Permaculture Design Course Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Permaculture Design Course - Essay Example The location is in a dense urban environment with significant traffic and air pollution. There is little greenery in the area, a few trees on the sidewalk and street areas or found around the parking lots and yards in the area behind the buildings. The rooftop area of the house is flat, cement, and currently unused. This proposal advocates for the creation of a sprout production facility, wheat grass juice production center, manna bakery, and garden of salad greens, medicinal herbs, vegetables, and other biodiversity related or endangered species plants in the rooftop terrace area as an example of Permaculture transformation of the urban environment. This project includes a production facility that is generally considered as supplying the food or a portion of the food for the members of the household who live in it or in this instance as a supplement for fresh salad greens, sprouts, herbs, vegetables, bread, and juices. It is possible for this facility to also be constructed inexpens ively, from recycled or salvaged materials and to include a greenhouse facility on a portion of the rooftop area. The greenhouse will contain three tables that are dedicated to the production of sprouts – alfalfa seed, radish seed, garbanzo bean, and broad bean primarily. These sprouts will be grown in cyclical progressions so that a supply is ready each day for household consumption, or a seven day cycle. In association with the salad sprout production there will also be the production of sprouted wheat for â€Å"manna† bread, wheatgrass juice, and rejuvelac production. Sprouted wheat requires pure water, and this must be changed every day on the wheat berries. Similarly the salad sprouts should be grown with pure water which is changed every day. The greenhouse facilities should keep these facilities relatively protected from air pollution that is dust, particle, or ash. However, the greenhouse takes up only around 33% of the rooftop. The other part of the terrace will be used to set up a salad greens, medicinal herb, and vegetable garden that is created by filling barrels, buc kets, and clay pots with earth for planting. These barrels should be wood and organic if possible, and clay pots should be used in both for wheat berry sprouting and for containing the earth in which the vegetables are grown. This method of compact community farming was developed in Essene communities over 2000 years ago in desert type of conditions, but allowed for concentrated agricultural production co-mingled with residence. The barrels can be preferably of wood and the type that is used for wine. The earth can be transported in to the facility from a rural location using one or two pick-up trips only. The earth can be shoveled into nylon grain sacks that are easily available for carrying up the stairs to the roof area. The larger barrels can be used for mixed plantings, such as tomatoes in associations with greens or corn and beans. The smaller clay pots can be used for lettuces, basil, salad greens, and medicinal herbs and the lettuces can also be planted in cycles to be ready on a regular basis for daily harvesting and use in the house. By growing these fresh vegetables, sprouts, wheat grass juice, and manna bread, the household implements permaculture ideas into the urban environment in a manner that is at once self-sufficient, environmentally improving, and transformative to the community and individuals who participate in it. The health effects of the fresh vegetable, sprouts, and sprouted bread diet can also be considered beneficial, though the plants should be misted as well as watered on a regular basis

Business Law and Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Business Law and Ethics - Essay Example Secondly, the Parol Evidence Rule states that the final contract, and the provisions within it, makes all the previous negotiations concerning the matter null and void. The final contract is considered the final piece of agreement, and is deemed to contain all the information that is necessary for the deal to take place effectively. Moreover, the Parol Evidence Rule not only includes previous oral negotiations and agreements, but also those, which were put in writing. Therefore, when the final contract is signed, previous agreements are nullified because it is considered to supersede all of them. If the furniture was not included in the final contract, then the company, which is selling the warehouse, does not have to hand over the furniture, unless it chooses to do so as a gesture of goodwill. When one considers the second scenario, it can be said that, despite the fact that the furniture is in the agreement, the provision for their transfer cannot be enforced because there is no agreement concerning the price of the mentioned furniture. This situation is brought about because the terms of the agreement concerning the furniture in the contract, are vague and were not conclusively considered. In order to enforce such an agreement, its provisions have to be reasonably certain concerning the issues that are within it. The rationale for this is to ensure that the provisions are put into effect with little or no disagreements concerning with the terms of transfer. In this case, the provisions of the agreement do not state the price of the furniture, although the transfer of such furniture is mentioned. This agreement can be interpreted as one that is undeveloped and as such, its character can be considered promissory (Salbu 209). This means that the agreement was not supposed to be implemented immediately and that it is in fact, supposed to be implemented at a future date after further negotiations, concerning the matter,

