Monetarization of Environmental Assets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Monetarization of Environmental Assets - Essay Example While this approach was reasonable in the past, the industrial revolution and its associated effects such as increased rate of population growth started to cause a substantial degree of human impact on the environment. Over the past two centuries, it has become increasingly clear to most environmentalists that human impacts on the environment are irreversible and this might eventually limit the ability of humans to continue thriving on the planet (Khalil, 1999). Over a period spanning the last three decades, there has been a global concern over this problem and the search is currently underway for the establishment of strategies that will aid in the minimization of human impacts on the environment while at the same time improving the quality of life of the billions of people that are currently living in abject poverty across the globe.Cost-benefit analysis is generally a comparison of the various increases in human well-being (benefits) and the reductions that humanity experiences in social welfare (costs) as applied to a given policy or action.In this regard, for a given policy or project to be able to qualify as being viable as based on cost-benefit grounds, its total social benefits must be found to exceed its total social costs. Whereas cost-benefit analysis is usually conducted for the specific project, the scope of this analysis can easily be extended to wider limits such as the assessment of the policies that have been designed to aid in the combating of climate change (OECD, 2007).

Extended concert review example Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Extended concert review example - Essay Example The concert I attended was at the Colorado State University School of the Arts. The concert was held at the Griffin Concert Hall, University Center for the Arts on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011. There were a wide variety of performers featured. The ‘Invitation’ was performed by Dan Kramer on the alto saxophone, Kyle Stand on piano, and Devin Arter on trumpet. The ‘Blues in Hoss Flat’ was performed by Alex Buehler on trombone, Dan Kramer on alto saxophone, Kirk Bakalis on tenor saxophone, and Devin Arter on trumpet. ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ was performed by Kirk Bakalis on tenor saxophone. ‘Collectivate’ was performed by Calli Dodd on alto saxophone, Dan Yolles on guitar, Kaelin McDonald on trombone, Luke Rose on drums, and Evan Gohring on bass. ‘Rain Delay’ was performed by Conor Sims on tenor saxophone and Andrew Deem on trombone. There were a number of jazz styles performed in the concert. The first song played was ‘Invitation’. This is a song that was composed by Bronislaw Kaper and Paul Francis Webster and was first featured on Bill Evans’ ‘Intuition’ album. This song has been labeled post-bop as well as mainstream jazz. This song was highly enjoyable. In large part the improvisation was carried by the trumpet and fit seamlessly into the set. While much bop and experimental jazz can be trying on the listener, it’s clear that this is a much smoother variety of jazz. Even as it was originally written in the 70s the song has much in common with Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album in that it seamlessly melds smooth jazz melodies and rhythms with a multitude of instrumentation and movements. While the improvisation is an essential element it is not presented in a way that self-aggrandizes the player, but is instead placed into the song as a means of enhancing its tonal qualities. The song is generally upbeat and consistent in tone with a number of breakdowns that puncture the style, because concluding the work song. After ‘Invitation’ was completed there was a spoken introduction by the bandleader. The ensemble then launched into ‘Blues in Hoss Flat.’ This song was originally composed by Count Basie for his Chairman of the Board album and was later used by Jerry Lee Lewis. This song was perhaps more differentiated than the previous song and the improvisation more pronounced. In these regards, the song begins with a very noticeable and catchy melody that is cyclical throughout the song. This melody is punctured by down-turns in the track that open the way for improvisation from the trombone and alto saxophone players. While the previous track had seamlessly fit the improvisational elements into the melody, on this track they stand out more prominently. In terms of style the song exhibits a Big Band and swing style. The ne xt track performed at the concert was ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’. This song was originally composed by George and Irwin Gershwin. This song marks a strong shift in the concert. While the previous tracks had contained upbeat melodies, this track was decidedly somber and reflective. In terms of jazz style it clearly implemented mainstream jazz elements. There was minimal improvisation on this song, surely reflective of the origination of the song as emerging from a Broadway musical. In terms of sonic qualities the track is highly reliant on the tenor saxophone that plays a low key and somber melody. It is perhaps the most poignant part of the night as it perfectly balances the upbeat opening and the fantastic conclusion. ‘

