Indian Economy Essays - Geography Of Asia, Asia, Bengal,

Indian Economy India is located in the southern part of Asia and is also south of the Himalayan Mountains. This southern peninsula has the largest mineral deposits and the largest cultivable land in the continent. The population of India is critically large and although nearly all people are Hindu, some are of other religious denominations. The life of the Indian people is usually ruled by their caste system, but the system is not as firm as it was years ago. India has a mixed economy. The different elements of India, such as location, resources, and religious beliefs, mold the outcome of their economy. In the area that India is geographically located, the climate varies from tropical to extreme frigid temperatures. In the area closest to the mountains extreme temperature should be expected. The northern plains have heavy snowfalls. The northeastern part of India has a cool monsoon season from early December throughout February. A monsoon is a wind system that produces wet or dry seasons. If there are severe droughts, famines can result from it. On the other hand, too much rain can cause malaria. Also, the contradictory temperature of the northern days and nights fortify pulmonary disorders. The annual amount of precipitation along the southern slopes of the Himalayas is 60 inches. There is also a hot/dry season that begins in the middle of March until the beginning of July. During this time the Himalayan area has had temperatures of about 120 F. Calcutta, which is a city east the Himalayan mountains, has an average daily temperature of 55 F to 80 F during the month of January and 79 F to 89 F in July. The other areas of India, the southern and western parts usually have a tropical climate. They also have monsoons, but are referred to as the dry or wet seasons. These monsoons control the temperature, rainfall and humidity. The wet or rainy season is from June through September. Winds blow from the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. The rain can be overwhelming and is typically 125 inches during this season. The Cherrapunji in the Khasi Hills has a yearly rainfall of about 425 inches. In Bombay, which is located in the west central part of India, have temperatures of 67? F to 83? F in January and 77? F to 85? F in July. With the different temperatures, natural resources can flourish or degenerate. India has many large cultivable regions, and numerable timber access. India's agriculture worth is one-third of the annual gross domestic product (GDP). The farms are usually humble and owned by families. The crops that are mostly cultivated for domestic proposes are rice, wheat, cotton, tea and jute, which is a plant that gives a fiber which can be made into sacking and cordage. India is responsible for a large amount of exports to the world. Sugar production a year during the early 1990's was 230 million metric tons. The annual production of tea was 743,000 tons. Rice was 72.6 million tons and wheat was 56.8 millions tons. Cotton was at 2.0 million and jute was at 1.4 million tons. Other agricultural products that are sold as exports are cashews, coffee, spices, barley, chickpeas, bananas, rubber, melons, vegetables, corn, sorghum, linseed, millet and mangoes. The timber in India is not varied, but is resourceful. In the Himalayan region, the cedar, pine, oak and magnolia trees are abundant. In the slopes if the Western Ghats, were there is heavy rainfall which give a home to evergreens, bamboo, teak, and other timber trees. In the southeastern part, the mangrove and the sal are very common. These two trees are hardwood timber. Other resources include fishing, mining, and manufacturing. The fish, forestry mining and manufacturing, that are of economic significance contribute to the Gross Domestic Products. Shrimps and prawns, India oil sardines, ducks, croakers, Bombay, Indian mackerel, anchovies and marine catfish are the sea life that Indian people consume. Even though the fishing industry is underdeveloped when compared to other fishing industries, it is a vital tool for the people. In the Ganges delta in Bengal it most important. The government has encouraged deep-sea fishing by constructing processing plants and paying for fleets and vessels going to the ocean. 59% of the country's 4.2 million annual catch in the early 1990's was made of the marine species. 23% of the total land area in India of made up of forestlands. The regions bordering, the Himalayas are the largest source for commercial forestry. The annual timber harvest was 9.9 billion cubic feet in

Organization and Key Performance Indicators Greenpeace

