Working memory Essay Example for Free

Working memory Essay In today’s society, video games are becoming ever more popular and the more popularity video games receive, the more research that will be done on the topic. Many years ago you may have heard of Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and of course the â€Å"classic† Super Mario. Today we have better technology and millions of different games out there that can put gamers in tough situations and can lure them to play for hours upon hours. With the gamer population reaching over 90 million in the past decade, their strengths and weaknesses will have a huge impact on society (NBC News). The question is, do video games actually improve cognition and have positive effects on people and how the games can improve learning skills? Loftus, Geoffrey R. , and Elizabeth F. Loftus. Mind at Play: The Psychology of Video Games. New York, NY: Basic, 1983. Print. Pgs 46-54 This book examines the psychological processes involved in playing video games, discusses behavior problems frequent players can develop, and compares video games to other fads of the past. The chapter that I look at specifically is Chapter 3: Games and The Cognitive System. This chapter goes over the aspects of the mind which requires complex thinking and actions to do certain operations when playing video games. A major theme is the different strategies that can be used for accomplishing the mental goals—like the goal to be good at playing video games. There are sections within the chapter. The sections that I will be evaluating is Attention and Memory. In the first section Attention Geoffrey Loftus explains that attention is the filtering process and people generally filter information very efficiently. Attention is used in everyday life. The author goes in depth on how people use their attention and to play certain games. The ability to manipulate your attention and be able to focus on one object and then (within a millisecond) be able to focus on another object. This is the key to video games and improving your skills. The author’s evidence he used, he applied to scenarios that people encounter all the time. They used the example of when you are talking in a group of people and the person on the left is talking to and you quickly shift your attention to the person on your right. The change in attention didn’t require you to move a muscle, instead it was all done with your mind. Another great example they gave is when you are trying to destroy all the helicopters in the air when you realize they start dropping paratroopers. You then start concentrating more on the paratroopers because they are going to be closer to you. The argument they gave was that your attention process can only take in one set of information at a time. This section Attention will be useful to support my argument because the authors explained that the more you used your selective attention the better and faster you would get at filtering information. Thus, it backs up my claim on how video games improve cognition. The other section I reviewed is Memory. The authors explained that Memory has two parts: Long-term and Short-Term. Short-term is generally identified as consciousness and very small capacity for ideas. Long-term memory contains information like our name and ability to speak a language and so on. The storage space is virtually unlimited. The authors make the claim that not only the memory (that your brain can handle) is important, but the speed at which you can manipulate that stored information is very important. They researched and found out reminiscence plays a big part in video games. This is the ability to play games one day and come back the next day and improve your skills or just be able to understand and play the game without relearning the aspect. The evidence the authors used were great examples. The first I want to point out is Short-term memory is like the amplifier in the stereo system; it’s the heart of the system, and it’s important to learn to use it as efficiently as possible. He gave many other examples that helped the reader understand how the memory is being used and manipulated while playing video games. This section is very useful to support my claim. It provides people with the background information about skills that you use while playing video games. It also proved that when you use your memory the better it gets. Green, C. Shawn, and Daphne Bavelier. The Cognitive Neuroscience of Video Games. N. p. : n. p. , n. d. PDF. Green and Bavelier start off by talking about the effects of video games on reaction time and visual-motor coordination. They then go on to explain the effects of spatial skills, attention, brain changes due to video games, and the uses for video games. The topic of brain changes due to video games is the topic that I will examine the closest. The main argument he makes in the section of his journal is that the brain releases significant amounts of dopamine while playing video games. And dopamine has a part in many important functions in the brain, playing a role in cognition, punishment, motivation, attention, mood, sleep, voluntary movement, learning and working memory. Thus, the more dopamine means that you could be able to learn more efficiently. Green and Bavelier use a lot of research from other academic journals, books and psychological tests performed. The argument was very strong because he used actual tests that have been performed so the evidence is solid and backs up his argument well. The only question I have about his argument is what might be the side effects of too much dopamine or is the brain limited to producing a certain amount of dopamine. Overall, the source helped me understand how video games produce more dopamine and how it effects learning. The authors were confident in what they said. This will help readers understand how people learn and how videos games help your brain. Way, J. (2011). Video games as learning tools: A library perspective. Access, 25(2), 10-16. Retrieved from http://search. proquest. com/docview/868572874?accountid=14576 This article/entry describes and explains the benefit behind games made for learning and games that aren’t necessarily made for learning but helped students with other aspects of life. Judith Way, a teacher and librarian at a high-school, explained that she used several different video games to help students learn: My Word Coach and Guitar Hero, yes guitar Hero! She concluded that the games and programs she used was very helpful for more dense learning with children and not only learning but better attitudes and relationships with teachers and students. She also noted that the kids were much more interested in school and participating than ever before. Judith makes a very strong argument about video games and learning. The reason it is strong is because she conducted the study herself and could personally see changes in the students. Her evidence she presented was in the form of graphs that were clear and depicted gain in most cases. She also provided examples by children themselves. There was sufficient evidence that supported learning can be improved by video games. The piece of work will be very helpful on giving an outlook on how video games can improve learning and learning skills. This article can also help give an insight on how they can improve video games to get more positive outcomes in learning. Prot, Sara, MA, Katelyn A. McDonald, Craig A. Anderson, PhD, and Douglas A. Gentile, PhD. VVideo Games: Good, Bad, or Other? Pediatric Clinics of North America59. 3 (2012): n. pag. Print. This article provides an overview of research findings on the positive and negative effects of video games, thus providing an empirical answer to the question, are video games good or bad? The article also provides some guidelines to help pediatricians, parents, and other caregivers protect children from negative effects and to maximize positive effects of video games. This article offers the opposite of my argument. It is a very strong argument that will help me understand the other side and give me an understanding that along with positive effects there are negative too. The authors have consolidated a lot of research they did into one paper. The research comes from a lot of trials and studies conducted on kids playing video games. The evidence that she gave was quality research and she presented all her data in nice organized tables. This article helps me recognize the opposite side of my proposal. This source will help me give evidence of the opposite view and statistics so that I can counter argue the ideas. This source narrows the topic of video games to violent videos which isn’t necessarily what I am writing about but it still gives a lot of negative effects that can come from video games in general. This research that I have done will greatly help narrow my topic to a more specific idea and it reassures my views on the topic. Once I narrow my topic even more I can get even more specific details. And more details means a better argument. Even though I have found out that there are positive ways that video games effect people, I have also noticed that research proves there are many negative effects too. This will help me in my argument to provide specific examples where only positive effects can happen.

