Agriculture in Africa Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Agriculture in Africa - Research Paper Example This growth is mainly attributed to the cultivation of more land, although there has been little improvement in the yields. In addition, the production techniques have not been improved, and this has further slowed down agricultural production. Climate has also been a major determinant of agricultural performance in Africa. Only a small portion of land is currently under irrigation, with only 6% of the cultivated land being under irrigation (Blein, et al, 19). Despite the growth in this sector across the continent, the demands of the growing population have not been fully met. Most of the agriculture is Africa is family dominated, where most farms depend of family farm labor. With every generation, the farms are tending to shrink. This explains why despite the growth, agriculture does not supply the needs of the population. In order to understand agriculture in Africa, this paper examines agriculture in Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia. Sudan has vast resources that give it the potential to significantly contribute to food security in Africa. These resources include arable land, water and animal resources. This sector contributes about 45% of the total GDP and nearly 80% of the labor force is employed by the agricultural sector (Omer, 3). However, in recent years, agricultural growth has generally deteriorated. Agriculture in this country is mainly comprised three major farming systems: traditional rain-fed, mechanized rain-fed and irrigated sectors. Nearly 60% of the total cultivated land has been occupied by the traditional rain-fed (Omer, 5). This sector is however characterized by low productivity. This is attributed to the poor farming techniques practiced. Cotton has been the main agricultural export commodity, although its production has generally reduced. Other major cash crops include peanuts`, sugarcane, dates, mangoes, coffee, tobacco and citrus fruits. Animal rearing is another important aspect of agric ulture in Sudan. Better veterinary

Literary review, leadership project third part Coursework

Literary review, leadership project third part - Coursework Example In most cases, it has been established that this lack of adequate supervised practice is caused by many factors, but some of them include inadequate staff for supervision and lack of enough facilities. When handling students with disabilities in learning and reading, only being aware of the strategies required to apply is not enough. The most important thing to do for these children is to provide an intensive and systematic practice in how the strategies should be applied to the learning activities of the children. To achieve this, there should be adequate support from teachers, peers and parents. However, in the inclusive classroom, the most important person to implement this issue is the teacher. When the teachers are very few, or when they are not properly trained, they might not be able to implement these strategies effectively. Inclusive classroom is regarded as a teacher-led classroom where intense and thorough supervision should be provided to the students with learning disabilities. Collaborative strategies should, therefore, exist between teachers with special training to handle special students with disabilities and teachers trained to handle normal classes (Conti-DAntonio, Marcia, Bertrando, Robert, & Eisenberger, 1998). The same collaboration should be extended to the parents since they also contribute a larger part in influencing the learning behaviors of their children with disabilities. It is not just enough to beef-up staff in the inclusive classroom to deliver the services required, however, it is necessary to realize that the staff handling the students are well trained to deliver the services in a better way (Bauer & Shea, 1999). For instance, various teaching strategies should be applied when teaching various subjects. Students with disabilities in learning may experience some difficulties in computational and basic counting skills. This means that they may have

Bibliography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Bibliography - Essay Example The approach is described in non-technical terms for risk communicators to help them serve the public in making informed decisions. The author follows the evolution of the research on risk communication over the years, the mistakes made and the lessons learnt. This essay provides a brief history of risk communication organized around certain developmental stages, with each stage characterized by a focal communication strategy. The essay, however, has not provided comprehensive illustrations or examples. Communication is like an insurance policy in that it is a fixed cost that can keep a larger damage at bay. Receiving relevant information on environment and health risks and on the safety of modern technologies is a very important need of modern man, but he seldom receives it. The authors, making use of case studies, give an overview of the critical role of risk management in dealing with public controversies and an insight into the risk communication practices and malpractices. The book leaves scope for the concerned authorities to devise ways to check the malpractices and inadequacies in risk communication. The failure of institutions in adequately communicating about risks result in inadequate management of risks leading to heavy financial loss. The study examines a very important and subtle aspect of risk communication, which is trust and credibility. ... Peters, R. G., Covello, V. T., McCallum, D. B. (1997). The determinants of trust and credibility in environmental risk communication: An empirical study. Risk Analysis 17(1). Retreived October 20, 2008, from http://www.centerforriskcommunication.org/pubs/crc-p2.pdf The study examines a very important and subtle aspect of risk communication, which is trust and credibility. An important hypothesis tested in this study regarding perceptions and determinants of trust and credibility is that they are dependent on three factors, namely perceptions of knowledge and expertise, perceptions of openness and honesty, and perceptions of concern and care. The responses to surveys are mostly in the predictable lines in that they mostly reflect general perceptions. A significant finding is that defying a negative stereotype leads to improved perceptions of trust and credibility. O'Connor, A.M., Legare, F., & Stacey, D. (2003). Risk communication in practice: the contribution of decision aids. BMJ 327(7417) 736-740. doi: 10.1136/bmj.327.7417.736. The authors examine the effectiveness of the communication of risks, benefits and options by clinicians in helping patients make an informed decision regarding their healthcare. Different decisions require different strategies for communication. Effective services are those in which benefits/harm ratio is large, and those in which the ratios are uncertain are preference sensitive services. The article does not explain how to equip the support service system to handle the diverse plans of diverse patients. The goal of decision-making is to choose options that are most beneficial and the least harmful. Decision support should take into account a patient's personal values, resources and determination. Croyle, R.T. & Lerman, C. (1999).

