adaptation

Examples of adaptation in the following topics:

• Sensory Adaptation

  • Sensory adaptation is the decrease in the responsiveness of a sensory system that is confronted with a constant stimulus.
  • Sensory adaptation, also called neural adaptation, is the change in the responsiveness of a sensory system that is confronted with a constant stimulus.
  • One example of sensory adaptation is sustained touching.
  • These corpuscles rapidly change and adapt when a stimulus is added.
  • This is because the additional stimuli are new, and the body has not yet adapted to them.

• Increasing Adaptation

  • In order to succeed, modern organizations must constantly adapt to evolving technologies and expanding global markets.
  • There are a number of examples in which some organizations have adapted to new technologies or global competition, while others have failed to adapt and subsequently gone under.
  • Strategic management largely pertains to adapting an organization to its business environment.
  • Knowing how and being able to increase this adaptability is important to organizational success.
  • Implementing a strategy of adaptation may have effects that ripple across an organization.

• Schemata

  • As cognitive development proceeds, new schemata are developed, and existing schemata are more efficiently organized to better adapt to the environment.
  • Cognitive development becomes evident through changes in behavior as this adaptation takes place.
  • The process of assimilation involves attempts to organize existing schemata for better understanding events in the external world, whereas accommodation involves changing pre-existing schemata to adapt to a new situation.

• Evolutionary Psychology

  • Evolutionary psychology seeks to understand human behavior as the result of psychological adaptation and natural selection.
  • It seeks to identify which human psychological traits are evolved adaptations—that is, the functional products of natural selection.
  • Just as evolutionary physiology has worked to identify physical adaptations of the body that represent "human physiological nature," evolutionary psychology works to identify evolved emotional and cognitive adaptations that represent "human psychological nature."
  • Evolutionary psychology stems from Charles Darwin's theories of evolution, adaptation, and natural selection.
  • The brain's adaptive mechanisms have been shaped over time by natural and sexual selection.

• Two Major Principles

  • According to Piaget, two major principles guide intellectual growth and biological development: adaptation and organization.
  • For individuals to survive in an environment, they must adapt to physical and mental stimuli.
  • Assimilation and accommodation are both part of the adaptation process.
  • Piaget's second principle, organization, refers to the nature of these adaptive mental structures.

• Adaptive Learning

  • There are many ways in which adaptive learning can be used in and outside of the classroom.
  • Intelligent Tutoring Systems (adaptive learning that is implemented in the classroom environment using information technology) operate on three basic principles designed to ease the integration of adaptive learning in a classroom environment:
  • Systems need to be able to dynamically adapt to the skills and abilities of a student.
  • Systems need to also adapt to the skill level of the educators.
  • Some examples of how adaptive learning can help with collaboration include:

• Inside and Outside Forces for Organizational Change

  • Economics - The 2008 economic collapse is a strong example of why adaptability is important.
  • Technology - Technological changes are a constant threat, and embracing new technologies ahead of the competition requires adaptability.
  • When media went digital, adaptable companies found ways to evolve their operations to stay competitive.
  • Globalization - Capturing new global markets requires product, cultural, and communicative adaptability.
  • Identify the internal and external pressures for change, which drive organizations to adapt and evolve

• Antigen-presenting Cells: B and T cells

  • B and T cells, parts of the adaptive immune response, contain receptors that can identify antigens derived from pathogens.
  • In fact, without information from the innate immune system, the adaptive response could not be mobilized.
  • The two types of lymphocytes of the adaptive immune response are B and T cells .
  • It is the specific pathogen recognition (via binding antigens) of B and T cells that allows the adaptive immune response to adapt.
  • Explain the role played by B and T cells in the adaptive immune system

• Microbial Environments and Microenvironments

  • Clearly, microbes have adapted to extreme and intolerant conditions, and it is this adaptation that has yielded tremendous biological diversity among microorganisms.
  • Therefore, microbes have adapted to fill every ecological niche on the planet.
  • These evolutionary adaptations have allowed microbial life to extend into much of the Earth's atmosphere, crust, and hydrosphere (the water found over, under, and on the surface of a planet).
  • Microbes, therefore, are not only adapted to their habitat, but also to the immediate environment, thus promoting increased diversity among microbial species within an ecosystem.

• Primary and Secondary Antibody Responses

  • The immune system protects organisms from infection first with the innate immune system, then with adaptive immunity.
  • Pathogens can rapidly evolve and adapt to avoid detection and neutralization by the immune system.
  • Here, the immune system adapts its response during an infection to improve its recognition of the pathogen.
  • This type of immunity is both active and adaptive because the body's immune system prepares itself for future challenges.
  • Generalize the role of the innate and adaptive immune system in regards to antibody response