Comparing and Contrasting Anglo-Saxon, Medieval, and...

centerbAnalysis of Early Civilizations Through Literature/b/centerbrbrA culture that evolves and changes through time is a healthy culture indeed. From the early pagan warriors to the artisans of the Renaissance, the European world dramatically reformed. The literature of each era indicates the profound cultural innovations. The Anglo-Saxons arguably most important literary piece, Beowulf, is a story of a brave warrior who fights Grendel. Grendel is described as, A powerful monster, living down/ In the darknessÂ…(lines 1-2). This affray demonstrates the timeless battle of good versus evil. The universal struggle is maintained in the Medieval plight for an ideal of perfect chivalry. Knights were guarded with utmost respect and†¦show more content†¦(93, Malory). The two former eras show a people who deeply appreciate battle and the pursuit of heroic deeds, not great knowledge or understanding of the elements around them as seen in the Renaissance and some later periods. Th e Renaissance was a highly progressive time of advancements in the arts, literature, science, and education. This ‘rebirth was much more modern than that of the English Anglo-Saxon period, although warfare and battles were still prevalent. Military innovations- primary cannons, new infantry tactics, and the royal standing armies combined to reduce the traditional dominance of the mounted feudal Knights. Knights were no longer important, as now there were armies. The Renaissance, Anglo-Saxon period, and Medieval times each contained elements of violence and battle, although each era progressed and changed in their individual respective ways.brbrAlong with the roles leadership

Perception and Sensation Free Essays

string(43) " are consider the main or standard senses\." In psychology we tend to study sensation due to our ways of organizing and responding to the world depend a great deal on the way which our senses filter or select from the stimuli, or information, around us. We come to know our world primarily through our senses, and often what we sense often affect our behaviour. Definition of sensation: Any fundamental experience of events from within or without the body that results from simulation of some receptor system. We will write a custom essay sample on Perception and Sensation or any similar topic only for you Order Now Sensation is distinguished from perception in that perception requires the interpretation of a sensation. This distinction is somewhat arbitrary(absolute), however, because some perception of a sensation must occur before awareness of that sensation is possible. To put it in a simpler explanation: Although intimately related, sensation and perception play two complementary but different roles in how we interpret our world. Sensation refers to the process of sensing our environment through touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell. This information is sent to our brains in raw form where perception comes into play. Perception is the way we interpret these sensations and therefore make sense of everything around us. Simple example of sensation and perception are: Sensation: Physical response. Information which is gathered through one of the human five senses, like touching a guitar string and the feeling of the string structure. Perception: Our mental response towards the sensation, like seeing an electric guitar and thinking of rock and roll. So how do sensation and perception work together? When sensation occurs, the sensory organs absorbs energy from a physical stimulus in the environment and then the sensory receptors convert this energy into neural impulses and send them to the brain. And then perception follows via the brain process of organizing the information and translate it into something â€Å"meaningful†. The term â€Å"meaningful† in the above context is how the brain determine whether the information is important and whether it should be focused on. We can determine this by using a process called Psychophysics. Psychophysics can be defined as, the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience. In psychophysics there are two process that can be done to measure the importance of the information that have been gather, Selective Attention and Perceptual Expectancy. Selective Attention is a process of discriminating between what is important and is irrelevant and is influenced by motivation. For example, students in a lecture class should be focusing on what the lecturer is saying and the overheads that are being presented. When a student who doesn’t take the lecture walk by the classroom, the student may be focusing on the people in the room, who is the teacher, etc and not the same thing the student in the class. Perceptual Expectancy is how we perceive the world is a function of our past experience,culture and our biological makeup. For instances, as a local Malaysian city dweller, when I look at a highway I expect to see cars, trucks, etc, NOT airplanes. But for someone from the rural area, aboriginal folks perhaps, who have different experiences and history, they might not have any idea what to expect and thus be surprise when they see cars go driving by. A simpler explanation for perceptual expectancy can be describe with the situation when we look at a picture or painting perhaps, we might not have any idea what the message that they are trying to convey. But if someone tells you about it, you might be begin to see things in the picture or painting that you were unable to see before. Here is an experiment to test perceptual expectancy. From the picture given above, can you find the hidden tiger? Anyway, in order to measure these psychophysics events psychologist use threshold. A threshold is a dividing line between what has detectable energy and what does not. For example, no matter how bright X-ray light is, you annot see it or although there are some delicate instruments that mighth be able to sense the light from a match struck on a mountaintop 50 miles away on a dark night, your eyes would not be able to. The amount of energy required to create a noticeable sensation is called absolute threshold. A certain amount of energy is required before you can detect a stimulus hence, the existing energy must fluctuate a certain amount before you can detect a certain change in the a stimulus. This minimum amount of energy fluctuation is know n as difference threshold. It can also called the Just Noticeable Difference (JND). Difference threshold also can change depending on the person’s physical condition or motivation or on the qualities of the stimulus being tested. For example, when you pick up a 5kg weight and then a 10kg weight, you can feel a big difference between those two. However if you pick up a 50kg and then 55kg, it is much more difficult to feel the difference. Weber’s Law stated that the larger or the stronger the stimulus, the larger or the change required for an observer to notice a difference. The smallest difference in intensity between two stimuli that can be readily detected is a constant fraction of the original stimulus. Last but not least there is the Signal Detection Theory where the detection of a stimulus involves some decision making process as well as sensory process. Additionally both sensory and decision making process are influenced by many more factors than just intensify. * Noise:- The factors of how much outside interference that exist that might influence the sensory and decision making process. * Criterion:- The level of assurance that you decide must be met before you take action. It involves higher mental processes. You set the criterion based on expectation and consequences of inaccuracy. Most people consider that there are five ways to sense, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and touching. In reality, there are any more than just these five but ultimately these five are consider the main or standard senses. You read "Perception and Sensation" in category "Papers" VISION. Researchers have studied vision more thoroughly than the other senses. Because people need sight to perform most daily activities, the sense of sight has evolved to be highly sophisticated. Vision, however, would not exist without the presence of light. Light is electromagnetic radiation that travels in the form of waves. Light is emitted from the sun, stars, fire, and light bulbs. Most other objects just reflect light. The usual vision system works on sensing and perceiving light waves. Light waves vary in their length and amplitude: * wave length (also referred to as frequency, since the longer a wave, the less often/quickly it occurs) – affects color perception (ex. , red=approx 