Leopard Seal Facts

Leopard Seal Facts If you get the opportunity to take an Antarctic cruise, you may be lucky enough to see a leopard seal in its natural habitat. The leopard seal  (Hydrurga leptonyx) is an earless seal with  leopard-spotted fur. Like its feline namesake, the seal is a powerful predator high on the food chain. The only animal that hunts leopard seals is the killer whale. Fast Facts: Leopard Seal Scientific Name: Hydrurga leptonyxCommon Names: Leopard seal, sea leopardBasic Animal Group: MammalSize: 10-12 feetWeight: 800-1000 poundsLifespan: 12-15 yearsDiet: CarnivoreHabitat: Sea around AntarcticaPopulation: 200,000Conservation Status: Least Concern Description You might think the obvious identifying feature of the leopard seal is its black-spotted coat. However, many seals have spots. What sets the leopard seal apart is its elongated head and sinuous body, somewhat resembling a furry eel. The leopard seal is earless, about 10 to 12 feet long (females slightly larger than males), weighs between 800 and 1000 pounds, and always seems to be smiling because the edges of its mouth curl upward. The leopard seal is large, but smaller than the elephant seal and walrus. The mouth of the leopard seal turns upward at the edges, resembling a smile. Peter Johnson/Corbis/VCG / Getty Images Habitat and Distribution Leopard seals live in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic waters of the Ross Sea, Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea, South Georgia, and Falkland Islands. Sometimes they are found along the southern coasts of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.  The leopard seals habitat overlaps that of other seals. Diet Leopard seals eat penguins.  © Tim Davis/Corbis/VCG / Getty Images The leopard seal will eat just about any other animals. Like other carnivorous mammals, the seal has sharp front teeth and fearsome-looking inch-long canines. However, the seals molars lock together to make a sieve that allows it to filter krill from the water. Seal pups primarily eat krill, but once they learn to hunt, they eat penguins, squid, shellfish, fish, and smaller seals. They are the only seals that regularly hunt warm-blooded prey.  Leopard seals often wait underwater and propel themselves out of the water to snatch their victim. Scientists can analyze a seals diet by examining its whiskers. Behavior Leopard seals are known to play cat and mouse with prey, typically with young seals or penguins. They will chase their prey until it either escapes or dies, but wont necessarily eat their kill. Scientists are uncertain of the reason for this behavior, but believe it may help hone hunting skills or might simply be for sport. Leopard seal males hang under the ice when they sing. Michael Nolan / Getty Images During the austral summer, male leopard seals sing (loudly) underwater for hours each day. A singing seal hangs upside down, with a bent neck and pulsating inflated chests, rocking from side to side. Each male has a distinct call, although the calls change depending on the seals age. Singing coincides with the breeding season. Captive females have been known to sing when reproductive hormone levels are elevated. Reproduction and Offspring While some kinds of seals live in groups, the leopard seal is solitary. Exceptions include mother and pup pairs and temporary mating pairs. Seals mate in summer and give birth after 11 months gestation to a single pup. At birth, the pup weighs around 66 pounds. The pup is weaned on the ice for about a month. Females become mature between ages three and seven. Males mature a bit later, typically between ages six and seven. Leopard seals live a long time for a seal, partly because they have few predators. While the average lifespan is 12 to 15 years, its  not uncommon for a wild leopard seal to live 26 years. Conservation Status According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), scientists once believed there may be over 200,000 leopard seals. Environmental changes have dramatically affected species the seals eat, so this number is likely inaccurate. The leopard seal is not endangered. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists it as a species of least concern. Leopard Seals and Humans Leopard seals are highly dangerous predators. While attacks of humans are rare, cases of aggression, stalking, and fatalities have been documented. Leopard seals are known to attack the black pontoons of inflatable boats, posing an indirect risk to people. However, not all encounters with humans are predatory. When National Geographic photographer Paul Nicklen dove into Antarctic waters to observe a leopard seal, the female seal he photographed brought him injured and dead penguins. Whether the seal was trying to feed the photographer, teach him to hunt, or had other motives is unknown. Sources Rogers, T. L.; Cato, D. H.; Bryden, M. M. Behavioral significance of underwater vocalizations of captive leopard seals, Hydrurga leptonyx.  Marine Mammal Science.  12  (3): 414–42, 1996.Rogers, T.L. Source levels of the underwater calls of a male leopard seal.  The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.  136  (4): 1495–1498, 2014.Wilson, Don E. and DeeAnn M. Reeder, eds. Species: Hydrurga leptonyx. Mammal species of the world : a taxonomic and geographic reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005.