Are there any Medicaid policies towards illegal and legal immigrants Essay

Are there any Medicaid policies towards illegal and legal immigrants - Essay Example borders to work and to receive publicly-funded services, often with the aid of fraudulent documents. Such entry is a misdemeanor and, if repeated, becomes punishable as a felony. Over eight million illegal immigrants live in the United States -- some estimate even more.† (American Patrol, 21 September 2008.) Research has found that ill legal immigration affects the citizens of that particular country, especially the poor people and the legal immigrants. It is also found that the taxes paid by these illegal immigrants are far less than the services received by them. Countries like United States of America are trying their level best to counter this by increased border patrol but this is not only reason for illegal immigration, most of the cases occur because of people who overstay even after their visa is expired. United States of America provides Medicaid facilities to the legal and illegal immigrants but this results in a very big loss for the economy of the country because the people take undue advantage of the same by overstaying in the hospitals even after recovery. The Medicaid policies depend on state to state but there are some states in America which provide the young children and elders requiring medical attention with great facilities like free drugs, free nursing and proper m edical attention. Off late the federal law has brought in many restrictions to keep a check on the illegal immigrants, this also ensures a strict check on the money spent on the public welfare. Some of the services provided by Medicaid to the people are Vaccine for the children, rural health care services, transportation services and these are just a handful of many services provided by the Medicaid in America. The funding of these services provided by the states comes from a partnership between the federal and the state government and this was established in the year 1965, this comes under the social security act. â€Å"States with lower per capita

Personal Dietary Analysis Two Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Personal Dietary Analysis Two - Essay Example I was always either within the limits or under the target limit. However, I somehow overshot the daily limits pertaining to the total calories, saturated fat, and cholesterol intake. I believe that was an accidental occurrence as I would never willingly go over my target limitations per day. The target daily limit for cholesterol was set at 300 mg and I overshot it at 426 mg. I also went over the saturated fat limit of 10 percent. I clocked in at a maximum of 12 percent instead. The AMDR for carbohydrates is actually 130 g and I consumed 322 g while the percentage of carbohydrate calories clocked in at 45-65 % with me consuming 49 percent of calories. I actually feel good about these results because I was able to prove that my metabolism actually burns the carbohydrates that I consume in a day. I felt very happy and satisfied knowing that I can easily lose weight if I want to because my metabolism is working just fine. The target grain consumption for my daily time period was 7 ounces. Since I averaged 10 ounces per meal, I was over the target by 3 percent for that particular time frame. While the vegetable consumption was targeted at 3 cups and I consumed 2 1/4 cups which was within the acceptable limits of my 2200 Calorie allowance. MY maximum daily fruit allowance was supposed to be only 2 cups but I often overshot and ended up eating about 2 1/2 cups of fruit instead. That was not a problem at all since fruits are very healthy for the body and actually help in the digestion of my food and increase in my metabolism. The suggested daily fiber intake for me was set at 26 g but I only managed to consume 23 g which was just alright for my target group. I am actually quite pleased with myself as I was able to get that close to the target daily intake considering that I was constantly watching my food intake. I believe that was a job well done on my part because I was able to consume the right amount of fiber in a day

Cash Flows Essay Example for Free

