October 2017 DISCOVER 27
I’m lying on my back in the tunnel of an MRI scanner, my skull immobilized in a head coil, which looks like a cage fighter’s mask. There’s a vitamin E capsule taped to the right side of my forehead. The head coil controls variations in the scanner’s magnetic
field and the capsule has to do with scan orientation, in the same way that surgeons will
write on your right leg so they don’t mistakenly operate on your left.
A writer taking part in an aging study explores
his senior moments. BY JEFF WHEELWRIGHT PHOTOS BY DAVID ZENTZ
This Old
Brain
I’m sporting headphones and watching a projec-
tion of a Tom and Jerry cartoon from the 1950s,
and different parts of my brain are presumably
paying attention. Meanwhile, the scanner is taking
slices — noisy, virtual slices — of my gray and
white matter. The purpose is to illuminate the fea-
tures of my brain that are processing Jerry running
from Tom. From that information, the scientists in
charge can make a wiring diagram of my brain,
flickering in time with the images.
I feel childlike and helpless. I may have seen this
cartoon 60 years ago, but I can’t remember. Relax,
I remind myself. Just stay still. Cognitive decline at
my age is expected.
“ H ow a r e yo u d o i n g , Je ff ? ” Tay l o r
Kuhn asks through the headset. Kuhn, a post-
doctoral research fellow in cognitive psychology
at the University of California, Los Angeles, has
a courtly Southern accent, like one of the aristo-
cratic characters in Gone With the Wind. (What
was his name? Ashley. Yes, Ashley something.
“Oh, Ashley,” Scarlett gushes.)
“Jeff,” Kuhn interrupts, “we’re going to do the
name-association task.” I notice that the scanner
is silent, waiting. “OK,” I say. We practiced this
exercise beforehand. The MRI cranks up again,
sounding like a cross between a jackhammer and a
dentist’s drill. A face flashes on the screen directly
above me, along with a name. I try to memorize the
pairing, after which I press a button on a console
resting on my lap. Another face and name appear,
and my working memory, such as it is, gamely
records the association. And so on, perhaps a
dozen in all.
I set hasty mnemonic cues, like bread crumbs.
Peter has dark hair. Mary’s hair is long and
lank — lank hair equals Mary. Stuart is the guy
who looks blah. Here’s another blah guy. Wait,
was he Allen? My recall is supposed to be tested
later, outside the scanner, but Kuhn and Susan
Bookheimer, the clinical neuropsychologist who
is the principal investigator of my brain, have
assured me that my recall doesn’t matter as much
as the neurological tracks of my memorization.
28 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
They are interested in the brain’s connectivity.
This is all part of a UCLA study of the human con-
nectome, senior division. I think of it as neuroscience
2.0. Connectome, connectomics and connectivity are
newish terms stemming from the technical capacity to
capture and v ...
Insightful article on how the brain reads faces: the brain regions that process faces reveal deep insights into the neural mechanisms of vision. From birth, faces are important in the individual's social interaction. Face perceptions are very complex as the recognition of facial expressions involves extensive and diverse areas in the brain. Excellent piece, good graphics.
Consciousness, microtubules and the quantum worldJulio Banks
Dr. Stuart Hameroff has one of the most logical explanation of consciousness. Essentially, he believes that consciousness is
a frequent mind state between the classical (Newtonian) world and the Quantum world. Therefore, enlightened minds have the
highest frequency of states of Classical-Quantum mind. The
notable insight that he has made clear is the fact that the single
cell paramecium has no neurons and yet they exhibit living
activities of eating and mating which are signs of "conscious
action" They also defend themselves like fleeing an adversarial
organism. Dr. Hameroff claims that microtubules are the
locations where "conscious computing".
Insightful article on how the brain reads faces: the brain regions that process faces reveal deep insights into the neural mechanisms of vision. From birth, faces are important in the individual's social interaction. Face perceptions are very complex as the recognition of facial expressions involves extensive and diverse areas in the brain. Excellent piece, good graphics.
Consciousness, microtubules and the quantum worldJulio Banks
Dr. Stuart Hameroff has one of the most logical explanation of consciousness. Essentially, he believes that consciousness is
a frequent mind state between the classical (Newtonian) world and the Quantum world. Therefore, enlightened minds have the
highest frequency of states of Classical-Quantum mind. The
notable insight that he has made clear is the fact that the single
cell paramecium has no neurons and yet they exhibit living
activities of eating and mating which are signs of "conscious
action" They also defend themselves like fleeing an adversarial
organism. Dr. Hameroff claims that microtubules are the
locations where "conscious computing".
Our Quarterly house magazine meant for our associates. This covers topics related to Mind management, wealth management , Risk management, Leadership and Marketing management. This issue covers Mirror Neurons, Net worth and Risk Management
The Brain That Changes Itself Stories of Personal Triumph fr.docxtodd541
The Brain That Changes Itself
Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
NORMAN DOIDGE, M.D.
For Eugene L. Goldberg, M.D., because you said you might like to read it
Contents
1 A Woman Perpetually Falling . . .
Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses
2 Building Herself a Better Brain
A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself
3 Redesigning the Brain
A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase
Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems
4 Acquiring Tastes and Loves
What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love
5 Midnight Resurrections
Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again
6 Brain Lock Unlocked
Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, OPsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits
7 Pain
The Dark Side of Plasticity
8 Imagination
How Thinking Makes It So
9 Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors
Psychoanalysis as a Neuroplastic Therapy
10 Rejuvenation
The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our
Brains
11 More than the Sum of Her Parts
A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can Be
Appendix 1
The Culturally Modified Brain
Appendix 2
Plasticity and the Idea of Progress
Note to the Reader
All the names of people who have undergone neuroplastic transformations are
real, except in the few places indicated, and in the cases of children and their
families.
The Notes and References section at the end of the book includes comments on
both the chapters and the appendices.
Preface
This book is about the revolutionary discovery that the human brain can change
itself, as told through the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have
together brought about these astonishing transformations. Without operations or
medications, they have made use of the brain's hitherto unknown ability to
change. Some were patients who had what were thought to be incurable brain
problems; others were people without specific problems who simply wanted to
improve the functioning of their brains or preserve them as they aged. For four
hundred years this venture would have been inconceivable because mainstream
medicine and science believed that brain anatomy was fixed.
The common wisdom was that after childhood the brain changed only when it
began the long process of decline; that when brain cells failed to develop properly,
or were injured, or died, they could not be replaced. Nor could the brain ever
alter its structure and find a new way to function if part of it was damaged. The
theory of the unchanging brain decreed that people who were born with brain or
mental limitations, or who sustained brain damage, would be limited or damaged
for life.
Scientists who wondered if the healthy brain might be improved or preserved
through activity or mental exercise were told not to waste their time, A
neurological nihilism — a sense that treatment f.
IT Financial Analyst Interview Interview One Reading Compr.docxLaticiaGrissomzz
IT Financial Analyst Interview
Interview One: Reading Comprehension Exercise
Use any resources available to you to complete this exercise.
1. In one page, summarize the article.
2. What parts of the story did you not understand?
Estimated time to complete the exercise: 60 minutes
The Science of Mind Reading
One night in October, 2009, a young man lay in an fMRI scanner in Liège, Belgium. Five years earlier, he’d suffered a head trauma in a motorcycle accident, and since then he hadn’t spoken. He was said to be in a “vegetative state.” A neuroscientist named Martin Monti sat in the next room, along with a few other researchers. For years, Monti and his postdoctoral adviser, Adrian Owen, had been studying vegetative patients, and they had developed two controversial hypotheses. First, they believed that someone could lose the ability to move or even blink while still being conscious; second, they thought that they had devised a method for communicating with such “locked-in” people by detecting their unspoken thoughts.
