Serving Time in Virginia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Serving Time in Virginia - Essay Example Sir Edwin Sandys has tried to rebuild the Jamestown in three ways. He attracted the new investors by granting them the head rights for introducing and brining in new tenants. He grabbed the attention of new settlers by introducing lotteries. He tried to make the colony a more peaceful and pleasant place to settle down in by abolishing martial law. Citizens were extended the rights to select two members of the colony as their representatives or spokespersons. Even after the years of struggle and reconstruction, Jamestown was lacking a lot of attention. Citizens were legally enforced to grow corns. Insufficient food, arrival of unprepared settlers, inadequate housing facilities and presence of contaminated wells were becoming the reason of spreading disease. People were more interested in growing tobacco than corn despite food scarcity. This raised the question why Jamestown was still not self-sufficient despite the hard struggle. Another reason could be the transformation of Virginia into a boom country. The settlers discovered new innovative ways to produce more crops of tobacco. They also predicted that they could grow more tobacco crops only if they would have servants or peons taking care of their crops. This idea pinned the concept of slavery for the first time. The tenants gave fifty percent of their crops to plantation owners and worked for four to seven years in their fields. On the other hand, the servants worked with full commi tment and dedication in exchange for food, shelter and their passage from England. As a result, with the help of tenants and new laborers, colonists looked forward to become richer by producing more tobacco. Gradually, tobacco became the economic trademark of the colony. Serving Time in Virginia also raises some questions as to why slavery didn’t grow well during the time when labor was valued greatly. It is worth mentioning that only 5 percent of the Africans

Compare the Media Law of England and Wales with a European Country Essay

Compare the Media Law of England and Wales with a European Country - Essay Example England and Wales laws differ with other European countries like Italy and Australia, depending on privacy and defamation laws governing the media, as well as regarding the age of criminal responsibility. For example, the age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 8, 14 in Italy, 18 in Belgium, and 16 in Spain. This paper will critically analyse how the international journalism and media laws differ from the legal systems in England and Wales, using case studies. The media laws The freedom of speech should be provided to the media, yet, the people have rights which need to be protected; the exact opposite of the media’s rights (Banks and Hanna, 2009, 2). France has been lagging behind in the freedom of the media, it being the last European country to launch the use of television, UK being the first, followed by Italy, then Germany (Katisrea, 2008, 13). In France, broadcasting until 1982, was a state monopoly, controlled by the minister of information and culture, a nd this ushered in a lot of manipulation from the government (Katsirea, 2008, 19). A law passed in 1982 is what brought about the abolishment of state monopoly in broadcasting. In Greece, the media law prohibits advertising children’s toys between 7am and 10 pm. NCRTV is the only independent authority governing the media in Greece. ... ivil, and which allows a victim of harm through publication of materials, word or any other means, to sue the responsible party (Banks and Hanna, 2009, 305). The aim of the laws of defamation is to strike a balance between promoting freedom of speech, and that of protection (Quinn, 2009, 183). The injunctions and super injunctions applied by England’s and Wales’s legal system to protect people from having their information published in the media, are not applied in all European countries, yet, some countries like France have adopted the trend and privacy is incredibly common. The case of Ryan Giggs injunction on Imogen of Big Brother and against the Sun Newspaper is an indication of England and Wales’s regulations on media laws. Ryan Giggs managed to get an injunction in April 2011 against the Sun newspaper mentioning his name as the person involved in the sex scandal with Imogen Thomas (BBC, 2012). The privacy cases arise from the 1998 Human Right Act, which giv es people the right to protection (Quinn, 2009, 251). Injunctions are issued giving rights to them being known, yet the presence of super injunctions is not supposed to be known. Francois Mitterrand’s physician, Claude Gubler, published book in 1996, two weeks after his death revealing his last secret. Mitterrand had been diagnosed with prostrate cancer in 1981, and not in 1992. The family obtained a temporary injunction against the selling of the book, after 40, 000 copies of the final secret had been sold. The injunction was aimed at preventing the selling of the books or even the publishing of the book by the media houses and news papers (Tiersky, 2003, 220). In France when Mitterrand was the president, the media was gagged lot and its freedom restrained. This is evidenced by the fact that he gagged

The Integrated Solution Limited using the criteria of HKMA quality award program Essay Example for Free

The Integrated Solution Limited using the criteria of HKMA quality award program Essay Q.1: The Integrated Solution Limited (ISL) is a specialist in providing professional quality I.T. solutions to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in HK and southern China. There are several factors leading to the success of ISL today. The remarkable achievement of ISL started with its founder and Managing Director, Dr. Ricky LEUNG. Dr. LEUNG personally had in-depth understanding of the needs of manufactures in HK. He recognised that most of imported packages did not provide enough management information to them and no foreign vendors provided MRP system in HK. That is the gap where ISL successfully comes in. With the strong commitment from Dr. LEUNG, ISL has laid down a companys motto ISL is to build quality people, products and relationships and a mission statement ISL is to provide quality products and services towards better data integration and information management for manufacturers that strive to provide excellent products and services to its customers. In this connection, ISL has been very active in improving its products and services through continuous research, service quality improvements, and the changing needs and requirements of customers. Q2: The remarkable achievement of ISL shows once again that producing world-class quality is ultimately a matter of the heart more than the mind It is companies with such emotional pride in their products and with such heroic hopes for their customers that set the quality standards in every industry around the world said by Larry Farrel of the Farrel Company. Quality management has played a significant role in ISLs success. As mentioned previously, ISL has always commits to become the leader in providing professional quality I.T. solutions for SMEs in Asia Pacific. Quality