700, yellow approx 600) * wave amplitude (this is the size/height of the wave) – affects brightness perception. People experience light as having three features: color,brightness, and saturation. These three types of experiences come from three corresponding characteristics of light waves: * The color or hue of light depends on its wavelength, the distance between the peaks of its waves. * The brightness of light is related to intensity or the amount of light an object emits or reflects. Brightness depends on light wave amplitude, the height of light waves. Brightness is also somewhat influenced by wavelength. Yellow light tends to look brighter than reds or blues. * Saturation or colorfulness depends on light complexity, the range of wavelengths in light. The color of a single wavelength is pure spectral color. Such lights are called fully saturated. Outside a laboratory, light is rarely pure or of a single wavelength. Light is usually a mixture of several different wavelengths. The greater number of spectral colors in a light, the lower the saturation. Light of mixed wavelengths looks duller or paler than pure light. Wavelength ——; Color| Amplitude ——; Brightness| Complexity ——; SaturationRainbows and LightsWhite light: Completely unsaturated. It is a mixture of all wavelengths of light. The visible spectrum: Includes the colors of the rainbow, which are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Ultraviolet light: The kind of light that causes sunburns. It has a wavelength somewhat shorter than the violet light at the end of the visible spectrum. Infrared radiation: Has a wavelength somewhat longer than the red light at the other end of the visible spectrum. STRUCTURE OF THE EYEThe process of vision cannot be understood without some knowledge about the structure of the eye: * The sclera is the white, elastic outer covering of the eye. * The cornea is the transparent outer bulge in front of the eye through which light waves pass * The iris is the pigmented muscular membrane that control the aperture in the center of the pupil. The iris determines the amount of light that enters the eye. * The iris surrounds an opening called the pupil, the dark circular aperture in the center of the iris of the eye that admits light. The pupil can get bigger or smaller to allow different amounts of light through the lens to the back of the eye. In bright light, the pupil contracts to restrict light intake; in dim light, the pupil expands to increase light intake. * The lens is the transparent biconvex structure of the eye behind the iris and pupil that focuses light rays entering through the pupil to form an image on the retina. The lens can adjust its shape to focus light from objects that are near or far away. This process is called accommodation. * Light passing through the cornea, pupil, and lens falls onto the retina at the back of the eye. The retina is the delicate multilayer light sensitive membrane lining the inner eyeball It consists of layers of ganglion cells,bipolar cells and photoreceptor cells called rods and cones. The image that falls on the retina is always upside down. * The ganglion cells are the nerve cells of the retina, which receive impulses from rods and cones via the bipolar cells and transmit those impulses to the brain. Optic nerve are the bundle of nerve fibers connecting the retina and the brain. * Bipolar cells are the cells that collect and consolidate visual information. A particular bipolar cell is either rod driven or cone driven, meaning that the cell receives information from either groups of rods or groups of cones but never from a minute of the two. Bipolar cells transm it to the ganglion cells a ratio derived from the signals they receive from the photoreceptors and nearby horizontal cells. * Horizontal cells are the retina cells with short dendrites and long axons that extend horizontally, linking rods and cones with other cones. Each of these cells fires according to the average light intensity generated by the photoreceptors in its immediate neighbourhood. Horizontal cells are thought to influence the opposing color color processes(such as red and green, blue and yellow) are probably responsible, in part for negative afterimages and other opponent-process effects. * Amacrine cells are the large retinal neurons that connect ganglion cells laterally. There are at least 30 different varieties of amacrine cells. Image reflection appears to be one of their many functions. The functions of most amacrine cells are unknown. The center of the retina, the fovea, is where vision is sharpest. This explains why people look directly at an object they want to inspect. This causes the image to fall onto the fovea, where vision is clearest. EYE TROUBLENearsightedness is the inability to clearly see distant objects. Farsightedness is the inability to clearly see close objects. A cataract is a lens that has become opaque, res ulting in impaired vision. Blind spot is the region of the retina where the optic nerve attaches and where there are no photoreceptors. The fovea is also a blind spot when something is viewed in very dim light. Rods and ConesThe retina has millions of photoreceptors called rods and cones. Photoreceptors are specialized cells that respond to light stimuli. There are many more rods than cones. The long, narrow cells, called rods, are highly sensitive to light and allow vision even in dim conditions. There are no rods in the fovea, which is why vision becomes hazy in dim light. However, the area just outside the fovea contains many rods, and these allow peripheral vision. Because rods are so sensitive to light, in dim lighting conditions peripheral vision is sharper than direct vision. Example: People can often see a star in the night sky if they look a little to the side of the star instead of directly at it. Looking to the side utilizes peripheral vision and makes the image of the star fall onto the periphery of the retina, which contains most of the rods. Cones are cone-shaped cells that can distinguish between different wavelengths of light, allowing people to see in color. Cones don’t work well in dim light, however, which is why people have trouble distinguishing colors at night. The fovea has only cones, but as the distance from the fovea increases, the umber of cones decreases. | Feature| Rods| Cones| Shape| Long and narrow| Cone-shaped| Sensitivity to light| High: help people to see in dim light| Low: help people to see in bright light| Help color vision| No| Yes| Present in fovea| No| Yes| Abundant in periphery of retina| Yes| No| Allow peripheral vision| Yes| No| ADAPTATION TO LIGHT Dark adaptation is the process by which receptor cells sensitize to light, allowing clearer vision in dim light. Light adaptation is the process by which receptor cells desensitize to light, allowing clearer vision in bright light. Connection to the Optic Nerve Rods and cones connect via synapses to bipolar neurons, which then connect to other neurons called ganglion cells. The axons of all the ganglion cells in the retina come together to make up the optic nerve. The optic nerve connects to the eye at a spot in the retina called the optic disk. The optic disk is also called the blind spot because it has no rods or cones. Any image that falls on the blind spot disappears from view. Transmission of Visual Information Visual information travels from the eye to the brain as follows: * Light reflected from an object hits the retina’s rods and cones. Rods and cones send neural signals to the bipolar cells. * Bipolar cells send signals to the ganglion cells. * Ganglion cells send signals through the optic nerve to the brain. Bipolar and ganglion cells gather and compress information from a large number of rods and cones. The rods and cones that send information to a particular bipolar or ganglion cell make up that cell’s receptive f ield. Ganglion cell axons from the inner half of each eye cross over to the opposite half of the brain. This means that each half of the brain receives signals from both eyes. Signals from the eyes’ left sides go to the left side of the brain, and signals from the eyes’ right sides go to the right side of the brain. The diagram below illustrates this process. Visual Processing in the Brain After being processed in the thalamus and different areas of the brain, visual signals eventually reach the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe of the brain’s cerebrum. In the 1960s, David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel demonstrated that highly specialized cells called feature detectors respond to these visual signals in the primary visual cortex. Feature detectors are neurons that respond to specific features of