Behavior of Packet Counts for Network Intrusion Detection

Behavior of Packet Counts for Network Intrusion Detection Statistical Behavior of Packet Counts for Network Intrusion Detection Abstract— Intrusions and attacks have become a very serious problem in network world. This paper presents a statistical characterization of packet counts that can be used for network intrusion detection. The main idea is based on detecting any suspicious behavior in computer networks depending on the comparison between the correlation results of control and data planes in the presence and absence of attacks using histogram analysis. Signal processing tools such as median filtering, moving average filtering, and local variance estimators are exploited to help in developing network anomaly detection approaches. Therefore, detecting dissimilarity can indicate an abnormal behavior. Keywords— Anomaly detection, statistics, Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS). I. INTRODUCTION NOWADAYS, the use of the Internet has become important and it increased considerably. Internet use has spread to daily work, business, education, entertainment and etc. Computer networks bring us a lot of benefits, such as computing and better performance, but they also bring risks. So, security systems have to be built to face those risks. One of those systems is the network intrusion detection system (NIDS), which is designed to alert the network administrators to the presence of an attack. Recently, intrusions are classified as serious Internet security threats due to the mass service disruption they result in, the unsafe use of the Internet, and the difficulty to defend against them [1]. Some attacks aim to consume large amount of resources to prevent legitimate users from receiving satisfactory performance. Network Intrusion Detection System is a tool to detect the attacks that attempt to compromise the availability, integrity or confidentiality of the network. It has been started to be used frequently as one component of an effective layered security model for an organization. This system monitors network traffic continuously for malicious activity, and raise alerts when they detect attacks. Existing intrusion detection systems can be classified into signature detection systems/ misuse and anomaly detection systems [2-3]. Signature detection systems rely on a database of a predefined set of attack signatures. They detect attacks by comparing the observed patterns of the network traffic with the database. If the attack is listed in the database, then it can be successfully detected and identified [4]. On the other hand, anomaly detection systems are designed to compare the parameters of the normal network traffic to the observed unusual traffic [5]. In such cases, the detected deviation from the normal traffic is declared as an attack. Such methods can detect new kinds of network attacks. In this paper, we aim to studding the intrusion and attacks behavior by monitoring the changes in the traffic of the network. Detecting dissimilarity between the correlation results of control and data planes can indicate an abnormal behavior [6]. This paper is organized as follows. Section II includes the anomaly detection techniques. Section III, includes the suggested statistical analysis. Section IV, includes the simulation results. Section V includes the concluding remarks. II. Anomaly detection techniques A number of studies have focused on developing network anomaly detection methods. For example, Haystack [7] is one of the statistical anomaly-based intrusion detection systems. In this system, a range of values is set to indicate the normal status of each pre-defined feature. If the values measured during a session lie outside the normal range, then the score of a subject is raised. Haystack was designed to work offline and that was considered as one of its drawbacks [8]. Statistical Packet Anomaly Detection Engine (SPADE) [9] is also one of the statistical anomaly-based intrusion detection systems. It uses the concept of an anomaly score to detect sport scans. A simple frequency domain based approach is used to calculate the anomaly score of a packet. The fewer the packets, the higher the anomaly score. One drawback of the SPADE is its high false alarm rate. In this paper, we concentrate on the statistical analysis of the correlation sequence between packet and control counts in computer networks [10]. The suggested approach is based on distinguishing histograms of the correlation sequences of normal and abnormal traffics. The correlation sequences are processed either directly or after pre-processing with differentiator, median filtering, or local variance estimation. III. Statistics Histogram Analysis Histogram is defined as a graphical representation of the distribution of data, a histogram is a function that counts the number of observations that fall into each of the disjoint categories, Thus, if we let k be the total number of bins and n be the total number of observations, the histogram mi meets the following conditions [7]: (1) Median Filtering The median filtering is based on sorting the data and selecting is the middle number. It is used to exclude impulsive values in the correlation sequences. Mean The mean is the average of a set of numbers (2) Variance The variance is a measure of how items are dispersed about their mean. The variance of a whole population is given by the equation [11] (3) where M is the local mean. IV. Proposed Approach The proposed approach can be summarized in the following steps: Network traffic packet traces are typically provided in raw tcpdump format [12]. Therefore, it is necessary to preprocess packets to extract the features in the format needed to carry out further analysis [6]. Extracting a count features, from the packet header information . Computing the similarity between the two traffic groups; control and data by using cross-correlation function. Applying some sort of pre-processing on the correlation sequence with median filtering, moving average, differentiator, and local variance estimation. Histogram estimation of the original correlation sequences and the pre-processed sequences. Creating databases for the histograms with attacks and without attacks. Setting thresholds based on these histograms for discrimination. V. experimental results We have used the cross-correlation results between the control and data packets when there is no attacks and when there is an attack for one day of KSU traffic. Fig. 1 shows the correlation coefficients between the control and data packets when there is no an attack. Fig 2 shows the correlation coefficients when there is an attack applied. Fig. 3 shows the correlation coefficients histogram distribution for normal and abnormal traffic. Fig. 4 shows the histogram distribution of the correlation coefficient median for normal and abnormal traffic. Fig. 5 shows the histogram distribution of correlation coefficients mean for normal and abnormal traffic. Fig. 6 shows the histogram distribution of the correlation coefficients local variance for normal and abnormal traffic. The experimental results reveal that when there is an attack, a noticeable difference in histogram distribution is found. Fig. 1 : Correlation coefficients for normal traffic. Fig. 2 : Correlation coefficients for abnormal traffic. Fig. 3 : Correlation coefficients histogram distribution for normal and abnormal traffic. Fig. 4 : Histogram of the correlation coefficients median for normal and abnormal traffic. Fig. 5 : Histogram of the correlation coefficients local mean for normal and abnormal traffic. Fig. 6 : Histogram of the correlation coefficients local variance for normal and abnormal traffic. From these figures, we can set a probability threshold for each case, based on which, a decision of normal or abnormal traffic can be taken. VI. Conclusion The paper presented a statistical study for the correlation coefficients between packet and control planes of network traffic. Simulation experiments have shown that there is a difference in histogram distribution between normal and abnormal traffics. With the aid of signal processing tools like median filtering, local mean filtering and local variance filtering, we can set a group of thresholds to distinguish between normal and abnormal traffics.