management has always been their main focus in strategic planning, market positioning, and nearly every aspects. ISLs efforts in quality management has lets them successfully to built up an image of a total solution company with prestige quality, as the leading supplier of manufacturing software in Hong Kong by successfully differentiate it from its competitors, and is fast to become Hong Kongs showpiece in innovation and quality. Actually, Total Quality Management is a strategic weapon, which includes a broad set of processes, which helps ISL to enhance its competitive advantages. It is a basic belief that each day it can become better and that all employees are infected with the enthusiasm and religion of improvement. Thus, it accelerates the continuous improvement in products and services, and overall organizational performance. It also helps to develop a Roadmap to business excellence which has attained significantly higher performance levels, therefore, driven to their overall success. Q3: By applying and receiving the HKMA Award, ISL has achieved the following benefits: 1) Gain Competitive Advantage Sound Reputation Successfully Differentiate from its Competitors: ISL received the HKMA award in 1994 for its dedication to quality improvement and customer services. This awards brings the company public recognition for having achieved outstanding standards of quality and for having make a lasting commitment to the process of quality management. Thus, ISL is able to gain many competitive advantages that lead to its success in the IT industry. It not only helps ISL to successfully differentiate from its competitors, but also accelerates the continuous improvement, and gaining prestige reputation from the market. 2) Professional Productive Work Force by Empowerment, Teamwork, Recognition Training : Being a successful company, human resources, is definitely one of the most valuable resources.. ISL understands that keeping the staff growth means keeping the company growth. So, the Human resources development is also one of the focuses in companys strategic planning. As quality management lets ISL to realize the important of empowerment and teamwork, therefore, when ISL recruits new employee, they will measure their ability of teamwork, potential for growth and quality awareness instead of measuring their technical skill only. For the existing employee, ISL also encourage for their involvement. For example, they will have a regular meeting where all employees are welcome to give their own suggestion and opinions. Moreover, the company always tries to strengthen staffs technical skill and quality awareness through various training or seminar from outside experts. Furthermore, the company also empowers the employee and gives special awards to well-performed staff in order to enhance the employee satisfaction. All these efforts helps ISL to achieve outstanding operational results, such as improve in punctuality, reduce absenteeism due to sickness, lower staff turnover rate, faster technical support response time, better trainer quality, higher maintenance incomes, and faster invoice processing time, etc. 3) Clear Strategic Planning and Leadership : By applying and receiving the HKMA awards, ISL has benefits from a very clear strategic planning and leadership. It lets Dr. Leung, the company leader, to aware of the importance of quality, but also pushes him to make some changes in ISL in order to enforce the quality enhancement, such as restructured the company units to a supportive organization structure, and to form a Quality Committee from senior management to co-ordinate and organize quality efforts. Moreover, the HKMA award program ensures ISL to have a very clear goal in quality and performance. For example, at the beginning of each year, ISL undergoes an annual Extensive Strategic Planning Process to plan for the goal and the actions of the current year base on the customer and staff satisfaction and economic factors. It helps ISL to continuously improving in its quality of services and products and leads to its success. 4) Enhance Customer Satisfaction by Customer Focus : ISL has realized that customer satisfaction and a good reputation for quality are vital to the companys survival. Therefore, it uses many marketing tools such as Product Life Cycle (PLC), Product Space Map and GAP analysis to determine market opportunities, segmentation, moving trends and the market position of its product. It helps ISL to be more efficient and be able to continue to understand more about its customers needs and requirements and improve its product and services in order to improve its market position. For example, the amount of repeat sales has grow from 4% to 23% of the total sales from 1992 to 1994. This rapid grow in repeat sales demonstrates that the customer satisfaction of ISL has been improved, and there is pro-active account management and development of long-term relationships with customers in ISL. 5) Profit Maximization and Cost Efficiency : Quality management also benefits ISL financially by maximizing its profits and lets it spends its cost more efficiency. During the eight years before the company applied for the HKMA award, ISLs annual sales grow rapidly. For example, the annual growth rates were 50% or above throughout the period from 1987 to 1994. Besides that, since the company embarked on the TQM programme, profitability has also improved. Moreover, the improvement in various aspects, such as the production process, lets ISL to spend its cost more efficiency. 6) Accelerate Continuous Improvement : The HKMA helps to accelerate the improvement efforts. It helped to set a pace for the quality improvement efforts. It created an accountability that moved the organization faster and further than it could have done on their own. For example, concerning the product improvements, ISL is constantly upgrading it products and services. It also has to keep up its product development programme in order to maintain its competitiveness in the marketplace. Besides that, it also engaged in improving the quality of its internal operations in order to improve in its process. These help to demonstrate ISLs efforts to accelerate its improvement continuously. Q.4: The strengths and weaknesses of ISL in the current competitive environment are as follows: 1) Leadership : * Dr. LEUNG has strongly commitment in promoting quality/products to the industry and to the ISL. For the industry, seminars and articles on Quality Management given by Dr. LEUNG not only educate the public, but also act as outside pressure to push ISL to improve its quality. For the company, he has laid down a companys motto and mission statement stressing on quality products/services to its customers. * Furthermore, a quality committee chaired by Dr. LEUNG has been established to co-ordinate company-wide efforts on quality improvement. The terms of reference for the committee are specified, which includes setting up companys quality standards, developing long- to short-term quality plans, monitoring quality implementation progresses, tackling customer issues, and so froth. * ISL in 1994 established a 3 levels supportive organization structure including front line staff, managers and top management. This organizational structure provides a supportive skeleton from one level to another so as to facilitate the performance of subordinates. ISL also formed the RD Department focusing on product direction and acting as the catalyst for quality improvement. ? Although Dr. LEUNG from time-to-time participates in public activities, ISL itself and other senior staff have not paid much attention to address their public responsibilities and citizenship. 