Thursday, November 28, 2019

10 Fascinating Facts About Beetles

10 Fascinating Facts About Beetles Beetles inhabit nearly every ecological niche on the planet. This group includes some of our most beloved bugs, as well as our most reviled pests. Here are 10 fascinating facts about beetles, our largest insect order. One out of Every Four Animals on Earth Is a Beetle Beetles are the largest group of living organisms known to science, bar none. Even with plants included in the count, one in every five known organisms is a beetle. Scientists have described over 350,000 species of beetles, with many more still undiscovered, undoubtedly. By some estimates, there may be as many as 3 million beetle species living on the planet. The order Coleoptera is the largest order in the entire animal kingdom. Beetles Live Everywhere You can find beetles almost anywhere on the planet, from pole to pole, according to entomologist Stephen Marshall. They inhabit both terrestrial and freshwater aquatic habitats, from forests to grasslands, deserts to tundras, and from beaches to mountaintops. You can even find beetles on some of the worlds most remote islands. The British geneticist (and atheist) J. B. S. Haldane is purported to have said that God must have an inordinate fondness for beetles. Perhaps this accounts for their presence and number in every corner of this globe we call Earth. Most Adult Beetles Wear Body Armor One of the traits that make beetles so easy to recognize is their hardened forewings, which serve as armor to protect the more delicate flight wings and soft abdomen underneath. The famed philosopher Aristotle coined the order name Coleoptera, which comes from the Greek koleon, meaning sheathed, and ptera, meaning wings. When beetles fly, they hold these protective wing covers (called elytra) out to the sides, allowing the hindwings to move freely and keep them airborne. Beetles Vary Dramatically in Size As you would expect from a group of insects so numerous, beetles range in size from nearly microscopic to downright gigantic. The shortest beetles are the featherwing beetles (family Ptiliidae), most of which measure less than 1 millimeter long. Of these, the smallest of all is a species called the fringed ant beetle, Nanosella fungi, which reaches only 0.25 mm in length and weighs just 0.4 milligrams. On the other end of the size spectrum, the Goliath beetle (Goliathus goliathus) tips the scales at 100 grams. The longest known beetle hails from South America. The appropriately named Titanus giganteus can reach 20 centimeters long. Adult Beetles Chew Their Food That might seem obvious, but not all insects do so. Butterflies, for example, sip liquid nectar from their own built-in straw, called a proboscis. One common trait all adult beetles and most beetle larvae share is mandibulate mouthparts, made just for chewing. Most beetles feed on plants, but some (like ladybugs) hunt and eat smaller insect prey. Carrion feeders use those strong jaws to gnaw on skin or hides. A few even feed on fungus. Whatever theyre dining on, beetles chew their food thoroughly before swallowing. In fact, the common name beetle is thought to derive from the Old English word bitela, meaning little biter. Beetles Have a Big Impact on the Economy Only a tiny fraction of the overall insect population can be considered pests; most insects never cause us any trouble at all. But because so many are phytophagous, the order Coleoptera does include quite a few pests of economic importance. Bark beetles (like the mountain pine beetle) and wood-borers (such as the exotic emerald ash borer) kill millions of trees each year. Farmers spend millions on pesticides and other controls for agricultural pests like the western corn rootworm or the Colorado potato beetle. Pests like the Khapra beetle feed on stored grains, causing more economic losses well after the harvest is completed. Just the money spent by gardeners on Japanese beetle pheromone traps (some would say money wasted on pheromone traps) is greater than the GDP of some small countries! Beetles Can Be Noisy Many insects are famous for their sounds. Cicadas, crickets, grasshoppers, and katydids all serenade us with songs. Many beetles produce sounds, too, although not nearly as melodic as those of their Orthopteran cousins. Deathwatch beetles bang their heads again the walls of their wood tunnels, making a surprisingly loud knocking sound. Some darkling beetles tap their abdomens on the ground. A good number of beetles stridulate, particularly when handled by humans. Have you ever picked up a June beetle? Many, like the ten-lined June beetle, will squeal when you do. Both male and female bark beetles chirp, probably as a courtship ritual and a means of finding one another. Some Beetles Glow in the Dark Species in certain beetle families produce light. Their bioluminescence occurs through a chemical reaction involving an enzyme called luciferase. Fireflies (family Lampyridae) flash signals to attract potential mates, with a light organ on the abdomen. In glowworms (family Phengodidae), the light organs run down the sides of the thoracic and abdominal segments, like tiny glowing windows on a railroad boxcar (and thus their nickname, railroad worms). Glowworms also sometimes have an additional light organ on the head, which glows red! Tropical click beetles (​family Elateridae) also produce light by virtue a pair of oval light organs on the thorax and a third light organ on the abdomen. Weevils Are Beetles, Too Weevils, easily recognized by their elongated, almost comical beaks, are really just a type of beetle. The superfamily Curculionoidea includes the snout beetles and various types of weevils. When you look at a weevils long snout, you might assume they feed by piercing and sucking their meal, much like the true bugs. But dont be fooled, weevils belong to the order Coleoptera. Just as all other beetles do, weevils have mandibulate mouthparts made for chewing. In the case of the weevil, however, the mouthparts are usually tiny and are found just at the tip of that long beak. Many weevils cause significant damage to their plant hosts, and for this reason, we consider them pests. Beetles Have Been Around for About 270 Million Years The first beetle-like organisms in the fossil record date back to the Permian Period, roughly 270 million years ago. True beetles - those that resemble our modern-day beetles - first appeared about 230 million years ago. Beetles were already in existence before the breakup of the supercontinent Pangaea, and they survived the K/T extinction event thought to have doomed the dinosaurs. How have beetles survived for so long, and withstood such extreme events? As a group, beetles have proved remarkably adept at adapting to ecological changes. Sources Insects - Their Natural History and Diversity, by Stephen A. MarshallBorror and DeLongs Introduction to the Study of Insects, 7th edition, by Charles A. Triplehorn and Norman F. JohnsonEncyclopedia of Insects, edited by Vincent H. Resh and Ring T. Carde. Featherwing Beetles - Insecta: Coleoptera: Ptiliidae, University of Florida. Accessed December 13, 2012.Coleoptera : The biggest, the smallest ? How many beetles are there?, Coleoptera website. Accessed December 13, 2012.Plant pests: The biggest threats to food security?, BBC News, November 8, 2011. Accessed December 13, 2012.Introduction to Bioluminescent Beetles, by Dr. John C. Day, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Oxford. Accessed December 17, 2012Glow-Worms, Railroad-Worms, University of Florida, accessed December 17, 2012.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Lebensraum - Hitlers Policy of Eastern Expansion