Mental Health Effects Of Exercise Health And Social Care Essay

Mental Health Effects Of Exercise Health And Social Care Essay Objectives: To determine the mental health effects of exercise for people with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder. Search Strategy: Clinical trials on anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder (August 2010) were searched based on Cochraine, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PsycheArticles, Sport Discuss, and PubMed database. References from relevant papers were also inspected. Selection Criteria: All randomized controlled trials comparing any intervention where physical activity or exercise was considered to be the main or active ingredient with standard care or other treatments for people with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder. Data Collection Analysis: Citations and abstract were inspected and the quality is assessed, and the data were extracted. Main result: Ten randomized clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. Trials assessed the effects of exercise on physical and mental health for affective/mood and anxiety disorder, also the consumption change on illicit drugs and alcohol. Overall number leaving the trials were 60%). Exercise effect is higher than standard care alone or adjunct treatment with meditation. Exercise dose differs for underlying fitness level, physical wellbeing, and age. Green environment act as catalyst while smoking behavior block the fitness outcome. BACKGROUND There are about 450 million people suffered from mental and behavioral disorders worldwide. One person in four will develop one or more of these disorders during their lifetime [1]. Mental disorders contribute to almost 11% of 1996 disease burden worldwide and it is predicted that it will increase up to 15% in 2020 [2]. By looking at local context, almost half of Australian population experience mental illness at some point of their lifetime [3], which contribute 13.3% of the total country burden of disease and injury in 2003 [4]. A good mental health enable individual to handle day-to-day events and obstacles, work on their goals, and function effectively in society. Minor disturbances in mental health could with delay early intervention will not only a suffered to the individual but also a burden to their families and society considerably. The economic and personal costs of mental illness are also the major concerned in social and public health. Exercise was believed to enhance individuals ability to cope with and manage their mental disorder apart from its well documented physical health benefit. Improved quality of life is particularly important for individuals with severe and enduring mental health problems as exercise may alleviate depression, low self-esteem and social withdrawal.   Mental disorder is usually determined through clinical diagnoses using the ICD10 or DSM-IV criteria. In Australia, anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder and substances abuse are the main mental disorder in this country [3] thus will be used in this review. Description of the condition Anxiety Disorder Anxiety disorders are a group of illnesses characterized by persistent feelings of high anxiety, extreme discomfort and tension which will significantly interferes with their daily life. Its often come out of the blue and presented with intense physical symptoms such as breathlessness, palpitations, sweating, trembling, feelings of choking, nausea, abdominal distress, dizziness, pins and needles, feelings of losing control and/or feelings of impending doom[4]. Anxiety disorders also affect the way a person thinks, feels, and behaves. There is different number of anxiety disorders which include panic disorder, agoraphobia, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder, which most often begin in early adulthood and common among women than men [5, 17]. It is reported that lifetime prevalence of total anxiety disorder was 10.6% 16.6% [23]. Affective Disorder Affective disorder characterized by dramatic changes or extremes of mood which include manic or depressive episodes, and often combinations of the two. They may or may not have psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, or other loss of contact with reality [9]. This disorder could be categorized into depression, dysthymia, mania, hypomania, and bipolar affective disorder [5]. For lifetime prevalence, the corresponding pooled incidence rates were 6.7 per 100, 3.6 per 100, and 0.9 per 100 for respective major depressive disorder (MDD) dysthymia disorder and bipolar I disorder categories [16]. Substance use disorder Substance use disorder refers to mental and behavioral disorder resulting from psychoactive substance use such as alcohol, opoids, others stimulants, hallucinogens, tobacco and volatile disorders [5]. The focus of this paper will look at the study on alcohol and illicit drugs. In the short term, the individual may perceive these effects as quite desirable however, prolonged and heavy usage may result in physical harm, dependency, and withdrawal problems and long term psychological damage or social harm. This will leads to intoxication, harmful use, dependence, and psychotic disorders [5]. Harmful use is diagnosed when damage has been caused to physical and mental health. Dependence syndrome involve strong desire to take substance and difficulty in control the use, physical withdrawal, tolerance, neglect of alternative pleasure and interest, and persistent use despite harm to self and others. Point prevalence of alcohol use disorder has been estimated to be around 1.7% globally, which higher rate among men 2.8% to women 0.5% [18]. While, the burden attributable to illicit drugs was estimated at 0.4% of total disease burden, and economic cost of this harmful drugs dependents and use in the United State has been estimated to be USD98 billion [22]. Exercise and mental health There is no single mechanism has yet been found to adequately explain the diverse range of mental health effects possible through physical activity participation. The plausible mechanisms for psychological change through physical activity and exercise fall into one of three broad perspectives as explained by Mutrie (2003) where there is biochemical changes such as increased levels of neurotransmitters; physiological changes such as improved thermo-genesis, muscle and cardiovascular function and, suggested psychological changes such as social support, sense of autonomy, improved perceptions of competence, enhanced body image, self-efficacy and distraction. Important of review There is a growing recognition that physical activity can enhance mental health (Faulkner 2005). Regardless by this fact, there is still limited evidence to suggest the effects of exercise on anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances abuse reported in the population characterized by these mental illnesses. The purpose of this review is to focus specifically on methodologically rigorous trials in updating current consensus concerning the potential role of exercise in improving the mental health of individuals with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder. OBJECTIVES To determine the mental health effects of exercise programmes for people with anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances use disorder, and factors that enhance the effect. METHODS Types of participants Clinically diagnosed adult (aged 17 and above) with diagnosed anxiety disorder, affective and mood disorder, and substances abuse using any criteria, with any length of illness and in any treatment setting. Types of interventions Physical activity or exercise will be the main or active elements intervention studied in this review. As a result of most clinical subjects is under treatment, intervention in conjunction with others will be considered as well. Only interventions which address mental health outcome of exercise, its dosage, and factors attribute to effectiveness will be included. Others exercise study that potentially discussed the outcome of enhancing physical exercise intervention on mental health status will also will be included for