Birthday Letters Essay Example for Free

Birthday Letters Essay In the three texts the characters that are presented as new women are also presented with a downfall, those who are presented as traditional women are seen to survive and do well. Within the three texts, Dracula, A Street Car Named Desire and Birthday Letters, the authors present the female characters within certain ways which allow us as the audience to look closely at the battle of equality between men and women and the rise of feministic views. However the battle isnt always apparent and some female characters allow themselves to be the inferior characters compared to the male characters who take on dominant roles within their relationships. Within the three texts a downfall of death is presented, this is always presented to those women who are presented as New Woman. Feminism is a movement for social, cultural, political and economic equality of men and women. It is a campaign against gender inequalities and it strives for equal rights for women. 1 Within the three texts we are presented with many female character types, A Street Car Named desire, allows its audience to compare and contrast its female characters. We are presented with Blanche who is on first appearances seen as a New woman ( A women of the late 19th century actively resisting traditional controls and seeking to fill a complete role in the world2) she lives by herself, has no male role controlling her life and makes her own decisions, however it isnt too much later that we learn a different aspect of Blanche, she becomes a character that needs a man to keep a roof over her head and food in her mouth. We are easily able to compare Blanche with her sister Stella, who is a women that presents traditional roles however some times does challenge these, Stella lives with Stanley and allow him to control her life, he tells her what to do and she takes on stereotypically traditional roles within the house. However we do see some New Woman actions within Stellas character such as when Stanley hurts her she runs away however this is then counter parted with Stella returning to Stanley. In the end it is Blanche that has the biggest downfall within the novel and we are left with the question of is this because she presents a post- feministic woman? This question can also be placed when looking at Dracula, Lucy is presented to the audience as a very sexually aware female she is also shown to have less traditional views on marriage why cant they let a girl marry three men or as many as want her and save all this trouble3, Lucy is also like Blanche presented with the biggest downfall within the novel, she is controlled by Dracula and even killed more than once. Sylvia Plath like Lucy and Blanche also are presented with death within the novel, Sylvia could be seen to have the biggest downfall of all three of the characters, it is not only physical but also a mental problem. Hughes talks of his and Sylvia Plath life journeys through his poetry and we come to understand the life style that they lived, Plaths death is central to Hughes poetry and we are able to understand the kind of women Sylvia is, she is shown as a weak women who needed her husband by her side, when he fails to do so she becomes weaker and commits suicide. However we can see the power that Plath had on Hughes due to the high impact that Sylvias suicide had on his poetry Years after your death4. Plaths downfall doesnt seem to be due to her position as a women it is presented within the opposite, she is a traditional women and this causes her problems. Dracula sees a downfall for its female characters in the way of death, Lucy is killed by a male character. Arthur Holmwood buries the stake deep in Lucys heart in order to kill the demon she has become and to return her to the state of purity and innocence he so values. The language with which Stoker describes this violent act is unmistakably sexual, and the stake is an unambiguous symbol for the penis. In this way, it is fitting that the blow comes from Lucys fianci , Arthur Holmwood. Lucy is not only being punished for being a vampire but also being available for seduction by Dracula himself, who we can recall has the power to only attack a willing victim. When Holmwood slays the demonic Lucy, he returns her to the role of a legitimate, monogamous lover, which reinvests his fianci e with her initial Victorian virtue, again degrading Lucys female role, needing a male character to take care of her to the end of her life. Lucy Westenra, is first presented to the audience as an out going, sexually aware, less traditional women. In many ways, Lucy is much like Mina Murry. She is a paragon of virtue and innocents, qualities that draw the attention of three