Why Effective Communication Is Important Essay Example for Free

Why Effective Communication Is Important Essay 1. Comprehend why viable correspondence is significant in the work setting? Correspondence is the way to downplaying and being comprehended. Uproar is fundamental for our endurance and we use it in each part of our lives from the second we are conceived. For example Talking, yelling, crying, perusing, composing, seeing and tuning in. Non-verbal communication and ecpressions are additionally use when communtatin. We as a whole speak with one another to accomplish objectives in ife, regardless of whether it be physical or passionate. Correspondence permits us to pass on data, thought , mind-sets. ( Eg. Satisfaction , sadness,anger). As an individual we as a whole have an essential need to identify with one another and adequately communicating ourselfe through correspondence. In work setting it empowers us to make and keep up associations with everybody we have contact with. Recognize the various reasons individuals communicat? There are loads of various reasons individuals convey. Individuals need to communicate needs and offer thoughts and data to construct connections and pose inquiries. It fundamental instrument a caer can use to address the issues of kids. This is a fundamental requirerment in all occupations to speak with people and their families and staff every day. 1.2 Explain how correspondence influences connections in the work setting? Correspondence can affct connections from numerous points of view in a work setting. Peruse more:Â Explain the reasons why individuals communicateâ essay Associates The director Director Guardians of the youngsters and kids Compelling correspondence is a two way proess. At the point when correspondence you have to send clear and compact message to the reacting party. Everybody most be seen effectively to have a reaction. We can likewise impart by phone, composed notes, email, instant messages and vocal. 2. Have the option to meet the correspondence and language needs, wishes and inclinations of people? Correspondence can be troublesome, particularly when you are in a circumstance where you are uncertain of the language and capacities of the individuals who you are partner with. Its in every case best when you meet somebody to start correspondence on your own terms; in the event that you communicate in English welcome them thusly, despite the fact that guarantee that you are talking gradually and plainly. It ought to be genuinely simple to work out whether they have not comprehended because of correspondence weaknesses or language contrasts dependent on their response to your underlying presentation. On the off chance that they have inabilities, attempt to impart through non-verbal communication or they may even have the option to lipread; maybe attempt both to see which they are responsive to, and proceed from that point. On the off chance that they appear to be communicating in an alternate language, you can either have a go at talking in an alternate tongue (should you know another) or again attempt non-verbal communication. You may even know somebody close by who might have the option to get you out. 2.2 Describe the variables to think about while advancing viable correspondence? 3. Have the option to defeat obstructions to correspondence 3.1 Explain how individuals from various foundations may utilize and additionally decipher specialized strategies in various manners 3.2 Identify hindrances to viable correspondence 3.5 Explain how to get to additional help or administrations to empower people to convey successfully Here are a few different ways of access additional help or administrations. There is various administrations that can got to help correspondence. Mediators Interpreters endorsers aduocators There is loads of various specialisr hardware for individuals that need them. Enlistment circles braille embossers and printers makaton. The neighborhood government body ought to give language bolster administrations. English gesture based communication translators hard of hearing visually impaired mediators lip speakers or perusers You can discover administrations y used by educationa; and wellbeing sevices through a booking framework. There is a nearby power instructive deportment access to a tea support specialistis indvding discourse and language advisors. You can likewise discover data on the internt different authority site.

Importance of Marketing Strategies in Small and Medium Size Enterprise

How the Chunking Technique Can Help Improve Your Memory

How the Chunking Technique Can Help Improve Your Memory Theories Cognitive Psychology Print How Chunking Pieces of Information Can Improve Memory By Kendra Cherry facebook twitter Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author, educational consultant, and speaker focused on helping students learn about psychology. Learn about our editorial policy Kendra Cherry Medically reviewed by Medically reviewed by Steven Gans, MD on December 03, 2015 Steven Gans, MD is board-certified in psychiatry and is an active supervisor, teacher, and mentor at Massachusetts General Hospital. Learn about our Medical Review Board Steven Gans, MD Updated on October 21, 2019 Robert Nicholas / OJO Images / Getty Images More in Theories Cognitive Psychology Behavioral Psychology Developmental Psychology Personality Psychology Social Psychology Biological Psychology Psychosocial Psychology Chunking is a term referring to the process of taking individual pieces of information (chunks) and grouping them into larger units. By grouping each piece into a large whole, you can improve the amount of information you can remember. Probably the most common example of chunking occurs in phone numbers. For example, a phone number sequence of 4-7-1-1-3-2-4 would be chunked into 471-1324. By separating disparate individual elements into larger blocks, information becomes easier to retain and recall. This is due mainly to how limited our  short-term memory can be. While some research suggests people are capable of storing between five and nine units of information, more recent research posits that short-term memory has a capacity for about four chunks of information. 10 Unforgettable Facts About Memory Why Chunking Is Useful for Improving Memory According to neuroscientist Daniel Bor, author of The Ravenous Brain: How the New Science of Consciousness Explains Our Insatiable Search for Meaning, chunking represents our ability to hack the limits of our memory. Chunking allows people to take smaller bits of information and combine them into more meaningful, and therefore more memorable, wholes. Bor argues that our natural tendency to see patterns and make connections is not just important for memory, but that it is also the source of creativity. As Steve Jobs once famously suggested, Creativity is just connecting things. How to Use Chunking to Remember Things The next time you are trying to remember items from a list, start by forming smaller groups. If you are working with a list of vocabulary words, for example, you might create small groups of words that are similar or related to one another. A shopping list might be broken down into smaller grouping based on whether the items on the list are vegetables, fruits, dairy or grains. Chunking can be used as an everyday memory enhancer, but researchers have also found that you can improve your ability to effectively chunk information. Bor relates the story of one participant in a memory experiment who challenged himself to improve the number of items he could remember. While he was initially able to remember seven items, he was able to increase this to 80 units of information over the course of 20 months. The student described in the above experiment devoted an hour a day, approximately four days a week for nearly two years to achieve it. While you might not be able to devote such intense concentration to improving your memory, there are things that you can do to make the most of your brains natural tendency to seek patterns and group information. Effective Chunking Techniques Practice: Challenge yourself to remember lists of things, whether it’s your grocery list, vocabulary words or important dates. As you become better at remembering larger chunks of information, continue to challenge yourself to remember even more.Look for Connections: As you are creating groupings, look for ways to relate units to each other in meaningful ways. What do the items share in common? You might group items together because they are each spelled with four letters, because they start with the same letter or because they share a similar purpose.Associate: Linking groups of items to things from your memory can also help make things more memorable. You might be more likely to remember that you need eggs, baking soda, and chocolate chips if you associate the items with the delicious cookies that your mother used to make.Incorporate Other Memory Strategies: For example, you might use mnemonics as a way to chunk different units of information. If you are going to the grocery stor e and need bananas, eggs, nectarines, and tea you can create a word out of the first letters of each item you needâ€"BENT. Once you remember the keyword, you will then be better able to recall the items represented by each letter of the acronym. Chunking certainly is not a cure-all for memory problems, but it can be an effective tool in your memory improvement arsenal. By practicing chunking methods regularly and incorporating this technique in your study habits, you might find that you are able to remember more. 11 Ways to Improve Your Memory

Sns s Effect On Adolescence Essay - 1352 Words

Having developed only a few years ago, SNS have had the most effect on adolescence. Adolescence are prone various peer, group and social pressures, SNS have changed the channels of communicating these pressures influencing both self esteem and well-being. Valkenburg, Peter, and Schouten (2006) looked at the effect SNS have on SE and well-being in adolescence, a correlation co-efficient of r=0.34 suggested that there is a good positive relationship. Using a popular Netherlands SNS â€Å"CU2†, which contains 22% of Dutch adolescence aged 10-19, filled an online survey, the study went on to find that SE is the cause, well being the effect and the relationship mediated by SNS. The study suggested 3 reinforcement processes mediate this relationship, a. the number of relationships formed, b. the frequency of feedback received via the profile, c. the tone of this feedback. The self esteem measure used was the Harters self perception profile (Harter, 1982). The study also used a wel l being 5 item satisfaction scale with high reliability (ÃŽ ±=.89) (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, Griffin, 1985). Both scales were consistent. The results found that people visited the site 3 days a week and stayed online for an hour, receiving an average if 25.31 reactions. The tone varied, with predominantly positive (49.3%) and always positive (28.4%) the responses highest. This study was the first of its kind to show the consequence of adolescent use of SNS on their social self-esteem and well-being. 78% ofShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Social Media On Body Image1663 Words   |  7 PagesDo college-ages women who use twitter exhibit higher levels of social comparison and body checking than non-users? Countless scientific studies and research focus on the effects of social media platforms on body image, social comparison, and image satisfaction. Author Erin A. Vogel has written extensively over the effects of social media and body image. The studies utilize different experimental approaches that indicate the subjects who showed high levels of social comparison orientation are avidRead MoreSocial Networking Sites1062 Words   |  5 PagesMyspace in 2003, SNSs are acquiring popularity having Facebook being the most common used site nowadays [4]. Noticing the growing trend of these sites, it is much debated if browsing SNSs are a waste of time. Yet, it is believed for the dominant group of SNS users – the adolescents, SNSs are beneficial since they can help to strengthen identity, increase social capital and encourage civic participation. To begin with, teenagers can be more acquainted with themselves upon the use of communicatingRead MoreThe Impact Of Social Media On Children And Adolescents6555 Words   |  27 Pages....13-14 8.Appendix........................................................................................14-15 1. Abstract Social media is becoming the most common activity of today’s children and adolescent. The Social Networking Sites(SNS) such as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, like a virtual community where provide a common platform to make people meet other people by sharing their interest (Kuss and Griffiths, 2011).There are also some video sites such as YouTube and blogs as theRead MoreMedia Is The Most Accessible Form Of Information1643 Words   |  7 Pagesaccessible form of information in the world. Especially, adolescents are one of the experienced Internet users. Besides, they could have access to most contents easily. According to one study, American teenagers took their times a lot to using media (SNS, Internet, games and television). The average hours per a week are more than 38hours. One of the contents what they spend their time is YouTube. It is a large video sharing service and more than 4 billion clips are watched every day on YouTube. 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Recent studies have suggested an association between early life adversity (ELA) and asymmetry in cortisol (a measure of HPA axis activation) and salivary alpha-amylase (a correlate of SNS activation) responses to stress among human children , but to my knowledge there have been no studies of such a relationship in nonhumansRead MoreThe Effects of Social Networking Sites to the Academic Performance of the Students6500 Words   |  26 PagesThe Effects of Social Networking Sites to Academic Performance of the Students ABSTRACT Title : The Effects of Social Networking to the Academic Performance of the Students The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of social networking to the academic performance of the students of Universidad de Manila. Specifically, it attempted to answer the following questions: 1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, gender? 2. What is the academicRead MoreAn Annotated Bibliography : Social Media And Depression1950 Words   |  8 Pagessocial networks enable an individual to interact with a large number of people, these interactions are shallow and cannot adequately replace everyday face-to-face communication† (Pantic (2014)). Also they found that age and environment have a huge effect on investigations. They conducted an experiment on the high school population. They found a positive correlation between depressive symptoms and social networking sites. They used the Beck Depression Inventory to collect data. â€Å"In 2013, Kross publishedRead MoreWhy Is Child Obesity an Important Health Problem in America?2405 Words   |  10 PagesObesity is a chronic state of being overweight. It s a life threatening condition and current research has shown that obesity is the leading cause for the increased health threats that persons of the developed world face. Obesity increases a person s threat for con tracting diabetes, strokes, heart problems, certain kinds of cancer etc. What s worse is the over two thirds of the industrialized world s population is suffering from obesity and that s putting them in greater health dangers. In recentRead MoreHow Social Media Affects Adolescents1954 Words   |  8 Pagescharacteristics and ultimately have a negative impact on a child’s well being, and the success of his or hers studies. SOCIAL MEDIA ADOLESCENTS 5 In the same line of thinking, Ahn also goes on to state, â€Å"these human factors interact with the respective SNS platform to influence how individuals network and communicate.† It could be that the ways adolescents communicate through social networking sites that change their behavior. An example of that would be if someone wrote something nice or supportive on