What is price discrimination and its effect on economies

What is price discrimination and its effect on economies Introduction Price discrimination is the practice of one retailer, wholesaler or manufacturer charging different prices for the same items to different customers. This is a widespread practice that does not necessarily imply negative discrimination. In an economic term, price discrimination is the ratio of price to marginal cost that differs for similar products. The practice of price discrimination is not an isolated event. It occurs in many familiar situations but this practice is often highly controversial in terms of its impact on both consumers and rivals. Price discrimination is mainly for markets that are monopolistic or oligopolistic. In these kinds of markets the firm has to decrease price in order to sell more of the good because they are the only supplier. Because of this marginal revenue is derived from the demand but the profit maximization condition is still marginal cost equals marginal benefits but marginal benefits does not equal the demand curve. Role and Prevalence Whenever we travel, because we are interested in economics we are probably conscious that we are being charged a different price for our journey than some other persons travelling with us. A rail journey is cheaper in the middle of the day than it is in rush hour. However, even at the same time of day a range of prices is being charged. For example, some have rail cards entitling them to discounts; others do not. Children often travel at half price. It is cheaper for people who book in advance. If we travel by air the price of the ticket probably varies hugely between types of traveler. These variations occur not just for different airlines and different flight times but people travelling on the same aircraft have bought tickets for very different prices. Some will have paid no money at all if they have collected enough `air miles. These price differences are not confined to the transport industry. The rates charged at hotels vary between customers even for the same quality of room o n the same night. Doctors in the private sector charge different amounts to different patients for the treatment of the same condition Role and Prevalence Price discrimination is one of the basic concepts in microeconomics. Price discrimination plays a major role in the privacy which is much debated and one of the many privacy puzzles is that even though the public shows intense concerns about loss of privacy, they are not doing much to protect themselves. Privacy-protecting technologies have not fared well in the marketplace, and very minor rewards are enough to persuade people to sign up for grocery store loyalty programs. Another puzzle is that so many commercial organizations are actively working to erode privacy. Governments often decrease privacy in attempting to combat terrorism, or tax evasion, or to increase their political control. Criminals invade privacy to make money by using other peoples credit cards. Employers monitor their employees to increase productivity. And ordinary citizens, armed with an array of increasingly powerful and versatile tools, such as cameras in cell phones, are beginning to collect massive amounts o f information that, if combined and analyzed, could lead to dramatic decreases in privacy. However, most of the data collection efforts so far have come from private enterprises, and are the ones that attract most of the concern and publicity. These efforts are often extremely intrusive, and are extremely widespread. Moreover, they persist in spite of intense public opposition, even though there have not been too many commercially successful exploitations of the information that is gathered. Most of the privacy issues discussed above are related to price discrimination in one or other way. But it is not always true that price discrimination is bad for public even though the privacy is compromised. We are able to see best products and services for the price we pay today. It would not have been possible if the commercial organizations or the sellers have not continually researched to make their products and services to make it more customized to their customers by analyzing their behavior in different ways. Price discrimination plays very important role for both the survival of the commercial business and to the public to get the best out of the price they pay. Price Discrimination Does Not Explain  Everything Price discrimination by word meaning looks like it is like unfair pricing to customers. But when are discuss from the viewpoint of seller or the manufacturers it is totally different and sounds very reasonable. Stores must sell their goods at prices that cover the wholesale cost of the individual goods as well as the overhead costs of the store, like labor and the building lease. The amount of additional price that must be charged for each good to cover overhead costs is a function of the average turnover of the goods sold. The faster a store can sell its goods, the lower the average overhead costs of each good, and thus the less that must charge to cover the stores average total costs. If a store sells three times as much on Black Friday than they normally do, then the overhead costs are three times as small. Types of price discrimination First degree price discrimination First degree price discrimination is more theoretical as it requires the seller to have knowledge of absolute maximum price for the goods and services that the buyers are willing to pay. As the seller has the knowledge of maximum price that the buyers are willing, they are able to earn the maximum profit from the transaction. This assumes that the consumer passively reacts to the price set by the seller, and that the seller knows the demand curve of the customer. In practice however there is a bargaining situation, which is more complex: the customer may try to influence the price, such as by pretending to like the product less than he or she really does or by threatening not to buy it. Second degree price discrimination In second degree price discrimination price varies according to quantity sold. So when large number of quantity is sold then the unit price of the product is low and if less number of quantities is sold then unit price is higher for the same quality of the products and services. Second degree price discrimination is more practical in nature and is widely used in the general market, mostly in industrial sector. Buyers who are buying in bulk enjoy the discounts than the one who buys individual items. In reality, different pricing