Environmental Impacts By Mining Activities Environmental Sciences Essay

Environmental Impacts By Mining Activities Environmental Sciences Essay Mining and its allied activities have taken big strikes during the last century contributing significant infrastructure development and raising the living standards of mankind. However, they have also brought in their wake, degeneration and degradation of natural resources, pollution, health risk and socio-ecological instabilities. Bundelkhand region, occupying almost 71818km2 in the central planes of India, is known for its rich deposits of pyrophyllite, moram, salt peter, granite, diasporas, sand, etc. Currently, there are around 325 active mining sites in Jhansi district alone. Deforestation, dust generation, water, air and noise pollution and resource depletion are common hazards associated with opencast mining widely prevalent in this region. The present paper attempts to reveal the base line environmental quality and socio-economic setting in and around such mining sites with special reference to the effects on the air, water, changes of land use pattern and occupational health effects of mine workers etc. It also attempts to provide a framework for management strategies to improve the environmental conditions in the mining sites and its adjoining environments. The geographical location of Bundelkhand regions is such that it acted as gateway between north and south India. Administratively, it covers seven district of Uttar Pradesh. Mining and exploitation of mineral resources generally have a considerable impact on the land, water, air, and biological resources as well as socio-economic setting of the local population. Its foci are the environmental issues being confronted by the surface mining industries of Jhansi.The magnitude of impact depends on the methods, scale and concentration of mining activities, and the geological and geomorphological setting (Ghose and Majee 2001). In India the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) was formulated in 1994 to assess and compare the air pollution level for different areas (CPCB 1998). Opencast mining, widely prevalent in the Bundelkhand region, though cheaper are known to have more environmental consequences. In opencast mining a massive overburden will have to be removed for the exploitat ion of the various deposits. This will require excavators, transporters, loaders, conveyor belts etc., resulting into various environmental problems. Environmental impacts of mining operation at individual site may be local phenomena, but numerous mining sites clustered at a particular area may eventually led to environmental problems of larger magnitude. Large scale opencast mining operations in the study area disturb the land by directly removing mine wastes during excavation and concurrently dumping it in adjacent areas. Every mine, big or small, operating or new has to obtain environmental clearance from the Govt. of India (Ghose 1991). Jacko (1983) has given estimates of fugitive dust from some mining operations. Wind blown particulate matters of loose mine spoils and dust generation from crushers and excavation sites may affect ambient air quality in the mine and adjoin areas. Air quality status in Indian environment is dominated by suspended particulate matter (SPM) causing g reat concern to environmental planners (Ravindra 1991). Noise pollution, especially which due to blasting, might be reduced by strict adherence to noise emission standards (McClean 1992). Water resources are particularly vulnerable to degradation even if drainage is controlled and sediments pollution reduced. Rain and drainage water which may affect the plants, animals and human populations. Groundwater problems may be particularly troublesome in the semi-arid region of Bundelkhand since, water is a scarce resource and people rely groundwater is very difficult and expensive. 2 Methods Field surveys were carried out in some selected mine areas (Figure. 1) in Jhansi district to collect relevant information. Data and literature pertaining to the mineral deposits in the region was gathered from various sources. The information related to the status of health and socio-economic impacts were extracted by using structured questionnaires. The respondents include randomly selected mine workers and head of families residing in mine areas. The ambient air quality assessments were carried out in Gora Machiya granite mine area. High volume air samplers (HVS Envirotech Ltd., New Delhi) were used with an average flow rate between 1.1 1.3 m3 m-1. The air samplers were kept at a height of 6m. Sampling was done for 24 h in 8 h intervals. SPM and RSPM were computed after weighing the glass fibre filter paper (Schleicher and Schà ¼ll, Germany) before and after sampling. Analyses of water quality (APHA 2005) were done by collecting ground water from hand pumps, ponds samples from in and around mining area during pre-monsoon, monsoon and post-monsoon. The hand pumps were operated 10 minutes before collecting the samples. Samples were collected in clean polythene bottles having air tight stoppers. Information pertaining to the health effects of granite mining on the mine workers and the local residents in the nearby villages were survey with the help of a structured Questionnaire. The information collected include, respiratory, eye, hearing loss, skin, accident and others. Various informal interviews with miners, mining officials, government officials, and local community members (around the source of air pollution) were conducted during the study period. 3 Result and discussion Mining in Bundelkhand region are mainly carried out by opencast extraction method. Open cast mining involves the removal of overburden including the valuable topsoil and plus the natural vegetative cover to meet the ore deposits. These activities are associated with harmful effects to the local environment. Mining activities are carried out in various stages, each of them involving specific environmental impacts. Broadly speaking, these stages are: deposit prospecting and exploration, mine development and preparation, mine exploitation, and treatment of the minerals obtained at the respective installations with the aim of obtaining marketable products.The emerging environmental hazards associated with open cast mining practices are many but the major problems may be summarized as follows: 3.1 Air Pollution Opencast mining operation creates enormous quantity of dust of various sizes which passes into transportation and disperse significant amount of suspended particulate matters (SPM) and gaseous pollutants in to the atmosphere. These pollutants not only affect the mine workers but also affect the nearby populations, agricultural crops and livestock. During the field study it has been observe that RSPM and SPM is the major source of emission from opencast granite mining in Jhansi. The minimum and maximum value of RSPM and SPM is 155 µg m-3 to 234 µg m-3; and 393 µg m-3 to 541 µg m-3 respectively. The extent of harmful affects depends largely on meteorological conditions prevailing in the region. Depending on the size suspended particulate matter may cause (a) Respiratory disorder in animals and human due to inhalation of fine particles, (b) Ophthalmic disease, as particulates act as carrier of pathogens, (c) Lower agricultural yields due to obstruction of light needed for photos ynthesis by the dust cover on surface layer of plants, and (d) Poor visibility near crusher. The variation of SPM and RSPM in the four sampling stations for the month of November to January is depicted separately in Figure 2 4. In general the SPM load in all the sampling stations was more than the RSPM concentration and this is as per expectation. 3.2 Water pollution Mining activities are known to affect both the surface and groundwater regime. The local topography and drainage pattern may considerably influence the severity of pollution. The main sources of liquid effluents in opencast mining are: (a) De-watering of mine water, (b) Spent water from dust extraction and dust suppressing system and (c) Leachate run off from waste dumps. The water composition of the mine water primarily depends upon the host rock composition as well as the mineralization process. Generally, sulfides containing minerals yield acidic mine water whereas in mineral bearing oxides, the pH of the water may go up to 8.0. pH of the mine water of the area was alkaline in nature (7.6-8.5) and conductivity varied between 372 and 1642  µS cm-1 (Table 1). The average conductivity (1,009  µS cm-1) and TDS (839 mg l-1) values for mine water are higher as compared to the groundwater (864  µS cm-1 and 669 mg l-1) and surface water (411  µS cm-1 and 303 mg l-1). Due to exces sive soil and other structural erosion the runoff water contains high amount of suspended solids. These decrease the penetration of light in water bodies receiving the runoff water affecting the survival of living organisms. The leachate water can be extremely toxic containing heavy metals depending on the overburden composition and may pollute the ground water. 3.3 Noise Pollution In open cast mining blasting is a common practice which produces high intensity of noise. Deafness is brought about by slow but progressive degeneration of neuro-sensorial cells of the inner ear. Besides, noisy working environment in the mining sites are known to result into communication impairments, task interference, sleep interference, change in personal behavior, etc. of the mine workers. In addition, noise produces other health effects, influences work performance and makes communications more difficult. Besides, the fauna in the forests and other areas surrounding the mines/industrial complexes is also effected by noise and it has generally been believed that wildlife is more sensitive to noise and vibrations than the human beings.The noise level is comparatively high in the active zones in the granite quarries due to drilling, blasting and the mine service stations. It was found to be in the range of 96 to 125 dB. These are much above the limits of 75 dB prescribed by WHO for day time industrial areas (WHO 1980). In the granite quarries the exposure for long periods to these high levels of noise is likely to affect the ear diaphragms of the workers. Instantaneous loudness from blasting can reach 100 dB and vibrations can be felt up to 2 km distant. At 10 metres, the noise from excavators, spreaders, conveyor belts and their driving stations all may attain 85-95 dB. Even at 1,000 metres noise sources of 75 dB create loudness levels as great as 49 dB (UNECE 1988). 