Discussion Board 3-1 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Discussion Board 3-1 - Assignment Example To simplify his reasons for Systems Theory, Bowen introduced the use of genogram in analyzing and understanding family processes and issues. Genogram is a schematic diagram or structure for mapping family relationships, patterns, and processes across at least three consecutive generations. Nichols (2013) elaborates that the structure details marriage relationships, dates of births, dates of death, geographical locations and general relationships of family members in different times within the covered generations. Just like other techniques of treating psychological and family disorders, genograms have their advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage of a genogram is that its structure provides family therapist with detailed information about a family in treatment. A genogram uses clear symbols, shapes and lines to show various relationships, identify individuals, and disclose events. As demonstrated by Nichols (2013), the diagram also shows dates when certain events happened across the covered generations of a given family. With such information, a family therapist is able to trace and glean elaborate understanding of dynamics that lead a family to its contemporary condition. To this extent, therapists can device reliable if not very accurate treatment techniques and processes. Another advantage of genogram is that it enables members of embattled family trace and understands the source(s) of their problem(s). The fact that genograms cover events that transpired across at least three generations of a family enables family members to gain proper self-knowledge, understand consequences of their actions and hypothesize ways to restructure their lives and behaviors (Nichols, 2013). The greatest disadvantage of genogram over talking with family members about their immediate concerns relates to likelihood to consume a lot of time. The act of tracing historical events of a family down across at least three generation is time consuming (Nichols, 2013).