may apply to differences in product quality as well as quantity. For example, airlines often offer multiple classes of seats on flights, such as first class and economy class. This is a way to differentiate consumers based on preference, and therefore allows the airline to capture more consumers surplus. Third degree price discrimination In third degree price discrimination customers are segregated into different markets and charged different prices in each of them. Segmentation can be based on any characteristic such as age, geographic location, gender, income and many others according to the nature of the products and services. Necessary Conditions for Price Discrimination The firm must operate in imperfect competition; it must be a price maker with a downwardly sloping demand curve. For example, airlines routinely engage in price discrimination by charging high prices for customers with relatively inelastic demand such as business travelers and discount prices for tourist who have relatively elastic demand. The airlines enforce the scheme by making the tickets non-transferable thus preventing a tourist from buying a ticket at a discounted price and selling it to a business traveler. The firm must be able to separate markets and prevent resale. Example of stopping an adult using a child ticket. The firm must be able to prevent market seepage or consumer switching which is the process whereby consumers who have purchased a good or service at a lower price are able to re-sell it to those consumers who would have normally paid the expensive price. This can be done in a number of ways, and is probably easier to achieve with the provision of a unique service such as a haircut rather than with the exchange of tangible goods. Seepage might be prevented by selling a product to consumers at unique and different points in time for example with the use of time specific airline tickets that cannot be resold under any circumstances. Different consumer groups must have elasticity of demand. E.g. students with low income will be more price elastic. There must be a different price elasticity of demand from each group of consumers. The firm is then able to charge a higher price to the group with a more price inelastic demand and a relatively lower price to the group with a more elastic demand. By adopting such a strategy, the firm can increase its total revenue and profits (i.e. achieve a higher level of producer surplus). To profit maximize, the firm will seek to set marginal revenue = to marginal cost in each separate (segmented) market. Advantages and Disadvantages Advantages Firms will be able to increase revenue. This will enable some firms to stay in business who otherwise would have made a loss. For example price discrimination is important for train companies who offer different prices for peak and off peak. Geographic price discrimination is used when a firm wishes to sell a product at different prices in different member states. Typically, this requires some measures in order to prevent trade between the member states from eliminating the price differentials. By getting more money out of people who are willing and able to pay more than what would be the market equilibrium price you can provide your service to people who arent able to pay the market price. Increased revenues can be used for research and development which benefit consumers Some consumers will benefit from lower fares. E.G. old people benefit from lower train companies; old people are more likely to be poor. Disadvantages: Some consumers will end up paying higher prices. These higher prices are likely to be allocatively inefficient because P>MC. Businesses dont know what people are really willing and able to pay for your service so you might lose out on some money if you underestimate what someone is willing to pay or overestimate what someone is able to pay. Decline in consumer surplus. Those who pay higher prices may not be the poorest. E.g. adults could be unemployed, OAPs well off. There may be administration costs in separating the markets. Profits from price discrimination could be used to finance predatory pricing. Conclusion: Price discrimination is one of the major issues around the world and it will remain for coming years as well. The incentives towards price discrimination and the ability to price discriminate will be growing in the coming years as sellers will be increasingly tempted to engage in differential pricing. Internet have played a crucial role in helping general public to get best out of the price discrimination due to information of products and services easily available in the Web and ease of buying from any supplier. Therefore the stress is likely to be on different ways to hide price discrimination. Sellers are always tracking every moment of their customers to best fit their needs or to attract them to their products in the form of loyalty card, security camera, coupons, store credit card and many other forms of incentives. However, privacy concerns have always hit back to the sellers as it is very important topic going on in this Information Technology world. Since intimate knowledge of consumer preferences and willingness to pay will be of advantage in creating customized packages for the targeted group of people, and will often provide crucial competitive advantage to sellers governments are likely to play an increasing role in pricing. Governments and others non-profit organizations are also likely to continue playing an important role, in order to protect the welfare of the general public without hurting the businesses. We as a general public should also be self conscious about the price discrimination and should accept if reasonable or look for best option if available and protect our privacy to the extent which is within our control. Role and Prevalence http://www.dtc.umn.edu/~odlyzko/doc/privacy.economics.pdf http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3889/is_200210/ai_n9137062/ Forms of price discrimination http://else.econ.ucl.ac.uk/papers/uploaded/222.pdf Price Discrimination Does Not Explain  Everything http://modeledbehavior.com/2009/11/24/price-discrimination-does-not-explain-everything/ Different Types of Price Discrimination http://www.economicshelp.org/microessays/pd/price-discrimination.html NecessaryConditions for Price Discrimination http://www.economicshelp.org/microessays/pd/price-discrimination.html Advantages and Disadvantages http://www.economicshelp.org/microessays/pd/price-discrimination.html http://www.kkv.se/upload/filer/trycksaker/rapporter/proscons/rap_pros_and_cons_pricediscrimination.pdf

