Lake Malawi National Park Essay

The aim of sustainable tourism is to ensure that development is a positive experience for local people; tourism companies; and tourists themselves. 3 Ecotourism that focus on wildlife and nature started in malawi in1980. Some research indicates that such tourism may not in fact benefit these communities–as it might lead to them becoming dependent on the tourist economy, without developing skills that would allow them flexibility in the economy and be more of a long term guarantee. But despite this optimistic objective, sustainable tourism is still not widely understood. For a start, ‘sustainable tourism’ is not necessarily ‘ecotourism’. Dave N. et al(1988) , however, has indicated that such tourism may not actually be good for environment, or for the people who experience this attention. Safaris in Kenya, for example, are undoubtedly ‘ecotourism’. But Kenya is full of cases where lions have been forced into erratic behaviour because of excessive tourists, or where the local Masai people have failed to benefit from this kind of development. More importantly, ‘ecotourism’ does not involve more mainstream beach-or city-based tourism, where impacts are much greater than any nature-based tourism. Sustainable tourism, therefore, is an attempt to improve the impacts of all types of tourism, and this 3 Twan H. (1999),Tourism in developing countries. p. p-125 1 Literature Review 2 implies seeking ways to build partnerships between tourism companies and local governments or managers of resorts. 4 Ecotourism a form of tourism that focuses exclusively on wildlife, nature, or â€Å"exotic† cultures. Some argue that it is environmental tourism5. Sustainable development is a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The notion â€Å"quality of life† includes everything that influences the situation in which people live. Hence, it includes much more than material consumption. It is intended to capture the importance of health, culture, and nature. there are two important restrictions, though †quality of life† doesn? t include the welfare that people derive from their from the children? s consumptions . likewise, only natures instrumental value(ie, value in its own right regardless of human experience); a vague term used to market anything related to nature or 4 David N. et al. 1988)

Summary-Response in Praise of the F Word

Adrienne Nicole Strunk Writing 115 Chris Risley Summary-Response In Praise of the F Word In her essay â€Å"In Praise of the F word† by Mary Sherry, she talks about how she teaches high school graduates that have been â€Å"cheated† by the education system; that they are â€Å"handed meaningless diplomas. † 2. ) Students were just passed along to the next grade whether they understood the material or not. 3. ) And the students soon discover that themselves later on. 4. ) Sherry describes how her attention-getter to her students was the mention of failure. . ) She recalls a time when her â€Å"world-class c youngest son,† was talking a lot in class and had to have a meeting with his teacher Mrs. Sifter about the situation. 6. ) Sherry simply asked Mrs. Sifter to move her son to a different area so he would focus more. 7. ) Mrs. Sifter’s response was simply â€Å"I don’t move seniors, I flunk them. † 8. ) That’s when she realized her son had completed the rest of Mrs. Sifter’s course without talking but finished out the term with an A. 9. ) The answer is simple, the idea of failure, â€Å"a healthy fear. 10. ) Later on in her essay she explains how people can overcome their problems but they need a reason too. 11. ) Sherry reminds us all that mentioning the idea of flunking can be a â€Å"positive teaching tool,† and she wants to return the choice to give students the opportunity to succeed or fail. In the same way that Sherry wants to give the opportunity to students to fail or succeed; I have been motivated to succeed by the harsh reality of an F on my first psychology test this term in college. . ) I was already on academic probation last term for not passing my classes and the last thing I needed now was to lose my financial aid completely. 3. ) The F was a reality check for me staring at me in the face. 4. ) I have now learned to study harder than I did before. 5. ) I read the long 100 pa ges of my chapter for psychology, highlight key people, key words, and key dates. 6. ) I then re-write what I believe is important in my own words. . ) I go to my 9 am Psychology class three times a week for lectures, and I also participate in the online worksheets. 8. ) I scored better on my second psychology test, but psychology is hard for me in general to understand the concepts, so I continue to finish out this term by busting my bottom on working hard and studying even harder for psychology. 9. ) I have been given the opportunity to succeed or to fail, and I have chosen to succeed.

The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, born in 1821, was a great Russian prose writer. He was born in Moscow and studied at the St Petersburg Engineering Academy. His first published work was a translation of Balzac’s Eugenie Grandet, which appeared in 1844. Two years later his first original works, the short stories Poor Folk, The Double were published, later followed by other short prose pieces.(Leatherbarrow, 47-48) In April 1849 Dostoevsky was arrested for suspected revolutionary activity and condemned to death, or at least was taken to the scaffold and to the last moments before execution before the true sentence of four years in prison and four years as a private in the Siberian army was read out. He was released from the army in 1858. The result of his imprisonment was the change of his personal convictions: he rejected the socialism and progressive ideas of his early years, and instead adhered to the principles of the Russian Orthodox Church and belief in the Russian people.A nother immediate fruit of his imprisonment experience was his remarkable House of the Dead that appeared in 1861. Other novels followed which display a profound understanding of the depths of the human soul. Notes from the Underground of 1864 sets rational egoism, which proffers reasons for treating others as instruments, against irrational selfishness which treats others as enemies. Crime and Punishment of 1866, The Idiot of 1868, and The Devils (also translated as The Possessed, written in 1871) led up to his great achievement, The Brothers Karamazov, completed in 1880.With the Slavophils, Dostoevsky venerated the Orthodox Church, and was deeply impressed by Staretz Amvrosy whom he visited at Optina. (Leatherbarrow, 169) But his sense of goodness was neither facile nor naive. He saw human freedom as something so awesome that most people are ready to relinquish it. This is epitomized in the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor. In his speech accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature, Solz henitsyn quoted Dostoevsky, ‘Beauty will save the world. ’ The Brothers Karamazov is Dostoevsky’s final novel, completed only two months before his death.It was intended as Dostoevsky’s apocalypse. Its genre might best be called Scripture, rather than novel or tragedy. (Bloom, 5) This novel is the synthesis of Dostoevsky’s religious and philosophic search. The scene of the novel is laid in a sleepy province in the family of the noble, the Karamazovs. A sleepy province had always been for Russian writers the source of characters of integrity, pure passion and spiritual relations among people. However, Dostoevsky presents the life in such province in different light. Spiritual decay had penetrated into patriarchal up-country.From the very early stages of the novel’s writing Dostoevsky underwent several influences. The first was the profound impact the Russian philosopher and thinker Nikolai Fyodorov had on Dostoevsky at this time of his life. A ccording to Fyodorov’s doctrine Christianity is a system in which â€Å"man’s redemption and resurrection could be realized on earth through sons redeeming the sins of their fathers to create human unity through a universal family. † (Sandoz, 221) The tragedy of patricide in The Brothers Karamazov acquires more poignant coloring as Dostoevsky applies a complete inversion of this Christian system.Thus the sons in the novel do not attain resurrection for their father. Quite to the contrary they are complicit in his murder, and such turn of events is for Dostoevsky a metaphor for complete human disunity, breakage of the mentioned spiritual relations among people. As already noted religion and philosophy played a vital role in Dostoevsky’s life and in his novel in particular. Nevertheless, much more personal tragedy changed the way the novel took later. In 1878 Dostoevsky stopped writing the novel because of the death of his son Alyosha who was only three-yea rs old.This tragedy was even more difficult to endure for the writer as Alyosha’s death was caused by epilepsy, a disease he inherited from his father. Dostoevsky’s desolation could not escape being reflected in the novel; one of the characters has a name Alyosha. The writer endued his character with the features he himself aspired to and would like to follow. Though very personal experience had a profound influence on Dostoevsky’s choice for theme and actions that dominated the external of the novel, the key problem treated by this work is human disunity, or breakage of the spiritual relations among people.In comparison to previous novels social split-up is accruing, getting more distinct the relations between people are becoming more fragile in The Brothers Karamazov. â€Å"For everyone nowadays strives to dissociate himself as much as possible from others, everyone wants to savour the fullness of life for himself, but all his best efforts lead not to fullnes s of life but to total selfdestruction, and instead of ending with a comprehensive evaluation of his being, he rushes headlong into complete isolation.For everyone has dissociated himself from everyone else in our age, everyone has disappeared into his own burrow, distanced himself from the next man, hidden himself and his possessions, the result being that he has abandoned people and has, in his turn, been abandoned. † (Dostoevsky, 380) This is how the situation with the Russian society of the 1870s is defined by the novel character, Starets Zosima, who is especially close to the writer. The Karamazovs family in Dostoevsky’s novel is Russia in miniature – it is absolutely deprived of warmth of family ties.Unvoiced hostility relates the father of the family, Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, and his sons: the eldest – Dmitry – the man of spoiled nature, Ivan, the captive of loose manners, Pavel Fyodorovich Smerdyakov, a child of shame, lackey by his posit ion and in his soul, and a novice Alyosha, who is making his best to reconcile hostile clashes that finally resulted in a dreadful crime of patricide. Dostoevsky shows that all participants of this drama share responsibility for the tragedy that had happened, and first of all, the father himself, who is, for the author, the symbol of decay and degeneration of human person.The contemporary society thus was infected with a serious spiritual disease – â€Å"karamazovshchina†. The essence of â€Å"karamazovshchina† lies in the denial of all sacred things and notions that sometimes ranges up to frenzy. â€Å"I hate the whole of Russia, Marya Kondratyevna. † – confesses Smerdyakov. – â€Å"In 1812 Russia was invaded by Emperor Napoleon 1 [†¦] and it would have been an excellent thing if we’d have been conquered by the French; [†¦] Everything would have been different. † (Dostoevsky, 281-282) The same Smerdyakov â€Å"As a child [†¦] had loved to string up cats and then bury them with full ceremony.He would dress up in a sheet, to represent a chasuble, and chant while swinging some imagined censer over the dead cat. † (Dostoevsky, 156) â€Å"Smerdyakovshchina† is the lackey variant of â€Å"karamazovshchina† and it demonstrably uncovers the essence of this disease – perverted passion for expressing humiliation and desecration of the most sacred values of life. As it is said in the novel â€Å"'people do love the downfall of a righteous man and his degradation'†. (Dostoevsky, 415) The main bearer of â€Å"karamazovshchina† is Fyodor Pavlovich who enjoys constant humiliation of the truth, beauty and good.His carnal relation with a foolish Lizaveta Smerdyashchaya, the result of which is the lackey Smerdyakov, is a cynical desecration of love. Fyodor Pavlovich’s voluptuousness is far from being a mere animal instinct and unconscious behavior. His volupt uousness has an idea to engage in controversy with the good. Karamazov is quite conscious of meanness of his intentions and deeds, and so he derives cynical satisfaction in humiliation of the good. He is always longing for spiting upon a sacred place.He consciously makes a row in Starets Zosima’s cell and then goes with the same intention to the abbot to dinner: â€Å"He wanted to take revenge on everyone for his own tricks. [†¦ ] I can’t hope to rehabilitate myself now, so I’ll spit in their faces and be damned! I’ll not be ashamed of myself in front of them and that’s that! ’† (Dostoevsky, 109) A distinctive feature of â€Å"karamazovshchina† is a cynical attitude towards the nation’s bread-earner – Russian farmer: â€Å"The Russian people need thrashing† (Dostoevsky, 282).According to Karamazov’s psychology all higher values of life has to be overridden, dragged through the mud for the sake o f frantic self-affirmation. There is a father Therapon living together with the saint Starets Zosima in a monastery. Outwardly this man is striving for the absolute â€Å"righteousness†, he leads an ascetic existence, exhausts himself with fasts and prayers. But what is the source of Therapon’s righteousness? What is its inducement? As it turns out then, his inducement is the hatred to Starets Zosima and desire to surpass him.Katerina Ivanovna is very kind to her offender, Mitya, all because of smoldering hatred to him and of a sense of wounded pride. The virtues turn into delirious form of self-affirmation, into magnanimity of selfishness. With the same selfishness and same magnanimity Grand Inquisitor â€Å"loves† humanity in a tale contrive by Ivan. In the world of Karamazovs all relations among people are perverted, they acquire criminal character since everyone here is trying to turn those around into â€Å"marble pedestal†, the pedestal for one†™s selfish ego.The world of Karamazovs is the world intersected by the crime chain reaction. Which one of the sons is father’s killer? Ivan did not kill, however, this is he who first formulated the idea of permissibility of patricide. Dmitry didn’t kill Fyodor Pavlovich either; he teetered on the brink of crime in a fit of hatred to his father. Fyodor Pavlovich was killed by Smerdyakov, but he only brought to an end Ivan’s ideas and passion that overfilled Dmitry’s embittered mind. In the world of Karamazovs the definite moral boundaries of crime cannot be restored – everybody is, to certain extent, guilty of murder.Potential delinquency reigns the atmosphere of mutual hatred and exasperation. Every person individually and all people together are guilty, or as Starets Zosima says â€Å"As to every man being guilty for everyone and everything, quite apart from his own sins. † (Dostoevsky, 379) â€Å"Remember especially that you may not si t in judgement over anyone. * No man on this earth can sit in judgement over other men until he realizes that he too is just such a criminal as the man standing before him, and that it is precisely he, more than anyone, who is guilty of that man’s crime. † (Dostoevsky, 402)â€Å"Karamazovshchina†, according to Dostoevsky, is a Russian variant of the disease, suffered by the all European societies; this is a disease of civilization. Its reasons are the loss of moral values by a civilized man and the sin of â€Å"self-worshipping†. The upper classes of Russian society, following the progressive classes of Western European society, worship their ego and consequently decay. The crisis of humanism comes, which in Russian conditions acquires forms which are particularly undisguised and defiant: â€Å"If you want to know, – argues Smerdyakov, when it comes to depravity there’s nothing to choose between them and us.They’re all blackguards, bu t there they walk about in patent leather boots while our scoundrels go around like stinking beggars and don’t see anything wrong in it†. (Dostoevsky, 282) By Ivan Karamazov’s formula: â€Å"for if there is no God, how can there be any crime? † (Dostoevsky, 395). The sources of Western European and Russian bourgeoisie were considered by Dostoevsky to be not in economic development of society but rather in the crisis of modern humanity, caused by â€Å"strenuously self-conscious† individual. (Lambasa et al., 118) Thus it can be concluded that Karamazov’s decay, according to Dostoevsky, is the direct implications of isolation, solitude of a modern civilized man, it is the consequence of people’s loss of feeling of great universal relation to the secular and divine world that is superior to the animal needs of human earthy nature. Repudiation of the higher spiritual values may bring a man to indifference, loneliness, and hatred to life. T his is the path kept by Ivan and Grand Inquisitor in the novel. Works Consulted Bloom, Harold.Fyodor Dostoevsky’s the Brothers Karamazov. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Karamazov Brothers. Trans. Ignat Avsey. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994 Lambasa, Frank S. , Ozolins, Valija K. , Ugrinsky, Alexej. Dostoevski and the Human Condition after a Century. New York: Greenwood Press, 1986. Leatherbarrow, W. J. The Cambridge Companion to Dostoevskii. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 2002 Sandoz, Ellis. Political Apocalypse: A Study of Dostoevsky’s Grand Inquisitor. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2000.

