Models For Food Security In India Environmental Sciences Essay

88. By the twelvemonth 2020, India is expected to emerge as one of the four major powers in the universe, harmonizing to a survey prepared by the World Bank. Even so, India will non be able to do much headroom and advancement on the nutrient security forepart without showing in cardinal alterations in its agribusiness. It is hence, imperative that the bing patterns in agribusiness undergo cardinal alterations. This is of import as more than two-thirds of the population still depend on agribusiness. The â€Å" green revolution † is easy petering out and even if our nutrient production witnesses a quadruple rise, there will be many kids who will still endure nutrition lack and deficiency of equal nutrient. Harmonizing to a survey by Prof. Anatoly Kratiger of Cornell University, India ‘s foodgrains end product will hold to more than double from the present degrees in order to feed the following two coevalss. In this context, it is indispensable that our husbandmans are read y to run into the challenge. 89. It was clear even during 1966-1968 that unless husbandmans adopt environmentally sound engineerings like incorporate alimentary supply, integrated pest direction and scientific H2O direction at that place will be jobs in the long-run sustainability of production. Hence Mr Swaminathanan made the undermentioned statement in his talk at the Indian Science Congress held in Varanasi in January 1968[ 1 ]: – â€Å" Exploitative agribusiness offers great dangers if carried out with merely an immediate net income or production motivation. The emerging exploitatory farming – community in India should go cognizant of this. Intensive cultivation of land without preservation of dirt birthrate and dirt construction would take, finally, to the jumping up of comeuppances. Irrigation without agreement for drainage would ensue in dirts acquiring alkaline or saline. Indiscriminate usage of pesticides, antifungals and weedkillers could do inauspicious alterations in biological balance every bit good as lead to an addition in the incidence of malignant neoplastic disease and other diseases, through the toxic residues present in the grains or other comestible parts. Unscientific tapping of belowground H2O will take to the rapid exhaustion of this fantastic capital resource left to us through ages of natural agriculture. The rapid replacing of legion locally adapted assortments with one or two h igh-yielding strains in big immediate countries would ensue in the spread of serious diseases capable of pass overing out full harvests, as happened prior to the Irish murphy dearth of 1854 and the Bengal rice dearth in 1942. Therefore, the induction of exploitatory agribusiness without a proper apprehension of the assorted effects of every one of the alterations introduced into traditional agribusiness, and without first constructing up a proper scientific and developing base to prolong it, may merely take us, in the long tally, into an epoch of agricultural catastrophe instead than one of agricultural prosperity. † 90. In India, a bulk of husbandmans have little retentions and are vulnerable to the vagaries of nature like drouth and inundations. Against such a background, there is a demand to do particular attempt to increase productiveness. Since India is diverse state with changing landscape & A ; environmental forms, the technological solutions for its agribusiness will change consequently. To accomplish enduring autonomy at the national and family degrees, enterprises must be founded on the rules of economic feasibleness, equity, wide engagement, and the sustainable usage of natural resources. 91. The publicity of ecotechnology development and airing, the effectual acceptance of incorporate systems of cistron and natural resources direction and the effectual harnessing of information engineerings should go indispensable elements of the â€Å" scientific discipline and engineering for basic human demands † motion in India. 92. To sum up, there is no clip to loosen up on the nutrient production forepart. It is obvious that we have to bring forth more, but produce it in a mode that there is no inauspicious environmental or societal impact. Water is likely to be a serious restraint. Hence, precedence should be given to developing and distributing efficient H2O direction techniques, including aquifer direction, waste H2O recycling and conjunctive usage of surface and rain H2O. Future agricultural production engineerings should be based on the foundation of incorporate natural resources direction. The recommendations given below should go built-in portion of Indian Agricultural development policies.RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN INDIASynergy between Public Policy and Investment93. Significant events in our agribusiness like the green revolution in wheat land rice and milk revolution owe their beginning to reciprocally reenforcing, bundles of engineering, services and public poli cies. While scientists can develop give heightening engineerings, these will non do an impact on production and productiveness without appropriate support from public policy and investing. 94. The wheat revolution commemorated in 1968 through the issue of a particular cast by Smt Indira Gandhi is a authoritative illustration of the power of a symphony attack in planing and implementing programmes which can assist in leapfrogging in the accomplishment of the coveted ends. For illustration, the husbandmans in the Indian Fertile Crescent Area consisting Punjab, Haryana and Western UP helped to increase wheat production between 1964 and 1968 by an order comparable to that achieved from the clip of Mohenjodaro, i.e. , our husbandmans increased wheat production in four old ages by a measure similar to that accomplished during the predating four thousand old ages[ 2 ]. This is a good illustration of the power of the symphonic music attack in the administration of multidimensional research and development programmes.Land Use Policy95. The demand for a rational and crystalline land usage policy is going evident from the increasing figure of struggles in relation to the acquisit ion of farm land for industrial and other non farm utilizations. Such issues should be dealt with scientifically and non merely politically or emotionally. Short-run net income should non sabotage long term nutrient security. In a preponderantly rural and agricultural state like India, agriculture is the chief beginning of work and income security. Food security with place grown nutrient is non merely of import for beef uping rural support security, but it is besides indispensable for both internal security and external sovereignty. 96. At the same clip, the unfinished sections of land reform including the distribution of ceiling excess land to assetless households should be attended to with velocity and committedness. The involvements of unregistered agriculturists, renters and tribal agriculturists will hold to be safeguarded. Wherever possible, atleast one acre of land should be provided to each landless labour household.Economic Well being and Nutrition Security of Rural Families97. Farm households in India constitute over two-thirds of the population. Since husbandmans are besides consumers, the crisp differentiation, frequently made in industrialized states between the involvements of husbandmans, and consumers, is non valid in the Indian context. Detailed analyses of the causes of nutrient insecurity in rural and urban countries have revealed that the major cause of undernutrition and malnutrition among kids, adult females and work forces is the deficiency of equal buying power to allow entree to balanced diets and clean imbibing H2O. Therefore, a three-pronged scheme as given below demands to be introduced to guarantee the economic well being and nutrition security of rural households: – ( a ) First, households possessing assets like land, farm animal or fish pools will hold to be assisted to heighten the productiveness of their resource gifts in an environmentally and economically sustainable mode. The smaller the retention, the greater is the demand for marketable excess. Hence, the upper limit has to be placed on increasing end product per units of land, H2O, foods and labors based on engineerings which are ecologically and economically sound. For this, we need more research on the development of eco-technologies based on intermixing traditional ecological prudence with frontier engineerings like information and biotechnology and infinite, atomic and renewable energy engineerings. ( B ) Second, about a 3rd of the rural population and a big proportion of adult females earn their support through pay employment. They have no assets like land or farm animal or fishpond and are besides frequently illiterate. The challenge in the instance of landless agricultural labor is heightening the economic value of their clip and labor by conveying about a paradigm displacement from unskilled to skilled work. A monolithic attempt in the country of cognition and skill authorization of the adult females and work forces representing the landless labor work force is indispensable if economic value is to be added to their clip and labor. They will hold to be enabled to take to skilled non farm employment through market-driven micro-enterprises supported by microcredit. Self-help Groups ( SHGs ) of assetless adult females and work forces will hold to be made sustainable through backward linkages to recognition and engineering and forward linkages with direction and markets. Common belongings resources will hold to be developed and managed in a mode that they can supply indispensable support systems in countries such as fresh fish and provender for stall-fed carnal farming every bit good as fuel wood. ( degree Celsius ) The 3rd group are rural craftsmans working in the secondary and third sectors of the economic system. Their accomplishments will hold to be mobilised to heighten the fight of agribusiness through value add-on to primary merchandises and variegation of support chances. The scheme for the technological upgradation of rural professions should be based on the rule of societal inclusion. 98. Therefore, the three pronged scheme consists of bettering the productiveness of land, H2O, farm animal and labor in the instance of plus having farm households, change overing unskilled agricultural labor into skilled enterprisers engaged in organizing market-driven non-farm endeavors, and heightening the accomplishments of households involved in the secondary and third sectors of the rural economic system, so that they are able to help in bettering agricultural efficiency and fight and in stoping the predominating mismatch between production and station crop engineerings.Sustainable Progresss in Small Farm Productivity99. Sustainability has to be measured in ecological, economic and equity footings. First, the ecological foundations indispensable for sustained progresss in productiveness, such as dirt, H2O, biodiversity, woods and clime are under terrible anthropogenetic force per unit areas. The human and farm animate being population back uping capacity of the ecosystem has be en exceeded in many parts of the state. The measure and quality of land H2O, which is now the dominant beginning of irrigation H2O, is fast deteriorating. Although India has over 20 per cent of the universe ‘s farm animate being population, good graze lands are practically nonexistent. Intensifying current jobs, the possibility of inauspicious alterations in precipitation, temperature and sea degree due to planetary heating and clime alteration is no longer merely a theoretical speculation. 100. Second ; in the country of farm economic sciences, resource flow to the agribusiness sector is worsening and liability of little and fringy farm households is lifting. Input signal costs are increasing, while factor productiveness is worsening. Contrary to the general feeling of agricultural prosperity in Punjab, the entire debt in the farm sector has been estimated to hold increased from Rs.5,700 crore in 1996-97 to Rs.11,133 crore in 2002-03. The mean farm debt in Punjab now exceeds a hundred thousand of rupees ( Rs.1,01,210 ) , out of which more than 40 per cent is provided by non-institutional beginnings at an involvement rate of about 24 per cent per annum. The cost-risk-return construction of agriculture is going inauspicious to over 80 million agriculture households runing little retentions, since the resource hapless households cultivating 1 to 2 hectares or less are unable to profit from the power of graduated table at both the production and station crop stages of farm ing. There is no flat playing field for them in the market and they are being exposed to competition from the capital, engineering and subsidy goaded agribusiness of industrialized states[ 3 ]. 101. Third, a engineering weariness has farther aggravated husbandman ‘s jobs, since smaller the farm the greater is the demand for sustained marketable excess, in order to hold hard currency income. Linkages between the research lab and the field have weakened and extension in services has frequently, small to widen by manner of location, clip and agriculture system specific information and advice. Good quality seeds at low-cost monetary values are in short supply and specious pesticides and biofertilisers are being sold in the absence of effectual quality control systems. Input supply is in confusion peculiarly in dry farming countries. Micronutrient lacks in the dirt every bit good as jobs associating to dirty natural philosophies are shouting for attending. Farmers have no manner of acquiring proactive advice on land usage based on meteoric and selling factors. Though it is now over 12 old ages since the WTO government started operating in agribusiness, serious efforts are yet to be made to establish in rural countries motions for Quality Literacy ( healthful and phytosanitary steps and codex alimentarius criterions of nutrient safety ) , Trade Literacy ( likely demand-supply and monetary value state of affairs ) , Legal Literacy ( IPR, Farmers Rights ) and Familial Literacy ( genetically modified harvests ) . No inquire the predominating spread between possible and existent outputs even with engineerings presently on the shelf is broad as shown below[ 4 ]: –CropUSAChinaIndiaMaize 8900 4900 2100 Mick 7500 6000 3000 Soies 2250 1740 1050 Seed Cotton 2060 3500 750 Tomato 6250 2400 1430Comparative Crop Productivity ( Kg/Hectare )102. In the country of engineering, there is besides a demand to bridge the turning digital and familial divides. Post-harvest engineering is hapless and there is small value add-on peculiarly in the instance of fruits, veggies and spices including a broad scope of tubers and medicative and aromatic workss. Sustainable intensification, ecologically, economically and nutritionally desirable variegation and value add-on to the full biomass are of import for raising little and fringy farm households above subsistence degree. All this will name for originating an epoch of cognition intensive agribusiness. Modern ICT afford an chance for establishing a cognition revolution in rural India. The torch carriers of this revolution should be rural adult females and work forces. Participatory research and knowledge direction affecting farm adult females and work forces should be the chief tracts of research, instruction and extension. Farmers shoul d be regarded as spouses and pioneers in conveying about agricultural transmutation and non as `beneficiaries ‘ of authorities programmes. Such a alteration in mentality among authorities officials every bit good as scientists is indispensable for advancement. 