Livestock Husbandry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Livestock Husbandry - Essay Example Scientific processes have been developed to boost the results needed to gain maximum profit, that have incorporated, natural elements to double what is needed for the owner to articulate their efforts. Artificial insemination and the transfer of the embryo are the common measures, which have been applied to alter the desired expectation when the need is to accelerate the breed under consideration. The alteration in the genetic composition, in animal husbandry, has generated resistant breeds that are capable of adjusting to the harsh environment, while keeping at a constant the production yield acquired. The success cases are witnessed in the genetic alteration applied in cattle breeds and poultry. New breeds have been successfully developed to suit the subjections presented to attempt to establish an appropriate type. Aberdeen Angus is a breed of cattle that has been reared for the purpose of withstanding harsh conditions to produce meat (Pulling 2008, p3). This paper seeks to highli ght the husbandry system in the cattle breed with measures applied to sustain the breed in yielding better results. Development of the breed The breed was developed around the 19th century from the polled, and the black cattle doddies and hummlies. The term polled applied when referring to the breed has been used to present its appearance that they lack horns (Trow-Smith 2006, p32). The breed comes in black or red type with a distinctive white udder appearing, on fewer cases, across some breeds. The mostly known breed among the cow breed is the Black Angus with the red type rarely in variable countries (Pulling 2008, p12). Aberdeen Angus presents numerous benefits to find it suitable when conducting the husbandry process promising to be outstanding to the other cattle breeds. The breed has been applied in crossbreeding to produce breeds that give an accelerated carcass quality with an added milk production level. The distinctive feature in Aberdeen Angus is its resistance level that is proven to bear harsh weather conditions and develop a high maturity rate. The breed presents less difficulty in the husbandry process with its demand falling short of other breeds. The ravelled provisions in owning the Aberdeen Angus breed lie in maximum output from a minimal input. Characteristics The breed presents advantages in its rearing process and the measures applied in its feeding program. Firstly, the breed possesses a calving ease with the calf capable of fending from the mother within minutes of birth. The mother’s present exemplary milking ability with the instinct to provide for the calf, hence the farmer generates a high level milk production. The breed matures early and has a heightened fertility rate. It has been recorded to present a high Stayability measure, and this is advantageous in husbandry when the numbers increase to improve production. The breed is also polled hence reducing on the need to dehorn the species reducing the dangers associated with the entity. The breed is resistant to complications brought by sunburn and eye cancer. The breed has been known to produce a high quality rated meat that has developed an interest in the breed’s husbandry program. Their resistance favours a supplementary feeding program that allows them to graze and acquire external shelter. Feeding Programme The requirements needed in

How does a biotic-energy company (from Germany) to entry Thailand's Research Paper

How does a biotic-energy company (from Germany) to entry Thailand's market - Research Paper Example Major objective of the study is to provide a research paper in order to explain how a German Biotic-Energy company can enter in the Thailand market. The research will focus on the cultural differences in two countries. Finally, the study will recommend the organization how to develop and practice the business strategies in Thai market to achieve a sustainable growth. German Biotic-Energy Company Culture Analysis Germany is one of the developed European countries. Economically it is the third largest country in the world. German Biotic-Energy Company is trying to enter in the Thai market. Therefore, it is important to conduct a culture analysis of the organization in terms of value, language, decision making custom and religion. Decision making of the German organization is slow and detailed process. The organization tries to engage all the internal stakeholders in the decision making process. The organization does not draw significant conclusions based on the unstructured and spontan eous results. The management of the organization gives respect to all of its stakeholders during the decision making process. The organizational business culture is well defined. The company follows strictly observed organizational hierarchy. The organization follows typical German business culture. The employees never integrate personal aspects in their workplace. German Biotic-Energy Company follows a professional organizational structure. In work place the employees try to give value and respect to their sub-ordinates. German people are strongly