3.4 Land degradation Opencast mining excavates large land areas to extract the mineral ore and at the same time requires huge areas to dump the mine spoils. During this course of action often lands under the cover of forest or agriculture are diverted for mining. Some important impacts on the lands due to opencast mining may be: (a) Change in topography resulting in drastic change in drainage pattern and reduction in aesthetic value, (b) Slope stability problems triggering lands slides and rapid soil erosion, (c) Rapid siltation and degradation of surface water bodies and (d) Blanketing mine spoils in the nearby agricultural and grazing lands. A change of land use pattern in Goramachiya village has been shown in figure 5. 3.5 Improper disposal of mine-wastes Dumping 0f mine wastes without proper location of will cause adverse impact on environment. This depends on the type of mineral, the method of mining and nature of topography around the mines. Actually in course of mining materials is far more than mineral of economic value, which is utilized. The rest is disposed at mine site. The rejected materials may be the overburden, inter burden, side burden, on the tailing rejected after beneficiation. This material is physically, chemically and structurally unstable and is to be dumped on the adjoining land area, add to be the deleterious impact prone to subsistence chemically as well as hydrological unstable for plant growth as it carried for with water streams and degraded environment on the land in vicinity. 3.6 Loss of Biodiversity One major crisis of the present day in Bundelkhand region is the rapid loss of biodiversity. Large scale operations of mining activities have contributed directly or indirectly to the depletion of the biological diversity in the region. Vegetative covers are open up at various places to expedite excavation of ore, development of mining infrastructure and dumping of overburdens. Removal of vegetative cover is often followed by massive soil erosion, siltation of river and reservoirs. The direct impacts on the living organisms in the mining areas may range from death of plants and animals due to mining activity or contact with toxic wastes and mine drainages, disturbance of wildlife habitat due to blasting and heavy machines. Indirect impacts may include changes in nutrient cycling, disruption of food chain and instability of ecosystem. 3.7 Occupational Human Health Problems Opencast mining is more severe an air pollution problem in comparison to underground mining. In active mining sites, miners are persistently exposed to large concentrations of dust, gaseous pollutants, high levels of noise and last but not the least accidents, which constantly pose a severe threat to miners life. The data on various health effects obtained from the current survey for the mine workers and the population inhabiting in and around the granite mining site is illustrated in Figure 6. Health problems related to skin and respiratory disorder are widely prevalent in the area. Maximum of the respondents complain problems related to skin and respiratory diseases. A total of 108 respondents have skin problems which comprises of 74 men and 35 women. The digging, blasting and drilling of granite mine generated dust particles of various sizes into the immediate atmosphere. Crystalline silica is a common but variable component of granite. Most of this dust is usually made up of sil ica (occurring as silicon dioxide SiO2). As the mining is increasing, workers exploitation is also increasing. Workers are facing serious problems of their health, livelihoods, and minimum wages. The most prevalent occupational diseases among the mine workers in Bundelkhand are: (a) Hearing problems: Effect of heavy noise from use of heavy machineries and rock blasting cause auditory effect as well as non-auditory effects in mine workers and surrounding people, (b) Auditory impact: Auditory effect of noise causes impairing of hearing, (c) Non-Auditory impacts: These type of effect cause loss of working efficiency due to the physiological disorders like hypertension, cardiovascular disease and so on, (d) respiratory problems: Mineral dust particles originating from mining activities on inhalation by lungs and thereby causing a number of concerned problems like silicosis. These diseases are common in Goramachiya and Dagara village of Jhansi. (e) Eye problem: Dust particle from mining activities contribute to cause of certain eye problem like conjunctivitis and kerato conjunctivitis and (f) Skin problem: Deposition of dust particles on skin interrupts U.V. radiation, which causes different skin diseases. 4. Remedial Measures 4.1 An environmental management plan (EMP) for sustainable mining activities India, however, is not a unique case, as it is a well known fact that most mining adversely impacts on the environment. It is mandatory to draft an environmental management plan (EMP) before commencing such projects in India. Several countries have adopted different strategies for tackling pressing environmental problems in the industry. For effective implementation of an EMP, a mid-term corrective measure is essential, such as a time bound action plan, this includes a programmed for land reclamation, afforestation, mine water treatment, surface drainage and check dams, and sewage treatment. Development has environmental costs. Therefore, the role of the law is to see how and where to absorb these costs to keep damages at a minimum. The responsibility to improve environmental management rests with the Project Officer of the project. As far as air, water, noise and soil pollution control measures are concerned; samples are collected and tested at strategic locations during all four se asons. The implementing authority is guided and advised as per the data received from the laboratories. 4.2 Environmental Impact Assessment Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is one of the proven management tools for integrating environmental concerns in development process and for improved decision making. As EIA and EMP have been made statutory requirements for starting new mining ventures as well as for existing mines, (at the time of renewal of mining plans) measures to prevent environmental degradation have become a subject of priority with the mine managements. In the initial years, environmental clearance was only an administrative requirement. Since 1994, EIA and environmental clearance have been made statutory for 30 categories of developmental activities in the sectors of industry, thermal power, mining, river-valley infrastructure and nuclear power. The minerals reserves in the Bundelkhand region are varied and huge in quantities, it is expected that the mining activities may be intensified in future further deteriorating the environmental quality. Proper environmental impact assessment and some times a socio-economic impact assessment should be carried out. Baseline data should be effectively incorporated in management of the mining sites in Bundelkhand region. For proposed mining projects, it is necessary to address the potential environmental impact issues that may arise due to proposed mining activities i.e. an assessment of the potential impacts of a project on the pre-mining environment. The plans required for the EIA must be at appropriate scales to show the level of detail required for the particular project or aspect described. The economic growth and development of the country depends not only on resource optimisation but also on environment management. This aspect of industrialization was not envisaged by planners in the past. 4.3 Afforestation Afforestation practices help in restoring and enhancing the vegetative cover in mine areas in various ways. For reclamation through Afforestation following inventories are the prerequisites such as area to be planted, slope gradient, quality of soil, climate conditions and nature of biotic pressure. For plantation priority must be given to native species in the following order, mining sites, overburden sites and abandoned sites. Those species have to be selected having fast growing tendency to enable to maximum canopy in short time as well as hard woody and ability to fix direct atmospheric nitrogen. 5. Conclusion Mining activities are unsustainable not only because they exploit non-renewable resources, but also because they leave behind them destruction of the environment and society, which is very often irreversible. Because of its impacts, mining is one of those activities that need to be strictly controlled at all stages, from prospection and exploitation to transportation, processing and consumption. After abandoned of mines, there is no proper closure of mines; waste dumps will be there, no rehabilitation of the area, no compensation for the labours. There will be always question of that whether land will be given back to the landholder or not. It has been suggested that after closure of mine lands should be given to the landholders, after proper rehabilitation of land. Then they can start to earn his livelihood from the cultivating their own land. Environmental quality must be sustained in areas affected by surface mining. This requires designing and developing environmentally sensitive strategies for extraction and land reclamation. It demands a more rigorous control of environmental impact assessment and more attention to ensuring productive and sustainable land restoration. Mine rejected granite waste stone materials should be distributed to the local people who are inhabitant the satellite village and also initiate for the manufacture of brick in house purposes and roads. Filter masks should be provided to the workers and plants crushers and mine areas.

