Insect Behavior, Communication and Learning

Insect Behavior, Communication and Learning Most insect behavior is genetically programmed, or innate. A caterpillar with no prior experience or instruction can still spin a silken cocoon. But can an insect change its behavior as a result of its experiences? In other words, can insects learn? Insects Use Memories to Change Their Behavior You wont see one graduating from Harvard anytime soon, but indeed, most insects can learn. Smart insects will change their behaviors to reflect their associations with and memories of environmental stimuli. For the simple insect nervous system, learning to ignore repetitive and meaningless stimuli is a fairly easy task. Blow air on a cockroachs rear end, and it will flee. If you continue to blow air on the cockroach over and over, it will eventually conclude that the sudden breeze is no cause for concern, and stay put. This learning, called habituation, helps insects save energy by training them to ignore what is harmless. Otherwise, the poor cockroach would spend all its time running away from the wind. Insects Learn From Their Earliest Experiences Imprinting occurs during a brief period of sensitivity to certain stimuli. Youve probably heard stories of baby ducks falling in line behind a human caretaker, or of nesting sea turtles that return to the beach where they hatched years earlier. Some insects also learn this way. Upon emerging from their pupal cases, ants notice and retain the scent of their colony. Other insects imprint on their first food plant, showing a clear preference for that plant for the remainder of their lives. Insects Can Be Trained   Like Pavlovs dogs, insects can also learn through classical conditioning. An insect exposed repeatedly to two unrelated stimuli will soon associate one with the other. Wasps can be given food rewards each time they detect a certain scent. Once a wasp associates food with the smell, it will continue to go to that scent. Some scientists believe trained wasps may replace bomb and drug sniffing dogs in the near future. Honeybees Memorize Flight Routes and Communicate with Dance Routines A honeybee demonstrates its ability to learn each time it leaves its colony to forage. The bee must memorize patterns of landmarks within its environment to guide it back to the colony. Often, she is following the instructions of a fellow worker, as taught to her through the waggle dance. This memorization of details and events is a form of latent learning.

Role of HR Department in the Success of an Organisation Essay

Role of HR Department in the Success of an Organisation - Essay Example The entrance of new enterprises in corporate arena has intensified the competition among firms; hence every entity is more focused towards cost leadership so that it could ensure business survival and expansion. Indeed, the old workplace rules, regulations, requirements and criteria have been replaced by new workplace standards and roles so that the organisations could flourish in an absolutely uncertain, unpredictable, unclear, unstructured and unexpected business environment. The new workplace demands a greater emphasis on open communication, information sharing and team building that, in turn, leads to greater coordination, collaboration and cooperation among employees – employers. Unequivocally, Human Resource Management plays its vital role in goal accomplishment and organisational success because HR managers are solely responsible for recruitment, selection, training and skills development, employee compensation, placement, performance evaluation and retrenchment. For in stance, the aforementioned functions are also a part of employee resourcing, which sometimes also known as strategic resourcing (Kato, 2009); (Alcazar et al, 2005). It is worthwhile to mention that the debate on employee (strategic) resourcing has been intensified because of the increasingly vital role of HR department in the success of an organisation. Nevertheless, HR professionals are also aware of the fact that employees tend to face work-family conflicts when they are bombarded with excessive tasks and job requirements coupled with unrealistic goals and targets that are unachievable. For instance, employment discrimination and glass ceiling restrict the entry and progress of many deserving workers, which comes under unfair behaviour. Next, employers tend to force employees to work for additional hours without any extra disbursements/payments for overtime (Webster, 2011). Therefore, the employee resourcing task becomes complicated and challenging for enterprises of the 21st cent ury, which could not assimilate excessive business costs as an outcome of low productivity (due to employee dissatisfaction and low job morale) and higher employee turnover rate (Morrell et al, 2001). The paper will remain specific to the discussion of issues faced by organisations in employee resourcing and their implications. The researcher will critically evaluate and analyse the core issues with reference to existing literature as well as provide practical examples to comprehend this topic. The researcher will then demonstrate the procedures that could facilitate in employee resourcing. Finally, the researcher will present conclusions and discuss some useful recommendations based on his practical exposure and working experience in today’s corporate arena. 2. Analysis Employee Resourcing is a concept that refers to techniques, instruments and procedures used by employers and HR professionals in organizing/resourcing their business units in a manner that could facilitate in target setting and goal accomplishment. Employee resourcing is an extensive process that covers almost all Human Resource Management functions such as staffing, administration, change management, organisational control and performance standards. . In other words, Raiden et al (2009) have pointed out that Employee resourcing is beneficial for an enterprise because it leads to the creation of a best pool of employees who could adjust themselves in the operational environment and could efficiently utilise organisational resources to meet strategic goals and assigned objectives.  

