How to Conjugate Commencer (to Begin, Commence)

The Career of Engineering Essay - 1652 Words

The Career of Engineering Take a look around yourself. What do you see? Maybe books, chairs, a television, or even your clothes. All the day to day things that are man-made, you can be sure that an engineer helped make it. Engineers have shaped our world as we know it. There are many different kinds of engineers from chemical, mechanical, textile, civil, agricultural and structural engineers. Our civilization would be as advanced as the Stone Age without these people. This career demands a wide education of math and science. It is an ever-changing career with new advances in materials and the way products are produced. Engineering careers are very secure with respect to compensation. Regardless of this, it does have it’s disadvantages†¦show more content†¦(Britannica 243) Another disadvantage of being an engineer is the actual status of being one. It is not looked upon as highly as other fields such as doctors and lawyers. Most of the time they are looked upon as nerds. In addition, most engin eers are not promoted to high level positions such as presidents or top executives. They do not have the accounting or business education to do that particular job. This means that most engineers never get the opportunity to be their own boss. (Basta 22) The job of an engineer itself is a creative job. The actual definition of an engineer is â€Å"The profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and natural sciences gained by study, experience and practice is applied with judgment to develop ways to utilize the materials and forces of nature economically for the benefit of mankind.† (Bastas 24) In having the basic skills and experiences in math and science, an engineer is basically an inventor. They are given a problem and are depended on to come up with a solution. Whether it be a new chemical, a mechanical part, or even a whole new system such as computer operating program, engineers are the problem solvers of our materialistic society. (Basta 45) Many engineers work in laboratories, industrial plants, or construction sites where they inspect, supervise, or solve onsite problems. (Britannica 244) Engineering itself has a sort of chain of command in the way a project is handled. It follows in theShow MoreRelatedA Career as a Mahtematical Engineering1535 Words   |  6 Pagesmanufacture never-before-seen devices to solve new challenges presented by innovation. The schooling for mechanical engineering is mainly focused on science and math principles. The University of Texas at Austin offers a great program to train mechanical engineers in the tools, technology, skills, and duties of their profession. The University of Texas (UT) has the tenth ranked engineering school in the nation. To get automatic acceptance into UT, a person needs to be ranked in the top eight to ten percentRead MorePurpose For A Career In Engineering1025 Words   |  5 Pagespursue higher education in engineering. 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Biomedical engineering devised a way to produce large quantities of insulin with a higher level of purity, which has saved a lot of human lives. Although biomedical engineering just been officially founded 200 years ago, its practice has beenRead MoreMechanical Engineering Career Paper7307 Words   |  30 PagesMechanical EngineeringRobert MolinowskiVocollect703 Rodi Road, Pittsburgh, PA, 15235(412) 829-8145 | | | | | Pd. 6/7 Career Paper December 15, 2011 Mechanical Engineering According to projected job employment in the year, 2018, mechanical engineering will have an estimated quarter of a million jobs nationwide. This is an increase of roughly 6% between 2008 and 2018. As the need for better, more economical necessities, a need forRead MorePursuing A Career And Environmental Engineering2118 Words   |  9 Pages Pursuing a Career in Environmental Engineering â€Å"I wanted to pursue engineering to make some kind of positive (and hopefully) enduring mark on the world.† (J. Kronberg, Electrical Engineer) For most of us, I would like to say this is also our goal in being engineers. The National Academy of Engineering says, â€Å"Engineering has been defined in many ways. It is often referred to as the ‘application of science’ because engineers take abstract ideas and build tangible products from them.† (Stephan 2)Read MoreEssay about Career Profile: Engineering1308 Words   |  6 Pagesto build devices and mechanical systems to improve the lives of people. A career in the department of engineering consists of practicing the scientific principles in order to meet social and consumer needs. Engineers develop efficient solutions to technical problems. There exist different branches that stem out and create detailed tasks for each component of engineering. The reason for choosing a specific career in engineering, su ch as chemical, electrical, civil, or mechanical is to have a lucrativeRead MoreMy Career Goals For The Field Of Engineering1564 Words   |  7 PagesE2/MITES/MOSTEC ESSAYS 1) What are your career goals? How might E2/MITES/MOSTEC help you attain these goals? I currently have several skills in many aspects in the field of engineering. Most of these skills are in the area of computer science with languages such as Java, C#, HTML, and JavaScript. Throughout my current exposure, I have learned engineering has several different possibilities in terms of choosing a major to focus in, and a career to pursue but have never completely experienced how eachRead MoreOverview of Biomedical Engineering as a Career Path1805 Words   |  8 Pageslife.† (Confucius) According to the Whitaker Foundation, biomedical engineering has existed for centuries, perhaps even thousands of years. â€Å"In 1816, modesty prevented French physician Rene Laennec from placing his ear next to a young woman’s bare chest, so he rolled up a newspaper and listened through it, triggering the idea for his invention that led to today’s ubiquitous stethoscope.†(The Whitaker Foundation). â€Å"Biomedical engineering achievements range from early devices , such as crutches, platform