Letter, And The Advanced Practice Nurse Essay - 1040 Words

Policy Letter: Reflective Paper I chose to write a legislature letter to the Senator Tammy Baldwin, who is representing Wisconsin in the house of senate. The topic I wanted to address in this legislative letter was the issue related to the public health nurses’ wages and their mileage reimbursement. The Explore Health Careers (2016) mentioned that the public health nurses are employed by the government agencies, nonprofit groups, community health centers, and other health organization with a goal to improve the health not just at the individual level, but also at the community level. There is a great demands of public health nurses, especially in medically underserved and low-income communities. This reflective paper will explore the significance of the issue, process of selecting stakeholders, steps after submitting the letter, and the advanced practice nurse (APN) as advocators. Significance of the Issues The public health nurses are integral part of the nursing workforce, who are caring for the entire populations. They are involved in educating people about health issues, identifying health risk factors unique to specific communities, provide health-related interventions based on community needs, conducting health prevention activities such as immunizations and screenings, and advocating to improve health care access for underserved communities (Explore Health Careers, 2016). The public health nurses are involve in illness prevention, and health promotion by reachingShow MoreRelatedLeadership1348 Words   |  6 PagesAdvanced Leadership Skills I grew up in a conservative family. My father has served in the Philippine military and the Philippine government most of his life, and my mother was a dedicated nurse midwife and professor at a university hospital. Serving and caring for people has become second nature to my family. My father was strict and a disciplinarian; he did not allow my family to be out of the house after 6:00 p.m. He believed that it was important to have every member of the family home forRead MoreDifferent Nursing Theories1819 Words   |  7 Pageselement of all. Theories will be approached in terms of their concept statements, metaparadigms, philosophies, and conceptual models. And concept definitions amongst the selected theories will be compared and analyzed. 1. Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Model As much as 50 years ago, the nursing profession agitated around the fact that nursing simply did not meet the criteria with which it was originally initiated and revolutionized by Florence Nightingale. Nursing was supposed to be an idealisticRead MorePatricia Benner ´s Novice to Expert theory using the Model of Skill Acquisition1503 Words   |  7 Pagesidentifying assumptions within her theory, discussing the significance of her theory as it relates to advanced practice nursing, and addressing how applicable her theory is to actual nursing practice. Patricia Benner’s clinical practice was based on a wide array of specialties which included medical-surgical, critical care and home health care nursing. She started out her career working as a registered nurse and moved on to focus much of her post graduate work on research. Benner applied the Dreyfus ModelRead MoreBenners theory and usefulness Essay1021 Words   |  5 Pagestheory and was published in 1984.The model which applies the Dreyfus model outlines five stages of nursing, novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient and expert(Benner1984). 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Educational Exposure to Health PolicyRead MoreA Brief Note On The Health Related Field1743 Words   |  7 Pagesresearching a new practice, I can open my mind to different options for me to take in the future as I get closer and closer to making a difference. Nursing, in itself is an extremely broad term because there are multiple types of nurses in the work force today. The types of nurses are split into three different categories: non-degree, degree and advanced degree. Nursing positions that do not require a college degree include the certified nurse’s aids (CNAs) and the licensed practical nurse (LPNs). TheRead MoreNursing With The New Heathcare Reform1164 Words   |  5 PagesNURSING WITH THE NEW HEATHCARE REFORM 2 Transitioning from the hospital and working for the local department of Health and Human Services as a registered nurse is a dream job. The position is first shift, no required weekends and absolutely no on call. The days of being requested to come â€Å"help on the unit† have completely diminished. Employee insurance is provided with a nominal monthly payment and low copayments for office or emergency care visits

Ict and Disaster Risk Reduction National and International Perspectives Free Essays

