Alternative Fuel :: Hydrogen Fuel H2/02

Hydrogen can be "packaged" in several ways, as a fuel gas in a H2/02 powered engine or the newly devised solid state pellet of hydrogen isotopes that contains about the equivalent of 5000 cubic feet of hydrogen and is broken down and releases gas into the second chamber where it goes to the engine for use. There are many ways to get pure hydrogen out of many compounds using methods such as electrolysis and chemical reactions. One of the easiest ways is using a chemical reaction. Simple chemicals (aluminum,sodium hydroxide, and water) can be reacted in the home to produce heavy hydrogen to power your furnace or your hot water heater . No electrical power at all is required. The reaction also gives off a tremendous amount of heat. Even the waste heat could be captured for heating the house. The resulting sodium aluminate is harmless and could be collected at recoiling centers for complete acid/base neutralization. This way is a simpler way than electrolysis produce hydrogen for heating the home, because in a automobile it would be harder to do. Electrolysis is another way to produce hydrogen electronically. It is a way that I am more familiar with because I do it quite a bit in my room and have done several experiments with it. Electrolysis will produce a 2:1 ratio of hydrogen to oxygen out of water. higher voltages will give you faster collection. With a 12-volt battery it took around a half an hour to get a quarter of a mountain dew bottle filled with a catalyst of a small amount of Baking Soda. I used it because it was cheap and I knew it worked. Another time I used a 75 volt / 2 amp power supply with a catalyst of 2 drops of sulfuric acid to a pint of water and the result was very differing from the last time. I filled the whole mountain dew bottle in less than 6 minutes. All of that gas came from a little less than a drop of water(when I light it off there was only a little spec of water on the

The Life of a Cowboy

My grandfather's life as a cowboy was very interesting. Most of what I know about my grandfather was told to me long after his days as a cowboy. As a young boy, at the age of five years old, this was very fascinating to me. He lived his life as a rowdy, kindhearted cowboy who was an excellent story teller. First of all, my grandfather loved to be the center of attention. He loved making people laugh. At times, he would get carried away and the wild, rowdy, cowboy side of him would surface.One of his favorite things to do was to imitate riding a horse by sing a broom or board or whatever else he could find to pick up and use as a horse. He would then gallop around everyone by going In circles, with one hand waving in the air, and yelling, â€Å"Yahoo', â€Å"yippee†, â€Å"yahoo' Although my grandfather had his rowdy side, he was also a very kind hearted soul. He would always be the person that would run and rescue his fellow cowboys whenever they had an injury or if they wer e Injured. He would also respond the same way towards the cattle.He enjoyed being the person to deliver the baby calves. He enjoyed cooking for the men and doing the branding of the cows. Most of all, I loved the stories my grandfather told me about his many adventures as a cowboy. One that stands out the most In my mind was when they drove five hundred head of cattle through the severe winter cold of the rocky mountains of Colorado. There were six cows who had succumbed to the freezing weather. All were baby calves accept for the one mother cow. Several of the men folk fell Ill during this journey.Along the way one of the men was lost due to the harsh conditions and poor weather. This trip was to get the cattle away from the cold and Into the lower plains of Colorado. The trip was a total of fifty five days. Now that my grandfather Is gone, I think of him often and remember all his wonderful WAP. I miss him dearly. He was a very special grandfather to me. Knowing the cowboy that he was gives me that special feeling towards him. He was so full of life, laughter, the life of the party type of person, a very kind and gentle man that would help anyone.By creepy He would then gallop around everyone by going in circles, with one hand waving in he air, and yelling, IMHO†, â€Å"yippee†, â€Å"yahoo' whenever they had an injury or if they were injured. He would also respond the same a cowboy. One that stands out the most in my mind was when they drove five baby calves accept for the one mother cow. Several of the men folk fell ill during this weather. This trip was to get the cattle away from the cold and into the lower plains Now that my grandfather is gone, I think of him often and remember all his wonderful ways. I miss him dearly. He was a very special grandfather to me. Knowing

Geert Hofstede Organization Culture Essay