Compare and contrast the idea of Descartes and Kant on epistemology Essay

Compare and contrast the idea of Descartes and Kant on epistemology - Essay Example Descrates’ definition of knowledge is, however, specific to scientific knowledge and certainty is defined, in the theorist’s perspective, as absence of doubt. With cognition as the fundamental to scientific knowledge, two levels of certainty on cognition are identified to define knowledge. With absolute level of certainty, no single doubt exists that an alternative idea or subject can be found while moral level of certainty involves conviction on a subject even with the knowledge that the subject could be false. Moral certainty however identifies possible doubt and according to Descrates, does not therefore define knowledge.1 Kant’s idea on epistemology is based on three factors that further identify opinion and faith. People’s affirmative decisions exist in three levels that distinguish between knowledge, faith, and opinion. There is a subjective basis to affirmation and an objective cause. Affirmation that is devoid of conviction, when conviction is not sufficient, is based on opinion. however, subjective factors to affirmation may be sufficient but a person lacks objective basis. Under the circumstance, affirmation is based on faith and not on opinion. Sufficiency of both subjective and objective factors into affirmation defines existence of knowledge. Opinion and faith are therefore, and according to Kant, elements of knowledge in which sufficient objectivity defines opinion while sufficient subjectivity defines faith and existence of both opinion and faith defines knowledge.2 Theories of Kant and Descrates identify both similarities and differences. The two ideas converge to existence of knowledge beyond definitions because experiences and observations inform certainty. In addition, Kant discusses sufficiency of subjectivity and objectivity as essentials of knowledge and such sufficiency are consistent with Descrates’ ideas of levels of

Short and Long Term Consequences of Adolescent Victimization Essay

Short and Long Term Consequences of Adolescent Victimization - Essay Example The understanding of immediate affects abuse would have, how it relates to voluntary behaviors,howvictimization translates from adolescence to adulthood, and how it affects adulthood as a whole would be the main focus. Being a victim of crime is a common experience for both adolescents and adults. Victimization happens more to adolescents than it does to adults. The outcomes of being a victim of crime tend to be stronger among adolescent victims than adult victims. According to the National Youth Survey study they examined the consequences of adolescent victimization. The survey seems to focus on how being a victim of crime during the adolescent years seems to affect the negative outcomes when they become an adult. These negative outcomes include voluntary behaviors (e.g., committing crime, using illicit drugs) and involuntary outcomes (e.g., mental health problems). The Bulletin begins with an overview of the research literature on the consequences of criminal victimization.

Response paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Response paper - Essay Example These include India and China such that they can implement cleaner energy sources which other developed states are using. Clean energy sources include natural gas and nuclear, which are currently in use in rich states though they have taken long to reach at this development stage, a trend that started with coal. This is because as states become richer, they start focusing on how to limit emissions of obnoxious air pollutants as well as cleaning water for their respective citizens. Consequently, this prompts to the hypothesis people result to using cleaner sources of energy as their wealth continues to grow though they consume more energy. Despite this argument holding to be true among certain states, the notion of allowing individual states to pollute environment while trying to grow their economies is impractical. I do not agree that individual states should continue to pollute environment as long as their economies are growing. This is because through their respective authorities t hese states can adopt clean, cheap and even efficient energy sources, which are friendly to the environment like producer gas instead of coal or other related fuels whose emissions result to Greenhouse Gases. These states can also come up with effective processes meant to lessen usage of traditional fuels and reduce on their effluents, which in most cases end up disposed in water bodies. Therefore, they do not have any viable reason to support their claims towards contributing to environmental degradation in the name of enhancing or stabilizing their economies to equal those of developed states. Intentional pollution by these states while stabilizing their economies will only result to worse incidences that endanger their citizens’ lives besides prompting regimes to incur unnecessary expenses. This is evident in China where over the recent years and even up to date the state records high levels of both air and water pollutions. The latter is due to uncontrolled and careless r elease of obnoxious effluents from industries that channel their waste into water bodies especially in Beijing. Recently, environmental studies have confirmed all 37 Beijing Rivers their levels of contamination are beyond acceptable limits in terms of contamination. Consequently, this endangers lives of approximately 70 million people who depend on these rivers for water, which comprise the region’s five major water systems. Based on this rate of pollution, by allowing states to contaminate environment while trying to ensure intensive industrialization only results to pulling them downwards economically. This is because these states end up spending much money through their respective authorities in clean water bodies to obtain safe water for their desperate citizens. Colossal amount of money used to remove debris and other contaminants from these rivers regimes, could have avoided them earlier by not allowing intentional pollution. Water pollution in China has not only yielde d to making water unsafe for people but also aquatic life forms where the country currently experiences mass dying of fish in rivers. This is because of obnoxious pollutants from both industries and residential areas thrown in rivers. Similar losses incurred by the state though on the part of motorists were evident during the last concluded Olympics where the government

