Sunday, May 24, 2020

Understanding Dinosaur Combat

In Hollywood movies, dinosaur fights have clear winners and losers, carefully demarcated arenas (say, an open patch of scrubland or the cafeteria in Jurassic Park), and usually a bunch of scared-out-of-their-wits human spectators. In real life, though, dinosaur fights were more like confused, chaotic bar brawls than Ultimate Fighting matches, and rather than persisting for multiple rounds, they were usually over in the blink of a Jurassic eye. (See a list of the Deadliest Dinosaurs, as well as Prehistoric Battles featuring your favorite dinosaurs, reptiles, and mammals.) Its important at the outset to distinguish between the two main types of dinosaur combat. Predator/prey encounters (for example, between a hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex and alone, juvenile Triceratops) were quick and brutal, with no rules except kill or be killed. But intra-species clashes (say, two male Pachycephalosaurus head-butting each other for the right to mate with available females) had a more ritualistic aspect, and rarely resulted in a combatants death (though one presumes serious injuries were common). Of course, in order to fight successfully, you need to be equipped with suitable weapons. Dinosaurs didnt have access to firearms (or even blunt instruments), but they were endowed with naturally evolved adaptations that helped them either to hunt down their lunch, avoid being lunch or propagate the species in order to restock the global lunch menu. Offensive weapons (like sharp teeth and long claws) were almost exclusively the province of meat-eating dinosaurs, which preyed on one another or on gentler herbivores, while defensive weapons (like armor plating and tail clubs) were evolved by plant-eaters in order to fend off attacks by predators. A third type of weapon consisted of sexually selected adaptations (such as sharp horns and thickened skulls), wielded by the males of some dinosaur species in order to dominate the herd or compete for the attention of females. Offensive Dinosaur Weapons Teeth. Meat-eating dinosaurs like T. Rex and Allosaurus didnt evolve big, sharp teeth merely to eat their prey; like modern cheetahs and great white sharks, they used these choppers to deliver quick, powerful, and (if they were delivered in the right place at the right time) fatal bites. Well never know for sure, but reasoning by analogy with modern carnivores, it seems likely that these theropods aimed for their victims necks and bellies, where a strong bite would cause the most damage. Claws. Some carnivorous dinosaurs (like Baryonyx) were equipped with large, powerful claws on their front hands, which they used to slash at prey, while others (like Deinonychus and its fellow raptors) had single, oversized, curved claws on their hind feet. Its unlikely that a dinosaur could have killed prey with its claws alone; these weapons were probably also used to grapple with opponents and keep them in a death grip. (Bear in mind, however, that huge claws dont necessarily connote a carnivorous diet; the big-clawed Deinocheirus, for example, was a confirmed vegetarian.) Eyesight and smell. The most advanced predators of the Mesozoic Era (like the human-sized Troodon) were equipped with large eyes and relatively advanced binocular vision, which made it easier for them to zero in on prey, especially when hunting by night. Some carnivores also possessed an advanced sense of smell, which enabled them to scent prey from far off (though its also possible that this adaptation was used to home in on already-dead, rotting carcasses). Momentum. Tyrannosaurs were built like battering rams, with enormous heads, thick bodies, and powerful hind legs. Short of delivering a fatal bite, an attacking Daspletosaurus could knock its victim silly, provided it had the element of surprise on its side and a sufficient head of steam. Once the unlucky Stegosaurus was lying on its side, stunned and confused, the hungry theropod could move in for the quick kill. Speed. Speed was an adaptation shared equally by predators and prey, a good example of an evolutionary arms race. Since they were smaller and more lightly built than tyrannosaurs, raptors and dino-birds were especially quick, which created an evolutionary incentive for the plant-eating ornithopods they hunted to run faster as well. As a rule, carnivorous dinosaurs were capable of short bursts of high speed, while herbivorous dinosaurs could sustain a slightly less brisk pace for a longer period of time. Bad breath. This may sound like a joke, but paleontologists believe that the teeth of some tyrannosaurs were shaped so as to purposely accumulate shreds of dead tissue. As these shreds rotted, they bred dangerous bacteria, meaning any non-fatal bites inflicted on other dinosaurs would result in infected, gangrenous wounds. The unlucky plant-eater would drop dead in a few days, at which point the responsible Carnotaurus (or any other predator in the immediate vicinity) chowed down on its carcass. Defensive Dinosaur Weapons