The Odyssey Study Guide Flashcard

The Odyssey Study Guide

Essay Sample on the Dichotomy of Estrogen

Essay Sample on the Dichotomy of Estrogen Hormone replacement therapy has attracted a lot of attention over the past few years. A combination of progestin and estrogen therapy was  believed to reduce dementia and stroke, and other risks associated with aging such as heart attacks.   A 2002 report on preliminary outcomes from the Women’s Health Initiative changed this  belief (Fletcher and Colditz). This report included data from 16,000 post-menopausal women collected at various sites throughout the US.   The authors concluded that hormone combination therapy increased the risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer, and blood clots and had numerous ramifications in the medical community.   Estrogen therapy alone continued to be studied, but was also found to carry significant risks to health including increased risk of dementia and  stroke (Anderson et al.).   The biological   mechanisms behind these finding are still unclear, however there is some evidence that estrogen has varying effects across the lifespa n in females. Estrogen can be neuroprotective in the brain by reducing the size of infarct and neuronal death after stroke in animal models (Jover et al.; Rau et al.).   This is generally studied in healthy, young animals and not aged animals; which may partially account for the discrepancies between findings in animals and humans.   It is unknown if the neuroprotective effects of estrogen are mediated through cells in the brain, such as microglia, or immune cells in the periphery, such as leukocytes. A recent report(Johnson and Sohrabji) sought to determine if   estrogen dampens inflammation by reducing the immune response in peripheral immune cells and/or brain derived cells (microglia) from young and old female rats. The authors used two groups of rats: young adult females (four months) and reproductively senescent females (13-16 months). Ovaries were removed and replaced with pellets secreting estradiol resulting in physiological levels of circulating estrogen. Microglia from the brain and blood cells were removed and cultured separately in the lab to asses the effects of immune stimulation in each cell population. Immune activation was induced through administration of Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and the amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines (immune signaling molecules) were measured. Johnson Sohrabji found that estrogen could not attenuate the immune response in microglia in either age group.   However, estrogen could attenuate the peripheral immune response in young females, but increased cytokine production from peripheral immune cells in aged females. The authors also report that this effect is only found after chronic pretreatment, and mention unpublished results suggesting that acute estrogen treatment after inflammation has no effect. What does this mean in terms of hormone replacement therapy? These findings suggest that estrogen is neuroprotective in young females, and that estrogen restrains neural inflammation through suppression of circulating immune cells in the periphery. In humans, immune cells from post-menopausal women secrete higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines than pre-menopausal women (Schurman et al.). These results suggest that when estrogens are given to older women, they are likely to increase pro-inflammatory cytokines, which could potentially increase neurodegenerative events in the brain. A separate report has shown that cognitive impairment in the elderly are associated with higher amounts of pro-inflammatory cytokines (Yaffe et al.).   In summary, it is clear that estrogen replacement therapy has benefits in young females, but these same benefits may not occur in aged females. This is a sample Biology essay written from scratch by one of our academic writers. If you want to order a custom essay, term paper, research paper, thesis/dissertation on any topic contact our company to get professional academic writing help.

Project management risk management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Project management risk management - Essay Example Risk can be defined as the possibility of loss. Risk arises due to the inability to achieve objectives within defined cost, schedule and technical constraints. Risk has two components, one the possibility of not achieving a particular outcome, and the second is the result of failure to achieve the outcome. The former is the probability of risk and the later is the loss. Risk management is a set of action that help the managers plan to deal with uncertain occurrences. It is through risk management managers assess risk and manage to reduce it to an acceptable level. The key idea in risk management is not to wait passively for a risk to materialize and become a problem. The objective of risk management is to ensure that for each perceived risk we know well in advance how to tackle it. The process of risk management begins during the analysis phase and the actual process of managing risks continues throughout. Risk management is a dynamic process because it deals with the activities that are yet to happen. Risk management has two fold agenda. First deciding actions for preventing risk from happening and second deciding actions for tackling risk that materialize. Therefore risk management is all about preempting a risk, coming up with a plan for resolving the risk and finally executing the plan. Risk identification: In this step manager gathers information about the potential risks in the project. The project manager plans the strategies for avoiding risks or controlling them. They discuss availability of technology, manpower, prevailing environment and the project related factors. The manager picks up the thread from these and creates a risk log. After risk log is prepared, the project manager calls a meeting within the team and technical experts to discuss the risk log and the mitigation plans. One of the effective ways of identifying risks is using a questionnaire to list out risks. Risk analysis: It consists of three steps i.e. Risk probability, Risk impact and Risk factor. After identifying the risks the manager needs to analyze the risks. Uncertainty and loss are the two characteristics of risk. The uncertainty factor in risk means that the unknown event may or may not happen. While analyzing risk manager needs to quantify the level of uncertainty and the degree of loss. Based on this, manger plans schedules and costs. During analysis, information on risk is converted into information on decision-making. There are various tasks involved in risk analysis; initially the task in risk analysis phase is to describe the risk. The risk can be product related, process related, organization related, client related or infrastructure related, secondly the manager quantifies the probability of occurrence of risk and thirdly the risks are rated depending on their probability of occurrence. Based on the probability of risk the manager identifies the impact of risk on cost, schedule, and quantity, which needs to be calculated and graded. Each risk is prioritized relative to other risks. The manager can prioritize risks based on the probability and impact of risks. High impact risks with moderate to high probability will catch the attention first. Risk Mitigation: Risk mitigation is the best possible approach adopted by the manager to avoid risks from occurring. The probability of

