Approach Direction Prior to Landing Explains Patterns of Colour Learning in Bees

Gaze direction is closely coupled with body movement in insects and other animals. If movement patterns interfere with the acquisition of visual information, insects can actively adjust them to seek relevant cues. Alternatively, where multiple visual cues are available, an insect’s movements may influence how it perceives a scene. We show that the way a foraging bumblebee approaches a floral pattern could determine what it learns about the pattern. When trained to vertical bicoloured patterns, bumblebees consistently approached from below centre in order to land in the centre of the target where the reward was located. In subsequent tests, the bees preferred the colour of the lower half of the pattern that they predominantly faced during the approach and landing sequence. A predicted change of learning outcomes occurred when the contrast line was moved up or down off-centre: learned preferences again reflected relative frontal exposure to each colour during the approach, independent of the overall ratio of colours. This mechanism may underpin learning strategies in both simple and complex visual discriminations, highlighting that morphology and action patterns determines how animals solve sensory learning tasks. The deterministic effect of movement on visual learning may have substantially influenced the evolution of floral signals, particularly where plants depend on fine-scaled movements of pollinators on flowers.

Impact of skill on bi-dimensional trust within small-to-medium sized enterprises upstream relationships

PurposeThis paper examined the deterministic and moderating impacts of skill on the behavioural (benevolence) and cognitive (credibility) dimensions of trust within small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) upstream (i.e. supplier-to-customer) relationships. A theoretically grounded research model was developed that comprised of three cognitive and three behavioural antecedents of benevolence and credibility. Impact of time (i.e. chronological influences) on skill-driven bi-dimensional trust development was assessed as well.Design/methodology/approachAll measures were borrowed from top ranking journals and adapted for use. An online questionnaire-based survey was conducted with UK SMEs executives who were involved in electrical and electronic components industry. A total of 231 useable questionnaires were received which represented a response rate of 15.4%. After validity and reliability checks, the collected data were subjected to partial least square analysis to verify the deterministic and/or moderating impact of skill on bi-dimensional trust.FindingsThe results supported a dual role (a moderator and a determinant) of skill on SMEs upstream relationship trust. However, the moderating effect of skill dominated the deterministic effect. Furthermore, the results indicated that skill tends to behave differently toward cognitive and behavioural dimensions of trust. Hence, how skill development is influenced by different dimensions of trust, and the role time plays in skill-driven trust enhancement should be carefully considered in SME upstream relationships. Therefore, it is suggested that the nature and context of each supplier–customer relational episode should be examined in terms of the outcomes it is designed to achieve in a relationship.Originality/valueThis study evaluated an in-depth association between skill and bi-dimensional trust development within SME upstream relationships. Specifically, deterministic and moderating impacts of skill on credibility and benevolence were investigated.

Approach direction prior to landing explains patterns of colour learning

SummaryGaze direction is closely coupled with body movement in insects and other animals. If movement patterns interfere with the acquisition of visual information, insects can actively adjust them to seek relevant cues. Alternatively, where multiple visual cues are available, an insect’s movements may influence how it perceives a scene. We show that the way a foraging bumblebee approaches a floral pattern could determine what it learns about the pattern. When trained to vertical bicoloured patterns, bumblebees consistently approached from below centre in order to land in the centre of the target where the reward was located. In subsequent tests, the bees preferred the colour of the lower half of the pattern that they predominantly faced during the approach and landing sequence. A predicted change of learning outcomes occurred when the contrast line was moved up or down off-centre: learned preferences again reflected relative frontal exposure to each colour during the approach, independent of the overall ratio of colours. This mechanism may underpin learning strategies in both simple and complex visual discriminations, highlighting that morphology and action patterns determines how animals solve sensory learning tasks. The deterministic effect of movement on visual learning may have substantially influenced the evolution of floral signals, particularly where plants depend on fine-scaled movements of pollinators on flowers.

ABOUT CALCULATION OF THE DETERMINISTIC EFFECT OF PROTEINURIA IN EMPLOYEES OF ENRICHMENT PLANTS OF NUCLEAR INDUSTRY

In this paper, we consider the impacts of gaseous uranium hexafluoride used at concentrating plants of the nuclear industry on the human body. The appearance of uranium hexafluoride in the air of the working premises is accompanied by hydrolysis and the formation of substances that can enter the human body and bring atoms of uranium and fluorine. The article describes the method of the determination of the working conditions preventing the development of occupational diseases in employees. The method is based both on the calculation of the number of toxic substances entering the human body in routine working conditions and comparison of this number with the threshold values for different deterministic effects. The proteinuria (protein content in urine) is selected as the considered deterministic effect. We used the published statistics on the threshold of the daily release from the human body toxic substances, long-entering the body in small doses and seem to be responsible for the occurrence of urologic diseases. The calculation was performed in the framework of a complex model describing the air pollution with products of hydrolysis of uranium hexafluoride entering of toxic substances in the human body, in working premises, as well as the passing of uranium and fluorine through the body. This model constructed by the authors of this article was described in previous publications. To ensure that the theoretical methods give the same results as the experimental, the results obtained by the standard method for employees of one of the enterprises of nuclear industry were compared with the data obtained using the theoretical method under the same working conditions. The considered theoretical method can complement and enrich the existing experimental methods for the identification of the onset of occupational diseases based on the sampling of different biomaterials from the employees working at enterprises.

A generic approach to explicit simulation of uncertainty in the NEMO ocean model

In this paper, a generic implementation approach is presented, with the aim of transforming a deterministic ocean model (like NEMO) into a probabilistic model. With this approach, several kinds of stochastic parameterizations are implemented to simulate the non-deterministic effect of unresolved processes, unresolved scales and unresolved diversity. The method is illustrated with three applications, showing that uncertainties can produce a major effect in the circulation model, in the ecosystem model, and in the sea ice model. These examples show that uncertainties can produce an important effect in the simulations, strongly modifying the dynamical behaviour of these three components of ocean systems.

A generic approach to explicit simulation of uncertainty in the NEMO ocean model

In this paper, a simple and generic implementation approach is presented, with the aim of transforming a deterministic ocean model (like NEMO) into a probabilistic model. With this approach, several kinds of stochastic parameterizations are implemented to simulate the non-deterministic effect of unresolved processes, unresolved scales, unresolved diversity. The method is illustrated with three applications, showing that uncertainties can produce a major effect in the circulation model, in the ecosystem model, and in the sea ice model. These examples show that uncertainties can produce an important effect in the simulations, strongly modifying the dynamical behaviour of these three components of ocean systems.