Geography of Barbados :: Essays Papers

GEOGRAPHY OF BARBADOS Barbados is the most windward, or eastern of all the Caribbean islands. It’s the only island of the Caribbean that lies before the sixty-degree lateral line. Pedro a Campus, who arrived there in 1536, first discovered it. Pedro a Campus was sailing for Portugal at the time of his discovery. Upon his arrival he concluded that the island was uninhabited. The island remained this way until it was settled by the English in the later Seventeenth Century. The shape of the island, is somewhat of an irregular triangle. The circumference Of the island is approximately fifty-five miles around, with a length of twenty-one miles and a width of thirteen miles. Its size is approximately two and a half times the size of Washington D. C. Coral Reefs line almost the entire coast of the island, and at some points, are up to three miles seaward. This creates problems with navigating to and from the island. The northeastern portion of the island contains heights of 1000 feet, while the southeastern part has sandy beaches which are protected by the coral reefs. The highest elevation is Mount Hillaby, which is 1147 feet above sea level at the center portion of the country. The rest of the island is relatively flat, but elevates as it rises to the Central Highlands. Scotland River is the principal river which runs through the island. Other rivers include Joe’s River and the Indian River, along with a handful of natural springs, mainly Haggat’s. The island has a tropical climate and it rarely falls below seventy degrees Fahrenheit. The months of June to October are generally considered the â€Å"rainy† season. The island only occasionally suffers from the wrath of hurricanes. Another natural disaster that the people of the island encounter is periodic landslides.

Deming Concept

W. Edwards Deming was considered to be way ahead of his time. His philosophical ideas were also considered radical in the United States during the 1950’s, but were quickly adopted by Japan. He developed what later became known as Deming’s 14 points, that would later launch the Total Quality Management Movement in the United States, which were not actually accepted until the 1980’s. One of his philosophies that I found interesting was Point #5: â€Å"Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs. This philosophy was foreign in the 1950’s, where managers’ philosophy was focused more on power and control. Deming’s concept leaned more towards a teacher/student relationship, instead of the power and control focus of his time. Humans are very resistant to change however, and that is why I feel this is an important concept that some companies still strugg le with today. My employer for example, Lowe’s Distribution Center, has some managers that don’t like to change processes because â€Å"it is the way they like it to be done†. Deming’s philosophy involved a new focus, which involved management to constantly be looking for improvements that can be made in both their processes, and technology that would reduce cost. Our computer system that controls every function in our facility is about 22 years old, and is outdated to the point where it has employees repeat steps to convince the computer system the task has been completed. Inefficient methods lead to higher cost. Higher costs in turn seem to add to our society’s need for power and control, resulting in increased pressure on team members to make up for the inefficiencies of the system. At this point, team members than reduce quality to meet increased expectations, resulting in decreased customer satisfaction. The long-term result involves lower profit margin and decreased sales, which all could have been avoided if Deming’s points were followed in the first place, by replacing or updating the equipment. Deming’s philosophy also referred to the service industry. If improvements were made to meet the expectations of customers, than overall costs would be decreased. This is commonly still seen today with new technology being put on the market, only to be recalled later when it is tested and announced to be â€Å"unsafe. For example, the recall of the Toyota model Prius, which was found to have quality issues with the clips that hold the floor mats in place. If the clips came loose, the mats could slide and hold down the accelerator, which risked causing an accident. This recall was estimated to cost Toyota around two billion dollars, as well as a loss o f $100,000 in sales in both the U. S. and Europe. Imagine if Toyota had invested more in the quality side of producing the clips, and the savings that would have came with it. Deming’s philosophies triggered the Total Quality Management movement in the 1980’s. Beforehand, factories focused solely on productions numbers, without even taking quality into consideration. I can see why Deming’s ideas weren’t accepted at first, if you think back to how things probably were in the 1950’s. Not to mention the increased costs that comes with higher quality. For example, a shoe factory probably only had two options for shoes, black or white. Now we have a large selection of brands to choose from, each representing a different level of quality. With the focus now being on quality, businesses can provide a higher level of customer satisfaction, bringing different levels of quality to meet their customer’s budget, as well as expectations. Having strict levels of quality guidelines in the service industry, especially in fast food, customers are more reassured that they are consuming food that is safe, and has met requirements set by health inspectors. Deming’s philosophies have also made our business processes more efficient. Businesses today focus on the future, and predict possible changes they would need to adopt to survive. Technology is constantly changing, and is also bringing a higher level of quality to both manufacturing and service industries. In conclusion, I think Deming’s philosophies are vital today to businesses survival. For a business to get ahead of the competition, they need to not only be efficient, but also possess a certain level of accepted quality by consumers. Quality continues to improve as new technology emerges on the market, and processes are continually evaluated. Any business would benefit by following Deming’s 14 points.