2) Strategy Planning : * To improve product/services quality, ISL has introduced an annual Extensive Strategic Planning Process. At the beginning of each year, the Quality Committee meets externally to examine customer satisfaction and review/access impacts from environmental factors, and internally to motive and satisfy ISL staff and minimize waste and unproductive work. ISL also has set up 5 quality and performance goals, including Product Leadership, Quality Leadership, Consultancy, Implementation and Technical Support. ? Human resources plan has not considered. Key performance indicators are also not considered for tracking the progress of action plan, not to say projecting organizations future performance. 3) Customer and Market Focus : * ISL has adopted a number of marketing tools such as Product Life Cycle, Product Space Map and Gap analysis to determine market opportunities, segmentation, trends and the market position of its product. To collect information from customers, departments of TS and Sales Marketing have constantly contact and visits their customers with the aim to explore possible areas for improving its products and services. ? Mechanism has not formulated to handle customers complaints promptly and effectively. ISL should group all complaints together and analyze it for further improvement. Moreover, ISL should obtain and analyze information and customer satisfaction about their competitors for benchmarks. 4) Information and Analysis : * ISL has introduced an integrated management system, PURSUIT, for its operational processes. A SQL tool, FLEXQL is employed to extract data to generate ad-hoc or routine management reports for the departments of Sales, TS and RD. To effectively use the data, the management adopt the concept of Management-By-Facts and, wherever practicable, make decisions on a factual basis. * Key performance has been constantly communicated to ISL staff, its customers and suppliers via a wide range of communication channels; Internally ISL rely on weekly colloquium, monthly staff newsletter, departmental meetings, annual report, display boards and emails, while externally they rely on user newsletters, press releases, customer visits and customer surveys. ? A system for ensuring the accuracy, reliability and security of data and information has not in place. 5) Human Resource Focus : * The management of ISL in 1994 recognized that exchanges of experience and information among staff and managers were informal, and tasks and functions were mainly performed by a single person. In this regard, ISL has introduced a daily Japanese-style morning meeting for reporting work progress, planning of the schedule, seeking assistance from colleagues with relevant experience, and presenting a topic by members on a rotation basis with assessment. Besides, ISL launches a program, Quality in Action (QIA), which based on facts and data and empowered its staff to respond quickly to customer needs. * All suitable candidates have had at least 2 interviews to judge their competence in interpersonal skills, quality awareness, and so on forth. In addition, TS and the 3D development departments have a work rotation scheme to ensure that everyone receives a mix of job functions. * ISL provides a company colloquium with attendance of all staff on every Friday morning for brainstorming, team building and training of theories, concepts and tools in quality management. Departmental meeting is another place where customer and operational issues can be resolved. Group sessions are also organized for sharing experiences and new ideas. * ISL sends staff to external training courses and provides an annual HK$6,000 education allowance to each employee for job-related external training courses. * ISL has put a system in place to maintain a high level of staff morale. The system consists of communicating changes with feedback, making use the companys supportive organizational structure, coordinating with top managements direction, and providing counseling and mediation. ISL also has a Social Welfare Committee responsible for organization of key annual events. Furthermore, the company put a smoke-free working environment policy in force. * Three front line departments have its own incentive scheme. Employees have an annual appraisal to determine their pay. Special awards would be given to those who have exceptional performance. ? ISL not places much attention on providing assessment methods or measures, like upward appraisal, to determine employees well-being and satisfaction. The company shall also consider formulating a system to ensure safety and health of employees at work. 6) Process Management : * ISL emphasizes the quality of its development process. All software projects are headed by senior software staff and developed in accordance with a software engineering cycle. Moreover, ISL follows the best practice guidelines in the industry by allocating sufficient time and effort for System Analysis and Final Testing stages. To meet customers special needs, ISD also offers a tailor-made software service and develops User Manuals, Technical Manuals, Implementation Guide, and Training Notes Exercises, and provides Customer Training Programme and Implementation Consultancy Services. * To promulgate continuous improvement, ISL regularly upgrades its products and services based on the feedback from listening to customers, getting in touch with the marketplace, and valuing input from staff. * ISL acts as a value-added reseller by organizing marketing and education event, meeting with vendors, and dealing of hardware purchases. 7) Business Results : * ISL has established a series of services and indicators to focus on customers; Firstly, hotline support logging system has been introduced to gauge the performance of technical hotline support. Secondly, ISL offers a one-day training programme to its customers. Trainees request to evaluate and give feedback for the effectiveness of programme. Thirdly, ISL measures the percentage of purchasing maintenance service and maintenance income to reflect the satisfaction of customers. Finally, ISL conducts full-scale customer satisfaction survey to assess the strengths and weakness of its operation. * ISL tracks its annual sales, profitability, amount of repeat sales and number of installation sites to measure the results of company and quality and customer satisfactions of customers. * ISL measures punctuality, absenteeism, staff turnover rate to evaluate staff morale and work attitude. All these indicators move positively since its inception. ? Although ISL has successfully boosted its sales revenue by 50% annually from 87 to 94 with exception of 93, the net profit margin does not grow as much as the sales revenue. It also noticed that the percentage of increment of the sales revenue has been declined from 95 to 97, as compared with the annual growth from 87 to 94. Q. 5: With the limitation of resources available to ISL, we are of a view that ISL should concrete their efforts to target on Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in both Hong Kong and southern China. ISL should modify its existing products to suit the special needs of the largest manufacturing sectors in Hong Kong and southern China. (i.e.: Toys, Garment, and Electronic Industries.) 