Cash Flows Essay â€Å"The statement of cash flows reports the cash receipts, cash payments, and net change in cash resulting from operating, investing, and financing activities during a period† (Weygandt, Kimmel, Kieso, 2010, p. 614). Companies are required to prepare a statement of cash flow because it contains important information about the company that deems useful for external sources, such as investors, to make educated decisions about a company. The information contained in the cash flow, such as the company’s ability to generate cash and meet obligations, assists creditors and investors to determine the adequate decision regarding extending credit or investing. The statement of cash flows is divided into three sections: Operating activities, investing activities, and financing activities (Weygandt, et al, 2010). Each of these sections have reflect their own characteristics of transactions and other events. First, operating activities include transactions that create revenues and expenses; these are included in the determination of net income (Weygandt, et al, 2010). Second, investing activities has two purposes: includes the acquisition and disposing of investments and property, plant, and equipment, and lending money and collecting the loans (Weygandt, et al, 2010). Third, financing activities include two purposes: obtaining cash from issuing debt and repaying the amounts borrowed, and obtaining cash from stockholders, repurchasing shares, and paying dividends (Weygandt, et al, 2010, p. 615). Operating activities, which include income statement items are: Cash inflows – from sale of goods and services, and from interest received from dividends received; Cash outflows – to suppliers for inventory, employees for services, and others for expenses (Weygandt, Kimmel, Kieso, 2010, p. 616). Investing activities – investments and long-term assets: Cash inflows – from sale of property, plant, and equipment, and collections on loans to other entities; Cash outflows – to purchase property, plant, and equipment, purchase investments in debt, and making loans to other entities (Weygandt,  Kimmel, Kieso, 2010, p. 616). Financing activities involves long-term liabilities and stockholders’ equity: Cash inflows – from sale of common stock, and from issuance of long-term debt; Cash outflows – to stockholders as dividends, and to redeem long-term debt or reacquire capital stock (Weygandt, Kimmel, Kieso, 2010, p. 616). References Weygandt, J. J., Kimmel, P. D., Kieso, D. E. (2010). Financial accounting (7th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database.

The Indian real estate sector

The Indian real estate sector The Indian real estate sector plays a significant role in the countrys economy. The real estate sector is second only to agriculture in terms of employment generation and contributes heavily towards the gross domestic product (GDP). Almost 5 per cent of the countrys GDP is contributed to by the housing sector. In the next five years, this contribution to the GDP is expected to rise to 6 per cent. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, faster economic growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) could result in the property markets of those nations recovering at a faster rate than the UK and US real estate markets. It has also been suggested that Indias property sector could begin to improve from late 2009 and may attract up to US$ 12.11 billion in real estate investment over a five-year period. Almost 80 per cent of real estate developed in India is residential space. According to the Tenth Five Year Plan, there is a shortage of 22.4 million dwelling units. Thus, over the next 10 to 15 years, 80 to 90 million housing dwelling units will have to be constructed with a majority of them catering to middle- and lower-income groups. It is for this reason that residential properties in India, particularly in Mumbai and Delhi, are viewed as very good investments as per a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Urban Land Institute, a global non-profit education and research institute. In the 2009-10 budget, developers of affordable housing projects (units of 1,000-1,500 sq ft) have been granted a tax holiday on profits from projects initiated in the financial year 2007-08. Such projects would have to be completed before March 1, 2012. At the same time, the finance minister allocated US$ 207 million to grant a 1 per cent interest subsidy on home loans up to US$ 20,691, provided the cost of the home is not more than US$ 41,382. This subsidy is expected to give a further boost to the housing sector. An apartment is a self-contained residential unit or section that occupies a part of a building. It can be either owned or rented. Some apartment-dwellers own their apartments as cooperatives, in which the dwellers or residents own shares of a corporation that owns the building or development. In condominiums, residents own their apartments and share ownership of the public spaces. Living in apartments is gaining popularity in India. The Sahara Group has already decided to build 217 townships across India. Their allure lies in the convenience that they offer in terms of safety and security