Environment, soil survey and land suitability assessment for Coursework

Environment, soil survey and land suitability assessment for conservation management - Coursework Example Center of discussion in this paper is a land-use as a kind of land use which is described in terms of its products as well as management practices. For efficient reconnaissance surveys being conducted at the national levels, highly generalized descriptions may be adequate i.e. â€Å"wildlife habitat†, â€Å"forestry conservation†. At district as well as lower levels, it is vital to specify the use in more details. Such descriptions usually serve two purposes. First they are the basis of determining the requirements for use. Secondly, the management specifications can be used as the basis for the extension services as well as the planning for the necessary inputs. The particular land use requirements are usually illustrated by the land qualities required for the sustained production. A land quality is a very complex attribute of land which usually has a direct effect on the land use. The various examples are the availability of water, nutrients, rooting conditions and er osion hazards. Most of the given lands qualities are determined by the interaction of the several land characteristics as well as measurable attributes of a land. For example, the quality â€Å"availability of water† is usually determined by the potential balance between the water demand as well as the water supply. The water demand is the potential evaporation from the surface of the crop as well as the soil whereas the water supply is determined by the rainfall, infiltration, water storage in the soil and the ability of the grassland to extract the stored water. After selection of the relevant land qualities, it is vital to decide which particular land characteristics are to be used for measuring them. For instance, the quality â€Å"erosion hazard† demands information on rainfall intensity, slope angle as well as soil properties. A compromise is then reached between the characteristics that most define the given land quality with those that are less precise. Land evaluation can also at times be conducted directly in terms of the land characteristics i.e. by using rainfall as opposed to water availability, slope angle instead of erosion hazards. Despite the above, the following are the land suitability constraints that are imposed by the interaction of the soil, climate, topographic, hydrological as well as the geological factors. Mapping of land units and their characteristics The land is first identified as a basis for diagnosis of problems. The given units are then mapped into more details i.e. by dividing the land

Pick five of your favorite fallacies. Find advertisements, short news Essay

Pick five of your favorite fallacies. Find advertisements, short news stories, political arguments, etc (not all of the same - Essay Example One prominent area such logical fallacies occur is in arguments surrounding gay marriage. Increasingly gay marriage has assumed a prominent place in the lexicon of American civil rights challenges. Significant objections have been raised to gay marriage by conservative groups who wish to, as they indicate, preserve the sanctity of marriage. In reality these groups implement a variety of fallacious arguments. One prominent argument is that, â€Å"Marriage, the defenders contend, cannot possibly be treated as a â€Å"fundamental right† open to gays and lesbians because such a right must have a foundation in American history, legal traditions, and practices† (Denniston). The above argument clearly implements the appeal to traditional fallacy. The appeal to tradition fallacy argues that since for a long period of time something has been one way, in the future it will continue to be that way. As the argument is that gay marriage should continue to be illegal because it was h istorically prohibited America, it is implementing an appeal to tradition. It seems that rather than truly believing this argument, the intention of people making the argument is to support their position on gay marriage by bringing people’s attention to such precedent. ... For instance, a recent story about the upcoming National Football League draft implemented the fallacy of confusing cause and effect. Essentially, this fallacy operates by examining the relations between occurrences, and then erroneously arguing for a linkage between cause and effect. In terms the National Football League draft one article has speculated that the Kansas City Chiefs should pick a quarterback – Geno Smith – with the first pick (Kardar). While quarterbacks are frequently chosen with this pick, Geno Smith can arguably be said to not be worth the pick and that instead the franchise should go with a different position. The article is implementing cause and effect because it has considered that since many rookie quarterbacks were successful this year in the National Football League, they will necessarily be good next year. Rather, it is highly possible that the quarterbacks that were successful this year were so because they were all exceptionally talented and their success will not influence the success of future quarterbacks. Ultimately, it appears that the writer’s intention was out of a genuine belief that the National Football League has changed considerably, such that rookie quarterbacks are now able to succeed in ways they previously were not able to. Another prominent area of investigation in contemporary society is drug use. With the advent of designer drugs in the late 20th century, an increasing division emerged between casual drugs and those that were considered exceptionally dangerous. Because of this division many politicians and anti-drug activists have implemented the logical fallacy of the slippery slope. The slippery slope argument considers that if one thing is allowed then it will

