Character, Dignity, and Self-Respect Essay Example for Free

Character, Dignity, and Self-Respect Essay This paper will summarize the movie Glory and relate one or two characters to Aristotle, Epictetus, and Saint Augustine on character, dignity, and self-respect. Alina Campbell This paper will summarize the movie Glory and relate one or two characters to Aristotle, Epictetus, and Saint Augustine on character, dignity, and self-respect. The movie Glory is based on a true story about the Commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry which was the first black regiment to be listed in the service of the United States. It is based on the letters by Col. Robert Shaw. Col. Shaw felt he was involved in something that he was not completely sure about, considering he had previously lost a lot of soldiers to battle. He was now faced with survivor’s guilt which he knew would heal in time. Shaw later became a mighty leader that lead the black regiment to take on the battle in Fort Wagner. Aristotle Character is mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Aristotle believed character to be neither a feeling or a capacity or a mere tendency to act in certain ways (Sommers amp; Sommers, 2010). He believed instead that character was a settled condition we are in when we are well off in relation to our feelings and our actions. The virtues of character are dispositions to act in a certain way in response to similar situations. Good conduct arises from habits that in turn can only be acquired by repeated action and correction. Col. Robert Gould Shaw fits Aristotle’s view of Character best in my opinion. He was not only the commander of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, their voice. The black men that fought with Shaw were slaves that wanted to fight for their freedom. When Shaw was told of the United States Government planning to form this regiment of black soldiers he agreed to take the Commanding position. He then asked his best friend Major Cabot Forbes to fight along with him and Forbes accepted. At one point Shaw fights for these men to get the proper uniform and boots. He also refuses pay along with them after finding out that they are paid less than the white soldiers. Both Shaw and Forbes strongly connected with this group of men: the angry Private Trip (Denzel Washington); Private Jupiter Sharts (Jhine Kennedy); Corporal Thomas Searles (Andre Braugher), a very smart and educated man that grew up with Shaw and worked for Shaw’s father, and Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins (Morgan Freeman), a runaway slave who speaks with the voice of wisdom and reason. Dignity is the state of quality of being worthy of honor or respect. Aristotle’s view on dignity consists of the consciousness that we deserve honors, not in processing them. You cannot earn dignity through external awards; instead it is something you bestow upon yourself. â€Å"Dignity consists not in possessing recognition from others, but in consciousness that we deserve recognition from others† (Sommers amp;Sommers, 2010). The character played by Morgan Freeman, Rawlings, knew that being a slave was not worth much, so he decided to help Shaw fight the battle at Fort Wagner. Forbes also displayed dignity in the movie. Forbes was Col. Shaw’s best friend and is who told Col. Shaw of this regiment. Due to the type of relationship the two had, Col. Shaw asked Forbes to come along with him to prepare the black slaves. Forbes agreed and stood by Col. Shaw and these black men through the name calling, getting the proper shoes, and receiving their uniforms like the white soldiers had while fighting in the Civil War. Aristotle describes the position of character, dignity and self- respect as character being a state concern with choice, lying in a mean relative to us, that this is determined by reason and in such a way that a man of wisdom would determine it. It is a mean between two vices that depends on excess that depends on defect (Sommers amp; Sommers, 2010) Aristotle feels neither a feeling nor a capacity nor a tendency to behave in specific ways. It is the settled condition we are in when we are well off in a relation to our feelings and actions when we are in a mean or intermediate state in regard to them. Meaning we have a vicious character that we are badly off in relation to feeling and actions, and we fail the means in regards to them. The character that I felt showed this type of role would be Denzel and Andre’s characters, known as Trip and Thomas. Trip was a runaway slave that was very angry. He didn’t have anybody and had been previously beaten several times. Trip had specific thoughts of the white man and they were that the slaves were seen as monkeys. He thought that the slaves should be dressed up in uniform and fight, since the white men would only get themselves killed and wouldn’t be able to win. Andre Braugher played Thomas. He was an educated man that had worked for Col. Shaw’s father. He believed that black men should know how to read and have pride within themselves. In the movie Glory, Thomas had learned to take a lot. Thomas assumed that since he and Col. Shaw were close friends that he would be treated a bit differently, but to his surprise, he was called out by his best friend to train a lot faster than he was and then yelled at. Thomas learned much at the end of the movie, including self-respect. Thomas had been shot in a previous battle and he asked Col. Shaw to promise that he wouldn’t send him back, which Shaw didn’t allow Thomas to continue in battle. Later in the movie, Col. Shaw asks who would be willing to standin the place of the flagman, should something happen, and Thomas stated that he would and did. Epictetus Epictetus held the Orthodox Stoic view that everything in the universe is directed by divine will. Epictetus was different from the early stoics in that he believed happiness was found in maintaining one’s moral character as opposed to striving for moral excellence. He emphasized self-knowledge and keeping one’s moral character in order as the way to achieve a happy life. Epictetus warned his students to expect persecution since their actions and attitudes would be different from those around them. He encouraged them to view life as an athletic challenge, a festival or a short military service, where success would come from a combination of correct choices and skill. Epictetus believed that â€Å"grief was the most offensive emotion; he considered the suffering of grief as an act of evil. It was a willful act, going against the will of God to have all men share happiness† (Stockdale, 1995). Col. Robert Shaw, through his personal growth and internal realizations fulfilled his leadership duties on the battlefield, as well as beyond. He chose to take the beliefs he had from his life prior to war to another level. Shaw struggled with the question of equality among the races yet he recognized the character and desires of the Black Americans and chose to act on their behalf as well as the Unions. Shaw felt that his soldiers, regardless of color, deserved respect just as much as the white soldiers. Shaw was willing to not take pay to make a point that his soldiers deserved the same pay as their fellow white soldiers. He stuck his neck out to make sure they received the proper gear in order to fight. Shaw had finally decided to not let the grief from the prior battle to control him, he chose to help in the happiness of the slaves and continue to fight for their freedom. Saint Augustine Augustine’s approach was not just brilliant, it was practical. His insight is intellectually credible and emotionally satisfying in that it gives hope and offers meaning to the Christian trying to make sense out of life in a fallen world (Sommers amp; Sommers, 2010). To Augustine, anything that had being was good. Good as the ground of being was perfectly good, along with everything he brought into being. This goodness was a property that came in varying degrees. The obstacles that Col. Robert Gould Shaw had to overcome is the fact that he failed in battle another time. He had to pick himself back up, and he then led the black regiment in the Civil War and was refused to let these black soldiers be treated with any less respect than the white soldiers. Another hardship that Col. Shaw and his black soldiers had to endure was the fact they were getting under paid, they were not given the proper shoes to march in, and the fact they were not given the proper uniforms like the other soldiers. Col. Shaw had shown a life of character, dignity and self- respect by being the honorable Commander that he was. Col. Shaw never let others views get in the way of his personal view of his soldiers. Col. Shaw had self- respect even though he had been defeated, prior to leading the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry soldiers with dignity and never gave up on them.  He was a man that believed in faith and that the black soldiers were no different than any others.

