10 Fascinating Facts About Dung Beetles

Is there anything cooler than a dung beetle pushing a ball of poo? We think not. But lest you disagree, please consider these 10 fascinating facts about dung beetles. 1. Dung Beetles Eat Poop Dung beetles are coprophagous insects, meaning they eat the excrement of other organisms. Although not all dung beetles eat poop exclusively, they all eat feces at some point in their lives. Most prefer to feed on herbivore droppings, which are largely undigested plant matter, rather than carnivore waste, which holds very little nutritional value for insects. Recent research at the University of Nebraska suggests dung beetles may be most attracted to omnivore excrement since it provides both nutritional value and the right amount of odor to make it easy to find. 2.  Not All Dung Beetles Roll Their Poop When you think of a dung beetle, you probably picture a beetle pushing a ball of poop along the ground. But some dung beetles don’t bother rolling neat little dung balls at all. Instead, these coprophages stay close to their fecal finds. Aphidian dung beetles (subfamily Aphodiinae) simply live within the dung they find, often cow patties, rather than investing energy in moving it. The earth-boring dung beetles (family Geotrupidae) typically tunnel below the dung pile, making a burrow that can then be easily provisioned with poop. 3. Nests Filled With Poop for Offspring When dung beetles do carry or roll the dung away, they do so primarily to feed their young. Dung beetle nests are provisioned with poop, and the female usually deposits each egg in its own tiny dung sausage. When the larvae emerge, they are well-supplied with food, enabling them to complete their development within the safe environment of the nest. 4. Dung Beetles are Good Parents Dung beetles are one of the few groups of insects that exhibit parental care for their young. In most cases, child-rearing responsibilities fall on the mother, who constructs the nest and provisions it with food for her young. But in certain species, both parents share child care duties to some degree. In the Copris and Ontophagus dung beetles, the male and female work together to dig their nests. Certain Cephalodesmius dung beetles even mate for life. 5. Particular About the Poop They’ll Eat For most dung beetles, not just any poop will do. Many dung beetles specialize on the dung of particular animals, or types of animals, and simply will not touch the poo of other critters. Australians learned this lesson the hard way when the outback was nearly buried in cattle dung. Two hundred years ago, settlers introduced horses, sheep, and cattle to Australia, all grazing animals that were new to the native dung beetles. The Australian dung beetles were raised on poop from Down Under, like kangaroo poo, and refused to clean up after the exotic newcomers. Around 1960, Australia imported exotic dung beetles that were adapted to eating cattle dung, and things got back to normal. 6. Really Good at Finding Poop When it comes to poop, the fresher the better (at least from the dung beetles perspective). Once a dung patty has dried out, it’s less palatable to even the most dedicated poop eater. So dung beetles move quickly when an herbivore drops a gift in the pasture. One scientist observed 4,000 dung beetles on a fresh pile of elephant scat within 15 minutes after it hit the ground, and shortly thereafter, they were joined by an additional 12,000 dung beetles. With that kind of competition, you have to move quickly if you’re a dung beetle. 7. Navigate Using the Milky Way With so many dung beetles vying for the same pile of poop, a beetle needs to make a quick getaway once he’s rolled his dung ball. But it’s not easy to roll a ball of poop in a straight line, especially when you’re pushing your ball from behind using your hind legs. So the first thing the dung beetle does is climb atop his sphere and orient himself. Scientists had long observed dung beetles dancing on their poo balls, and suspected they were looking for cues to help them navigate. New research confirmed that at least one species of African dung beetle, Scarabaeus satyrus, uses the Milky Way as a guide to steering its dung ball home. The researchers placed tiny hats on the dung beetles, effectively blocking their view of the heavens, and found the dung beetles could only wander aimlessly without being able to see the stars. 8. Use Their Poop Balls to Cool Off Have you ever walked barefoot across a sandy beach on a scorching hot summer day? If so, you probably did your share of hopping, skipping, and running to avoid painful burns to your feet. Since dung beetles often live in similarly hot, sunny places, scientists wondered if they, too, worried about burning their tootsies. A recent study showed that dung beetles use their dung balls to cool off. Around noon, when the sun is at its peak, dung beetles will routinely climb atop their dung balls to give their feet a break from the hot ground. The scientists tried putting tiny, silicone booties on the dung beetles, and they discovered the beetles wearing shoes would take fewer breaks and push their dung balls longer than the beetles that were barefoot. Thermal imaging also showed that the dung balls were measurably cooler than the surrounding environment, probably because of their moisture content. 9. Some are Surprisingly Strong Even a small ball of fresh dung can be hefty to push, weighing 50 times the weight of the determined dung beetle. Male dung beetles need exceptional strength, not just for pushing dung balls but also for fending off male competitors. The individual strength record goes to a male Onthphagus taurus dung beetle, which pulled a load equivalent to 1,141 times its own body weight. How does this compare to human feats of strength? This would be like a 150-pound person pulling 80 tons. 10. Ancient Dung Beetles Existed Because they lack bones, insects rarely show up in the fossil record. But we do know that dung beetles existed around 30 million years ago because paleontologists have found fossilized dung balls the size of tennis balls from that time. Prehistoric dung beetles collected the poop of South America’s megafauna: car-sized armadillos, sloths taller than modern houses, and a peculiar long-necked herbivore called Macrauchenia.