Tails. The long, flexible tails of sauropods and titanosaurs had more than one function: they helped to counterbalance these dinosaurs equally long necks, and their ample surface area may have helped dissipate excess heat. However, its also believed that some of these behemoths could lash their tails like whips, delivering stunning blows to approaching predators. The use of tails for defensive purposes reached its apex with the ankylosaurs, or armored dinosaurs, which evolved heavy, macelike growths at the ends of their tails that could crush the skulls of unwary raptors. Armor. Until the knights of medieval Europe learned to forge metallic armor, no creatures on earth were more impervious to attack than Ankylosaurus and Euoplocephalus (the latter even had armored eyelids). When attacked, these ankylosaurs would plop down onto the ground, and the only way they could be killed was if a predator managed to flip them onto their backs and dig into their soft underbellies. By the time the dinosaurs went extinct, even titanosaurs had evolved a light armored coating, which may have helped fend off pack attacks by packs of smaller raptors. Sheer bulk. One of the reasons sauropods and hadrosaurs attained such enormous sizes is that full-grown adults would have been virtually immune to predation: not even a pack of adult Alioramus could hope to take down a 20-ton Shantungosaurus. The downside to this, of course, was that predators shifted their attention to easier-to-pick-off babies and juveniles, meaning that out of a clutch of 20 or 30 eggs laid by a female Diplodocus, only one or two might manage to reach adulthood. Camouflage. The one feature of dinosaurs that rarely (if ever) fossilizes is their skin color--so well never know if Protoceratops sported zebra-like stripes, or if Maiasauras mottled skin made it difficult to see in dense underbrush. However, reasoning by analogy with modern prey animals, it would be very surprising indeed if hadrosaurs and ceratopsians didnt sport some kind of camouflage to cloak them from the attention of predators Speed. As mentioned above, evolution is an equal-opportunity employer: as the predatory dinosaurs of the Mesozoic Era become faster, so do their prey, and vice-versa. While a 50-ton sauropod couldnt have run very fast, the average hadrosaur could rear up onto its hind legs and beat the bipedal retreat in response to danger, and some smaller plant-eating dinosaurs may have been capable of sprinting at 30 or 40 (or possibly 50) miles per hour while being chased. Hearing. As a general rule, predators are endowed with superior sight and smell, while prey animals possess acute hearing (so they can run away if they hear a threatening rustle in the distance). Based on an analysis of their crested skulls, it seems likely that some duck-billed dinosaurs (like Parasaurolophus and Charonosaurus) could bellow to each other over long distances, so an individual hearing the footsteps of an approaching tyrannosaur would be able to warn the herd. Intra-Species Dinosaur Weapons Horns. The fearsome-looking horns of Triceratops may only have been secondarily intended to warn away a hungry T. Rex. The position and orientation of ceratopsian horns lead paleontologists to conclude that their main purpose was in dueling with other males for dominance in the herd or breeding rights. Of course, unlucky males might be wounded, or even killed, in this process--researchers have unearthed numerous dinosaur bones bearing the marks of intra-species combat. Frills. The giant head ornaments of ceratopsian dinosaurs served two purposes. First, oversized frills made these plant-eaters look bigger in the eyes of hungry carnivores, which might opt to concentrate on smaller fare instead. And second, if these frills were brightly colored, they could have been used to signal the desire to fight during mating season. (Frills may also have had yet another purpose, as their large surface areas helped to dissipate and absorb heat.) Crests. Not quite a weapon in the classic sense, crests were protrusions of bone most often found on duck-billed dinosaurs. These backward-pointing growths would have been useless in a fight, but they may well have been employed to attract females (theres evidence that the crests of some Parasaurolophus males were larger than those of the females). As mentioned above, its also likely that some duck-billed dinosaurs funneled air through these crests as a way of signaling to others of their kind. Skulls. This peculiar weapon was unique to the family of dinosaurs known as pachycephalosaurs (thick-headed lizards). Pachycephalosaurs like Stegoceras and Sphaerotholus sported up to a foot of bone on the tops of their skulls, which they presumably used to head-butt one another for dominance in the herd and the right to mate. Theres some speculation that pachycephalosaurs may also have butted the flanks of approaching predators with their thickened domes.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Benedick in William Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing...

