Withdrawal reflex and habituation in the garden snail Essay

Withdrawal reflex and habituation in the garden snail - Essay Example There is many types of learning, the most basic form of which is non-associative learning. Surprisingly noticed even in primitive life forms, such as the protozoan Stentor coeruleus, it represents a type of learning where the organism becomes aware that some events are unrelated and irrelevant. The most common example of such learning is habituation. According to Thompson and Spencer, it is defined simply as "the gradual waning of an evoked behavioral response with repeated stimulation."3. In essence if an animal first responds to a stimulus that is neither rewarding nor harmful the animal reduces subsequent responses. There are two basic characteristics that separate habituation from the other types of learning. One is that it does not require conscious motivation or awareness to occur, and that it is stimulus specific and that does not cause a cause a general decline in responsiveness.The garden snail (Helix aspersa) is no exception when the process of habituation is concerned. Hab ituation in the Helix aspersa is well documented and easily observable, particularly in the withdrawal reflex of both the entire body of the garden snail, as well as the eye stalk. When the body or the eye stalk of the garden snail is stimulated, the Helix aspresa instinctively withdraws the entire body towards its shell or the eye stalk towards the body, respectively. This very simple and instinctive action, with the purpose of maintaining the structural integrity of the body of the garden snail, represents the withdrawal reflex in the Helix aspresa. ... When the garden snail is presented with a novel stimulus, the sensory neurons generate large excitatory postsynaptic potentials in the interneurons and motor cells. These potentials cause the motor cells to discharge strongly, leading to the rapid withdrawal of the body or eye stalk. As the stimulus is repeatedly presented, the synaptic potentials produced by the sensory neurons in the interneurons and in the motor cells become progressively smaller. In time, fewer action potentials are generated in the motor cells, and the behavior is reduced. Finally, the postsynaptic potentials become very small and fail to produce action potentials in the motor neurons, and therefore no behavior is produced. The reduction in the effectiveness of the synaptic connections between the sensory and motor neurons is what maintains the state of habituation that the garden snail has acquired. - Background Although the effects of the withdrawal reflex and the subsequent habituation are easily observable, the underlying principles have been scrutinized by the scientific eye. There are many scientific papers that deal with this issue. One of them, written by Steven Prescott and Ronald Chase explains the sites of plasticity in the neural circuit mediating tentacle withdrawal in the garden snail. With their research, they have managed to show that the different parts of the nervous system in the snail mediate different reactions when the withdrawal reflex is concerned. In an another paper, the same others try to explore the matter even further, with analyzing the neural circuit mediating tentacle withdrawal in garden snail, with specific reference to the competence of the

Sex Disparities in the Use of IV Rt-PA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Sex Disparities in the Use of IV Rt-PA - Essay Example For the women who are 50 years and above they are less likely to be admitted in the ICU as compared to men. For the women they have to wait for a long time in the emergency section than for the men it has always been believed that men are at more risk when suffering from cancer as compared to the men. A woman suffering from stroke is much different from a man with the same disease. The disease ranges from the symptoms to the treatment process (Gerarld, 2009). ii. Loss of balance and dizziness. When you’re experiencing all this and having trouble when walking one might end up coming to assumptions that it is the intoxication process but these might be one of the symptoms of stroke. v. Severe headaches. When one is suffering from stroke one is likely to experience severe headaches now and then. In a recent study it was noted that 600 patients were found to be experiencing headache women are likely to have headaches than the men. The researchers have indicated that the physicians treat the women who experience stroke in a less aggressive manner than the way they handle men. There are so many differences between thesymptoms of a stroke in a man and in a woman. The rt-PA method of treatment stands for Recombinant Tissue Plasminogen Activator which is an enzyme that has proteins and it helps so much in the breaking of the blood clots. It is a very common method of the treatment of stroke. The research that has been taken in New York it indicates that women have got around 30% lesser odds of getting the treatment using the rt-PA method of treatment. The research has also touched on other sectors and the findings are that women are less likely to receive Thrombolytic treatment in the New York. Thrombolytic treatment of cancer entails the dissolving of the blood clot. The reason why there is a challenge in the chances of women to get thrombolysis is that timeliness

