What Are Evolutionary Clocks in Biology

Evolutionary clocks are genetic sequences within genes that can help determine when in the past species diverged from a common ancestor. There are certain patterns of nucleotide sequences that are common among related species that seem to change at a regular time interval. Knowing when these sequences changed in relation to the Geologic Time Scale can help determine the age of the species origin and when speciation occurred. History of Evolutionary Clocks Evolutionary clocks were discovered in 1962 by Linus Pauling and Emile Zuckerkandl. While studying the amino acid sequence in hemoglobin of various species. They noticed that there seemed to be a change in the hemoglobin sequence at regular time intervals throughout the fossil record. This led to the assertion that the evolutionary change of proteins was constant throughout geologic time. Using this knowledge, scientists can predict when two species diverged on the ​phylogenetic tree of life. The number of differences in the nucleotide sequence of the hemoglobin protein signifies a certain amount of time that has passed since the two species split from the common ancestor. Identifying these differences and calculating the time can help place organisms in the correct place on the phylogenetic tree in respect to closely related species and the common ancestor. There are also limits to how much information an evolutionary clock can give about any species. Most of the time, it cannot give an exact age or time when it was split off of the phylogenetic tree. It can only approximate the time relative to other species on the same tree. Often, the evolutionary clock is set according to concrete evidence from the fossil record. Radiometric dating of fossils can then be compared to the evolutionary clock to get a good estimation of the age of the divergence. A study in 1999 by FJ Ayala came up with five factors that combine to limit the functioning of the evolutionary clock. Those factors are as follows: Changing the amount of time between generationsPopulation sizeDifferences specific to a certain species onlyChange in the function of the proteinChanges in the mechanism of natural selection Even though these factors are limiting in most cases, there are ways to account for them statistically when calculating times. If these factors do come in to play, however, the evolutionary clock is not constant like in other cases but is variable in its times. Studying the evolutionary clock can give scientists a better idea of when and why speciation occurred for some parts of the phylogenetic tree of life. These divergences may be able to give clues as to when major events in history happened, such as mass extinctions.

