Wednesday, September 25, 2019

A survey on Finnish SMEs investment Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 10000 words

A survey on Finnish SMEs investment - Thesis Example 46 4.12 Findings of Secondary Survey†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 47 4. ANALYSIS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 52 5.1 Interpretation of SME’s Investment Policy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 54 5.2 Analysis of SME’s Employment Strategy†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 55 5. CONCLUSION†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 56 6. SOURCES†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 59 List of Tables Page No Table 1. No of Each Type of Firms in Finland’s Economy in 2009 7 Table 2. Total Tur nover of the Four Types of Firms in 2009 8 Table 3. Comparison of Finnish SMEs Facts with corresponding data average of the EU countries in 2004, 2005 5 Table 4: SME’s Investment Performance in the past one year 26 Table 5: Future Investment Plan of Finnish SMEs for next one year 28 Table 6: SMEs opinion regarding the factors which could limit their investment and growth 31 Table 7: Preference of the SMEs in directing their Investment Projects towards specific Aims 34 Table 8: SMEs Employment Performance in the past one year 36 Table 9: SME’s Plan of Employment during next one year 38 Table 10: SME’s Opinion about the importance of Regulatns in influencing the Firm’s Grwth and Operations 40 Table 11: SMEs Sales Performance over the past one year 42 Table 12: Future Sales Plan of Finnish SMEs for next one year 43 Table 13: SMEs Debt Performance during the past one year 44 Table 14: Future Debt Plan of Finnish SMEs for next one year 46 Table 15: The Role of SMEs in the Finland Economy in 1991 47 Table 16: Number of SMEs in Finland according to Firm Size and Turnover in 2003 47 Table... According to the Business Register of Statistics of Finland, in 2002 the country’s economy was home to 226,600 business enterprises (excepting those related to agriculture). The total turnover of these organizations was EUR 274 billion and they provided employment to 1,315,000 persons in the economy. Out of this total, 99.7% of the firms could be categorized as SMEs, which accounted for 52% of the gross turnover of the industrial sector and employed 61.5 % of the total working force of the economy. Among the total number of business enterprises, 40% were owned by self-employed entrepreneurs (OECD, 2005, p.213). The Federation of the Finnish Enterprises conducted a survey and found that there were 263, 759 business enterprises in Finland’s economy (excluding agriculture, forestry and fishing). They classified them into four categories according to their number of employees and noted the number of firms under each category. They also surveyed the total turnover and the nu mber of employees of each of the four classes of firms. According to the Report of the European Commission Enterprise and Industry (ECEI) regarding Finland’s business scenario, there are about 36 SMEs present in the economy for every 1000 citizens. In comparison, other countries of the European Union (EU) have an average of 40 SMEs per 1000 inhabitants in their economies. In Finland, the micro firms and the small enterprises employ a comparatively lower number of people than their counterparts in the EU countries.

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

International Business Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

International Business Management - Essay Example   The main reason for the choice of Samsung as a global business is that it offers a wide range of products fitting different budgets, sizes, and shapes for each consumer. These products range from Galaxy S5 to Samsung Galaxy K zoom that has an optical zooming lens, the only Smartphone in the market with the feature and other products for every consumer to choice from depending on their need and abilities. The firm aims at meeting all the needs of the consumers through a wide range of product offerings for the consumers.    The main limitation of the global strategy is that there is high standardization of products limiting the ability to meet the needs of people who have differing tastes and preferences as tastes, preferenc3es, economic status, and the social condition cannot be equal global.  The company chosen for the discussion on international strategy is Starbucks with the reason being the high growth rate it expanded to different areas to have operations in over 60 count ries, 170,000 stores and revenues were 13.29 billion, 1.38 billion in profits and employed 149,000 employees in 2012. This rate of expansion and success shows a successful company in the international market, giving the need for an understanding of the international strategy employed in the company.  The reason for the choice of Starbucks as an international business is that the company in its early stages had plans for cross border stage overcoming the fear of international business by use of cross border integration.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Assignment and paper draft Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Assignment and paper draft - Essay Example The effects are analyzed from the perspective of employees, employers, and the government. Each of these players has a different view regarding high minimum wage. The paper uses an exploratory approach to finding relevant facts related to the study. Sources such as books, press releases and Low Wage Commission reports were perused in order to strengthen the understanding of the concepts at hand. Jobs whose value cannot be sustained in the face of the minimum wage are likely to be eradicated. Employers may fail to pay the high wage rate for jobs that are not essential to a company. Scaling back the number of employees will in turn increase social dependency. Also, it reduces the purchasing power of individuals thus stalling economic growth. High wages stimulated mass consumption because people have more purchasing power. Mass consumption leads to excess demand. In order to satisfy the demand, industries expand and also start new plants. The effect is an increase employment and also the national income. The calculation of minimum wages considers the severity of inflation and other economic conditions. As such, setting a high minimum wage places all the employees above the poverty line. The minimum wage is set at a value where people can afford the necessities to live a comfortable life. All these add up to better living standards. According to Waltman, business costs increase as a result of an increase in the minimum wage. Some business are unable to maintain the high cost of human resources (19). As a result, they tend to increase the prices of commodities in order to maintain their profitability. A 2010 study conducted by the Low Pay Commission of the UK concluded that high minimum wage reduces the wage gap between the highly paid and the lowly paid workers (39). The Commission found that 40 percent of the lowly paid workers were moving towards the middle-income status. The above discussions show that the

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Atmosphere and Fossil Fuel Inputs Essay Example for Free

Atmosphere and Fossil Fuel Inputs Essay 1. Weather and Climate. Discuss the concept of energy/mass conservation as it pertains to the climate system. Be sure to address each component of the climate system in your example and feel free to use multiple examples if necessary to address each component. 2. Facts and Fiction. Explain the figure below. Be sure to address the three key components discussed in class as well as the overall (net) anthropogenic impacts on global warming. 3. Atmospheric Composition Structure. Draw a diagram labeling the five atmospheric layers discussed in class as well as the ozone layer. On your diagram, list the significance of each layer. 4. Atmospheric Circulation. Calculate the residence time of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere given the figure of the carbon cycle below. You can assume that the ocean, soil, vegetation and fossil fuel inputs together make the rate. 5. Ozone. Compare and contrast the two types of ozone depletion. Be sure to discuss the cause(s) of each, the impacts of each and the location of each at a minimum.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Personality And Employee Behaviour