1) Products : Looking ahead, the following products should be provided by ISL to its client. As there is a growing trend for user-friendly software, a new software system with Window/Novell/Web-based application will become a potential product of ISL. In addition, with the growing connection between Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, industrial undertakings headquartered in Hong Kong and with manufacturing plants scattered in Mainland China are on the increase. Coupled with this growth, there is an increasing need for such undertaking having an integrated computer system. Development of an effective communication system that facilitates the connection and communication between offices at different locations will be a potential product for ISL. Furthermore, ISL should explore the feasibility of developing an ERP and Global supply chain management software in collaboration with QAD. As QAD has experience in developing such product, it may reduce the product development time and help ISL stay in the forefront and keep in pace with the logistics business proposed in Hong Kong. 2) Services : On top of its current services, ISL should provide free software to academic institutions for education and promotion purposes. ISL may also provide free-trial software with limited effective date and authority to potential customers and existing customers for evaluation and promotion purposes. Besides that, ISL may regularly organize free training courses to their potential users or customers. Q. 6: As more and more aggressive competitors (e.g. SAP, MPIX, Minx Symix) have launched their businesses in Hong Kong and China, ISL should consider the following actions to further improve their quality or services to its customers. Firstly, it should pursue China market by more empowerment and participating in joint venture or co-operation programmes with China firms. It helps ISL increase/improve its cash flow, distribution channel and technology. Secondly, it should further improve their software systems in order to maintain their market position. It is noteworthy that some features / functions of ISLs software systems are far from satisfactory as compared with similar products offered by their competitors. The limited power of Envision is a good illustration of this. Thirdly, by means of joint venture, ISL should exchange their technical skill with foreign companies. It also allows ISL to exchange its stock shares with various companies for improving cash flow within the company. Fourthly, in addition to its cooperation programmes with the City University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Productivity Council, ISL shall extend it to various Universities in China. As these institutions have first-hand and in-depth understanding of the needs in China, such cooperation programmes not only help ISL develop its products but also can be their executive arms to disturb new software systems to China. Finally, ISL should set up a website to introduce their company background and new products to all visitors (potential customers) and existing customers. It can also build up FAQ (Frequently asked Questions) to help existing customers to solve common problems. Moreover, as a means of advertising, it can let more people to recognize ISL throughout the world.

Competition in Energy Drinks, Sports Drinks, and Vitamin-Enhanced Beverages Essay Example for Free

Competition in Energy Drinks, Sports Drinks, and Vitamin-Enhanced Beverages Essay The strength of these companies had been growing strong but had a slight decline in recent years. SWOT for the Industry Strength: Product Expansion – many new products have been developed Distribution Channels – Can use convenience stores, grocery stores Able to deliver with carbonated soft drinks Weakness: Price is high compared to soft drinks Unhealthy ingredients Caffeine is not regulated – like in soft drink industry Opportunity: Consumer demand Supplier Channels – ingredients, cans, labels Product Innovation – provides differentiation. Brand Loyalty – taste, image, energy boosting Brand building skills needed 2 oz. energy shots Threat: Economy Scientific evidence that some products are not healthy Effect people with heart arrhythmias and insomnia Mix with alcohol Relaxed Drink Niche – abuse with prescription cough syrup As we look at this SWOT analysis of the alternative beverage industry we notice that there are some opportunities that they have created and are able to use in the future. Consumers’ choices are changing from the standard soft drink to alternative beverages. The key is to be sustainable by building up these products. The main opportunity to help with sustainability is to build brand loyalty. Try building up the knowledge and uses of your brands will help you gain the skills needed to continue building the brand. Porter’s five-forces model reveals that the overall alternative beverage industry attractiveness is high. Some beverage companies, such as PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, have mastered the art of brand building in the alternative beverage market and have been rewarded with rapid growth rates. The rising population of health conscious consumers is increasingly leaning towards alternative beverages that are believed to offer greater health benefits. The strongest competitive force, or most important to strategy formulation, is the threat of entry of new competitors. Competitive pressure from rival sellers is high in the alternative beverage industry. The number of brands competing in sports drinks, energy drinks, and vitamin-enhanced beverage segments of the alternative beverage industry continue to grow each year. Both large and small vendors are launching new products and fighting for minimal retail shelf space. More and more consumers are moving away from traditional soft drinks to healthier alternative drinks. Demand is expected to grow worldwide as consumer purchasing power increases. Another strong competitive force is buyer bargaining power. Convenience stores and grocery stores have substantial leverage in negotiating pricing and slotting fees with alternative beverage producers due to the large quantity of their purchase. Newer brands are very vulnerable to buyer power because of limited space on store shelves. Top brands like Red Bull are almost always guaranteed space. This competitive force does not affect Coca-Cola or PepsiCo as much due to the variety of beverages the stores want to offer to the customer. As a result of this certain appeal, the two companies’ alternative beverage brands can almost always be found shelf space in grocery/convenience stores. Distributors, like restaurants, have less ability to negotiate for deep pricing discounts because of quantity limitations.

