King Leopolds Ghost Essays -- English Literature Essays

King Leopold's Ghost Out of sight mind is very convenient. If we don’t see what is really going on it is easier for us as consumers to sleep at night. Capitalism, colonialism and slavery are still practiced today, but in foreign countries and in a different manner. Before reading King Leopold’s Ghost, when I thought of slavery I thought of the transatlantic slave trade or Africans working as slaves in the US. After reading the book my eyes were open to a whole new perspective on slavery, capitalism and colonialism. When buying a product from a local store, one rarely inquires of the origin of the product’s raw materials as well as the working conditions / living conditions of the employees who created it. Our clothes, toys, accessories, and many other items have more history than we decide to realize. Take the designer imitation shoes you bought on sale from Payless for $10. Did ever wonder why or how you could get such a â€Å"Great Deal!† If the tag says â€Å"MADE IN CHINA†, it was produced for very cheap labor possibly by children working and living in conditions we would find unbearable for ourselves. In a way it is slavery, because in poor countries jobs are often scarce and pay is bad. If you have a job you will go to extremes to keep it, not because you like the job, but because you need it to survive. The owner of the business knows that and therefore he or she has a control over your life. This form of slavery is linked directly to capitalism and communism first b ecaus...

Home Schooling And Educating Children At Home

One of the major advantages of homeschooling is that it allows parents to be profoundly involved in the instruction of their kid. Lyman ( 1998 ) and Mayberry ( 1988 ) suggest that parents are interested in homeschooling their kids because of the turning perceptual experience that the school system is unequal in developing kids into high winners and that many schools by and big deliver standardized instruction without respect to the person ‘s endowment and potency. Lyman ( 1998 ) and Mayberry ( 1988 ) write that by supplying their undivided attending to their kids, they are in a better place to acknowledge their kid ‘s possible and promote the kid. In a survey by Lines ( 1991 ) , it was found that about three fourths of the parents who home schooled their kids besides prepared their ain instruction stuffs. Furthermore, in a survey comparing the public presentation of homeschooled kids with the regularly schooled kids, it was found that the former outperformed the latter on many steps ( Ray & A ; Wartes, 1991 as cited in Abell, 2002 ) The 2nd advantage of place schooling is that parents can avoid the disadvantages of modern twenty-four hours public instruction ( Clark, 1994 ) . Clark ( 1994 ) suggests that parents are progressively concerned that many public schools have a batch of offense and other bad pupils can negatively act upon their kids. He suggests that parents feel that because drug usage and force is increasing in many public schools, they are better able to guarantee the safety of their kids by educating them at place. Therefore by homeschooling their kids, parents can guarantee the safety of their kids. Homeschooling is non without its disadvantages and one of the normally quoted disadvantages is that place schooling consumes a batch of clip and the parents do non hold any clip for other activities. For illustration, if a kid has to be homeschooled, one of the parents has to give up work and pass a big portion of the twenty-four hours in learning and tutoring the kid. This may put a major load on the parent and may take to feelings of depression, ennui etc. Furthermore, because the parent may or may non be qualified adequate to learn the kid, he or she may non be in a place to learn every bit good as the instructors in a school where there are different instructors for different topics and are hired by the school based on their makings. The 2nd disadvantage of place schooling is that parents feel that they are paying revenue enhancements and other responsibilities, which go into making public schools, and if they do n't direct their kids to these schools, it would be a waste of the money spent. A related ground is that many parents feel that schools have many installations like research labs and playgrounds that place schooled kids do non hold entree to and hence miss out on several chances to larn and socialise ( Abell, 2002 ) . Another disadvantage of homeschooling is that societal cost of place schooling. Diana Jenkins writes that kids feel the demand to socialise and a major portion of their development is in their ability to interact with other kids of their ain age group. She suggests that kids who are place schooled are non in a place to interact with other kids and frequently feel that they are losing out on a really of import experience. Furthermore, Jenkins besides suggests that a major portion of acquisition is the ability to larn while taking the positions of others into consideration. She suggests that homeschooled kids do non hold the luxury of taking into history other pupils ‘ thoughts and sentiments and hence stop up with cognition that is merely in one way. It appears from the above reappraisal that homeschooling has more disadvantages than advantages and that it may be better for the kids to go to schools than stay at place and survey. However, because many parents feel that public schools have many disadvantages, their concerns can be removed by making better place school partnerships. While traditionally parents have merely dropped their kids at school, and participated in some pupil parent meets, some bookmans have suggested that schools can affect the parents more by back uping them with better instruction resources which they can utilize at place to do place tutoring by them more interesting, and besides ask foring parents to school to take part in synergistic activities with instructors so that instructors can besides profit from some of the cognition that parents have. Another suggestion is that better communicating channels should be created between instructors and parents so that the instructors are cognizant if the kid is tra veling through a hard stage and is underachieving because of that ground, and likewise parents are cognizant if the kid is holding some interaction jobs at school because of some issues at place. This manner the environment at both the school and place can better ( Patrikakau, 2005 ) . Therefore, it is clear from the above the place schooling is popular among many parents because of the feeling among them that public schools have many jobs like offense and make non pay single attending to the pupils like the parents can. However it is besides clear that because parents can non supply many installations like research labs and resort areas and can non assist them with societal interactions with friends and schoolmates, homeschooling may non be a really good thought. It appears that both schools and parents can profit from better coaction between parents and instructors where parents experience safe about their kids and instructors can profit from cognizing more about the pupils from the parents.

