Dinosaur Footprints and Trackmarks

You can do the dinosaur footprint math yourself: If the average Tyrannosaurus rex walked two or three miles per day, it would have left behind thousands of footprints. Multiply that number by T. Rexs multi-decade life span, and youre well into the millions. Of these millions of footprints, the vast majority would have been erased by rain, floods, or the subsequent footprints of other dinosaurs. However, a tiny percentage baked and hardened in the sun, and an even tinier percentage managed to survive to the present day. Because they’re so common, especially compared to complete, articulated dinosaur skeletons, dinosaur footprints are an especially rich source of information about the size, posture, and everyday behavior of their creators. Many professional and amateur paleontologists devote themselves full-time to the study of these trace fossils or as they’re sometimes called, ichnites or ichnofossils. Other examples of trace fossils are coprolites — fossilized dinosaur poop to you and me. How Dinosaur Footprints Fossilize One of the odd things about dinosaur footprints is that they fossilize under different conditions than dinosaurs themselves. The holy grail of paleontologists — a complete, fully articulated dinosaur skeleton, including imprints of soft tissues — usually forms in sudden, catastrophic circumstances, such as when a Parasaurolophus is buried by a sandstorm, drowned in a flash flood, or chased by a predator into a tar pit. Newly-formed footprints, on the other hand, can only hope to be preserved when theyre left alone — by the elements and by other dinosaurs — and given a chance to harden. The necessary condition for dinosaur footprints to survive for 100 million years is that the impression has to be made in soft clay (say, along a lake, coastline, or riverbed), and then baked dry by the sun. Assuming the footprints are well-done enough, they can then persist even after being buried under successive layers of sediment. What this means is that dinosaur footprints aren’t necessarily found only on the surface. They can also be recovered from deep beneath the ground, just like ordinary fossils. What Dinosaurs Made the Footprints? Except in extraordinary circumstances, its pretty much impossible to identify the specific genus or species of dinosaur that made a given footprint. What paleontologists can figure out fairly easily is whether the dinosaur was bipedal or quadrupedal (that is, whether it walked on two or four feet), what geological period it lived in (based on the age of the sediment where the footprint is found), and its approximate size and weight (based on the size and depth of the footprint). As for the type of dinosaur that made the tracks, the suspects can at least be narrowed down. For example, bipedal footprints (which are more common than the quadrupedal kind) could only have been produced by meat-eating theropods (a category that includes raptors, tyrannosaurs, and dino-birds) or plant-eating ornithopods. A trained investigator can distinguish between two sets of prints. For example, theropod footprints tend to be longer and narrower than those of ornithopods. At this point, you might ask: cant we identify the exact owner of a set of footprints by examining any fossil remains unearthed nearby? Sadly, no. As stated above, footprints and fossils are preserved under very different circumstances, so the odds of finding an intact Stegosaurus skeleton buried next to its own footprints are virtually zero. Dinosaur Footprint Forensics Paleontologists can only extract a limited amount of information from a single, isolated dinosaur footprint. The real fun starts when the prints of one or more dinosaurs (of the same or different species) are found along extended tracks. By analyzing the spacing of a single dinosaur’s footprints — both between the left and right feet and forward, in the direction of motion — researchers can make good guesses about the dinosaurs posture and weight distribution (not a small consideration when it comes to larger, bulkier theropods like the huge Giganotosaurus). It may also be possible to determine whether the dinosaur was running rather than walking, and if so, how fast. Footprints also tell scientists whether or not the dinosaur held its tail upright. A droopy tail would have left a telltale skid mark behind the footprints. Dinosaur footprints are sometimes found in groups, which (if the tracks are similar in appearance) counts as evidence of herding behavior. Numerous sets of footprints on a parallel course may be a sign of mass migration or the location of a now-vanished shoreline. These same sets of prints, arranged in a circular pattern, can represent the traces of an ancient dinner party — that is, the dinosaurs responsible were digging into a heap of carrion or a tasty, long-gone tree. More controversially, some paleontologists have interpreted the proximity of carnivorous and herbivorous dinosaur footprints as evidence of ancient chases to the death. This may certainly have been the case, in some instances, but its also possible that the Allosaurus in question tromped along the same patch of ground as the Diplodocus a few hours, a few days, or even a few years later. Don’t Be Fooled Because theyre so common, dinosaur footprints were identified long before anyone had even conceived of the existence of dinosaurs — so these track marks were attributed to giant prehistoric birds! This is a good example of how its possible to be right and wrong at the same time. Its now believed that birds evolved from dinosaurs, so it makes sense that some types of dinosaurs had bird-like footprints. To show how quickly a half-baked idea can spread, in 1858, the naturalist Edward Hitchcock interpreted the latest footprint finds in Connecticut as evidence that herds of flightless, ostrich-like birds once roamed the plains of North America. Over the next few years, this image was taken up by writers as diverse as Herman Melville (author of Moby Dick) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who referenced birds unknown, that have left us only their footprints in one of his more obscure poems. Source Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. To the Driving Cloud. The Belfry of Bruges and Other Poems, Bartleby, 1993.