The Neuropsychological Double Dissociation Psychology Essay

The Neuropsychological Double Dissociation Psychology Essay Uncomfortable bedfellows; according to Bishop this constitutes the relationship between cognitive neuropsychology and developmental disorders. Boyle et al. (2011) showed that one out of six children suffer from a developmental disorder. The ICD-10 (WHO, 1992) defines developmental disorders (DD) as fulfilling three categories: an early onset, a delay in developmental functions relating to the CNS or biological maturation and a lack of remission. The DSM-IV (APA, 2000) takes a different direction by categorising Pervasive Developmental Disorders as characterized by impaired development of reciprocal social interaction and communication skills and the presence of stereotyped behaviour, interests, and activities. Whilst the first definition describes DD like developmental Prosopagnosia (face blindness, DP) which affects around 2.47% of the population (Kennerknecht, Grueter T., Welling, Wentzek, Horst, Edwards, Grueter M., 2006), the latter definition matches the triad of impairments of autism (ASD) which has a prevalence of 1% (Boyle et al., 2011). Comorbidity of DD such as ASD and prosopagnosia can result (Bate, 2012). At the same time, around 20% of individuals over 18 years suffer from acquired brain disorders and diseases (Family Caregiver Alliance, 2012). Deficits in acquired and developmental individuals are commonly mapped out using functional models and explored via double-dissociations. These are usually derived from acquired disorder (AD) patients rather than DD patients. How these factors influence the debate of cognitive neuropsychology and DD making uncomfortable bedfellows shall be explored in the following. Several points will be discussed as having an influential role in the debate of cognitive neuropsychology (CN) accounting for developmental disorders (DD). These are: modularity, plasticity and compensation, competence and performance, differences between exploring AD and DD and the role of double-dissociations in relation to developmental versus acquired disorders as displayed in CN. The association between structural and cognitive development is gaining recognition. Developmental changes in task-specific processing such as that of faces have been argued to play an important role in the amalgamation of various brain networks and experience-based growth of neural architecture (Westermann, Sirois, Shultz, Mareschal, 2006). Also, a bidirectional interaction between behavioural and neuronal development has been established as learning supposedly influences brain structuring and vice versa. Similarly, the rate of neurogenesis arguably depends on learning and environmental circumstances (Westermann et al., 2006). (Bishop, 1997, p.902) Following on from that, cognition is executed by the growing neurofunctional network. This distributed parallel processing arguably is organised into interacting modules (Table 1), which comprise of different levels of complexity depending on the cognitive task or function carried out (Jackson, 1958). This can be illustrated by Theory of Mind (Baron-Cohen, 1995) in ASD: ToM proposes developmental impairment of the ability to appreciate own and others mental states (beliefs, desires or intentions etc). Adams (2010), Brothers (1990) theory of the Social Brain and Leslies (1991) ToM Mechanism argue that key features of ToM can be explained in terms of modularity. Marchery (forthcoming) supports this as modularity poses a crucial characteristic of biological development. Arguably, deficits are not due to minor developmental brain problems in lower-level input and consequential cascading abnormal interaction between input and higher-level systems that affect all cognitive capacities (Karmiloff-Smith, 1998; 1992; Machery, forthcoming). Nonetheless, this is what Gerrans P.,T. and Stone (2008) argue. Additionally, low-level deficits such as gaze and face processing prevent ASD individuals from having the same experience as typically developing individuals, caused by a deficit in domain-general capacity. This has the aforementioned cascading interaction effect during development rather than leading to a dysfunctional mindreading module. However, Gerrans et al. do not see development as single causality. Reconciling, Baron-Cohen (1995) postulates that ToM is either seen as innate module or explained by deficits in general learning mechanisms and unifies both in the intermediate model of Social Perception of Minimalist Innate Modularity. (Amaral, Schumann, Nordahl, 2008, p.2) Figure 1 displays brain structures associated with dysfunctions in ASD. Amaral et al. (2008) join the debate of modularity suggesting that despite functional identification of modules no clear pathology has emerged yet but rather, that e.g. Schumann and Amaral, (2004) have demonstrated that the developmental trajectory itself rather than the final product exhibits most disruption and by this posing a further point against applying CN to the explanation of DD. Functions of modularity imply, on the other hand, that one zone