Aboriginal Identity In Australia

Aboriginal Identity In Australia At its very core, this paper is interested in Aboriginal identity in Australia; the principle concern is to analyse in-depth, the relationships between their cultural identity and the land. One of the main issues that face Aboriginal people in contemporary Australia has indisputably been the arrival of white settlers in the 18th Century. The events that have followed over the past 200 years have led to generations of disputes, degradation and ultimately the loss of land by the Indigenous people. Thousands of Indigenous people were killed and the survivors were simply put in reserves; their homeland have been exploited and resources taken without consent. First and foremost, it must be made clear that the literature review here is as much about defining and understanding what Aboriginal geography is as much as providing a rigorous demonstration of the current issues of Aboriginal land rights and identity through views of both Aboriginal and non Aboriginal peoples. The aim therefore, is wholly about ensuring that the background of indigenous Australians is understood which will then put into perspective the context of the research project that follows, in Chapter 4. This review will geographically encompass the cultural issues and differences Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals have faced in recent history with reference to the effect of Aboriginal land rights on identity; a discussion of key texts from Gumbert and Maddock will allow a solid focus and reference point for the research. This will not only ensure that seemingly broad generalisations are eliminated but will also allow an in-depth understanding of why such research is necessary for a successful future regarding these issues. By this, the paper refers to the reconciliation of the Aboriginal race from the apparent generations of wrong doing by the colonisers. The great importance in assessing the impacts on identity of such events in the modern day means there must be a level of understanding for the political and historical background of white settlement in Australia, meaning the nature of Australian colonisation and the struggles that have been part of the defining nature of the Aboriginal culture today will be thoroughly explored. The review and investigation that follow explores the difference in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal values, knowledge systems and attitudes towards each other and the contested landscape. There is of course, a further need to examine these issues in more than one context to ensure that the argument does not simply generalise and stereotype Aboriginal communities across Australia. Therefore, the review will not only discuss the history of land issues and identity creation but also discuss them in relation to the two knowledge systems involved in this process: that is, the separate concerns of the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people of Australia. Clearly, over the countrys history, there has been a phenomenal difference in the way that the two groups view land and the link between the two is paramount to future development for an understanding between the two groups of people. Academic Context In light of the papers aims, the predominant classification that must be addressed is the very definition of an Aboriginal person. Lenzerini (2008, p.75) notes that the term Aboriginal encompasses an infinite variety of diverse realities that sometimes greatly differ with each other. A definition must be made despite this; a commonly accepted definition of Aboriginal people is written by Cobo (1986). It states that Aboriginal: communities, people and nations are those which, having a historical continuity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies that developed on their territories, consider themselves distinct from the other sectors of the societies now prevailing on those territories , or parts of them. They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve, develop and transmit to the future generations their ancestral territories, and their ethnic identity , as a basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system. This definition broadly contains the meaning of what it means to claim Aboriginal identity in Australia and interestingly notes the negative connotations of colonialism. For a true understanding of Aboriginal identity and its relation to land rights, the study must look to the roots of the issue. At its very simplest then, as Gumbert (1984, p.xiii) notes, the founding of an English colony in 1788 led to the Aborigines losing their rights to their land. The loss of their land led to many generations of Aborigines losing their identity and their land. The suggestion here is that when Aboriginal people lost their land to the British in the 20th Century, they also lost their identity. This is because their own cultural knowledge shows a strong understanding that each of them is attached to the country that they are at one with each other. As Sarra (2010) notes, this is qualitatively different from the relationship to land that prevails in mainstream Australia. It can be instantly recogni sed then that the knowledge systems that the two groups demonstrate are undeniably different at their core, suggesting why there is such complex controversy surrounding the compatibility of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the same vicinity. For the indigenous people, the land is part of them and they are part of the land, making their dispossession even more offensive and disrespectful. Anderson and Gale (1992, p.220) discuss the inextricable binding that the Aboriginal people have with the land, explaining that it is not an external physical object but has mythical significance to their culture. The colonial vision however demonstrated a significantly different view of land. Heathcote (1972, p.27) recognises three stages in which Western cultures had entirely different knowledge systems in relation to land: The first stage was the increased level of industrial machinery used to exploit the land and its resources in an unregulated fashion, the second stage encompassed the sa me exploitative framework but in a more technical, strategic fashion. The third stage has been influenced in recent years by an ecological vision that recognises the limited resources used and is becoming rebranded under the framework of sustainable development. While this framework is of great use in recognising an economic colonial knowledge system, the author fails to consider the socioeconomic uses of the land, limiting its vision. This does however, successfully show the exploitative system that was brought by the colonisers. This enhances the divide between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginal. It was then, in retrospect, seemingly inevitable that the struggle for land would always be fought by the indigenous people of Australia. There are undoubtedly a number of important events that have permeated this struggle and deserve recognition; however, rather than to generalise and dilute an examination of a range of different land claims and events over the course of history, the more significant examples will be discussed in detail to give a solid understanding of the issues. For example, one of the most significant movements that started Aboriginal land claims began in the 1960s with the Gurindji people, who in an effort to reclaim what they believed to be their land, left the areas which had been selected for them by the white people and instead moved back into an area which was legally owned by a British company (Gumbert, 1984, p.1). This powerful act demonstrated to the white people not only that they wanted their land back, but truly believed that the land belonged to them , and had done since to Dreamtime (which refers to the beginning of time for the Aboriginal people, an era in which spirits created the Earth (Flood, 1995, p.5)) . This movement became widely recognised as the Aboriginal land rights movement. It can be argued that this marked the beginning of the legal and political struggle for land and in effect, also demonstrates the real struggle that Aboriginal people have in showing white people what the land means to them. This strongly links to the Aboriginal knowledge systems and beliefs and again, their identity. To be Aboriginal is significantly different to what it means to be British or European. At the heart of each culture is a considerably different approach to many of the values of life, not least to the land. As has been