The Oil And Gas Industry - 1146 Words

The oil and gas industry is crucial to the U.S. economy and plays a central role in its environment, society, and economic development . The U.S. consumes more oil than any other country. Products derived from oil include medicine, recreational sports items, cosmetics, plastic, chemicals, transportation liquids, etc... This is to say, crude oil is the most important natural resource of the industrialized nations, as it has assisted in the technical expansion and discovery of new sources and production of existing oil fields (Wintershall, 2015). The North American Industry Classification System (NACS) code for upstream oil and gas is 213112 Support Activities for Oil and Gas Operations. This code is used by Federal statistical agencies in classifying businesses for purpose of collecting, analyzing, and publishing statistical data related to the U.S. business economy. The broad Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) for oil and gas exploration falls under SIC 13. Throughout this paper, we explore oil extraction in the U.S., SIC 1311, and provide an economic analysis of the Upstream Oil Exploration Companies in the United States. History Oil history in the United States began in the 19th century. In 1859 John D. Rockefeller built a small oil refinery. In 1866 he opened an export office in New York City, and a year later Rockefeller joined forces with his brother William, S.V. Harkness, and Henry M. Flagler and created what was to become the Standard Oil Company. InShow MoreRelatedThe Oil And Gas Industry1293 Words   |  6 PagesThe oil and gas industry is characterized by many processes, including exploration, resource extraction, refining, transport, and the trade of products. These resources are important to a number of other industries, and have become vital to the maintenance of industrial civilization. Not only does energy affect the big businesses on the coasts and across the oceans; but it also affects everyday people in rural America, from pump jacks to coal mines. It’s easy to see that technology affects retailRead MoreThe Oil And Gas Industry2146 Words   |  9 Pagesand production one like Cair n Energy, operate in the oil and gas industry. Each of these companies faces some financial, commercial or contractual considerations similar throughout the industry, and some peculiar to the area of operation within the industry. Problems within the oil and gas companies have occurred in the past due to askew interests and these problems are likely to occur in the future. Managers within the oil and gas industries requires essential working knowledge of the concepts involvedRead MoreThe Oil And Gas Industry2308 Words   |  10 PagesWhen thinking about how all this oil and gas gets from the platforms in the gulf to land to be produced, you will run across the phrase, â€Å"flow assurance.† Flow assurance is what makes sure these oils and gases get from point A to point B without any hesitations or problems. Its main purpose is to prevent hydrates, clogged pipes, and wax depositions. So can the oilfield industry survive without flow assurance, especially in deep water operat ions? By reading this, you will learn how important flowRead MoreThe Oil And Gas Industry2910 Words   |  12 PagesThe oil and gas industry has been largely dependent on the collaboration between oil and gas companies and governments represented by environmental and regulatory agencies. This collaboration has been in place to regulate the practices and to protect the environment around the field operations sites. Some of the environmental agencies roles in the oil and gas industry includes: †¢ The design of safety procedures and drills. †¢ The implementation of these procedures to ensure they’re respected and carriedRead MoreThe Oil And Gas Industry1285 Words   |  6 Pagesthe largest in the southern U.S. and Texas, has been developing strong economy, especially in oil and gas industry. During the last decades of the twentieth century, Houston focused on developing energy industry—which comprises oil and gas exploration and production, oilfield equipment manufacturing and wholesaling, and pipeline transportation. However, some economists doubt that depending on oil and gas too much could make Houston particularly vulnerable to economic downturns determined by energyRead MoreThe Oil And Gas Industry1662 Words   |  7 PagesOne of the most capital intensive and globalized industries is the energy sector because of its operations that are inherently complex. As such, the oil and gas projects experience overruns of costs that exceeds 100 percent at times, which have created the need for adoption o f new contracting strategies (Schramn, Meibner, Weidinger, 2009). The risks in most cases are contractually distributed and shared among the energy project stakeholders instead of leaving it to the owner. 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Edwin Drake in Titusville, Pennsylvania drilled the very first oil well during 1859 and it paved the way to the beginning of the oil industry in America. While Edwin Drake focused on drillingRead MoreIfrs And Oil And Gas Industry985 Words   |  4 PagesTracy SzeWai Yim Professor. Karen (Jingrong) Lin Advanced Financial Accounting - Sec 061 June 20, 2016 GAAP vs IFRS in Oil and Gas Industry (Exxon Mobil vs Royal Dutch Shell) Oil and Gas industry is not a stranger in the international market since everyone around the world has a certain level of demand on Oil and Gas. Therefore, different oil and gas companies are founded across the world and a lot of them have gone global. Becoming global has enlarged the companies’ revenue but also complicatedRead MoreIndustry Analysis : The Oil And Gas Industry976 Words   |  4 PagesIndustry Analysis: The oil and gas industry is expansive and rather complex industry consisting of oil, fossil fuels, natural gas, oil and green energy sources. Combined the above sources make-up 32% of total energy consumed worldwide. Three sectors define the value chain of the oil industry; Upstream – which is the process of exploration and extracting the natural resource, control storage and entail refinement process. Midstream – consisting of distribution by pipelines and large quantity shipments