Halakha, Jewish Religious Law And Religious Commandments

Halakha by definition is Jewish religious law, encompassing both civil and religious commandments and prohibitions. The word Halakha stems from the root meaning to walk. Halakha involves the study of law and customs in the Jewish religion. According to rabbinic law it must be performed to sanctify all life and attain redemption. This idea when introduced was a collection of rabbinic commentaries from the Hebrew bible or the torah. The importance of halakha among Judaism and its trends, ideas, theories etc. is the fact that halakha is trying to integrate itself into the world and not just strictly deal with Jews but integrate itself into the world of non-Jews. Halakha is derived from the oral and written torah. The laws can cover many†¦show more content†¦Responsa are the answers to questions Jews posed in the ancient days, the questions not addressed by halakhic law but questions posed in everyday life. The importance of responsa in Judaism is the fact that we have a physica l database so to speak on questions about Judaism or about practices, we have somewhere where the rabbis answered questions posed by the gaon and Jews of the era and even though they won’t correlate with some questions and situations we go through today as modern Jews in America, the basic questions of Judaism and basic concerns would be covered by the rabbis of the ancient times. The Talmud has many response within it, they cover business ethics, ethics, customs, etc. The most posed questions and answers to the responsa would be rules about ordinary incidents of life. ID: Samuel Ha nagid was born in 993-1055.Samuels real name was Samuel ibn Naghrillah but once he became an intellectual and a major part of Granada Jewry, he changed his name to nagid meaning â€Å"Chief†. Samuel ha nagid was a â€Å"statesmen and a military commander, scholar, and poet who reached the highest level achieved by a Jew in medieval Muslim Spain, serving as vizier of Granada and leading a Muslim army into battle.†(Efron, et.al, glossary). Samuel HaNagid s importance

Paper Bag Free Essays

JoAnna Baugh Greg Bade English 40322 11, September, 2012 Paper bag Essay If you were to give me a paper bag and told me to place three or four things that represented who I am inside of it, I would not know where to start. There are so many things that I could fit in a paper bag that describes me. I think that these three specific items will represent me the most. We will write a custom essay sample on Paper Bag or any similar topic only for you Order Now The first item that I would place inside of the paper bag would be a coffee cup from Starbucks because I am an avid coffee drinker. I have tried to drink coffee straight without creamer or sugar but to no prevail. The taste, in my honest opinion, is revolting and there is no flavor if you do not add anything to your coffee. I also plan on owning my own coffeehouse in the distant future. I have always been involved in culinary arts. My mother got me into it when I was two and ever since then it is all I have been passionate about. I was even in a culinary program when I was in high school and instead of just learning how to cook; it gave me the opportunity to experience what it would be like to work in something similar to Starbucks. Sure, there were times where I thought I could not take anymore, but I got through it and even through the chaos I enjoyed every moment. For my next item, I would choose the music score from Wicked, one of my favorite musicals. My friends at church would go on and on about glorious it was, so I wanted to see what they were getting all worked up about. I went on YouTube that night and listened to the soundtrack, falling in love with it instantly. Although I am getting more affiliated with more and more musicals, Wicked will always be number one. Another reason why I would add a music score is because I love to sing. Especially whenever my mother plays a song on the piano that I know the words to. The final item I would place inside this paper bag would be a pencil. There are so many things I have done with a pencil, but whenever I have a pencil in my hand, I am writing. I am currently writing a few stories and I have a short story in mind that I would like to bring to life. My sister is to blame for my passion for writing. I would always see her writing down whatever she could think of which inspired me to do the same. Ever since that day, writing has become much easier to me, especially free writing. Each item I have put inside of my paper bag has one thing in common. They are all things that I love. I love to drink coffee, if it is flavored of course; I love musicals, mainly Wicked, and to sing; and I love to write. If that does not describe who I am, then I do not know what does. How to cite Paper Bag, Essay examples