The World of Word Processing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The World of Word Processing - Essay Example The word processor for several years featured a monochrome display and the ability to save documents on diskettes or otherwise. The later models had innovations like grammar checking, formatting options, and the dot matrix printing (Ward, 2005). This Microsoft word is the most widely used processing software with over one billion users across the globe. Other commonly used word processing applications are the word perfect that dominated in the years of the mid 1980s and early 1990s, the Microsoft MS-DOS, and the open source application. The current word processor is very power and consists of images, graphics, and the text latter handled with typesetting capability. The term word processing, invented in the late 1960s by IBM, got recognition by the by the New York Times as a buzzword in 1971. The international Business Machines provided a program that would generate printed documents on a mainframe computer and described it as a word processor. The new software combined peoples, proc edures, and applications that would transform idea into printed communications. The original Microsoft word contained a dictating machine and a manually operated S electric typewriter. The term word processor was taken to mean a semi automated typewriters with some form of electronic editing and correction ability (Gordon, 2010). Most of the persons working in the United States as secretaries utilized the word processing and it had impact on their careers. By this time, the word processing replaced the traditional secretary and emphasized more on the administrative roles of the businesses and industry. The invention of the word processor occurred in two phases. There was first the standard operating system control program that vastly brought increased standardization in the 1970s. The format for all the files and memory had similar structure across all the machines of that class. To change the type meant stopping the printer and a manual change of printing element (Castro, 2003). Th e additional memory made bi-directional printing possible hence eliminated delay caused by the return of print head to the left of the margin possible at the start of every program. The second phase was the introduction of the Microsoft disk operating system to replace the control program Microsoft (Word processor is a facility that records keystrokes from the keyboard and prints the same onto a paper in a separate operation system. It is used in the production of any sort of printable material (Ward, 2005). The word processor encompasses a stand-alone machine that combined the keyboard text-entry and printing function with a dedicated processor for the editing of texts. The features and the designs varied between the manufacturers but new features added advanced the technology. The word processor for several years featured a monochrome display and the ability to save documents on diskettes or otherwise. The later models had innovations like grammar checking, formatting options, and the dot matrix printing. This Microsoft word is the most widely used processing software with over one billion users across the globe. Other commonly used word processing applications are the word perfect that dominated in the years of the mid 1980s and early 1990s, the Microsoft MS-DOS, and the open source application. The current word processor is very power and consists of images, graphics, and the text latter handled with typesetting capability (CP/M computers). The IBM for its microcomputers first chose this system though it