Sales and Inventory Essay Example for Free

Sales and Inventory Essay Nowadays, technology is commonly used by people in different various fields. The breakthroughs of science and technology have been applied in many ways to commerce and industry. Some of the spin-offs of these breakthroughs eventually filter down to provide benefits for the average person. The best example of this is products that were invented during the space program, which have allowed engineers and other scientists to use these to new products and materials in manufacturing. In the field of communication, mobile phone is one of the innovations that are being used by millions of people around the world. Most operations like planning and scheduling depend on inventory. This study is about a system of a mobile phone company wherein a documentation of a sales inventory system is being proposed. Inventory control system is very important to understand system of inventory management. (Shore, 2002) A very old but very wise adage teaches that â€Å"a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step†. For businessman Guan Kay Lo, this adage holds true. He took the first â€Å"single step† in 1945 and established a small business which underwent several changes and challenges, an amazing journey, and through commitment, dedication, hard work and the miracle of time, it is now known as the Guanzon Group of Companies. The Guanzon MobiTek located at Perez St. Dagupan City uses a logbook wherein they record the products arrived and to be delivered to their branches. It is also used to record customers’ name and the product he/she had purchased. The System shall be established at the Guanzon Mobitek located at the Perez St. Dagupan City. (Lo, 2009) Statement of the Objectives The main goal of the study is to evaluate the current sales inventory control system of Guanzon MobiTek and come up with an enhanced inventory control system for the mobile company for a better inventory management and reduce risks of errors and fraud. It will seek to give an enhancement and design the company could adopt for a more effective and efficient inventory system. Specifically, the study aimed to: * Develop a system to manage sales and inventory products including add,  update and delete record. * Develop a Password-secured program * Be able to impart our knowledge in Inventory System that would help the Guanzon MobiTek Significance of the Study Ensuring continuous growth of firm is the main proposal on this study. It explains that it is important for a company to monitor its products’ demand from consumers. When demand arises there must be a sufficient stock to meet it without delay. It should also provide that the production must always be available and in good. Guanzon MobiTek Company. Guanzon can adopt the recommendations to be done by the researchers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their sales inventory control system. Customers. The system records the items purchased by the customer easily. Personnel. It helps the personnel to lessen the time of works regarding in checking and recording the products sold, unsold, and to be sold. Researchers of this Study. The researchers, being the main participants, will gain knowledge and experience to improve their skills. Future researchers. This research can provide basis and references for future studies related to inventories. Scope and Limitations This inventory system is designed and implemented to Guanzon MobiTek wherewith it is limited to the monitoring of stocks for mobile phones and mobile devices. Alert signals were being given to the user when stock goes beyond the reordering system. This study consists of adding, updating, and deleting record of the stocks. If the suppliers had delivered the company’s orders, the allowed personnel will login in this system then add the product including its quantity, model and the date delivered. For those unsold products, the personnel updates the records then delete the product. The proponents focused in monitoring the sales and inventory of the Guanzon MobiTek which is located at Perez St. Dagupan City. The study is limited on the system on how to record the sold, unsold, and to be sold mobile phone products of the company. Definition of terms Inventory management. Important for the business that sells a physical product to make the company’s system quick and reliable. Mobile phone. Mobile electronic device sold by the company which is used to make mobile  telephone calls across a wide geographic area, served by many public cells. Sales management. Management of sales operation, it is an important business function as net cells through the sales of products and services. Computerization. To equip with computers. End user. The one who operates the computing system. Field. One piece of information, such as customer’s last name, or item’s code number. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES This chapter deals with the different literature and studies base on different sources such as books, magazine and Internet. The related literature is written based on the needed information related to the system to provide the better understanding how Sales and Inventory System works and give a brief theoretical background. Data Processing or information, operation (e.g., handling, merging, sorting and computing) performed upon data in accordance with strictly defines procedures, such as recording and summarizing the financial transaction of a business. An automatic or electronic data processing the operations are performed by the computer. Computer Security techniques developed to safeguard information and information system stored on computers. Potential threats include the destruction of computer hardware and software and the loss, modification, theft, unauthorized use, or disclosure of computer data. Inventory serves a number of functions. Among the most important are the following: To meet anticipated customer demand. These inventories are referred to as anticipation stocks because they are held to satisfy planned or expected demand. Inventory management has two main concerns. One release to the level of customer service, that is, to have the right goods, in sufficient quantities, in the right place, and at the right time. The other relates to the cost of ordering and carrying inventories. The overall objective of inventory management is to achieve satisfactory levels of customer service while keeping inventory costs within reasonable bounds. The management has two basic functions concerning inventory. One is to establish a system of  keeping track of items in inventory, and the other is to make decisions about how much and when to order. A system to keep track of the inventory on hand and on order.A reliable forecast of demand that includes an indication of possible forecast error. Knowledge of lead times and lead-time variability. Reasonable estimates of inventory holding costs, ordering costs, and shortage costs. A classification system for inventory items. However, inventory-counting system can be periodic or perpetual. Under a periodic system, a physical count of items in inventory is made at periodic intervals (e.g., weekly, and monthly) in order to each item. An advantage of this type of system is that orders for many items occur at the same time, which can result in economies in processing and shipping orders. But it has also several disadvantages. These are lack of control between reviews, the needs against shortages between review periods by carrying stocks and the need to make a decision on order quantities at each review. A perpetual inventory system (also known as a continual system) keeps track of removal from inventory on a continuous basis so the system can provide information on the current level of inventory on each item. An obvious advantage of this system is the control provided by the continuous monitoring of inventory withdrawals. Another is the fixed level quantity. One disadvantage of this approach is the added cost of record keeping. According to Ariel Magat (2002), he stated that the Inventory System of the vital to any institution, agency, or department. The proper safekeeping, processing and disposal of records play important roles in the efficient, effective and smooth operation that eventually, he stated that the Inventory System of the vital to any institution, agency, or department. The proper safekeeping, processing and disposal of records play important roles in the efficient, effective and smooth operation that eventually would lead to the success attainment of the goal and objectives of institution, agency and department concerned. Based on her recommendation there should be a central record management office that will hold data of the agency to serve as locator of the record and to control the disposal of each record. This can be possible through the use of computerized system. Computer with the appropriate software package is capable if handling records efficiently and effectively. And locating records that are computerized is faster tha finding them in the filling cabinet (Magat, 2002).