The Recent Trend of Online Retail Marketing

Question: Discuss about The Recent Trend of Online Retail Marketing. Answer: Introduction The purpose of the concerned report is to make a critical evaluation of certain aspects related to the recent trend of online retail marketing and its future opportunities. Additionally, the critical discourse has concentrated on to identify and analyze the impact of the growing trend of online retail trading on the traditional retail shopping. In the present era of rapid development through the hand of globalization, e-business is one facet that is growing in fast pace in both the developing and developed nations of the world. Fast technical growth and easy access to the internet has accelerated the emergence of online retail marketing (Gallino Moreno, 2014). This critical assignment therefore aims to understand whether online retail trading is the ultimate future of retail marketing or there is any scope for the re-emergence of traditional retail trading. Comparison and analysis of the recent trend of online retail marketing in developed and developing countries Over last few years, the online retrial marketing around the world is achieving an impressive growth as growth of the e-business has increased more than 20% in the year 2014, which amounts to near about $840 billion (Siqueira et al., 2014). Probably the reason behind this boom in both developing and developed countries is the continuous support from the stock markets and growing success of public offerings. In the developed countries like the United States, Australia and European continent the online retail trading has already set its foot and rapidly dominating the overall retail market. The developing countries on the other side has started to encounter a progressive growth in online retail shopping in an active pace as the rapid development of this aspect in developed countries have contributed a fruitful impact over developing nations. It is fortunate that developing countries are now giving tough competition to the most developed countries. According to the global index of 2013, China and Japan have scored highest than developed countries like US, Germany, Canada, UK, Italy and other ones. The prominent features of the online retail sector in developing countries like China, Hong Kong and United Arab Emirates rely not only upon the consumer behaviour and infrastructure facility but also upon the organized health of their domestic physical retail industries. It is unfortunate at the same time that in comparison with other South East domains, India who is considered to have second biggest population could not make its list in the tip 30 position in global online retail index (Wischenbart, 2013). Nevertheless, instead of grabbing top position developed countries have acquired the top half list of the global index. However, there are certain differences in terms of retailers between developed and developing countries. Retailers in the developed countries who both have virtual and physical stores are concerned more to integrate their in-store with the online ones to maximise customer engagement. On the contrary, the retailers of the developing countries are struggling to develop the logistic and economic infrastructure to break down the barriers related to online retail purchasing (Wischenbart, 2013). However, customers of both the countries possess same purchasing attributes. Critical views regarding online retail trading in future According to Fernie and Sparks (2014), the online retail purchasing sector is expected to grow on fast velocity as the account for retail spending around the world in 2015 will experience a growth by 8.8% in the year 2018 and further by 13% in the year 2019. Therefore, it is understandable that in case of having bright scope in future, both developed and developing countries will found themselves fortunate. The reason behind expecting rapid growth in online retail marketing is the increasing development in the technology and rising consumption of electronic gadgets like tablets, smart phones and laptops. Consumption rate of laptops and personal desktops is high as around 53.9% of the online user access to online stores through them and 33.7% use smart phones for the access (Clemes et al., 2014). Other chief reasons behind this expectation is most of the giant in store retailers like Wal-Mart, Sears and Kmart are going hand in hand with online successors like Amazon. Most of the physi cal stores concentrating on online marketing are implementing smart systems like in store pick up facility, home delivery and designing retail based websites. Amazon, who is considered as the most dominating online retailers of the world, has opened a physical bookstore in the university village of Seattle as a brick and mortar extension. Hence, it is understandable that the future of online retail marketing is hugely depending on the race between online retailers like Amazon and those retailers who are trying to win over both the on line and off line retail stores (Meeker Wu, 2013). To give competition to each other, retailers will implement more technologies and infrastructure in the field of online retailing and through this process the industry will continue its growth. Impact of online retail shopping on traditional retailing It is unfortunate that the growing trend in consumer behaviour to address online retail shopping is affecting negatively upon the physical retail parlours. Instead of trying hard to compete with the online retailer by developing several new channels, most in-store retailers are having rapid reduction in sales density in both developed and developing countries (Labrecque et al., 2013). The reason consumers prefer to buy retrial products online is that online retail purchasing is more convenient and easy. For evidence, in the year 2014, commerce department of US had noticed that e-retailers have consumed near about 8.3% of the unadjusted sales of retail excluding service sector of food and automobile. Consequently, the community retail stores are lagging and struggling. Because of the impact of online retailing, first in-store retailers have encountered decreasing sales for books and toys then reduction of sales have been found in the clothing and thereafter in the grocery system (Morg an-Thomas Veloutsou, 2013). It can be recommended that off line retailers should implement offers that are more lucrative and discount to keep their target market in hand. Conclusion The discourse has bring out some key points which suggest that in the world of online retail marketing, developing countries like China, Japan, Hong Kong are giving hard competition to the developed countries like US, UK and Canada. Most importantly, online retail trading will find a potential buyers market in future as recently physical retail stores are approaching the online retail trading to increase the revenue margin and to give seamless shopping experience. However, the report has pointed out that because of the rapid increase in online shopping, in-store retailers are encountering rapid decrease in sales. References Clemes, M. D., Gan, C., Zhang, J. (2014). An empirical analysis of online shopping adoption in Beijing, China. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(3), 364-375. Fernie, J., Sparks, L. (2014). Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan Page Publishers. Gallino, S., Moreno, A. (2014). Integration of online and offline channels in retail: The impact of sharing reliable inventory availability information. Management Science, 60(6), 1434-1451. Labrecque, L. I., Patrick, V. M., Milne, G. R. (2013). The marketers prismatic palette: A review of color research and future directions. Psychology Marketing, 30(2), 187-202. Meeker, M., Wu, L. (2013, May). Internet trends. In Proc D11 Conference. Rancho Palos Verdes. Morgan-Thomas, A., Veloutsou, C. (2013). Beyond technology acceptance: Brand relationships and online brand experience. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 21-27. Siqueira, A. C. O., Webb, J. W., Bruton, G. D. (2014). Informal entrepreneurship and industry conditions. Entrepreneurship Theory and practice. Wischenbart, R. (2013). The global eBook market: current conditions future projections. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.".