Essay example --

Modern Slavery I. Introduction A. How would you feel like living in a world where all your freedom is taken away? B. In history class, we learned that approximately 150 years ago Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves, but we forget that modern forma of slavery still exist in our world today. C. At this moment, there are 27 million slaves in the world suffering from modern forms of servitude. D. First, I will explain this thesis statement in more detail, then I’ll describe how this changed the world and what government are doing to combat this international crisis. E. Now, let me start by giving some background information on modern slavery. II. Human trafficking is the modern form of slavery that occurs in many countries throughout the world affecting men, women, and children. A. Two basic forms of human trafficking are labor trafficking and sex trafficking. 1. Labor Trafficking: Using force, fraud or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, obtain or employ a person for labor or services in involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery. Victims can be found in domestic situations as nannies or maids, sweatshop factories, janitorial jobs, construction sites, farm work, restaurants, and panhandling. (Williams, 2013) 2. Sex Trafficking: Involving commercial acts induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person performing the act is under age 18. Victims can be found working in massage parlors, on the streets, in brothels, strip clubs, and escort services. (Williams, 2013) B. Slavery exist in nearly every country, whether the countries are origin countries, transit countries, or destination countries and effects all men, women, and children. 1. Human trafficking is widespread – data taken from th... ...Council, China's Cabinet The mechanism will be conducive to curbing the rise of human trafficking cases and ensuring that victims of trafficking are rehabilitated and relocated in a timely manner, the plan noted. C. As you can see the United States, as well as many other countries, have made efforts to crack down on trafficking, educate vulnerable people, and rehabilitate the victims of these horrific crimes. V. Conclusion A. Modern slavery affects men, women, and children in every country throughout the world through one way or another, but finally government agencies or organizations are taking action to put an end to this international crisis. B. There are 27 million human beings that are bound to servitude through out the world today. C. The next time you enjoy sipping on you morning coffee, take a moment to think about the slave who made it all possible.

