...Ecosystems Theory Chris Smith Western Kentucky University SWRK 331 –610: Human Behavior in the Social Environment II Western Kentucky University – Owensboro March 19, 2013 Ecosystems Theory Defined The ecosystems theory as utilized in social work is an adaptation in and of itself. The ecosystems theory is a combination of ecology and general systems theory. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, ecology is “The science of the relationship between organisms and their environments [ (Bantam Dell, 2007, p. 272) ]. An ecological systems approach only tells us organisms will adapt to environmental changes and does not tell us specifically what steps the organism takes in order to adapt to change, this is where general systems theory, the second contributor to ecosystems theory, comes to play a part [ (Greif, 1986) ]. General systems theory shows how an organism’s interaction with another cannot only instigate change within itself but can also instigate change in others as well. According to Wakefield (1996), Systems are sets of interacting elements; systems can be open or closed to interaction with the outside world; systems are linked hierarchically; systems can possess states of homeostasis and equilibrium or can be in disequilibrium; systems are regulated through positive and negative feedback; and, again, causal influences are circular, in that changes in one system have consequences for other linked systems that, in turn, through feedback, have consequences...
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... The dynamics of social and ecosystem for the sustainable development of mankind: a system dynamics perspective B. GIRIDHAR KAMATH, VASANTH VASUDEVA PANDUBETTU KAMATH, LEWLYN L.R RODRIGUES Department of Humanities and Management, Manipal University, Manipal, Karnataka, India Email: giridharbk@yahoo.com, kamath.vasanth@manipal.edu, rodrigusr@gmail.com Abstract: Human beings depend on the ecosystems for material and energy sources. Human-ecosystem interaction is closely related with the growing demands placed by people on ecosystems. Human activities have always had an impact on the ecosystem as a whole and over a period of time, this has had an irreversible impact on the ecosystem and the imbalance caused in the ecosystem have started to take its toll on the flora and fauna. The challenge now ahead of mankind is to focus on sustainable development and fight against issues like global warming and delayed rainfalls. Both the renewable and nonrenewable resources are under the threat of depletion. Issues like growing human population, deforestation, acute fuel shortage, and food production crisis drives our attention to sustainable development. The concept of sustainable development is making rounds ever since its inception in 1987. This paper proposes to build a conceptual model that relates social system and ecosystem with social, economic and environmental factors so as to build a System Dynamics model highlighting sustainable development. Keywords: Social Sustainability, Ecological...
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...Clark Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Institution for Social and Policy Studies at Yale, Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative Murray B. Rutherford Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Northern Rockies Conservation Cooperative Kim Ziegelmayer Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Michael J. Stevenson Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Most professionals beginning their careers in species and ecosystem conservation conceive of their future work in terms of hands-on tasks in the field (“doing something important in the real world”). Whether on the domestic or the international scene, typically the forester sees themselves laying out timber sales, the fisheries biologist looks forward to surveying streams, and the range specialist expects to be classifying grasslands. Current curricula in most universities largely mirror this common view. We train future foresters to address logging problems in the Pacific Northwest or in the tropics, or conservation biologists to design a reserve or study an endangered species. But in actual practice, most professionals spend only part—and sometimes a small part—of their time attending to technical tasks in the field. Professionals, over a career or a lifetime, participate in many activities well beyond fieldwork, and there is much more to building a successful professional practice today than skills in technical work in the field. But what specifically are these other activities? What theories...
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...FACTORS AFFECTING TECHNOLOGY USES IN SCHOOLS1: AN ECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE Yong Zhao Kenneth A. Frank Michigan State Univeristy Contact information: Yong Zhao, 115D Erickson, College of Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, Email: zhaoyo@msu.edu, Phone: 517-353-4325 This study was made possible by a grant from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), but views and findings expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of MDE. The following individuals participated in the design and implementation of this study: Yong Zhao, Kenneth A. Frank, Blaine Morrow, Kathryn Hershey, Joe Byers, Nicole Ellefson, Susan Porter, Rick Banghart, Andrew Henry, and Nancy Hewat. Although we cannot identify the names of the schools that participated in this study, we want to thank all the teachers and administrators in these 19 schools. Without their cooperation and support, this study would not have been possible. We would also like to thank Dr. Maenette K. P. Benham and the four anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments. Ann Krause, Punya, Mishra, Matthew Koehler, and Gary Cziko offered very helpful comments and suggestions. 1 Abstract Why isn't technology used more in schools? Many researchers have been searching for solutions to this persistent puzzle. In this paper, we extend existing research on technology integration and diffusion of innovations by investigating relationships among the long list of factors that have already been...