The assignment encompasses the idea of ICT and its role in national and international perspective. ICT integration in Disaster Risk Reduction is a contemporary idea. Disaster losses can be some-fold reduced if it can integrate technologies with it. We will write a custom essay sample on Ict and Disaster Risk Reduction: National and International Perspectives or any similar topic only for you Order Now ICT can serve in a broader scheme when it comes to disaster risk reduction. The motto of this assignment is to narrate ICT’s contribution internationally and compare it with national DRR measures. The data that are used in here are secondary data. Key words: ICT, DRR, National, International. INTRODUCTION Due to the geographic location and geological settings, Bangladesh has to endure several life-threatening catastrophes (Islam et al. 2014). Previous disasters snatched so many valuable lives and destroyed a huge amount of property. In this scenario, it is imperative to think about measures that incorporate technologies in disaster schemes. Access to proper, reliable, timely information assists to a great extent in all phases of a disaster. Without reliable information, people often end up guessing a sketchy situation which leads to an uncertain situation (Wattegama 2014). ICTs have their own advantages that effectively serve in the arena of Disaster Risk Reduction (ADPC n.d.). During disaster, receiving proper information becomes one of the basic needs. Proper respond requires correct and timely information dissemination. Thus, technology/ICT can serve in this arena rather than dissemination information manually. Recently, there is a growing awareness regarding incorporating ICT in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). ICT can help in shifting paradigm from conventional to comprehensive (Hasan and Ayub 2015). Current policy recognizes the importance of ICT in DRR; per se, Hyogo Framework for Action (ADPC n.d.). ICT provides the scope for proper coordination, management, relief distribution, search and rescue and so on. Although Bangladesh is a disaster prone country, it has set an example in shifting the paradigm of disaster; where ICT plays a role. ICT has contributed to shape the knowledge regarding disaster, disaster risk (Hasan and Ayub 2015). But in spite of having an infrastructural line up, there is no comprehensive system that designates roles and responsibilities among different organizations. PROBLEM STATEMENT Though ICT is a very important tool regarding reduce disaster risk, there are some limitations for which it cannot serve properly. First, there is a severe deficiency of experienced personnel to operate technological sector. Second, a lot of acts are stated but government is reluctant to enact them all. Third, there are not enough backup plans in case of power loss occurs. Because without power, most of the tools will not come in handy. Forth, a mass people are out of reaching the meteorological data, forecasting due to lack of medium. RATIONALE OF THE STUDY The assignment is carried out with a view to acknowledging the existing pattern of ICT in the arena of Disaster Risk Reduction. With adequate references, it compares national and international scheme of DRR and role of ICT in this regard. As the concern of ICT is increasing with the pace of DRR in present time; it is essential to compare ICT in national DRR with international perspective. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The following research questions were taken into account while doing the assignment. These are – What are the current ICT tools that are in use in DRR of Bangladesh and other countries? Is it possible to bring new dimensions in existing DRR pattern of Bangladesh? RESEARCH OBJECTIVES The objectives are the following – To get an overview of ICT in DRR in national and international perspective. To suggest some ideas comparing the upper two perspectives. LITERATURE REVIEW Disaster cannot be eliminated totally but the loss due to it can be minimized (Hasan and Ayub 2015). For effective DRR, it needs special attention from all sectors. ICT can help in this regards. It can play a pivotal role for reducing disaster risk. There are some traditional channels and emerging channels to serve in this regard (Wattegama 2014). Bangladesh gained its popularity in the sector of Disaster Management for shifting into proactive measures from reactive measures. This was possible due to largely focusing on early warning, preparedness, welfare of people, reducing vulnerabilities and so on. Complexity and uncertainty is a part of eliminating disaster risk (Hasan and Ayub 2015). It varies with different context, type, distance, time. So, collecting and analyzing data manually is a comparatively hard job (Yap 2011). There ICT plays a significant role to highlight the risk zones, formulate different simulations to understand about upcoming extreme events. Early warning beforehand a disaster was developed with the help of mobile phone, radio/community radio, television, different software, satellite based data, GIS, remote sensing both nationally and internationally (Hasan and Ayub 2015). Among them radio, television, mobile phone is marked as the most valid tool. Because, hardly all the countries have access to internet as most of them are developing countries. But again they have some drawbacks- if they are switched off; people remain in dark about the upcoming disaster (Yap 2011). Satellite-based communication system can come in handy when ground internet, network is not at work. In Asian region, Thaicom’s IPStar satellite has established for the broadest service network (Wattegama 2014). Bangladesh should make the best use out of it during disasters. The Indian Ocean tsunami (December 2004) made the world astonished. There was next to no warning measures and thousands of people were suddenly in front of giant killer waves. In the aftermath of the tsunami, several international meetings have been held and they came to a conclusion. That is to build to Multi Hazard Early Warning System in the regime of South-East Asia. Later Bangladesh also showed interest to this early warning system (Wattegama 2014). Lanka Software Foundation founded free and open source based software named ‘Sahana’. Which helped to find missing person showing electronic bulletin, organized donor organization, keep a virtual record of temporary camp, shelter. So, technology can help immensely when it comes to disaster. A disaster database – ‘DesInventar’; that stores up to 30 years of data helped 17 countries of North and South America. Later, inspired by this Orissa (India) created a database that contains data from 1970s. Again, the India Disaster Resource Network (IDRN) is a web-enabled and GIS-based national database that collects and stores information such as different organizational expertise, details of equipment. So that, they can be mobilized quickly in the time of response (Wattegama 2014). A case study shows that during Haiti earthquake in 2010, the distressed people could send a SMS out of cost to the Haitian diaspora community. Then the outside community added location and passed it to different organizations, NGOs to accommodate relief for them. This set an example for two-way communication, which is very much significant during disaster. But this measure is absent from Bangladesh’s disaster scheme (ADPC n.d.). Also, GIS is flourishing platform in DRR for creating baseline information for risk assessments. But due to lack of experts, the sector is remained untouched. In Bangladesh, National ICT Policy was enacted in 2009; and there is a wide range of activities are stated with a view to protect citizens through effective ICT management. It comprises reote sensing technologies for disaster management and mitigation, SMS based disaster warning system, efficient relief management and post-disaster activities monitoring, GIS based systems to monitor flood ; cyclone shelters, GIS based systems to ensure equitable distribution of relief goods and identify hard to reach areas and so on (MSICT 2009). Space Research and Remote Sensing Organization (SPARRSO), Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), Flood Forecasting Warning Centre (FFWC), Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), Institute for Water Modeling (IWM) and other organization work relentlessly in DRR sector with the help of technology in Bangladesh (MSICT 2009). And they are trying to add new dimension in early warning system as a part of disaster risk reduction. RESEARCH GAP Bangladesh is lagged behind when it comes to technological advancement. There is much opportunity to contribution in this section. For example, in the previous section, there is mentioned about the two-way communication system that helped Haitian distressed people. As that is absent from Bangladesh DRR implementation, it could be introduced from a new angle. Two way communications cannot help only during disaster, but also in pre-disaster situation. There could be a free portal/line that would only take suggestions, complaints regarding the existent problem for a specific society. METHODOLOGY The assignment is conducted by reviewing and using secondary sources. The assignment mostly followed the researches, papers, articles where secondary data are used immensely and qualitative in manner. Conceptualization was the first step doing this assignment. A mind map was created while selecting and reviewing the data. The data were collected in the manner that supports the idea of the topic. CONCLUSION ICT is only a tool that can be used for mitigate, preparedness, response purpose. The effect of ICT lies in how it is used for reducing disaster risk. This is the key challenge. Again, most of the disaster prone countries are developing countries. They have little access to internet other than radio, television. In this situation it is difficult to set an ICT-based DRR system. Some governments are also negligent when it comes to incorporate ICT in the national disaster scheme. It is time to realize that ICT is not only a mere tool; actually it can serve in a broader sense for reducing disaster risk and achieving sustainable future. It can be beneficial to all concerned stakeholders, non government- government bodies, donor agencies and more. An all out effort should be made for proper cooperation and coordination, building experts and last but not the least mainstream technology in the existing disaster risk reduction practices. References Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) n.d., ICT for Disaster Risk Management, viewed on 11 October, 2018, link: https://www.preventionweb.net/files/47520_ictfordisasterriskmanagement.pdf Ayo, CK, Adeboye, AB and Gbadeyan JA 2011, Application of ICT to Resource and Disaster Management, Sustainable Development and Environmental Protection, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 77-86. Hassan, M and Ayub, A 2015,  Role of ICT in natural disaster management of Bangladesh (Doctoral dissertation, BRAC University).Islam, ARMT, Tasnuva, A, Islam, MT and Haque, MR 2014, Management Approach to Disaster Scenerio in Bangladesh: An Overview, Int. J. Sci. Res. Pub, vol.4, no. 3, pp. 1-7. Ministry of Science and Information ; Communication Technology (MSICT) Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, 2009, National ICT Policy – 2009, July 2009 Wattegama, C 2014, ICT for disaster management.Yap, NT 2011, Disaster management, developing country communities climate change: The role of ICTs,  Manchester: Report, eds. R, Heeks and A, Ospina for IDRC, Centre for Development Informatics, Insitute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester. How to cite Ict and Disaster Risk Reduction: National and International Perspectives, Papers