Seoul Urbanization

The population of the metropolis increases because people from rural areas and overseas migrate to the urban areas in large numbers, averaging 7. 6 per cent per year (United Nations Population Division, 2001). Increasing of population in many big cities may causes serious problems even in advanced countries. Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, which more than 11 millions of population, has grown rapidly into a metropolis since the end of Korean War (Kim, 2005). Over population in Seoul creates many problems such as traffic congestion and lack of housing.This essay will discuss about two issues caused by increasing number of population in the city. The first is traffic congestion in Seoul and policies to decline this problem and the second is lack of housing and solution by the government. Traffic congestion is one of the most serious problems in Seoul because of a large number of vehicles in the city (Asianinfo. org, 2000). The increasing number of population in an urban area pro duces a plentiful number of passenger cars on the road. Approximately amount of cars is 2. 8 million (Mok, 2007).In Seoul, the statistic shows that one out of three citizens has a car (Zhang, 2010). This situation brings a big pressure to the traffic in the city. The congestion issue causes a distress of travel to metropolitans. Due to this serious problem, the Seoul metropolitan government has created the key measures to solve the traffic congestion. The first measure is to reform the metropolitan transportation system. There are many kinds of transportation in Seoul such as bus, subway and taxi. Under the revolution and reform of transport system, the government has developed bus services according to route demands.In addition, the extension of subways and establishment of exclusive median bus lane make easier and cheaper for passengers to transfer between buses and subways (Jin, 2005). The other measures are policies and encouraging drivers to reduce traffic volume. For example, the government’s measure which encouraging drivers to avoid using of private vehicles for one day of the five-day working week and Seoul Car Free Day campaign which the parking lots of public organization are compulsory closed and drive people to use public transport (Mok, 2007).The government is also searching for a new measure to address the issue of traffic congestion and benefit the megacity’s residents (Cohen, 2009). Apart from traffic congestion, lack of housing is also an important issue caused by population growth in Seoul. Since the end of the Korean War, the nation has focused on increasing only the output within industry (Seoulsouthkorea. jimdo. com, n. d. ) This is the reason for encouraging many people to move into urban centers. A lack of housing for the majority of the new residents has been resulted by rapid urbanization.This is one product of rapid urban development. The influx of population increases need for housing infrastructure. For example, durin g the last few years there have been approximately twice as many households as houses. Those who can find no houses must become squatters and construct shanties and this cause emergence of slum areas in Seoul. The government has an urban development activity with the purpose to clear and relocate squatters from parks and green zones to the outskirts of the city.The measure of Seoul’s government is to allocate houses for the residents which named as Citizen Apartment Building Program (Lee, 2000). Under this program, the government constructs low-rise apartment buildings for squatters and low-income groups. The apartments are intended to be cheap to build and buy. In addition, the government produces low-interest loans that make buyers purchase more easily. In conclusion, urbanization in Seoul began at the end of war. With a rapid growth of the city, Seoul is one of the largest cities in the world with a large amount of population.It can be seen from above examples that increas ing number of population in Seoul causes serious problems such as traffic congestion and lack of housing. However, the government has attempted to address the problems with logical plans and policies.