I. Analysis Every one of us already realizes and knows that we are living in a global age. Technology has brought everyone much closer together. This means that people of different cultures find themselves working together and communicating more and more. This is exciting, but it can also be frustrating and fraught with uncertainty. How do you relate to someone of another culture? What do you say, or not say, to start a conversation right? Are there cultural taboos that you need to be aware of? Building connections with people from around the world is just one dimension of cultural diversity. You will also need to factor it into motivating people, structuring projects, and developing strategy. Of course there are so many question on our head how can we understand cultural differences? Are we relegated to learning from our mistakes, or are there generalized guidelines to follow? Fortunately, psychologist Dr. Geert Hofstede asked himself this question in the 1970s. What emerged after a decade of r esearch and thousands of interviews is a model of cultural dimensions that has become an internationally recognized standard. Before we talk about the theory further further let us know more about Geert Hofstede deeper. Geert Hofstede, a widely known Dutch researcher of culture, has defined culture as â€Å"the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.† During 1978-83, he conducted detailed interviews with hundreds of IBM employees in 53 countries. Through standard statistical analysis of large data sets, he determined patterns of similarities and differences among the replies. From this data analysis, he developed five dimensions of culture. In the 1990s, Hofstede published results of his research in publication Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind. Initially he developed four dimensions in culture, but added a fifth dimension in 1991. Moreover Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory is a framework for cross-cultural communication, developed by Geert. It describes the effects of a society’s culture on t he values of its members, and how these values relate to behavior, using a structure derived from factor  analysis. The theory has been widely used in several fields as a paradigm for research, particularly in cross-cultural psychology, international management, and cross-cultural communication. The original theory proposed four dimensions along which cultural values could be analyzed: individualism-collectivism; uncertainty avoidance; power distance (strength of social hierarchy) and masculinity-femininity (task orientation versus person-orientation). Independent research in Hong Kong led Hofstede to add a fifth dimension, long-term orientation, to cover aspects of values not discussed in the original paradigm. In the 2010 edition of Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind Hofstede added a sixth dimension, indulgence versus self-restraint, as a result of co-author Michael Minkov’s analysis of data from the World Values Survey. Before we jump further, let us see what is the identification of culture itself in terms of Hofstede termination, culture to be mental programming of the mind: every person carries within him or herself patterns of thinking; feeling; and potential acting which were learned throughout their lifetime (Hofstede, 2005 p4). He identified 3 layers of mental programming that are: individual, collective and universal. Based on these 3 layers he constructed his culture triangle (see figure 1). The Individual level (personality) is focused on the mental programming exclusive to each person. Hofstede suggests that this level is at least partly inherited. The Collective Level (culture) is focused on the mental programming that is learned from others, that is specific to a group of people. The Universal level (human nature) is focused on all humans, and is also likely inherited: instincts for survival et cetera. Figure 1: Hofstede’s Culture Triangle With access to people working for the same organization in over 40 countries of the world, Hofstede collected cultural data and analyzed his findings. He initially identified four distinct cultural dimensions that served to distinguish one culture from another. Later he added a fifth dimension, and that is how the model stands today. He scored each country using a scale of roughly 0 to 100 for each dimension. The higher the score, the more that dimension is exhibited in society. The Five Dimensions of Culture Armed with a large database of cultural statistics, Hofstede analyzed the  results and found clear patterns of similarity and difference amid the responses along these five dimensions. Interestingly, his research was done on employees of IBM only, which allowed him to attribute the patterns to national differences in culture, largely eliminating the problem of differences in company culture. The five dimensions are: 1. Power/Distance (PD) This refers to the degree of inequality that exists – and is accepted – among people with and without power. Power distance is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions (like the family) accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.† Cultures that endorse low power distance expect and accept power relations that are more consultative or democratic. A high PD score indicates that society accepts an unequal distribution of power, and that people understand â€Å"their place† in the system. Low PD means that power is shared and well dispersed. It also means that society members view themselves as equals. Application: According to Hofstede’s model, in a high PD country such as Malaysia (104), you would probably send reports only to top management and have closed-door meetings where only select powerful leaders were in attendance. PD| Characteristics| Tips| High PD| * Centralized companies. * Strong hierarchies. * Large gaps in compensation, authority, and respect.| * Acknowledge a leader’s power. * Be aware that you may need to go to the top for answers| Low PD| * Flatter organizations. * Supervisors and employees are considered almost as equals.