can belong to several overlapping neuronal networks (Damasceno, 2010).Disordered brain development can lead to structural disruption and thereby to several dysfunctions which may not appear as a specific deficit but as a syndrome (a collection of symptoms) as demonstrated in the triad of impairments in ASD (Wing Gould, 1979). Similarly, lesions to a localised brain area do not always cause isolated but sometimes collective symptoms (Kolb, Brown, Witt-Lajeunesse, Gibb, 2001). These are caused, i.a. by disturbances in interconnected regions which might appear intact on functional brain imaging scans. However, changes in neurotransmission, excitatory or inhibitory processes or blood flow might cause secondary symptoms not predicted by the data. One interesting example was proposed by Sandel, Weiss and Ivker (1990): their patient was described as amnesic after traumatic brain injury. Her impaired cognition was considered a secondary deficit as her EEG and other clinical tests proved negative. No other disruptions were present until she was eventually diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. Therefore several unexpected and seemingly unconnected functional disruptions might result from a single localised lesion. These points argue against the notion of using CN in explaining DD due to the assumptions held. Advancing to the next argument, functional (mal)development following lesions or disrupted neurogenesis might also demonstrate individual differences in brain structure, due to varying input, demands and circumstances. Thomas and Karmiloff-Smith (2003) added that specialisation/modularity is not directing development but contrarily, is the outcome of this. On the other hand, the brain activity of healthy individuals supports a normalisation process to facilitate models being created for generalisation purposes. As Tager-Flusberg (1999) counter-argues, functional variation in dysfunctional individuals is similar to that of typical population. Allegedly, localisation is universally alike thereby plasticity, compensation or adaptation to damage are neglected. Examples of compensatory processes and resulting behaviour (or v.v.?) are stimming in ASD for sensory overload (Grandin, 2009) or remembering haircuts in prosopagnosics for identification (Bate, 2012). Adaptation can express itself by change in neurochemistry, psychomotor stimulants and compensatory behaviour while it is argued that the behaviour triggers alteration in neurochemistry (Kolb et al., 2001). This in turn, points to the aforementioned bidirectionality of structure and learning which has implications for acquired as well as developmental patients and goes against explaining DD in a CN framework. At this point, double-dissociations are commonly applied to provide clues to brain-behaviour relationships. In 1955, Teuber introduced the term double-dissociation referring to mirror-deficit patients. Buchaine, Parker, and Nakayama (2003) proposed the example of NM, a prosopagnosic whose abilities support previous findings (Young, Newcombe, De Haan, Small, Hay, 1993) of a double-dissociation of identity and emotion recognition. Van Peelen, Lucas, Mayer, and Vuilleumier (2009) added that emotional guidance of attention to facial expression can be unimpaired and thus functionally differ from face identification. Interestingly, Teuber did not establish double-dissociations to discover networks within cognitive architecture (Van Orden, Pennington, Stone, 2001) as localising a lesion does not imply a responsibility for dysfunctions. Further, modularity of functional networks has not been unanimously established. Nonetheless, modularity is one key feature of CN serving the notion of double-dissociations. CN informs theories of normal cognitive function by analysing the break down of cognitive systems in atypical patients (Bullinaria Chater, 1997). However, inferring theory from damage patients is full of obstacles and depends on models of normal functioning. As Caramazza (1984) argued, double-dissociations are valid forms of inference but only if the cognitive model is well developed; only single-case studies can provide information relevant to our understanding of cognitive architecture. Contradicting, Shallice (1988) argued that a double-dissociation between two tasks does not necessarily imply a double-dissociation between cognitive processes. Since the argument concerning emergence of CN models and the role of AD and DD has not been resolved yet, a need of inclusion of further aspects becomes apparent. One aspect is Residual Normality which claims that atypical development impairs only specific domains while the rest functions typically (Thomas Karmiloff-Smith, 2002). Similar behavioural impairments demonstrated by adult brain damage and infant-onset disorders are assumed to support modularity of typical neuronal system structure. Opposing the assumption of RN, compensation due to damage causes alterations in various other modules (Thomas, 2003). Shallice (1988) introduced deriving knowledge about the neuronal system from behavioural impairments in AD and DD, such as malfunctioning