What Is White-Nose Syndrome in Bats

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is an emerging disease affecting North American bats. The condition gets its name for the appearance of the white fungal growth found around the noses and wings of affected hibernating bats. The fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), formerly named Geomyces destructans, colonizes bat wing skin, leading to disease. To date, millions of bats in the United States and Canada have died from white-nose syndrome, placing some species at risk of extinction. There is no known treatment for the disorder and preventative measures to date have been ineffective. Key Takeaways: White-nose Syndrome White-nose syndrome is a fatal disease infecting North American bats. It gets its name from the white fungal growth seen on muzzles and wings of infected hibernating bats.The infection depletes the animals fat reserves, preventing the bat from surviving winter hibernation.There is no known preventative measure or cure for white-nose syndrome, and over 90% of infected bats die, which has led to a bat colony collapse throughout eastern North America.Bats are significant to the environment because they control insects, pollinate plants, and disperse seeds. White-nose syndrome significantly disrupts the ecosystem. White-Nose Bat Syndrome The earliest documented case of white-nose syndrome comes from a photograph of a bat taken in Schoharie County, New York in 2006. By 2017, at least fifteen bat species had been affected, including four endangered or threatened species. The disease rapidly spread to 33 U.S. states and 7 Canadian provinces (2018). While most cases have been documented in eastern North America, a little brown bat was found to be infected in Washington state in 2016. Originally, the fungal pathogen was identified as Geomyces destructans, but it was later reclassified as the related species Pseudogymnoascus destructans. The fungus is a psychrophile or cold-loving organism that prefers temperatures between 39–59  Ã‚ °F and stops growing when temperatures exceed 68  Ã‚ °F. Little brown bat with white-nose syndrome in Greeley Mine, Vermont, March 26, 2009. Marvin Moriarty/USFWS The fungus spreads from direct contact between bats or between bats and infected surfaces. The white growth becomes apparent late in the winter hibernation season. Pseudogymnoascus destructans infects the epidermis of the bats wings, disrupting the animals metabolism. Affected bats suffer dehydration, body fat loss, and wing scarring. The cause of death is usually starvation, as infection depletes a bats winter fat reserves. Bats that survive the winter may suffer wing damage and become unable to find food. Pseudogymnoascus destructans occurs in Europe, but European bats dont get white-nose syndrome. The fungus is an invasive species in North America, where bats have not developed an immune response. No treatment or preventative measure for white-nose syndrome has been found. An infection decimates a colony, killing over 90% of the bats. In 2012, scientists estimated between 5.7 to 6.7 million bats had succumbed to the disease. Bat numbers have collapsed in affected areas. Can White-Nose Syndrome Affect Humans? Humans cannot contract white-nose syndrome and appear completely unaffected by the fungus. However, its possible people can carry the pathogen from an infected cave on shoes, clothing, or gear. The bat disease indirectly affects people because bats are important for insect control, pollination, and seed dispersal. The collapse of bat colonies forces farmers to apply insecticides to control pests. How to Prevent the Spread of White-Nose Syndrome Starting in 2009, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began closing infected caves to minimize the risk of cavers spreading the fungus. When people visit caves that may contain bats, the USFWS recommends people wear clothing and use gear that has never been in a cave. Upon leaving a cave, items may be decontaminated by immersion in hot (140  Ã‚ °F)  water for 20 minutes. If you observe hibernating bats in a cave, the best course of action is to leave immediately. Disturbing bats, even if they are not infected, raises their metabolism and depletes fat reserves, putting them at risk of not surviving the season. Distribution of white nose syndrome in North America in 2018. Endwebb   Sources Blehert DS, Hicks AC, Behr M, Meteyer CU, Berlowski-Zier BM, Buckles EL, Coleman JT, Darling SR, Gargas A, Niver R, Okoniewski JC, Rudd RJ, Stone WB (January 2009). Bat white-nose syndrome: an emerging fungal pathogen?. Science. 323 (5911): 227. doi:10.1126/science.1163874Frick WF, Pollock JF, Hicks AC, Langwig KE, Reynolds DS, Turner GG, Butchkoski CM, Kunz TH (August 2010). An emerging disease causes regional population collapse of a common North American bat species. Science. 329 (5992): 679–82. doi:10.1126/science.1188594Langwig KE, Frick WF, Bried JT, Hicks AC, Kunz TH, Kilpatrick AM (September 2012). Sociality, density-dependence and microclimates determine the persistence of populations suffering from a novel fungal disease, white-nose syndrome. Ecology Letters. 15 (9): 1050–7. doi:10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01829.xLindner DL, Gargas A, Lorch JM, Banik MT, Glaeser J, Kunz TH, Blehert DS (2011). DNA-based detection of the fungal pathogen Geomyces destructans in soil s from bat hibernacula. Mycologia. 103 (2): 241–6. doi:10.3852/10-262Warnecke L, Turner JM, Bollinger TK, Lorch JM, Misra V, Cryan PM, Wibbelt G, Blehert DS, et al. (May 2012). Inoculation of bats with European Geomyces destructans supports the novel pathogen hypothesis for the origin of white-nose syndrome. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 109 (18): 6999–7003. doi:10.1073/pnas.1200374109

Computers And The Modern Society - 1524 Words