men to her. However Lucy does differs from her friend in one key area, which makes her much of a New Women, Lucy is sexualised. Lucys physical beauty captures the attention of the three men, which is where she displays a comfort of playfulness about her desirability. This is displayed in an early letter to Mina when Lucy states why cant they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save her all this trouble. This presents the idea that Lucy has troubles that she cannot and will not meet, going against the New Women model. Stoker presents this simple, small idea of Lucys instability to a huge volume when he describes the undead Lucy as a creature of a ravenous sexual appetite. Lucy is presented as a dangerous threat to men and their self control, Lucys second death returns her to a harmless state presenting her again with purity, assuring the men that things are exactly how they are suppose to be. Lucy presents the idea of the new woman to the reader, she is also represented as a creature when she is a vampire. Dracula succeeds in transforming Lucy and becomes a vampire vixen, Van Helsings men see no other option than to kill her, in order to return her to a purer, more socially respectable state. After Lucys transformation, the men keep a careful eye on Mina, worried they will lose yet another model of Victorian womanhood to the dark side. It is here seen that Lucy is a model female until she is turned into a vampire. Late in the novel, Dracula mocks Van Helsings crew, saying, Your girls that you all love are mine already; and through them you and others shall yet be mine. Here, the count voices a male fantasy that has existed since Adam and Eve were turned out of Eden that womens ungovernable desires leave men poised for a costly fall from grace. Women through out Dracula are shown as something that men own and something that can be used as a bargaining tool. Blanche like the female characters within Dracula is also presented as a object by Stanley when he attacks her, however when Blanche is with Mitch alone he treats her in a way that she expects as a New Woman Can I-uh-kiss you-good night? 5 with dignity and respect, this isnt however carried through out the whole novel. Blanche doesnt accept males help through out the play and tries to hide the things that she has done before, this adds to her downfall which allows her to become more and more depressed and pushing towards her downfall. Which we can also assume this happens to Plath, Hughes talks of their past and their lives together, this allows us as the audience to know what events happened to add to Plaths depression and her death. Looking at other sources we find out that Ted Hughes, had left her for another woman6which then pushes Plath to her suicide. This goes against the idea that the Downfall of woman is due to woman being post feminist woman. The three texts all see big punishment for its three leading ladies, this influences them in many ways and pushes them all towards their deaths. In the 1880s and the 1890s saw the publication of many studies in psychology and sexology. For example, Dr. Krafft-Ebing, a German sexologists medico-legal study Phychopahia Sexualis, documented hundreds of cases of divergent, deviant sexuality, listing, cataloguing and typing each individual. Under Sadism in Women, he describes case 42, a womens who sexual history prefigures that of Stokers Lucy: A married man presented himself with numerous scars of cuts on his arms. He told their origins as follows: When he wishes to approach his wife, who was young and somewhat nervous, he first had to make a cut in his arm. Then she would suck the wound, and during the act become violently excited sexually. Most critics agree that Dracula is, as much as anything else, a novel that feeds on the Victorian male imagination, particularly concerning the topic of female sexuality. In Victorian England, womens sexual behaviour was dictated by societys extremely rigid expectations. A Victorian woman effectively had only two options either she was a virgin or she was a wife and mother. If she was neither of these, she was considered a whore. A women never had the right to choose which kind of life style she wanted to have, she was simply labeled if she didnt conform, we can see this with Lucy when she must choose who she wants to marry she simple states that in her ideal world Why cant they let a girl marry three men, or as many as want her, and save all this trouble. 