A Study in Adaptation Essay Example for Free

A Study in Adaptation Essay Among the monographs found in the Culture and Ecology in East Africa Project is that of the work of Walter Goldschmit, entitled â€Å"The Sebei: A Study in Adaptiona. † It is among the ethnographic studies conducted to shed light on a particular community, which is that of Sebei. The project previously mentioned to which the monograph belongs is that of the University of California in Los Angeles which also carries the research design that was followed by the entire project (Mead 938). It has become important to evaluate this study because of the important role it plays in the field of ethnography and in the lives of the Sebei people. This paper will include the synopsis, a critique of the book, and the relationship with the materials and discussions found in the class. Synopsis of the Book The book primarily focuses on the people of Sebei, the socio-economic modes followed by the people there, and the adaptations which has happened throughout the existence of the community. People from Sebei speak Nilotic and have a connection with the Nandi and Kipsigis (MacGaffey 110). These people lives in the southeastern portion of Uganda and the elements of this community which has been discussed include the â€Å"history, environment, policy, social organization, animal husbandry, agriculture, a cash economy, sexual roles and marriage, child rearing, initiation, and the Sebei belief system† (Beidelman 542). The wide variety of the factors that have been covered in the study has been instrumental to the focus of the book, which is that of the ways of living of the people and how they have economically survived the environment they lived in. There are two environments which have been considered in the book to show the adaptive processes of the community under study. One is the area which is well-watered and is situated in the slopes of the mountains and the second is in the dry lands of the plains. With the conditions found in the said communities, there are also adaptive measures which have been taken by the people in terms of the production of their food and ways of living. One community concentrated on the hunting and gathering means of production because of the factors in the environment which makes this the most acceptable form of gathering food and sustaining the needs of the community. On the other hand, it is agriculture which has become the primary mode of economic production followed because of the availability of fertile soil that could be used for crops. Moreover, access to water is available that makes this a better option for the people. More so, it is seen to be the most effective in consideration of the available resources and conditions for the people. Economics-wise, this is the best methods for the respective communities discussed. Through time, it has been proven that Sebei people have the capability to adapt easily to changes in their environment and new situations which they are placed in (Mead 938). It has been shown in the book that the people have been able to be in contact with the Europeans when this group has been in a point where they are trying to adapt with the demands brought about by intra-African connections. The flexibility in adapting to such cultures has been carried out by the group by following the previous methods which have been used before by the group. It has been proven to be an effective pattern for the people since their first interaction with other cultures. Critique of the Book This particular book can be considered as one of the best monographs that have been written of an Ugandan community because of its succinctness and thoroughness. The ability of the author to present facts and data near what is real is considered to be a vital element of the author’s work. The author’s ability to record and research the past of the community has been helpful. The author, himself, has done quite an extensive job in proving the authenticity of his claims where there are primary evidences, such as photos, that has been shown together with the narratives provided. In writing a book, the ability of the author to provide evidences, especially in the field of ethnography, is considered to be vital in establishing the credibility and authenticity of the monograph. In a sense, this adds to the ability of the monograph to convince its readers that what is being said and shown in the account is true. Moreover, the book has shown one community but the picture that has been drawn and what has been learned over the discussions made of the particular community studied can be used in order to understand the African perspective. More so, the means of adoption that has been studied can be taken to a larger picture where it is also seen to exist in other areas and in different times. It has been found that the general perspective that can be used in order to interpret that of the Sebei culture is that â€Å"the maladies of the social system seem to outweigh their strengths† (Goldschmidt 338). With this particular statement, the author is then able to show that he has been able to observe the communities with a keen eye and relate it to the rest of the elements in the environment that surround the community. The author does not simply focus on what can be found within the community but also observes how it relates to the different links formed. More so, there is judgment that is found for these relationships from where a strong conclusion can be made. This monograph serves as a very good reading material for the members of the academic institutions and the epistemic communities from a wide variety of fields. Where field observations and thorough data collection has been done, there is the worthiness of examining the material and using it as a foundation of different researches. More so, an understanding of the different elements of the community can be easily derived through a reading of this material because of the substantial data that can be found here. This is not only for the purpose of studying communities but can also be taken by people from different fields such as psychology, economics, policy-making, sociology, and others in order to make researches and decisions. Relation to Class Materials and Discussions Understanding the book has been made easier because of the foundation laid by the class discussions and materials. The concepts that have been clarified in relation to culture, communities, and globalization has become an integral part of understanding how and why the Sebei communities had to adjust to the changing setting of the world and the communities which belong to it. It is difficult for a reader to understand the complex parts of the monograph if one would not take into consideration the aspects which relate the community to the changes in its surroundings. If the reader would not have the respective concepts and ideas, he/she might be limited to understanding the community in isolation and forget to relate it to the world outside the said community. There are factors which might be missed by the reader in understanding the community, in this case, and forget about the other forces that could change communities. Works Cited Goldschmidt, Walter. Culture and behavior of the Sebei: A study in Continuity and Adaptation. Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California, 1976. MacGaffey, Wyatt. â€Å"Review. † ASA Review of Books 4 (1978): 110-111. Mead, Margaret. â€Å"Review. † American Anthropologists 79. 4 (1977): 938-939.