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...and Besthorn, families are an ecosystem, which is joining tow concepts: “one from the science of ecology, which views the organism in the environment; the other from systems theory and family systems theory, in which the focus is on how the parts together form a whole that is greater than the sum of the parts.” (Van Wormer & Besthorn, 2010, p.122). At the macro level, social workers think of the family and the environment rather than the individual. This concept is based on relationship roles and boundaries. Instead of focusing on the individual, social workers should look at how the individual is linked with...
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...Geography 2144 G Instructor: Dr Abednego Aryee Student Name: Steven Davison Student Number: 250 365 904 A Plan for Sustainable Tourism Development and in Banff National Park 1. As a new Chief Executive Officer of Banff National Park, prepare and submit a comprehensive plan for a sustainable tourism development and management in the park that will help to balance (reconcile) the conflicting goals of economic growth, social well being and environmental protection. Explore how the various actors can collaborate to ensure the development and maintenance of a sense of place, product market match, activity clustering, efficient transportation linkages, partnership and environmental protection in the park. (In your report, identify the key players and their respective roles and responsibilities, modus operandi, management approaches, existing planning policies, by-laws and zoning regulations). Introduction Since 1885 Banff National Park (BNP) has been a refuge for wildlife and people alike. BNP has become on icon of Canadian tourism but also an important showing of Canada’s conservation and preservation efforts. Over 4 millions people have visited Banff each year since 1996 (Banff 2009) keeping BNP a successful tourist destination. However, the success of the tourist sector tends to have negative effects on the product that makes a national park such a BNP so attractive. This paper will attempt to provide an outline to balance the sustainable development of Banff...
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...ton1.1 Major Themes of Environmental Science The study of environmental problems and their solutions has never been more important. Modern society in 2009 is hooked on oil. Production has declined, while demand has grown, and the population of the world has been increasing by more than 70 million each year. The emerging energy crisis is producing an economic crisis, as the prices of everything produced from oil (fertilizer, food, and fuel) rise beyond what some people can afford to pay. Energy and economic problems come at a time of unprecedented environmental concerns, from the local to global level. At the beginning of the modern era—in A.D. 1—the number of people in the world was probably about 100 million, one-third of the present population of the United States. In 1960 the world contained 3 billion people. Our population has more than doubled in the last 40 years, to 6.8 billion people today. In the United States, population increase is often apparent when we travel. Urban traffic snarls, long lines to enter national parks, and difficulty getting tickets to popular attractions are all symptoms of a growing population. If recent human population growth rates continue, our numbers could reach 9.4 billion by 2050. The problem is that the Earth has not grown any larger, and the abundance of its resources has not increased—in many cases, quite the opposite. How, then, can Earth sustain all these people? And what is the maximum number of people that could live on Earth, not just...
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...therapy, or even return home. All services provided at LSH are tailored to the needs of every patient. Services included are case management and social services, physical, respiratory, speech, and occupational therapy, as well as cognitive therapy, wound and pain management, and dysphagia management. The clinical care team is created upon admission and consists of board certified physicians, nurses, therapists, dieticians, pharmacist, and a case manager. Depending upon the specific recovery needs, other clinicians, such as a wound care nurse or social worker, may join a patient’s care team as indicated by the patient’s health needs and goals. Most importantly, key members to the treatment team include the patient and his or her family; their input is vital and necessary in order for the team to develop a successful personalized plan of care. Hospital social workers at LSH assess a patient’s social, emotional, environment, financial and support needs. The social worker works with the family along with service provider agencies to develop a plan of care ensuring that the services a patient requires are in place at home before discharge. Social workers provide patient counseling through lead support group discussions or individual counseling. They also aid patients in determining appropriate health care. Most importantly, social workers advocate for their patients. Discharge planning begins on arrival at LSH. Both patient and family are included in this process. Options...
