Tetra Packs Essay Example for Free

Tetra Packs Essay Selling of milk,first in glass bottles,then in packets ,then tetra packs and vending machines indicates how over the years the means of packaging have changed. This is done so as to reduce costs or improve the goodwill by innovating the mode of packaging. For instance, tetra pack keeps the milk safe for months and is made of paper and can be recycled. Similarly, plastic packets involve lesser costs and vending machines in itself have no packaging cost Selling of milk,first in glass bottles,then in packets ,then tetra packs and vending machines indicates how over the years the means of packaging have changed. This is done so as to reduce costs or improve the goodwill by innovating the mode of packaging. For instance, tetra pack keeps the milk safe for months and is made of paper and can be recycled. Similarly, plastic packets involve lesser costs and vending machines in itself have no packaging cost Selling of milk,first in glass bottles,then in packets ,then tetra packs and vending machines indicates how over the years the means of packaging have changed. This is done so as to reduce costs or improve the goodwill by innovating the mode of packaging. For instance, tetra pack keeps the milk safe for months and is made of paper and can be recycled. Similarly, plastic packets involve lesser costs and vending machines in itself have no packaging costSelling of milk,first in glass bottles,then in packets ,then tetra packs and vending machines indicates how over the years the means of packaging have changed. This is done so as to reduce costs or improve the goodwill by innovating the mode of packaging. For instance, tetra pack keeps the milk safe for months and is made of paper and can be recycled. Similarly, plastic packets involve lesser costs and vending machines in itself have no packaging costSelling of milk,first in glass bottles,then in packets ,then tetra packs and vending machines indicates how over the years the means of packaging have changed. This is done so as to reduce costs or improve the goodwill by innovating the mode of pac kaging. For instance, tetra pack keeps the milk safe for months and is made of paper and can be recycled.

Societal Views on Interracialism Throughout American History Essay

"-- we are all complicit and we all carry a certain responsibility for America's original sin: racism." -- David Bedrick, The Huffington Post, 10 April 2015 "Half-breed†, â€Å"Mulatto†, â€Å"Octoroon.† All of these terms at one point served to describe individuals of mixed race, particularly African and Caucasian. The controversy of interracialism has transcended generations, as well as cultures. It is a subject that, historically, has held the potential to incite savage racial discrimination, loathing, and violence. Indeed, even in today’s significantly more enlightened and politically correct views on race, interracial relationships and individuals still possess the potential to make many uncomfortable. Two historical periods in which racial topics, including interracialism, were the source of much social unrest are the eras of the pre-Civil War and the Harlem Renaissance. During these times voices were raised in protest from all sides of racial debates. These voices were in the forms of organized protests, speeches, writings in books and periodicals, as well as violent acts of rioting, burning, and lynching. In addition to these, a very important medium through which beliefs on racial topics were expressed was art. It has been said by many scholars that the arts of a society can serve as a social barometer. Popular, influential, and controversial theatrical pieces offer a window through which one can observe aspects of a culture, including values, virtues, and ideas on a particular subject. Hence, in looking at and comparing the eras of the pre-Civil War and the Harlem Renaissance, in regard to the ideas held on mixed race relationships and individuals, one needs to consider theatrical pieces of the ... ...iev, Noel. "Race in pre-Civil War America." Social Education. 62:6 (1998): 340- 344. Kennedy, Randall. "Interracial Intimacies: Sex, Marriage, Identity, and Adoption." Library Journal. 128:2 (2003): 105. McMillen, Neil R. Dark Journey: Black Mississippians in the Age of Jim Crow. Urbana, Illinois, and Chicago: U of Illinois P. Moran, Rachel F. "Interracial Intimacy: The Regulation of Race and Romance." History Today. 52:11 (2002): 75. Plum, Jay. "Accounting for the Audience in Historical Reconstruction: Martin Jones’s Production of Langston Hughes’s Mulatto." Theatre Survey. v 36 (1995) 5-19. Smalley, Webster. Five Plays by Langston Hughes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968. Thomson, Peter. Plays by Dion Boucicault. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Ward, John. "Theatrical." New York Times. 6 December 1859, 22.