Explaining Glasnost and Perestroika

Explaining Glasnost and Perestroika When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the Soviet Union in March 1985, the country had already been steeped in oppression, secrecy, and suspicion for over six decades. Gorbachev wanted to change that. Within his first few years as general secretary of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev instituted the policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring), which opened the door to criticism and change. These were revolutionary ideas in the stagnant Soviet Union and would ultimately destroy it. What Was Glasnost? Glasnost, which translates to openness in English, was General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachevs policy for a new, open policy in the Soviet Union where people could freely express their opinions. With glasnost, Soviet citizens no longer had to worry about neighbors, friends, and acquaintances turning them into the KGB for whispering something that could be construed as criticism of the government or its leaders. They no longer had to worry about arrest and exile for a negative thought against the State. Glasnost allowed the Soviet people to reexamine their history, voice their opinions on governmental policies, and receive news not pre-approved by the government. What Was Perestroika? Perestroika, which in English translates to restructuring, was Gorbachevs  program to restructure the Soviet economy in an attempt to revitalize it. To restructure, Gorbachev decentralized the controls over the economy, effectively lessening the governments role in the decision-making processes of individual enterprises. Perestroika also hoped to improve production levels by bettering the lives of workers, including giving them more recreation time and safer working conditions. The overall perception of work in the Soviet Union was to be changed from corruption to honesty, from slacking to hard work. Individual workers, it was hoped, would take a personal interest in their work and would be rewarded for helping to better production levels. Did These Policies Work? Gorbachevs policies of glasnost and perestroika changed the fabric of the Soviet Union. It allowed citizens to clamor for better living conditions, more freedoms, and an end to Communism.   While Gorbachev had hoped his policies would revitalize the Soviet Union, they instead destroyed it. By 1989, the Berlin Wall fell and by 1991, the Soviet Union disintegrated. What had once been a single country, became 15 separate republics.

Pharmaceutical Treatment Options for Myasthenia Gravis Article

Pharmaceutical Treatment Options for Myasthenia Gravis - Article Example The neuromuscular junction (NMJ) has the distinction of being the first site of a defined autoantibody mediated neurological disease, namely myasthenia gravis (MG), which is due to autoantibodies to the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) (Vincent, 2002). Other targets at the NMJ include muscle specific kinase (MuSK) in MG patients without AChR antibodies. About 20% of MG patients with generalized disease in Europe, North America and Japan do not have AChR antibodies. These so called 'seronegative' MG patients can be divided into two groups: those with antibodies to MuSK and those without [AChR/MuSK seronegative MG (SN-MG) (Hoch etal, 2001). In normal neuromuscular transmission depolarization of the presynaptic nerve terminal produces an influx of calcium through voltage-gated calcium channels. Vesicles containing acetylcholine (ACh) then fuse with the presynaptic nerve terminal membrane. After release, ACh interacts with the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) on the muscle endplate surface. This opens the AChR channel, resulting in an influx of cations, largely sodium. Depolarization of the muscle surface produces an excitatory endplate potential, and if the endplate potential is of sufficient amplitude, muscle surface voltage-gated sodium channels are opened. This generates an action potential that eventually results in excitation-contraction coupling and muscle movement. ACh binds transiently to its receptor and then either diffuses from the neuromuscular junction or is hydrolyzed by acetylcholinesterase (AChE), providing a self-limited response to nerve depolarization. In MG, antibodies are directed against the acetylcholine receptors (AChR antibodies). AChR antibodies interfere with neuromuscular transmission through one of three mechanisms- First, some bind to the AChR cholinergic binding site, blocking the binding of ACh. Second, some AChR antibodies cross-link muscle surface AChRs, increasing their rate of internalization into muscle and reducing the numbers of available AChRs. Third, and perhaps most importantly, AChR antibodies that bind complement result in destruction of the muscle endplate, and a more long-lasting loss of AChRs. Drugs like acetylcholinestrase inhibitors nhibits AChE, increasing the amount of ACh available to interact with available AChRs, thus prolonging the action of Ach, and allowing muscle contraction. Pharmacological treatment Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors are the first pharmacological choice in the treatment of MG. Acetylcholinesterase is an acetylcholine-hydrolyzing enzyme which binds the overflowing acetylcholine in the neuromuscular junction, keeping the junction clean from excessive transmitter. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors bind to the acetylcholinesterase, inhibiting its action. Pyridostigmine is a more recent long-acting reversible acetylcholinesterase inhibitor. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors increase the amount of available acetylcholine in the neuromuscular junction. This leads to enhanced binding of acetylcholine to the diminished number of AChRs on the myasthenic muscle cell membrane, causing contractility improvement (Millard and Broom field, 1995) When additional pharmacological tre