prospective review. Types of outcome measures Outcomes were groups according to assessments of mental and physical health, and were grouped by different disorders, factors attribute to effectiveness, and dose exposure outcome. The primary outcome will be mental state score. Search methods for identification of studies Search is restricted to English literature will be used as more time is needed for paper translation. Electronic searches The MEDLINE, PsychInfo, PsychArticles, PubMed, Cochrane, SportDiscuss, SAGE, Springerlink, and JSTOR articles and journal databases (August 2010) were searched using the phrase : [(physical* and (therap* or intervention)) within the same field of title, abstract or index term fields) or ((fitness* or sport* or gym* or exercis* or * danc*) in title, abstract and index fields Reference) or (*exercise* or danc* or physical act* in interventions field in Study)] and also different phrases for disorder studied is added in term, reference and study field: anxiety disorder (panic disorder*or agoraphobi*or social phobi* or generalized anxiety disorde* or obsessive-compulsive disorde*or post-traumatic stress disorde*), mood or affective disorder (depressio*or dysthymi*or mani*or hypomani*or bipolar affective disorde*), and substance use disorder (alcoho*or cocain*or heroi*or ampletamin* or illicit dru*). Data collection and analysis In the selection process, abstracts of research papers were independently assessed by the searches for relevance. When abstract was unclear and disagreements occurred, the full report is required and the assessment process repeated. With resolved disagreement, data is extracted from each study and even from unpublished source for the purpose of this review. Studies are then independently assessed for its methodological quality base on sequence generation; allocation concealment; blinding; incomplete outcome data; selective reporting of the results; and any other biases identified. The standard Risk Ratio and Odd ratios at 95% confidence interval (CI) will be used as interpretation of treatment effect. As a result of continuous data outcome in mental health trials are often not normally distributed, criteria for inclusion is used where the standard deviations and means for the endpoint measures on rating scales is obtained and the standard deviation (SD), when multiplied by 2 had to be less than the mean [19]. Even though some degree of loss to follow up data must lose credibility [19], all trial in the main analysis will be included all. Only study with outcome of more than 50% participation will be interpreted. RESULT Results of the search There are about 264 electronics reports inspected and of these, 254 studies were excluded on the basis of their abstracts. Ten randomized controlled trials (Carta 2008; Jerome 2008; Oeland 2010; Doyne 1987; Kenzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Merom 2007; Ng 2007; and Brown 2010) were included in this review. Additional 6 studies (Mackay 2009; Jokela 2010; van Hauvelen 2006; Perrino 2009; Brown 2005; and Tart 2010) were included for prospective view on exercise effectiveness factors that could be used for implementation of study. Included studies We included ten randomized controlled trials (Carta 2008; Jerome 2008; Oeland 2010; Doyne 1987; Kenzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Merom 2007; Ng 2007; and Brown 2010). All studies have been published since 1982 which illustrates growing attention to the role of exercise as a form of adjunct therapy for the focused mental illnesses. One study (Merom 2007) investigated the effects of an exercise programme on anxiety disorder where brisk walking exercise and others exercises were implemented. The 8 -10 weeks program lengths, with exercise dose of >30 minutes duration, done five times per week have shown a remarkable decrease of anxiety among patients in the intervention group. Compare with others mental illness studies; there are numerous studies on affective and mood disorder. Reviewed studies shows that exercise does work to reduce depression and anxiety in bipolar patients with just one hour per week of simple group brisk walk exercise for 8 months lengths (Carta 2008); and for major depression patient, the positive outcome were observed after 150 minutes per week group walking for 8 week length program. Greater total time exposure will give better significant outcome for bipolar patient (Ng, 2007) and the severity of affective/mood psychiatric problem does not influence the exercise outcome (Jerome, 2008). Oeland et al (2010) have demonstrate that, increased in physical activity will tremendously leads towards better body physiology changes among these patient. Their depression level were found to have further decrease with high level intensity exercise compare to low density exercise at equivalence dose (4 times per week with 60 minutes duration) of e xposure (Doyne 1987). The main outcome measured for Drugs and Alcohol use disorder is the percent day abstinence (PDA). Structured group exercise were found leads towards better PDA outcome as adjunct therapy for drugs addicts and alcoholic patients (Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Brown 2010) at the minimum of 8 weeks intervention (Murphy, 1986) to 12 months intervention(Sinyor 1982). The effective dose reported in these studies is 20-70 minutes exercise routine for the least once a week. Unstructured exercise has demonstrated lower outcome in Kendzor (2008) and Sinyor (1982) studies, verified by their respective intervention group and control group outcome. 1. Methods: All trials were randomized. The duration of the trials ranged between 8 weeks (Murphy 1986) and 24 months (Ng 2007). 2. Participants: All trials included people diagnosed with anxiety disorders, affective or mood disorders, and alcohol or drugs use disorder using DSM-IV criteria (Carta 2008; Jerome 2008; Oeland 2010; Doyne 1987; Kenzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982; Merom 2007; Ng 2007; and Brown 2010). Only one study does not use in- or outpatients (Murphy 2007). Participants ranged in age from 18 to 80 years. 3. Setting: Three studies were conducted in community centre (Kendzor 2008; Murphy 1986; Sinyor 1982), one offered in the university (Doyne 1987), and the rest is offered in and outpatient services. 4. Study Size: The smallest sample size is 16 participants (Brown 2010) and the largest number of participants in sample is 620 people (Kendzor 2008). 5. Interventions: All study using exercise as their main activity used to measured the outcome. The experimental conditions identified in each of the included studies differed in exercise duration and intensity. The exercise activity intensity are from a simple walking to high intensity supervised structured aerobic exercise. Most selected studies implement consistent duration of exercise 20-60 minutes five times per day for the least 8 weeks. Only well structured supervised intervention implements increase intensity (Sinyor 1982; Brown 2010). All exercise programmes were in addition to participants usual care except intervention in Murphy, Pagano and Marlat (1986) study. 6. Control interventions: Standard care: Participants continued with their usual treatment in Carta 2008, and addition with Group Cognitive behavior therapy and just education benefit of exercise for Merom 2007, Oeland 2010, Doyne 1987, Kendzor 2008, Sinyor 1982 and Brown 2010. There are two control groups in Murphy, Pagano Mariat (1986) study which one group in meditation intervention while the others were not in either exercise or meditation. These participants were university student not with any treatment for excessive alcohol intake. Only Ng 2007 does not implement control in their intervention. 