and maintenance of utilities like electricity and water. A central maintenance system obviates the need for hiring outside help for minor problems like leaking taps or electric short circuits. Stand-alone homes also require incurring additional costs like buying/leasing land, licensing, duties, etc. Apartments enable maximization of space utilization and reduce demand on public resources. People are also able to avail of additional amenities like gymnasiums, swimming pools, etc. at affordable prices. There is a gap in the literature, however, with regard to the value drivers that dictate purchase decisions of residential property in the country. Similar studies exist for other countries but were found wanting in the Indian context, especially when it comes to apartments. Through this paper, we aim to do the very same, i.e. establish which factors dictate purchase decision and to what extent. We will also correlate these preferences with the demographic profiles and characteristics of our respondents and hence arrive at a greater and much deeper understanding of these issues. We see immense utility for our paper, especially for builders and property dealers who can use our findings in structuring their own business activities. RESEARCH BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS: Even though consumer behaviour is generally assumed to be an important part of real estate valuation, buyer preferences are generally not considered during the valuation process. It is basically reduced to the confirmation of a bid price which may or may not be met by the buyer. Efforts are being made to address this fault and many papers have been written on the analysis of motivations of residential property purchasers, attempting to explain them using models such as bounded rationality and hedonic pricing. Hedonic Pricing, or Hedonic Demand Theory as it is also known, decomposes the item of interest into constituents and evaluates the importance of each of them and their contribution to the overall valuation. These factors can be both internal characteristics of the good or service and external factors. In the case of real estate valuation, internal characteristics include layout, structure, etc of the property while status of neighbourhood, proximity to schools, etc are the exter nal factors. Factor Analysis enables us to do just that. It is a statistical method that reduces the number of variables by grouping two or more of them into unknown or hidden variables known as factors. Further analysis is then conducted by looking at the variation among these factors and evaluating their relative performance. These factors are taken to be linear combinations of the original variables plus error terms (Richard L. Gorsuch, 1983). Factor analysis seeks to do precisely what humans have been engaged in doing throughout history that is to make order of the apparent chaos of the environment (Child, 1990). It has great use in evaluating consumer behaviour. Charles Spearman is credited with its invention. He used it in the formulation of the g Theory as part of his research on human intelligence (Williams, Zimmerman, Zumbo Ross, 2003). Over the years it has found uses in fields as diverse as psychometrics, marketing, physical sciences and economics. It can be used to segment consumers on the basis of what benefits they want from the product/service (Minhas Jacobs, 1996). It has evolved as a technique over the years, with many researchers working on fine-tuning and improving the analytical process. Bai Ng (2002) developed an econometric theory for factor models of large dimensions. It focused on the determination of the number of factors that should be included in the model. The basic premise of the authors was t hat a large number of variables can be modeled by a small number of reference variables. Marketing strategies based on customer preferences and behaviour often make use of this technique during the market research phase (Ali, Kapoor Moorthy, 2010)[14] and while devising and changing the marketing mix (Ivy, 2008). Factor Analysis has also been used in ground water management to relate the spatial distribution of different chemical parameters to various sources (Love, Hallbauer, Amos Hranova, 2004). The facility of segmentation that factor analysis offers has been extended to the real estate sector and all studies thereof. Regression analyses are subject to aggregation biases and segmented market models yield better results. This segmentation is done using factor analysis Watkins, 1999). Property researchers have also dedicated a lot of attention to researching the preferences of property buyers and identifying the drivers of property value. A study in Melbourne, Australia (Reid Mills, 2004) analyzed the purchase decisions of first time buyers and tried to determine the most influential attributes that affect the purchase decision using factor analysis. The research findings of the paper indicated that financial issues accounted for approximately 30 percent of the variance in the decision of first time owners to buy