7 This is very degrading, Lucy, is stating that she wishes she didnt have to make a choice and she wishes that her life was all laid out for her, however it could be argued that she wants this because of her personality rather than her fate. By the time Dracula lands in England and begins to work his evil magic on Lucy Westenra, we understand that the impending battle between good and evil will depend upon female sexuality, both Lucy and Mina are less like real people than two-dimensional embodiments of virtues that have, over the ages, been coded as female. Both women are chaste, pure, innocent of the worlds evils, and devoted to their men. But Dracula threatens to turn the two women into their opposites, into women noted for their voluptuousness-a word Stoker turns to again and again-and unapologetically open sexual desire. Blanche within A Street Car Named Desire is also presented as a sexual desire from Mitch and even Stanley. Mitch likes her not only for her looks but who she is I like you to be exactly the way that you are8 Mitch doesnt think of Blanche in a sexual way until later on in the play. Blanches fear of death presents itself in the fear of her ageing and loosing her beauty. She refuses to tell anyone her own age why do you want to know9 Blanche seems to believe that by continually asserting her sexuality towards men especially those who are younger, she will be able to avoid death and return to the world of teenage bliss that she experienced before her husband committed suicide. However, beginning in Scene One, Williams suggests that Blanches sexual history is in fact a cause of her downfall. When she first arrives at the Kowalskis, Blanche says she rode a streetcar named Desire, then transferred to a streetcar named Cemeteries, which brought her to a street named Elysian Fields. This journey, the precursor to the play, allegorically represents the trajectory of Blanches life. The Elysian Fields are the land of the dead in Greek mythology. Blanches lifelong pursuit of her sexual desires has led to her eviction from Belle Reve, her ostracism from Laurel, and, at the end of the play, her expulsion from society at large. Sex and death are intricately and fatally linked within Blanches experiences through out the novel. In Scene One, Stanley throws a package of meat at his adoring Stella for her to catch. The action sends Eunice and the Negro woman into peals of laughter. Presumably, theyve picked up on the sexual innuendo behind Stanleys gesture. In hurling the meat at Stella, Stanley states the sexual proprietorship he holds over her. Stellas delight in catching Stanleys meat signifies her sexual infatuation with him. This also shows Stella in light of the new woman, however Stanley is the one initiating the sexual activity again pushing Stella back into her traditional role. Stella tries on many occasions pushing herself into the role of the new woman however Stanley always fails to allow her to do so. A Streetcar Named Desire presents a sharp critique of the way the institutions and attitudes of postwar America placed restrictions on womens lives. Williams uses Blanches and Stellas dependence on men to expose and critique the treatment of women during the transition from the old to the new South. Both Blanche and Stella see male companions as their only means to achieve happiness, and they depend on men for both their sustenance and their self-image. Blanche recognizes that Stella could be happier without her physically abusive husband, Stanley. Yet, the alternative Blanche proposes-contacting Shep Huntleigh for financial support-still involves complete dependence on men. When Stella chooses to remain with Stanley, she chooses to rely on, love, and believe in a man instead of her sister. Williams does not necessarily criticize Stella-he makes it quite clear that Stanley represents a much more secure future than Blanche does. Five: contextual information linking to the authors and the characters. The decade in which Stoker wrote and published Dracula was one of the unprecedented anxiety and uncertainty about the social roles, sexual nature and natural spheres of activity of men and women. As many women fought for a larger role in public life and a bigger challenge towards the traditions that define women as being, passive, domestic and naturally submissive, the debate opened to men and the males natural role. While Victorian feminists advanced on previous male preserves, crossing boarders and redefining categories, the more conservative press reacted by reiterating gender normalities, insisting that the essential differences between the sexes and their separate duties. Stoker deliberately located the gothic horror of Dracula in the late nineteenth century world of technological advances, gender instability and the rapid increase in conversation. Mina Travels with a portable typewriter which presents her with power and knowledge of a skill such as writing, which today we take for granted.

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.