M.bovis Genetic Diversity

M.bovis Genetic Diversity Mycoplasmabovis pneumonia is an epidemic worldwide. To understand M.bovis genetic diversity would help develop novel measures to control this disease. Therefore this study was aimed to determine genotype distribution of Chinese strains and the potential global evolution. Firstly three available methods including two M. bovis multilocus sequence typing (MLST) schemes MLST-1 and MLST-2 and pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were comparatively used for 44 Chinese strains and M. bovis type strain PG45 originated fromUSA. The results showed a high genetic homogeneity of Chinese isolates. By MLST-1, 43 of 44 (97.7%) Chinese isolate being ST-10, while 1 of 44 ST-34. The MLST-2 scheme clustered 44 Chinese isolates into two sequence types, ST-10 43 of 44 (97.7%) and 1 of 44 ST-32. PFGE clustered 42 of 44 (95.5%) into PT-I. The discrimination index was highest for PFGE (D = 0.160), while both MLST schemes have similar discrimination power (D = 0.110). The agreement rate among three typing methods is 95.4%à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 95% CIà ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã… ¡84.2%, 99.4%à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °. The type strain PG45 gave a unique type by all three methods. Additionally, MLST-2 scheme was used to analyze 8 Australia and 8 Israeli isolates. The results showed 8 Israeli strains represent three STs with ST-10 as the most dominant type comprising 50% of the strains, ST-20 (n=2) and ST-28 (n=2). The 8 Australian isolates showed two sequence types ST-10 (n=7) and another sequence type ST-41 (n=1) identified firstly here. The assay of evolutionary relationship by geoBURST Minimum spanning tree (MST) of 60 isolates typed in this study and 207 isolates of 11 countries from the MLST-2 database. It was revealed that similar dominant clone (ST-10 in CC 3) exists in China, Israel, Australia and United States. This may be related to global livestock movements. In conclusion, we firstly demonstrated the remarkable clonality of M. bovis in China and the dominant ST-10 might originate from a common global source. Key words: Mycoplasma bovis; molecular epidemiology; multilocus sequence typing (MLST); pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE); cattle; evolution. Mycoplasma bovis (M.bovis) is the main causative pathogen of bovine mycoplasmosis worldwide such as in North America, Europe (Nicholas and Ayling, 2003), China (Shi et al., 2008), Australia (Morton et al., 2014) and Israel (Lysnyansky et al., 2016). It results in substantial economic losses to producers by causing M.bovispneumonia and mastitis in beef and dairy cattle. M. bovis was first isolated in 1961 in USA from cattle mastitis milk (Hale et al 1962) and has long been considered a player in bovine respiratory diseases (BRD) since 1976 (Thomas et al., 1986). It then appears to have spread via animal movements to, amongst many countries (Nicholas 2002). Today, infection occurs in most European countries and throughout the world. It was estimated that the economic loss caused by M.bovisin United States was up to $108 million per year. In Europe, M.bovis pneumonia constitutes about 30% of calf respiratory diseases (Nicolas and Ayling, 2003; Maunsell et al., 2011). As the prevalence o f M. bovis associated diseases varies widely across the world, there are important trade implications and a pressing need to monitor cattle for M. bovis. However, to date, there are large gaps in our understanding evolutionary relationships of this pathogen isolates between different countries and globally. In China the first M. bovis mastitis was described in 1983 (Chen et al., 1983) and first M. bovis pneumonia in 2008. Since then reports of M. bovis pneumonia and mastitis outbreaks have been frequently described (Shi et al., 2008; Peng et al., 2011). M. bovis pneumonia is characterized by severe respiratory distress, high fever and at postmortem lung lesions including carnification, extensive caseo-necrotic or suppurative foci in the lungs. M.bovis pneumonia caused over 80% morbidity and between 10% to 60% mortality in calves and stockers newly introduced into beef feedlots (Shi et al., 2008). A major contributing factor to this disease is the stress caused by the long distance transportation of calves and stockers between the feedlots and farms (Shi et al., 2008). The disease is difficult to control with chemotherapy, and vaccination would be an ideal alternative approach. An insight of the genetic diversity and population structure of M. bovis would assist in the development of novel vaccines, as well as gaining an insight into evolutionary trends. A variety of molecular typing methods have been used for epidemiological characterization of M. bovis strains including random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis (Butler et al., 2001), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis (Kusiluka et al., 2000; Soehnlen et al., 2012), pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) (Pinho et al., 2012; Arcangioli et al., 2012), insertion sequence (IS) typing (Miles et al., 2005; Aebi et al., 2012) and multilocus variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) analysis (Pinho et al., 2012; Spergser et al., 2013). In addition, three multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) schemes were recently developed to study population structure, evolution and spread of this pathogen (Manso-Silvan et al., 2012;Register et al., 2015; Rosales et al., 2015). The MLST scheme developed by Manso-Silvan et al. (2012) is based on four housekeeping genes fusA, gyrB, lepAand rpoB and showed a discrimination index of 0.833, while improved MLST scheme have been developed by Rosales et al.2015) here after referred as MLST-1 scheme; and by Register et al. (2015) here after referred as MLST-2 scheme. Both schemes use seven housekeeping genes but they only have one gene in common and therefore theire discrimination power higher than the Manso-Silvan scheme. In the present study, it was aimed to firstly evaluate the three methods MLST-1 and MLST-2 schemes and conventional PFGE by comparing the results in typing 44 Chinese M.bovis isolates, secondly assess the genetic diversity and population structure of M. bovis strains isolated in period of 2007 2014 by using the type strain PG45 as the control., and thirdly explore the evolutionary relationship of Chinese M.bovis isolates with globally diverse isolates. Material and Methods Mycoplasma bovis isolates M. bovis Chinese isolates (n=44) were obtained during 2008 to 2014 from nine Chinese provinces: Hubei (n=25), Anhui (n=1), Fujian (n=2), Hunan (n=1), Jiangxi (n=3), Henan (n=8), Inner Mongolia (n=1), Guangzhou (n= 2) and Shandong (n=1). These M. bovis isolates were mostly from lungs in cases of pneumonia (n=41); together with other sources such as milk with mastitis (n=2); throat swab in case of pneumonia (n=1) and fluid of joint with arthritis (n=1). The M. bovis type strain PG45 was purchased from American Type Culture Collection (ATCC 25523) and also used in this study. DNA samples from 8 Israeli M. bovis isolates were kindly offered by Prof. Dr. Inna Lysnyansky from Kimron Veterinary Institute, Israel, collected during 2013-2014 from pneumonia (n=6), stillbirth (n=1) and arthritis (n =1) in seven regions namely Gilboa (n=1), Beer Tuvia (n=3), Hevel Eilot (n=1), Eshkol (n=1), Jerusalem (n=1), Mateh Yehuda (n=1) and EmekYizrael (n=1). In addition, eight whole genome sequences of Australian M.bovis isolates were retrieved from GenBank representing mastitis, (n=4), lungs (n=1), nose swab (n=1), joint fluid (n=1) and semen culture (n=1) in five regions namely New south Wales (n=2), Queensland (n=1), Tasmania (n=3), South Australia (n=1) and Victoria (n=1) with accession no. SAMN05444185, SAMN05444199, SAMN05444228, SAMN05444239, SAMN05444243, SAMN05444247, SAMN05444250, SAMN05444261) included in this study (Table 1). Growth conditions, species identification and DNA extraction M.bovis isolates were confirmed by species-specific PCR as previously described (Subramaniam et al., 1998). The M.bovis samples were grown in PPLO broth (Difco) supplemented with 0.5% (w/v) sodium pyruvate (Biosharp, China), 0.09% (w/v) yeast extract (BD Biosciences, San Jose, CA, USA)à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã…’0.004% (w/v) phenol red, 1% (v/v) 10- minimum essential medium (MEM) (Sigma-Aldrich, Saint Louis, MO, USA), 20% (v/v) Hyclone donor horse serum (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and penicillin G 80,000 IU/100 mL and the final pH was adjusted to 7.6(Khan et al., 2016). DNA from each isolate was extracted using the genomic DNA extraction kit (Tiangen, Beijing, China). Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) MLST-1 scheme is based on a partial sequencing of dnaA, metS, recA, tufA, atpA, rpoD and tkt genes (Rosales et al., 2015); For MLST-1 scheme, 44 Chinese isolates and American type strain PG45. The PCR amplification conditions for MLST-1 were used as previously described (Rosales et al., 2015); after amplification, PCR products were further purified and sequenced using PCR Products Extraction Kit (Magnetic Beads) (Enriching Biotechnology, LTD, Wuhan, China) and sequenced. Sequencing reactions were performed by the commercial company (Tianyi Hui Yuan Biological Technology Pvt. Ltd. Wuhan, China).The quality of chromatograms was checked visually and sequence data were assembled and edited using SeqMan software (DNASTAR Inc., Wisconsin, USA). The assembled MLST-1 sequences were compared using non-redundant database (NRDB) comparison tool available in http://pubmlst.org/analysis/ with our previously analyzed 10 strains used as a control to assign allele and Sequence type number (Rosales e t al., 2015). MLST-2 scheme is based on a partial sequencing of adh-1, gltX, gpsA, gyrB, pta-2, tdk and tkt (Register et al., 2015). For MLST-2 scheme, the 44 Chinese strain and PG45 were subjected to PCR, and PCR products were sequenced as above mentioned method. The assembled sequences of all isolates were uploaded to http://pubmlst.org/mbovis/database to identify allele numbers and sequence types (STs). In addition, for the evolutionary assay, 8 Israel strains were typed with the method as described above. Meanwhile, 8 Australian isolates whole genome were annotated using prokka 1.11rapid prokaryotic genome annotation software (Seemann; 2014) at http://www.vicbioinformatics.com. Each locus sequence was extracted from the annotated genome. Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis PFGE of 44 Chinese M.bovis field strains and type strain PG45 was performed as previously described (McAuliffe et al., 2004, Arcangioli et al., 2012) with some modifications for agarose block preparation. Briefly, macro-restriction analysis was performed with the restriction enzyme SmaI as follows: Each M.bovis isolate 15 ml culture aliquot was centrifuged at 15000 à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´g for 20 min at 40C, the pellet was washed three times with Tris-EDTA buffer and resuspended in 400 à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­l of cold Tris-EDTA buffer (pH 8.0). Agarose plugs were prepared from a 1:1 mixture of the above cell suspension and 2% low-melting-boiling agarose (Bio-Rad). They were then incubated in a lysis buffer containing 10mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM EDTA, 1% lauroyl sarcosine, 1mg of proteinase K per ml for 48 h at 560C. These plugs were washed for 6h with several changes of Tris-EDTA buffer at 40C. The plugs were then cut aseptically into 2 mm sections and equilibrated in 120 à ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ ­l restriction buffer (Prom ega) for 30 min at 40C. Subsequently, plugs were digested with 30U of SmaI (Promega, Shanghai, China) at 240C for 4 h. After digestion loaded in 1% pulsed-field-certified agarose gel (Bio-Rad), and run in a CHEF-DRIII system (Bio-Rad) at 6V/cm, in 0.5à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ´ TBE buffer at 140C, at 6V/cm with angle of 1200. The initial pulse time was 5s, with a final pulse time of 40s with a running time of 24 h. The lambda DNA ladder PFGE marker (Bio-Rad) was used as a reference. PFGE fragments in the gel were stained with ethidium bromide (EB) (1mg/ml) for 20 min, and destained in distilled water for 1.5 h and visualized under UV transilluminator. Pulsotypes (PT) were assigned numbers consecutively based on differences of more than one band in PFGE patterns upon visual inspection. The banding patterns were analyzed using Dice coefficients with 1% band position tolerance. The clustering of patterns was performed using unweighted pair group matching algorithm (UPGMA) as previously described ( Arcangioliet al., 2012; Timsit et al., 2012). Allelic sequence variance analysis The Sequence Type Analysis and Recombinational Test Version 2 (START2) (Jolley et al., 2001) were used to analyze polymorphic sites, construct UPGM dendrograms and calculate non-synonymous to synonymous ratios (dN/dS). Genetic diversity (H) of each locus and Index of Association (IA) were calculated by using LIAN 3.5 (Haubold and Hudson, 2000) hosted on http://guanine.evolbio.mpg.de/cgi-bin/lian/lian.cgi.pl/query. Global evolution and minimum spanning tree (MST) analysis The evolutionary