Business case study on Bell Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Business case study on Bell - Assignment Example Moreover, prior knowledge of these factors facilitates development of effective strategies for sustainable success, especially in the era of highly competitive global business environment. It was important for Ron Close to have in-depth understanding of these five forces for Bell Canada Enterprise before accepting the position of President, consumer VoIP for Bell Canada. The examination of these forces would enable him to assess the viability of VoIP (voice over internet protocol) within the operation of Bell or as a new venture, independent of the influence of Bell, in Canada. Bell Canada was a leadership company in the field of telecommunication. It provided fixed line telephones and internet services to approximately 13 million customers in its core territory of Quebec and Ontario. It was also 14th largest company as per 2004 survey with major stake in Aliant, which operated in Eastern provinces. Through acquisition of fiber cable network and merger with other different media inte rests like print, television, IT etc., Bell not only provided fixed line, mobile services and internet, it also was in possession of huge network of fiber cable used for high speed internet which could hugely contribute to the success of VoIP. Hence, evaluating the five forces would significantly influence the decision of Ron Close to accept or not to accept the challenge of being the president of VoIP division, Bell Canada. Answer 2 Competitive Rivalry Industry rivalry is an important element for developing distinct competencies and differentiating products to gain leverage in the market. Bell was pioneer in the telecommunication field in Canada with near monopoly. Bell’s main rivals in telephony were: Telus, which operated in British Columbia and Alberta; SaskTel in Sasketchewan; and 50 small telephone companies. In the cable network, Roger, Cogeco and Shaw were key opponents in Ontario; and Videotron and Cogeco in Quebec. In 2005, all these firms had launched VoIP through high speed internet or HIS. While Cogeco and Videotron did not have nationwide network, Roger, Shaw and Bell had the advantage. But Bell had the leverage in the sense that it owned a satellite operator, Teleglobe and its vast network of cable spread across Western Canada that also extended to America which would significantly reduce the cost of infrastructure which may run in billions. Most importantly, its market credibility and huge database of customers were crucial factors that could be turned into VoIP customers. VoIP is barrier free and therefore small players like Primus and Vonage become important as with relatively small investment they can offer continent wide internet telephony. Messenger from Microsoft and Skype have also emerged as popular VoIP service provider attracting huge numbers of customers from the globe. Answer 3 Supplier power Bell does not have suppliers except for the government from which it buys bandwidth for HIS. But so far as customers are concerned, Bel l is part of various other suppliers of VoIP services. This is important element that indicates the bargaining power of suppliers vis-a-vis provision of goods and service. When there are lots of suppliers, they have less bargaining power and operate within highly competitive environment. In the case of Bell, especially related to VoIP, there are some major suppliers who have good database of custo

