International studies-global childhood Essay

This article written about the number of children who die on daily basis from various reasons is intended to inform the general globe community of the deaths so that appropriate measures can be taken to counter the trend. Anup points out that this is a global issue as it affects everybody in the world in regard to social, political, economical and environmental aspects. According to me, child mortality or the death of children is a global issue which should be ignored but instead should be given a priority by every authority since it affects virtually everyone either directly or directly (Shah, 2010). Just as Anup states in the Article, the number of children who die on daily basis is a matter of international concern. Anup further outlines the importance of understanding the issue of child mortality. He points out that the child mortality rate is significant in that it is a gauge to assess the general wellbeing of children and specifically the child health. To begin with, Anup mentions that it evaluates the end results of the development process of a country rather than the input. It evaluates concepts like the capital calorie accessible or the ratio of medical personnel to the population which are an essential towards achieving positive child welfare (Shah, 2010). Anup notes that child mortality rate is dependent on a number of factors which include nutritional status and the mothers ‘knowledge on health matters, the degree of immunization and the accessibility of maternal and child health services. Other determinants of child mortality rate are availability of food and clean and safe drinking water. The entire safety of the child’s environment also contributes to child mortality rate (Shah, 2010). Child mortality rate is not affected by mathematical computations like average. GNI per capita for instance will be affected by average because the natural scale places the children wealth people at a 1,000 times chance of surviving as although the human-designed scale which does not place them at equal position in regard to income (Shah, 2010). This information including the figure is accurate and reliable since it has been summarized from UNICEF findings. A do agree with Anup that this is enough justification of the significance of understanding child mortality. This is particularly because UNICEF is very elaborate on child issues and usually provides relevant and accurate information concerning children issues (Shah, 2010). The writer compares the figure of the number of children who die on daily basis with well known world disasters in order to create a clear picture of the issue in question. Anup equates the figure to the number of people who succumbed to the 2010 Haiti earthquake if had to occur every 9-10 days and the 2004 Asian tsunami if it were to occur every ten days (Shah, 2010). The writer has further justified his report by quoting the sources of the data that he used for comparison. The figure of the number of the victims who died from the Haiti earthquake was taken from the reliable BBC reports (BBC, 2010). He converts the figure to various ratios in order to bring out a more concrete outline of the seriousness of the issue. For instance he mentions that the 24,000 children dying every minute is equivalent to a single child dying after every 3. 6 seconds or close to 9 million children dying in each year. According to Anup, 79 million children died between the years 2000 and 2007 (Shah, 2010). He has used various simple graphs to illustrate the trend of child mortality rate. The causes of this large number of deaths are poverty, hunger and certain diseases and illness that that can either be cured or prevented (Shah, 2010). The writer is also surprised at the manner in which this disaster is not in the headlines. He mentions that just as the global community responds to other disasters like the disastrous earthquakes, it should respond similarly to the escalating child mortality rates (Shah, 2010). I support the writer in this aspect because little has been documented on child mortality rates. This has further worsened the problem because many authorities, agencies or organizations that could offer significant help to bring this disaster under control have completely ignored the issue or have not taken it with the seriousness it deserves. This is partly because the issue is not found in the headlines (Shah, 2010). Conclusion I support Anup’s report that the issue of child mortality rate has not been taken with the magnitude that it deserves by the world’s authorities, agencies and any relevant organization. This issue should be regarded as a disaster because the number of children dying every day from the various causes is even larger than that resulting from some of the world’s worst tragedies like the Haiti earthquake (BBC, 2010). The issue is rarely placed in the headlines and thus fails to attract the appropriate attention. Child mortality rate is very important in assessing the general wellbeing of children. Child mortality rate further affects political, social, political and environmental issues in the globe either in a direct or an indirect manner (Global issues, 2010).