Hiv And The World Health Organization - 2239 Words

First reported incidences of HIV were established in rural geographic areas prior to 1955 (Lemey et al., 2003). The virus then managed to quickly spread amongst larger populations resulting in a shift from an uncommon infection to a highly prevalent disease throughout 1955 to 1970. After the original outbreak, in 1994, further information regarding the infection was mandated to be reported to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 25 different states using a structured confidentiality report system (Prejean et al., 2011). With this provided system, the Global Programme on AIDS and the World Health Organization (1995) later concluded a total of 10,000 new cases develop each day. The CDC (2015) describes HIV as an infection†¦show more content†¦In contrast, the number of individuals infected with HIV within the U.S. as of 2014 totaled to an estimated 1.2 million people (CDC, 2015). Out of these people, 14% were not aware they had been infected with the virus with one in every seven individuals conveyed as not knowing they were infected. As these acquired values were related to the data collected within the U.S. on a global scale, it was concluded that a total of 19 million individuals were unaware of their HIV status when compared to the 35 million people infected worldwide. From the time of incident reporting, the CDC has kept the epidemic of HIV infection under high surveillance (Prejean et al., 2011). As they additionally state, this has permitted researchers to gather further information relating to the many ways in which HIV infection can be impacted by gender, race, behavior, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and so forth. In the efforts of bec oming familiarized with the trends HIV incidence produces, Hall et al., (2008) stated preventative measures can be identified and implemented towards the decrease in total HIV prevalence. When taking the number of infection occurrences into account, factors relating to identifying the causes of HIV incidences must be managed in order to lessen the degree of infection (Kelly et al., 1997). During the early stages of HIV observation, Kelly et al., (1997) attributed the core concepts

Human Resource Management in Healthcare Sector

Questions: 1. Based on this and prior lectures, your readings and research, the assigned SHRM article, and your own experience as a healthcare leader, what HR related issues will pose the biggest challenges in the coming 1-3 years?2. What changes to the HR profession/function should occur immediately to enable HR to more effectively partner with you in your position/practice/field?3. What action can you take, if any, to improve working relationships between you and your HR representatives or partners? Answers: 1. There are a number of HR related health care issues that might faced in the coming years. Despite there being advancement in the technology, the importance of work force in the hospital must not be ignored. The mistakes occurring in healthcare might have heavy consequences on the patient. There is a need for the health care staffs to carry out ethical practices. The main issue that is likely to be faced is the shortage of workforce. The challenge would involve recruitment, identification and retention. There is going to arise a dearth in the trained and talented work force. There is a huge demand for the health care workforce in the developing countries (Armstrong Taylor, 2014).The main reason for this is the shortages in the bed and human resources. There are more quality manpower who tend to move abroad for a better pay. Apart from the challenge of getting the right people, the technological advancements lays down that there is a need for training and maintaining of high standa rds. When the workforce is trained professionally then only health sectors can function properly. 2. The changes that is required for the HR position for working in tune with the health care leader is when the HR manager would be able to manage the staffing and the placement in the organization. The selection of the candidates must be done based on the qualification. He should have the ability to tell the management about the benefits and the pay of the recruits and the old employees. There is a need for the HR manager to involve in a extensive research on the regulations and the rules pertaining to the system of health care in relation to the employees. The important laws like the Medicare and Medicaid Patient Protection Act of 1987 are some important laws, which facilities of health care needs to be well a versed. The HR department needs to undertake a careful scrutiny of legal contract with the practitioners on recruitment and retention (Abdelhak, Grostick Hanken, 2014).The HR manager should be able be evaluating the existing employees of the organization. The dispute in the working place also needs to be resolved by him. 3. In order to improve the working relationship between the HR representatives and the health care leaders is through a very smooth communication with the department as and when required so that the changes that is occurring in the healthcare sector gets a versed to the HR representative. The reason for a seamless communication is necessary as they are the one who are going to hire employees in the health care and so a proper dealing must be there between the leaders and HR department (Pynes Lombardi, 2011). The type of qualification of employees, which is required for the health care, can only be known with the requirement of the health care leaders. The health care leaders should include the HR department when making decision-making and planning process. This will help both to understand the needs in the health care and things that can be improvised. Reference List: Abdelhak, M., Grostick, S., Hanken, M. A. (2014).Health information: management of a strategic resource. Elsevier Health Sciences. Armstrong, M., Taylor, S. (2014).Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Pynes, J. E. Lombardi, D. N. (2011).Human resources management for health care organizations: a strategic approach.. John Wiley Sons.