individualistic. The employees within the Biotic-Energy Company follow through thought process. German is the official language. Therefore, according to their culture and value, they try to share their views and thoughts in German language. German people always respect people of every religion in business or organization. Almost 30% of total population is Christian. Rest of the population follows other religion. German people are very con servative. German Biotic-Energy Company tries to provide value people of all religions and gender. It is important for the organization to analyze the Thai Business culture before entering into the Thai market. Several Cultural aspects in International Business Language, religion, values and decision making custom are the major cultural aspects that can influence or affect an international business. It is true that, the Western countries are diversifying their business in the Asian countries in order to access resources such as labor, land and capital in low cost. These are huge motivating factors for the organizations. But, several cultural differences between two countries can affect the business performance of the German firm in the Thai market. Religion Religious view of majority of the Germans is Christianity. On the other hand, majority of the Thai people believes in Buddhism. Therefore, different religion background can create huge challenge for the business. It is known to a ll that, religion is a sensitive intangible matter of human beings2. Religion can integrate or separate a group of people. More than 90% of total population practices Buddhism. The Thai people believe in peace and honesty. These people are strong believer of their religion. They follow each and every aspect of their religion in both personal and professional life. According to their religion, simplicity and free of desire will bring Nirvana or

Change and the Management of Change Essay Example for Free

Change and the Management of Change Essay Change Management Planning, Implementing, controlling, and reviewing the movement of an organization from its current state to a new one Causes of Change External Incremental (Evolutionary) †¢Occurs slowly over time (fuel-efficient cars) Dramatic (Revolutionary) †¢Can cause many problems especially if unexpected †¢Might lead to total rethink of operation of organization oBusiness Process Re-Engineering Business Process Re-EngineeringFundamentally rethinking and redesigning the processes of a business to achieve a dramatic improvement in performance Globalization-Increasing interdependence for countries’ economies through free trade and multinational company investment †¢New opportunities to sell products in other countries †¢Increased competition from products made more cheaply in other countries-often by multinationals †¢Use either pan-global marketing for localization strategies †¢Achieve and try to maintain a competitive advantage Technological Advances-Leading to new products and new processes †¢Products: new computer games, iPods and iPhones, hybrid-powered cars. †¢Processes: robots in production; computer assisted design (CAD) in design offices and computer systems for stock control. †¢Staff retraining †¢Purchase of new equipment †¢Additions to product portfolio-Other products may be dropped †¢Need for quicker product development which may require new organizational structures and teams Macro-Economic Change- Fiscal Policy, Interest Rates, Business Cycle†¢Changes in consumers’ disposable incomes-and demand patterns that result from this †¢Boom or recession conditions-need for extra capacity or rationalism †¢Need for flexible production systems (staff flexibility) to cope with demand changes †¢Explain need for extra capacity or need to rationalize †¢Deal with staff cutbacks in way that encourages staff who remain to accept change Legal Changes †¢Changes to what can be sold †¢Working hours and conditions †¢Staff training on company policy †¢Flexible working hours and practices Competitors’ Actions †¢New products †¢Lower prices †¢Higher promotional budgets†¢Encourage new ideas from staff †¢Increase efficiency by staff accepting need to change production methods †¢Ensure resources available to meet challenge Environmental Factors †¢Increase green consumerism †¢Increasing concern about industry’s contribution to climate change †¢Social and environmental audits supported by strategic changes (recycle packaging) Internal Organizational Changes †¢Delayering* †¢Matrix structure** replaces hierarchical º †¢Retraining of less senior staff to accept more responsibility †¢Job security †¢Retraining staff in teamwork and project management Relocation †¢Moving operations to another region/country †¢Redundancy schemes for workers who lose their jobs †¢Grants for those willing to move Cutting Costs To Improve Competitiveness †¢Capital-intensive rather that labour-intensive methods †¢Rationalisation of operations †¢Retraining staff to operate advanced tech. †¢Redundancy schemes for workers who lose their jobs †¢Flexible employment contracts and working practices *DelayeringRemoval of one or more of the levels of hierarchy from an organizational structure **Matrix StructureAn