Bluesky

Please refer interested instructors to TIE for access to the teaching notes. Introduction students have been introduced to revenue management. Have previously assigned the case in advance of class and then spent from 30 minutes to one hour of class time discussing the students' solutions. When using all three cases, have assigned the (A) and (B) Cases in advance of class and asked the students to submit spreadsheets with solutions to both cases before class begins. During the 90- minute class we would devote approximately 40 minutes to discussing the (A) Case, 20 minutes on the (B) Case, and the remaining 30 minutes working through theCase together in class (students are told in advance to bring their laptops to class). Usually ask students to pair up, and I try to match a student with relatively little simulation experience with one who is more comfortable with the material. I tell pairs that the weaker student should be the one with hands on the keyboard. Finally, a note on timing: have used this full plan for Cases (A)-(C) only once, in an elective on service operations management. The schedule was a bit tight and we had to rush the discussion of the spiral-down effect in the (C) Case.In the future may spread the material over more than one class period. These cases focus on the revenue management of a single flight leg with two fare classes and uncertain demand. The (A) Case asks the students to forecast high-fare demand and implement a simple booking's policy. The (B) Case uses simulation to establish booking limits in the presence of buy-up behavior and cancellations. The (C) Case focuses on the spiral-down effect, which occurs when there is a mismatch between the revenue management optimization model and actual customer behavior.This Teach ins Note first describes the logistics for using the cases: the order of the cases, choosing assignments, and the timing of class discussions. Then the note summarizes each case, describes potential solutions, and prov ides guidelines for class discussions. The last section describes technical background, extensions, and additional reference material. The final section may be particularly useful for instructors without a strong background in revenue management as the section or its references may provide answers to students' questions about the implementation of revenue management systems.The final section also explains how the models in this case may be adapted to handle multiple itineraries in an airline Nortek, as scribed in the Bluesy Airlines: Network Revenue Management Case Series. Single-Leg Revenue Management (A) This case provides students with the opportunity to build a statistical forecasting model and to use the output from this model in a simple revenue management decision. This section describes how the data were generated, potential solutions to the problem, and provides some guidance on how the case can be discussed in class.

Consciousness and Its Variations

Chapter IV Consciousness and its Variations Intro: 4. 1 Consciousness Your immediate awareness of thoughts, sensations, memories, and the world around you represent the experience of consciousness. William James described consciousness as a â€Å"stream† or â€Å"river. † Although always changing, consciousness is perceived as unified and unbroken much like a stream. Because his idea of structuralism was based off of introspection, many of the leading psychologists at the turn of the twentieth century emphasized with the study of overt behavior, which could be directly observed, measured, and verified.In mid 90’s many psychologists once again turned their attention to the study of consciousness. This was due to two main reasons. First it was becoming clear that a complete understanding of behavior would not be possible unless psychologists considered the role of conscious mental processes in behavior. Second was because psychologist had devised more objective way s to stud conscious experiences. For example, they could often infer the conscious experience that seemed to be occurring by carefully observing behavior.Technological advances in studying brain activity were also producing intriguing correlations between brain activity and different states of consciousness. Different perspectives that psychologist are using to piece together a picture of consciousness are the role of psychological, physiological, social, and cultural influences. Biological and Environmental â€Å"clocks† that regulate Consciousness. Through the course of the day, there is a natural ebb and flow to consciousness. The most obvious variation of consciousness that we experience is the daily sleep-wake cycle. These daily cycles such as this are called circadian rhythms.You actually experience many different circadian rhythms that ebb and flow over the course of any given 24hr period. Normally your circadian rhythms are closely synchronized with one another. For e xample, the circadian rhythm for the release of growth hormone is synchronized with the sleep-wake circadian rhythm so that growth hormone is released only during sleep. The suprachiasmatic Nucleus: Your main circadian rhythms are controlled by a master biological clock-a tiny cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus in the brain. This tiny cluster of neurons is called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, abbreviated SCN.The SCN is the internal pacemaker that governs the timing of circadian rhythms. The most important environmental time cue is bright light, especially sunlight. The light is detected by special photoreceptors in the eye and is communicated via the visual system to the SCN. As the sun sets each day, the decrease in available light is detected by the SCN, and then in turn the