Race, Class And Gender Essays - Gender, Social Constructionism

Race, Class And Gender Race, Class and Gender issues are commonly brought up. Throughout history many groups have been stigmatized not just for their race, but for their sex, and class as well. People of lower class incomes get slandered for where they live and for not having the economical means to purchase most common goods. Women have been considered the weaker sex for centuries, and currently, some of the old fashioned and ignorant theories on women being subordinate to men prevail. In the article Rethinking Womens Biology the author position appeared to be that society dictates what a woman means and teaches it from childhood. The old concept of blue for a boy and pink for a girl starts out from birth and is consistent throughout childhood and into adulthood. The clothes we wear, our activity level, what and how much we eat, the type of vocation we are in, all these variables occur due to society. Society has norms that are expected to continue. Even though society has these notions of what is normal and natural it is the concept people have of themselves that is also a primary dictator on their lives. (Hubbard 1990). The Social Construction of Gender touched on how Western society views gender. This article pointed out historically how women and men appear to be separate species entirely. And that even though physiologically we are similar, male and female, we are of an opposite class. The male and female class should not be labeled how our bodies function for we are all individual and unique. If a scientist views a female to be female based on the fact that physiologically she menstruates, than what is a female that ceased menstruation or never began to? Is she only half woman? Is a male not a man if he is not capable of producing sperm? (Lorber, 1992) The article also mentioned how sports glorified men and ignored the female athlete. Only giving women 5% of television coverage opposed to men receiving 92%. Sports can trivialize women symbolically. For example, College sport teams may name the male team tigers and the womens team kittens. (Eitzen societys prescriptions for those of their gender status because the norms are expectations get built into their senses worth and identity as a certain kind of human being and because they believe that their societys ways are the natural way. (Lorber,1992, p.42). Ah, Ya Throw Like a Girl was similar to the above to articles. It suggested how roles of society predict female and male roles. He referred to personal childhood memories. Reminiscing how while playing sports, his father, would encourage him to throw hard ball overhand. And how if he didnt he was throwing like a girl. He would be teased and taunted by friends and family if he did not play the sport hard and rough, because thats how boys do it. He also pointed out that his sister was more talented in sports than he but could not play. Basically, this authors position was traditional roles needs to be deleted with a new modern way of thinking. We know more now than we did when traditional male and female roles were established and we should all concur with the new age liberation and equality. (Messner, 1992) In A Male Centered World, Female Differences Are Transformed into Female Disadvantages was an article that stressed how because female and male persons have different body types this is what predicted the roles that would follow. Males being strong and dominant in stance and female averaging to be smaller and more petite than men led societys to think women were less capable. The authors position appears to be that because society think males are strong and women are weak this is indented into others positions and continues the cycle of a male centered world. Only by speaking out and protesting for our Civil Rights when we feel they have been disregarded will women take a stand. She uses the term Gender Polarization which refers to the scripts laid out for us within our society.