ToM in autism (Leslie, 1991). As argued by Bishop and Karmiloff-Smith (1997; 1998) such an inferential process within the static model of CN leads to invalid explanations of dysfunctional development. Functional Models on the other hand do not possess a developmental component, and display what is expected to happen under various conditions in terms of functionality and processes (DMello Franklin, 2011). Thus impairments can be analysed under the assumption of RN as it has been done, for example in the study of autism and prosopagnosia (Thomas et al., 2002). Examples of models are given in Figure two and three. Despite this, it has been suggested to use connectionist models where in AD the damage is applied at the end of training and for DD prior to it as this is argued to reflect actuality in a truer light. Connectionist models indeed are suitable for the investigation of DD as behavioural deficits such as in autism (Thomas et al., 2002) can be captured well following simulated atypical development. It is highlighted that AD and DD are studied using separate models, thereby arguing against functional models within CN. Figure 2: Functional model of face-processing (Wright, Wardlaw, Young, Zeman, 2006) Figure 3: Models of Autism (Anderson and Herbert, 2008) The aforementioned factors influencing whether cognitive neuropsychology is suitable for explaining DD have given a mixed picture. Jackson and Coltheart (2001) defended the use of CN in DD stating that development itself (thus distal causes like genes or background) are irrelevant for the identification of un/healthy functions, given modularity. Whether acquired or developmental proximal (what is wrong right now) and distal causes can be deduced independently from each other. Indeed, Jackson et al. argue that common architectural issues in AD and DD can be established using CN. Bishop on the other hand postulates against this as deficits are focused on while intact processes are neglected. Further, top-down and bottom-up interactions are dismissed. Karmiloff-Smith (1998) deems these highly relevant for understanding DD. Thirdly a uniform modularity is assumed without accounting for alterations in development. Bishop proposed that AD should be researched using single-case double-dissociations while for DD, as they are likely to demonstrate associated deficits, group studies are recommended. Problematically, the debate on what constitutes a module has not been clarified yet (e.g. Fodor (2000): encapsulation, Coltheart (1999): domain specificity). Until this is established functional models and CN will not carry valid explanations nor reveal (mal)development well (Thomas et al., 2002). This underpins the view against exploring DD within a CN framework. Additionally, modularity/plasticitys scope of variation in DD and AD remains unestablished (Tager-Flusberg, 2000; Thomas et al., 2003). Humphreys, Ewing, and Karmiloff-Smith (2002) proposed the example of Williams syndrome patients possessing intact face recognition which is, however, achieved by applying processes diverging from typicality. Initially, face recognition was seen as intact despite visuospatial deficits, reduced sensitivity to inverted faces and lack of progressive development of localisation (Grice, Spratling, Karmiloff-Smith, Halit, Csibra, De Haan, Johnson, 2001). Hypothetically, assuming RN, this could be seen as double-dissociation between developmental prosopagnosia and WS. Basing modelling of DD on highly debated assumptions poses a problem for validity of the framework. Additionally, CN is accused of focusing on representational (competence) rather than processing (performance) deficits (Bishop, 1997). This, however, appears to be crucial in terms of applying research to DD. Weigelt, Koldewyn, and Kanwisher (2012) demonstrated a lack of qualitative difference (how facial identity is discriminated or remembered, competence) but rather a quantitative (how well, performance) difference in that ASD patients are impaired in memory and perception despite indication of intact face identity recognition. According to Bishop, this is another argument against applying CN to exploring DD. Concluding then, the much debated assumption of modularity held in cognitive neuropsychology overshadows exploration of disruptions during the trajectory of neuronal development. Applying double-dissociations to DD arguably yields invalid results and is more suited to acquired disorders. This is due to the assumptions within CN of Residual Normality, directionality of impact within disorders and its dependence on localisation of disruption, universality of localisation, neglect of plasticity and the focus on (in)competence. All in all, it has been proposed, while certain aspects could be overlooked, connectionist models rather than functional models would yield better results. Also, cognitive neuropsychology focuses on adult processes thus damage after complete development which is hard to match onto disorders of development. In order for CN to account validly for disorders, different models have to be applied for acquired and developmental cases.

