Tropical Monsoon Climate Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Tropical Monsoon Climate - Term Paper Example Tropical monsoon climate is mainly found in the coastal regions of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, India, southwest of Africa, northeast and southeast of Brazil and French Guiana (Ritter, 2006). According to Glantz (2003), there are two monsoons dominating in Asia – winter northeast monsoon, which comes from November to February and summer which comes from may to September. They are the majority critical climatic factors that come with most of the regions precipitation. Asia is renowned for its annual drought and flood especially in Bangladesh and India due to seasonal shift of weather. While the flood alone covers 7.7 million hectares in India, it covers 3.1 million hectares in Bangladesh. Tropical cyclone is another major feature of climate in this region. In particular, it affects two areas – northern Indian Ocean, which affects Bangladesh and northwestern Pacific Ocean, which affects Vietnam and Philippines. EL Nino-southern oscillation (ENSO) is another extensive phenomenal that has major influences in climate in a number of countries. In Africa there are three major areas where tropical monsoon occurs namely the southern coast of western Africa at 5 degrees north and 9 degrees north latitude, the Congo basin, which lies between 5 degrees north and 5 degrees south, and the remaining part which lies in between 15 degrees north and 15 degrees south. The climatic conditions in Africa differ from tropical monsoon in Asia especially in Congo Basin and southern coast of West Africa where heavy rainfall is experienced all through the year. The mean annual rainfall ranges from 10 mm in Sahara and 2000 mm in equator and other parts of West Africa. Precipitation is caused by convection process while movements of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and large-scale air mass movement brings seasonal variation. Drought in Africa is inevitable – it recurs from time to time and as a result, food crisis is a big problem that puts the population at risk (Glantz, 2003). Tropical monsoon climate in America is common in no rthern parts of South America and Central America where important topography and climatological consequences are found. Rainfall is brought by general circulation of trade winds. Andes Mountains is a flat area where major humid part of South America lies. Salinger (2005) records that ITCZ controls the seasonal movements that are smaller than Southeast Asia and the general circulation of this area. Droughts are severe in northern part of South America unlike Asia where major hazard are cyclones and floods. In humid and sub-humid tropics, agriculture is very vital; take an example of Asia where agriculture is an important economic sector. According to Salinger (2005), Asia, in 1993, employed more than half of the labor forces, which brought 63% of the gross domestic produce (GDP). Most export comes from agricultural products that brings a great amount of foreign exchange earnings. In this region rice, being the major crop, constitutes the largest part of production while maize and whe at follow. Nevertheless, agriculture experiences vulnerability in humid and sub-humid tropics attributable to some factor. With the exception of Africa where food security has been a problem for years, agriculture is also vulnerable in other countries but with minimal severity. Tropical cyclone also causes severe damage to the agriculture sector especially in Asia. Crop and livestock

Business Intelligence Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Intelligence - Essay Example In this case, the Marshfield Clinic and the Exclusive Resorts, LLC case studies will be explored based on various elements of business intelligence. From these case studies, it is evident that there must be a drive or an instigating factor to pursue BI solutions, it is important to choose the right BI software, there are barriers to the adoption of business intelligence solutions, and the system must be able to integrate all the applications in the company. However, some of the BI solutions are complex and costly. Therefore, it is important for the business to perform enough research before settling on a final BI solution. The Marshfield Clinic Case Study The Marshfield Clinic has more than 50 regional locations with over 800 physicians and 6,500 healthcare and administrative workers. The clinic efficiently manages more than 375,000 patients each year. For example, the management team made an investment in electronic patient records. To facilitate it, the clinic offered its staff wit h electronic tablets for purposes of history taking which would be automatically populated in a centralized patient data warehouse. All the clinical care and financial information of each patient is safely kept, constantly updated, and ready for reporting and analysis. The clinic constantly innovates to be in line with the industry change (Cummens and Konitzer, 2011). Recently, the clinic utilized SAP Business Objects solutions to observe the quality metrics as it implemented enhancement initiatives. The clinic has an efficient system for collecting patient care information but it requires the appropriate analytics tool to improve patient care metrics and also provide user-friendly reporting for the physicians’ desktops in order to give support to real-time decision making. Initially, the clinic used sophisticated ad hoc query tools before acquiring SAP BusinessObjects for analytics and reporting, however, this method required the users to undergo extensive training. The clin ic utilized train-the-trainer approach to train the end-user. The SAP BusinessObjects was the best fit for the clinic. This is because the management team required software that non-IT individuals (particularly the doctors) could use without any problems (Cummens and Konitzer, 2011). The rolling out and adoption process was quick and smooth. However, there were challenges such as converting the 60 Cognos catalogs of the clinic into novel semantic layers that functioned with SAP BusinessObjects software. The whole process tool close to nine months and the software has enabled the clinic to meet its goals from the perspective of reporting and analytics (Cummens and Konitzer, 2011). There are a number of lessons to be learned from this case study. First, there must be a drive or an instigating factor to pursue business intelligence solutions. Though the clinic had an efficient system, it still needed software that will keep then up to date with the ongoing healthcare industry changes. Electrosmart Ltd (2011), states that drivers of BI include rapid change, governance, stakeholder demands, expanding on ERP (enterprise resource planning) and data availability. In the case of Marshfield Clinic, data was readily available and there was need to be in line with the health care industry. Second, it is important to choose the right BI

How Hersey Portrays the Event in Hiroshima Essay

