Assignment 1: LASA 2: Monitoring Our Home Planet

The Internet is a powerful tool that provides the ability to monitor natural phenomena and disasters that happen all over planet Earth.

In this assignment, you will research resources available on the Internet for monitoring natural phenomena including earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, global climate, and weather.

Based on your research, do the following:

• Identify a minimum of three different natural phenomena that are typically responsible for natural disasters. Analyze the potential impact of these disasters.
• Analyze how these phenomenon are monitored, or not, via the Internet. Critique available Web sites, which publicly display up-to-date monitored information related to each of the natural phenomena you have identified. Focus on the following aspects:
  • Geography
    • What parts of the world are potentially affected by these phenomena? Specifically identify the countries.
  • Resources
    • What kinds of resources are allocated toward monitoring these phenomena and why?
    • What types of Web resources monitor the phenomena and provide up-to-date information about them?
    • What kinds of technology are involved in monitoring the phenomena?
  • Politics
    • What political ramifications would this disaster-preparedness technology cause between more-developed countries and less-developed countries?
    • What kinds of issues could this technology cause between less-developed countries?
  • Economics
    • How would this technology directly impact the economies of those countries that have the technology versus those countries that do not?
    • Do you predict any indirect impacts? What current evidence supports your position?
  • Disaster Preparedness
    • What types of systems are in place in terms of disaster preparedness related to these monitored phenomena?
• Summarize your findings. Evaluate how this technology will impact the future of humanity, both positively and negatively. Be sure to consider the political and economic issues discussed in your future predictions.

Support your statements with examples. Use a minimum of six reliable references, two of which should be peer-reviewed articles.

Write a 7–8-page paper in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.

DUE MONDAY JULY 13

Sometimes one’s choices may involve catastrophic decisions and bear great risk and yet there can be no clear answer. For example, if a person gets a divorce, shutters a plant, sells a losing investment, or closes their business, will he or she be better off? The following case incorporates nearly all of the material you have covered this far and presents an example of one such choice where nearly all of the alternatives have a significant downside risk.

Vastag, B., & Rein, L. (2011, May 11). In Louisiana, a choice between two floods. TheWashington Post. Retrieved from 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/in-louisiana-a-choice-between-two-
floods/2011/05/11/AFrjFotG_story.html

Review the following information from the article “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the New Orleans Flood Protection System” by Stéphane Hallegatte (2005):

• Hallegatte, an environmentalist, assigns a probability (p) of a Katrina-like hurricane of 1/130 in his cost-benefit analysis for flood protection. However, the levees that protect New Orleans also put other regions at greater risk. You may assume the frequency of other floods is greater than Katrina-like events (Vastag & Rein, 2011).
• The new levees that were built in response to Katrina cost approximately fourteen billion dollars (in 2010). This is in addition to the direct costs of Katrina (eighty-one billion dollars in 2005).
• 50 percent of New Orleans is at or below sea level.
• A 100-year event means that there is a 63 percent chance that such an event will occur within a 100-year period.
• The following are the interested (anchored and/or biased) constituencies:
• Residents of New Orleans—both those that can move and those who cannot move
• Residents of the surrounding floodplains at risk from New Orleans levees
• The Mayor of New Orleans
• The federal government—specifically taxpayers and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Assume that the availability heuristics make people more risk averse (populations drop, at least in the short term). Consider how this would affect the local economy.

You are an analyst at FEMA and are in charge of developing a recommendation for both the state and the local governments on whether or not to redevelop New Orleans.

Write a report with your recommendation. Address the following in your report:

Part A

• Analyze the economics of New Orleans in light of the above parameters and develop your own Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) for rebuilding.
• Evaluate the value of the CBA for each constituency and integrate these estimates into a scenario model and/or decision tree. Analyze the results.
• Clearly each of these constituencies may both overlap and be prey to a variety of group dynamics internally. For one of these options, discuss the decision pitfalls to which they may be susceptible and make a recommendation on how to alleviate these pressures.
• Starting with your CBA, estimate the relevant expected utility for theinterested constituencies.

Note: You need not have absolute amounts but your relevant utilities should be proportional to one another.

Hint: If you assume that your total CBA for New Orleans is fixed for each constituency (do not forget the overlaps), then each constituency will have a piece of the utility pie.

Part B

• Make a case for or against rebuilding the city of New Orleans. This should be an executive summary; be concise and brief. Include exhibits.
• Whether you are for or against, discuss how social heuristics could be used to your advantage, both ethically and unethically, in making your case. You may choose to fill the role of one of the constituents, if you prefer.

Write an 8–12-page report in Word format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use proper spelling and grammar throughout, and keep the text legible and balanced with visuals.

Assignment 1 Grading Criteria

Analyze the economics of New Orleans in light of the given parameters and develop a Cost- Benefit Analysis (CBA) for rebuilding.

Evaluate the value of that CBA for each constituency and integrate these estimates into a scenario model and/or decision tree. Analyze the results.

Discuss the decision pitfalls to which constituencies may be susceptible and make a recommendation on how to alleviate those pressures.

Starting with the CBA, estimate the relevant expected utility for these parties.

Make a case for or against rebuilding the city of New Orleans. This should be an executive summary—be concise and brief. Include exhibits.

Discuss how social heuristics could be used to an advantage, both ethically and unethically, in making a case.

Estimate what percentage of the class was for, versus against, rebuilding and provide a confidence interval for the estimate.

Ensure academic writing, such as grammar, spelling, and attribution of sources, is appropriate.

Total:

Do you think that it is possible for a human male to breastfeed, and if so, what conditions must be provided to coax his body to produce and secrete milk?



11. Select one of the mammals whose milk composition is listed in Table 1, read about the animal’s characteristics and activities on the Internet, and hypothesize why the proportion of the milk components is consistent with the animal’s behavior

12. Compare the roles of mitosis and apoptosis in remodeling Sheila’s breast from a fatty sac to an active milk gland.

Please answer in question and answer format please with references. just answer questions no essay needed