In a sense, their strategy was simple. Neurons use oxygen, which is carried through the bloodstream inside molecules of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin contains iron, and, by tracking the iron, the magnets in fMRI machines can build maps of brain activity. Picking out signs of consciousness amid the swirl seemed nearly impossible. But, through trial and error, Owen’s group had devised a clever protocol. They’d discovered that if a person imagined walking around her house there was a spike of activity in her parahippocampal gyrus—a finger-shaped area buried deep in the temporal lobe. Imagining playing tennis, by contrast, activated the premotor cortex, which sits on a ridge near the skull. The activity was clear enough to be seen in real-time with an fMRI machine. In a 2006 study published in the journal
Science, the researchers reported that they had asked a locked-in person to think about tennis, and seen, on her brain scan, that she had done so.
With the young man, known as Patient 23, Monti and Owen were taking a further step: attempting to have a conversation. They would pose a question and tell him that he could signal “yes” by imagining playing tennis, or “no” by thinking about walking around his house. In the scanner control room, a monitor displayed a cross-section of Patient 23’s brain. As different areas consumed blood oxygen, they shimmered red, then bright orange. Monti knew where to look to spot the yes and the no signals.
He switched on the intercom and explained the system to Patient 23. Then he asked the first question: “Is your father’s name Alexander?”
The man’s premotor cortex lit up. He was thinking about tennis—yes.
“Is your father’s name Thomas?”
Activity in the parahippocampal gyrus. He was imagining walking around his house—no.
“Do you have any brothers?”
Tennis—yes.
“Do you have any sisters?”
House—no.
“Before your injury, was your last vacation in the United States?”
T.
How Does the Brain Work?
How The Brain Works Essay
The Human Brain Essay
The Structure Of The Brain Essay
How Does the Brain Work? Essay
Brain Stem Essay
Essay The Aging Brain
Meditation and the Brain Essay
The Brain Essay
The Human Brain Essay
The Power of the Human Brain Essays
Essay about the human brain
Essay about Drugs Affect on Brain
Memory and the Brain Essay
1. Primary sources2. Secondary sources3. La Malinche4. Bacon’s.docxvannagoforth
1. Primary sources
2. Secondary sources
3. La Malinche
4. Bacon’s rebellion
5. Robert Carter III
6. Mesoamerica
7. Middle Passage
8. Indentured servitude
9. The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy
10. Triangular trade
11. Saint Dominique Revolt
12. Syncretism
13. Olaudah Equiano
14. Christopher Columbus
15. Columbian Moment
16. Hernan Cortes
17. Florentine Codex
18. Master Narrative of American History
19. Reconquista
20. The Paradox of Slavery
21. Indian Removal Act 1830
22. Trail of Tears
23. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
24. Niños Heroes (Heroic Children)
25. Antonio López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón
26. The Royal Africa Company
27. John Locke
28. St. Patrick’s Battalion
29. Chilam Balam
30. Popol Vuh
31. El requerimiento (The Requirement)
32. Manifest Destiny
33. Moses and Stephen F. Austin
34. Colonialism
35. Colonial Legacy
.
1. Prepare an outline, an introduction, and a summary.docxvannagoforth
1. Prepare
an outline
,
an introduction
, and
a summary
on the article selected. It s
hould be
a report of at least 4 page
double spaced.
2. Prepare a 4
PowerPoint slides
from the report.
NOTE
: See the attachment below to review the article.
.
1. Normative moral philosophy typically focuses on the determining t.docxvannagoforth
1. Normative moral philosophy typically focuses on the determining the right action for a person to perform in a given situation. First, how specifically is Aristotle’s virtue ethics focused slightly differently? Next, Aristotle thought that virtues are traits of character that manifest themselves through habitual activity and that are good for anyone to have. What are some of the virtuous traits to have according to Aristotle and how does acting in accordance with them over time bring about “correct” moral action? What does it mean to act in a morally correct way according to Aristotle?
Directions:
Please provide detailed and elaborate responses to the following questions. Your responses should include examples from the reading assignments. Each response should be at least one half of one page in length and utilize APA format.
1. According to virtue ethicists, how are virtues acquired?
2. What is situationist psychology?
3. List and briefly describe one of the criticisms of virtue ethics.
4. What is "The Golden Mean?"
5. Why is virtue ethics particularly well-suited to the medical profession?
PART I:
Directions:
The following problems ask you to evaluate hypothetical situations and/or concepts related to the reading in this module. While there are no "correct answers" for these problems, you must demonstrate a strong understanding of the concepts and lessons from this module's reading assignment. Please provide detailed and elaborate responses to the following problems. Your responses should include examples from the reading assignments and should utilize APA guidelines. Responses that fall short of the assigned minimum page length will not earn any points.
1.
Think of a profession you are considering as a career: engineering, or perhaps law or accounting or teaching. Could you develop a distinctive set of virtues for that profession? That is, are there some virtues that would be particularly important for members of that profession? Your response should be at least one page in length.
2. An important distinction for virtue theorists is between people who are happy and people who are flourishing. Do you know anyone (a public figure or an acquaintance) whom you would count as happy but not flourishing?
Your response should be at least one half of one page in length.
3. I have lived a dissolute life for many years: a life devoted to excessive eating, heavy drinking, laziness, deceitfulness, and pettiness. At age 45, I awaken one morning in the gutter, painfully sober after a three-day binge, and I resolve to change my ways and pursue virtue. In your opinion, how long would it make me to become a virtuous person? Could I become virtuous in an hour? A week? A month? Ever?
Your response should be at least one page in length.
4. Suppose Dan is dying from an unknown disease. He is wealthy and will give half of his money to anyone who can save his life. Joe, not know.
1. Paper should be 5-pages min. + 1 page works cited2. Should have.docxvannagoforth
1. Paper should be 5-pages min. + 1 page works cited
2. Should have at least 10 annotated sources (copy article onto word, highlight main point, write a few sentences about how it'll help you in writing the paper at the bottom of page)
3
. Should have an INTRO, NARRATION, ARGUMENTS, REFUTATION, CONCUSION
4. Use in-text citations and have organized mla format works cited page
SAMPLE OUTLINE
Research Paper Outline
Title: Rebellious Libya
Thesis: The United States should not get involved with Libya’s conflicts.
I.
Introduction:
A.
Start with the question, what is war? Explain briefly.
B.
Talk about the wars of the United States.
C.
What were the outcomes of some of those wars?
II.
Narration:
A.
Give some background on Libya.
B.
Explain how Col. Muammar Gaddafi became the leader of Libya
C.
Talk about why the citizens of Libya want to overthrow Gaddafi.
D.
Explain why the people feel that the United States should get involved in Libya’s conflicts.
III.
Partition:
A.
Thesis: I believe that the United States should not get involve with Libya’s conflicts.
B.
Essay Map.
1.
Cost of war.
2.
Using money in other Departments other defense.
3.
Killing innocent civilians and soldiers.
4.
Helping unknown rebels
5.
Involvement of foreign wars
IV.
Arguments:
A.
The cost of war is rising by the minute. The Obama Administration proposed a budget of $553 billion dollars for the department.
B.
Instead of spending all that money on war, we should be investing that money on health care and education.
C.
This conflict has caused the lives of many innocent civilians. NATO openly admitted to have killed innocent civilians, due to misguidance.