Honeybees Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Honeybees - Essay Example Large farms even hire beekeepers to increase the number of bees that will make pollination faster. Another importance of honeybees is that they produce wax which are used in candle and polish making. These facts are not new discovery though. In old walls and caves, pictures of bees were found painted believed to be done thousand years ago (USDOA). Amusingly, while honeybees play important roles in agriculture industry of the United States, they were brought to United States by European colonizers during the early days and not really native of the country. Honey bee is a highly adaptable insect that can live to a wide range of climate and geographic location. It is indigenous and able to adjust to a wide variety of climes and geographic regions. The natural territory of honeybees is the area of Southern Africa to somewhere in Southern Scandinavia, and from continental Europe to West Asia(USDOA). It is the southwestern part of United States and northern Mexico where honeybees are most likely abundant and of different variety. Carl Hayden from Bee Research Center in Tucson, Arizona said that are about 1000 to 1200 species of bees within a one hundred mile radius of Tucson. However, it was found out that neither one is native honeybee. Identified are around 25,000 species of bees and almost 40,000 are in waiting to be listed down. Placing them to specific genus takes time for the entomologists. Unluckily, out of 25,000, 8 to 10 species believed to be honey bees. This number is still growing though because there are lot of identified species already (USDOA). Interestingly, honey bees are classified by strain and not through genus and species. If we say strain, it means place of origin. Most common strains of honey bees currently found in the United States are the Apis mellifera ligustica, the Italian bees, and the Apis mellifera carnica, the Carniolan bees. But science learns to discover on how to interbreed. This practice is brought about by the need to produce more honey and enhance pollination. One considered as most famous attempt at creating such a hybridized line was the crossing of the European lines and the African lines (USDOA). Mating the unassuming but high honey producing European bees to the aggressive African counterparts is the goal of crossing the lines of African and European. It was in 1956 when the test was done by Brazilian researchers hoping that a more hardworking bee will be the result. However they did not succeed. Test result showed that the aggressive traits dominated and in essence veiled the characteristics of the European bees. The conducted test became popular when a worker in the laboratory where the bees were located accidentally removed the screens which kept the queens in their hives (USDOA). Accordingly, around 26 group of the Africanized bees flew. Ever since, the descendants have been moving northward. After 40 years later, African honey bees are found in the southwestern United States. This is causing concerns due to their aggressive nature and capacity to replace the well-known colonies of productive European lines (USDOA). There is a caste system among colonies of bees. The queen ranks at the top of the caste which primary duties are to populate the colony by mating with male honey bees. Directing activities to the workers is another duty of the queen. The queen