Personality And Employee Behaviour The author through this essay would be elaborating on the relationship between the personality of an individual with that of the various factors which determine the employee behaviour in an organizational setting. For this purpose the essay first talks about both organizational behaviour and personality in brief and moves onto discussing the various theories relating to personality (Big Five Factor Model and Myers Briggers Type Indicator) along with the criticism that they have undergone over the years. The author would then be linking various employee behaviour with that of the personality of an individual and based on the research done by various authors and in the end would be presenting managerial implications which would be beneficial for the well-being of an organization. Keywords: Organizational Citizenship Behaviour Personality, Big Five Factor Model, Myers Briggs Type Indicator, job attitude, job motivation. Introduction In the span of the last two decades, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) has been the foremost topic researchers have studied (Allen and Rush, 1998; MacKenzie, Podsakoff, and Fetter, 1991; Organ, 1997). Many researchers have pursued the study of OCBs on the notion that OCBs helps boost organizational effectiveness (Organ, D. 1988; Podsakoff and Mackenzie, 1994, 1997; Walz and Niehoff, 1996). This notion was a clear part of Organs (1988) definition of OCB. According to Organ, D. (1988) Organizational Citizenship Behaviour was defined as, Individual behaviour that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system and that in the aggregate promotes effective functioning of the organization. Singh, A. and Singh, A., (2009). Does Personality Predict Organisational Citizenship Behaviour among Managerial Personnel. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 291-298. An examination of past studies has identified organizational citizenship behaviour as a significant aspect of job performance (Motowidlo and Van Scotter, 1994; Motowidlo, Borman, and Van Scotter, 1997). It discusses behaviours that pro ­mote the changing nature of the organizational and social network and psycho ­logical climate that surrounds the technical tasks (Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., 2010). These behaviours encompass help and cooperation with others and persistent enthusiasm. Organiza ­tional citizenship behaviour could be split into two parts namely, job dedication and interpersonal facilitation (Van Scotter and Motowidlo, 1996). Job dedication includes conforming, disciplining, and motivating behaviours that promote the organizations best interest. Interpersonal facili ­tation refers to a series of interpersonal behaviours to help maintain the or ­ganizations interpersonal environment, such as inclined to help co-workers/participation in teamwork and cooperation. (Van Scotter and Motowidlo, 1996) (Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., (2010). From proactive personality to organizational citizenship behaviour: Mediating role of Harmony. Psychological Reports, Vol. 106, No. 3, pp. 755-765) The five-factor model of personality (FFM) or big five has led research in the field of personality in the past two decades, and has provided a significant degree of convergence in the trait factor analytic psychology (Robertson and Callinan, 1998). The five factors categorised as neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness (Costa and McCrae, 1992). Clear measurement frameworks have been provided by these factors to personality psychology and are responsible for the revival of interest in personality in organizational psychology (Singh, A. and Singh, A., 2009). In the early 1990s, new prospects for research in the field of Organiza ­tional citizenship behaviour were brought about by the emergence of Big-Five in the field of personality. Researchers and practicing managers can gain the most valuable explanation of organizational citizenship behaviours through an employees individual disposition (Organ, D. 1990). Through their work, researchers have investigated the predisposition and Organiza ­tional citizenship behaviour relationship (Organ, 1990; Organ, 1994). Singh, A. and Singh, A., (2009). Does Personality Predict Organisational Citizenship Behaviour among Managerial Personnel. Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 291-298. Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) Organ (1988, p. 4) defined OCB as the individual behavior that is discretionary, not directly or explicitly recognized by the formal reward system, and that in the aggregate promotes the effective functioning of the organization. By discretionary, Organ (1988, p. 4) described OCB as the type of behavior that is not a part of the job description, but rather a matter of personal choice, such that its omission is not generally understood as punishable. Most of the studies examining the structure of OCB have agreed that it is a multidimensional concept (e.g. Graham1989; Moorman and Blakely, 1995; Organ, 1988; Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Moorman, and Fetter, 1990). Graham (1989), for example, proposed a four-dimension model of OCB consisting of: interpersonal helping, individual initiative, personal industry, and loyal boosterism. Interpersonal helping involves helping co-workers in their jobs when such help is needed. Individual initiative is communicating to others in the work place to improve individual and group performance. Personal industry includes the performance of specific tasks above and beyond the call of duty. Finally, loyal boosterism involves the promotion of the organizational image to outsiders (Moorman and Blakely, 1995). (Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., (2010). From proactive personality to organizational citizenship behaviour: Mediating role of Harmony. Psychological Reports, Vol. 106, No. 3, pp. 755-765) Proactive Personality and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour In recent years proactive personality has captured the attention of researchers among personality predictors of organizational citizenship behaviour. The notion of proactive personality as a stable disposition was introduced after the proactive components of organizational behaviour were explored (Bateman, T. and Crant, J., 1993). The belief of being able to create and change the environment and actually taking an initiative in doing so, is a characteristic people bearing strong proactive personalities have. By negotiating selecting, improvising, ma ­nipulating, and evoking the environment, proactive individ ­uals are able to influence their environments (Buss, D., 1987 as cited by Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., 2010). Proactive personality and organizational citizenship behaviour are closely related to each other. As cited by Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., (2010) this relationship was tested by Crant, J. (1995) with a sample of real estate salespersons. When work social desirability, experience, and factors of personality like extraversion and conscientiousness were controlled, an additional 8% variance in job perfor ­mance was accounted for, due to proactive personality. Hierarchical regression results in the same research indicated that proactive personality accounted for more variance than Big Five personality factors. Therefore, it was suggested that this personality variable had the strongest positive predictive value for job performance, especially organizational citizenship behaviour (Thompson, 2005). (Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., (2010). From proactive personality to organizational citizenship behaviour: Mediating role of Harmony. Psychological Reports, Vol. 106, No. 3, pp. 755-765) Contexts as Moderators in Organizational Behaviour Research The concept of proactive personality was proposed Bateman, T. and Crant, J. (1993). During their research observed that the predictive value of proactive person ­ality might differ in weak and strong contexts. Johns, G. (2006, p. 387) defined contexts as, Situations [that] vary in their capacity to abet or constrain human agency. The expression of individual differences tends to get constrained due to perceived strong situations with obvious norms and rigid roles. For the expression of such differences, weak situations permit more opportunity or latitude. Social structure is a classification of discrete context, in which behaviour may be influenced directly by specific situational variables or it may moderate relationships between variables. While western cultural contexts are more similar to weak contexts, Asian cultures may represent strong contexts (Mowday and Sutton, 1993 as cited by Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., 2010). The predictive value of proac ­tive personality for organizational citizenship