Organization and Key Performance Indicators Greenpeace Greenpeace is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that focuses on global environmental issues. The NGO uses â€Å"none combative approaches and creative confrontations in its quests for green solutions and a peaceful future† (source: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/). Greenpeace strives at ensuring that the â€Å"Earth nurtures life in all its diversities† (source: https://www.greenpeace.org/international/).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organization and Key Performance Indicators: Greenpeace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More As such, it aims at protecting biodiversity in all its forms, prevent pollution and abuses of the Earth’s natural resources, eliminate all nuclear threats, and enhance peace, global disarmament, and non-violence. Greenpeace Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) relate to areas of Human Resources (HR), communications, and volunteer relations. In the HR department, KPI s include compensation, rewards, and benefit plans, recruitment, employee orientation, administrative tasks, employee relations, and level of engagement or satisfaction among employees and volunteers. Administrative duties including managing personnel files, update organizational charts, participation in employee meetings, review employees’ information for wrongful entries. Recruitment indicators covers areas of finding qualified staff, application forms have correct details, accurate posting of vacancies, and recruits go through all areas of pre-employment procedures. Employee orientation includes arrange for orientation trainings, educate new hires on organizational culture, and get information regarding wages, benefits, rewards, and payroll. KPIs also include induction and signing of codes of conduct, and monitoring of acceptable trainings.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF L earn More Compensation KPIs entail processing of payroll with no mistakes, check areas of overtime, account for paid leave days, and analyses of vacation benefits. In addition, there is also demonstration of knowledge of the organizational compensation policy, and motivational aims. Employees and volunteer relations cover areas of promotion of teamwork, management of conflict, responses from the HR department regarding queries, and both employees and volunteers willing to demonstrate a sense of cooperation and retention. In the area of volunteer relations, KPIs cover office assistances, hours of inputs in campaigns, number of copies translated from English to French, the number of volunteers involved in fundraising, campaigns, and volunteers that have completed their schedules successfully. Communication department KPIs includes public relations, advertisement, promotion, and e-promotions. SMART Goals for the Organization and the chosen departments We begin by identification of goals that are crucial for the success of the organization. Goals reflect the desired outcome Greenpeace wants to accomplish or achieve in the future. These goals are tactical in nature as they define short-term aims from specific organizational departments. They aim at motivating the staff and increase the level of commitment, offer guidance, and provide a platform for monitoring and measuring performance (Barton, 2000). Goal definition within an organization provides opportunities for conceptualization the way forward for the organization. Consequently, it enables responsible departments to develop and master the future direction of the organization. This is a means of assuring stakeholders that the organization will achieve its mission within a specific period. Scholars recommend that goals should meet some defined criteria that those responsible for their monitoring and measurement can use to gauge such goals (Barton, 2000). Most organizations have adopted the SMART approach to define and evaluate their goals. Goals must identify the mission and stakeholders of the organization. SMART goals help the organization identify appropriate KPIs for measuring achievements towards such goals. Identification of SMART goals in the organization helps the organization defines a path of serving its mission and creating value to various stakeholders involved. KPIs usually monitor and measure the organizational SMART goals identified in any department (Davis, 2009). In this context, the goals must demonstrate certain characteristics such as specific, quantifiable, attainable, reasonable, and timely.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Organization and Key Performance Indicators: Greenpeace specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Thus, we must apply SMART principle to any goal that relates to KPIs. We shall have SMART goals for the organization in HR, communications, and employees and volunteer engagement and sat isfaction rate. At the same time, there shall be three KPIs for the goals that we seek to improve. These goals take into account impacts of KPIs on every indicator, and abilities of both employees and volunteers to execute them successfully. Therefore, the organization has full control over the goals. In the HR department, we seek to look at HR department response to queries from employees and volunteers. We have noticed that the HR department takes longer than usually to respond to both volunteers and employees’ queries. Thus, we have identified SMART goal to monitor and measure performance for improvement purposes. We seek to increase the rate of responding to queries by the HR department from 72 hours to 24 hours between June 2012 and December 2012. This represents a 33 percent increment in the rate of response. In employee and volunteer engagement, we seek to know the overall level of both employees’ and volunteers’ satisfaction and engagement with the organ izational