CN triggers an increase in the production of a hormone called melatonin. Melatonin is manufactured by the pineal gland, an endocrine gland located in the brain. Increased blood levels of melatonin help make you sleepy and reduce activity levels.The levels of melatonin rise at night and peak around 0100 and 0300. Melatonin levels drop shortly before sunrises. The pineal gland stops producing melatonin, as the light from the sun is senesced by the SCN. Circadian Rhythms and Sunlight: The 24hr day Since the light from the sun helps regulate our circadian rhythm, what would happen if the external environmental factors were taken away? Well the circadian rhythm then will be referred to as a free-running condition, because the body’s internal clock runs freely and independently of external time cues.Without the external time cues researchers have found that our internal body clock drifts to its natural (or intrinsic) rhythm. They also found that our natural circadian rhythm is about 24. 2 hours, or slightly longer than a day. Also as our melatonin peaks, our body core temperature also drops to it’s lowest. But when deprived of all external environmental cues your body’s sleep-wake, body temperature, and melatonin circadian rhythms become desynchronized. This means that they no longer properly coordinate with one another. An example is being jet lagged. Your out of sync with the sun set because the time zone difference is 12 hrs.Sleep **Fun fact: over a person’s lifetime, you’ll spend approximately 22years of your life asleep. *** (Pg143) Prior to the 20th century, sleep was largely viewed as a period of restful inactivity in which dreams sometimes occurred. The Dawn of Modern Sleep Research The invention of the electroencephalograph by Hans Berger gave sleep researchers an important tool for measuring the rhythmic electrical activity of the brain. These electrical patterns were referred to as brain waves. The electroencephalograph produces a graphic record called EEG, or electroencephalogram.By studying the EEG researchers firmly established that brain-wave activity systematically changes throughout sleep. Eye movements, muscle movem ents, breathing rates, airflow, pulse, blood pressure, amount of exhaled carbon dioxide, body temperature, and breathing sounds are just some of the body’s functions that are measured in contemporary sleep research. Nathaniel Kleitman used his 8-year-old son to discover a pattern from the EEG and his son’s rapid eye movements. More of these rapid eye movements were noticed when subjects reported dreams. Today we distinguish between two basic types of sleep.REM sleep and NREM sleep. REM is often called active sleep or paradoxical sleep because it is associated with heightened body and brain activity during which dreaming consistently occurs. NREM sleep, or non-rapid eye movement sleep, is often referred to as quiet sleep because the body’s physiological functions and brain activity slow down during this period of slumber. NREM sleep is divided into four different stages. The onset of sleep and hypnagogic hallucinations Beta brain waves are produced as you prepare for bed. They are small, fast brain waves.After you’re head hits the pillow and your body begins to relax, your brain’s electrical activity gradually gears down generating slightly larger and slower alpha brain waves. During this drowsy, pre-sleep phase, you may experience odd but vividly realistic sensations. You may hear your name called or a loud crash, fell as if you’re falling or floating, flying, or see kaleidoscopic patterns or an unfolding landscape. The most common hypnagogic hallucinations are the vivid sense of falling. This hallucination is often accompanied by a myoclonic jerk-an involuntary muscle spasm of the whole body that jolts the person completely awake.The First 90 minutes of sleep and beyond Each NREM sleep stage is characterized by corresponding decreases in brain and body activity. On average the progression through the first four stages of NREM sleep occupies the first 50-70 minutes. STAGE 1 NREM As the alpha brain waves of drowsiness a re replaced by even slower tbeta brain waves, you enter the first stage of sleep, which only lasts a few minutes. Stage1 is a transitional stage during which you gradually disengage from the sensation of the surrounding world. During stage 1 you can quickly regain conscious alertness if needed.Although hypnagogic experiences can occur in stage one, less vivid mental imagery is common, such as imagining yourself engaged in some everyday activity. STAGE2 NREM Stage two represents the onset of true sleep. Stage two sleep is defined by the appearance of sleep spindles, brief bursts of brain activity that last a second or two, and K complexes, single high-voltage spikes of brain activity. Breathing becomes rhythmical, slight muscle twitches may occur, theta waves are predominant in stage two, but larger, slower brain waves, called delta brain waves, also begin to emerge.During the 15-20 minutes initially spent in stage 2, delta brain-waves activity gradually increases. STAGE 3 NREM Stage s three and four are physiologically very similar. Both are defined by the amount of delta brain-wave sleep. In combination they are sometimes reefed to as slow-wave sleep (SWS). When delta brain waves represent more than 20 percent of total brain activity, the sleeper is said to be in stage 3 NREM. When delta brain waves exceed 50% of total brain activity, the sleeper is said to be in stage 4 NREM. During the first 20-40 minutes of stage four NREM, delta waves eventually come to represent 100 percent of brain activity.At that point, heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate drop to their lowest levels. In stage four the sleeper maybe totally