demonstrated, from a whitemans perspective land is a commodity, a legal product to be bought and sold to each other whereas the indigenous people of Australia have a spiritual attachment to the land from the moment they are born (Morphy, 1983, p.110). It is these different knowledge systems that the research in Chapter 4 is interested in, as this has clearly been the issue for many generations between the two cultures. The fact that the term Aboriginal did not exist until European settlement is testimony to this (Brush, 1996, p.1). The issues faced by the indigenous communities are more often than not quantified into economic terms which is an entirely Westernised view of looking at issues. The argument here is that the current issues surrounding Aboriginal people are seen through a biased, Western perspective and do not therefore consider what is significant to the Aboriginal people themselves. In this sense, the cultural significance that they uphold regarding the land was ignored and in its place laws of displacement were put forth (Myers 1991, p.127). Through a cultural understanding of the land and its people, the environment can be significantly affected (Saggers and Gray, 1991, p.16) yet as demonstrated, the arrival of Europeans brought different customs that upset the Aboriginal traditions; political power and laws being a significant driving force for the dispossession of land. It is argued then that Aboriginal land rights would never come about through settlers learning about the land tenure systems of Aborigines and a constant declaration of their attachment to the land (Morphy, 1978 p, 39). It should be noted that as Australia became a colony of Britain it meant that it fell under British law instantly, unquestioned. Government policies brought to Australia instantly reduced Aboriginal people to aliens, giving them no legal stand point. This occurred to the extent that even their physical liberties were taken away from them. (Scholtz 2006, p.87). As Aboriginal people were increasingly displaced and rounded up into small, controllable areas, there was a clear sign that the white people were trying to convert the indigenous people to their own societal values and began to lose what was their own culture and practices, particularly in more urbanised areas (Gale, 1972, p62). The Queensland Act number 17 of 1987 permitted this rounding up of Aboriginals which allowed Parliaments to put them into reserves which gave great power over the indigenous people. Further to this in the Northern Territory in 1910, the Aborigines Act and, in New South Wales the Aborigines Protection Am ending Act 1915 was passed which gave the Chief Protector of the land legal powers and guardian status over Aboriginal children above and beyond the legal powers of the parent (Morphy 1991, p.32). This was obviously devastating to the Aboriginal community, yet was seen as a management scheme for white people against the Aboriginal problem. It was hoped by the white that by legally confining Aboriginal people to institutions it would decrease the risk of miscegenation and the black people would eventually die out. These political laws led to what is referred to as the Stolen Generation (Young, 2009, p.36) whereby children were taken from their parents and put into institutions. It was a way for white people to try and assimilate the blacks into their own customs. Robin argues that communities are still recovering from this attempt at assimilation, however this does not place more emphasis on the family attachments rather than the significance this has to land which is a slight weakne ss in the argument. Rather than understand the cultural difference, it has clearly been demonstrated that European settlers attempted to force their own laws upon the indigenous people of Australia, forcing them to lose their own culture and identity that had been with them for thousands of years (Broom and Jones, 1973, p.1). The argument for the stealing of the children was that it was to integrate the indigenous people to the rest of society yet for the most part the Aboriginals who were removed from their parents were in reality more displaced than the rest of their community. It meant that they were not brought up in the same community as people from their own cultural heritage, and were instead taught the customs of the Westernised world, leading only to further loss of culture and identity. As Maddock (1983. p.5) discusses, Aborigines can be seen as disadvantaged Australians in need of assistance if they are to step into the mainstream of life in this country. There was a severe lack of help for the indigenous community in terms of the law. They could also be viewed as a minority, distinctly different culturally from the rest of the country and maintained as best they could. This distinction was an attempt to retain what British law was trying to wipe out. Whichever view was taken, it was clear that legally, either would make a significant impact on laws and policies of the future for Aboriginals in Australia. It was extremely clear that Aboriginals wished to claim their land back whichever way it was viewed; however in 1970, Peter Nixon, Minister of the Interior, presented a speech that shook the Aboriginal community, creating a deep sense that something must be done (Dagmar, 1978, p.134). Nixon stated that Aboriginals should not be encouraged to demand ownership of la nd simply because previous generations from their families had an attachment to the land. They would then, have to claim land in a similar way to other Australians. Undoubtedly then, if the Aboriginal people wished not only to simply survive but to create a fairer livelihood for themselves then something ultimately had to be done. As the Europeans had entirely stuck to their own customs and laws then the Aboriginals realised the only way to create a lasting and permanent change was to bring the case to the courts. In June 1992, the High Court of Australia ruled in favour of the Mabo and Others v Queensland (No.2) case (or as it will be simply referred to, the Mabo case). This is undeniably one of the greatest achievements in recent history for Aboriginal communities all over Australia as it rejected the previous law of terra nullius that in essence was a term used to describe the land in a manner that allowed Britain to colonise the country; it did this by stating that the land had never been owned by a sovereignty, therefore nobody owned it (Kidd 2005, p.310). The case also agreed that there was such a notion of native title which meant Aborigi nal people were free to oppose the white people who had dispossessed them from their lands previously. This, of course, did not end Aboriginal plight overnight. There were still issues of validity surrounding whether the Aboriginals really did own the land previously and this is the issue further embedded in the Land Rights Act (Northern Territory) 1976. In the present day, existing property rights are based upon the written European law as opposed to oral traditions; can traditional land relationships to be a valid cause for ownership? There is no shortage of petitions from Aboriginal sources demonstrating a strong view that they are more than just legal, rightful owners of the land. As discussed, Aboriginal people believe they have more than simply a physical connection to the land but also a spiritual one. They believe that their relationship to it is part of divine history , and [he] loses sense when considered apart from his spiritual beliefs (Woodward, 1974 p.38). This meant that the opportunity to gain their land back was a way of preserving this spiritual link with the land, g iving back their sense of identity. These petitions demonstrate a view that they were invaded as the land was used without their permission. For example, the Gurindji (QUOTE) petition stated that the Aboriginal people have lived in these lands further back than memory serves and their cultures and sacred places have evolved in the lands. (Maddock, 1983 p.35) The important message here is that not only should the Aborigines legally own the land but it is also a moral right that it is theirs. The same can be said for the Yirrkala tribe who petitioned that the land taken from them was taken with disrespect as they had hunted for food there for thousands of years (Maddock, 1983, p.37). Even though Aboriginal Australians have been dispossessed from their lands for over two hundred years, they would still have no difficulty in knowing where the lands of their ancestors were which gives more depth to the argument that land rights should be based upon tradition (Bell 1993, p.115). As aforementioned, the meaning of property, as aforementioned, to the Aboriginal people is much different to them and has legally been extremely difficult to put into terms in English law as their view of country is one of identification rather than ownership. A land claim hearing then, is based upon history, dreaming sites and actions, continued use of and care and concern for the country Evidence is oral (Rose, 1991 p. 249). It would give an opportunity for the Aborigines to explain who they are, and why they believe they are right to claim the land back. This is referred to as traditional evidence and allows Land Commissioners to gain further knowledge from the Aboriginal communities; it a lso allows multiple systems of knowledge to be engaged without eradicating each other (Broome, 1996, p.52). To elaborate, the land rights Acts (Central Land Council, 2012) that have been lawfully submitted in Australia, are fairly open in the sense that they do specify any anthropological models that Aboriginal people must conform to in order to demonstrate their Aboriginality to the Land Commissioner and courts. This is a valid argument but Broome fails to note the irony in that the Aboriginal community must present themselves in a Westernised court of law. There is then, a paradoxically produced system. The post-Mabo era of land claims could become a cannon of authenticity for proof of land (Broome, 1996, p.53) yet this expectation to prove authentic Aboriginality could in other cases reduce Aboriginal communities even further should legal recognition of native title become rejected. It can be argued that the Acts have become paradoxical in that rather than giving freedom to Abori ginals, they actually give Westernised cultures in Australia the opportunity to silence the claims forever through a knowledge system produced by their own practices. Now that it has clearly been established that there is an opportunity for Aboriginal land rights to be discussed, we must look forward from the theoretical context. The following chapters discuss in a variety of ways how identity issues in relation to land rights have moved on in contemporary Australia, through a political, socioeconomic and cultural lens. There are clear themes of reconciliation and thorough discussions concerning the different types of knowledge systems presented in Australia today. Methodology As part of my degree, I had the amazing opportunity to study abroad for a year and I was lucky enough to study at Sydney University in Australia. Upon arrival I was blissfully unaware of the scale of the Aboriginal issues that permeate the everyday lives of the people around me in Sydney. I didnt think much more of it until quite early on in my year abroad three Aboriginals attempted to mug me in the street one night. When I spoke to my Australian friends about it nearly everybody replied Yeah, theyre a problem. Nobody however seemed willing to talk about the matter anymore, choosing rather to give a strangely vague answer and move on. Naturally I was shocked by the responses I received, provoking me to look further into the issue. I soon discovered that Aboriginal issues were deeply rooted in Australian history and most of it was bitter. I realised there were a wide range of contentious topics from education to heath and from the standard of living to outright racism. What struck me most however was the displacement most of the Aboriginals had faced over the past 200 years. With the Mabo case (Attwood, 1996, p.45) having just passed its 20th year since inception, I felt a strong desire to continue with this line of research to see what the impacts have been on both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Surpassing this however, it became clear that the main issue for Aboriginal people was that the strong relationship they felt with the land had been taken from them when there was no permission granted for such dispossession of land, leaving them with a sense of identity loss. With this in mind I continued my research with a strong idea of the issues surrounding land rights and identity for Aboriginal people in Australia. 1. Aims There is a vital need to understand the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and the relationships each of these groups has with the land when concerning identity. While there is a focus on the relationships with non-Aboriginals, the research must gain a complete understanding of what it is to be an Aboriginal in contemporary Australia. The following research questions have therefore been devised : 1. What are the dominant impacts of land rights on both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people? 2. What are the differences and similarities in the views of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal knowledge systems concerning land rights and identity? 3. What are the future factors of change for Aboriginal people? 2. Methods The following methods have been chosen as the most effective way of documenting this construction of Aboriginality: Interviews Surveys Secondary data Photographs 3. Interviews After much consideration, it was decided that the best form of interview would be a semi-structured interview. This way it would allow me to ask questions in the style of an structured interview but also vary the questions should the interviewee seem to wish to talk more about one area than another (Silverman 2007, p.43). While there is this flexibility, the structure also allows me to bring the interview back to any particular matter I find more important should the interview go off topic slightly. While the questions are more general in their frame of reference from that typically found in a structured interview schedule (Bryman, 2008 p.196). When choosing whom to interview, it was clear that I must be very careful in the way that I approached the interviewee. This came to my attention when I was aggressively turned away from an Aboriginal land rights office by one of the members inside. In hindsight, it was naive of me to think that Aboriginal people would be so open to an intervi ew by a white (and British) student after they are under such pressure in society already. After this incident I approached the matter much more carefully, instead choosing to find contacts through members of staff at the University of Sydney. The following research from my interviews is based upon interviews with: Warwick Hawkins- A lecturer at Sydney University who teaches about Indigenous sport, education and culture. An Aboriginal himself, Warwick was a good choice from whom to get an academics viewpoint while also having vast knowledge on Aboriginal life. Darryl French- Head Community Development teacher at the Tranby Aboriginal College- An Aboriginal whos dream it is to get more Aboriginal students into Universities Mowan Garri- A groundsman at Komay Botany Bay National Park in Cronulla It is interesting to note that Mowan Garri, despite meeting prior to the interview, was still unwilling to take the interview face to face. This created some positives and negatives. Firstly, it meant that the interview had to be taken over the phone which initially worried me as I would not be able to engage in non-lexical observation during the interview. Shuy (2002) suggests that this may make the telephone interview inferior as interviewees do not fare as well when asked about sensitive issues. However, the interviewee chose the setting so I feel it was the correct decision as they felt most comfortable talking over the phone. I asked if I could record the conversation and permission was granted. There are of course many more advantages and disadvantages to telephone interviews; for example Frey (2004) believes that a telephone interview is not likely to be any longer than 25 minutes which may not be long enough to gather enough data yet a positive is that by not being in the sam e room, the respondents feel less inclined to respond to the interviewers non-lexical gestures and facial expressions, making them feel more at ease. It was having this in mind that made me believe that in order to make all the interviews fair, I would then have to do all the interviews over the telephone despite most other interviewees suggesting they were willing to have an interview face to face. I believe rapport was upheld well with all respondents and each were given a full briefing of the research proposal before hand so they were comfortable in the knowledge that their answers were not going to be taken out of context and used in a negative light. This, as Bechhofer and Paterson (2000, p.70) state, is