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kgarland

World Simulation Ideas - 95 views

I think it would be great to add more natural disasters, along with trying to bring out the slave trade, I think we could make the slave trade more part of the game. Also I think it would be great ...

worldsim

Amanda Stueve

HEALTH-AFRICA: Beef up Budget Allocations to Achieve MDGs - 0 views

  • the Africa Health Strategy 2007-2015.
  • 15 percent of national budgets to health care,
  • It also urged governments to engage civil society and line ministries in mobilising resources for tuberculosis (TB).
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • ‘‘Eight million Africans are dying from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria every year. We want to stop this,'' Regis Mtutu of the Treatment Action Campaign
  • Regarding the commitment to put aside 15 percent of national budgets for health services, ‘‘only Botswana and The Gambia have met this promise'', Mtutu said.
  • included a plan to set up pharmaceutical plants for producing life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Mtutu pointed out that ‘‘the ministers for finance and industry were not part of the discussion. To succeed, the health ministers need mandates from their finance and industry counterparts.
  • policy officer at Oxfam Kenya office, told IPS that ‘‘‘MDGs' is just a label. It is a brand. ‘‘HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and other diseases are really the issue. It is about systems to deliver health care. This should be the starting point to meeting the MDGs,'' said Edete.
  • lthough governments have committed themselves to the MDGs and the Abuja target, some prefer to move at their own pace. Kenya's government, for example, says it will commit 12 percent of its national budget to health by 2008
  • ‘‘It should be a step-by-step approach. Each country has its own strategy. If you set a time frame it might not work. For example, you cannot expect (strife-torn) countries like Somalia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo to reach the 15 percent target. It is not practical,'' she told IPS.
  • the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe deserves special mention as it is also a health crisis for Africa. People living with HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe cannot obtain the care they need and the climate of violence is perpetuating the epidemics of HIV and TB. ‘‘The shockwaves from the crisis in Zimbabwe are reverberating throughout the continent as refugees seek health care and other services in neighbouring countries. Our health ministers must speak out on Zimbabwe on health and humanitarian grounds,'' the coalition argued.
  • a new report, ‘‘Paying for People'', published this month (April), Oxfam estimates that 13.7 billion US dollars must be invested every year to appoint an additional 1 million teachers and 2.1 million health care workers urgently needed to break the cycle of poverty in Africa.
  • ‘‘Today in too many of the world's poorest countries health and education services are dependent on a handful of workers struggling heroically to do their jobs on pitiful wages and in appalling conditions. Becoming a doctor, nurse or teacher is like signing a contract with poverty,'' Oxfam's Elizabeth Stuart wrote in the report.
  • Africa has 13 percent of the global population and 25 percent of the global burden of disease but only 1.3 percent of the global workforce.''
    • Amanda Stueve
       
      good stat
  • The report cites Tanzania as an example. This southern African country produces 640 doctors, nurses and midwives each year. But to reach the World Health Organisation's recommended staffing levels within 10 years it would need to produce 3,500 such health workers each year. Another example is Malawi where only nine percent of health facilities have adequate staff to provide basic health care. The country loses around 100 nurses each year ‘‘who emigrate in search of a better wage'', according to the Oxfam report. Charo told IPS that Kenyan health workers are not only moving overseas but are also seeking opportunities in the private sector for better pay. ‘‘If you work for government, you get 12,000 Kenya shillings (about 172 US dollars) but in the NGO or private sector you earn 40,000 shillings (nearly 572 US dollars) a month. People are tempted to move on.'' (END/2007)
    • Amanda Stueve
       
      good stats
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    Has some good statistics. Lists lots of problems in African heatlhcare. Has some info on Africa Health Strategy, and proposes more money will solve more problems.
bmoran