| * Use teamwork. * Involve as many people as possible in decision making.| 2. Individualism (IDV) This refers to the strength of the ties people have to others within the community. A high IDV score indicates loose connections. People have large extended families, which are used as a protection in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. In countries with a high IDV score there is a lack of interpersonal connection, and little sharing of responsibility beyond family and perhaps a few close friends. A society with a low IDV score would have strong group cohesion, and there would be a large amount of loyalty and  respect for members of the group. The group itself is also larger and people take more responsibility for each other’s well being. Application: Hofstede’s analysis suggests that in the Central American countries of Panama and Guatemala where the IDV scores are very low (11 and 6, respectively), a marketing campaign that emphasized benefits to the community or that tied into a popular political movement would likely be understood and well received. This talks about how much a society sticks with values, traditional male and female roles. Masculine cultures’ values are competitiveness, assertiveness, materialism, ambition and power, whereas feminine cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life. In masculine cultures, the differences between gender roles are more dramatic and less fluid than in feminine cultures where men and women have the same values emphasizing modesty and caring. High MAS scores are found in countries where men are expected to be â€Å"tough,† to be the provider, and to be assertive. If women work outside the home, they tend to have separate professions from men. Low MAS scores do not reverse the gender roles. In a low MAS society, the roles are simply blurred. You see women and men working together equally across many professions. Men are allowed to be sensitive, and women can work hard for professional success. Application: Japan is highly masculine with a score of 95, whereas Sweden has  the lowest measured value (5). According to Hofstede’s analysis, if you were to open an office in Japan, you might have greater success if you appointed a male employee to lead the team and had a strong male contingent on the team. In Sweden, on the other hand, you would aim for a team that was balanced in terms of skill rather than gender. MAS| Characteristics| Tips| High MAS| * Men are masculine and women are feminine. * There is a well-defined distinction between men’s work and women’s work.| * Be aware that people may expect male and female roles to be distinct. * Advise men to avoid discussing emotions or making emotionally based decisions or arguments.| Low MAS| * A woman can do anything a man can do. * Powerful and successful women are admired and respected.| * Avoid an â€Å"old boys’ club† mentality. * Ensure job design and practices are not discriminatory to gender * Treat men and women equally.| 4. Uncertainty/Avoidance Index (UAI) This relates to the degree of anxiety that society members feel when in uncertain or unknown situations. High UAI-scoring nations try to avoid ambiguous situations whenever possible. It reflects the extent to which members of a society attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing uncertainty. People in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance tend to be more emotional. In contrast, low uncertainty avoidance cultures accept and feel comfortable in unstructured situations or changeable environments and try to have as few rules as possible. People in these cultures tend to be more pragmatic, they are more tolerant of changeThey are governed by rules and order and they seek a collective â€Å"truth.† Low UAI scores indicate that the society enjoys novel events and values differences. There are very few rules, and people are encouraged to discover their own truth. Application: Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions imply that when discussing a project with people in Belgium, whose country scored a 94 on the UAI scale, you should investigate the various options and then present a limited number of choices, but have very detailed information available on your contingency and risk plans. (Note that there will be cultural differences between French  and Dutch speakers in Belgium.) 5. Long Term Orientation (LTO) This is the fifth dimension that Hofstede added in the 1990s, after finding that Asian countries with a strong link to Confucian philosophy acted differently from Western cultures. In countries with a high LTO score, delivering on social obligations and avoiding â€Å"loss of face† are considered very important. This refers to how much society values long-standing – as opposed to short-term – traditions and values. It describes societies’ time horizon. Long-term oriented societies attach more importance to the future. They foster pragmatic oriented towards rewards, including persistence, saving and capacity for adaptation. In short term oriented societies, values promoted are related to the past and the present, including steadiness, respect for tradition, preservation of one’s face, reciprocation and fulfilling social obligations. Application: According to Hofstede’s analysis, people in the United States and United Kingdom have low LTO scores. This suggests that you can pretty much expect anything in this culture in terms of creative expression and novel ideas. The model implies that people in the U.S. and U.K. don’t value tradition as much as many others, and are therefore likely to be willing to help you execute the most innovative plans as long as they get to  participate fully. (This may be surprising to people in the U.K., with its associations of tradition.) LTO| Characteristics| Tips| High LTO| * Family is the basis of society. * Parents and men have more authority than young people and women. * Strong work ethic and high value placed on education and training.