Reasons For The Economic Instability In The 1930s Politics Essay

Reasons For The Economic Instability In The 1930s Politics Essay Abstract: This paper examines the reasons for the instability in the world economy in 1930s. First, the main causes are listed and given brief overview of the explanations. The most detailed attention is paid to the Hegemonic Stability Theory, as I believe it provides one of the most comprehensive answers for all the issues of the specified period. I also directly quoted the vision of R.Keynes regarding some of those issues. In conclusion I tried to draw up a parallel with the current realities and point out main lessons from the history and their reflections of the events of 1930s. The reason why I chose this essay title is the fact that most of the issues of the specified period are not just still relevant, but they also directly reflect current realities. As the old Kazakh proverb says: Tamyry zhoktyn erteni bolmas (Those who have no rootes [do not treat heritage], have no future). Therefore, it is vital to study the origins of the world crisis of 1930s, as it is often referred to as one of the worst turmoil in the modern world history for its spread, length, and depth. The recent protracted crisis is often compared to it lately. As any river has lots of springs to start from, the instability of world economy of 1930s started from many fragmented issues and events. The most commonly accepted causes are: the end of the Pax Britannica epoch, the World War I and its consequences, the lack of hegemony from US, the collapse of the gold standard, the chaotic international economic relations in the Interwar period, crash of the liberal approach in economy, the switch to intensified technological advancement in production and etc. The list of the causes can go on and on, due to the variety of visions and approaches to the issue. There are as much explanations and theories as much causes as listed above and even more. In my opinion, the Theory of Hegemonic Stability (main theorists: C.Kindleberg, R.Gilpin, and S.Krasner) gives the most comprehensive answer for all the issues of the specified period. Under this theory the world order is secured in terms of stability only under a dominant rule of one leading state. Kindleberg directly states that the main reason of the interwar crisis was the lack of will from United States to replace the Great Britain as the hegemonic power. (Kindleberg, 1973). As it is directly stated in the core books on IPE, throughout the whole nineteenth century Great Britain possessed economic hegemony over the most of the world. According to Kindleberg, not until 1931 was it clear that Britain could not provide the leadership. (1973) Great Britains supremacy leadership was closely associated the openness of international trade and capital movements, with the beginning of globalization of the markets, the rise of first multinational corporations, and the general economic and political stability of that period. World War I resulted in the end of British hegemony and most of the conditions that it had promoted. Soon there was an increase of the protectionism all across the world and further uprise of regional blocs. Foundations of the global economy were eroded by the decline in capital mobility, which finally resulted in the growing economic instability and the depression. So, the overall situation was not so positive for the new hegemon. The cause of this tragic chain of events has often been laid at Americas doorstep. The United States was, at the end of World War I, the worlds strongest economic power. But it steadfastly refused to take on the leadership role that Britain could no longer play. This irresponsibility was most vividly exemplified in the minds of many people by the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930), which raised the average tax on imports to the United States by about 40 percent. At the beginning of the depression, the United States shut its markets to foreign goods and thus helped propel the world economy into its worst swoon ever. The unwillingness of the United States to coordinate its monetary and currency policies with other countries merely exacerbated the situation. This isolationist posture on the part of the worlds economic hegemon had negative consequences for most other countries and the United States itself. (H.Milner, 1998) As stated above the chaotic economic relations that arose in that period contributed significantly to the destabilization of the world economy. As states Kerry A.Chase, international relations theorists attribute the collapse of the world economy into protectionism and rival trading blocs to global causes such as hegemonic decline, problems of collective action and free riding, or the macroeconomic disturbance of the Great Depression (Kerry A. Chase 2004). We find that the different currency blocs of the 1930s had very different implications for trade. Sterling area countries traded disproportionately among themselves and with the rest of the world. Gold bloc members, in contrast, did not trade disproportionately with one another or with the rest of the world, reflecting their indiscriminate use of tariffs and quotas to prop up increasingly overvalued currencies, which neutralized any stimulus derived from exchange rate stability. Countries applying exchange controls, despite stabilizing their exchange rates, traded less with one another than their economic characteristics would predict, due to the trade-inhibiting effects of those policies.(Kerry A. Chase 2004). Also, within the Interwar period happened a crash of former liberal approaches in economy. The economy proved to be incapable to regulate itself under a new circumstances and it finally led to government intervention and creation of new economic model under the theories of R.Keynes, or so called Keynesian revolution. He was among first researchers that stressed on principal difference of new order and incapability of prompt readjustment to it. As he stated in his Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren (1930): We are suffering from the growing-pains of over-rapid changes, from the painfulness of readjustment between one economic period and another. The increase of technical efficiency has been taking place faster than we can deal with the problem of labour absorption; the improvement in the standard of life has been a little too quick; the banking and monetary system of the world has been preventing the rate of interest from falling as fast as equilibrium requires. (R.Keynes, 1 930).   The war debts and associated issues are also constantly mentioned in the literature. Yes, there were winners and there were losers. The contradictious reparation payment system resulted in strive for jusice, which further pre-set conditions for escalating into World War II. But were war debts really affecting the economy within the specified period? At the conclusion of World War I, war- related debts were about $12 billion, an amount greater than total U.S. private long-term foreign assets, and equivalent to perhaps 15% of U.S. national income. Every major western country owed some- thing to someone, but on net most of the war debts were owed to the United States by France, Great Britain and Italy; these four countries in turn, were to receive most of the payments by Germany on the reparations account. The largest single net creditor was the United States. The largest single net debtor was Germany. The heated and lengthy economic debate about war-related debts, conducted in the context of passionate moral and political disputes, produced two distinct strains of thought: one was the well-known discussion of transfer; the other, less adequately incorporated into the literature, held that the war-related debts critically disrupted the international financial system, possibly started the depression, and probably aggravated it. No simple, direct line can be drawn, however, from war-related debts to world economic activity: payments on war- related debt were made in the 1920s with no obvious adverse effect on economic activity; payments were cancelled in the 1930s with no obvious beneficial effect on economic activity. Accordingly, most accounts of the world depression center on elements other than war-related debts (H.Fleising), The failure of the gold standard was also one of the reasons for the world crisis of 1930s. Why? Natalia Chernyshoffa, states that gold had emerged as the dominant monetary regime of its time and as a robust nominal anchor. She goes further and states: The claim was made that it helped to promote international trade and investment, and the data now back it up. Small wonder, then, that after the violent disruptions of World War One the world anchored again to gold in the 1920s. Unfortunately, despite its past record for stability, the reconstituted gold standard failed; it is now generally thought to have exacerbated volatility and contributed substantially to the Great Depression (N.Chernysheva, 2009). In conclusion I would like to draw a parallel to nowadays. For the past ten years there were constant prophecies regarding the so-long expected decline of US hegemony and glorious emergence of China as a new world leader. Recent crisis made those claims sound louder, because China is the only country that maintained comparative stability and gradually started turning into the largest creditor. It actively acquires assets worldwide (mostly energy sources, but interested in finance investment as well), plays more dominant role in regional and more active role in international organizations. With some discrepancies, but nevertheless, we might see the New China just as the world saw New US at the beginning of XIX century. There are also non-stop debates regarding the final emergence of unified Europe, which might overshadow the current US and proposed Chinese dominance. And there is a smart combination of all propositions proclaiming the New Order by the triangular US-Europe-China dominance. The same way, back in 1970s there were precautions regarding the rapid rise of Arab OPEC-states backed up by rapid growth of oil prices. As there were precautions regarding the Japan, backed up by its miraculous economic achievements in 1980s. Now the whole fuss is about whether it be China or Europe that would step into US left vacuum So, the history teaches us a good lesson: that time passes and all of those propositions regarding the New Ruler of the World either prove in reality or die in dust on the book shelves. Another lesson that was learned well from the history is: that none of the Empires of the Past had repeated their successful fate twice. So, if US would decline sooner or later, and its place gets occupied by the New Hegemon, it is doubtful that US would rise again like Phoenix. And the final and the most relevant to this essay lessons are: a) that the throne never stays vacant for long b) the period between two rulers (hegemons) is characterised by instability, anarchy and chaos (the worst curse in Chinese is: I damn you, may you live in chaotic period) Therefore, I would conclude that it was natural for US to step forward and replace Great Britain as soon as it was no longer acting as a hegemon in world affairs. But, not willing to bear the full burden of the obligations of the new ruler US did not act like a real hegemon. It did not use all of its available muscles to stabilize the situation neither in Europe nor in other parts of the world, and in fact, it was not really interested in it. Therefore I would say that the bad hegemon is worse than no hegemon at all. At the end, going back to our days, I would say that regardless of who is going to be a lead nation in future or would US somehow recover soon, it is crucial for my country (Kazakhstan) and for the rest of the world to maintain positive political and economic relations with all of the candidates for the Hegemones throne as good as with the existing leader US (proverb The old lion can still roar is still actual). Hegemons rise and fall, crisis come and leave, but life goes on and we have to be flexible under any circumstances Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren Source: Scanned from John Maynard Keynes, Essays in Persuasion, New York: W. W. Norton Co., 1963, pp. 358-373.   http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/economics/keynes/1930/our-grandchildren.htm War-Related Debts and the Great Depression Author(s): Heywood Fleisig Source: The American Economic Review, Vol. 66, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-eighth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1976), pp. 52-58 Published by: American Economic Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/181719 International Political Economy: Beyond Hegemonic Stability Author(s): Helen V. Milner Source: Foreign Policy, No. 110, Special Edition: Frontiers of Knowledge (Spring, 1998), pp. 112-123 Published by: Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLC Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1149280 Accessed: 16/11/2009 03:12 (Natalia Chernyshoff a, David S. Jacks b,c, Alan M. Taylor, Stuck on gold: Real exchange rate volatility and the rise and fall of the gold standard, 1875-1939, Journal of International Economics 77 (2009) 195-205)

