Evolution of Learning Ability in Fruit Flies Essay -- Biology Fly Dros

Learning & Memory in Fruit Flies Scientists have traditionally viewed learning and memory as "complex traits" in the sense that they are believed to be the net result of various different genetic and environmental factors interacting with one another. As it is not always practical or ethical to use human subjects in research, simpler "model" organisism are often used, and drosophila melanogaster (i.e. the fruit fly) is one of the most well known and well studied in the biological sciences. Abstract Two thousand fruit flies of the species Drosophilia melanogaster were maintained for six months before any experimenting began. Flies subjected to experimentation were 14 days old and were conditioned to be better learners. Petri dishes filled with pineapple juice and orange juice were used on which the flies could lay their eggs. Quinine was added to one of the juices to turn flies away from that medium. By selecting eggs from the juice that did not contain quinine, flies who had learned to avoid the juice with quinine passed on their learning ability. Subsequent generations of fruit flies did actually become "smarter" as demonstrated be their ability to more readily differentiate between the quinine medium and the regular medium as well as their ability to remember this association for a longer period of time. Methods Experimental Design Base Population All flies used in Mery & Kawecki's experiment were of the species Drosophilia melanogaster. The experimental population was derived from 2000 flies and maintained for six months before any experimenting began. All flies subjected to experimentation were 14 days old. Experimental Evolution Design Before any testing was actually con... ... the different genetics of every individual fly, but in general, it is possible to say that it did improve. This proves the point that learning is favored when environmental factors and other cues play a significant role. The experiment also showed that the learning ability to modify oviposition substrate choice has direct correlations with fitness. Single-locus large-effect mutants would be the best approach for this experiment, but the group wanted to simulate learning ability in a natural environment so they chose to use a variegated sample. References Mery, Frederic & Tadeusz J. Kawecki. "Experimental evolution of learning ability in fruit flies." Proc.Natl. Acad. Sci. 99.22 (2002): 14274-14279. Papaj, Daniel R. and Emilie C. Snell-Rood. "Memory flies sooner from flies that learn faster." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 104.34 (2007): 13539-13540.

Qualities to Run an Educational Institute Essay

Hello! I am presently working for providing education to those who need it the most. I say this as they are deprived of many resources which others can harness in their lives. As far as an ideal school is concerned, what I personally feel is that if you are able to provide the children what they need the most i. e. moral values and skills simultaneously then a school can be said as ideal. Now what sort of skills is required by a child who is into school education is a question. He/she need not to be perfect to work on a computer or in a research laboratory as these are a part of higher curriculum, what he/she should possess is a thorough understanding of the facts at the level of his class and that too in an applicative manner. Learning a fact by heart is a different thing and using it as and when required is an altogether aspect. What an institution should aim is to develop the confidence among the learners that, what they know is correct. Along with the inculcation of moral values is also a very important process. Your students will at some time be adults trying hard to make the ends meet and in that process they will face many difficulties. To help them to be calm and stable in such a situation takes a good understanding of moral values. I think one’s truthfulness is helpful to him in many ways. He or she can escape many problems just by preventing manipulations of facts. If you are truthful you need not to remember any detail and helps people with you to develop trust in you. Participation of community members and parents is very important in good running of a school. The more is the interaction between parents and teachers, better is the understanding of psychological, social, economic aspects of a child’s personality both ways. This helps in a better healing of the child’s problems on academic, social and psychological grounds. I as an individual have an experience of dealing with those who have to be given education in spite of many types of psychological and social problems and experiences faced by them. Many times the girls don’t even trust you as a male because of some past experiences. That’s where it needs to be patient to wait for that faith to develop trough interactions. I also have the required degree in education. My experience in dealing with CCA pattern prescribed by the education board will also be helpful in a better execution of curriculum.

