The Drug Mdma Essays - Substituted Amphetamines, Euphoriants

The Drug Mdma The drug MDMA (ecstasy) is very well known, however it's long term, and cognitive functioning effects are not. The main purpose of this study was to ?establish if users and previous users of MDMA exhibit impairments in more basic level cognitive processes such as working memory functioning, information processing speed, anxiety and arousal? (Wareing, Fisk, Murphy, May 00, 2). In past studies of MDMA, a lot of information regarding its effects has been established yet so much more is still unclear. Topics such as MDMA's relationship to arousal levels and whether the mood and cognitive functioning impairments are long term are either unstudied or virtually unknown. These topics being very important it was decided that a study should be performed. With these ideas in mind, the experimenters focused on two main hypotheses. The first included that MDMA users would be less effective in the random letter generation task. This task studies a persons central executive functioning. The second hypothesis was saying previous, current and non-users arousal levels would differ greatly and users would have the highest anxiety levels. The method the study was done was experimental. 30 individuals participated in all and were divided into 3 categories users, non-users and previous users. Users defined as currently using MDMA, non-users as never using MDMA and previous users were defined as having quit the drug for at least 6 months. There were equal numbers of males and females in each of the 3 groups. The independent variables in this study were the user group and previous user group. This would determine the short-term effects on users and long-term effects on previous users. The control variable was the group of non-users. The dependent variable would be the experiments performed, or more, the gist of the experiments. These experiments were designed to measure central executive measures, background measures, information processing speed, arousal and anxiety. The study included questionnaires, oral questions and simple tasks. The experiments were performed individually on each participant. An important note that was found was that all users, both previous and current, were taking at least one other psychoactive drug in addition to MDMA. This might very well be a factor in all experiments performed. The random generation task is designed to place a constant strain on the central executive and keeps demanding the brain to work and think. Since users and previous users scored less than non-users, it's safe to assume MDMA users have trouble in coping with high levels of cognitive demand. Even previous users have trouble with this test showing that this impairment persists even when you quit taking MDMA. This study also found through the information processing speed test that MDMA users are able to process information as quickly as non-users just not as accurate by a significant amount. In general, the idea the authors were aiming at was that users, or previous users, would score lower on the experiment compared to the non-users. Perhaps the experiment was not as well designed to fit this particular expectation. One of the hypotheses was that users would score less than non-users in a random letter generation task by a significant amount. This was both proven and not proven with the results. The authors found that in the one second production test they were right and non-users did significantly better than users or previous users. On the other hand, this was only a third of the test, there were also 2 second and 4 second tests where non-users did score better but by very little and by no means significant. The other hypothesis was regarding anxiety and arousal saying that with all three groups would differ significantly. This one they couldn't have guessed better, between all three groups they found there was a significant difference with both anxiety and arousal. The study on MDMA and its effects was very inconclusive. The gist of the whole study was to find how a certain type of drug, in the short and long run, affects its consumers. The participants who were studied and compared to non-users all confessed to using at least more than one drug besides MDMA. This brings questions like what kind, how much, how often and how do these drugs

Chemistry Major College Courses

Chemistry Major College Courses Are you interested in studying chemistry in college? Here is a look at the courses you can expect to take if you have a chemistry major. The specific courses you take will depend on which school you attend, but in general you can expect a heavy emphasis on chemistry and math. Almost all of the chemistry courses include a lab component, too. General ChemistryOrganic ChemistryInorganic ChemistryBiochemistryAnalytical ChemistryPhysical ChemistryPhysicsBiologyCalculusProbabilityStatistics Computer Science Sequence of Courses Some of the required classes can be taken whenever you can fit them into your schedule, such as probability, statistics, and computer science. Others have prerequisites. What this means is that you have to take one or more other classes before youll be allowed to enroll. If possible, a chemistry major should try to take general chemistry as a freshman. The course is typically broken up into two parts and takes an entire academic year to complete. Taking it early helps a student determine whether chemistry is truly what they want to pursue and it opens the opportunity to take organic chemistry. Organic chemistry also requires an entire academic year to complete at most institutions. It is a prerequisite for biochemistry and other interdisciplinary courses. In other words, a student usually needs three years to get through the general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry sequence. If youre a chemistry major and you wait until your junior (third) year to take general chemistry, you cant graduate in less than four and a half years! In addition to organic chemistry, general biology is a prerequisite for biochemistry. General biology lasts an entire academic year. A student should be careful when registering for general biology to make certain its the correct class. Many schools offer a watered down version of general biology for non-science majors that may count for college credit, but wont satisfy the requirements for a major or to take higher level biology or chemistry courses. Physics and sometimes calculus are required to take physical chemistry. Because physics is often taken in the second or third year, its normal for physical chemistry to be one of the last major courses a chemistry major takes. Inorganic chemistry always requires general chemistry. Some schools tack on additional requirements. Like physical chemistry, its typically taken later in a students academic career.