Lebensraum - Hitlers Policy of Eastern Expansion The geopolitical concept of Lebensraum (German for living space) was the idea  that land expansion was essential to the survival of a people. Used originally to support colonialism, Nazi leader Adolf Hitler adapted the concept of Lebensraum to support his quest for German expansion to the east. Who Came up With the Idea of Lebensraum? The concept of Lebensraum (living space)  originated with German geographer and ethnographer  Friedrich Ratzel (1844-1904). Ratzel studied how humans reacted to their environment and were especially interested in human migration. In 1901, Ratzel published an essay called Der Lebensraum (The Living Space), in which he posited that all peoples (as well as animals and plants) needed to expand their living space in order to survive. Many in Germany believed Ratzels concept of  Lebensraum supported their interest in establishing colonies, following the examples of the British and French empires. Hitler, on the other, hand, took it a step farther. Hitlers Lebensraum In general, Hitler agreed with the concept of expansion to add more living space for the German Volk (people). As he stated in his book,  Mein Kampf: [W]ithout consideration of traditions and prejudices, it [Germany] must find the courage to gather our people and their strength for an advance along the road that will lead this people from its present restricted living space to new land and soil, and hence also free it from the danger of vanishing from the earth or of serving others as a slave nation.- Adolf Hitler,   Mein Kampf   1 However, rather than adding colonies to make Germany larger, Hitler wanted to enlarge Germany within Europe. For it is not in colonial acquisitions that we must see the solution of this problem, but exclusively in the acquisition of a territory for settlement, which will enhance the area of the mother country, and hence not only keep the new settlers in the most intimate community with the land of their origin, but secure for the total area those advantages which lie in its unified magnitude.- Adolf Hitler,   Mein Kampf 2 Adding living space was believed to strengthen Germany by helping solve internal problems, make it militarily stronger, and help make Germany become economically self-sufficient by adding food and other raw material sources. Hitler looked east for Germanys expansion in Europe. It was in this view that Hitler added a racist element to Lebensraum. By stating that the Soviet Union was run by Jews (after the Russian Revolution), then Hitler concluded Germany had a right to take Russian land. For centuries Russia drew nourishment from this Germanic nucleus of its upper leading strata. Today it can be regarded as almost totally exterminated and extinguished. It has been replaced by the Jew. Impossible as it is for the Russian by himself to shake off the yoke of the Jew by his own resources, it is equally impossible for the Jew to maintain the mighty empire forever. He himself is no element of organization, but a ferment of decomposition. The Persian empire in the east is ripe for collapse. And the end of Jewish rule in Russia will also be the end of Russia as a state.- Adolf Hitler,   Mein Kampf   3 Hitler was clear in his book  Mein Kampf  that the concept of Lebensraum was essential to his ideology.  In 1926, another important book about Lebensraum was published Hans Grimms book  Volk ohne Raum  (A People without Space). This book became a classic on Germanys need for space and the books title soon became a popular National Socialist slogan. In Summary In Nazi ideology, Lebensraum meant the expansion of Germany to the east in search of a unity between the German Volk and the land (the Nazi concept of Blood and Soil). The Nazi-modified theory of Lebensraum became Germanys foreign policy during the Third Reich. Notes 1. Adolf Hitler,  Mein Kampf  (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971) 646.2. Hitler,  Mein Kampf  653.3. Hitler,  Mein Kampf  655. Bibliography Bankier, David. Lebensraum.  Encyclopedia of the Holocaust. Israel Gutman (ed.) New York: Macmillan Library Reference, 1990. Hitler, Adolf.  Mein Kampf. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971. Zentner, Christian and Friedmann Bedà ¼rftig (eds.).  The Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. New York: Da Capo Press, 1991.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Legislative Process in Arizona Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Legislative Process in Arizona - Essay Example The first step is proposing the bill to legislation. If there are no objections on the bill, it will be sent to the appropriate committee. If there are objections on the bill, it's put on the Calendar and postponed to another date. The bill will also become available to the public on the next Congressional Record (Elllars). The days before committee meetings tend to generate greater public attention on the bill, resulting in an increase of lobbyist and interest groups. During this time period, bills will be subjected to the amendment process. (Gnant, 1999). If the bill makes it through the committee meaning, the process is still nowhere near complete. The Rules Committee must also approve that the bill is constitutional. All senators will come to discuss open bills during the caucus, but there is no formal voting. The Committee of the Whole can then decide to pass it on to be approved by the president (Gnant, 1999). There are so many processes to passing a bill into a law. It is because of these processes that make Arizona legislature so unique. From the time that a bill to proposed to become a law, public opinion can have great effects on the outcome. The legislation in Arizona give much more political power to the average individual. To exercise this power, citizens should be informed of current initiatives or legislative bills that are being considered. Anyone can access these bills through the Arizona Legislative website. One bill that is currently in process is SB 1108, which states, "The primary purpose of public education is the inculcation of the values of American citizenship." (Forde, 2008.) This bill would put restrictions on race-based organizations in public schools. Personally, I disagree with this bill and believe that it infringes on our right to express who we are. I believe that banning these types of organizations is a way to force students to assimilate. The idea of multiculturalism is dead in the United States as it is. This bill further illustrates our ethnocentricism, or "displaying the emotional attitude that regards one's own group or culture as superior and is contemptuous of other groups and cultures." (Jain, 1990). Banning race-based organizations would strengthen the belief that American culture should ride over anyone else's culture. Believing that an immigrant can and should completely throw out their old customs and culture is obviously ignorant and ethnocentric, but banning minorities from organizing with people they share an ethnic identity with is almost just as ignorant. For many students, the idea of assimilation is a challenging factor that plagues them for years. Having these types of organizations can help them to be more comfortable in American culture while also developing bonds with people they identify with. To ban r ace-based organizations is to force assimilation, and the law should not be passed. Clearly, the political process is a significant role in all our lives, whether we choose to participate or not. Luckily for the people of Arizona, the voice of the public can be heard far more clearly than many states. No matter where you live, however, you have the responsibility to stand up for what you believe in and take advantage of our democracy.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