organizational structure that creates project teams that cut across traditional functional departments  ° Level of Hierarchy A stage of the organisational structure at  which the personnel on it have equal status and authority Factors Causing Resistance to Change †¢Fear of Unknown (Uncertainty) †¢Fear of Failure (Skills/Abilities beyond worker’s capabilities) †¢Losing Something of Value (Income, Status, Job Security) †¢False Beliefs (Some convince themselves current system will work to avoid risks) †¢Lack of Trust (Past experiences between workers and managers) †¢Inertia (Might have to work harder) Strategies to Reduce Impact of/Resistance to Change Change Management Force-Field AnalysisAn analytical process used to map the opposing forces within an environment (such as a business) where change is taking place 1.Outline proposal for change 2.List forces for and against change 3.Assign estimated score for each force †¢Weighs importance of forces †¢Helps identify who is most likely impacted by change †¢How to strengthen forces supporting decision and reduce forces against it †¢Can implement leadership style that reduces opposition and resistance to change Project ChampionA person assigned to support and drive a project forward. Their role is to explain the benefits of change and assist and support the team putting change into practice Project GroupsCreated by an organisation to address a problem that requires input from different specialists Promote Change 1.Establish a sense of urgency. 2.Create an effective project team to lead the change. 3.Develop a vision and a strategy for change. 4.Communicate this change vision. 5.Empower people to take action. 6.Generate short-term gains from change that benefit as many people as possible. 7.Consolidate these gains and produce even more change. 8.Build change into the culture of the organisation so that it becomes a natural process.

Effect of Interpersonal Touch on Third-party Observers

Effect of Interpersonal Touch on Third-party Observers Observing Touch Boosts Social Interests Sun Yating Abstract The goal of this study is to investigate the effect interpersonal touch on third-party observers. Specifically, we aim to test whether observing interactions with touch biases individuals towards social information in their environment. To this end, participants will be presented with prime images that entail touch and no-touch interactions. Primes will be followed by a set of target images comprising social (i.e., faces) and non-social (i.e., vehicles) elements. Participants processing of these images will be explored using behavioural measures (e.g., recognition accuracy) and eye-gaze data obtained through eye-tracking. We expect stimulus recognition and gazing to be enhanced when presented with face than with vehicle stimuli. Moreover this difference should be more pronounced for stimuli primed with touch as compared with no-touch images. Keywords: Interpersonal touch; Social information; Facial bias; Eye-gazing. Observing touch boosts social interests Touch is crucial to our daily life, as it allows us to communicate with the external world (Barnett, 1972). By doing so, we are able to feel the warmth of a human hand; to tap the screen of a smart phone; to send messages to a friend; to feel the sharpness of the tip of a pencil; or to feel the softness of a comfortable mattress. Among different types of touch, the interpersonal touch is the social sub-area of touch that mainly includes our interaction with another people (Field, 2001). For example, a strong handshake, an encouraging pat on ones back, a short tap on ones forearm, or a comforting pat on ones shoulder. Research has focused on how interpersonal touch influences our social perception, social behaviour, as well as our social brain. For the social perception, Fisher, Rytting and Heslin (1976) have conducted a behavioural study: when handing back the library card, library clerk either casually touched the forearm of the subject or did not touch the subject. The results illustrated that subjects felt higher level of affective and gave more positive evaluation towards the clerk, when they had been casually touched, in compared with the no touch situation. In other words, interpersonal touch enhances our positive social perception towards others. For the social behaviour, Cruso and Wetzel (1984) have asked waitresses to either briefly touch customers hands and shoulders, or behaving in the controlled manner (no touch). They have found that, regardless of the place being touched (hand or shoulder), customers gave higher rate of tipping fee when they had been touched by the waitresses, compared with the control group (where customers had not been touched). The above results suggested that interpersonal touch affects o ur social behaviour, which maybe a practical knowledge that we could use in our daily life. For the social brain research area, both neuroimaging studies and EEG studies have shed light on the role of interpersonal touch. For example, Olausson et al. (2010) conducted an fMRI study and identified a system of unmyelinated low threshold mechanoreceptors (C tactile, CT afferents) which contribute to pleasant