work aspect of eliminating nuclear threats. Thus, the goal is to enhance the level of both employees’ and volunteers’ engagement in work aspect of eliminating nuclear threats from the current 10 percent to 25 percent by the end of the year 2012. This represents a 15 percent increment in six months. Greenpeace work aspects depend on communication. Thus, setting goals for communication is fundamental for success of the organizational mission. The goal is to enhance the use of social, and trendy media platform for campaigns in promoting the green future from the current 40 percent to 70 percent by the end of the year 2012. This reflects an increase of 30 percent in a period of six months. Increased Accountability Explanation of how Smart goals will enhance performance, transparency, and accountability including supporting strategies that demonstrate how to reach the goal The primary aims of organizational goals are to motivate employees and volunteers. Thus, goa ls should demonstrate ambition but not serve the purpose of demoralization. Goals for measuring performance must show elements of action e.g. increase, and highlight areas of time lines, rating, and quantities.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More These goals are relevant to departments and are specific in terms of areas of focus. This approach attempts to align goals with specific departments and in turn the organizational mission. For instance, Greenpeace aims at increasing the level of employees and volunteers’ involvement in achieving the goal of eliminating threats of nuclear activities by 15 percent within six months. Time and end periods enable employees and volunteers to know when they should achieve their goals. Thus, employees and volunteers no longer see such goals as suggestions but real. The department should measure goals and performance using job appraisal processes. The specific nature of goals enables easy evaluation of the achievements against set targets. Studies show that a yearly performance review tends to have low levels of effectiveness due to longer durations. This explains why we set Greenpeace goals within six months. This reduces possibilities of referring to goals when appraisal period appr oaches. Short-term goals enable employees and volunteers focus on their activities of the day and avoid distraction to achieve both individual and departmental goals. Goals also promote accountability and engage employees and volunteers in productive activities for the organization. Greenpeace goals are SMART. This is one approach of enhancing accountability in measurement and performance. Employees and volunteers must set SMART goals for their respective departments. The department must capture all SMART elements in every goal that it aims to measure. Departments must identify specific areas such as time, quantities, rates, and names of indicators so as to reduce complexities associated with defining goals. In fact, employees, departmental heads, and volunteers should give the name of the goal, its detailed description, milestones, means of gauging outcomes, commencing date, and date when it is due. The department must set priorities for attainment of its goals. In cases where ther e are competing priorities, the department must identify the most crucial goal for its success. Consequently, it must focus its resources and effort in order to attain such goals. For instance, Greenpeace communication department must prioritize popular and emerging social media so that it can reach that segment of populations instead of relying on print communications. Both employees and volunteers must comprehend the value of each goal and levels of competency they require. Prioritization enhances decision-making in cases of scarce resources. The department should also create a means of reminding employees and volunteers about goals and their components such as due dates and milestones achieved and gaps. This improves transparency and accountability. SMART goals tend to align both the workforce and organizational goals in order to achieve organizational mission. Most studies have demonstrated that, employees who understand how their daily inputs contribute to the overall mission o f the organization are more accountable than their counterparts who lack such knowledge. Therefore, for improved performance, accountability, and transparency, employees and volunteers must understand that their individual contributions do matter to the organization. The department should communicate to its workforce through setting goals at slightly higher levels and then distribute the targets to the workforce. The idea of distribution enables every staff conceptualizes how an individuals efforts are necessary for Greenpeace to achieve its overall goals. It also enables every staff track his or her achievements and current status. This enhances a sense of accountability in the department. Accountability, transparency, and performance go together. People tend to perform tasks best when there is a supervisor or when they can easily identify effects of their contributions in an organization. Therefore, the department should provide tools to enable its workforce monitor and communicat e their progress. The organization can implement technological