behavior might be stron ­ger, under weak contexts, (Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., 2010). For example, a review of some studies showed that (Shang, J. and Gan, Y. (2009) and Chan, D. (2006) consisted samples from Asian cultures, a type of strong context while on the other hand, western studies show that their samples mostly worked in the sales industry, a typically weak context. Thus the general association of proactive personality and behaviour may not be sig ­nificant, in this context. Thus, in such cases moderators or a context have significant prominence. Although proactive personality is superficially encouraged in organizations, human resources practitioners note the other side of the coin: proactivity refers to neglecting or violating rules and disciplines and implies the intention to change the current environment. Thus, a new idea being put into practice or proposed may threaten or pose a disturban ce to an organization (Jiang, L., 2007 as cited by Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., 2010). He further claimed that employees confor ­mity and altruism is the bridge from proactivity to organizational citizenship behaviour. In the event of this idea being translated into a research hypothesis, it would be theorized that personality traits moderate the relation of proactive personality and organizational citizenship behaviour. (Gan, Y. and Cheung, F., (2010). From proactive personality to organizational citizenship behaviour: Mediating role of Harmony. Psychological Reports, Vol. 106, No. 3, pp. 755-765) The Big Five Personality Model Personality has been examined from a variety of theoretical perspective and in the past researchers in the field of personality assessment had to face a wide array of scales with little guidance. One staring place for a shared taxonomy is the natural language of personality description. This work began with the extraction of all personality relevant from the dictionary and guiding them with lexical hypothesis. After such extractions took place in various languages Allport and Odbert (1936) (as cited in Pervin, L., and John, O., 1999, pp. 103) conducted a seminal lexical study of the personality relevant terms in English that could be used to distinguish the behaviour of one person from the other. Using both semantic and empirical clustering procedures as well as his own reviews of the personological literature available at that time, Citadell reduced the 4500 traits to a mere 35 variables. What personality psychology needed was a descriptive model or taxonomy which would permit researchers to study specified areas rather than examining various domains of personality. After decades of research the field approached consensus on a general taxonomy of personality traits, the Big Five personality dimensions. (Pervin, L., and John, O., 1999). These factors are typically labelled as: Extraversion or Surgency (talkative, assertive, energetic) Agreeableness (good natured, cooperative, trustful) Conscientiousness (orderly, responsible, dependable) Emotional Stability versus Neuroticism (calm, not neurotic, not easily upset) Intellect or Openness (intellectual, imaginative, independent-minded) The Big Five personality model provided a starting point for vigorous research in-order to explicate the taxonomy in various dimensions. Hofstee, Kliers, Raad, Golberg, and Ostendorf (1997) compared the big five factor structures of personality traits across various languages and found out that the Big Five factors recur across languages in a relative but not in a strict sense. Trull and Geary (1997) also compared the Big Five structure across American and Chinese samples and found that the scores of the construct were not significantly different which is in line with the research of Yik and Bond (1993). Borkenau and Ostendorf (1998) found out that five factor model ignores the strength of individual behaviour and is not wedded to the trait approach. Saucier and Goldberg (1998) suggested that future research needs to be done to supplement the Big Five to extend variable selection outside those personality traits which have been conventionally defined and opened a new dimension for future research. Digman (1997) found two higher order factors in the Big Five which he termed as alpha and beta linking alpha with socialization and beta with personal growth while DeYoung (2006) termed these as stability (alpha) and Plasticity (beta). Critics have argued that the Big Five does not provide a complete theory of personality. The Big Five was never intended as a comprehensive personality theory and was developed to account for structural relations among personality traits. Thus like most structural models it provides an account of personality that is primarily descriptive rather than explanatory (Pervin, L., and John, O., 1999). McAdams (1992) highlighted six important limitations of FFM and stated that it can only be viewed as one important model in personality but not the integrative model of personality. The use of factor analysis as a methodology has also come under the scanner and has been found that findings through this methodology have been less than adequate as statistical procedures are mechanical truth generators while psychological results require a psychological interpretation (Block, 1995). A frequent objection has also been that five dimensions cannot possibly capture all of the variations in human personality owing to which Rushton and Irwing (2008) found that General Factor Personality (GFP) occupies the apex of the hierarchical structure of personality followed by Big Two factors of Alpha (Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) and Beta (Extraversion, Openness) with the Big Five at the third level. In order to make FFM an integrative personality Denissen and Penke (2008) conceptualized the Five Factor Model as stable individual differences in peoples motivational reactions to circumscribed classes of environmental stimuli resulting in a theoretical framework which would bridge the traditional divide between structure and process oriented approaches in-order for FFM to truly become a scientific model of personality. Thus research in diverse areas such as behaviour genetics, molecular genetics, personality stability change and accuracy and bias in interpersonal perception will be instrumental in building and refining a comprehensive theoretical account of the Big Five (Pervin, L., and John, O., 1999). Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) The MBTI is based on the theories of psychologist Carl Jung and helps in measuring an individuals personality preferences over four dimensions and is often used by psychologists in career counselling and group dynamics analysis (Ludford and Terveen, 2003) The four dimensions are outlined as follows (Robbins, S., Judge, T. and Sanghi, S., 2009): Extraversion / Introversion: Extrovert individuals are outgoing, sociable and assertive while introverts are quiet and shy Sensing / Intuition: Sensing types are practical and prefer routine and order while intuitive rely on unconscious processes. Thinking / Feeling: Thinking types use reason and logic to handle problems whereas feelings rely on their personal values and emotions. Judging / Perceiving: Judging types want control and prefer their world to be ordered and structured while perceiving types are flexible and spontaneous. These classifications together describe 16 personality types. The MBTI is widely practiced by organizations including Apple Computers, ATT, Citigroup, GE, Tata Motors and many hospitals and educational institutions and even defence services (Robbins, S., Judge, T. and Sanghi, S., 2009). MBTI is a tool that can be used to achieve effective communication with other people by knowing their preferences and then communicate in a way they understand. In spite of the popularity of MBTI as a personality assessment model, it has had its share of criticism. MBTI based on Jungians model does not offer any scientific, experimental proof to support the existence, sequence, orientation or manifestation of these functions. As the accuracy of the MBTI depends on honesty of the person being tested and MBTI not using any scale to assess the exaggerated or socially desirable responses is susceptible to fake responses (Furnham, A., 1990). It is also criticised for forcing a person into either one type o r another with no in between types available. The best that can be said is that MBTI can be a valuable tool for increasing self-awareness and providing career guidance but as results are unrelated to job performance managers shouldnt use it as a selection test for job candidates (Robbins, S., Judge, T. and Sanghi, S., 2009). Linking Personality with Determinants of Employee Behaviour The author would now elaborate on the research that has been done on personality and how it affects the employee behaviour in an organization. Personality forms the most important factor in an individuals behaviour and is complex to understand individuals as a whole. Individuals should be considered as a à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾closed boxà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ and in-order to benefit from humans in an efficient and productive way, human resource managers should try to understand the personalities of their employees (Aksu et. al., 2009). In an organization when self-managed work groups are formed the most important question that is asked is on what basis should employees be selected, Thoms, P., Moore, K. and Scott, K., (1996) found that traits like Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness were significantly related to self-efficacy for participating in self-managed work groups. By examining the link of Big Five personality traits with the ability to show self-control moderated the anger-aggression link it was found that conscientiousness was negatively related with anger and moderated the link between anger and aggression whereas agreeableness was positively related with anger only when the levels of Conscientiousness was low. (Campbell, et. al. 2007) and different people of personality traits showed different types of interpersonal stress coping responses. In extreme cases where these conflicts result to loneliness it has been found that loneliness is negatively impacted by Extraversion and Agreeableness while high levels of Neuroticism can lead to loneliness (Atak, H., 2009). Transformational leadership in an organization has the potential of motivating the employees and establishing high rates of job performance and it has been found that leaders associated a transformational leadership with being extraverted, intuitive and perceiving preferences while subordinates associate rate sensing preference with transformational leadership (Hautala, T., 2006). During new product development (NPD) in an organization it has been found that leader openness has a significant direct as well as indirect influence on NPD project performance through teamwork under high uncertainty but not under low uncertainty conditions. In-order for an organization to achieve success it is very critical to have motivated employees and when the link of personality and motivation was analysed it was found that extraverts reported to being attracted to Herzberg motivation factors in workplace and neuroticism rated importance of hygiene factors (Furnham, A., Forde, L. and Ferrari, K., 1999 ). Job performance is an important criterion for an organizational setup and organizations have always been on the lookout for measures which can enhance the job performance of its employees. Barrick, M. and Mount, M. (1991) which was the most cited article of 1990s, investigated the relationship between big five personality dimensions with job performance criteria for various occupational groups and also stated that the framework can be extended to various subfields of personnel psychology such as personnel selection, performance appraisal and training and development. Wang, M. and Erdheim, J. (2007) stated that extraversion was significantly related to learning goal orientation and proving goal orientation while Neuroticism was marginally related to proving goal orientation and significantly related to avoiding goal orientation. Their results further confirm that personality has a significant impact on performance motivation (Barrick, M. and Mount, M., 1991) and clarify the personality performance relation. Sawyerr, O., Srinivas, S. and Wang, S. (2009) in the service context found that there is a negative relationship between openness to new experience and service performance leading to lower ratings by their supervisors, with no other personality variable having a significant relationship with service performance. They also stated that Conscientiousness and internal LOC were negatively associated and agreeableness and emotional stability were positively related with absenteeism. They also found a positive association between internal LOC as well as openness to new experience to turnover and a negative association with emotional stability and intent to turnover. Along with the personality and job performance relationship another relationship which holds a lot of importance for the organizations is the personality-job attitude relationship. Burnett, M., Williamson, I. and Bartol, K. (2009) established that conscientiousness and extraversion can be an important moderator of the interactive effect of procedural fairness and outcome favourability on job attitude. Bernard, N., Dollinger S. and Ramaniah, N. (2002) stated that the imposter phenomenon was related to people with high Neuroticism and low Conscientiousness in an organization. Erdheim, J., Wang, M. and Zickar, M. (2006) explored the linkages between the personality factors and organizational commitment and stated that Extraversion was significantly related to affective commitment, continuance commitment, and normative commitment; neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness to experience were all significantly related to continuance commitment and agreeableness was significantly related to normative commitment. It has also been found that and Over-commitment and depressive symptoms were associated with high levels of neuroticism and effort reward imbalance (Vearing, A. and Mak, A., 2007). Personality of an individual also relates to the tendency of choosing a certain career strategy and has been found that more extroverted individuals utilized a host of career management strategies than their more introverted intended counterparts and also found that conflict frequency is negatively related to individual well-being especially when individuals are low in agreeableness, extraversion or emotional stability. Thus we see that personality has been a hot topic for research amongst the researchers and there has been an extensive study on how personality affects an employees behaviour in an organizational setting but due to the word limit as well as accessibility constraint the author would have not been able to include all the factors which are affected by personality. Managerial Implications On the basis of the theoretical framework stated above, the author would like to suggest various strategies which followed in-order can be adopted and applied in organizations to overcome the negative implications of personality on the various factors of employee behaviour in an organizational context. Traits of a particular culture should be looked at as advantages by managers especially in the hospitality industry and they should tap this potential in an appropriate manner to gain a competitive edge. Organizations can achieve this goal by aligning their actions with the selection of appropriate people, compliant with company image, tourism sector realities, and customer needs and expectations and in turn benefit from the personality test. (Aksu, et. al., 2009) In advance of the decision whether to have self-managed work groups, organizations should focus on the personality of individuals before selecting candidates to work on this type of structure. (Thoms, P., Moore, K. and Scott, K., 1996). Managers need to be very critical while providing a negative feedback as people with lower conscientiousness would not be able to regulate their anger and choose to aversive drink choice and people with higher agreeableness may be more sensitive to destructive interpersonal tactics and express more anger but would be able to control that anger and choose to more socially acceptable responses (Campbell, et. al. 2007). Managers should be vigilant and identify neuroticism at early stage among employees and help people refrain from entering a lonely state and thus saving them from taking a drastic step. (Atak, H., 2009). Among organizations with differences in the work related factors in which different people seek out and value them, it would be very helpful to pay attention to trait variables in selection to ensure better person environment fit. An apt way for organizations to deal with different groups of people is employing diverse performance schemes for them. To achieve the highest level of performance from individuals, motivators must encourage the extrovert with potential rewards and prompt the introvert with judicial use of punitive threat (Furnham, A., Forde, L. and Ferrari, K., 1999). By