Tom Perrotta's The Cosmic Significance of Britney Spears Essay

Tom Perrotta's The Cosmic Significance of Britney Spears - Essay Example When one attempts to find out the reason behind her cosmic significance, it is evident that she is so close to her family members and truthful to her boyfriend. She is cute, strictly religious, and down to earth. She feels proud of her southern identity and is conscious to preserve it forever. From a general viewpoint, she is able to withstand change in her life. She is amazingly unaffected by her global mega stardom. Moreover, she presents herself through two different ways. In her private life, she is shy but in public life she is so bold to express her opinion and ideas. Because of her unique personality, she enjoys the imposed musical identity. Moreover, she is ready to accept it as the part of her life. Her music is familiar to all and is easily enjoyable to music lovers. Her music is with a universal appeal and it exerts a strong influence to the whole humanity. Her music does not belong to an actual place, group or individual consciousness, but to humanity. Her cosmic signific ance is more evident from her music, which is universal, but never particular. The iconic stature that Britney exemplifies is not just that of a teen idol. She is more than that because pop stars are considered as cultural figures in America. In a multicultural and multiracial society, pop music is a way to exhibit race and celebrity. Britney is an era defining superstar, who is ready to find out answers to the questions on our existence and our future. She possesses more in common with other iconic artists like Elvis Presley, Madonna and Kurt Cobain. But her position is far ahead of these iconic artists. Perrotta went through Britney’s book namely, Heart to Heart, and its effect on him was terrific because it influenced and changed his opinion about her. Britney is portrayed in this book as a girl who is so simple and down to earth. When the author decided to complete the essay on Britney, it was the time of September 11

The Media and Some of Valarie Geller's Philosophies Research Paper

The Media and Some of Valarie Geller's Philosophies - Research Paper Example In 2009, she went back to Holland to showcase her book â€Å"Creating Powerful Radio - Getting, Keeping & Growing Audiences† and to give more information about how the book can be utilized to its maximum with some of the information that it provides such as how to get and maintain an audience as well as topics on management and how to make it in the radio industry. Valarie has since had a key interest in radio. She has always had the idea that radio should be revolutionized so as to make it interactive and not just a source to communicate information to its audiences. This is evidenced by the fact that she has written books that handle topics on effective communication. Another factor is that she coaches radio personnel to be dynamic in that, proper communication, interaction and involvement ought to attract a lot of audiences. Some of her contributions to news/talk format radio include the fact that she trains broadcasters to up their skills in relation to media content, crea tivity, caring about the listeners and generally connecting with the audience. Geller has influenced the medium of radio in terms of understanding what the audience wants and being able to give it to them; she also has managed to capture the minds of audiences by talking on interesting events and news. Geller has had major philosophies that she has since implemented and they have reaped benefits. These include; making the most out a listeners time. This is by ensuring that each second a broadcaster is speaking to the audience; they make an impact at that moment. Telling the truth is another philosophy that Geller insists on.