Analsys of the Ethical Challenges faced by E-Commerce essays

Analsys of the Ethical Challenges faced by E-Commerce essays There is no single, well-established, and widely accepted definition of However, this is not a serious impediment. For present purposes it is sufficient to follow the OECD view of eCommerce as: "Business occurring over networks which use non-proprietary protocols that are established by an open standard setting process such as the Internet." (OECD, 1998). Ecommerce provides a tremendous opportunity for any business, whether it's a private enterprise looking to market great new ideas or a large cooperation looking for new methods to increase its sales. But selling goods and services on the Internet have their own set of challenges that include methods to set up and maintain secure, reliable and cost effective system for authorizing payments and managing transactions. [1] Challenges for the future of ecommerce A major challenge for ecommerce is whether they have the financial resources to invest in technology and other related costs for developing an E-business, or including E-business as a strategy to their existing operations. Human resources need to be in place to meet the demands, so having staff to develop a new type of business, having the appropriate skill base within the organization, attracting and retaining employees with applicable skills are all critical. This may be very difficult in today's business climate but it is essential to operate E-business properly. Finding sufficient time to invest in the development and implementation of an E-business package is also a critical factor. Risk taking can be daunting compared to larger organizations, particularly in ventures that are still relatively new, unfamiliar and uncertain.[2] Thus we can conclude that ecommerce has yet to overcome many hurdles and ...

Cost, Profit and Cost Function Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cost, Profit and Cost Function - Essay Example did not have adequate information regarding cost, profit and the various nuances of cost of the company, the profit and also cost functions. So in order to give them a complete understanding of the various methods of determining the cost function, relationship between cost and profit have been discusses, the basic concepts of cost function has been explained and then the methods for determining cost function has been evaluated. Cost, Profit and Cost Function There are many factors that are included in profit planning, such as cost, profitability and volume. Here the focus would be only on cost and profit. Cost is inversely proportional to profit, that means lower the cost, higher the profit (Jayapandian 2008, 393). The revenue curve is controlled by the customers, while the organization can only control the cost curve. The fluctuations in the variable cost changes the slope of the cost curve, but the increase of fixed cost may totally wipe out the profits of the company. Variable cos t has high frequency of fluctuation than fixed costs. When the cost of the company equals its generated income, then it is termed as breakeven point. The margin above this point is the profit of the company (Kolitz, Quinn, and McAllister 2009, 301-303). Cost functions are nothing but economic formula that replicates the functions of the output and input prices. In a layman’s language we can say that it simply involves finding the cost of materials for production of a particular quantity of goods. Cost function is actually a mathematical explanation which estimates the changes in cost with the levels of change related to such cost. For example: actives involved in preparing the operating machines and production runs. Cost function can be explained through graphical representation in which measurement of activity levels, such as machine hours required or the total amount of goods produced in the given time can be assessed (Horngren 1967, 308). There are various methods of calcu lating cost function, such as engineering, visual fit, regression, and account analysis. The engineering analysis is past experienced based review of cost in a systematic manner. Visual fit as the name suggest is a representation of data in a scatter diagram. Regression analysis includes mathematical formula to ascertain the cost equation that fits the data best. High low method utilizes linear algebra for the determination of fixed and variable costs, but the results are not reliable. Lastly, account analysis deals with analyzing the accounting records and determining the behavioral patterns (Whittington and Delaney 2007, 398-399). Conclusion Cost and profit go hand in hand. Cost of the company needs to be reduced to increase profit. Cost functions include functions like planning and controlling the various activities of the organization and accurately estimates the projected fixed and variable cost. There are various methods that are utilized to estimate the cost function such as regression method, engineering method, account method, visual fit method, high-low method, etc. The usage of each of these methods depends on the data available and the type of analysis required by the manager. Presentation 6 Introduction In this presentation the relationship between volume, costs and price would be explained so as to show the effect of changes in each element on the other. Bond & ltd. wanted to project the changes in profit figures due to fluctuations in volume and cost. So in this presentation an explanation of all these terms would be sated for the management to understand the concepts carefully. Cost, profit and volume can be represented graphically and also in the form of equation. Graphical representation is easier for managers to understand, as they can easily