Marketing Steps

Question : What are the steps in the Marketing Process? Answer: Research and situational analysis: The cafes and coffee shops industry has significantly grown over the years. This is because of the large success to Australias love for coffee and quality of the coffee served under vibrant coffee culture. The revenues for this industry is anticipated to grow annually at the rate of 7.2% over the last five years which is amplified by huge spike in 2013-14 due to growing consumer sentiment and increasing business. The revenues for the industry are anticipated to grow by 6.9% during the year 2016-17 to approximately $5.5 billion. It is noteworthy to denote that despite the strong performance for cafes and coffee shops competitive pressure has increased and has pushed profitability slightly down during the last five years (Huang and Sarigll 2014). The unique elements of Australian marketplace are sustained by demand arising from the industry in the recent global economic downturn. In this period the revenues for the industry grew in comparison to the rival hospitality industry such as r estaurants and caterings as they experienced a constant decline in the revenues. According to several reports the coffee industry is anticipated to experience sustained growth in the next five years with rise in consumer ethical spending. Situation analysis: Name of the cafe restaurant: Aroma Magill cafe Location: Magill South Australia Food and services offered: The stylish menu of the cafe offers customers with wide variety of selection of hot and cold meals, which also comprises of salads, foccacias, rolls, pizza, lasagne and pasta with large variety of hot and cold drinks. The cafe provides dining and catering services at Magill campus. It also provides services in corporate events and party with wide array of selections of fresh and flavoured catering platters. Target market and values gained: The current target market for Aroma is various educational sites across Australia. The ultimate goal of this market is to offer its customers with wide variety of quality with affordable meal options keeping convenience and potion size in mind (Wood 2013). The company looks to gain value through its ever-changing menu as it keeps on adding items to and special kind of combos to make its customers enjoy. The cafe always looks to offer something fresh to gain values among the local community and campuses. Key difference in product or services: Aroma cafe automatically differentiates its products and services for their customers with better serving staff and stupendous coffee. The cafe provides cafe and semi-gourmet food within reasonable price to its customer which makes them distinct from its competitors. The cafe focuses on making healthy choices and awareness of cultural diversity. Customers visit and popularity: Customers usually comes in the early hours of afternoon for the wide variety of meals served by the restaurants. Another popular time when customers often visit the restaurant is during the late evening hours when offices and campuses ends for the day making the cafe a favourite place to hang out (Westwood 2013). Choice of distribution channel: The cafe provides pre-packed food choices for students in hurry. The customers can obtain the product right from the cafe-counter. Payment options: The cafe offers its customers to either pay by cash or they can opt for cashless payment with their debit or credit cards. Positioning strategy of cafe: The cafe maintains a vibrant and contemporary settings, which encourages its customers to use the dining areas, and meeting place, which is both comfortable and inviting (Srensen 2012). The cafe has dry bars with comfortable lounges, plasma screens and alfresco settings to attract customers by positioning its self a step further from its competitors. Consumer behaviour: The current consumer behaviour suggests that the 47% of the coffee users usually prefers sitting in the coffee shop and 8.3% of the consumers prefers taking away. Another important factor affecting the consumer behaviour is the taste of coffee served as research shows that consumers are greatly concerned with the taste of coffee. Identification of target customers based on different attributes are as follows; Demographic information: The demographic information suggest that coffee is consumed by nearly half of the population which accounts for 46% of the peoples. It is worth mentioning that consumption of each type of beverage is closely linked with age (Liu et al. 2016). Consumption of coffee among age group of 19-30 represents 34% of the people and people aged 51-70 accounted 66% of the total population. Psychographic information: The psychographic information of the coffee states that consumers aged between 18-24 are from educated back ground and are likely to have annual household of more than $100,000 in Australia. People spending time at coffee shops and cafes drinks specialty and regular cups of coffee instead of usually coming and grabbing coffee (Hollensen 2015). Geographic information: As per the data obtained from the Australian coffee report it shows that customer demand in queens land is 6% more than that of Victoria. To make a coffee shops successful business owners should look into the below stated prospects The coffee venue should feature brewed coffee and espresso based beverages such as Granita ices fruit juices and any other beverages associated with coffee shops A dessert bars with range of freshly prepared desserts as well as baked foods related with breakfast Lunch offerings should be made containing both carry-out and dine-in menus (Mullins, Walker and Boyd 2012). Key areas to be identified in regard to attract consumers relating to product and services are as follows; Offering dishes with variety of country cooking themes such as braised and smoked meats, sea foods and vegetarian offerings with seasonal change. Evening sessions should feature a full range dining and Spanish appetizer with live entertainment such as musical jazz, Latin and urban musical traditions (Freitas and Spezia 2013). Menu featuring the selection of pan-ethnic dishes which is influenced by French cooking traditions. Psychological needs are mainly responsible for driving consumers towards buying or purchasing of coffee since it pertains to appeal humans primal needs which is fulfilled by psychological motivation (Da Silva and Mazzon 2016). This is due to the marketing, communication factors appealing the psychological needs forms the part of hierarchy, and to some extent it tends to satisfy the humans survival needs as well. Key Features Beach caf Costa Coffee Starbuck Healthy food Hot and fresh cold coffee Strong variety of sea food Own coffee estates Variety of sausage dishes Wide range of pizza Desserts Few additional desserts Variety of deserts to choose from like cheese, burgers, pizza mania etc. Options to choose from both sea and continental foods Beverages Limited number of beverages Several beverages like mango juice, crush chocolate shake, Pomegranate juice, quick serve traditional hot and cold drinks Review and assess consumer levels of consumer interest: Several social elements of coffee can be observed in the modern era of life style. Consumption has largely increased over the years and traditional tea drinking is popular in Australia. Coffee has been an important element in Australian cultures the late since 19th and early 20th centuries. Strong black coffee is regularly drunk amongst the consumer immediately after main course such as lunch, dinner and several times at work or any coffee shops (Linjaet et al. 2015). In addition to this, consumer buying behaviour is often related to their social class. A consumer coming from lower class is more focused on price while a shopper from higher-class society usually prefers elements of quality and innovations along with social benefit that can be obtained from the product. It is noteworthy to denote that customers need to buy coffee does not necessarily refers to the decision model process. Every customer has his or her own set of experience before making the decision to purchase coffee. A consumer purchase behaviour is influenced by their personality, life style and social factors. Social factors affects the business of coffee significantly as the reference group, family, role and status influence every consumer (Hawkes 2013). The reference group of consumers provides a basis to compare consumers regarding their behaviour, lifestyle and habits. Family members can influence the individual consumer buying behaviour by acquiring values and shaping personality as family creates habits relating to brand perception or products which forms an important element in impacting the business of cafes. Kit is noteworthy to denote that the consumers having brand perception at young age can carry out the same brand selection in the adult life without paying any attention that their family influenced such selection (Chwolka and Raith 2012). Setting up menu for coffee shop is considered as pivotal in decision making process. Pricing is those areas of marketing that requires to be periodically revisited in order to respond to the changing needs of the industry with fluctuating market needs and moods of consumers (Rothaermel 2015). Setting up the prices for restaurant involves taking into the consideration several elements which consists of cost of food, cost of labour, degree of competition and willingness of the target customers to pay. Menu strategy: A cafe generally has menu that possess the potential to create a huge impact on the cost and on the pricing as well. Hence, the cafe shops not only the need to decide on the food it is serving but should also consider the condiments which will be offered to attract consumers. Flexible pricing: Cafes or coffee shops can raise or cut down their prices on certain items so that they can achieve profitability upon their needs. Having a menu format, which can be changed frequently with small increments, will add to the profitability of the cafe shops. Complementary pricing: Adopting complementary pricing strategy enables a coffee shop to charge low price in comparison to their customers for common items and simultaneously raising prices on other items (Brinckmann and Kim 2015). The low pricing strategy will help in drawing customers in and once they are in the cafe there is high probability of inducting them to slightly purchase higher priced items. In the earlier stages, the cafe served the consumers with the satisfaction of understanding in advance the demand of consumers. The consumer had high preference for the cafe given the fact the cafe offered cost-effective breakfast and hot drinks at reasonable price. Though the setting of the cafe was not so attractive but the menu served by the cafe was appealing to the consumer taste and preference. The cafe additionally offered consumers with takeaway facilities for food and coffees served since the visitors enjoyed good coffee and decent food in family environment within the desired cost (Hair and Lukas 2014). However, the marketing message at the earlier stage wasnt much special about the cafe but the vibrant energy of the visitors made its ambiance. On the other hand, in the later stages it was observed that the cafe was unusually empty with only 20% of the total capacity occupied the space is filled. It is worth mentioning that the cafe had changed its menu by adding new variety of pizza to offers its customers. Given this circumstance, the food served now cost higher than the earlier price at which it was served. Consequently, the taste of the food does not meet the consumer expectations with hardly any taste in pizza served. Such marketing move conveyed a wrong impression on the minds of consumers leading to fall in number of visitors. The business of coffee shop is the business of people. It is relatively aimed at satisfying the customers both in terms of their physical and psychological needs. It is noteworthy to denote that customer attraction is all about meeting their expectations and satisfying their demand (Barney and Hesterly 2015). In order to bring back the lost consumer the cafe owner should look into the potential aspects to bring back its customers; Putting in display product: Having a range of product for display will sure cost the cafe in the form of wastage however; it may cost the cafe more if it does not follow the suit of putting the products on display. An abundant display may lead to high turnover for business and restore the success of the cafe. Creating a theatre: Creating an animated barista or completely having an automated machine for food and drink will potentially bring back customers. The items should be highlighted with the spotlights and should be located at prominent parts of the coffee shop (Honig and Samuelsson 2014). The theatre occupies the mind of customers and facilitates easy engagements leading to an opening of conversation. Appealing customers: The cafe should strategically place fans by alluring the smell of coffee into the streets so that it can attract customers. The cafe can also appeal customers through smells of cookie baking and fried onion. Marketing Mix for Caf The marketing mix approach is considered in case of caf in order to change and improvised the business situation of the caf. This marketing mix approach will be helpful for it to understand their strength and weakness for their betterment. Products: The product mix of Mini Caf is mainly constituted of the various kinds of products that must be introduced within menu in order to cope up with their present market condition. Their innovations in products must consider consumer choices. Place: In order to again their products and service popular, they need to open several branches all over the city (Keszey and Biemans 2015). Promotion: The condition of Mini Caf is poor as their innovations provided a wrong outcome. Therefore, they need to focus more in their promotion purpose. Price: Price is one of the major factors in retrieving the previous value of Mini Caf in the competitive market. Therefore, at the first stage the caf needs to offer their products at a reasonable cost to their valuable customers (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick 2012). People: The authority of the Caf needs to focus on their customer demands in order to provide them satisfactory outcomes as good quality products. Physical evidences: This is another important and attractive feature that needs to be incorporated by Mini Caf. Pictures of foods and beverages that are produced by them should be presented to their customers. Marketing Mix for Mini Caf Suite of services: This strategy can be taken for mandating their product variations in order to attract their customers. Loyalty programs: Loyalty programs can attract the customers as well as the members will find interest in serving their loyal customers (Kotler et al. 2015). On-Premises Advertising: This is another way of attracting the customers. Attractive advertisement will be helpful in making the customer feel different about the ambience. Promotional advertisement: Promotional fact will be helpful for them to set a good positioning within the target market. Figure 1 Illustrations of Marketing mix (Source Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick 2012) Marketing Mix approach prepared for the development of Mini Caf is supporting the organizational structure. In accordance with the previous condition of the cafe, it is clear that it was popular enough to satisfy their customer (Keszey and Biemans 2015). Therefore, the Cafe will easily support the proposed marketing mix. All the procedure mentioned in the Marketing Mix are clarified by aligning with the organizational marketing objectives, so these will be helpful to them in retrieving their market values. Human resource: There are few categories within Mini Cafe that needs to be managed by the HR: compensations and benefits, certifications, compliances, employee behaviour and consumer behaviour. HR of the Caf must be responsible for these roles. Financial role: The coffee shop should capitalise on the strong market demand for high quality gourmet coffee. The owners should start up with additional capital fund with the objective of creating and growing a loyal customer base (Sleep, Lam and Hulland 2016). This will enable the company to witness an increase in net worth over the months and will maintain a healthy gross margin. The combination of gross margin with operational expense will offer the company with enough opportunity to finance further growth. The marketing strategy for coffee shop is generally aimed to attracting new customers, retaining the existing customers, getting customers to spend more and come back more often. Establishing a loyal customer base is necessary for sustained marketing strategy. Sales strategy: Two speed up the customers the caf shop employ two service man in order to serve clients where one employee will be preparing orders of customers while the other taking care of the sales transactions. Competitive edge: The caf shop should position itself in a unique manner where its customers can not only enjoy the cup of coffee but also spending their time under a well organised ambient environment (Linja et al. 2015). Comfortable sofas, chairs and relaxed music environment will help in gaining back customer so that they can relax and release their stress. Cost fixations: The caf should decide up the cost for foods and coffee beverages along with retail beans and pastries as the proximity to the university campus and visitors will dictate their sales. Such strategy will help in improving revenues during the peak hours of evening and early morning. The caf shop should be in accordance with the competition and consumer act in order to enhance the welfare of the Australian by promoting fair and equitable trading provisions. The caf shop should deal with all the aspects of the market place by regulating the relationships with suppliers, wholesalers, traders and customers. In wider terms complying with the legislations requirements and industry code serves the purpose of the regulations requirement concerning the marketing strategy of caf shop (Jobber and Ellis-Chadwick 2012). There are three main laws that need to be followed by the organizational heads of Mini Cafe before implementing their marketing strategies, these are Australian Consumer law, Australian Telemarketing Law and Advertising Standards Regulation Law. These three laws are applicable in the implementation process of marketing strategy, as the marketing strategy for Mini Cafe considers the consumers choices and advertising practices. Reference List: Barney, J.B. and Hesterly, W., 2015.Strategic management and competitive advantage concepts and cases. Pearson. Brinckmann, J. and Kim, S.M., 2015. Why we plan: the impact of nascent entrepreneurs' cognitive characteristics and human capital on business planning.Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal,9(2), pp.153-166. Chwolka, A. and Raith, M.G., 2012. The value of business planning before start-upA decision-theoretical perspective.Journal of Business Venturing,27(3), pp.385-399. Da Silva, E.C. and Mazzon, J.A., 2016. Developing Social Marketing Plan for Health Promotion.International Journal of Public Administration,39(8), pp.577-586. FREITAS, H.C. and SPEZIA, D.S., 2013, November. MARKETING PLAN AS A FACTOR IN STRATEGIC POSITIONING AND INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY FOR SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISE. InAnais do Congresso de Iniciao Cientfica do Centro Universitrio do Distrito Federal(Vol. 1, No. 1, p. 128). Gordon, R., 2012. Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix.Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ),20(2), pp.122-126. Hair Jr, J.F. and Lukas, B., 2014.Marketing research. McGraw-Hill Education Australia. Hawkes, K., 2013. First principles in developing a Marketing plan.Food New Zealand,13(6), p.19. Hollensen, S., 2015.Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education. Honig, B. and Samuelsson, M., 2014. Data replication and extension: A study of business planning and venture-level performance.Journal of Business Venturing Insights,1, pp.18-25. Huang, R. and Sarigll, E., 2014. How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. InFashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors(pp. 113-132). Springer New York. Jobber, D. and Ellis-Chadwick, F., 2012.Principles and practice of marketing(No. 7th). McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Johnston, R.E. and Bate, J.D., 2013.The power of strategy innovation: a new way of linking creativity and strategic planning to discover great business opportunities. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Keszey, T. and Biemans, W., 2015, January. Antecedents and outcomes of sales-marketing encroachment. InISPIM Conference Proceedings(p. 1). The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM). Kotler, P., Burton, S., Deans, K., Brown, L. and Armstrong, G., 2015.Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU. Linja, S.M., Kamp, K.D., Long, E.M., Ramsay, S.A., Sykes, M.C. and Vance, R.R., 2015. State Diet Manual for Long-Term, Intermediate, and Assisted Living Facilities: User Survey Provides Guidance for the 11th Edition and Helps Create a Marketing Plan. Liu, Y., Li, K.J., Chen, H. and Balachander, S., 2016. The Effects of a Product's Aesthetic Design on Demand and Marketing Mix Effectiveness: The Role of Segment Prototypicality and Brand Consistency.Journal of Marketing. Mullins, J., Walker, O.C. and Boyd Jr, H.W., 2012.Marketing management: A strategic decision-making approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Perreault Jr, W., Cannon, J. and McCarthy, E.J., 2013.Basic marketing. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Rothaermel, F.T., 2015.Strategic management. McGraw-Hill. Sleep, S., Lam, S.K. and Hulland, J., 2016. The Sales/Marketing Integration Gap: The Joint Impact of Environmental, Firm, and Functional Drivers on Realized Versus Desired Integration. InCelebrating Americas Pastimes: Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Marketing?(pp. 773-773). Springer International Publishing. Srensen, H.E., 2012.Business Development: a market-oriented perspective. John Wiley Sons Ltd. Westwood, J., 2013.How to write a marketing plan. Kogan Page Publishers. Wood, M.B., 2013.Marketing Plan Handbook. Pearson Higher Ed.