Scientific Concepts and Methodologies Assignment

Scientific Concepts and Methodologies - Assignment Example The lag phase is described with minimized or no uptake of water after the previous imbibition. The water that is imbibed in the first phase is crucial to the processes of physiology that takes place in the second phase. The third phase is the radical protrusion (Vysotï ¸  sï ¸ ¡kiĭ, Kornilova & Smirnov, 2009). The effect of up taking water is the cell enlargement which is characterized by the cell division. The small root enlargement helps in weakening the walls of cells and breaks through the coat of seed. It is evident, that water plays a crucial factor in the germination phases. Water is among the main environmental factors that affect the seed germination. In some cases, water is a single factor that will limit if or not a seed is going to germinate. In the case of marigolds, a given temperature needs to break the dormancy for the marigolds to start the first stage of taking up water. The seeds of marigolds take in water in three staged, each is characterized by the amount of water absorbed and the impact it will have on the amount that is absorbed and the impact it has on the seed itself. The hypothesis if water is given to the marigold seed, the seed will germinate and later grow compared to the seed having no water was supported. From the observation, only three of the seeds without water grew. In the controlled group 8 of the 10 seeds germinated and later grew. The average growth for the controlled group was 4.37 while the average growth for the experimental group was 0.38. Therefore, given water is needed for a seed to grow. The water is important in chemical reactions since it is photosynthesis raw material. Without water no growth can take place and he plants will lack the energy to carry out chemical reactions. 9 of the planted seeds did not grow at all. 2 from the control group and 7 from the experimental group. It is no surprise that some of the marigold seeds did not germinate from the experimental

Essay --

The term Robot is a Czech word, which was coined by Karel Capek meaning "forced labor." A large number of robots these days are designed for performing repetitive manufacturing work which is complicated, hazardous and monotonous for humans to perform. The foremost basis for the advancement in the field of robot’s hand is replication of the human hand’s functionality and manifestation. The research in this field progresses ever since the word Robot was coined in the play Rossum’s Universal Robot. The objective of this paper is to study the challenges faced while designing the Dexterous Anthropomorphic Robotic Arm to all the Researchers and students. The robots could be very functional for the handicapped and physically weak and fragile people because their sole inadequacy is overcome with the robots in the form of robotic arm or prosthetic leg. Previously the robots which were designed were massive, colossal, unreliable, non-realistic and expensive to the opera tor, so the researchers are trying to make the robots system compact at the same time inexpensive and it must convince the safety parameters for the operator. This review paper aims at suggesting some concrete solutions to the difficulties encountered so far. This paper discusses the development and advances of the Exoskeleton robots and the Dexterous Anthropomorphic Robots. The parameters in comparison are:- 1. Force Reflection function in the field Teleoperation 2. Various actuation types 3. Different sensors based on the applications 4. Complexity in the design 5. Flexibility of the model. Service robots are machines intended to work for human beings (like the industrial robot) and with human beings. The application of service robots in Real Time Operating Situations... ...r limb exoskeleton arm with 3-DOF shoulder joint and a 1-DOF elbow joint for strengthening the upper limb muscle of the patients with impaired hands. Their design allowed the patients to complete their physiotherapy sessions plus the arm prevented the patients from getting injured due to increased fluctuations of the inertial forces. This upper limb helped to recover the muscle strength because of its compactness and inexpensive design. Kang and Wang [16] improvised Tzong-Ming et.al [15] design with improved safety and with more DOF employing Adaptive control Technique. The human arm movement is nonlinear in nature; so controlling the robotic arm linearly would have been very unrealistic in the real world situations so, their idea was to control the robotic arm nonlinearly by online updating the information provided by an adaptive viewer without any extra sensors.