oblivious to the world but his muscles are still capable of movement. For example, if sleepwalking occurs, it typically happens during stag 4 NREM sleep. In stage four NREM it is possible for a person to answer a ringing phone, carry on a conversation for severa minutes, and hang up without ever leaving stage 4 sleep- without remembering t he conversation the next day. At this point the sleeper is approximately 70 minutes into a typical night’s sleep and immersed in deeply relaxed stage four sleep.At this point the sequence reverses from stage 4 to 3 to 2 and then enters a dramatic new phase called REM. REM Sleep During REM sleep the brain becomes more active and generates smaller and faster brain waves. Visual and motor neurons in the brain activate repeatedly, just as they do during wakefulness. Dreams usually occur during REM sleep. Although the brain is very active, voluntary muscle activity is suppressed, which prevents the dreaming sleeper from acting out those dreams. REM sleep is accompanied by considerable physiological arousal. The sleeper’s eyes dart back and forth behind closed eyelids-the rapid eye movements.Heart rate, blood pressure, and respirations can fluctuate up and down, sometimes extremely. Muscle twitches occur. In both sexes sexual arousal may occur. The first episode of REM sleep is about 5-15 minutes. From the first stage of NREM to the completion of the first cycle of REM usually lasts about 90 minutes has elapsed all together. Beyond the first 90 minutes Throughout the rest of the night, the sleeper cycles between NREM and REM sleep. Each sleep cycle lasts about 90 minutes on average, but the duration of cycles may vary from 70-120 minutes. Just and after REM sleep the sleeper changes positions.Stage 3 and 4 NREM usually occur only during the first two 90-minute cycles. As the night progresses, REM sleep episodes become increasingly longer and less time is spent in NREM. During the last two 90-minute sleep cycles before awakening, NREM sleep is composed primarily of stage two sleep and periods of REM sleep can last as long as 40 minutes. Changing sleep patterns over a lifetime During the last trimester of prenatal development, active REM and quiet NREM sleep cycles emerge. In the final weeks, REM and NREM sleep are clearly distinguishable in the fetus.Ne wborns sleep about 16 hours a day, although not all at once. Up to 8 hours or 50% of the newborn’s sleep is spent in REM sleep. The rest is spent in a quiet sleep that is very similar to NREM stages 1&2. Not until about the third month of life that the deep, slow-wave sleep of NREM stages 3&4 appear. Typically the 90-minute sleep cycle develops over the first few years of life. The infants first couple months is characterized as being a 60 minute sleep cycle, producing 13 sleep cycles per day. By the age of two the toddler is experiencing 75 minute sleep cycles.By 5 years old the typical 90 minute sleep cycles of alternating NREM and REM sleep is established. Total time spent in slow-wave sleep (SWS) and sleep time decrease over the lifespan. Do we need sleep? Sleep deprivation studies has show us that after one nights sleep deprivation, subjects develop microsleeps, which are episodes of sleep lasting only a few seconds that occur during wakefulness. People who go without sl eep for a day or more experience disruptions in mood, mental abilities, reaction time, perceptual skills, and complex motor skills.People us to thing that a person can adapt to only having 4-5 hours of sleep, but this is simply not true. Sleep deprivation can decrease concentration, vigilance, reaction time, memory skills, and the ability to gauge risks. Why do we sleep? Toblers theory of restorative theory of sleep states that NREM is vital to restore the body while REM is used to restore the brain and mental functions. Dreams and Mental Activity during sleep4. 2 By the adulthood the average person spends 2hours a night dreaming. So if you live to a ripe old age. You will have spent about six years of your life dreaming.Although dream may be the most spectacular brain production during sleep, they are not the most common. More prevalent is sleep thinking, also called sleep mentation. Sleep thinking usually occurs during NREM slow-wave sleep. Sleep thinking probably contributes to t hose times when you wake up with a solution to some vexing problem. When awakened during active REM sleep, people report a dream about 95% of the time. Early morning dreams are the longest lasting up to 40 minutes and are the most likely to be remembered by the dreamer. People usually have four or five dreams a night. Sleep and memory consolidation: let me sleep on it.Research shows that different sleep states and stages contribute to forming different kinds of memories. Evidence suggests that NREM sleep contributes to forming new episodic memories, which are memories of personally experienced events. In contrast, REM sleep and NREM stage2 sleep seem to help consolidate new procedural memories, which involve learning a new skill or task until it can be performed automatically. So how does sleep strengthen new memories? Almost a century ago John Jenkins and Karl Dallenbach showed that memories could be enhanced by sleep as compared to an equal amount of time spent awake.Their explana tion was that, compared to wakefulness, sleep kept additional information from interfering with new memories. This explanation was however wrong. The correct answer using today’s new technology is that: New memories formed during the day are reactivated during the 90-minute cycles of sleep. This process of repeatedly reactivation these newly encoded memories during sleep strengthen the neuronal connections that contribute to forming long-term memories. So after forming new memories or learning something it is best to sleep after wards. It is also important to sleep prior to learning.This has been proven to increase the chances of retaining information. Dream Themes and Imagery: Here are some patterns and themes that are well-substantiated findings on dream content. 