Liberal Arts Study Free Essays

William Cronon states in his article entitled â€Å"only connect†¦Ã¢â‚¬  the goals of liberal education that liberal education is founded on the virtues of aspiration towards the development and growth of human potential for the services of human freedom. This simply means to say that liberal education is a way by which a human being is released and brought to a place where he or she can fulfill their utmost potential. Liberal education and the study of liberal arts, for that matter, is a way of life and not simply a form of education adapted by institutions. We will write a custom essay sample on Liberal Arts Study or any similar topic only for you Order Now It involves passion and girth of knowledge. It accounts for a broad understanding of various kinds of knowledge that is needed for the holistic development of an individual. In today’s society, however, is the study of liberal arts truly needed? What is the importance of studying liberal arts? One of the most important aspects of liberal arts is in the fact that it encompasses the humanities. The study of liberal arts then encourages the study of the humanities. Why is this important? What makes the humanities essential in the progress of humanity, in the continuation of an individual’s daily life? There are many skeptics, especially in this age of unending quests for money and luxury, who believe that the study of the liberal arts, in general, and of the humanities, in particular, is only for those who have time on their hands; only for those who have no plans in contributing to the fast-paced development occurring all over the world today. However, this thinking is wrong and misled in many ways. Before one can understand this, however, one must first be able to understand what the humanities are. According to A.S.P. Woodhouse in his article The Nature of Humanities, humanities is a field of study that reverts the attention or the quest for knowledge on man. It puts the focus of attention on the life of man. Other definitions of humanities state that â€Å"The essence of the humanities is a spirit or an attitude toward humanity.† (The Humanities in American Life, 3) The humanities, then, is exactly what its name implies, the study of humans, of human life, of human way of life. However, this is very broad. If the scope of the humanities is humanity, this would indicate a near impossibility in studying it in its totality. This is why the development of the study of humanities has involved the sorting of the discipline into different interrelated fields. These include, but are not limited to, literature, art history, music history, cultural history, philosophy, dance, theater, arts, and film. All the disciplines related to humanities and through which it is studied are all centered on human values, beliefs, emotions and also the way these aspects are portrayed through the creativity of humans. (Witt, Brown, Dunbar, Tirro, and Witt, xxvi) It is clear from this description that the humanities are different on many levels from fields of knowledge such as the natural sciences. The sciences include the observation of the world we exist in. It entails creating assumptions, collecting data, and trying to create theories and laws to explain the behavior of the data collected. The humanities, the arts, on the other hand, begin with the very things that are considered irrelevant in science. It starts with the intangible things that are formulated by the creativity and imagination of a human being. The humanities begins with the world man created for himself and only then progresses to the world that is seen with the physical eye.(Frye, 23) Even from this basic explanation of the difference between humanities and science, one can see that there is no point of comparison. Both fields of knowledge are concerned with different aspects of reality. Even with this basic truth, the importance of studying the liberal arts, of studying humanities is seen. As much as there is a need to study science and to explore the world in the way that scientists wish to approach it, there is also a need to study the liberal arts and humanities and the opposite way by which humanists approach the world. It is, quite possibly, through the intersection of the approaches of both bodies of knowledge that true reality can be understood. However, there is another reason for studying the liberal arts and the humanities. It has been studied by scientists that the human brain is cleft into two. These two hemispheres are in charge of two different aspects of human behavior. The left hemisphere is said to be important for sequences, literalness, and analysis. The right hemisphere, on the other hand, deals with context, emotional expression and synthesis. The left brain has been commonly related to the sciences while the right brain has been related to the humanities. Daniel Pink in his article Revenge of the Right Brain stresses the importance of developing the right brain. He indicates that the world is in overdrive to stick to the sciences, to emphasize the development of the left brain. Computer savvy individuals are held at high esteem. Mathematicians are considered to be of top caliber in the human race. However, he points out that the future is not geared towards a simple understanding of numbers and figures. He emphasizes the need to go right, to develop the capabilities of the right brain. Individuals with the ability to create, to synthesize technology with the development of humanity, and to innovate new ways of thinking are needed. There is, therefore, a need to stretch out further than we have dared to go. The success and the development of mankind is not just in understanding the world he or she lives in but also in being able to interact with it creatively. Being a liberally educated person, says William Cronon in Only Connect, means being able to connect with the world and to interact with it in new and creative ways. This brings one to understand that, indeed, the humanities and the sciences are not separate or battling fields. In fact, the two are interrelated and should be used together for the betterment of society. In fact, without the general knowledge of all, both are indeed already converging in areas such as biomedical research, application of microprocessing and computer technologies, conduct of government, arms control, and utilization of natural resources. These are only a few of the many fields where both humanities and science are needed because of their very nature as fields with social and ethical aspects. (The Humanities in American Life, 6) It is thus clear that as much as society today emphasizes the need to develop the study of the natural sciences, it should also encourage the continuation and the development of the study of the different liberal arts and humanities. Although it is clear that there is a need to interrelate the two bodies of knowledge, the need to study the liberal arts and humanities is not simply based on the fact that it contributes to the developments of science. Science is said to be a study engaged in the constant gathering of information. It involves the steady accumulation of data about the world in which man moves and grows. The liberal arts and humanities on the other hand are unorthodox with regards to the view of education as an addition of knowledge one on top of the other. This is because the liberal arts and humanities are concerned with creation. They involve processes of visualizing the future, of imagining the ideal, of creating in the mind the concept of a society and world to be hoped for. The humanities involve the study and the understanding of the culture and the cultural contexts of mankind. (Witt, Brown, Dunbar, Tirro, and Witt, xxvi) It puts things in perspective because, as the initial definition stated, it focuses on the human life. The humanities, then, involves the aspects of life and reality that are not covered by science. These are just as important, and perhaps at times more important, than the fields science handles. This is evidenced by the fact that both fields of knowledge are interrelated. This is evidence by the fact that both approach the study of life from opposite sides. This is what renders the study of humanities and liberal arts important. A.S.P. Woodhouse in his The Nature of Humanities stated, If the humanities are indeed normative, if they mold the mind and sensibility of the student and bring an accession of wisdom, it is by virtue of their subject matter, of the ideas which they present or evoke and the experiences to which they give him entry; and these ideas and experiences achieve their full effect only as they are examined critically, evaluate, and by the student made his own. This shows that the study of the liberal arts and the humanities is essential not only in the fact that its main subject of study is important. An education in the liberal arts teaches an individual to think outside the box. It teaches him or her to become a critical thinker. The world is no longer simply a place of dates, names, theories, and laws. It becomes a place of endless questions and unlimited answers; answers that can be wrong, right, or somewhere in between. The human being becomes someone with the capacity to reject or accept the validity of everything occurring around him. More importantly, man becomes someone with the capacity to create, change, and redefine the world in which he or she lives. The liberal arts and humanities empowers man and makes him the center of his world. It also humbles man, placing him in a world that continues to provoke thought, emotion, and exploration. Works Cited Commission on the Humanities. The Humanities in American Life: Report of the Commission on Humanities. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1980. Cronon, William. Only connect†¦the goals of liberal education. The American Scholar, 67(1998) Frye, Northrop. The Educated Imaginaion. Bloomington London: Indiana University Press. 1974 Pink, Daniel H. Revenge of the right brain. Wired Magazine, 13(2005) Retrieved 29 March 2008 from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/brain.html?pg=1topic=braintopic_set= Witt, Brown, Dunbar, Tirro, and Witt. The Humanities. 7th ed. Jean Woy. Berkeley, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 2005. Woodhouse, A.S.P. The nature of humanities. In Encyclopaedia Britannica. 1989. How to cite Liberal Arts Study, Essay examples