103. Technologies should assist in advancing labour variegation and non displacement. Women husbandmans and labour peculiarly need to be assisted with implements and equipment which will assist to cut down plodding and the figure of hours of work, while adding economic value to each hr of work. Womans suffer from a multiple load on their clip due to homemaking and maintaining, kid raising and income earning duties. They need appropriate support services like foundling hospitals and kid attention Centres and equal nutrition. The feminization of agribusiness, due to male emigration, needs specific attending with mention to gender sensitive farm and recognition policies. 104. Revival of little farmer-friendly engineerings should be based on sound rules of economic sciences and participatory research and cognition direction. If for illustration, rice-wheat rotary motion is non desirable in Punjab from the point of view of ecological sustainability, the alternate agriculture systems proposed should be capable of giving similar income. Agronomic informations should non merely indicate output per hectare of land, but besides the likely return from every rupee invested and every liter of H2O used by the husbandman. Lateral acquisition among farm adult females and work forces should be fostered, since husbandman to farmer acquisition is based on the rule â€Å" one ounce of pattern is, deserving dozenss of theory † . India is besides the place of some of the best farm households in the universe. In the thick of many hungriness and agro-ecological `hot musca volitanss ‘ , there are besides legion farming `bright musca volitanss ‘ . In ord er to multiply the benefits from the experience and accomplishments of outstanding farm work forces and adult females, Farm Schools should be established in their Fieldss. Farmer to farmer acquisition is really effectual because of the religion little husbandmans have in the economic informations provided by fellow husbandmans.Precedences in Farm Research and Development105. Conservation Farming and Green Agriculture. Conservation farming ballads emphasis on the sustainable direction of dirt and H2O. It involves soil wellness sweetening through coincident attending to the natural philosophies, chemical science and microbiology of dirts. Scientific H2O direction purposes to utilize the available irrigation H2O in a conjuctive mode ( for illustration, surface and groundwater ) and to maximize income per bead of H2O. Green agribusiness involves the usage of environmentally desirable engineerings like Integrated Plant Nutrition, Integrated Nutrient Supply etc. While organic farming prec ludes the usage of mineral fertilizers, chemical pesticides and genetically modified harvest assortments, green agribusiness permits their usage in such a mode that productiveness can be improved in sempiternity without associated ecological injury. To a bulk of little farm households who have no farm animal, green agribusiness is the tract for an ever-green revolution. Therefore, an optimal blend of green agricultural patterns and organic agriculture methods should be promoted in all major farming systems. There should be internationally recognized enfranchisement processs for the merchandises of both organic agriculture and green agribusiness. 106. Productiveness and Livelihood Enhancement in Rainfed Areas. The major tract has to be productivity sweetening and the cultivation of high-value but low-water requiring harvests. A ‘catalytic intercession ‘ which will assist to increase productiveness instantly is attending to dirty health care. The proviso of micronutrients like S, Zn and B can assist to increase output by over 50 per cent in dryland farming countries. Facilities for placing and rectifying micronutrient lacks in dirts are desperately needed. Soil Health Clinics can be operated by SHGs consisting rural adult females and work forces who can publish each farm household with a Soil Health Card. Besides, farm animal and supports are closely interrelated in semi-arid and waterless countries. Hence, the constitution of fresh fish and feed Bankss should have pressing attending. The spread between possible and existent outputs is high in dryland farming countries. Bridging the productiveness spread in an econ omically feasible mode is the best safety cyberspace against husbandmans distress in such countries. For speed uping advancement in happening permanent solutions to the economic sufferings of husbandmans and agricultural labor, it would be utile to organize District-level pool of private and public sector establishments willing to assist in bettering little farm income and off-farm employment chances through appropriate engineerings and producer-oriented selling. 107. Small Farmers ‘ Horticulture Estates. The cultivation of fruits, veggies, flowers, spices, medicative and aromatic workss is now go oning in a large manner in several parts of the state. A National Horticulture Mission has been launched to duplicate the production of veggies and fruits in seven old ages ( from 150 million metric tons per twelvemonth to 300 million metric tons )[ 5 ]. Bing perishable trade goods, horticultural harvests need effectual substructure support in the countries of production, processing, storage, transit and selling. In small towns bordering big ingestion Centres ( both for place and export markets ) , little husbandmans can be helped to organize Small Farmers ‘ Horticulture Estates in the signifier of SHGs for co-ops covering an country of 200 to 500 hectares. In such estates, specialised activities like seed production, tissue civilization extension, production of compost, vermiculture, biofertilisers, biopesticides and e-commerce can be p romoted through technological and recognition, authorization. Such Estates will confabulate on husbandmans cultivating one to two hectares the power of scale both at the production and station crop stages of the horticultural endeavor. Low cost nurseries coupled with fertigation techniques can be promoted, in add-on to high tech gardening which can be undertaken by farm and place scientific discipline alumnuss. The production of good quality, disease-free seting stuff is of import in all clonally propagated species. Besides, seeds and seting stuffs of assortments suited for treating will hold to be provided to husbandmans in countries where production and processing are linked. Such symbiotic linkages between manufacturers and processors will ease sourcing of good quality natural stuff for the processing industry. The basic rule underlying such Estates is decentralized production supported by key centralised services. 108. Enhancing the Productivity of Cotton and the Global Competitiveness of the Cotton Textile Industry. The fabric sector is a major employment, and income providing sector of the national economic system. With the coming to an terminal of the multi-fibre agreement on 1 January, 2005, our cotton manufacturers, weavers and the fabric industry are meeting both new chances and menaces[ 6 ]. Without enhanced efficiency, it will be impossible to take advantage of the emerging market chances. Technological upgrading of all the constituents of the cotton production-processing-marketing rhythm, will be needed to protect this critical sector of our economic system from reverses. A productiveness, quality and value add-on revolution is desperately needed in cotton production and processing. The pollution jobs associated with small-scale fabric units can be solved by farming Environmental Management Cooperatives consisting 50 to 100 little graduated table fabric units. 109. Womans Farmers and Farm Labour. There is increasing feminization of agribusiness in households with little and fringy retentions, due to the emigration of work forces. The job is peculiarly terrible in hill countries like Uttaranchal, Jharkhand and the North eastern provinces. Yet, out of about 50 million Kisan Credit Cards issued in the state, less than 5 per cent seem to hold been issued to adult females. The proposed bestowal of land rights to adult females will assist to right this straitening state of affairs. Meanwhile, joint pattas will hold to be issued to do adult females eligible for institutional recognition. Besides, adult females working the whole twenty-four hours in the field require support services like foundling hospitals and twenty-four hours attention Centres. A alone chance now exists for breeding the on-going National Rural Employment Guarantee programme by enlarging the construct of work in the instance of adult females by including such indispensable acti vities like running foundling hospitals and kid attention Centres, fixing school midday repasts, set abouting immunization of kids, supplying household planning services, etc. Work will so go a powerful tool for human and societal development. 110. Every Village a Knowledge Centre. India ‘s strength in ICT provides uncommon chances for taking digital and cognition connectivity to every small town in the state. Reaching the unapproachable and voicing the voiceless will be possible through an integrated ICT scheme affecting the cyberspace, community wireless, overseas telegram Television, cell phone and common imperativeness. The fiber-optic web of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited ( BSNL ) , consisting 30,000 exchanges, covers all the 6,000 blocks of the state. If each exchange is extended to 20 nearby small towns, all the 600,000 small towns can be covered at minimum outgo[ 7 ]. 111. The Rural Knowledge Centres or Gyan Chaupals should be located in public infinites like Panchayat Buildings or Village Schools, so that there is societal inclusion in entree. The National Alliance for Mission – Every Village a Knowledge Centre and the Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity are effectual instruments for establishing cognition based agribusiness and rural nonfarm endeavors. Panchayat Raj Institutions will hold to play a lead function in the rural cognition revolution. NABARD, SBI and other fiscal establishments can back up Rural ICT SHGs, who can keep and run the Gyan Chaupals. Connectivity, content, capacity edifice, attention and direction of the Gyan Chaupal will all need integrated attending to do the motion socially meaningful and economically sustainable. 112. Employment Coevals in Agriculture. In the ultimate analysis, a sustainable terminal to hunger can be achieved merely by supplying chances for every adult female and adult male to gain their day-to-day staff of life. A elaborate scheme for making extra skilled occupations through gardening, cotton, energy plantations, carnal farming, biofuels and biomass use has to be developed. India is rich in livestock resources. The ownership form is more classless in the instance of farm animal, as compared to set down. Crop-livestock incorporate production systems can assist to heighten both family nutrition security and hard currency income. Overruling precedence should travel to contending the dearth of jobs/sustainable support chances through creative activity of economically honoring and intellectually stimulating work chances in small towns. This is the lone manner to pull and retain educated young person in small towns. We need to establish a major non-farm support enterprise on the l ines of the Township-Village Enterprises of China. 113. Uncommon Opportunities. There are legion institutional constructions already available with Government like Agri-clinics, Agri-business Centres, Food Parks, Agri-export Zones, several Commodity Centre Technology Missions, Watershed and Wasteland Development Programmes, National Rainfed Area Authority, National Fisheries Development Board and National Rural Health Mission. Alternatively of get downing many new strategies, what is needed is the revival and restructuring of bing strategies and institutional constructions and the retooling and retaining of bing staff. Besides, convergence and synergism among the legion ongoing vertically structured programmes can assist to cut down dealing costs and better, the efficiency of bringing. 114. The induction of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme together with an expanded Food for Work Programme provides a alone chance for establishing a multipronged onslaught on poorness and rural unemployment. Engendered work under this programme can go a accelerator of a long-run sustainable support security motion in the different ecological, hydrological and husbandmans distress hot spots of the state. 115. To win, the above programmes will hold to be implemented in a decentralised mode with authorization and answerability being linked at the field degree. The 11th Agenda of the Constitution 73rd Amendment Act 1992 on the panchayets lists agribusiness, including agricultural extension, as the really first duty of panchayets. Other points including Animal farming, dairying and domestic fowl, piscaries, minor irrigation, H2O direction, watershed development, land betterment, execution of land reforms and land consolidation and dirt preservation are besides the duties of panchayets. Therefore they should be actively involved in the elaborate planning and execution of programmes in agribusiness and allied sectors. 116. Credit and Public Investment. The crisis in our agribusiness has arisen because of deficiency of appropriate public policies every bit good as equal public investing in rural substructure peculiarly in the countries of storage, processing and value add-on. Therefore the remedies for the prevailing maladies can be found merely in public policies and investing. Spending by Central and State authoritiess in beef uping the ecological, foundations for sustained progresss in farm productiveness has been traveling down. Most of the money spent by Central and State authoritiess goes to the wages of authorities officers and employees. Consequently, rural substructure including power, irrigation, market paces, rural godowns and communicating, every bit good as critical sectors like wellness and instruction remain grossly underfunded. 117. Agricultural Competitiveness: Basket of Choices. Raising the agricultural fight of husbandmans with little retentions is a major challenge. Methods of confabulating the power of graduated table to little farm households both at the production and post-harvest stages of agriculture is an pressing necessity. A basket of picks should be available to farm adult females and work forces cultivating 1 or 2 hectares or below to heighten their income earning capacity. Productivity betterment to increase the marketable excess available to little farm households, assured and compensable selling chances, and making chances for landless agricultural labor households for skilled non-farm employment should be the bottom line of public policy for rural India. The basket of picks for heightening productiveness, profitableness and sustainability, could include the undermentioned: – ( a ) Formation of SHGs of farm households to set about group operations in countries like H2O harvest home and direction, pest direction and post-harvest engineering. Some illustrations are Small Farmers ‘ Gardening, Cotton and Poultry Estates. ( B ) Promotion of contract farming to guarantee assured marketing mercantile establishments on the footing of a chiseled Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct for Contract Farming should include proviso of support to little manufacturers in the countries of engineering and input supply and carnival and assured monetary value for the green goods. The contract should stand for a win-win state of affairs both for the manufacturer and the buyer. ( degree Celsius ) Revitalising and reconstituting assorted authorities strategies like Agri-clinics, Agri-business Centres, Rural Godowns, Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium ( SFAC ) , National Horticulture Board, etc. so as to do them farmer-centric. ( vitamin D ) Helping little husbandmans to organize either co-ops or manufacturer companies. ( vitamin E ) Promoting the active engagement of PRIs and local organic structures to further Watershed/Command Area Communities and doing the Watershed or the irrigation bid country the point of convergence and integrating of all relevant Technology Missions like those associating to oil-rich seeds, pulsations, corn, cotton, gardening, milk, etc. Convergence and synergism among the legion Technology Missions now in advancement will better their public-service corporation and impact and besides assist to cut down overall dealing costs. All the Missions could be integrated under an umbrella set up, which could be termed ‘National Federation of Farm Technology Missions ‘ . The on-going Missions runing on parallel lines appear to hold really small answerability, since in malice of their being, imports of pulsations and oil-rich seeds are traveling up twelvemonth after twelvemonth. 