Benedick in William Shakespeares Much Ado About Nothing In the first extract, Benedick and Claudio are alone so the focus of the audience is on them. Shakespeare makes all the characters leave the scene except for Benedick and Claudio, which shows that whilst Beatrice and the others are more sociable and keep with the group, Benedick and Claudio want some time to themselves. This shows that Benedick does not like large crowds of people and is automatically portrayed as an introverted character. It is also an ideal time for Claudio to talk to Benedick about Hero because he thinks about her so much that the entry of their conversation is about her. â€Å"Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signor†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Is’t come to this? In faith hath not the world one man but he will wear his cap with suspicion? Shall I never see a bachelor of threescore again?† His language suggests that he could be angry, but inside he feels upset that his friend wants to get married and that he feels left out. In the second extract, Benedick’s monologue suggests that he will never find the right woman because, â€Å"Till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace.† According to Benedick, his ideal wife has to be perfect, but no one is perfect so he will never find a wife. Benedick believes that women are untrustworthy and he mentions in the previous extract, â€Å"I will do myself the right to trust none. And the fine is, for the which I may go the finer, I will live a bachelor.† He is still very sarcastic and somewhat childish as he calls Claudio, ‘Monsieur Love!’, but he may be jealous of him inside. Don Pedro, Leonato and Claudio all take part in the gulling of Benedick. 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Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Native Americans And Inuit From The American Arctic

Introduction and Early Contact European explorers typically viewed Native Americans and Inuit (formerly called â€Å"Eskimo†) peoples as uncivilized savages who could be ignored, treated as curiosities, or manipulated to meet the goals of businessmen, clerics, scientists, or politicians. Civil interaction with native peoples was pursued only when it was critical to the success of European ventures such as procuring gold, silver, fur, and land. These exploitative or antagonistic relationships with native groups arose from ethnocentric attitudes which to some degree still persist in both public and private arenas. But today, we understand the importance of looking at primary sources, both written and archaeological, for a richer and more complete narrative about what such earlier encounters meant to the participants. The first documented contact between New World and Old World people took place when the Norse colonized the American Arctic in A.D. 985. 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Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Accounting Information System Data Mining System

Question: Describe about the Accounting Information System for Data Mining System. Answer: Introduction With the due passage, there has been a strong reliance on the availability of data and this has become possible with the advent of various softwares. Technology has improved the performances of the organization. This has led to the emergence of Business Intelligence that is composed of various activities like reporting, processing, data mining, etc. The enterprise system is vastly benefited by it and in this report; the main stress will be on the Business intelligence, data mining, and how these are put to implementation (Peter et. al, 2013). Business Intelligence BI or Business Intelligence is basically an umbrella term which implies a variety of different software applications that are used to evaluate raw data of an organization. As a discipline, Business Intelligence is made up of various associated activities that include reporting, querying, online analytical processing, complex event processing, benchmarking, and data mining etc. BI is a technology-driven process that is primarily used by various companies, business managers and corporate executives so that they can enhance their decision-making, minimize expenditures and recognize new and effective opportunities for business (Peter et. al, 2013). It is more than just corporate reporting and a set of tools that is used to persuade data out of the enterprise systems. The CIO (Chief Information Officer) of companies to recognize several business processes that are ineffective and have become ready for re-engineering processes also uses it. The main objective of BI is to permit simple and easy interpretation of high volumes of data so that an effective strategy can be implemented based on insights that can provide companies with a long-term stability and competitive market advantage (Rodriguez et. al, 2010). In the current scenario where developed BI tools prevails, business management can jump in and start evaluating data themselves instead of waiting for IT to process several complex reports. This transformation to a more democratic political regime of easy accessible information can assist users to back up various business decisions that would otherwise be based only on anecdotes and gut feelings (Golfarelli Golfarelli, 2009). Even though Business Intelligence holds huge promises, implementations can be unshakeable by cultural and technical challenges. Management of companies are bound to ensure that the data feeding applications of BI is not hampered, that means it is consistent and clean enough to be trusted and relied upon by users (MacIntyre, 2004). Business intelligence provide a competitive advantage Industries and businesses from all around