1) Women report males and female in equal proportion as other dream story characters. 2) Men are more likely to repot other males as the dream story characters. 3) Negative feelings and events are more common than positive ones. 4) Instances of aggression are more common than are instances of friendliness. 5) Dreamers are more likely to be victims of aggression than aggressors in their dreams. ) Men are more likely than women to report dreams involving physical aggression. 7) Women are more likely than men to report emotions in their dreams. 8) Sex and sexual behaviors seldom occur as elements of the dream. 9) Apprehension or fear is the most frequently reported dream emotion for both sexes, followed by happiness and confusion. If apprehensive or fearful emotions become progressively more intense as a dream story unfolds, there person may experience a nightmare. The nightmare typically has the dreamer as being helpless or powerless in the face of being aggressively attacked or pursued.Although fear, anxiety, and even terror are the most commonly experienced emotions, some nightmares involve intense feelings of sadness, anger, disgust, or embarrassment. The Significance of Dreams Sigmund Freud â€Å"Dreams as fulfilled wishes† He was the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud believed that sexual and aggressive instincts are the motivating forces that dictate human behavior. Because these instinctual urges are so consciously unacceptable, sexual and aggressive thoughts, feelings, and wishes are pushed into the unconscious, or repressed. However, Freud believed that these repressed urges and wishes ould surface in dream imagery. Freud believed that dreams had two components. The manifest content, and the latent content. The manifest content being the dream itself and the latent content being the disguised psychological meaning of the dream. The Active-Synthesis Model of Dreaming Founded by J. Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley and stated that dreaming is our subjective awareness of the brain’s internally generated signals during sleep. That the experience of dreaming sleep is due to the automatic activation of brainstem circuits at the base to the brain.So the brain stem sends electrical messages to the brain and then the brain attempts to make sense of the messages. Sleep Disorders 4. 2 According to data from National Sleep Foundation’s annual polls, 7 out of 10 people experience sleep disruptions. People with trouble sleeping usually complain about one or more of the following: Insomnia, Excessive daytime sleepiness, and Abnormal behaviors or sensations during sleep. Sleep disruptions become a sleep disorder when A) abnormal sleep patterns consistently occur, B) They cause the subject distress, and C) they interfere with a persons daytime functioning.All sleep disorders can be classified into two broad categories. First is the dyssomnias, which are sleep disorders involving disruptions in the amount, quality, or timing of sleep (insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, and narcolepsy). Then there is the parasomnias, which are sleep disorders involving undesirable physical arousal, behaviors, or events during sleep transitions. People are sai d to have insomnias when they repeatedly complain about quality or duration of their sleep, have difficulty going to sleep or staying asleep, or wake before it is time to get up. Transient insomnias last anywhere from about 1-2 nights to a couple weeks.Chronic insomnias last at least three nights each week that persist for a month or longer. Women are more predisposed to insomnias than men. Insomnias are also influenced by age, and gender. Most commonly insomnias can be traced to anxiety over stressful life events. Obstructive sleep apnea Sleep apnea is the second most common type of sleep disorder characterized by daytime sleepiness and excess snoring. The sleeper’s airway becomes narrowed or blocked, causing very shallow breathing or repeated pauses or stops breathing. Each time breathing stops, oxygen blood levels decrease and carbon dioxide blood levels increase.Sleep apnea tends to run in families and is more predominate in middle age males. To treat sleep apnea requires a life style change. Usually its treaded by loosing weight, avoiding alcohol, surgery to widen breathing passages, or a special mouth piece. Sever to moderate sleep apnea is treated with positive airway pressure from a CPAP. Narcolepsy People with narcolepsy experience or abundance of daytime fatigue regardless of the amount of time asleep. This uncontrollable event of a rapid onset of sleepiness is called sleep attacks or microsleeps. About 70% of people who suffer from narcolepsy experience cataplexy.Cataplexy is the sudden loss of voluntary muscle strength and control, lasting from several seconds to several minutes. People with narcolepsy also can experience sleep paralysis. Parasomnias In a parasomnias, the person’s brain is just awake enough to carryout the actions yet is still immersed in sleep that he or she has no conscious awareness or subsequent memory of having performed the action. Parasomnias occur during NREM stages 3 & 4, are more common in children and decre ase with age, occurs in multiple family member, suggest a genetic predisposition. Sleep Terrors:Also called night terrors, typically occur in the first few hours of sleep during stage 3 & 4 NREM. Physiologically, the first sign of a sleep