118. Critical Role of Education and Healthcare. Value add-on to primary merchandises, turning unskilled into skilled labor and utilizing digital engineering in small towns, require for effectual execution an educated population, with minimal degree of Class X instruction. Unless all kids in our small towns, particularly misss, Dalits and rural hapless get educated, the ends of societal equity and agricultural and rural prosperity can non be achieved. Until formal literacy becomes cosmopolitan, the ‘techniracy ‘ motion ( i.e. , larning the latest proficient accomplishments through work experience ) should be spread. For this Krishi Vigyan Kendras ( KVKs ) should be developed into `Krishi aur Udyog Vigyan Kendras ‘ , with equal accent on production and post-harvest engineerings. Farm Schools can besides be established in the Fieldss of advanced husbandmans. A desirable construction of KVKs for the twenty-first century is indicated below: – Farm Universities/ICAR and CSIR Institutes/Private Sector R & A ; D/NGOs Krishi aur Udyog Vigyan Kendra Production Natural Resources Conservation and Post-harvest Technology Enhancement ; Soil, Water, Biodiversity Technology Linkages Panchayati Farm Schools Gyan Chaupals Farmer-Participatory Financial Raj Action Research Institutions Institutions Programs 119. Anticipatory Research: Fixing for Climate Change. Climate alteration taking to alterations in temperature, precipitation, CO2 degrees and sea degree are likely to impact different parts of the universe otherwise. It is nevertheless clear that hapless states and the hapless in all states will endure most, since they lack the header capacity to defy the inauspicious effects of clime alteration. Recent studies indicate that as a consequence of the thaw of ice caused by higher temperatures, a new concatenation of islands which were under the ice have now become seeable. Greenland and the Artic Glaciers are runing and inundations are likely to be more common in North India. It will be prudent to fix computing machine stimulation theoretical accounts of different conditions chances and fix eventuality programs to run into the challenges. Anticipatory research is besides needed to protect coastal communities through bio-shields and familial shields. This country of prevenient research should have high precedence.The Concept of Biovillages120. Whenever a new engineering is introduced in a underdeveloped county, whether it is tissue civilization or biotechnology or any other kind, the greatest benefit is ever achieved by big graduated table husbandmans. When the benefit goes to big graduated table husbandmans, the trade good monetary values come down at a certain point and the fringy husbandmans become more fringy at the clip of demand. This is where it is really of import that we start the construct of biovillages in India. Each biovillage will be a comprehensive unit in itself in footings of research, production and harvest substructure suited to that small town. A exemplary illustration of a biovillage as practiced in Ernakulam District as a Biotechnology District is demonstrated in Appendix[ 8 ].Decision121. Since land and H2O are shriveling resources for agribusiness, there is no option except to bring forth more nutrient and other agricultural trade goods fro m less per capita cultivable land and irrigation H2O. In other words, the demand for more nutrient has to be met through higher outputs per units of land, H2O, energy and clip. Science can play an of import function in accomplishing the same. However, unregulated and injudicious employment of modern agricultural tools can besides ensue in catastrophe. Hence the hypothesis that scientific discipline and engineering entirely can work out universe nutrient crisis is merely partly true. Modern scientific patterns have to get married up with dirt preservation, environmental protection and population authorization to do them effectual tools in covering with universe hungriness. It will be appropriate to mention to the needed scientific advancement on the farms as an â€Å" ever-green revolution † , to underscore that the productiveness progress is sustainable overtime merely if it is rooted in the rules of ecology, economic sciences, societal and gender equity and employment coeval s. 122. The universe can bring forth adequate nutrient for a population of 10 billion by tackling the untapped output reservoir bing even with presently available engineerings, if greater attending is given to dirty wellness attention and H2O direction. We must support the productiveness additions so far made, widen the additions to semi-arid and fringy environments, and work for new additions utilizing blends of frontier engineerings and traditional ecological prudence. The job of bring forthing equal buying power to enable households populating in poorness to hold economic entree to nutrient will still face us. This is where a job-led economic growing scheme based on micro-level planning, micro-enterprises and microcredit will be of great aid. Integrated production and post-harvest engineerings and on-farm and off-farm employment schemes will be needed to supply supports for all in rural countries. 123. In instance of India, we need to switch our focal point in agribusiness from merely mensurating production in metric footings to the adult females and work forces for whom agriculture is both a manner of life and the principal means to livelihood. Agricultural advancement should be measured in footings of growing in the existent income of farm households. If steps as listed above are adopted, the income and work security of two-thirds of India ‘s population can be assured. As Mahatma Gandhi envisaged that â€Å" Gram Swaraj is the tract to the Poorna Swaraj † . Appendix ( Refers to para 120 )ERNAKULAM: A BIOTECHNOLOGY DISTRICTIntroduction1. The geographical spread of the territory runing from the pes hills of Western Ghats to the coastal part involves different options as support -ranging from intensive agribusiness to marine merchandises farming. This calls for coincident attempts in tackling biotechnology tools to upgrade the activity in the plantation, gardening, hard currency harvests sectors and besides in bettering the productiveness of Marine farming systems. 2. The territory has good laid out substructure, such as roads, electricity, big cold storage installations to treat Marine merchandises, transit systems, etc. Hence the push of the biotechnology attacks is to upgrade productiveness and quality. The aim of developing this District as a Biotech District was chiefly to: – ( a ) Improve productiveness to accomplish international fight. ( B ) Upgrade quality utilizing biotech tools rendering quality and uniformity at no excess cost. ( degree Celsius ) Develop the enterpreneural spirit of the literate work force to research non traditional occupation chances and besides to develop skilled trained work force for biotech industries.The Approach2. Ernakulam District has 83 panchayets and 10 muncipalities. The biotechnology inputs are harnessed to better the muncipalities and corporations. The biotechnology tools therefore harnessed are brought under agribusiness, gardening, piscaries, domestic fowl, environment and Human Resource Development ( HRD ) . Assorted tissue civilization merchandises are proposed to be introduced in the District. The first successful commercial merchandise among spices is cardamom. Over half a million cardamon workss were distributed in the cardamon turning belt of Idukki. Cardamom is traditionally multiplied through seeds: This resulted in a high grade of variableness. India lost its innovator place as a universe provider of cardamon to little cardinal American states due to miss of intern ational fight. In India 30 % of the workss were lending to 70 % of the output. Such high giving up workss were selected and multiplied through tissue civilization and supplied to the husbandmans. Allowing the engineering is of premier importance while tackling, market goaded quality parametric quantities should be considered while choices are made instead than our output. In cardamom the market has a penchant for green clasp capsules. Choices were identified, which possesed over 55 % acceptable quality as against 35 % of the normal farm quality. 3. It is besides of import to utilize appropriate engineering to avoid ecological perturbation. Region specific cardamon ringer parts were selected and distributed to the several parts as against giving the best choices for all the topographic points. It is of import to keep a basket of choices to protect the farms from unexpected incidence of disease. In coaction with the Spices Board and Department of 300 Biotechnology, New Delhi, over 100 presentation secret plans of one hectare each are laid out in the full cardamon turning piece of lands. When we introduce any new engineering, it is of import to foreground the value to the husbandman. Tissue civilization cardamon workss showed promising marks of early bearing coupled with uniformity in cropping, taking to higher outputs. This could cut down the gestation period to get down reaping faster. 4. Delivery Systems. It is besides of import to see bringing systems while we package engineerings. It was observed that the market is extremely elastic sing the monetary value of the merchandise. Conventional cardamon seedling costs Rs. 1.5 to 2, while tissue cultured cardamon workss cost over Rs. 5 to the husbandmans. While the husbandman makes his determination of seting stuff, many a clip the determination goes in the favor of following conventional engineering due to economical considerations. So the aim is to analyze the cost component and to cut the wastages and channel cost. This makes the merchandise more competitory. With this in head, transit engineering was developed to take the tissue civilization workss export to the several parts, where the merchandise will be consumed. Regional baby's rooms utilizing low cost local stuffs were established taking advantage of climatic conditions. The cardamon turning parts in the hills are blessed with mild climatic conditions without extremes. The cost of such a shadiness house was brought down to Rs. 40 per sq. pess as against Rs. 400 per sq. pess in glass houses supplying controlled temperature conditions. Such an attempt lowered the monetary value of the merchandises by 40 % . With this the market size was expected to spread out to over 1 million cardamon workss in topographic point of conventional seedlings. But, this needs careful planning on the logistics towards bringings to the baby's rooms so as to acquire the merchandise finished, merely ready for seting during the season. Furthermore, the procedure of holding regional baby's rooms affecting the local husbandmans brings in faster spread of information and besides helps husbandmans to familiarize themselves with the engineering. 5. Value Addition. With the alteration in tendencies in the consumer behavior in the developed states the market for fast nutrients is quickly spread outing. Spice in whole or in powdery signifier can non prolong flavour degree in the shelves. This led to extraction of oils and oleoresins from the spices. Ernakulam District has the maximal confined capacity to bring forth oils and oleoresins. Attempts were taken to present assortments of paper, turmeric, etc. , with which spice value instead than give. This lead to self sufficiency in natural stuff supply to this industry. Similar illustrations can be quoted such as banana in attractive carry-home battalions made available to the homemakers. This can speed up the production of fruits, within the District, avoiding dependence on other States.Execution Model6. The chart given below shows the engineering assimilation construct. Acerate leaf to state it starts with the client. The key to Nipponese success lies in placing their client and run intoing their outlooks. When this procedure is started, the â€Å" market demands † emerges as chances and challenges. IMPLEMENTING AGENCY ADVISORY COMMITTEES BPMC 1 AGRICULTURE HORTICULTURE FISHERIES POULTRY ENVIRONMENT HRD 2 Corporation 83 PANCHAYATS ( 3 ) 10 MUNICIPALITIES ( 4 ) 15 BLOCKS ( 5 ) SCHOOLS COLLEGES RETIRED EXPERTS 1. Biotechnology Project Monitoring Committee 2. Asst. Director of Agri/Horti/Fisheries/OHicer-in-charge 3. Panchayat President- Monitoring Officer 4. Municipality Chairman – Monitoring Officer 5. Block Development Officer – Implementing Officer HRD 7. The BPMC takes such chances to the Scientific Advisory Board to measure the technological capablenesss to run into those challenges. BPMC with the aid of the consultative board assesses the technological position and precedences with technology-off-the shelf and new engineerings to be developed through research attempts. Technology-off-the-shelf will acquire into the pilot works where the production gets commercially scaled up to corroborate cost, quality and bringing. The research precedences can be placed in appropriate research Centres measuring their proficient expertness with the aid of the consultative board. Utmost attention is taken while be aftering the research undertakings with the Centres to tap the bing expertness instead than developing new expertness. Delayed bringing of merchandises can retard growing and advancement by non encashing the chance at the right clip. The merchandise commercialization is envisaged through people ‘s engagement. Thus the execution b ureau envisaged is a biotechnology society with an apex body-BPMC. This will consist experts from the assorted Fieldss invariably reexamining the restraints, accomplishments and prioritizing the same by resetting the gait. In one instance if the production has outstripped the demand, the commission works to speed up the gait of the market development. The commission besides addresses the issues on structural reforms and barriers in commercialization of engineering such as infrastructural development in the airdromes for spoilables, flowers etc. , land and legal issues, while corporate agriculture is initiated to accomplish just monetary value to the green goods. BPMC besides keeps ticker on developing the accomplishment of the manpower in front of industrialization so that the accomplishments are non hampered due to miss of expertness. The thrust countries like agribusiness, gardening are once more monitored by subgroups with the Director of Agriculture or such officer-in-charge. Th ese subgroups will hold representatives from panchayets and muncipalities. The construction suggested is a extremely dynamic system invariably prioritizing and extinguishing restraints with the individual aim of maximization of consequences.