relationship between isolates and M.bovis population structure was determined using PHYLOViZ (Fransciso et al., 2012) and evaluated by minimum spanning tree (MST) created using eBURST (geoBURST) algorithm (Francisco et al., 2009). MST for MLST-2 was performed for 257 isolates from 11 countries including 60 strains (44 China, 8 Israeli and 8 Australia isolates)   typed in this study and 207 isolates   retrieved January, 2017 (Supplementary Table 3) from the M.bovis MLST-2 database www.pubmlst.org/mbovis. Statistical analysis The discriminatory ability of both MLST methods and PFGE was calculated using Simpsons index of diversity as previously described (Hunter and Gaston, 1998). Congruence between both typing techniques was measured using the adjusted Rand Coefficient and Wallace Coefficient (Severiano et al., 2011). All statistical analyses were performed using the freely available online tool (http://darwin.phyloviz.net/ComparingPartitions/) Results The comparison of M.bovis typing with three methods MLST-1 analysis A total of 44, out of 10 were previously typed (Rosales et al., 2015) were also used for control and typed by MLST-1. The mean GC contents of seven gene fragments ranged from 29.15% (dnaA) to 37.23% (tufA) while it was 37.4 % in the whole M. bovis HB0801 genome (Qi et al., 2012). For each of seven loci, allelic variation was analyzed including polymorphic sites, guanine-cytosine(GC) content, synonymous and non-synonymousratios (dN/dS)(Table 2).The number of polymorphic sites per locus ranged from 4 (6.2%) in recA to 19 (29.6 %) in dnaA, and a total of 64 polymorphic sites for all seven genes were identified. The number of alleles observed ranged from 2 (metS, recA, tufA, atpA, and tkt) to 3 (dnaA and rpoD). The genetic diversity (H) for each locus was 0.0879 for dnaA and 0.0444 for metS, recA, tufa atpA and tkt. The dN and dS substitutions ranged from 0.0000 to 0.0623. In summary, all 44 Chinese M.bovis isolates typed by MLST-1 were divided into two STs namely ST-10 and ST-34 (Table 1).The ST-10 (with allelic profile of 2,6,2,2,2,5,3) was most numerically dominant, comprising 97.7%à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã‹â€ 43/44à ¯Ã‚ ¼Ã¢â‚¬ °of Chinese M.bovis isolates including the Chinese strain HB0801 (Fig.1). In addition, ST-34 (allelic profile of 11,6,2,2,2,5,3) contains only one strain SZ; while ST-1(allelic profile of 1,1,1,1,1,1,1) represented by strain PG45 was identified (Table 1). Genetic relatedness amongst the 44 Chinese M.bovis strains showed two clades A and B. Clade A contained the majority (97.7%) of isolates (43/44) including the Chinese strain HB0801, while clade B contained one Chinese strain SZ (ST-34). M.bovis PG45 type strain was an outlier of these two clades (Fig.1). The geoBURST and MST analysis clustered 44 Chinese in the clonal complex CC2, whereas reference strain PG45 (ST-1) in CC1 (Table 1) as previously described (Rosales et al., 2015) MLST-2 analysis All 44 M.bovis isolates were examined by MLST-2. The mean GC contents of seven gene fragments ranged from 28.76% (tdk) to 35.61% (gyrB).The number of polymorphic sites per locus ranged from 8 in gyrB (8.66%) to 22(23.91%) in gpsA and a total of 92 polymorphic sites were identified (Table 2). The numbers of alleles identified were 2 for adh-1, gpsA, gyrB, pta2 and tkt and, 3 for gltX. The genetic diversity obtained 0.328 for adh-1 to 0.962 for gpsA (Table 2).   The Chinese strains were distributed into two different sequence types. ST-10 with allelic profile 4,3,3,3,5,3,4 was the most numerically dominant type, comprising 97.7% (43/44) of Chinese isolates; and ST-32 had only one isolate, SZ respectively. All M.bovis isolates tested in this study were clustered into two major clades A and B based on genetic relatedness by UPGMA. Clade A was comprised of 97.7% (43/44) of Chinese isolates including the Chinese strain HB0801. Whereas Clade-B contains one Chinese isolate. Same as above, M.bovis PG45 type strain was an outlier of these two clades (Fig. 2) PFGE typing The 44 Chinese M.bovis strains, and type strain PG45 were subjected to PFGE following the use of restriction enzyme SmaI. All isolates were typeable and the banding profile of the isolates ranged from 6 to 10 bands (from

An Analysis of Uncle Toms Cabin Essay -- Uncle Toms Cabin Essays

An Analysis of Uncle Tom's Cabin "The book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, is thought of as a fantastic, even fanatic, representation of Southern life, most memorable for its emotional oversimplification of the complexities of the slave system," says Gossett (4). Harriet Beecher Stowe describes her own experiences or ones that she has witnessed in the past through the text in her novel. She grew up in Cincinnati where she had a very close look at slavery. Located on the Ohio River across from the slave state of Kentucky, the city was filled with former slaves and slaveholders. In conversation with black women who worked as servants in her home, Stowe heard many stories of slave life that found their way into the book. Some of the novel was based on her reading of abolitionist books and pamphlets, the rest came straight from her own observations of black Cincinnatians with personal experience of slavery. She uses the characters to represent popular ideas of her time, a time when slavery was the biggest issue that people were dealing with. Uncle Tom's Cabin was an unexpected factor in the dispute between the North and South. The book sold more than 300,000 copies during the first year of publication, taking thousands of people, even our nation's leaders, by surprise. Mr. Shelby is a Kentucky plantation owner who is forced by debt to sell two of his slaves to a trader named Haley. Uncle Tom, the manager of the plantation, understands why he must be sold. The other slave marked for sale is Harry, a four-year-old. His mother, Mrs. Shelby's servant, ... ...ies to wage her own battle. Eva serenely fades into death, but her presence and her dreams survive in her father and in the reader of the novel. It is doubtful if a book was ever written that attained such popularity in so short a time as did Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. "The thrilling story was eagerly read by rich and poor, by the educated and uneducated, eliciting from one and all heartfelt sympathy for the poor and abused negro of the south,"(Donovan 74). It was, indeed, a veritable bombshell to slaveholders, who felt that such a work should be dangerous to the existence of slavery. They had a good cause to fear it too, for its "timely appearance was undoubtedly the means of turning the tide of public feeling against the abominable curse of slavery"(Cass 35).