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Personal though - Essay Example Modeling is probably the most effective method through which children actually learn better as it offers them an alternative to actually model their behavior and learn relatively easily. (White, Coleman and Davis) 2. I believe teachers are increasingly been seeing as role models- people who can actually help children to better understand the world. Since in this busy world, parents may often not be the ideal role models therefore children and their families often view teacher as someone who can help children to better develop their abilities to successfully negotiate with the world. Feedback from teachers is considered as important and parents can actually remodel the behavior of their children based upon the feedback received from the teachers. Families increasingly see teachers as someone who can actually help children to better find connections between the real world and their perceptions. As such it becomes important that teachers build a better rapport with families to help them better understand the overall orientation of their children so that a better future for them can be planned. (Anning, Cullen and Fleer) 3. I believe one of my most important strengths as an early childhood education professional is to ensure that children basically understand the role of a teacher. I believe that as a teacher it has remained one of my strengths to actually help children realize what the different roles of teacher are and what is expected from them as students. I consider this as strength because it develops a better ability in children to understand what they can expect from a teacher. Since at the early stage of their learning, children often have to deal with both the parents as well as the teachers therefore it becomes necessary for a teacher actually to fill the gap and help children to better learn and develop. 4. I believe the next big area will be to combine technology with learning in most effective manner. With new technologies coming out, the

Colin Crouch on Corporate Accountability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Colin Crouch on Corporate Accountability - Essay Example As the discussion declares   the bust and boom phenomena will continue because the neoliberal ideology has long time implications on the decisions made by organizations. Though there is need for the interests of organisations and the public good to be pursued, the government cannot interfere in the operations of businesses. Likewise, organisations cannot interfere with the business policies developed by the government despite the impacts it has on its operations. Therefore, in order to eliminate this dilemma, Crouch argues that a middle ground must be achieved that brings together the profits interests of businesses with the public good. The middle ground can only be achieved through corporate social responsibility as corporations have today grown into major actors in the public domain. In this paper, the position taken by Crouch that corporation must reduce their dominance with profit success and embrace corporate social accountability will be evaluated. This evaluation will be ba sed on the views adopted by other management scholars in line with the neoliberal attitude towards corporate social responsibility. In Crouch, the impacts neoliberalism and the financial turmoil on the behaviour of corporations have been addressed in the face of their accountability to the society.  

Managing Operations - HSBC Bank (UK) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Managing Operations - HSBC Bank (UK) - Essay Example It was a considered a premier bank in the Asian region. In Japan, after opening its branch in 1866, the bank went on to become an adviser to the government on banking and currency. In 1888, it was the first bank to be established in Thailand, where it printed the country's first banknotes. Today HSBC proudly boasts of over 125 million customers around the world, with a diverse workforce of more than 260,000 people, and has successfully completed 140 years of its presence in China in 2005. Today UK has the biggest share of its operations with over 55,000 employees serving the bank customers. The value that is added by both operations management and operations strategy is fundamental to any organization. Providing services or goods are the basic forms of operational activities. All organizations try to provide a combination of product and service. Opening a bank account, taking a meal in a restaurant, visiting a hospital, buying a pair shoes, insuring a vehicle, a hotel stay etc. are all operations activities and their management is central to the successful provisioning of goods and services. HSBC, having a vast experience over the 140 years, has done a commendable job by being a friendly bank to the world community at large. Operations management has i... ource form an active component of any organisation having many types of needs which, at times, are affected by the motivational factors present in the internal and external environment of the organisation. Therefore, human beings work towards the achievement of their short-term or long-term goals and objectives. The organisation too expects certain standards of performance from its staff and certain goals are set by the organisation as well. For HSBC we'll be examining its performance against the following five performance objectives; Quality: John Ruskin an English Critic said, "Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort. There must be the will to produce a superior thing". This 'will-power' is encouraged amongst the human being to achieve a quality service standard. In fact the term quality often conveys different meanings to different people. The meaning of quality varies in different circumstances as well, for example, a car which runs smoothly on straight roads may not prove to be of top quality while running in the hilly stretches of bumpy roads. HSBC has set for itself the following Core Business Principles to deliver quality service to its clientele. Outstanding customer service Effective and efficient operations Strong capital and liquidity Conservative lending policy Strict expense discipline Morality in dealings HSBC says, "We aim to combine quality investment performance, first class service and value-for-money products1. It appears HSBC has put in practice what it preaches. HBBC was adjudged as the top ranking in the 'sub-custodian' category 'Global Finance' magazine's (Oct 2005) Best-Banks award-2005, in 12 countries and three regions for the quality of its services to global custodians. Speed: The starting point of

Mini business plan Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Mini business plan - Assignment Example rpose and scope of this plan is to provide particular information about the industry and to highlight the critical areas for successful launching of a new fast food restaurant in Minnesota. The data discussed in this business plan is based on some certain facts and has been collected through number of sources. A careful attempt has been made to present real time data, however, this information may change at any time due to occurrence of any changes in the target market, and thus the actual outcomes may differ from the projected results. Generation of revenue and profit is the main purpose of any organization and same will be for Minnesota Fast Food Restaurant. Since it’s a service provider unit, therefore, customer service is the base of its existence. Our aim is to become the first choice of the customers and make them staying with us again and again. We believe in PEARL as our core value i.e. MFFR will operate its business by keeping a target market of very general nature in front of it because Cottage Grove is a small area having a population of only 34,589 in 2010 census According to the census conducted in 2000, there were 9,932 households and 8,462 families living in the Cottage Grove. Our restaurant will address the youth population, between ages 18 to 44 years, as its target market because it is 41.8% of the total population. Population under 18 is almost 32.7% of the total population (Census Redistricting Data, 2010). In Cottage Grove, the per capita income for the city was $28,348 in 2009 (http://www.city-data.com/city/Cottage-Grove-Minnesota.html). The market behavior of US fast food industry is interesting and it has been observed that generally three types of orders are placed in fast food restaurant. These orders are placed with respect to nature of group and family. The figure shown as Appendix-I indicates that lunch and dinner items are having a larger share of the market as 29% of the US fast food industry consists of it. Snack items and

Largest Pressure Groups Essay Example for Free

Largest Pressure Groups Essay To what extent are the largest pressure groups the most successful ones? Some pressure groups are more powerful than others as some succeed while others fail. Success in pressure groups is defined by how they affect government policy, their agenda-setting power and how well they can change people’s ideologies. Large groups mean that they have more members. This in turn leads to more donations. Chequebook groups tend to get most of their finance from their members, for example Greenpeace get 90% of their income from their members. This means that large groups tend to be wealthy. Being a wealthy group means that they have financial and economic power. For example, major corporations such as are the main source of employment and investment in the economy so the government will seek their cooperation. For wealthy groups that aren’t business groups will possess financial strength to employ professional lobbyists and public relations consultants. However, it is the wealth not the size of the pressure group that makes them economically powerful and the biggest pressure groups are not always the most economically powerful. The CBI is more economically powerful than TUC despite the TUC having seven million members. This is because although some groups may be small, they can exert influence through their policy expertise and specialist knowledge. Another good part of being a large group is that they can claim to represent public opinion. NSPCC is an example of this as they ensure that their membership levels stay above one million. This means that governments are most likely to listen to them because their members can have an electoral impact. However having good leadership can be a more direct form of influence than having many members. Having a high profile leader, such as Peter Tatchell of OutRage!, can help as they have some political skills, political contacts and have developed media and presentational skills. Lastly, the government’s views are a very important part. A group may very well be large and wealthy, however if the government doesn’t sympathise with their aims, then it will be very difficult for them to influence policy. For example, Greenpeace are very large and wealthy but the government rarely listen to them. In conclusion, there are different factors that determine how successful a pressure group is. However, large groups tend to have a significant amount of wealth, so whether it is the size of the group or other factors that should be accredited to its success can be argued.

