Levels Of Pollution In The Brisbane River Environmental Sciences Essay

Levels Of Pollution In The Brisbane River Environmental Sciences Essay River Brisbane is the longest river in the southeast Queensland of Australia. It originated from the foothills of the great dividing and flows through Brisbane city before releasing its water into Moreton bay. The river was named after Thomas Brisbane, New South Wales Governor, by John Oxley in 1823. The river provided and still provides a main form of transport between the city of Brisbane and Sydney. Before the European settlement Brisbane River was very clean and unpolluted. It was then used as a source of food and also for recreational purposes. For quite a long time the growth and settlement of people around river Brisbane has adversely affected the quality of its water as well as the life that it supports (Straughan 1972 p.93). As the town of Brisbane grew the river became very unclear and polluted and by 1928 the water quality had deteriorated to the extent that it was not safe even for bath. However the government of Australia decided to protect the river from pollution and by adopting antipollution acts as well as educating the public on the importance of protecting the environment. The river was used the source for agricultural water and also provided sand used in the construction around the growing city. The river faced so many risks of pollution from the growing industries and from the waster vessels that transported petroleum products and other substances. Nitrogen from sewage treatment and phosphorous from industrial discharge as well as other metals, were and still are among the main pollutants (MacKey, Hodgkinson Nardella 1992). However the data taken on the nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the river shows that the efforts of protecting the river have bared some fruits. In 2000 the average nitrogen levels were about 2.2mg/l while in 2009 the average level had dropped to 0.5mg/l. A graph plotted for both nitrogen and phosphorous show a decrease in their concentr ation in the river. Introduction For more than 400 million years now, the Brisbane River has been flowing. Its catchments have endured a number of floods and droughts seasons while its origins have continuously shifted as the surrounding land kept changing from time to time. In 1823 when John Oxley entered River Brisbane for the first time, the river was very clean and unpolluted. After a while Oxley realized that the river could be used as a new site for new settlement and through his suggestion, the city of Brisbane was developed alongside the River in 1825. The Brisbane River, whose origin is at the base of Great Dividing Range, has a catchment area of about 30,000km square and it releases its water into the bay of Moreton (National Library of Australia 1988). The once pure water of Brisbane was mostly used for drinking and for recreational purposes like swimming and the like. However as the city of Brisbane developed, industries started growing in it. At that time industries took the river as an efficient and cheap point for waste disposal. The Brisbane River was the only means of transport between Brisbane town and Sydney until when the road links were established. This river has for long been the most important asset for of Brisbane city as its still used for transportation, recreational and relaxation purposes. For the better part of the twentieth century, this river has been polluted and overused as its basin provided grazing grounds as well as fertile lands for agriculture (Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1986). According to AsiaRooms.com, the river basin also provided suitable catchment areas which could be used for damming purposes. The river presented several advantages which for the town and its people but the people exploited these advantages so carelessly such that self reparation appeared unfeasible. Today the Brisbane River has undergone considerable modifications to meet the requirements of the citys population which is increasing. Through diverse public awareness on the need to protect the environment, the river has gained significant political support in form of anti-pollution acts and policies that were adopted by the government (Doyle Kellow 1995 p.180). Currently the duty of checking pollution levels and water quality of river Brisbane is currently on the Queensland parliament. The parliament has so far made a lot of progress in its efforts of maintaining the quality of the river by establishing two anti-pollution acts. These acts comprise the 1971; Clean Waters Act and the Pollution of Waters by Oil of 1973. Due to the current public awareness on environmental protection and by the help of these acts, the quality of River Brisbane has significantly improved although its not yet at the safe levels. According to Doyle Kellow (1995), the River is currently supporting a population of 2 million people while transport and industries and still dependent on the river, which then helps to understand why its pollution level is still above the safe levels (p.180). The aim of this essay is to give a report on the levels of pollution of Brisbane River from the year 2001 to 2010. For the 150 years that the Europeans have occupation the region, River Brisbane has seen a number of modifications. The river has survived waves of exploration including agriculture, grazing, urbanization and settlement, etc. the urbanization and settlement required flood mitigation strategies and water storage for drinking purposes (Straughan 1972 p.94). Shipping channels and flood prevention measures also needed to be taken as the river was the main means of transport between the city and Sydney. Sand dredging along the river has been the main activity as sand was highly needed for construction in the city. Between the year 1900 and 1970 approximately 12 million cubic meters of sand were extracted from the banks of River Brisbane. Extraction reached its peak latter in mid 70s when about 1.45 million cubic meters of sand were being extracted annually. The extraction later dropped to 1 million per year and eventually ceased in 1996/7. The riches of the river