William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to the play as a whole Essay Example Essay Example

William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to the play as a whole Essay Example Paper William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to the play as a whole Essay Introduction Romeo and Juliet was written by Shakespeare he was, a world renowned play writer and a lot of his plays are still performed today he is best known for writing plays about life. For example Romeo and Juliet was a play written about the love between two people. He has also written comedies which at the time would have been both witty and humorous however today’s audience may find it harder to find such things as are shown in the Tempest for example. We can assume that when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet he was trying to capture the different human emotions possessed by each individual.The prologue is read to you at the start of the play it is an important part of the play because it outlines the story and what the audience can expect to see, â€Å"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;† the way this is read is significant, it helps build up intrigue in the play and therefore keeps the audience engaged in what there watching. It may have told the audience the e nding but the way in which it does is important at the same time as making the audience wonder, it does also leave the audience wondering; ‘what would bring them to do it?†Why did they do it?’ These thoughts are what the prologue is trying to instil in the audience and it does it very effectively using a variety of means. It gives the audience some idea of the time this feud has been going on for, â€Å"From ancient grudge to new mutiny,† this suggests that it has been going on for a long time and the prologue continues to say that the death of these ‘lovers’ will in some way effect this feud.The two houses are carefully put together, by creating such diverse characters on both sides of the two houses they are able to easily be distinguished and there are certainly no two characters the same, by choosing to do this Shakespeare has separated them further. In addition this helps the reader understand the characters and therefore aids them to iden tify with them, which is crucial because it makes any later performance easier to understand, i.e. why a character is behaving in a specific way. It is effective because it relates to the individual the one viewer, which is again what it is trying to do. It is trying to capture the individual watching making it a more personal and meaningful to the audience as a whole the characters continue to reveal themselves to the audience as the story progresses either through their actions or their attitude to the situations which are presented in front of them.Act 1 scene 1 begins with confusion the fight between the two houses is both pointless and extremely relevant, the prologue gives the reader a taster of the play it doesn’t in fact explain why this feud has gone on as long as It has this is what the first act and scene do. Act 1 scene 1 develops characters in the play Benvolio trying to stop the fight â€Å"Put up your swords, you know not what you do.† As a to every peac e keeper there has to be another side the aggressor Tybalt fits this stereotype.In this scene he is especially aggressive as he dismisses any attempt by Benvolio to stop the fight, showing this kind of aggression portrays Tybalt in the eyes of the audience as an aggressive character further helping the audience to understand the character and this is mimicked for other characters for this scene and indeed the play as a whole.Act 1 scene 1 also introduces the two main leaders this helps the audience better understand the characters. These two men Capulet and Montague are therefore the oldest fighters in this feud, the men seem both to be controlled by there wives when Lady Capulet suggests that her husband would be better of with a crutch it shoes the audience that she understands that this feud has lost its meaning. If it was a genuine war in her eyes then she would in theory be willing her husband on, the reasons she may have for not encouraging or backing him up are there is no cl ear reason why these two houses hate each other.A war with no meaning, they have been fighting for so long â€Å"From ancient grudge,† that she views it as a mother would view her child she would calm the rage illogical rage that Capulet has for Montague. The fact that these men are head of the two families shows the audience why this feud is still so intense if the older generation with the most power aren’t making an effort to resolve it therefore the younger generation following there fathers example are going to continue this violence towards each other this is all extremely important as it starts the play off full of questions ready to be answered.There is a very clear definition between the good and the bad characters in Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt gives the impression that he is unnecessarily aggressive towards Romeo, in particular after he is seen at the Capulet party. There next meeting after the part is shown in act 3 scene 1It is arguable that Romeo could be bl amed for Tybalt’s aggressiveness, â€Å"Boy, this shalt not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me.† we know that Tybalt doesn’t know about the marriage, and therefore this entire escapade is because Romeo was seen at the Capulet party. There is one line, which does two very important things, it builds Tybalt’s character and does in fact explain the reason through Tybalt’s eyes, which is a far more effective way of finding out how someone feels about another, â€Å"What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montague’s, and thee.