Carbon Sinks, Forests and Climate Change - Global Issues - 0 views

  • Over the past 150 years, deforestation has contributed an estimated 30 percent of the atmospheric build-up of CO2. It is also a significant driving force behind the loss of genes, species, and critical ecosystem services. However, in the international policy arena, biodiversity loss and climate change have often moved in wholly unconnected domains. — Climate, Biodiversity, and Forests, World Resources Institute, 1998
  • Carbon Sinks and LandA mechanism suggested for tackling climate change and warming has been the idea of using "Carbon Sinks" to soak up carbon dioxide. To aid in this, reforestation, or planting of new forests, have been suggested. This is a popular strategy for the logging industry and nations with large forests interests, such as Canada, the United States, various Latin American nations, and some Asian countries such as Indonesia.While there may be some potential in this solution, it cannot be effective on its own. This is because it legitimizes continued destruction of old-growth and pristine forests which are rich ecosystem and have an established biodiversity base (albeit shrinking now) that naturally maintain the environment (at no cost!). Creating new forest areas would require the creation of entire ecosystems. It is also criticized for being a quick fix that doesn't tackle the root causes effectively and doesn't lead to, or promote actual emissions reduction.
  • Environmentalists and others point out that the use of carbon sinks is a big loophole in the Kytoto Protocol; that if carbon sinks can be counted towards emissions reductions credit, then industrialized countries would be able to meet their commitments while reducing emissions by less than would otherwise be required. Because they are carbon sinks, it means that when forests burn or as vegetation naturally dies, they release more carbon too (because it is stored carbon). As the climate changes, it is possible that there may be more forest fires etc, releasing more carbon. (And then these sinks would become sources!)
Amie Mosier

Educating Language-Minority Children. - 0 views

  • CULTURE, LANGUAGE, AND DEVELOPMENT Differences in the ways groups think and act are more than a matter of using different words or performing different actions for the same purposes. Differences in cultures are more substantial than whether members of a community eat white bread, corn pone, or tortillas. The behavior of people varies, and the beliefs, values, and assumptions that underlie behavior differ as well. Culture influences both behavior and the psychological processes on which it rests. Culture forms a prism through which members of a group see the world and create shared meanings. And a group's culture is reflected by the group's language. Child development follows a pattern similar to that of culture. Major structural changes in children, such as language learning, arise from the interaction of biology and experience. Such changes are remarkably similar in kind and sequence among cultural groups. But the knowledge and skills--the cultural learning--the child acquires at various ages depend on the child's family and community. Learning a primary language is a developmental milestone. However, which language a child learns and the uses to which that language is put are determined by the culture. As the ideas from a child's social world are brought to bear through the guidance of the older members of the community, children come to share meanings with their elders. Classroom discourse presents children with the challenge of learning new rules for communication. The use of formal language, teacher control of verbal exchanges, question-and-answer formats, and references to increasingly abstract ideas characterize the classroom environment. To the extent that these new rules overlap with those that children have already learned, classroom communication is made easier. But children whose past experience with language is not congruent with the new rules will have to learn ways to make meaning before they can use language to learn in the classroom. When teachers and students come from different cultures or use different languages or dialects, teachers may be unaware of variations between their understanding of a context and their students'; between their expectations for behavior and the children's inclinations. When children and adults do not share common experiences and beliefs, adults are less able to help children encode their thoughts in language. TEACHING CHILDREN FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES Teachers facing the challenge of teaching children from different cultural communities are hard-pressed to decide what constitutes an appropriate curriculum. If children from some groups are hesitant to speak up in school, how can teachers organize expressive language experiences? If children from some groups are dependent on nonverbal cues for meaning, how can teachers stress word meaning? How can teachers test for mastery of the curriculum if children do not speak a standard language or use the same styles of communication? Cultural diversity makes it hard for teachers to assess each child's developmental status, find common educational experiences to promote growth, and measure the achievement of educational objectives. Given the complex interaction between culture and development, is it possible to design a developmentally appropriate curriculum? If that question implies that the same curriculum can be used for all children, the answer must be "no." However, the following developmental principles can provide a conceptual framework for teachers trying to bridge the gap between children's cultural backgrounds and school objectives.
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     And idea of why culture language and development are important.
Hans De Keulenaer

Internet Archive - 0 views

  • "This webpage is no longer available", is the sentence familiar to you? This is no longer a problem since a complete archive for webpages is now available. Through the Internet Archive, you can find expired webpages and you can also see how your favorite websites looked like 10 years ago and trace their development. What is the Internet Archive? The Internet Archive is a complete snapshot of all webpages on every website since 1996 till today.
rhanley