Book Report †Fault in Our Stars Essay

Meaning of the title: â€Å"The fault, dear Brutus is not in our stars, / But in ourselves, that we are underlings.† was said in Shakespeare’s play ‘Julius Caesar’. Saying that it is not fate that decides our future, but instead our own failings. That you are to blame for the bad thing that happen in your life. But the title ‘The Fault in our Stars’ says that sometimes it’s not our fault; things happen in life, sometimes we can’t control it; there will be problems along the way, and we just have to deal with it. Brief summary: Hazel, an average teenager who thinks she is going to die. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was young, and has trouble with her lungs. She then met a boy called Augustus in the Support Group. Augustus only had one leg because he had had osteosarcoma (A type of bone cancer). Hazel also made another friend called Issac who eventually went blind. Augustus and her shared common interests like the book called‘An Imperial Affliction’. They went on adventures to Amsterdam to visit an author that Hazel idolizes. On their trip, they had some physical relations. However meeting the author wasn’t exactly what Hazel and Augustus had expected. Later on Issac dies, then Augustus’s cancer later returns†¦ Style of Writing: The story is written in Hazel’s point of view – who is the narrator of the story. The writing in this book is easy to follow because it’s written in a conversational way. As if the reader was the protagonist. The book uses a lot of fascinating sentences and phrases to express the feelings and thoughts of Hazel Grace. The author likes using dialogues to tell the story. Character: The characters are quite believable because they are like any type of average teenager. However they have to deal with a small problem in their health affecting a big part of their life. The characters are very realistically portrayed and I think the author did a great job in describing the different characters. Plot: The plot is quite believable as it is not fiction. As readers, we can sometimes relate to the situations or even feel what the characters are feeling throughout the book. There are a lot of plot twists in the novel, so the reader would not know what is about to happen. This gives the story line more suspense and builds tension throughout the scenario. Recommendation: I would recommend this book to young adults, because there is an incredible plot twist in the book which mesmerizes the reader and gives them grief. Making them want to be the protagonist of the story. The characters are about our age, and sometimes us teenagers or young adults can connect to what the characters in the book are going through. This book has a powerful story line which emphasize the life of how two teenagers are fighting cancer, which has inspired and touch the teens heart.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court Research Paper

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court - Research Paper Example This realization led to the Congress coming up with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, an Act, which would give the government an oversight of surveillance against foreigners (Chiarella & Newton, 1997). The Congress established the FISA Court in 1978 as a special court authorizing the Chief Justice to assign seven judges who would be responsible for reviewing any applications concerning investigations on foreign power agents or foreign powers who seemed to pose a threat towards national security. The judges would be drawn from various judicial circuits and a judge was allowed to serve for a seven-year non-renewable term. After the enacting of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (92 Stat. 1783), the government had realized the need to have mechanisms of obtaining judicial warrants before it started to gather any intelligence information involving foreign power’s agents or foreign powers based in the United States (Chiarella & Newton, 1997). Senator Teddy Kennedy introduced the bill to the house on 18 May 1977 and nine other senators supported him. These were James O. Eastland, Storm Thurmond, Gaylord Nelson, John L. McClellan, Charles Mathias, Daniel Inouye, Walter Huddleston, Jake Garn, and Birch Bayh. These resulted from questions about the legality of intelligence activities, which were being carried out in the country. Frank Church and Sam Ervin led two separate committees that wanted to establish the need of legalizing all activities of gathering foreign intelligence information. It had been reported that President Richard Nixon was using federal security agents to spy on activists and political groups and this violated the US constitutions’ Fourth Amendment. FISA was signed into law by the then president Jimmy Carter (Chiarella & Newton, 1997). The Act was created for the purpose of supervising the way the government used its surveillance facilities to spy on foreigners but at  the same time, protect the secrecy of the intelligence agents.  

Krima Co-operative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Krima Co-operative - Essay Example Customers’ tastes keep changing and doing quality management is advised continuously in every business. Another reason for having to do a quality control management is mainly due to the competition cropping from small co-operatives. In addition to this, Krima co-operatives plan on starting to export their products and they have to ensure that their products meet all the quality requirements set by the bureau of standards in all different countries. It is difficult to understand precisely what customers need and want and this is where quality management comes in. All customers have different tastes and they want the product they will consume to have a particular peculiar character. Quality management focuses on both service and product. It has four components; quality control, quality management, quality improvement and quality assurance. There is no one definition of quality management but (Rawlins, pg34. 2009) says that it is a set of rules or procedures that ensure a product or service is designed in such a way that it satisfies a customer’s needs. Kezner (14, 2009) calls it business management because it is a way of ensuring that sales are made every day and, thus a business does not end up failing. It can therefore be looked at in terms of satisfaction for both the business and customer’s needs. ... Mostly, quality assurance procedures are done by an independent third party like a government quality control group using a planned system of review procedures. The above procedures do take time and resources and therefore it is important I prepare you. However, you should note that this is not a waste of time or resources; there are many reasons why I believe this business needs quality management. This is not just for the purpose of improving quality, but also to ensure that a product meets all the needs of the customer. The question we should ask ourselves is; with all the competition we are facing from other companies right now, what is it that we aim to improve before our competitors reach where we are? Is this going to be a long term or short term solution when dealing with our competitors? What is it that our competitors are offering that our customers might be attracted to? Quality management may be able to help us answer the above questions and in turn improve our business. I had mentioned earlier that I am aware that you plan to import your products, it is therefore important to know if our product will meet the needs of our clients in the other countries. At the end of this project, we will have ensured that our product not only creates competition but it is consistent with the requirements of the customer. Tamime (44, 2009) says that in any milk processing industry, quality management ensures that a customer keeps coming back for more and referrals are made. On the same page, he says that this has been the secret of many businesses. 2. Characteristics and dimensions of milk products quality. A once successful business owner of a milk manufacturing company said that there are three processes a product passes through before going to the market. The first