Mechanism Of Action Of Warfarin Biology Essay

Mechanism Of Action Of Warfarin Biology Essay Warfarin is an anticoagulant medication that is used to prevent thrombosis (clots) and embolism in many disorders. Warfarin activity has to be monitored by frequent blood testing for the International Normalized Ratio (INR). Warfarin is a synthetic derivative of coumarin, a chemical found naturally in many plants it decreases blood coagulation by interfering with vitamin K metabolism. Mechanism of Action of Warfarin Warfarin is vitamin K antagonist that produce its anticoagulant effect by interfering with the cyclic interconversion of vitamin K and its 2,3 epoxide (vitamin K epoxide). Vitamin K is a cofactor for the posttranslational carboxylation of glutamate residues to ÃŽÂ ³-carboxyglutamates on the N-terminal regions of vitamin K-dependent proteins (Whitlon, et al., 1978; Fasco, et al., 1982) .123456 These coagulation factors (factors II, VII, IX, and X) require ÃŽÂ ³-carboxylation for their biological activity. Coumarins produce their anticoagulant effect by inhibiting the vitamin K conversion cycle, thereby causing hepatic production of partially carboxylated and decarboxylated proteins with reduced procoagulant activity.78 In addition to their anticoagulant effect, the vitamin K antagonists inhibit carboxylation of the regulatory anticoagulant proteins C and S and therefore have the potential to exert a procoagulant effect. In the presence of calcium ions, carboxylation causes a conformational change in coagulation proteins91011 that promotes binding to cofactors on phospholipid surfaces. The carboxylation reaction requires the reduced form of vitamin K (vitamin KH2), molecular oxygen, and carbon dioxide, and is linked to the oxidation of vitamin KH2 to vitamin K epoxide. Vitamin K epoxide is then recycled to vitamin KH2 through two reductase steps. The first, which is sensitive to vitamin K antagonists,123 reduces vitamin K epoxide to vitamin K1 (the natural food form of vitamin K1), while the second, which is relatively insensitive to vitamin K antagonists, reduces vitamin K1 to vitamin KH2. Treatment with vitamin K antagonists leads to the depletion of vitamin KH2, thereby limiting the ÃŽÂ ³-carboxylation of the vitamin K-dependent coagulant proteins. The effect of coumarins can be counteracted by vitamin K1 (either ingested in food or administered therapeutically) because the second reductase ste p is relatively insensitive to vitamin K antagonists (Fig 1). Patients treated with a large dose of vitamin K1 can also become warfarin resistant for up to a week because vitamin K1 accumulates in the liver and is available to the coumarin-insensitive reductase. Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Warfarin Warfarin is a racemic mixture of two optically active isomers, the R and S forms in roughly equal proportion. It has high bioavailability,1920 is rapidly absorbed from the GI tract, and reaches maximal blood concentrations in healthy volunteers in 90 min after oral administration.1921 Racemic warfarin has a half-life of 36 to 42 h, circulates bound to plasma proteins (mainly albumin), and accumulates in the liver where the two isomers are metabolically transformed by different pathways.22 The dose-response relationship of warfarin is influenced by genetic and environmental factors, including a recently identified common mutation in the gene coding for one of the common cytochrome P450 enzymes (2C9), the hepatic enzyme responsible for oxidative metabolism of the warfarin S-isomer.2324 This mutation likely contributes to the variability in dose response to warfarin among healthy subjects.25 In addition to known and unknown genetic factors, various disease states, drugs, and dietary fac tors can interfere with the response to warfarin. The anticoagulant response to warfarin is influenced by pharmacokinetic factors, including drug interactions that affect the absorption or metabolic clearance of warfarin, and pharmacodynamic factors that alter the hemostatic response to given concentrations of the drug. Variability in anticoagulant response also occurs as a result of inaccuracies in laboratory testing, patient noncompliance, and miscommunication between patient and physician. Other drugs may influence the pharmacokinetics of warfarin by reducing GI absorption or by disrupting its metabolic clearance. For example, the anticoagulant effect of warfarin is reduced by cholestyramine, which impairs its absorption, and is potentiated by drugs that inhibit warfarin clearance through stereoselective or nonselective pathways.252627 Stereoselective interactions affect oxidative metabolism of either the S-isoner or R-isomer of warfarin.2627 Inhibition of S-warfarin metabolism is more important clinically because this isomer is five times more potent as a vitamin K antagonist than the R-isomer.2627 Clearance of