religion :: essays research papers

I do not feel that I should participate in the â€Å"Pay it Forward† assignment. This assignment is telling us to go be nice to people and we will get a good grade. If we don’t do anything nice, we will not receive a good grade. I do not feel like anybody should be forced to do something nice, if they have to be forced, they shouldn’t do it at all. If it is not done for the correct reasons, it doesn’t mean anything. I do nice things for people. If I am in the mood and feel that I should help somebody out, I will, but I will not give them a paper and turn it in to the teacher for a grade. How impersonal is that? If I receive a paper from somebody during this project, I will not feel grateful that they performed an act of kindness for me because it is not for the right reasons. Their act of kindness is for a grade in religion class. Besides the â€Å"Pay it Forward† project has almost nothing in common with the movie. In the movie the little boy, Trevor, decided that he should change the world. His idea about how to do it is a good theory, but it will never work as well as anyone would hope it would. In the movie he saves a homeless man, and he took him home and gave him some money, food, and a place to sleep. He did not have to do anything at all. If I remember correctly, that assignment in the movie was for extra credit. Today we received an assignment that is worth a very healthy sum of points for the second nine weeks. Why should we have to be given grades to be nice to each other? Has the world gone that bad? Having to basically bribe or force people to be courteous to others. That, in my opinion is wrong. This project has a good purpose but I don’t feel that it is the right thing to do. People should be nice to each other all the time, not just when we get points for it. I feel obligated to go and do good and be the nicest person I can be, but I would rather be nice to someone and feel the gratification that would follow that act. I do

Bloody Sunday: What Really Happened? Essay -- British History, Europe

On the 30th of January 197213 Catholics were killed by British Paratroopers on the streets of Londonderry. It was the result of an illegal but originally peaceful march led by the NICRA the civil rights movement. The march attracted 15000 people all for a similar cause, to ban Internment. The day became known as Bloody Sunday because of the terrible events that took place. Although the details of what actually happened remain undecided, because of the controversial views of the people that took part in the march. Internment was a law enforced by the government of N Ireland to try and keep the Nationalist population under control. It allowed the Government to put people in prison who were suspected of being terrorists without trial. Consequently only Catholic's were arrested. Bloody Sunday happened because of many years of conflict between Nationalist and Unionist communities. In Northern Ireland nationalists are almost all Catholics and want a united Ireland with no connections with Britain. Unionists are almost all Protestant and want to stay part of the United Kingdom, afraid that if they join the Republic of Ireland the Catholic Church would take over and their economy would break down. The street history and segregation between the communities created a further tension between the two sides. When British Troops came into N. Ireland in 1969 to bring peace between Nationalists and Unionists, peace was restored for a few months, but gradually the British troops went from being the peace makers to the peace destroyers. The British army soon clashed with both Nationalists and Loyalists. The British government handed the control of their army to the Irish government. This meant that the army was run j... ...as to what happened on Bloody Sunday, who fired the first shot, and whether the paratroopers were just retaliating. Both sides had reasons to hate the other and it would have been understandable if either of the sides shot first, when in operation in Ireland the army must have been constantly attacked making the army want to get their own back, but it was their job and this was something they should not have done. The Catholics saw the army as a force that oppressed them and they wanted freedom from that, feeling bitter about those years they also had plenty of reason to shoot. After so many years of conflict in Northern Ireland both sides can not listen to the other, they are so adamant that their own beliefs are correct. The Saville inquiries' conclusions will probably never be acceptable to either the army or the original marchers and their relatives. Bloody Sunday: What Really Happened? Essay -- British History, Europe On the 30th of January 197213 Catholics were killed by British Paratroopers on the streets of Londonderry. It was the result of an illegal but originally peaceful march led by the NICRA the civil rights movement. The march attracted 15000 people all for a similar cause, to ban Internment. The day became known as Bloody Sunday because of the terrible events that took place. Although the details of what actually happened remain undecided, because of the controversial views of the people that took part in the march. Internment was a law enforced by the government of N Ireland to try and keep the Nationalist population under control. It allowed the Government to put people in prison who were suspected of being terrorists without trial. Consequently only Catholic's were arrested. Bloody Sunday happened because of many years of conflict between Nationalist and Unionist communities. In Northern Ireland nationalists are almost all Catholics and want a united Ireland with no connections with Britain. Unionists are almost all Protestant and want to stay part of the United Kingdom, afraid that if they join the Republic of Ireland the Catholic Church would take over and their economy would break down. The street history and segregation between the communities created a further tension between the two sides. When British Troops came into N. Ireland in 1969 to bring peace between Nationalists and Unionists, peace was restored for a few months, but gradually the British troops went from being the peace makers to the peace destroyers. The British army soon clashed with both Nationalists and Loyalists. The British government handed the control of their army to the Irish government. This meant that the army was run j... ...as to what happened on Bloody Sunday, who fired the first shot, and whether the paratroopers were just retaliating. Both sides had reasons to hate the other and it would have been understandable if either of the sides shot first, when in operation in Ireland the army must have been constantly attacked making the army want to get their own back, but it was their job and this was something they should not have done. The Catholics saw the army as a force that oppressed them and they wanted freedom from that, feeling bitter about those years they also had plenty of reason to shoot. After so many years of conflict in Northern Ireland both sides can not listen to the other, they are so adamant that their own beliefs are correct. The Saville inquiries' conclusions will probably never be acceptable to either the army or the original marchers and their relatives.