The Fault And Rise Of John Lasseter Essay Example for Free

The Fault And Rise Of John Lasseter Essay John Lasseter grew up in a family heavily involved in artistic expression. Lasseter was drawn to cartoons as a youngster. Then as a freshman in high school he read a book entitled The Art of Animation. The book, about the making of the Disney animated film Sleeping Beauty, proved to be a revelation for Lasseter. He discovered that people could earn a living by developing cartoons. Lasseter started writing letters to The Walt Disney Company Studios regarding his interest in creating cartoons. Studio representatives, who corresponded with Lasseter many times, told him to get a great art education, after which they would teach him animation. When Disney started a Character Animation Program at the California Institute of Arts film school, the Disney Studio contacted Lasseter and he enrolled in the program. Classes were taught by extremely talented Disney animators who also shared stories about working with Walt Disney. During summer breaks from Cal Art classes, jobs at Disneyland further fuelled Lasseter’s passion for working as an animator for Disney Studios. Full of excitement, Lasseter joined the Disney animation staff in 1979 after graduation from the California Institute of Arts, but he was met with disappointment. According to Lasseter, â€Å"[t]he animation studio wasn’t being run by these great Disney artists like our teachers at Cal Arts, but by lesser artists and businesspeople who rose through attrition as the grand old men retired.† Lasseter was told, â€Å"[y]ou put in your time for 20 years and do what you’re told, and then you can be in charge.† He continues, â€Å"I didn’t realize it then, but I was beginning to be perceived as a loose cannon. All I was trying to do was make things great, but I was beginning to make some enemies.† In the early 1980s, Lasseter became enthralled with the potential of using computer graphics technology for animation but found little interest among Disney Studio executives for the concept. Nonetheless, a young Disney executive, Tom Willhite, eventually allowed Lasseter and a colleague to develop a 30-second test film that combined â€Å"hand-drawn, two-dimensional Disney-style character animation with three-dimensional computer-generated backgrounds.† Lasseter found a story that would fit the test and could be developed into a full movie. When Lasseter presented the test clip and feature movie idea to the Disney Studio head, the only question the studio head asked concerned the cost of production. Lasseter told him the cost of production with computer animation would be about the same as a regular animated feature, and the studio head informed Lasseter, â€Å"I’m only interested in computer animation if it saves money or time.† Lasseter subsequently discovered that his idea was doomed before he ever presented it to the studio head. Says Lasseter, â€Å"[w]e found out later that others poked holes in my idea before I had even pitched it. In our enthusiasm, we had gone around some of my direct superiors, and I didn’t realize how much of an enemy I had made of one of them. I mean, the studio head had made up his mind before we walked in. We could have shown him anything and he would have said the same thing.† Shortly after the studio head left the room, Lasseter received a call from the superior who didn’t like him, informing Lasseter that his employment at Disney was being terminated immediately. Despite being fired, Lasseter did not speak negatively of the Disney organization, nor did he let others know anything other than the project on which he was working had ended. His personal admiration and respect for Walt Disney and animation were too great to allow him to do otherwise. Lasseter was recruited to Lucasfilm by Ed Catmull to work on a project that â€Å"turned out to be the very first character-animation cartoon done with a computer.† Not too long afterwards, Steve Jobs bought the animation business from George Lucas for $10 million and Pixar Animation Studios was born. Lasseter became the chief creative genius behind Pixar’s subsequent animated feature film successes like Toy Story, Toy Story 2, A Bug’s Life, and The Incredibles, among others. In 2006, Disney CEO Robert Iger and Pixar CEO Steve Jobs consummated a deal for Pixar to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney. Iger wanted to reinvigorate animation at Disney, and as the top creative executive at Pixar, John Lasseter, was viewed a key figure in achieving this objective. Lasseter â€Å" is regarded by Hollywood executives as the modern Walt [Disney] himself [with capabilities] that have made Pixar a sure thing in the high stakes animated world.† Former Disney Studios head, Peter Schneider, says Lasseter â€Å"is a kid who has never grown up and continues to show the wonder and joy that you need in this business.† Current Disney Studio chief, Dick Cook, says that Lasseter is like the famous professional basketball player, Michael Jordan. â€Å"He makes all the players around him better.† Lasseter now oversees development of movies at both Pixar’s and Disney’s animation studios. Says Lasseter, â€Å"I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to have all these new roles. I do what I do in life because of Walt Disney his films and his theme park and his characters and his joy in entertaining. The emotional feeling that his creations gave me is something that I want to turn around and give to others.† Discussion Questions 1. What forms of interpersonal power are evident in the case? 2. In what ways do the two faces of power appear in this case? 3. Does the firing of John Lasseter from Disney Studios and the events leading up to his firing demonstrate the ethical use of power? Explain your answer. 4. Did the firing of John Lasseter indicate the existence of political behaviour in the Disney organization?