| * Show respect for traditions. * Do not display extravagance or act frivolously. * Reward perseverance, loyalty, and commitment.| Low LTO| * Promotion of equality. * High creativity, individualism. * Treat others as you would like to be treated. * Self-actualization is sought.| * Expect to live by the same standards and rules you create. * Be respectful of others. * Do not hesitate to introduce necessary changes.| The latest one that has just been added by Geert itself is Indulgence versus restraint (IVR): The extent to which member in society tries to control their desires and impulses. Whereas indulgent societies have a tendency to allow relatively free gratification of basic and natural human desires related to enjoying life and having fun, restrained societies have a conviction that such gratification needs to be curbed and regulated by strict norms. II. Implication After the publications of the theory I especially directly know the evidence that organization or family are different from each other, we used to believe that deep inside all people everywhere anytime are the same. In fact, as we are generally not aware of other countries’ cultures, we tend to minimize cultural differences. This leads to misunderstandings and misinterpretation between people from different countries. Instead of the convergence phenomena, cultural differences are still significant today and diversity tends to increase. The in order to be able to have respectful cross-cultural relations, we have to be aware of these cultural differences. So here I would like to analyze of those 5-dimension theory of Geert Hofstede and also the spirit of leadership in the application of my community, organization, and family. First, regarding  to the power or hierarchy, I can see that the organization even family I had now is got very high score of power or hierarchy. Asian co untry especially south East Asia country included Indonesia widely known as the east part of the world has very long hierarchy process in organization. It needs to follow so much unbiased rules and regulation that never existed in western country. Another thing in my organization or family is centralized meaning the leader is everything; the leader in a group or family (parents, father especially) can do what they want. They take control of every single thing and execute all of things that they think it is right to be executed. The leader power here is also get tons of acknowledgements of power also compensation, authority, and respect in the way they behave in the community. And not many things you can really do over there unless you have top Harvard quality student of opinion or sight. Second, it is regarding to the individualism. This individualism model can be positive or negative. Its position is more in the between good and bad, depends on the condition that an individual face. Widely known in Indonesia that it has relatively low score. Indonesia as part of the Eastern country world is very low on facing the condition of being individual. It also here in my organization and family where the entire member included leader and sub ordinaries are not really independent in terms of individual people’s eye. They here one hundred percent have totality in suppress feelings and emotions to work in harmony Besides that tradition are the main habit of my community to be respected even it cost slow changes. This thing is also inter-related with showing respect for age and wisdom. Another good thing about having low individualism is the willing of my mates in emphasizing on building skills and becoming master or pro of a specific skill on something detail. They also have very high appreciation of intrinsic rewards. Lastly what I have been seeing in the community I have been involved in that they really support the creation of harmony in the community even it needs to scarify the honesty. Third thing is masculinity. Once again as the historical and geographical background of most Indonesian majority is Islamic people which really praise the superiority of men. Same also with the minority, Chinese people of Indonesian really put more eyes on men compared to women. Men in Indonesia  can be said has higher status than the women. They are different from each other. Both men and women is really distinguish and well defined in work, job, attitude, and behavior in the neighborhood. Some people really praise this condition so they really have high expectation on putting men over women which men advised is really being a high terminology on discussing emotion or making emotionally based argument even decision. Fourth, regarding to the uncertainty method, what I face in my organization or family is really in between. I really mean that it is in the middle, not really high not even low. But somehow if it is calculated deeply