Consciousness and the Placebo Effect Essay -- Biology Essays Research

Consciousness and the Placebo Effect In controlled studies, experimenters use placebos as medium to compare the efficacy of a drug. Double-blind controlled studies provide information on whether a drug is effective or if it is not better than placebo. The results of double-blind studies usually depict the latter. Rarely are drugs found to be significantly more effective than placebo because of the placebo effect. The phenomenal effectiveness of the placebo in controlled experiments is mind boggling. Experimenters can not fully understand the etiology of the placebo effect in relation to the nervous system but they have proposed plausible suggestions to the underlying mechanisms involved. An intriguing question raised is the placebo's ability to cure numerous symptoms. I hypothesize that the level of consciousness or alertness of the I-function, within the individual, may be the deciding factor in whether the placebo effect occurs. The objective of a placebo is to compare and assure that a new drug or operational procedure is effective. In experiments, the placebo is an inactive substance or procedure used as a control in an experiment (1). The placebo looks, tastes or feels just like the actual treatment (2). A false procedure for example, may consist of advising a person that he/she will be operated on and then making an incision into a person without operating. Subjects are advised of their probability of receiving actual treatment in order to maintain the expectation level of the participants. The efficacy of making an incision maintains the expectation level of the subject because the presence of a scar raises their belief that they were placed in the actual treatment group. Whether the placebo is a 'sugar pill' or an... ...) Alternative and Complementary Therapies: The Placebo Effect http://www.cancer.org/alt_therapies/articles/placebo.html 3) Alpha Omega Pain Medicine Associates: Placebo Power , date: 4/18/99 http://www.painmasters.com/ 4) Healthline Magazine: Placebo Effects on Pain , date: 4/18/99 http://www.health-line.com/articles/hl950404.htm 5) The Reward System, by Aryeh Routtenberg (located on N & B Reserve) 6) Thalamocortical Aspects of Consciousness From the Perspective of a Neurobiologist , date: 5/5/99 http://www.phil.vt.edu/assc/newman/grace.html 7) Why It Must Be Consciousness- For Real ! http://www.phil.vt.edu/assc/newman/baars.html 8)Other Links 9)Mind/Brain/Behavior The Pleasing Placebo http://www.med.harvard.edu/publications/Focus/Jan20_1995/Mind.html 10)What's the Placebo Effect? http://www.oakland.edu/~djcarlst/abx_plac.htm

Contrasting rich and poor in Hong Kong

I have learnt many words by reading books. I have never enjoyed reading but if I find a book I like, I'll read it. This is how I learn new words and hence, I have a better English education. Ever since I was a toddler I have never enjoyed reading books apart from when I choose them. I always chose the books with with loads of words on a page with hardly any pictures. Therefore, it has become a habit in my simple life as I was sailing in the pool of words since I was 6 years old. The favorite play that captivated me the most is called â€Å"Educating Rita†. The play â€Å"Educating Rita† is written by Willy Russell. It is based on contrast as the main characters Rita and Frank have very different backgrounds. Frank is well educated (academic background) and he is a professor who teaches English in a university but Rita is a hair-dresser (working class background) who has not been well educated. Rita called herself a â€Å"freak† and â€Å"half caste†. She wants to be educated because she says â€Å"I wanna know†. She knows she is not ‘educated' yet and dimly realizes what ‘education' is. What Rita wants is to be out of her social class. For her, education is a means of achieving this and she is probably right. She instinctively knows she lacks something and thinks a university degree will fill the gaps in her life. Rita is eager to learn everything and she is energetic. It affects me as it reflects the sharp contrast between the condition of poor as well as middle class and rich people. The reason why I thought in this way is because that's what I see every day in the streets and my feelings. In Hong Kong, poor people are living in a confined space. They are living in houses that are surrounded by tons of rubbish. Whenever I walk pass the area with this types of housing, I could always hear the â€Å"sizz†¦.sizz†¦sizz† sound, and I am not sure if it comes rats or other insects. It has a foul smell too, and yet, people are living in this kind of environment. In contrast to the poor, the rich and middle class people are living in houses and mansions where rooms are air conditioned; it is clean and is relatively comfortable. At night the poor housing area is overwhelmed by darkness, but I know there are people living on the side of road and of that area. We are staying in a cool area but they are suffering from heat from the sun. We sit on comfortable chair but they sit on the ground with germs. The contrast is a little uncomfortable for me. Thus, sometimes when I cannot sleep, I will start to wonder ‘what if I am one of them who live on the street? Will I survive?† People living in that area have no money. In addition, they have to fear and tolerate what might happen to them every day. Sometimes, I think the poor have more courage than I do. What could I do for them? Most of the time, I could only feel sad for them, and usually we will forget about them and live on with our own life. It is vitally important to me because their experiences instill a certain fear in me. I told myself I don't aspire to be a very rich person, but I am really afraid to be poor. I don't think any amount of money is ever enough to help the poor who live below the poverty line but every penny counts! We must also accept the fact that corruptions has add on more problems to this major issue, but we must always tell ourselves â€Å"Can rescue how many are how many†. This is, we must always save as many lives as we could because every life counts. The existence of poor and rich in the society is unavoidable, but the disparity and gap between them should be reduced as much as possible. The rich may have the right to spend as copiously as they like to live in comfort, but the poor should also have the right and means to keep the body and soul together. Embracing the poor, engaging the rich.