How Hersey Portrays the Event in Hiroshima - Essay Example All of these individuals had no sense that their life would change few minutes after eight fifteen in the morning of 6 August 1945. As Hersey’s says in his book, Hiroshima, a noiseless flash was the only sign that each survivor would remember as they encounter a tragedy they would not forget in their life. Miss Sasaki was clerk at East Asia Tin when Dr. Masakazu was with his patient in a private hospital, Mrs. Nakamura stood in her kitchen looking outside through the window, and Father Kleinsorge was leading a magazine in his room. Reverend Tanimoto was another victim of the Hiroshima bombing; he as the other survivors was with a colleague pushing a handcart to the man’s house (Hersey 4-6). That day was like any other as Hersey’s records it was a still morning, and the town was pleasant and cool as always. Moreover, within a splash of second, a â€Å"tremendous flash† cut across from east heading west, and from that moment, the life of the people changed i n the city of Hiroshima (Hersey 4-6). Hersey note that the situation that people were just living their life, though terrified by threat of attack, it is worth to note that human being are, in equal measure the same and need to be treated with dignity. Hersey’s story displays the danger that surrounds human being in his action to make a living. In his analysis of the event after the Hiroshima bombing, Hersey displays the location of his six characters that he interviewed. In addition, the mere chance that they survived while many other died is by chance and their unconscious actions. There was spared from death and serious injuries. Hersey portrays a mysterious situation where so many people dies living other with only minor injuries. Hersey also portrays how fast thing can change in the matter of seconds. Before the attack with the atomic bomb, Hiroshima was used to warning of the possible attack. However, in the morning of 6 August 1945, no warning came to caution the peopl e of the attack, and the whole of Hiroshima changed from common to struggle and survival. The life of Hersey’s characters and the city would be different from what they were used to. As noted in the narration of the experiences, Hersey’s works portrays the abuse of human ethics, and the action of the American government. The attack of Hiroshima with something that caused unwarranted suffering is chocking and unbelievable. Such an act ought to be demonstrated to make people aware of what could happen in a situation of war with the kind of weapon such as an atomic bomb. What insight does the book give you into the Japanese perspective, and what do you think of that? In the experiences of the survivors, Hersey work tries to unfold the live after the atomic bomb. First, Mrs. Nakamura, one of the six characters interviewed by Hersey meets her sister in Hiroshima, and she is disappointed to hear from her that Japan has conceded defeat and that the war was done. She wishes Ja pan could win the war even after the attack in the city. Hersey paint a picture of dedicated people who no matter the devastation they had the courage to move on with their life. At time Mrs. Nakamura was meeting her sister, she had gone to the city to bring with her rice she had buried before the attack (50). In other instances, Hersey says that in September of 1945, radiation related ailment, had affected everyone. Father kleinsorge fell sick while going to deposit money in the city while Mrs. Nakamura daughter had fallen sick. Mr. Takimoto by this time had been bedridden (51-55). None of the challenge that the Japanese met deterred them from moving on with their live. Hersey also records that even in the city; Feverfew and Panic grass spring up in the city

Project Management Essay Example for Free

Project Management Essay The objective of this project is to open a second office for Better Health Care Centers within the next 18 months and within the $1.5 million budget on time and on budget. The projects environment as it relates to cultural /social is one of healing, health and wellbeing of the population or community. The expansion of the facility will impose little impact on the environment as we will be using an existing building and all green practices and policies will be instituted when possible. For the general management of this project I will be using construction managers, contract managers and lawyers, and there will be another manger in charge of the hiring of staff and all of those people will be reporting to me, the general project manager. Since this is such a long and expensive project there will need to be tight controls on time and resources to ensure that there is little to no waste. The project will be segmented into phases that will be completed or almost complete when the next phase of the project begins. This will enable better control of the project as opposed to doing things out of a logical order. You would not furnish the building before you install the carpet. The amount of phases and the degree of control of each phase will depend on the size complexity and impact of the project. The phases for now, will be simplified and will go something like this; the initiating phase where all of the proposals and budgets for each phase will be defined will be set. The next phase will include the planning process. Where all of the basic needs of the project will be defined and the management team is built and phase assignments are delegated. Then the work starts with the execution of the project and the individual projects begin in earnest. This phase has some overlapping projects and simultaneous projects there will be very few times when there is only one project working at the time. During this phase the acquisition of building space, contracts with insurance companies and outside laboratories and radiology facilities and hospitals will be negotiated. The hiring of contractors and th e finalizing of floor plans and choosing equipment and other materials and supplies are decided upon. This is the longest phase and tight controls on budget and time are most important. There will be a need for four managers to run different areas of the project they will be in control of their budget and reporting to the general project manager and to the shareholders. Each manager will have a staff of people to do some of the work according to their expertise. There will be a legal team, a construction team, a design team and a team to organize meetings, a team for the overall budget an accounting team. In the final or closing phase the work picks up pace and crunch time becomes a reality. In this phase many projects will be complete while others are winding down and a few will just be starting. In this phase the hiring of the office staff, physicians and office mangers will be finalized and contracted. In this phase the finishing touches will be put in place and the equipment will be delivered and set up. The computer systems will be installed and training of the new employees will commence. For this project the manager will need excellent time management skills and the ability to communicate effectively with second level managers and project leaders and staff so that the efficiency of the project has as few set back and errors as possible. The project manager will also need leadership skills. With out a good leader nothing gets done efficiently