Shakespeares Sonnet 12 and Seamus Heaneys Blackberry-Picking Essay Example for Free

Shakespeares Sonnet 12 and Seamus Heaneys Blackberry-Picking Essay Endeavor to confront Times scythe or surrender to fatalism? Compare and Contrast Shakespeares Sonnet 12 and Seamus Heaneys Blackberry-Picking By Sally, Kuok Si Nok, School of Translation and Interpreting, Beijing Language and Cultural University Human in all ages races through lives in an everlasting fight against time. Mens struggle against nature has been a timeless theme in the literary world. From the early 17th century Sonnet 12, Shakespeares When I do count the clock that tells the time, to Seamus Heaneys Blackberry-picking, written in late 20th century, both poems addresses the effect of Times scythe on the transience decayed in nature as a natural cycle of life; however, while Shakespeare adopts a positive attitude in suggesting procreation to defeat time as a temporary solution, Heaney reflects on the inevasible disappointment at the interference of natural law. To address the theme of natural cycle, Shakespeare employs elaborated diction and juxtaposes contrasting ideas to measure the passage of time, nature and youth through life: In line 1 and 2, brave day sunk in hideous night reflects the daily passage of time, line 3 and 4 link nature to humankind, by first evokes a flowers wilting stage to the image of black hair naturally aging an turning grey, line 5 to 7 discuss the progression of season from canopy to barren of leave, to white and bristly beard, indicating snow and winter. Since Heaney metaphorizes old man as white beard on the bier, it can be suggested that he also compares young maid to violet prime and young man to lofty tree. Thus, the implicit use of figurative language hints the universal law of nature on all creatures throughout Sonnet 12 a number which symbolizes hour and month (passage of time). With regard to Heaneys techniques of expression, he visualizes the decaying process of blackberry by reminiscing a childhood activity in rural Northern Ireland. In the poem, the specific temporal markings like late August, for a full week, At first, just one and every year vividly demonstrates the time sequence of blackberry growing before ultimate rot; the employment of color and texture like green, red, purple glossy and hard serves not only to illustrate the ripening blackberries, but also impact on the readers taste and tactile sensation. Most importantly, the reminiscence itself, utilizes both the perspective of Heaney as a young child and an adult looking back, and the half-rhyming pattern suggesting imperfect memory, both symbolize the passage of time and ageing process. The last line Each year I hoped theyd keep, knew they would not. suggests a repetitive emotional behavior and disillusionment, highlighting the natural law of life. Shakespeare and Heaney, though addressing the same theme, differ in the motivation and the attitude toward Times scythe. The former speaks of sterility of bachelorhood and recommends procreation as a means of immortality in the form of human race, whereas the latter blends autobiological account of disillusionment in rural life with the natural decay of blackberry, impacting the reader on the spiral of disappointment. In Sonnet 12, Shakespeare displays a strident attitude to persuade: first, brave day sunk into hideous night the antithetical choice of word establishes a stark contrast, not only between day and night, but above all, the courage and futility of battling against indefensible nature, for brave is meant to imply a visual brightness and gallantry. A man begins his live bravely, wanting to explore the world around him and learn as much as he can. Once he has reached his prime he begins to sink into his twilight years, and his beard begins to turn silver. The girls who once flocked to him have either been married or have lost interest. His beauty has waned, and been replaced by the wrinkles and gray hair that mark old age. His life continues thus until he dies; leaving the world with no one to keep his memory alive. Therefore, the repeated brave in the last line means to endure something without showing fear; in this case, that which much be endured is death, or time that will take thee hence. Second, the progression of natural creature to human emphasizes the universally incessant movement of time, further frightening his bachelor friend and readers. Lastly, the third quatrain shifts in tone and the speaker begins to talk directly to the young man, warning the inescapable fate of his beauty being engulfed by decay and eventual death. The personification of flowers images the general obligation of all creatures forsaking ones sweets and beauties to nourish offspring. Together with muscular rhyme, the palindrome-like metaphor pushes the poem to a climax. In