7. Outcomes: Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) is a 21 item self report questionnaire designed to measure the severity of a range of symptoms common to both Depression and Anxiety. Each item is scored from 0 (did not apply to me at all over the last week) to 3 (applied to me very much or most of the time over the past week). Merom 2007 and Ng 2007 used this scale. World Health Organization Quality of Life BREF Version (WHOQOL-BREF) is scale to assesses physical health, psychological, social relations and the environment on a five-point scale where 1 = poor QofL and 5 = good QofL. Carta 2008 and Oeland 2010 use this scale. The Clinical Global Impression Severity scale (CGI-S) is a 7-point scale that requires the clinician to rate the severity of the patients illness at the time of assessment, relative to the clinicians past experience with patients who have the same diagnosis. Considering total clinical experience, a patient is assessed on severity of mental illness at the time of rating 1=normal, not at all ill; 2, borderline mentally ill; 3, mildly ill; 4, moderately ill; 5, markedly ill; 6, severely ill; or 7, extremely ill. Ng 2007 used this scale. The Clinical Global Impression Improvement scale (CGI-I) is a 7 point scale that requires the  clinician  to assess how much the patients illness has improved or worsened relative to a baseline state at the beginning of the intervention. Rated as: 1, very much improved; 2, much improved; 3, minimally improved; 4, no change; 5, minimally worse; 6, much worse; or 7, very much worse. Ng 2007 used this scale. The Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) is a screening battery designed to measure attention and processing speed, expressive language, visual-spatial and constructional abilities, and immediate and delayed memory.  Jerome 2008 used this measurement for to records schizophrenic patient activity. Symptoms Checklist-90 (SCL-90) is used as a screening measure of general psychiatric symptomatology. It includes dimensions measuring somatization, obsessive-compulsive, depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, hostility, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism. This was used by Jerome 2008 Center for Epidemiologic Studies depressive scale (CES-D) is a short self-report scale designed to measure depressive symptomatology in the general population. The items of the scale are symptoms associated with depression which have been used in previously validated longer scales.  It was found to have very high internal consistency and adequate test- retest repeatability. Validity was established by patterns of correlations with other self-report measures, by correlations with clinical ratings of depression, and by relationships with other variables which support its construct validity. This was used by Jerome 2008. Beck Depression Inventory  (BDI) is a 21-question  multiple-choice self-report inventory, used for measuring the severity of  depression from a psychodynamic  perspective. In its questionnaire is designed for individuals aged 13 and over and composed of items relating to symptoms of depression such as hopelessness and irritability, cognitions such as guilt or feelings of being punished, as well as physical symptoms such as fatigue,  weight loss, and lack of interest in sex. Used by Doyne 1987 and Kendzor 2008 Figure1: Methodological quality summary: review authors judgments about each methodological quality item for each included study. Adequate Sequence Generation Allocation Concealment Blinding? Incomplete Outcome data addressed Free of Selective Reporting Free of Others Bias Merom et al 2007 + + + ? + Carta et al 2008 + + + + + Ng et al 2007 + ? ? + Jerome et al 2008 + + + + Oeland et al 2010 + + + + + + Doyne et al 1987 + + + + + Kendzor et al 2008 + + ? ? Murphy et al 1986 + + + + + Sinyor et al 1982 + + + + Brown et al 2010 + + ? + Risk of bias in included studies Allocation: All study reported as randomized. Blinding: None of the studies were double-blinded. The reported results may exaggerate estimates of treatment effect and None of the studies reported any test of blinding Incomplete outcome data: Most of the studies have withdrawal from the sample population as the highest reported were in Sinyor (1982) study which around 60% remains in the study, which were due to self withdrawal from being participant after undergone first phase of treatment. Selective reporting: Most study report the mean and standard deviation. Others source of bias: most of the study have tendency of selection bias, measurement bias and error due to effect of confounding especially effect of group therapy and regular undergone treatment. DISCUSSION Ten studies were included in this review. Overall, these studies showed that exercise therapy can have an impact on mental health outcomes like mental state and general functioning with no adverse effects. There are various studies looking at the impact of exercise towards anxiety in non-clinical samples using DASS and SCL-90 questions tools, which were excluded for reviews apart from the reason of its non-clinical trial study design. Compare to usual treatment alone and GCBT, prolonged and frequent exercise conducted in group for at least 8 weeks were significantly effective in reduce anxiety, depression and stress among patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social phobia. Similar effect was observed for bipolar disorder and major depression in addition to their usual treatment, regardless of the psychiatric condition severity and exercise intensity (Jerome 2008). Clinical trials have shown high day abstinence from drugs and alcohol best occurs in well structured, high intensity group exercise among alcoholic and drugs addict, in addition to their usual treatment for the problem. Kendzor 2008 study has demonstrated there was no effect of individual low density physical activity towards reducing the heavy drinking habit. We could conclude that, the minimum effective dose for exercise to mental status is 40-60 minutes session, repeated 3-5 times per week for continuous 8 weeks duration. This dose works for low endurance brisk walking exercise with a proper warming up session. Increases in exercise intensity will give better physical fitness, and ideal weight management. Type of exercise, its intensity, and dose is modified base on underlying fitness level and age (Jerome 2008; Jokela 2010; van Hauvelen 2006; Perrino 2009). Others factors that could affect exercise effectiveness is the exercise environment. Mackay Neill 2009 study shows that there is significant relationship between anxiety changes and green environment. Exercise intensity works for depression (Brown 2005; Jerome 2005) and substance use disorder (Sinyor 1982; Brown 2010) but not for anxiety (Mackay Neill 2009). It is found that smoking behavior will delay exercise fitness effect (Tart 2010). AUTHORS CONCLUSION Implication of practice People with mental illness The results of this review indicate that there are various benefits of exercise to individuals with anxiety disorder, mood and affective disorder, and substance use disorder, which can improve components of mental health by participating in structured group exercise. Limited number of studies on proper intensity and dose of exercise towards the improvement of mental health for the different population group and underlying psychiatric problems has cause difficulties for medical practitioner to come out with clear guidance to the patient. Physician, physiotherapist, professional physical trainers, and health educator should be consulted for better support and advice towards implementing exercise as treatment intervention. It is clear from this study that, exercise works as adjunct therapy for identified psychological problems and high intensity exercise work for substance abuser and depression patient. The best effect of exercise is that it conducted in group and being supervised. Pati ent with anxiety does responds to high intensity exercise but the effect is not much different compare to low intensity exercise. Current guidelines for lifestyle activity and exercise appear do not really work for the justified mental disorders. Therefore, accumulating 40-60 minutes of proper physical activity on most or all days of the week is a good guideline. This should be continued for minimum of 8 weeks for a better mental status outcome. Cessation of smoking will further ensure better health benefit. For physician, health educator, physiotherapist and professional physical trainers Regular exercise is known for its physical, mental, and social benefits. It is