S-isomer warfarin is inhibited by phenylbutazone,2829 sulfinpyrazone,30 metronidazole,31 and trimethoprim- sulfamethoxazole,32 each of which potentiates the effect of warfarin on the prothrombin time (PT). In contrast, drugs such as cimetidine and omeprazole that inhibit clearance of the R-isomer have only moderate potentiating effects on the PT in patients treated with warfarin.272833 Amiodarone inhibits the metabolic clearance of both the S-isomer and R-isomer and potentiates the anticoagulant effect of warfarin.34 The anticoagulant effect is inhibited by barbiturates,32 rifampicin,34 and carbamazepine,32 which increase its metabolic clearance by inducing hepatic mixed oxidase activity. Although long-term alcohol use has a potential to increase the clearance of warfarin through a similar mechanism, consumption of even relatively large amounts of wine was shown in one study29 to have little influen ce on PT in subjects treated with warfarin. For a more thorough discussion of the effect of enzyme induction on warfarin therapy, the reader is referred to a critical review (Table 2 ).35 The pharmacodynamics of warfarin are subject to genetic and environmental variability. Hereditary resistance to warfarin occurs in rats36 as well as in human beings.3738 Patients with genetic warfarin resistance require doses fivefold to 20-fold higher than average to achieve an anticoagulant effect. This disorder is attributed to altered affinity of the receptor for warfarin since the plasma warfarin levels required to achieve an anticoagulant effect are increased. Two mis-sense mutations in the factor IX propeptide have been described394041 that cause bleeding without excessive prolongation of PT. When affected individuals are treated with coumarin drugs, factor IX activity decreases to about 1 to 3%, while levels of other vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors decrease to 30 to 40% of normal. These mutations are uncommon and have been estimated to occur in Subjects receiving long-term warfarin therapy are sensitive to fluctuating levels of dietary vitamin K,4243 which is provided predominantly by phylloquinone in plant material.43 The phylloquinone content of a wide range of foodstuffs has been listed by Sadowski and associates.44 Phylloquinone acts through the warfarin-insensitive reductase reaction.45 Important fluctuations in vitamin K intake occur in both apparently healthy and sick subjects.46 Increased intake of dietary vitamin K sufficient to reduce the anticoagulant response to warfarin42 occurs in patients on weight-reduction diets consuming green vegetables or receiving vitamin K-containing supplements, and in patients treated with IV supplements containing vitamin K. Reduced dietary vitamin K1 intake potentiates the effect of warfarin in sick patients treated with antibiotics and IV fluids without vitamin K supplementation and in states of fat malabsorption. Hepatic dysfunction potentiates the response to warfarin through im paired synthesis of coagulation factors. Hypermetabolic states produced by fever or hyperthyroidism increase warfarin responsiveness, probably by increasing the catabolism of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors.4748 Drugs may influence the pharmacodynamics of warfarin by inhibiting synthesis or increasing clearance of vitamin K-dependent coagulation factors or by interfering with other pathways of hemostasis (Table 3 ). The anticoagulant effect of warfarin is augmented by the second-generation and third-generation cephalosporins, which inhibit the cyclic interconversion of vitamin K,4950 by thyroxine, which increases the metabolism of coagulation factors,48 and by clofibrate, through an unknown mechanism.51 Doses5253 of salicylates > 1.5 g/d also augment the anticoagulant effect of warfarin,54 possibly because these drugs have warfarin-like activity. Acetaminophen has also been reported to augment the anticoagulant effect of warfarin,52 although this contention has been challeng ed (see below). Although heparin potentiates the anticoagulant effect of warfarin, in therapeutic doses, it produces only slight prolongation of the PT. Drugs such as aspirin,55 nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs,56 high doses of penicillins,5758 and moxolactam50 increase the risk of warfarin-associated bleeding by inhibiting platelet function. Of these, aspirin is the most important because of its widespread use and prolonged effect.59 Aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can also produce gastric erosions that increase the risk of upper-GI bleeding.58 The risk of clinically important bleeding is heightened when high doses of aspirin are taken in combination with high-intensity warfarin therapy (INR, 3.0 to 4.5).5560 In two studies, one study61 in patients with prosthetic heart valves and the other study62 in asymptomatic individuals at high risk