Octopus Facts

Octopus Facts Octopuses (Octopus spp.) are a family of cephalopods (a subgroup of marine invertebrates) known for their intelligence, their uncanny ability to blend into their surroundings, their unique style of locomotion, and their ability to squirt ink. They are some of the most fascinating creatures in the sea, found in every ocean in the world, and every continents coastal waters. Fast Facts: Octopus Scientific Name: Octopus, Tremoctopus, Enteroctopus, Eledone, Pteroctopus, many othersCommon Name: OctopusBasic Animal Group: InvertebrateSize: 1 inch–16 feetWeight: 1 gram–600 poundsLifespan: One to three yearsDiet:  CarnivoreHabitat: Every ocean; coastal waters in every continentPopulation: There are at least 289 species of octopuses; population estimates are not available for anyConservation Status: Not listed. Description The octopus is essentially a mollusk that lacks a shell but has eight arms and three hearts. Where cephalopods are concerned, marine biologists are careful to distinguish between arms and tentacles. If the invertebrate structure has suckers along its entire length, its called an arm; if it only has suckers at the tip, its called a tentacle. By this standard, most octopuses have eight arms and no tentacles, while two other cephalopods, cuttlefish and squids, have eight arms and two tentacles. All vertebrate animals have one heart, but the octopus is equipped with three: one that pumps blood through the cephalopods body (including the arms), and two that pump blood through the gills, the organs that enable the octopus to breathe underwater by harvesting oxygen. And theres another key difference, too: The primary component of octopus blood is hemocyanin, which  incorporates atoms of copper, rather than hemoglobin, which incorporates atoms of iron. This is why octopus blood is blue rather than red. Octopuses are the only marine animals, apart from whales and pinnipeds, that demonstrate primitive problem-solving and pattern recognition skills. But whatever kind of intelligence these cephalopods possess, its different from the human variety, probably closer to a cat. Two-thirds of an octopuss neurons are located along the length of its arms, rather than its brain, and theres no convincing evidence that these invertebrates are capable of communicating with others of their kind. Still, theres a reason so much science fiction (such as the book and movie Arrival) feature aliens vaguely modeled on octopuses. Octopus skin is covered by three types of specialized skin cells that can quickly change their color, reflectivity, and opacity, allowing this invertebrate to easily blend in with its surroundings. Chromatophores are responsible for the colors red, orange, yellow, brown, and black; leucophores mimic white; and iridophores are reflective, and thus ideally suited to camouflage. Thanks to this arsenal of cells, some octopuses can make themselves indistinguishable from seaweed. Fleetham Dave / Perspectives / Getty Images Behavior A bit like an undersea sports car, the octopus has three gears. If its in no particular hurry, this cephalopod will walk lazily with its arms along the ocean bottom. If its feeling a bit more urgent, it will actively swim by flexing its arms and body. And if its in a real hurry (say, because it has just been spotted by a hungry shark), it will expel a jet of water from its body cavity and zoom away as fast as it possibly can, often squirting a disorienting blob of ink at the same time. When threatened by predators, most octopuses release a thick cloud of black ink, composed primarily of melanin (the same pigment that gives human beings their skin and hair color). This cloud is not simply a visual smoke screen that allows the octopus to escape unnoticed; it also interferes with predators sense of smell.  Sharks, which can sniff small droplets of blood from hundreds of yards away, are especially vulnerable to this type of olfactory attack. Marevision / age fotostock / Getty Images Diet Octopuses are carnivores, and the adults feed on small fishes, crabs, clams, snails, and other octopuses. They typically forage alone and at night, pouncing on their prey and wrapping it in the webbing between their arms. Some octopuses use venom of varying levels of toxicity, which they inject into its prey with a beak similar to a birds; they can also use their beaks to penetrate and crack hard shells. Octopuses are night hunters, and they spend some of their daylight time in dens, generally holes in shell beds or another substrate, vertical shafts sometimes with multiple openings. If the sea floor is stable enough to permit it, they can be as deep as 15 inches or so. Octopus dens are engineered by a single octopus, but they can be reused by later generations and some species are co-occupied by male and female for a few hours.   In laboratory situations, octopuses build dens out of shells (Nautilus, Strombus, barnacles), or artificial terracotta flower pots, glass bottles, PVC tubes, custom blown glass- basically, whatever is available.   Some species have den colonies, clustered in a particular substrate. The gloomy octopus (O. tetricus) lives in communal groups of about 15 animals, in situations where there is ample food, many predators, and few opportunities for den sites. Gloomy octopus den groups are excavated into shell middens, a pile of shells built by the octopuses from prey.   Reproduction and Offspring Octopuses have very short lives, between one and three years, and they are dedicated to raising the next generation. Mating occurs when the male approaches the female: One of his arms, typically the third right arm, has a special tip called hectocotylus which he uses to transfer sperm to the females oviduct. He can fertilize multiple females and females can be fertilized by more than one male.   The male dies shortly after mating; the female looks for a suitable den site and spawns a few weeks later, laying the eggs in festoons, chains which are attached to rock or coral or to the walls of the den. Depending on the species, there can be hundreds of thousands of eggs, and before they hatch, the female guards and cares for them, aerating and cleaning them until they hatch. Within a few days, after they hatch, the mother octopus dies.   Some benthic and littoral species produce a smaller number of larger eggs which house a more highly developed larva. The tiny eggs produced in the hundreds of thousands begin life as plankton, basically, living in a plankton cloud. If they are not eaten by a passing whale, the octopus larva feeds on copepods, larval crabs, and larval seastars, until they are developed enough to sink down to the bottom of the ocean.   An octopus mother fiercely guards her den.   Getty Images Species There are nearly 300 different species of octopus identified to date- more are being identified every year. The largest identified octopus is the giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini), the full-grown adults of which weigh about 110 pounds or so and have long, trailing, 14-foot-long arms and a total body length of about 16 feet. However, there is some tantalizing evidence of larger-than-usual Giant Pacific octopuses, including one specimen that may have weighed as much as 600 pounds. The smallest (so far) is the star-sucker pygmy octopus (Octopus wolfi), which is smaller than an inch and weighs less than a gram. Most species average the size of the common octopus (O. vulgaris) which grows to between one and three feet and weighs 6.5 to 22 pounds. This bioluminescent pelagic octopus is in the Red Sea at night. Jeff Rotman/Photolibrary/Getty Images Conservation Status None of the octopi are considered endangered by either the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) or the ECOS Environmental Conservation Online System. The IUCN has not listed any of the octopuses. Sources Anderson, Roland C., Jennifer A. Maher, and James B. Wood. Octopus: The Oceans Intelligent Invertebrate. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 2010.  Bradford, Alina. Octopus Facts. Live Science / Animals, June 8, 2017.Caldwell, Roy L., et al. Behavior and Body Patterns of the Larger Pacific Striped Octopus. PLOS One 10.8 (2015): e0134152. Print.Courage, Katherine Harmon. Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature in the Sea. New York: Penguin Group, 2013.  Leite, T. S., et al. Geographic Variability of Octopus Insularis Diet: From Oceanic Island to Continental Populations. Aquatic Biology 25 (2016): 17-27. Print.Lenz, Tiago M., et al. First Description of the Eggs and Paralarvae of the Tropical Octopus, Octopus Insularis, under Culture Conditions. BioOne 33.1 (2015): 101-09. Print.Octopuses, Order Octopoda. The National Wildlife Federation.Octopus Fact Sheet. World Animal Foundation.Scheel, David, et al. Octopus Engineering, Intentional and Inadvertent. Communicative Integrative Biology 1 1.1 (2018): e1395994. Print