Wastewater Management Program for Abu Dhabi

Wastewater Management Program for Abu Dhabi Introduction Although a fast growing economic hub, Abu Dhabi remains a relatively dry land that needs maximum water preservation. In addition, the increasing population and number of local, regional and multinational organizations and businesses seeking to operate in the city require adequate supply of water.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Wastewater Management Program for Abu Dhabi specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More At the same time, wastewater management remains a challenge to the city, especially in terms of managing the city’s sewage. However, technology has the potential to recycle much of the wastewater with an aim of preserving the city’s precious water resources while at the same preserving the environment (Tseng Lin, 2004). The purpose of this paper is to define a wastewater treatment planning for Abu Dhabi’s future. The plan describes the best technology for wastewater treatment and th e process involved. Moreover, it will provide the best possible location as well as the type of operation necessary to enhance wastewater management. Description of an ideal wastewater management technology for Abu Dhabi The proposed wastewater treatment plant will be located at Allamahah, some 20 kilometers west of the Abu Dhabi. The purpose is to serve the city’s population both as a source of water and as a water treatment facility. The aim is to treat some 600,000M3/d of sewage per year and produce some 400,000m3/d of clean water per annum for use in the industries and partly for domestic use (Tseng Lin, 2004). The plan is to create a conventional treatment plant that will involve a technology to treat the water with efficiency and reliability. The technology will include a preliminary, a primary and a secondary treatment sections. They will include an activated sludge to which a secondary settlement will be developed. The proposed technology will be primarily a biologic al model in which there will be minimal use of fuel. The biological section will also be coupled with filtration and a serial disinfection process to ensure that the water is microorganisms-free (McCarty, Bae Kim, 2011). In this case, the biological procedure will follow the conventional anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater (Tseng Lin, 2004). From a biological analysis, it is evident that anaerobic treatment of wastewater, especially the sewage water, has the potential to enhance energy production while as the same time producing high quality water for domestic and industrial use.Advertising Looking for report on environmental studies? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The program has identified a number of issues that need be addressed in order to avoid a case where the production of water will fail. For instance, the problems of low temperature and low organic concentration might be the barrier to the program , as cited in theory. However, the problem of low temperature is not likely to affect the plant in Abu Dhabi because the area is relatively hot, which makes the survival of microorganism is generally high. Secondly, the plant will involve a high-energy sufficient technique that will oversee the overall preservation of energy (McCarty, Bae Kim, 2011). Within the context of biological treatment, the technology will involve genetically engineered bacteria with a high capacity to remove nutrients, organic and inorganic substances as well as kill other microorganisms. It is also expected to include a number of bacteria species with different capacities to ensure that all these substances are removed from the water. It is also important to include additional caution because some bacteria may act on others, producing certain effects or rending the process ineffective. For this reason, each species of bacteria used will be positioned in separate chambers, where water will pass through to e nsure the full effect of the bacteria on the water. References McCarty, P. L., Bae, J., Kim, J. (2011).Domestic Wastewater Treatment as a Net Energy Producer Can This be Achieved? Environ. Sci. Technol, 45, 7100–7106 Tseng, S. K., Lin, M. R. (2004). Treatment of organic wastewater by anaerobic biological fluidized bed reactor. Water Sci. Technol, 29(12), 157–166.