Evaluation of Evolutionary Theory of Altruism and the Role of Genes-a Modern View Essay

Evolutionary theory holds that organisms with the strongest genes for survival and reproduction do, in fact, survive and reproduce most successfully. They thus multiply their genes most widely, spreading the advantageous genes through whole populations. Ceaseless repetitions of the process can gradually transform species into totally new ones. Such a world seems to have no place for self-sacrificing types, who presumably couldn’t spread their genes very far. Several competing theories attempt to solve the puzzle. One is that groups with cooperative members out compete groups with selfish ones, and thus spread their niceness genes, in a scaled-up version of the process by which genetically favored individuals trump other individuals. Variants of this notion have gained popularity in the past decade, although it fell from favor earlier, as it has some trouble explaining how altruism got a foothold in the first place. The origin of altruism and cooperation is an enigma because evolutionary theory seems to predict such behavior should be rare or nonexistent. Yet some forms of altruism, conscious or not, are widely documented in creatures as humble as insects and bacteria. Evolutionary theory attempts to explain the evolution of aiding others in two general ways: 1. It argues that genes favoring altruism can spread in future generations if their costs to altruists’ personal reproductive success is outweighed by the benefits in reproductive success of altruists’ relatives carrying copies of the same genes (‘kin selection’). The ratio of these indirect benefits through relatives, versus costs to oneself, needs to be greater the less closely the altruist is related to those helped – i. . , the lower the likelihood the altruist will be helping copies of their genes in the other. 2. It proposes that genes favoring altruism could spread if the altruism is sufficiently reciprocated (‘reciprocal altruism’) (Axelrod, R. & Hamilton, 1981). Biological Altruism versus Psychological Altruism Charles Darwin theorized that all species behave in ways that increase their chances for survival. Often, this survival instinct expresses itself as selfish behavior. Humans (and some animals), however, frequently ignore their personal interests and help others—a behavior called altruism. In volutionary biology, an organism is said to behave altruistically when its behavior benefits other organisms, at a cost to itself. The costs and benefits are measured in terms of reproductive fitness, or expected number of offspring. So by behaving altruistically, an organism reduces the number of offspring it is likely to produce itself, but boosts the number that other organisms are likely to produce. This biological notion of altruism is not identical to the everyday concept. In everyday parlance, an action would only be called ‘altruistic’ if it was done with the conscious intention of helping another. But in the biological sense there is no such requirement. Indeed, some of the most interesting examples of biological altruism are found among creatures that are not capable of conscious thought at all, e. g. insects. Altruistic behavior is common throughout the animal kingdom, particularly in species with complex social structures. For example, Vervet monkeys give alarm calls to warn fellow monkeys of the presence of predators, even though in doing so they attract attention to themselves, increasing their personal chance of being attacked. In social insect colonies (ants, wasps, bees and termites), sterile workers devote their whole lives to caring for the queen, constructing and protecting the nest, foraging for food, and tending the larvae. Such behavior is maximally altruistic: sterile workers obviously do not leave any offspring of their own — so have personal fitness of zero — but their actions greatly assist the reproductive efforts of the queen. Human altruism goes far beyond that which has been observed in the animal world. Among animals, fitness-reducing acts that confer fitness benefits on other individuals are largely restricted to kin groups (Trivers, 1971)(Axelrod & Hamilton, 1981). Where human behavior is concerned, the distinction between biological altruism, defined in terms of fitness consequences, and ‘real’ altruism, defined in terms of the agent’s conscious intentions to help others, does make sense. (Sometimes the label ‘psychological altruism’ is used instead of ‘real’ altruism. ) What is the relationship between these two concepts? They appear to be independent in both directions ( Sober, 1994). An action performed with the conscious intention of helping another