implementing the process of assessing leaders from the self-rating as well as subordinates perspective, it would help enhance the mutual understanding of a leader-subordinate relationship which would also assist the leaders to be realistic when rating themselves, thus benefiting organisations. (Hautala, T., 2006). Organizations by examining the relationship between personality with service performance, absenteeism and turnover would be able to develop recruitment and selection strategies, work redesign programs and training that would ultimately benefit the organization by reducing employee costs and enhancing their wellbeing (Sawyerr, O., Srinivas, S. and Wang, S., 2009). Traits like extraversion and neuroticism are the strongest predictors of goal orientation. Rather than focusing on choosing only conscientiousness, organizations should employ selection methods that measure these traits too. In order to induce work motivation and attain high levels of goal orientation, organizations should focus on post entry work experiences and should also adopt selection procedures based on personality measures (Wang, M. and Erdheim, J., 2007). Organizations can greatly reduce the turnover rate of employees and improve the working conditions by linking what the employees are looking forward to in an organization (Burnett, M., Williamson, I. and Bartol, K., 2009) In an organisation, as managers have the onus of identifying imposter phenomenon in the employees, it is important for them to identify such traits in the earlier stages. By focusing on depression and anxiety problems with employees and also working on their lack of self-discipline, managers should assist employees providing them the right kind of treatment (Bernard, N., Dollinger S. and Ramaniah, N., 2002) Organizations can effectively deal with employees experiencing elevated risk for being depressed by providing stress prevention and management programs, by investing in increasing supervisor and co-worker support, by using social activities to increase co-worker support and should also focus on decreasing extrinsic efforts and increasing rewards (Vearing, A. and Mak, A., 2007). Conclusion It is evident from the above discussion that progress has been made in the field of personality psychology in terms of advancement of research methodologies and techniques of data analysis as well as in awareness of the range of variables that need to be considered to understand complex personality functioning. Over the years, research in the field of personality has evolved and an increasing number of researchers in an effort to generalize and increase the practical applicability of these personality theories are challenging the past theories. With the advent of globalisation and organizations interacting with culturally diverse populace, the traditional approaches which were used by organizations to manage any problem are out-dated in todays dynamic work culture. It is thus necessary for organizations to recognise the fact that in-order to keep abreast with competition and achieve customer satisfaction; their primary objectives should encompass gratifying their employees and this journey begins with the interpretation of their personalities and using in an ethical way for the betterment of the organization. With a vast amount of research being undertaken on personality and wide range of variables being interpreted to understand the complexities of the personality domain, it is obligatory on the part of organizations to keep themselves updated so as to facilitate their employees to serve customers better. Thus organizations need to place high level of importance on understanding the personality of its employees as personality impacts variables such as employee behaviour, job performance, job attitude, motivation etc. which are the vital functions from an organizational perspective and all these variables directly or indirectly affect the bottom-line of the organization.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Renewable And Non Renewable Energy Sources

Renewable And Non Renewable Energy Sources The world provides everything to human. The resources make people live better and better. There are many forms of resources; different resources have completely different functions and effects to people. People should protect them because some of them are not renewable. I will introduce the different types of resources, they are renewable or non-renewable and a lot of things about environment in this research. More and more industries are building up in the world. The pollutions are more serious than before. People cannot live without nice environment, so we should get some solutions for those pollutions. If people do not stop making pollutions, the consequences will be horrible and bad to human. Because everything is connected, no one can escape from it. World is our home, we should understand it, respect it and love it. Resources can be separated to be renewable and non-renewable. Or resources can be separated to be those five kinds: mineral resources, energy resources, land resources, water resources and biological resources. Mineral resources: All of minerals are non-renewable resource. Minerals include all materials extracted from the earth. Mineral resources include: Metallic minerals: iron, copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, tin and so onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Non-metallic minerals like limestone, sandstone, sand, clay and so onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ South Africas wealth has been built on the countrys vast resources nearly 90% of the platinum metals on Earth, 80% of the manganese, 73% of the chrome, 45% of the vanadium and 41% of the gold. Energy resources in the world: Coal-Non-renewable. Oil and gas-Non-renewable. Coal, oil and gas are called fossil fuels because they have been formed from the organic remains of prehistoric plants and animals. Thats why they are non-renewable. Except those three kinds of energy resources, most of other energy resources are renewable resources. Name of Energy Resources Non-renewable or Renewable Wind power Renewable Wave power Renewable Solar power Renewable Nuclear power Non-renewable Tidal power Renewable Hydroelectric power Renewable Geothermal power Renewable Bio mass Renewable Pumped storage Renewable Land resources-Renewable Water resources-Renewable Biological resources-Renewable Sustainability of energy resources: Definition: Sustainable energy is about using energy cleverly and using energy generated from pure sources and clean technologies. Using sustainable energy is benefit for humans present and future. Being efficient with our energy will reduce energy bills, reduce the amount of energy we need to produce in the first place and decrease pollutions. In fact, sustainable energy is not just about using renewable energy; perhaps it is about using energy wisely and introducing energy efficiency measures. Energy demand A number of factors are clearly. The worlds population will continue to grow for several decades at least. Energy demand increases faster and faster, and the proportion supplied by electricity will also grow faster still. The main question is how people generate that electricity? According to surveys, these days, 64% comes from fossil fuels, 16% from nuclear fission and 19% from hydro, with very little from other renewable in worldwide. Sources of energy Renewable energy like wind and solar are appropriate first consideration in sustainable development, because apart from constructing the plant, there is no destroy of mineral resources and no direct air or water pollutions. But these free sources cannot be the only option. Renewable sources other than hydro notably wind and solar, are diffuse and unreliable by nature of their occurrence. Except for renewable resources, another most important thing is what resources have most abundant and less polluting. The criteria for any acceptable energy supply will continue to be cost and safety, as well as environmental considerations. Energy resources There is abundant coal in many parts of the world, but with the constraints imposed by concern about global warming, it is likely that these will increasingly their large-scale use for electricity production will be scaled down. Current proposals for clean coal technologies may change this outlook. The main technology involves using the coal to make hydrogen from water by a two-stage gasification process, then burying the carbon dioxide and burning the hydrogen. Elements of the technology are proven but the challenge is to bring the cost of this down sufficiently to compete with nuclear