the world have observed various innovative or technological variations provided by the forces of globalization. One of such relevant variations is the prevalence of advanced IT (Information Technology) in the contemporary organizations. Regular enhancement of such globalization and IT proves to be the biggest factors that provides global aspect to competition. The business managers or corporate executives of contemporary organizations have been encouraged by such factors to introduce the Business Intelligence concept in their business environment (Watson et.al, 2007). They constantly concentrate on attaining an enhanced stage of competitive advantage in the international business markets. There are several ways by which BI can used to attain competitive advantage. Firstly, BI facilitates in the measurement of marketing efficiency. One of the key drivers for departure of advertising expenditure to the internet has been the potential to measure results. This can be attained through direct ways like impressions and click-through or indirect ways like evaluation of consumer emotions on blogs, social networks etc. BI can be used here as a major component in managing the huge volume of data involved in such work (Chugh Grandghi, 2013). The outcomes of this evaluation can assist contemporary organizations in targeting marketing budgets and understanding how to segment their markets. Secondly, contemporary organizations in fact, are weaker in enhancement of Human Resources. Therefore, they must focus on such improvement and BI can be adopted to develop and transform the relevance of their human capital. Markets that are highly competitive require HR strategies and examining of its performance. BI can support such processes by permitting organizations to gain better perceptions into the realization of their HRM strategies (Blumberg Atre, 2003). Thirdly, managers and executives of contemporary organizations can adopt BI to tran sform collected information into precious knowledge within their business architectures so that they can make better economic decisions in the global environment (Rud, 2009). This will provide them a competitive advantage in modern businesses. It has been observed that contemporary organizations that have adopted BI as a strategy in decision-making have attained competitive advantage over other competitors as BI could encompass business applications, technologies, and peoples skills into such decisions. Loyalty card process Data is the vital requirement of every sector, provides great functioning in the global economy, and is considered as an important factor of production like human capital, hard assets, etc. It is difficult to perform the economic activity without it (McKnight, 2003). In the retail, industry data mining helps in making crucial decisions and the apt example is the utilization of a tier system to enhance purchases. It is a big challenge to the companies to strike a balance between attainment and desirable rewards using a loyalty program. The main way through which it can be implemented is to utilize data mining. Rewards are used as a base for offering so that people draw towards the scheme. To get an upper hand, loyalty programs are being used and the consumers are engaged (Kimball, 2008). Data that i gathered through a loyalty program can provide great insight into the segment of customer and help to provide strategic dollar to every group. Sainsbury loyalty reward card is an apt examp le that was launched in the year 1996. It considered the monetary model that helps segmenting the customer that is based on certain data. Now the identification of the customer can be done based on the data that is collected. This leads to identification based on recency, frequency, as well as monetary. Using the above-mentioned technique it can be ascertained that which customers are most valuable and scoring can be done considering this. Such a customized approach has helped Sainsbury in filtering and tracing the customers based on various parameters. This has helped the company is implementation of various strategies. Hence, loyalty card program has not only won and retained the customers but has also helped in knowing the trend (Clark, 2006). Thereby, it can be said that the process of loyalty card program is not only to reward the customers but the information gathered from it is used to protect, grow, and acquire new customers. Reactivating the customers is an important consid eration and this is possible when sufficient data is available in this regard. It helps in proper analysis and leads to a better scope of activity (Clark, 2006). Overall, the system is based on providing strong support to the system and the same can be witnessed in the case of Sainsbury. This has provided a strong support to the functioning and hence, data mining and analytic can affect the performance of the organization in a strong fashion. Conclusion BI can contribute towards talent management in contemporary organizations to provide competitive advantage. It can evaluate the qualifications and skills of employees, analyze the efficiency of recruitment methods, measure efficiency of various learning programs and oversee the achievements of combining the objectives of employees with the corporate objectives. The use of data mining can help to provide a strong back up because huge pool of data can be assembled and evaluated to discern the pattern and lead to better decision making. This becomes the way for competition and growth for firms that are individual in nature that enhances the productivity and creates value by reduction of the waste (Coker, 2014). Data mining helps in sorting relationship and trace patterns that are useful in making chief decisions. Therefore, the