human being may not affect their biological fitness at all, so would not count as altruistic in the biological sense. Most often, evolutionary psychologists explain the presence of social behavior like altruism in humans and other animals by reference to kin selection. Kin selection is the idea that natural selective pressures can favor a gene if it provides a trait that makes one’s relatives more likely to survive because that relative likely carries many of the same ( Dawkins, 1976) . Ultimately, I tend to find arguments for kin selection unconvincing for a whole host of reasons, among them: There’s seldom any consideration of the neural mechanisms that might be responsible, only the assumption that the ‘gene’ will cause altruistic behavior if it is favorable to the gene’s transmission and the most recent findings with the function of neurotransmitters like dopamine, serotonin and norepinepinephrine along with others prove there is no validity to kin selection and giving importance to individual affect and emotions including the feeling of euphoria in being altruist. ) An inability to explain why, if natural selection cares about our close relatives so much, our ‘altruism gene’ couldn’t be much more selective about who we feel altruistic about . ) The kin selection perspective tends to take an adaptationist view of natural selection, assuming that organic variation can easily produce candidate ‘adaptations’ to suit any environment and that all traits of an organism are necessarily adaptive (when, in fact, it’s a whole organism that is selected, not each individual trait, and traits are often connected genetically so that selection might be acting on another trait produced by the same gene) (Haldane , 1955). ) The problem of how closely related we need to be to kin for our altruism to really be a selective advantage if we are in competition with each other is frightening (Goldschmidt, 2006). The evolutionary process can generate behaviors that can be experienced in the evolutionary process but whose meaning can be completely detached from its original biological motivation. Let’s say that the evolutionary process produced a set of prompts in females, say big breast, which at the time were a sign of a woman’s ability to produce more milk for her babies (more kids they can produce and feed, the more genes will propagate, so men instinctively desire to want to mate with these females ). Lets now imagine that these females became sterile and the obsession for big breast had nothing to do with its original motivation. Taking from such observations we can say that a behavior which probably has been natural selection in the evolutionary process as Darwinian view suggests. However the same behavior may develop new motivations and may lose original evolutionary purpose altogether. For instance, it is entirely possible that pleasurable sex originated because organisms that â€Å"felt good† having sex had more of it and thus passed on more genes. Sex today serves entirely different role and in most cases is entirely unrelated to childbearing in humans. To trace altruistic behaviors in humans to evolutionary history based entirely on Darwinian concepts of reproductive success does not grab the trends in its entirety. It is possible that throughout the course of evolution certain nervous systems bound tightly with others for reproductive success reasons. However, it should be kept in mind that altruism is a set of behavioral concepts that originated in the things we can study and use as objects of exploration. True altruism can likely be a rewarding behavior that has little to do with its original biological altruism. Certain behaviors which give a greater chance of propagating our genes are likely to make us feel good so that people who feel good about such actions may have more offsprings. If a mother felt good about saving her kid, it is possible her brain is organized in a way that she feels good saving another kid who is not hers. However, we can say nothing about the question of why it makes us feel good, unless we undertake the task of finding the mechanism of both the biological evolutionary reasons as well as cultural components which caused the changes in the brain. The brain is structured in such a way that the feeling of compassion can be felt within its manifestation (limbic system, prefrontal cortex along with neurotransmitters dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine)(Moore, 1984). We can say that there are lot of levels of organization between original evolutionary purpose and its eventual expression. Some of the most fundamental questions concerning evolutionary origins of altruism and selfishness need to be