Erosion Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Erosion - Lab Report Example For instance, a young school aged boy did an experiment in his own backyard, right in the middle of the garden. He packed a mound of dirt, and his plan was to measure the affects of erosion over a twelve week period, caused by elements of the weather-the wind and the rain. When his experiment began, the mound of dirt was 42 inches wide and 19 and inches tall. The second week, the dirt mound had spread more than 2 inches outward and dropped approximately 3 inches. Each week, measurements were taken and the data was charted. Unfortunately, the experiment was never finished because it was wrecked (Riordin). Nevertheless, it showed how the elements of the weather can have a great affect on bare soiled mounds, such as the one that was constructed in the Riordin's garden. On a larger and more professional scale than that of a school boy, scientific researchers across the United States experimented with erosion. Their reason for doing so is because they wanted to understand how erosion affected different types of soil in an effort to improve agriculture. In this instance, they wanted to figure out how to best deal with the effects of erosion, while conserving water and soil at the same time. From this in depth experimentation, The Universal Soil Loss Equation was developed, which is considered by those in the field of agriculture to be one of the greatest developments in history, as it concerns the conservation of soil and water (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2009). Research began in central Utah in the year 1912 on land that was overgrazed and no longer fit for use at the time. A.W. Sampson and Associates were the ones who conducted experiments during this time and at this location. In 1917, field erosion plot research was conducted in Missouri by M. F. Miller and his other colleagues. In 1929, congress provided $160,000 of funding to erosion research, as a result of the severe drought that was faced, as well as the Dust Bowl storms that took place. As resource continued, the equation was perfected, and so were water and soil conservation methods. Today, software has been designed from this exact equation that is in use by the Department of Agriculture, as well as commercial farmers (U.S. department of Agriculture, 2009) Because we are working with stiff time constraints, we will not be able to conduct such long and drawn out experiments. We must experiment with erosion on a smaller time scale, and the experiment must take place in an environment that we can easily control. The experiment that is being conducted in this case will consist of three dirt mounds, ten inches high, that are built upon a tray lined with paper, all of them constructed differently. One dirt mound will consist of dirt that is packed together to form a sort-of mountain. The sides will be steep, and the top will be flat. The second mound will be constructed exactly the same; however, there will be a flat layer of pottery clay on top of the flat part of the mound. The third mound will be constructed in the same fashion as the other two, but this one will have grass seed planted on it. The seed will be planted on top, as well as on all sides. The dirt is to be a bit wet, but not too wet, so as to be able to properly form the mound s. All three of the mounds will be kept near a sunny window to simulate the environment of nature outdoors, as this type of environment is realistic, as it will enable the grass to grow and the artificial rain to dry up. Once all mounds are formed and the experiment

The Bretton Woods System Essay Example for Free

The Bretton Woods System Essay The Bretton Woods System (BWS) was implemented in 1946 under the Bretton Woods Agreement, each government obliged to maintain a fixed exchange rate for its currency vis-Ã  -vis the dollar or gold. As one ounce of gold was set equal to $35, fixing a currency’s gold price was equivalent to setting its exchange rate relative to the dollar. The fixed exchange rates were maintained by official intervention in the foreign exchange markets. This intervention was about purchases and sales of dollars by foreign central banks against their own currencies whenever the supply and demand conditions in the market deviate from the agreed on par values. Any dollars acquired by the monetary authorities in the process of an intervention could then be exchanged for gold at the U.S Treasury. In principle, the stability of exchange rates removed uncertainty from international trade and investment transactions. Normally, if a country followed its own policies leading to a higher inflation rate than its trading partners would experience a balance of payments deficit as its good became more expensive, which means its exports will decrease. A deficit has consequences, an increase in the supply of the deficit country’s currency on the foreign exchange markets. The excess supply would demoralize the exchange value of the currency of that country, forcing its authorities to intervene. The nation would be required to buy with its reserves the excess supply of its own currency, in order to reduce the domestic money supply. In addition, as the country’s reserves were depleted, the authorities would be forced to change economic policies to eliminate the source of deficit. The reduction in the money supply and the adoption of restrictive policies would reduce the country’s inflation. Basically, Bretton Woods was a fixed exchange rate system in name only. With 21 major industrial countries, only the U.S and Japan had no change in par value between 1946 and 1971. From the 21 countries, 12 devalued their currencies more than 30% against the dollar, four had revaluations, and four others were floating their currencies till the end of the system. On mid-1971, the president Richard Nixon was obliged to devalue the dollar to deal with America’s emerging trade deficit. The two reasons for the collapse of (BWS) are, inflation in U.S, they financed the escalating war in Vietnam, so they were printing money instead of raising taxes. Another reason is that West Germany, Japan, and Switzerland refused to accept the inflation because a new fixed exchange rate with the dollar will be imposed on them. Thus, the dollar depreciated sharply relative to the currencies of those three countries.