Management Simulation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Management Simulation - Essay Example A joint SWOT and PESTEL analysis identify various internal and external environmental factors to the enterprise. Competition, a threat under the SWOT model and a political factor under the PESTEL model, from firms such as Valentino, The Junction Shop and Pub Prince of Wales is a major factor that has led to poor market command, and is likely to dictate lower prices for the firm’s commodities. The competition into poor sales also limits the entity’s output volume. Weak management, a weakness under SWOT model, is another factor to the organization as poor insights into the competitive environment illustrates. This has led to poor forecast of the business’ financial capacity and competitiveness, and may force the business into urgent borrowing or force a shut down. Lack of proper marketing initiatives for countering the existing competition is another significant weakness. This has maintained low level of market command and therefore limited the organization’ s production level. The other SWOT and PESTEL elements are not identifiable (Webster 2010, p. 88). Health-in-Pizza Ltd.’s competitive situation and potential action plan for improvements The competitive business environment puts Health-in-Pizza Ltd. at a disadvantage against its competitors. Major targets such as college students and the business class have not been visiting the enterprise and price is a major factor because Health-in-Pizza Ltd. is 20 percent more expensive than its competitors are. Two strategies are available for improving the business’ position in the market, price reduction and a direct approach to promoting the entity’s products among the target population. Health-in-Pizza Ltd. should reduce its prices to values that are equivalent to, or bellow, prices offered by the competitors. This is because the trend in the past five months has shown that the market, regardless of its segments’ social classes is determined by pizza’s price. Awareness campaigns to enlighten the market of the health benefits of Health-in-Pizza Ltd.’s pizza and its reviewed prices should then follow this to change the developed attitude that the business is expensive. Section B Expected effects of environmental changes on the business Entry of a new supplier with cheaper products will reduce the entity’s operational costs and therefore increase its profit margin. This will further allow