the environment, such as lines and edges. From the visual cortex, visual signals often travel on to other parts of the brain, where more processing occurs. Cells deeper down the visual processing pathway are even more specialized than those in the visual cortex. Psychologists theorize that perception occurs when a large number of neurons in different parts of the brain activate. These neurons may respond to various features of the perceived object such as edges, angles, shapes, movement, brightness, and texture. Color Vision Objects in the world seem to be brightly colored, but they actually have no color at all. Red cars, green leaves, and blue sweaters certainly exist—but their color is a psychological experience. Objects only produce or reflect light of different wavelengths and amplitudes. Our eyes and brains then convert this light information to experiences of color. Color vision happens because of two different processes, which occur in sequence: * The first process occurs in the retina and is explained by the trichromatic theory. The second process occurs in retinal ganglion cells and in cells in the thalamus and visual cortex. The opponent process theory explains this process. These two theories are explained below. The Trichromatic Theory Thomas Young and Hermann von Helmholtz proposed the trichromatic theory, or Young-Helmholtz theory. This theory states that the retina contains three types of cones, which respond to light of three different wavelengths, corresponding to re d, green, or blue. Activation of these cones in different combinations and to different degrees results in the perception of other colors. Color Mixing Mixing lights of different colors is called additive color mixing. This process adds wavelengths together and results in more light. Mixing paints, on the other hand, is called subtractive color mixing, a process that removes wavelengths so that there is less light. If red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet light were mixed, the result would be white light. If the same color paints were mixed together, the result would be a dark, muddy color. The trichromatic theory also accounts for color blindness, a hereditary condition that affects a person’s ability to distinguish between colors. Most color-blind people are dichromats, which means they are sensitive to only two of the three wavelengths of light. Dichromats are usually insensitive either to red or green, but sometimes they cannot see blue. The Opponent Process Theory Ewald Hering proposed the opponent process theory. According to this theory, the visual system has receptors that react in opposite ways to three pairs of colors. The three pairs of colors are red versus green, blue versus yellow, and black versus white. Some receptors are activated by wavelengths corresponding to red light and are turned off by wavelengths corresponding to green light. Other receptors are activated by yellow light and turned off by blue light. Still others respond oppositely to black and white. Opponent process theory explains why most people perceive four primary colors: red, green, blue, and yellow. If trichromatic theory alone fully explained color vision, people would perceive only three primary colors, and all other colors would be combinations of these three colors. However, most people think of yellow as primary rather than as a mixture of colors. Opponent process theory also accounts for complementary or negative afterimages. Afterimages are colors perceived after other, complementary colors are removed. Example: If Jack stares at a picture of a red square, wavelengths corresponding to red will activate the matching receptors in his visual system. For the sake of simplicity, these matching receptors can be referred to as red receptors. Anything that makes red receptors increase firing will be seen as red, so Jack will see the square as red. Anything that decreases the firing of red receptors will be seen as green. If Jack stares at the square for a while, the red receptors will get tired out and start to fire less. Then if he looks at a blank white sheet of paper, he will see a green square. The decreased firing of the red receptors produces an experience of a green afterimage. Form Perception The ability to see separate objects or forms is essential to daily functioning. Suppose a girl sees a couple in the distance with their arms around each other. If she perceived them as a four-legged, two-armed, two-headed person, she’d probably be quite disturbed. People can make sense of the world because the visual system makes sensible interpretations of the information the eyes pick up. Gestalt psychology, a school of thought that arose in Germany in the early twentieth century, explored how people organize visual information into patterns and forms. Gestalt psychologists noted that the perceived whole is sometimes more than the sum of its parts. An example of this is the phi phenomenon, or stroboscopic movement, which is an illusion of movement that happens when a series of images is presented very quickly, one after another. Example: The phi phenomenon is what gives figures and objects in movies the illusion of movement. In reality, a movie is a series of still images presented in rapid succession. Gestalt Principles Gestalt psychologists described several principles people use to make sense of what they see. These principles include figure and ground, proximity, closure, similarity, continuity, and simplicity: * Figure and ground: One of the main ways people organize visual information is to divide what they see into figure and ground. Figure is what stands out, and ground is the background in which the figure stands. People may see an object as figure if it appears larger or brighter relative to the background. They may also see an object as figure if it differs noticeably from the background or if it moves against a static environment. * Proximity: When objects lie close together, people tend to perceive the objects as a group. For example, in the graphic below, people would probably see these six figures as two groups of three. * Closure: People tend to interpret familiar, incomplete forms as complete by filling in gaps. People can easily recognize the following figure as the letter k in spite of the gaps. * Similarity: People tend to group similar objects together. In the next figure, people could probably distinguish the letter T because similar dots are seen as a group. * Continuity: When people see interrupted lines and patterns, they tend to perceive them as being continuous by filling in gaps. The next figure is seen as a circle superimposed on a continuous line rather than two lines connected to a circle. * Simplicity: People tend to perceive forms as simple, symmetrical figures rather than as irregular ones. This figure is generally seen as one triangle superimposed on another rather than a triangle with an angular piece attached to it. Depth Perception To figure out the location of an object, people must be able to estimate their distance from that object. Two types of cues help them to do this: binocular cues and monocular cues. Binocular Cues Binocular cues are cues that require both eyes. These types of cues help people to estimate the distance of nearby objects. There are two kinds of binocular cues: retinal disparity and convergence. * Retinal disparity marks the difference between two images. Because the eyes lie a couple of inches apart, their retinas pick up slightly different images of objects. Retinal disparity increases as the eyes get closer to an object. The brain uses retinal disparity to estimate the distance between the viewer and the object being viewed. * Convergence is when the eyes turn inward to look at an object close up. The closer the object, the more the eye muscles tense to turn the eyes inward. Information sent from the eye muscles to the brain helps to determine the distance to the object. Monocular Cues Monocular cues are cues that require only one eye. Several different types of monocular cues help us to estimate the distance of objects: interposition, motion parallax, relative size and clarity, texture gradient, linear perspective, and light and shadow. Interposition: When one object is blocking part of another object, the viewer sees the blocked object as being farther away. * Motion parallax or relative motion: When the viewer is moving, stationary objects appear to move in different directions and at different speeds depending on their location. Relatively close objects appear to move backward. The closer the obj ect, the faster it appears to move. Distant objects appear to move forward. The further away the object, the slower it appears to move. * Relative size: People see objects that make a smaller image on the retina as farther away. Relative clarity: Objects that appear sharp, clear, and detailed are seen as closer than more hazy objects. * Texture gradient: Smaller objects that are more thickly clustered appear farther away than objects that are spread out in space. * Linear perspective: Parallel lines that converge appear far away. The more the lines converge, the greater the perceived distance. * Light and shadow: Patterns of light and shadow make objects appear three-dimensional, even though images of objects on the retina are two-dimensional. Creating Perspective Artists use monocular cues to give a three-dimensional appearance to two-dimensional pictures. For instance, if an artist wanted to paint a landscape scene with a straight highway on it, she would show the edges of the highway as two parallel lines gradually coming together to indicate that the highway continues into the distance. If she wanted to paint cars on the highway, she would paint bigger cars if she wanted them to seem closer and smaller cars if she wanted them to seem farther away. Perceptual Constancy Another important ability that helps people make sense of the world is perceptual constancy. Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that an object remains the same even when it produces different images on the retina. Example: When a man watches his wife walk away from him, her image on his retina gets smaller and smaller, but he doesn’t assume she’s shrinking. When a woman holds a book in front of her face, its image is a rectangle. However, when she puts it down on the table, its image is a trapezoid. Yet she knows it’s the same book. Although perceptual constancy relates to other senses as well, visual constancy is the most studied phenomenon. Different kinds of visual constancies relate to shape, color, size, brightness, and location. * Shape constancy: Objects appear to have the same shape even though they make differently shaped retinal images, depending on the viewing angle. * Size constancy: Objects appear to be the same size even though their images get larger or smaller as their distance decreases or increases. Size constancy depends to some extent on familiarity with the object. For example, it is common knowledge that people don’t shrink. Size constancy also depends on perceived distance. Perceived size and perceived distance are strongly related, and each influences the other. * Brightness constancy: People see objects as having the same brightness even when they reflect different amounts of light as lighting conditions change. * Color constancy: Different wavelengths of light are reflected from objects under different lighting conditions. Outdoors, objects reflect more light in the blue range of wavelengths, and indoors, objects reflect more light in the yellow range of wavelengths. Despite this, people see objects as having the same color whether they are outdoors or indoors because of two factors. One factor is that the eyes adapt quickly to different lighting conditions. The other is that the brain interprets the color of an object relative to the colors of nearby objects. In effect, the brain cancels out the extra blueness outdoors and the extra yellowness indoors. * Location constancy: Stationary objects don’t appear to move even though their images on the retina shift as the viewer moves around. Visual Illusions The brain uses Gestalt principles, depth perception cues, and perceptual constancies to make hypotheses about the world. However, the brain sometimes misinterprets information from the senses and makes incorrect hypotheses. The result is an optical illusion. An illusion is a misinterpretation of a sensory stimulus. Illusions can occur in other senses, but most research has been done on visual illusions. In the famous Muller-Lyer illusion shown here, the vertical line on the right looks longer than the line on the left, even though the two lines are actually the same length. This illusion is probably due to misinterpretation of depth perception cues. Because of the attached diagonal lines, the vertical line on the left looks like the near edge of a building, and the vertical line on the right looks like the far edge of a room. The brain uses distance cues to estimate size. The retinal images of both lines are the same size, but since one appears nearer, the brain assumes that it must be smaller. Perceptual Set The Muller-Lyer illusion doesn’t fool everyone equally. Researchers have found that people who live in cities experience a stronger illusion than people who live in forests. In other words, city-dwelling people see the lines as more different in size. This could be because buildings and rooms surround city dwellers, which prepares them to see the lines as inside and outside edges of buildings. The difference in the strength of the illusion could also be due to variations in the amount of experience people have with making three-dimensional interpretations of two-dimensional drawings. Cultural differences in the tendency to see illusions illustrate the importance of perceptual set. Perceptual set is the readiness to see objects in a particular way based on expectations, experiences, emotions, and assumptions. Perceptual set influences our everyday perceptions and how we perceive reversible figures, which are ambiguous drawings that can be interpreted in more than one way. For example, people might see a vase or two faces in this famous figure, depending on what they’re led to expect. Selective Attention Reversible figures also illustrate the concept of selective attention, the ability to focus on some bits of sensory information and ignore others. When people focus on the white part of the figure, they see a vase, and when they focus on the black part of it, they see two faces. To use the language of Gestalt psychology, people can choose to make the vase figure and the face ground or vice versa. Selective attention allows people to carry on day-to-day activities without being overwhelmed by sensory information. Reading a book would be impossible if the reader paid attention to not only the words on the page but also all the things in his peripheral vision, all the sounds around him, all the smells in the air, all the information his brain gets about his body position, air pressure, temperature, and so on. He wouldn’t get very far with the book. Context Effects Another factor that influences perception is the context of the perceiver. People’s immediate surroundings create expectations that make them see in particular ways. Example: The figure below can be seen either as a sequence of letters, A B C, or a sequence of numbers, 12 13 14, depending on whether it is scanned across or down. HEARING Hearing, or audition, depends on the presence of sound waves, which travel much more slowly than light waves. Sound waves are changes in pressure generated by vibrating molecules. The physical characteristics of sound waves influence the three psychological features of sound: loudness, pitch, and timbre. * Loudness depends on the amplitude, or height, of sound waves. The greater the amplitude, the louder the sound perceived. Amplitude is measured in decibels. The absolute threshold of human hearing is defined as 0 decibels. Loudness doubles with every 10-decibel increase in amplitude. A Whisper to a Scream The loudness of normal human conversation is about sixty decibels. A whisper is about twenty decibels. A shout right into someone’s ear is about 115 decibels. Being exposed to sounds that are over 120 decibels, even for brief periods, can damage the auditory system. * Pitch, though influenced by amplitude, depends most on the frequency of sound waves. Frequency is the number of times per second a sound wave cycles from the highest to the lowest point. The higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. Frequency is measured in hertz, or cycles per second. Frequency also affects loudness, with higher-pitched sounds being perceived as louder. Amplitude and frequency of sound waves interact to produce the experiences of loudness and pitch. What’s Audible? Humans can hear sounds that are between 20 and 20,000 hertz. * Timbre, or the particular quality of a sound, depends on thecomplexity of a sound wave. A pure tone has sound waves of only one frequency. Most sound waves are a mixture of different frequencies. The Structure of the Ear Knowing the basic structure of the ear is essential to understanding how hearing works. The ear has three basic parts: the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The visible part of the ear is the pinna, which collects sound waves and passes them along the auditory canal to a