terror is sharply increased physiological arousal, restlessness, sweating, and a racing heart rate. The difference between a sleep terror and a nightmare is as follows: Whereas nightmares involve a progressive unpleasant dream story, a sleep terror is usually accompanied by a single but terrifying sensation, such as being crushed or falling. Sleepsex Also called sexsomnia, involves abnormal sexual behaviors and experiences during sleep.Without realizing what he or she is doing, the sleeper initiates dome kind of sexual behavior, such as masturbation, sleepsex-talking, groping or fondling their bed partner’s genitals, or sexual intercourse. Sleepwalking Also called somnambulism. Sleep-Related Eating Disorders Frequent sleepwalking episodes to the kitchen, compulsive eating, and then awakening the next morning with no memory of having done so are the hallmarks of sleep-related eating disorders. The dangerous part of this is when the subject eats non-food items such as cat food, raw bacon, salt sandwiches, coffee grounds, or hand creams. Hypnosis 4. 3Hypnosis can be defined as a cooperative social interaction in which the hypnotic participant responds to suggestions made by the hypnotist. Hypnosis is characterized by highly focused attention, increased responsiveness to suggestions, vivid images and fantasies, and a willingness to accept distortions of logic or reality. Effects of Hypnosis Subjects of hypnosis may report detachment from their bodies, profound relaxation, or sensations of timelessness. Sensory and perceptual changes Sensory changes that can be induced through hypnosis include temporary blindness, deafness, or a complete loss of sensation in some part of he body.People can also experience hallucinations und er hypnosis. Hypnosis can also influence behavior outside the hypnotic state. When a posthypnotic suggestion is given. The person will carry out that specific suggestion after the hypnotic session is over. Hypnosis and memory Memory can be effected by posthypnotic amnesia, in which a subject is unable to recall specific information or events that occurred before or during hypnosis. The opposite effect is called hypermnesia, which is enhancement of memory for past events through hypnotic suggestions. Explaining HypnosisPsychologist Ernest R Hilgard believed that the hypnotize person experiences dissociation- the splitting of consciousness into two or more simultaneous streams of mental activity. This is called Hilgard’s neodissociation theory of hypnosis. Limits and applications of Hypnosis Contrary to popular belief, you cannot be hypnotized against your will. Second hypnosis cannot make you perform behaviors that are contrary to your moral and values. Third, hypnosis cannot make you stronger than your physical capabilities or bestow new talents. Hypnosis can be used to help modify problematic behaviors.Meditation Meditation refers to a group of techniques that induce an altered state fo focused attention and heightened awareness. Common to all forms of meditation is the goal of controlling or retaining attention. There are two general categories of meditation, Concentration techniques involving focusing awareness on visual image, your breathing, a word, or a phrase. When a sound is used, it is typically a short word or religious phrase, called a mantra. The second category is opening-up techniques involving a present-centered awareness of the passing moment, without mental judgment.Rather than concentrating on an object, sound, or activity, the meditator engages in quiet awareness of the â€Å"here and now† without distracting thoughts. Effects of meditation The early research on meditation focused on its use as a relaxation technique that relie ved stress and improved cardiovascular health. Numerous studies now show that practicing TM (transcendental meditation) subjects experience a state of lowered physiological arousal, including a decrease in heart rate, lowered blood pressure, and changes in brain waves. Psychoactive Drugs 4. 4Psychoactive drugs are chemical substances that can alter arousal, mood, thinking, sensations, and perceptions. There are four categories of psychoactive drugs and they are depressants (drugs that depress, or inhibit, brain activity), opiates (drugs that are chemically similar to morphine and that relieve pain and produce euphoria), stimulants (drugs that stimulate, or excite, brain activity), and psychedelic drugs (drugs that distort sensory perceptions). The Depressants Alcohol, Barbiturates, Inhalants, and Tranquilizers The depressants are a class of drugs that depress or inhibit central nervous system activity.In general, depressants produce drowsiness, sedation, or sleep. Alcohol Used in sm all amount alcohol reduces tension and anxiety, along with reducing the risk of heart disease. Alcohol can also be misused and considered a dangerous drug. How does alcohol affect the body? Generally it takes about one hour to metabolize the alcohol in one drink, which is defined as 1 ounce of 80 proof whiskeys, 4 ounces of wine, or 12 ounces of beer. Alcohol depresses the activity of neurons throughout the brain. As the blood alcohol levels rise, the more brain activity that is impaired.Because alcohol is physically addictive, the person with alcoholism who stops drining may suffer from physical withdrawal symptoms. Inhalants Inhalants are chemical substances that are inhaled to produce an alteration in consciousness. At low doses, they may cause relaxation, giddiness, and reduced inhibition. At higher doses inhalants can lead to hallucinations and a loss of consciousness. Repeatedly inhaling is a practice that increases risk of serious damage to the brain, heart, and other organs. In a study using a inhalant abuser and a cocaine addict