PASBD reflection Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

PASBD reflection - Essay Example Due to the knowledge obtained from this unit, my presentation skills, communication, group-handling skills, decision making under both certainty and uncertainty and the much-needed problem solving skills are sharp. In the short past in the industry, we have made three presentations and one interview, made analysis, and compiled corporate reports. These trainings have made us realize our areas of weaknesses and opportunities. I have gained immense insight and training in my field based on the provisions of the unit (PASBD). My interview, teamwork, and communication skills are quite efficient. As a result I am today in a position of interacting with personalities of whatever manner. The PASBD is designed with the sole aim of developing the skills of professionals in a manner that as graduands of the course we are able to handle hard tasks with tighter deadlines and unpredictable situations (Bolton 2005). As an accountant having gone through this course, I exhibit the highest form of competency in my work. Apart from simply aiding my group members and me in getting a job, PASBD also helps me be organized in any job to an extent that I am able to grow, survive in the jobs and ultimately excel in terms of my career growth. My theoretical aspects of the course already acquired throughout the other modules of the course have been translated into practical approaches. Today I am able to adopt technological approaches to finding solutions to problems I face in the industry. At my workplace, I am able to work harmoniously in teams and achieve individual targets as well. In addition, my listening skills are quite effective and making professional or corporate presentation in our organization is just exemplary. Today, from the knowledge acquired am able to identify and solve a variety of problems whether structured or unstructured an aspect that I appreciate so much (Cartwright & Scisco

Eminent Domain (Real Estate Analysis) Research Paper

Eminent Domain (Real Estate Analysis) - Research Paper Example In most cases use of eminent domain by real estate developers results in disputes and court proceedings referred to as condemnation proceedings. Additionally, use of eminent domain by private agents can result in increased corruption since the agents can use the process to enable them pay less for property. In some cases, government official have been involved in corruption whereby they have used eminent domain to acquire private property and later sold it to private developers. The power of eminent domain is restrained by public clause of Fifth Amendment, which requires that the government provide adequate evidence for the acquisition in addition to just compensation before seizing private property for public use (Aycock and Black 53-54). Initially, the eminent domain was used to obtain private properties for public uses such as schools, roads, and parks. However, the eminent domain has been expanded and is often used to include other project meant to benefit the public. Real estate agents are thus able to employ the power of eminent domain when they want to acquire property for purposes such as urban renewal projects. Several real estate agents help in fostering development, which is crucial for economic growth. They are thus empowered by eminent domain to acquire property for commercial development (Aycock and Black 53-55). There are many questions regarding the legitimacy of eminent domain especially when it is used to acquire property for private developers such as real estate agents. Although the government is required to provide evidence that the project is for public benefit, there are question on how some real estate projects benefit the public. Additionally, ways of calculating of the just compensation is questionable. Therefore, it is important that the government exercise eminent domain carefully since it affect the constitutional rights of the property owners (Cook Web). Transfer of property land to real estate agents entails

Digestion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Digestion - Essay Example The mucus is important for protecting the mucosa from the acidic contents of the stomach. The epithelium is also lined with endocrine cells that stimulate the production of acid and digestive enzymes (Johnson, 2005, 23). The lamina propria lining the stomach is composed of loose connective tissue. Lymph vessels, nerves and large blood vessels are located in the mucosa that is composed of loose connective tissues. In the stomach, the muscularies externa is composed of three layers of muscles that are the oblique inner, circular middle and longitudinal outer layers that run in opposite directions to allow great motility in the stomach for mixing and churning ingested food. The small intestine mucosa has various structural features that are essential for increasing the luminal surface area supporting the main function of the small intestine of absorption of the degraded food components. Along the mucosa and submucosa are plicae circulares that are crescent shaped folds extend on around 1/3 of the small intestine lumen The lumen is lined with simple columnar epithelium. The ileum and jejunum are covered with serosa while the duodenum has serosa on the anterior surface (Feneis & Dauber, 2000, 42). The entire mucosa of the intestinal lining forms villi that are important for increasing the surface area that food absorption takes place in. The surface of the villi is composed of simple epithelium for easy absorption. The lamina propria is similar to that of the stomach usually cell rich. The submucosa layer contains glands on the duodenum â€Å"Brunner’s glands† that produces mucus protecting the duodenal mucosa from the acidic content from the stomach (Di Mauro et al. 2013, 15). The muscularies externa has two layers the inner thicker circular layer for mixing and the outer thinner longitudinal layer for the continuous peristalsis activity of the small intestines. It is the

Minigrant for integrating technology in the elementary Language Arts Essay

Minigrant for integrating technology in the elementary Language Arts classroom - Essay Example The use of computers has increased drastically in the last decade, especially in the educational field. Experts in the elementary educational field are of the opinion that trying to find out the mistakes in grammar, spelling and organization in one’s own writing is one of the best methods of learning. Introducing computers in the elementary level are highly useful in these processes. Computers increase the effectiveness of the elementary language teachers while drastically reducing their work load. In this application, an estimated budget and advantages of introducing technology in the Elementary Language Arts Class room are also briefly mentioned. Elementary school teachers play a crucial role in the development of children. Generally, children are influenced by what they experience and learn in the school which can also greatly shape their views of the world or about themselves and can be a crucial factor for their failure or success in their personal lives and work. Elementary school teachers introduce pupil to language, mathematics, social studies and science. Teachers use various tools like music, games, films, artworks, books and computers to teach basic skills. Computers can play an integral role in the Elementary Language Arts Program which â€Å"provides balanced instruction in reading and writing.† (Elementary Reading and Language Arts).

Social Networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Social Networks - Essay Example Since their introduction, the social networks have swept away the market through their presence. All the major activities are seen to be handled by and helped by the social networks. The future will be no different and will provide a similar platform for success. The social networks have allowed for keeping the different stakeholders in contact.Jayson DeMers in her assessment has stated that United States Small to Medium scale enterprises have in majority already equipped themselves with the services of the social networks (Demers, 2014). Consultancy and experts views from different sectors and angles of the private clients is another added function that has been provided for by the social networks. The concept of entrepreneurs as well as the free lancers who are willing to work on different scales and available to provide their expertise to the business organizations make up for another area of modern development as a result of social networks.The social networks have provided a mea ns of advertising and a platform for promotion for the businesses and their products. Many examples can be seen from the American local industry. The Coconut Bliss (Mershon, 2012) is an example that has hit the social networking industry by storm. Through the advertisement on the social networks, the sales grew by multiple proportions. The added features of the free communication and availability of photos and other features of the social networks make it easier for the overall process to be undertaken.

Cause and effect Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Cause and effect - Essay Example Childhood obesity also increases the risk of psychosocial problem among children such as low self-esteem, bullying, teasing and are underestimated by their peers. This is a cause and effect essay exploring childhood obesity in USA. One major cause of childhood obesity in US is excessive consumption of calories, for instance,  many children take many too much calories, and they do not engage in physical activities to burn them since they engage in minimal physical exercises. Most children in US and other developed countries do not take the right and healthy food. Increased intake of energy dense meals and soft drinks leads to childhood obesity. Children consume many calories, but participate less in physical activities (Murphy, 5). Lack of physical activity participation in children is caused by environmental factors such as lack of enough space to undertake different exercises like cycling, running among others. Furthermore, parents do not create time to help their children engage in physical activities. Continuous consumption of fast food and living sedentary lifestyles put them at risk of diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes, and increased cholesterol among others. Researchers have pointed out sedentary lifestyle to be one of the major causes of obesity in both adults and children (Rippe and Angelopoulos 29). Parents are too busy to prepare healthy and nutritional meals to allow their children carry packed lunch instead of consuming fast food. More so, physical inactivity contributes largely in increasing cases of obesity because they spend most of their time playing video games and watching television. They  spend less time exercising, but they do spend many hours watching and playing video games, this way, they are more likely to become overweight as opposed to those who spend less time playing video games and watching. Children and teenagers should engage in physical activities for at least sixty minutes daily (Murphy 14). Even though physical edu cation has been introduced in many schools and kindergarten, many children do not actively participate in physical activity (Moreno, Pigeot and Ahrens 12). Obesity affects negatively on children’s lives. Firstly, obesity increases the risk for certain serious health problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol as well as high blood pressure, and musculoskeletal among others. Different studies cite obesity to be the major cause of premature death among children. Today, these serious health conditions are found among children due to unhealthy lifestyle because for a long time these diseases have been exclusively associated with adulthood. Secondly, obese children are at a higher risk of experiencing psychological problems such as bullying, underestimation, teasing, and low self-esteem among others (Rippe and Angelopoulos 39). Moreover, obese children are prone to depression and other medical conditions such as bone and joint problems and may experience breathing difficulties esp ecially when they are engaged even in the slightest physical activity. Most obese children are not happy with their condition and are not comfortable to interact with their peers. In addition, obese children have the tendency of maturing earlier, that is, they seem to grow old faster as opposed to their colleagues who are not overweight. More so, overweight and obesity reduces children’s lifespan and causes premature death of most children in America. In conclusion,

Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions Essay Example for Free

Discuss one or more theories of Moral Understanding and evaluate its conclusions Essay The term morality, according to Shaffer (1993) means â€Å"a set of principles or ideals that help the individual to distinguish right from wrong and to act on this distinction. Morality is important to society, as it would not function effectively unless there is some agreement of what is right and wrong. There are many underlying processes and environmental factors, which limit or promote social, cognitive and moral development in children. In modern society, television could be considered to be one of the major influences on a child’s moral development. There are three approaches to moral development; the cognitive approach, the psychodynamic approach and the social learning theory. The Cognitive-Developmental approach of Piaget and Kohlberg studies how children become more able to reason morally and make moral judgements, whereas the Freud’s psychodynamic approach is more concerned with the development of the conscience and moral feelings such as guilt and anxiety. The social learning theory of Bandura and Mischel investigates the development of moral behaviour and how role models in the family, society and the media, influence it. The theory I am going to discuss is Piaget’s Cognitive-Developmental Approach. His theory of moral development is concerned with how the child’s moral knowledge and understanding change with age. Piaget saw morality as any system of rules, which governs interaction between people. The methods of investigation he used to develop his theories were, he looked at the way children imposed rules in their games. He used games to study the development of children’s moral development as he thought that by studying rules in the context of a game, he could study the child’s spontaneous though directly. He also, assessed changes in the child’s moral judgements by telling hypothetical stories about children who lied, stole or broke something. When using hypothetical stories, Piaget was generally more interested in the reasons why the children give the answers they did and not particularly the answers. Piaget identifies stages of moral development just as he identified stages with cognitive development. His theories of the way children think and their moral reasoning goes through a series of stages, as they are adapting to the world, these are also known as the processes of accommodation and assimilation. He believed that as children’s reasoning about the world changes when they grow older and gain more experience, so does their reasoning about morality. Their ability to think about the world in more complex ways is what causes them to move on from one stage to the next. This is known as cognitive development. Piaget stated that infants don’t understand much about morality until they are about three or four years of age. Their development divides into two main stages after infancy. His stages of moral development are: Pre Moral Stage (up to three or four years) Children don’t understand about rules, and so they don’t make moral judgements Stage of Heteronomous Morality (aged three – six years) Children at this stage think rules are absolute and unchangeable, and the goodness and badness of an action is judged largely on the basis of its consequences rather than by taking intent into account. Stage of Autonomous Morality (from around six or seven) Children at this stage now see rules as more changeable and intentions are taken into account. Children also start to believe that it is possible to break rules and get away with it, whereas earlier they tended to think they will always be found out and possibly punished. Researchers from Europe and America have tested some of Piaget’s theories and have concluded that distinct stages of development do seem to exist however, other research found that children do not see all rules as being equally important as Piaget thought they did. Heteronomous Morality, also known as moral realism, means when the child is subject to another’s laws or rules. Children think that rules must be obeyed no matter what the circumstances. A child at this stage will think that rules are only made by authority figures, such as, parents and teachers. Two other features that are displayed in moral reasoning at this stage are, first they expect bad behaviour to be punished in some way, they believe that the punishment should be expiatory – the wrongdoer must make amends for the crime by paying with some kind of suffering. They have the view that the amount of punishment should match the badness of the behaviour. Secondly, if the bad behaviour goes undetected then the child believes in immanent justice – where any misfortune occurring after the bad behaviour can be seen as a punishment. For example, if a child tells a lie and gets away with it, then later trips and falls, the younger child could consider this as a punishment. In general, they believe punishment should be fair and that wrongdoing will always be punished in some way. Autonomous Morality, which means when the child is subject to one’s own laws and rules. It involves moral relativism whereby the child comes to realise that rules evolve from social relationships. Due to the child ‘decentring’ and their developed ability to think more flexibly about moral issues, they have began to realise it is important to take other people’s opinions into account. At this stage a child will have developed the understanding that sometimes rules of morality can be broken in certain reasonable circumstances. They believe in reciprocal punishment, whereby the punishment should fit the crime. For example, if a child takes another child’s sweets, the first child should be deprived of their sweets or should make it up to the victim in some other way. This is known as the principle of reciprocity. Children will also have learnt at this stage that wrongdoers often avoid punishment, diminishing any belief in immanent justice. They see punishment as a method of making the offender understand the nature of the crime and that punishment is also a deterrent. The move from heteronomous morality to autonomous morality is influenced by two factors. Children around the age of seven begin to move on from the pre operational stage of an illogical and an egocentric way of thinking to more logical and flexible way of thinking, in the operational stage. Their growing awareness that other people have different views allows them to develop more mature moral reasoning. However, moral development lags at least one to two years behind cognitive development because the whole process depends on the cognitive changes occurring first. Kohlberg expanded Piagets theory to form a theory that also explained the development of moral reasoning. While Piaget described a two-stage process of moral development, Kohlberg’s theory outlined six stages within three different levels. Kohlberg extended Piaget’s theory, proposing that moral development is a continual process that occurs throughout the lifespan. A study by Colby et al (1983) criticised Piaget’s assumption that children of ten and eleven years old had reached an adult level of moral reasoning. Piaget was always focusing on what an average child was capable of achieving so he neglected the idea of great variations between the individual child’s ways of thinking. In general, Piaget’s cognitive theory has been criticised for the methods of investigation not being as precise as they could have been. Methods he used were seen as complicated, leading critics to think he under estimated younger children’s capabilities of what they could and could not do. This was because later research went on to conclude that children could actually take other motives into consideration, when they understood what motives were involved. Despite criticism, Piaget’s work is still regarded as a revolutionary step forward in the way we understand how children think. It has led to a much more realistic ways of understanding children’s moral development. Many attempts to test Piaget’s theories from researchers around the world have resulted in acceptance that some of his views and methods do appear to exist.

Leon Battista Albertis Treatise on Architecture

Leon Battista Albertis Treatise on Architecture Discuss Albertis treatise on Architecture in relation to San Andrea in Mantua. In particular, discuss the role of humanistic philosophy in his work giving careful attention to the question of proportion Leon Battista Alberti (1404-72) was a true Renaissance man. He was a gifted playwright, mathematician and sportsman trained in Law. As the person in charge of the constructions commanded by the Pope, he had the occasion to write one of the greatest works of the theory of architecture De Re Aedificatoria (On Building). Most of it was completed in 1452 and printed in 1485. In the Ten books of the Art of Building Alberti has explained the usefulness of a roof and wall for human. He said that it helps us to come close to one another and also grow together. Therefore we should be grateful to architects not only because they provides us a safe and welcome place but also for its many innovations, which are useful to both individuals and the public and the also provide our daily needs (page 3). Commissioned by Ludovico II Gonzaga, the church was begun in 1462 according to designs by Leon Battista Alberti on a site occupied by a Benedictine monastery, of which the bell tower (1414) remains. The building, however, was finished only 328 years later. Though later changes and expansions altered Albertis design, the church is still considered to be one of Albertis most complete works. The purpose of the renaissance building was to contain the pilgrims who visited it during the feast of Ascension when a vial, that the faithful argue contains the Blood of Christ, is brought up from the crypt below through a hole in the floor directly under the dome. According to tradition the Most Precious Blood was brought to Mantua by the Roman centurion Longinus and is preserved in the Sacred Vessels. It was held with high respect during the Renaissance which is only display on Holy Friday. Humanism is the studying of the classics (Greek and Latin) and incorporating their ideas into ones own. It is the cultural movement of the Renaissance architecture. Most renaissance classical architecture shows more clarity than the older ones, because it emphasizes clean lines, geometric shapes, symmetry. It argues whether that is more enlightened than medieval architecture. It was more thought out, perhaps; more consistent, more systematic. Alberti had many philosophies when designing for buildings, and like the works of Vitruvius, created text that gave instruction on how to build, but saved main emphasis on the decoration and the exterior aesthetics of the structure. One principle that Alberti made use of was a system of Proportionality that he developed using systematic harmony of musical ratio, to make his buildings appealing. Defined as the precise and correct outline, conceived in the mind, made up of lines and angles, and perfected in the learned intellect and imagination, this theory and lineamenta were fundamental in Albertis process of design. Alberti believed that the Lineamenta stood as an outline and allowed proportions to be perceived in the design , where The very same numbers that cause sound to have that concinnitas, pleasing to the ears, can also fill the eyes and mind with wondrous delight. Reapplying emphasis on the humanistic approach to design The tie with the humanistic style of design is a constant theme throughout Albertis ten books, and the beauty of Buildings also features heavily. Alberts definition, Beauty resides in a reasoned harmony of all the parts within a body, so that nothing may be added, taken away, or altered, but for the worse. It is a great and holy matter, all our resources of skill and ingenuity will be taxed in achieving it; and rarely is it granted even to Nature herself, to produce anything that is entirely complete and perfect in every respect. (VI, ii, 156). Albertis view of what Beauty is has connection to the analogy of anthropomorphism, seeing Man as a component that uses energy to serve and do well. This philosophy maintains that Alberti believed that men were made in Gods image and likeness, creator of the universe, and through this thought, understood that what qualities make a building beautiful opens the path to the route of all Knowledge and the original source of beauty to draw from, God himself. In his treatise nature is used as inspiration, where the reason of Nature permits an architect to investigate into the features of the natural world, including mans influence, to become better equipped to perceive and make use of Concinnitas, (which Alberti refers to as the spouse and soul of reason) to link presenting nature as the source of art in architecture and the nature based laws embedded in the outside world. As in the San Andrea, Mantua the faà §ade of the church is exquisitely decorated with curves and flowing patterns on the ordered columns, drawing from Albertis treatise and its guidance on how to not only create a building, but how to make its beauty reflect that of Gods love and Nature Refrences: sacredarchitecture.org/authors/carroll_william_westfall/ -Carroll William Westfall(Journal entry 16) http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/S._Andrea.html Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p295-6 References Title: On the Art of Building in Ten Books Author: Leon Battista Alberti Translator: Joseph Rykwert, Neil Leach, Robert Tavernor Published by the MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England http://www.albertiefirenze.it/english/leon_battista_alberti/index.htm http://eng.archinform.net/projekte/4126.htm