innovation that can assist employees monitor their progress through employees’ portal or in the organizational intranet. Such applications provide summaries of what an individual should deliver, time, and the gaps left. This provides opportunities for employees and volunteers to keep their team leaders up-to-date with their performance statuses. Managers can have unlimited access to their direct reports performances. At the same time, the executives can also access such reports and can also send their feedback to individuals who directly contribute to organizational goals. Such levels of monitoring enhance accountability, transparency and improve performance among employees. Likewise, the management can redirect resource to areas that need attention so as to enable everyone account for their performances. How the planning process and establishment of SMART goals and increased accountability among employees will le ad to a better employee (and volunteer) retention and increased employee morale Performance management using SMART goals to enhance both employees and volunteers morale and retention is not an easy task. Thus, several skills and training are necessary among departmental managers. Training is necessary to enable managers feel confident about tasks before them. This is useful in cases where some management team may be newly promoted. According to MacMillan, managers must â€Å"understand human behavior, how to motivate, how to develop, provide coaching, and handle conflict† (MacMillan, 2012). Managers play significant roles in observing and managing the prevailing circumstances, offer motivation, and manage issues that may interfere with implementation of SMART goals. Enhancing morale and motivation implies that managers must understand individual differences of the workforce such as abilities, experiences, and support needed. Thus, preparing managers for planning, implementati on of SMART goals, evaluation, and provisions of feedback will lead to goal achievements, employee motivation, and retention. The organization should also link â€Å"SMART goals, performance with rewards and recognition† (MacMillan, 2012). Performance management should be fair, transparent, and equitable so that employees can believe in the process. Rewards, benefits, and compensation should be consistent throughout the organization. Consistency ensures that there is transparency and accountability and in turn enhances employees’ satisfaction with the goals and job. Organizations that link their â€Å"compensation procedures with performance must be critical of this issue† (MacMillan, 2012). The organization should have consistent and fair compensation policy across all departments. Thus, any deviation may lead to dissatisfaction and reduced morale and motivation among employees. How the overall plan will better enable the organization to fulfill its mission A b etter implementation of SMART goals for achieving Greenpeace mission of green and peaceful future starts with performance planning. SMART goals are the basis for performance planning. SMART goals have actionable plan that will guide both employees and volunteers work towards achievements of the organization overall mission. Achieving the mission through SMART goals should be a collaborative process among management teams, employees, and volunteers. Every target element must have a clear description and realistic expectation. Planning processes must identify both long-term and short goals that work towards achievement of organizational mission. At the same time, there should be clear implementation strategy on how each department shall attain its objectives. Every department must prioritize its goals. There should also be a clear and detailed method of evaluation. Greenpeace must also identify factors that may hinder it from achieving its SMART goals. Organization should offer traini ng, motivation, and mentoring to overcome any issues that concern employees or volunteers such as behavior, attitude, skills, or knowledge. The departments must carry out regular monitoring, assessment, and solve issues that may hinder SMART goals for achieving organization mission. There can also be changes in direction, reallocation of resources, and training during implementation stages. Communications and feedback are crucial during these stages so as to enhance continuous improvement of the team. Mission aim should be an ongoing process in the organization. Processes of planning, setting SMART goals, performance planning, monitoring, feedback, and continuous training are mandatory for achieving the mission of the organization. These processes also provide opportunities for the organization to identify any gaps that may affect progresses. There should be full participation of all members of the organization so that teamwork can deliver the mission. References Barton, R. (2000). Organizational Goal Setting and Planning. Murray, KY: Murray State University. Davis, J. (2009). Managing and Achieving Organizational Goals. New York, NY: American Management Association. MacMillan, A. (2012). Importance of Performance Management Process Best Practices To Optimize Monitoring Performance Work Reviews/Feedback and Goal Management. Raising the Bar on Performance Management Process, 1, 1- 6.