a multidimensional approach that requires physician, health educator, physiotherapist and professional physical trainers to ensure patients to become and staying active for its physical and psychological benefit. Proper information guidelines to patients are essential in the long run. Health practitioners should also be equipped with this latest information and as well emphasize on the safety of intervention to avoid negative effect of exercise especially muscle injury if not properly done. Side effect of medication and structural barrier for intervention (socio economic status, infrastructure) as well as underlying medical condition should also be considered before recommend this intervention to the patients. In others word, exercise intervention is personalized to suit individual situation. For policy Structural barrier may limit patient participation into exercise intervention in mental disorder treatment. It is shown from the studies that patients with mental health have better chance to improve their morbidity when adhere into exercise intervention as adjunct treatment for their underlying psychological problems. Proper guidelines for health practitioners and patients are required for better communication to deliver the information for both. Multidisciplinary approach should be emphasized in this practices which could profound positive impact on patients health and wellbeing. More time is required to deliver and explained this message to patient as the program is personalized to fit individual underlying social and physical wellbeing. Policymakers should consider the implementation of this multidisciplinary programmes approach within their respective treatment facilities. They should also consider to provide better exercise facilities in the community thus as well promotes gree n environment and the establishment of well structured community exercise group program for a long term benefit. There is chances that continuous exercise program could be used as prevention of acquired mental health problems due to life-style changes. More evidence on this is required and with such evidence support, cost benefit or cost effective analysis of preventive exercise intervention in mental health could be established. In long-standing, this could be helpful in reducing pharmaceutical cost for mental health in a country. Implication for research General There are various established measurement used in reporting mental health outcome thus cause difficulties to compare the study results. It is recommended that in research practice for mental health outcome, the measurement should be standardized. Specific It is important in future for us to have a clear define duration, frequency and intensity of exercise program for each mental health disorder; considering the underlying medical and physiological wellbeing of individual. Study on the changes of fitness level due to the intervention is progressively in practices, and in any future research it should be reported in the record. Mental health is a complex discipline where there is no clear cut point of disease and always presented with a comorbid condition of either other mental disorder or chronic diseases. This should as well to be considered in future research especially in intervention study. It is also a challenge in the research of this area to ensure the finding is free from cofounding effect of biological and social diversity in the complex global society. In the end, with the establishment of complete study in mental health area could contributes a better theoretical background to explain the mechanism of this diversification. T his will help as well towards low cost of treatment in mental health disorder in the future. REFERENCES 1. World Health Organization (2005). Promoting Mental Health: Concepts, Emerging Evidence, Practice. Geneva: WHO Press. 2. Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care 2000, Promotion, Prevention and Early Intervention for Mental Health: A Monograph. Canberra: Mental Health and Special Programs Branch, Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. 3. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2007). National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results. Canberra: ABS. 4. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2006). Australias Health 2006. AIHW. Canberra: AIHW. 5. Australian Bureau of Statistic (2008). National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing: Summary of Results. Canberra: ABS. 6. Jerome G.J, Young D.R, Dalcin A et.al (2009). Physical Activity Levels of Persons with Mental Illness Attending Psychiatric Rehabilitation Programs. Schizophrenia Research. 2009; 108; 252-257 7. Tart C.D, Leyro T.M, Ritcher A, Zvolensky M.J, Rosenfield D, Smith J.A.J (2010). Negative Affect as a Mediator of the Relationship between Vigorous-Intensity, Exercise and Smoking. Addictive Behaviors. 2010 (35); 580-585 8. Mackay G.J, Neill J.T (2010). The Effect of Green Exercise On State Anxiety and The Role of Exercise Duration, Intensity, and Greenness: A Quasi-Experimental Study. Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2010; 11; 238-245 9. Perrino T, Mason C.A, Brown S.C, Szapocznik J (2009). The Relationship Between Depressive Symptoms And Walking Among Hispanic Older Adults: A Longitudinal,Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis. Aging Mental Health, 14: 2, 211 219 10. Doyne, E. J., Ossip-Klein, D. J., Bowman, E. D., Osborn, K. M., McDougall-Wilson, I. B., Neimayer, R. A. (1987). Running Versus Weight

Womens Reproductive Rights and Marital Rights :: Womens Issues Compare Contrast

Women's Reproductive Rights and Marital Rights: A Comparison of Twenty Countries As early as 1871, Elizabeth Cady Stanton recognized that suffrage alone would not guarantee women’s emancipation. Rather, she noted that in order for a woman to be a truly equal and independent citizen, she must possess the ability to control her own circumstances. "The pride of every man is that he is free to carve out his own destiny. A woman has no such pride" (DuBois, 1981:140). Through this recognition she acclaimed that women must have the ability to control their own lives, namely the ability to choose and control the uses of their bodies. Yet, in the present world, there exists a dramatic variation from state to state regarding women’s control over their bodies in reproductive and marital issues. Why is it that in countries such as Canada and the United States, women are able to prosecute their husbands for rape, yet in countries such as Sudan, females are genitally mutilated with no recourse; in Brazil, violence against women is difficult to prosecute; and in India many woman have no choice concerning their marriage partner? What accounts for this variation? Is the source of this variation rooted in the political participation of women or does the variation stem from socio-economic modernization? Is bodily control determined by the ideological affiliations of parties within the state? This paper seeks to answer these questions using cross-national data drawn from twenty countries. Three Theories on the Status of Women For a woman, effective control over her reproductive, bodily and marital choices is a prerequisite for achieving choice in other areas of her life. Due to technological advances, reproductive control is possible. However, for this control to become a reality, women need access to information and medical services. Access to these materials is often obstructed by state policies, ignorance, religious restrictions, economic impediments as well as other factors. For instance, in Ireland abortion and abortion counseling are illegal as a result of a constitutional amendment passed in 1983, whereas in Norway women have uninhibited access to abortion (United Nations,1989). The degree of control that a woman possesses over her bodily and marital choices varies greatly from one country to another. According to the literature on women in politics and women in development, a number of variables may account for this cross-national variation in levels of control (Bystydzienski, 1995; Haussman, 1992 ; Hazou, 1992; Kardam, 1991; Leahy, 1986; Meyer, 1987; Scott, 1995).