Environmental Analysis Essay

Landfill gas is generated during the decomposition of organic substances in municipal and industrial wastes. Since it is made up of powerful greenhouse gases, primarily methane gas and carbon dioxide, the prevention of escape to atmosphere is desirable and has the added benefit of being utilised as a renewable energy source (Clarke Energy, 2014). One such company focussed on dealing with this issue is Landfill Gas Industries Pty Ltd (L.G.I. Pty Ltd) they are ‘a specialist designer, supplier, installer, and operator of systems that capture, extract and burn gas produced in landfills’ (L.G.I. Pty Ltd, 2014). L.G.I. Pty Ltd has several opportunities that could impact the company’s operations in Australia, such as government regulation, the number of councils and landfills available and the fact that all landfills require a solution to the landfill gas problem. However L.G.I. Pty Ltd also has several threats potentially impacting its operations, for example from large energy generators, large waste companies and opposition to landfill gas. With the continuing pace of global environmental awareness and a general growing consensus about the potential damage of greenhouse gases, the Australian Government may introduction legislation and associated taxation such as the use of carbon credits that are designed punish landfill owners with unabated gas emissions (Department of the Environment, 2011). A company such as L.G.I. Pty Ltd is well placed to install systems that can reduce these emissions and in turn reduce the financial penalties of operating a landfill, many of which are run by local councils and therefore paid for directly by ratepayers. With 565 local government councils in Australia (The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, 2014) and each with a need to process its residents’ garbage, many of which themselves operate landfill sites and/or have legacy landfills within their boundaries. Whilst the market has a finite limit there is considerable appeal for councils to adapt such technologies at their landfills and has the potential to generate ‘huge savings for [councils] and the environment’ (Landfill Gas Pty Ltd, 2008). L.G.I. Pty Ltd is committed to take advantage of councils’ needs by having ‘developed successful landfill gas installations on sites of all scales across Australia’ (Landfill Gas Industries Pty Ltd, 2014). Wherever there is a landfill, there is potential dangers aside from the environmental concerns unless mitigation techniques are employed, such as the risk of fire and explosion which for example  occurred in Loscoe, England in 1986 when a nearby house was destroyed (Danish EPA, 2001). There is also the potential of gas migration to occur below the surface and in turn contaminate the groundwater (Environment Protection Authority, 2008). If a landfill site is not suitable for electricity production, gas mitigation is nonetheless desired for safety and hygiene reasons. L.G.I. Pty Ltd ‘manufactures and installs its own range of state of the art flares’ (Landfill Gas Industries Pty Ltd, 2014) allowing the flammable gases to be safely burnt off. Therefore all current and legacy landfill sites are potential business for L.G.I. Pty Ltd The first major threat to L.G.I. Pty Ltd comes from existing large energy generators, such as AGL, Origin and Energy Australia, these 3 companies have a combined market share of over 60% of the energy sector (IBISWorld, 2014). As these companies have the need to supply electricity to their customers they have the desire to source viable and sustainable generation methods, AGL for example already ‘owns and operates several renewable landfill gas and biogas (sewage) generation facilities across Australia’ (AGL, 2014). If these companies decide to expand in this sector and compete for this resource, they could undermine L.G.I. Pty Ltd’s potential simply by means of more efficient access to financial capital required to setup and by the greater potential political bargaining power they possess such as when competing for tenders. Such as with large energy generators, large waste companies also pose a potential threat for L.G.I. Pty Ltd. Many councils utilise outsourced waste collection, processing, recycling and landfill operators to fulfil their needs. Operators such as Veolia and Sita which operate landfills as part of their business must ‘manage odour across [their] landfills in accordance with the Environmental Protection Licence’ (Sita, 2014). These operators have their own equipment and methods for gas mitigation and therefore pose a threat to L.G.I. Pty Ltd if more councils outsource their waste needs to private companies, they in