or effectively. Project managers are assigned to achieve the project objectives. This role requires flexibility, strong leadership. Good judgment, negotiating skills and a solid knowledge of project management practices. The project manager must have attention to detail while managing from an overall management prospective. The project manager is responsible for the success of the project and is in charge of all aspects of the project. The project manager responsibilities include: Developing the management plan and its related components. Keeping the project on time and on budget. Monitoring, identifying and responding to risk. The manager is also responsible for timely and accurate reporting of project metrics. The project team is made up of the manager, and other team members that carry out the work but not necessarily involved in management. Each team has its own knowledge of their specific subject matter. It is necessary for all teams to meet regularly to go over any problems and to update the project manager on each teams progress. References: PMBOK guide forth edition project management institute. Fourth edition 2008 CTU online live chats Granville Jones Instructor http://www.techrepublic.com/article/encourage-success-by-following-pmis-knowledge-areas/1051548

Negative Consequences Of Pollution

Negative Consequences Of Pollution Externalities are known as the third party effects evolving from the production and consumption of goods and services in which the third party does not receive any appropriate consumption. Externalities are the root to market failure if the pricing system does not consider the social costs and benefits of production and consumption. The provision of the incorrect quantity of goods and services to customers by the market mechanism sources a deficit in social welfare in an effective working market society ought to disperse property rights. If no individual is the owner of a specific good then nobody has an economic incentive to safeguard that good from being harmed. This is directed towards the tragedy of commons where, for instance no particular person owns the ocean or the fish in the ocean therefore the deficiency of the population of living fish is annihilated by the fishing industry. Resulting from the absence of clearly defined property rights, markets are unable to completely ac count for them, assigning prices of goods and services. Studying a scenario that lacks government intrusion, as no one owns the air, polluting industries do not raise their prices to recompense for correcting their pollution because they fail to undo air pollution and this will ultimately result in health difficulties among third parties and these third parties ought to then pay for the rectification of their health. According to the World Health Organizations three million people are killed around the world and this is attributed to outdoor air pollution (annually) by motor vehicles and industrial emissions and 1.6 million indoors from the usage of solid fuels. There exists a range of studies that estimate that 7-20% of all cancers are caused by air pollution (only). Waterborne diseases are accountable for 80% of infirmity and deaths in developing nations, claiming a childs life in every eight seconds. Contaminated water is the sole cause of the deaths of 2.1 million humans who fal l victim to diseases that are linked to contaminated water sources. Contaminated land is a severe problem in developed nations as industries and power stations dispose of heavy metals in the soil. One shocking feature of agriculture is its potential to poison land with pesticides, nitrate-rich fertilizers and faeces from cattle and this is coupled with the fact that contamination that reaches rivers harm various life-forms. To the economist the problem that arises from externalities is not that the activity occurs, but that a surplus of it occurs. To locate the market outcome we begin by using supply and demand. The market price and quantity are represented by Pmkt and Qmkt in figure 1 below However, the market outcome is not the efficient result. The supply curve illustrates only the private costs of production, mainly the costs occurred by those firms producing the good. Costs are inflicted on innocent bystanders due to negative externalities therefore it does not symbolize all costs. Therefore we draw another curve the social cost or SC curve. This diagram signifies all costs of the product including private production costs and external costs. The efficient level of outcome occurs where the demand curve and SC curve intersect which is depicted by P* and Q*. Qmkt > Q* meaning that the market produces greater levels of amounts of this good than the efficient amount, this phenomenon is known as over production. Another notification of Pmkt < P* means that the market price is less than the efficient price. Reason being that the market outcome is so inefficient is due to the fact that the private market leads suppliers to produce some units of the good (between Q* and Qmk t) whose cost of production exceeds their value to consumers. It is believed that this is true because the units of the good between Q* and Qmkt, the demand curve (measuring value to consumers) is below the SC curve (measuring all costs). The overproduction of goods with negative externalities transpires because the price of the good that the buyer does not fully cover all of the costs of producing or consuming the good. If all costs were taken into consideration, then prices of these goods would be superior and people would utilize of them. If the costs of the negative externalities, the harm from pollution were put on the good as a tax, then people would become conscious of the full cost of producing and consuming that good and the efficient amount would be the smaller amount demanded. From the above graph we can come to the conclusion about all market allocations of commodities causing pollution externalities. ie.the output of the commodity is too large, too much pollution is pro duced, the prices of products responsible for pollution are too low, as long as the costs are external, no incentives to search for ways to yield less pollution per unit of output are introduced by the market and recycling and reuse of the polluting substances are discouraged since release into the environment is so inefficiently cheap. A property right is the restricted authority to resolve how a specific resource is used whether a resource is owned by government or individuals (Alchian, 2008). Property rights must clearly be defined, their use must be scrutinized and possession of rights enforced (Alchian, 2008). Transaction costs are the costs of defining, monitoring and enforcing these rights (Alchian, 2008). There are four different types of property rights mainly open access, common property and private property (Pearce, 1989). Open-access property does not have an owner, is non-excludable, that is no one can prohibit another individual from making use of it, and is non-rival, the use of the property by one individual will not restrict of prevent its use at the same time by another individual. Open- access property unsupervised and access to it is not restricted. The existence of