touch and provide an important sensory underpinning of social behaviour. It is important to note that their experiment was not strictly an interpersonal touch. In fact, it was a robot arm that held a brush that was stimulating participants. The brush touch was a slow, dynamic property of light touch in hairy skin. However, this kind of touch has been suggested to be salient in tactile interactions between individuals (Gallace and Spence, 2010; Vallbo et al., 1999). Also, as social processing include multiple mechanisms (e.g. vocal, facial, and olfactory), Olausson et al. (2010) have only suggested the CT afferents’ function in interpersonal touch. Thus, it is possibl e that the CT afferents do not wholly support the social processing, but only partially contribute to one specific aspect (i.e. the interpersonal touch aspect). Although having the above issues, the study done by Olausson et al. (2010) generally suggested that CT afferents (in posterior and middle insular cortex) is the brain system which works for both interpersonal touch and social processing. For the EEG evidence, Maria et al. (in progress) have conducted an experiment with facial stimuli. They asked participants to focus on the facial images displayed on a computer screen. At the meantime, they used a brush to briefly touch the forearm area of participants. According to the results, being touched by the brush enhanced the N170 ERP component, which has been proved to reflect the processes of neutral faces (Rossion et al., 2000). Again, the above study used a brush instead of a real human hand to touch participants, which may be not good for the consideration of validity. However, previous study has shown the similarity between being touched by a brush and a human hand. Therefore, this EEG study suggested that our social perception of faces could be enhanced after being touched. With the knowledge of how interpersonal touch influences our social life, it is interesting to find out whether such influence could be extended, so that individuals are not being touched with ones own experience, but simply observing a vicarious interpersonal touching interaction performed by another two people. It is important to figure out the vicarious interpersonal touch problem, as this is the social interaction that we have to process in everyday life. For example, the mess media propose thousands of news, which including pictures capturing the interpersonal touch interactions between politicians. When observing such pictures, readers may form stereotypes towards both politicians within in this interaction. Sometimes, being the toucher or the receiver in such a simple picture can determine the publics social-emotional attitudes towards politicians, which will later greatly affect the voting rates toward them. Therefore, having the knowledge of vicarious interpersonal touch is important for us to guide our behaviour pattern in our social life. To support both the real and vicarious experiences, a same neural system should be activated for both procedures, which is called the Mirror system. According to Blakemore et al. (2005), the mirror system lies in our Primary Somatosensory Cortext (SI). Moreover, Keyser, Kaas and Gazzola (2010) suggested that different sub-regions in SI make different contributions: BA2 functions to the perception of others experiences, whilst BA3 processes signals originate in our own body. Furthermore, Scharfer, Heinze and Rotte (2012) conducted an fMRI experiment that they assigned participants to either observe a painful vicarious touch (using a paintbrush to touch a hand), a non-painful vicarious touch, or become in the real touch condition (where participant watched no visual display and was touched by a paintbrush). The results suggested that, for the contrast between observed/ real touch, there was a significant overlap in SI. In other words, SI is the mirror neuron system for non-painful touc h. Also, among all sub-regions within SI, BA2 made around 50% contribution to the overlap activation. However, this fMRI study, as previous studies, risked validity by using paintbrush instead of a more realistic interpersonal communication stimulus. Also, although this study hinted the influence of vicarious touch on the social perception, it did not directly test any social-emotional issue as dependent variable. A recent study by Schirmer et al. (2014) has developed the Social Touch Picture Set (SToPS), which contain two characters within each image. The interaction between the two characters can be either touch or no-touch. Also, the interaction can be reciprocal (where there is no toucher and receiver) or non-reciprocal (where one character is a toucher while the other one is a receiver). This picture set enables the presentation of a more realistic vicarious interpersonal touch scene, compared with the previously used paintbrush one. In their study, they asked participants to watch the SToPS images, then rate the perceived valence, arousal, and likeability of the characters and the interaction procedure. They found that, when participants observed touch images, the image characters and interaction procedure seemed more positive, aroused, and