Environmental Impact And Pollution Control In Kenya Environmental Sciences Essay

Environmental Impact And Pollution Control In Kenya Environmental Sciences Essay Currently the Kenyan household sector is completely dependent on kerosene and charcoal and in rare cases on solar power. Use of kerosene and firewood are inefficient use of fuel in Kenya. They are already high in scarcity value and expensive thus a cheaper and cleaner option is necessary. The proposed project activity is a biomass based power project. These categories of projects do require an environmental impact analysis to be performed under the existing NEMA regulations and obtain environment license. The operation of the power plant produces emissions, waste water and solid wastes such as boiler ash. Impact of release of pollutants is planned as follows to minimize the impact. Turbo Generator and Auxiliaries: The system consists of one multistage steam turbine coupled with an electric generator, air cooled condenser, air ejector system for air cooled condenser, condensate pumps, lubricating oil and governing oil system. Controls and instrumentation are provided as per the needs. The proposed biomass based power plant, will have one no. 10.0 MW turbo generator. The turbine is provided with devices to safeguard against over speed, low steam inlet pressure, high axial movement of the shaft, low lube oil pressure, high condenser vacuum, excessive vibration etc. Power generation will be 10.0 MW during the operation. The Auxiliary power (Home load) demand will be 0.9 MW. The balance power 9.1 MW will be exported to KPLC grid. Emergency Power System consists of 1 No. DG Set of 250 kVA is provided to make available emergency power supply to the station in case of black out. The total requirement of raw water for this unit will be 256 KLD. The entire raw water requirement for the unit will be met from dug well and bore well inside and outside the factory premises. This will ensure that the natural water catchment areas are preserved and the underground water is used instead. The acidic effluents generated during regeneration of caution and mixed bed exchangers and alkaline effluents generated during regeneration of anions and mixed bed exchangers of dematerialized water plant will be led into a neutralization pit. These effluents are self neutralizing but provisions will be made for final pH adjustment before disposal. Wastewater Generation S. No Particulars Wastewater Generated m3/hr Method of Treatment 1 Sewage 2.0 Septic tank with Dispersion trench 2 Softener regeneration DM Plant 0.3 Neutralization tank 3 Filter back wash/ R.O reject 0.55 Waste Water Storage Tank 4 Boiler blow down 2.46 5 Cooling tower blow down 1.159 Since, the small quantity of wastewater will be generated from domestic usages, the chances of contamination of soil will be nil. Wastewater drained from the treatment plant is pumped to a neutralization pit to maintain PH as prescribed by Pollution Control norms. The blow down water from boiler will be mixed with cooling tower to bring down the temperature to ambient level. The sewage from the various power plant buildings will be taken to a common septic tank through trenches for safer disposal. The water used in the surface condenser will be cooled in a cooling tower. Blow down from the cooling tower will be trenched out and finally conveyed to the effluent pit. The vacant area in the industry will be used for tree plantation to improve the surrounding environment of the industry. Ash The main solid waste from the proposed Power Plant will be ash (Fly ash and Bottom ash) by the combustion of fuel in boiler which will be around 35 tons/day which includes the bottom ash, ash collected in the ESP ash hoppers. The boiler will be sized to produce 45 tph steam under normal conditions. The proposed boiler will be primarily bio-mass fired single-drum, vertical type balanced draft with a furnace having traveling grate type furnace. The boiler will consist of air pre-heater, economizer, evaporators, super-heaters, fuel firing equipment, integral piping, flue gas ducting with expansion joints, supporting structures, platforms and walkways, etc. The firing system consists of a traveling grate, air plenum, regulating dampers and ash discharges valve. The traveling grate is driven by a hydraulic arrangement and the tie bars of the traveling grates are made of cast iron, to withstand the heat from the burning. The combustion air to the grate is supplied from the bottom plenum hoppers and the air is controlled by the air dampers. The discharge end of the grate discharges the ash into a water impounded hopper. The shifting are collected in the plenum hopper and discharged by an air lock valve. Based on preliminary estimates, the maximum annual generation of ash from boiler operation is 2.5 tons/hr, based on 100 percent Prosopis juliflora firing. Fly ash constitutes the major part, accounting for 75% of total generation, the balance being bottom ash. The fly ash will be utilized for land filling, Brick making or Cement blending, for road building material and for farmers, who can use the ash as manure for the crops, and also through dense phase pneumatic handling system with fly ash silos which have a capacity to store 1 week generati on of ash. The ash will be transported through trucks and the roads will be asphalted within the plant area. Environmental pollution and control Noise Noise Level Survey: The foremost objective of noise monitoring in the study area is to evaluate the baseline noise and assess the impact of the total noise expected to be generated by proposed project. The details of the expected noise monitoring locations as per studies on other similar projects are that noise levels during day time were found to be in the range 52.6 48.3 dB. The maximum noise level was observed to be 52.6 dB at the Nalli, India and a minimum of 48.3 dB was observed at Alavattam, India. Noise levels observed to fall in the range 48.6- 46.5 dB during the night time. A maximum of 48.6 dB was observed at the Nalli, India and a minimum of 46.5 dB at Alavattam, India. Equipment will conform to noise levels prescribed by regulatory authorities. Adequate noise control measures will be provided to satisfy the ambient noise level standards prescribed by NEMA. Noise absorbing materials will be used in the construction of roofs, walls, floors and in the generators. Provision of acoustic enclosures to noise generating equipments like pumps will be installed; major noise-producing equipments such as turbo generator compressors are to be provided with suitable noise abatements. Provision of thick greenbelt to attenuate the noise levels will be made. Safety equipment for noise like ear muffs and other protective devises will be provided to the staff working near noise generation source. The pollution control measures planned for the plant will ensure that it has the least adverse impact on the environment. Air The project is techno economically viable, based on the various technical and financial analyses for generating power using bio-mass. During the growth of plants, CO2 in the air is absorbed through photosynthesis. The same quantity of CO2 will be released on burning, and will be again absorbed while growing (juliflora plants). Branches of juliflora will be cut, leaving the stem for the future growth. Although there will be some emissions from the burning process