housing. This related to timing, the choice of housing, and the decision to buy new housing. Apart from that the choice of housing is dependant on Site Specific fac tors (Location) and the decision to buy new housing is dependent on Lifecycle factors, such as family formation, marital status or the size of the existing house. Another study determined that brand, beauty and utility play a defining role in property value (Roulac, 2007). The findings of the paper explain why certain properties command premium prices, relative to other properties. It came to the conclusion that for value determination of high priced properties the overall perception of the brand is the most important factor followed by utility and beauty. Brand names are also very important especially in metropolitan markets as they add to the appeal, distinctiveness of the property. Another way to attract buyers attention is through the mix of neighborhood amenities offered (Benefield, 2009). Neighborhood amenities like tennis courts, clubhouses, golf courses, swimming pool, play park and boating facilities significantly impact property values. Hedonic pricing models in which buye rs are assumed to evaluate property specifics and location attributes separately when they purchase a home have also been used to study housing markets like that of Shenzhen, China (Xu, 2008). The findings suggest that the marginal prices of key housing attributes are not constant. Instead, they vary with the household profile and location. Cluster analysis involves the grouping of similar objects into distinct, mutually exclusive subsets known as clusters. The objective is to group either the data units or the variables into clusters such that the elements within a cluster have a high degree of natural association among themselves while the clusters remain relatively distinct from one another. Mulvey and Crowder (1979)[22] presented and tested an effective optimization algorithm for clustering homogenous data. Punj and Stewart (1983)[23] reviewed the applications of cluster analysis to marketing problems. They presented alternative methods of cluster analysis to evaluate their performance characteristics. They also discussed the issues and problems related to use and validation of cluster analysis methods. The application of cluster analysis in strategic management research was studied by Ketchen and Shook (1996). Their paper chronicles the application of cluster analysis in strategic management research. They analyzed 45 published strategy studies and offered suggestions for improving the application of cluster analysis in future inquiries. They believed that cluster analysis is a useful tool but the technique must be applied prudently in order to ensure the validity of the insights it provides. Since Marketing researchers were introduced to discriminant analysis half a century ago, it has become a widely used analytical tool since they are frequently concerned with the nature and strength of the relationship between group memberships. It is especially useful in profiling characteristics of groups that are the most dominant in terms of discrimination. Morrison (1969) explained how discriminant analysis should be conducted using canned applications and how the effect of independent variables should be determined. However, care must be taken when applying discriminant analysis. The potential for bias in discriminant analysis has long been realized in marketing literature. Frank, Massy and Morrison (1965) showed that sample estimates of predictive power in n-way discriminant analysis are likely to be subject to an upward bias. This bias happens because the discriminant analysis technique tends to fit the sample data in ways that are systematically better than would be expected by chance. Crask and Perreault (1977) looked at the validation problems in small-sample discriminant analysis. http://www.ibef.org/artdispview.aspx?in=60art_id=25260cat_id=381page=1. http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiveyr/welcome.html. http://www.pwc.com/en_US/us/asset-management/real-estate/assets/emergingtrend s2009.pdf. http://indiabudget.nic.in/ub2009-10(I)/ubmain.htm. http://www.sahara.in/press03.html. Australia Richard Reed and Anthony Mills, Identifying the drivers behind housing preferences of first-time owners, February 2004, Journal of Property Management, Vol 25 Issue 3 , Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. China Ting Xu, Heterogeneity in housing attribute prices: A study of the interaction behaviour between property specifics, location coordinates and buyers characteristics, International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, 2008, Vol 1, Issue 2, Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Consumer behaviour in the valuation of residential property: A comparative study in the UK, Ireland and Australia, Jacqui Daly, Stuart Gronow, Dave Jenkins and Frances Plimmer, Journal of Property Management, 2003, Volume 21 Issue 5, Page 295 314. A Bounded Rationality framework for property investment behaviour, Anne de Bruin and Susan Flint-Hartle, Massey University, New Zealand. An application of the hedonic price model with uncertain attribute The case of the Peoples Republic of China, Zan Yang, Journal of Property Management, 2001, Volume 19 Issue 1, Page 50 63. Factor Analysis, Richard L. Gorsuch, 1983, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Charles Spearman: British Behavioral Scientist, Williams, R. H., Zimmerman, D. W., Zumbo, B. D. Ross, D. (2003), Human Nature Review. 