extremely important in the interview process to minimise any manipulation. It was made clear from the outset that the research aim is to try to find a positive perspective on Aboriginal land rights and identity issues. It is necessary to address the reason for the respondents being the perfect candidates for this research. By choosing a lecturer from an Aboriginal background who has been through the tough Aboriginal education process, answers can be answered effectively on both a personal anecdotal manner and an academic framework. Warwick demonstrates a great influences on contemporary ideas, giving the answers depth and meaning in relation to future work. Darryl French is the head community development teacher at Tranby College in Sydney that takes up to 28 Aboriginal students a year, all of whom come from a struggling background as a consequence of the belligerent conditions they have been put under by the colonising British. This therefore has given me the opportunity to directly address research question 3 about what he believes the future concerns are for his students and local Aboriginal people. Mowan Garri was also an ideal candidate to interview as the Komay Botany Bay National Park employ s all Aboriginal workers which provides interesting thought for discussion and, despite not owning the land, demonstrated a clear connection to the park and its protection. 4. Surveys Surveys were further used to back up the initial interviews taken out. The survey was taken out in three parts, the first of which was given to a University class studying Indigenous Sport, Education and Culture. Survey one was taken in week one before any teaching had commenced and survey two was taken towards the end of the semester when the class was near the end of the teaching period. This was done in order to gain an understanding of the students knowledge of Aboriginal land right issues and identity problems both before and after the classes were taken. It will also give insight into whether this provides a positive or a negative impact on the views of those learning about the issues. As Blaikie (2000, p.29) states, a critical stage in any research is the process of selecting the people, events or items from which about the data will be collected. This is precisely why a great deal of thought was given to who should be the respondents of the surveys to give the best results. T he other chosen group for the third survey were the students of Tranby Aboriginal College. This, much like the interviews, was excellent for providing a compare and contrast view of knowledge systems between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The surveys themselves, varied slightly with each setting but the core research questions were all asked in one form or another. Some questions were deemed inappropriate to ask both groups as they would provoke biased answers. Bias is always at the centre of surveys (Collier et al. 2004, p.101) and many precautionary measures were taken when phrasing certain questions correctly to ensure nobody was offended. The majority of the questions were open ended as the nature of the research asks for opinions and thoughts; simple yes or no questions were seen as unsuitable and they would not provide an in-depth account of the knowledge systems that were required. Despite the questions being open ended, the surveys were kept relatively short to avoid respondent fatigue. Without an interviewer present also, it allows the respondent to write more freely than if they were the subject of an interview. Furthermore, it reduces the researchers imposing ability on the participant (Stoecker 2005, p.39). Naturally, there are downsides to using a survey, for example the respondent can read the survey as a whole meaning that the answers are not truly answered independently of each other and they may find it difficult to answer a lot of questions. Of course there is also the risk of a low response rate. However, taking this into consideration a survey was seen as the most effective method as time restrictions did not allow for individual interviews and many of the Tranby College students were either unwilling to or could not attend a focus group session. 5. Secondary data To support the ideas expressed further, an extensive range of reliable secondary data will be drawn upon in order to express and reiterate the ideas and views shown by the interviewees and respondents to the surveys. Dale et al. (1988) argue that this form of data analysis is paramount to a research project as it provides high-quality data and allows opportunity to give views real depth and understanding in the context of Aboriginal issues in the wider community. By using this in tandem with primary research, I believe it gives the project as a whole a great anchor for any concluding arguments that are put forth. Government statistics are paramount to the research as clearly time and money constraints would not allow for my own research into Aboriginal demographics. It further gives opportunity to analyse unbiased data whereas all other primary research is subject to unavoidable bias, no matter how small. While the data may not address my research questions directly there will undoub tedly be statistics that are useful for the research. 6. Photographs Pictures can demonstrate many different emotions and encompass a vast amount of what an identity involves, therefore a range of photographs were taken and one in particular powerful photograph has been included to help exhibit the need for Aboriginal title and identity to be recognised in the wider community. The messages behind this particular photograph will be discussed in the Analysis chapter. Analysis of Research 1.Providing Background Knowledge Thus far, it has been necessary to provide an analytical background to the histories of Aboriginal land rights and cultural identities. Therefore in order to contextualise the analysis, there must initially be a base knowledge of the Aboriginal population to gain a true understanding of the qualitative size of their race in relation to the rest of the Australian population; it has been noted previously that the indigenous population of Australia is very small in comparison to the non-indigenou

Miles Davis And The Development Of Improvisation In Jazz Music :: Music, Research Papers, Biography

Abstract This essay is a discussion of how the way jazz trumpeter Miles Davis changes his way of improvising, looking at two pieces from different times. The solos in the pieces were transcribed by myself and then analysed in detail. From these analyses, several conclusions on the style of improvising were drawn, and then the conclusions from the two pieces were compared. The piece ‘New Rhumba’, showed how Davis was using his technical ability to create an impressive solo, but was also leaning towards a more sparse and spacious form of improvising, where the times he doesn’t play are just important as when he does play, and the solo in ‘So What’, showed this new style in full. The analyses of the two solos also showed Davis’ ability to improvise solos in a way that it seemed as though he had already composed them. They were full of melodic tunes. This was also emphasized by the fact that Davis often would think of a motif, and would then repeat this, de veloping on it, creating variations of it. This all gave the solo a sense of unity. When people in the audience heard the solos, they would recognize things Davis was playing late in the solo, as variations on themes he was playing earlier on. On a more technical basis, it shows the difference in the two solos, of the amount of time Davis spends on notes outside the chord. In ‘New Rhumba’, the earlier piece, his use of extensions is greater, and there are far more times where he uses flattened, or sharpened extensions. The later piece, ‘So What’, is less active in this area. This essay reveals some of the aspects of Miles Davis’ style, which made him such a legendary, and influential jazz trumpeter. Topic: A discussion of the development of improvisation in jazz music in reference to trumpeter Miles Davis. Miles Dewey Davis was born on the 26th of May 1926, in Alton, Illinois. He became famous around the world for his incredible trumpet and flugelhorn playing, but he was also an accomplished keyboard player, and composer. Although born in Alton, Illinois, Miles Davis lived in East St Louis. He came from a wealthy middle-class background. It isn't surprising to see that a person with the talent of Miles Davis came from a Davis' father musical family. His mother played the violin, and his sister played the piano.