itself, the project will earn substantial carbon credits as the complete carbon cycle is calculated from the oxygen generated by the Prosopis while it is growing until it is finally burned. In this way the process is neutral and qualifies for carbon credit from the developed countries. Incidentally this is revenue for the biomass power generation plant. The quantity of CO2 for a 10 MW power plant is around 51,500tonnes/year. Please advice on the highlighted part. Biomass energy generation, if done in a sustainable fashion, would greatly reduce emissions of greenhouses gases. The amount of carbon dioxide released when biomass is burned is very nearly the same as the amount required to replenish the plants grown to produce the biomass. Thus, in a sustainable fuel cycle, there will be no net emissions of carbon dioxide, although some fossil-fuel inputs will be required for planting, harvesting, transporting, and processing biomass. Efficient cultivation and conversion processes will used and the resulting emissions will be small (around 20% of the emissions created by fossil fuels alone). Also if the energy needed to produce and process biomass comes from renewable sources in the first place, then the net contribution to global warming will be zero. Draft System and Electro-Static Precipitator: The boiler will be equipped with one number of forced draft fan, secondary air (SA) fan and induced draft fan. The FD SA fans will supply the required combustion air to the boiler. The flue gases generated in the boiler will be evacuated by the ID fan and the capacity and head of FD fan will be selected considering maximum air that would be required for the fuel firing modes. In the same way, ID fan will also be selected based on the maximum flue gas generated in any of the fuel firing modes under consideration. The boiler is connected to an electro-static precipitator, which will remove the dust and ash particles from the flue gas, before the ID fan could handle it. The efficiency of the precipitator will be 99.9% and the dust concentration at the outlet of the ESP will be less than 100.0 mg/Nm3. Control of ground level concentration of SO2 emitted will be achieved by providing a stack at sufficient height of 65 m for dispersion. The unit will install an electrostatic precipitator at the exit of boilers so as to limit the suspended particulate matter and achieve the standards prescribed by NEMA. Electrostatic precipitator of 99.9% efficiency will be installed to limit the SPM concentrations below100 mg/Nm3. A stack of 55-m height will be provided for wider dispersion of gaseous emissions. Avoidance of methane emissions due to decay and de-gradation of the biomass waste is also necessary. The company intends to lay out an approach of CO2 neutrality in production and utilization of bio- mass for heat and power generation as well as avoiding CO2 emissions from the fossil fuels for the corresponding requirement. A combustion technology route is selected for the power plant, where bio-mass is burnt as fuel in a steam generator to produce high pressure steam which is then expanded in a steam turbine to generate power. This will in effect neutralize the CO2 emissions. The design of fuel handling system, involving biomass fuels is based on the estimated quantities of annual fuel requirements. Fuels will be received at the site by road. Adequate road facilities will be provided to handle the road-bound vehicles on a daily peak basis. The fuels arriving at site by different types of vehicles such as trucks, tractor trailers etc. will be weighed on a pit less type electronic road weighbridge provided in the plant premises. The CO2 emissions from these transport vehicles will be subsequently absorbed by the juliflora plants. Conveyor belt will be closed to prevent dust generation and water sprinkling system will be provided at the material handling and storage yard so as to satisfy the Ambient Air Quality/emission standards prescribed by NEMA. Well maintained greenbelt covering 25 %of the land area will be provided to arrest the fugitive emissions. Soil It has been observed that the pH of the soil ranged from 6.6 -6.7 indicating that the soils are acidic to slightly alkaline. Soils are mainly clay loams with alluvial deposits derived from tertiary / quaternary volcanic and pyroclastic rock sediments that have been weathered and eroded from the uplands. They contain high levels of P, K, Ca and Mg and low levels of N and C. The soil from the study area shows moderate to good fertility. By carrying out a replantation of the Prosopis on the cleared land then the soil fertility will be improved and maintained. Although energy crops will be grown without pesticide and fertilizer, large-scale energy farming could nevertheless lead to increases in chemical use simply because more land would be under cultivation. Soils could be depleted of organic content and nutrients unless care is taken to leave enough wastes behind. These concerns point up the need for regulation and monitoring of energy crop development and waste use. Ecology The major environmental impact of biomass energy may be that of loss of biodiversity. Transforming natural ecosystems into energy plantations with a very small number of crops, as few as one, can drastically reduce the biodiversity of a region. There are no wild life sanctuaries/parks within 20 km radius of the project site. Also because of the denuded land, wildlife is quite scarce with the most common animals being the ostrich and dik dik. However snakes are in abundance. The records of Forest Department of Kenya did not indicate presence of any high endemic or vulnerable species in this area. The natural plants which are mainly shrubs and acacia trees will not be affected by the projects routine. The out growers will be trained on how to identify and avoid these natural plant species. Please advice if this part is adequately addressed. This will lead to increasing the amount of forest wood harvested for energy and could provide an incentive for the forest-products industry to manage its resources more efficiently, and thus improve forest health. But it could also provide an excuse to exploit forests in an unsustainable fashion. Biomass energy production involves annual harvests or periodic removals of trees from the land. These harvests and removals will be at levels that are sustainable, i.e., surety that current use does not deplete the lands ability to meet future needs, and also be done in ways that dont degrade other important indicators of sustainability. Because biomass markets may involve new or additional removals of trees, we will be careful to minimize impacts from whatever additional demands biomass growth or harvesting makes on the land. Unfortunately, commercial forests have not always been soundly managed, and many people view with alarm the prospect of increased wood cutting. Their concerns can be met by tighter government controls on forestry practices and by following the principles of excellent forestry. If such principles are applied, it should be possible to extract energy from forests indefinitely. Greenbelt Development Greenbelt will be developed inside the factory premises covering a total area of about 10.5 acres. The unit will also develop the nearby area around the industry for greenbelt. The inter-spaces will be laid with shrubs. The inter-space between trees planted will be about 