I can conclude it is more on the low side with the c omparison of 60:40 for low uncertainty. I can say it is low because there is some informal business attitude in executing the activities in family even organization. They act not really formal like in army but it is more enjoyable and fun but still serious. Then another why I say it is informal that mostly the organization mates do not really impose rules or structure unnecessarily. Besides that also can be seen there is minimization in controlling emotional response by being calm and contemplating situations before speaking. Las thing is people do not really afraid of expressing curiosity when some differences or irrelevant concept found. Another supporting condition but not I found which also make the 40 percent disagreement are there are more concern with long term strategy than what is happening on a daily basis and also accepting of change and risk. Both thing are hardly founded in my organization, they prefer to be stick on what have drawn before. Fifth is regarding to the long-term orientation that has been just added by Geert. This condition is 100 percent high. Easily founded everywhere not only in my organization and family that family, family, and family is based on everything in the society. It should be on the top of priority compared to another element in the society. In the family itself parents especially has absolute power and authority compared another member which also another member without demanded give respect for tradition terms. Another thing that the terms of an individual displaying extravagance or acting frivolously is reaching zero percent in behavior action that has high reward perseverance, loyal, and total commitment. This condition exactly leads to strong work ethic and high valued placed on the training and education. Last method is just recently developed can be said not really playing important role but worth slightly  to be discussed which is indulgence versus restraint. This is quite high in Indonesia that everyone needs to control desire and also impulses of what there flesh demand. In other word in organization, family, group, and also community that I have been involved in in Indonesia are being super strict to many traditional views of law and norm that exist in neighborhood which also the inheritance of the ancestor created and did. So being totally freedom as in the heaven is hardly found. III. Conclusion The creation of this theory really become valuable for everyone as there is differences between culture in family and also organization from one and other. Thus people can prepare for it. Another thing of this creation model theory can provide us the chance of demonstrating management competencies such as personal motivation, time management, organization and communication. The knowledge we get also important to evaluate and compare community, organization, management, nation, continent, and an era. Furthermore it is hoped that the skill and ability gained from this paper can be added to rich our multi cultural point of view and be useful from high value consulting standpoint.

Facial Recognition Biometrics Essay

Traditional personal identification and authentication methods always have the danger of being stolen, duplicated or forgotten. Hence, biometrics was introduced as an identification and authentication technology, where physical features would be used for recognizing a person. This technology uses many features for unique identification like fingerprints, face, irises and voice. Fingerprints are by far the most popular techniques used for i8dentification, because of their traditional use in forensics. However, face recognition is considered to be the more direct, friendly and convenient method for identification as compared to fingerprint identification. This has made face recognition system as the second most widely used biometric technology after fingerprinting with a projected revenue of $429 million in 2007, according to Raicu & Strandburg (2005). This growth in the use of this technology is attributed to the sharp rise in the number of digital cameras and camcorders and inconsequence surveillance cameras. The purpose of this paper is to analyze this technology, explain its basic principle, look into the limitations of the technology and the research work being done in this field. Face Recognition Face recognition consists of two steps: face detection and location; features extraction and face recognition. Figure below shows a flowchart of the face recognition system: Fig -1 Flow chart of a basic face recognition system (Zhang, 2000) Face Detection and Location – This step checks if the given image or image sequence includes faces. It yes, then it locates the position of the faces and segments each face from the background Features extraction and face recognition – This step checks the various features that distinguish different individuals. It figures whether the people in the image are the given person or if he / she are in the database. Needless to say, the face recognition system depends upon the input of the system. The importance of the input and picture background is explained by Zhang (2000) by giving the following example. The picture taken during log in on a system and passing custom are controlled. That is to say the background is uniform for the images or image sequences. The pose, orientation etc is also known and well