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Essay

Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art - Essay Example This is particularly in the many cases where parts of their cultural heritage have been used or misused for profit without the authorization or knowledge of the original owners. It is important that the rights of the indigenous people to control their intellectual property as well as be principally involved in the determination of the latitude and nature of access and reproduction are recognized. Ironically, while in the recent past many foreigners have been benefiting from selling reproducing and marketing other products through indigenous art, the first westerners in Australia did not even acknowledge the indigenous people had art. They assumed they were too backwards and primitive to conceptualize or appreciate such ostentation and all the art in Australia was treated as artifacts with only historical but not artistic or aesthetic value. From the days of initial occupation, there has been a long history of misuse and illegal exploitation of arts designs and a multiplicity of cultu ral expression such as oral traditions, music dances and crafts. In 1968, the government in an effort to safeguard the cultural heritage from exploitation came up with the copyright act of 1968. This law was a trendsetter for other legal frameworks that would later come to be implemented in regard to protecting the diversity of indigenous heritage is posterity.3 According to the act; copyright did not need to be registered, all one needed to have a copyright was to produce original work, as such any existing artistic expression such as music was by default the property of the community or individuals who had produced it. This law took cognizance of the fact that majority of those who owned the cultural expression being safeguarded at the time were not educated and they could not have followed convectional registration protocols. It therefore prevented unscrupulous individuals who may have desired to register such works as their own and take advantage of the ignorance of the indigeno us community. The law also provided that the copyright would only expire 50 years after the death of the creator of the works in question. Successive legislation was built on this law and one of the hallmarks was the 1983 decision in favor of the aboriginal artist agency which set the precedent for modern protection of intellectual property by proving indigenous works, just like any other creative works could be legally recognized as authentic. In addition, the 1983 act implemented UNESCOs convection for protection of world cultural heritage sites which Australia had ratified 11 years previously. 4 An examination of the history of copyright law in austral would be incomplete without a mention of the 1994 carpet case. This was a landmark in the legal protection of Aboriginal art, it pitted 3 aboriginal artists as well as the relatives of five deceased ones against Beechrow; a firm based in Perth which bought carpets in Vietnam and imported them in Australia for prices as high as $400 0 .5 The company reproduced the works of several Australian artists living and dead on the carpets to make them seem authentic and thus justify their high cost as well as a attract thousands of local and international clients

Relationship between Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Essay

Relationship between Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Economic Development - Essay Example Market therefore becomes central to the economic development where entrepreneurship and innovation become powerful factors to influence economic growth. Position of the paper Entrepreneurship and innovation are critical issues within socio-economic development that are intrinsically linked to growth. In the contemporary environment of competitive business, the role of creative entrepreneurship becomes vital ingredient of competitive advantage within the industry, irrespective of its structure or model. Indeed, various paradigms of economic growth are significantly impacted by entrepreneurial vision that anticipates change and competently exploits it for profit (Kuratko and Hodgetts, 2004). In the current environment of competitive business, entrepreneurship and innovation become the major enabling elements of competitive advantage and intrinsic part of economic growth. The paper would therefore be discussing the facilitating role of entrepreneurship and innovation in the economic dev elopment of society and how creativity and problem solving support the relationship. How entrepreneurship and innovation become driving force for economic development While the normal human behavior tends to follow a rational approach, an entrepreneur is highly indigenous in his/her actions and thoughts which often results in innovation and path breaking ideas, impacting human lives and leading to development (Harvey, M. and R. Evans, 1995). Oprah Winfrey is fitting example of entrepreneurial creativity who grabbed opportunity and brought about major social change vis-a-vis perspective in racial discrimination. She showed how a person can rise above the conformity of race and gender to become successful and promote