Out of the Darkness: Female Genital Mutiliation Essay -- Womens Righ

Since the 1790s, women have been struggling to overcome the confines imposed on them by dominant patriarchal societies. (Andrea and Overfield 257). Much advancement has been made as women have continued to bring to light their views and ultimate demand for equality with respect to their male counterparts (Andrea and Overfield 260). Despite how far they have come, feminist today find themselves combating the violation of women’s rights regarding the cultural tradition of female circumcision, which some feel is more appropriately referred to as female genital mutilation (FGM) (Johnsdotter and Ensà ©b 30). Millions of women and children have been and continue to be subjected to the barbaric act of FGM, which not only leaves their bodies disfigured, but carries lifelong significant health risks and in some cases even ends in death (Morrison 125, 128). After researching a multitude of documents and case studies regarding the practice of FGM, it is evident that feminist are war ranted in their alarm and even disgust, when faced with the knowledge that this practice is continuing to be uph...

The Grapes of Wrath- Symbolism Essay

Symbolism Symbols are often used to represent bigger ideas and concepts in a novel. In The Grapes of Wrath, there are many symbols to represent the lives of not only the Jode family but the migrants as a whole. Steinbeck uses the symbols of the dust and the turtle to show the struggles of the migrants and how they overcame all odds, revealing the only hope the migrants had to survive the harsh trek cross country was perseverance. The dust is the first significant symbol Steinbeck uses to represent the migrants and their struggles. As the dust filled the air in Oklahoma, families watched their lives settle to nothing along with the dust, â€Å"The men were silent and they did not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their men– to feel whether this time the men would break† (3). The dust is symbolic of the migrant’s lives eroding to nothing. It represents not only mother natures roll in the horrible tragedy of the crumbling families, but also represents the banks and large plantations that took over the small and venerable families and farms just like the dust engulfed their homes. Though the migrants went through so much with losing their farms, homes, and lives, they still stood strong and found a way to keep moving forward, â€Å"After a while the faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard and angry and resistant† (3). The migrant families overcame their struggles with the dust over taking their homes along with all of the other struggles they faced, and they moved west for a new life. On their journey west, the migrants faced many challenging obstacles that they had to persevere through. Steinbeck uses the symbolism of the turtle to represent the stubborn migrants fighting their way west, â€Å"And over the grass at the roadside a land turtle crawled, turning aside for nothing, dragging his high-domed shell over the grass† (14). The turtle was set back by both nature and man on his journey across the road, just like the migrants were on their long trek westward. The turtle faced a red ant, barely escaped death by a car twice, and had to struggle with rough terrain along with flipping himself upright after being flipped over by the front wheel of a ruck. Like the migrants overcoming sickness, death, car problems, money shortage, unfair merchants, and lack of work, the turtle also overcame all of his challenges and setbacks and continued to persevere on his path, â€Å"Its front foot caught a piece of quartz and little by little the shell pulled over and flopped upright†¦ The turtle entered a dust road and jerked itself along, drawing a wavy shallow trench in the dust with its shell. The old humorous eyes looked ahead†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (15). Even though the turtle had several setbacks, he still held his head high and looked forward down the path he was traveling, never forgetting where he was going just like the migrants. The dust and the turtle symbolize the journey of the migrants starting from the moment they were kicked out of their homes. The turtle is a better representation of how hard the migrants fought to reach their final destination, just to find they had to fight to live one day at a time. The dust is the best symbol Steinbeck uses to represent the bigger farms and natures roll in the future of the migrants. However both symbols represent the bigger picture, the perseverance the migrants had to use to survive each day on their journey, and each hour once they reached their overpopulated destination of California.

The traditional material known as aluminum

The traditional material known as aluminum is often too soft to meet the requirements of certain applications, especially when considering aeronautic applications. These structural demanding applications thereby require the making of aluminum alloys which are structurally tough materials. Aluminum alloys are made to increase mechanical strength, increase corrosion resistance of the material, and thus increase overall shock survivability of the material (Subodh, K. D. , 2007).Here, we are concerned with Aluminum alloys 2024 and 7075 which are particularly used in aircraft structures, and aerospace applications. The review presents the similarities and differences of each material with regards to their chemistry, processing, and heat treatment measures. Aluminum 2024 The aluminum 2024 was first introduced in 1931, and was available as an alclad sheet and plate forms. Due to its high corrosion resistance, the material is often used in areas of an aircraft where fatigue resistance and st rength are required. Those areas include fuselage, wings, shear webs, and ribs of an aircraft.As an alloy, aluminum 2024 is made up of several materials among which are aluminum, chromium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and silicon. Such a composition gives the ending material adequate mechanical and thermal properties demanded for aircraft structural components. However, the material is also used for truck wheels, screw machine products, scientific instruments, and orthopedic equipment. Overall, the aluminum 2024 material may be used in any application where there is a need for high strength to weight ration materials, and/or structures.