controlled. This makes the process of face recognition is accurate and faster. However, in case of an input environment which is universal for all situations, there might be number of faces and also a complex background. The location of the face and its size is not known, the illumination on the different faces in a picture is different and their expressions might be different too. In such cases, the face detection and location is difficult. Face recognition can be made difficult due to different expressions, orientations and age, making the process of feature extraction and face recognition all the more difficult (Zhang, 2000) One important parameter in the evaluation of a face-processing system is the performance evaluation. The basic measurement parameters are the same as that for pattern recognition system FA i. e. false acceptance or false positive and FR i. e. false rejection or false negative. As in case of a pattern recognition system, an ideal face-recognition system should have very low scores of FA and FR, but a practical system usually makes trade-offs between these two factors. History of Face Processing Systems Development According to Zhao & Chellappa (2006), the earliest work on face recognition can be traced to the early 1950s in psychology and 1960s in engineering literature. However, the research on automatic machine recognition of faces started in 1970s after the work of Kanade and Kelly. For over 30 years extensive research has been conducted on various aspects of face recognition by humans and machines. During early and mid 1970s typical pattern-classification techniques using measured attribute of features for instance the distances between important points in faces or profiles were used. In 1980s, the work in this field remained largely dormant. The interest in this field was renewed in 1990s due to an increase in commercial opportunities, availability of real-time hardware and emergence of surveillance related applications. During this time the research was focused on how to make the face-recognition systems fully automatic by tackling various underlying problems like localization of a face in a given image or a video clip and extraction of features such as eyes, mouth etc (Zhao & Chellappa, 2006) Applications of Face processing The applications of face processing vary, leading to different features extraction and face recognition. For instance, one application is the face verification, which means that the person is who he claims to be. This is used in places like banks for identity confirmation. Another application is to check if the person exists in the database and if yes than which one. This is known as face recognition and used in surveillance systems in offices. A variation of this is when we wish to have a list of candidates with a specific set of specified features. This is used in the police department (Zhang, 2000) The table below gives some applications of face processing including detection and tracking, recognition of identity and expressions, and also personalized realistic rendering (Zhao & Chellappa, 2006).

Political Risks in International Marketing

Assessing the political environment is an important part in any business decision. Laws and regulations passed by either local, regional and central government bodies can affect foreign firms' operations. Also, firms are comfortable assessing the political climates in their home countries. However, assessing the political climates in other countries is still problematic. Classification and description of political risks When doing international business, the manager may face several types of financial risks.The major types of financial risks are commercial risks, political risks, exchange rate risks, and other such as inflation-related risks. Thus, political risks are non commercial risks. Political risks are any changes in the political environment that may adversely affect the value of a firm's business activities. Political risks may occur in any nation, but the risks vary considerably between countries. We may distinguish two types of classification of political risks. A classifi cation based on the characteristic of political risks and a classification or categorization based on the local government actions or control.Classification based on the characteristics of political risks Characteristics refer to as the facts that are inherent to each political risk. In other terms, their uniqueness or what make them different from one another. There are three types of such characteristics: ownership risks, operating risks, and transfer risks. Ownership risk In which the property of the firm is threatened through expropriation, confiscation or domestication. Ownership risk exposes property and life. The triad will be explained in the second classification. Operating risk  In which there is interference with the firm operations.The ongoing operations of the and/or the safety of its employees are threatened through changes in laws, environmental standards, tax codes, terrorism, armed insurrection or wars, and so forth. Transfer risk  In which the government interf eres with a firm's ability to shift funds into and out of the country. Classification based host country actions We can distinguish two types: political risks out of the government control and political risk induced by the government. Political risks out of government control. There are risks or events