Psychology the Nervous System

Assignment 3 Written Essay Questions 1. a) We are able to experience different types of sensations because our nervous system encodes messages. German physiologist Johannes Muller in his doctrine of specific nerve energies described a kind of code which is anatomical. In his doctrine, Muller explains that different sensory modalities exist because signals received by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways that lead to different areas of the brain. For example, when the ear receives signals, these signals cause impulses to travel along the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex.And signals from the eye cause impulses to travel along the optic nerve to the visual cortex. Because of these anatomical differences, light and sound produce different sensations. b) The code in the nervous system that helps explain why a pinprick and kiss feel different is known as functional. These codes rely on the fact that sensory receptors and neurons fire or are inhibited from firing, only i n the presence of specific kinds of stimuli. Functional encoding may occur all along a sensory route, starting in the sense organs and ending in the brain. 2.The lens of an eye operates differently from a camera, that just like a camera, the eye registers spots of light and dark, but neurons in the visual system build up a picture of the world by detecting meaningful features. The eye doesn’t passively record the external world, like a camera, ganglion cells and neurons in the thalamus of the brain respond to simple features in the environment, such as spots of light and dark. The existence of a specialized face module in the brain, explains why a person with brain damage may continue to recognize faces, after losing the ability to recognize other objects. . These units which were named after Alexander Graham Bell were called decibels (dB). Each decibel is 1/10 of a bel. Using decibels, they can be used to determine sound intensity, intensity of a wave’s pressure. Huma ns have an average absolute threshold of hearing of zero decibels and all decibels are not equally distant. For example, in my own environment, in my living room there is a 40decibel sound, my refrigerator and the light traffic from my window has about 50 decibels of sound.Everyday noises that may be hazardous to hearing could be rock concerts, deafening bars, stereos that are often played on full blast. In addition to that, noisy home appliances, lawn mowers and heavy city traffic also are hazardous to our ears. 4. If you were to inhale vapour from a rose, your receptors for smell have specialized neurons embedded in a tiny patch of mucous membrane in the upper part of the nasal passage. Millions of receptors in each nasal cavity respond to chemical molecules in the air.So when you inhale vapour from a rose, you’re pulling these molecules into the nasal cavity and can also enter from the mouth. These molecules then trigger responses in the receptors that produce that of fres h roses. From there, signals from the receptors are carried to the brain’s olfactory bulb by the olfactory nerve. And from the olfactory bulb, they travel to a higher region of the brain. 5. The basic concept of the gate- control theory, states the experience of pain depends on when pain impulses can get past a ‘’gate’’ in the spinal cord.The gate is a pattern of neural activity that blocks pain messages coming from the skin, muscles and internal organs or lets those signals through. Most of the time this gate is kept shut by impulses coming into the spinal cord from large fibres that respond to pressure or by signals coming down from the brain itself. However, when body tissue is injured, the large fibres are damaged and the smaller fibres open the gate. Once the gate is open, pain messages reach the brain unchecked. However, the theory doesn’t explain phantom pain, the pain from an amputated limb or organ that a person continues to feel aft er surgery.Melzack explains, even though there are no nerve impulses for the spinal cord gate to block or let through, the brain not only responds to incoming signals from sensory nerves but is also capable of generating pain entirely on its own. An extensive matrix of neurons in the brain gives us the sense of our own bodies and body parts. Pain results when this matrix produces an abnormal pattern of activity, as a result of memories, emotions, expectations or signals from various brain centres and not just from signals from peripheral nerves.Because of the lack of sensory stimulation or a person’s efforts to move a nonexistent limb, abnormal patterns may arise, resulting in phantom pain. 6. a) The role stimulus generalization plays in this problem is where mental images of the sights and smells of the clinic can become conditioned stimuli for nausea, aside from the nurse’s uniform, smell of rubbing alcohol or the waiting room. b) High order conditioning can be illus trated in this problem of vomiting and nausea where a patient who drank lemon –lime Kool-Aid before their therapy sessions developed anxiety disorders.They continued to feel anxious even when the drink was offered in their homes rather than at the clinic. c) Classical conditioning could help patients reduce pain and anxiety through the use of placebos. For example the use of pills and injections that have no active ingredients or treatments that have no direct physical effect on the problem. The bigger and more impressive the placebos are, the stronger their psychological effects are. 7. The evidence shows that punishments are effective when they are carried out immediately.As shown in the studies of criminal records of Danish men, punishments were effective in deterring young criminals from repeating their offences. After examining repeat arrests through the age of 26, punishment reduced rates of subsequent arrests for both minors and serious crimes. However, recidivism stil l remained fairly high. Other studies have indicated that the severity of punishment made no difference, in that fines and probation were just as effective as jail time. The consistency of the punishment is what matters most.For example, when law breakers get away with their crimes, their behaviour is intermittently reinforced and becomes resistant to extinction. Speeding tickets are another example of when you receive punishments. Even though the use of photo radar systems is useful for catching all speeders or reduces speeding, it doesn’t eliminate speeding entirely. As mentioned before, punishments are most effective in the period immediately following its delivery. This would explain when police officers supervise the speed traps; they are more effective since the punishment is given out immediately.However, when photo radars catch you, you have to wait for several weeks to receive the ticket. Laboratory and field studies find that punishments fail in everyday life, in sc hools, families and workplaces because of six drawbacks. The first is that people often administer the punishment inappropriately or mindlessly. People swing in a blind rage or shout things they don’t mean and when people aren’t angry, they misunderstand the proper application of punishment. Secondly, the recipient of punishment often responds with anxiety, fear or rage. Negative emotional reactions can create more problems than the punishment solves.For example, a teenager who has been severely punished may strike back or run away. Children, who have been punished physically in childhood, risk at being in depression, having low self-esteem, violent behaviour and many other problems. Third, depending on the presence of the punishing person or circumstances, the effectiveness of the punishment is often temporary. When a police officer is around at a park, you wouldn’t dare littering but if the police officer isn’t around then you wouldn’t be as afra id of littering. Forth, most behaviour is hard to punish immediately.For example, while you’re at work, your children eat all the deserts that were for tonight’s party, but you don’t punish them till after work, the punishment is no good. You children’s behaviour would have been reinforced by all those deserts. Fifth, punishments express little information, in that punishments may tell the recipient what not to do, but doesn’t communicate what the person should do. For example yelling at a student who learns slowly, won’t teach him/her to learn faster. Sixth, an action intended to punish may instead be reinforcing because it brings attention.For example, in the classroom, students enjoy when teachers yell at them in front of their classmates, putting them in the limelight. Often rewarding the student’s misbehaviour they are trying to remove. 8. a) Fixed Interval b) Variable Interval c) Variable Ratio d) Fixed Ratio Take a Long look 1. What is meant by the term â€Å"form perception†? Form perception means when an infant can or can’t respond to stimuli as shape, pattern , size or solidity. Thus they can see or can’t perceive form. 2. Why is the â€Å"preferential-looking† method of studying infants likened to a biologist’s use of a microscope?This method is similar to that of a biologist’s use of a microscope because this method is one of the first tools researchers turn to when they want to study how babies think. The method literally opened the doors to understanding the minds of infants. 3. What patterns were the babies in Fantz’s studies least interested in looking at? The patterns the babies were least interested in were the shapes that were just plain with no complexity. The least interesting shape for the infants was the square with no designs or complexity inside the square. 