British American Tobacco Company Products Essay

British American Tobacco Company Products - Essay Example BAT Company is listed in the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The company reports that as of December 2011, it had market a capitalization of ?59.2 billion. Then, it was ranked sixth largest company listed in London Stock Exchange. The company is not only listed in London Stock Exchange but also in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (South Africa) and the Nairobi Sock Exchange in Kenya (Britannica Educational Publishing and Rogers 2011 p.177-198). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the demand and supply factors that affect the sales of BAT products. It will also explore what the company needs to do to be able top operate profitably in this market. The essay will also discuss the impacts of the macroeconomic factors: economic growth, unemployment, inflation, the balance of payment and business cycle on the products. Demand and Supply Demand and supply are the most fundamental concepts of economics and the backbone of a market economy. This is due to the fact that they determine how a particular product or service is sold in the market. Demand by definition refers to the quantity of a service or product desired in a market by buyers. The quantity demanded on the other hand refers to the amount of product that buyers are willing to purchase at a given price. Price and quantity demanded exhibits a relationship known as demand relationship. Supply refers to the quantity that the market can offer. In this regard, the quantity supplied means the amount of a given products suppliers are willing to supply at a certain price. The relationship between price and quantity supplied in the market is referred to as the supply relationship. Based on this definitions, it is evident that price is a reflection of demand and supply. Microeconomic Factors Price Price is one of the main factors that affect the demand and supply of a product, which in turn determine the quantity of a product that is sold (Carbaugh 2010 p. 28-42). With regard to deman d, the price charged determines to a great extent the quantity of a product that consumers will buy. This is due to fact that that quantity demanded and the price have an inverse relationship. This implies that the higher the price, the less will be the quantity demanded of the product. This is one factor that has affected the sales of BAT tobacco products. The company management argues that as the cost of product used in the manufacture of tobacco products increases due to drought, they have been forced to adjust their process upwards (Cox 2000 p. 16-39). However, this increase in price did not go well with regard to turnover as many customers reduced the quantity they could purchase. This is probably due to a shift to other cheap close substitutes. The company managers are, however, quick to assert that they are projecting a decrease in price which would enable customers to purchase more, thus increasing their sales. On the other hand, an increase in supply of the company’s product usually lead to a reduction in price, resulting in an increase in sales as consumers are now able to afford the products. Substitutes The price and availability of close substitutes also affects demand for a product. When a product has a close substitute, it is a matter of fact that consumers will be willing to shift in case of an increase in price (Carbaugh 2010 p. 28-42). This is what has affected sales of BAT’s tobacco products. The company managers argue that many people nowadays prefer other forms of depressants

Poverty in the United States Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Poverty in the United States - Research Paper Example Individuals born in the United States usually have better prospects and access to resources than people born in poor societies (Chappell 2010, 45). Thus, they benefit from a better quality of life and bigger earnings. Similarly, impoverished children who reside and go to school in communities with more affluent families will likely have greater opportunities than children who reside in communities where they intermingle only with other impoverished children (Aliprantis & Zenker 2011, 1). This essay tries to discuss the current condition of poverty in the United States by taking into account several factors, particularly the impact of welfare programs on poverty. The American Dilemma The Census Bureau in the United States specifies a group of income thresholds that rely on household composition and size, and members of a household are regarded poor if the overall income of their household is below the correct threshold (Iceland 2003, 20). However, it is important to point out that thi s description computes income before transfers and taxes, and thus there is much disagreement about whether it might be more useful for future assessments to classify poverty as regards to consumption (p. 20). Rates of poverty have fluctuated between 11% and 15% of the population over the recent decades (Aliprantis & Zenker 2011, 1). Statistics from 2010 exhibit a noticeable increase in the rate of poverty during the most recent economic depression (Bishaw 2011, 2-3). Even though the rise was distributed across racial groups, the eventual patterns in poverty differ when divided by race. Figure 1. Percentage of the People Living in Poverty Areas by State: 2006-2010 *graph taken from Bishaw (2011, 3) Prevalence of poverty among the white population have somewhat remained the same over the recent decades. Prevalence of poverty among the Asian population dropped in the latter part of the 1990s and has been the same as that of whites over the recent decades. For instance, the rate of pov erty for the Asian population in 2010 was 12% (U.S. Census Bureau 2010, 694). Poverty rates for the Hispanic and Black populations have differed; although the prevalence of poverty for these populations dropped significantly all over the 1990s, they are situated at a noticeably higher point than other populations (U.S. Census Bureau 2010, 694). As revealing as figures of individual-level poverty are for identifying the earnings accessible to individual members of a household, they fail to generate data about the resources accessible to individuals through their community. This is significant since it is not difficult to think of numerous explanations that the poverty in a specific community might be similarly significant to the poverty of an individual’s household (Aliprantis & Zenker 2011, 2). An impoverished household residing in an affluent community could have greater opportunities for it might have access to more quality education, more accurate and updated information a bout employment availability, or better access to public services than an impoverished family residing in a poor community. Figure 2. Distribution of People by Race and Ethnicity and by Poverty Level of Tracts: 2010 *taken from Bishaw (2011, 7) The United States put into effect in the 1960s one of the most aggressive social policy programs of the 20th century by declaring an all-out ‘