power. Natural gas is also reasonably abundant but is so valuable for direct use after being reticulated to the point where heat is required, and as a chemical feedstock, that its large-scale use for power generation makes little sense and is arguably unsustainable. Fuel for nuclear power is abundant, and if well-proven but currently uneconomic fast breeder technology is used, or thorium becomes a nuclear fuel, the supply is almost limitless. The Hydrogen problems Hydrogen is expected to come into great demand as a transport fuel which does not contribute to global warming. It may be used in fuel cells to produce electricity or directly in internal combustion motors. Fuel cells are at an early stage of technological development and still require substantial, research and development input, although they will be an important technology in the future. Hydrogen may be provided by steam reforming of natural gas by thermonuclear processes, or by electrolysis of water. Advantages and disadvantages of energy resources: Name of energy resources Advantages Fossil fuels Very large amounts of electricity, fairly cheaply. Gas-fired power stations are very efficient. The power station can be built almost anywhere. Wind power Wind is free, wind farms need no fuel. Wave power The energy is free no fuel needed, no waste produced. Not expensive to operate and maintain. Solar power Solar energy is free and no pollutions. Nuclear power Nuclear power costs about the same as coal, so its not expensive to make. Produces small wastes. Nuclear power is reliable. Tidal power Once youve built it, tidal power is free. It produces no greenhouse gases or other waste. It produces electricity reliably. Not expensive to maintain. Hydroelectric power Once the dam is built, the energy is virtually free. No waste or pollution produced. Much more reliable than wind, solar or wave power. Geothermal power Geothermal energy does not produce any pollution, and does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Once youve built a geothermal power station, the energy is almost free. Bio mass It makes sense to use waste materials where we can. The fuel tends to be cheap. Less demand on the fossil fuels. Pumped storage Little effect on the landscape. No pollution or waste Conclusion: Most of those energy resources have below advantages: No pollution. No waste. Cheap some of them free. Build up stations easily. Power is reliable. Name of energy resources Disadvantages Fossil fuels Burning any fossil fuel produces carbon dioxide, which contributes to the greenhouse effect, warming the Earth. Pollution. Wind power The wind is not always predictable. Suitable areas for wind-expensive. Can kill birds. Wave power Depends on the waves sometimes youll get loads Solar power Doesnt work at night. Very expensive to build solar power stations. Can be unreliable. Nuclear power Although not much waste is produced, it is very, very dangerous. Tidal power A barrage across an estuary is very expensive to build, and affects a very wide area. Only provides power for around 10 hours each day, when the tide is actually moving in or out. There are few suitable sites for tidal barrages Hydroelectric power The dams are very expensive to build. Building a large dam will flood a very large area upstream, causing problems for animals that used to live there. Water quality and quantity downstream can be affected, which can have an impact on plant life. Geothermal power The big problem is that there are not many places where you can build a geothermal power station. You need hot rocks of a suitable type, at a depth where we can drill down to them. Bio mass Collecting or growing the fuel in sufficient quantities can be difficult. We burn the biofuel, so it makes greenhouse gases just like fossil fuels do. Some waste materials are not available all year round. Pumped storage Expensive to build. Once its used, you cant use it again until youve pumped the water back up. Conclusion: Most of those energy resources have below disadvantages: Build up stations is expensive. Danger. Not easily to get power. Sometimes, bad weather will affect it. Pollution. Problems with resources: The major resources problems around the world: Natural resources are being degraded. The oil, the water, the old growth forests are all limited resources. They must be conserved for the most important future uses. Oil is necessary for the operation of all sorts of machinery, yet it is not being conserved but recklessly pumped out of the earth and sold to the highest bidder. Forest resources. In the early history, the earth is approximately 2/3 of the land is covered by forests. The area of forest nearly 76 million hectares. Now, world only has 36 hectares of forests because deforestation and forest clearing. The fresh water shortage. Human consumption of freshwater is increasing rapidly; it causes serious shortage of water resources. The freshwater resources on the earth are limited, and distribution is not balanced. Water shortages became very important problem to restrict many countries economy development especially the agricultural production. Drinkable water is increasing rare; indeed, it is sold in stores for the same price of colas. But underground water is needed for crops, and the underwater reserves are running out. Here, national and international management are required. Plowland decreases. Due to the population growth and the non-agricultural population increases, the land is almost zero. Meanwhile, many area face soil erosion and desertification of land degradation. Every year millions of hectares of arable land about loss. Desertification. The reasons are overgrazing, deforestation denudation and drought. Problem with resources in South Africa: The South African mining industry has been consistently churning out some of the worlds foremost natural resources, including precious metals such as gold and platinum. The world leader in platinum production, South Africa is suffering from an energy shortage. Two major shortages of resources are water and electricity in South Africa. Solutions: Firstly, citizens should save water and electricity. Secondly, South Africa government sets up more stations and use high developed technologies to use energy resources produce water and electricity. Finally, if SA does not have high technologies, it needs to buy them from other countries or scientists should start to make plans. Effect of mining on the environment: Mining has strong power to destructive to the environment. It is one of the main reason which causes of deforestation. In order to mine, people clear and burn trees and vegetations. The ground becomes completely bare, large scale mining operations use huge number of bulldozers and excavators to extract the metals and minerals from the soil. In order to cluster the extractions, they use chemicals such as cyanide and mercury. These chemicals go through tailings and are often discharged into rivers, streams, bays, and oceans. These pollutions contaminate all living organisms within the body of water and ultimately the people who depend on the fish for their main sources of protein and their economic livelihood. Small scale mining is equally devastating to the environment, if not more. There are two types of small scale mining ¼Ã…’land dredging and river dredging: Land dredging involves miners using a generator to dig a large hole in the ground. They use a high pressure hose to expose the gold-bearing layer of sand and clay. The gold bearing slurry is pumped into a sluice box, which collects gold particles, while mine tailings flow into either an abandoned mining pit or adjacent forest. When the mining pits fill with water from the tailings, they become stagnant water pools. These pools create a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other water-born insects. Malaria and other water-born diseases increase significantly whenever open pools of water are nearby. River dredging involves moving along a river on a platform or boat. The miners use a hydrolic suction hose and suction the gravel and mud as they move along the river. The gravel, mud, and rocks go through the tailings (pipes) and any gold fragments are collected on felt mats. The remaining gravel, mud, and rocks go back into the river, but in a different location than where it was originally suctioned. This creates problems for the river. The displaced gravel and mud disrupt the natural flow of the river. Fish and other living organisms often die and fishermen can no longer navigate in the obstructed rivers. Think about the fact that producing a single gold ring generates 20 tons of mine waste. Disadvantages of mining: It destroys forest and