You decide Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 2

You decide - Essay Example Life is really complicated and we need to understand our aim and to do that we need to sit down and introspect. Many a time we come across situations in life where we have to make difficult choices and these difficult choices also decide our future, this poem is all about choosing the road which is less travelled, it also goes to show the courage of the poet who decides to take a path which is less travelled and there is a possibility of him getting lost but he is brave enough to try something different from others. This is what life is all about, we must be brave enough to trot a path less travelled, it may prove to be a wrong decision or it may prove to be a right decision, it is all about making choices when you are at the crossroads, this is what the poem is all about. At the very end the poet ponders over his choice, his life would have been much different had he taken the other road and this is very true. Our life would also be different had we made different decisions and had we taken the road less travelled, life is all about making the right, the most successful people often make the right choices. The poem has hidden meaning in it; the literal meaning of the poem is very easy to understand. A traveler reaches a fork in the road and is discombobulated because the road shows the traveler two choices, the traveler after much thinking, chooses the road less travelled by people. The figurative meaning of the poem reflects upon the choices that we make in our lives. We can either choose a road which is very frequently chosen by other people or we can choose to walk on a road which is hardly chosen by other people. After making our choice, we would always have regrets because the road not taken would always force us to think about the endless possibilities. This is what the poem is all about and this poem is really popular, Robert Frost became a household name because of this poem. Antithesis is quite conspicuous in the poem, the traveler has to

Knowledge, Truth, Belief Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Knowledge, Truth, Belief - Assignment Example We know that when someone dies, they are gone forever. We don’t see the people who have died. They’re put in the ground, and we know that there is no possibility of ever seeing them alive again. Death is the ultimate reality that gives life meaning—because we know that once we’re dead, there may be some astral traveling to various yugas, but that life is the ultimate experience with realia. 2. One of the more contentious points in Descartes argument centers around the claim that God must necessarily exist because he is a perfect being, and a perfect being would not lack the attribute of existence. When this argument was first posed by St. Anselm in 1078, (almost 560 years earlier) a contemporary of Anselms, a monk named Gaulino, parodied this argument by suggesting that if someone could conceive of a "perfect island" then this perfect island must exist somewhere, since the idea of a non-existent perfect island (much like a non-existent but perfect God) would represent an inconsistency in ones thinking. Is Gaulino correct when he suggests that this kind of argument seems to open the door for the (somewhat sudden) existence of all kinds of entities so long as we conceive of them as being perfect? Explain. Descartes’s assertion that all entities exist because they are perfect produces a troubling difficulty that cannot be immediately remedied. As Descartes said himself, even he had doubts about certain issues. â€Å"All that I have, up to this moment, accepted as possessed of the highest truth and certainty, I received either from or through the senses. I observed, however, that these sometimes misled us†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 1 He is admitting, then, that the senses can deceive one when conceptualizing philosophical ideas. This doesn’t make him an expert, then, when he says that everything that truly exists has to be perfect—because we all know that there are many things in the world that do indeed

Marketing Strategies 4050 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Marketing Strategies 4050 - Research Paper Example Our Java Cafà © would be focusing on customers who are environmentally conscious of their actions. While coffee is enjoyed by people of all ages, it is important to develop a primary target market so that we are able to develop a marketing strategy targeted towards this specific market. Our primary target market includes: Students: Students form a big part of the target market for Java Cafà ©. The Auraria Campus located in downtown Denver accommodates more than 40,000 students and thus could be a good potential market for our Java Cafà ©. Students have a hectic daily routine from pressures of work as well as having to survive on limited budget. Most students cannot afford coffee machines for themselves and rely on coffee shops for their daily cups of coffee. However, since they are on a limited budget, they cannot afford to buy from Starbuck or Mc Cafà ©, and thus they look for cheaper options that do not compromise on the quality of services. As our Java Cafà © offers Wi-Fi, it would be a further attraction for the students since this generation is addicted to the internet and travels with its personal gadgets such as cell phones, laptops etc. ‘For them, technology is not a thing to be considered. It is a way of life’1. Furthermore, students usually have a common hangout place where they can meet up with their friends and peers. In this case, word-of-mouth promotion can help improve sales for Java Cafà ©. Young Professionals: Young Professionals are another target market for Java Cafà ©. Young Professionals in Denver make up 64 percent of the total population and Denver has the highest number of college graduates. Professionals from surrounding counties also visit lower downtown during their pre-working, lunch time and after working hours. These college graduates and young professionals are also busy people trying to make a position in the corporate world. They usually visit the coffee