application of BI in contemporary organizations has been very effective in promoting competitive advantage. Queensland Health systems implementation Introduction Systems Development Life Cycle refers to the series of steps that are to be employed in the development of any application that might be either hardware or software or a combination of both. It is used in information systems, software engineering and systems engineering. The steps included planning, coding, testing, and deploying as a part of implementation of any new application. The aim here is to complete the transition to new application and discard the old system. Old systems are obsolete and needs a change. Change needs to be done when there is a dearth of it. Therefore, a change can produce desired result and it has to be completed within a proper period to achieve the desired results. Factors contributing to failed Payroll System The Healthcare industry involves people, processes, and services provided by hospitals, pharmacies, diagnosis agencies, etc. For this reason, it is fundamentally different from the other industries irrespective of the fact whether it is public sector or private sector. This difference is in not only the nature but also the focus and size of the industry. Healthcare industry involves a lot of procedures and different acts. Therefore, it can be easily differentiated from the other industry. The Queensland Health Implementation project failure was estimated to be the most costly one in the southern hemisphere involving $1.25 billion AUD. The factors that contributed to this failure are not one but many. The three primary stakeholder teams were identified as Queensland Health, CorpTech, and IBM. The first and foremost issue was with IBMs selection as the prime contractor. While the protocol was that all the bidders for the project should be given the same information, for some unknown reasons, the Project Director was believed to have passed on some extra knowledge to IBM thus helping it gain a competitive advantage over the others and getting the project allotted. Since, the extra knowledge and information was provided it proved to be unethical. This proves that this was unethical in nature and providing extra knowledge goes against the policies framed by the government (Alwan, 2016). As in the implementation of any project the roles and responsibilities of each team has to be made clear for effective functioning, it was believed that as the implementation commenced, throughout the project the responsibilities were not clear. The Healthcare industry has its special requirements in the way that the focus is on the safety, well-being of the patients, person-to-person interaction is primary, and the number of clients catered to usually runs into millions when compared to other industries where it could be just thousands. The main aim is to provide hospitality and look after the people. These requirements have not been adhered to by the system development implementation. There are many complexities involved in the project that can be classified as complexity of the industry, complexity of the system itself and the complexity of the client consultant relationships. The complexities arise because there are different systems and each has its own peculiarity. Having diffe rent system leads to a variety of acts. The configuration used by the Department of Justice for SAP HR was adopted by Queensland and the milestones were decided keeping this as the basis. When IBM took up, additional planning was done in October 2008 that revealed an underestimation of the complexities and resulted in cost overruns and substantial increase in time. From the initial stage, the business requirements were poorly defined which had a negative impact. The risk when the Payroll Software was implemented in Queensland was massive as it was not first tried and tested in smaller government agencies where the complexities were less. Since, it was tested on a very small basis it led to problem. It needs to be noted that the pilot program needs to be done on a grand scale so that the effectiveness is high. However, it was not seen in the case of Queensland and it proved to be of bigger risk. The first test resulted in a discrepancy of $1.2 million AUD and the second test led to a discrepancy of $30,000 AUD. Despite these discrepancies, Queensland opted to Go Live without completing the testing of a few modules. Upon Go Live, a significant proportion of employees were either not paid or paid incorrectly. As the number of employees and types of wage structures were varied, the use of WorkBrain could have simplified the interface between SAP and the new Payroll System, but the same was not used or adopted. This was just the part of technical deficiencies. However, the series of difficulties did not ended here and apart from this, the industrial strike resulted in the resignation of a number of employees that was the accelerated human impact of all the chaos that had occurred. The layoff of a huge number of employees led to issue and the industrial strike led to difficulties that further aggravated the situation. The total cost of implementation, stabilization and maintenance resulted was estimated to be $1.25 Billion AUD. Classification of factors As there are very many problems from the inception stage itself, the classification is also done as below: The issue over IBMs selection would fall into the Preliminary analysis phase where the requirements of the organization are defined and the proposed alternative solutions are analyzed and classified by doing a cost benefit analysis. The bias in the tendering process is also a major hit back. The Requirements definition should be in such a way that details of the