Darwin and Evolution Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Darwin and Evolution - Assignment Example Prior to Darwin, though some naturalists had speculated about modification of species, they failed to explain why and how species change. They also believed that evolution began with the special creation of only a fixed number of species. Partly influenced by Thomas Malthus' essay on the Principle of Population and stimulated by a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace, in 1859 Charles Darwin discussed in detail the evolution of species through natural selection in his famous work titled On the Origin of Species, which totally revolutionized the previous concepts of evolutionary biology. Natural selection refers to a process in which species compete and struggle for their survival according to the limited resources and conditions of their natural environment with different adaptive abilities. As individuals in a population are not same due to difference in inherited characteristics, nature only selects those individuals that are best suited to the environmental conditions, and thus rest o f the population dies over time. As all the offspring in a population acquire characteristics from their ancestors, produced more than nature can support and have different reproductive characteristics, only those organisms will survive that are better adapted to the living conditions. This means that organisms with higher reproduction ability will remain due to higher probability of their descendants to survive, and other will eventually become extinct due to less survival rate of their offspring with the passage of time. Since environmental conditions are different from place to place, there will be variation in characteristics of species at different locations. Darwin concluded that populations extending over large areas or through migration might have been isolated resulting in variation of their characteristics according to varying environments. Over long periods of time, they may have diverged or evolved into separate species different from each other. For instance, Darwin fou nd that finches he observed on the Galapagos Islands were similar to one another than they were to finches of the mainland. He also noticed that some varieties were only existent on the archipelago islands. So, he proposed that all species might have descended from a common ancestor and increase in number of species occurred through evolutionary natural selection over time rather than special creation. Question Two Darwin and other naturalists believed that variations among individuals of a species were due to mixing of traits from both male and the female. He was not aware of the heredity mechanism and different traits were regarded to be the result of blending of characteristics through generations over time. However, the concept of blending inheritance failed to describe the survival of variety as they descended through generations with time. It also failed to describe the maintenance of specific characteristics in varieties and that how new species would emerge through blending. It was 1866, when Gregor Mendel published his experimental findings on garden peas. To experiment with pure seeds, he selected a self pollinating plant. He experimented with garden peas that were different from each other in many characteristics such as their flowers were either red or white, had green or yellow seeds, and tall or dwarf. After cross-breeding generations having different characteristics, he observed that descendants from each cross possessed characteristics of only one of the parents and blending did not happen. Mendel concluded that instead of blending of certain fluids, heredity from parents was passed on to offspring through independent discrete units, particles or factoren, which were later termed as genes. The characteristic that appeared in a descendant after cross breeding was termed

Information Managment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Managment - Case Study Example However, these retailing powerhouses have weaker market presence in areas where Pamida is located thus creating a competitive, first entrant and first mover advantage for the company. (Porter, 1985) ShopKo has implemented a systems application called Markdown Optimizer in order to deal with pricing of a product according to season, store location, local tastes and past demand. The software analyzes historical pricing plus sales data in order to control and price product leftovers of individual stores. Pamida overhauled its inventory management systems in order to address product shortage from its different stores. It has implemented a full service distribution system in three warehouse locations. Initially, the company experienced setbacks and low earnings caused by the implementation of the new distribution system. This was due to a inappropriate allocation of resources where Pamida focused on new technology infrastructures and new merchandising software without modernizing their back-door operations. The warehouse management system was old, inflexible and outdated. The functionalities and features of the software were not anymore aligned to the new business strategy and it cannot cope up with the growth of the company's demand. The company normalized its distribution operations when it has utilized and employed a better and flexible distribution system software. Results and Business Benefits The ShopKo operations have benefited a lot from the new application. The Markdown Optimizer increased the gross margin and decreased its payroll costs from the previous year. Importantly, it has dramatically decreased the percentage of unsold goods at the end of each season. With these benefits, the net profit of ShopKo has increased. On the other hand, Pamida performed well by maintaining a high in-stock availability of merchandise through effective warehousing, efficient distribution and modernized information systems. At the end of 2001, Pamida has turned around its operational setbacks and implemented a functional full service distribution system.. They had become successful such that the company has decided to consolidate its distribution at two centers instead of three to further save on costs. Key Learnings Information systems strategies should be aligned with the business strategy of a company. It must not focus on modernization of infrastructures alone. It is important for IS to give value to the company and compliment the business goals. As part of strategic management, information system's role in the decision making process has become very important in the organization. It functions both as support and driver of corporate strategies.(Pearlson, 2001) An effective information system needs a valuable and useful symbiosis with the rest of the management structures in an organization.(Turban et al, 1999) Case 2: What Happened to Kmart Background Kmart was the largest discount chain in the retail industry. It was established in 1962 and has expanded to 63 stores at the end of 1963 through their introduction of discount stores.