Marketing and Britannia Essay Example for Free

Marketing and Britannia Essay The story of one of Indias favorite brands reads almost like a fairy tale. Once upon a time, in 1892 to be precise, a biscuit company was started in a nondescript house in Calcutta (now Kolkata) with an initial investment of Rs. 295. The company we all know as Britannia today. The beginnings might have been humble-the dreams were anything but. By 1910, with the advent of electricity, Britannia mechanized its operations, and in 1921, it became the first company east of the Suez Canal to use imported gas ovens. Britannias business was flourishing. But, more importantly, Britannia was acquiring a reputation for quality and value. As a result, during the tragic World War II, the Government reposed its trust in Britannia by contracting it to supply large quantities of service biscuits to the armed forces. As time moved on, the biscuit market continued to grow†¦ and Britannia grew along with it. In 1975, the Britannia Biscuit Company took over the distribution of biscuits from Parrys who till now distributed Britannia biscuits in India. In the subsequent public issue of 1978, Indian shareholding crossed 60%, firmly establishing the Indianness of the firm. The following year, Britannia Biscuit Company was re-christened Britannia Industries Limited (BIL). Four years later in 1983, it crossed the Rs. 100 crores revenue mark. On the operations front, the company was making equally dynamic strides. In 1992, it celebrated its Platinum Jubilee. In 1997, the company unveiled its new corporate identity Eat Healthy, Think Better and made its first foray into the dairy products market. In 1999, the Britannia Khao, World Cup Jao promotion further fortified the affinity consumers had with Brand Britannia. Britannia strode into the 21st Century as one of Indias biggest brands and the pre-eminent food brand of the country. It was equally recognized for its innovative approach to products and marketing: the Lagaan Match was voted Indias most successful promotional activity of the year 2001 while the delicious Britannia 50-50 Maska-Chaska became Indias most successful product launch. In 2002, Britannias New Business Division formed a joint venture with Fonterra, the worlds second largest Dairy Company, and Britannia New Zealand Foods Pvt. Ltd. was born. In recognition of its vision and accelerating graph, Forbes Global rated Britannia One amongst the Top 200 Small Companies of the World, and The Economic Times pegged Britannia Indias 2nd Most Trusted Brand. Today, more than a century after those tentative first steps, Britannias fairy tale is not only going strong but blazing new standards, and that miniscule initial investment has grown by leaps and bounds to crores of rupees in wealth for Britannias shareholders. The companys offerings are spread across the spectrum with products ranging from the healthy and economical Tiger biscuits to the more lifestyle-oriented Milkman Cheese. This is because NutriChoice SugarOut is sweetened with Sucralose, derived from sugar, which provides the same sweetness as any other biscuit, without the added calories of sugar. This range is available in 3 delicious variants namely Lifetime, Chocolate cream, and Orange cream, targeted towards all health sensitive people. It is also relevant for consumers with sugar related ailments. Customers are pleasantly delighted with its great taste and equally surprised to know that it has no added sugar. Dont be taken for a ride when you read Sugar Free label on many biscuit packs marketed in India or abroad. Even with 100% no-added sugar, wheat-cereals in biscuits have their own natural sugar content. Britannia has chosen to represent these biscuits with No Added Sugar claim, as there is no added sugar in the processing of NutriChoice SugarOut. Britannia 50-50 Pepper Chakkar The launch of the latest 50-50 variant left everybody guessing What it eez? From TV ads, radio, outdoor and in-store display materials to events, a website and SMS and email blasts, traditional and new media were blended synergistically to create excitement and curiosity about the unique taste of the biscuit. The tangy and distinctive pepper flavoured biscuit, thats thin and crispy and more like a snack, caught the imagination of a younger audience craving something to nibble on. The 50-50 Pepper Chakkar launch is truly a case of leveraging the marketing mix to best advantage. Biscuits derive its name from a French word meaning twice backed bread; Biscuits in general have a good shelf life, which is higher than all other snack items available in the market. India is the second largest producer of biscuits in the world after the U. S. A. but still the per capita consumption is only 2. kg/year of developed countries. As per the latest survey done by N. C. A. E. R. , 49 biscuits are consumed in rural areas. The penetration of biscuits into households stands at an average of 83. 2% with the rural penetration at 77% and urban penetration at 88%. Biscuits are reserved for the small scale sector but there are strong possibilities of the industry being deserved in line with the government policy of liberalization. The net effect thus would be greater choice for the consumer as well as a check on the costs. The country production of the biscuits during 2004-05 was 18. Lac tons of which 1/2 were manufactured by the organized sector. The industry turn over was 5322. 7 Crores of which organized sector contributed 2519. 3 crores. Britannia, makers of Britannia biscuits, doubled capacity from 25 tonnes a day to 50 tonnes and plans to be a national brand soon. In an aggressive mode, the North dominated biscuit player has increased its ad budget to Rs. 5 crore this year from Rs. 3 crore last year. Britannia has also recently invested about Rs. 5 crore in the modernization and expansion of its production and packing its production capacity of 40 tonnes per day to 100 tonnes per day by next year. The aim: to take the current turnover of Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 100 crore by the year. The low priced brand claims to have a 15 per cent market share in the North and is aggressively eyeing a bigger bite of the Rs. 2,500 crore biscuit industries. The brand plans to gain a 40 per cent market share in the North by the year of. The companys strategy has been to attract new consumer segments and widen its consumer base with its well packaged low priced offerings. Britannias success has also come from its formidable. The applicability of various branding strategies play crucial role in arketing in product. the applicability has grown due to the liberalization, competition and technological changes taking place in corporate world. In this project the various branding strategies adopted by the company has been studied and compared on the basis of current market scenario. It gives the idea about the market share enjoyed by the different companies in the Biscuit Industry. It provides the adequate coverage of many issues related to biscuit industry. The objective of this report is to give the market share of Britannia biscuits in the Indian capital (New Delhi). It has been made possible by knowing the consumers behaviour and by studying the patterns adopted by the retailers. It gives us very precise view about the existing demand of Britannia biscuits and demand of their products as compared to other competitors. It also highlights the changing market trends and consumer preferences, why they have shifted from finally pack to pouch pack. The annual growth rate of the industry is about 12. 5%. However, the growth of cream biscuits, assorted or special variety is the range of 30-40%. The organized sector consists of large, medium and small scale biscuit manufacturers who produce packed biscuits. The major players in this sector are Britannia, Bakeman’s, and Parle, etc. the unorganized sector comprises of small bakery units, cottage and household type manufacturing plants. These units distribute their biscuits in the surrounding vicinity of their manufacturing locations of say 20-50 kms. The country production of biscuits during 2005-06 is estimated to be about 19. 5 lack tons. Out of which 1/2 again is expected from unorganized sector.