Huntington’s Disease Essay -- Health Medical Medicine Essays

Huntington’s Disease Huntington’s disease is a fatal inherited disorder characterized by slow gradual personality changes, dementia, and choreiform movements. It is a progressive disease; its average onset is thirty to forty years of age, and the duration of the disease is about ten to twenty years with death as the outcome. It is known that for Huntington’s disease, there is a degeneration of cholinergic and GABAergic neurons in the basal ganglia and the cerebral cortex. The etiology of nerve cell death in Huntington’s disease is unknown. However, there is a recent hypothesis implicating defects in mitochondrial energy metabolism as the pathology of Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s disease is an autosomal dominant disease. The genetic defect appears on the short arm of the chromosome 4, and it is an extended repetition of the three nucleotide bases (cytosine, adenine, and guanine; CAG) that code for the amino acid glutamate. This disease affects men and women equally, and it usually appears after the individuals have married and had children. The children of an affected parent have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. With the discovery of the defective gene, it is now possible to have an accurate diagnosis before the onset of the disease. The early indications of Huntington’s disease are not prominent; the individuals become absentminded, easily irritated, and constantly depressed. Their memory is diminished, and they lack spontaneity, initiative, and the ability to concentrate. There are also early subtle signs of choreiform (dance-like) movements. The persons begin with "piano-playing" movements of the fingers or with slight facial twitching (Martin, 1984). The movements gradually become more uncontrollable. ... ...s? Trends in Neurological Sciences, 16 (4): pp. 125-131. Choi, Dennis W. (1988). Glutamate neurotoxicity and diseases of the nervous system. Neuron, pp.623-632. Prim, D. M., Simpson, J., Uhler, T. A., Short, M. P., Bossi, S. R., Breakefield, X. O., & Isacson, O. (1993). Striatal degeneration induced by mitochondrial blockade is prevented by biologically delivered NGF. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 35: pp. 452-458. Martin, Joseph B. (1984). Huntington’s disease: New approaches to an old problem. Neurology, 34: pp. 1059-1071. Willard, Frank H. (1993). Medical Neuroanatomy: A Problem- Oriented Manual with Annotated Atlas. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Young, Anne B. (1993). Role of excitotoxins in heredito-degenerative neurologic diseases. Research Publications- Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases, 71: pp. 175-189. Huntington’s Disease Essay -- Health Medical Medicine Essays Huntington’s Disease Huntington’s disease is a fatal inherited disorder characterized by slow gradual personality changes, dementia, and choreiform movements. It is a progressive disease; its average onset is thirty to forty years of age, and the duration of the disease is about ten to twenty years with death as the outcome. It is known that for Huntington’s disease, there is a degeneration of cholinergic and GABAergic neurons in the basal ganglia and the cerebral cortex. The etiology of nerve cell death in Huntington’s disease is unknown. However, there is a recent hypothesis implicating defects in mitochondrial energy metabolism as the pathology of Huntington’s disease. Huntington’s disease is an autosomal dominant disease. The genetic defect appears on the short arm of the chromosome 4, and it is an extended repetition of the three nucleotide bases (cytosine, adenine, and guanine; CAG) that code for the amino acid glutamate. This disease affects men and women equally, and it usually appears after the individuals have married and had children. The children of an affected parent have a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. With the discovery of the defective gene, it is now possible to have an accurate diagnosis before the onset of the disease. The early indications of Huntington’s disease are not prominent; the individuals become absentminded, easily irritated, and constantly depressed. Their memory is diminished, and they lack spontaneity, initiative, and the ability to concentrate. There are also early subtle signs of choreiform (dance-like) movements. The persons begin with "piano-playing" movements of the fingers or with slight facial twitching (Martin, 1984). The movements gradually become more uncontrollable. ... ...s? Trends in Neurological Sciences, 16 (4): pp. 125-131. Choi, Dennis W. (1988). Glutamate neurotoxicity and diseases of the nervous system. Neuron, pp.623-632. Prim, D. M., Simpson, J., Uhler, T. A., Short, M. P., Bossi, S. R., Breakefield, X. O., & Isacson, O. (1993). Striatal degeneration induced by mitochondrial blockade is prevented by biologically delivered NGF. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 35: pp. 452-458. Martin, Joseph B. (1984). Huntington’s disease: New approaches to an old problem. Neurology, 34: pp. 1059-1071. Willard, Frank H. (1993). Medical Neuroanatomy: A Problem- Oriented Manual with Annotated Atlas. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company. Young, Anne B. (1993). Role of excitotoxins in heredito-degenerative neurologic diseases. Research Publications- Association for Research in Nervous and Mental Diseases, 71: pp. 175-189.

The Relationship Between Will and the Psychologist in Good Will Hunting

This paper will discuss the relationship between Will Hunting and the psychologist Sean Mcguire in the movie Good Will Hunting. The struggles that occur between these main characters will be analyzed and their meanings found. A basic outline of the movie will be included to give the larger picture and its influence upon the two men. An Analysis of the Movie ?Good Will Hunting? and the Main Characters Will Hunting and Sean Mcguire Outline: 1. Description of the Movie a. Setting of the movie b. Introduction of the main characters 2. The Main Characters and their problem a. Will Huntings Problem and Sean?s intervention. b. Development of the problem and their solutions 3. The final development of the Characters a. A solution is found between the two characters b. Resolution is made and the ending of movie Good Will Hunting is the Miramax movie written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, and directed by Gus Van Sant. Starring the two Academy Award winning writers Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, plus Academy Award winning actor Robin Williams, Academy Award nominee Minnie Driver, and Stellen Skarsgard the movie went on to be nominated for 9 Academy Awards and win two The movie is based around the life of Will Hunting (Matt Damon), who is a troubled orphan growing in the slums of South Boston, referred to as "Southie". A reviewer noted on the personal relationship between Affleck and Damon, based on having truly raised in South Boston: 'A good example of this is a brief transaction early in the film in which Affleck buys a hamburger for one of his moocher buddies. When the kid says he only has 16 cents, Affleck holds on to the burger, telling him that he can pay a few cents a week and put the sandwich on layaway. After some angry yelling, Affleck eventually gives in (as you're sure he always does ) and forks the hamburger over. This innocuous little exchange speaks volumes about these two guys and their past history, and is funny to boot. It's honest and graceful.' (CNN Website) Will is a genius of unprecedented standards, but is never discovered until a MIT professor, Gerald Lambeau (Stellen Skarsgard) sees Hunting, who is a janitor, solve a complicated math equation that had taken him, a Fields Medal winner, over two years to solve. Hunting solved it on a single night. Hunting, who holds past grudges, gets in a fight with his three best... ..., the character is saved from the mean streets of Boston to pursue this talent and live a life with some knowledge of living it and not just memorizing it. With intervention of Limbaeu, Will meets Sean Mcguire and the two are connected through the geography that they were both raised. Sean brilliantly leads the young genius through the different avenues of feeling, that he is so blind too and there is a break though for Will, in that he can start to live outside of the book and truly see the big picture of life. This ?big picture? is merely learning how to love. Though Sean is a master at learning from books, he has little understanding on how things work in actual experience. Sean teaches him to understand what is an ideal and what is experience and therefore gives him the proper balance to survive in a world that had treated Sean so badly. The end of the story ends with Chuckie, not showing up to pick him up for work, which meant that he, in a way sacrificed himself to let his friend escape South Boston, and Will takes off to California to reunite with Sklark, whom he had pushed away. Sean gets a letter from Will saying ?thank you? and the resolution of the story is complete.