How hot can you be?

Some of them use repetition to make you remember, emotions to touch your feelings, and well-known famous people to show you trust. Some of these advertisements are more powerful than others and this is the case of QuickTime ads. This advertisement is very effective, not only because it incorporates a well known famous person that â€Å"uses† the pill, it also shows a link to a reliable website that gives the prospective buyer health information and they use the repetition psychological fact to grab women attention. This weight loss product's advertisement was created to catch the attention of all women.The advertisement asks women how hot could they be and displays a picture of the sex icon Kim Sardinian. By doing this, the correlation between using the QuickTime product and looking like Kim Sardinian is created. What woman does not want to look beautiful? The advertisement indicates that using the product shown will allow the person being targeted to look better than ever. Th e ad commits a logical fallacy by making the false correlation between taking he product and solving all of the users physical aesthetic problems. What if someone has an enormous nose? Will â€Å"CT† help?The product fails to specifically target an overweight audience but instead targets all women, making the ad less effective. How can you trust a product that makes a promise it cannot keep? On top of the tactics mentioned before, the ad shows a link to WebMD (which is reliable website). Women who see this on the product's ad would probably see these pills as a safe option. However there is information proving the opposite, an example f this is in an article on the Time Magazine July editions which contains an article that explains to readers that weight loss products are heavy on claims, but there is a scarcity of scientific proof.According to them, nowadays there are no products that could be considered â€Å"safe, effective and rigorously tested. They also mention that th e U. S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) â€Å"(Park and Suffering 20) do not evaluate most weight loss supplements for safety. However with all this valuable information that loud be easily found on the web, many women might be tricked into thinking this product is safe due to the advertisement containing a reliable medical website.There is much psychological research that proves that repetition works very well in influencing people, and this ad is not the exception. If a woman sees the advertisement Just one time she might ignore it, but if the ad keeps reoccurring then it will most likely catch the audiences attention. As it says on the website changing's. Org â€Å"Repetition creates a pattern, which consequently and naturally Arabs our attention at first and then creates the comfort of familiarity. † (â€Å"Repetition Principle†).Familiarity subsequently hints liking more than dislike, companies know this and they apply it very well to their advertisements. Ther efore even women, who are not thinking on buying the product, probably would unconsciously do it. In conclusion this advertisement is very effective, not only because it incorporates a well known famous person that â€Å"uses† the pill, it also shows a link to a reliable website that gives the prospective buyer health information and they use psychological petition in various forms of media to grab women's attention.There are many companies like QuickTime that are taking advantage of people that have low self- esteem, by advertising a product that supposedly makes you lose weight and become more aesthetically appealing. This advertisement gives a false claim that it can simply solve a persons more complicated problems by taking a â€Å"miracle† pill. By incorporating a medical site to the ad also gives a sense of safety in this pill and makes the targeted audience have a sense of trust in this product.

Marketing Week 2 Journal

The components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are the basic major forces driving the economy. This is because an increase in the amount of these components also means an increase in the GDP of a certain country. A high GDP means a high income of a country. These are: personal consumption, investments, government spending and net exports (the value of exports minus the value of imports) (Costales, 2000). Personal consumption is the expenditures of households on basic necessities in which receipts are being issued. A no-receipt purchase or something that is not registered to the government as a business is not included, as it is a part of the black market. Investments, on the other hand are capitals that are being used in businesses. These are non-financial product purchases. Government spending is the expenditures of the government in providing goods for the public, wages for the public workers and purchases of sectors of the government. However, it does not encompass social security or benefits. And last, is the net exports, the difference of the exports, goods produced for out of the country consumption, and imports, goods that come from other countries for consumption. There are also new forces driving the economy. These are breakthroughs that were discovered as time passed by and prove true to improve economic performance. Specifically, these are: technology and entrepreneurship. Technology has now been a great help in the development of the economy because of its benefits (Henry and Cooke, n.d.). Development of new technology makes costs lower for the producers and provides means for businesses to transact among others. On the other hand, entrepreneurship is the one who thinks of innovations that may be pursued. This is because introduction of new things prove useful to both consumers and producers. They also initiate job growth as they employ employees. References Costales, A. C., A. E. Bello, M. A. O. Catelo, A. C. Cuevas, G. I. Galinato and U-P. E. Rodriguez. Economics: Principles and Applications. Quezon City: JMC Press, Inc. â€Å"Information Technology Industries – of Growing Importance to the Economy and Jobs†. Retrieved October 25, 2007 Tesreau, K. and Gielazauskas, V. Entrepreneurship: A Driving Force in the New Economy. Retrieved October 25, 2007