likable, compared to the observation of no-touch images. Moreover, they used eye-tracking system to record the gazing pattern when participants were observing the touch/ no-touch images. The results illustrated more and longer fixations towards the upper body area rather than the expected touching area. With such unexpected results, it is interesting to locate the exact position(s) within the upper body area that people focus on, after they observed vicarious touch images. Among all human upper body areas, perhaps the facial area is the most important one for our social information processing. As Allison, Puce and McCarthy (2000) mentioned in their review about social perception, the reason why facial information is crucial to our daily communication is because human face not only provides multiple explicit information (i.e. age, sex, emotional state, etc), but also includes some implicit information. Therefore, it is likely that face is the key area in the upper body part that we focus on, after primed with a vicarious interpersonal touch scene. More specifically, the enhanced social processing (by observing interpersonal touch) may bias our attention towards faces and help us to deeply process facial related information. As no previous study has focused on the link between vicarious interpersonal touch and our facial information processing procedure, the current study is interested in such topic and will test: 1) whether observing touch biases individuals to attend to faces, and 2) whether a potential face bias facilitates the retrieval of facial information. Methods Participants Run pilot study with 10 participants. Depending on the effect size to decide the sample size for the main study. A balanced number of male and female participants will be preferred, as sex difference may influence the results of current experiment. Also, as the face images will all be Asian, we will only include Asian participants. Experimental designated The current experiment is a 2 (Touch: touch/no-touch) X 2 (Stimulus: face/car) X 8 (AOIs) X 2 (Old target: face/car) within subject design, with dependent variables of looking duration, number of fixations, and d value for the facial recognition data. Stimuli SToPS Images (vicarious interpersonal touch images). There are 480 SToPS images (see figure 1 as an example), which could be divided evenly into different within participant conditions in the current study. The SToPS images contain ten different gestures, which could be either touch or no-touch. There are three different actors’ versions for each type of image. Each version has four female and male dyads: female-female/female-male/male-female/male-male. Therefore, there are 10*2*3*4 = 240 images. Also, a mirrored version for each of the above images serves to avoid the left-handiness/right-handiness issues. In total, there are 480 vicarious interpersonal touch images. Face and vehicle recognition task images. Instead of using traditional houses in the control condition, vehicle images will be used in the current experiment. This is because the shape of the frontal vehicle images is comparable to human faces. This will enable us to standardize face images and vehicle images in the same manner (see figure 2 as an example). Figure1: Example of touch/no-touch images in SToPS picture set. Figure 2: Example of face and vehicle images. Procedure The experiment will contain two phases: the study phase and the test phase. For the study phase, each experimental trial will start with a 200 ms presentation of a white fixation cross in the middle of the screen against a gray background. Participants will be presented with either a face image or a car image for 1 s. Participants will then be asked to explore the picture and try to remember it. In total, we will present 60 face images and 60 car images during the study phase. The inter-trial interval will be 1-3 s with a blank screen displayed. The study phase will last 6-7 mins for the 120 images. Then, participants will be told that this is the end of study phase and they will begin the test phase (see figure 3 for an illustration). Figure 3: The procedure of the study phase. For the test phase, there will be 240 trials. During each trial, a fixation cross will be presented for 200ms. Then, participants will be primed with a Touch or No-touch image for 1 s. After priming, we will display a pair of target face/car image on a computer screen for 1 s. For each of the Touch/No Touch priming, target image pair could be one of the following combinations: FaceNew/CarOld (30 trials), FaceOld/CarNew (30 trials), or FaceNew/CarNew (60 trials). We will present target images with primes in a counterbalanced manner. After watching the target image pair, participants will have to decide whether they have encountered an old image or not. To show their decision, they will need to press the left button or the right button to indicate whether the left image or the right image is an old one. Alternatively, if they decide both images are new, they press â€Å"Enter† to start the next trial. During the inter-trial interval, we will present a gray blank screen for 1-3 s . Based on the above design, each trial will