open-access property arose from the fact that the ownership of the property has never been established, either because the state has legislated it, because no efficient controls are in place, or it is not considered feasible because the cost of exclusion overshadows the benefits. Open-access property can be converted by the state into private, common or state property through legislature, clearly defining rights and enforcing them. Examples of open-access resources which the state may convert include the atmosphere and ocean fisheries. State property, is owned by everyone however, access to the property and the use of it is controlled by the state, example a national park. Common property is controlled by a group of individuals, who are responsible for access to, use of and exclusion from the property. Private property grant strict control to the owner, who has control over the use, management and access of property, the owners may prevent another individual, if they want to, from using the property, and they can also restrict the simultaneous use of the property. The polluter-pays-principle and victim-pays- principle is dependant on the provision of property rights for environmental goods. The costs of pollution are to be borne out of those who instigated it stated by the polluter-pays-principle. Its goal is to determine how the costs of pollution prevention and control must be assigned: the polluter must pay. Its objective is the internalization of environmental externalities of economic activities so prices of goods and services completely depict the costs of production. Bugge (1996) acknowledged four types of ppp; economically, it promotes efficiency; legally it promotes justice; it promotes harmonization of international environmental policies; as well as it defines how to allocate costs within a state. The ownership of environmental goods rights are undefined and by default it is the polluters that are usually favoured. If no appropriate bylaws are put in place to ban polluting activities and property rights are indeterminate, polluters will implicitly have the upper hand. As these polluting activities are aggravated and societys welfare becomes more pretentious, the victims of these activities will band together to maintain their right to a protected environment. This will eventually lead to regulation being put into practice which will shift property rights towards victims until equilibrium ie. between optimal pollution and optimal pollution abatement is reached. This equilibrium is shown by the intersection between the marginal abatement cost and the marginal damage cost schedules, .Coase illustrates this result by using the example of a farmer cultivating his land and another who breeds cattle that needs that needs land to graze on. Both individuals have adjoining land which is not enclosed. There are two possible consequences depending on how property rights are allocated; case1, the law is in favour of the farmer breeding cattle. Nothing prevents the cattle from grazing on the other land. The latter will have an incentive to bargain with the farmer and try to get him to reduce the damage done to his crops by reducing the herd. Case 2; the law is in favour of the farmer with crops. The farmer with the cattle is responsible for the damage his herd causes to others crops and must pay for these damages. It is in his interest to negotiate to try and reduce his costs. The effectiveness of this bargaining process rests on assumptions regarding the economic definition of environmental property rights. Tietenberg (1992) states that the structure of the property rights is characterized as follows: universitality, all existing resources are allocated; exclusivity, all costs and benefits from the possession or use of resources are attributed to the holders of the r ights either directly or indirectly; transferability, all rights are transferable through voluntary exchange between agents; protection, property rights are protected from voluntary or expropriation. According to the coase theorem everyone has perfect information, consumers and producers are price-takers, there is a costless court system for establishing, producers maximize profits and consumers maximize utility, there are no income and wealth effects as well as no transaction costs. The initial allocation of property rights does not matter for efficiency but if any of the conditions do not hold then the initial assignments of property rights matter. When property rights are apportioned to polluters, the victims of pollution will be enthused to bargain. If the victims are in possession of the property rights then polluters will instigate negotiation. Optimal pollution and optimal abatement must be taken into consideration to determine the situation where rights are optimally allocated. Figure 2 The above diagram depicts the process. The vertical axis illustrates the level of costs involved and the horizontal axis depicts the level of reduction in pollution. MDC is the marginal external costs and the MDC illustrates the level of reduction in pollution. The equilibrium is determined at Z* where MRC intersects the MDC curve. The polluting firms will produce its maximum level of output when there is no reduction in pollution. In contrast the level of production will be the lowest when there is a complete reduction in pollution. This figure can be linked up back to the preceding cases in respect to the establishment of property rights. At Z0 the level of pollution is maximized hence there is no reduction in pollution. This implies that that both the polluter and the victims are given the rights. At the reduction in pollution is at its maximum hence the rights are given to victims. When the polluters activity influence the welfare of a sufferer an external cost is generated and the sufferer should be compensated. Ronald Coase (1960) pointed out that sufferers and polluters are incorporated in negotiating incentives of an efficient level of unfavorable impacts regarding of the assignment of rights when the transaction cost is negligible. The illustration above portrays the output level a firm will operate at (Qà Ã¢â€š ¬), where profits are maximized, however the social optimum is at Q*. When the sufferer has the property rights, the polluter does not have the right to pollute and the sufferer has the right not to be polluted. The sufferer chooses not to have any pollution at the starting point and at the origin the two parties begin to bargain. If they moved to d, the polluter would obtain Oabd in profit and the sufferer would lose Ocd. There is a chance that bargaining could occur as OABD is greater than OCD. The polluter will make a proposition of compensation to the sufferer since Oabd is greater than Ocd and less than Oabd. If this bargain happens, there is a movement to d which is known as a Pareto optimal allocation as one party is better off, (sufferer lost Ocd but gained more in compensation) and no party is worse off (polluter still has net profit). A move to the right of Q* is not plausible because pollut ers gains are less than the victims losses. Therefore the polluting firm wont compensate the sufferer to move beyond Q*. Now if the property rights are