dealt with a multifactorial approach. Experimental evidence indicates that human altruism is a powerful force and is unique in the animal world. However, there is much individual heterogeneity among altruists . Current gene-based evolutionary theories cannot explain all important patterns of human altruism, pointing towards the importance of both theories of cultural evolution as well as gene–culture co-evolution. For evolutionary scientists, altruism is one of the great mysteries: it feels good, is linked to better mental and physical health, and is intrinsic to who we are, yet no one can quite explain how it evolved. The Feel-Good Chemicals and Altruism Now a new study suggests that altruism may be partly guided by genes that regulate the neurotransmitter dopamine — the one linked to craving, pleasure, and reward. Dopamine, referred to as a neurotransmitter in the brain’s reward mechanism, can be artificially released at very high levels by drugs such as heroin and cocaine, leading to euphoria. If altruism operates along the same lines, it would mean that the altruist gets the same feeling, albeit at much lower volume, as a cocaine user. The feeling becomes an incentive to help others again. Dopamine is widespread in the brain as well as the rest of the nervous system and plays a very important role in pleasure, love, libido, motivation, salience and integration of thoughts and feelings. This neurotransmitter plays a critical role in the control of movement. It has a stimulating effect on the heart, the circulation, the rate of metabolism, and is able to mobilize many of the body’s energy reserves. It helps to modulate brain activity, control coordination and movement, and regulate the flow of information to different areas of the brain. Dopamine is believed to release chemicals that allow us to feel pleasure (e. g. , endorphins). A massive disturbance of dopamine regulation in the brain can result in a person no longer being able to respond emotionally or express his or her feelings in an appropriate way (e. g. , schizophrenia). Our brains release favorable hits of dopamine when we engage in selfless behavior. Some individuals may be more genetically predisposed to altruism than others and that could be based on individual neurochemistry. This can be explained with the evidence from neuroscience. It’s said that altruism results in elevated serotonin levels as well. Serotonin happens to be the most widely studied neurotransmitter since it helps regulate a vast range of psychological and biological functions. Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) was first identified in 1948. The wide extent of psychological functions regulated by serotonin involves mood, anxiety, arousal, aggression, impulse control, and thinking abilities. Other brain chemicals, such as dopamine and norepinephrine, also influence mood and arousal along with serotonin. It is said that altruism results in elevated serotonin levels. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter and also a neuromodulator for dopamine. It can mobilize the energy reserve of the body and aid in maintaining dopamine function in brain circuits of mood and thought; mesocortical and mesolimbic pathways. Dopamine has 5 receptors and subsets of dopamine genes vary in the general population, and the study finds that a specific, common subtype is highly linked to altruistic behavior. The research, conducted at Hebrew University and other centers, was published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry in 2005. Psychologists and geneticists looked at 354 families with more than one child, measuring the individuals’ tendencies to ignore their own needs and serve the needs of others — a trait associated within dopamine genes. They then analyzed the individuals’ dopamine receptors for well-known variations, or genotypes. Their fascinating findings: the most common genetic subtype — known as the D4. 4 — was significantly linked to altruistic behavior, regardless of whether the receiver was a relative. But in general, say the scientists, this gives us the first hard evidence that many of us are indeed â€Å"hardwired† for giving. It may be that generosity feels good because it is rewarded by spikes in dopamine. The scientists even speculate that further research could reveal variations in dopamine genes that favor generosity to kin, and others that favor giving to all and thus these neurotransmitter studies give us latest information regarding both an excellent counter-argument to the ‘selfish gene’ hypothesis as well as a much more persuasive account of the possible evolutionary origins of altruism than the typical explanation like kin selection (Neimark, 2006).