socio-economic development of society. Indeed, the development of society is based on the revolutionary ideas of the few which has considerably influenced and restructured social fabric in a more rationale manner. Kirzner (1973) believes that entrepreneurs tend to identif y profit opportunities and act on their insights to become more productive, thus contributing towards economic growth. A market driven economy hugely supports entrepreneurial innovation as it is able to experiment with new ideas and exploit opportunities. Entrepreneurship is dynamic and evolves with changing times to maintain its leverage against industrial rivals. Facebook, twitter, Apple, Microsoft etc. are important companies that were able to exploit new ideas and turned them into roaring businesses. Through the evolving process of entrepreneurial creativeness, the companies, that fundamentally adopt a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation, are better able to cope with increasing competition in the market and impact economic growth. The major theories that support the relationship between creative entrepreneurship and development Schumpeter (1934) has been one of the most influential social scientist to propose that economic growth is driven by innovation. He asserted that radical innovation brought disruptive changes while incremental innovations were proactive in continuous process of change. According to him, there were five types of innovation. While new product development ensured that people’s changing requirements are met, new methods of productions like lean production, TQM etc promoted efficiency and quality. Market

Starbucks Research Proposal Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Starbucks - Research Proposal Example This has resulted in the shifting of the power balance from the sellers to the consumers. While consumers are getting more and more demanding in nature, because of their high access to information related to various products and services around the world, the sellers are getting under intense pressure to cater to the needs of the masses. This is resulting in connecting economic policy based developments with regards to political movements of many new and emerging regions, which is thus resulting in the emergence of new economies. Talking from the sellers’ point of view, it is important to mention that because of the high level of connectivity, the world of business has transformed itself into a single connected entity. Needless to say, because of the existence of a single connected world, gaining access to foreign and newer markets has become relatively easy as compared to the previous times. This is resulting in providing the boost to the companies and business organizations, in regards to the process of gaining information to the newer markets. It can be said that because of the easy access to information, the organizations are increasingly focusing on the process of entering new markets. This is resulting in the spiking of the level of competition in regards to the new markets, as in the recent times the more developed and well established markets of the West is facing a situation of stagnancy and low growth because of the multiple economic challenges. Because of the high amount of competition faced in the marketplaces of both the developed as well as the developing economies, the focus has increasingly shifted towards the multiple variables of marketing like product, place, promotion and price. For this project, it is important to mention that the company that has been selected is Starbucks. The entire project will highlight about the various issues related to the company of Starbucks as well as its related services in the various markets around the world. History of Starbucks It can be said that the company Starbucks was founded in the year 1971 in Seattle in America. The company opened with just a single store in the historic area of Pike Place Market and has entered into a mode of high growth and fast development. It is important to mention that the first chairman, president and chief executive of the company is Howard Schultz, who joined the organization in the year 1982. It has to be said that the first top level executive of the company had the vision of bringing the tradition of Italian coffee to the US. He also had the dream of building an image of a place for human interaction as well as community sense over a cup of coffee. Hence, the focus from the very beginning was not only on the product but was also on developing a feeling for the product as well. The mission of the company is to inspire and develop the spirit associated with a cup of coffee for a person at a single neighbourhood at any time. As of the recent day , the company Starbucks operates in over 62 countries, which are spread in various developing as well as the developed economies (Starbucks, â€Å"Our Heritage†). Product of Starbucks It is of considerable importance to mention the

Silicon Carbide: Structure, Uses and History