Analysis of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Essays

Analysis of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Essays Analysis of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Paper Analysis of The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell Paper Essay Topic: The Most Dangerous Game Literature contains an interesting plot that should include a situation between two things, which is called conflict. Conflict is a very important element in literature. In Richard Connell’s â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† the main character goes through many conflicts to survive. In Richard Wright’s â€Å"The Rights to the Streets of Memphis† a boy named Richard is kicked out of his house to buy the groceries, but a gang tries to beat him up on the way. The boy has to build up his courage and face the gang. In both Richard Connell’s â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† and Richard Wright’s â€Å"The Rights to the Streets of Memphis†, there are important internal and external conflicts throughout the story that are being created as the characters try to survive. Being washed up on a mysterious island and getting hunted down by crazy man are some examples of conflict in â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game†. â€Å"Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine† (Connell 74). This quote from the story shows the external conflict between Rainsford and General Zaroff. The General is challenging him to a battle to the death. â€Å"The cat was coming again to play with the mouse† (Connell 77). This shows how the General is like the predator hunting down its prey. Rainsford is trying his best to survive. â€Å"Only the devil himself could follow that complicated trail through the jungle after dark† (Connell 76). This quote is an example of the conflict that Rainsford is going through with the jungle. This is an example of man vs. nature. Rainsford is thinking that the jungle is very hard to navigate through, which is an obstacle. The main conflict in this story is Rainsford trying to survive. Getting beat up can teach you a couple of lessons. In â€Å"The Rights to the Streets of Memphis† the main character goes through a few conflicts. The poor little boy named Richard gets kicked out of his house to buy the groceries, but a gang gets in his way. The boy’s mother states â€Å"Go on and don’t pay any attention to them† (Wright 121). The mother is trying to her son into a grown up. She wants him to stand up for himself. This shows the love she has for Richard. â€Å"If these boys bother you, then fight† (Wright 121). Richard’s mother has no other choice but to let him fight, otherwise he will act as a little boy for the rest of his life. This is an example of external conflict because Richard is going to fight the other kids. â€Å"Don’t you come into this house until you’ve gotten those groceries† (Wright 121). This is an example of internal conflict because Richard has a choice of either staying home and get beat by his mother, or to go fight the gang. Richard found that the best way is to fight the gang and stand up for himself. In both of these conflicts, Richard is trying to survive. Conflict is a very important literary element in both of these short stories. It is one of the many literary elements that play a major role in a story’s plot by creating a complication between two things. Both Rainsford and Richard had to choose whether they want to survive or not. Rainsford survives by fighting back. Richard also learns that he needs to fight back. In both Richard Connell’s â€Å"The Most Dangerous Game† and Richard Wright’s â€Å"The Rights to the Streets of Memphis† conflict is a vital element that challenges the characters to survive.

AP English Literature - Learn What Score You Need

AP English Literature - Learn What Score You Need AP English Literature and Composition is one of the more popular Advanced Placement subjects. Nevertheless,  roughly 175,000 more students took the AP English Language course and exam in 2018. The literature course is primarily focused on college-level literary analysis, and students who do well on the AP English Literature exam will often earn college credit for composition or literature. About the AP English Literature Course and Exam The AP English Literature course covers important literary works from a range of genres, periods and cultures. Students learn close-reading and analytical skills, and they learn to identify a literary works structure, style, tone, and use of literary conventions such as imagery and figurative language.   Students in AP Literature work at becoming active readers; in other words, they learn to become thoughtful and critical readers who can analyze and appreciate the various writing strategies employed by a wide range of authors.   The course has no required reading list, and individual AP instructors are free to choose any literary works that invite a rewarding reading experience. Genres will include poetry, drama, fiction, and expository prose. Most texts will have been originally written in English and may have originated in the United States, Canada, England, Africa, India, and elsewhere. A few works- such as a Russian classic or Greek tragedy- might be read in translation. The focus of the course, however, is much more on reading and writing skills, not specific authors. On the writing front, students learn to write effective analytical essays that employ a wide-ranging and appropriate vocabulary, effective and varied sentence structures, logical organization, strategic use of both generalization and specific detail, and careful attention to rhetorical forms, voice, and tone. AP English Literature Score Information Many colleges and universities have a composition and/or literature requirement, so a high score on the AP English Literature exam will often fulfill one of these requirements. The AP English Literature and Composition test has a one-hour multiple-choice section and a two-hour free-response writing section. The score on the is based on a combination of the multiple choice section (45 percent  of score) and the free-response essay section (55 percent of score).   In 2018, 404,014 students took the exam and earned a mean score of 2.57. Close to half of those students (47.3 percent) received a score of 3 or higher indicating that they have enough mastery of the subject matter to potentially earn college credit or course placement. The distribution of scores for the AP English Literature exam is as follows: AP English Literature Score Percentiles (2018 Data) Score Number of Students Percentage of Students 5 22,826 5.6 4 58,765 14.5 3 109,700 27.2 2 145,307 36.0 1 67,416 16.7 The College Board has released preliminary score percentages for the 2019 exam. Keep in mind that these numbers may change slightly as late exams are added to the calculations. Preliminary 2019 AP English Literature Score Data Score Percentage of Students 5 6.2 4 15.9 3 28 2 34.3 1 15.6 College Credit and Course Placement for AP English Literature The table below provides some representative data from a variety of colleges and universities. This information is meant to provide a general overview of the scoring and placement information related to the AP English Literature exam. For schools not listed below, youll need to look on the colleges website or contact the appropriate Registrars office to get AP placement information. AP English Literature Scores and Placement College Score Needed Placement Credit Hamilton College 4 or 5 Placement into some 200-level courses; 2 credits for score of 5 and B- or higher in a 200-level course Grinnell College 5 ENG 120 LSU 3, 4 or 5 ENGL 1001 (3 credits) for a 3; ENGL 1001 and 2025 or 2027 or 2029 or 2123 (6 credits) for a 4; ENGL 1001, 2025 or 2027 or 2029 or 2123, and 2000 (9 credits) for a 5 Mississippi State University 3, 4 or 5 EN 1103 (3 credits) for a 3; EN 1103 and 1113 (6 credits) for a 4 or 5 Notre Dame 4 or 5 First Year Composition 13100 (3 credits) Reed College 4 or 5 1 credit; no placement Stanford University - No credit for AP English Literature Truman State University 3, 4 or 5 ENG 111 Introduction to the Short Story (3 credits) UCLA (School of Letters and Science) 3, 4 or 5 8 credits and entry writing requirement for a 3; 8 credits, entry writing requirement and English Comp Writing I requirement for a 4 or 5 Yale University 5 2 credits; ENGL 114a or b, 115a or b, 116b, 117b A Final Word on AP English Literature Keep in mind that another benefit to the successful completion of an AP Literature course is that it helps demonstrate your college readiness in a core subject area. Most of the countrys highly selective colleges and universities have  holistic admissions, and the admissions officers look not just at your GPA, but  how challenging your course work is. Colleges would much rather see you successfully complete a challenging college preparatory class in English than an easy English elective. AP Literature shows that you are taking the most advanced course possible in literature. So even at a school like Stanford that does not award any credit or placement for AP English Literature, your decision to take the class still strengthens your application. To learn more specific information about the AP English Literature exam, be sure to visit the  official College Board website.