Say No to Decryption Smartphones, such as iPhone, Samsung, and Blackberry, have become an indispensable part of everyone’s life. Individuals use the phone to store their private information, from photos to contacts, conversations, schedules, emails, bank accounts, and heath record, even where we are going and who we are talking. All this information has to be protected from decryption and unauthorized use by hackers, cyber criminals, and even the government. Recently, data decryption becomes a certain issue faced by the technology companies, users, and the government after two killers attacked at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California on December 2, 2015. The shooting did not only take the life of 14 innocent people but†¦show more content†¦Building a backdoor to a phone is an unprecedented step that takes everyone’s safety at risk because it empowers government, as well as hackers and cyber criminals, to capture users’ private data. Weakening encryption wi ll cause a series of issues on the security of devices. Sophia Cope, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, claims that â€Å"if Apple creates unlocking technology, its development would be like opening Pandora’s Box.† It means that not only would the killer’s phone be decrypted, but also all the phones would be at risk to be decrypted. The government is more likely to ask Apple to craft a master key that could be used to open not only one door but every door. With this master key, the government could pass through all the devices and access everyone’s message, phone calls, emails, location, social network accounts, bank account, or even camera or microphone without the subject’s consent. In facts, not only the government but also the hackers and cyber criminals could access this information. They rely on the loophole to crack any devices for identity theft and various kinds of crime. Compliance with the FBI’s order to create a g ateway for one device is putting the risk of millions of people’s private data accessible by those who have technological knowledge, including the government, sophisticated hackers, and cybercriminals.

Specie Circular and Distribution of Surplus †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Specie Circular and Distribution of Surplus. Answer: Introduction This research paper is primarily concerned with the Implementation of the circular economy in the manufacturing sectors. After several analyses, researcher has depicted that the natural resources are fading away and use of the conventional resources are populating environment. So, it is the sole responsibility of the organization to maintain natural resources by implementing some alternative forces (Andrews, 2015). Circular Economy is known as the alternative model, which is anticipated and designed for the nutrients of technological and biological. Many manufacturing companies of UK and Europe have implemented Circular Economy in the organizational manufacturing activities. This research paper is trying to exhibit the implementation process of the Circular Economy in the organization. With the help of this implementation, natural resources can be preserved. Re-use of the significant aspect of the Circular Economy; management of the organization should think over this matter so that no pollution can be generated. In order to achieve success, the organizations are implementing this Circular Economy (Beaulieu, et al, 2015). After the successful implementation, most of the organizations of Australia are trying to implement this Circular Economy in the organizational process. After implementation of the circular economy, the organizations of Australia can able to achieve competitive advantages. Circular economy is a process to win the competitive advantages. Circular Economy helps the organization to sustain its position in the global competitive market, with the help of the implementation of the Circular Economy; the organizations are able to save natural resources as well as money. Therefore, the organization can sell their products and service to the service users in low price (Benton, et al, 2014). Re-Use helps to sustain the resources and maintains the quality of products and service. Service quality should be maintained along with the profit margin. Circular Economy helps to enhance the profit percentage of the company; Circular Economy is beneficial for the future market growth and this includes re-using, re-cycling and re-purposing of raw materials and resources (Webster, et al, 2010). Basic elements of the circular economy There are few basic elements of the circular economy which are to reuse, redistribute and make sure that the waste produced by the production process of the company is able to be incorporated into nature without any ill effects and the rest of the waste is reused by the system and the used continuously in a circular way to aid the production process. So, all the byproducts of the circular economy are either reusable or able to harmlessly return to the nature from where the resource was taken. So, the process is able to provide competitive advantage for the company that is taking the circular approach to manage their processes over any company, who are adapting the linear process that is more common (Beaulieu, Van Durme, Arpin, 2015). In the circular economy, the resources that are taken from nature are being returned in the form of treated waste to make sure that the negative impact of the harvesting of the resources from the nature is minimized. The process is the based on the sector of corporate social responsibility, where the company is responsible for any harmful effects of the processes that are undertaken by the company on the nature and therefore the humans, whose wellbeing dependent on the quality of the nature and its resources. So, the first element of the circular economy can be outlined as the preservation and enrichment of the natural capital (Benton, Hazell and Hill, 2014). In a specific sector like manufacturing the different parts or the resources used are circulated by the company and the resource yield is higher than in the liner process. So, the company can achieve more with fewer resources and this can also be another source of the competitive advantage of any company who has undertaken the circular approach. The companies in question who have taken the circular economy in their operating procedure are operating at lower cost and the reuse and redistribution of the resources are part of the reason why the cost of the operation of the costs is lower. The operations of the company in essence