D.
The rebels fighting against Gaddafi are in need of military supplies. I don’t think that it is a good idea to help unknown rebels. We helped the Afghanistan rebels when they were fighting Russia. After they were victorious, they later became the “Taliban” and used those weapons to attack the US.
E.
Getting involved in foreign wars is not a good idea. The US has been involved in many foreign wars lately. These wars have been in foreign countries where Islam is the prominent religion. Libya is one of these countries. The involvement of the US in these places, builds a bad reputation worldwide and among the Muslim community.
V.
Refutation:
A.
Gaddafi’s actions against the civilians of Libya are totally wrong. Killing your own people is bad and therefore, we should help the rebels overthrow him.
B.
Gaddafi has been in power for many years. In fact, he holds the record for most years in power in a single country. This type of power can potentially lead to corruption and mistreatment of civilians.
C.
The people of Libya deserve to have democracy. They should have the right to elect their own leader.
D.
If Al Qaeda is threatening NATO and Libyan mercenaries then we should help them fight terrorism.
VI.
Conclusion:
A.
Summarize my arguments.
B.
State why we should not get involve with Libya’s conf.
1. Name and describe the three steps of the looking-glass self.2.docxvannagoforth
1. Name and describe the three steps of the 'looking-glass self'.
2. List and describe the three stages in George Mead's model of human development.
3. Piaget developed a four-stage process to explain how children develop reasoning skills. List each and give an example of one of the stages.
4. Briefly summarize the three elements of Freud's theory of personality and explain why sociologist have negative reactions to his analysis.
5. How does the mass media reinforce society's expectations of gender?
.
1. Provide an example of a business or specific person(s) that effec.docxvannagoforth
1. Provide an example of a business or specific person(s) that effectively use social media. What tools does the business or person use? How do they apply the tools effectively? Describe areas of improvement.
This assignment has to be 4 pages long, then it needs a cover page and reference page however that can not be a part of the four pages. So it would be 6 pages if you count the cover page and reference page!
.
1. Mexico and Guatemala. Research the political and economic situati.docxvannagoforth
1. Mexico and Guatemala. Research the political and economic situation of these countries and write about their peculiar circumstances.
2. Honduras, El Salvador and Panama. Research the political and economic situation of these countries and write about their peculiar circumstances.
3. Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Research the ecological and political situation of these countries and write about their peculiar circumstances.
4. Colombia and Ecuador. Research about the truths and myths about this two countries and write about your impressions on these stereotypes.
.
More Related Content
Similar to October 2017 DISCOVER 27I’m lying on my back in the .docx
Our Quarterly house magazine meant for our associates. This covers topics related to Mind management, wealth management , Risk management, Leadership and Marketing management. This issue covers Mirror Neurons, Net worth and Risk Management
The Brain That Changes Itself Stories of Personal Triumph fr.docxtodd541
The Brain That Changes Itself
Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
NORMAN DOIDGE, M.D.
For Eugene L. Goldberg, M.D., because you said you might like to read it
Contents
1 A Woman Perpetually Falling . . .
Rescued by the Man Who Discovered the Plasticity of Our Senses
2 Building Herself a Better Brain
A Woman Labeled "Retarded" Discovers How to Heal Herself
3 Redesigning the Brain
A Scientist Changes Brains to Sharpen Perception and Memory, Increase
Speed of Thought, and Heal Learning Problems
4 Acquiring Tastes and Loves
What Neuroplasticity Teaches Us About Sexual Attraction and Love
5 Midnight Resurrections
Stroke Victims Learn to Move and Speak Again
6 Brain Lock Unlocked
Using Plasticity to Stop Worries, OPsessions, Compulsions, and Bad Habits
7 Pain
The Dark Side of Plasticity
8 Imagination
How Thinking Makes It So
9 Turning Our Ghosts into Ancestors
Psychoanalysis as a Neuroplastic Therapy
10 Rejuvenation
The Discovery of the Neuronal Stem Cell and Lessons for Preserving Our
Brains
11 More than the Sum of Her Parts
A Woman Shows Us How Radically Plastic the Brain Can Be
Appendix 1
The Culturally Modified Brain
Appendix 2
Plasticity and the Idea of Progress
Note to the Reader
All the names of people who have undergone neuroplastic transformations are
real, except in the few places indicated, and in the cases of children and their
families.
The Notes and References section at the end of the book includes comments on
both the chapters and the appendices.
Preface
This book is about the revolutionary discovery that the human brain can change
itself, as told through the stories of the scientists, doctors, and patients who have
together brought about these astonishing transformations. Without operations or
medications, they have made use of the brain's hitherto unknown ability to
change. Some were patients who had what were thought to be incurable brain
problems; others were people without specific problems who simply wanted to
improve the functioning of their brains or preserve them as they aged. For four
hundred years this venture would have been inconceivable because mainstream
medicine and science believed that brain anatomy was fixed.
The common wisdom was that after childhood the brain changed only when it
began the long process of decline; that when brain cells failed to develop properly,
or were injured, or died, they could not be replaced. Nor could the brain ever
alter its structure and find a new way to function if part of it was damaged. The
theory of the unchanging brain decreed that people who were born with brain or
mental limitations, or who sustained brain damage, would be limited or damaged
for life.
Scientists who wondered if the healthy brain might be improved or preserved
through activity or mental exercise were told not to waste their time, A
neurological nihilism — a sense that treatment f.
IT Financial Analyst Interview Interview One Reading Compr.docxLaticiaGrissomzz
IT Financial Analyst Interview
Interview One: Reading Comprehension Exercise
Use any resources available to you to complete this exercise.
1. In one page, summarize the article.
2. What parts of the story did you not understand?
Estimated time to complete the exercise: 60 minutes
The Science of Mind Reading
One night in October, 2009, a young man lay in an fMRI scanner in Liège, Belgium. Five years earlier, he’d suffered a head trauma in a motorcycle accident, and since then he hadn’t spoken. He was said to be in a “vegetative state.” A neuroscientist named Martin Monti sat in the next room, along with a few other researchers. For years, Monti and his postdoctoral adviser, Adrian Owen, had been studying vegetative patients, and they had developed two controversial hypotheses. First, they believed that someone could lose the ability to move or even blink while still being conscious; second, they thought that they had devised a method for communicating with such “locked-in” people by detecting their unspoken thoughts.
In a sense, their strategy was simple. Neurons use oxygen, which is carried through the bloodstream inside molecules of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin contains iron, and, by tracking the iron, the magnets in fMRI machines can build maps of brain activity. Picking out signs of consciousness amid the swirl seemed nearly impossible. But, through trial and error, Owen’s group had devised a clever protocol. They’d discovered that if a person imagined walking around her house there was a spike of activity in her parahippocampal gyrus—a finger-shaped area buried deep in the temporal lobe. Imagining playing tennis, by contrast, activated the premotor cortex, which sits on a ridge near the skull. The activity was clear enough to be seen in real-time with an fMRI machine. In a 2006 study published in the journal
Science, the researchers reported that they had asked a locked-in person to think about tennis, and seen, on her brain scan, that she had done so.
With the young man, known as Patient 23, Monti and Owen were taking a further step: attempting to have a conversation. They would pose a question and tell him that he could signal “yes” by imagining playing tennis, or “no” by thinking about walking around his house. In the scanner control room, a monitor displayed a cross-section of Patient 23’s brain. As different areas consumed blood oxygen, they shimmered red, then bright orange. Monti knew where to look to spot the yes and the no signals.