functional areas, problems and opportunities of the adopting organization are essential not only to ensure that the system performs but also to detail the scope of implementation. There has to be a proper documentation of the requirements that was also not done by Queensland. Proper documentation leads to greater compliance however, the absence proved to be a big failure for the organization (Siraj et. al, 2011). Every project is unique and has to be studied from specific perspectives. Each perspective has own pros and cons. Moreover, it needs to have proper logical functioning. Using the configuration of one project over another is a lapse in phase two that is Systems Analysis and Requirements Definition. The series of logical steps to be followed in this phase are collection of facts, scrutiny of the existing systems and analysis of the proposed system. The project over budget and over schedule is also an example of the gross failure of proper planning. The approach followed by Department of Public Housing is less complex since the pay structures are simpler when compared to those of Queensland. Thus, there is no proper definition of the requirements. A Queensland, there are 24,000 types of combinations of pay awards. This underestimation of the complexities in the wages structure has led to disastrous results. The presence of innumerable awards led to many complexities and hence it is diff icult to ascertain. The Integration and Testing Phase is not completed as the Casuals and overtime claims had not been tested due to lack of proper definition of the requirements. The possibility for existence of errors, bugs, and interoperability cannot be ruled out (Sheilds, 2005). WorkBrain was a major configuration that led to IBM being allotted this project at Queensland but this was not actually implemented during the project that was a major failure. WorkBrain was used to transfer and process the timesheets from SAP into the format accepted by the financial institutions. As WorkBrain was not used the difficulties with system testing, maintenance, up gradation, conservation of data quality increased. The unavailability of the system led to innumerable problem and hence there were many difficulties were observed. Even after the mistakes in the payments upon Go Live, the systems were not completely abandoned. The issues were attempted to be resolved by the prolonged attention of all the three stakeholder groups. This shows that the acceptance, installation and deployment stage was also a total failure and in a very messy situation. The pressure to Go Live ruled out the possibility of a parallel testing mechanism. Though the defects were initially categorized into four, there was a reclassification of the same due to the changing requirements and not all these defects were fixed before the Go Live decision that created all the havoc. In short it can be said that from the commencement there was poor management, poor handling and lack of proper understanding of the complexities in the IS environment. Recommendations Though time and cost overruns are typical in healthcare type of industry and framework, processing complexities and orientation, still the failure of Queensland Payroll System is arguably the worst example for the same. A specific project methodology is required to be followed. Adequate Governance Structures were not established until June 2009 that led to the vague description of the roles and responsibilities. The proper following of the systems development life cycle will lead practical and fruitful results. The organization needs to clearly articulate its requirements, utilize an appropriate implementation strategy, perform a substantial amount of testing before the decision to Go Live is reached, utilize an appropriate project management methodology and effectively communicate with all the stakeholder groups involved. Communication is a vital area in such cases as the communication between the client, consultant, and vendor is required for project governance (Mehdi, 2006). Lack of proper documentation led to user acceptance issues and functionality issues during the testing phase. The configuration of WorkBrain was not performed at Queensland that led to further complexities (Olsen, 2012). In healthcare industry every patient is unique and unpredictable and for this reason almost 50% of the healthcare organizations have found the installation of IS systems a failure but a majority of such failures can be attributed o the lack of proper management support, poor project management, inefficient communication among the stakeholder groups and technical issues which are poor system testing and lack of proper definition of business requirements (Weistroffer et. al, 2010). At Queensland, not surprisingly all of these factors are found to co-exist. WorkBrain should have been used in Queensland as IBM used it in other agencies and clients. Conclusion Many lessons can be learnt not just with respect to the implementation, testing and Go Live phase of the project but also the importance of communication, planning and parallel testing requirements. A succession planning of the legacy system needs to be in place and the perspective project methodologies have to be followed. Due to the requirements of multiple hierarchy and multiple subprojects, Queensland has had a disastrous payroll implementation project failure (Sheilds, 2005). The key reform areas have been identified and multiple layers to the governance process have been added. Thus apart from the technical and financial defects, this project failure has also has industry and nationwide implications. References Alwan, M. (2016). What is System Development Life Cycle? 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