The Significance of the Host/Guest Relationship in The Odyssey Essay

The Odyssey is an epic poem attributed to the now-famous Greek poet, Homer, written approximately in the early sixth century B.C.E. The poem shares the tale of the wily adventuring solider, Odysseus', return from the Trojan war to his wife and home in Ithaca. The poem details his misadventures, the efforts of his son, Telemachus, to find him, and revenge on his wife's suitors. While many themes run through this poem, the most prevalent is that of hospitality. The Host-Guest relationship is significant in the Odyssey as it acts as one of the main thematic devices used by Homer and examples of good hospitality versus bad hospitality and their results serve as the main plot elements throughout the tale. The Host/Guest relationship, also known as the Guest-Friendship relationship was a complex relationship based on a series of ambiguous hospitality laws. "Guest-friend."..is the English rendition of the Greek xenos ...The same Greek word meant `stranger', `foreigner', and sometimes `host', a confusion symbolic of the ambivalence which characterized all dealings with the stranger in the archaic world." The system itself involved a few rituals. The host was not to ask the identity of the guest until after they have eaten, bathed, rested and/or received gifts of monetary value. The gifts varied depending on the seeming status of the guest. Lower class guests received only food, while higher classes received anything from jewels, to weapons to livestock. The Host/Guest relationship is one of the main virtues of the Homeric Greeks. It served as "the alternative to marriage in forging bonds between rulers; and there could have been no more dramatic test of its value in holding the network of relationships together than just such a cr... ... of either guest, nor host, the system of hospitality served as stability and protection in a time of suspicion and danger. Bibliography Beer, Josh, PhD. Lecture: Epic, Carleton University: Classics 2009, September 24th 2003. Beer, Josh, PhD. Lecture: The Odyssey, Carleton University: Classics 2009, October 29th 2003. Beer, Josh, PhD. Lecture: The Odyssey, Carleton University: Classics 2009, November 5th 2003. Finley, M. I. The World of Odysseus. Revised. Middlesex: Penguin Books Ltd., 1967. Homer. The Odyssey. Walter Shewring, translator. New York: Oxford University Press, 1980. Lang, Andrew. The World of Homer. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1910. Seymour, Thomas Day. Life in the Homeric Age. New York: Biblo and Tannen, 1963. Stagakis, George. Studies in the Homeric Society Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH., 1975.