Improving Organizational Retention Essay

As an independent consultant hired to improve retention issues at JC’s Casino concerning dealers and housekeeping I will look at this as two separate entities. The casino owner needs the quickest fix possible and I must look at the area first causing the most issues with the customers. Though there is a fast turnover of dealers there are enough employees to cover this area for the time being. The first issue is the housekeeping staff because it is causing customers to have to wait on their rooms until six in the evening. This can cause loss of revenue by customers moving to other casino hotels where they can check in at a reasonable time and this in turn could cause loss of revenue at the gambling tables. The first person I will meet with is the HR director, Tom Sneed, to see how the company process of hiring is done and if there is a job analysis directive with requirements and training procedures in place. Tom Sneed said applicants are sent through the local unemployment office, and apply through newspaper ads. The job application is a standard application with previous jobs, history, and education. The applications are passed to Andrew Keen for approval or disapproval. There is a job analysis in place for requirements from bending and lifting, to chemicals used in the cleaning process, and training videos. Each floor has carts set up to cover all the required products for each room; this is checked by the director of housekeeping each day and refilled as needed. All products are on carts, including boxes of gloves for protection for the housekeepers. As the director of housekeeping, Andrew Keen is responsible for staffing, scheduling the employees, keeping the housekeeping budget in check, keeping up with new policies, and initiating the new policies (Education Portal, 2012). As there has been a tremendous staffing issue with absenteeism and high turnovers, we need to see where the shortcomings are in this department. Keen does not think there are any issues within the company for the position, but that it is just hard to find good help. The hotel consists of 15 floors with 20 rooms on each floor except the top floor, which has eight suites. Each floor has two housekeepers per floor with each employee required to clean up to 10 rooms a day on his or her shifts if the hotel is full. The top floor employees are required to clean up to four suites a day on their shift. I introduce myself to the employees who are working and ask for a list of those who are not in for the day. I call all the employees off for the day to come in and request the employees who are at work to stay after for a meeting when they are done with their shift. I am setting up food trays and drinks from the kitchen plus paying them for the time at the meeting. I start out the meeting by explaining who I am, letting them know that any comments made to me about their dissatisfaction in the job is confidential. They will fill out a questionnaire on why they think there is such a huge turnover of employees in housekeeping, what they see as a way to fix it, and any dissatisfaction with the job. I let them know that the questionnaires are for my eyes only and I will assemble a list of issues myself, which I will take to the director of housekeeping and possibly on up the ladder to the owner. Occupational Stressors and Job Satisfaction The immediate items I notice from the questionnaires are extreme dissatisfaction with their supervisor Keehn. The list includes everything from watering down the cleaning supplies so much it does not clean or sanitize properly, to shortages on sheets and towels to scheduling issues. The employees believe that Keehn is trying to keep under budget to make him-self look good. Scheduling issues are not enough hours and refusing to work with anyone on scheduling needs. The 22 employees who were at the meeting said they get into trouble by Keehn if he sees them talking to each other or trying to help someone else get his or her rooms done. Job control stressors can be lack of control over your work, lack of recognition for work done, harassment, lack of respect from supervisors, and isolation from fellow employees to name a few (CWA, 2009). Each of these factors is all stressors with the housekeeping staff. Over all there is very little job satisfaction with the company because of all the negative issues. Those who are here would leave if they found another job with better scheduling and a better supervisor. Several of the employees suggested Rhonda Jordan should be the director of housekeeping. She has been here longer than anyone, knows the ins and outs of the company, always has a kind word, and has good communication skills. Many of the employees go to her for help instead of Keehn. I go back to HR with Tom Sneed and discuss with him the issue of the dealers quitting and look over the exit interviews on those who bothered to do one before they left. Mr. Sneed said that some of the dealers in the step-sons Joe’s pit have walked out during their breaks because of his attitude. He has a tendency to belittle the dealers and make the customers angrier instead of defusing a bad situation. His paperwork is haphazard and the accounting office is always calling him in to explain his paperwork to them. Two Work Motivation Theories The issues with the housekeepers and the dealers both stem from issues with their immediate supervisors. Using the goal-setting theory and reinforcement theory I am in hopes that the casino president will put into effect immediately the outline I have to present to him. The foremost and most important fix needs to be the housekeeping staff so that customers can check in at the normal industry standard time of three in the afternoon instead of six. After talking to Keehn and his denials of the accusations by his underlings