Blackberry-picking, Heaney frames the the progression of pleasure to disappointment by two separated stanzas: he first describes his enthusiasm for picking blackberries, from tasting the first black berry of the season to the frenzy of excitement with the involvement of his peer friends; he then reflects on how his attitude towards the berries evolves into revulsion as the berries decay. Together with half-rhymes and abovementioned poetic structure, the elaborated diction and imagery associated with greed, lust, violence, sex and horror further highlight how the speaker laments the effect of time on joyful life and pleasure, both sharing a transitory nature. In line 3 and 4, one of the two only full rhymes of clot and knot invites readers to compare them, reinforcing the stark contrast between hard, unripened and soft, ripe berry. Amongst, the metaphor of a clot draws a comparison between the first berry of the season and a blood clot, first highlighting its soft juiciness and deep rich color of the berry and then associating it with flesh and blood. This introduces the sensual nature of berry-picking, which later violent and guilty association await. Words like flesh, thickened wine summers blood, hunger and lust are strong expression of human desires, usually pathological craving, which implies the intoxificating effect of the berries on the children and foreshadows of the loss of innocence in coming adulthood (Passage of time). The young ravenously gorge on the blackberries, tasting the stains upon the tongue and lust for Picking The enjambment of Picking marks the start of the next section of the poem the actual picking of blackberry, which can be perceived as the crime scene of human crippling nature. The children are sent out by hunger and desire, disregard of their inked-up hands and mouths, and randomly gather all possible containers like milk can and jam-pots in order to satisfy their bottom-less lust for berry. They frantically scour the hayfields and potato-drills, seemingly forbid any berry, ripe or not, to spare from their blood-stained mouth, oblivion to treasuring their spoils and throw them in until the tinkling bottom has been covered with green ones- fantasizing endless gratification. The last two lines in the first stanza push the crime, or the process of lust, to a climax, by juxtaposing the victims mutilated corpses staring like a plate of eyes and the assailants sticky palms like Bluebeards an allusion of a black fairytale in which a lord married a succession of bosom girls before murderi ng them. The second stanzas choice of word is the antithesis of the first: Rat-grey fungus, stinking, fruit fermented and sour starkly contrast with the not-long-ago euphoria, as the berries start to rot and go moldy, marking the post-climax downward slope of emotion plunging to the bottom. Thus, it may hint that Heaney subtly associates the arch-like process of pleasure to that of a sexual intercourse, by both diction and alliteration. Starting from first and flesh, to briar, bleached our boots and big blobs burned in the middle, then followed by pricks and palms, ending with filled we found a fur and fruit fermented, the deliberate use of alliteration pattern draws association to a complete process of copulation. Linguistically speaking, the labiodental /f/ hints the arousal and foreplay, then progress into bilabial /b/ implicating orgasm, finally ends with plosive /p/ and fricative /f/, indicating sudden stop of sensual pleasure along with frustrated insatiability. Therefore, when Heaney i ntroduces the speaker I lamenting that it wasnt fair and always felt like crying, he acts like a petulant child or a dissatisfied teenager. â€Å"At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. â€Å"That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.† â€Å"Each year I hoped theyd keep, knew they would not.† These full-rhyming couplets act as a framing device by introducing the first taste of blackberries and the excited frenzy of picking that stem from it, whereas the second couplet epilogue with Heaneys disillusionment by using antithesis to express the futility of fighting against fleeting time, from the perspective of an adult as he recognizes and looks back to the fundamental contradiction in his idea. Nevertheless, Heaney might sound less indulgent if he is alluding to a deeper significance metaphorizing blackberry and sensual pleasure as life itself. Hence, within this interpretive framework, Heaney can be understood as mirroring the same literary skill and message that Shakespeare conveys explicitly: using natural decay to intimate humans own mortality. Yet, the difference lies in the strong contrast in attitude and motivation, in which Shakespeare confidently persuades his bachelor friend whereas Heaney helplessly laments on his overwhelming fatalism.