Silicon Carbide: Structure, Uses and History 2.1 Silicon Carbide 2.1.1 Historic Overview Silicon carbide as a material that precedes our solar system, travelling through interstellar space for billions of years, generated inside the fiery nuclear hearts of carbon rich red giant stars and in the remnants of supernovae (Davis, 2011). As a synthesized material it was first discovered by the Swedish scientist Jà ¶ns Jacob Berzelius in 1824 during his pursuit to synthesize diamonds. Sixty years later, Eugene and Alfred Cowles, invented the electric smelting furnace in 1885 (Cowles and Cowles, 1885). Edward Goodrich Acheson based on Cowles invention, created the first process to produce SiC (silicon carbide) while experimenting to find an alternative suitable mineral to substitute diamond as an abrasive and cutting material. The synthetic mineral created by the process was characterized by great refractability and hardness (Saddow and Agarwal, 2004). During the production of SiC crystals, Acheson found hexagonal crystals inside his patented reactor and sent a sample to Profes sor B.W. Frazier were it was discovered that although the crystals were all made from the same substance their crystalline structure differed (Acheson, 1893, p.287). Later, in 1905 Henri Moissan discovered natural SiC crystal inside a meteorite thus the mineralogist community named the mineral moissanite (Saddow and Agarwal, 2004). In 1907, was the year were the first Light Emitting Diode (LED) was produced by H.J. Round, when by placing contacts on a SiC crystal and applying 10V, yellow, green and orange luminescence was observed at the cathode (Brezeanu, 2005). Decades later, a renewal of interest surrounding SiC emmerged when the seeded sublimation growth invented by Tairov and Tsvetkov (1978) made the creation of SiC wafers a reality, thus giving the material the opportunity to be studied for electronic applications. Three years later, Matsunami, Nishino and Ono (1981) showed that the creation of a single crystal of SiC on a Si substrate was feasible increasing the number and va riety of possible applications even more. A huge milestone occurred in 1987 when through the use of â€Å"step controlled epitaxy†, high quality epitaxy of SiC could be made at low temperature on off-axis substrates (Kuroda et al., 1987). Based on this breakthrough Cree Inc. was founded in 1989, and manufactured the first commercial blue LEDs based on SiC along with the production of SiC wafers. 2.2.2 Crystal structure polytypes and characteristics 4. Examples of applications of CDC (Carbide derived Carbon) The multiple nanostructures that CDC presents, makes it a strong candidate to be implemented in numerous potential applications. In their paper, Presser, Heon and Gogotsi (2011) delineate the major research fields for future applications that CDC is currently attracting. In particular, these fields are: (1) The creation of Graphene based electronic devices (2) CDC as a new electrode material for supercapacitors (3) The use of CDC in fuel cells as a gas storage (e.g. hydrogen, methane) (4) CDC application in tribological coatings (5) Pt catalyst on CDC support (6) Protein sorption using CDC . Apart from the aforementioned fields another application area under research is to use CDC for CDI (capacitive deionization) of water or for desalination. The following chapters will give an extensive view of the research done on these fields although the main focus is the . 4.1 Graphene based electronic devices In 2003, (Dimitrijev and Jamet) published a paper were they stated that â€Å"Although SiC offers substantial advantages over Si, in terms of physical properties and thermal stability, it cannot compete Si devices in the areas of low cost, functional density, and moderate temperature applications. However, SiC has created its own applications niche where its unique material properties high electric breakdown field, high thermal conductivity, and high saturated electron drift velocity give this material significant advantages†. Since then, major manufacturers of SiC wafers such as Cree Inc., broke the 500$ barrier per wafer and made SiC accessible for researchers and the industry for optoelectronic devices (EE-Times, 1999) along with the introduction of 150 mm 4H SiC wafer in 2012 (Cree Inc., 2012). The previous breakthroughs made SiC a cheap precursor for the growth of epitaxial graphene. Grapse gia to pos to ftiaxnoume apo to prohgoumeno kefalaio. The intermediate product o f Si sublimation from SiC is CDC were further process gives monolayer or multilayers of graphene. An application under research and a proposed manufacturing method, is the creation of flexible transparent electrodes for screens due to the flexibility, high electrical conductivity and strength of the material (Bae et al., 2010). Studies have shown that CDC is a powerful selective sorbent for a number of molecules due to the variety of sizes its porosity exhibits (Nikitin and Gogotsi, 2004, p. 533) and is suitable for applications such as the removal of toxins or cytokines from human blood (Yushin et al., 2006). Another field of application is the removal of toxic compounds from water or the capacitive deionization (CDI) of water. Particularly, according to (Zou et al., 2008) the ordered mesoporosity of CDC used as an electrode material for electrosorptive deionization is a more effective way of removing salt from water, when compared with the salt-removing capability of activated carbon. The explanation