last around 5 seconds. Therefore, the total length for test phase will be around 20 mins (see figure 4 for an illustration). Figure 4: The procedure of the test phase. Measurements Eye-tracking system. Eye-tracking data will be analysed using 8 AOIs (see figure 5 for illustration). We will measure the looking duration and number of fixations during the test phase. Figure 5: There will be 8 AOIs for face image as well as for vehicle image. Among the 8 AOIs, our interest will focus on the eye and mouth areas. D value for facial recognition. We will use d-prime as the data analysis method to find the difference in sensitivity towards facial images. We will compute the H values (hit / hit + miss), the F values (FA / FA + CR), and the d values for each trial. Expected results For the looking duration, we expect to find out the Stimulus main effect and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus (figure 6). Figure 6: We expect to see: 1) in general, participants look at face images longer than vehicle images; 2) primed with touch images will increase the looking duration towards faces. For the number of fixations, we expect to see a Stimulus main effect and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus (figure 7). Figure 7: We expect to find out that: 1) the number of fixations on face images will be larger than the number of fixations on vehicle images; 2) the priming of touch images will increase the number of fixations on face images. For the facial recognition, we expect to find out the Stimulus main effect, and an interaction effect between Touch and Stimulus on the d values (figure 8). Figure 8: We expect to see that: 1) participants are more sensitive to face images, rather than vehicle images; 2) the sensitivity towards face images will be enhanced by touch priming, but not no-touch priming. Discussion The current study aims at seeking the relationship between observing an interpersonal touch and the social information procedure. We expect stimulus recognition and gazing to be enhanced when presented with face than with vehicle stimuli. Moreover this difference should be more pronounced for stimuli primed with touch as compared with no-touch images. If the results will be the same as our expectations, we can conclude that observing touch biases individuals to attend to faces, and a potential face bias facilitates the retrieval of facial information. These possible findings will provide us knowledge on the link between observing an interpersonal touch and our facial information processing. Future studies could use fMRI to locate the brain areas that work for both observing an interpersonal touch and our facial information processing. References Allison, T., Puce, A., McCarthy, G. (2000). Social perception from visual cues: role of the STS region.Trends in cognitive sciences,4(7), 267-278. Barnett, K. (1972). A theoretical construct of the concepts of touch as they relate to nursing.Nursing research,21(2), 102-109. Blakemore, S. J., Bristow, D., Bird, G., Frith, C., Ward, J. (2005). Somatosensory activations during the observation of touch and a case of vision–touch synaesthesia.Brain,128(7), 1571-1583. Crusco, A. H., Wetzel, C. G. (1984). The Midas Touch The Effects of Interpersonal touch on Restaurant Tipping.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,10(4), 512-517. Field, T. (2001). Touch. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Fisher, J. D., Rytting, M., Heslin, R. (1976). Hands touching hands: Affective and evaluative effects of an interpersonal touch.Sociometry, 416-421. Gallace, A., Spence, C. (2010). The science of interpersonal touch: an overview.Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews,34(2), 246-259. Gobbini, M. I., Haxby, J. V. (2007). Neural systems for recognition of familiar faces.Neuropsychologia,45(1), 32-41. Keysers, C., Kaas, J. H., Gazzola, V. (2010). Somatosensation in social perception.Nature Reviews Neuroscience,11(6), 417-428. Kleinke, C. L. (1986). Gaze and eye contact: a research review.Psychological bulletin,100(1), 78. Perrett, D. I., Smith, P. A. J., Potter, D. D., Mistlin, A. J., Head, A. S., Milner, A. D., Jeeves, M. A. (1985). Visual cells in the temporal cortex sensitive to face view and gaze direction. Proc. R. Soc. London B 223: 293–317. Rossion, B., Gauthier, I., Tarr, M. J., Despland, P., Bruyer, R., Linotte, S., Crommelinck, M. (2000). The N170 occipito-temporal component is delayed and enhanced to inverted faces but not to inverted objects: an electrophysiological account of face-specific processes in the human brain.Neuroreport,11(1), 69-72. Schaefer, M., Heinze, H. J., Rotte, M. (2012). Embodied empathy for tactile events: interindividual differences and vicarious somatosensory responses during touch observation.Neuroimage,60(2), 952-957. Schirmer, A., Reece, C., Zhao, C., Ng, E., Wu, E., Yen, S. C. (2014). Reach out to one and you reach out to many: Social touch affects third-party observers.British Journal of Psychology. Vallbo, Ã…. B., Olausson, H., Wessberg, J. (1999). Unmyelinated afferents constitute a second system coding tactile stimuli of the human hairy skin. Journal of Neurophysiology,81(6), 2753-2763.