Pick five of your favorite fallacies. Find advertisements, short news Essay

Pick five of your favorite fallacies. Find advertisements, short news stories, political arguments, etc (not all of the same - Essay Example One prominent area such logical fallacies occur is in arguments surrounding gay marriage. Increasingly gay marriage has assumed a prominent place in the lexicon of American civil rights challenges. Significant objections have been raised to gay marriage by conservative groups who wish to, as they indicate, preserve the sanctity of marriage. In reality these groups implement a variety of fallacious arguments. One prominent argument is that, â€Å"Marriage, the defenders contend, cannot possibly be treated as a â€Å"fundamental right† open to gays and lesbians because such a right must have a foundation in American history, legal traditions, and practices† (Denniston). The above argument clearly implements the appeal to traditional fallacy. The appeal to tradition fallacy argues that since for a long period of time something has been one way, in the future it will continue to be that way. As the argument is that gay marriage should continue to be illegal because it was h istorically prohibited America, it is implementing an appeal to tradition. It seems that rather than truly believing this argument, the intention of people making the argument is to support their position on gay marriage by bringing people’s attention to such precedent. ... For instance, a recent story about the upcoming National Football League draft implemented the fallacy of confusing cause and effect. Essentially, this fallacy operates by examining the relations between occurrences, and then erroneously arguing for a linkage between cause and effect. In terms the National Football League draft one article has speculated that the Kansas City Chiefs should pick a quarterback – Geno Smith – with the first pick (Kardar). While quarterbacks are frequently chosen with this pick, Geno Smith can arguably be said to not be worth the pick and that instead the franchise should go with a different position. The article is implementing cause and effect because it has considered that since many rookie quarterbacks were successful this year in the National Football League, they will necessarily be good next year. Rather, it is highly possible that the quarterbacks that were successful this year were so because they were all exceptionally talented and their success will not influence the success of future quarterbacks. Ultimately, it appears that the writer’s intention was out of a genuine belief that the National Football League has changed considerably, such that rookie quarterbacks are now able to succeed in ways they previously were not able to. Another prominent area of investigation in contemporary society is drug use. With the advent of designer drugs in the late 20th century, an increasing division emerged between casual drugs and those that were considered exceptionally dangerous. Because of this division many politicians and anti-drug activists have implemented the logical fallacy of the slippery slope. The slippery slope argument considers that if one thing is allowed then it will

See the description Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

See the description - Essay Example As a start, it is important to define what is meant by stereotyping. A stereotype is the creation of a biased view or assumption about a certain ethnic, religious, or social group. In other words, an individual will take the behavior of one person and state that all people belonging to that particular group behave in the same manner.  The problem with stereotyping is that it encourages people to react and behave in a manner that is both judgmental and biased. The first common stereotyping inference people have about Moslems is that they are "extremists" and "terrorists". Moslems are seen as the most common source of terrorism and senseless violence. Besides, Moslems are also viewed as worshippers of an alien deity, who are intolerant of other religions and eager to use physical force to expand Islam. In addition, another negative assumption that people have about Islam is related to the Moslems view towards women. Most of the western world unjustly believes that Islam subjects women to harsh and demeaning discrimination and puts them in a status inferior to men. On the other hand, many western countries identify Moslems as persons who have many physical traits in common, concerning shape and dress. For instance, many people view Moslems as grim bearded men who wear robes and turbans. The negative image the West has about Moslems affect the way they treat Moslem residents in their lands. In many cases, Moslems in foreign countries suffer from extreme cases of discrimination and suppression. One of the Islamic practices that is fought and suppressed by the West is the veil of Moslem women. The veil or "Hijab" is the Islamic dress for females, which requires women to cover all their bodies, except their faces and hands. Moslem women are ordered by God to wear this kind of dress whenever they get out from their homes. So, the majority of Moslem women abides by this rule, and