Forensic People Essay

Computer forensics is the need of carrying out computer related investigations to find legal evidence to related crimes. In order to carry out these investigations, forensics experts use computer forensics tool kits that help them in their investigations. There are a number of forensics tool kits used in different forensic activities such as: Password recovery tool kit (PRTK) This is a tool used to recover lost passwords. It is used to recover passwords of commonly used applications such as Microsoft Office, Lotus 1-2-3 in Windows NT. The file whose password is lost is dragged and dropped onto the open window of the program and Password recovery tool kit recovers its password (Forensic People, 2009). The Password Recovery Toolkit enables the proper management of passwords; it has the capability of analyzing several files at one time and recovering all types of passwords regardless of length and character type. It is also multilingual in nature for it can also recover passwords set in different languages. It is also able to recover password from many applications close to 80. It is also secure as it requires a personal security code to be able to use it. After analyzing files and the recovery of their passwords it gives an optional report file. This tool is provided by access data which is a forensics expert company and it provides a variety of forensic tools (Forensic People, 2009). Source: Smart Doctor (www. recoverlostpassword. com) Metaviewer Metaviewer is a Forensic tool that is developed by pinpoint labs. It is used by forensic examiners to retrieve the metadata for specific files. Pinpoint Metaviewer enables the user to extract files system metadata that are contained in Microsoft Office Files. The information which is retrieved can be pasted into any application. It is used to retrieve OLE metadata for specific files by forensic experts (Pinpoint labs, 2009). Source: Pinpointlabs. com Web historian It is used to give a history of all the activities a person has been carrying out online. It can give a history of the activity on common web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox, internet explorer, Netscape and opera. The tool has the capability of recording the paths for Internet activity files for each web browser Cliff’s (Jones & Belani, 2005). The tool also has the ability to reproduce the recovered data into HTML and Delimited Text File formats. The information normally gives the history of sites visited, activities on those sites and login time and also information got. This helps investigators to carry out investigations and get the suspicious activities of people online. This tool is available as a freeware tool and it’s provided by Red Cliff’s (Jones & Belani, 2005). Source: http://www. securityfocus. com/incidents/images/webfor4. jpg Wireless-Detective – Wireless Sniffer and Interception Tool Wireless-Detective is used by investigators for WLAN Lawful Interception. It is a Tool manufactured by Decision Group and assists in sniffing the WLAN so as to carryout investigation on wireless LAN Networks. Wireless-Detective is used to decode WLAN Internet traffic and reconstruct it in real time. Any online activity that is dependent on internet traffic can be sniffed and accessed. The tool captures the traffic and reconstructs all information in a list according to category and content format. It is able to search details and analysis can also be made on the captures traffic to determine evidence and also crack crimes online. This makes the Wireless LAN Detective the most preferred forensics tool for investigators because of its one stop ability to carry out investigations (Decision Group, 2010). X-way forensics. X-way forensic is a resourceful forensic tool that serves various needs of forensics investigators. It has diverse functionalities that support the collection of digital evidence and investigative process (X-ways Software Technology, 2010). This forensics tool offers a functionality of individual case management, the automatic generation of reports from activities and it is capable of recovering data using various techniques. It has time saving capabilities and is not vulnerable to data hiding techniques such as host protected areas (X-ways Software Technology, 2010). The X-ways forensics tool is supplied by X-ways software technology AG. Conclusion Computer forensics tools are very useful in helping forensic experts in retrieving evidence that is important for law makers to prosecute against crimes. It is a fast growing field that is very dynamic as it faces many cyber crime challenges. Thus it is very important for the computer and internet users to be aware of the risks they are facing and how to avoid them. References Decision Group, (2010), Wireless-Detective – Wireless Sniffer and Interception Tool. Retrieved From http://www. edecision4u. com/network_forensics_news. html Forensic People, (2009), Your One stop for Forensic Solutions, Decryption tools. Retrieved From http://www. forensicpeople. com/products. asp? tProductGroupId=1&tProductId=3 Jones, K. J. & Belani, R. (2005), Web Browser Forensics, Part 1 Retrieved From http://www. symantec. com/connect/articles/web-browser-forensics-part-1 Pinpoint labs, (2009), Free Software Utilities. Retrieved From http://www. pinpointlabs. com/new/utilities. html X-ways Software Technology, (2010), X-ways Forensics Integrated Computer Forensics Software. Retrieved From http://www. x-ways. net/forensics/

The Clouds essays

The Clouds essays They fear and see philosophy as a threat that will shake their sense of spiritual security or fissure their soda-cracker-like faith which is seemingly solid, but just a touch of philosophys sturdy hand crumbles this faith before their very eyes. (Velasco, 54) This line struck me when I was reading the articles because it is true especially in my life. Ever since I was young I always believed that I had strong faith in my religion, which is Roman Catholic. First of all, I considered God as a part of my life. I hardly missed masses during Sundays. I make sure that I pray when I wake up, before and after eating and even before sleeping. Another reason is because he became like a friend to me whom I can run to through all my trials and triumphs. Whenever I prayed to God, he would grant my hopes and wishes. Whenever I felt down, I would feel his presence helping me to recover. I remember an instance which made my faith even stronger. When I was a senior in high school, I really wanted to study in DLSU because I saw how my sister acquired great knowledge in this institution, which she is currently using in her job. And when I found out that I did not pass here, I prayed hard and went to mass almost everyday so that God would see how eager I was in studying in DLSU. After a few months, I found out that I was reconsidered and I considere d it as one of Gods works, which made my faith even stronger. Even when I have reached my goals, I would thank him for always guiding and supporting me through it all because I know he had a hand on that certain achievement. In short, God was part of my daily routine. Before entering college, I was warned by a lot of people that college is a time when one questions and at the same time loses ones religion. It was not a problem for me then because I never questioned my faith or even doubt Gods existence. However, after being exposed to the six points of view I see thing...