The Last Of The Mohicans : Movie Review Essay -- Film Movies

The Last Of The Mohicans : Movie Review A. Plot Whilst making their way to a British Fort, Major Heywood and his party are attacked by Indians. Three men come to their rescue, two of them Indians, and another is a white man whom was raised by the eldest Indian. This man, Hawkeye, his brother and father rescue the Major and the two women that are in his party. Then the three men stay with the party and aide them in their journey to the British Fort. Once there, the two women’s father whom is the man in charge of the huge battle going on at that time. The French and English are at war. Colonists are urged to fight for Britain, and once they become part of the battle, they were not allowed to leave to defend their own homes. Hawkeye works out a secret plan in order to help some men escape the battle zone and return to their homes and families. He gets caught, and is sentenced for treachery, and held as a prisoner. From the first night that he was with the Major and his party, Hawkeye had a romance starting with Cora Munro, the main general’s eldest daughter. When Hawkeye is captured and put in the fort’s prison, she swears not to leave his side, and although they have only known each other for a few days, she’s really devoted to him. The two sides come to an agreement, Britain surrenders to France, and they are lead towards the Atlantic Ocean so that the British can be returned to England, â€Å"with pride†. On the route there they are ambushed by a very large band of Indians... The Last Of The Mohicans : Movie Review Essay -- Film Movies The Last Of The Mohicans : Movie Review A. Plot Whilst making their way to a British Fort, Major Heywood and his party are attacked by Indians. Three men come to their rescue, two of them Indians, and another is a white man whom was raised by the eldest Indian. This man, Hawkeye, his brother and father rescue the Major and the two women that are in his party. Then the three men stay with the party and aide them in their journey to the British Fort. Once there, the two women’s father whom is the man in charge of the huge battle going on at that time. The French and English are at war. Colonists are urged to fight for Britain, and once they become part of the battle, they were not allowed to leave to defend their own homes. Hawkeye works out a secret plan in order to help some men escape the battle zone and return to their homes and families. He gets caught, and is sentenced for treachery, and held as a prisoner. From the first night that he was with the Major and his party, Hawkeye had a romance starting with Cora Munro, the main general’s eldest daughter. When Hawkeye is captured and put in the fort’s prison, she swears not to leave his side, and although they have only known each other for a few days, she’s really devoted to him. The two sides come to an agreement, Britain surrenders to France, and they are lead towards the Atlantic Ocean so that the British can be returned to England, â€Å"with pride†. On the route there they are ambushed by a very large band of Indians...