3: 114-118. Benefit segmentation by factor analysis: an improved method of targeting customers for financial services, Raj Singh Minhas and Everett M. Jacobs, International Journal of Bank Marketing, 1996, Volume 14 Issue 3, Pages 3-13. Buying behaviour of consumers for food products in an emerging economy, Jabir Ali, Sanjeev Kapoor and Janakiraman Moorthy, British Food Journal, 2010, Volume 112 Issue 2, Page 109 124. A new higher education marketing mix: the 7Ps for MBA marketing, Jonathan Ivy, International Journal of Educational Management, 2008, Volume 22Issue 4, Pages 288 299. Love, D., Hallbauer, D.K., Amos, A. and Hranova, R.K. 2004. Factor analysis as a tool in groundwater quality management: two southern African case studies. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 29, 1135-1143. Property valuation and the structure of urban housing markets, Craig Watkins, Journal of Property Investment Finance, 1999, Volume 17 Issue 2, Page 157 175. Identifying the drivers behind housing preferences of first-time owners, Richard Reed and Anthony Mills, February 2004, Journal of Property Management, Vol 25 Issue 3. Brand+Beauty+Utility=Property Value, Stephen E. Roulac, Journal of Property Management, Vol 5 Issue 5, Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Justin D. Benefield, Neighborhood amenity packages, property price, and marketing time, 2009, Journal of Property Management, Vol 27, Issue 5, Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Ting Xu, Heterogeneity in housing attribute prices: A study of the interaction behaviour between property specifics, location coordinates and buyers characteristics, International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis, 2008, Vol 1, Issue 2, Emerald Group Publishing Limited. John M. Mulvey and Harlan P. Crowder, Cluster Analysis: An Application of Lagrangian Relaxation, 1979, Management Science, Vol. 25, No. 4, INFORMS. GirishPunj and David W. Stewart, Cluster Analysis in Marketing Research: Review and Suggestions for Application, 1983, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 20, No. 2, American Marketing Association.

G Washington Biography :: essays papers

G Washington Biography In 1752, his brother, Lawrence died and George received his father's estate in Mount Vernon. His brother's death also brought about a future for George Washington. George Washington also received the title of adjutant - his brother's previous rank. Major Washington's first assignment was when he volunteered to carry the governor's message to the French commander of immediate withdrawal. His ambition at this time was to secure royal preference for a commission in the regular British Army, and this expedition promised to bring him to the king's attention. Washington took with him a skillful and experienced frontiersman, Christopher Gist, together with an interpreter and four other men. Reaching the forks of the Ohio, he found that the French had withdrawn northward for the winter. After inconclusive negotiations with the Native Americans living there, who were members of the Iroquois Confederacy, he pressed on and finally delivered Dinwiddie's message to the French commander at Fort Le Boeuf, not far from Lake Erie. The answer was polite but firm: The French were there to stay. Returning, Washington reached Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, to deliver this word to the governor in mid-January 1754, having made a hard wilderness journey of more than 1600 km (1000 mi) in less than three months. With his report he submitted a map of his route and a strong recommendation that an English fort be erected at the forks of the Ohio as quickly as possible, before the French returned to that strategic position in the spring. With this premiere mission, George Washington was later promoted to Militia Commander and ultimately became a General in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. During battles in the Revolutionary War, he was highly unconventional. At times, he had to be reminded to stay in the back of the army or he would be shot. During one battle, he rode his horse up to the front line in order to encourage his troops to continue fighting. By doing this, one of the greatest minds of the world may have died. The war finally ceased in April 1782 and Washington returned to his home in Mount Vernon. With the war over, the United States (not quite a united United States yet) was still under the influence of The Articles of Confederation. Moreover, the colonies were so disunited, that many counties viewed thirteen different countries rather than one.