Free Essays on Cyber Criminals

A young teen calling himself â€Å"Mafiaboy† was arrested in Montreal, Canada early April of 2000. His crime? He was charged with at least one of the Denial-Of-Service (DoS) hacker attacks that blocked access to such popular sites as Yahoo!, Amazon, and eBay. –â€Å"Dembeck† Thirty years ago, a juvenile delinquent like â€Å"Mafiaboy† would be reduced to say, setting a mailbox on fire or some other adolescent prank. Now, with today’s technology, his â€Å"adolescent prank† disrupted world wide E-commerce and attracted massive media attention. Hackers like â€Å"Mafiaboy† are becoming more and more abundant these days, and are finding more innovative ways to accomplish their wide variety of goals. Their goal may be to send a virus to the computer of someone they dislike. Some of these â€Å"Cyber Criminals† hack into websites and destroy information, others hack into government or company computers, steal money and information, pirate software and more. There are many forms of computerized crime; most computer crime can be traced back to one common tool (besides a computer of course) the Internet. Yes, the same information super-highway that is used by millions of people everyday has become, to a hacker, nothing more than a gateway to easy, and thanks to up-to-date technology, relatively safe criminal mischief. The Internet is used for many good things, and is an irreplaceable tool for today’s world commerce, but thanks to cyber criminality, it is also a dangerous weapon that threatens that same commerce and even the security of the civilized world. There are about five main types of computerized crime. Illegal or offensive material is the first and one of the most common types. This is where the â€Å"criminal† posts illegal or offensive information or material on websites, netgroups, etc. Another common form of cyber crime is sending threatening or offensive e-mails. Sending ANY e-mail that appears to be threatening in nature, ... Free Essays on Cyber Criminals Free Essays on Cyber Criminals A young teen calling himself â€Å"Mafiaboy† was arrested in Montreal, Canada early April of 2000. His crime? He was charged with at least one of the Denial-Of-Service (DoS) hacker attacks that blocked access to such popular sites as Yahoo!, Amazon, and eBay. –â€Å"Dembeck† Thirty years ago, a juvenile delinquent like â€Å"Mafiaboy† would be reduced to say, setting a mailbox on fire or some other adolescent prank. Now, with today’s technology, his â€Å"adolescent prank† disrupted world wide E-commerce and attracted massive media attention. Hackers like â€Å"Mafiaboy† are becoming more and more abundant these days, and are finding more innovative ways to accomplish their wide variety of goals. Their goal may be to send a virus to the computer of someone they dislike. Some of these â€Å"Cyber Criminals† hack into websites and destroy information, others hack into government or company computers, steal money and information, pirate software and more. There are many forms of computerized crime; most computer crime can be traced back to one common tool (besides a computer of course) the Internet. Yes, the same information super-highway that is used by millions of people everyday has become, to a hacker, nothing more than a gateway to easy, and thanks to up-to-date technology, relatively safe criminal mischief. The Internet is used for many good things, and is an irreplaceable tool for today’s world commerce, but thanks to cyber criminality, it is also a dangerous weapon that threatens that same commerce and even the security of the civilized world. There are about five main types of computerized crime. Illegal or offensive material is the first and one of the most common types. This is where the â€Å"criminal† posts illegal or offensive information or material on websites, netgroups, etc. Another common form of cyber crime is sending threatening or offensive e-mails. Sending ANY e-mail that appears to be threatening in nature, ...

The meninas essays

The meninas essays Late in his life, in 1656, Velzquez painted what is his acknowledged masterpiece, "Las Meninas" or the "Maids of Honor". Here he provided his own original essay on the nature of reality by fusing several subjects. The group portrait, the "genre" (scenes of everyday life) theme, the self-portrait, the artist in the studio and the interior... have all come together in a new and distinctive form. "The Maids of Honor" is, in fact, a series of portraits within portraits. It is first a portrait of a room: the artists studio.... Gathered in the room are the Infanta Dos space. They, in fact, may be the subject of a double portrait being painted on the canvas upon which Velzquez shows himself working the artist in his studio has been woven into the scene. "Las Meninas" hung in Phillips private office, a sure indication that it was special to him. Here, in a single image, much that was important to Phillip was ingeniously brought together. His family, his retainers (servants), his newly knighted painter, and above all, his beautiful daughter are gathered in the room that belonged to his dead son and heir. In an image both charming and melancholy, Velzquez has captured the waning years of the Spanish Hapsburgs. Velzquez died only four years later, and Phillip died in 1666. During the years...