Histological Features of Skeletal Muscle

Histological Features of Skeletal Muscle Objectives The aim of this report is to describe the basic histological features of a skeletal muscle and the differences between type I and type II skeletal muscle fibres. I will also describe the motor neuron unit and explain Hennemans size principle of recruiting motor units. Observations The basic features of skeletal muscle General Structure   Ã‚   The main function of skeletal muscle is to provide support, maintain posture and provide movement. Skeletal muscles comprise of densely packed groups of elongated cells which are known as muscle fibres, which are held together by fibrous connective tissue. Many capillaries penetrate this tissue to enable muscles to be supplied with oxygen and glucose needed for muscle contraction. Skeletal muscle is comprised of bundles of long striated fibres; the striated appearance is caused by the repeated structure of the fibres inside the muscle cell (Page, 2001). Individual muscle cells are called myocytes and muscles are made up of bundles of individual muscle cells. These bundles are called fascicles. Each muscle cell is surrounded by a connective tissue cover called the endomysium, and each bundle is surrounded by a connective tissue covering called the perimysium. Fascicles form muscle which is surrounded by a connective tissue called the epimysium. Skeletal muscles are made up of three types of fibres. Type I (red/ slow fibres), type IIa (red/ fast fibres) and type IIb (white/ fast fibres). Type I fibres are slow-contracting muscle fibres and they have a very dense capillary network, because these fibres have a high capacity for ATP production and a low myosin ATPase activity compared to type II fibres; the main pathway for ATP production is aerobic cellular respiration. Type IIa fibres have a higher myosin ATPase activity than type I fibres, a high capacity for ATP production and a dense capillary network; because of this the main pathway for ATP production is aerobic cellular respiration. Type IIa also has high levels of intracellular myoglobin. Type IIb fibres have a higher myosin ATPase activity than type I fibres but a lower capacity for ATP production and a lighter capillary network; this means that the main pathway for ATP production is anaerobic glycosis, which is fast but not sustainable for as long as aerobic respirat ion which means muscle fatigue happens sooner. There is no intracellular myoglobin unlike type I and IIa, which means that it is white in colour (Types of skeletal muscle Fibres, 2016). The structure of the sarcomere The plasma membrane of the skeletal muscle fibre is the sarcolemma and contains cylindrical structures called myofibrils. The myofibrils practically fill the cells and push the nuclei to the edges of the cell. Each myofibril have light and dark bands and are aligned with each other so that the light and dark bands are next to each other; this gives the cells their striated appearance. The light bands are called I bandsand the dark bands are called A bands. In the middle of the I bands there is a line which is called the Z line and in the middle of the A bands there is a light zone called the H zone. In the middle of the H zone there is another line called the M line. The sarcomere consists of several individual protein elements and some of these proteins are thread-like proteins called myofilaments. There are two main types of myofilaments. The thick myofilaments which are made up of proteins molecules called myosin. The myosin molecules are shaped like golf clubs with long shafts. Myosin forms the thick myofilaments by forming bundles in which the heads of the golf clubs stick out at either end of the filament and the shafts form a bare zone in the middle of the filaments. The heads of the thick myofilaments form attachments with the other type of myofilaments, the thin actin myofilaments and these attachments are called cross bridges.The heads are the areas on the thick myofilaments that use the energy in the ATP molecule to power the muscle contraction. The second type are the thin myofilaments, which are made of the protein actin. They have binding sites to which the heads of the thick myofilaments attach (Hwang, 2015). The triad A triad is a structure that is formed from a T-tubule with a sarcoplasmic reticulum known as the terminal cisternae on either side. Each skeletal muscle fibre has many thousands of triads, visible in muscle fibres that have been sectioned longitudinally (Al-Qusairi Laporte, 2011). Table 1; Comparison of the different types of skeletal muscle fibres (Bushell, 2013) The structure of a motor unit A motor unit is made from a motor neuron and the skeletal muscle fibres innervated by that motor neurons axonal terminals (Purves, et al., 2001). A group of motor units is called a motor pool and the number of fibres in each unit can differ within muscles. This impacts precision and force generation. Differential initiation of single or multiple motor units with a motor pool can therefore control precision and force of movement. Hennemans size principle of motor unit recruitment Hennemans size principle states that; motor units are recruited from smallest to largest and as more force is needed, motor units are recruited in a certain order per the extent of their force output. This means that the smaller units are recruited first which means that it reduces the amount of fatigue an organism experiences by only using fatigue resistant muscle fibres, unless a higher force is needed and then fatigable fibres are used. This means that slow twitch, low-force, and fatigue resistance muscle fibres are activated before fast twitch, high-force, less fatigue resistant muscle fibres (Bawa, Jones, Stein, 2014). The motor unit and the Hennemans size principle of motor unit recruitment The structure of the motor unit A motor unit is constructed from a motor neuron and skeletal muscle fibres, they innervated by the axonal terminals (Purves, et al., 2001). The motor neuron and its muscle unit are inseparable in function, this is because the action potetial in the neurons activates the fibres of the muscle unit (Karpati, 2010). A group of motor unit are gathered in columnar, spinal nuclei and this is called motor neuron pools. The number of fibres in each unit can differ from another and this then affects the force generation and the precision of the movement (Present, 1997). The Hennemans size principle of recruiting motor unit The Hennemans size principle expresses that motor units that are recruited from the smallest to the largest, this is because if more force is needed, then are recruited in a certain order due to the extent of their force output. Therefore, this means that the smallest motor units are employed first and this reduces the amount of fatigue that an organism experiences, by only using fatigue resistant muscle fibres, unless a higher force is needed, then fatigable fibres are used (Bawa, Jones, Stein, 2014). References Al-Qusairi, L., Laporte, J. (2011). T-tubule biogenesis and triad formation in skeletal muscle and implication in human diseases. Skeletal Muscle, 1(1). doi:10.1186/2044-5040-1-26 Bawa, P., Jones, K., Stein, R. (2014). Assessment of size ordered recruitment. 8. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4112781/ Bushell, D. (2013). Muscle-specific hypertrophy: Chest, Triceps and shoulders. Retrieved from TheGymLifestyle: http://blog.thegymlifestyle.com/muscle-specific-hypertrophy-chest-triceps-shoulders/ Hwang, P. (2015). Targeting the sarcomere to correct muscle function. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, 14(5). doi:10.1038/nrd4554 Page, M. (2001). Human body: An illustrated guide to every part of the human body and how it works. (A. Baggaley, Ed.) London: Dorling Kindersley Publishers. Purves, D., Augustine, G., Fitzpatrick, D., Katz, L., LaMantia, A.-S., McNamara, J., Williams, M. (2001). The Motor Unit. Sinauer Associates. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10874/ Types of skeletal muscle Fibres. (2016). Retrieved from Ivy Roses: http://www.ivyroses.com/HumanBody/Muscles/types-of-skeletal-muscle-fibers.php