Spencer Hood free essay sample

Spencer Hood1/8/2018English 9Mr. RobersonGreat Gatsby Paper When it comes to morally ambiguous characters The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald does not fall short. This being said the character who stands out the most is Daisy Buchanan. Daisy is wife of a man named Tom Buchanan who is a friend of the narrator of the story Nick Carraway. Daisy is identified as a morally ambiguous character for a couple of reasons those being Daisy is cheating on Tom with Gatsby, she let Gatsby take the blame for murder of Myrtle Wilson, she is introduced as a sort of perfect figure and Gatsbys love however he finds out she is merely another human. All these examples have a conflict and makes it hard for someone to identify her a purely good or purely evil.Daisy is cheating on Tom with Gatsby which on its face may seem like just a care free affair which would be considered wrong and bad conversely it could be seen as a way for Daisy to get back at Tom for cheating on her with Myrtle which she had found out about. We will write a custom essay sample on Spencer Hood or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page While affairs ae generally considered wrong and a bad thing to do one might understand it more if she was doing it as perhaps revenge of a way to get back at him and make him feel bad. Having said that this may confuse the reader as to the morality of the character and it may further confuse them to the outcome of the book as a whole. He nodded sagely. And whats more, I love Daisy too. Once in a while I go off on a spree and make a fool of myself, but I always come back, and in my heart I love her all the time. (Fitzgerald, 131). This is a quote that perhaps exemplifies the point above where you see Tom start to become more emotional or guilty which plays a part in deciding the morality of Daisys actions. Daisy is driving with Gatsby back to his home on West Egg when Myrtle gets out in front of the car because she thinks that someone else is driving that she would like to talk to. Daisy does not slow down and ends up hitting myrtle and killing her on the spot. She quickly continued to drive and never looked back. Gatsby decides to take the blame for the crash and decides to say he was driving as evident by this quote. But of course ill say I was (Fitzgerald, 143