Transition in Adolescent Development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Transition in Adolescent Development - Essay Example Many researchers have undoubtedly identified the decisive role of parents in moulding the character of their children during this transitional period. When a child is moving from primary to secondary, this is quite sure that he/she is subjected to various kinds of transitions that may affect him/her all through the life time. Therefore, regarding the parents and the teachers, they should be very vigilant and attentive in observing the transitions occurring to the children, and as such, the study of transition in adolescent development and schooling deserves greater significance. In order to examine adolescence in media, the paper seeks to gather material from Karen Thomas’ online article entitled: 12-14 Year-Olds: Transition in Adolescent Development & Schooling, published on Dec 1, 2010. The article selected for the study clearly evaluates certain aspects concerning the parental role in assuring healthy lifestyles to children. When analysing the article selected for the study , one can see that the writer was actually focusing on the transitions of the children aged in between 12-14; kids moving from primary to secondary school. Though the article was actually aimed at parents of this age group, anyone would get valuable details regarding this topic. The author has arranged this topic under various headings to help support his study.

How the external environment shapes the organization ( BOSTON PIZZA) Essay

How the external environment shapes the organization ( BOSTON PIZZA) - Essay Example Boston Pizza has a strong brand positioning and is the first chain of restaurants to offer fat-free menu items (Henry 234). The restaurants have huge televisions and spacious parking areas thus appealing to the middle income consumers. The external business environment shapes the operations of Boston Pizza and the strategic choices of the management. The external environment is beyond the control of the management and strategic choices must be made to adapt to the fast changing external environment in order for the restaurant chain to attain competitive edge in the market (Henry 172). The external business environment consists of the political environment, economic environment, social-cultural environment, technological environment, legal environment and ecological environment. PESTLE (political, economic, social-cultural, technological, legal and ecological) environment analysis tool will be useful in analysing and understanding how the external business environment shapes Boston Pizza. The political environment entails the political stability, the trade restrictions and attitudes of governments towards businesses, pressure groups, conflicts, and wars. The current political environment in Canada, United States and Mexico is stable, but there are different pressure groups such as anti-obesity campaigners that have been advocating for health eating habits (Henry 78). The Canadian government has implemented several measures that aim at protecting consumer interests and welfare in order to safeguard the health of the population. In this case, Boston Pizza must implement health-conscious menus in order to attract higher number of customers and adapt to the changing political environment (Kachru 84). The restaurant chain is capable of expanding to cities that have political stability and minimal pressure group influences. However, the government may