He switched on the intercom and explained the system to Patient 23. Then he asked the first question: “Is your father’s name Alexander?”
The man’s premotor cortex lit up. He was thinking about tennis—yes.
“Is your father’s name Thomas?”
Activity in the parahippocampal gyrus. He was imagining walking around his house—no.
“Do you have any brothers?”
Tennis—yes.
“Do you have any sisters?”
House—no.
“Before your injury, was your last vacation in the United States?”
T.
How Does the Brain Work?
How The Brain Works Essay
The Human Brain Essay
The Structure Of The Brain Essay
How Does the Brain Work? Essay
Brain Stem Essay
Essay The Aging Brain
Meditation and the Brain Essay
The Brain Essay
The Human Brain Essay
The Power of the Human Brain Essays
Essay about the human brain
Essay about Drugs Affect on Brain
Memory and the Brain Essay
Similar to October 2017 DISCOVER 27I’m lying on my back in the .docx (15)
1. Primary sources2. Secondary sources3. La Malinche4. Bacon’s.docxvannagoforth
1. Primary sources
2. Secondary sources
3. La Malinche
4. Bacon’s rebellion
5. Robert Carter III
6. Mesoamerica
7. Middle Passage
8. Indentured servitude
9. The Jefferson-Hemings Controversy
10. Triangular trade
11. Saint Dominique Revolt
12. Syncretism
13. Olaudah Equiano
14. Christopher Columbus
15. Columbian Moment
16. Hernan Cortes
17. Florentine Codex
18. Master Narrative of American History
19. Reconquista
20. The Paradox of Slavery
21. Indian Removal Act 1830
22. Trail of Tears
23. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
24. Niños Heroes (Heroic Children)
25. Antonio López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón
26. The Royal Africa Company
27. John Locke
28. St. Patrick’s Battalion
29. Chilam Balam
30. Popol Vuh
31. El requerimiento (The Requirement)
32. Manifest Destiny
33. Moses and Stephen F. Austin
34. Colonialism
35. Colonial Legacy
.
1. Prepare an outline, an introduction, and a summary.docxvannagoforth
1. Prepare
an outline
,
an introduction
, and
a summary
on the article selected. It s
hould be
a report of at least 4 page
double spaced.
2. Prepare a 4
PowerPoint slides
from the report.
NOTE
: See the attachment below to review the article.
.
1. Normative moral philosophy typically focuses on the determining t.docxvannagoforth
1. Normative moral philosophy typically focuses on the determining the right action for a person to perform in a given situation. First, how specifically is Aristotle’s virtue ethics focused slightly differently? Next, Aristotle thought that virtues are traits of character that manifest themselves through habitual activity and that are good for anyone to have. What are some of the virtuous traits to have according to Aristotle and how does acting in accordance with them over time bring about “correct” moral action? What does it mean to act in a morally correct way according to Aristotle?
Directions:
Please provide detailed and elaborate responses to the following questions. Your responses should include examples from the reading assignments. Each response should be at least one half of one page in length and utilize APA format.
1. According to virtue ethicists, how are virtues acquired?
2. What is situationist psychology?
3. List and briefly describe one of the criticisms of virtue ethics.
4. What is "The Golden Mean?"
5. Why is virtue ethics particularly well-suited to the medical profession?
PART I:
Directions:
The following problems ask you to evaluate hypothetical situations and/or concepts related to the reading in this module. While there are no "correct answers" for these problems, you must demonstrate a strong understanding of the concepts and lessons from this module's reading assignment. Please provide detailed and elaborate responses to the following problems. Your responses should include examples from the reading assignments and should utilize APA guidelines. Responses that fall short of the assigned minimum page length will not earn any points.
1.
Think of a profession you are considering as a career: engineering, or perhaps law or accounting or teaching. Could you develop a distinctive set of virtues for that profession? That is, are there some virtues that would be particularly important for members of that profession? Your response should be at least one page in length.
2. An important distinction for virtue theorists is between people who are happy and people who are flourishing. Do you know anyone (a public figure or an acquaintance) whom you would count as happy but not flourishing?
Your response should be at least one half of one page in length.
3. I have lived a dissolute life for many years: a life devoted to excessive eating, heavy drinking, laziness, deceitfulness, and pettiness. At age 45, I awaken one morning in the gutter, painfully sober after a three-day binge, and I resolve to change my ways and pursue virtue. In your opinion, how long would it make me to become a virtuous person? Could I become virtuous in an hour? A week? A month? Ever?
Your response should be at least one page in length.
4. Suppose Dan is dying from an unknown disease. He is wealthy and will give half of his money to anyone who can save his life. Joe, not know.
1. Paper should be 5-pages min. + 1 page works cited2. Should have.docxvannagoforth
1. Paper should be 5-pages min. + 1 page works cited
2. Should have at least 10 annotated sources (copy article onto word, highlight main point, write a few sentences about how it'll help you in writing the paper at the bottom of page)
3
. Should have an INTRO, NARRATION, ARGUMENTS, REFUTATION, CONCUSION
4. Use in-text citations and have organized mla format works cited page
SAMPLE OUTLINE
Research Paper Outline
Title: Rebellious Libya
Thesis: The United States should not get involved with Libya’s conflicts.
I.
Introduction:
A.
Start with the question, what is war? Explain briefly.
B.
Talk about the wars of the United States.
C.
What were the outcomes of some of those wars?
II.
Narration:
A.
Give some background on Libya.
B.
Explain how Col. Muammar Gaddafi became the leader of Libya
C.
Talk about why the citizens of Libya want to overthrow Gaddafi.
D.
Explain why the people feel that the United States should get involved in Libya’s conflicts.
III.
Partition:
A.
Thesis: I believe that the United States should not get involve with Libya’s conflicts.
B.
Essay Map.
1.
Cost of war.
2.
Using money in other Departments other defense.
3.
Killing innocent civilians and soldiers.
4.
Helping unknown rebels
5.
Involvement of foreign wars
IV.
Arguments:
A.
The cost of war is rising by the minute. The Obama Administration proposed a budget of $553 billion dollars for the department.
B.
Instead of spending all that money on war, we should be investing that money on health care and education.
C.
This conflict has caused the lives of many innocent civilians. NATO openly admitted to have killed innocent civilians, due to misguidance.
D.
The rebels fighting against Gaddafi are in need of military supplies. I don’t think that it is a good idea to help unknown rebels. We helped the Afghanistan rebels when they were fighting Russia. After they were victorious, they later became the “Taliban” and used those weapons to attack the US.
E.
Getting involved in foreign wars is not a good idea. The US has been involved in many foreign wars lately. These wars have been in foreign countries where Islam is the prominent religion. Libya is one of these countries. The involvement of the US in these places, builds a bad reputation worldwide and among the Muslim community.
V.
Refutation:
A.
Gaddafi’s actions against the civilians of Libya are totally wrong. Killing your own people is bad and therefore, we should help the rebels overthrow him.
B.
Gaddafi has been in power for many years. In fact, he holds the record for most years in power in a single country. This type of power can potentially lead to corruption and mistreatment of civilians.
C.
The people of Libya deserve to have democracy. They should have the right to elect their own leader.
D.
If Al Qaeda is threatening NATO and Libyan mercenaries then we should help them fight terrorism.
VI.
Conclusion:
A.
Summarize my arguments.
B.
State why we should not get involve with Libya’s conf.