Economic Geography of Industry Location in India :: India Economics Industries Essays

Economic Geography of Industry Location in India ____________________________________ Paper prepared for the UNU/WIDER Project Conference on Spatial Inequality in Asia 3 Economic Geography of Industry Location in India Where do different industries locate? What factors influence the spatial distribution of economic activity within countries? Finding answers to these questions is important for understanding the development potential of sub national regions. This is particularly important for developing countries as they have relatively lower levels of overall investment and economic activity is concentrated in one or a few growth centers. Thus, regions that do not attract dynamic industries are not only characterized by low productivity, but also by lower relative incomes and standards of living. These questions on industry location and their implications are not new. Examining the locational aspects of economic activity has long been of interest to geographers, planners, and regional scientists (Weber, 1909; Là ¶sch, 1940; Hotelling, 1929; Greenhut and Greenhut, 1975, Isard 1956). However, analytic difficulties in modeling increasing returns to scale marginalized the analysis of geographic aspects in mainstream economic analysis (Krugman 1991). Recent research on externalities, increasing returns to scale, and imperfect spatial competition (Dixit and Stiglitz 1977; Fujita, et al. 1999; Krugman 1991) has led to renewed interest in analyzing the spatial organization of economic activity. This is especially true in case of geographic concentration or clustering. Models in the ‘New Economic Geography’ literature (see review in Fujita, Krugman, and Venables, 1999) allow us to move from the question ‘Where will manufacturing concentrate (if it does)?’ to the question ‘What manufacturing will concentrate where?’ These insightful theoretical models provide, for the most part, renewed analytical support for the â€Å"cumulative causation† arguments made in earlier decades on the core-periphery relationship, on agglomeration economies, and on industrial clustering. In this context, we are interested in finding empirical answers to these (very old) questions, and to go beyond, to ask, â€Å"What manufacturing will locate where and why†? Industry location and concentration decisions are driven by two fundamental considerations: a set of â€Å"pure† location or â€Å"economic geography† criteria, including well recognized elements such as urbanization and localization economies, market access, infrastructure availability, etc. The other is a set of â€Å"practical† or â€Å"political economy† criteria, where the state is a key player in industrial ownership and production, and uses location considerations that are different from the private sector. The private sector responds to the very strong influence of state regulations, and the result is an industrial geography that is shaped by factors of economic geography and political economy. To understand the process of industrial location and concentration, it is important to first analyze the location decisions of firms in particular industries.

Early History of South Africa: A Climatological Case Study Essay

Early History of South Africa: A Climatological Case Study The early history of Cape Town shares little with the experience of the rest of Africa. The patterns of colonization and the relationship between black Africans and nationalized Europeans are unique to the area. The timing and speed of settlement were possible only because of the local disease environment. The system of racial interaction, a system of Aparthide unique to the area, acted differently than other systems because of farming patterns dictated by the fertility of the land. The above are instances of the apparent adaptation of South African cultural development to its climate environment. They show the history and culture of the area are inseparable aspects of the climate in which they formed. Once the Portuguese had made the trip around the horn of Africa and had started to trade with the Indian Ocean world it was clear that a port capable of re-supplying and repairing the trading ships was necessary. Towns sprang to life up and down the West African coast, their numbers increasing as other European powers began to claim their share of the trade with India. In most of these towns, European mortality was horrendous. Even England, notorious for colonizing with Criminals, did not send its prisoners to the West African coast for long. Malaria and other African diseases killed them as effectively as a hangman’s noose. But there was one glaring anomaly: Cape Town. Here, Europeans could survive. The reason had everything to do with Climate. One of the biggest causes of European mortality was Malaria. A parasitic disease carried by mosquitoes, Malaria has a high mortality rate among first exposure victims. Even today, it is the fourth most common cause for c... ..., settlements remained small and ineffectual. The African natives were able to maintain their own lifestyles, and the Europeans