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...The Employment Outlook for Youth: Building Entrepreneurial Ecosystems as a Way Forward ---- An Essay --- Peter Vogel College of Management of Technology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Odyssea 4.15 Station 5, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland, peter.vogel@epfl.ch Since the outbreak of the recent financial crisis we have experienced some of the highest rates of youth unemployment in history. If we want to avoid branding the young people as a “Lost Generation”, we need to act quickly. One important active labor market strategy to solve the youth unemployment crisis is entrepreneurship, helping them turn into job creators rather than job seekers. Entrepreneurship has received significant attention over the past decade with a rapid and often uncoordinated increase in entrepreneurship support programs. These constitute a major part of entrepreneurial ecosystems. In order to build effective entrepreneurial ecosystems, we need to understand the components and assessment indices of such ecosystems. This essay proposes a new conceptual framework describing entrepreneurial ecosystems. The proposed framework is expected to support policymakers and practitioners in setting up new entrepreneurial ecosystems and serve as a basis for future research. Keywords: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Youth Unemployment, Next Generation Introduction An economic and labor market crisis has plagued the world since 2008. The labor market slowdown is dramatic with a current deficit of...
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...global economic climate and despite its oppressive nature, many scholars have risen and pounced on the consequent opportunities available by taking an interest in the field of sustainable entrepreneurship. Research on sustainable entrepreneurial opportunities is still in its infant topic, which leaves researchers with a lengthy way to explore on this emerging field, but at the same time, it limits the research for this paper. “Sustainable development is a concept that describes the social goal of improving and maintaining human wellbeing over a long-term time horizon within the critical limits of life-sustaining ecosystems”(UN Conference on the Human Environment, 1972). While on the other hand, entrepreneurship is a scholarly field that “seeks to understand how opportunities to bring into existence future goods and services are discovered, created and exploited, by whom and with what consequences. (Venkataraman, 1997). But what if we combine both concepts? Is it possible to combine the profit and social and environmental orientation in one company? (Gawell, 2012) The aim of this paper will be to explore the different definitions form the scholars that have done research this field and also to see how the need of sustainable entrepreneurship has emerged in the last decade as one of the solutions for this unsustainable world. This paper begins with a review of the sustainable entrepreneurship literature to find a conceptual definition. Then, it explores how environmental degradation...
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...Review the Contention that the Science of Ecosystem Service Has Transformed the Way which we Value Nature and Conserve It. The way we value and conserve nature has dramatically changed over the course of time and the concept of preserving the natural environment which surrounds us is and old one while also still a relatively new one. During the time of pre-industrial evolution the benefits that were received by humans from natural ecosystems were often regarded as sacred and were entrenched into the way society lived (Costanza, 1987). After the industrial revolution much of western society adopted the ideology that nature was just something to be enjoyed if you could afford the time and cost to do so, all else was focused on the growth of the economy. Conservation came at a cost and the subject of environment vs economy was often used to describe the argument (Costanza, 2011). Today the science of ecosystem service is being developed, is rapidly becoming more widely accepted and is helping shape the way we think about nature today. With many global initiatives being ran such as the United Nations Environment Program: Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity the science of ecosystem service is rapidly gaining mass media coverage (Sukhdev, P, 2011). This is important because whoever we are and where ever we are our lives are influenced by the ecosystems that surround us. The benefits they provide to humans can be loosely defined as ecosystem services, they can be spilt into four general...