Gary Soto Essay -- essays research papers

Throughout the autobiographical narrative written by Gary Soto, many different literary elements are used to recreate the experience of his guilty six-year old self. Different elements such as contrast, repetition, pacing, diction, and imagery. Soto narrates this story as a young boy at a time when he seems to be young and foolish, Soto foolmaking mistakes, but at the same time hoping to learn from them. Soto uses each of these devices to convey different occurrences in the narrative. Contrast is used when Soto compares himself to Eve, a biblical character, when God punished her for stealing an apple from a sacred garden. Also in the first line of the story Soto explains he â€Å"knew enough about hell to stop me from stealing†, but later in the story he states that, â€Å"the best things in life come stolen.† It is obvious these two statements contrast each other. Soto also uses repetition in this story and starts off with the driver, Mrs. Hancock, and his mom who all â€Å"knew† that he had stolen the pie. The thing is â€Å"knew† is repeated too many times in too little writing. Also though I think using â€Å"knew† so many times brings out the element of diction into the narrative because by using the word so many times, it is obviously used to show how paranoid Soto was. The word pie is at least 14 times while â€Å"I† is also used at least 42 where in the third paragraph it is used to begin the last three sentences.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Next, was the element of pacing and in the third par...

Central Nervous system &Metaphors

This essay explores the concept of an organization style metaphorically as professed by Gareth Morgan in his book Images of Organizations (1989). This essay provides examples of how the responsibilities and functionality of upper management within a corporation serve similar functions as to how the brain functions within the Central Nervous system. First, one must understand exactly what a metaphor is in order to understand how Morgan (1989) comes to his conclusion.A metaphor is defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as a figure of speech in which a word or phrase literally denoting one kind of object or idea is used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them (2009). Morgan (1989) discusses how the brain is a metaphor for a company’s organization structure and behavior. He considers the organization as the brain and draws attention to the importance of information, learning, and intelligence, and provides a framework for understanding modern organizations . This style of organization has the capacity to be flexible and inventive with a continuous improvement mindset.The brain stores and processes enormous amounts of information in its parts simultaneously thus the end result being able to speak and walk. To understand the brain like metaphor we have to understand that the brain is made of two hemispheres. It is understood that the left side of the brain is the more logical, analytical and rational side, much like the strategy and finance side of an organization whereas the right side is more creative and emotional much like the marketing and human resources departments of an organization.Like the brain, an organization has areas that concentrate on particular parts of the business; however, the organization as a whole must work together. Each department can work on its own as can be seen in artificial intelligence such as Rodney Brooks' mobot (Morgan, 1989). The functions of an organization such as Marketing, Human Resources, Finance , Operations, and Information Technology have a series of processes which results in the function of whole organization. Each of these departments in an organization can be likened to a sensory input element to the executive â€Å"brain†.Marketing, for example, can serve as the â€Å"eyes† of the organization by providing input to the brain related to the business environment, supply and demand and other market elements important to the navigation capabilities of the organization. The Finance department acts as the â€Å"skin† by providing information about the financial atmosphere and environment of the corporate body. The Finance department â€Å"skin† can tell the corporate brain whether conditions are financially cool, or hot. Also, the †skin† can indicate whether the organization is acting in a manner that produces â€Å"pain† in terms of financial difficulties.Operations acts as the ears of an organization, providing information a bout the â€Å"balance† of the entire organization and allowing the brain of the leadership to issue the appropriate instructions to the organization to keep it moving without collapse. Human Resources acts as a taste mechanism for the organizational body, giving the brain an idea of the building blocks (personnel) that are being introduced to the organizational body. The IT department can be likened to the central nervous system. It is this department that maintains the flow of information to and from the â€Å"brain† of the organization.The metaphor of the organization as a body with the corporate officers as the brain can be further understood with respect to what happens when there are breakdowns in any one of the parts composing the organizational body. Failure of the Human Resource department, for example, can lead to the ingestion of organizational poison: workers who are not qualified for the jobs they are assigned. If the â€Å"skin† of finance fails, t he infection of debt may set in, causing necrosis to various parts of the organizational body.It is possible that such a result could result in a systemic infection that could kill the entire organization. The Operations department should malfunction; the entire organization could lose its balance and fall, destroying the organizational â€Å"brain†. Perhaps most significantly, the failure of IT to properly move information between the â€Å"brain† and the other appendages of the organization, the result is paralysis, as the messages the executive send get lost or misinterpreted. The organization-as-brain-and-body metaphor goes a long way toward explaining the interconnectivity of various aspects of organizations.All the component parts contribute information to the executive â€Å"brain† which can react quickly and guide the organization toward action that will make the most effective use of the information. The failure of any one of the component parts of the organizational body represents a hazard that threatens the organization as a whole, and the brain in particular. â€Å"Metaphor. † Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. Merriam-Webster Online. 17 April 2009