arise from nongovernmental actions, factors that are outside the government responsibility.There are  wars, revolution, coup d'etat, terrorism, strikes, extortion, and kidnappings. They all derived from some unstable social situation, with population frustration and intolerance. All these risks can generate violence, directed towards firms' property and employees. We may also have the case of  externally induced financial constraints and externally imposed limits on imports or exports, especially in case of embargoes or any economic sanctions against the host country. Political risks induced by the government These risks constitute some laws directed against foreign firms. Some go vernment-induced risks are very drastic.There are expropriation, confiscation and domestication. Expropriation  is the seizure of foreign assets by a government with payment of compensation to the owners. In other terms, it is involuntary transfer of property, with compensation, from a privately owned firm to a host country government. Expropriation may generate some funds for the owners. However, procedures to get paid from the government are sometimes protracted and the final amount remains low. Furthermore, if no compensation is paid, conflicts may erupt between the host country and the country of the expropriated firm.For instance, the relations between U. S. and Cuba acknowledge such situation, since Cuba does not offer compensation to U. S. firms that have their assets sized. 3(*)  Also, expropriation can refrain other companies from investing in the concerned country. Confiscation  is another type of ownership risk similar to expropriation, except compensation. It is in voluntary transfer of property, no compensation, from a privately owned firm to a host country government. In confiscation, firms do not receive any funds from government. Thereby, it represents a more risky situation for foreign firms.Some industries are more vulnerable to confiscation than others because of their importance to the host countries and their lack of ability to shift operations. Sectors such as mining, energy, public utilities, and banking have been targets of such government actions. Domestication  offers to governments a subtle control over the foreign investments. There is a partial ownership transfer and companies are urged to prioritize local production and to retain a large share of the profit within the country. Domestication can negatively impact the international marketer activities, as well as that of the entire firm.For example, if foreign companies are forced to hire nationals as managers, poor cooperation and communication can result. If domestication w as imposed within a short time span, poorly trained and inexperienced local managers would head the firm operations with possible lost of profits. Other government actions-related risks  are less dangerous but more common such as  boycott, sabotage. When facing shortage of foreign currency, government, sometimes, attempts to  control the movement of capital  in and out of the country. Often,  exchange controls  are levied selectively against certain products or companies.Exchange controls limit importation of goods so that firms might be confronted with difficulties in their regular transactions. Severe restrictions on import  can be a motive for foreign corporate to shut down. Governments may also raise the tax rate applied to foreign investors in order to control them and their capital. Government may implement a  price control system. Such control uses to derive from a sensitive political situation. For example, social pressure may result in a kind of price standa rdization for particular sectors like food, transportation, fuel, and healthcare.Political risks like arms conflicts, insurrection may affect all firms in the country equally. For that reason they are called  macro political risks. Unlike, nationalization, strikes, expropriation may affect only a handful and specific firm, they are named  micro political risks. Impact of some political risks Some negative effects of political risks on firm are summarized in the following table. Table 1. Holistic table summarizing the major political risks and their effects on firms TYPES| IMPACT ON FIRMS| Expropriation| Loss of future profits| | | Confiscation| Loss of assets| Loss of future profits| | | Campaigns against foreign goods| Loss of sales| | Increased costs of public relations efforts to improve public image| | | Mandatory labor benefits legislation| Increased operating costs| | | Kidnappings, terrorists threats, and other forms of violence| Disrupted production| | Increased security costs| | Increased managerial costs| | Lower productivity| | | Civil wars| Destruction of property| | Lost sales| | Disruption of production| | Increased security costs| | Lower productivity| | | Inflation| Higher operating costs| | Repatriation| Inability to transfer funds freely| | | Currency devaluations| Reduced value of repatriated earnings| | | Increased taxation| Lower after-tax profits| | | Source, Ricky W. Griffin, International business, 2005, page 73 In long run, and depending on the severity of the risks, action taken by government may decrease income and be detrimental to the host country economy. Strong political risks that are deeply rooted in the country governance habit might be barriers to foreign investment and country prosperity. What is going on in West Africa?

