Evaluate Instructions

Link to our instructions evaluation text:

http://alexandrah3.blogspot.co.at/2014/05/photography-project-evaluate.html

CAJ: Oxytocin

Oxytocin is a hormone that is usually associated with empathy, bonding, trust etc. While researching for my CAJ, I often stumbled upon articles that mentioned it, or nicknaming it a "love drug", "cuddle chemical", "moral molecule" and "bonding hormone". Oxytocin sounds like a very beneficial hormone we humans (and other mammals) posses. But what is oxytocin actually responsible for?

In a nutshell:

During childbirth it is responsible for uterine contraction which facilitates giving birth

After childbirth: During lactation oxytocin is released for a smooth muscle contraction. It also is responsible for the maternal bonding process between mother and child.

Bonding: It is not only relevant for maternal bond but for bonding between living creatures in general. Oxytocin evokes the desire to connect physically and is released during contact with a person or fluffy animal. In addition, it is known for its release during sexual orgasm.

Lying: When in contact with other people in a group, the hormone makes one's focus shift from oneself as an individual to the benefits of the entire group. In a double-bling study, where one group inhaled oxytocin and the other one a placebo, the results showed that the hormone boosts dishonest behavior if it is advantageous for the group.

Autism: Scientists hope that in the future oxytocin will be a possible treatment for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). As these children have difficulties with upholding eye-contact, and therefore with cooperation and interaction with other human beings the hormone, when inhaled, could be the key for establishing the ability for social behavior in autistic children.

Sources:

• http://markturrell.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/sex-and-the-brain-how-neuroscience-may-soon-change-all-our-relationships-6/

• http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/39595/title/Oxytocin-Boosts-Dishonesty/

• http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/exchange/node/7087

Critique on an anonymous summary

The summary

Europe already has one foot in "Japanese" deflation grave

“The debt deflation theory” by professor Irving Fisher would take EU authorities far in the battle against rising debt. As the American Revolution has shown, deflation is an underestimated danger with the potential to lead to economic disaster. If total debt grows too high, as happens in Western Europe, deflation gets mortal. The eurostat index depicts that deflation has dropped. The tendency of falling prices is seen in many countries. Similar to Japan’s crisis, the eurozone economy is in endangered by high debt ratios and sustained deflation. Zsolt Darvas from the Brussels think tank Bruegel equates deflation with bleakness. He accuses the European approach of the debt crisis and mentions the dilemma of states being pushed to “internal devaluations”. Vicious dynamics such as the “denominator effect” are witnessed in countries like Italy, where debt rises faster than GDP. The same is true for private debt, where with crash diets for erred states, economic self destruction was only enhanced. For Mr Darvas, let inflation elevate means escaping from the deflationary spiral. Responsible for money shifting to Germany is the ECB and non counteracting member states which fear Germany would leave the eurozone. Europe hope for global growth to fight the deflation virus.

My critique

It seems to me, unfortunately, that the author of this text has nor fully identified the topic of the article. I have marked all content slips in orange and all language mistakes in red. 

Content-wise it was not necessary to include either the American revolution nor professor Irving Fisher. It is wasting precious word count that could have been used to explain, for example, different consequences of deflation in  EU countries. Furthermore, mentioning Zsolt Darvas is obsolete as most people do not know who he is and what he does. In the next sentence the author mentions "...the European approach..." which is not exact as European politicians are supposed to approach this issue. 

language:

happens             is happening

gets mortal        deflation would become dangerous

the Brussels      Brussels

like                   such as

crash diets         (refers rather to food than economy)

self destruction     self-destruction

money shifting     (not sure if that is an actual expression)

hope                  hopes

Apart from those difficulties the text also does not seem very coherent nor would I understand what the article was about, reading this summery in advance. 

However, there are a couple of important ideas that were included, such as deflation being an underestimated danger, what happens when debt rises faster than nominal GDP and Europe trying to solve the problems by doing nothing.