies in that primitive state: studying the physiology of the platypus could yield clues about the life and behaviour of the very earliest mammals. The platypus belongs to a group of mammals with very ancient roots. Apart from the platypus itself, the group ? the monotremes ? includes two species of echidna, or 'spiny anteater'. All three species are confined to Australasia. Monotremes lay eggs, like birds and reptiles, but unlike all other mammals. They also have a range of other reptile-like anatomical features, features that have been lost in more 'advanced' mammals. Researchers think that monotremes have been distinct as a group for at least 80 million years, long before the dinosaurs became extinct. Monotremes have taken a cameo role in studies on the evolution of mammalian brain function. A study in 1972 suggested that the echidna Tachyglossus had no REM sleep. This was important, because it implied that REM sleep must have evolved in higher mammals. Subsequent research made this result look anomalous, as REM-like sleep phenomena have since been observed in birds and some reptiles: in which case, the echidna may have lost the capacity somewhere in its evolution. This is the conundrum that Siegel and colleagues have been investigating. First, it turns out that the term 'REM' is a misnomer: animals may show REM sleep even though their eyes don't move, and their bodies don't twitch. REM is properly defined as a characteristic pattern of activity in the brain, generated by specific neuronal pathways in the brainstem ? whether or not this activity is carried forwards into the 'higher' centres of the brain (where it is manifested as dreaming). Recordings from discreetly implanted electrodes show that the echidna does, after all, show a kind of REM sleep generated by the brainstem, even though it is rather muted and the animal shows no outward signs. Young animals show more REM sleep than older ones, and it could be that very young echidnas have a more active sleeping life (including twitching) than older ones. The platypus, though, shows all the classic outward signs of REM sleep. Indeed, an account from as long ago as 1860, before REM sleep was discovered, reported that young platypus showed 'swimming' movements of their forepaws while asleep. Despite these differences, the REM sleep of the platypus and the echidna is confined to the brainstem: the forebrain shows the regular, steady patterns of neuronal activity associated with deep, dreamless sleep. This suggests that for all their REM sleep, monotremes do not dream. These findings set our understanding of the evolution of sleep on a firmer footing. It now seems that the 'core' brainstem activity manifested as REM sleep has extremely ancient roots, going back to the reptilian acnestors of mammals as well as birds. The elaboration of REM sleep into the forebrain is a later innovation: but whether it evolved once and monotremes have since lost it, or if it evolved more than once, is something that only more work on birds and reptiles can establish. The platypus, apparently, is a surprisingly deep sleeper. What's more, it spends more of its time in so-called 'REM' sleep than any other mammal. These are the conclusions of a study on sleep in the platypus by Jerry M. Siegel of the Sepulveda Veterans' Affairs Medical Center, North Hills, California and colleagues. Their report appears

The Ins

The Ins "The Black Tower"‚  is a classic example of crime, detective and espionage literature is a thrilling and exciting read. In most books classed into these catagories the writer will always try to out smart the reader, somewhere beneath the novel he, tries to puzzle you and make you confused. They hate us thinking that we are on top of this book, us thinking that we know where and why they did that. Etc. by them, the writer, playing these little games with us, the reader, it creates an effect that will almost always make us adictted or hooked in some way. The idea in hooking us to this book is to enable us to continue reading on without and worries or qualms."The Black Tower"‚  portrays, in an extenvive manner, the different ways in which the writer varies his ways of denying gratification and steering their expectations in a direction so he or she doesn't know how to get back.A calling card of Reverend Edward Wheeler Hall was...

Learning experiences and Learning process Research Paper

Learning experiences and Learning process - Research Paper Example Formal learning take place in institutions where there is an organized and structured program for instruction that is approved formally and it can lead to attainment of qualifications, for example, a diploma, degree or a certificate. The other experience in learning is non-formal learning, which either takes place in a training institution or outside a learning institution. Here, learning is not aimed at giving qualifications and is not usually evaluated. Finally, learning can occur in an informal way. In this form of learning, learning occurs in an informal setting like in a family or when in a work environment, in this form of learning no instructor is needed learning takes place naturally. In learning, process the teacher, acts as a facilitator: he asks open-ended questions, leads in discussions, guides students as they are performing tasks and make the learners participate actively in class. The teacher should also act as a motivator in the learning processes. This is because; as much as the content he is providing to the student might be hard, he should always try to simplify it for easy understanding (Szwejczewski 64). As a teacher, one should always provide a good learning environment for students, the slow learners, the fast learners, and those who are interested in co-curricular activities. In everything, that a teacher does in class it should be based on meeting the needs of the diverse student population. Even though students are taught in the same learning conditions, they tend to have different experiences.