wetlands. It may mean that you have to cut down lots of trees just to get to the spot that has all the gold or iron ore. Underground coal mining can require the removal of almost an entire layer of material deep under the surface. When the timber supports collapse, this can lead to subsidence. The subsidence can mean damage to natural areas. It can even cause cracks in river beds, leading to loss of river flow. Some mining involves the inadvertent dispersal of heavy metals, such as lead, into the atmosphere. This can have serious health effects, including mental retardation in children. Asbestos mining causes the dispersal of asbestos into the environment. This will cause deaths among local residents and workers, often several decades later. Fortunately, the mining and use of asbestos are banned in most parts of the world. Industry and its exploitation of the resources: Gold: Gold is one of the most important roles in South Africas economy. A number of different techniques can be used to mine gold. The three most common methods in South Africa are panning, open cast and shaft mining. Panning Panning for gold is a manual technique that is used to sort gold from other sediments. Wide, shallow pans are filled with sand and gravel from river beds that may contain gold. Water is added and the pans are shaken. Open cast mining This is a form of surface mining. Surface layers of rock and sediments are removed so that the deeper gold rich layers can be reached. This type of mining is not suitable if the gold is buried very deep below the surface. Shaft mining South Africas thin but extensive gold reefs slope at an angle underneath the ground, and this means that some deposits are very deep and often difficult to reach. Shaft mining is needed to reach the gold ore. After the initial drilling, blasting and equipping of a mine shaft, tunnels are built leading outwards from the main shaft so that the gold reef can be reached. Iron: Iron is one of the most abundant metals on Earth. It is extracted from iron ore and is almost never found in its elemental form. Iron ores are usually rich in iron oxide minerals and may vary in colour from dark grey to rusty red. Iron mining and iron ore processing: One of the more common methods of mining for iron ore is open cast mining. Open cast mining is used when the iron ore is found near the surface. Once the ore has been removed, it needs to be crushed into fine particles before it can be processed further. As mentioned earlier, iron is commonly found in the form of iron oxides. To create pure iron, the ore must be smelted to remove the oxygen. Definition Smelting Smelting is a method used to extract a metal from its ore and then purify it. Smelting usually involves heating the ore and also adding a reducing agent (e.g. carbon) so that the metal can be freed from its ore. The bonds between iron and oxygen are very strong, and therefore it is important to use an element that will form stronger bonds with oxygen that the iron. A blast furnace is a huge steel container many metres high and lined with heat-resistant material. STEP 1: Production of carbon monoxide. STEP 2: Reduction of iron oxides takes place in a number of stages to produce iron. STEP 3: Fluxing: The flux is used to melt impurities in the ore. Phosphate: A phosphate is a salt of phosphoric acid. Phosphorus is seldom found in its pure elemental form, and phosphate therefore refers to a rock or ore that contains phosphate ions. Mining phosphates: Phosphate is found in beds in sedimentary rock, and has to be quarried to access the ore. A quarry is a type of open pit mine that is used to extract ore. In South Africa, the main phosphate producer is at the Palaborwa alkaline igneous complex, which produces about 3 million tons of ore per year. The ore is crushed into a powder and is then treated with sulfuric acid to form a superphosphate, which is then used as a fertilizer. In the equation below, the phosphate mineral is calcium phosphate. Coal: Coal is what is known as a fossil fuel. How coal is removed from the ground? Coal can be removed from the crust in a number of different ways. The most common methods used are strip mining, open cast mining and underground mining. Strip mining Strip mining is a form of surface mining that is used when the coal reserves are very shallow. The overburden (overlying sediment) is removed so that the coal seams can be reached. These sediments are replaced once the mining is finished, and in many cases, attempts are made to rehabilitate the area. Open cast mining Open cast mining is also a form of surface mining, but here the coal deposits are too deep to be reached using strip mining. One of the environmental impacts of open cast mining is that the overburden is dumped somewhere else away from the mine, and this leaves a huge pit in the ground. Underground mining Undergound mining is normally used when the coal seams are much deeper, usually at a depth greater than 40 m. As with shaft mining for gold, the problem with underground mining is that it is very dangerous, and there is a very real chance that the ground could collapse during the mining if it is not support. Pollution due to industry: Pollutants produces and the environment impact on the lithosphere and atmosphere include nitrogen cycle and the carbon cycle. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/AlfedPalmersmokestacks.jpg/260px-AlfedPalmersmokestacks.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution Major primary pollutants produced by industries include: Sulfur oxides Nitrogen oxides (NOx) especially nitrogen dioxide are emitted from high temperature combustion. Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless, non-irritating but very poisonous gas. It is a product by incomplete combustion of fuel such as natural gas, coal or wood. Carbon dioxide (CO2) a greenhouse gas emitted from combustion but is also a gas vital to living organisms. It is a natural gas in the atmosphere. Many of the largest polluters come from the chemical, pesticide, oil refining, petrochemical, metal smelting, iron and steel, and food processing industries. All are major users of energy that produce large amounts of waste products and pollution. Other industries have less potential impact but are still considered highly problematic when it comes to pollution. These industries include the textile, leather tanning, paint, plastics, pharmaceutical, and paper and pulp industries. Industries that are often outside the traditional manufacturing sector-but nevertheless contribute to environmental degradation-include the construction industry. Atmosphere: Air pollution is produced by industry. The plan sets overall national fixed emissions caps for industrial pollutants causing smog and acid rain. Air pollution can result in poor air quality, both in cities and the countryside. Some air pollutants make people sick, causing breathing problems and increasing the likelihood of cancer. Others are harmful to plants, animals, and the ecosystems in which they live. Some air pollutants return to Earth in the form of acid rain, which corrodes statues and buildings, damages crops and forests, and makes lakes and streams unsuitable for fish and other plant and animal life. Man-made air pollution is also changing the Earths atmosphere so that it lets in more harmful radiation from the Sun. Meanwhile, people release more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, preventing heat from escaping back into space and leading to a rise in global average temperatures. Global warming will raise sea levels and change climates all over the world. Some places will become hotter and drier, others wetter. The incidence of severe storms and flooding is likely to increase. Global warming will also affect food supply and increase the spread of tropical disease. Lithosphere: The lithosphere is the solid shell of a rocky planet called earth. That means the crust and the upper part of the mantle which is joined to the crust (see picture on the right). Under the lithosphere there is the asthenosphere, the weaker, hotter, and deeper part of the upper mantle. Nitrogen cycle: Four processes participate in the cycling of nitrogen through the biosphere: nitrogen fixation, decay, nitrification and denitrification Nitrogen Fixation The nitrogen molecule (N2) is quite inert. To break it apart so that its atoms can combine with other atoms requires the input of substantial amounts of energy. Decay The proteins made by plants enter and pass through food webs just as carbohydrates do. Nitrification Ammonia can be taken up directly by plants usually through their roots. However, most of the ammonia produced by decay is converted