Pakistan-Vietnam Comparison Essay

Introduction Vietnam and Pakistan are two different nations displaying a broad spectrum of cultural values that these nations observe in their politics, economics, social and environmental domains. My study gave me an opportunity to learn about cultural comparisons between the two countries on a macro level which involve not only contrasts but incredible similarities and eventually how these 2 different societies have come out in past 50 years merely due to their cultures, behaviours and actions taken. Culture is one of the key Performance Indicator that builds up a country and displays the frame of mind of the respective nation. The Colonial Occupation & Cold War Era Pakistan and Vietnam share a similar background of colonial occupation. Pakistan appeared on the map of the world in 1947 after a long struggle against the British Occupation and then as a result of Sub-continent partition. The British had left behind a system which was later embraced by both Pakistan and India especially in the area of politics and education. As elaborated by (Marilyn. B. Young,2002), Vietnam was once a French Colony from 1861 till 1954. In contrast to Pakistan, The French colonial system had less impact on the Vietnamese society since before the French, Vietnam had been under strong influence of China therefore the Vietnamese culture has deep connections with the Chinese culture. Even during French occupation, China continued to have influences and links in Northern Vietnam. It was not surprising that Vietnam later emerged as a communist state. (Marilyn. B. Young,2002) explains Vietnam War as one of the most prominent cold war that started in 1963 when Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated in South Vietnam and National Liberation Front (NLF) started to operate in that region. NLF was strongly supported by North Vietnam establishment. This movement sparked the attention of the United States and then began the infamous involvement of the US army that resulted in 2 million Vietnamese causalities. During this phase Vietnam was in complete disorder and civil unrest was observed in the most hideous form. The war left the nation with horrifying memories and shattered economy. Pakistan though has not faced Cold War directly like Vietnam but it had a major impact on its society due to the Afghanistan Cold War which erupted as a result of Russian assault. Millions of Afghan Refugees flocked to Pakistan for shelter along with some undesirable elements that infiltrated which brought drugs and weapons into the country. By the end of Cold War and Taliban taking over Afghanistan, Pakistani nation was left with bigger challenges to face, both political and economic in nature. Most of the Afghan Refugees didn’t leave but they contributed in country’s economy by establishing businesses in the textile & transportation industry. In Pakistan around 1. 5 million Afghanis are living adding diversity in Pakistan’s cultural scene. It is very interesting to see how involvement of other nations like stated above can impact a country’s various cultural domains which we will discuss in following topics 1) Politics 2) Economy, and 3) Other Cultural Aspects. Politics One of the elements that Pakistan adopted from British colonial was the ‘Parliamentarian’ system. The system however is extremely mutated where power is concentrated at the Federal level and is centralized. Provisional autonomy is inadequate when it comes to distribution of wealth & natural resources with no accountability. The power distance has created an imbalance in the society and among the provinces which has given rise to biased approach by the people to support and elect parties that speak their language and belong to their provinces with a belief that if they elect politicians in the Federal government from their own region, they will get the due attention to the problems in their area. This has given rise to multiple regional political parties. The Politicians exploit the regional associations of the people who are divided based on ethnic background and language. All parties in Pakistan belong to elite families which continue to elect their own family members within the party without consultation with rest of the party members. High Collectivism is observed among the elite and the ruling groups to support common interests. The society shows high individualism by mostly supporting individuals of the political parties based on their regional or language affiliations. In contrast, the society shows high collectivism on religious matters and other national issues like Kashmir whereby society unites for the cause irrespective of race, language or ethnicity. The Political System failed miserably due to frequent intervention of the Military and mainly due to the feudalistic attitudes of the politicians and government. On top of this bureaucracy is working for the welfare of the elite rather than the people of Pakistan. There is a culture to suppress the under-paid subordinate to get work done by fair or unfair means. This has given rise to corruption throughout the Government & Institutions. Consultation is a far cry when it comes to making decisions on any level. (Wikipedia, 2009) explains Vietnam’s Governing Model which is centralised but is based on a single-party constitution over 58 provinces. The single party is the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV); clearly the Chinese influence has seeped into the Vietnamese Political structure as well. Non party independent candidates are allowed to contest elections. But CPV holds absolute power, an authoritarian regime (Tuong-Vu, 2009) argues, on state level which controls the workings of parliamentary, executive and judicial domains. The party agenda is established by the Politburo which is a 14 member party policy making committee. The President, Prime Minister and General Secretary are members of the Politburo. In contrast to Pakistan, President holds more power as compared to the Prime Minister. For example, in Pakistan the PM has the power to appoint the Army Chief while in Vietnam this decision lies with the President, the Pakistan National Assembly consist of members from multiple parties while majority in Vietnam National Assembly members belong to the CPV etc. In another contrast, there is no visibility of actual opposition party in the Vietnam which has curbed accountability of the ruling party & government officials augmenting corruption. High Collectivism of the CPV is seen in running the country’s political, judicial and economic streams. Same is observed in Pakistan’s government framework. A great positive advancement and signs of individualism for Pakistan in past few years is the independent media and up-rise of the civil society for an independent Judiciary. The media is getting stronger and freedom of speech is on the rise.