Business Online Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Business Online - Essay Example The main trend in B2B e-commerce that dominates the business market in this computer age is the use of a webpage, more specifically known as a company's website. A true business entrepreneur would come up with a site that carries detailed information about the services that its company offers, enables visit to buy products or services online. This is due to the reality that online buying, selling, and trading is extremely fast and convenient. Consumers, even giant business establishments, are inclined to make dealings in the most fitting mode. Thus, the easiest mode to enhance profits is through a company website. This exchange of thoughts and sharing of contacts affect business giants such as Microsoft as well as a local business as small as an online Auto parts sale. It is true that when businessmen want to hire services or make a purchase, they are hardly ever concerned with the way the thing is presented.

Bill Gates Speech Essay Example for Free

Bill Gates Speech Essay William B. Gates, also known as Bill Gates was welcomed on October 28th, 1955 by his father William Gates II and his mother Mary Gates. Gates attended a public school and also the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13. Today I would like to inform you about William B. Gates the founder of Microsoft, his life before Microsoft, his career, and his accomplishments. As a child, Bill Gates was very competitive, curious and a deep thinker, that is when his parents decided to enroll him in the private preparation school lakeside, where he soon excelled. Bill Gates was surrounded by historical events at a young age, like when Apolo eleven took men to the moon, this event inspired him because a huge computer was involved. When Bill Gates was in high school he would spend hours upon hours in the computer room. He graduated in 1973 from Lakeside and was accepted by the prestigious university of Harvard, where he had no definite career plan. He loved to stay up all day and night, he spent more time in the computer lab then he did in the classroom, that was his true craze. Soon he met Steve Balmer, who lived down the hall from him at Harvard. Balmer is now Microsoft’s chief executive officer. While at Harvard Gates developed a programing language called BASIC, for the first microcomputer. In his junior year gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Alan. His belief was the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desk and in every home. So they began developing software for personal computers. Gates foresight and vision was the success of Microsoft and the software industry. Under gates leadership Microsoft’s mission has been to improve software technology and to make it easier, cost effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. In 1999 gates wrote business @ the speed of thought, the book was published in 25 languages and available in more than 60 countries. Was on the bestseller list of new york times, USA today, the wall street journal and amazon. com. Gates has donated the proceeds of the book to a nonprofit organization that support the use of technology and education and skills development. William Bill Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation the world wide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and buisnesses realizes their full potential. In 2008 Bill Gates transitioned out of a day to day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill and Malinda Gates foundation. Gates Continues to serve as Microsoft s chairman and advisor on key development projects. In conclusion William B. Gates is considered a role model to many people, in many different ways. He has many accomplishments that have made him into the successful businessman he is today. Bill gates changed the way the world operates and functions, he made life easier for humans to live in. In 4 seconds he earns $250, in 24 hours he earns 20 million, and in a year he earns 7. 8 billion dollars. All this due to his co-founding the multi-billion dollar company that is Microsoft today. And as bill gates once said â€Å" be nice to nerds, because youll probably be working for one. †

Bilingualism Essay -- Bilingual Education, Languages

Introduction This paper is primarily intended to present some major considerations about bilingualism and bilingual education from a sociolinguistic perspective. In first instance, I will deal with some of the definitions of these terms placing them along the continuum since the high complexity of the issues. Also, some features of individual and social bilingualism will be pointed out, and some of the most common effects on individual and on communities will be presented. Finally, a reflection upon a kind of ‘unnatural’ bilingualism is put forward. Definitions Basically, a bilingual person is said of that one who knows and uses two languages. More specifically, one who speaks, reads, or understands two languages equally well (Richards et al., 1992). The term bilingualism has been defined from different perspectives. As a matter of fact, disciplines like linguistics, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics propose, according to their particular domain, a definition for bilingualism. In general terms, the bilingualism is characterized by the alternation of two languages. The problem arises when we want to define the extent of language competence a person must have to be called bilingual. The most known definitions of bilingualism come from Bloomfield (1933) who states that bilingualism is the â€Å"native mastery of two languages†; similarly, Haugen (1969), argues that bilingualism is â€Å"the use of complete and meaningful sentences in other languages†; and for Weinreich (1953), bilingualism occurs when â€Å"two or more languages†¦ are used alternately by the same persons† (1970 [1953]). Clearly, those definitions (and others) may be situated along a continuum moving from a ‘radical’ position to a more flexible one. For example, Macnama... ... educational institution have the necessary elements of judgment and the required tools. For instance, if those tools are to measure linguistic competence, communicative competence and even pragmatic competence of the language involved. Finally, what really matters is that within our current world, where distance is dramatically reduced if not eliminated, the introduction of bilingual and multilingual communities have to be an asset for most societies. Nevertheless, the design and implementation of such communities must be a question of informed decisions. It is true that education is also dependent of political determination, but it is not less true that linguistic, cultural, and social factor must be carefully incorporated. This means that language teachers and the scholar ´s communities have a major role to play through serious and supported research projects.