Case study+ critycal analysis+evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Case study+ critycal analysis+evaluation - Essay Example Also, culture influences managerial philosophy and practice mainly through motivation. The idea that management works through people is vital for managers in an organizational culture to evaluate and assess the level and extent of cultural direction before any change could be effected. Organizational culture affects people – their needs, wants and aspirations, all of which management must tap. The case written by Steven I. Simon and Peter A. Cistaro entitled Transforming Safety Culture exemplifies managing change in organization specifically that of the Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) which is a principal utility located at New Jersey. In addition, the process of change required focusing on culture change as a necessary requirement to achieve an excellent safety management system. So, Kohli (2007) defined safety management system as â€Å"a systematic approach to managing safety, including the necessary organizational structures, accountabilities, policies and procedures† (Kohli, 2007, p. 4). In this regard, the objective of the essay is to present a critical analysis of the case and to identify key challenges of managing change at PSE&G. The discussion would initially present a brief background of the case before detailing the culture change process at the organization. The identification of culture change process would be structured in terms of addressing the following concerns: (1) why was change in culture necessary? (2) What organizational design issues were highlighted? (3) Who are the key personnel instrumental for the change? And (4) how could change be addressed more effectively? The Public Service Electric and Gas Co. (PSE&G) is a principal utility located at New Jersey which has provided gas and electric services to local customers. Also, it employed a total of 6,500 employees by 2007. However, the number of losses since its beginning 27 years ago was recorded at 32. Furthermore, case facts revealed â€Å"an OSHA

Water crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Water crisis - Essay Example As far as the Middle East is concerned, water resources of the region are rapidly getting depleted and many countries of the region like Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Yemen and United Arab Emirates are already facing problems that relate to scarcity of water resources. Although deficiency of resources is one issue, another major problem is related to their poor management of water resources. Despite the fact that this region is rich in production of oil, the prospect of getting benefit from their land by adopting agriculture as a means of food production is as yet unexplored. This is largely due to the desertification that is taking place in the region due to diminishing water resources. UAE holds a special position as far as the availability and consumption of water resources is concerned. Although UAE is undergoing severe depletion in resources of water, its water consumption per capita ranks the highest throughout the world. Additional aggravation of the condition is observed by realizing t he fact that the water table in UAE has fallen at a rate of one meter per annum and this trend has continued during the past three decades. It has been estimated that if the present trend continues, the water resources of UAE will deplete to alarming levels within a short period of only five decades i.e. fifty years (Rogers et al, 2006). Drastic measures need to be taken to prevent the continuation of the prevailing trend that denotes a sharp decline in the available level of water resources.