Study Of A Renewable Energy Of Photovoltaic System Engineering Essay

Study Of A Renewable Energy Of Photovoltaic System Engineering Essay Besides, the guidelines to Account for and Report on Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Removals for Buildings (Commercial, Residential or Institutional Purposes) in Hong Kong 2010 Edition of EMSD and EPD report that climate change has become a challenge to the international community. The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is committed to working closely with the international community in formulating measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Being a service economy without any major energy-intensive industries, electricity generation is the major source of GHG emissions in Hong Kong, accounting for over 60% of the total local emissions. The second largest GHG emission source is transport sector (16%), followed by waste (12%). Among various end uses of electricity, buildings account for some 89% in Hong Kong. Therefore, red ucing electricity consumption for building operations is instrumental in bringing down our GHG emissions. It will also have the co-benefits of reducing operational costs and improving the local and regional air quality. GHG emissions associated with the electricity purchased based on a territory-wide default value of 0.7kg/kWh in Hong Kong and these specific emission factors are available from the 2 nos. of electric companies (CLP The China Light Power Company Ltd. HEC The Hong Kong Electric Company Ltd.) from years 2002 to years 2007 in Hong Kong as following: Photovoltaic System More renewable energy sources may help containing fossil fuel use, thereby reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Solar energy is one of the renewable energy being widely used over the world mainly due to its clean and emission free properties. Solar energy can be used in many ways which can provide the heat energy, mechanical power and electrical power. One of the most common methods is to convert solar radiation into electricity through the use of photovoltaic (PV) technology. The sunlight will converted to electricity using photovoltaic solar cells. The photovoltaic cells are usually bundled together in panels and modules to produce the increased power. The PV panel advantages are no pollution, quiet operation and require a little maintenance. Over the past few years, photovoltaic technologies have been developed rapidly. To promote greater adoption of renewable energy technologies in Hong Kong, the Energy Efficiency Office (EEO) of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department (EMSD) always seeks opportunity to promote the use of new renewable energy technologies. Attention is now being paid to the flexible amorphous thin-film technology in view of the increasing popularity for applications in overseas countries Renewable energy is ready to be inexhaustible, harnessed and more importantly is a clean alternative to fossil fuels. Photovoltaic System is the type of the renewable energy in Hong Kong and aim to have 1 and 2% of Hong Kongs total electricity supply met by power generated by the year 2012. The world population of 10 billion by the year 2050, the worlds fossil fuel resources will advance more depletion rapidly according to the increasing global energy demand at the world. Photovoltaic is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. The photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material. Photovoltaic device directly and silently convert light energy to electricity. No-post installation energy input other than the light source virtually. The sun is required normally. Materials presently used for photovoltaic include monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, and cadmium telluride and copper indium gallium selenide/sulfide. Due to the growing demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced considerably in recent years. Many solar photovoltaic power stations have been built which mainly in Europe region. As of December 2011, the largest photovoltaic power plants in the world are the Golmud Solar Park (China, 200MV), Sarnia Photovoltaic Power Plant (Canada, 97MV), Montalto di Castro Photovoltaic Power Station  (Italy, 84.2 MW),Finsterwalde Solar Park  (Germany, 80.7 MW),  Ohotnikovo Solar Park  (Ukraine, 80  MW),  Lieberose Photovoltaic Park  (Germany, 71.8  MW),  Rovigo Photovoltaic Power Plant  (Italy, 70 MW),Olmedilla Photovoltaic Park  (Spain, 60  MW) and the Strasskirchen Solar Park  (Germany, 54  MW) Advantages of Photovoltaic System For the renewable energy, solar power is pollution free during use. Production end wastes and emissions are manageable using existing pollution controls. End of user recycling technologies are under development and policies are being produced that encourage recycling from producers. PV installations can operate for many years with little maintenance or intervention after their initial set up. So that, after the initial capital cost of building any solar power plant, operating costs are extremely low compared to existing power technologies. Grid-connecting solar electricity can be used locally thus reducing transmission and distribution losses. Compared to fossil and nuclear energy sources, Very little research money has been invested in the development of solar cells, so there is considerable room for improvement. Nevertheless, experimental high efficiency solar cells already have efficiencies of over 40% in case of concentrating photovoltaic cells and efficiencies are rapidly rising while mass production costs area rapidly falling. 1.5 Environmental Impact of PV System The most important feature of solar PV systems is that there are no emissions of carbon dioxide the main gas responsible for global climate change during their operation. Although indirect emissions of CO2 occur at other stages of the lifecycle, these are significantly lower than the avoided emissions. PV does not involve any other polluting emissions or the type of environmental safety concerns associated with conventional generation technologies. There is no pollution in the form of exhaust fumes or noise. Decommissioning a system is unproblematic. Although there are no CO2 emissions during operation, a small amount does result from the production stage. PV only emits 21,65 grams CO2/kWh, however, depending on the PV technology. The average emissions for thermal power in Europe, on the other hand, are 900g CO2/kWh. By substituting PV for thermal power, a saving of 835879 g/kWh is achieved. The benefit to be obtained from carbon dioxide reductions in a countrys energy mix is dependent on which other generation method, or energy use, solar power is replacing. Where off-grid systems replace diesel generators, they will achieve CO2 savings of about 1 kg per kilowatt-hour. Due to their tremendous inefficiency, the replacement of a kerosene lamp will lead to even larger savings, of up to 350 kg per year from a single 40 Wp module, equal to 25kg CO2/kWh. For consumer applications and remote industrial markets, on the other hand, it is very difficult to identify exact CO2 savings per kilowatt-hour. Recycling of PV modules is possible and raw materials can be reused. As a result, the energy input associated with PV will be further reduced. If governments adopt a wider use of PV in their national energy generation, solar power can therefore make a substantial contribution towards international commitments to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and their contribution to climate change. By 2030, according to the EPIA-Greenpeace Solar Generation Advanced Scenario, solar PV would have reduced annual global CO2 emissions by just over 1,6 billion tonnes. This reduction is equivalent to the output from 450 coal-fired power plants (average size 750 MW). Cumulative CO2 savings from solar electricity generation between 2005 and 2030 will have reached a level of 9 billion tonnes. Carbon dioxide is responsible for more than 50% of the man-made greenhouse effect, making it the most important contributor to climate change. It is produced mainly by the burning of fossil fuels. Natural gas is the most environmentally sound of the fossil fuels, because it produces roughly half as much carbon dioxide as coal, and less of other polluting gases. Nuclear power produces very little CO2, but has other major safety, security, proliferation and pollution problems associated with its operation and waste products. 1.6 Energy Payback A popular belief still persists that PV systems cannot pay back their energy investment within the expected lifetime of a solar generator about 25 years. This is because the energy expended, especially during the production of solar cells, is seen to outweigh the energy eventually generated. Data from recent studies shows, however, that present-day systems already have an energy payback time (EPBT) the time taken for power generation to compensate for the energy used in production of 1 to 3.5 years, well below their expected lifetime. With increased cell efficiency and a decrease in cell thickness, as well as optimized production procedures, it is anticipated that the EPBT for grid-connected PV will decrease further. The figure hereafter shows energy payback times for different solar cell technologies (thin film, ribbon, multicrystalline and monocrystalline) at different locations (southern and northern Europe). The energy input into a PV system is made up of a number of elements, including the frame, module assembly, cell production, ingot and wafer production and the silicon feedstock. The energy payback time for thin film systems is already less than a year in southern Europe. PV systems with monocrystalline modules in northern Europe, on the other hand, will pay back their input energy within 3.5 years. Figure Energy payback times for range of PV systems (rooftop system, irrad. 1700 resp. 1000 kWh/m2/year) 1.7 Future Markets of PV System International Energy Agency Photovoltaics Power Systems Programme (IEA PVPS) newsletter issue35, 2011/09/01, Page 6 report that The PV market continues to grow faster than expected and prospects for the future remain strong as long as policymakers encourage a stable and sustainable approach to market development. The global PV growth trend in recent years has been astonishing. In 2010, growth was higher than 100%, with capacity additions close to 17 gigawatts (GW) from 7.2 GW installed in 2009. At the start of 2011 the total installed world capacity was close to 40 GW, producing some 50 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electrical power every year. Most of that increase was due to the rapid growth of the German (7.4 GW) and Italian markets (2.3 GW), though other countries also showed significant development. However in many countries the rapid price decreases have led PV close to competitiveness. With PV system prices down in certain market segments to around à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬2/ Wp ($2.8), the cost of generation of electricity from PV went down in sunny countries to less than à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬0.15/ kWh. There are few doubts about the ability of PV prices to drop significantly and bring electricity costs below 10 eurocents ($0.14) in the five coming years. Chapter 2 Literature Review This part of the thesis summaries the related work by other researchers. The focus is on those researches that the related to my own area directly which is the study of the photovoltaic system. 2.1 PV Technology Photovoltaic technology is the direct conversion of the electricity from the sun light. The first PV cells, it was only realized in year 1954 after the development of material science and manufacturing of solid state devices. Nowadays, it is extensively accepted as a good technology to generate electricity directly from sun light with minimal environment pollution and as one of the possible alternatives to fossil fuel energy sources. At photovoltaic system, it has many ways to apply the PV to obtain the solar energy. Solar electricity, year 2004, Markvart. T. report that in the development of semi-conducting devices manufacturing, it mainly consist of silicon, the development of PV cells from the by-products of semi-conductor industry lower the cost and made civil application of PV feasible. Throughout the history of development of PV, its dominating applications have long been the stand -alone applications. In a stand-alone photovoltaic system, PV is the only way and source of energy powering the electrical load. It has not other external electrical power sources. To supply for the demand when there is no sunlight such as deep in the night. The PV system has not enough sun light to transform into the electricity. It requires some kinds of energy storage such as battery, fuel cells, and water tanks and so on. These types of systems are widely used for the rural area and the faraway area which power network is not more maturity. IEA PVPS trends in photovoltaic application, survey report of selected IEA countries between 1992 and 2010, T1-20:2011 show that these stand alone photovoltaic system fell below about 4% of total world-wide photovoltaic installations. Nowadays, the dominating type of photovoltaic application is the grid connecting photovoltaic system producing the clean power for supporting the electricity grid. From year 2000 to 2010, the percentages of gird connected in the reporting countries are from about 55% to 95%. IEA PVPS T1-20:2010, percentages of grid-connected and off-grid PV power in the reporting countries. The operational principle of the grid-connecting photovoltaic system is used the cells to convert the solar radiation into electricity. When the light shines on the cell it creates an electric field across the layers, causing electricity to flow. The direct current (DC) electricity from the PV modules to alternating current (AC) with sophisticated power electronic devices and then supplies the power to the loads in conjunction with the utility grid. It services as a supplementary power source to main stream generation with fossil fuel, nuclear or other conventional means from the utility. Effectively the grid-connecting photovoltaic systems use the grid power as the storage and also the complementary source. It would supply the loads together with the gird when there is not enough from the sun, and would generate excess power into the grid when the PV system could provide more than the loads is needed. This is the fastest uptake type of PV application and became the dominant type by the end of 1999 (IEA PVPS T1-11:2002, P4). Luther et al. (2003, p.98) argued that this type of PV system will be contributing to the main-stream power production towards the reduction of CO2 emission in industrialized countries. Hence the course of change in PV application indicates a development of its role in supplying power to remote areas where no other means of electricity could be easily available and then to supporting the modern society in reducing the adverse effect of burning fossil fuels. The grid-connecting photovoltaic system is the most popular type of solar PV system for homes and businesses in developed areas. Connection to the local electricity network allows any excess power produced to feed the electricity grid and to sell it to the utility. Electricity is then imported from the network when there is no sun.   An inverter is used to convert the direct current power produced by the system to alternative power for running normal electrical equipment. 2.1.1 Grid-Connected Domestic Systems This is the most popular type of solar PV system for homes and businesses in developed areas. Connection to the local electricity network allows any excess power produced to feed the electricity grid and to sell it to the utility. Electricity is then imported from the network when there is no sun.   An inverter is used to convert the direct current power produced by the system to alternative power for running normal electrical equipment 2.1.2 Grid-Connected Power Plants These systems are also grid-connected, produce a large quantity of photovoltaic electricity in a single point. The size of these plants range is from several hundred kilowatts to several megawatts. Some of these applications are located on large industrial buildings such as airport terminals or railways stations. This type of large application makes use of already available space and compensates a part of the electricity produced by these energy-intensive consumers. 2.2 Crystalline Silicon Crystalline Silicon is the most mature photovoltaic industry technology. It has been developed since the 1950s which had the relatively high conversion efficiency of about 11% to 15% at Standard Test Conditions. Standard Test Conditions (STC) is the convention adopted by the photovoltaic industry benchmark for the performance of a PV cell under the particular testing circumstances. This way of characterization of PV modules has its limitations. Crystalline silicon is still dominating the PV market and is expected to do so for the near future. Meanwhile, in its crystalline form, pure silicon has a grey color and a metallic luster. Like a germanium, silicon is rather strong, very brittle and prone to chipping. The crystal structure of the silicon is resembles the diamond cubic crystal structure. The structure is very stable and less susceptible to degradation due to the heat and light. It also used in a high efficiency photovoltaic applications. In terms of charge conduction, silicon i s an intrinsic semiconductor which means that unlike metals it conducts electron holes and electrons which may be released from atoms within the crystal by heat and thus increase silicons electrical conductance with higher temperatures. This particular property enables crystalline silicon PV to last for over 20 years and remain functional. Some of the PV manufactures are offering the warranty of over 20 years. Crystalline silicon can subdivided into 2 types. It is mono-crystalline silicon (m-Si) and poly-crystalline silicon (p-Si). On the mono-crystalline silicon, it is the earliest commercialized technology for applications. It requires the high energy input to produce the raw materials for m-Si cell by single crystal growth. A less energy demanding casting procedure of Silicon crystal was therefore developed to lower the production cost. IEA PVPS trends in photovoltaic application, survey report of selected IEA countries between 1992 and 2010, T1-20:2011 show that due to its lower module price, the p-Si of photovoltaic system is becoming popular gradually. These two manufacturing technologies dominate the market of PV system and in year 2003 accounted for over 85% market share. The thickness of crystalline silicon PV cells is from 0.13mm to 0.3mm. It needs the suitable protection for the relevant mechanical reason. So, to provide the relevant mechanical protection, the most common method of the PV modules for crystalline Si is the cells embedded in the glass layers. This enables a natural integration with building since glass is one of the most widely deployed building materials. The manufacture process of the Crystalline Silicon photovoltaic cell (Picture from EPIA European Photovoltaic Industry Association) 2.3 Amorphous Silicon Amorphous is the term describing the characteristics of silicon atoms grouped together forming the PV cell. The amorphous literally means formless. The structure contrasts with its crystalline counterpart which is much more stable and high efficiency. One of the main reasons for developing amorphous silicon (a-Si) PV technology is the lower production cost. The lower production cost is brought about by the lower energy input for the deposition of silicon layer onto the substrate instead of high temperature crystal formation (Luther et al., 2003, p55) and the significantly less amount of silicon required for the cell production (Deng and Schiff, 2003, p.508). The thickness of silicon coating on the substrate is usually in the range of about 0.001mm. That is less than one-hundredth of that of crystalline silicon PV cells. The significant decrease in raw material used enable a-Si module to be sold at a much lower price per unit area than that of crystalline silicon modules especially at the time of ever increasing price of silicon due to the competition between manufacturing of computer chips and PV modules. In its amorphous state, the photo-electric property of silicon is subjected to light-induced degradation. The effect was reported by Staebler and Wronski, therefore known as the Stabler-Wronski effect (Goetzberger and Hoffmann, 2005, p.60). After an initial degradation of about 10% 20% decrease in conversion efficiency, the electrical properties of the a-Si cells will be stabilized. It is now a common practice for the manufacturers to publish the stabilized efficiency. The stabilized STC efficiencies of commercial a-Si PV modules are around 4% 8%. In order to improve the conversion efficiency of the a-Si modules, some manufacturers stack layers of Si depositions to capture more photons. Although with lower efficiency, a-Si PV cells are widely applied in indoor applications for small electronic appliances attributing to its better response to weak light. It is the third most widespread type of PV technology after crystalline silicon the a-Si has been used as a photovoltaic solar cel l material for devices which require very little power such as pocket calculators and toys. Since the thin layer of a-Si can be deposited onto various types of substrate. This enables the form of PV modules made of a-Si having a much greater variety. Furthermore, silicon in its amorphous form does not have the limitations of thickness or mechanical strength as in crystalline form. These special properties facilitate its application in a flexible form. This is very suitable for producing PV modules for building applications. Together with its performance being less affected by the heat built up in the modules, it can be a good candidate for applications in hot climates. The a-Si PV modules area commercially available for installation onto the roofs of buildings either applied onto the finished roof or integrated into the roof covering. The advantage over traditional PV panels is that they are very low in weight. It is not subject to wind lifting and can be walked on. The comparable disadvantages are increased cost and reduced efficiency. Flexible a-Si PV modules can made as roofing material 2.4 Other Thin-Film Technologies Thin-film is the general term for PV cells produced other than those thick layers of crystalline silicon. Amorphous silicon is the earliest commercialize thin-film technology. Its development was mainly from the drive to lower production costs by using significantly less rea material and energy input during the manufacturing process. Other new comers comprise Copper Indium Diselenide (CIS), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) and so on. In 1975, a Copper Indium Diselenide (CIS) cell of 12% efficiency was successfully demonstrated at the USAs Bell Labs and work at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed the technology under the US department of Energys thin film program during the 1980s, consolidating the technologys promise (Zweibel, 1990, pp.161-180). Due to the collapse of research funding in the US it was almost another 10 years before Siemens Solar Industries (SSI) produced the first commercially CIS modules in late 1990s. A family of similar compounds has also been developed such as CuInSe2, CuGaSe2, CuInS2, Cu2 and so on. the coating of thin film CIS onto substrate was found to be more flexible and easily manipulated (Goetzberger and Hoffmann, 2005, p.65). Therefore CIS is the major material used within this family of compounds. Similar to a-Si, CIS can be coated into many types of substrate. The choices of CIS modules are wider. For example, flexible CIS modules and modules on polymer back sheets can be found on the PV market. However, due to the rapidly evolving technology, the manufacturing process and even the compound used for CIS modules are ever changing. Second generation CIS modules was reported by Palm et al. (2004) and more development is imminent. With the flexibility in manufacturing the modules, CIS can be one of the candidates for building integration. These can further be divided into ordinary Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system and Photovoltaic (PV) systems and the solar cells in the market can be classified into two main categories: Crystalline Silicon Cells and Thin-Film Cells. PV cells are generally made either from crystalline silicon, sliced from ingots or castings, from grown ribbons or thin film, deposited in thin layers on a low-cost backing. The performance of a solar cell is measured in terms of its efficiency at turning sunlight into electricity. A typical commercial solar cell has an efficiency of 15% about one-sixth of the sunlight striking the cell generates electricity. Improving solar cell efficiencies while holding down the cost per cell is an important goal of the PV industry. Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) has a similar long history in the whole group of thin-film PV modules. Due to its tolerance to defects and grain boundaries, simple and easy to handle deposition process is possible for this material (Luther et al. 2003, p.70). Technology wise this type of material should have been booming. The major hurdle now is the market acceptance since both Cadmium and Telluride are toxic materials although CdTe itself is stable and harmless to the environment. Furthermore, different countries have different regulations regarding Cadmium containing materials (Deb, 2002). This uncertainty might increase the risk factor in investing production plant for CdTe and BP Solar was reported to have closed their CdTe plant (Luther et al. 2003, p.72). Synergising with the technology advancement in device handling and manufacturing process in semi-conductor industry, there are emerging technologies for thin film PV cell (Sopori, 2003, p.308). These include crystalline silicon thin film (m-SiTF), micro-crystalline silicon (ÃŽÂ ¼m-Si) and so on. However, they are still new technology and even not yet commercialized. Due to the longer history of development, crystalline silicon PV modules are still the more common to apply for the building envelope nowadays. But due to the PV modules brittleness, it have to be well protected by the glass layer and backing. It is this intrinsic nature of crystalline silicon that determines the formation and hence limits its applications on buildings. On the other hand, the thin film photovoltaic technology can be applied on many more substrate and the flexible film modules are available for thin film besides glass-glass modules and glass film modules that are common in crystalline silicon technology. The different size, form, material used can apply to the different building design. Hence, the applications of thin film photovoltaic modules are better than the crystalline silicon nowadays. 2.5 Electrical Characteristics and Performance PV modules can serve as the building envelope to keep out the weather and control heat gain. To analysis the electrical performance of a PV module, both the instantaneous power output and the energy yield over the time period under investigation has been considered. Instantaneous power has been normalized to per unit power under Standard Test Condition (STC) for easy comparison between different types of technology. Each PV panel is rated under industrial STC of solar irradiance of 1,000W/m2 with zero angle of incidence, solar spectrum of 1.5 air mass and 25à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ cell temperature. Electrical characteristics from manufacturers include maximum rated power, open circuit voltage, short circuit current, maximum power voltage, maximum power current and the temperature coefficients .Also, the energy yield has been normalized in a similar manner. The methodology of evaluation of performance has been based on the Standard IEC 61724 (1998). 2.6 Photovoltaic Simulation In the photovoltaic system simulation, the prediction of the PV module performance is the core part of the simulator. Normally, the modeling is based on the physical characteristics of the photo electric effect at the semi-conductor. The simulation is calculated the photo-current generated by a certain amount of the irradiance at the surface of the semi-conductor at specific physical conditions. Nowadays, the most of the commercial photovoltaic system simulation programs is the temporal series of data being simulated such as RETSCREEN, PVPSYST, PVSOL, PV-Design Pro, Hybird2 HOMER and so on. 2.6.1 RETSCREEN The RETScreen software is a program developed by Natural Resources Canada for evaluating both financial and environmental costs and benefits for many different renewable energy technologies. RETScreen has a specific Photovoltaic Project Model that can model PV array performance for many locations around the worldncludes a climatic database including average measurements for 4700 ground stations, compiled from over 20 different sources, and covering the period 1961-1990. These data are presented as a unique coherent database, and present numerous parameters including Irradiation, air temperature and wind velocities. 2.6.2 PVSYST PVsyst software has been developed at the University of Geneva in Switzwerland. This is an excellent package for design and analysis of a solar photovoltaic system. It is widely used due to the many parameters available for the user to modify. This software is oriented towards architects, engineers, researchers and holds very helpful tools for education. Both stand-alone and grid-connected PV as well as solar water pumping system could be designed by using PVsyst. 2.6.3 PVSOL The PVSol program is photovoltaic system analysis software developed by Valentin Energy Software in Germany with an English language version distributed by the Solar Design Company based in the UK. The first version of PVSol was released in 1998. 2.6.4 PV-Design Pro PVDesignPro software is a commercially available software model developed by the Maui Solar Energy Software Corporation (MSESC) and SNL for photovoltaic systems modeling. The software incorporates algorithms from both of SNLs PV array and inverter performance models as well as SNLs database of PV module and inverter parameters. NIST uses a custom version of PVDesignPro for comparing different PV technologies and predicting PV module performance for BIPV applications. The program uses an hourly time-step for modeling system performance. 2.6.5 Hybird2 Hybrid2 is described as a probabilistic time series computer model for evaluating the performance and economics of hybrid electricity generating systems. It was developed by the Renewable Energy Research Laboratory (RERL) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with support from NREL. This program is an engineering design model for hybrid systems consisting of PV, wind, generators and battery storage for both on-grid and off-grid systems 2.5.6 HOMER HOMER is a hybrid system model developed at NREL in 1993 for both on-grid and offgrid systems. A unique capability that HOMER offers is the ability to find the optimal configuration based on price estimates as well as perform sensitivity analysis to help understand tradeoffs between different technologies and economic considerations. The software has the ability to compare multiple system configurations as well as different battery types. HOMER uses the KiBaM code for battery life modeling as described below in Section 4.2.1. The model can incorporate the following componen