Knowledge Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Knowledge - Essay Example As one of those perennial topics, a team of philosophers decided to name the study of knowledge an epistemology. The word epistemology comes from two Greek words episteme (episthmh) meaning knowledge and logos (logo V) meaning reason. Others, philosophers nowadays would assign this subject as of fundamental importance; however, the subject about knowledge remains an essential part of philosophy (1997). Knowledge started way back, during the civilization period. By civilization, I refer to the many centuries back where humans managed the environmental change. For example there was the Egyptians in Mesopotamia, who discovered that with the possession of water(Nile) and their very fertile land, they could actually practiced farming and feed themselves and as well as making a living. From that, it is clear that knowledge infact is a tool to the ‘subject’ of change as opposed to the ‘object’ of change. You will notice that as time passed, the Egyptians transforme d from farming to other form of activities such as architecture, pottery, animal domestication, writing and so on. The ancient humans continued to discover rapidly other fronts after the set up of infrastructure which was brought about by the early activities. People did not stop discovering new ways of living despite the hardships, from architecture and agriculture to religion and politics, animal domestication to economic set-up. There are two types of knowledge; Knowledge by Representation and Knowledge by Acquaintance. Knowledge by Representation basically refers to the way in which a human being expresses himself. This is normally done through aspects of communication like language speaking or gestures. Through representation, knowledge is fundamentally used as a surrogate. This is for example when someone finds an entity to determine the consequences of something by just thinking about it unlike acting on it. It is more of a belief condition. You will find out that, a person c an claim to be rich one day but he does not even have a job yet being unemployed cannot stop him from proclaiming those words. In other words, on the subject of knowledge, dreams are part of representation. So many people out there would want to have something, some other want it so badly that they go to an extent of making it aloud. This is referred as belief. Regardless of the many difficulties experienced, you will get a person still having the same beliefs in making it in life. Off course everybody wants the best and will do anything to get there. This shows that regardless of the much opposition one might face, he or she continues to have a belief that he will make it. Knowledge by Acquaintance can be described as a direct relation without interference between a person and an existing thing. This is referred to as justification. For example, a person may be acquainted with a color or the texture of a table before him but this does not stop him or her from eating or leaning on i t. This shows that human beings can be acquainted with something immediately without even knowing the real truth behind it. We must concede that words can have different meanings, and that each of the different meanings may be legitimate. For example, one might say, â€Å"It is better to be red than dead.† Here, â€Å"red† obviously does not refer to a particular color in a scheme of colors, but is intended to convey notions of communism (1955).It would be improper to say that â€Å"red† cannot be used in such a way. Faith provides for a strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual belief rather than proof. This then leads to our next question as to whether we should continue inventing new knowledge or we

Health Care Spending in the US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Health Care Spending in the US - Essay Example In 2012, the government assigned $3 trillion to health care. This was an increase from 2011 spending of $2.8 trillion. Researchers have used this to project a 4% growth rate in the national spending on health in the subsequent years. The rate of growth of national health spending in 2011 was 3.9% as compared to 3.7% growth in 2010. As a percentage of the nation’s gross domestic product, health care spending indicated a fairly stable 17.9 index between 2009 and 2011 (Peden, 2012). Looking at the nation’s spending on health care in 2011 by service, hospital care took $850.6 billion which was a 4.3% growth rate, and this was a drop from 4.9% rate in 2010. The slow growth was attributed to both the drop in price and use of hospital service experienced that year. Allocation to physician and clinical service in 2011 amounted to $541.4 billion which was a 4.3% growth as compared to the 3.1% 2010 growth. This change may have emanated from the increase in the use of services in 2011 despite the slowed growth in prices experienced the same year. Private health insurance and Medicare spent more in 2011 than in the previous year. Other professional services received $73.2 billion in 2011 that was a 4.9% growth rate over the expenditure for the same the preceding year. The national government in 2011 assigned $108.4 billion to dental services indicating a 3.0% growth over the previous year’s 2.7% growth. The spending for other health, residential and personal care services in 2011 came to $133.1 billion reaching a 4.0% growth as compared to 4.5% growth in 2010. Nursing care facilities and continuing care retirement communities stood at $149.3 billion in 2011 indicating a 4.4% growth over the previous year’s 3.2% growth (Jonas et. al., 2013). Homecare health care spending was $74.3 billion in 2011 indicating a 4.5% growth lower than 2010’s 5.8% growth. This slow growth was as a result of a fall in Medicare and Medicaid spending that year. T he national government allocated $263.0 billion to prescription drugs in 2011which translated to a 2.9% growth over the previous year’s 0.4% growth. This increase was due to an increase in the price of prescription drugs and additional spending on the new brand of drugs (Barr, 2011). Medical equipment received $38.9 billion which was a 5.3% growth in 2011 relative to 5.8% growth in 2010. Non-durable medical products were assigned $47.0 billion in 2011 which maintained the 2010 4.0% growth rate. Major sources of finance for heal care spending have been consistent. In 2011, Medicaid gave $407.7 recording a 2.5% growth relative to 5.9% growth in 2010. Medicaid registered 3.2% enrollment in 2011 which was a drop from 2010’s 4.9% enrollment (Jonas et. al., 2013). There was a decrease in federal Medicaid to 7.1% in 2011 while the state Medicaid expenditures increased to 22.2% owing to the lapse of the aid accorded states by the federal government that year. The OOP (Out-of-p ocket) spending was $307.7 billion in 2011 indicating a 2.8% increase from 2010’s 2.1% growth. Medicare accounted for 21% of the nation’s total spending on health in 2011. That year, it contributed $554.3 billion an outstanding growth to 6.2% as compared to 4.3% growth in 2010. This increase in growth was as a result of the fast growth in expenditure on nursing facilities and physician services and an accompanying