Analytical Psychology of Carl Jung Essay

Psychological Therapeutic System, more commonly known as, Analytical Psychology, was developed and founded by a Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung. Carl’s family was very involved with the Christian faith, when Carl had his â€Å"initiation† he didn’t have any moving feelings and that was said to be a main reason to why he chose to go on with his later work, he was trying to replace the faith that was missing from his life (Mitchell). Jung and Freud met up and began a six year long journey of research and work together until they split right before World War I in May 1914. Jung soon started his own research which became Analytical Psychology in response to Freud’s psychoanalysis. (Mitchell). â€Å"Jung taught that the psyche consists of various systems including the personal unconscious with its complexes and a collective unconscious with its archetypes,† (PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries). Analytic psychology is the analysis of the human mind, psyche and the unconscious, as well as the conscious components of the mind. It is thought that man’s behavior and his conscious states can be explained only by unconscious sources of what motivates him. Jung believed that the mind could be divided into unconscious and conscious parts. The unconscious mind was made up of layers; the personal unconscious is the part of the unconscious mind where each person’s unique own experiences and that may not be consciously remembered are stored. Jung believed that the contents of each person’s personal unconscious are organized in terms of complexes, clusters of emotional unconscious thoughts. One may have a complex towards their mother or towards their partner. Jung referred to the second layer of unconsciousness as the collective unconscious. This level contains memories and behavioral predisposition’s that all people have inherited from common ancestors in the distant human past, providing us with essentially shared memories and tendencies. People across space and time tend to interpret and use experience in similar ways because of â€Å"archetypes†, inherited human tendencies to perceive and act in certain ways. During Analytic Therapy, Jung may use certain archetypes to explain a person’s unconscious thought that even affect their behavior. Jung believed that there are certain archetypes that are important in people’s lives. These archetypes are as follows. The persona archetype is the part of our personality that we show the world, the part that we are willing to share with others. The shadow archetype is the darker part of a person, the part that embraces what we view as frightening, hateful and even evil about ourselves – the part of us that we hide not only from others but also from ourselves. The anima is the feminine side of a males personality, which shows tenderness, caring, compassion and warmth to others, yet which is more irrational and based on emotions. The animus is the masculine side of a woman’s personality, the more rational and logical side of the woman. Jung posited that men often try to hide their anima both from others and from themselves because it goes against their idealized image of what men should be. According to Jung, these archetypes play a role in our interpersonal relationships. For example, the relationship between a man and a woman calls into play the archetypes in each individual’s collective unconscious. The anima helps the man to understand his female companion, just as the animus helps the woman to understand her male partners (PsychologyCampus. com, 2004). Jung distinguishes two differing attitudes to life, two ways of reacting to circumstances, which he finds so widespread that he could describe them as typical. The extraverted attitude, characterized by an outward personality, an interest in events, in people and things, a relationship with them, and a dependence on them. This type is motivated by outside factors and greatly influenced by the environment. The extraverted type is sociable and confident in unfamiliar surroundings. The introverted attitude, in contrast, is one of withdrawal of the personality and is concentrated upon personal factors, and their main influence is ‘inner needs’. When this attitude is habitual Jung speaks of an ‘introverted type’. This type lacks confidence in relation to people and things, tends to be unsociable, and prefers reflection to activity. This approach is especially helpful to clients that can remember their dreams and are either interested or troubled in them. They are often asked to keep a journal of their dreams and other impressions that they feel. When working with analytical psychology clients are expected to be as open, spontaneous, and self-observant as they can. Jungians will generally not use any formal assessment procedures while in therapy, and are not likely to diagnose problems. They take dreams very seriously and consider them central to establishing dialect between consciousness and unconsciousness. In a clinical setting, the helper will listen carefully to the client’s dreams and thoughts and intervene and identify important aspects that are noticed (Sommers-Flanagan, 2004). References Mitchell, G. (n. d. ). Carl jung & jungian analytical psychology. Retrieved from http://www. trans4mind. com/mind-development/jung. html PsychoHeresy Awareness Ministries, Initials. (n. d. ). Psychoheresy: c. g. jung’s legacy to the church. Retrieved from http://www. psychoheresy-aware. org/jungleg. html PsychologyCampus. com, Initials. (2004). Analytical psychology. Retrieved from http://www. psychologycampus. com/analytical-psychology. html Sommers-Flanagan, J & R. (2004). Counseling and psychotherapy theories in context and practice. Retrieved from http://books. google. ca/books? id=BpzrBuSe0ikC&pg=PA128&lpg=PA128&dq=case+example+analytical+psychology&source=bl&ots=ANhhYx5RIS&sig=NdjE_dCewzWNnrxc3dL0sB28ZUo&hl=en&ei=VNG0TITqJYGCsQPzkKjsCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5&ved=0CCUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q&f=falseÃ'Ž