membrane called the eardrum. When sound waves hit the eardrum, it vibrates. The eardrum transmits the vibration to three bones, or ossicles, in the middle ear, which are called the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup. The diagram of the ear shows how they got these names: they actually look like a hammer, an anvil, and a stirrup. In response to the vibration, these ossicles move one after another. Their function is to amplify the sound vibrations. From the ossicles, vibrations move through a membrane called the oval window to the cochlea of the inner ear. The cochlea is a coiled, fluid-filled tunnel. Inside the cochlea are receptors called cilia or hair cells that are embedded in the basilar membrane. The basilar membrane runs along the whole length of the coiled cochlea. Vibrations that reach the inner ear cause the fluid in the cochlea to move in waves. These waves in turn make the hair cells move. The movement triggers impulses in neurons that connect with the hair cells. The axons of these neurons come together to form the auditory nerve, which sends impulses from the ear to the brain. In the brain, the thalamus and the auditory cortex, which is in the temporal lobe of the cerebrum, receive auditory information. Pitch Perception Two theories explain how people distinguish the pitch of different sounds: place theory and frequency theory. Place theory explains how people discriminate high-pitched sounds that have a frequency greater than 5000 Hz. Place theory states that sound waves of different frequencies trigger receptors at different places on the basilar membrane. The brain figures out the pitch of the sound by detecting the position of the hair cells that sent the neural signal. Frequency theory explains how people discriminate low-pitched sounds that have a frequency below 1000 Hz. According to frequency theory, sound waves of different frequencies make the whole basilar membrane vibrate at different rates and therefore cause neural impulses to be sent at different rates. Pitch is determined by how fast neural signals move along to the brain. The detection of moderately pitched sounds, with a frequency between 1000 and 5000 Hz, is explained by both place theory and frequency theory. To discriminate among these sounds, the brain uses a code based both on where the neural impulses originated and how quickly neural impulses move. Locating Sounds In the same way that people use two eyes to perceive depth, people use two ears to locate the origin of sounds. The left ear receives sound waves coming from the left slightly faster than the right ear does. The signal received by the left ear may also be a little more intense than that received in the right ear, because the signal has to go around the head to enter the right ear. Locating a sound is difficult if both ears receive a signal of exactly the same intensity at exactly the same time, as when a sound originates from directly in front, directly behind, or directly above. Turning the head or cocking it to one side can help circumvent this difficulty. TASTE AND SMELL. Taste and smell are chemical senses. As light waves stimulate vision and sound waves stimulate sound, chemicals stimulate taste and smell. TASTE Taste, or gustation, happens when chemicals stimulate receptors in the tongue and throat, on the inside of the cheeks, and on the roof of the mouth. These receptors are inside taste buds, which in turn are inside little bumps on the skin called papillae. Taste receptors have a short life span and are replaced about every ten days. For a long time, researchers believed in the existence of four tastes: salty, sweet, sour, and bitter. Recently, researchers have suggested the presence of a fifth taste called umami. The spice monosodium glutamate (MSG) has an umami taste, as do many protein-rich foods. Taste is also strongly influenced by smell. SMELL Smell, or olfaction, happens when chemicals in the air enter the nose during the breathing process. Smell receptors lie in the top of the nasal passage. They send impulses along the olfactory nerve to the olfactory bulb at the base of the brain. Researchers theorize that there are a great many types of olfactory receptors. People perceive particular smells when different combinations of receptors are stimulated. Remembrance of Smells Past The sense of smell is closely connected with memory. Most people have had the experience of smelling something, maybe a certain perfume or spice, and suddenly experiencing a strong emotional memory. Researchers don’t know exactly why this happens, but they theorize that smell and memory trigger each other because they are processed in neighboring regions of the brain. POSITION MOVEMENT AND BALANCE Kinesthesis is the sense of the position and movement of body parts. Through kinesthesis, people know where all the parts of their bodies are and how they are moving. Receptors for kinesthesis are located in the muscles, joints, and tendons. The sense of balance or equilibrium provides information about where the body exists in space. The sense of balance tells people whether they are standing up, falling in an elevator, or riding a roller coaster. The sensory system involved in balance is called the vestibular system. The main structures in the vestibular system are three fluid-filled tubes calledsemicircular canals, which are located in the inner ear. As the head moves, the fluid in the semicircular canals moves too, stimulating receptors called hair cells, which then send impulses to the brain. TOUCH he sense of touch is really a collection of several senses, encompassing pressure, pain, cold, and warmth. The senses of itch and tickle are related to pressure, and burn injuries are related to pain. Touch receptors are stimulated by mechanical, chemical, and thermal energy. Pressure seems to be the only kind of touch sense that has specific receptors. The Gate-Control Theory of Pain Researchers don’t completely understand the mechanics of pain, although they do know that processes in the injured part of the body and processes in the brain both play a role. In the 1960s, Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall proposed an important theory about pain called the gate-control theory of pain. Gate-control theorystates that pain signals traveling from the body to the brain must go through a gate in the spinal cord. If the gate is closed, pain signals can’t reach the brain. The gate isn’t a physical structure like a fence gate, but rather a pattern of neural activity that either stops pain signals or allows them to pass. Signals from the brain can open or shut the gate. For example, focusing on pain tends to increase it, whereas ignoring the pain tends to decrease it. Other signals from the skin senses can also close the gate. This process explains why massage, ice, and heat relieve pain. How to cite Perception and Sensation, Papers

Manipulation in Oryx and Crake Essay Example

Manipulation in Oryx and Crake Paper Manipulation in Orgy and Crake Manipulation may be a horribly effective word. Individuals have a tendency to utilize this move consistently to impel what they require in life. By misleading individuals or deceiving them into seeing a precise reason for read, individuals addition power. To skillfully utilize the office of control an individual ought to utilize someone elses shortcomings. By utilizing an individuals feelings against them, they will be controlled effortlessly. In the novel Orgy and Crake, many of the characters of uses these techniques virtually to realize their goals. Artistic gadgets like symbolism, clash, and imagery are utilized as a part of writing to pass on an exceptional intending to the reader. Regularly these gadgets are utilized to make a thought clearer, underline a point, or relate a knowledge to the reader. In her famous book, Orgy and Crake, Margaret Atwood uses arcane accessories to acquaint the theme and purpose of her book. Atwood makes frequent utilization of imagery to support her theme. Throughout the novel, we realize that the characters are indeed very manipulative and, in some ways, eager to have some power over someone else. Jimmy himself is to a certain extent a manipulative character. He knows how to use others to obtain what he wants. This is particularly true as to his relationships with women. Jimmy knows how to make them feel useful; he chooses sad women, delicate and breakable, women whod been messed up and who needed him. comforting them, he expects that a grateful woman would go the extra mile. (121 He also manipulates his mother in the sense that he wants to get a reaction from her, by any means, from making her laugh to making her cry. He wants her to feel something and