Computer Communications and Netwoks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computer Communications and Netwoks - Essay Example The motivation behind the creation of communication systems is due to the need for the improvement of transmission reliability. This is due to the reduction of errors in the process of sending and the reception of messages. Communications systems also increase the transmission capacity with the ability of sending large sizes of data in a single mode for a short time. In order to enable the exchange of information, there must be the transmission of the information from different devices, through a communication channel. There exists different communication media such as optical fiber and microwaves that possess unique characteristics for optimum performance. The integration of all the components of information technology forms a communication system (Beavin, p. 12). There are various requirements for computer communication. Such components include computer hardware. These are the tangible physical components of the computer. For instance, a Modem is one of the hardware devices that have the ability to send signals from one computer to another over telephone signals. This comprises of the computer inputs for communication purposes. The other component is computer software. This controls the computer operations, according to the instructions of the users. The software allows computers to interact with other computers through the management of resources. Some of the utility software contains language translators for easy communication between computers. Another component is the availability of a database. This is the storage of related data in an organized manner. This enables users to retrieve information when they require, for communication purposes. Through the Database Management System (DBMS), users have the ability to create, maintain, and a ccess a database. The other component is the availability of a network. Computers have the ability to converge telephone networks, in addition to other networks of communication that use both data and voice for

Remembering an event Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Remembering an event - Essay Example It is hard for me to decide which one to bring down in pen and paper. But, I have chosen to write about a day which started in perplexity and ended at giving such confidence that became a treasure for me for the rest of my life. The day I am talking about was when my graduation ceremony was held, and I was the MC of the ceremony. I was graduating from my high school in the April, 2009. The excitement was mounting since the exams were over and everybody including teachers and students were preparing for the graduation ceremony. Teachers were arranging different shows, and the students were clearing off any dues left with the university. The farewell feeling was in the air. Everybody was talking about parting. One day, my professor called upon me and gave me some papers. I looked down at them wondering what they could be. To my surprise, he told me that they were the script I was chosen to speak at the graduation ceremony. I felt my head spinning. I am sure my mouth was open with surpr ise. I told him that I had never been an MC at any ceremony in my life. And he told me that he knew that I had guts enough to be an MC and that I should not miss that wonderful opportunity. I accepted the script with reluctance but I remember my professor’s words. ... I spoke out the lines if front of my family and friends. People told me that I was good enough. But I was not sure. Every day I would stand in front of the mirror and rehearse. And then, the big day came. The ceremony was being held in the Sheraton Hotel Dubai and it was to start at 7pm. I rushed toward the place one hour ahead of time. I was scared of being late. I reached the backstage for a last rehearsal. The ceremony started and I was required to step onto the stage to say the opening lines. I felt as my feet had got numbed and I thought I was not able to move. But, I gathered courage and somehow managed to step onto the stage in front of the audience. I wanted to hear my voice which seemed to have gotten stuck in my throat. There was silence. The audience was waiting for me to speak. I looked at the audience and then at my paper, and started speaking. I was astonished at my pitch of voice and the confidence with which the words were coming out of my mouth. I had never spoken th at way, so boldly and so courageously. I welcomed the guests and started the ceremony, telling the audience which show was ahead and who would come on stage. The starting was difficult, and then everything seemed to be happening automatically. I did not know, it was going to be that easy. I looked toward where my professor was sitting. His eyes were sparkling with pride. He waived at me with a smile and I felt flying in the air with joy. The ceremony ended as it was supposed to be. Everything went fine, and I was a graduate now. Whenever, my mind flashes back and the memories of that day come rejoicing me with their flavor, my eyes get wet with tears remembering how my professor’s words had come true. I am sure that I ended up learning that confidence is the key to success