Dave Speaks to the World :: Dave Barry Essays

Dave Speaks to the World When I was back home and lived with my mom, we were reading the paper together one day, she was reading the Tropic and I, the comics. When she was through with the Dave Barry column, she gasped and said out loud, "I know that shark!" Now, of course this startled me and I wondered what on earth she meant. Mom explained that the article was about a hammerhead shark, famous to Miamians and Florida Keys residents, playfully named "Big Moe". She continued to tell me that when she was about nine she went lobstering under Bahiahonda Bridge in the Keys with her dad. While lifting an old sunken car hood to retrieve the bugs, she saw a shadow pass over her. She stopped abruptly and dropped the hood to swim back to the boat. On her way back, if I remember the story correctly, the huge hammerhead passed directly over her head. This time it wasn't just the shadow she saw. Sitting in our living room at home my mom was insisting that the shark Dave Barry wrote about just HAD to be the same one . I thought this was pretty cool. Ever since then I've known who Dave Barry is. He speaks in mysterious ways. Dave Barry is a humor columnist; his fans express what can only be explained as hero worship. After doing some light research I learned that not only is he a writer for the Miami Herald, but also for many newspapers throughout the United States. It was also brought to my attention that he has won a Pulitzer Prize for his articles and he is, or was, the lead guitarist in a rock band called the Rock Bottom Remainders. It's been said that they weren't the greatest musicians and they are no longer playing. To quote my Internet source, Dave is "an all-around nice guy who tries to protect his readers from the dangers of the world around them . . ." The text goes on to say that these dangers are exploding cows and trout falling from the sky. I suppose we would have to be devout Dave fans to really understand that. Something else I recently learned about Dave Barry is that there is a show based on his personality.