Human Resources Receptionist Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Human Resources Receptionist - Essay Example Skills and work experience. The candidate should have a good understanding of the principles of handling the public in a manner that creates a rapport with the public. He/she should be able to demonstrate the office etiquette when handling the visitors. He/she should have excellent communication skills including both written and spoken English. Knowledge of additional language like French or German is preferred. He/she should be able to understand the given instructions. The candidate should be conversant with the operation of standard office equipments alongside the knowledge of the routine practices in an office environment. The candidate should have knowledge of basic computer application packages like Word, Excel, Access, Outlook, PowerPoint, and Internet Explorer. He/she should be conversant with the various divisions in the Human Resource department, and the policies that are applicable in every such division. The position requires a minimum of three years experience in a busy organization, two of which should be in the same capacity. Education Diploma in Secretarial Studies or its equivalent from a recognized institution is required. A bachelors or master degree will be desirable. A post-graduate diploma in Human Resource management is also a plus. Other desired qualification. A demonstrated ability to type at least 40 words per minute will be required. A good general body conditions is also necessary as the duty may often entail lifting relatively heavy loads like boxes containing files or equipment. This is a permanent and pension able job with the incumbent working for about 8 hours per day for five days in a week. The candidates who meet the above minimum qualifications should submit their cover... Human Resources Receptionist The selection process is very crucial since the right candidate needs to be chosen from among the numerous applications that have been received. Care needs to be taken to avoid any kind of discrimination in conducting the exercise, as this will build on the reputation of the organization among the public. The first step is to discard all the applications that have been received after the agreed date. Even though a potential candidate could be locked out by such a move, it is the initial step of ensuring justice. It also shows the ability of the candidates to meet short deadlines. Then all the applications need to be scrutinized to confirm the minimum qualifications that were stated. Those applications that do not meet any of the essential qualifications need to be discarded. If the remaining number is manageable, say 10, they should be called for an interview. If the number is still large and we only have one position, then the recruiting officer(s) should use additional criteria to eliminate the less capable candidates. Having obtained a manageable, the candidates should be taken through a series of tests including aptitude tests, oral interviews, and medical tests. The aptitude test will test the suitability of candidate for the job. It tests how first the candidates can make a decision from a mixture of options since the test will contain several challenging problems in mathematics, English and those that test the general knowledge.

Personal Statement - Why Do You Want To Study Business Adminstration

- Why Do You Want To Study Business Adminstration and why carnegie mellon - Personal Statement Example As a child, I used to tell my father that I could wish to own a large business organization when I grew up, but he thought I was joking. My Interest in business and the desire to live a high-class life, and be independent was discovered when I helped my father in his business shop during holidays. I used to market his products through Facebook, twitter and other social networks, which I found hard to convince my father to join. As I was working with my father in his business, I realized I could not directly face people because I was shy. Moreover, to further my skills and knowledge in business, I worked in several business entities as an internee. During this time, I learnt many business related skills like marketing, balancing the cashbooks, attending leadership trainings and workshops. All these skills and knowledge plus excelling well in my class work business related courses increased my interest in the need to do business administration. In the current world everything has changed due to advanced technology; this has also increased my interests in pursuing a business course. This is because, as a business administrator; I can sell my products through the social networks, process clients requests and even prepare data without necessarily going to the office, shop or meeting clients face- to – face. Carnegie Mellon University is my number one preferred university because of the quality and professional studies it offers especially in the school of Business studies. In addition, another reason is that most people owning high technology companies studied in Carnegie Mellon University. It also offers entrepreneurship inspirational business courses, which make interested students, come out successful once completing their studies from the university. In addition, as a student who wants to pursue in Business Administration, I believe Carnegie Mellon University is the perfect place for me. Professionally, Carnegie Mellon University in general

Uses of Literary Journalism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Uses of Literary Journalism - Essay Example Mitchell is able to make us feel as if we actually live in this town and see it in the same way as the townspeople. He spends time describing the cemetery which contains much of the history of the town and indicates how they have thought about the world over the years. The folks he meets are people who take time out of their day to talk to their neighbor, consider the weather, and seem to be at peace with themselves. The outside world does not really intrude, because they feel so secure in themselves. This is an excellent example of literary journalism. The author does not make the story about himself, he makes it about the people and places he visits. He gets inside their heads and shows us the world as seen through their eyes. It is not just straight reporting and the five Ws. It is a piece of literary journalism in the way it shows us something a little bit more about our own world that is hard to put in simple words. It tells us to take some time to watch the river flow, like the people of Edgewater, do every day. â€Å"The First Family of Astoria† is about the Flavel family who is the most prominent family in the town. The story traces their history and the various things that have happened to them over the years. Some of these things are good and some of them are bad. The Flavels get a lot of attention from others because they are well-known, perhaps more than a family like theirs would under other circumstances. There are a number of scandals and betrayals. This is borderline literary journalism, in my opinion. It is very fact driven and the style of writing is not especially literary. The general idea behind it is that gossip can be malicious and attach to certain people regardless of what they do. That is not all that original and is kind of obvious. Overall, this does add all that much to the store of human knowledge.