FGM INTERCULTURAL SOCIETY - PROJECT HARGEISA - 0 views

  • WHAT IS F.G.M.: Female genital mutilation of which there are varying degrees.  Inflicted on girls the horrifying procedure leaves lifelong physical, mental and emotional scars.  HOW IS IT PERFORMED: Held down by older women, their legs are forced open, the clitoris, libia minor and libia major are cut off then sewn together or held together with thorns.  A razor blade, penknife, piece of glass or sharp piece of tin are used for the procedure and no painkiller is used.  In some cases the child is made to sit in cold water before hand to slightly numb the area.    The little girl's legs are then bound for 40 days while a scar forms sealing her shut except for a small opening for urine and menstrual blood.  Many die from shock and blood loss but the death is attributed to bad spirits. The psychological terror associated with the procedure leaves many in post traumatic stress and shock.  Emotionally they may never recover.  Marital relations can include being cut open on the wedding night which assures the male of a virgin.  Childbirth is an absolute nightmare and also quite often results in death for both the child and the mother.  HOW MANY ARE AFFECTED: According to Amnesty International, six girls a minute are subject to various forms of fgm.
elligant35

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/threshld/thresh06.html - 0 views

    • elligant35
       
      The U.S. Census Bureau defines poverty as as the size of the family unit and the dollar amount. If we look at the current trends, the U.S. Census Bureau recommendations is that a family of four is considered in a state of poverty if one person is working and bringing in less than 21,134. What's wrong with that picture? Is this assuming that a person is making above minium wage? The Global statistic says that 3 billion people live on less than two dollars a day.
elligant35

Structural Adjustment-a Major Cause of Poverty - Global Issues - 0 views

    • elligant35
       
      Poverty is a continous cycle because much of the money that is spent on exports sustains the ecomony of another country rather than the country who buys the goods. Having less imports and more exports creates a system of maintaining dependency and poverty or industrialized product-exporting/commodity-importing country is wealthy and an underdeveloped product-importing/ commodity-exporting country is poor. There is also shocking evidence of those individuals who work for the World Bank. This would definetly be good shocker for those that "Earn More" and "Eat Less".
katiescan

global warming: Definition and Much More from Answers.com - 0 views

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    This website gives a lot of great information from a lot of sites about global warming.
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    This website is great to learn what exactly global warming is.  There are the facts presented in an unbiased way from a variety of encyclopedia articles, dictionary definitions, and unbiased websites.
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    This website is great to learn what exactly global warming is.  There are the facts presented in an unbiased way from a variety of encyclopedia articles
jcoop11

Wallerstein on World Systems - 0 views

  • makes possible analytically sound comparisons between different parts of the world.
    • Mike Wesch
       
      This is why Wallerstein's theory gained acceptance in the anthropological community. We are interested in making sound cross-cultural comparisons.
    • jcoop11
       
      I may be reading to much into the wording, but do we really want to "compare" cultures. When we talk about comparing cultures, it seems as if we are holding them to a certain standard.
    • Mike Wesch
       
      We are not comparing them to a standard - just trying to see the range of human possibilities - and how humans are interrelated.
  • feudalism
    • Mike Wesch
       
      Three primary elements characterized feudalism: lords, vassals and fiefs; the structure of feudalism can be seen in how these three elements fit together. A lord was a noble who owned land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief. In exchange for the fief, the vassal would provide military service to the lord. The obligations and relations between lord, vassal and fief form the basis of feudalism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feudal_system
  • switch from feudal obligations to money rents
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  • These impoverished peasants often moved to the cities, providing cheap labor essential for the growth in urban manufacturing
  • Eastern Europe (especially Poland) and Latin America, exhibited characteristics of peripheral regions.
  • In Latin America, the Spanish and Portuguese conquests destroyed indigenous authority structures and replaced them with weak bureaucracies under the control of these European states.
    • Mike Wesch
       