1. Name and describe the three steps of the looking-glass self.2.docxvannagoforth
1. Name and describe the three steps of the 'looking-glass self'.
2. List and describe the three stages in George Mead's model of human development.
3. Piaget developed a four-stage process to explain how children develop reasoning skills. List each and give an example of one of the stages.
4. Briefly summarize the three elements of Freud's theory of personality and explain why sociologist have negative reactions to his analysis.
5. How does the mass media reinforce society's expectations of gender?
.
1. Provide an example of a business or specific person(s) that effec.docxvannagoforth
1. Provide an example of a business or specific person(s) that effectively use social media. What tools does the business or person use? How do they apply the tools effectively? Describe areas of improvement.
This assignment has to be 4 pages long, then it needs a cover page and reference page however that can not be a part of the four pages. So it would be 6 pages if you count the cover page and reference page!
.
1. Mexico and Guatemala. Research the political and economic situati.docxvannagoforth
1. Mexico and Guatemala. Research the political and economic situation of these countries and write about their peculiar circumstances.
2. Honduras, El Salvador and Panama. Research the political and economic situation of these countries and write about their peculiar circumstances.
3. Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Research the ecological and political situation of these countries and write about their peculiar circumstances.
4. Colombia and Ecuador. Research about the truths and myths about this two countries and write about your impressions on these stereotypes.
.
1. Many scholars have set some standards to judge a system for taxat.docxvannagoforth
1. Many scholars have set some standards to judge a system for taxation for its validity. How can you decide if a tax is good or bad?
You can consider these five following principles for your Discussion. What do these issues mean? How do you think they matter?
Adequacy Equity Exportability Neutrality Simplicity
What other tax revenue systems could you consider? How do you think they would be better or worse?
2. What role do taxes play in political issues?
3. What is your opinion of a flat tax as some politicians have proposed?
.
1. List and (in 1-2 sentences) describe the 4 interlocking factors t.docxvannagoforth
1. List and (in 1-2 sentences) describe the 4 interlocking factors that led to the ourbreak of world war 1
2. Explain the difference between and authoritarian regime and a totalitarian regime.
3. List and (in 1-2 sentences) describe the 5 factors that led to the ourbreak of world war 2.
.
1. Please explain how the Constitution provides for a system of sepa.docxvannagoforth
1. Please explain how the Constitution provides for a system of separation of powers and checks and balances. Provide a fully developed essay of at least 500 words, and cite sources used.
2. Describe how a bill becomes a law at the national level, in a fully developed essay of at least 500 words. Support your work with cited sources, references to Lecture Notes, or URLs where you obtained your information.
.
1. Please watch the following The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, Amel.docxvannagoforth
1. Please watch the following: The Diving Bell & The Butterfly, Amelie, The Lookout, A Single Man, Her, Little Children, and An Education and
Please respond to the films. In particular, respond to how the film develops the identity of a single character for an audience, and which you responded to (either the characters themselves or the way the film constructed the character) the most, or the least please , 10 sentence min and no plagiariasm also it has to be
followowed exactly whats written here.
PS: please dont waste my time if you will do a messy assigment, just dont send me a msg.
.
1. Most sociologists interpret social life from one of the three maj.docxvannagoforth
1. Most sociologists interpret social life from one of the three major theoretical frameworks/perspectives (conflict theory, functionalism, symbolic interactionism). Describe the major points of each one. List at least one sociologist who has been identified with each of these three theories.
2. What is the difference between basic sociology and applied sociology?
3. List and describe the eight steps of the scientific research model.
4. Discuss the importance of ethics in social research. Define what is meant by ethics.
.
1. Members of one species cannot successfully interbreed and produc.docxvannagoforth
1. Members of one species cannot successfully interbreed and produce fertile offspring with members of other species. This idea is known as
a. reproductive success.
b. punctuated evolution.
c. adaptive radiation.
d. the biological species concept.
e. geographic isolation.
2. The origin of new species, the extinction of species, and the evolution of major new features of living things are all changes that result from
a. macroevolution.
b. fitness.
c. speciation.
d. the biological species concept.
e. convergent evolution.
3. Which is a barrier that can contribute to reproductive isolation?
a. timing
b. behavior
c. habitat
d. incompatible reproductive structures
e. all of the above
4. Which of the following statements is false?
a. Horses and donkeys are separate species.
b. Two mules can mate and produce fertile offspring.
c. A horse and a donkey can mate and produce offspring.
d. Two donkeys can mate and produce fertile offspring.
e. Two horses can mate and produce fertile offspring.
5. The evolution of the penguin’s wing from a wing suited for flying to a “flipper-wing” used for swimming is an example of
a. refinement of existing adaptations.
b. reproductive isolation.
c. adaptation of existing structures to new functions.
d. inheritance of acquired characteristics.
e. the biological species concept.
6. Which of the following have been preserved as fossils?
a. dinosaur footprints
b. insects preserved in amber
c. petrified plant remains
d. animal bones
e. all of the above
7. The mass extinctions that included the dinosaurs took place during which period?
a. Cambrian (543–510 million years ago)
b. Devonian (409–363 million years ago)
c. Carboniferous (363–290 million years ago)
d. Jurassic (206–144 million years ago)
e. Cretaceous (144–65 million years ago)
8. The development of the complex, camera-like eye of a mammal is an example of
a. refinement of existing adaptations.
b. reproductive isolation.
c. adaptation of existing structures to new functions.
d. inheritance of acquired characteristics.
e. the biological species concept.
9. Which of the following statements is true?
a. Carbon-14 dating is useful for studying the age of early dinosaur fossils.
b. Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 years.
c. Uranium-238 has a very short half-life.
d. Uranium-238 is present in all organisms.
e. Carbon-12 is not found in living plants.
10. Which of the following provides the best explanation for why Australia has so many organisms unique to that continent?
a. punctuated equilibrium
b. the biological species concept
c. convergent evolution
d. continental drift
e. cladistics
11. Scientists think that a meteor that fell in ____________________ may have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
a. Australia
b. the Yucatán peninsula
c. The Galápagos Islands
d. Pangaea
e. India
12. The great diversit.
1. Of the three chemical bonds discussed in class, which of them is .docxvannagoforth
1. Of the three chemical bonds discussed in class, which of them is simultaneously the weakest and most important for life on this planet as we know it?
2.Carbohydrates are very important sources of energy for life. Plants and arthropods also use carbohydrates as components of structures that are very important for their existence. Provide the names of the two most important carbohydrate based structures (one for plants and one for arthropods) and the carbohydrate components that are used to form them.
3._____________ _____________ are joined by ______________ bonds to form proteins.
4.Proteins can be used for several functions. Provide examples of structural and metabolic functions of proteins.
5.Describe the phosholipid bilayer of the plasma membrane. Why is this bilayer important for the formation of cells and the sequestration of chemical reactions within the cell?
.
1. Look at your diagrams for hydrogen, lithium, and sodium. What do .docxvannagoforth
1. Look at your diagrams for hydrogen, lithium, and sodium. What do they all have in common? What group are these elements in on the periodic table?
2. Look at your diagrams for fluorine and chlorine. What do they have in common?
Picture is in the link. Put answers on the word document and re-submit
.
1. Name the following molecules2. Sketch the following molecules.docxvannagoforth
1. Name the following molecules:
2. Sketch the following molecules:
3-cyclohexenone
4-ethyl 2,2,5-trimethyl 3-hexanone
ethyl butyrate
pentanoic acid
2-chloro 4-methyl 2,5-heptadienal
3,4-dichloro 4-ethyl octanal
p-chloro phenol
3-bromo 2-chloro 4-methyl hexane
3-cyclopropyl 1,2-cyclopentanediol
methyl phenyl ether
3,5-dimethyl 2-heptene-4,5-diol
3. Give two different uses for ethanol.
4. Name two categories of organic compounds (alkanes, aldehydes…) that have very strong characteristic odours.
.