manipulates her feelings until he gets what he wants. This is to the first time Atwood depicts a male character exercising power over women. Once more, Atwood uses conflict to support her theme. The diversions the two young men played in their initial youth are all centered around win ning an aggregate force upon the other and on controlling the other to achieve that objective. They all used parallel strategies: you had to see where you were headed before you got there, but also where the other guy was headed. Crake was good at that game because he was a master of the sideways leap. (47). It appears that control and the suspicion that one must have some force pond another person is embedded from right on time youth, however likewise that Crake as of now had a transcendence on Jimmy, playing recreations additionally in a general way treating him with prevalence and loftiness. We will write a custom essay sample on Manipulation in Oryx and Crake specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Manipulation in Oryx and Crake specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Manipulation in Oryx and Crake specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer He appears to make a moron of Jimmy, and this inclination contain joyously develops, alongside the novel, as Jimmy finds Crakes arrange and after that as he understands that Crake made him in charge Of his animals once mankind is destructed. Jimmys impression of being misdirected comes with the clear naivety he exemplifies. Manipulation would therefore be n implement for potent people to have power upon weaker people. In like matter, the theme manipulation is shown through Tattoos use of symbolism. Atwood uses the pills to display the affect that companies has over the citizens. By supplying the pills everyone thinks they take it to be healthy. Eave cant give people hope. Hope isnt ripping off! At Nonskid princes it is. You hype your wares and take all their money and then they run out of cash, and its no more treatments for them. (67). The company manipulates individuals by creating them to believe that they are sick, and retesting to cure them of something that doesnt they dont even have. The way that the organizations have aggregate control over the needs of individuals, over their longings and over what they purchase to satisfy them, demonstrates how compelling they are in the general public and how they can keep on creating without being addressed. The need to fit a model, the steady yearning for wellbeing, excellence, and even sexual claim is molded by these partnerships, making both the need and the arrangement. The force here lives in the way that the companies assemble the entire impact accessible in the public arena because of the framework that works around. In the novel, Orgy and Crake the theme manipulation is demonstrated through the utilization of symbolism, conflict, and imagery. Atwood passes on unique intending to the reader on various events all through her novel. Her gifted utilization of these devises underscores her principle focuses and frequently makes distinctive image in the reader mind.

Describe and Evaluate Two Approaches to the Treatment of Self-Defeating Behaviour Essays

Describe and Evaluate Two Approaches to the Treatment of Self-Defeating Behaviour Essays Describe and Evaluate Two Approaches to the Treatment of Self-Defeating Behaviour Essay Describe and Evaluate Two Approaches to the Treatment of Self-Defeating Behaviour Essay Word count – 2553 Describe and evaluate two approaches to the treatment of self-defeating behaviour. Module Five Jane Ovington May 2012 Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 1 of 9 Introduction This essay aims to describe and evaluate two approaches to the treatment of self defeating behaviour. To do this I am using the description of Anorexia Nervosa as a self defeating behaviour, one which has far reaching consequences. I will include possible origins, causes and maintenance of Anorexia and describe two of many ways in which a therapist may help with this condition whilst weighing up the strengths and weaknesses of each. Main essay What is self defeating behaviour? Self defeating behaviour could be described as behaviour that when compared to other possible courses of action, it is never the best possible action for that individual. A self defeating behaviour will at some point have been used successfully as a coping strategy to get through a difficult situation. This course of action is then stored in the subconscious by that individual as something that ‘worked’ and therefore the behaviour will be re-produced again in times of perceived trouble. The self defeating behaviour will by its very nature actually serve to ensure that the fear or consequence that the person is trying to avoid will in fact come to pass. (Chrysalis Year 2 Module5) What is Anorexia? Anorexia is an eating disorder whose main feature is excessive weight loss and obsessive exercise. A very low weight is achieved which is then maintained abnormally low for the patients age and height. The sufferer develops an intense desire to be thinner and an intense fear of becoming fat. Their body image becomes completely distorted and their body weight and shape become the main or even sole measure of self worth as maintaining an extremely low weight becomes equated with beauty, success, self-esteem, and self-control. It is not seen as a problem by the sufferer. Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 2 of 9 Contrary to popular belief this psychological and physical condition is not usually about food. It is a self defeating behaviour used as a way of taking control and trying to make life better and is accompanied by a variety of changes in behaviour, emotions, thinking, perceptions, and social interactions. The name Anorexia nervosa is somewhat misleading as it literally means nervous loss of appetite. However, for people with this disorder all waking thoughts are dominated by food, weight, and body image and incredible levels of self control are used to fight feelings of intense hunger. http://ehealthmd. com/content/what-anorexia-nervosa) Approximately 95% of those affected by anorexia are female and most often teenage girls. Higher incidence of anorexia is often seen in environments where thinness is deemed to be especially desirable or a professional requirement, such as athletes, models, dancers, and actors. In order to enter the state of Anorexia Nervosa, a person must lose weigh t. The majority set out to do so deliberately because rightly or wrongly they feel that they are too fat. For most people, dieting to lose weight is a struggle. Most dieters cheat or give up before they lose all the weight which they had intended to shed and for those who do reach their intended weight there is a measure of satisfaction and re-education of eating habits which allow them to maintain a healthy weight. In contrast, the soon to be anorexic finds slimming easy, rewarding and something they can be good at from the start, something they can control which brings feelings of success, power and triumph. The sense of satisfaction gained from the suppression of hunger and the level of self denial required to be successful is frequently reported by anorexic sufferers to be very empowering and so here we see how effective this behaviour may be viewed by the sufferer as a coping strategy. Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 3 of 9 My own experience of this condition was one that arose when my best friend died at the age of 17. I knew for many months prior to her death that death would almost certainly be the outcome of her condition. I felt ‘out of control’ there was nothing I could do to change the course of events. The one thing I could control however was what went into my mouth. This gave me a comforting sense of taking control of something. Something I turned out to be good at, something I could focus on to make all the other uncontrollable feelings subside. Once these feelings arise, a fear of losing control prevents the sufferer from resuming normal eating habits. Their experience is dominated by these feel good feelings of control and power but it is perceived by the sufferer to be precarious and vulnerable and therefore threatened by any behaviour that may cause unwanted weight gain. The sufferers preoccupation with maintaining this new postition begins to distort all other interests, concerns and relationships. In some cases the current position is never enough and weight loss progresses until it becomes life threatening. In most cases it seems that the anorexic starts out with similar behaviour and similar intention to the ordinary slimmer but something goes wrong and the slimming behaviour is inappropriately prolonged (My own experience). Ironically, while Anorexia starts out as a feeling of taking control, it rapidly descends into a fear of losing the control the sufferer perceives themselves to have taken. All the while the condition is actually controlling the sufferer. While the media definitely plays a role in how we view ourselves, anorexia is a way of coping with what’s going on in a teen’s life. Stress, pain, anger, acceptance, confusion and fear can all become triggers for this debilitating eating disorder. The goal is one of trying to make their whole life better. Families can play a huge role. Some families are over protective and smothering which can create a need or rather a demand for independence. Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 4 of 9 Some families are critical of weight gain, academic or sporting accomplishments or are rigid and even abusive. Some younger people do not feel safe in their own homes, they don’t know where to turn or what to do and the need to find a way to deal with what’s going on in their lives. Life transitions such as a break up, a divorce, death of a loved one, failure at school or at work are all stressful incidents that need to be dealt with. Genetic factors can also play its part in contributing anorexia in teenage girls occurs eight times more often in people who have relatives with the disorder. Anorexia – a guide to sufferers and their families R. L Palmer 1980). My own Mother was grossly overweight at the time of my condition and I viewed her as someone who was completely out of control with no respect for herself. This was a very negative view, one which I could not see in myself at the other end of the spectrum! Effects on families and friends For parents and oth ers who are close to a person who is trapped inside the condition of anorexia, there can seem like there is no escape. It is difficult for them to understand and empathise with self destructive behaviours. It becomes extrememly distressing to see a loved one wasting away whilst refusing offers of food which seem such a tantalisingly simple solution to the problem. Feelings of helplesness and guilt set in, along with frustration, anger and despair. (Quote from my Mum from 1991). My Mother set about criticising my ‘ridiculous behaviour’ in a bid to scare me into eating this only served to make me more determined to empower myself with what had turned from self defeating behaviour into self destructive behaviour and ultimately formed a self defeating behaviour in my Mother. Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 5 of 9 Treatment The idea of being ‘cured’ of Anorexia by the sufferer is usually completely undesirable because what that ‘cure’ implies is that they will eat more food, put on more weight and become fat, the very thing they are trying to avoid! Therefore, Anorexia has to be acknowledged as a problem by the sufferer before effective treatment can take place. Traditionaly the disorder is treated with a combination of individual psychotherapy and family therapy to look beyond the basic issue of food intake and address the emotional issues that underpin the disorder using a psychodynamic approach. Important ethical considerations It is important for therapists to consider that Anorexia Nervosa, although starts out as a self defeating behaviour, it’s consequences lead to many serious medical conditions which can range from malnutrition, loss of concentration and loss of periods to total organ failure and death. Therefore a therapist should never aim to treat the condition alone, but any psychological intervention to treat the underlying causes should take place alongside appropriate medical care. Any therapists working with an anorexic client would always need written medical consent and specialist supervision and should be experienced in this field of work. However, members of the sufferers family and close friends may also benefit from therapy to address any stress, anxiety and guilt surrounding the issue and in the absence of any other contraindications, medical consent for this group would not be necessary. The psychodynamic approach The psychodynamic approach will view the clients behaviour as being derived from some internal conflict, motive or unconscious force. Once it is discovered where this conflict began the therapist can set about working through those issues to a resolution. Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 6 of 9 Generally, it is believed that if behaviours are discontinued without addressing the underlying motives that are driving them, then a relapse will occur. During my battle with Anorexia, I was hospitalised and fed to increase my body weight. I ate willingly and was quickly considered cured and discharged from the hospital. However, I had deliberately manipulated the situation with the view that the sooner I could ‘escape’ the quicker I could get back on with the job. Taking control, to bring back the feel good feelings and the sense of empowerment that meant even more to me after having been ‘overpowered’ in the hospital. Clearly this treatment was very ineffective. Later I sought help through a therapist who, using a psychodynamic approach, was able to take me back through the death of my friend and deal with the grief in an appropriate way. This eventually helped me to let go of controlling my food intake as a way of dealing with these suppressed emotions. Behavioural symptoms in the psychodynamic approach are viewed as expressions of the patients underlying needs. Often issues can disappear or lie dormant with the completion of working through these issues. However, a psychodynamic approach to anorexia is not all encompassing. During the recovery process, anorexics will frequently suffer from feelings of panic as they learn to lessen their control. As weight is gained, they will feel anxious much of the time and suffer from low self esteem or perhaps even feel that they are a bad person and have to become a people pleaser to make up for it. Anorexics are very often perfectionists and can be very harsh on themselves. All these things combined can make the process of recovery a very stressful, anxious and self deprecating experience (My own experience). A cognitive behavioural therapy approach may best meet the needs of a client feeling this way. Anorexics are often not fully aware of the initial cause of the condition and therapy may be a way to Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 7 of 9 lift the lid off of buried emotions to enable sufferers to deal with their underlying emotions. During the grip of the disorder the over-riding emotion felt is fear and this fear over rides the bodys natural wisdom around food and eating, the sufferer distrusts themselves and fears that their secret greedy self may emerge and they will lose control completely. The sufferer will hate their secret greedy self and cognitive behavioural therapy would be a valuable tool in rebuilding self trust, improving self esteem, and overcoming fear and anxiety that arises through the process of recovery. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a time-limited and focused approach that helps a person understand how their thinking and negative self-talk and self-image can directly impact their eating and negative behaviours. CBT usually focuses on identifying and altering dysfunctional thought patterns, attitudes and beliefs that may perpetuate the sufferers restrictive eating. A researcher in the early 1980’s by the name of Chris Fairburn developed a specific model of CBT to help in the treatment of Anorexia, using the traditional foundations of CBT therapy – helping a person understand, identify and change their irrational thoughts (the ‘cognitive’ part) and helping a person make the changes real through specific behavioural interventions such as promoting healthy eating behaviours through rewards. (http://psychcentral. com/lib/2006/treatment-for-anorexia/all/1/) Strengths and weaknesses It is clear to see that both approaches are somewhat lacking and a multi-model approach should be taken to ensure success. The psychodynamic model will uncover the initial cause of the behaviour and addressing these issues will go a long way toward a successful outcome. However, it does not address the subsequent negative thought processes that keep the sufferer a prisoner within the condition. This is something that a CBT approach can successfully address but a CBT approach could fail to prevent a relapse if the underlying reasons for the negative self talk are not uncovered. Both treatments together will hold more strength in long term success, but neither seeks to address nutritional issues, food related symptoms or deep seated behavioural rituals of the eating disorder. Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 8 of 9 Summary Anorexia although initially can be viewed as a self defeating behaviour, is a complicated and mulit-faceted field and I would expect a consistent and long course of therapy that may focus on a psychodynamic approach alongside person centred counselling, alongside cognitive behavioural therapy, alongside appropriate medical intervention. Hypnotherapy may also be used to improve self esteem, reduce stress and anxiety, coping with panic and confidence building to help the sufferer relax levels of control and resume a more healthy relationship with themselves. As the anorexic begins to regain trust in themselves and their body, they can begin to feel back in control of their emotions and thoughts, thus lessening their levels of anxiety and helping toward a successful recovery. Ultimately, the pace of therapy has to be set by the client and the client has to admit to the problem in the first place before any type of therapy can begin. References: I personally suffered from this disorder from the ages of 17-21 and some of the information used has been based on my own experiences and that of my Parents. (Chrysalis Year 2 Module 5) R. L Palmer – Anorexia Nervosa. A guide for sufferers and their families. Penguin Books 1980 (http://ehealthmd. com/content/what-anorexia-nervosa http://psychcentral. com/lib/2006/treatment-for-anorexia/all/1/) Jane Ovington Chrysalis North2A Tutor , Steven Lucas, page 9 of 9 any type of therapy can begin. has to be set by the client and the client has to admit to the problem in the first place before

How to De-Ice Your Windshield Using Brine

How to De-Ice Your Windshield Using Brine Theres no need to wait for your cars defroster to warm up to melt the ice on your windshield. You can defrost your windshield much more quickly using a few tricks from science (and, if you want, a bucket of brine). Tips and Tricks If its not super cold outside, warm water works well as a quick defroster. You can pour warm water over your windshield and use the wipers to clear it off. If its really cold outside, though, this will only add another layer of ice to your windshield (best case scenario) or, by creating an extreme temperature difference, cause it to crack (worst case). Salt water works for the same reason that salt alone works as a de-icing agent (and warm salt water is your best bet). The ions in salt water lower the freezing point of water, causing the ice to melt. After melting, the water will attempt to re-freeze, but the temperature will need to be colder than 32 degrees Fahrenheit for that to occur. When it comes to de-icing, not all salts are created equal. Normal table salt works well when it isnt too cold out. Road salt, which has a different chemical composition, works better when the temperature is very low. Salt exposure isnt great for your car, though, so keep that in mind. If you use saltwater to clear away ice, you will want to clean your car later. An even quicker way to melt the ice on your windshield is one you may already know- placing your bare hand against the windshield. This works because (a) your hand is warm and (b) your hand is solid. Warm solids contain more particles per unit area to convey heat to the windshield than warm air alone (because molecules in the air are very far apart). For this reason, any warm solid will de-ice the windshield faster than air. Any warm liquid will de-ice more quickly than air for the same reason. You dont have to use your hand, though. The sole of a warm shoe would work just as well; so would a warm book, for that matter. The denser the object, the more effective it will be. The heat capacity of the material matters, too, which is one reason why your hand is such a great defrosting tool. If its not too cold out, try using a warm, damp towel on the windshield. If its bitterly cold, the ice scraper is still your best bet. If you have a garage and live in a warm climate, you can prevent the frost from forming in the first place by parking inside. You can also use common household chemicals to defrost your windshield. These materials apply freezing point depression to clear the ice. Its a good idea to use your wipers and fluid after you apply them because they can be sticky or corrosive. Of the items listed below, rubbing alcohol is your best bet for fast defrosting without damage: Pickle juice (saltwater brine)Beet juiceKool-Aid (or any other sugary soft drink)Soda (with sugar)VinegarRubbing alcohol

REFERENCE Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

REFERENCE - Article Example His clients also have the utmost esteem for Mr X. They consider Mr X the consummate professional, an exemplar of the vocation, and they are struck by his affability and graciousness during what must be a time of considerable stress. Mr X is extremely liberal with his valuable time. For example, he has attended at my pharmacy once a week for over six years. Considering the enormous distances he must travel to do so it heartens me that he always treats both my customers and myself with enthusiasm and vigour; more so as he does this without any monetary recompense whatsoever, such is his enthusiasm to return to the register. Mr X is fervent in his desire to gain valuable experience under my tutelage – something that I actively encourage. Mr X, while obviously on restricted duties, performs a variety of valuable tasks while working in the pharmacy. These include providing homeopathic remedies as well as dispensing conventional medicines. Mr X also enjoys working at the counter as it allows him to interact with patients as well as allowing him to keep up to date with changes in regulations regarding many over the counter medicines. Mr X is very active in preventive care. He encourages customers to engage in healthy lifestyle pursuits - advising patients about the potential dangers associated with cigarette smoking for example – and is fully versed in all the smoking cessation programs that our pharmacy offers. Indeed, Mr X’s customer service is outstanding. He is always engaging and energetic when dealing with patients. Moreover, Mr X explains in clear simple English exactly what each prescription does, whether there will be any complications or potential side-effects, and whether there are any better or cheaper generic medications available. Overall, Mr X’s customer service skills are exemplary. I rely on Mr X’s discretion and professionalism at all

Strategic intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic intelligence - Essay Example e matter is the fact that seldom do target or host countries declassify sensitive information and this makes accessing important information untenable. With the failure to access sensitive information, comes the making of inaccurate decisions, especially in the field of foreign relations, protecting, consolidating and perpetuating state interest and security. The place of the United States could be very different in international relations, if the US never treated strategic intelligence seriously. The menacing threat of terrorism and the ideological threat of religious or political Islam underscore the instances that have the power to curtail America’s interests, safety and political and socio-economic strength, in the absence of the United State’s commitment to strategic intelligence. In this effect, the value of strategic intelligence is exemplified by: the elimination of US enemies such as Osama bin Laden, Anwar Al Awlaki, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Muhammad Atef, Abu Layth al-Libi, Atiyah A. Al-Rahman, Abu Ayub al Masri; and the capturing of likeminded criminals such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Faraj al-Libi, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Abu Zubaydah and Walid bin Attash, among many others. It is also because of strategic intelligence that the US has been able to identify points of priority and to make timely, appropriate and accurate response. Some of the response that the US has made to strategic intelligence breakthroughs have included legislation, diplomacy, funding, engaging in direct or proxy war, issuing state-to-state warnings and even issuing travel advisory. It is necessary to cover all the five basic components as an integrated study [instead of separating the components into separate stove-pipes so as to allow learners come up with a more comprehensive scope, and not a fragmented one. For this reason, I like other students have been left with a greater ability to: examine the purpose, significance and role of strategic counterintelligence; deconstruct