Example Essay On Interprofessional Collaberation In Practice Nursing Essay

Example Essay On Interprofessional Collaberation In Practice Nursing Essay Section 1 According to Cullen et al (2003), in order to meet the demands of a modern National Health Service (NHS) professionals are encouraged to work collaboratively and form partnerships to ensure seamless delivery of care. Interprofessional Education (IPE) is advocated as a means to enable professionals to understand one another and break down boundaries between them. (p.427). The nature of nursing care is predicated on an idea of working within a team, and a premium is almost always placed on communication, not just as a means of caring for patients and ultimately saving lives, but also to alleviate the stresses and strains associated with frontline care. Whilst the idea of communication being important is not new, the formation of IP teams, particularly within the realm of nursing, is. Cullen et al set out in order to try and better understand what positive lessons could be learnt from such a process. This essay will seek to try and understand the thinking that went into this study, base d on the real life experiences of the author. Cullen et al conclude their study with the point that The development of IPE aided communication and collaboration between the academics and health professionals and helped to break down professional boundaries. Testing out new methods through action research has enhanced our understanding of the implications for students and teachers. (p.432). Whilst I ultimately found this to be the case, I would like to go into a bit of detail as to why exactly I came to these conclusions. Having met the group for the first time, we were all introduced and began to mingle. Given how short we had all known each other, it was difficult to establish any common points of reference. One imagines that within the workplace, where relationships are formed and cultivated over a longer period of time, always within a professional context, such relationships would be less artificial or constructed. Nonetheless, our different perspectives were in no way artificial, and it was useful to try and understand ever yones reasons for choosing to study what they do, even if few of us had had the chance to put those studies to consistent, long-term effect under the professionals rigours of frontline care. As such, many of the early discussions were very much more theoretical, idealistic even, than they might possibly be after a few years of experience within frontline care. There was however, a certain amount of agreement too. All of the students were aware of the positive benefits of IPE and felt that by virtue of being medical students, they were in some way isolated from the larger university student body as a whole. This had both positive and negative effects. Whilst some argued that it brought the students closer together, others admitted that they felt isolated at times. Either way, it is clear that stereotyping is not a positive factor in IPE. As Fraser et al (2005) acknowledge, Professional stereotyping is considered to cause barriers to effective working relationships and team approaches to care. Learning together at undergraduate level can promote different professional groups understanding and respect for one another and an appreciation of the importance of team working in the health sector. (p.271) This collaborative way of thinking helped us formulate our first group sentence, Poor communication is the lack of ability to articulate to and interpret information from other Health Care Professionals (HCPs), which then tied in closely with our second sentence: Negative attitudes towards other HCPs leads to a  breakdown in communication. As Koubel and Bungay (2010) showed, this is key for any multidisciplinary approach to have any sort of success. Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the question in hand, social work provides some useful analogues. Social workers form partnerships with people: helping them to assess and interpret the problems they face, and supporting them in finding solutions. They have to know how the law works and be fully up to speed with the social welfare system. They will liaise regularly with other professionals teachers, doctors, nurses, police, lawyers acting on behalf of the people they are working with. (http://www.socialworkandcare.co.uk) Furthe rmore, as Brayne and Carr (1999) point out,social workers are the creation of government; government is therefore accountable to the public for their work and obliged to regulate their activities. Second, social workers as caring professionals are themselves accountable to their users and to the public at large. (p.6) The same is very much true of healthcare professionals, and interprofessional relationships need to be understood in this context. There is a duty not only to provide the patient with the best care possible, but also to deliver value for money for the taxpayer. Accordingly, interprofessional relationships need to be fostered to deliver the most efficient and effective care possible. What exactly does this involve? Of course, in the professional arena, job roles are to a certain extent prescribed by job titles. However, within the stress of the workplace, roles can become muddled and confused. Accordingly, one of our major tasks involved role definition. It is not simply enough to be clear with one another: practitioners need to define their roles and act accordingly. As Skott (2001) notes, Professional nursing care is formed and carried out in a social cultural process. The discipline of nursing should study narrative communication to understand how individual and collective levels are connected in experiences of sickness and cure. (p.249) Nonetheless, Brereton (1995) has shown that there are still a great deal of holes in the critical thinking towards communication in nursing care: The theory-practice relationship and the use of communication and interpersonal skills in nursing have been recurrently identified as issues causing concernà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦there appea rs to be a reliance on mentors to assess student progress and determine whether they have knowledge underpinning practice. Classroom teaching was recognized as idealistic but the divisions in participants opinions led to difficulty in determining whether a theory-practice gap actually exists. (p.314). As a group, we all came to the conclusion that one of the key aspects of IPE is avoiding stereotypes. This was viewed as a fundamental basis for the following points: It is important to value each professions individual contribution to overall patient welfare. Varying perspectives exist, but any barriers must be overcome in order to promote holistic care. Pre conceived notions of any member of the Multi disciplinary team need to be challenged. Hierarchical states of mind have no place when a multi disciplinary team is working towards service user goals. Whilst communication and stereotyping avoidance may seem like natural bedfellows, it was interesting to be exposed to a group which arrived with preconceived notions of how the nursing profession worked. Whilst my experience of frontline care is limited, my brief experiences have shown that stereotyping is endemic. This may range from physicians making certain judgements about the role or usefulness of nurses, or even vice versa, but throughout the conference, it became clear that attitudes such as these had no place within the professional world of HCPs. Not only do they create a negative, hostile atmosphere, but they also prevent HCPs from doing their job properly, and ultimately, pose a threat to the treatment of patients. Word count 1195. Section 2: In many ways, learning about IPE has been a natural development from the direction my studies were already taking. Anyone interested in nursing