The Outcome of Organized Efforts of Workers in the Lowell and Triangle Case Study

The Outcome of Organized Efforts of Workers in the Lowell and Triangle Factories in the 19th century - Case Study Example The Lowell Factory is located beside the Pawtucket Falls. It is in Massachusetts, which is but one of America’s early and vital industrial cities. Just like the Triangle Factory, the Lowell Factory also majored in textile production.The conditions of Lowell’s factory were far from the modern American standards back at the time. The workers worked from 5:00 am to 7:00 pm amounting to an average of 73 hours per week. The working conditions were extremely uncomfortable with 80 people in a room, which was hot and the windows remained closed even during the summer.   The air in the rooms was filled with small elements of fabric and fiber.The machines made a noise that was not comfortable for the human ear. Although the visitors of the company were persuaded that the factory had perfect working conditions, the workers were always complaining because of draining work, which was termed as unsympathetic to the cerebral maturity. In terms of the living quarters, only women got an opportunity to secure a chance to a boarding house. The houses were congested with an average of six women sharing a sleeping room.On the other hand, the Triangle Factory also had poor working conditions. The workers, who were mostly women, were subjected to utter exploitation and little pay since they were immigrants and were desperately in need of a job.In Lowell’s Factory, in February 1834, the Board of Directors appealed to the managers of the factory to reduce the wages of the workers. This plus the previous factors agitated the women who organized for a strike. The strike did not work and the conditions worsened. They organized another which was successful leading to the reduction of house rent.   In 1845, the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association was started. The association was entirely led by the women who designated their own leaders and piloted their meetings.   They positioned other branches of the same kind in other mill towns. They also invited men in th eir meetings who were asked to treat the women as their equals.

Monday, November 18, 2019

Project management performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Project management performance - Essay Example These shortcomings increase the confounding effects of the productivity variables measured and analyzed. The figures calculated for each of the variables of productivity (factor productivity ratios) over a period of time can be systematically plotted to identify and predict a trend that shows change in productivity. The figures for each variable can be monitored individually or collectively with other variables. To monitor productivity over a period of one year productivity metrics for each month have to be calculated. The change in productivity (trend) between one month and another or across the 12 months can be identified by simply calculating the difference in the productivity metrics. The trend can be graphically represented by plotting the productivity metric over a period of year. Fig 1 shows a trend for multifactor (labor and capital) productivity ratio calculated for the months of January is 0.560, February 0.585, March 0.615, April 0.616, May 0.610, June 0.623, July 0.623, August 0.634, September 0.598, October 0.590, November 0.589 and December 0.590. Also for the trend ident ified to be more meaningful, the variable(s) plotted must be compared with productivity of other firms with factors similar to the one in question. This can be done by comparing the productivity metrics with external benchmarks. The last bar in Fig 1 represents the benchmark for similar (small catering/restaurants service). The operation manager of the food service unit can therefore comparatively monitor performance of the unit. The work of the operation manager can be made simpler if s/he uses Microsoft Project application to measure and monitor schedule performance of staff and inputs (monetized resources). This application will allow the manager to handle large variety of data and to (intra) extrapolate outcomes. The operation managers can use the information (factor