5m. It is proposed to double the tree density in future in accordance to the factory requirements. Socio Economic One other side effect of growing trees for energy is that it will benefit soil quality and farm economies. Energy crops will provide a steady supplemental income for farmers in off-seasons and allow them to work unused land without requiring much additional equipment. Moreover, energy crops will be used to stabilize cropland or rangeland prone to erosion and flooding. Trees will be grown for several years before being harvested, and their roots and leaf litter will help stabilize the soil. The planting of coppicing, or self-regenerating, varieties will minimize the need for disruptive tilling and planting. This project does not involve any displacement of local people. Employment opportunities will be improved in the nearby villages because of this proposed unit and this will provide indirect employment opportunities for more than 1000 families. Safety PPEs -Operation and Maintenance The following measures will be provided to ensure safety of the workers; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Industrial safety helmets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Crash helmets à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Face shield à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Welders equipment for eye and face protection à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Cylindrical type earplug à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Ear muffs à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Canister gas mask à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Self contained breathing apparatus à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Leather apron à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Boiler suit à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Safety belt /line mans safety belt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Leather hand gloves à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Canvas cum leather hand gloves with leather palm à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Lead hand glove à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Electrically tested electrical resistance hand gloves and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Industrial safety shoes with steel toe. Environment, Safety and Health Monitoring Programme The Environment, Safety and Health-Monitoring Programme in the factory will be as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Monthly Monitoring of Stack Emissions SPM, RSPM, SO2, NOX à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Daily Monitoring of Water and Treated Water pH, TDS, TSS, COD à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Monitoring of Ambient Air SPM, RSPM, SO2, NOX CO, Noise and Work Place Air à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Occupational Safety à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ Occupational Health Budgetary allocation for Environmental Management Category Capital Investment Annual Operating Costs (KES in 000) Air Pollution Management 125 1 Water and Wastewater Management 50 2 Solid Waste Management 50 5 Greenbelt 5 1 Environmental Monitoring and Training 5 1 Total 235 10 Please advice on this table. Is it necessary and are the figures almost correct. Other impact of growing Prosopis Juliflora and using it to generate energy include; Fossil fuel cogeneration and carbon mitigation will be encouraged. The furnace and boiler will have to be especially modified to be able to generate steam at the high temperatures necessary for making the plant more energy efficient. Sustainability of a biomass power plant will generally depend on the participation of the beneficiaries in terms of increased environmental awareness by distinguishing biomass power and conventional grid power. During the field survey it was found out that very little environmental concerns exist among the villagers. This is not to mean that they are ignorant of the negative impacts of deforestation, soil erosion, and loss of biodiversity but that they are aware and are willing to address these impacts accordingly. They are also willing to share the responsibility to plant more trees in their land to counter effect the negative impact that the power plant may generate and to maintain the sustainability. The key to successful biomass power development is to use the resources efficiently in modern conversion systems that maximize the energy produced and minimize the byproducts of the conversion processes. In modern times, the combination of improved technological efficiencies, scientific advances, increased environmental-awareness and environmental protection regulations have turned biomass conversion into a cleaner, more efficient process. In view of the above,the following activities along the biomass value chain will require consideration in an EIA: à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ any activity or structure out of character with its surrounding; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ major changes in land use; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ all roads in scenic, wooded or mountainous areas and wetlands; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ railway lines; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ oil and gas pipelines; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ water transport; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ river diversions and water transfer between catchments; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ drilling for the purpose of utilizing ground water resources; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ timber harvesting; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ clearance of forest areas; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ reforestation and afforestation; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ large-scale agriculture; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ use of pesticides, including aerial spraying; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ introduction of new crops; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ use of fertilizers; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ irrigation; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ fertilizer manufacture or processing; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ oil refineries and petro-chemical works; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ chemical works and process plants; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ bulk grain processing plants; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ management of hydrocarbons including the storage of natural gas and combustible or explosive fuels; à ´Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã†â€™ waste disposal, including: sites for solid waste disposal; sites for hazardous waste disposal; sewage disposal works; works involving major atmospheric emissions; works emitting offensive odors. As required for implementation of the project activity, project participants have studied the possibility of environmental impacts and conclude that no negative impacts are possible due to the project activity. In fact, the project activity contributes to minimize the environmental pollution due to fossil fuel based electricity generation.