Unemployment – Case Study

Therefore we consider theories of selling, by studying the decision-making process of buyers.Problem In the case study: 1. How will Jan maintain good rapport and close the deal of the purchase. 2. Jan inexperienced customers and unsure of his ability to explain the product in the new surroundings to a more technical audience. 3. He is also worried about demonstrating the product to the office staff since one of the advantage which will become apparent at any such demonstration is the potential staff savings of the equipment. 4.Jan is dejected and He thinks where did he go wrong and what will he do now? Ian Browsing is a salesperson and has the ability in selling appropriate products to customers need, answering any questions is his capability to communicate. With his being good communicator, he convince and get good harmonious relationship and close to deal of purchase. Jan needs to assure that before he explain to the new surroundings he must be knowledgeable and he learned what his being explain so he need to study first before he proceed to explanation.Jan dejected as it means Jan can't continuously become demonstrating the products because only purchasing anger can do what he will do. Jan worried so that he need to talk the supervisor who promoted him as direct business division to also get information about the company premises. The purchasing manager is upset because he has not been consulted about the proposed purchase so Jan has been dejected. He Is also worried about equipment Jan Browsers Is a salesperson promoted to direct division In a computer company.HIS ability to strike rapport with prospects and reading them well, leaders to purchase is the contribution of his success. When he started working in the local firms he contacts a chemical-producing company with co employees, 1 2 of those is in office and administrative positions. He Is asked before his visits for the demonstration of the sullenest as well as posting relevant details to the company's office manager. He is worried because he is inexperienced when deals in retail, but much of his 1 OFF by the office manager. He telephoned Jan saying he is determined to block the purchase on pentacle. VI.RECOMMENDATION For Jan Browsers as a sales person and for purchasing manager they need to have DOD harmonious relationship in order to benefit their company. Jan has to appear to the purchasing manager and convince him and he must use his ability in communicating the purchase manager. For purchasing manager he might be look and try Jan too new direct division if it is effective so that he knows first the capability and knowledge of Jan. Purchasing was believed to be a problem solving behavior undertaken by a rational individual whose goal was to maximize satisfaction by choosing ideal combination from range affordable commodities. Unemployment – Case Study Therefore we consider theories of selling, by studying the decision-making process of buyers.Problem In the case study: 1. How will Jan maintain good rapport and close the deal of the purchase. 2. Jan inexperienced customers and unsure of his ability to explain the product in the new surroundings to a more technical audience. 3. He is also worried about demonstrating the product to the office staff since one of the advantage which will become apparent at any such demonstration is the potential staff savings of the equipment. 4.Jan is dejected and He thinks where did he go wrong and what will he do now? Ian Browsing is a salesperson and has the ability in selling appropriate products to customers need, answering any questions is his capability to communicate. With his being good communicator, he convince and get good harmonious relationship and close to deal of purchase. Jan needs to assure that before he explain to the new surroundings he must be knowledgeable and he learned what his being explain so he need to study first before he proceed to explanation.Jan dejected as it means Jan can't continuously become demonstrating the products because only purchasing anger can do what he will do. Jan worried so that he need to talk the supervisor who promoted him as direct business division to also get information about the company premises. The purchasing manager is upset because he has not been consulted about the proposed purchase so Jan has been dejected. He Is also worried about equipment Jan Browsers Is a salesperson promoted to direct division In a computer company.HIS ability to strike rapport with prospects and reading them well, leaders to purchase is the contribution of his success. When he started working in the local firms he contacts a chemical-producing company with co employees, 1 2 of those is in office and administrative positions. He Is asked before his visits for the demonstration of the sullenest as well as posting relevant details to the company's office manager. He is worried because he is inexperienced when deals in retail, but much of his 1 OFF by the office manager. He telephoned Jan saying he is determined to block the purchase on pentacle. VI.RECOMMENDATION For Jan Browsers as a sales person and for purchasing manager they need to have DOD harmonious relationship in order to benefit their company. Jan has to appear to the purchasing manager and convince him and he must use his ability in communicating the purchase manager. For purchasing manager he might be look and try Jan too new direct division if it is effective so that he knows first the capability and knowledge of Jan. Purchasing was believed to be a problem solving behavior undertaken by a rational individual whose goal was to maximize satisfaction by choosing ideal combination from range affordable commodities.

Btec 3 P, M - 1592 Words

Mission statement = A formal, short, written statement of the purpose of a company organization Stakeholder = a person with an interest or concern in something, especially a business Public sector = the part of an economy that is controlled by the government. Private sector = the part of the national economy that is not under direct government control. The two business I have chosen are NHS and Nike The NHS (National Health Service) is located in the public sector as it is financed and controlled by the government. The NHS is solely located in the United Kingdom, and provides free health care for the citizens of the United Kingdom. The NHS was found out of a long-held ideal good healthcare should be available to everyone no†¦show more content†¦The governments point of view is just to fund and make the NHS sucure for the people of the UK. Another way to communicate to the national health care is through the staff striking. This is a means of communication by showing there needs to be a change for the staff at the hospital. The NHS also has face to face talks with their patients during their vist or stay at the hospitals. This shows that the staff also want to be looked after by the government via payment. The main stakeholder for Nike is the general public as they purchase the goods Nike produce and the public is the main source of revenue for that organization, the genral public also somehow sponser Nike by wearing their clothing brand , which is a need to get product. Another stakeholder for the organization are companies such as sports direct, as they purchase Nikes goods as they’re competitors to other companies such as JD. Nike sells it’s good internationally which means different countries will purchase their goods. Sport teams are also influenced in Nike as they sponsors Nikes brand, as Nike pay them to advertise their logo in varies ways. The local community would also be seen as a stakeholder depending on the response to Nike, positive or negative. The government is also affected due to business tax. The more stores Nike open the more tax money the government get, which is 20%. 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