† This is Tybalt’s character, a stereotype of him which doesn’t change throughout, however it does continue to develop, â€Å"Gentlemen,† Tybalt uses this to talk to Mercutio and a group of Montague’s.It is obvious that he isn’t being nice but he is in fact being sarcastic and patronizing. The different relationships between the characters start to create a relationship structure in which you can see the feelings which the characters show, as with Romeo and Juliet the feeling is obviously love and in Act 3 Scene I it is accurately portrayed when Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt as his marriage to Juliet means that much to him that he is willing to go against his own beliefs. However as there is a clear definition between the good characters and the bad Romeo is just sticking to how a true ‘gentleman’ would behave with dignity and honor.The love, which Romeo and Juliet have for each other, is unquestionable one unique thing about there love is that it became so intense so quickly after just splitting up with his girlfriend he nearly instantly forgets her and falls in love all over again.from their first meeting to the dramatic end the bond they have doesn’t diminish even when Juliet hears of Tybalt murder she still welcomes her husband this over casts any doubt that the audience may have had about there love. T he feud doesn’t stop for them, they have to continue their usual life but with this love they both share with each other. Their relationship can be compared to that of Mercutio and Romeo’s again Mercutio is willing to fight for Romeo as he is bound by his marriage to Juliet. This display of so called ‘parenting’ is not shown by Romeo’s father who seems to be more detached from Romeo and doesn’t know much about him.The Capulet boys including Tybalt seem to be more aggressive than the Montague’s from the beginning it is them who start the fight, â€Å"look upon thy death.† As well as starting the fights another example of how someone can behave in a fight is to keep the peace this can be construed from characters such as Benvolio. This man seems to be more level headed than the rest, he isn’t bound down by love for a woman or hatred of a house. He is thinking only of himself and this way of living isn’t admired by th e majority of the men in both houses due to their own way of living and dealing with things being so contrasting to his views.Romeo is similar to Benvolio in Act 3 Scene 1 in his willingness to do the right thing and listen to what he’s been told. He weighs the pros and cons of his decisions when for example he knew that getting involved with Juliet was dangerous to both his life and to the reputation of Juliet, but he knew his feelings for Juliet and he decided that they over ruled the pressure he would get from characters such as Tybalt for example who would obviously be outraged by Romeo even trying to come into his life.Tybalt’s character was created in order to have one dominant aggressor. In the play you have Benvolio the peace maker, Romeo the romantic, Mercutio the true friend and Tybalt the villain. It does in fact have a lot of the characteristics of the stereotypical story.A typical example of how emotions cloud the judgment of characters in the play is when Romeo kills Tybalt after the death of Mercutio. With this in mind, the rest of the Act is largely built upon two wants and no way to make a compromise. The Capulets hate the Montagues however, neither side can give one good reason for this hatred all that we can gather is that anything that either side does annoys the other.Moreover, Tybalt’s hatred seems to be one sided and illogical, he demonstrates this by addressing nearly everybody in a characteristically stereotypical tone of voice i.e. aggressively this is shown obviously more to the Montague’s to threaten them he speaks to them harshly. The reason that Act 3 scene 1 is so significant is because the two other acts don’t have such peculiar things happening. The conversation leading up to the actual fight has many similarities with the first fight in act 1 scene 1 although this time Tybalt’s anger isn’t just directed at Montague’s but at a single being, Romeo.The character Mercutio is cleverly built up in act 3 scene 1 firstly he puts his views across â€Å"Though art like one of these fellows that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword† he shows in this that he can read people and he himself is quite serious and seems to take life seriously this is shows threw him getting quite defensive and resenting what others say about him he is also quick to pick up on people when there being hypocritical again from the previous quotation that was Mercutio’ answer to Benvolio’ willingness to retreat he is saying that Benvolio is a hypocrite and shouldn’t be giving advice id he’s not willing to follow it.Tybalt and Mercutio are very similar they both act aggressively. When Mercutio is killed he feels many things not only does he feel betrayed by Romeo but he also figures he’s got nothing to loose and really brings out what he thinks about the feud going on between these two houses, â€Å"A plague a’both your houses!† he compares them to ‘beasts’ basically he doesn’t warrant the fighting, and he saw what Tybalt was thinking and the significant part of it is the curse he places on both the houses in doing this he is showing that the argument with Tybalt wasn’t just because he was a Capulet but that Mercutio generally had a problem wit Tybalt for his attitude and his view on life which as we know is both shallow and narrow minded. William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to the play as a whole Essay Thank you for reading this Sample!