Evolution of Australian Flora: Hymenopteran Visual Systems

Evolution of Australian Flora: Hymenopteran Visual Systems Abstract Very little work has been done on the evolution of floral colour diversity, outside of Europe and the Middle East. In particular, we know almost nothing about the evolution of the Australian flora in the context of hymenopteran visual systems. Such a study is likely to be important due to the geologically long isolation of the Australian flora and the high proportion of endemic plant species. The aims of this study were to investigate the colour of Australian native flowers in the context of hymenopteran visual systems, the innate colour preferences of Australian native bees (Trigona carbonaria), and the interactions between native bees and a food deceptive orchid (Caladenia carnea). Firstly, I found that the discrimination thresholds of hymenopterans match up with floral colour diversity and that hymenopterans appear to have been a major contributor to flower colour evolution in Australia. Secondly, I found that Trigona carbonaria has innate preferences for wavelengths of 422, 437 a nd 530 nm. Thirdly, I found that bees were able to habituate to orchid flowers based on colour, thus potentially explaining the colour polymorphism of Caladenia carnea. Together, my study suggests that the evolution of the Australian flora has been influenced by hymenopterans. 1. Introduction Plant-pollinator interactions The mutual interactions between pollinators and plants have been suspected in driving angiosperm radiation and diversification in the past (Regal 1977; Crepet 1984; McPeek 1996). The obvious mutual benefit is that pollinators depend on the pollen and/or nectar of flowering plants for food and, in return, partake in the incidental transfer of pollen necessary for plant reproduction (Faegri and van der Pijl 1978; Harder, Williams et al. 2001). Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 67% of angiosperm plants rely on pollination by insects (Tepedino 1979). Hence, pollinators play a critical role in the persistence and survival of flowering plants, which are of high value to the human food chain (Kearns and Inouye 1997; Klein, Vaissiere et al. 2007). Flower colour signals and sensory exploitation Colour is the result of the visible light being absorbed or reflected off objects and then processed by the eye and brain of an animal (Le Grand 1968). Light is part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and can be quantified by the wavelength of different photons of energy (Bueche 1986). The wavelengths reflected off the object are perceived by a visual system as the object’s colour. For example, light that appears blue to a human observer can be described by a dominant wavelength of 400nm, whilst light that appears red is 700nm. Ultraviolet light falls between 300-400nm and can be seen by bees, but not humans. Flower colours have been influenced by the sensory receptors of insects, including their colour vision, which is different to human vision. Humans have a red, blue and green receptor (Chittka and Wells 2004). In contrast insects have a UV, green and blue receptor (Chittka and Wells 2004). As human vision is very different to a hymenopterans’ colour visual system, one cannot discuss a bees’ colour perception according to human colour terms such as red or blue. Therefore, this thesis will discuss colours according to wavelength. Colour is one of the most important floral signals plants use to communicate information to insect pollinators (Giurfa, Vorobyev et al. 1996; Dyer, Spaethe et al. 2008). Although it is known that pollinators select flowers based on morphology, nectar availability, size, and odour (Giurfa, Nà ºÃƒ ±ez et al. 1994; Kunze and Gumbert 2001; Spaethe, Tautz et al. 2001; Whitney and Glover 2007), colour is known to play a critical role in enabling pollinators to detect and discriminate target flowers from a biologically important distance of up to 50 cm (Giurfa, Vorobyev et al. 1996; Dyer, Spaethe et al. 2008). Our understanding of the evolution of colour vision in insects has advanced considerably in recent years. In the past, studies of colour perception were limited due to little information on the colour visual system of insects (Frisch 1914; Daumer 1956). It is now possible to evaluate how flower visual signals appear to the visual system of hymenopteran pollinators, using spectrophotometer and colorimetry techniques, which allows quantitative evaluations of how complex colour information is perceived by insect pollinators (Chittka 1992) (fig. 1). Previous research has revealed that colour discrimination in hymenopterans is phylogenetically ancient, with different hymenopterans sharing similar colour perception (Helversen 1972; Chittka and Menzel 1992). Importantly, colour discrimination in the hymenoptera is known to predate the evolution of floral colour diversity (Chittka 1996). Here, recent research has revealed remarkable convergence in the evolution and distribution of floral colours in different parts of the world. Specifically, in a seminal paper, Chittka (1996) showed that flowering plants in both Europe and the Middle East have adapted their colour signals to the visual systems of bees, with flower colours in these regions closely matched to the visual receptors of hymenopterans (Chittka 1996). However, outside of Europe and the Middle East, very little work has been done on the evolution of floral colour diversity. In particular, we know almost nothing about the evolution of the Australian flora in the context of hy menopteran visual systems. This is an important question to investigate due to the long isolation of the Australian flora and the high proportion of endemic plant species. I hypothesise that the Australian floral coloration will closely match the discrimination thresholds of hymenopterans as recent evidence suggests that insect pollinators supported the early spread of flowering plants (Hu, Dilcher et al. 2008). Innate colour preferences of bees Charles Darwin was the first to state that innate preferences could allow an inexperienced pollinator to find a food source (Darwin 1877). Pollinators may use certain traits of flowers such as morphology, scent, temperature and colour to locate food (Heinrich 1979; Menzel 1985; Dyer, Whitney et al. 2006; Raine, Ings et al. 2006). Previous studies evaluating innate colour preferences have tended to focus on two species: the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) and bumblebee (Bombus terrestris). By contrast, no studies have looked at the innate colour preferences of Australian bees and how this affects their choices for flowers. We know that European bumblebees and honeybees show strong preferences for violet and blue (400-420nm) throughout their geographic range (Chittka, Ings et al. 2004) ,which interestingly correlates with the most profitable food sources (Lunau and Maier 1995; Chittka and Raine 2006). These preferences are likely to have had an impact on the relative success of dif ferent flower colours in regions where these bees are dominant pollinators (Chittka and Wells 2004). Consequently, information on the innate preferences of Australian bees will be important to understand hymenopteran plant interactions in the Australian context. Pollinator learning and food deceptive orchids Most plants reward their pollinators with nectar or pollen. However, some species do not offer floral rewards and, instead, employ a range of deceptive techniques to trick insects into performing the task of pollination. Deceptive pollination strategies are particularly well known and widespread among orchids (Jersà ¡kovà ¡, Johnson et al. 2006). For instance, approximately 400 orchid species are known to achieve pollination through sexual deceit, luring unsuspecting male insects to the flower through olfactory, visual and tactile mimicry of potential mates. More common are food deceptive orchids which are believed to number as many as 6,000 species (one-third of orchids) (Jersà ¡kovà ¡, Johnson et al. 2009). Food mimicking orchids employ bright colours to falsely advertise the presence of a reward to attract naive pollinators (Ackerman 1986; Nilsson 1992; Jersà ¡kovà ¡, Johnson et al. 2006). The common occurrence of food deception in orchids suggests that this form of pollinat ion by deception is an extremely successful evolutionary strategy (Cozzolino and Widmer 2005). Visits by pollinators to deceptive plants are influenced by pollinator learning. In the case of sexual deception, previous research shows that insects quickly learn unrewarding flower decoys and avoid them. For example, male insects learn to avoid areas containing sexually deceptive orchids (Peakall 1990; Wong and Schiestl 2002). However, whether insects can learn to avoid food deceptive orchids remains to be investigated. In addition, high levels of variability in floral traits, particularly flower colour and floral scent, may interrupt the associative learning of insects by preventing their ability to become familiar with deceptive flowers (Schiestl 2005). Indeed, variation in colour, shape and fragrance is evident in non-model food-deceptive orchids (Moya and Ackerman 1993; Aragà ³n and Ackerman 2004; Salzmann, Nardella et al. 2007). However, previous studies have only looked at pollinator preference for colour morphs (Koivisto, Vallius et al. 2002), rather than assessing if vari able flower colour slows down the ability of naive pollinators to learn unrewarding flower decoys. Furthermore, there is a need to incorporate a combination of colour vision science and behavioural ecology to understand how a bee perceives the orchid flowers, as bees have a different visual system to humans. Although humans cannot see ultra-violet light, UV sensitivity is common in some animals (Tovà ©e 1995). UV sensitivity has been found in insects, birds, fish and reptiles (Marshall, Jones et al. 1996; Neumeyer and Kitschmann 1998; Cuthill, Partridge et al. 2000; Briscoe and Chittka 2001). Studies on UV vision in an ecological context have mainly focused on species specific signalling and mate choice (Bennett, Cuthill et al. 1996; Bennett, Cuthill et al. 1997; Pearn 2001; Cummings, Garc et al. 2006). However, few studies have looked at the role of UV signals in attracting bees to orchids. Previous studies have shown that the presence of UV reflecting crab spiders attracts honeybees to daisies (Heiling, Herberstein et al. 2003). In a similar study, Australian native bees (Austroplebia australis) were attracted but did not land on flowers with UV reflecting crab spiders (Heiling and Herberstein 2004). However, the role of UV signals in orchids is not well studied. In particular, it is not known if the UV signal is important in attracting naive bees to food deceptive orchids. Thus, it will be useful to know if UV signals might also serve to lure naive pollinators to deceptive flowers to understand deceptive pollination. Aims This project will investigate Australian flower colour diversity in the context of hymenopteran visual systems, the innate colour preferences of Australian native bees (Trigona carbonaria) and their interactions with a food deceptive orchid (Caladenia carnea). This study aims to address the following questions: 1. Is there a link between hymenopteran vision and Australian floral coloration? 2. Does an Australian native bee (Trigona carbonaria) have innate colour preferences? 3. Does a food deceptive orchid (Caladenia carnea) exploit the innate colour preferences of Trigona carbonar 2. Methods Part 1. Is there a link between hymenopteran vision and Australian floral coloration? Flower collection and spectral reflectance functions of Australian native plant flowers Australian native flowers were collected from Maranoa Gardens, Balwyn (melway ref 46 F7). Maranoa Gardens was chosen due to the diverse collection of species from all over Australia. Flowers were collected once a month, from May to January. A colour photograph was taken of the flower for identification. I also took a UV photograph for all flowers, using a digital UV camera [Fuji Finepix Pro S3 UVIR modified CCD for UV imaging] with calibrated UV-vis grey scales (Dyer, Muir et al. 2004). As UV rays are invisible to the human eye (Menzel and Blakers 1976; Dyer 2001), this photo enabled any UV reflectance areas of the flower to be measured by the spectrophotometer (Indsto, Weston et al. 2006). The spectral reflection functions of flowers were calculated from 300 to 700 nm using a spectrophotometer(S2000) with a PX-2 pulsed xenon light source attached to a PC running SpectraSuite software (Ocean Optics Inc., Dunedin, FL, USA). The spectrophotometer was used to quantify the colour of the flower as wavelength. The white standard was a freshly pressed pellet of dry BaSO4, used to calibrate the spectrophotometer. A minimum of three flowers from each plant were used for each spectral analysis. I evaluated a sample of 111 spectral measurements from Australian flowering plants, encompassing a representative variety of plant families (fig. 2). Correlations between spectral reflectance functions of different plant flowers and trichomatic vision of the honeybees To understand if there is a link between hymenopteran vision and Australian native flowers, I used the methodology used by Chittka and Menzel (1992). In that study, Chittka and Menzel looked for correlations between flower spectra sharp steps of different plant flowers and trichomatic vision of the honeybees. Sharp steps are a rapid change in the spectra wavelength (Chittka and Menzel 1992) (see fig. 3 for an example of a sharp step). These steps cross over different receptors, thereby producing vivid colours that stand out from the background. Furthermore, a colour signal will be more distinguishable to a pollinator if the sharp steps match up with the overlap of receptors in a visual system. Thus, the main feature of a flower wavelength is a sharp step. For this study, I defined a sharp step as a change of greater than 20 % reflectance in less than 50 nm of the bee visual spectrum. The midpoint of the slope was determined by eyesight as described by Chittka and Menzel (1992), as th e nature of curves varied with each flower. The absolute numbers of sharp steps within each flower spectra were counted. The frequencies are shown in fig. 4b. As hybrid plants are artificially selected by humans, hybrid flowers were not included in the analyses. Generating a Hexagon colour space To evaluate how flower colours are seen by bees, I plotted the flower colour positions in a colour hexagon space. A colour space is a numerical representation of an insect’s colour perception that is suitable for a wide range of hymenopteran species (Chittka 1992). In a colour space, the distances between locations of a two colour objects link with the insect’s capacity to differentiate those colours. To make the colour space, the spectral reflectance of the colour objects were required, as well as the receptor sensitivities of the insect. For Trigona carbonaria, the exact photoreceptors are currently unknown, but hymenopteran trichromatic vision is very similar between species as the colour photoreceptors are phylogenetically ancient (Chittka 1996). Thus, it is possible to model hymenopteran vision with a vitamin A1 visual template (Stavenga, Smits et al. 1993) as described by Dyer (1999). I then predicted how the brain processed these colour signals by using the avera ge reflectance from each flower, and calculating the photoreceptor excitation (E) values, according to the UV, blue and green receptor sensitivities (Briscoe and Chittka 2001) using the methods explained by Chittka (1992). The UV, blue and green E-values of flower spectra were used as coordinates and plotted in a colour space (Chittka 