US Current Account Deficit

According to Peterson Institute for International Economics, the Current Account Deficit of the United States is now at the highest point it has ever reached, nearing $800 billion. This situation is not financially sustainable because in accounting terms it demands that the US economy must import about $4 billion every working day to offset the deficit. The deficit is definitely a problem for the economy because it has to be addressed both economically and politically.The two factors, economics and politics go hand in hand and the relationship between the two factors is directly proportional meaning that when politics are generally tranquil, the economy grows and vice versa. To be able to address the deficit a combination of well orchestrated measures must be taken thus: – i) The first measure is rather obvious and it dictates a sizable reduction in the US budget expenditure.Money guzzlers like the protracted wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have to be contained. ii) The second me asure is an expansion of demand for domestic US products in other economies particularly other major economies for faster results. Along with this expansion, the US has to reduce its dependence on imports particularly oil whose price fluctuations have a negative effect on the US economy. iii) The third measure is a technical gradual and substantial realignment of currency exchange rates.A cheaper dollar would stimulate exports which would in turn earn the US the much needed foreign exchange. One handicap with this measure is that other major economies like China and the Oil Producing States have to allow the dollar to fall further against their currencies an act which is not probable. This is because of the less than amiable relations between the US and the other economies. Simply put, these nations might not be very willing to bail the US out.

The eNotes Blog For Students eNotes Intern Spills on the Other Ways to Prepare forCollege