Friday, November 15, 2019

A Streetcar Named Desire | Analysis

A Streetcar Named Desire | Analysis A Streetcar Named Desire, a play by a Southern playwright Tennessee Williams, presents the problems of the United States after both wars and Great Depression. It also touches the issues of immigrant families and the old settlers. Although the play is situated in the South but the compelling manner in which he provides themes makes it rather universal. A Streetcar Named Desire has two strong characters Blanche DuBois and Stanley Kowalski that are concurrently similar and different. Both try to hide their own weakness but in a different way and try to get rid of their inner and also outer problem, but in a different way. Blanche DuBois arrives to her sisters apartment, which is located in New Orleanss part called Elysian Fields, to escape from her unpleasant reality. She and her sister Stella Kowalski are descendants of the old Southern aristocracy and they are descendants of the old immigrants. Even at the beginning of the play Blanche DuBois is considered to be a fallen woman in the eyes of others. She lost all family fortune and family estate Belle Reve, she was present her husbands suicide, her history of sexual relationships is very rich and she also has a serious drinking problem which she tries to cover up. Blanche is an opposite character to her sister Stella. According to their individual past they symbolize dark and light, dirty and clean characters. Blanche, who has very rich personal history which is a heavy burden to her and in fact forces her to leave a family estate behind and leave her hometown, in the play undertakes a process of cleaning herself and she tries to brush her life from every mistake she made and start new life. Underneath all the dirt and sins, there is an insecure, dislocated individual. In A Streetcar Named Desire there are several processes and action for that purpose. The cleaning does not include only personal history, reputation, her body but also relationships and the way she is treated. Blanches problems with men started when she got married too young a hidden homosexual, who committed suicide after the confrontation with his sexuality. During her carrier as a teacher she seduced or was seduced by many men including her student. Although she probably never was alone in her hometown but certainly she was lonely. Because of all her dirty and bad history of her, she wants to make a relationship in a right way. For Blanche a vision of marriage with Mitch means to escape from dirty and sinful past, to clean herself from the other men. In this case, the wearing of white dress, which is a colour of innocence, as a bride would symbolically clean her history with men. Mens exploitation of her sexuality has left her with a very poor reputation and with that came destitution. She believes she is an honorable lady of South who deserves to be treated that way but with all the gossips she cannot be. She tries to find a typical Southern gentleman who can save her and take care of her. This chivalric man is in the play represented by non-existing millionaire Shep Huntleigh. Blanche is depending on sexual admirations of men for it brings her almost lost self-esteem. In spite of every attempt for gaining normal marriage and dignity she fails again. Blanche will never be able to clean herself from the past and men because of her relying on them and putting her fate in their hands. The dependency and inability to see thing realistically leads to inevitable downfall rather than to purge. The strongest motif of the cleaning processes is bathing. Blanche bathes throughout the whole A Streetcar Named Desire. She claims that the hot water calms her nerves and in the Scene Two she says, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦all freshly bathed and scented, and feeling like a brand new human being! So the cleaning is taken as a physical symbol on the one hand metaphorically and on the other hand literally. Her sexual experiences made her a dirty person and subconsciously she wants to get rid of her odious history. Her efforts to forget and clean herself cannot erase her past and because of that her bathing takes a long time, it is almost never done. Blanches constant bathing starts in the Scene Two. Stanley and Stella are talking about the lost of Belle Reve. Stella is satisfied with the Blanches answer that