is that activated carbon materials contain randomly arranged mesopores and micropores were ordered mesoporous carbon contains predominately ordered mesopores that increase the capacity to desalinate water. Another example is the usage of CDC as catalyst supports for fuel cells (Jerome, 2005) References Acheson, E.G. (1893) Carborundum: Its history, manufacture and uses, Journal of the Franklin Institute, 136(4), pp. 279 289. Bae, S., Kim, H., Lee, Y., Xu, X., Park, J.S., Zheng, Y., Balakrishnan, J., Lei, T., Kim, H.R., Song, Y.I., Kim, Y.J., Kim, K.S., Ozyilmaz, B., Ahn, J.H., Hong, B.H. and Iijima, S. (2010) Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes, Nature nanotechnology, 5(8), pp. 574-578. Brezeanu, G. (2005) Silicon carbide (SiC): a short history. an analytical approach for SiC power device design. Available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=1558796 (Accessed: 7/31/2014 2014). Cowles, A.H. and Cowles, E.H. (1885) Electric Smelting Furnace. U.S. Patent 319945. Cree Inc. (2012) Cree News: Cree Introduces 150-mm 4HN Silicon Carbide Epitaxial Wafers. Available at: http://www.cree.com/News-and-Events/Cree-News/Press-Releases/2012/August/150mm-wafers (Accessed: 7/28/2014 2014). Davis, A.M. (2011) Stardust in meteorites, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108(48), pp. 19142-19146. Dimitrijev, S. and Jamet, P. (2003) Advances in SiC power MOSFET technology, Microelectronics Reliability, 43(2), pp. 225 233. EE-Times (1999) Cree Researchs SiC wafers break $500-price barrier for opto applications | EE Times. Available at: http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1268808 (Accessed: 7/28/2014 2014). Jerome, A. (2005) MIXED REACTANT MOLECULAR SCREEN FUEL CELL. US 2005/0058875 A1. Available at: http://patents.com/us-20050058875.html (Accessed: 21/07/2014). Kuroda, N., Shibahara, K., Yoo, W.S., Nishino, S. and Matsunami, H. (1987) Extended Abstracts of the 19th Conf. on Solid State Devices and Materials, Tokyo, Japan, 1987. , 227. Matsunami, H., Nishino, S. and Ono, H. (1981) Heteroepitaxial growth of cubic silicon carbide on foreign substrates, IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 28(10), pp. 1235 1236. Nikitin, A. and Gogotsi, Y. (2004) Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Vol. 7. Valencia, CA: American Scientific Publishers. Presser, V., Heon, M. and Gogotsi, Y. (2011) Carbide-Derived Carbons From Porous Networks to Nanotubes and Graphene, Advanced Functional Materials, 21(5), pp. 810-833. Saddow, S.E. and Agarwal, A. (eds.) (2004) Advances in Silicon Carbide Processing an Applications. Boston: Artech House Inc. Tairov, Y.M. and Tsvetkov, V.F. (1978) Investigation of growth processes of ingots of silicon carbide single crystals, Journal of Crystal Growth, 43(2), pp. 209 212. Yushin, G., Hoffman, E.N., Barsoum, M.W., Gogotsi, Y., Howell, C.A., Sandeman, S.R., Phillips, G.J., Lloyd, A.W. and Mikhalovsky, S.V. (2006) Mesoporous carbide-derived carbon with porosity tuned for efficient adsorption of cytokines, Biomaterials, 27(34), pp. 5755 5762. Zou, L., Li, L., Song, H. and Morris, G. (2008) Using mesoporous carbon electrodes for brackish water desalination, Water research, 42(8-9), pp. 2340-2348.

Beauty and The Bluest Eye :: Bluest Eye Essays

Beauty and The Bluest Eye Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye contributes to the study of the American novel by bringing to light an unflattering side of American history. The story of a young black girl named Pecola, growing up in Lorain, Ohio in 1941 clearly illustrates the fact that the "American Dream" was not available to everyone. The world that Pecola inhabits adores blonde haired blue eyed girls and boys. Black children are invisible in this world, not special, less than nothing. The idea that the color of your skin somehow made you lesser was cultivated by both whites and blacks. White skin meant beauty and privilege and that idea was not questioned at this time in history. The idea that the color of your skin somehow made you less of a person contaminated black people's lives in many different ways. The taunts of schoolboys directed at Pecola clearly illustrate this fact; "It was their contempt for their own blackness that gave the first insult its teeth" (65). This self hatred also po ssessed an undercurrent of anger and injustice that eventually led to the civil rights movement. The characters in this book as well as the time period mark a time in American history that played an important role in the ideas of equality and freedom. All of the elements on which this country were founded upon were twisted so they no longer applied to blacks and other minorities in this country. The life led by Pecola as well as others like her good or bad is a part of history that was experienced by many Americans in all parts of the country. While it is questionable whether total equality has been reached in this country, many ideas have changed for the better. This book is significant because it shows a different side to American literature as well as life. Morrison points out what has changed and what has stayed the same. While people are generally equal, there are still prejudices in the idea of what is beautiful and who is worthy.