remain the same in their operation and just the resource management part of the operations of the company is changed; and it is not very hard to incorporate as the operations of the different company needs to change just enough to process the wastes produced in the production to a form that is easily absorbed by the nature. The rest is reused in some manner that gives the company some benefits so the operating cost is lower, as the waste reusing is usually cheaper than buying of new products of parts that would have been needed by the company otherwise. So, the competitive advantage of the company lies in the reduction of the cost of operations (Lacy and Rutqvist, n.d.). Another way the companies that are adapting the circular approach are unique from the others are based on the different parts of the manufacturing process that have better response time than the other companies in the market, as the production of the different resources can be reused in a shorter time than the full reacquiring of the resource (Webster, Ble?riot and Johnson, n.d.). Incorporation of Circular practices in the leading organization of Australia Waste is the prime reason behind generating so much cost of the production. The waste of the companies should be reduced and in order to reduce waster percentage of the company, the organization should concentrate on the reduction of the waste by re-using them. Even if waste is generated, still the waste should not have any ill effect on the environment. CAPS Australia Pty Ltd has used this Circular Economy to prevent waste in the organization (Circular economy: Getting the circulation going, 2016). The company is mainly the manufacturing of company of electronic goods and management of the organization has seen that the company has wasted many products. To prevent wastages, the management of the organization has decided to re-use the products and transformed the products in such a way that it does not have any ill effect in the organization. The company is the suppliers of the compressed air equipments and electric generators. With the help of the Circulatory Economy, the organizati on can bale to circulate the economy and gain a good profit margin. Most of the leading manufacturing companies of Australia are using the Circular Economy (Fujita, et al, 2009). Most of the companies are believed that Circular Economy is the practical solution for the emerging crunch in the natural resources. Companies are mainly using rare earth material for producing goods and with the significant implementation of Circular Economy; the organizations are able to manage the cost of the extraction. It is another process of saving rare earth materials. In addition, the companies have to spend much money on the extraction cost (Timberlake, 2000). Previously, most of the companies are following the conventional approach of Take-Make-Dispose, it has increased the cost of the production. In order to maintain the profit percentage, the companies are selling their products in high price. This conventional method of using resources is the cause of the massive waste. According to the report regarding Industrial Wastages, it has seen that in 2005, 90% of the raw materials are wasted at the time of production and 80% of the products are thrown away after the use of six months (Kitamura, 2001). This is the major threat for the environment as it is increasing threat of supply risk and geopolitics. From the consumption of the resources, Circular Economy helps to stabilize the issue by decoupling the growth of economy (Stahel, 2016). Five business models are driving changes in the organization. The five attributes are Circular Supplies: This business model is beneficial for such organizations, which are dealing in the scarce resources. Resource Recovery: This business model is beneficial for the technological innovation; this business model has capabilities to reuse the resources and neglect the material leakages. This will automatically enhance the economic value (Lacy and Rutqvist, 2009). Product life Extension: It ensures the life-cycle of the products and also ensuring that the product should be economically useful. Sharing Platform: With the help of the model, company can enhance the quality of the product. Product as a service: This model is beneficial for the companies, which have high operating cost. Conclusion From the above analysis of the paper, it can be concluded that this research paper is trying to excavate the implementation of the Circular Economy to win the competitive advantages. There are several organization who are using Circular Economy for better organizational performances. Researcher has chosen CAPS Australia Pty Ltd an electrical product manufacturing company of Australia, the company is following Circular Economy for generating advantages (Reh, 2013). Circular Economy helps to preserve and enhance the natural resources and the effective way to control the natural capital is finite Stocks. Balancing renewable resources is another process of leveraging the business process. References Andrews, D. (2015). The circular economy, design thinking and education for sustainability.Local Economy, 30(3), pp.305-315. Beaulieu, L., Van Durme, G. and Arpin, M. (2015).Circular Economy. Montre?al: Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur le cycle de vie des produits, proce?de?s et services. Benton, D., Hazell, J. and Hill, J. (2014).The Guide to the Circular Economy. London: DoSustainability. Circular economy: Getting the circulation going. (2016).Nature, 531(7595), pp.443-446. Fujita, M., Krugman, P. and Venables, A. (2009).The spatial economy. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Kitamura, H. (2001). The Vicwpoint.of circular Flow and Struc-turc in Intcrnational Economics.The International Economy, (1), pp.1-24. Lacy, P. and Rutqvist, J. (2009).Waste to wealth. Reh, L. (2013). Process engineering in circular economy.Particuology, 11(2), pp.119-133. Stahel, W. (2016). The circular economy.Nature, 531(7595), pp.435-438. Timberlake,, R. (2000). The Specie Circular and Distribution of the Surplus.Journal of Political Economy, 68(2), pp.109-117. Webster, K., Ble?riot, J. and Johnson, C. (2010).A new dynamic.