Final Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 8

Final - Essay Example classical and human relation approaches towards management. The production of goods or varying products was undertaken solely by workers before the industrial revolution. It means that it was the task of the worker to bring different pieces and parts of a product himself without the aid of machinery. However, with the passage of time, machines took over some of the tasks of the workers. Herein, it should be noted that the workers were still responsible for most of the tasks but the approach towards production changed to a great extent. Industrial revolution broke down the production process of a good in various steps. The advancement of technological infrastructure resulted in large groups working together to produce increased amounts of goods in a very short span of time (Lumley & Wilkinson, 2013). Throughout the process of development of production of goods, the nature of work and the approaches to get the work done also changed drastically. Researchers and management theorists also undertook a number of experiments to find out the impact that the change in working conditions had on the working conditions of the employees as well as their motivation towards getting the work done. It was this era when a boom within the exploration of management theories and paradigms was observed. The major purpose of the management theory was to suggest or recommend business giants to strategically make their employees work for the interests of stakeholders. It involved the manner in which they organized the employees and their tasks. At this point, two distinctive approaches of management were found out that were later termed as classical management theories and human relation theories. Before critically evaluating the purpose of the two different approaches of management, a light will be sh ed on the term management theory (Gallagher, 2012). As discussed above, organizations need a road map or a guiding model when it comes to managing the