that tested both subjects cognitive abilities.The cocaine addict actually scored higher than the inhalant abuser. Even though they both were below the norm for non-users. Barbiturates-Tranquilizers Barbiturates are powerful depressant drugs that reduce anxiety and promote sleep, which is why they are sometime called â€Å"downers. † Barbiturates depress activity in the brain center that control arousal, wakefulness, alertness, and also depress the brains respiratory centers. Low doses cause relaxation, mild euphoria, and reduced inhibitions, but larger doses produce a loss of coordination, impaired mental functioning, and depression.High doses can produce unconsciousness, coma, and death. Barbituates produce a very deep but abnormal sleep in which REM sleep is greatly reduced. Tranquilizers are depressants that relieve anxiety. Common prescribe tranquilizers are Xanax, Valium, and Ativan. The Opiates Often called narcot ics, these groups of addictive drugs relieve pain and produce feelings of euphoria (a feeling of happiness, confidence, or well-being some times exaggerated in pathological states as mania). Opiates produce their powerful effects by mimicking the brain’s own natural painkillers, called endorphins.Heroin, OxyContin, Demorol, Fentanyl, Percodan, and Vicodin. The Stimulants Caffeine, Nicotine, Amphetamines, and Cocaine Stimulants vary in the strength of their effects, legal status, and the manner in which they are taken. All stimulants however are at least mildly addicting, and all tend to increase brain activity. Caffeine and Nicotine Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive drug in the world. Its found in almost everything (soda, coffee, tea, chocolate, and cola drinks). Caffeine stimulates the cerebral cortex in the brain, resulting in an increase in mental alertness and wakefulness.Nicotine, contrary to popular belief does not relax the body. Instead it stimulates it. N icotine increases neural activity in many area of the rain, including the frontal lobes, thalamus, hippocampus, and amygdala. Amphetamines and Cocaine Like caffeine and nicotine, amphetamines and cocaine are addictive substances that stimulate brain activity, increasing mental alertness and reducing fatigue. Amphetamines is sometimes called â€Å"speed† or â€Å"uppers. † Amphetamines suppress appetite and were once widely prescribed as diet pills. Cocaine is an illegal stimulant derived from the leaves of the coca tree.Inhaling cocaine produces intense euphoria, mental alertness and self-confidence. A more concentrated form of cocaine is called â€Å"crack† which is smoked instead of inhaled. Prolonged use of cocaine and amphetamines can result in stimulant-induced psychosis, which have Schizophrenia-like symptoms, including hallucinations of voices and bizarrely paranoid ideas. Psychedelic Drugs Mescaline, LSD, and Marijuana This is a group of drugs that creat e profound perceptual distortions, alter mood, and affect thinking. Psychedelic literally means â€Å"mind manifesting. † Mescaline and LSD Mescaline was derived from the peyote cactus.Another psychedelic drug is psilocybin which is derived from the Psilocybin mushroom or sometimes called the â€Å"magic mushrooms† or â€Å"shrooms. † Mescaline and LSD are very similar chemically to the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is involved in regulating moods and sensations. These drugs can sometime have a â€Å"bad trip† were the user doesn’t get the results the wished for but they get the opposite. Marijuana The common hemp plant, Cannabis sativa, is used to make rope and cloth. But when its leaves, stems, flowers, and seeds are dried and crushed, the mixture is called marijuana. Designer â€Å"Club† Drugs Ecstasy and dissociative anesthetic drugs

The Edict of Nantes essays

The Edict of Nantes essays Here in America most Americans aren't very aware of the freedom that has been bestowed upon us. Thousands of men, women, and children died in various wars over the years to protect our basic rights: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. As for myself I know I take that freedom for granted and I know many others have also. If we believe in one God or six gods, it doesn't matter here in America. You won't be killed for your religious beliefs unless you're some crazy activist. Up until the late 1500's that was the case. If you did not follow the religious beliefs of the King or the Lord of the land you were killed or exiled from the land. In 1598 King Henry IV passed the Edict of Nantes granting religious freedom to the commoners, also known as Huguenots. Henry IV (1589-161O) was the Protestant king of Navarre who led the Huguenot cause during the French wars of religion. His grandmother was Marguerite de Navarre and his mother Jeanne d'Albret, both educated and remarkably talented women. Henry achieved the French throne through a series of accidents, the last of which was the assassination of Henry III in 1589. It was clear that no Protestant could ever command the allegiance of the mass of French people or peaceful rule in the Catholic capital of Paris. Henry converted to Catholicism, defeated his enemies, and ended the long years of religious warfare. The Edict of Nantes was the compromise settlement that granted limited toleration for the Huguenots. It was a landmark in the history of religious toleration, though its main features were watered down under Louis Xlll. The Edict was finally rescinded under Louis XIII in 1685. The Edict of Nantes ended the series of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants that ravaged France from 1562 to 1598. During these wars, several ineffective treaties were concluded, embodying privileges for the Huguenots. These "French wars of religion" pitted Calvini ...