The Legalization of Marijuana in the USA Essay -- Argumentative essays,

Legalization of marijuana is one of the most controversial topics in American society today. Surveys done by the US Government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive showed that 95 million Americans have used marijuana. There are two opposing sides that have strong stances on whether it should become legal or should remain illegal. We have one side that is anti-marijuana and the other is pro-marijuana. Each side provides valid and strong arguments supporting their views. The purpose of this paper is to carefully examine each opposing side and try to find some way to come to a compromise. First, let’s carefully look at the views of the anti-marijuana groups. There are several groups that are against marijuana legalization. To name a few are the Drug Enforcement Agency, law enforcement offices, and some religious groups. The anti-marijuana view suggests that there are more negative effects that will come from the legalization than keeping it banned. First, they argue that marijuana is the so called gateway drug to harder more addicting drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Another valid dispute is that driving while high will steadily increase and even though there are strict punishments against drinking and driving, it is hard to recognize if someone is high. Like they say unless the person has just smoked cannabis in the car, it won’t have a strong odor like the fumes coming from someone who has been drinking alcohol. Next, there are the disagreements that if cannabis is made lawful people are afraid that it will land up in the hands of children. It has been said that if children can get their hands on alcohol and cigarettes, they will be able to find the way to getting marijuana. When this happens children will start ... ...d place them into stores where someone would have to show proof of age just like if they were buying a pack of cigarettes or alcohol. Plus, by allowing the government to take control of the production, they could place a hefty tax on the price to help pull our economy out of a slump. If this resolution is executed properly each of the individual desired outcomes could be achieved. The first outcome that would be achieved is it would get the United States out of recession by producing a source of tax revenue, more job opportunities and which then would allow society to go out and spend more. Second, by keeping drugs off the streets it would make it harder for children and teens to get a hold of it and become addicted. The final goal that can be achieved is the crime rate would go down because there would not be arrests and imprisonment on simple marijuana charges. The Legalization of Marijuana in the USA Essay -- Argumentative essays, Legalization of marijuana is one of the most controversial topics in American society today. Surveys done by the US Government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive showed that 95 million Americans have used marijuana. There are two opposing sides that have strong stances on whether it should become legal or should remain illegal. We have one side that is anti-marijuana and the other is pro-marijuana. Each side provides valid and strong arguments supporting their views. The purpose of this paper is to carefully examine each opposing side and try to find some way to come to a compromise. First, let’s carefully look at the views of the anti-marijuana groups. There are several groups that are against marijuana legalization. To name a few are the Drug Enforcement Agency, law enforcement offices, and some religious groups. The anti-marijuana view suggests that there are more negative effects that will come from the legalization than keeping it banned. First, they argue that marijuana is the so called gateway drug to harder more addicting drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Another valid dispute is that driving while high will steadily increase and even though there are strict punishments against drinking and driving, it is hard to recognize if someone is high. Like they say unless the person has just smoked cannabis in the car, it won’t have a strong odor like the fumes coming from someone who has been drinking alcohol. Next, there are the disagreements that if cannabis is made lawful people are afraid that it will land up in the hands of children. It has been said that if children can get their hands on alcohol and cigarettes, they will be able to find the way to getting marijuana. When this happens children will start ... ...d place them into stores where someone would have to show proof of age just like if they were buying a pack of cigarettes or alcohol. Plus, by allowing the government to take control of the production, they could place a hefty tax on the price to help pull our economy out of a slump. If this resolution is executed properly each of the individual desired outcomes could be achieved. The first outcome that would be achieved is it would get the United States out of recession by producing a source of tax revenue, more job opportunities and which then would allow society to go out and spend more. Second, by keeping drugs off the streets it would make it harder for children and teens to get a hold of it and become addicted. The final goal that can be achieved is the crime rate would go down because there would not be arrests and imprisonment on simple marijuana charges.