Close Reading: Slaughterhouse Essay

â€Å"The Tralfamadorians tried to give Billy clues that would help him to imagine sex in the invisible dimension. They told him that there could be no Earthling babies without male homosexuals. There could be babies without female homosexuals. There couldn’t be babies without women over sixty-five years old. There could be babies without men over sixty-five. There couldn’t be babies without other babies who had lived an hour or less after birth. And so on.† The first time that I read this novel in high school, this passage interested and confused me. The thought of there being more than two genders present on the planet caught me off guard. While gender is not ever a subject that confuses me, this idea did not make sense to me. Gender, on Earth, is confined to male and female. It begs the question of what the Tralfamadorians consider to be a gender, in the third and fourth dimensions. Vonnegut leads us to assume that the genders must be those that he listed. We know that to make a human baby, you need a male and a female. Since he refers to homosexuality in this passage, it is safe to draw the connection that he considers homosexuals to be their own gender. That would lead readers to believe that the other sexes are a heterosexual male, heterosexual female, homosexual male and homosexual female. However, that only gives us four of the seven proposed genders. Based off of that theory, it would be safe to assume that the other genders would be a transgender male, a transgender female, and hermaphrodites. For someone who is an active member of the LGBTQIA (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and ally) community, this was a plausible, and easy, connection for me. However, if we were to consider what Vonnegut says later on in the passage, it could be that he considers the other genders to be something entirely different. If readers focus on the exact wording in the passage, it implies that the other five genders that exist in the fourth dimension are the homosexual males, homosexual females, women over sixty five years old, men over sixty five years old, and babies that live an hour or less after their own birth. If these are what Vonnegut has named as the fourth dimensional genders, he said that each of these is required for the birth of any Earthling child. In a way, this is correct. The Tralfamadorians state that there will be no Earthling babies without homosexual males, but there could not be babies with homosexual females. This statement was illogical to me. I believe that it is Vonnegut’s allusion to the different backgrounds that everyone comes from. No one’s family structure is exactly the same, and the discord that the Tralfamadorians speak of are the constantly changing social dynamics of the family structure. When it passage says that there could be Earthling babies without women over the age of sixty five years old, but there could be babies without men over the age of sixty five years old, this is a completely true statement. In regards to lineage, no Earthling child would have been born without its ancestors, and there would be more than one over the age of sixty five. Since any Earthling child must come from some form of parents, it is safe to believe that the Tralfamadorians are alluding to the family unit as a whole. The last category mentioned are the babies who â€Å"had lived an hour or less after birth.† While this does not necessarily mean that the death of these other Earthling children make it possible for another to be brought into the world, I believe that it means that everything happens for a reason. I think this is Vonnegut’s way of saying that while the death of any child is tragic, that everything in life is predetermined fate. The Tralfamadorians tell Billy that while the human beings live and exist in the third dimension, there is more that they cannot see or even understand in the fourth dimension. This explains how the human mind and belief are limited. I believe that Billy, having met the Tralfamadorians, has surpassed the rest of the human race in terms of opening his mind to be able to fathom the fourth dimension. The aliens, while they represent free will throughout the novel, also represent a level of higher thinking that humans have yet to attain, and is quite possibly completely out of reach.

The relationship between appearance sel-esteem and body image among men and women Free Essay Example, 1250 words

The study focused on global perspective with six domains ad while this did not identify significance, a modification that classified the target opulation into two domain identifies significance of contingency self worth as a determinant of the relationship between self esteem and attitude towards self. Significance in the latter results suggest that self esteem is significant to self image (Geng and Jiang, 2013). An independent study on eating habit, body dissatisfaction, and self esteem also identifies a potential association betweeb self esteem and body image. Acknowledging esistence of literature with divergent results on the relationship between the three factors, the authors explored pairwise association between the three variables. They used the Negative Physical Self Scale-Fatness, the State Self-Esteem Scale, and the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire Revised 18-Item Version to collect data from 376 chinese students. Self esteem reported significant mediator role in the relat ionship between body dissatisfaction and eating behavior through restrained eating, an indicator of the significant effects of self image on perceived body dissatisfaction (Kong, Zang, You, Fan, Tiang and Zhou, 2013). Armitage however notes that perceived body image may not necessarily be due to self-esteem. We will write a custom essay sample on The relationship between appearance sel-esteem and body image among men and women or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now Using 220 adolescents with a self affirmation treatment, before data collection on possible threats, body satisfaction, and self esteem, self affirmation was significant among girls with moderation effect of self esteem. Self affirmation was however not significal in the considered adolescent boys (Armitage, 2012). While literature identifies significance of self esteem to people’s self worth and secondary effects on health and activities in which people engage, empirical data offers conflicting intormation on significance of self-esteem on body image. Data for evaluating the relationship between self esteem and perception of body image are also largely subjective and this challenges validity of the developed knowledge for generalization. There is therefore need to establish the relationship for each sub population of interest and this forms the basis of this study. Aims and hypotheses The study aims at investigating difference in effects of appearance self esteem on body image by gender and the relationship between appearance self esteem and body image. It explores the objectives by seeking to answer the following research questions. Do women have a lower appearance self esteem in terms of body image than men have