assigned to the polluter, start at Qà Ã¢â€š ¬ because its the point at which the polluter can take advantage of his right to use the environment to dispose of his waste products. It is again possible for the two parties to bargain and move from Qà Ã¢â€š ¬ back to f. Here the sufferer can compensate the polluter to give up a certain amount of economic activity or output level. The sufferer is willing to tolerate a loss fhi Qà Ã¢â€š ¬ if the move does not take place and will offer an amount less than this to get the polluter to cut back pollution. The polluter is prepared to accept an amount greater than fgQà Ã¢â€š ¬. i.e. the profits will be relinquished as long as there is a probability of bargaining between the polluter and sufferer the market will take us to the social optimum ie Q. The commons can be referred to as a society composed of the population. According to Hardin the idea that everyone born with equivalent rights to the commons in sharing resources, concurrently with overpopulation will destroy the commons, therefore tragedy of the commons. Overpopulation and pollution are the contributing factors that facilitate the commons not being sustainable. The South African population was 40.6 million in 1996 and is persistently growing at 2 percent per year. A continuation of this trend by the year 2035 will result in 82 million of the inhabitants relying on an equivalent level of natural resources which are already under strain in sufficiently meeting its demands, therefore escalating the production of pollution and waste. The burdens of overpopulation on natural resources uniting with cooperate greed leads to detrimental consequences. A case in point is one of the Toxic water rising below Johannesburg. Twenty miles North West of Johannesburg, the water from the spring runs blood red. It is toxic, highly acidic and bursting with heavy metals, so foul those animals in the Kruderdorp Game reserve downstream say no to drinking the water causing them to die of thirst therefore not one living organism is able to endure this venomous water. Millions of gallons of this toxic water lie beneath Johannesburg, a municipality with a population of nearly four million citizens. The water is rises at fifty feet a month. If this persists, in roughly two years time subterranean parking garages will be filled up with this deadly red water. Tunnels for electrical cables and underground railway stations will overflow. Unnatural crimson water pours out from the ground leading into the suburbs and eventually fleeing into the east of Johannesburg. Due to Johannesburgs gold rush, mining companies extort enormous holes under its city and s uburbs. When it rains much is soaked up in the earth and the water becomes toxic when combined with heavy metals underground. Terry McCarthy, a geology professor of the university Witwatersrand warn that existing mining operations in other parts of South Africa were on their part to destruction and it would eventually poison some of Johannesburgs main drinking water resources, causing future generations to be imposed with greater costs of the Vaal Dam and Vaal river. The tragedy of the commons relates to almost every commonly held property. Individuals and firms accept a hundred percent of the gains of easy disposal of waste into air or water but only sustain a fraction of these negative impacts of pollution. It is therefore necessary for government to control pollution, providing incentives to prevent pollution or inflicting penalties should pollution occur. Another example is that of national parks where the parks can be accessed by everyone without limits to visitation. As the number of visits multiply degradation of parks become more plausible. The finite number of parks combined with increasing visitation and population growth makes conservation efforts difficult. In order to avoid the tragedy of the commons population control is a need. Hardin proposes that laws, legislators, beuros and watchers who watch the beuros to legislate and enforce laws are the key elements of controlling the population in the commons. He also emphasize that conscience and sense of guilt are not enough to restrict the population. People can freely make choices between the options offered by the laws, but are compelled to choose the options that brings themselves under control. Reason being if they choose the unrestrained option they will have to pay more prices or run more risks of losing something valuable. For example people believe that if the accept compulsory taxes because they understand voluntary taxes would favor the conscienceless people who dont pay taxes at all. Hardin ends with establishing that education can put an end to the tragedy of the commons. There are numerous reasons as to why a coasian solution may not work; ie. transaction costs, state of competition, the free- rider problem, identifying polluters and victims and people unwilling to trade transaction cost include information and measurement costs, negotiation costs, contracting (legal costs) and monitoring and enforcing costs. The cost of setting up the contract between polluter and victim becomes excessive because of the countless polluters and sufferers. The many questions become controversial including who is suffering, whose polluting and by how much? How much will resolve the bribe or payment and will defer among individuals. A coasian solution works well when there is perfect competition, on the contrary it is feasible to get such a solution under imperfect competition but the analysis is much more complex. Due to environmental goods being classed as public goods, the free- rider problem poses a dilemma as the provision of public goods would not be sufficient if left to the private sector. Since convincing everyone to play a part in diminishing incentives to cheating on agreements remain intricate. Predicted by the game theory models, bargaining would make vulnerable. If there are clearly defined property rights and contracts are drawn up then those rights that are allocated to may be unwillingly to trade. Some government intervention is needed in environmental conflicts by inflicting either liability or property rules. Property rules stipulate the allocation of the entitlement. Example entitlements include the right to pollute the air or on the other hand, the right to fresh, clean air. When applying the property rules the court decides on which right is paramount and places an injunction against the infringement of that right. The Coase Theorem involves establishing property rights as a means to solve the creation of externalities. This essay has been based on the negative externalities of pollution, the formation of property rights, bargaining in addition to a critique of the tragedy of the commons. It has been found that although there are no government interventions in a free market economy, courts are still required to intervene in the establishment of the property rights. Furthermore it has included a discussion on the main consequences of over pollution and ways in which government could solve this problem. It went on to give reasoning as to why the coasian solutions may be falsified which was illustrated by examples throughout the essay.