between mt Crosby and Wivehoe are most pleasing aesthetically because of their cool atmosphere. Between Jindalee and mt. Crosby the river widens and then flows through rural and residential areas. In this area pollution by human beings is very evident and likely. Currently the Brisbane port is accountable for extraction of sand in the lower reaches of the river so as to maintain deep channels for water vessels. This long time dredging has considerably deepened the river hence making its banks quite unstable (Olafson 1978). Strong urban development has been evident throughout the city and on the south bank reach. As this river proceeds towards the Pinkenba, commercial and industrial areas dominate while further down from Murarie to the mouth, the river passes through mangrove lined region which is dominated by commercial shipping activity (MacKey, Hodgkinson Nardella 1992 p 418-420). The speed of water in this region is often determined by season. In this region the river reaches its highest flow speed during summer when there is high rainfall while the minimum flow is in winter when rainfall is minimal. Due to the slow flow of water in this region, there is likelihood of pollutants accumulation and overall deterioration of water quality. However this accumulation of pollutants can be cleaned by the release of water from storage dams situated in the river upstream. Wivenhoe and Somerset dams release certain amounts of water that are satisfactory to the water needs of the people of Brisbane. These two dams enable a more even water flow throughout the year thus maintaining and improving the qu ality of water in the river. The dams are also used as a means for flood prevention by reducing water flow from the range. Analysis of the past and current pollutants of river Brisbane According to Connell Shaw (1980), the major sources of pollutants of the river comprise the many large scale discharge points where wastes from industries and treatment plants discharge into the river (p.356-358). Currently the discharge from sewage is treated to a safer secondary standard with only a small portion of it being left in the primary standard. The small portion of primary standard sewage discharged into river Brisbane does not only contribute considerably to the toxicant load in the river but also to the nutrient load and increased demand for oxygen. This pollution leads to the contamination of fish and other aquatic life by such substances. Sewage discharge around the city of Brisbane is usually chlorinated hence causing a negative impact to the river. The most common discharges to river Brisbane resulted from the highly industrialized section of the river. The city of Brisbane has two main treatment plants for waste water as well as Gibson Island on the Southside and a luggage point on the North side both of which are found at the industrialized section of the river. Moreover River Brisbane faces other risks of pollution from the BP and Caltex oil refineries which discharge into the river discharge streams from potentially contaminated areas. Other discharges into the river such as runoff from the urban and industrial parts, and from upstream parts of the catchment, discharge substantial toxic pollutants into the river (Wong Tam 2005). Sometimes accidents occur resulting to spills of petroleum and insecticides among other substances. This often results to contamination of the river leading to fish death and other water lives. For instance in April 1998, a tanker known as Barrington was docked at White Island in Brisbane collided with a local boat named Austral Salvor. This accident resulted to a spill of 8 tonnes of heavy fuel into the river. Conclusion In order to recommend any possible measures that can help improve the quality of River Brisbane one must understand the past and the current pollutions characteristics of the river. In this paper, the pollution analysis of river Brisbane is based on the data provided by Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management. Nitrogen and phosphorous which are the main pollutants of the river have been measured and their levels in the river minimized. Nitrogen is found in fertilizers and it usually reaches the river when rain water passes through agricultural fields where fertilizer has been applied. Its also produced during sewage treatment processes. Phosphorous is produced in the waste treatment plants in Brisbane and from confined livestock operations. According to Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (1997), both nitrogen and phosphorous are can be harmful and toxic to aquatic life since their enhance growth of aquatic plants which then depletes the water of oxygen hence posing d anger to fish and other organisms (p.35). The graph below shows the levels of nitrogen and phosphorous in River Brisbane from the year 2000 to 2009. The concentration of these pollutants was measured in milligrams per litre of water. Fig.1 graph of nitrogen and phosphorous concentration against years From the graph we see that in 2000 the level of nitrogen in river Brisbane was quite high with more than 2mg of nitrogen in every litre of water. However due to the extensive public awareness and the anti-pollution measures taken by the government these levels reduced drastically between 2000/1 to below 1.5 mg/l. the downward trend in decrease of nitrogen continued until 2008 when the average level was about 0.5 mg/l. in 2009 the levels appeared to be rising again which shows that the government as well as the general public of Brisbane may have relaxed in its efforts to maintaining the quality of the river. On the other hand phosphorous levels have been low all through with level of below 0.4mg/l in 2000. The phosphorous levels have also shown a general downward trend and show a likely hood of reaching zero levels within the next few years if the same trend is maintained. The analysis of the past and the present pollution situations of river Brisbane indicate the government as well as the local authorities have done tremendous work in controlling the water quality of the river. If the efforts are maintained, the river will reach its old clean levels within a few years.