A written strategic analysis report (strategic management Essay

A written strategic analysis report (strategic management - Essay Example Apart from these food services, they also sell coffee-related accessories and equipment. Starbucks offer and sell all these products and services primarily through its own retail stores, and also offer its trademarked products through other channels like licensed retail stores. Along with these coffee-centric services, Starbucks also has an entertainment division and Hear Music brand, through which it markets media content like music, film as well as books. Importantly, they also pepped up the ambience of its stores to provide the customers a wholesome experience for socializing, which came to be known as Starbucks experience. Schultz always viewed the employees as the company’s â€Å"partners†, and optimally involved them in various processes, thus eliciting good productivity from them, which also elevated Starbucks’ performance. With this diverse portfolio, extensive reach and effective functioning, Starbucks became one of the well-known American brands, also a chieving good financial figures. However, with the onset of economic downturn in 2008, its financial figures started showing negatively, with its revenues as well as stock prices dwindling. In addition, the strong strategies and performance put forward by its competitors like McDonald, Dunkins Donuts and other area centric coffee chains also ‘ate’ into Starbucks’ customer base. With certain operational inefficiencies also creeping and negatively impacting the sales, its founder Howard Schultz brought himself in. That is, Schultz after running Starbucks since its founding, as its CEO and President, took an hiatus in 2001 and he was succeeded first by Orin C Smith and then by Jim Donald. With sales and financial figures in the red, Starbucks took over the positions of CEO and President in 2008 and initiated a series of strategies mainly focusing on optimizing operational efficiencies and also Starbucks brand and ethical image, through a series of Corporate Social R esponsibility (CSR) initiatives. Although, Schultz was able to salvage Starbucks sizably, there is still room for further improvements in the future. Starbucks Story Starbucks Coffee or Corporation was actually founded by three persons Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel and Gordon Bowker in 1971. In the initial stages, they sold coffee beans and other coffee related tools or equipments. Howard Schultz joined as an employee in Starbucks at its coffee shop in Seattle. Due to his optimum involvement and hard work, he was given a sort of leadership role and asked to go to Milan, Italy to study and understand the coffee market there. There â€Å"he discovered "the romance of the Italian coffee bar" and recognized the opportunity for Starbucks to be a place where people would come to share the experience of drinking great coffee rather than to simply buy coffee beans.† (Grant 2010). Finding that such type of coffeehouses, which not only offered services but also facilitated social experienc e, were non-existent in United States, Schultz advised the Starbucks management to sell coffee and espresso drinks along with the beans, seeing the potential to develop a similar coffeehouse culture in Seattle (starbucks.com 2008). However, the management team completely rejected his idea with a reason that entering the

Prepare a written business plan of (The Apple INC) on the Orbis Essay

Prepare a written business plan of (The Apple INC) on the Orbis database - Essay Example Apple has already launched its iphone in India using a marketing strategy wherein it launched its phones in eight Indian cities at midnight of August 22, 2008. As pointed out in an article printed from Wharton, Apple’s strategy in India was different from its launch strategy in the United States, where the company followed a different strategy. As articulated by Professor Peter Fader of Wharton: â€Å"Here in the U.S., Apple basically wanted to bust the market open all at once. So, they had all these people lined up all around the block, and when they flipped the switch -- boom! -- the market existed. In India, its almost like they are doing a test market.† (www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu). The launch was a small scale one and was carried out without much fanfare. This report will address various other marketing aspects of Apple’s strategy in India and recommend measures that could be taken in this regard. The development of the iphone is a relatively recent development in the electronics industry, which relies upon 3G networks in order to operate efficiently. The 3G generation of mobile networks is expected to complete the worldwide process of global communication (Lindemann et al, 2003). Mobile communication systems, if effectively provisioned and utilized, could provide a means to include a range of new services with different quality of service requirements, so that radio resources can offer a high capacity level of service over a planned coverage area. In a 3G scenario, RRM functions will play a pivotal role because they influence system efficiency and the operator infrastructure cost. In providing an optimum level of quality of service, two major aspects would be important, i.e., the network planning in terms of features such as the number of cell sites and their design and location, as well as the radio resource allocation or the manner in which the resources are