1. List the horizontal and vertical levels of systems that exist in .docxvannagoforth
1. List the horizontal and vertical levels of systems that exist in organizations.
2.
Describe at least five steps involved in systems integration
3.
What is the role of ERP systems in system integration?
4. Why do you think functional silos are not appropriate for today's organization? Discuss your answer from organizational and technical perspectives.
5. Pick an organization that you know of or where you are/were working and provide examples of logical and physical integration issues that were faced by the organization when they broke the functional silos and moved to integrated systems.
.
1. Kemal Ataturk carried out policies that distanced the new Turkish.docxvannagoforth
1. Kemal Ataturk carried out policies that distanced the new Turkish republic of the 1920s from the Ottoman past. Why? What specific policies did Ataturk pursue? 2. Why many Arabs felt betrayed by the British (and the French) after the First World War? 3. Discuss at least three features of patrimonial leadership. List three or more Middle Eastern states where such type of political leadership persists 4. Describe the key processes (both internal and external) that initiated political and economic disintegration of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. 5. European military superiority in the late eighteenth century prompted Ottoman rulers to respond with what specific political measures? 6. The Zionist political movement originated in Europe rather than in the Middle East. Explain why and how. 7. After the Second World War, several Arab countries went through the process of transition from constitutional monarchies to republics. Identify three such countries and describe the course of events that brought about this transition. 8. How is religious Zionism different from secular Zionism? What is the relevance of this difference for the creation of the state of Israel? Has the relative influence of the two remained stable since the creation of the Israeli state? 9. What was the principle source of political legitimacy of the Ottoman Empire? 10. While most Ottoman European provinces, riding the tide of the nineteenth century nationalism, sought and won independence from Istanbul, Ottoman Arab provinces maintained their political loyalty to the Ottomans. What explains this difference between Arab and European provinces? 11. Social and political forces in favor of a constitutional reform in Iran (1905-1911) were markedly different from the groups that promoted constitutional limitations on executive powers of the sultan in the Ottoman Empire prior to the First World War? Explain this difference. 12. What are some of the key features of Arab socialisms? Which Arab leaders adopted socialist ideology? Which Arab leaders were opposed to it? 13. After the First World War, the new Middle Eastern protectorates (e.g., Syria, Lebanon, Iraq) were expected to develop into modern secular states. What specific policies did France and Britain try to implement? How successful have theses policies been? 14. The 1967 war was a watershed event for all major actors in the Middle East. Explain the consequences of the war for domestic politics in Israel and Egypt respectively.
.
1. If we consider a gallon of gas as having 100 units of energy, and.docxvannagoforth
1. If we consider a gallon of gas as having 100 units of energy, and 25 of those units are used to move the car, what law of thermodynamics accounts for the other 75 units of energy? (Points : 2)
the first law
the second law
2. Which of these is not a component of a molecule of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)? (Points : 3)
adenosine
phosphate
deoxyribose sugar
ribose sugar
3. Glycolysis is a sequence of ______ chemical reactions. (Points : 3)
nine
six
five
ten
4. Exergonic reactions produce products with a ___ energy level than that of the initial reactants. (Points : 3)
lower
higher
the same
5. When chemical X is reduced, which of these expressions would be an accurate representation of its reduced state? (Points : 3)
XO
XH
X
HX
6. Most enzymes are which kind of organic compound? (Points : 3)
carbohydrates
lipids
proteins
none of the above
7. The area on an enzyme where the substrate attaches is called the: (Points : 3)
active site
allosteric site
anabolic site
inactive site
8. Which of the following creatures would not be an autotroph? (Points : 3)
cactus
cyanobacteria
fish
palm tree
9. The process by which most of the world's autotrophs make their food is known as: (Points : 3)
glycolysis
photosynthesis
chemosynthesis
herbivory
10. Plants are the only organisms that use ATP for the transfer and storage of energy. (Points : 2)
True
False
11. The colors of light in the visible range (from longest wavelength to shortest) are: (Points : 3)
ROYGBIV
VIBGYOR
GRBIYV
ROYROGERS
12. Chlorophyll is a green pigment because it absorbs only the green part of the visible light spectrum. (Points : 2)
True
False
13. The photosynthetic pigment that is essential for the process to occur is: (Points : 3)
chlorophyll a
chlorophyll b
beta carotene
xanthocyanin
14. A photosystem is: (Points : 3)
a collection of hydrogen-pumping proteins
a series of electron-accepting proteins arranged in the thylakoid membrane
a collection of photosynthetic pigments arranged in a thylakoid membrane
found only in prokaryotic organisms
15. Which of these molecules is NOT a product of the Electron Transport System? (Points : 3)
ATP
Water
Pyruvate
NAD+
16. The dark reactions require all of these chemicals to proceed except: (Points : 3)
ATP
NADPH
carbon dioxide
oxygen
17. The structural unit of photosynthesis, where the photosystems are located, are called: (Points : 3)
chlorophylls
eukaryotes
stroma
thylakoids
18. Which of the following does NOT occur during the light independent process? (Points : 3)
CO2 is used to form carbohydrates
NADPH converts to NADP
ADP converts to ATP
ATP converts to ADP
19. The production of ATP that occurs in the presence of oxygen is called: (Points : 3)
aerobic respiration
anaerobic respiration
chemiosmosis
photosynthesis
20. The first stable chemical formed by the Calvin Cycle is: (Points :.
1. In 200-250 words, analyze the basic issues of human biology as th.docxvannagoforth
1. In 200-250 words, analyze the basic issues of human biology as they relate to chronic conditions and describe the interaction between disability, disease, and behavior. Examine and discuss the impact of biological health or illness on social, psychological, and physical problems from the micro, mezzo, and macro perspectives. Choose a chronic condition from those provided in your text and consider how you might feel, think, and behave differently if the condition were affecting you versus if the condition were affecting a stranger. How might you think differently about this chronic condition if it were affecting someone close to you, your neighbor, or someone in your community? Please include at least two supporting scholarly resources.
2.Our stage of life, intellectual/cognitive abilities, and sociocultural position in life, affect our perspectives and resultant behaviors about a number of conditions including cancer. Consider the information provided in the
“Introduction to the Miller Family”
document. Both Ella and Elías have been diagnosed with cancer. Ella has been fighting cancer with complementary and alternative methods with some success for many years. Elías, her grandson, is 10 years old and has recently been diagnosed with leukemia but has not yet begun treatment. Putting yourself in either Ella or Elías’s place, what might your perspective on your cancer be? Integrate how the stage of life, cognitive abilities, and sociocultural position of your chosen person impacts her/his perspective on his/her individual disease.
.
How to Create Map Views in the Odoo 17 ERPCeline George
The map views are useful for providing a geographical representation of data. They allow users to visualize and analyze the data in a more intuitive manner.
Ethnobotany and Ethnopharmacology:
Ethnobotany in herbal drug evaluation,
Impact of Ethnobotany in traditional medicine,
New development in herbals,
Bio-prospecting tools for drug discovery,
Role of Ethnopharmacology in drug evaluation,
Reverse Pharmacology.