Tips for a Career: Financial Analyst and Financial Engineering

If you are one of those persons who thought that you have to be an engineer by profession and academic background to be a financial engineer, you are under the wrong impression. If you are very good in mathematics and would like to take a de route to your attaining success in life without losing your flare for math, this is where you should be, and this is a tip for a career. How much can you earn? It depends on you. A wizard can earn to his heart’s content it looks like because financial engineering deals with predictive modeling in investment and  financial analysis.Now you can guess why the investors and financial institution’s chief executives wish that they had paid more attention to their math classes. If you are a young aspiring person yet to bloom here are some tips for building a lucrative career for yourself. If you would like to make it all the way to the Wall Street lucrative jobs and be there offering advice on one what to buy or when to buy, or, what to sell and when to sell, or, go to top in investment banking a financial analyst career can help you get there.Just imagine if you can do the modeling and are also very efficient analyst you could be walking on the golden path laughing all the way to your bank Don’t wonder why I have combined these two. I see analysts with weakness in model building and custom software generation today. Similarly I also see that quite fewfinancial engineers  are not comfortable with the analysis part. Therefore, there can be bright future including entrepreneur possibilities for a person who develops expertise in both areas.If you are an ambitious person interested in this line read on these tips for a career in this field. Current total employment potential for financial advisor’s career is well above 200,000 with a predicted growth of 41 percent. What is financial engineering? Financial engineering is involves application of financial theory, the methods of financing, and tools of ma thematics, computation and the practice of programming to achieve the desired end results. Financial engineering can help create new and enhanced products out of existing financial instruments.Financial engineers can help create the most effective bundles out of products and investment portfolios out of existing  investment alternatives  and their predicted outcomes and associated risks. Thus if an investment company or wealth management bank wants to advise its clients, it needs financial engineering due to the multi various investment alternatives available. Similarly if an insurance company wants to know what is the best way to put two or three types of insurance covers and sell as a brand both to increase sales and profits financial engineer can help.Sounds exciting? Yes, it is, a financial engineer can earn millions if he or she gets commissions. What is financial Analyst Financial analysts keep themselves up to date with macroeconomic environment and also analyze the balan ce sheet and other relevant information related companies to write reports and give advice on buying and selling of stocks, or future financial strategies companies should adopt, or make investments that they can make. They usually specialize in some area depending on the organization they work for.They may be working for bank, buy side or sell side investment companies and insurance companies and investment banks Tips for a career- the qualification required for a career as financial engineer or Financial Analyst The diversity is quite high. After an undergraduate degree with a good grade point one can work for MBA with financial engineering as one specialization, or a Master of Financial Engineering (MFE) or MA in Mathematical Finance or M. SC in Financial Engineering. It would help a lot if you have taken enough mathematics and computer courses.In some schools the term  computational finance  is also used to denote financial engineering. You have to be cautious in making the right choice and you need to be pretty clear on whether you would like to work for an industry or get into academics. To be in academics you will need a PH. D too. This is not to imply that PH. D is not useful for industry jobs. For example a Hedge fund financial engineer in a trading firm job needs would be like knowing C++, SQL, Linux and Unix high frequency high frequency automated trading.He will be responsible for trading strategies and algorithm enhancement. He should define and implement data collection and acquisition matter. He should perform statistical analysis and optimize innovations and enhancement to trading models. He should be able to write functional requirements for  software developersand collaborate with software developers. Tips for a career as financial analyst Normally  MBA  in finance from a reputed university would be a good to start.However Chartered Financial analyst certificate (CFA) could be great asset if not essential. For anyone not comfortable with all the technical aspects the CFA program uses it would better to start with series & and series 63 exams. These programs need sponsorship from a company that is NASD member or self regulatory organizationhttp://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/General_Securities_Representative_Exam In addition to MBA finance or MFE it would be advisable to get a CFA, Chartered Financial analyst