The Boston Massacre Essay example -- essays research papers fc

The Boston Massacre was and is still a debatable Massacre. The event occurred on March 5, 1776. It involved the rope workers of the colonial Boston and two British regiments, the twenty-ninth and the fourteenth regiments. Eleven people were shot in the incident; five people were killed and the other six were merely wounded. The soldiers and the captain, Thomas Preston, were all put on trial. All were acquitted of charges of murder, however the two soldiers who fired first, Private Mathew Killroy, and Private William Montgomery, the two soldiers were guilty of manslaughter. The causes were numerous for this event. There had been a nation wide long-term dislike towards the British, and a growing hatred towards them by the people of Boston. Even before the two regiments were sent in to monitor Boston there was a growing feud before the two sides.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The population of Boston in 1765 was over twenty thousand people, and it was the second largest city in the country. The city was split up into two political factions, the loyalists, also known as the â€Å"Tories† were loyal to the British nation and respected and followed their policies. The other group was the Patriots, they too pledged alliance with the British, but they also believed strongly in their colonial rights, and more often then not went against parliamentary decisions. America still had not declared independence from England in 1765, and was expected to follow the rules of the parliament and the King. The government like all other states was structured differently, but the people elected their representatives. Unlike the British who let the people vote, but they are â€Å"indirectly represented† by Parliament. The stamp act was one of the first things Britain did to upset the colonies. John Adams who was a prospering young lawyer at th e time, called the Stamp Act â€Å"That enormous engine, fabricated by the British Parliament, for battering down all the rights and liberties of America.† The stamp act put a tax on legal documents, and other paper items. The Americans called this â€Å"Taxation without representation†, because they didn’t have any elected officials in Parliament, who were representing them. The Americans petitioned the administration, but the King and Parliament simply ignored our pleas. This act caused the formation of the loyal nine. The Loyal Nine were a group of several Bo... ... device that let first offenders off without punishment, priest used it. They were not put to death. They were set free, but only after they had been branded on the thumb. The Boston Massacre was an event that only strengthened colonial America’s hatred toward the British nation. People could answer the question of whether or no the Boston Massacre was truly a massacre differently. In my mind, yes, it was a massacre, I believe this because in the dictionary it states that a massacre is, â€Å"The unnecessary, and indiscriminate killing of a large number of human beings or animals.† I would have to say five people is a large number of human beings to kill in one sitting. BIBLIOGRAPHY Lukes, Bonnie L. 2000. The Boston Massacre. San Diego, CA: Lucent Books. Freedman, Russell. 2000. Give Me Liberty. Library in congress cataloging-in-publication data. Hull, Mary E. 1999. The Boston Tea Party. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers. Stout, Neil R. 1976. The Perfect Crisis. New York, NY: New York University Press. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761579296 http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0808436.html http://earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/massacre.html

Interpersonal communication Essay

Interpersonal communication is defined as an interaction between involving two or more participants, providing immediate feedback to each other. It serves a purpose especially in building relationships. Interpersonal communication is a transactional process. It is not a one way activity like a monologue. Rather, it is interactive, and ongoing. In watching the sitcom, Scrubs, communication doesn’t commence when the characters start talking. It starts the moment viewers and actors come face to face in the boob tube. The actors do not convey messages solely through words, but through actions and facial expressions too. For instance, the scrunching face of one actor may already be interpreted by the audience as an expression of disgust or dislike. Interpersonal communication is also ambiguous. The significance of the words articulated is interpreted distinctively by each receiver. The particular line â€Å"well good news is, I don’t have to eat my wife’s cooking anymore, right? † uttered by the patient was understood differently by the pair of doctors standing in his bedside. The female physician laughed so hard because she found it funny, but the male physician furrowed his brows. The understanding of a person may be affected by various factors. His culture, personality, upbringing, gender and even intelligence are just some of the reasons for the disparity in interpretation. The ambiguity of interpersonal communication is also a cause of dispute. In a lover’s feud for example, the female might be fuming mad when his partner chides about her weight. She might take it as a sign that he is not attracted to him anymore. Whereas, the bewildered boyfriend’s initial goal was perhaps to make her less conscious of her body by joking about it. In addition, interpersonal communications have a content and relationship dimension. The meaning of a line or phrase is dependent on the context and the circumstance involved. Just like in the sitcom line mentioned above, where the man commented about his wife’s cooking, the connotation will change if the man is not ill and in bed. For me, what he said was meant to make the hospital mood lighter. But, if he were talking to an attractive woman at a cafe, it might be interpreted as flirting. Interpersonal communication may be viewed as symmetrical or complementary. Symmetry suggests that the behaviour of one person is mirrored by another, while the term complementary refers to contrasting reactions. Both were evident in the sitcom Scrubs. The patient-doctor relationship is usually symmetrical in the show. The physician wants to cure the patient’s sickness, and the patient wants to be treated. Complementarity arises due to the different power positions. The physician, who is an expert on medical care instructs his patient. The patient oftentimes, becomes a passive receiver of information. When the relationship is complementary, there is a chance that the two parties would intensify each other. For instance, when the patient told his doctor that he wanted to get out of bed to see the talent show, the doctor of course declined. The patient looked downcast and ready to protest, but it turned out that the doctor was only kidding him initially. Interpersonal communication is a series of punctuated events. After each statement or idea, there is a reaction. A person does not respond only after a lengthy narrative is finished, but on each word, sentence or paragraph mentioned. In a sitcom for example, viewers do not watch the whole episode and laugh only when it ends. But, they chuckle on each line that they find funny. In addition, the series of reactions, on when to laugh is arbitrarily set by the viewer. I do not find other dialogues ticklish, and thus I do not giggle a bit, even if others do. However, live sitcoms like Scrubs exploit this aspect by adapting to and adopting the viewer’s point of view. Since communication is a transactional process, it is easy to catch the audience’s empathy and adjust to their mood. A laughing spiel is often followed by serious dialogue. Interpersonal communication is inevitable. In a situation where interaction is possible, one cannot not communicate. It is hard not to respond to someone who is conveying a message to you. But, I personally find this point rather contentious. As a television viewer, I sometimes watch simply to absorb information. In watching the weather news, I feel no empathy for what I am hearing. I am simply a passive funnel of ideas. In this sense, the news reporter has given me weather data, but has not elicited any reaction from me. Interpersonal communication is irreversible. Something that has been said cannot be taken back. The meaning of the words that has been transmitted and digested by the other party cannot be reversed. In sitcoms for instance, if viewers are offended by a racial joke, it is hard to appease them. The only way to do it is through a public apology. Interpersonal communication is unrepeatable. The exact line containing exactly the same words can of course be uttered twice, but the underlying situation is constantly changing and there is no certainty that it can be reconstructed. Due to the unrepeatable aspect of interpersonal communication, one has to be aware of himself. At such, one has to be conscious of using strong words, like â€Å"hate† and giving commitments.