and not taking any responsibility for any part of the housekeeping staff leaving, I will suggest that Andrew Keehn be fired and the position offered to Rhonda Jordan, who is an intelligent, warm, and job-oriented person. The employees all look up to her and respect her. Rhonda and I discussed in detail ways to keep the employees they do have and ways to hire and keep new employees. Goal setting will be to replace Keehn with Ms. Jordan, to make sure all cleaning products are up to standard market mixes, to have each cart filled for what each person needs and ready each morning, and to even out scheduling with fairness to each employee. New procedures need to be set in place, employee teamwork will be applauded, and all employees will help each other every day until all can go home at the same time, basically no employee left behind. To further enhance the housekeeping staff to come to work on their scheduled times we will offer a reinforcement of a free meal for a family of four in the hotel restaurant for every 30 days of scheduling each person does not call in and arrives at work on time. Until enough staff is hired all staff employees on the payroll will get an incentive of paid hours off for each room past 10 they clean during a workday. We want the employees here to feel as if they are important to the company by reinforcing the hard work they do. After talking to Joe, the pit boss, he knows that he is not cut out for the job he is in. He has admitted the stress of all the paperwork and the constant spotlight put on him by the customers and dealers is just not for him. He has agreed to go to his stepfather and tell him that he is not satisfied with the position and wants to move to head of security because the head of security is retiring in 30 days. For the employees under Joe who have stayed through his supervising an incentive check of 100 hundred dollars for each month they have been here will be given to them as a thank you and reinforcement to them as employees that they are valued. A new supervisor will be found and put into the position with the abilities to get the job done with good and appropriate communication skills. As a further reinforcement to let employees know they are valued, an employee suggestion box will be hung by the time clock. Counterproductive Employee Behavior The employee behavior is walking out on-the-job, calling in to work, and general turnover of employees which cost time and money to retrain new employees. The outline above will help with employee behavior by putting new supervisors in the positions needed that can act professional, fairly, and treat the employees with respect. Giving the employees incentives will also help with keeping the employees here until all positions and staff are put into place. Conclusion Common job facets include pay, supervision, job conditions, and communication to name a few (Spector, 2012). With this as a prelim, JC’s Casino hopes to fix the issues that are making the employees leave the job by getting better supervisors who are open to ideas from the employees, who show respect to the employees and are not short on praise when employees do a good job. Taking away some of the stressors of the job should help with job retention.

MegaCities Essay Essay

Mega Cities are cities that have a population of more than 8 million and are characterised by the challenges they face, including issues involving the informal economy, unemployment, poor sanitation and shelter. These issues are largely prominent in these cities due to rapid urban growth and a lack of resources. In many cases action has been taken by national governments and non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) to combat and reduce the impact of these issues, however In order for these strategies to be effective they need to fit 3 primary criteria, the solution must be community based, cost effective and sustainable economically and environmentally. Strategies such as micro financing.. Etc. have been adopted to resolve these challenged. A primary challenge facing many mega cities is the population’s heavy reliance on the informal economy as a means of income. The informal economy is a sector of unregulated work and with this comes high unemployment rates and a lack of jobs to support the ever-increasing population. Jobs in the informal economy are particularly prominent in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where 65% of all jobs are found in this sector. Jobs in the informal economy pose a threat to mega cities and their population as workers are not protected and are open to exploitation (e.g. Child labour) and people employed informally pay no tax (e.g. Street vendors, rickshaw drivers) leading to a reduction in the governments revenue. A number of strategies have been undertaken in order to transform informal work into the formal economy, including Micro financing. Micro financing involves NGO’s giving out small loans (approximately $US200), which provide people with money to formalise their business. There are a number of NGO’s that undertake this strategy, including Opportunity International, which is an Australian charity, operating in manila, targeting particularly impoverished communities. Access to these loans is based on a persons standing in the community and once the business begins to sustain itself loans must be repaid. The outcome of this process is a formalised business, which then contributes to government  beneficially by providing it with revenue. This strategy to combat the prominence of the informal economy has been particularly successful, adheres to the three evaluation criteria and provides users with lifetime skills and an income, which could potentially improve their living standards/quality of life. Another challenge faced by a large majority of mega cities is access to shelter, due to population