4.A preference for looking at faces is said to â€Å"set the stage for an infantâ €™s future survival and growth† (p. 41). Suggest two areas of learning that an infant’s attention to faces might facilitate. Two areas of learning that an infant’s attention to faces might facilitate are innate and primitive knowledge. The innate knowledge of the environment is shown by the infant’s interest in the kinds of forms that will later aid in object recognition, social responsiveness and spatial orientation. The primitive knowledge help provide an accumulation of knowledge through experience. 5.The early psychologist William James thought that the world for babies was a â€Å"blooming buzzing confusion† (see page 211 of the course text). Do Fantz’s findings support this statement? Explain. Fantz’s findings pointed out infants, regardless of age, can demonstrate that basic form perception is present at birth and ruling out a learning or developmental factor. Meaning that, babies have some kind of understanding of the diffe rent patterns and forms that are presented to them. This is how they are able to differentiate between faces, their mothers face or a stranger’s face. 6.Imagine you have been hired by a toymaker. Using Fantz’s findings describe your design for an infant toy or crib mobile. Using Fantz’s findings, I would create a toy that would have detailed patterns and include pictures or objects of faces of people or similar to those of people. Thus, I would create a toy with a face similar to that of humans and cover their body with items of great complexity, for example, a bull’s eye or a checkers board type of pattern. You would be able to place this toy over the infant in the crib, which should keep the infant entertained for many hours.Watch out for the Visual Cliff 1. What is meant by the statement that Gibson and Walk take a nativist position on the topic of depth perception? Both Gibson and Walk believed that depth perception and the avoidance of a drop-off app ear automatically as part of our original biological equipment and has nothing to do with experience. On the other hand, empiricists argue that these abilities are learned and aren’t biologically hard wired in us. 2. Write a one-paragraph summary of what Gibson and Walk discovered from their visual cliff studies with infants.Gibson and Walk had 36 infants for this study between ages 6 and 14 months with their mothers participating in the study. Nine of infants refused to move at all off the center of the board, which wasn’t explained by the researchers, but perhaps infant stubbornness. However, the other 27 infants crawled off the board and crossed the glass when called by their mothers on the shallow side of the table. Only 3 of the infants crept with hesitation off the brink of the visual cliff when called by their mothers from the deep side.When the infants were called from the cliff side by their mothers, most of the infants either crawled away from their mother on the shallow side or cried in frustration at being unable to reach their mothers without ‘’ falling off the cliff’’. The infants would often peer down through the class of the deep side and then back away or pat the glass with their hands, but would refuse to cross. After these results, it was difficult to prove that human’s ability to perceive depth is innate rather than learned because all the infants had at least 6 months of life experience to learn about depth through trial and error. . What did Gibson and Walk discover about depth perception in young animals? Gibson and Walk discovered that the ability of various animals to perceive depth developed in relation to when the species need such a skill for their survival. For example, within 24 hours of age, baby chickens never made the mistake stepping off into the deep side while looking for food. Kids and lambs response was the same as the baby chickens, which indicted the visual sense was in com plete control and the animals ability to feel the solidity of the glass on the deep side had no effect on the response.The rats were different from the others, as they didn’t show any preference for the shallow or deep side of the table. This could be explained by the fact that rats locate food by smell and doesn’t depend very much on its vision, but moves around using cues from the stiff whiskers on its nose. 4. Describe how Gibson and Walk use evolutionary theory to explain their infant and animal findings on depth perception. Gibson and Walk used evolutionary theory to explain that all animals that are to survive need to develop the ability to perceive depth by the time they able to move independently.For humans, this doesn’t occur until about 6 months of age and for chickens and goats it’s immediately. For dogs, rats and cats it’s about 4 weeks. Thus, this ability is inborn because to learn through trial and error would cause many potential fat al accidents. 5. Give one example of a finding that suggests depth perception has a learned component. A later study placed younger infants, ages 2 to 5 months, on the glass over the deep side of the visual cliff. The infants showed a decrease in heart rate, a sign of interest and not fear.This had indicated that the younger infants had not yet learned to fear the drop off and would learn the avoidance behaviour later on in life. 6. How has social referencing been found to impact youngsters' behaviour when faced with a visual cliff? In the Gibson and Walk study, when the mother had been instructed to maintain an expression of fear on her face, the infants refused to crawl any further on the table. However, when the infants saw their mothers looking happy, they checked the deep side again and crawled across.But when the drop-off was made flat, the infants did not check with their mothers before crawling across. Knock Wood 1. Why is Skinner referred to as a radical behaviourist? Skinn er is referred to as a radical behaviourist because he believed that all behaviours are ultimately learned, are controlled by the relationships between the situation that immediately precedes the behaviour and the consequences that directly follow it. This includes behaviours that are public or external, private and events such as feelings and thoughts.He believed that private behaviours are difficult to study, but acknowledged we all have our own subjective experience of these behaviours. However, he didn’t view internal events, such as thoughts and emotions, as causes of behaviour but rather as a part of the mix of the environment. 2. What is a Skinner box? How was the food dispenser set up for the pigeons in this study? Refer back to your text. What type of reinforcement schedule is this? The Skinner box consists of a box or cage that is empty except for a tray or dish into which food may be dispensed.This allows the researcher to have control over when the animal receives reinforcement, such pallets of food. The earlier boxes contained a lever that when pressed, would cause some food to be dispensed; rats were most commonly used in these boxes. For pigeons, the conditioning chambers were designed with disks to be pecked instead of bars to be pressed on. This study is an example of fixed – interval schedules, as the dispensers were rigged to drop food pellets into the tray at intervals of 15 seconds, regardless of what the pigeon was doing. 4.What were the pigeons conditioned to do as a result? One of the birds was conditioned to turn counter clockwise, making two or three turns between reinforcements. Another bird was repeatedly thrusting its head into one of the upper corners of the cage. Two of the birds developed pendulum motion of the head and body in which the head was extended forward and swung from right to left with a sharp movement followed by a somewhat slower return. One of the other birds was conditioned to make incomplete pecking or brushing movements directed toward but not touching the floor. . How did the pigeons’ behaviour change when the delay period for reinforcement was extended to a minute? With one of the head bobbing and hopping birds, the bird’s movements become more energetic until finally the bobbing and hopping become so intense, that it appeared that the pigeon was doing some kind of dance during the intervals. When the reinforcement in the cage was discounted, the birds’ behaviour was considered extinct. This resulted in the superstitious behaviour disappearing gradually.In the case of the dancing pigeon, there were over 10,000 responses that were recorded before extinction occurred. 5. Was extinction of this behaviour possible? This type of behaviour can persist a lifetime because any behaviour that is reinforced once in a while in a given situation, becomes very difficult to extinguish. This is because the expectation stays high that the superstitious behaviour might w ork to produce reinforcing consequences. In real life, instances of accidental reinforcement usually occur at irregular intervals which make extinction of this behaviour almost impossible. . What explanation does Skinner give for the resiliency to extinction of human superstitions? Skinner states that any behavior that is reinforced once in a while in a given situation, partial reinforcement, it becomes very difficult to extinguish. This is due to the expectation that stays high that the superstitious behaviour might work to produce the reinforcing consequences. In real life, accidental reinforcement usually occurs periodically, so you could imagine why superstitious behaviour may persist for a lifetime. 7.Use Skinner’s operant conditioning principles to explain the development of a superstition that you hold or once held, or one you have observed in someone else. Using Skinner’s operant conditioning principles, I noticed my friend who enjoys roulette had a superstitio n that when he bought himself and the person on his right a drink and place the bet on black he believed he would win. Of course he wouldn’t always win, only the person to his right side won with a free drink, but he always thought this would bring him good luck when he needed it.