into nitrates. This is accomplished in two steps: Bacteria of the genus Nitrosomonas oxidize NH3 to nitrites (NO2à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢). Bacteria of the genus Nitrobacter oxidize the nitrites to nitrates (NO3à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢). Both soil and the ocean contain archaeal microbes, assigned to the Crenarchaeota, that convert ammonia to nitrites. Denitrification The three processes above remove nitrogen from the atmosphere and pass it through ecosystems. And denitrification reduces nitrates to nitrogen gas, thus replenishing the atmosphere. Carbon cycle Carbon exists in the nonliving environment as: Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and dissolved in water, carbonate rocks. Carbon enters the biotic world through the action of autotrophs like plants and algae, that use the energy of light to convert carbon dioxide to organic matter. Links to photosynthesis and to a small extent, chemoautotroph bacteria and archaea that do the same but use the energy derived from an oxidation of molecules in their substrate. Carbon returns to the atmosphere and water by respiration, burning and decay. Greenhouse effect Greenhouse effect is always be treated as negative terms. The negative concerns are related to the possible impacts of an enhanced greenhouse effect. This is covered in more detail in the Global Climate Change section of this Web site. It is important to remember that without the greenhouse effect, life on earth as we know it would not be possible. While the earths temperature is dependent on greenhouse-like action of the atmosphere, the amount of heating and cooling are influenced by several factors is like greenhouses are affected by some factors. In the atmospheric greenhouse effect, the type of surface that sunlight first encounters is the most important factor. Grasslands, forests, ocean surfaces, deserts, and cities all absorb, reflect, and radiate radiation differently. Sunlight falling on a white glacier surface strongly reflects back into space, resulting in minimal heating of the surface and lower atmosphere. Sunlight falling on a dark desert soil is strongly absorbed, on the other hand, and contributes to significant heating of the surface and lower atmosphere. Cloud cover also affects greenhouse warming by both reducing the amount of solar radiation reaching the earths surface and by reducing the amount of radiation energy emitted into space. The consequences of pollution around the world and South Africa: All of land pollution, air pollution and water pollution can affect wildlife, plants, and humans in a number of ways, such as: Lead to birth defects. Cause various kinds of cancers. People cannot eat fish and any animals. People cannot breathe. People cannot live anymore. The consequences like people build up industries, industries make pollution, and people cannot live because of pollutions. Solutions: People should be educated and made aware about the harmful effects of littering Items used for domestic purposes ought to be reused or recycled. Personal litter should be disposed properly. Organic waste matter should be disposed in areas that are far away from residential places. Inorganic matter such as paper, plastic, glass and metals should be reclaimed and then recycled. Decreases amount of industries. Save water. Plant trees and flowersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Conclusion and recommendation: Through this research, I think that humans activities effect environment a lot. People cannot live without good environment, everything is connected to human. People should respect environment and set a good relationship with it. According to this research, people will get some knowledge of resources such as the kind of energy resources, are whether renewable or non-renewable and how to exploit mineral resources. People will realize how much hurt they have made to environment. This research is worth to do and read; it teaches and tells people the truth of the world. Bibliography and Acknowledgements: http://www.bing.com/search?q=consequence+of+pollutionsrc=IE-SearchBox http://www.baidu.com/s?wd=%E7%A9%BA%E6%B0%94%E6%B1%A1%E6%9F%93%E7%89%A9ie=UTF-8oe=UTF-8bar=13tn=baofengyingyin_cb http://www.travel-university.org/general/geography/mineral-resources/ http://www.darvill.clara.net/altenerg/index.htm http://tongfuzb.blog.163.com/blog/static/301218772007112422653429/ http://www.invest.net.cn/country/news/news_index.asp?id=85 http://www.southafrica.info/business/economy/sectors/energy.htm http://people.bath.ac.uk/hssam/sauner/mainresults.html http://www.bing.com/search?q=effect+of+mining+on+the+environmentsrc=IE-SearchBox http://www.bing.com/search?q=industry+and+its+exploitation+of+the+resourcessrc=IE-SearchBox http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/Atmosphere/Older/Pollution.html http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_effect_does_mining_have_on_the_environment

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Conrad: Blatant Racist Or Political Satirist? Essay -- Conrad Racism E

Conrad: Blatant Racist Or Political Satirist? There have been many critics, predominantly Chinua Achebe, that have cast a cloak of racism upon the back of Joseph Conrad. Those authors base these allegations upon the novel Heart of Darkness, calling it a vile and most ungodly novel that only seeks to set the black race as a footstool of the white race. However, one must realize that there is a much deeper meaning to the novel than that of blatant racism. It is, in fact, a connection with the past that shows both the mindset, as well as the ignorance, of those who colonized Africa in the late nineteenth century. The entire novel is a boxed narrative, thus we can see into what the storyteller truly feels about his own experience rather than an third person analysis of what the protagonist does. In this case, Charlie Marlow retells his story of how he encountered a force that could only be described as â€Å"The horror, the horror.† It is, indeed, a catharsis of sorts, but not only from Marlow, but for Conrad as well. After all, Conrad did partake in such an adventure as this before he became an author, therefore the reader must comprehend that these words are not only of the protagonist, if Marlow can be truly called that, but also of Conrad. The first example of Marlow’s opinion towards colonial Africa occurs when his ship passes a French man of war. The man of war is shelling the coast because the men claim there were â€Å"enemies† in the bushes. The ideals of the Company were geared more towards the pacification of the tribes as well as good commerce with them, yet in the midst of this goodwill, a war ship has come to â€Å"pacify† the natives. Conrad indicates a type of doublespeak within the doctrine of the Company for which Marlow works. The actions of imperialism that existed in the nineteenth century are more in tune what Marlow sees, rather than the doctrine of civilizing the tribes that he has heard. In this act, Conrad does display his satirical capabilities by showing the hypocritical mindset of Europe that existed through the span of more than 400 years. Perhaps the most recognized point of imperialism in the book is when Marlow reaches the Outer Station. He is surrounded by the natives who have been enlisted as slave labor. Around him are great holes, filled with broken machinery. This appears as â€Å"some inferno† to him, yet he soon comes face to f... ...ould have secretly longed to be a part of this world, this jungle, yet the bonds of imperialism and the promise of fortune have a yoke about his neck. Conrad was a master of prose as many critics admitted, even those who proclaimed him a racist. The writing of Heart of Darkness was not only to show the potential of what man could become, but what he already was. Marlow is the everyday man, longing to become something that he cannot even fathom. Kurtz was the ideal man that Marlow, or any man for that matter, longed to become. Kurtz was tormented in his last days because he saw the evil that was in European trade and imperialism. In this, he finds a reassuring simplicity in the ways of the natives. Conrad conveys this theme to those who search for a quality that resides in all men, rather than seeking the errors of one group or person, which is what Achebe accused Conrad of doing as he portrayed the natives as â€Å"niggers† and â€Å"common savages.† The evils of society set in motion for what Conrad sought to banish from human thought. All men have the capacity to be evil or good, yet the one ideal that determines th is state of being is the realization of what good and evil truly are.