certificate.Another program of use may be the certified International Analyst program offered by the Council for Portfolio Management and research offered by the Association Certified International Analysts, Zurich, Switzerland (links below) There are also programs offered by JP Morgan’s chase’s finance division for under grad degree holders and Deutsche bank analyst type of programs. Generally these are targeted at undergrad degree holders with finance and accounting majors.Best Graduate Programs offering Master’s degrees and Doctoral degrees in Financial Engineering As mentioned above the diversity is quite high in the degree though there is a good overlap in the curriculum. The choice would depend on the reputation of the school and your planned career that is teaching, industry or banking career. The duration of the program is also different and range from 1 year to 2 years. The tuition can vary from about $74,000 for 1. 5 to 2 year program to $37,000 to $ 44,000 for one year programs. The schools given below also have excellent MBA programs with Finance specialization.The top ten lists for General Management and other specializations may be different USA programs Carnegie Mellon University Columbia University Princeton University Stanford University University of Chicago New York University University of California Berkeley Boston University Georgia Institute of technology North Carolina University University of Illinois Urbana University of Michigan Claremont Graduate School Rutgers University University of Southern California Kent State University Purdue Univer sity Best Programs outside USA Imperial College, London, UK Warwick, UKKing’s college, UK Birkbeck, UK City,UK ICMP reading Leeds University, UK Leicester University Liverpool Manchester Oxford University Hongkong University Hongkong Nan yang technical University, Singapore National University of Singapore Dublin University EDHEC France Ecole Polytechnique Federale De Lausanne, Switzerland Frankfurt school of finance Germany Tilburg University Netherlands Indian Schools Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) Indian Institute of technology (IITs) IFMR Chennai Indian Institute of Capital Markets Mumbai, former UT I Institute of capital markets PG DiplomaIndian Institute Of Capital Markets. (Formerly UTI Institute of Capital markets), P B No:99, UTI house, plot no:82 Sector-17,vashi,Navi mumbai-400705. Phone:022-27892815/16 Salary ranges for Financial engineers In USA Financial engineer salary at level is about $63000 to $101,000 Financial Engineer salary is about $86,000 to 116, 000 Manager Financial engineering salary is in the range $144,000 to 156,000 In UK is about pounds 38,000 Salary ranges for Financial Analysts holding CFA certification USA Portfolio Manger $80,000-$149,000 Financial Analyst 48000-$73,000Senior Financial analyst $66249-$96000 Financial securities investment analyst $ 67000-97000 Chief Financial Officer $100,000 – $ 198000 UK Pounds 36000 With pounds 40000 Australia Financial Analyst, A$ 60,000-80,000 Financial/ securities/investment analyst A$ 50,000 – $ 90,000 India Financial analyst Rs 269,000 – Rs 700,000 Senior Financial analyst Rs 500,000- Rs100,000 Financial/securities /investment analyst Rs 500,000 – Rs 100,000 Common Employers Trading houses, Corporate Finance Divisions, Banks, Insurance Companies Tips on Career planning In financial engineeringYou need to be clear in goals. The Master of Finance program and financial engineering are not same. There is heavy math, C++ use and Monte Carlo in financ ial engineering. This is not done in finance programs. Some of the applied math programs are now financial engineering programs. Putting it simply, Mathematical finance is theoretical, quantitative finance is program oriented and financial engineering seems to fit in between, Thus you could be fine for teaching with mathematical finance but not for trading firms and industry.In teaching too you may experience limitations. The program designers don’t readily see the difference. Best is to compare the courses. In India it is best to do it in best Business schools preferably IIMs. In my view IIM Kolkata has perhaps the best program. Indian School of Business offers some executive programs for those unable to get into the best financial engineering programs because of lack of adequate experience, or commerce background it may better to join IT company or consulting company and enter banking and capital markets domain.Alternately one can try brokerage and trading firms and may be you will make it to Wall Street to earn the big bucks. The path is hard and needs lot of dedication and hard work. Good luck. I would recommend financial engineering programs for engineers and anyone with strong math background. If you are a typical commerce graduate you might find it hard and it may be advisable to stay on the financial analysis side with proper certifications and a well designed specialization based on where you want to work, like the sell side or buy side and trading or investment banking.For anyone planning to continue as financial analysts and depend on ready software packages MBA finance and certified financial analyst should be adequate. Certified public accountant or Chartered accountancy with CFA may work but it’s not the best. For someone who likes to have full flexibility in developing IT for financial analysis and be well rounded with plans for a IT start up, a combination of MFE with CFA can do well. These are essential tips for a career as a fin ancial analyst or financial engineer Useful links ttp://gmatclub. com/forum/2009-best-financial-engineering-math-finance-ranking-86796. html http://www. global-derivatives. com/index. php/further-education-othermenu-36/55-quantitative-masters-programs-complete-list#Australasia links for CFA program in USA and India http://ace3levels. com/_mgxroot/page_10737. html http://www. cfainstitute. org/about/locations/asiapac/Pages/cfa_institute_in_india. aspx CIIA Switzerland:  http://www. cpmrindia. org/welcome_message. asp India:  http://www. cpmrindia. org/ciia. asp