it had to be sacrificed. However, pragmatic Stanley wants to see all the papers concerning the family estate. He seemed to always hope of owning the estate or take an advantage from its sale. Stanley checks clothes in Blanches trunk and accuses Blanche that money from the sale is in her wardrobe now instead of in his pocket. While Blanche is bathing first facts about her history is revealing. She baths as she would like to wash her guilt of losing the Belle Reve. And behind her back others are deciding of her future. During bathing Blanche is singing. In Scene Two and Seven there is a popular ballad Its Only a Paper Moon. The lyrics Its a Barnum and Bailey world / Just as phony as it can be / But it wouldnt be make-believe / If you believed in me, describe the world where love is turn from reality into a phony fantasy. Love dos not exist in the real world and it is only imagined. It narrates Blanches life and her strong believe that her future happiness with Mitch lies in her behaviour. Blanche thinks that if she would try hard enough the hope would have become reality. The song very well accompanies the process of cleaning herself during bathing. Tennessee Williams use a juxtaposition of Blanches perception of her love life and the cruel reality, Blanches optimistic interpretation of the song with Stanleys mischievous revelations about her. Williams creates an ironic dramatic situation where Blanche is singing about, in fact, nonsense. As Blanche takes a bath Stanley tells Stella about her sisters sexual history. Other important thing is taking place behind Blanches back. Stanley tells Stella that he also told the whole history not only to her but also to Mich. Stella is now sure that Mitch will never marry Blanche because of that. While Blanche is bathing other important information about her reveals. On the outside Blanche appears to be fresh and temporarily renewed. However, she fails the process of cleaning herself from past and her reputation again. Stanley has objections against Blanches constant bathing. On a metaphorical level he shows his rejections towards Blanches processes of cleaning and purification. There is other song Blanche is using for getting rid of her past and becoming as innocent as she was when she has been still married. The Varsouviana Polka is the tune which she hears in her head. It is also a tune which she was dancing with her husband and when she last saw him alive. The song reminds Blanche times of innocence and the time when the decline of her life became. The day when Allen Grey committed suicide she saw him with other male friend in bed and pretended that nothing happened. However, during dancing on the tune of Varsouviana Polka she told him that she found him disgusting. The polka represents Blanches longing for innocence which is already lost. First Blanche hears it during the meeting of Stanley in the Scene One. Other appearance of the tune accompanies Blanches narration of her young husbands death. Since her mental decline begins she can hear the Varsouviana Polka constantly. For the purposes of process of cleaning she tires to move her miseries out of rea lity and focuses on her imaginary dream past world, she focuses on the becoming innocent again. In fact, her insanity is a token of regression to ideal imaginary environment. In conclusion, Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire tries through various ways to get rid of the past, sins, mistakes, memories and reputation. She arrived in Elysian Fields, which is the place where souls come before they can come back to our world, we can assume that her journey will start all over again. So from the beginning it is clear that Blanche is going to fail. Her problems go hand in hand. Her troubles with man would be cleaned by a wearing of a white dress at her wedding with Mitch, Blanches obsessive bathing resembles plunging of souls, the processes of cleaning are very psychic because she hopes to get away her habitual sins, alcohol does not wash away memories and also the songs which accompanied washing of the sins away do not help. Blanche is forced to leave with all her mistakes back to the rough reality but from the fresh new start but to the same stained history and reputation. Literature Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire . New York: Signet, 1974.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Essay --