Chapter 14 discussion question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Chapter 14 discussion question - Essay Example One of the goals of all managers is to maximize shareholder’s wealth. The community that lost those jobs will perceive the CEO to be an immoral and unethical person that has no sense of patriotism. The made in America label has a lot of value in the United States consumer markets. 2. There are hundreds of examples of ethical and unethical behavior in the business world. A case of an unethical act that occurred over a decade ago is the Nike Corporation sweetshop scandal. Nike Corporation is one of the leading apparels and shoe manufacturers in the world. Back in the 1990s Nike expanded its operation into several developing countries. The reason the firm choose these locations was to save in labor and operating costs. The company lost control and a managerial staff composed of immoral leaders created sweetshops at these locations. A sweetshop is a shop or factory in which employees work long hours for low pay in an unsafe working environment (Merriam-webster, 2011). An example o f a company that is using high ethical standards in its operating decisions is Starbucks Cafe. Starbucks Cafe sources its coffee using a practice known as fair trade coffee. Fair trade coffee guarantees poor farmers a price of $1.26 per pound of coffee which is twice the going rate for that product. 3. Unethical behavior can occur for a leader that has proper values and intentions. The reason that this can occur is that ethics is relative to the person or group that analyzes an act. A simple way to visualize ethics in the corporate world is through the stakeholder perspective. Each stakeholder group is going to react differently to an action. A leader may have great intentions and proper values, but sometimes budgetary constraints force the hand of a leader. If a leader closes down an operation knowing that the community needs those jobs the person despite wanting to help was force to make a decision that will be viewed as unethical by the community. 4. The glass ceiling effect that limits the managerial opportunities for women occurs for a variety of reasons. Our society believes the positions of power are better handled by men. In the United States there has never been a woman president. In the past there were more men in the workforce than women. The current trend is for more women to continue to enter the labor force. As of 2004 women represented 46% of the US labor force (Dol, 2004). Another social stigma that has helped men get better paying jobs is the belief that the man is supposed to be the provider of the household. It is also possible also that man visualize women as a threat to the corporate power structure which has historically been dominated by men. 5. In order to level the playing so that women can have better job opportunities including managerial spots at the executive level companies have to change from within. The corporate culture of companies has to change. The executive managerial staff has to implement strategic diversity plans. To tar get the problem of the lack of women in corporate management firms could create managerial training programs that utilized quotas to ensure enough women are getting a chance. Based on the fact that 46% of the labor force is composed of women a fair quota would be a 54:46 split. The use of quotas will also ensure that ethnic minorities are properly represented in the managerial ranks. Our educational system has to do a better job at recruiting women

Presences of Others Essay Example for Free

Presences of Others Essay It is shown that people have the tendency to perform better when in a group this is called social facilitation. There have been other studies done contradicting this and with more difficult experiments it actually hurts a person’s performance in a group. As Zajonc stated; a state of arousal is linked to performance without the presence of others. When an individuals is faced with a more difficult task it may lower that persons self esteem and then lead to that person not performing at his or her best. Most people are afraid of being judged and this will affect all of our normal everyday behaviors due to a low self esteem issues. Now with simple tasks a person’s performance can be a positive and a stimulating experience allowing a person to perform better and set higher goals for themselves and have higher self esteem. I am a person who can identify with these, in starting school a few years back I was very intimidated and self conscious about being in a class room with people I did not know. I watched everything I said or did and did not want to even raise my hand because I did not want to be embarrassed if I answered incorrectly or sounded stupid. At first in my class I did not perform very well with the group, but as I got to know everyone my positivity started coming out and I was able to benefit with being in a group and excelled. The article I read in the Journal of Social Psychology was about a widely accepted finding that in social psychology, that the mere presence of others reduces anxiety. Based on Wrightsman’s widely accepted findings, that his study which he originally demonstrated that the reduction of anxiety is less in the presence of others (at least firstborns). Though Epley raised some questions on the methodology of Wrightsman’s study and about the real reason there was an anxiety reduction, Epley stated that it was probably due to the distractions or social comparison and not just the  presence of others. I believe that depending on the situation the group may be in. I also found that also it depends on the situation and task at hand that a group is in and if the conditions are peaceful or hectic. The next article I read stated that the presence and type of situation and the connection between the two with the presence of an audience and how they react to the performance. Partic ipants were performing various tasks both in group settings and alone. In group settings word association was better performed compared to problem solving tasks which were more successful while performed alone. It all depends on the task at hand and in what situation the task is being performed in and under what conditions. Reference Journal of Social Psychology. Aug1978, Vol. 105 Issue 2, p301. 2p.