A teacher affects eternity, he can never tell where his influence stops

More and more, teachers are becoming a primary influence in children’s lives. Therefore, it stands to reason that a teacher’s personality and teaching style can have a profound impact on children’s academic performance and general development. A teacher is like a sculptor: he moulds a personality out of a child like a sculptor creates a beautiful statue out of clay. So a teacher has the greatest impact on student‘s character, knowledge, values and this affect can go on for years even after they are not in contact with one another.Firstly, a teacher has the core affect on student‘s knowledge, which they can use in all life situations later on. Teaching requires utter dedication and selflessness to be able to impart your learning and knowledge to the students. It not only deals with academic knowledge alone. Being very knowledgeable will not immediately qualify as a good teacher. What is more important is the attitude and the skill of being able to tran sfer the lessons effectively to the students. A teacher is dealing with many students of different personalities.Some are like a sponge who grasps the main ideas very easily, but other students require more patience as they find it more difficult to understand the subject matter. As a teacher, it is his role to take care of all of these students, making sure no one is left behind. Thus, if a teacher has built a good foundation, students will use the knowledge in future. That's why it is said, that a teacher creats other professions. Secondly, a teacher plays a great role in forming student‘s character. It is very difficult, because character is formed not only in the classroom, but every student has it‘s individual resources.Despite the fact, the classroom climate influenced by a teacher has a major impact on pupils’ motivation, attitude towards learning and charater development. A teacher must respect the individuality of each child and must not attack the self d ignity of a particular student. A teacher should take an interest in every child. Because the better you get to know your students, the more influence you will have on their attitude towards your subject, and on their lives in general. However it should not be forgotten constantly to provide benchmarks for improvement for your students.Praise should be given when it is due, and find positive things to tell students before making suggestions on how to improve something. Draw gently alongside those who are in need of help and find creative ways to assist them to improve their grades. Thirdly, a teacher has a huge impact on student‘s values. They are not passed on from parents to children in the form of DNA. However, it does not necessarily follow that if they are learned, they must have been learned as a result of deliberate teaching. The consequences of our value systems are not understood in abstractions but in deeds.A teacher can't really â€Å"teach† values as he do o ther parts of the curriculum, but he can and should help students develop values through his own behaviors and modeling. The purpose of this is the belief that a clearly defined and meaningful set of values will help students, in the years to come, to do the right thing, especially when doing the right thing is hard. To sum up, teaching, like any other responsible profession is quite a challenge especially in the present fast moving world, however it can leave huge impact on the young minds. But a teacher plays the biggest role in forming children‘s knowledge, character and values.

Applying Learning Curve Theory Essay

1. Change table distribution to decrease wait time and increase clientele which entails profitability. Originally, wait time including queue was 11 to 12 minutes. By applying these changes, wait and queue reduce to 9 minutes approximately. Also, a $454 increase of profit is attained. 2. Purchase the Plax Oven instead of keeping the old unreliable manual ovens. By doing so, product availability is increase and the queue time is reduced. Using the old manual ovens, pizza took 15 minutes to cook. Utilizing the Plax Oven takes 4 minutes. 11 minutes are saved and faster service is provided to customers. Profits continue to increase. After the addition of the oven, Mario’s Pizzeria is at $1,653 in profit. Lost sales reduced to $345. 3. Purchase the Menu Point System. This system aids in reducing the queue. Wait staff does not have to walk the order over to Kitchen Staff. Thus, queue time is diminished and profits continue to increase since the utilization wait staff is reduced from a 95% to 80%. 4. Rent Cream Puffs versus opening a new counter for pick up. Renting is a better decision since no additional operating costs would be required. 5. Renting Cream Puffs allows for the capacity of tables to increase; adding 7 tables of 4 and 4 tables of 2. This aids in reducing both wait and queue time. Wait time is at 3.21 minutes and Queue is at 2.71 minutes versus the original 11 to 12 minutes of the entire process. Profits increased to $2,040 while the lost sales came to $690. Analysis of Alternative Process in Effect Mario’s Pizzeria simulation is a tool that aids in understanding how to apply the learning curve theory. The simulation begins by illustrating the current process used at Mario’s Pizzeria and describing the current issues this pizza parlor must address in order avoid a greater loss of profits and loss of customers. The simulation allows for an alternative process to be created and implemented. By creating an alternative process, one can then analyze why one process is more effective and efficient than the other. At the initial start of the simulation, the table utilization is at a 97% and the waiting time is between 11 to 12 minutes. The goal is to reduce the wait time in order to increase customer satisfaction and increase profits. To do so, the first step was to change the table distribution. By simply rearranging the table set up, customers wait time reduced significantly; wait time reduced to 5.36 and the queue to 2.57 minutes for a total of 7.93 minutes. This means that the current process of the table set up simply created an unnecessary bottleneck approach. In order to prevent this, a performance process was changed and created a more effective way of making customers stay. This is sort of change can be used to illustrate how the learning curve theory is applied. According to Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilano (2006), the Learning Curve Theory is based on three assumptions: 1) the amount of time required to complete a given task or unit of a product will be less each time the task is undertaken, 2) the unit time will decrease at a decreasing rate, 3) the reduction in time will follow a predictable pattern. By applying this theory to Mario’s Pizzeria, it is evident that a small change goes a long way. For instance, the utilization for tables decreased from 97% to 95% on tables for four, but in tables for two the utilization was 88.9%. Although customers still walked away, the number of those who left was not as high as the initial number during the first week. Mario’s Pizzeria continued to face issued when the manual oven broke. The wait time for customers was affected because the process slowed down. As a manager, one has to take immediate action to solve the problem at hand through thought process in order to avoid high additional cost to this small business. If the learning curve theory is applied correctly, Mario’s Pizzeria will not be affected dramatically especially since they have dealt with previous wait time issues. The learning curve theory states that the more a task is done several times, the less likely it will be that a similar mistake will occur. In this situation, the metric that continues to be affected is time and the dissatisfaction of a customer having to stand in line for a long time. By not using this type of performance process and to avoid reaching the upper control and upper tolerance limits, the solution was to replace the manual ovens and purchase the Plax Ovens. The Plax Ovens cook more pizzas in fewer minutes than the manual ovens. If the current manual ovens were not replaced, the cooking time will be higher and fewer pizzas would be available, which in turn the queue would not decrease for the customers. Customers will continue to wait for fifteen minutes versus four minutes. Another option that was used in the alternative process was the purchasing of Menu Point Systems. This system will allow for the process time to drop significantly. Although, the cost of the menu system seems high in price, the return of investment is of 125%. This percentage indicates that in the long run the system is worth its price for the pizza parlor. By implementing this Menu Point System, Mario’s Pizza parlor decreased it wait time to 3.76 minutes and the queue to 2.62 minutes. Additionally, the utilization of their wait staff was at 60 to 80 percent. The utilization dropped since the wait staff no longer had to walk the order over to the kitchen staff. A change was made to the queue system. A step was eliminated in the queue section, thus, saving time. By implementing, both the Plax Oven and the Menu Point System a profit of $1, 622 was earned. If this two performances process were not in place, Mario’s pizzeria would be back to step one, waiting time at its upper tolerance and upper control limit. These are two factors that should be avoided at all cost when trying to aim for total quality management in a business. Implementing the Plax Ovens and the Menu Point System, the learning theory curve is in effect. Now, when the order is placed, it goes directly to the kitchen staff, the kitchen staff then process the order through the Plax ovens which are quicker in cooking time. Finally, after all the great implementations and changes made to the pizza parlor, business continues to increase and more decisions were necessary in order to keep the timeliness and customer satisfaction. Mario’s pizzeria rented the business next to the parlor instead of opening a pick up counter. If a pick up counter was chosen as an option, operating cost increase. However, renting Cream Puffs was the best option. Renting the business next door allowed for capacity of tables to increase which in turn increased profit and lessen the overall processing time of a customer. In the end, Mario’s Pizza Parlor profited $2,040 and the grandchild earned the trust of the grandfather.