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE After one year's work experience as an electrical engineer at ________, a private LPG filling company with various filling plants located in Pakistan. After the completion of my undergraduate degree in 2012, I have been making constant efforts to develop better understanding in the field of Electrical Engineering. So, I joined_____________ and worked there as a Trainee Electrical Engineer for over 1 year. My training responsibilities areas were circuit breakers supervision, switch yard equipment and bus-bars calculation observation, making reports of ratings, and readings of generators and transformers. I want to return to academic study and undertake postgraduate course Master of Engineering Electrical (Power) at University of South Australia. I am greatly inspired to accomplish my aspiration to become a professional in the field of Power and Energy Systems. Beside aspiration the other reason I am choosing electrical power is of job perspective that the jobs related to electrical po wer are almost in every industry from smaller to a multinational. In under-graduation program I learned THEORY together with interesting practical course work to strengthen the fundamentals of Electrical Engineering. After graduating from the department of electrical engineering at the Institute of COMSATS institute of information technology in computer engineering. I felt that a practical experience is needed before going on to a postgraduate course. I learned the latest technologies in microprocessor systems, personal responsibility and teamwork. My undergraduate program has given me strong grasp in engineering basic subjects. I developed a deep interest in the practical course work of electric machines and control system as i... ...Os, worked with them as a volunteer (Social Mobilizer). I am greatly interested in the field of Power. I am convinced that your comprehensive curriculum is sufficient to help me develop into well-trained specialist in power systems. After completing my MS, I aim to become a highly acclaimed professional. On returning to Pakistan after pursuing my M.S. in electrical engineering, the knowledge that I have received in this field would be of great benefit to the electrical energy industry in Pakistan and the place where I will work. As such I would be well equipped to make a certain amount of impact on society and economy. It is heartfelt desire that I may continue my path of success with your international students. I am sure my technical skills would be greatly appreciated and would helpful to be considered for the Master of Science program in your reputed University.