growth in mega cities being too extreme for sufficient supply of housing. This in turn leads to the creation of informal housing, such as squatter settlements, which are generally formed on unoccupied unwanted land, such as next to rail lines or sewerage systems. Informal housing is extremely prominent in developing countries such as India, where 500,000 people live on the pavement in Kolkata with at least 4 million more living in squatter settlements; as well as 1 million people living in cemeteries in Cairo, and  ¼ of the Philippines population residing in slums. This informal housing creates a number of problems for its residents and government; it lacks basic services (sewerage, electricity, water), leading to unsanitary living conditions. There is a lack of tenure, which is the legal right to occupy land, which stops residents from wanting to improve property, insecurity for people and also extremely high crime rates particularly in the Favelas of Rio de Janiero where the police are unable to patrol, due to extreme gang violence. NGO’s and governments have undertaken strategies to improve the issue of lack of access to shelter, including the Kolkata Bustee Improvement Project, a joint initiative between government and non-government organisations. This is a site and service program meaning that the project takes an existing site and provides it with necessary services, such as sanitation, electricity etc. This program in turn reduces the cost burden on local government and creates jobs by incorporating the local community into the work. This movement has tried to stop India’s slum clearance policy, which frees up NGO’s to be able to assist the extreme urban poor. This movement has proved to be extremely successful in improving the shelter situation in Kolkata as it improves the living standard of squatter settlement dwellers, provides jobs and skills to the local community (therefore adding to the formal not informal economy) and also allows NGO’s to be able to assist the poor as they were previously  restricted by government policies. Another benefit is that it is cost effective because it aims to improve existing settlements and creates tenure. Access to sanitation is another key challenge faced by many Mega Cities that is, providing safe food and drinking water and sewerage management. Due to increasing populations, inadequate and ancient sewerage systems and also lack of access to fresh water many Mega Cities face sanitation issues. This issue is particularly prominent in cities such as Manila, where only 11% of people have access to a sewerage system, Karachi at 20% and Dhaka at 18% of the population. Water Borne diseases are particularly prominent in megacities, such as Cholera, Dysentery and Typhoid. Furthermore the disposal of solid waste in Mega cities has lead to issues involving contamination of groundwater and creating Vernon, this is common of Jakarta where only  ¼ of all rubbish gets collected. To combat the issue of sanitation, local governments and NGO’s have established very effective, low-tech strategies, such as the Pour Flush Toilet. This initiative is a relatively cheap response to the needs of unplanned urban settlements in mega cities. A pour flush toilet has a water seal that avoids the problems associated with odour and insects. However its effectiveness is limited by the fact that the system is not suitable in cities where the groundwater table is close to the surface, which is the case in many mega cities, including Mumbai and Kolkata in India and Dhaka in Bangladesh. Also, pour flush toilets can produce substantial quantities of heavily contaminated wastewater which can require substantial downstream infrastructure to avoid severe environmental and public health problems. Despite the disadvantages of this strategy it has proved to be a very successful short term solution to the issue of sanitation and is widely used in Mega Cities around the world, due to the fact that they are simple to use and can be kept clean fairly easily. Mega Cities face many challenges; largely due to their high population increase rate. They therefore need to develop a number of solutions and strategies to combat these prominent issues, such as the informal economy, access to shelter and access to sanitation. If action is not taken to confront these issues they will only become more consequential, leading to more deaths and further environmental and land degradation. Governments and  NGO’s continually need to create strategies to solve these issues and their efforts so far have proved to be extremely beneficial in improving the quality of life of residents of Mega cities, as they fit the three primary criteria needed for solutions to be effective.

The Moldau

Connie Ju| [The Moldau] Smetana | Year 11 Music 2 Musicology Essay| | Smetana’s Moldau is a musical portrayal of the main river which runs through the countryside of Bohemia (present day Czech Republic). The piece begins with a sweet one bar theme that is played by two solo flutes, representing the trickle of a small creek. The soft melody played in piano and â€Å"lusingando†, which means to be played in a coaxing style, convey the delicate and smoothness of the water.The ascending semi-quavers accompanied with a slight crescendo at the beginning of the phrase as well as a two quaver rests at the end of the bar create a rippling effect, symbolising the slight waves of a stream. Furthermore, the lone plucked pizzicato quavers by the strings add small splashes of colour to decorate the continuously flowing melody of the airy flutes. The light, fluttering tone colour of the solo flutes and the thin texture portray the clear appearance of the water as it makes its way acro ss the land.Bar 1 -2 (solo flutes) Bar 1 -2 (accompanying strings) The first bar theme is repeated to become the basis of this extract, however