were prevented from expanding. This was not the case in South Africa, where insufficient rainfall forced the population to spread out and interact with the natives to such an extent as to alter their language. The divisions this interaction created were not easily thrown aside, and have persisted to modern times. Without the knowledge of the climate of the area, there would be no explanation for the unique nature of South African culture. Climate dictated the development of this culture. Works Cited: 1 http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/facts.htm 2 http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/distribution_epi/distribution.htm 3 http://cybercapetown.com/CapeTown/climate.php 4 http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayIntlNORMS.asp?CityCode=68816&Units=both

Lewy Body Dementia

Non-preventable and Non-reversible: Lewy Body Dementia On April 10th 2010, my dad informed me that my grandmother had passed away. She was 90-years-old, and although she may have lived a long life, the last eight or so years of her life were very rough. The official reason she passed away was because of Lewy Body Dementia. This degenerative disease, meaning it is not reversible, is thought to have sprouted from an infection she had in her kidneys in 2002.She lived at home for a while after her kidney disease was found and treated, but was moved to an assisted living center in 2007 because of occasional hallucinations, and family was unable to stay with her at her home. As time progressed, her dementia got worse. She slowly started having hallucinations more frequently, became very forgetful, and eventually was unable to perform any tasks on her own. â€Å"Dementia is a loss of brain function that occurs with certain diseases. It affects memory, thinking, language, judgment, and beha vior,† stated by Google Health. Mayoclinic. om suggests that â€Å"in Lewy body dementia, abnormal round structures — called Lewy bodies — develop in regions of your brain involved in thinking and movement. †Although the specific cause of dementia is unknown, specialists believe that it relates to Alzheimer’s Disease, and Parkinson’s Disease. Evidence of these two diseases has been seen in Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) The cause may not be known, but there are many symptoms that can be easily noticed without difficult tests, such as detailed hallucinations, trembling hands, delusions, sleep difficulties, and more. A clinical diagnosis of LBD can be probable or possible based on different symptom combinations,â€Å" discusses Lbda. org, the Lewy Body Dementia Association website. A probable diagnosis consists of dementia plus two or more core features, or dementia plus a single core feature and one or more suggestive features. A possible diagnosis is dementia plus one core feature, or dementia and one or more suggestive features.Core features are changing cognition with variations of attention or alertness, very detailed hallucinations, and unconsciously having Parkinson’s Disease movements. A suggestive feature includes REM sleep behavior disorder, sensitivity to neuroleptics (a drug used for calming), and low dopamine transporter uptake in the brains basal ganglia, which connects to main parts of the brain like the cerebral cortex and thalamus. LBD cannot be cured, it can only be slowed down. Since there is no cure, doctors can only treat individual symptoms.They use medications for Alzheimer’s Disease to increase the levels of neurotransmitters to help with cognition, Parkinson’s Disease, for muscular issues, but these can increase hallucinations and delusions. Also, doctors may use an antipsychotic medication, which is a neuroleptic, and many LBD patients are severely sensitive to these. Some simple therapy can also be used, such as removing clutter and background noise from the environment, and breaking tasks into simpler steps which will help them focus.Also, how a caregiver responds to a person with LBD is crucial. They should not quiz the person, or question them, they should just validate any concerns, which will usually get rid of the issue at hand for the moment. Lewy Body Dementia is not preventable, but there are certain risks that make it more likely for one to have it when they are older, such as being over 60, being male, and having history of dementia in the family. In conclusion, LBD is an issue that has an effect 15-35% of all dementias, virtualmedicalcentre. com confirms.I have realized that I will probably be diagnosed with this when I am older, because my grandma, and great-grandma on my dads side both had this, and my great-grandma on my moms side is getting the beginning signs of LBD. Because of research, we can understand why certain things happen to us, an d how they happen.Works Cited â€Å"Dementia. † Google Health. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. . Mayo Clinic Staff. â€Å"Lewy Body Dementia – MayoClinic. com. † Mayo Clinic Medical Information and Tools for Healthy Living – MayoClinic. com. 17 Sept. 2010. Web. 30 Oct. 2010. . Welcome to the Lewy Body Dementia Association. Web. 31 Oct. 2010. .