of coronary artery disease, low doses of aspirin (100 mg/d and 75 mg/d, respectively) were also associated with increased rates of minor bleeding when combined with moderate-intensity and low-intensity warfarin anticoagulation. The mechanisms by which erythromycin63 and some anabolic steroids64 potentiate the anticoagulant effect of warfarin are unknown. Sulfonamides and several broad-spectrum antibiotic compounds may augment the anticoagulant effect of warfarin by eliminating bacterial flora and aggravating vitamin K deficiency in patients whose diet is deficient of vitamin K.65 Wells and associates66 performed a critical analysis of articles reporting possible interaction between drugs or foods and warfarin. Studies were assigned to one category if the interaction was considered highly probable, to a second category if interaction was probable, to a third level if judged possible, and to a fourth level if doubtful. Of 751 citations retrieved, pertinent results from 172 original articles are summarized in Table 3. Strong evidence of interaction was found for 39 of the 81 different drugs and foods appraised; 17 potentiate warfarin effect, 10 inhibit, and 12 produce no effect. Many other drugs have been reported to either interact with oral anticoagulants or alter the PT response to warfarin,6768 but convincing evidence of a causal association is lacking. In a case-control study,52 low to moderate doses of acetaminophen (nine or more tablets per week) were reported to be associated with excessively prolonged INR values. The presence of a causal association bet ween acetaminophen use and potentiation of a warfarin effect is uncertain. The article52 was supported by an editorial,53 but has been challenged by personal experiences (case series) cited in two letters6970 and by the results of a prospective study71 in normal volunteers. However, until more information is presented, it would be prudent to monitor the INR more frequently when acetaminophen is used in this quantity by patients during warfarin therapy. Indeed, it would be reasonable to monitor the PT more frequently when any drug therapy is added or withdrawn from the regimen of a patient treated with an oral anticoagulant. DRUG INTERACTIONS: Your doctor or pharmacist may already be aware of any possible drug interactions and may be monitoring you for them. Do not start, stop, or change the dosage of any drug, vitamin, or herbal product without checking with your doctor or pharmacist first.Warfarin interacts with many prescription, nonprescription, vitamin, and herbal products. This includes medications that are applied to the skin or inside the vagina or rectum. The following interactions listed do not contain all possible drug interactions. The interactions with warfarin usually result in an increase or decrease in the blood-thinning (anticoagulant) effect. Your doctor or other health care professional should closely monitor you to prevent serious bleeding or clotting problems. While taking warfarin, it is very important to tell your doctor or pharmacist of any changes in medications, vitamins, or herbal products that you are taking.This drug should not be used with the following medications because v ery serious interactions may occur: imatinib, mifepristone.If you are currently using any of these medications listed above, tell your doctor or pharmacist before starting warfarin.Aspirin and aspirin-like drugs (salicylates) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, naproxen, celecoxib) may have effects similar to warfarin. These drugs may increase the risk of bleeding problems if taken during treatment with warfarin. Carefully check all prescription/nonprescription product labels (including drugs applied to the skin such as pain-relieving creams) since the products may contain NSAIDs or salicylates. Talk to your doctor about using a different medication (such as acetaminophen) to treat pain/fever. Low-dose aspirin and related drugs (such as clopidogrel, ticlopidine) should be continued if prescribed by your doctor for specific medical reasons such as heart attack or stroke prevention. Consult your doctor or pharmacist for more details.Many herbal medicati ons have blood-thinning or blood-clotting effects, and some may directly affect warfarin. Tell your doctor before taking any herbal products, especially bromelains, coenzyme Q10, cranberry, danshen, dong quai, fenugreek, garlic, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, goldenseal, and St. Johns wort, among others.This medication may interfere with a certain laboratory test to measure theophylline levels, possibly causing false test results. Make sure laboratory personnel and all your doctors know you use this drug.This document does not contain all possible interactions. Therefore, before using this product, tell your doctor or pharmacist of all the products you use. Keep a list of all your medications with you, and share the list with your doctor and pharmacist