Affirmative Action in College Admissions Essay -- Race

Affirmative action has been a controversial topic ever since it was established in the 1960s to right past wrongs against minority groups, such as African Americans, Hispanics, and women. The goal of affirmative action is to integrate minorities into public institutions, like universities, who have historically been discriminated against in such environments. Proponents claim that it is necessary in order to give minorities representation in these institutions, while opponents say that it is reverse discrimination. Newsweek has a story on this same debate which has hit the nation spotlight once more with a case being brought against the University of Michigan by some white students who claimed that the University’s admissions policies accepted minority students over them, even though they had better grades than the minority students. William Symonds of Business Week, however, thinks that it does not really matter. He claims that minority status is more or less irrelevant in co llege admissions and that class is the determining factor. According to the Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica, affirmative action is â€Å"an active effort to improve employment or educational opportunities for members of minority groups and women.† However, despite its well-intentioned policies, it has been the source of much controversy over the years. Barbara Scott and Mary Ann Schwartz mention that â€Å"proponents of affirmative action argue that given that racism and discrimination are systemic problems, their solutions require institutional remedies such as those offered by affirmative action legislation† (298). Also, even though racism is no longer direct, indirect forms still exist in society and affirmative action helps direct. On the other hand, opponents to affirm... ...ith the ability to work their way up the social ladder, and bringing in revenue for local and nation governments. The students at the University of Michigan may or may not have a case against affirmative action that it is based on race, but the real problem with affirmative action is that it is not based on socioeconomic status. Works Cited "Affirmative Action." Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica. 2003. Encyclopà ¦dia Britannica Premium Service. 21 Apr, 2003 Rosenberg, Debra. â€Å"Michigan’s Day in Court.† Newsweek. 14 Apr, 2003. MSNBC Online. 20 Apr, 2003 Scott, Barbara Marlene, and Mary Ann Schwartz. 2000. Sociology: Making Sense of the Social World. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Symonds, William C. â€Å"College Admissions: The Real Barrier Is Class.† Business Week 4 Apr, 2003: 66-67.