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SET EDITION: U.S. INTERNATIONAL MÉXICO ARABIC TV: CNN CNNi CNN en Espaà ±ol HLN Sign up Log in Home TV & Video CNN Trends U.S. World Politics Justice Entertainment Tech Health Living Travel Opinion iReport Money Sports SHARE THIS Print Email More sharing Colin Powell Fast Facts By CNN Library updated 3:35 PM EDT, Tue August 20, 2013 (CNN) -- Here's a look at the life of Colin Powell, former Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Personal: Birth date: April 5, 1937 Birthplace: Harlem, New York Birth name: Colin Luther Powell Parents: Luther Powell, a shipping clerk Mother: Maud Ariel (McKoy) Powell, a seamstress Marriage: Alma Vivian (Johnson) Powell (August 25, 1962-present) Children: Annemarie Powell (May 1970); Linda Powell (April 1965); Michael Powell (March 1963) Education: City College of New York, B.S. in geology,1958; George Washington University, M.B.A.,1971; National War College, 1976 Military service: U.S. Army, 1958-1993, General Other Facts: Powell grew up in the South Bronx, the son of Jamaican immigrants. Powell participated in ROTC in college, leading the precision drill team and attaining the top rank offered by the corps, cadet colonel. Military awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Air Medal, Soldier's Medal and two Purple Hearts. Civilian awards include the President's Citizens Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Secretary of State Distinguished Service Medal, and the Secretary of Energy Distinguished Service Medal as well as receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice. Powell was the youngest man and first African-American to be Chairman of t... ...ital firm of Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers as a "strategic limited partner." March 2006 - The National War College Foundation establishes the Colin Powell Chair for National Security, Leadership, Character and Ethics. Summer 2007 - Begins to speak out against the Bush administration's decision to go war against Iraq, the increase in troop strength in Iraq and the treatment of prisons at Guantanamo Bay. January 20, 2009 - Is one of the honorary co-chairs of President Barack Obama's inauguration. Powell had endorsed Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign. February 3, 2010 - Powell reverses his stance on gays and lesbians in the military; his opposition to homosexuals in the military helped lead to the original "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of the 1990s. 2012 - Publishes a second memoir, "It Worked For Me: In Life and Leadership," with Tony Koltz.

