Advanced manufacturing technology and work simplification: An empirical study

This paper is concerned with the effects of advanced manufacturing technology on shopfloor operator jobs and work attitudes. A strong line of argument from labour process theory suggests that such technology will simplify and deskill jobs, and reduce the quality or working life. This proposition was explored within a large electronics company which assembles computer boards, where two different applications of information technology have been experienced. These were compared with two traditional manual assembly jobs. Assessment of job content, perceived job characteristics and operator work attitudes, showed no uniform deskilling effects of advanced manufacturing technologies. Much larger differences existed both between the different new technology applications and between the traditional jobs. This demonstrates that choice of technology is important to skill use and employees' attitudes, as are the choices for the organization of work around it. These are not uniform processes even within a single organization. Experience of operating advanced manufacturing technology was also accompanied by more positive views concerning its impact on the shopfloor.     

How floral odours are learned inside the bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) nest

Recruitment in social insects often involves not only inducing nestmates to leave the nest, but also communicating crucial information about finding profitable food sources. Although bumblebees transmit chemosensory information (floral scent), the transmission mechanism is unknown as mouth-to-mouth fluid transfer (as in honeybees) does not occur. Because recruiting bumblebees release a pheromone in the nest that triggers foraging in previously inactive workers, we tested whether this pheromone helps workers learn currently rewarding floral odours, as found in food social learning in rats. We exposed colonies to artificial recruitment pheromone, paired with anise scent. The pheromone did not facilitate learning of floral scent. However, we found that releasing floral scent in the air of the colony was sufficient to trigger learning and that learning performance was improved when the chemosensory cue was provided in the nectar in honeypots; probably because it guarantees a tighter link between scent and reward, and possibly because gustatory cues are involved in addition to olfaction. Scent learning was maximal when anise-scented nectar was brought into the nest by demonstrator foragers, suggesting that previously unidentified cues provided by successful foragers play an important role in nestmates learning new floral odours.     

Pollen foraging: learning a complex motor skill by bumblebees (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Bombus terrestris</Emphasis>)

To investigate how bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) learn the complex motor skills involved in pollen foraging, we observed naïve workers foraging on arrays of nectarless poppy flowers (Papaver rhoeas) in a greenhouse. Foraging skills were quantified by measuring the pollen load collected during each foraging bout and relating this to the number of flowers visited and bout duration on two consecutive days. The pollen standing crop (PSC) in each flower decreased drastically from 0530 to 0900 hours. Therefore, we related foraging performance to the changing levels of pollen available (per flower) and found that collection rate increased over the course of four consecutive foraging bouts (comprising between 277 and 354 individual flower visits), suggesting that learning to forage for pollen represents a substantial time investment for individual foragers. The pollen collection rate and size of pollen loads collected at the start of day 2 were markedly lower than at the end of day 1, suggesting that components of pollen foraging behaviour could be subject to imperfect overnight retention. Our results suggest that learning the necessary motor skills to collect pollen effectively from morphologically simple flowers takes three times as many visits as learning how to handle the most morphologically complex flowers to extract nectar, potentially explaining why bees are more specialised in their choice of pollen flowers.     

Short-term growth measurements of corals using an accurate buoyant weighing technique

An accurate method for determining the growth rates of the skeleton of isolated branch tips (nubbins) of corals over intervals of less than 24 h is described. The skeletal weight of the coral was estimated from its buoyant weight in seawater whose density had been accurately determined. The coral tissues accounted for between 1 and 5% of the total buoyant weight in Pocillopora verrucosa and Acropora humilis with differing relative tissue biomass. After correcting for tissue buoyant weight, predictions of skeletal weight were accurate to within 1%. The method was used to estimate the growth of sample nubbins of Porites porites of similar diameter, in 2 m of water at Discovery Bay, Jamaica. Since growth of these branch tips is apical, growth rate could be expressed without correction for the size. The mean 24 h skeletal growth rate ranged between 40 and 47 mg. Differences could be measured between day-time and night-time growth, the day: night ratio being 3.7. The method also showed that P. porites virtually ceases calcification during the 4 to 5 d periods that it becomes enclosed in a mucus tunic. Nubbins of P. porites attached to the reef at different locations showed clear differences in growth rate with depth, and between clear and turbid water sites. The growth rate of nubbins was compared with that of branch tips of whole corals by measuring the linear extension after staining with Alizarin Red S. After 3 1/2 mo, the mean linear extension was 4.1 mm in each case, indicating that the growth rate of nubbins is the same as that of branch tips of the whole colony. It is suggested that this buoyant weighing technique will find applications in laboratory experiments with calcification mechanisms and as a bioassay on reefs exposed to environmental stress.Contribution No. 464 of the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory     

Identifying opportunities for expert-mediated triangulation in monitoring wildlife trade on social media

Wildlife trade has rapidly expanded on social media platforms in recent years, offering an easy means for traders to access international markets. Investigating this trade activity poses a complex challenge to researchers seeking to understand online trade and moderators seeking to disrupt illicit and harmful activity. Current survey methods frequently rely on text-based searches and focus on posts in which the advertisement is explicit. However, such approaches risk overlooking a growing volume of relevant content, particularly outside social media groups. We used posts from pages promoting West African birds for trade as a case study to explore the availability of information for making inferences about trade activity on social media, specifically information indicating that trade activity was occurring or that could be used to infer trade routes. We recorded 400 posts from 12 pages that we inferred either promoted or facilitated wildlife trade, of which 19.7% were explicit advertisements and 23.8% contained taxa-related terms. In the remaining 341 posts, profile information was the most common indicator of trade activity, but a variety of indicators (e.g., images of birds in trade and trade enquiries) were identified across imagery, text, and comments. We identified multiple types of geographical information that could help infer trade routes and thus the likely legality of trade, although most were relatively rare and sometimes contradictory. Our findings suggest that triangulating multiple types of information from within, across, and beyond posts is vital for effectively identifying and interpreting wildlife trade content on social media. Therefore, were commend that expert-mediated triangulation should be integrated in and used alongside automated detection systems and moderating practices of social media companies.