Dramatic Monologue Essay -- Essays Papers

Dramatic Monologue When discussing the poetic form of dramatic monologue it is rare that it is not associated with and its usage attributed to the poet Robert Browning. Robert Browning has been considered the master of the dramatic monologue. Although some critics are skeptical of his invention of the form, for dramatic monologue is evidenced in poetry preceding Browning, it is believed that his extensive and varied use of the dramatic monologue has significantly contributed to the form and has had an enormous impact on modern poetry. "The dramatic monologues of Robert Browning represent the most significant use of the form in postromantic poetry" (Preminger and Brogan 799). The dramatic monologue as we understand it today "is a lyric poem in which the speaker addresses a silent listener, revealing himself in the context of a dramatic situation" (Murfin 97). "The character is speaking to an identifiable but silent listener at a dramatic moment in the speaker's life. The circumstances surrounding the co nversation, one side which we "hear" as the dramatic monologue, are made by clear implication, and an insight into the character of the speaker may result" (Holman and Harmon 152). Although Browning wrote numerous dramatic monologues his contemporaries often criticized his works as being too emotional. The dramatic monologues of Browning are characterized by certain identifiable traits. The three requirements of a Browning dramatic monologue are "The reader takes the part of the silent listener; The speaker uses a case-making argumentative tone; We complete the dramatic scene from within, by means of inference and imagination" (Landow). Critics have interpreted the third requirement, the reader's interpretation and conclusions... ...tical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom, N.Y.: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. 23-44. Murfin, Roy and Supryia M. Ray, eds. The Bedford Glossary of Critical Literary Terms. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1998. O’Neill, Patricia. Robert Browning and Twentieth-Century Criticism. Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1995. Preminger, Alex and T.V. Brogan eds. The New Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: PUP, 1993. Shaviro, Steven. "Browning upon Caliban upon Setebos." Browning Society Notes 12 (1983). Rpt. in Robert Browning: Modern Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom, N.Y.: Chelsea House Publishers, 1985. 139-150. Wagner-Lawlor, Jennifer. "The Pragmatics of Silence, and the Figuration of the Reader in Browning's Dramatic Monologues." Victorian Poetry 35.3 (Fall 1997) : 287-302. Woolford, John. Browning the Revisionary. N.Y.: St. Martin's Press, 1988.

Prejudice on to kill a mockingbird 1 Essay

Prejudice is a negative aspect of society that has unfavorably affected many different people. In the novel, racial prejudice is evident but there are more types of prejudice on the novel. We said that racial prejudice is evident because in the novel a black man (Tom Robinson) was caused from raping a woman named Mayella Ewell and therefore had to go to trial. There were many points of view with regard to the case of Tom Robinson, but of course all influenced by prejudice because the color of Tom. The people of Maycomb town thought that Tom was guilty. Atticus and children (Scout, Jem, and Dill) thought that he was innocent. When we read this we can see that the prejudice is an important theme in the novel. For this reason it is necessary to make an analysis of this topic. People of Maycomb town always knew what the verdict of the trial was going to be (the judicial system was full of prejudice), even though some of them deep down knew that Tom was innocent, he don’t rape Mayella. [1]. Maycomb, like most small southern towns, has a problem with widespread racism (type of prejudice) toward African American people. As Maycomb was a small town with little or no new residents, people living there formed prejudices about various families over the generations. Social prejudice in Maycomb caused families to be stereotyped, which had a negative impact on members of those various families as it caused their character to become ‘fixed’ just by their household name. It also had a negative impact on the individual residents of Maycomb, causing them to have unequal treatment. An example of this prejudice is the rejection attitude of the town to Boo Radley, only because he is a Radley . Prejudice in To Kill a Mockingbird can be categorized into three forms, social prejudice, racial prejudice and gender prejudice.