Explain the Importance of Carbon Taxes for the Airline Industry

Explain the Importance of carbon taxes for the airline industry. Can Ryanair and British Airways respond in the same way? What is â€Å"Carbon Tax†? In the past, polluting was free. Generating pollution has a cost, which is a cost on earth natural environment, our economy and earth way of life. A Carbon Tax changes this. Instead of being able to pollute for free, polluters must pay for a price for every tone of carbon pollution is created. How does â€Å"Carbon Tax† affect the flight industry? Industry must factor in the cost of carbon pollution in the business, just as flight companies factor in flight building and labor cost.Carbon tax has a great deal of importance in the airline industry. In 2008 the EU passed legislation to include aviation in the ETS. This means that from January 2012, overall CO 2 emissions of the aviation industry have been capped: Operators emitting more than their allocated amount of CO 2 will need to reduce emissions or – more likely à ¢â‚¬â€œ procure extra allowances. Therefore all operators flying to and from the EU will have to surrender one allowance for every tone of CO 2 emitted on a flight to and from (and within) Europe. The challenges of the ETS for airlines go beyond the immediate legal obligations.The costs for emission allowances will effectively introduce an additional commodity price risk into an operator's business strategy. Costs per passenger will increase but whether these costs can be passed through to customers depends upon the competitive position of the company compared with other operators. Increased ticket prices may reduce air travel and bring the substitution effect – Some passengers will choose not to fly as a result of increased fares and may divert to alternative modes of transportation. How does British Airways response to Carbon Tax?British Airways, the first airline to start a carbon offset scheme back in 2005, has gone live with an upgraded, user-friendly scheme that will en able passengers to offset the emissions from their flight in a one-click process at the time of booking online. British Airways suggests that airline passengers should pay carbon tax to combat climate change. By looking at the responses and speeches from management team of British Airways, the company was putting out the â€Å"green† message, and to engage with customers on the environmental issue. Carbon tax also drove British Airways to find new ways to reduce carbon pollution.For instance, 60 flights to the United States from British Airways will experiment with using Global positioning system (GPS) to track more direct routes and smooth take-offs and landings to avoid wasting fuel. Quicker landings also avoid keeping flight in holding patterns, which has unwanted pollution effects. As aviation companies grapple with high jet fuel prices, the search for alternatives to petroleum will keep British Airways focused on alternative sources of energy in order to remain competiti ve. How does Ryanair response to Carbon Tax? Ryanair has a â€Å"no frills† business strategy, with low cost, high efficiency and low price strategy.Rayanair opposed the scheme when carbon tax was levied in 2012. The former head of communications, Stephen McNamara claimed that the continuation of this eco-loony tax would damage traffic, tourism, European competitiveness and job opportunities. And Rayanair believes that they are already the greenest in the industry. The price response to the ETS has been for airlines to add surcharges to the cost of flights. Within the Europe, the company has announced a surcharge of 25p per passenger per one-way flight. In theory the ETS should be less burdensome on efficient operators such as Ryanair.However, the ETS will always represent an additional cost to airlines, and this is likely to be the reason for the opposition of Rayanair to the scheme. Conclusion A carbon tax will spur an airline to be more energy efficient. Efficiency is the foundation of Ryanair’s business strategy. Ryanair already hammer costs at every turn, get as much as they can out of their staff and equipment and provide nothing they don’t have to for passengers as they’re paying for the trip alone and not the experiences. Ryanair has plenty of plans up their sleeve to get even more from their ‘assets’ and tackle reduced emissions.The likes of removing one or two more toilets from each plane to make way for extra seats, widening the doors on planes to allow passengers to disembark in twos to shortening the turn-around time at airports. There are also talks of having a standing area on flights. These are just some of the increased efficiencies that Ryanair use as a response to a cap on emissions. British Airways and Ryanair are targeted to different market segments. The target market of British Airways is more like loyalty customer who would care about brand image.In the totally opposite way for Ryanair, their tar get market is more like price- sensitivity. However British Airways offer the international airlines, and the price of the carbon tax affected by the airway distance, as one of the biggest international airline company, who conscious of their brand image embraced the costs they felt are necessary for the environment. To make sure the company would have a position in the market, the ways that British Airways responses to carbon tax are more likely in long-term strategies, instead of dealing with the price competition.

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 24 (HSPD 24): Biometrics for Identification and Screening to Enhance National Security

The Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate is an arm of the Department of Homeland Security which has the responsibility and mandate to conduct research aimed at improving homeland security by applying the latest technologies. The applications of science and technology developed at S&T are marketed at its clients who include federal, state and territorial emergency officials and responders. Homeland Security Presidential Directive 24 (HSPD 24) Establishes a framework to ensure that Federal executive departments and agencies use mutually compatible methods and procedures in the collection, storage, use, analysis, and sharing of biometric and associated biographic and contextual information of individuals in a lawful and appropriate manner, while respecting their information privacy and other legal rights under United States law (Department of Homeland Security 2008) This research paper aims to discuss the specifics of this directive, its potential impact on homeland security and explains threat, vulnerability and criticality assessment in the context of HSPD 24. Specifics of HSPD 24 HSPD 24 lays a foundation for ensuring that Federal and state executives and agencies employ compatible methods and procedures while collecting, using, analyzing and sharing biometric and biographic information of people in lawful, ethical and appropriate approaches so as to respect individual and information privacy and any other rights legally recognized under U. S. law (DHS 2008). This directive defines biometrics as the measurable anatomical, physiological and behavioral characteristics attributable to an individual. Such may include fingerprints, facial and iris recognition. It also covers for interoperability, the situation where organs within the security apparatus can mutually exchange information, and use the information to undertake security operations. Impact of HSPD 24 on Homeland Security HSPD 24 is intended to increase the capacity of security agencies to identify â€Å"known and suspected terrorists† while providing a Federal framework for the application of existing biometric technologies as well as the upgrading of biometric information collection systems in line with emerging related technologies. Since the terrorist attack on the twin towers on September 11th 2001, there was a need to increase the capacity of identifying individuals who pose a threat to national security. The collection and storage of biometric information in a database accessible to all security agencies (DHS 2008) is therefore crucial for the protection of American citizens as it makes the tracking of criminal suspects and terrorists more efficient. International criminals can be identified before entry into the nation, and the system also forms a base foe more applicable crime-scene investigations since evidence can be linked to perpetuators of crime. Explanation of Threat, Vulnerability, and Criticality Assessment in the context of Homeland Security and HSPD 24 By definition in this context, a threat is a situation, condition, object, an individual which or who is a source of danger. A threat can also be defined as the declaration of a plan to harm. Threats to national security therefore include terrorism, violent crime, drug trafficking and robbery. Vulnerability in this case is the state or measure of the state to which a nation or its citizens are susceptible to crime. Its dimensions may include physical, social and economic vulnerability. Criticality assessment is an evaluation concerned with the identification of assets, infrastructure and other resources that sustain security agencies, their operatives and their activities and are considered to be of prime importance for the success of a mission. Criticality assessment addresses the impact that a temporary or permanent failure or loss of such resources will have on the functionality of a security unit and its ability to perform its duties. Time and cost of a recovery of security infrastructure in case of temporary or permanent loss of infrastructure or resources is also considered in this assessment. Biometrics for Identification and Screening to Enhance National Security: A Review In my opinion, HSPD 24 is a very essential component in the war against crime as it provides a working platform for almost all other crime prevention endeavors. Once accurate biometric information is collected and shared between security agencies, the movement of criminals can be easily tracked. The implementation of this directive also complements routine security measures like airport passenger and luggage screening. Once accurate biometric information is available in databases accessible to security agencies, evidence collected from crime scenes can be used to track crime suspects and implement justice. It therefore ranks higher than most other directives, especially specific ones like Homeland Security Presidential Directive 19: Combating Terrorist Use of Explosives in the United States since it creates the framework form which they can operate efficiently. Conclusion With international and domestic terrorism becoming an increasing threat to national security, there needs to be elaborate mechanisms of preventing it. Technology keeps on changing, and criminals have a knack for using the latest technologies to commit crimes and then cover their tracks. Security operatives therefore need to be ahead of them; and HSPD 24 is one of the ways they can. The creation of an elaborate database of biometric information will not only aid in identifying and tracking criminals, it will also dissuade potential criminals since they will realize it is hard for tem to escape authorities after committing crimes. References Department of Homeland Security, DHS (2008) Homeland Security Presidential Directive 24:Biometrics for Identification and Screening to Enhance National Security. Available: http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/laws/gc_1219257118875.shtm [August 7, 2010]

Poem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Poem - Essay Example In the poem he expresses his emotions and grief for his son, he says goodbye to his son and wishes that he had never been a father to him because of the grief he feels, but he also mentions and suggests that he should also be feeling happy because his son has escaped the worries of the world and he lives now in heaven. If talked about the structure of this poem, it can be said that the poem is clearly a meditation of his thought; it is an elegy, a poem written on the death of his son. It expresses sorrow about the death of his loved one. About the structure of his poem, it can be said that it is written in heroic couplets with rhyming iambic pentameters, it is developed in rhyming couplets with each line in pentameters. It is important to mention that despite the strong adherence, the poem conveys strong emotions and feelings. Jonson use of language and imagery in this poem is also unique; he creates a metaphor of his son having been lent to him by god so that he pays him back on the named day. The image he represents in the poem is powerful; he considers the seven years he spent with his son as a gift from his god. Death is represented as a state that a man should envy because Jonson thinks that man is safe from the misery of the world (Hager 224). Thus, to conclude it can be said that Jonson had used strong portrayal of imagery and metaphors in this poem which connects with his strong representation of feelings and emotions. He rejoices the feeling that is developed after his son’s death because according to him it is the state where a man is away from worldly worries and