Unit 8 - Information and Communication Technology (Paper I).pdfThiyagu K
This slides describes the basic concepts of ICT, basics of Email, Emerging Technology and Digital Initiatives in Education. This presentations aligns with the UGC Paper I syllabus.
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
October 2017 DISCOVER 27I’m lying on my back in the .docx
1. October 2017 DISCOVER 27
I’m lying on my back in the tunnel of an MRI scanner, my skull
immobilized in a head coil, which looks like a cage fighter’s
mask. There’s a vitamin E capsule taped to the right side of my
forehead. The head coil controls variations in the scanner’s
magnetic
field and the capsule has to do with scan orientation, in the
same way that surgeons will
write on your right leg so they don’t mistakenly operate on your
left.
A writer taking part in an aging study explores
his senior moments. BY JEFF WHEELWRIGHT PHOTOS BY
DAVID ZENTZ
This Old
Brain
I’m sporting headphones and watching a projec-
tion of a Tom and Jerry cartoon from the 1950s,
and different parts of my brain are presumably
paying attention. Meanwhile, the scanner is taking
slices — noisy, virtual slices — of my gray and
white matter. The purpose is to illuminate the fea-
tures of my brain that are processing Jerry running
from Tom. From that information, the scientists in
charge can make a wiring diagram of my brain,
flickering in time with the images.
2. I feel childlike and helpless. I may have seen this
cartoon 60 years ago, but I can’t remember. Relax,
I remind myself. Just stay still. Cognitive decline at
my age is expected.
“ H ow a r e yo u d o i n g , Je ff ? ” Tay l o r
Kuhn asks through the headset. Kuhn, a post-
doctoral research fellow in cognitive psychology
at the University of California, Los Angeles, has
a courtly Southern accent, like one of the aristo-
cratic characters in Gone With the Wind. (What
was his name? Ashley. Yes, Ashley something.
“Oh, Ashley,” Scarlett gushes.)
“Jeff,” Kuhn interrupts, “we’re going to do the
name-association task.” I notice that the scanner
is silent, waiting. “OK,” I say. We practiced this
exercise beforehand. The MRI cranks up again,
sounding like a cross between a jackhammer and a
dentist’s drill. A face flashes on the screen directly
above me, along with a name. I try to memorize the
pairing, after which I press a button on a console
resting on my lap. Another face and name appear,
and my working memory, such as it is, gamely
records the association. And so on, perhaps a
dozen in all.
I set hasty mnemonic cues, like bread crumbs.
Peter has dark hair. Mary’s hair is long and
lank — lank hair equals Mary. Stuart is the guy
who looks blah. Here’s another blah guy. Wait,
was he Allen? My recall is supposed to be tested
later, outside the scanner, but Kuhn and Susan
Bookheimer, the clinical neuropsychologist who
is the principal investigator of my brain, have
3. assured me that my recall doesn’t matter as much
as the neurological tracks of my memorization.
28 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM
They are interested in the brain’s connectivity.
This is all part of a UCLA study of the human con-
nectome, senior division. I think of it as neuroscience
2.0. Connectome, connectomics and connectivity are
newish terms stemming from the technical capacity to
capture and visualize neural networks. Research has
moved beyond the exploration of parts, i.e., the ana-
tomical and functional description of the brain’s com-
ponents. For human studies, neuroscience 1.0 depended
largely on effects of injuries. When a brain-damaged
person lost function in a particular region, scientists
learned what that area does in the normal state. But the
brain’s parts don’t run in isolation. With imaging tools
like positron emission tomography (PET) and especially
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the
connections among brain areas are literally becoming
clearer. Where X-rays and first-generation MRI depict
structure, the newer scans show activity.
For example, scientists have known for decades that
the hippocampus, a structure in the middle of the brain,
has the lead role in the formation and preservation of
memories, and is one of the regions that shape a person’s
identity. The hippocampus is a few inches from the pre-
frontal cortex, about as far, relatively, as the alternator
and carburetor are in an automobile engine. The fMRI
can show the two parts working together under the hood.
4. Connectomics not only maps the circuitry of the links
and nodes, the so-called structural connectivity of the
brain, but also the dynamic correlations that arise among
regions when circuits are active: the functional connec-
tivity. Even when it’s not thinking or doing work at all,
just fleeting for no reason over a scene in Gone With the
Wind, the brain is fully powered. Systems are humming
and active, as in an idling car before the light turns green.
MIND AND MATTER
The Human Connectome Project (HCP), a joint ven-
ture of a dozen universities that launched in 2012 with
support from the National Institutes of Health, aims
to create a database of connectivity patterns. The HCP
has sketched an engine manual, so to speak, of normal
and healthy brain function, drawn from hundreds of
fMRI scans. The subjects of these scans were young
adult siblings. In the latest phase of the project, chil-
dren and older people are being enrolled so that scien-
tists can learn how connectivity changes as the brain
waxes in youth and wanes in old age. Bookheimer’s lab
at UCLA is one of the research sites processing the
latter group. The overall HCP-A (A for aging) cohort,
when complete, will have involved 1,208 people ranging
from 36 to over 100 years old.
Autopsy and scanning studies indicate that a healthy
69-year-old like me has been shedding brain matter at
a rate of 0.5 percent per year for a decade and probably
longer. My hippocampus, if I’m typical, has begun to
lose neurons even faster, perhaps 2 percent annually.
Senior moments have become laughably common, as
the bonds between the names of things and the things
themselves loosen and in a few cases vanish altogether.
But I can still write a pretty good sentence, heartened
5. that the cognitive decline that might be expected to
accompany the brain’s atrophy is neither linear nor
predictable, partly because older brains compensate
by forging workarounds in connectivity. For familiar
and basic tasks, the aging brain opens new pathways,
enlisting untapped regions and neurons, installing
patches where needed.
By contrast, the loss of neurons in Alzheimer’s
disease is pronounced and rapid, and so too the
October 2017 DISCOVER 29
mental failing. MRI scans suggest that structural and
functional connectivity has gone haywire. Orderly
networks give way to disorderly new webs, as if the
brain were a drowning person flailing and grabbing
onto whatever it can for support.
About 10 percent of Americans older than 65 have
Alzheimer’s, roughly 5 million people, a number
that can only grow as the nation’s population ages.
Research has centered on detecting and countering
amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles — the
protein complexes that clog synapses and destroy
neurons. Unfortunately, normal aging entails plaques
and tangles, too. MRI and X-rays cannot see them
accumulate in the hippocampus and other structures.
By the time the build-up is visible on a PET scan, it’s
too late to stop the effects of disease. So as they ana-
lyze connectivity patterns, the scientists of the HCP-A
project hope to establish points where healthy aging
and unhealthy degeneration diverge. “Where do you go
off that trajectory to a disease state?” asks Beau Ances
6. of Washington University in St. Louis, who is HCP-A’s
lead investigator.
If the connectome project can set the baseline
parameters of normal aging, Ances notes, “other
investigators can take the scans and ask, ‘Where do
my patients fit?’ ” In effect, we are the control group
for studies yet to come. To the extent that the HCP-A
inventory contains dementias in waiting, scientists may
explore hypotheses about the nascent stages of disease.
Nearly half of us will be scanned again in two years,
and our health checked thoroughly. Beyond that, the
plan is uncertain. “We will probably request funds to
continue follow-up when this [five-year] grant expires,”
says Bookheimer. “It is definitely important.”