Tungsten or Wolfram - Chemical Physical Properties

Tungsten is a grayish-white transition metal with atomic number 74 and element symbol W. The symbol comes from another name for the element—wolfram. While the name tungsten is approved by the IUPAC and is used in Nordic countries and those speaking English or French, most European countries use the name wolfram. Here is a collection of tungsten or wolfram facts, including the elements properties, uses, and sources. Tungsten or Wolfram  Basic Facts Tungsten Atomic Number: 74 Tungsten Symbol: W Tungsten Atomic Weight: 183.85 Tungsten Discovery: Juan Jose and Fausto dElhuyar purified tungsten in 1783 (Spain), although Peter Woulfe examined the mineral which came to be known as wolframite and determined that it contained a new substance. Tungsten Electron Configuration: [Xe] 6s2 4f14 5d4 Word Origin: Swedish tung sten, heavy stone or wolf rahm and spumi lupi, because the ore wolframite interfered with tin smelting and was believed to devour the tin. Tungsten Isotopes: Natural tungsten consist of five stable isotopes. Twelve unstable isotopes are known. Tungsten Properties: Tungsten has a melting point of 3410/-20 °C, boiling point of 5660 °C, specific gravity of 19.3 (20 °C), with a valence of 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Tungsten is a steel-gray to tin-white metal. Impure tungsten metal is quite brittle, although pure tungsten can be cut with a saw, spun, drawn, forged, and extruded. Tungsten has the highest melting point and the lowest vapor pressure of the metals. At temperatures exceeding 1650 °C, it has the highest tensile strength. Tungsten oxidizes in air at elevated temperatures, although it generally has excellent corrosion resistance and is minimally attacked by most acids. Tungsten Uses: The thermal expansion of tungsten is similar to that of borosilicate glass, so the metal is used for glass/metal seals. Tungsten and its alloys are used to make filaments for electric lamps and television tubes, as electrical contacts, x-ray targets, heating elements, for metal evaporation components, and for numerous other high temperature applications. Hastelloy, Stellite, high-speed tool steel, and numerous other alloys contain tungsten. Magnesium and calcium tungstenates are used in fluorescent lighting. Tungsten carbide is important in the mining, metalworking, and petroleum industries. Tungsten disulfide is used as a dry high-temperature lubricant. Tungsten bronze and other tungsten compounds are used in paints. Tungsten Sources: Tungsten occurs in wolframite, (Fe, Mn)WO4, scheelite, CaWO4, ferberite, FeWO4, and huebnerite, MnWO4. Tungsten is produced commercially by reducing tungsten oxide with carbon or hydrogen. Biological Role: Tungsten is the heaviest element with known biological functionality. No use in humans or other eukaryotes is known, but the element is used by bacteria and archaea in enzymes, principally as a catalyst. It functions in much the same ways as the element molybdenum does in other organisms. When tungsten compounds are introduced to soil, they inhibit earthworm reproduction. Scientists are studying the use of tetrathiotungstates for use in biological copper chelation. Tungsten is a rare element, initially thought to be inert and only slightly toxic to humans. However, now it is known tungsten dust inhalation, skin contact, or ingestion can cause cancer and other negative health effects. Tungsten or Wolfram Physical Data Element Classification: Transition Metal Density (g/cc): 19.3 Melting Point (K): 3680 Boiling Point (K): 5930 Appearance: tough gray to white metal Atomic Radius (pm): 141 Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 9.53 Covalent Radius (pm): 130 Ionic Radius: 62 (6e) 70 (4e) Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 0.133 Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): (35) Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 824 Debye Temperature (K): 310.00 Pauling Negativity Number: 1.7 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 769.7 Oxidation States: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 0 Lattice Structure: Body-Centered Cubic Lattice Constant (Ã…): 3.160 Sources Lide, David R., ed. (2009). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (90th ed.). Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4200-9084-0.Hille, Russ (2002). Molybdenum and tungsten in biology. Trends in Biochemical Sciences. 27 (7): 360–367. doi:10.1016/S0968-0004(02)02107-2Lassner, Erik; Schubert, Wolf-Dieter (1999). Tungsten: properties, chemistry, technology of the element, alloys, and chemical compounds. Springer. ISBN 978-0-306-45053-2.Stwertka, Albert (2002). A Guide to the Elements (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-515026-1.Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.