Free Essays: Symbolism in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown :: Young Goodman Brown YGB

Nathaniel Hawthorne's work is typically fraught with symbolism, much of it deriving from his puritan ancestry. Hawthorne was obsessed with the themes of sin and guilt. John Roth notes that "A number of recurring thematic patterns and character types appear in Hawthorne's novels and tales" (Roth 76). Because he is speaking of what we would later come to call the unconscious, Hawthorne extensively employed the use of symbolism, which bypasses the conscious to tap into its more dream- like process below (Roth 76). In his short story "Young Goodman Brown," the main character Goodman Brown goes off into the woods and undergoes what will be a life changing experience. "Young Goodman Brown," was written in the nineteenth century but is undoubtedly set in the seventeenth century, and for the early Americans in this time period the forest was a symbol of the test of strength, courage, and endurance. It took a lot of courage to survive there, and the young person entering the forest would not emerge the same. But the story is more symbolic than realistic, and the dangers that Goodman Brown encounters in the forest are not Indians or bears; they are dangers of the spirit. It is no accident that such an experience should have taken place in the forest, because there is a long and extremely profound tradition in American literature where experiences of this nature haven taken place in forest settings. Psychologist Bruno Betelheim observes that "Since ancient times the near impenetrable forest in which w e get lost has symbolized the dark, hidden near-impenetrable world of our unconscious" (Betelheim, 94). However, this does not appear in "Young Goodman Brown." Instead of bravely battling down the dangers of the forest and emerging a more mature person, Goodman Brown emerges a ruined man. Â  It should not go unrecognized that Goodman Brown's wife, a light-hearted, genuine woman, has the name Faith. Faith is not by any means an unusual name for a woman, especially in puritan times, but it becomes significant in the story because she is presented to us first as a very young bride with pink ribbons in her hair, almost like a child. Her pink ribbons symbolize her youth, and her name symbolizes her husband's childlike spirituality at the beginning of the story. Christianity historically has been a religion of obedience and devotion much more than one of logic, as much as the framers of the age of reason would try to argue otherwise.

Syllabus Planning

Syllabus Design Syllabus: A syllabus is an expression of opinion on the nature of language and learning; it acts as a guide for both teacher and learner by providing some goals to be attained. Hutchinson and Waters (1987:80) define syllabus as follows: At its simplest level a syllabus can be described as a statement of what is to be learnt. It reflects language and linguistic performance. This is a rather traditional interpretation of syllabus focusing on outcomes rather than process. However, a syllabus can also be seen as a â€Å"summary of the content to which learners will be exposed† (Yalden. 1987).It is seen as an approximation of what will be taught and that it cannot accurately predict what will be learnt A language teaching syllabus involves the integration of subject matter and linguistic matter. Difference between Syllabus and Curriculum Curriculum is wider term as compared with syllabus. Curriculum covers all the activities and arrangements made by the institution through out the academic year to facilitate the learners and the instructors. Where as Syllabus is limited to particular subject of a particular class. Syllabus Design To design a syllabus is to decide what gets taught and in what order.For this reason, the theory of language underlying the language teaching method will play a major role in determining what syllabus should be adopted. Theory of learning also plays an important part in determining the kind of syllabus used. For example, a syllabus based on the theory of learning evolved by cognitive code teaching would emphasize language forms and whatever explicit descriptive knowledge about those forms. A syllabus based on an acquisition theory of learning, however, would emphasize unanalyzed and carefully selected experiences of the new language.The choice of a syllabus is a major decision in language teaching, and it should be made as consciously and with as much information as possible. There has been much confusion over the yea rs as to what different types of content are possible in language teaching syllabi and as to whether the differences are in syllabus or method. Several distinct types of language teaching syllabi exist, and these different types may be implemented in various teaching situations. TYPES OF SYLLABI Although six different types of language teaching syllabi are treated here as though each occurred â€Å"purely,† but in practice, these types rarely occur independently.Almost all actual language teaching syllabi are combinations of two or more of the types defined here. For a given course, one type of syllabus usually dominates, while other types of content may be combined with it. Furthermore, the six types of syllabi are not entirely distinct from each other. For example, the distinction between skill-based and task-based syllabi may be minimal. In such cases, the distinguishing factor is often the way in which the instructional content is used in the actual teaching procedure.The characteristics, differences, strengths, and weaknesses of individual syllabi are defined as follows: 1:- Product-Oriented Syllabus This kind of syllabuses emphasizes the product of language learning and is prone to approval from an authority. There are three types of syllabus described in the following: (i) The Structural Syllabus Historically, the most prevalent of syllabus type is perhaps the structural or grammatical syllabus in which the selection and grading of the content is based on the complexity and simplicity of grammatical items.The learner is expected to master each structural step and add it to her grammar collection. As such the focus is on the outcomes or the product. One problem facing the syllabus designer pursuing a grammatical order to sequencing input is that the ties connecting the structural items may be rather weak. A more fundamental criticism is that the grammatical syllabus focuses on only one aspect of language, namely grammar, whereas in truth there exi st many more aspects of language. Finally, recent research suggests there is a isagreement between the grammar of the spoken and of the written language; raising complications for the grading of content in grammar based syllabuses. (ii) The Situational Syllabus The limitations found in structural approach led to an alternative approach where situational needs are emphasized rather than grammatical units. Here, the principal organizing characteristic is a list of situations which reflects the way language is used in everyday life i. e. outside the classroom.Thus, by linking structural theory to situations the learner is able to grasp the meaning in relevant context. One advantage of the situational Syllabus is that motivation will be heightened since it is â€Å"learner- rather than subject-centered† (Wilkins. 