is, almost by definition a communicator, as it is a profession in which discussion, listening, and mutual understanding are key. Nonetheless, the things I have learnt from IPE have helped me to understand previous experiences better. Reeves (2001) looked into the 15-month project which evaluated the effectiveness of interprofessional education (IPE) for first and second year medical, nursing and dental students on a community-based placement, using a process-based approach which tracked the education and social processes connected to IPE. Such an approach has helped overcome some of the problems of using before-and-after designs. (p. 269) He found that community-based IPE placements were deeply beneficial in aiding students development, as the on-the-job nature of the tasks they faced forced them to adapt on the spot, often needing to adapt with the help of other HCPs. In my experience this was also the case. When I was helping geriatric patients who were acutely ill, I found that IPE skills became increasingly important. Leff et al (2005) note that Acutely ill older persons often experience adverse events when cared for in the acute care hospital (p.798) Given the anxiety caused to elderly acutely ill patients, any efforts that could be made to accommodate them should be encouraged, and accordingly, the research is both worthwhile and timely. Whilst much literature exists regarding home nursing for end of life care, it is relatively sparse for elderly, acutely ill patients. Zarit (2004) in particular, using the case of disabled patients facing end of life care, note that family members provide a considerable amount of the care for people with terminal illnessesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and family caregivers must be recognized as an essential part of the treatment team. By clearly recognizing this role, physicians and other health care providers encourage caregivers to be more confident about their abilities to care for their loved ones. (p.170). Zarit goes on to argue that the role of family carer is not only beneficial to the part played by the healthcare professionals, it can also be a cost-effective way of giving patients the best palliative care that they need. He even argues that patient surviva l rates can be affected by paying close attention to family members at the front-line of care. Thus, he recommends that a psychologist or other health care professional familiar with end-of-life care included as part of the treatment team. Although time and effort are required, these strategies may help caregivers provide the care they want to and provide better home care at a reduced risk to their own health. (p.170). Furthermore, as Leff et al go on to point out, Patients, but not caregivers, had increased satisfaction with hospital-at-home care, and there was some evidence that substitutive models may be cost- effective. However, with some exceptions, most of these models would be difficult to distinguish from augmented skilled nursing services, community-based long-term care, or home-based primary care services in the United States. (p.798) As we can see, there are clearly a number of benefits associated with care at home. However, for the caregiver, such situations can also create a raft of potential problems. Whilst most academics agree that the influence of the family is generally a positive one, not much critical thinking has been devoted to what role the family play in allowing HCPs to perform their job as they should. Outside of the hospital environment, the familys role is much greater, and often, in my experience at least, they feel that this entitles them to a greater degree of say in the patients care. Whilst I would generally agree with this, I had one experience in particular which made me question this. Because of the increased role of the family in this case, they felt that they knew best about how to care for their acutely ill family member. However, there was evidence to suggest that they were not delivering the right level of care. Since returning home, the patients condition had deteriorated, and there was a strong argument to be made for readmission into hospital, something the family were completely against. Whilst the physician in charge was willing to watch and see how the situation developed, the critical care nurse was pressing for readmission, the difference in opinions shows the power dynamics between the physician and nurse and has been noted without in-depth discussion between the two, created a barrier to effective collaboration (Manias Street 2000). However, the family was a low-income family, and as such, used to receive visits from social workers. Accordingly, there was a great deal of IPE needed to deal with the situation. For example, whilst the social worker was not responsible for the health of the patient, and were visiting the family on other grounds, they were consulted on what they thought was occurring under the familys supervision. This involved the nurse in charge communicating with the social worker, an interdisciplinary approach that necessitated diffe rent public sector workers working alongside each other. The interaction between the nurse and social worker showed a co-ordinated effective collaboration between HCPs to provide a service to improve the quality and decision making process of patient care (Spry 2006). However, there were also certain problems at our end. The physician in charge of the patient seemed unwilling to get actively involved. He was well-known to be a poor communicator, and seemed more involved in other aspects of his work than dealing with the patients, particularly when they were no longer in the hospital. However, since nothing could be done without his authority, it was frustrating for myself and the nurse to get anything done with him dragging his feet. Likewise, although the social worker was very willing and able to perform their job, they felt put upon when discussing any problems that fell without their remit. As such, it was left to myself and the nurse in charge to orchestrate managing the problem. Cheek and Rudge (1994) look closely at the socio-aspects of nursing to deconstruct the power relations implicit within the socio-political context of the health care arena in which nursing operates. (p.583) They found that womens health and nursing practice were exem plars of the limiting effects of such discourses. (p.583) Seeing the reaction the female nurses inquiries, it certainly felt that her sex was a limiting factor on how she could get stuff done. The conference was very clear in that one of the major points of IPE was to avoid stereotypes. One of the largest stereotypes is that all nurses are women, and it felt like, the physician in particular, was labouring under some outdated view of nurses that was close to the era of Florence Nightingale than the present day. Of course, gender stereotyping works both ways. McDonald and Bridge (1991) found that Nurses planned significantly more ambulation, analgesic administration, and emotional support time for the male patient, despite the presence of individuating information. More accurate, effective nursing care is possible when nurses are aware of the effect of gender stereotyping on nursing care. (p.373) However, in this instant, it very much felt like the opinion of the nurse in charge was being undermined due to her sex. Although the patient was eventually readmitted, it wasnt done without much bureaucratic leg-dragging, and I was left feeling that this was a poor example of interdisciplinary care. It could have been improved by more willingness of those in charge to define roles clearly, avoid stereotypes, and place the care of the patient at the forefront of their concerns. I hope that in my future career I am able to learn from this, and apply the things I have learnt to an array of challenging real-life situations. Word count 1293.