PINWHEEL FOR THE BRAIN
The MRIs comprise only part of the data. Each HCP-A
participant is put through a battery of cognitive, psy-
chological and even physical testing. Working with
Bookheimer’s team — Kuhn and Mirella Diaz-Santos,
who are postdocs, and Kevin Japardi, a staff research
associate — I answer scores of questions while they take
notes. I rate my feelings about the situations in my life in
terms of “a lot,” “a little” or “not at all.” Several times
I am asked, in different ways, if I have ever suffered a
head injury. I provide measures of blood pressure, eye-
sight and grip strength. I give a blood sample for genetic
analysis. Somewhat to my discomfort, the question-
naires pinpoint my psychological flaws. As a gauge of
stamina, I walk rapidly for two minutes around traffic
cones on the carpet in the hallway.
Now it’s time for cognitive tests. Seated in front of
a screen, I am instructed to pronounce a series of very
obscure, polysyllabic words. While being timed, I draw
7. lines between ascending numbers and alphabetically
ordered letters randomly spread about a page, moving
from a number to a letter to the next number and so forth.
Next, my short-term memory is examined — “From the
series of words I just read to you, tell me as many as you
can remember.” (Dismally few, it turns out.) I react to a
stream of geometric shapes, pushing a button for a circle
or a square but not for any other shapes. Mistakes are
OK, the young researchers chirp. Easy for them to say.
I’m older than any two of them put together.
The scientific discipline that incorporates these tasks,
tests and surveys is called neuropsychology. The neuro-
psychologists for the connectome project will collect a
large number of metrics from a large group of healthy
(more or less) seniors, and set statistical boundaries
As part
of the
study, the
author had
a capsule
taped to his
forehead
(far left)
and went
through
a battery
of tests that
included
(from
left) grip
strength,
walking
around
8. cones,
timed
cognitive
tests and
reading an
eye chart.
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reflecting the high, low and middle responses. The spec-
trum will show all of us aging “normally” except where
a few might fall out of range.
What’s new is the correlation of our group’s neu-
ropsychological variation with images of our neural
mechanisms at work. Thus Bookheimer’s team has me
repeat a few of the simpler tasks inside the scanner. In
addition to the name-association task, I do what they
call the checkerboard game, which is not much of a game
but rather a test to see how quickly I push a button when
9. squares are illuminated on a pinwheeling circle. The
wheel has a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. As it
spins and the scanner rhythmically pounds, one or two
squares on the left or right side of the pattern light up in
red. The task comes near the end of my second session in
the machine. I get out feeling like I’ve been at a bad heavy
metal concert. Again, my score doesn’t matter as much as
the nodes and links that the activity uncovered.
Since individual results won’t be released, none of us
who sign up for HCP-A will know where we fit into the
overarching data. But the investigators, though blind to
our identities, will know. “We will be able to use your data
points,” Kuhn explains, “to compare vasculature, corti-
cal thickness, functional networks, etc., across the entire
group as a function of age.”
Earlier I’d squeezed a dynamometer, a device to mea-
sure grip strength, and I ask the team why they didn’t
put me to the same test inside the scanner. According to
recent literature, older
people employ a dif-
ferent brain network
than younger people
when performing this
task, especially when
squeezing with their
less-dominant hand,
which loses strength
faster than the other.
It’s because the time
in an MRI scanner
is so expensive, I am
told. Another reason
10. is that the lab’s dynamometers have metal grips, which
would mess with the scanner’s magnets. Still, the dyna-
mometer results and other external measures can be
assessed indirectly, by comparing them with the fMRI
images of my default mode network, or DMN.
The DMN represents the idling state I mentioned
above. When the brain transitions from performing
a task to a resting state, it engages a unique network,
linking a half-dozen regions in the cerebral cortex and
the hippocampus, just below the cortex. The DMN has
become one of the most-studied networks of the human
connectome. The scanner probed my DMN twice; I
was advised in so many words to simply daydream for
the eight minutes the scan required. But the DMN is
more than a daydream factory. Scientists believe it
orchestrates the rehearsal of focused activity, in the
microseconds before you decide to squeeze a dyna-
mometer, say. The network tidies up the circuits before
memories are retrieved — just before you reach for the
name of that person who’s just come over and said hello.
JUICY HIPPOCAMPUS
Considering my role as both participant and journal-
ist, the UCLA researchers agree to show me my brain
structures; other seniors in the project won’t get that
opportunity. At the end of the day, I meet with Susan
Bookheimer for her quick take on my brain’s nuts
and bolts. (The computer processing of my functional
connectivity scans, such as the DMN and the chain of
regions that lit up during the checkerboard task, will
require much more time.) Previously, Bookheimer had
cautioned me by email: “There is little to report in an
individual brain scan unless there is an abnormality. We
have all scans read by a radiologist for these, and if there
11. is an abnormality that requires some action, we would
tell you about it.”
She calls up the black-and-white images on her desk-
top computer and riffles through the slices, zooming
from the left side of my skull to the right. She sees no
sign of cerebral vascular disease or tumors, benign or
otherwise. Just “normal age-related change.”
“May I say,” she adds, “you have a very nice brain.” I
hope she means it’s healthier-looking than others — but
actually she means that the quality of the image is clear
and pleasing. I must have held quite still.
Bookheimer points out my corpus callosum, the band
of fibers that join the two hemispheres, and just below
it the dark linings of the ventricles. “The ventricles hold
fluid, and in abnormal aging the fluid expands into the
spaces made as tissue atrophies,” she says. It’s not hap-
pening much here. So far, so good.
Then to the major features of my brain. On a tablet,
Bookheimer accesses a scan configured to capture my
hippocampus, one in each hemisphere. The left hippo-
campus tends to be more involved in verbal memory and
the right more involved in nonverbal and visual memory.
She mentions the name-face association task, which is
“to take two arbitrary things and bind them together,
just like we do in real life when we meet new people.
Seniors have a harder and harder time doing this.”
The hippocampus in profile is a thin, elongated, curl-
ing structure, which is said to resemble a sea horse (the
Latin translation of hippocampus). Bookheimer zooms
from front to back, and stops at a cross section. “You
have a nice, fat, juicy hippocampus,” she says, calling
12. to my mind a sirloin steak, yet she’s just commenting
once more on the visual reproduction. “This scan is very
pretty. You can see it’s beautiful. We will be able to make
fine measurements of the subregions. Look here. It’s like
a Cinnabon.” As she zooms in further, faintly swirling
lines like tree rings come into focus. “It’s gorgeous,” she
says before catching herself. “I’m such a geek!”
The hippocampus contains “reverberating circuits,”
Bookheimer says. The cells are communicating across
PET scans reveal a slight decrease in brain
activity (shown in bright colors) between a
20-year-old (left) and an 80-year-old person.
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the inner curvature and their synapses are forming mem-
ories. Their specific tasks? “Some respond to anything
new, some are repeaters,” she says. The hippocampus
reviews and consolidates experiences and eventually
sends them out for storage in other regions. “Some of
the cells are discriminating between similar items, some
are able to reconstruct a memory from partial cues. . . .
This hippocampus is getting information from the left
side of the brain, and it is well developed.” I see a well-
aged steak again.
“The hippocampus can grow new neurons — one
of the few areas that can. Brain stimulation, learning
new information, does seem to help.” She mentions the
brain’s plasticity, its ability to compensate and find ways
around damage and decline. I’m starting to appreciate
this wispy curling tissue, floating at the heart of multiple
networks. When the brain is at rest or in sleep mode, the
hippocampus works with the DMN in memory forma-
tion. The region may also be a place to look for early
signs of cognitive decline
or of Alzheimer’s. “The
hippocampus is a target,”