1976). However, a situational syllabus will be limited for students whose needs were not encompassed by the situations in the syllabus. This dissatisfaction led Wilkins to describe notional and communicative categories which had a significant impact on syllabus design. (iii) The Notional/Functional SyllabusWilkins' criticism of structural and situational approaches lies in the fact that they answer only the ‘how' or ‘when' and ‘where' of language use (Brumfit and Johnson. 1979:84). Instead, he enquires â€Å"what it is they communicate through language† Thus, the starting point for a syllabus is the communicative purpose and conceptual meaning of language i. e. notions and functions, as opposed to only the grammatical items and situational elements. In order to establish objectives of such a syllabus, the needs of the learners will have to be analyzed on the base of communication need.Consequently, needs analysis has an association with notional/functional syllabuses. White (1988:77) claims that â€Å"language functions do not usually occur in isolation† and there are also difficulties of selecting and grading functi on and form. The above approaches belong to the product-oriented category of syllabuses. An alternative path to Syllabus Design would be to adopt process oriented principles, which assume that language can be learnt experientially as opposed to the step-by-step procedure of the synthetic approach. 2:- Process-Oriented SyllabusesProcess-Oriented Syllabuses are developed as a result of a sense of failure in product-oriented courses to enhance communicative language skills. Syllabus is a process rather than a product. That is, focus is not on what the student will have accomplished on completion of the program, but on the specification of learning tasks and activities that s/he will undertake during the course. (i)Procedural/Task-Based Syllabus Prabhu's (1979) ‘Bangalore Project' is a classic example of a procedural syllabus. Here, the question concerning ‘what' becomes subordinate to the question concerning ‘how'.The focus shifts from the linguistic element to the ed ucational, with an emphasis on learning or learner. Within such a framework the selection, ordering and grading of content is no longer wholly significant for the syllabus designer. Arranging the Syllabus around tasks such as information- and opinion-gap activities, it was hoped that the learner would perceive the language subconsciously whilst consciously concentrating on solving the meaning behind the tasks. There appears to be an indistinct boundary between this approach and that of language teaching methodology.A task-based syllabus assumes that speaking a language is a skill best perfected through practice and interaction, and uses tasks and activities to encourage learners to use the language communicatively in order to achieve a purpose. Tasks must be relevant to the real world language needs of the student. That is, the underlying learning theory of task based and communicative language teaching seems to suggest that activities in which language is employed to complete meani ngful tasks, enhances learning. (ii)Learner-Led SyllabusThe notion of basing a syllabus on how learners learn language was proposed by Breen and Candlin (1984). Here the emphasis lies on the learner, who it is hoped will be involved in the implementation of the syllabus design. By being fully aware of the course they are studying, it is believed that their interest and motivation will increase, coupled with the positive effect of nurturing the skills required to learn. However, as suggested earlier, a predetermined syllabus provides support and guidance for the teacher and should not be so easily dismissed.Critics have suggested that a learner-led syllabus seems radical and utopian in that it will be difficult to follow as the direction of the syllabus will be largely the responsibility of the learners. This leads to the final syllabus design to be examined ; the proportional syllabus as suggested by Yalden (1987). (iii)The Proportional Syllabus The proportional syllabus basically a ttempts to develop an â€Å"overall competence†. It consists of a number of elements within the main theme playing a linking role through the units.This theme is designated by the learners. It is expected initially that form will be of central value, but later, the focus will turn towards interactional components. The syllabus is designed to be dynamic, not static, with sufficient opportunity for feedback and flexibility. The shift from form to interaction can occur at any time and is not limited to a particular stratum of learners. As Yalden observes, it is important for a syllabus to indicate explicitly what will be taught, â€Å"not what will be learned†.This practical approach with its focus on flexibility and spiral method of language sequencing leading to the recycling of language, seems relevant for learners who lack exposure to the target language beyond the classroom. Practical Guidelines to Syllabus Choice and Design It is clear that no single type of content is appropriate for all teaching settings, and the needs and conditions of each setting are so particular that specific recommendations for combination are not possible. However, a set of guidelines for the process is provided below. Steps in preparing a practical language teaching Syllabus Choice: 1.Determine, to the extent possible, what outcomes are desired for the students in the instructional program i. e. what the students should be able to do as a result of the instruction. 2. Rank the syllabus types presented here as to their likelihood of leading to the outcomes desired. Arrange the six types with preference you going to give to each type. 3. Evaluate available resources for teaching, needs analysis, materials choice and production and in training for teachers. 4. Rank the syllabi relative to available resources. That is, determine what syllabus types would be the easiest to implement within available resources. . Compare the lists made under Nos. 2 and 4. Making as few adj ustments to the earlier list as possible, produce a new list of ranking based on the availability of resources. 6. Designate one or two syllabus types as dominant and one or two as secondary. 