For Students Intern Spills on the Other Ways to Prepare forCollege Your teachers and counselors may have all of your academic college-prep under control (or if not, is here to help), but we at know that theres a lot more to the adjustment of going off to university than pure schooling. Most of you will be moving away from home, and aside from the stress of taking your first midterms or deciding your major, youll have to deal with the daunting, albeit exciting, life change of surviving on your own for the first time. The thing is, a young mind isnt going to be able to function on a diet of MSG or amongst that mounting pile of laundry you double up as a bean bag. With that in mind we asked our intern, fresh out of UCLA, for some sound advice on how to survive and thrive in your first year.  Whether youre spending your last summer before becoming an undergraduate or youre several years into the college system (its not too late!), youll probably want to follow these useful tips: Learn basic life skills If you haven’t learned how to perform basic tasks like laundry and cooking, do it now. You would be amazed at the sheer numbers of kids who come to college and end up with a load of pink underwear because no one told them not to wash reds and whites together. And then there are those who rely on Febreze alone to do the job, but I wont go there Dont become a social pariah in your pink pants or smelly shirtsdo your laundry people! Learning how to cook may not seem important if you’re moving into a dorm, but once you decide you’re sick of living in a closet and sharing a bathroom with fifty other people, it will be nice to not have to survive off ramen and Marie Callenders pot pies. Watch your mom or dad. Give yourself that edge so you know how to function as an adult while others flounder around you. Trust me, beans on toast is not date night material. Keep to a schedule An 8 AM class may seem like nothing when you sign up for it. You’ll think to yourself that you did it every day in high school, that it won’t be a problem to do it again in college. However, there are a few factors that change this radically. First, most college classes do not require attendance. It is much easier to justify skipping class when you’re tired from studying (or partying) the night before and you know your professor won’t notice whether you’re there or not. Secondly, your parents won’t be around to make sure you’re out of bed and getting ready. If you’re lucky and you have a considerate roommate, they might wake you up if they notice you’re oversleeping, but that is extremely unlikely, as they will have their own schedule, their own problems, and their own Harry Potter FanLit following to worry about. Keeping a schedule over the summer means that you won’t have to readjust to waking up before noon and doing something other than playing video games in your underwear all day. You can still relax, but at the same time, try to wake up early and go for a bike ride or read a book. You’ll benefit from it later on. Attend orientation If your college offers an orientation program, attend it, whether it is mandatory or not. It will help you prepare for classes, get you familiar with the campus, and introduce you to fellow freshmen. Even if you have friends attending the same college as you, it can’t hurt to make some new friends before you plunge into the deep end in the fall. It’s also nice to revisit the campus in full knowledge that you will be going there in a couple of short months. It’s a good feeling. Orientation helps because, when fall rolls around, you won’t be feeling quite so out of your depth. Take a tour of your campus and housing If possible, taking tours and seeing where you will be going to classes and where you will be living helps out a lot. It will also assuage some of your parents’ fears. Again, it’s all about familiarization; it’s hard enough to adjust to a completely new lifestyle. If you already have some idea of how to get around campus without getting lost you’ll feel a lot more comfortable. In addition, touring the dorms will let you know just how small a space you will be living in, and maybe it’s not such a good idea to bring your giant flatscreen or your entire collection of books. Participate in social media sites belonging to your school I just graduated from UCLA, and I can easily name, off the top of my head, at least five websites actively used by a large portion of the student population that bring us closer together as a community. Some are informative, some are entertaining, and others are bizarre. Look into what your college’s online community is like; reddit.com is host to many lively college boards and may be a good place to start seeing what the people on campus are like. You might even find a place where you can ask any questions you might have, and get more advice that is specific to the college you will be attending. Connect with the students themselves; knowing the inside information on which dining hall to avoid, which professor is most likely to offer extra credit, or the best places to study on campus, is invaluable. Exercise The Freshman Fifteen is not a myth! Dining halls are enticingly convenient and often all-you-can-eat. Sometimes, it’s just easier to grab a basket of fries rather than assembling a salad of questionable freshness. Establish good habits now, rather than suffering later on. Want a dining commons trick? Mine offered grilled chicken breast sandwiches at one station, complete with sugary  barbecue  sauce and onion rings. Nice for a cheat day, sure, but not for everyday. One trick I learned was to ask one of the cafeteria servers for the chicken breast only. This I chopped up and mixed in with a salad from the greens station. Its a fact of college life that youll sometimes have to get creative with your DC food if you want to eat well. Most universities also hold intramural sports leagues every quarter. These are designed to be fun and a little bit silly (popular ones include indoor soccer, extreme frisbee, inner-tube water polo, and yes, even quidditch) but will help you work up a sweat nonetheless. Theyre also one of the best ways I know to meet new people and bond with your fellow dorm mates.

Parental Substance Abuse essays

Parental Substance Abuse essays The Social influence that is most significant was when growing up as a child; I was exposed to parental substance abuse. By the time I turned ten, my mother was addicted to crack. Before I turned twelve, my mother had a little brother that I had to take care of. As a result, I had to grow up at an early age. I was deprived of my childhood because I had to raise myself as well as my brother. For example, instead of playing hop scotch and double-dutch, I became the responsible child for the environment that I was in. I would direct my brother in the room and close the door because my mother was under the influence, and I did not want my brother to have to endure that. I would ensure that my brother completed his homework. I fed him, instructed him to take a bath, put his night clothes on and then go to bed. This routine became the norms (Myers 2013) for this twelve year old little girl who had a flow chart across her bed room wall marking down what she needed to do. I assumed a lot of responsibility because I needed some type of structure. In addition, I was very frightened for me and my brothers well being, because of the concern that I had pertaining to my mother dying as a result of her addiction to crack. In my eyes, my mother wanted to be drug addict and not a mother to her children. As a result, I adopted dual attitude system.(Myers 2013) The conflict of my attitudes was I disliked my mother because of her addiction, but because she is my mother, I had to respected her enough not to tell her how I really felt. As a result, my social life was limited because I conjured up a low self esteem. (Myers 2013) I avoided bringing home friends or going out in public with my mother. I avoided making friends out of the profound fear of what other parents would say about troubled families. Consequently, learned helplessness (Myers 2013) kicked in because I did not understand my mothers mood and behavior was determined by th...