The Holocaust: Number The Stars :: essays research papers

The Holocaust   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The title of my book is Number the Stars by Lois Lowry and it is a historical fiction. My book was about a jewish girl named Ellen that stays with her best friend's family the Johansens to avoid being caught by the nazis and relocated along with her family. I selected this book because it was by Lois Lowry and I read other books by her so I thought that this book would be good. I also chose this book because it was a Newberry award winner.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Annemarie Johansen is the main character in the story, she is a ten year old girl that lives with her parents and sister at their home. She first appears at the beginning of the book racing her friend down a copenhagen street and throughout it and at the end. I liked her because she is strong when she needs to be, and is a friend when she needs to be. Annemarie was willing to save her friend by risking her and her life. Ellen Rosen was also one of the main characters in the story she is a nine year old girl living with her parents. Ellen appears in the story at the beginning also. Ellen a jew, who is Annemarie's friend is forced to hide with Annemaries family.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My book takes place during the german occupation of Denmark in 1943. It is in Copenhagen during the fall weather.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Germans are relocating all the jews in Denmark and Ellen and her family find out that they will be relocated. Annemarie's family assumes responsibility for Ellen Rosen, Annemarie's best friend, when ellen's family flees for their safety. Annemarie and her parents take her jewish friend Ellen in to hide with their family. Ellen is almost caught when soldiers come to the house asking questions about the daughter's identity but she is still kept a secret. Ellen is taken to Annemaries uncle's house where they are able to escape to Sweden by hiding in a hidden compartment of a boat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Both Ellen and Annes family are hiding from the nazis to prevent them from being relocated. The diary of Anne Frank takes place in Amsterdam, Holland and my book both takes place in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1943. Ellen pretends to be part of her friends family in hiding but in annes diary she and her family and friends are in hiding together in an attic.

A Digital Nation :: Internet Technology Technological Essays

A Digital Nation Have you ever heard someone say that we live in a digital nation? Do you know what a digital nation is? Well you should know because you are living in one. Our nation revolves around the use of computers. Can you go through a normal day without using something computer related? I don't think so. Many everyday things that you take for granted are computer based, such as: ATM's, credit cards, grocery check outs, and gas stations to name a few. I support Jon Katz's article The Netizen: Birth of a Digital Nation. Our nation would be a totally different place today if the computer was never invented. Computers have evolved incredibly in the past few years. Programs on computers help to make schools more organized and are used many times a day. Today most of the student's records are kept on a computer instead of in filing cabinets. Such as records of shots, attendance, grades, test scores, any problems the child has, and many others. With computers you can pull up a child's file within seconds instead of having to find the file in a cabinet, which could take several minutes. Computers keep all the files organized and make finding things easier for teachers, which helps them to get more things done in their busy day. Many teachers when assigning papers require them to be typed. Typed papers are a lot easier to read then hand written ones. Having a typed paper cuts down on the time needed to grade the papers and makes reading them a lot easier. Before computers, the time teachers needed to grade twenty papers was maybe four hours and now they can grade them in about two hours. Computers allow us to communicate with people all over the world. Thanks to the Internet you can talk with people from other counties and get a response within a few seconds. Instead if you had written a letter you might not get a response for weeks. The Internet also allows people who don't know each other to meet and become friends. Being able to connect to the Internet allows families to stay in touch even though they live thousands of miles away. The capabilities of being online makes things so much easier and faster, which we need, in order to keep up with the fast paced world we live in.