Modern Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Modern Philosophy - Essay Example In philosophy, empiricism is generally a theory of knowledge emphasizing the role of experience, based on perceptual observations by the five senses. . such as sight, touch, hearing and smell. According to Hume, empiricism is a reduction of ideas to nothing more than fuzzy remembered images of actual perceptions that they regard freedom or self-determination both as real and as having important ontological implications, for soul or mind or divinity. John Locke is the father of true empiricism, which is nothing more than a denial of innate (or a priori) knowledge and philosophical rationalism (the belief that knowledge can be derived by reason alone without reference to the perceived world) and insistence that all knowledge is derived and based on conscious experience of the world. That the world we are conscious of is objectively real, and it is our conscious perception of that objectively real world and our reasoning about it, which is the only source of true knowledge. Locke's empiricism began and ended with Locke. Bishop Berkley and Hume immediately destroyed it, and "empiricism" after Locke devolved into extreme Skepticism and subjective Idealism. In the late eighteenth century Immanuel Kant set forth a groundbreaking philosophical system which claimed to bring unity to rationalism and empiricism. Rationalists believe there are innate ideas that are not found in experience. These ideas exist independently of any experience people may have. These ideas may in some way derive from the structure of the human mind, or they may exist independently of the mind. If they exist independently, they may be understood by a human mind once it reaches a necessary degree of sophistication. Empiricists who denied that there are concepts that exist prior to experience. For them, all knowledge is a product of human learning, based on human perception. Perception, however, may cause concern, since illusions, misunderstandings, and hallucinations prove that perception does not always depict the world as it really is. In Kant's view people certainly do have knowledge that is prior to experience, which is not devoid of cognitive significance. Kant has been justly recognized for creating a revolutionary synthesis between the absolute, but speculative certainties of the continental rationalism of his time (represented by Leibniz) and the practical approach of British empiricism (culminating with Hume) that ended up in universal skepticism. Kant's initial position was considerably closer to the continental rationalism of Leibniz and Wolff than to British empiricism. Both his background and his personal inclination caused him to search for absolute certainties rather than pragmatic solutions. It was Hume's skepticism merely served as a catalyst to make him realize how little certainty there could be in any metaphysical construct which described himself as a lover of metaphysics whose affection had not been reciprocated. In the eighteenth

Customer relationship marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Customer relationship marketing - Essay Example Practitioners and strategists both believe that in the current scenario of stiff competition and rivalry the only practical way of reaching and convincing the customer is through CRM. Customer confidence in the companies can be regained by this method which is more personal and certainly more intimate than promotions. Products have become similar and homogenous and even the services provided are becoming standard practice as any new move is easily substituted or copied by competition and effectively it looses its edge. In saturated and matured markets the problem is even more acute and schemes and loyalty programmes are so similar that customers find no novelty in them. Indeed Palmer (1998) is of the opinion that promotions are no more than an encouragement to customers to switch their loyalties. The foundation of Strategic Behavior Theory is that firms take specific actions, like developing objectives, implementing goals, formulating strategies and using tactics, to augment their competitive position against rivals and thereby capitalize on firm performance (Kogut 1998). Strategic Behavior Theory is also consistent with the strategic choice perspective (Child, 1972) in that it accepts that while a firms choice of strategies and tactics are guided by the external environment, they are not completely determined by it. Strategic Behaviour theory also explains that a firm’s choice of behaviour is related more to its strategies and goals and not so much to transaction costs. As a consequence firms try to build competitive advantage against their rivals by developing those strategies that put them in favourable positions (Porter 1996). One such strategy is to build a more enduring relationship through Participatory Collaboration between stakeholders. Satisfaction is another human trait that will bring harmony in relations. Participatory collaborations will benefit in