turn aside from environmental requirements have a commercial obligation to seek profit. There is nonetheless opposition to companies that seek to turn landfill gas into electricity, for several reasons such as its relative high costs, local air pollution but namely it suggests that it is acceptable to dump waste at landfill sites rather than pursue waste minimisa tion or recycling initiatives (Shrank, 2011). Veolia states that it ‘encourages waste  minimisation and recycling’ (Veolia, 2014), however if a financial incentive exists if it fails that endeavour then people are right to be sceptical. The threat of a change in public opinion and awareness towards waste disposal could potentially impact L.G.I. Pty Ltd, particularly if they are seen as not encouraging waste minimisation or if their operations produce an unacceptable amount of air pollution. Landfill gas is an unavoidable by-product of our modern society and it possess several risks if left unmanaged to public health and safety. L.G.I. Pty Ltd is well placed to mitigate these risks and also potentially return a financial benefit to its clients, specifically local councils. In terms of opportunities, L.G.I. Pty Ltd faces a finite barrier in terms of number of landfills in Australia, it may seek to export its expertise to markets overseas to pursue further growth. It may also be of benefit to lobby government to encourage further legislation and taxation penalties regarding greenhouse gas emissions, potentially expanding its market. Of the threats facing L.G.I. Pty Ltd, the biggest is represented by existing the large companies in the electricity generating and waste disposal sectors, who invariable have better access to capital and lobbying power to further develop this industry. Finally, public opinion could negatively impact L.G.I. Pty Ltd if they are seen to be exploiting a resource which ideally should be minimised in the first instance. Clarke Energy, (2014). Landfill Gas | Landfill gas generator. [Online] Available at: http://www.clarke-energy.com/gas-type/landfill-gas/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Landfill Gas Industries Pty Ltd, (2014). Landfill Gas Industries – Renewable Electricity Leaders. [Online] Available at: http://landfillgasindustries.com.au/about-landfill-gas/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Department of the Environment, (2011). Capture and combustion of landfill gas. [Online] Available at: http://www.climatechange.gov.au/reducing-carbon/carbon-farming-initiative/methodologies/methodology-determinations/capture-and-combustion-landfill-gas [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. The Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, (2014). Local Government. [Online] Available at: http://www.regional.gov.au/local/index.aspx [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Landfill Gas Pty Ltd, (2008). Landfill Gas Pty Ltd. [online] Available at: http://www.landfillgas.com.au/home.html [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Danish EPA, (2001). Miljstyrelsen. [Online] Available at: http://www2.mst.dk/common/Udgivramme/Frame.asp?pg=http://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publikationer/2001/87-7944-831-3/html/kap30.htm [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Environment Protection Authority, (2008). Guidelines for groundwater investigation and monitoring for landfills. [Online] Available at: http://www.epa.sa.gov.au/xstd_files/Waste/Public%20consultation/guidelines_landfill.pdf [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. IBISWorld, (2014). Major Companies. [Online] Available at: http://clients1.ibisworld.com.au.ezproxy.lib.swin.edu.au/reports/au/industry/majorcompanies.aspx?entid=2147 [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. AGL, (2014). Landfill Gas and Biogas. [Online] Available at: http://www.agl.com.au/about-agl/how-we-source-energy/renewable-energy/landfill-gas-and-biogas [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Sita, (2014). Landfill Gas Management | SITA Australia. [Online] Available at: http://www.sita.com.au/facilitie s/landfills/landfill-gas-management/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Shrank, S. (2011). Opposition to Waste-to-Energy: A Waste of Waste?. [Online] Worldwatch Institute. Available at: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/revolt/opposition-to-waste-to-energy-a-waste-of-waste/ [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014]. Veolia, (2014). Recovering Resources from Waste – Veolia Australia and New Zealand. [Online] Available at: http://www.veolia.com.au/municipal-residential/recovering-resources-from-waste [Accessed 8 Aug. 2014].