The effect of location decision on a business success

The effect of location decision on a business success 2.1 Introduction Todays competitive market demands companies to deliver their products and services as effectively and efficiently as possible. The distribution strategy is the key to the success. One of the key components of a distribution network is warehouse location. Location decision is considered as a long-term business strategic decision. The correct location decision can resulted in significant improvement in business processes and performance, and bring competitive advantages (i.e. cost saving, service quality, etc.) over its competitors. On the other hand, if a poor location decision was made, it could equally cost the company time, money and opportunity. The location decisions environment is dynamic and normally described as a multi-criteria decision. Furthermore, the globalisation and the rapid evolution of information technology have changed the characteristics of location problems. There are two major trends in facility location selection accordingly to Yang and Lee (1997). First, there has been an increased interest to gain potential competitive edge in the global marketplace. Second, small to medium-sizes communities has become more attractive to many businesses as new facility location. These two trends are influenced by the more advanced communication technology, better transportation infrastructure system, liberalised trade between countries, and so on. This allows company to select their facilities where they think has the most advantages (i.e. in land cost, labour cost, skilled labour availability, etc.). This chapter will start by identifying why a company needs to improve its logistics system, then defining the linkage between the organisations strategy and the logistics strategy, followed by the general roles of warehouse in distribution strategy. Then it will present the influencing location factors companies normally consider when they make location decisions. And finally in the latter section of this chapter, it will present literature reviews of decision aid techniques and model used in location decisions. 2.2 Logistics system and the changing business environment Why do we need to change our logistics operations and strategy? The main reason why we need to change is because the environment we live in is constantly and rapidly changing. In order to survive in this unforgiving environment businesses are forced need to change. There are many factors given by Rushton, et al. (2006) including increasing customer demand, reducing product life cycle, changing technologies, increasing pressures from competitors, and so on. The pressures for change given by Rushton, et al. (2006) are illustrated by the figure 1. Figure 1 Pressure influencing logistics systems 2.3 Logistics strategy Logistics strategy should aim to establish the most appropriate blend of storage and transport at a given customer service level. Efficient logistics and distribution strategies should reduce the total logistics costs and must take into account the interactions of various the various replenishment activities in the distribution chain (Rushton, et al., 2006; Teo Shu, 2004). Chopra and Meindl (2004) suggest there are four drivers to a successful distribution system: (1) Facilities location, capacity, operations methodology, and warehousing methodology; (2) Inventory cycle inventory, safety inventory, seasonal inventory, and sourcing; (3) Transportation mode of transportation, route and network design, and in-house or outsource decision; and (4) Information push or pull, coordination and information sharing, forecasting and aggregate planning, and enabling technologies. Bowersox and Closs (1996) suggest similar points but they also add another driver which is network design. They also claim that classical economics often neglected the importance of facility location and overall network design. Similarly but in more details, Alling and Tyndall (1994) identify ten principles that make logistics operations successful. They are: (1) to link logistics to corporate strategy; (2) to organise logistics comprehensively; (3) to use the power of information tech nology; (4) to emphasize human resources recognising the importance of quality human resources; (5) to form strategic alliances; (6) to focus on financial performance; (7) to target optimum service levels; (8) to manage the details pay attention to details as it can be significant savings; (9) to leveraging logistics volume through consolidating shipment volumes, inventories and the like; and (10) to measure and react to performance. Furthermore, when considering a distribution strategy, warehousing strategy is an important part and typically the decision makers or logistics planners has to answer these questions (1) should warehousing facilities be owned, leased or rented, (2) what is the optimal size and number of warehouses, (3) what are the optimal locations for warehouses, (4) what product line should be stocked at each warehouse location, and what market areas should be serviced from each warehouse location. (Stock Lambert, 2001; Bowersox Closs, 1996; Simchi-Levi, et al., 2003; Bowersox Closs, 1996; Geoffrion Powers, 1995; Bender, 1994; Stock Lambert, 2001; Greasley, 2009) Matching logistics strategy to business strategy The important key to achieving the strategic fit is the ability of the company to find a balance between responsiveness and efficiency that best matches the business strategy. Whatever strategies chose to implement by the company, there will be impacts. And the impact of the selected logistics and distribution strategy has to be assessed against the business strategy. Often these may involve undertaking some qualitative analysis where it is impossible to derive good quantitative measures. The main areas of where this will impact, they are (Rushton, et al., 2006): a) Capital costs this is the costs of new facilities, new equipments, and so on. In certain situations capital constraints can exclude otherwise attractive options; b) Operating costs the minimum operating cost is often the main criterion for selection between options. In some cases increased operating costs can be accepted in the light of future flexibility; c) Customer service Although options should have been developed against customer service targets, the selected short list must be examined for the customer service level achieved. The balance of the mix might have changed in an effort to reduce costs. Stock held close to the customer might need to be increased to improve service reliability. 2.5 Obstacles to achieving strategic Fit As many as there are many factors and influences to achieving the strategic fit in the supply chain, there are also many obstacles to achieving the same goal as Chopra and Meindl (2004) and few other writers mention. Few examples of the obstacles to strategic fit are: a) the variety of products the increasing variety of products tends to raise uncertainty and uncertainty tends to raise costs and reduce responsiveness within the system; b) the product lifecycles the decreasing product lifecycles also tends to raise uncertainty and reduce the window of opportunity to achieving strategic fit; c) the increasingly demanding customer customers demand for faster fulfilment, better quality, and better value for money for the product they buy, companies must be able to provide these just to maintain their businesses; d) the fragmentation of supply chain ownership less vertically integrated structure can result in difficult coordination to achieving strategic fit; e) the effect of globaliz ation difficulties raised by the invasion of foreign players. It is noticed that these factors are the same factors which drives the need to improve logistics system as determined in section 2.2. 2.6 The logistics and distribution planning framework Many authors agree on the first and the most important step, when planning the logistics and distribution, which is to identify the objective and strategies of the organization. Then it follows by the second step which is to gain a detailed understanding of the present position of the system. The rests of the procedures are identifying the options, analysing the options, comparing and evaluating the results, and developing a planning and implementation. A diagram illustrating the approach to distribution planning by Rushton, et al. (2006) is shown in the figure 3 below. Figure 2: An approach to logistics and distribution planning (Rushton, et al., 2006) 2.7 Optimal number of warehouses The optimal number of warehouses can be found by using a costing model, a model which takes into account of variable costs, particularly the transport and operating costs. Few facilities give low cost for inward transport, but high cost for outward transport, as they are, on average, further away from customers. On the other hand, more number of facilities can give higher cost for inward transport, but the cost for outward transport is lower, as they are, on average, closer to customers. Another cost that varies with the number of facility is the operating costs. Higher number of facilities means the company has to bear more expensive cost to operating these facilities. Operating costs also vary with facility size. Generally, larger facilities give the economies of scale; however, this is not always the case. Higher cost from operating larger facilities may come from the cost of supervision, communication, inefficiency and so on (Attwood Attwood, 1992; Bowersox Closs, 1996; Waters, 2003; Chopra Meindl, 2004; Rushton, et al., 2006). Figure 4 graphically illustrates the relationships between number of facilities and costs incurred. Figure 3 Relationship between costs and numbers of facilities. The need to hold inventories Prior to planning and designing logistics and distribution system, it is very important to be aware of the reason why a company need to hold stock. The most common objective of a supply chain is to efficiently balancing demand and supply. As most people understand that it is impossible to precisely synchronise or balance the requirements of demand with the fluctuations of supply. Therefore stocks are there to provide buffer between supply and demand. Rushton, et al. (2006) reviews the important reasons to stock, as follows: a) to keep down production costs keeping production to run as long as possible, as the costs of setting up machine is often expensive; b) to accommodate variation in demand to avoid stock-outs by holding some level of safety stock; c) to take account of variable supply (lead) times to cover any delays of supplies from producers and suppliers; d) to reduce buying costs often there are administrative cost of placing an order, holding additional inventory can red uce these costs; e) to take advantage of quantity discounts often goods are offered at a cheaper cost per unit if they are ordered in large quantity; f) to account for seasonal fluctuations certain products are popular in a certain time of the year, retailer normally pile-up inventory during low demand season to cater the demand in high season; g) to allow for price fluctuations/speculation the price of certain products, steel for instance, fluctuate due to variety of reasons. Some companies buy in large quantity to cater this; h) to help the production and distribution operations run more smoothly stock is held to decouple two different activities; i) to provide customers with immediate service stocks enables companies to provide goods and service as soon as they are required to maximise the sales opportunity. This is essential in highly competitive markets; j) to minimise production delays caused by lack of spare parts Breakdowns of machineries required to produce goods or s ervices can be very costly to business. Having spare parts to fix the machineries as soon as it breakdowns is an advantage; k) to facilitate the production process by providing semi-finished stocks between different processes (Work-in-Progress). 2.9 Roles of warehouse Why businesses need warehouse? There are many reasons why business needs warehouses. Warehouse has many roles apart from providing storage and supplying the materials or finished goods to producers or retailers as reviewed in the previous section. In fact warehouse has many other roles and functionalities which can be classified on the basis of economics and service accordingly to Bowersox and Closs (1996). On the basis of economics, a warehouse is economically justified when the total logistical costs are reduced by providing the facility. On the basis of service, a warehouse is justified when the overall logistical system can provide a better service, in terms of time and place capability. Here are some common roles of a warehouse (Bowersox Closs, 1996; Higginson Bookbinder, 2005; Rushton, et al., 2006): Role as a make-bulk/break-bulk consolidation centre making bulk and breaking bulk are traditional functions of a warehouse/DC. In a break-bulk facility, large incoming loads are aggregated, often for product mixing and to create consolidated out- bound shipments. A make-bulk facility, or consolidation centre, com- bines small quantities of several products in fewer, larger assortments. Role as a cross-docking station Cross-docking is a process where the product is received, occasionally combined with different products going out to the same destination, and then shipped at their earliest opportunity without being stored. Cross-docking has many benefits, including: faster product flow, no inventory pile-up, reduced product handling, and reduce cost due to elimination of those activities. Role as a transhipment facility transhipment refers to a process of taking a shipment out of one vehicle and loading it onto another. It only occurs when there is a good reason to change transportation modes or vehicle types. Role as an assembly facility Hewlett Packards distribution centre is a good example of the role as an assemble facility. It also benefits from the idea of postponement which allows product differentiation until later stages. Products are designed to use generic parts and assemble at the warehouse. Role as a product-fulfilment centre the major function is to find the products that are ordered and directly deliver them to the final customer. Amazon.com warehouse is a good example. Role as depot for returned goods the major functions are to inspect and separate the returned good into those that can be repaired, repackaged, resale, or recycled. 2.10 Transportation Accordingly to Chopra and Meindl (2004), the target level of service the company sets determines the role of transportation in a company competitive strategy. If the company is targeting customers whose main criterion is price, then the company can use transportation to lower the cost of the product at the expense of reponsiveness. But more often companies tries to achieve the right balance between efficiency and responsiveness using both inventory and transportation. Often in logistics plannings, decision to make to make any changes based on the costs of transportation. Accordingly to Rushton, et al. (2006), the transportation costs can be broken into three main types. The first one is the fixed costs these costs must be borne whether the vehicles run for 10 or 100 kilometres and might include the depreciations of the vehicles, the licence fees, the insurance, etc. And these may vary from one vehicle to another depending on various reasons. The second type is the variable costs these costs vary in relation to the activity of the vehicles, i.e. how far the vehicle travelled. The most obvious example of a variable of cost is the fuel cost. And the last type is the overhead costs these costs are indirect costs that are borne by the whole fleet of vehicles. They may be the usual business overheads that are required to run the vehicles, i.e. staff salaries, telephone, internet, and other administrative expenses. 