7. Review the question of combination or integration of syllabus types and determine how combinations will be achieved and in what proportion. In making practical decisions about syllabus design, one must take into consideration all the possible factors that might affect the teachability of a particular syllabus.By starting with an examination of each syllabus type, tailoring the choice and integration of the different types according to local needs, one may find a principled and practical solution to the problem of appropriateness and effectiveness in syllabus design. Suggested Steps for Planning Syllabus: †¢Develop a well-grounded rationale for your course. †¢Decide what you want students to be able to do as a result of taking your course, and how their work will be appropriately as sessed. †¢Define and delimit course content. †¢Structure your students’ active involvement in learning. Identify and develop resources. †¢Compose your syllabus with a focus on student learning. Suggested Principles for Designing a Syllabus that Fosters Critical Thinking: †¢Critical thinking is a learnable skill; the instructor and class fellows are resources in developing critical thinking skills. †¢Problems, questions, or issues are the point of entry into the subject and a source of motivation for nonstop inquiry. †¢Successful courses balance the challenge to think critically with supporting students’’developmental needs. †¢Courses should be assignment centered rather than text and lecture centered.Goals, methods and evaluation emphasize using content rather than simply acquiring it. †¢Students are required to formulate their ideas in writing or other appropriate means. †¢Students should collaborate to learn and to stretch their thinking, for example, in pair problem solving and small group work. †¢Courses that teach problem-solving skills nurture students’ metacognitive abilities. †¢The developmental needs of students are acknowledged and used as information in the design of the course. Teachers in these courses make standards explicit and then help students learn how to achieve them. Syllabus Functions: Establishes an early point of contact and connection between student and instructor †¢Describes your beliefs about educational purposes †¢Acquaints students with the logistics of the syllabus †¢Contains collected handouts †¢Defines student responsibilities for successful course work †¢Describes active learning †¢Helps students to assess their readiness for your syllabus †¢Sets the course in a broader context for learning †¢Provides a conceptual framework †¢Describes available learning resources †¢Communicates the role of techn ology in the course †¢Can improve the effectiveness of student note-taking Can include material that supports learning outside the classroom †¢Can serve as a learning contract Checklist Syllabus Design: †¢Title Page †¢Table of Contents †¢Instructor Information †¢Letter to the Student †¢Purpose of the Course †¢Course Description †¢Course and Unit Objectives †¢Resources †¢Readings †¢Course Calendar †¢Course Requirements †¢Evaluation †¢Grading Procedures †¢How to Use the Syllabus †¢How to Study for This Course †¢Content Information †¢Learning Tools Course Objectives: †¢What will the students know and be able to do as a result of having taken this course? What levels of cognitive thinking are required from students to engage in? †¢What learning skills will the students develop in the course? †¢Instructional Approaches: †¢Given the kind of learning I'd like to encourage and foster, what kinds of instructional interactions need to occur? Teacher-student, student-student, student-peer tutor? †¢What kinds of instructional approaches are most conducive to helping students accomplish set learning objectives? †¢How will classroom interactions be facilitated? In-class? Out-of-class? Online? Electronic discussion? Newsgroups? Chatroom?Course Requirements, Assignments: †¢What will students be expected to do in the course? †¢What kinds of assignments, tests do most appropriately reflect the course objectives? †¢Do assignments and tests bring forth the kind of learning I want to foster? Assignments (frequency, timing, sequence)? Tests? Quizzes? Exams? Papers? Special projects? Laboratories? Field trips? Learning logs? Journals? Oral presentations? Research on the web? Web publishing? Electronic databases? †¢What kinds of skills do the students need to have in order to be successful in the course? Computer literacy?Research skills? Wr iting skills? Communication skills? Conflict resolution skills? Familiarity with software? Course Policies: †¢What is expected of the student? Attendance? Participation? Student responsibility in their learning? Contribution to group work? Missed assignments? Late work? Extra credit? Academic dishonesty? Makeup policy? Classroom management issues? Laboratory safety? Grading, Evaluation: †¢How will the students' work be graded and evaluated? Number of tests? In-class? Take-home? Point value? Proportion of each test toward final grade? Grading scale? How is the final grade determined? Drop lowest grade? †¢How do students receive timely feedback on their performance? Instructor? Self-assessment? Peer review? Peer tutors? Opportunities for improvement? Ungraded assignments? Texts/Resources/Readings/Supplies: †¢What kinds of materials will be used during the course? Electronic databases? Electronic Course Reserve? Course Webpage? Software? Simulations? Laboratory equi pment? †¢What kinds of instructional technologies will be used? †¢Course Calendar: †¢In what sequence will the content be taught? When are major assignments due?Fieldtrips? Guestspeaker? Schedule for Term Examination? Result? Vacations? †¢Study Tips/Learning Resources: †¢How will the student be most successful in the course? †¢What resources are available? Online quiz generator? Study guides? Lecture notes online? Lecture notes on reserve in library? Guestspeaker to explain/demonstrate online resources? TA? Peer tutors? Study groups? Academic Services Center? Writing Center? Evaluation of online resources? Citation of web resources? Student Feedback on Instruction: †¢Anonymous suggestion box on the web and E-mail. Student feedback at midterm for instructional improvement purposes. †¢End-of-term student feedback. Supplement to departmental student feedback form. Bibliography 1. Brumfit, C. J. and Johnson, K. (1979) The Communicative Approach To Language Teaching. Oxford University Press. 2. Hutchinson, T. and Waters, A. (1987) English For Specific Purposes: A Learning Centred Approach. Cambridge University Press. 3. Long, R. W. and Russell, G. (1999) â€Å"Student Attitudinal Change over an Academic Year†. The Language Teacher. Cambridge University Press. 4. Nunan, D. (1988) Syllabus Design.Oxford University Press. 5. Prabhu, N. S. (1987) Second Language Pedagogy. Oxford University Press. 6. Richards, J. C. and Rodgers, T. S. (1986) Approaches And Methods In Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. 7. White, R. V. (1988) The ELT Curriculum: Design, Innovation And Management. Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 8. Widdowson, H. G. (1978) Teaching Language As Communication. Oxford University Press.. 9. Wilkins, D. A. (1976) Notional Syllabuses. Oxford University Press. 10. Yalden, J. (1987) Principles of Course Design for Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.