Information technology Essay

The number one benefit of information technology is that empowers people to do whatever they want to do. It lets people to be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn’t think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential. Today Domenic and I are going to talk to you and inform you how information and technology empowers people. There are lots of places where i. t empowerment takes place. There is the workplace, your home, the hospital, and the classroom. Empowering the frontline employees cannot work in vacuum. Empowerment of employees, while very important, requires an important requirements and conditions. Information and information technology are predicted to act as the most important requirements and qualities for empowering 21st century workforce. Advances incommunication and information technology have created new opportunities for organizations to build and manage empowerment process where members collaborate utilizing technology across space and time to accomplish important organizational tasks. One of the ways that Information Technology empowers people in their own home is through communication. Now i. t is empowering people a lot through communication because communication is a big part of our lives. Communication through i. t takes place on many devices such as, mobile phones, computers, iPods, Television and many more devices. Having i. t which enables you to do these amazing things is incredibly empowering towards us. This is because communication is something everybody uses in their everyday lives and without having i. to communicate to others throughout our world; it would make it a lot harder for us to function with everyday life. Information technology has a major impact on online shopping because online shopping takes place upon hundreds of millions in our world and every second of the day items are being purchased and sold through online shopping. This is majorly empowering us to go online shopping because it makes it a lot easier for us because we can purchase our stuff from home which means it takes a lot less time and effort to go online shopping and buy the certain items which you need with just a click of a button. Because online shopping is a positive thing throughout our lives, this shows that information technology is empowering us to go online shopping because of how simple and helpful it is throughout our lives. One of the ways that Information Technology empowers people in their own home is through communication. Now i. t is empowering people a lot through communication because communication is a big part of our lives. Communication through i. t takes place on many devices such as, mobile phones, computers, iPods, Television and many more devices. Having i. t which enables you to do these amazing things is incredibly empowering towards us. This is because communication is something everybody uses in their everyday lives and without having i. t to communicate to others throughout our world; it would make it a lot harder for us to function with everyday life. Information technology has a major impact on online shopping because online shopping takes place upon hundreds of millions in our world and every second of the day items are being purchased and sold through online shopping. This is majorly empowering us to go online shopping because it makes it a lot easier for us because we can purchase our stuff from home which means it takes a lot less time and effort to go online shopping and buy the certain items which you need with just a click of a button. Because online shopping is a positive thing throughout our lives, this shows that information technology is empowering us to go online shopping because of how simple and helpful it is throughout our lives. In the class room i. gives students and also techers the ability to learn many incredible things behind a computer, example us, we learn how to understand and operate computers in this class and to a point that is empowering us. Advances in technology have expanded the classroom walls well beyond school grounds and into the Internet. Allowing students access to more than pen, paper and textbooks empowers different types of learners. Teachers can differentiate between their students, providing resources that m eet their needs. These resources can vary from hardware, like tablet computers, to Internet-based solutions, like teacher websites. Middle school students can engage with content and classmates through technology, giving them more ownership of their learning. Using i. t in a meaningful way is now the golden key to success for youth. The â€Å"e† of â€Å"electronic† that we put in front of so many words today also denotes other vital â€Å"e† words, such as education, employment and entertainment. It is therefore crucial to empower youth through I.  T, especially in the developing world. There are sick and disabled people all over the world and hospitals are the main place where these patients are treated hospitals need advanced information and technology to help cure people and save lives there are numerous machines that lots of people just can’t live without like the the DynaVox EyeMax system which gives individuals with paralysis, cerebral palsy and stroke victims the ability to participate in spoken communication using only their eyes. Using an eye tracking system, users can interact with an on-screen keyboard, allowing them to enter words and phrases, which are then translated into spoken text via the device’s text-to-speech mechanism. That is incredible, it empowers patients to allow them to communicate with just their eyes. Now some of these are people who wouldn’t be able to so much as open their mouths or raise a hand. Empowering the blind; I think this is a very important thing to do. These are people who can’t see, so how do they live ordinary lives? They Don’t. i. t empowers the Blind with new tech that allows them to communicate and interact easier with society. Example; A scientist Dennis Hong is developing a car that can actually be driven by the blind. The aim is to integrate several computer systems, sensors and cameras to observe the environment around the vehicle and provide alternate forms of sensory input, including sound and vibration. This may include seat vibrations of various strengths and locations, pulsing vibration signals in gloves worn by the driver. That right there is very empowering. To conclude this argument I would like to tell you,its just so simple, Information and technology has empower people in ways beyond describing and hopefully ramone and I gaiven you a good understanding on how such different people are empowered through i. t. With our research we have shared with you today we hope you understand and agree with us that information empowers people.

Columbine Attack and its Results Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 27

Columbine Attack and its Results - Case Study Example Most importantly, it shows that outer appearances can be deceptive and hide cruelty, twisted mindset and general tendency to vandalism. Parents and authorities should have got alert with the first offense, howsoever minor, and consulted a good psychiatrist to unravel the psychology of young students, who were otherwise intelligent and seemingly well mannered. Parents had never tried to go into the depth of the things when they had come across their children’s criminal behavior, including the making of homemade bombs. The authorities should also have investigated the activities, including cyber activities of the students and studied the characteristics of a psychopath, before letting them get into the program and allowed early release. The evildoers are always people who use covert behavior to hide their true intentions. The evil activities and criminal behavior are never an isolated act but are characterized by a trend or pattern of criminal acts. Thus, if the person has committed a criminal activity, it is important to investigate his past actions and take the help of psychologists to assess deviant personality. No, Harris and Klebold should not be forgiven for their assault on Columbine High School. They are a strong example of abnormal personality with a devious mindset and violent tendencies. The attack was deliberately carried out in an educational institute, targeting innocent children and faculty members. The basic objective was to create an environment of terror for the sole purpose of personal satisfaction. Moreover, it was also an expression of hatred against people at large. Thus, their acts must be condemned publicly and not forgiven. The parents had taken lightly the criminal activities of their children and shown scarce concern for discipline or punishment to improve them. Such type of parental neglect gives the wrong signal to children and encourages them towards unsocial activities and acts of violence. Hence, parents should also have been held responsible for the acts of their children and served as an early alarm for those parents who ignore minor and not so minor evil or criminal activities of their children within and outside the home.