2.11 Location decision objectives Warehouse site selection is a complex process involving multiple, both qualitative and quantitative, criteria. And often location decisions have more than one objective depending on the organisations objectives and strategies. Current, et al., (1990) classified the objectives for facility location problems into four general categories namely: (1) Cost minimisation; (2) Demand Oriented; (3) Profit maximisation; (4) Environment concern, and often these objectives are found to overlap each other. For retailing business, cost minimisation and profit maximisation are often the main objectives. 2.12 The influences of warehouse site location selection It is important to effectively identify potential locations for the new warehouses. Typically, these locations must satisfy a variety of conditions and the potential locations should meet all the requirements. The potential locations should take into account the future demand and that the decision should have an impact on the firm for at least the next three to five years (Simchi-Levi, et al., 2003). Many authors (Chase, et al., 2004; Barnes, 2008) suggested that the choice of facilities location is influenced by two principles. The first one is the need to locate close to customer due to time-based competition, trade agreement, and transportation cost. And the second one is the need to locate close to the access to resources such as labour, raw material, and specialist skills and capabilities. Often the two principles are taken into account when an organization makes a decision on the choice of location. The characteristics of operations of business (i.e. Manufacturer or service provider) will govern the weight of factors should be taken into account. Barnes (2008) looked at the location decision on the international perspective where the influential facility location factors are more in numbers and level of complexity. However, these factors can be adapted and used for domestic facility location. Here is the list of major factors which in themselves comprises of several sub-factors given by Barnes (2008): Costs; Labour characteristics; Infrastructure; Proximity to suppliers; Proximity to market/customers; Proximity to parent company facilities; Proximity to competition; Quality of life; Legal and regulatory framework; Economic factors; Government and political factors; Social and cultural factors; and Characteristic of a specific location. Bowersox and Closs (1996) concentrated on the warehouse location analysis in the context of logistical network strategy. He discusses about three warehouse location patterns namely Market-Positioned Warehouse, Manufacturing-Positional Warehouse, and Intermediately Positioned Warehouse. They imply the similar idea of the two principles suggested by Chase, et al. (2004) and Barnes (2008). They also discussed the warehouse location from the viewpoint of transportation economies and from the viewpoint of inventory economies. Furthermore they incorporate the concept of Least-Total-Cost system where the sum of total inventory cost and transportation cost is minimal to design the warehouse network. The conditions or attributes of potential warehouse locations reviewed from many literatures are summarised as follows: Site-related factors Regional factors Land cost/size/soil characteristics/ drainage Proximity to market Construction costs/leasing cost/renting costs Proximity to suppliers Transportation facilities/cost Proximity to competitors Zoning restrictions Proximity to industry Community factors Geographical characteristics Quality of life/cost of living weather characteristics Public facility accessibility Labour cost/availability/skill Taxes Energy availability/cost Environment regulation Telecommunication facility Local government support/incentives Political matters and regulation Sustainability Transportation infrastructure 2.13 Methods and techniques in facility location problems In this section, we will review the methods, techniques, and approaches found in a number of literatures. Bowersox and Closs (1996) claim that a sophisticated modelling and analysis techniques are required in location decision because the location analysis is very complex and data-intense. The complexity is created because of the number of locations multiplied by the alternative location sites multiplied by the stocking strategies for each location. Meanwhile, the data intensity is caused by the requirement of detailed demand and transportation information. Furthermore, the facility site selection process is complicated by the impact of environment legislation and related political issues (Bowersox Closs, 1996). Thai and Grewal (2005) suggest the conceptual framework of location selection for distribution centre that consists of three main stages. The first stage is a general geographical area for distribution centre is identified based on the Centre-of-Gravity principle. The second stage is the identification of location alternatives of distribution centre and associate gateway airports/seaports. At this stage a qualitative approach should be applied. The third and final stage concentrates on the specific site selection based on the quantitative approach, i.e. The distribution centre should be place where the integration of volumes transported and distance involved is minimum and also the total distribution cost is minimum. 2.13.1 Decision-aid Techniques and Models Several operations management books (Stevenson, 2007; Barnes, 2008; Greasley, 2009) have their sections on facility location selection techniques and some common influencing factors as reviewed in the previous section. Accordingly to works of Simchi-Levi, et al. (2003), Rushton, et al. (2006), and Bowersox and Closs (1996), there are three categories for tools used to support location analysis. The first type is the analytic techniques. The second type techniques are the mathematical optimisation techniques which can be subdivided into two types: the exact algorithms that find least-cost solution; and the heuristics algorithms that find good solution. And the third type of techniques is simulation models that provide a mechanism to evaluate specific design alternatives created by designer. The simulation models will not, however, be included in the discussion. Accordingly to Randhawa and West (1995), the facility location problem can be approached by considering the location search space as continuous or discrete. Continuous space allows facilities to be located anywhere in the two-dimensional space; it normally assumes that the transportation costs are proportional to some distance measure between the facilities. Though easy to solve, the continuous approach may yield impractical results. The discrete space approach limits the number of possible locations to a finite set of predetermined sites, and the transportation costs are not necessarily function of distances. Four common types of techniques found on these books namely: (1) the Centre of Gravity Method i.e. finding a location that minimises the distribution costs; (2) the Locational Cost-Volume analysis i.e. comparing the total costs between location alternatives by graph plotting; (3) the Factor Scoring i.e. finding the location alternative with highest composite score; and (4) the Transportation model i.e. a linear programming model that shows location alternative with the most optimal solution (the lowest costs). 2.13.2 The Centre of Gravity Method The Centre of Gravity Method (CoG) is a method for locating a distribution centre that minimises the distribution costs. The main assumption of this method is the distribution cost is a linear function of the distance and the quantity transported, and that the quantity transported is fixed for the duration of the journey (Stevenson, 2007 Greasley, 2009). The locations of destinations are presented on the map with coordinate X and Y in an accurate scale. The location of the distribution point should be located at the centre of gravity of the coordination calculated by these following equations: Where = Quantity to be transported to destination i = x coordination of destination i = y coordination of destination i = x coordinate of centre of gravity = y coordinate of centre of gravity This technique is commonly used to solve location problems at a macro level. The method is applied to solve location problems in many fields other than location of a distribution centre such as school, fire centres, community centres, and such, taking into consideration location of hospitals, population density, highways, airports, and businesses (Stevenson, 2007). Bender (1994) argues that the CoG approach had became obsolete because of the replacement of other computerised approach including linear programming. He also discusses the limitation of the approach which ignores all constraints, such as capacity, financial, operational, legal, and all cost other than transportation. It is also assume that all the transportation costs are directly proportional to distance, and independent of the direction of traffic. 2.13.3 Locational Cost-Volume Analysis This method is an economic comparison of location alternatives which involves determining the fixed and variable costs for each location alternative. The method indicates which location is suitable for a particular volume level by analysing the mix of fixed and variable costs. The fixed cost plus variable costs line is plotted for each location alternative on the graph and the location with the lowest total cost line at the expected volume level is chosen. A total revenue line can also be plotted on the same graph to compare which location alternative has the earliest breakeven point if the objective is to consider the quickest breakeven location (Stevenson, 2007). The equation for expressing the cost is: Where TC = Total distribution cost VC = Variable cost per unit X = Number of units produced FC = Fixed costs This type of economic analysis is very common tool to compare which options have the highest rate of return and is not only limited to location problems. However, Stevenson (2007) suggests that, in most situations, it is very important that other factors other than costs must also be considered. The Locational cost-volume analysis alone is not sufficient to make decision. 2.13.4 Factor Rating Method The Factor Scoring method is sometimes known as weighted scoring or point rating, which attempts to take a range of considerations into account when choosing a location. Then technique starts by indentifying the relevant factors, then assign a weight to each factor that indicate the importance compared with other factors, given that all the weight sum up to one. Scores then have to be given by decision makers to each factor for all location alternatives. The total weighted scores for each location alternative are then calculated by multiplying the factor weight by the score for each factor, and sum the results for each location alternative. The alternative with highest score is chosen unless it fails to meet the minimum threshold, if there is one (Stevenson, 2007). The drawback of this method is identifying and determining the appropriate factors and weighting for each factor. Factors like quality of living and labour attitude are intangible factors and hard to quantify. Greasley (2009) suggested an approach to compare the tangible and intangible factors by conducting an intangible factors only assessment by the method, and then determine if the difference between the intangible scores is worth the cost of the difference in tangible costs between the location alternatives. Data collection, statistical estimates, optimization and simulation models, and economic analysis are some of the methods used to assess quantitative attributes. Qualitative attributes represent subjective factors for which it is generally difficult to define a natural measurement scale. Descriptive classes or interval scales (for example, 0 to 10) can be established to enable a numerical value to be assigned to represent how a site scores with respect to a particular attribute (Randhawa West, 1995). Linear Programming and location problems Linear Programming is one of the most widely used strategic and tactical logistics planning tools. The transportation model helps decision maker to decide the facility location based on the transportation costs. The model is very useful as it can compare the resulting total costs for each location alternative. Other costs like production costs can also be included in the model by determining the cost on a per-unit basis for each location. There are three major pieces of information needed to use the model as following (Stevenson, 2007; Balakrishman, et al., 2007): a) list of origins and each ones supply quantity per period; b) list of the destinations and each ones demand per period; and c) the unit cost of transporting items from each origin to each destination. The method can be used to solve for optimal or near-optimal locations. Even though the optimisation models are designed to provide an optimal solution, they can be used to analyze a problem under different scenarios (differe nt combinations of constraints and cost parameters). The result would be a set of location alternatives that are the preferred choices under different operating conditions. Furthermore, examination of a solution will generally result in the identification of more than one specific site. Such sites may then be further analyzed and compared using a multi-criteria model (Randhawa West, 1995). There are many types of mathematical programming models and they can be classified accordingly a variety of conditions. Aikens (1985) classified distribution location models accordingly to: a) whether the underlying distribution network (arcs and/or modes) is capacitated or incapacitated; b) the number of warehouse echelons, or levels (zero, single, or multiple); c) the number of commodities (single or multiple); d) the underlying cost structure for arcs and/or nodes (linear or nonlinear); e) whether planning horizon is static or dynamic; f) the patterns of demand (e.g. deterministic or stochastic, influence of location, etc.); g) The ability to accommodate side constraints (e.g. single-sourcing, choice of only one from candidate subset, etc.). Aiken (1985) gives some examples of types of distribution location mathematical programming models: a) Simple incapacitated facility location model; b) Simple incapacitated multi-echelon facility location model; c) Multi-commodity incapacitated facility location model; d) Dynamic incapacitated facility location model; e) Capacitated facility location models; f) Generalised capacitated facility location model; g) Stochastic capacitated facility location model; and h) Multi-commodity capacitated single-echelon facility location model. Diabat, et al. (2009) also show that the techniques can be applied to solve location-inventory problems which finds the number of warehouses to establish , their locations, the customers that are assigned to each warehouse, and the size and time of orders for each warehouse so as to minimise the sum of inventory. Melo, et al. (2009) review many literatures related to facility location problem that show that linear prog