teenage alcoholism :: essays research papers

Socraric Method The Socratic Method of philosophy is basically a series of question leading to an answer. In order for this method to work though, two conditions must be met. The first one is that the interlocutor has to say what he believes. The second is that the answers must be kept short. Here is a classic example of how this method works. It is a dialogue between Socrates and Euthyphro. The thesis is â€Å"What is dear to the gods is pious, what is not is impious.† Next Socrates gets Euthyphro to agree to the following points. The first point is that piety and impiety are opposite. The next point is that the gods are in a state of discord. The next is that they are in discord over what is just and what is unjust. They have no set unit to measure it by. The next point is that the different gods consider different things to be just and unjust. From there he goes on to agree that some things are both just and unjust. Finally, he agrees that some things can be both god loved and god hated. T he same things would then be both pious and impious according to the argument above. The way that this argument relates to the rest of the Euthyphro starts back at the beginning of the story. Socrates sees Euthyphro standing by the courthouse and naturally asks why he is there. Euthyphro explains that he is the prosecutor in a murder trial. It turns out that it is his father that he is prosecuting for the murder of a murderer. He laments to Socrates that his family and friends believe that his doing this is impious, but he believes that they are mistaken and this reveals their ignorance of piety. Since Socrates is Socrates, this naturally leads him to ask just exactly what piety is.

The runabout car :: essays research papers fc

In the 1920s, the automobile industry was being quickly innovated by companies coming out with new cars, very quickly. In 1901 the new Detroit factory burned down and the only automobile to be rescued from the flames was a gasoline powered runabout, the â€Å"curved dash† Oldsmobile. Also in 1901, there was a discovery of a seemingly â€Å"inexhaustible† supply of oil near Beaumont, Texas. These rich deposits of petroleum made gasoline readily available and gave added impetus to the internal combustion engine in its competition with steam and electric power. In March, fires destroyed most of the Olds Plant and the only car that was saved was the Curved Dash olds. Olds rebuilt immediately and put all the production resources into the little Curved Dash Olds, the â€Å"Merry Oldsmobile†. A car was envisioned which weighed 500 pounds and could be sold for $500. Actually, when the famous Curved-Dash Oldsmobile runabout car was finished, it weighed 700 pounds and was sold for $650. Between 1901 and 1904, over 12,000 Oldsmobile cars were built and sold. This was the first volume production car in the world. Speedometers appear first on Oldsmobile. To serve as an advertisement, a Curved Dash Olds was driven from Detroit to New York. This was the longest automobile trip that had been made in the U.S. until that time. Later, in about 1923, standard equipment included four wheel brakes, foot-controlled headlamp dimmer switches, and power operated windshield wipers. On Feb. 2, "Ethyl" gas was first put on the market. The lowest priced T was the runabout, selling at $265. 1908 October 1, Henry Ford put the first of his T's on the road. The 4-cylinder, 20-horsepower T was available in two styles. The runabout sold for $825, the touring for $850. During the last three months of 1908, the Ford Motor Company sold 6,000 cars. William C. Durant sold 9,000 Buick’s during 1908. The Ford Motor Company greatly outpaced its competitors in reconc iling state-of-the-art design with moderate price. Cycle and Automobile Trade Journal called the four-cylinder, fifteen-horsepower, $600 Ford N (1906-1907) "the very first instance of a low-cost motorcar driven by a gas engine having cylinders enough to give the shaft a turning impulse in each shaft turn which was well built and offered in large numbers." Deluged with orders, Ford installed improved production equipment and after 1906 was able to make deliveries of a hundred cars a day.

Six thinking hats technique

Title (of the technique): Six thinking hats technique Purpose: The generation of new and innovative ideas is the main aim of using creative techniques. Often people fail to look at a problem from all angles and they may fail to look at the emotional, intuitive, creative or negative viewpoints. The six thinking hats technique is a powerful technique created by Edward de Bono in the early 1980’s to look at decisions from different point of view.The purpose of applying this technique is that it encourages parallel thinking and helps people move away from their habitual thinking styles and towards a more well-rounded view of a situation. Description: The six thinking hats technique identifies six different modes of thinking that are meant to be directed at parallel to solve a certain problem on hand. Each thinking mode is represented by a different coloured hat and each colour is defined by the role that it plays in the process of problem solving.The process can be performed indiv idually or within a group environment and once the participants understand the necessary techniques involved they can proceed to address the problems at hand. They will all work together toward the same objective. When used correctly the hats separate ego from performance which allows everyone to work cooperatively toward a desired goal. Equipment needed: There are few things that are required to perform a successful six hats brainstorming session. Firstly the individual or group should have prior knowledge of the skills required.A pen, paper and innovative attitude and a simple and easy way of distinguishing people’s different colours at all times as the different coloured hats are metaphorical. Requirement for success . Educated audience (familiar with de Bono’s Technique) . Discipline from each person involved- while using the hat people need to stay in that particular mindset . Time under the hat should generally be short . Use any hat as often as needed . Set out to think in a certain direction . Don’t categorize people in a group beforehand (e. g. he is only a green hat). Everyone can and should use all hats . Be specific about where you want the thinking to go Process: Each hat represents a certain thinking style: White hat – Objective, neutral thinking in terms of facts number and information. With this hat you focus on the data that is available. Red hat- Emotional, with judgments, suspicions and intuitions. With this hat you look at a problem using intuition, gut reaction and emotion. Black hat- Negative sees risks and thinks about possible failure points. This hat looks at all the bad points of the decision to try and see why it might not work.Yellow hat- Positive, optimistic, clear, effective and constructive. This hat helps you think positively and to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Green hat- Creative, seeks alternative. The green hat is where you can develop creative solutions to a problem. I t is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. Blue hat (Meta hat) – thinking about thinking, the blue thinkers role is to keep an overview of what thinking is necessary on the subject. Recommended use in innovation:Many successful people and companies have embraced de Bono’s six thinking hats technique as it allows the necessary skepticism and emotions to be brought into what would have been purely rational decisions. It opens up an opportunity for creativity within decision making. Plans developed using this technique will be much more sound and resilient than would otherwise be the case. Advantages or benefits: . Leads to more creative thinking . Improves communication and decision making . Allows a person to say things without risk . Provides a common language . Diversity of thoughts Saves time . Create, evaluate and implement action plans . Removal of ego (reduces confrontation) . Helps people work against type, preference . Help people use more of their brains . Focus (one thing at a time) Limitations: The technique is not good to solve short term problems as people need to first be introduced to the method and become familiar with it before it can be used. If it is not monitored correctly it can also become time consuming. You can’t get the right answer asking the wrong questions the group needs to be sure that they are focused in the right direction. references

Borohydride Reduction

John Heger CMY 211 Lab Section 13 11-30-2011 Borohydride Reduction of Vanillin to Vanillyl Alcohol Introduction: The purpose of this lab was to reduce vanillin to vanillyl alcohol. This lab report recaps the procedure and results of the lab. The chemical process studied in this lab was reduction, the process of reducing the number of bonds to oxygen and increasing the number of bonds to hydrogen. Other chemical processes included in the lab were recrystallization, melting point, and extraction.Procedure: Preparation of Vanillyl Alcohol 2. 5 mmol of vanillin were dissolved in 2. 5 mL of 1 M NaOH solution in a 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask. The flask was swirled to produce a homogeneous yellow solution. The flask was swirled in an ice-water bath for 1-2 minutes and the solution was cooled to approximately 10Â °C. 1. 95 mmol of NaBH4 was added while the solution was constantly swirled. It was added in three to four portions over a period of 3 minutes. The solution was allowed to stand undistu rbed for 30 minutes at room temperature.After the time period, the flask was cooled in an ice-water bath and 3 M HCl was added dropwise with swirling. HCl was added until the pH of the solution was distinctly acidic to pH paper. The solution was gently cooled and the side of the flask was gently scratched with a glass rod to induce recrystallization. The crude product was suction filtered using a Buchner or Hirsch funnel and was washed with three small portions of cold water. The crystals were allowed to air dry for several minutes while suction continued to eliminate excess water.The crude product was recrystallized from ethyl acetate. The dried crystals were weighed and a melting point was obtained. Results: Table 1: Experimental Data Table Initial Mass of Vanillin| 0. 3843 g| Final Mass of Vanillyl Alcohol| 0. 2467 g| Melting Point Range of Vanillyl Alcohol| 75-90Â °C| Percent Yield| 63. 99 % yield| Discussion: The purpose of this lab was to reduce vanillin to vanillyl alcohol. The mechanism of the lab involved reduction. Sodium borohydride was used to reduce the aldehyde on the vanillin molecule, which left the oxygen with a negative charge. Feature Article Relative Rates:Â  Free-Radical BrominationHCl then reacted with the negative oxygen on vanillin, and the oxygen then became protonated, which made another alcohol on the benzene ring. The melting point range obtained for vanillyl alcohol was between 75-90Â °C. The actual melting point was 115Â °C, which was approximately 25 degrees higher than the experimental values. The reason for this melting point difference can be attributed to impurities that developed throughout the procedure. The percent yield from the original sample was 63. 9%. A decent percentage of the original sample was lost throughout the reduction process of vanillin to vanillyl alcohol. Conclusion: Vanillin was reduced to vanillyl alcohol which obtained a melting point of 75-90Â °C. The percent yield from the original sample was 63. 99%. The mechanism involved the reduction of vanillin to vanillyl alcohol, which increased the number of bonds to hydrogen and decreased the number of bonds to oxygen by the reduction of a carbonyl.