Creating a Prototype Security Gate with Lego Mindstorm Essay examples -

SECURITY GATE Abstract: For many years many people have used security gates to take care of parking lots, buildings, and roads. It all started with people watching over restricted areas. Nowadays, we have a more sophisticated system for security gates. You usually have to stop and put a card into the machine or pay a certain amount of money. The problem is that you must stop and reach out to insert something in order for the crane arm to lift up. We have thought of an idea to improve this current procedure. We have thought of installing a special code or device in cars so that every time it stands in a security gate, it sends a code to the security gate, and if it’s the right code, allow the car in. Using Lego Mindstorm, we made a prototype of such a car. We downloaded a NQC code into the RCX of the car(s) and security gate. The NQC will only let the car with the right code in, but it will sound an alarm for all the cars that do not have the correct code. This will keep everything safer, make the procedure faster, and hopefully make everything easier for everyone. Background: Security gates were invented a long time ago. It even surprised us when we read the article, â€Å"Toll Roads in the United States† on Wikipedia and found out that they started to come out in the 1790’s. Security gates are also known as turnpikes, toll roads, and toll pikes. Years ago, people would stand in a certain place on a road and collect fees from people who used that particular road. After several individuals noticed that a lot of people were doing this to get money, they eventually got together to from companies. These companies used the money to improve the roads instead of collecting the money and keeping it to themselves. The... ... SendMessage(3); ClearMessage(); Wait(1); } */ SendMessage(3); Wait(1); SendMessage(3); PlayTone(1800, 200); On(LEFT+RIGHT); Wait(200); find(); follow(); } } Rejected Car: //motors and sensors #define LEFT OUT_A #define RIGHT OUT_C #define EYE SENSOR_2 //threshold #define BLACK_LIGHT 34 #define BLACK_DARK 38 task main() { SetTxPower(TX_POWER_HI); SetPower(LEFT+RIGHT, 1); SetSensor(EYE, SENSOR_LIGHT); On(LEFT+RIGHT); Fwd(LEFT+RIGHT); until(EYE>BLACK_LIGHT && EYE Wait(8); Off(LEFT+RIGHT); ClearMessage(); repeat(10) { SendMessage(4); } until(Message() !=0); //ClearMessage(); //until(Message() !=0); if(Message() == 5) { Wait(120); On(LEFT+RIGHT); Rev(LEFT+RIGHT); Wait(120); SetPower(LEFT+RIGHT, 7); Fwd(LEFT); Rev(RIGHT); Wait(95); SetPower(LEFT+RIGHT, 1); Fwd(LEFT+RIGHT); Wait(100); Off(LEFT+RIGHT); } }

American Westward Movement: Significance of the Contributing factors

American Westward movement, advocated by many as the divine destiny of the United States, is the movement of the people from the settled regions of the United States to lands farther west between early 17th and late 19th century. The earliest and most significant of the factors which contributed to the westward spread of ‘American frontier’ was the economic motives of the colonists.Fur traders in New England, New York and Pennsylvania bartered with the Native Americans in the Ohio River Valley and the Great Lakes for beaver pelts. Southerners reached to the Mississippi and beyond to trade with native Americans for deerskins. Later, the farmers who could not meet their mortgage payments on their lands as a result of the depression caused by the financial collapse in 1837 also moved westward for free land. Epidemics was another major contributing factor for the westward movement.In the East, more people died of such diseases as typhoid, dysentery, tuberculosis, scarlet fev er and malaria than from any other cause. Yellow fever so decimated the population of New Orleans and settlements along the Mississippi River to the north that the regional death rate exceeded its birth rate for nearly a century and in the 1830s an epidemic of cholera, which had started in Asia, rampaged through Europe, and came across the Atlantic on passenger ships, struck the East Coast and spread inland.The third significant contributing factor was The American Civil War. The civil war caused so much misery that thousands of people looked upon west as a means of escape from their devastated homes. To these people the West was the means to achieve health, wealth and happiness. The significance of these factors lies in the fact that the western expansion they caused resulted in making United States one of the most powerful countries in the world.Further, the American expansion also meant that the west was dominated by Anglo-American ways of life and institutions rather than French or Spanish ones; because latter were also trying to expand in North America in 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. However, the American westward movement curbed their efforts in this regard. Nonetheless, though the American westward movement was very beneficial for the United States, it proved fatal to the Native Americans who were the indigenous people settled in these lands. Their culture and way of life suffered destruction as a result of the westward expansion.