      This is the most common pattern found in the world simulation, though other forms emerge as well.
  • served as buffers between the core and the peripheries
  • According to Wallerstein, the semi-peripheries were exploited by the core but, as in the case of the American empires of Spain and Portugal, often were exploiters of peripheries themselves. Spain, for example, imported silver and gold from its American colonies, obtained largely through coercive labor practices, but most of this specie went to paying for manufactured goods from core countries such as England and France rather than encouraging the formation of a domestic manufacturing sector.
    • Mike Wesch
       
      nice summary here of the relationship of core, semi-periphery, and periphery
  • Similarly, Protestants, who were often the merchants in Catholic countries, found they were targets of the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church, a trans-national institution, found the development of capitalism and the strengthening of the state threatening.
  • During this period, workers in Europe experienced a dramatic fall in wages.
    • Mike Wesch
       
      This is interesting. We often think of this transition as benefitting the people of the Core - but it did not necessarily benefit everybody.
  • This powerful merchant class provided the capital necessary for the industrialization of European core states.
    • elligant35
       
      Is the merchant class the first indication of a middle class? If so, then why the fall in wages becasue it seems to me that all they created was a middle man to continously take the wages from the working class that supported the goods that were traded?
  • European states participated in active exploration for the exploitation of new markets.
  • With the independence of the Latin American countries, these areas as well as previously isolated zones in the interior of the American continent entered as peripheral zones in the world economy. Asia and Africa entered the system in the nineteenth century as peripheral zones.
    • Mike Wesch
       
      Expansion of the periphery - this typically represents Round 2 of the World Simulation.
  • the core enriched itself at the expense of the peripheral economies. This, of course, did not mean either that everybody in the periphery became poorer or that all citizens of the core regions became wealthier as a result.
  • Wallerstein asserts that an analysis of the history of the capitalist world system shows that it has brought about a skewed development in which economic and social disparities between sections of the world economy have increased rather than provided prosperity for all.
  • This was the first time that an economic system encompassed much of the world with links that superseded national or other political boundaries
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    Read all of this page & make notes so we can share ideas!
Amanda Stueve

LABOUR: Reversing South Africa's Brain Drain - 0 views

  • the country's dark days of post-apartheid crime, that triggered an exodus of the white population are over. According to them new opportunites are building up and there is no more ‘reverse discrimination' against whites.
  • The reality today is that if you are black, young, and male, your chances of being affected by crime is much higher,
  • Whites constitute most of the South African expatriates.
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  • encouraging trends
  • one white for every 11 blacks in the population, of every 33 murder victims only one is white
  • while blacks still account for 31 percent of the unemployed, the rate for the whites was only five percent.
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    Ok. Wow. I so did not think of white South Africans when I thought about African professionals. The statistics they are using to try to convince white expatriates to return to South Africa are very interesting.
Amanda Stueve

US Doctors For Africa - 0 views

  • V. P. of Ghana joins US Doctors for Africa
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    Has recent news relating to U.S. Doctors for Africa. Particularly interesting is the section about the VP of Ghana joining. Ghana is one country highly affected by the "brain drain" in Africa, and they are very active in trying to find a solution, but they still have a huge healthcare problem.
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    Has recent news relating to U.S. Doctors for Africa. Particularly interesting is the section about the VP of Ghana joining. Ghana is one country highly affected by the "brain drain" in Africa, and they are very active in trying to find a solution, but they still have a huge healthcare problem.
katiescan

issue guide: Global Warming | citizenJoe - 0 views

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    This is a really cool website that represents everyone from far left to far right.  It is a website where the writing is like you are talking with a friend.  This talks about global warming in a totally easy understanding way that keeps you engaged.  It provides great information pertaining to what global warming is and solutions.
jcoop11