Signal Transduction Exam 2018

This figure is from Labasque et al., 2008 (GPCR week). A) Describe the experiment shown here and what was learned as a result. B) Design a negative control for this experiment and describe why it is a good control. C) Design an experiment to confirm this result in living cells. Please include controls in your experimental design. Signal Transduction Exam 2018 A) The experiment was performed on human embryonic kidney (HEK 293) cell line. The extracts of solubilized proteins were taken under consideration for this experiment. These were then transfected with different vectors: CTL (empty vectors), co-transfected with GFP fused Calmodulin(GFP-CaM) and serotonin receptor either wild type 5-HT2C or 5-HT2CR376/377A which were treated with a vehicle or 5-HT for five minutes, they analyzed the binding reaction by Western Blot and Immunoprecipitation (IP) techniques. Immunoprecipitation was done of these soluble proteins with polyclonal antibody:anti-GFP. Furthermore, these immunoprecipitated proteins were blotted using a monoclonal anti-GFP antibody along with anti-5-HT2C receptor antibody.As a result of this experiment, it was found that the absence of agonist, 5-HT2C receptor did not co-immunoprecipitate with calmodulin in solubilized proteins that were co-transfected with Myc-5-HT2C receptor and GFP-CaM. However, serotonin receptor co-immunoprecipitated with GFP-CaM after treatment with 5-HT for 5 minutes. But the exposure with 5-HT2CR376/377A did not co-immunoprecipitate GFP-CaM with serotonin receptor. It proves that 5-HT2C receptors are linked with CaM depending on the presence of agonist. The experiment performed is to check the agonist dependent precipitation of GFP-CaM and serotonin receptors in the presence of Myc-5HT2C 5-HT exposure. So, the negative control to be designed here for this experiment can be simply of serotonin receptor and CaM. This would result in no immunoprecipitation and prove as a good negative control. On analyzing it through western blotting it could be proved that no immunoprecipitation had occurred in this control. To confirm the results in living cells the same experiment could be used to check the that whether the immunoprecipitation is agonist dependent or not. Take solubilized proteins from living cells and co-transfect them with GFP-CaM and 5-HT2C receptor followed by exposure to 5-HT, then analyze immunoprecipitation via western blotting. The negative control for this experiment will include only CaM and serotonin receptor, and further analyzing it with western blotting, the results of blotting will show no precipitation in negative.2. These figures are from Fig. 6A,C of Fan et al. (src kinase folder). (A) Explain the experiments shown here. What was being tested? What conclusions can be drawn? How can it be improved? (B) Design another experiment to test the same concept/hypothesis? Include your controls.4839335107886500A) In figure A: Human embryonic kidney cells were transfected with constructs for carrying out this experiment. Immuno-precipitation was carried out of tagged PAG with an antibody against regulator MYC, its interaction is studied here with SRC and BRK followed by immunoblotting analyzation. The result of this experiment was delaying in electrophoretic mobility of tagged PAG protein, when it was co-expressed with SRC. This delay is considered due to the hyper-phosphorylation. However, on co-expression of PAG and BRK this band shift was less evident. In figure C: Co-transfection of HEK 293 cells with MYC-PAG and SRC followed by treatment in the absence or presence of SRC kinase inhibitor SU6656 (5 M) for at least 1 hour. PAG was immunoprecipitated by antibody against MYC, and the binding of CSK was compared by immunoblotting. On the other hand, the disturbance of link b/w CSK and PAG was observed on weakening SRC activity by a small molecular inhibitor SU6656, this experiment concluded the importance of SRC kinase activity for functioning of CSK. Also, this study shows that distinct mechanisms have evolved to regulate the activities of two structurally similar and functionally related kinases, BRK and SRC, understanding of the signaling function of protein phosphatases, including definition of their substrate specificities, will allow us to exploit a greater spectrum of the changes in signaling in disease and to generate new and more effective strategies for therapeutic intervention in major human diseasesB) To test the same hypothesis with controls, take breast cancer frozen samples of different patients, divide the sample in two groups one will be the test group other the control group. The control group will be given doses of anti-tumor medication (like tamoxifen for breast cancer). RNA will be extracted from both groups using Trizol and will be followed by purification assay. The breast cancer cell lines will be transfected with empty vectors or pcDNA3-MKP3-V5. Furthermore, the transfectants will be placed in media like minimum essential media MEM with phenol red, followed by SDS PAGE electrophoresis, and transfer to nitrocellulose membrane. After transferring they will be incubated with primary antibody for an hour or more then with the secondary antibody to observe the chemiluminescence with a reagent. The cells will then be lysed in a buffer, phosphatase reaction carried out will be observed by assays and transfected cells will be compared with control ones to whom tamoxifen was given.36734750003. This is figure 4b from Gresset et al (phospholipases folder). (A) What is the hypothesis being tested in this experiment? (B) Describe how the experiment was done, including results. (C) Predict what might happen to PLC? activity if Tyrosine783 was ‘permanently' phosphorylated and explain why. The hypothesis being tested here is the enhancement in the lipase activity of phospholipaseC-?1 via phosphorylation of one or both specified tyrosine residues (Y775 and Y783) in the downstream process of signal transduction.To perform the experiment, equal concentrations of purified phospholipase-C-?1 were set on incubation with the active kinase domain of the Fibroblast growth factor receptor FGFR2 and ATP in bovine serum albumin containing buffer, the samples of this reactions were tested for two activities: 1) for lipase activity in the phospholipid vehicles indicated in the figure on left Y axis. Secondly the phosphate incorporation in phospholipase-C-?1 was studied, illustrated at right Y axis of the figure. 4 moles of phosphate were added to each test samples, the Wildtype inactive PLC?1 was taken as a normal control with its basal phospholipase activity, active PLC?1 with wildtype FGFR2K served as a positive control with phosphate and PLC?1 knockout mutant served as negative control to quantify the phospholipase activity among the mutants. This was performed to check the phosphorylation of tyrosine and auto inhibition of PLC-? isozymes, 775/783 of PLC-?1 were substitutes at the place of phenylalanine, they could be used individually or together, but in the experiment tyr783 is used individually. Phospholipase activity of resulting mutant after purification was quantified with active domain of FGFR2K (helps in phosphorylation and activation of phospholipase). Certain known moles of phosphates were added into purified PLC-?1 in wild type under above mentioned conditions and observed that phospholipase activity was enhanced 10 times. The mutation of tyr783 completely nullified the kinase stimulated acceleration of phospholipase activity along with reduction in FGFR2K-promoted phosphorylation of PLC-?1. This experiment proves that, phosphorylation of Tyr783 is vital for relief of auto-inhibition.Studies reveal that Tyr-783 was essential for auto inhibition. As discussed above, permanent phosphorylation of tyr-783 will completely nullify the kinase stimulated and FGFR2K stimulated phosphorylation of PLC-?1. Lipase activity of PLC-?1 will be enhanced across its limits and over-expression of PLC-?1 can induce malignant transformation. The results could be leading to production of carcinoma cells. It has been found in various studies that activity of PLC-?1 is more in cancerous cells as compared to normal cells. So, permanent phosphorylation tyr783 could be a way leading to malignant cancers.3416300-254000004. This figure is from Tsui et al. 2015. (lipid raft folder). (A) Explain the relationship between GFR and Ret51 and what they are testing in this paper (the overall idea). (B) Explain the experiment shown in this figure and what was learned. (C) What is a negative control that could improve the conclusions from this experiment?GFR and Ret51 both are receptors, GDNF is found to promote PNS development and kidney morphogenesis through the receptor complex consisting of GDNF family receptor 1 (GFR1) and the other receptor tyrosine kinase (Ret). Ret signal transduction is increased by translocation of GFR. GFR-mediated Ret activation is essential too for the kidney morphogenesis and for various other functions of abdominal precursors that form abdominal nervous system. Also, GFR has many lipid rafts because its GPI anchorage, but Ret is expelled from lipid rafts. In this paper, the gene replacement for GFR in mice results GDNF resulting in Ret activation but prevented its translocation into lipid rafts. These mice showed renal agenesis, and other disorders including loss of the enteric nervous system, and defects in motor neuron axon path similar to GFR mice that was knocked out, all this provided evidence along with lipid rafts GFR is also needed for neurotrophic factor signaling.Primary considerate neurons secluded from Gfr1and Gfr1TM/TM mice were maintained in vitro for some days. Then they treated the neurons with GDNF or medium for exact time of 15 minutes. The Detergent-resistant membranes quarantined from the neurons were examined by immunoblotting for Ret51. The comparative purity of detergent resistant and detergent soluble fractions was confirmed by using immunoblotting for caveolin and transferrin receptor, respectively B, the experiments shown in A, were computed and graphed. Otherwise, Substantial decline in the amount of Ret51 was recorded statistically that translocated into lipid rafts while GDNF stimulation in Gfr1TM/TM neurons compared with Gfr1 neurons. Similar Results were obtained after performing the experiment four times .Moreover, Lipid raft translocation experiments were performed to prove the concept that GDNF/GFR1/Ret complex does not translocate into lipid rafts in Gfr1TM/TM mice. Primary sympathetic neurons from Gfr1/ and Gfr1TM/TM mice were used to extract detergent-resistant membranes. Upon stimulation of Gfr1/ neurons with GDNF, Ret translocated quickly into lipid rafts. This was a contrast to Gfr1TM/TM neurons that an evident reduced movement of Ret into the detergent-resistant was recorded because of GDNF exposure. A small portion of Ret that did translocate into lipid rafts while stimulation may be owing to Ret kinase-dependent translocation of Ret into rafts that occurs with slower movements. There was a significant, 75% reduction in the kinetics of the Ret receptor complex into lipid rafts during GDNF exposure in Gfr1TM/TM neurons according to computation made by these experiments. The negative control design here for confirming the results that Ret doesn't translocate into lipid rafts during GFL activation in Gfr1TM/TM neurons, the primary sympathetic neurons isolated from Gfr1/and Gfr1TM/TM mice will be grown in the same way as test ones, with the only difference that there will be no treatment with GDNF or medium for 15 minutes, and the impact of this will confirm the result to much greater extent upon immunoblotting.