Ringers Solution Recipe

Ringers solution is a special salt solution made up to be isotonic to physiological pH. It is named for Sydney Ringer, who determined that the liquid around a frogs heart must contain a set proportion of salts if the heart is to remain to beat (1882 -1885). There are different recipes for Ringers solution, depending on its intended purpose and the organism. Ringers solution is an aqueous solution of sodium, potassium and calcium salts. Lactated Ringers solution (LR, LRS or RL) is a special Ringers solution that contains lactate and is isotonic to human blood. Here are some recipes for Ringers solution. Ringers Solution pH 7.3-7.4 7.2 g sodium chloride - NaCl0.37 g potassium chloride - KCl0.17 g calcium chloride - CaCl2 Dissolve the reagents into the reagent-grade water.Add water to bring the final volume to 1 L.Adjust the pH to 7.3-7.4.Filter the solution through a 0.22-ÃŽ ¼m filter.Autoclave Ringers solution prior to use. Emergency Veterinary Ringers Solution This solution is intended for rehydration of small mammals, to be administered orally or subcutaneously via a syringe. This particular recipe is one that can be prepared using common chemicals and household equipment. Reagent-grade chemicals and an autoclave would be preferable if you have access to those, but this gives you an idea of an alternate method of preparing a sterile solution: 9.0 g sodium chloride - NaCl (154.00 mM): non-iodized table salt0.4 g potassium chloride - KCl (5.64 mM): Morton or NOW salt substitute0.2 - 0.3 g calcium chloride - CaCl2 (2.16 mM): calcium chloride powder1.3 g dextrose (11.10 mM): granular dextrose0.2 g sodium bicarbonate - NaHCO3 (2.38 mM): baking soda  (*add last) Mix together the sodium chloride, potassium chloride, calcium chloride and dextrose solutions or salts.If salts were used, dissolve them in about 800 ml of distilled or reverse osmosis water (not tap water or spring water or water to which minerals have been added).Mix in the baking soda. The baking soda is added last so that the calcium chloride will dissolve/not precipitate out of solution.Dilute the solution to make 1 L of Ringers solution.Seal the solution in small canning jars and cook it at least 20 minutes in a pressurized steam canner.The sterile solution is good for 2-3 years unopened or up to 1 week refrigerated, once opened. Reference:   Biological Bulletin Compendia,  Cold Spring Harbor Protocols

1A.The First False Statement States “Rule-Utilitarianism

1A. The first false statement states â€Å"Rule-utilitarianism is just about following the rules that are in place. If society has a rule against doing something, then a rule-utilitarian will always agree that you should not do that.† I find this to be false because rule utilitarianism is not just about following the rules or about simply looking at the consequences. Utilitarianism itself is about doing the morally right action, this should be the action which produces the most positive balance of goodwill over corruption, while keeping everyone in mind. Rule utilitarianism is about determining whether or not an action is right based on whether or not it is related to a rule which results in the greatest good. Speaking generally, a rule in†¦show more content†¦Act utilitarianism says that an action is considered morally right when its outcome is the greatest good for the greatest amount of people. It directly produces the greatest overall good. While rule utilitarian ism describes how the action which is considered morally right is the one which is covered by a rule. This rule should result in a â€Å"favorable balance of good over evil, everyone considered.† Rule utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of generally following a rule, while act utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of individual actions. â€Å"Act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism do not use the same methods to make moral evalutations.† 3C. For this hypothetical statement, it states both act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism would find the doctors’ actions to be moral. I find this to be is false because however it is true from the act utilitarianism perspective the doctors choice would be moral, from the rule utilitarianism perspective the doctors action would be viewed as immoral. The act utilitarian view would find the doctors actions to be moral because although most people would view this as morally wrong, it produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people. 200 patients in the mental hospital making a sacrifice for the 10% of people who die each year after contracting Legionnaires’ Disease is seen as working towards the greatest good. From the