Evolution, God and Society :: essays research papers

The Island of Dr. Moreau Evolution, God and Society   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the book The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, we see a microcosm in which Evolution, God and the society are all represented by something strange. First, Dr. Moreau is playing the role of God. Dr. Moreau is an educated man trying to prove that he can turn an animal into a human form, so that the animal will forget all of its animal instincts and become more and more human. After Moreau created these beast men, he then controlled them through fear. The fear was of pain. The house of pain was were the creatures were created and they all remember the pain and therefore associate Dr. Moreau with pain so they do not have to go back.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Montgomery played the part of an ignorant assistant. Montgomery was not a stupid man, but he was torn between good and bad, right and wrong, and friendships. I think he tried to play the part of the massager or the son, but he did not agree with what Moreau was doing to the animals. The Creatures did not respect him the same as Moreau because he had not caused them any physical pain. Montgomery fit in and got along with the beast people more than Moreau did. If he would have stood up to Moreau and made the experiments stop, he then could have been an angle, or a godlier figure. The only thing that kept Montgomery from going crazy was all the alcohol that made his mental pain go num.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Then we have Prendick, the voice of reason. Poor Prendick came to the island after being stranded out at see on his little boat. He thought he was going to die, and his friends and family back at home probably thought he was also dead. But, he was saved by a large boat that Montgomery and normal animals were using to get back to the island. When Prendick steps off the boat onto the island, he can not even begin to understand what creatures are lurking around, some even helping to unload the boat and speaking like humans. Within the first week of being on the island, he knew something was wrong and needed to be done. Prendick thought that Dr. Moreau was turning humans into animals. This in his eyes was wrong and he was ready to do something about it.