The Consumption Of Coffee For America - 927 Words

Introduction and Background According to Harvard’s School of Public Health, 54 percent of Americans over the age of eighteen drink coffee every day. The daily consumption of coffee for Americans is an average of 3.1 (9-ounce) cups. The popular demand for coffee is because caffeine is the key ingredient. Caffeine is used as a kick-start for most people in the morning for an extra energy boost. However, once that feeling of extra energy subsides the human body begins to feel exhausted. A new product that we wish to add to the menu will be an invigorating lemonade. This new product will only be offered during the summer months of June, July, and August. Depending on how well our clients respond to our new drink, we will eventually add to the flavors of lemonade available. During the warmer months of the year, most people are looking to relax while enjoying a refreshing drink. Avenue 209 offers a wide assortment of coffees and teas, however, during the summer months the coffee market drops drastically. In order to make up for sales throughout these months, we will offer a new signature drink. We will add an assortment of lemonades to our menu. To start, there will be 3 flavors to choose from which include; strawberry, lavender and original. To add an appealing look and boost of flavor, all natural fruits will be added to drinks. The goal of this proposal is to recommend a minor menu expansion. This document will analyze the benefits that will be gained by offering a signatureShow MoreRelatedCoffee Consumption in USA1265 Words   |  5 PagesSynopsis National coffee drinking trends statistics in 2012 shows a tremendous increase in the consumption of coffee in the country. The data show a general increase in all demographics consumption behaviors. Significant increase is in age groups 18 to 39 with the largest jump in consumption observed in gourmet coffee. 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