The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Essay

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a composer greatly known worldwide for his impeccable musical abilities in the movie Amadeus. His strong character is what made Peter Shaffer and Milos Forman, who were the movie’s screen writer and director to craft a portrait of the protagonist. This movie was indeed a great movie right from the compositions, performances as well as the drama involved. It is for this reason that this movie was able to scoop eight Oscars in 1985. The movie essentially covers about ten years of the life of Mozart, most of which he was in Vienna where he meets Salieri, who was a composer and is fascinated by Mozart and his music. This movie draws one interest particularly when it comes to the composition, the musical instruments used and finally the general musical elements such as melody, rhythm, dynamics and harmony. This paper gives an in-depth analysis to the composer, the accuracy of the portrayal and finally the issues learnt from Amadeus, the movie. Mozart was portrayed as a very great composer as he worked on many genres. Among them are the string quintet, the symphony, the string quartet, sonata and finally the piano concerto. The composition therefore goes over a very wide range. Mozart, who dies before his thirty sixth birthday has over six hundred productions, some which were not even published. His great composition is seen through Salieri, who has been depicted as a mediocre composer, of third degree in composition but has a first degree in identifying good music. Mozart therefore is one composer with hard to beat composition abilities.CITATION Wol66 p 23 l 1033 (Mozart 23)The portrayal of the characters and generally the music was in my own opinion accurate. Amadeus was a great composer and this is exactly what he was. He even dedicates one of his pieces of work to Salier, his great rival on his death bedCITATION Wol66 p 4 l 1033 (Mozart 4). Musical instruments used included were the piano, the glass harmonica, the flute among others. Since it was a movie based on classical music, the instruments were accurately selected. The musical elements also came out very strongly with attention paid to the awesome melodies, great harmonies, great use of rhythm and to a very large extent the style was very unique. CITATION Har81 p 34 l 1033 (Row 34)It can be easily pointed out that as much as the movie focuses on other issues such as spiritual matters, envy, rivalry and family, its main focus was music. Even rivalry and envy were as a result of the difference in musical abilities of Mozart and Salieri. Unlike other productions which make fictional characters real, this production made a real character a fictional one. This is in order to relate the musical capability of the real character, commonly known by his audience to the fictional character’s abilities. Generally, I think Amadeus has been one of the best expressions of art, music, the genius artist. This is what makes the movie to be described as a modern classic. It offers a completely new dimension and point of view of classic music. This piece of art not only takes us through different and diverse characters but it also mixes music with the real world realities like envy. The director of this movie has made a number of movies but however many there are or are still to come, I doubt there will be one of them that will surpass this particular movie. References BIBLIOGRAPHY l 1033 Mozart, Wolfgand Amadeus. The Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 1866. Row, Harper and. Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus. 1981. Source document

Health & Hygiene

Change in health & hygiene There has been towering change in the area of health and hygiene in rural Bangladesh. Almost all the villages have a health complex and a pharmacy nearby. People are coming out of the ignorance and consulting the doctors when necessary unlike earlier times. Health consciousness has modulated the rate of mortality especially in case of women and children. People at village are now more aware of the healthy ways of living their lives. Health campaigns by government and NGOs assisted a lot in framing up the health awareness.People at village are more concerned about taking care of the pregnant mothers and their health. Most of the families now know about the vaccination of the infants and almost all of them give effort to ensure the good health of the infants. Taking â€Å"Polio â€Å"vaccine has already been a common trend there in every year. All these resulted in a noticeable decline in mortality rate of infants and pregnant mother. Not only that, importa nce of having pure drinking water has also been realized by rural people. The campaign against arsenic in last decade has been totally worthwhile. Proper sanitation is also encouraged now.A massive change has taken place in terms of outlook. Family planning is no longer discouraged in village since villagers are moving away from orthodox religious practices that might harm. In terms of health and hygiene almost all of the changes have been in public interest till now but there are rooms for further development. Villagers do still lack good doctors and nurses. Points for presentation * Establishment of hospitals and pharmacies in rural areas * Public health awareness * More caring attitude towards pregnant mothers & infants * Awareness about family planning * Need for more skilled doctors & nurses

Corporate Operations of the BMW Group Case Study

Corporate Operations of the BMW Group - Case Study Example The BMW Group is a global manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles. According to the BMW Group website (2008) the company concentrates entirely on premium standards and outstanding quality for all its brands and across all relevant segments. The BMW Group owns the BMW, MINI and Rolls Royce brands and it defines its strategic objective: "The BMW Group is the leading provider of premium products and premium services for individual mobility" (BMW Group 2008). . The BMW Group's headquarters are in Munich, Germany where activities in over 150 countries are coordinated. It has 8 research and development centers - BMW Group Research and Innovation Center (FIZ), Munich; BMW Group Research and Technology, Munich; BMW Group Car IT, Munich; Innovation and Technology Center in Landshut Plant; BMW Group Designworks, Newbury Park, USA; BMW Group Engineering and Emissions Test Center, Oxnard, USA; BMW Group Technology Office, Palo Alto, USA; BMW Motoren GmbH Steyr, Austria; BMW Group Technology Office, Tokyo, Japan; BMW Group Development Office, Beijing, China. It has 17 production facilities in 6 countries: Berlin plant, Dingolfing plant, Eisenach plant, Contract production in Graz (Austria), Goodwood plant (GB), Hams Hall plant (GB), Landshut plant, Leipzig plant, Munich plant, Oxford plant (GB), Regensburg plant, Rosslyn plant (South Africa), Shenyang plant (China), Spartanburg plant (USA), Steyr plant (Austria), Swindon plant (GB), Wackersdorf pla nt. Assembly is done with external partners in different countries - Jakarta, Indonesia; Kaliningrad, Russia; Cairo, Egypt; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Rayong, Thailand; Chennai, India. Sales and marketing subsidiaries are also present in many countries, helping maintain and enhance BMW's presence in key markets - Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, USA. (BMW Group, 2008). The BMW Group deals not only with automotive products, it also develops, produces and markets motorcycles, as well as comprehensive financial services for private and business customers. For its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the BMW Group it is the only "car maker to pursue a purely premium strategy for all market sectors covered by its brands, from exclusive smaller cars to top-of-the-range luxury limousines", according to the group website (2008). For motorcycles, aside from the strategy to build the best motorcycles, the company has set standards for technology, environmental protection and safety, and customer service in the pre- and after-sales phases. Seeing financial services as a key factor in BMW's successful operations, it has established financing and leasing, asset

Special characteristic of BU Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Special characteristic of BU - Essay Example As a student, I feel that I learn best when I test the theories that I have studied through textbooks. Boston University attracts teachers who are at the forefront of their respective fields and are passionate about fostering a learning environment. They are there for the love of the students and the learning that is going on at the school, not for the money as typical in other schools. In addition, the diverse backgrounds of the students encourage the sharing of varied cultural perspectives with each other. Such communication is invaluable because it is a unique opportunity that cannot be replicated anywhere else. Also, the learning is not just limited to the classroom. At Boston University, students are encouraged to explore rather than to memorize the textbook. These are the reasons why it must be Boston University. – BU attracts students from more countries than are represented in the United Nations. Our global presence and reputation are important and are reflected in the perspectives, opinions, and experiences of our students. Why is this type of environment important to you? (500 words, 5000 characters) My status as an international student is a testament to the importance of a global perspective of the world in today’s global economy. If I did not understand its value, I would not have chosen to pursue the challenging path of trying to benefit from an American educational system while overcoming cultural and language barriers. Part of what has shaped my outlook.

CIPD NO.3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

CIPD NO.3 - Essay Example sions in appropriate time while keeping in consideration the important factors that can help in making better decisions or factors that can be effected due to a certain decision made. It is more than often that decisions go wrong and business suffers (Kurtz & Snowden, 2003). This dilemma is not new in organizations and it is important that while making decisions one must; The objective of the learning session is to enhance the decision making abilities of middle and senior managers of the organization, enabling them to make efficient decisions while keeping important environmental factors in consideration. Decision making is the most valued commodity these days and successful leaders aspire to improve their decision making abilities and consistently look for variables that can help them in making more informed decisions. Bad decision making can hurt the repute of the company, result in loss of revenue and lower down the employee morale while good decision making can bring wonders to the organization (Kurtz & Snowden, 2003). Using Cynefin framework, the trainer shall introduce the four decision making situations with appropriate action plans for each while differentiating between ordered and unordered scenarios (Snowden. 2000). A further explanation of how a particular decision delayed can move the issue in to complicated, complex or chaotic situations. Such a transition in situations occur due to wrong assessments, delays and conservative actions. The session also includes use of technology where employees are introduced to software that can help in making better decisions. Software like Microsoft office including project server, Visio and others. Identifying the context is an important aspect of decision making once identified the problem can be resolved by devising the appropriate solution. The learning and development activities used in the learning session on framework for decision making are appropriate because they promote experiential learning, by