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...3.1 (Week 3) 1). There’s a fundamental distinction between strategy and operational effectiveness. Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different. Operational effectiveness is about things that you really shouldn’t have to make choices on; it’s about what’s good for everybody and about what every business should be doing. Strategies and innovation can co-exist. One must have to maintain the continuity of strategy. But they must also have to be good at continuously improving. But they also have to be good at continuously improving. South west airlines, for example has focused on a strategy of serving price-minded customers who want to go from place to place on relatively short, frequently offered flights without much service. The purpose of innovation is to create business value. Value can be defined in many ways, such as incremental improvements to existing products, the creation of entirely new products and services, or reducing cost. 2.). Most senior leaders in established organizations have never formally learned how to lead and manage an organization that innovates systematically. When you have been successful playing one game by one set of rules it is understandably difficult to play a new game with a different set of rules, especially if no one explained the new rules. There are two key factors that create the innovation gap. a).The first is knowledge. Many established organizations are not innovative because...
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...COLLECTIVE FUTURE WRITTEN BY NSEK, UDUAK OKON REG. NO: 13/PG/AR/HS/006 DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF UYO SUBMITTED TO DR. DOMINIC AKPAN LECTURER IN CHARGE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY AND INTERNATIOANL STUDIES FACULTY OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF UYO MARCH, 2015 Abstract Resource use can be defined as the derivation of benefit from that resource in economic or financial, social or cultural, political and ecological respects. Human actions or resource use have altered global environment and reduced biodiversity by causing extinctions and reducing the population sizes of surviving species. Increasing human population size and per capita resource use will continue to have direct and indirect consequences such as distorted values of plant and animal resources, inappropriate resource tenure and ownership structure as well as lack of knowledge on resource management and biodiversity conservation. Inevitably, our collective future becomes bleak as future generations will inhabit a planet with significantly less wildlife, diminished ecosystem services and an increased impoverished people. Keywords: Resource, Biodiversity, future Introduction The most significant environmental issue in the contemporary world has been resource use and biodiversity conservation. This is not unusual because humans benefit directly or indirectly from resources and its biodiversity. In the last few decades, population growth has increased manifold and consequently demand...
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...1) Burby described Baton Rouge initially as a “sleepy southern town” (Burby, 161). Baton Rouge began as most other cities began, clean, unpolluted, and most importantly, unaffected by the many common problems associated with industrialization. This small city in Louisiana became one of the nations leading petrochemical complexes and the devastation that came along with this transition was quite grand. The aftermath of all this industrialization fell onto the lives of ethnic minorities and the poor, and for the longest time it seemed like no one cared. It wasn’t until 1993 in an environmental justice hearing that citizens demanded “environmentally friendly ‘green’ businesses” (Burby, 176). Personally, from my understanding of the reading, Baton Rouge was not sustainable in anyway. Throughout the early half of the century people treated the place as if it had an infinite capacity to support heavy industrialization. As the reading states, “planners, government, and the legal system have done little to right these wrongs.” (Burby, 161). Essentially, no one cared about the environmental aspects of industrialization and simply carried forth with expansion, hence sustainability of the city is in my opinion, non-existent. On an ethical standpoint, this city wasn’t sustainable what so ever, the minorities, mostly the low-income black neighborhoods suffered greatly as a result of these factories that would dump waste in or near by. Additionally, residents began to move into marshlands...
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...biological characteristics of the land) forms, the amplitude altitudinal, pluvial and thermal, between some other factors, are responsible of the existence of a great variety of ecosystems and of species. Also, Guatemala is one of the countries around the world with a big ethnic diversity. This natural and ethnic diversity have generated many ways of interaction and use of the wild species, as to an intense domestic adaptation that has become an important support for the diet of Guatemalans and of many habitants of many other countries. Guatemala has being denominated Mesoamerican Center, is one of eight important world centers of cultivated plants. It is also part of the Mesoamerican Eco-region, which is one of twenty-five terrestrial eco-regions most important in the world, not only for its large biodiversity but also because of the high threats of itself (Galvez, 2000). This essay will present some of the elements of most importance of the biological biodiversity in the development of the human kind, as its relevance of the natural capital. Guatemala it’s a place of big amplitude of different live organisms that interact as to form complex connections of interdependence. The biodiversity is an important aspect of the Guatemalan’s lives that, despite of its importance in the economic and social-cultural spheres, does not figures within the political priorities of the state. In order to retrieve this situation is crucial to utilize a reference point base, in which the different...
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