The Maori - Spirituality - New Zealand in History - 0 views

  • Most things contain "mana" - spiritual essence. Mana is within man himself, land, nature, and also man-made objects. Contact with mana contained objects or beings by non-authorised persons or objects could cause the mana to be drained away.
  • In the beginning the belief was that the god Tane offered mankind three baskets of knowledge - "Nga Kete-o-te-Wananga". Within these baskets were the stories of creation, instructions concerning magic, etc. The Māori believe all living things are descended from the Gods, embodied within certain mountains, rivers and lakes. All things have a type of soul - the wairua. This is why the Māori have strong spiritual ties to the land.
  • Extremely strict rules of "tapu" protected ceremonial objects
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  • Tapu is the strongest force in Māori life. It has numerous meanings and references. Tapu can be interpreted as "sacred", or defined as "spiritual restriction" or "implied prohibition", containing a strong imposition of rules and prohibitions. A person, an object or a place, which is tapu, may not be touched by human contact. In some cases, not even approached. A person, object or a place could be made sacred by tapu for a certain time, and the two main types of tapu were private and public. Private tapu concerned individuals, and public tapu concerned communities. In earlier times, tribal members of a higher rank would not touch objects which belonged to members of a lower rank. This was considered "pollution". Similarly, persons of a lower rank could not touch the belongings of a highborn person. Death was the penalty.
jcoop11

WHO | Tuberculosis - 0 views

shared by jcoop11 on 15 May 07 - Cached
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    This is where I got most of my stats about TB for my presentation. The most interesting part for me is the connection that TB has with HIV/AIDS.
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    This is where many of the TB stats will come from. Outlines a plan for MGD's.
sleavitt

HiPER Project - 0 views

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    I wonder if fusion as an energy source does not make the news as often as other alternative fuel because it is harder to grasp by the general public. Scientists seem to think that it is a safe, sustainable, powerful fuel source. However, I would like to research more into this process. I would also like to find out how similar this process is to that used in the nuclear power plants that are in use today.
sleavitt

CorpWatch : General Electric - 0 views

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    It is very interesting to see how GE has benefitted from the US's war on terror. 90 percent of GE's nuclear power plants could discharge radiation into the atmosphere. It is responsible for polluting 78 Superfund sites, and is pushing the government to overturn Superfund legislation. Fraud and poor safety for workers are also issues. Why don't we see this on the ecomagination commercials?
wirth7

YouTube - Is World Poverty Getting Worse? - 0 views

shared by wirth7 on 28 May 07 - Cached
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    interesting video about how world poverty is getting worse and how the media is not reporting it enough.
Amanda Stueve

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Malawi On Track to Meet Child Mortality MDG - 0 views

  • more than a million babies in the region die each year before they are a month old because of a lack of essential health care.
  • Malawi, together with Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Madagascar, Tanzania and Uganda, is regarded as having made significant progress in reducing infant deaths over the last 10 years, thanks to increased government spending on basic health care.
  • Currently infant mortality stands at 94 deaths per 1,000 live births in Malawi. A decade ago, the infant mortality rate was pegged at 146 per 1,000 live births.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • The Malawian government has intensified the promotion of low-technology and cost-effective measures such as vaccines against child illnesses, antibiotics to treat respiratory infections, and oral rehydration therapy against diarrhoea.
  • measures include the provision of free insecticide-treated bed nets against malaria, and education in improved family care and breast-feeding practices.
  • Illnesses such as polio and neonatal tetanus have been virtually eradicated.
  • Japanese figures show fewer than two deaths per 1,000 live births.
  • Tokyo has provided financial aid for the procurement of drugs and preventive materials.
  • Annually, about 73,000 children in Malawi die from preventable diseases. One in every five children dies before she or he is a month old, and one in every eight dies before her or his fifth birthday.
  • Malnutrition is associated with 54 percent of all children's deaths in Malawi, says the country's former advisor for health, Wesley Sangala. According to him, seven in 10 deaths of under-five children are attributable to diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, measles, malaria and nutritional deficiencies.
  • She points out that malnutrition rates among Malawian children have not improved significantly since 1992.
  • Almost half of all children under the age of five (48 percent) are stunted, 22 percent are underweight, 59 percent suffer from vitamin A deficiency, and 80 percent are anaemic.
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    Describes Malawi's progress towards achieving the MDG of child mortality. Has a lot of really, really good statistics. Particularly important are the things that have worked to make a difference in child mortality rates, and the specific diseases that most commonly cause death in children in Malawi.
jcoop11

Sponsor A Child - Compassion - Child Details - 0 views

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    I'm not sure if anyone else can view all the stats on this page, but these are stats for Shafii. He is the Compassion child I sponsor. For $1/day I am able to provide him with healthcare, schooling, school supplies, etc. This is one way that has been established to help those is need, but there are several ways in which it can be improved.
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