The Destructive Nature of Man Depicted in Keyes Flowers for Algernon E

Imagine how you would feel if you were always being treated as though you were not human, or if people acted as though they created you. Well this is how you would feel if you were the subject of a science experiment. Science experiments should not be performed on humans or animals because of the unknown outcome. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes shows a destructive nature of man through stereotypes, absence of family, and the various IQ levels needed to mature. Scientific experimentation shows a destructive nature of man through stereotypes. Stereotypes are cruel and heartless. â€Å"He makes the same mistakes as the others when they look at a feeble-minded person and laugh because they don’t understand there are human feelings involved. He doesn’t realise I was a person before I came here.† (Keyes, 145) Before the surgery Charlie was looked down upon because of his mental state. However, after the surgery he is treated like he was made by the scientists, as though he was their very own ‘Frankenstein’. This is a destructive nature of man because after the surgery Charlie finds out that his so called friends have been making fun of him his whole life. Stereotypes show a destructive nature of man. â€Å"People with mental illness are depicted as burdens to society and incapable of contributing in positive ways to their communities.† (Edney) Through this book the reader knows this statement is false, b ecause Charlie is able to function fairly well in society, considering he has a job and he is doing very well there. Stereotypes show a destructive nature of man because they belittle people and make them feel worthless. There is a destructive nature of man is shown in Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon through the absence of family. Sci... ...es not necessarily mean just a fully grown up individual it is a combination of age, awareness, intelligence and decision making ability.† (V, Jayram) when you are intelligent you are able to become mature. When Charlie is trying to decide whether or not to tell Donner about Gimpy, this shows he is becoming more mature because of his decision making ability. This proves that there is a destructive nature of man shown through the various IQ levels needed to mature. In the end, Charlie is returned to his previous mental state proving that scientific experimentation leads to a destructive nature of man. In Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes shows the reader a destructive nature of man through stereotypes, absence of family, and the various IQ levels needed to mature. Therefore, science experiments should be left for chemicals and labs not humans and animals. The Destructive Nature of Man Depicted in Keyes' Flowers for Algernon E Imagine how you would feel if you were always being treated as though you were not human, or if people acted as though they created you. Well this is how you would feel if you were the subject of a science experiment. Science experiments should not be performed on humans or animals because of the unknown outcome. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes shows a destructive nature of man through stereotypes, absence of family, and the various IQ levels needed to mature. Scientific experimentation shows a destructive nature of man through stereotypes. Stereotypes are cruel and heartless. â€Å"He makes the same mistakes as the others when they look at a feeble-minded person and laugh because they don’t understand there are human feelings involved. He doesn’t realise I was a person before I came here.† (Keyes, 145) Before the surgery Charlie was looked down upon because of his mental state. However, after the surgery he is treated like he was made by the scientists, as though he was their very own ‘Frankenstein’. This is a destructive nature of man because after the surgery Charlie finds out that his so called friends have been making fun of him his whole life. Stereotypes show a destructive nature of man. â€Å"People with mental illness are depicted as burdens to society and incapable of contributing in positive ways to their communities.† (Edney) Through this book the reader knows this statement is false, b ecause Charlie is able to function fairly well in society, considering he has a job and he is doing very well there. Stereotypes show a destructive nature of man because they belittle people and make them feel worthless. There is a destructive nature of man is shown in Daniel Keyes’ Flowers for Algernon through the absence of family. Sci... ...es not necessarily mean just a fully grown up individual it is a combination of age, awareness, intelligence and decision making ability.† (V, Jayram) when you are intelligent you are able to become mature. When Charlie is trying to decide whether or not to tell Donner about Gimpy, this shows he is becoming more mature because of his decision making ability. This proves that there is a destructive nature of man shown through the various IQ levels needed to mature. In the end, Charlie is returned to his previous mental state proving that scientific experimentation leads to a destructive nature of man. In Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes shows the reader a destructive nature of man through stereotypes, absence of family, and the various IQ levels needed to mature. Therefore, science experiments should be left for chemicals and labs not humans and animals.

Bill Gates :: essays research papers

Bill Gates   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  What does it take to be the richest man? It is obvious that you don’t need to be extremely attractive or even good looking at all. You only have to have a great idea, you have to be an obsessive workaholic, and you have to be willing to beat and crush all of your competitors. Also being a genius, and being in the right place at the right time may help too. Someone that has seemed to accomplish all of these is now the Chief Executive Officer of the Microsoft Corporation and goes by the name of Bill Gates. He currently worth more than 100 billion dollars and is the most wealthy man in the world. There are many people who admire and respect him, and then there are many that hate and despise him. Either way he has managed to develop and successfully operate one of the worlds largest software manufacturers, Microsoft. Microsoft is so successful, and has such control over the computer industry that the U.S. government is filing a lawsuit accusing claiming a monopo ly. How did Bill get himself into this and where he is now? Is it possible he has made too much money and has too much power? You can decide after reading this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  William Henry Gates III was born on October 28, 1955 in the Seattle suburbs of Washington. He grew up with his two sisters in a family of descent wealth, his father William Gates Jr. a Seattle attorney, and his mother Mary Gates, a school teacher, University of Washington regent and chairwomen of The United Way International. Gates attended public elementary school in Seattle before moving on to the private Lakeside school in North Seattle. There he began cutting classes to hang out at all hours at his schools computer center. He liked computers and learned so much that he began programming them at age 13. Throughout his early teens he and his friend Paul Allen were writing computer programs working on ways to start a business. At 16 they sold a computer-runned system to monitor highway traffic, and made around 20,000 dollars off it, but business ended when the customers found out the young entrepreneurs were still attending high school. After successfully graduat ing high school, Gates wasn’t quiet sure what to do next. He decided to attend Harvard with no specific career goal in mind. While going to Harvard he was your average smart college student with a special interest in the Popular Electronic magazine.