Millenium Bug :: essays research papers

The year 2000 is practically around the corner, promising a new era of greatness and wonder . . . as long as you don't own a computer or work with one. The year 2000 is bringing a Pandora's Box of gifts to the computer world, and the latch is slowly coming undone. The year 2000 bug is not really a "bug" or "virus," but is more a computer industry mistake. Many of the PC's, mainframes, and software out there are not designed or programmed to compute a future year ending in double zeros. This is going to be a costly "fix" for the industry to absorb. In fact, Mike Elgan who is the editor of Windows Magazine, says " . . . the problem could cost businesses a total of $600 billion to remedy." (p. 1)The fallacy that mainframes were the only machines to be affected was short lived as industry realized that 60 to 80 million home and small business users doing math or accounting etc. on Windows 3.1 or older software, are just as susceptible to this "bug." Can this be repaired in time? For some, it is already too late. A system that is devised to cut an annual federal deficit to 0 by the year 2002 is already in "hot water." Data will become erroneous as the numbers "just don't add up" anymore. Some PC owners can upgrade their computer's BIOS (or complete operating system) and upgrade the OS (operating system) to Windows 95, this will set them up for another 99 years. Older software however, may very well have to be replaced or at the very least, upgraded.The year 2000 has become a two-fold problem. One is the inability of the computer to adapt to the MM/DD/YY issue, while the second problem is the reluctance to which we seem to be willing to address the impact it will have. Most IS (information system) people are either unconcerned or unprepared. Let me give you a "short take" on the problem we all are facing. To save storage space and perhaps reduce the amount of keystrokes necessary in order to enter the year to date-most IS groups have allocated two digits to represent the year. For example, "1996" is stored as "96" in data files and "2000" will be stored as "00." These two-digit dates will be on millions of files used as input for millions of applications.