EMAIL PRIVACY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

EMAIL PRIVACY - Essay Example Currently, email dominates modern communication. In fact, the survey that was conducted by the Forrester Research Inc. shows that 98 percent of companies with over one thousand employees have internet access. All the companies with internet access use email as the main form of communication at the organization. Email is a very new concept in communication, and it is rapidly gaining popularity. According to Cliffon (2005), it is estimated that in America, up to 1.5 billion emails are exchanged annually. Email Privacy Most people are of the view that since the emails are more personal, they provide a good platform for people to discuss personal issues. This is never the case in most cases; in fact, emails have made communication to be less personal since privacy in communication through emails or telephones is easily compromised. It is always very hard to write personal things on the email because a third party may see them; hence, emails are greatly compromised in terms of privacy. Ac cording to Cliffon (2005), the hackers are able to crack passwords for emails and, therefore, get access to personal information of others. Hacking presents a very precarious situation because hackers may get access to critical information such as credit number of an individual or even password for an individual’s bank account thereby defrauding individuals of their lifetime investments. The internet is highly susceptible to malicious attacks. The process of composing an email to the time that it reaches the final user exposes information to several electronic dangers. Despite this reality, many people are usually oblivious of the many privacy flaws they are exposed to when dealing with email. Crawford (2008) says that most individuals tend to think that the one layer email protection by the use of password is always sufficient to guarantee email privacy yet the one layer password protection is not sufficient to protect the content of personal or business email. Privacy Risks Due to the apparent privacy hitches in email communication, users of email are exposed to a number of risks. The reason for this is that email is highly susceptible to both active and passive attacks. Passive threats vary from traffic analysis and release of message contents. On the other hand, active threats include replay, masquerade, and altering of the contents of the message. Currently, most emails are transmitted unencrypted and this presents the danger that some unscrupulous individuals other than the designated recipient can gain access to content of the email. Such unscrupulous individuals usually have some tools that they use to gain access to the contents of the email (Quigley, 2011). The idea of traffic analysis presents the danger of evading email privacy. Traffic analysis is a routine surveillance by government through monitoring of emails as a measure to counter terrorism as well a thwart any form of political eavesdropping or espionage. In as much as traffic analysi s is justified on security grounds, this approach compromises on the privacy of emails since through the process, access to the private email messages of individuals or corporate is gained. The other potential risk with regard to email privacy is the possibility of altering and modification of the contents of the email. Using spoofing tools, unscrupulous individual can intercept an email message on transit or storage and then modify the contents of such messages. Rao and Upadhyaya (2009) argue that the other potential risk of email privacy is the issue of masquerading; it is possible for an individual to send an email in the name of another person or any corporation. Moreover, it is worth noting that email messages can be resend to individuals more

Materials Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Materials Development - Essay Example the gadget was made from low-cost materials it will keep on spoiling as it is not strong enough to withhold the magnitude of activities that are being performed on it. Therefore, it is important to produce high-cost gadget rather than low-cost as they will have more features; hence, creating a competitive market base. Producing low-cost materials is wasteful as most of the funds will be used in the marketing strategy, which may fail as the product is not eye-catching. I did not buy my argument because it is not practical to make low-cost gadget that keep customers complaining and replacing. It is vital for an organization to make products that are competitive and that fulfil the customer’s needs (Yaeger, Thomas & Peter 118). I was swayed by the other team’s argument because when a gadget is produced with high-cost materials, it maintains customers as they are satisfied with the products as they have the necessary gadgets to use in the daily lives. Additionally, high-cost products mean that the organization will patent their technology, thus, ensuring that no other products are made with the same features; hence, lowering the value of low-cost materials. Moreover, making low-cost products will mean more clean-up, replacement, which decreases customer loyalty towards the products making the low-cost products