there are also variations of the theme were the starting note is changed to indicate a different scenery or perhaps some animals, such as small fishes, that are swimming through the water that make the river full of life. Bar 5 (repeat of the theme)Bar 8 (variation of theme) Bar 10 (variation of theme)The texture of this work begins as very thin as there are only solo flutes that play the melody that portray the simple and tiny stream accompanied with light pizzicato of strings that add to the tone colour. This means that the start of this piece is played in a thin homophonic texture. Bar 1 -4 (homophony) However, when the texture at bar 16 is compared to the first four bars, it is thicker as there is the addition of clarinets that play an alternate melody. This new melody is in a contrary motion to the existing flute melody and plucking st rings which represent widening of the tiny creek so the water is moving a bit more wildly.The polyphonic texture consists of two major layers and the randomly placed pizzicato chords which are a reminder of water’s unpredictable motions. Bar 16 (flutes, clarinets, strings – polyphonic texture) The two small rivers that make up the larger Moldau meets at bar 28 where the clarinets stop for a bar and the violas begin their melody. This short bar acts as a bridge, the connection where the bodies of water finally merge to create a great river. The bigger river in bar 29 is conveyed by the three different layers, flutes, clarinets, and violas.Continuous semi-quavers that rise and fall in pitch still represent the fluidity and continuity of the water but now the extra layer means that the river is wilder with bigger waves and other movements. Bar 28 (melodies played by flutes and strings) Bar 29-30 (flutes, clarinets, viola) Bar 36 sees even more layers as the strings begin to play the flowing melody of the river. The start of the larger body of water is indicated by a strong perfect cadence by the lower strings (bar 36). At the widest point of the river, bar 40, the whole orchestra plays.All the instruments playing together expresses the notion that this is the climax of the river and it is wildest at this point. The wind instruments, however, play a slower melody of slurred crochets and quavers with a drawn out crescendo and the instruction of â€Å"dolce†. The new melody presents the idea that the river is experiencing different landscapes, such as quiet, peaceful pastoral lands or rolling hills in the distance. This polyphonic texture continues until the end of the excerpt. These additional tone colours further build upon the majestic nature of the river as well as its more powerful movements.Bar 36-37 (increased layers) Bar 40 (different melodies, thick texture) The dynamics of this piece correspondingly represent the growth of the river. I n both bars 1 and 2, there is a lone crescendo plus an accent, this is the river just starting out so it is not very dramatic compared to bar 20 and 21 where there is a crescendo and a decrescendo within one bar. Moreover, in bars 41-42, not only are there crescendos and decrescendos but the additional sforzando sign.The â€Å"p† for piano in the bar directly after (bar 43) simply adds to the tempestuous nature of the water as there are more dramatic things happening in a faster-flowing large river. Bar 1 (slight crescendo, â€Å"lusingando†, accent, â€Å"p†) Bar 20-21 (crescendo and descrendo) Bars 41-43 (dramatic dynamics) The tone colour of the instruments also changes as the river grows. The solo flutes at the beginning create a sweet, airy, light sound of a stream but the orchestral playing altogether from bar 40 onwards makes a stormy sound much like the torrents of a wild river.Having the lower strings playing the melody instead of the winds depicts the strength of the matured river compared to the higher pitched flutes that represented the fragility and daintiness of a stream. Bar 40 (full orchestra playing – polyphonic texture and extra tone colour) This musical program by Smetana artistically conveys the development of the iconic Moldau River through the use of various techniques such as texture, structure, rhythm, tone colour, and dynamics. He is able to represent all the aspects of the constantly moving river, beginning with a delicate stream and finishing with a majestic river. Word Count: 940

You are what you eat Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

You are what you eat - Research Paper Example Ecological footprint calculators ask things such as how much of each kind of meat you might eat in a given week and where do you purchase your food, whether it's at a natural foods store, a local farmer's market or a chain grocery store. Two types of food that can increase your ecological footprint are beef and prepackaged frozen meals. Beef comes from cows and cows hurt the earth in many ways including producing high amounts of methane, polluting freshwater with their excrement, ruining topsoil with their grazing, and requiring a lot of grain to produce the meat we eat. Prepackaged frozen food uses the original resources necessary to create that food to begin with - whether its fish or chicken or vegetables - and then compounds the problem by processing that food for transportation to a manufacturing plant where it is all put together in packages that use more resources and then frozen using more resources. Once everything is ready to be stored, more resources need to be used to kee p the frozen packages frozen as they are shipped to wherever they will be sold, to keep them frozen in the store, and then to keep them frozen in our homes until we're ready to eat them. Then we have to use electricity to heat them and usually end up throwing the packaging away instead of recycling it. To understand this concept better, I chose to analyze the ecological footprint of eating Fritos Bean Dip.