1992). The colour difference as perceived by a bee was calculated by the Euclidean distance between two objects locations in the colour hexagon space (Chittka 1992). Modelling the distributions of Australian flower colours according to bees’ perception I analysed the most frequent flower colour according to a bees’ colour perception using the methods of Chittka, Shmida et al. (1994). I plotted the Australian flower colours in a colour space (Fig 5a). A colour space is a graphical representation of a bees’ colour perception. A radial grid of 10 degree sectors was placed over the distribution of colour loci and the number of floral colour loci within each sector was counted(fig. 5b). Part 2. Does an Australian native bee (Trigona carbonaria) have innate colour preferences? Insect model and housing Trigona carbonaria is an Australian native stingless bee that lives in colonies of 4000-10000 individuals (Heard 1988). In the wild, stingless bees live in hollows inside trees (Dollin, Dollin et al. 1997). Trigona carbonaria has a similar social structure to the honeybee (Wille 1983). They are common to North Eastern Australia and are a potentially important pollinator for several major commercial crops (Heard 1999). A research colony (ca. 4000 adults and 800 foraging individuals) of T. carbonaria was propagated for the experiments by Dr Tim Heard (CSIRO Entomology, 120 Meiers Rd, Indooroopilly 4068, Australia) as described in the paper by Heard (1988). Bees were maintained in laboratory conditions so that no previous contact with flowers had been made. For this study, a colony was placed in a pine nest box (27.5 x 20 x 31 cm; LWH) and connected to the foraging arena by a 16 cm plexiglass tube, containing individual shutters to control bee movements. All laboratory experiments were conducted in a Controlled Temperature Laboratory (CTL) at Monash University, Clayton, School of Biological Sciences (CTL room G12C dimensions 3 x 5m), during the months of July 2009- January 2010. Relative humidity (RH) was set to 30%, and the temperature was set to 27  °C (SPER-Scientific Hygrometer, Arizona, USA), as this set up approximately matches conditions in Queensland for insect pollinators (Heard and Hendrikz 1993). Illumination (10/14 hr day/night) was provided by four Phillips Master TLS HE slimline 28W/865 UV+ daylight fluorescent tubes (Holland) with specially fitted high frequency (>1200Hz) ATEC Jupiter EGF PMD2x14-35 electronic dimmable ballasts which closely matches daylight conditions for trichromatic hymenoptera (Dyer and Chittka 2004). The flight arena (1.2 x 0.6 x 0.5m; LWH) was made of a coated steel frame with laminated white wooden side panels. The arena floor was painted foliage green, and the arena lid was covered with UV transparent plexiglass. Experimen ts were conducted from 1pm-3pm to control for time of day, as this is when bees are most active (Heard and Hendrikz 1993). Pre-training Bees were habituated to the flight arena for seven days. Naive foragers (i.e. bees that had never encountered real or artificial flowers) were initially pre-trained to forage in the flight arena on three rewarding aluminium sanded disks (25 mm in diameter), with a 10-ÃŽ ¼l droplet of 15% (w/w) sucrose solution placed in the centre. The disks were placed on vertical plastic cylinders (diameter = 25 mm, height = 100 mm), to raise them above the floor of the flight arena so that bees learnt to fly to the disks. Pre-training allows bees to become habituated to visiting artificial flowers for further experiments. The aluminium sanded disks were chosen as neutral stimuli because they have an even spectral reflectance curve in the spectral visual range of the bees, fig. 6. The sucrose solution reward on these training disks was refilled using a pipette after it was consumed by foraging bees. The spatial positions of these training disks were pseudo randomised, so that bees would not learn t o associate particular locations with reward. Bees were allowed a minimum of two hours to forage on the pre-training disks before data collection Innate colour preference testing To test the innate colour preferences of naive bees, I performed simultaneous choice experiments with flower-naive bees using artificial flowers that simulated the floral colours of natural flowers. The aluminum rewarding disks were replaced by the ten unrewarding, coloured artificial disks in the original flight arena. Artificial flower stimuli were cut in a circle (70 mm diameter) from standardized colour papers of the HKS-N-series (Hostmann-Steinberg K+E Druckfarben, H. Schmincke Co., Germany). In each experiment the same set of ten test colours (1N pale yellow, 3N saturated yellow, 21N light pink, 32N pink, 33N purple, 50N blue, 68N green, 82N brown, 92N grey, back of 92N white) were used. These colours were chosen as they have been used in innate colour experiments with other hymenopterans (Giurfa, Nà ºÃƒ ±ez et al. 1995; Kelber 1997; Gumbert 2000), and the colours are also widely used in other bee colour experiments (Giurfa, Vorobyev et al. 1996). The coloured paper disks were placed on vertical plastic cylinders (diameter = 15 mm; height = 50 mm), to raise them above the floor of the flight arena. The gate was shut in the arena to ensure the bees used in each trial were separated from the next trial. The number of landings and approaches to the stimuli were recorded for one hour. Approximately 200 bees were used for each trial. The spatial positions of the artificial flowers were pseudo randomised in a counter balance fashion every 15 minutes. After each trial, the colour disks were aired and wiped with a paper tissue to remove possible scent marks, which are known to affect experiments with honeybees (Schmitt and Bertsch 1990; Giurfa and Nà ºÃƒ ±ez 1992). I conducted each subsequent trial after removing the used bees from the system, to ensure that the bees in the next trial were replaced with naive foragers. It is known that perception of colour can be influenced by background colour (Lunau, Wacht et al. 1996). Therefore, I also tested colour choices on other background colours of grey and black. The results are qualitatively similar (fig. 8b), so only data from the biologically relevant green background was used for subsequent analysis. Analysis of colour stimuli As bees see colours differently to humans, I quantified stimuli according to five parameters: wavelength, brightness, purity (saturation), chromatic contrast to the background and green receptor contrast. Dominant wavelength was calculated by tracing a line from the centre of the colour hexagon through the stimulus location to the corresponding spectrum locus wavelength (Wyszecki and Stiles 1982). Brightness was measured as the sum of excitation values of the UV, blue and green receptors (Spaethe, Tautz et al. 2001). Spectral purity of the stimulus was calculated by the percentage distance of the stimulus in relation to the end of the spectrum locus (Chittka and Wells 2004). Chromatic contrast was calculated as the distance of a colour stimulus from the centre of the colour hexagon relative to the background. Chromatic contrast is important as perception can be affected by background colour (Lunau, Wacht et al. 1996). Green receptor contrast was measured as the green receptor excitat ion from a stimulus relative to the background (Giurfa, Nà ºÃƒ ±ez et al. 1995). This contrast is relevant as green receptors and green contrast are known to affect motion in bees (Srinivasan, Lehrer et al. 1987). Statistical analyses The impact of wavelength on number of landings by Trigona carbonaria was investigated using a single factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a post hoc Tukeys HSD test (ÃŽ ±=0.05) (Quinn and Keough 2002) using the number of landings as the dependent variable and wavelength of stimuli as the independent variable. Brightness, purity (saturation), chromatic contrast to the background and green receptor contrast of stimuli were analysed using the Spearmans rank correlation test against choices. Statistical analyses were conducted using R statistical and graphical environment (R Development Core Team, 2007). Statistical significance was set to P≠¤0.05. Part 3. Does a food deceptive orchid (Caladenia carnea) exploit the innate colour preferences of Trigona carbonaria? Plant model Caladenia carnea is a widespread species, common to eastern Australia. The orchid is highly variable in colour, ranging from pink to white. It is pollinated by Australian native bees of the Trigona species (Adams and Lawson 1993).With bright colours and fragrance, this orchid achieves pollination by food mimicry (Adams and Lawson 1993). Thus, due to the colour variation of the orchid, C. carnea is an excellent model with which to examine floral exploitation of potential pollinators. Caladenia carnea flowers were supplied by private growers from the Australasian Native Orchid Society. Can Trigona carbonaria perceive a difference between pink and white flowers of Caladenia carnea? Colorimetric analysis of the pink and white Caladenia carnea flowers were used to investigate whether different colours of the orchid would be perceived as similar or different to a bees’ visual system. A spectrophotometer was used to take four measurements of each flower colour (pink versus white). The actual measurements used in the analysis were an average of each colour (Dyer, Whitney et al. 2007). To predict the probability with which insect pollinators would discriminate between different flowers, these spectra were plotted as loci in a hexagon colour space (Chittka 1992) (see ‘hexagon colour space’ methods). Choice experiments I conducted trials testing the preferences of bees when offered a dichotomous choice between a white versus pink Caladenia carnea flower. Each trial took place inside a flight arena. Each white and pink flower used in a trial were matched for size, placed into indiviual plastic containers (diameter= 5 cm, height=5 cm) and placed in the arena with a distance of 10 cm between flower centres. Each container was covered with Glad WrapTM (The Clorox Company, Oaklands, CA, USA) to remove olfactory cues as they are known to in ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡uence the choice behaviour of honeybees (e.g. Pelz, Gerber et al. 1997; Laska, Galizia et al. 1999). Approximately 50 bees were let into the arena for each trial. The  ¬Ã‚ rst contact made by a bee with the Glad WrapTM within a distance of 4 cm, was recorded as a choice of that  ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ower (Dyer, Whitney et al. 2007). The number of landings were recorded to the flowers for five minutes. After each trial, the Glad WrapTM was changed to prevent scent ma rks. In addition, individual flowers and spatial positions were randomised. Individual bees were sacrificed after each trial to avoid pseudo replication. Does the UV signal affect the attraction of bees to orchid flowers? To investigate whether the UV re ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ectance of the dorsal sepal affected the response of bees, I offered bees the choice between two white orchids, one with a UV signal and the other without (N=16). The UV signal was removed by applying a thin layer of sunscreen (Hamilton SPF 30+, Adelaide, SA, Australia) over the dorsal sepal. Spectral reflectance measurements were taken to ensure that the sunscreen prevented any reflection of UV light (below 395 nm) from the sepals and did not change the reflectance properties of the orchid. In addition, spectral measurements of orchid sepals under Glad WrapTM confirmed that the foil was permeable to all wavelengths of light above 300 nm and did not obscure the reflectance of flowers. Do bees display preferences when choosing between pink versus white orchid flowers? To assess whether bees show a preference for pink or white variants of the orchid Caladenia carnea, I offered bees a simultaneous choice between a pink or white flower (N=16). See procedures for choice testing. Do bees habituate to non-rewarding orchids based on differences in floral coloration? I conducted a two stage experiment to investigate if bees could learn to habituate to a non-rewarding flower colour over time and whether bees adjusted their subsequent flower choice depending on the flower colour encountered previously. At stage 1 of the experiment, native bees were presented with one flower, either white or pink. Flowers were placed in a container with Glad WrapTM. Landings to the flower were recorded at the start and again at the 30 min mark. At stage 2, the flower from stage 1 was swapped with a new flower colour and the number of landings were scored for 5 minutes. Flowers were randomised and Glad WrapTM changed to prevent scent marks after each trial. Once again, bees were used only once per experiment. Statistical analyses For experiments 2, 3 4, numbers of landings by naive bees to flower pairs were compared using two tailed paired t-tests. A two factor ANOVA was used to analyse whether bees habituate to non-rewarding orchids based on differences in floral coloration. The dependent variable was the number of landings and the two independent variables were previous flower colour and new flower colour. 3. Results Part 1. Is there a link between hymenopteran vision and Australian floral coloration? Correlations between the inflection curves of different plant flowers and trichomatic vision of hymenopterans The analysis of 111 spectral reflection curves of Australian flowers reveals that sharp steps occur at those wavelengths where hymenoterans are most sensitive to spectral differences (fig. 4b). There are three clear peaks in sharp steps (fig. 4b). It is known that hymenopteran trichomats are all sensitive to spectral differences at approximately 400 and 500 nm (Menzel and Backhaus 1991; Peitsch, Fietz et al. 1992). Hence, the peaks at 400 and 500 nm can be discriminated well by hymenopteran trichomats, as illustrated by the inverse Δ ÃŽ »/ÃŽ » function (solid curve shown in fig. 4a) of the honeybee (Helversen 1972), which is an empirically determined threshold function which shows the region of the electromagnetic function that a bees’ visual system discriminates colours best. In summary, the spectral position of receptors of trichomatic hymenopterans are correlates with steps in the floral spectra of Australian flowers. The distributions of Australian flower colours according to bees’ perception The floral colour loci are strongly clustered in the colour hexagon (fig. 5a). Blue-green flowers are the most common in the perception of bees, while pure UV flowers were the rarest (fig. 5b). Part 2. Does an Australian native bee (Trigona carbonaria) have innate colour preferences? Effect of brightness, spectral purity, chromatic contrast and green receptor contrast on colour choices There was no significant effect of stimulus brightness on choice frequency (rs= 0.333, n=10, p= 0.347; fig. 7a). There was no significant effect of spectral purity on choice frequency (rs = 0.224, n=10, p= 0.533; figure 7b). There was no significant correlation effect of chromatic contrast on choice frequency (rs = 0.042, n=10, p= 0.907; figure 7c). There was no significant effect of green receptor contrast on choice frequency (rs = 0. 0.552, n=10, p= 0.098; figure 7d). Effect of wavelength on colour choices Stimuli colours are plotted in figure 8a, as they appear to a human viewer to enable readers to understand the correlation between colour choices. However, all statistical analyses were conducted with stimuli plotted as wavelength due to the different visual perception of bees and humans (Kevan, Chittka et al. 2001). There is a significant effect of wavelength on the number of landings by Trigona carbonaria (Single factor ANOVA, F9,110 = 5.60, P