Academic Theory and Concepts on the Specific Environment Sample

Question: Define and describe Academic Theory and Concepts on the Specific Environment Relevant to all Organisations. Answer: The specific environment comprises of the external and internal factors surrounding the business. An organization offers a platform for people to work together and achieve uniform goals by application of division of labor concept (Stephen Robbins 2013). Academic theories concept explain the impact of different factors on organizations. This report will give an analysis of the various theories and concepts that impact on the organizations specific environments, using Samsung as the organization of the study. According to (Dzimbiri 2009), there are classical organizational theories which have combined concepts from theorists who try to explain the different concepts underlying the business environments (Rudani 2013). It combines the concepts of Scientific Management Approach by Fredrick Taylor, which states that performance is influenced by existing relationships between employees and management. Webbers bureaucracy theory which reflects on the personal attitudes of the people within the organization, according to this concept employees negative attitudes negatively impacts on organizational performance since they hinder proper implementation of corporate systems, bureaucracy provides for authority, the division of labor and process efficiency. Administrative theory of Henry Fayol bases its arguments on many management principles; he explains management to be as a result of planning, organizing, commanding, and coordination (PARDEEP SAHNI 2009). Additionally, there are modern theories which combine the concepts of system theory. They view an organization as a system of interconnected components that should perform uniformly, the social, technical theory which suggests that organizations are made up of interconnected social elements and the contingency theory that explains the relationship between organizational systems and its environment (David Crowther 2004). Competition for a company to be competitive, its important to carry out an analysis and establish who the competitors are. Its not possible for any business to ignore this. Samsung strongest competitor is Apple in the phone manufacturing market, Apple dominates the market share of Smart phones in the US and is second largest market share in the world after Samsung. To overcome the challenge of competition Samsung should identify its size and market share in the industry. Other competitors include Huawei, Vivo, Lenovo (beats Samsung in laptops market share), among others (Dzimbiri 2009). Samsung had a decline in the profits generated in the year 2016, but on the contrary, its competitor (Apple) recorded a rise in profits the same year. This directly shows that Apples competition is posing a notable impact on the companys performance (Stephen Robbins 2013). The poor performance of Samsung last year is linked to stiff competition amidst weak global economic conditions. Samsung anticipates achieving solid growths in earnings in the year 2017, to improve its performances the company looks at increasing the earnings by increasing its business units focus on software and clearly differentiate itself from the competitors in this competitive market. (Rudani 2013). In conclusion, its important for any organization to focus on its internal and external as both of the directly or indirectly impacts on its performance (Stephen Robbins 2013). Organizations are encouraged to lay enough focus on their competitors since no matter the quality of products competition will always arise; the organization should try and establish a sustainable competitive advantage against its competitors to enable them to have the largest market share. References David Crowther, Miriam Green. Organizational Theory. Illustrated, reprint. Wimbledon, London,: CIPD Publishing, 2004. Dzimbiri, Lewis B. Organisation and Management Theories: an African Focus: Integrating Structure, People, Processes and the Environment for Human Happiness. Gttingen: Cuvillier Verlag, 2009. PARDEEP SAHNI, ETAKULA VAYUNANDAN. ADMINISTRATIVE THEORY. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd, 2009. Rudani, Ramesh B. Principles of Management. New York: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. Stephen Robbins, David De Cenzo, Mary Coulter, Megan Woods. Management: the Essentials. London,: Pearson Higher Education AU, , 2013. Zilwa, Deanna de. Academic Units in a Complex, Changing World: Adaptation and Resistance. illustrated. Berlin: Springer Science Business Media, 2010.

Impact of Fluctuating Rate Global Business

Question: Discuss about the Impact of Fluctuating Rate for Global Business. Answer: Introduction Due to the impact of globalization the business has no boundary, it crosses across the border. Moreover, as different countries have their own currencies their and own valuations thus, money exchange across the border play important role in international business (Grimwade, 2000). However, the exchange rates among different currencies do not remain same all the time but it varies time to time by several factors. The fluctuation of different currencies impact on the international business deals and thus, it has been taken as prospective research topic for this research proposal. Background of research The initiation of the international trade had been occurred from ancient age, and then barter method was the process of exchanging goods among the traders. Afterwards, in order to facilitate the business use of currencies begun. However, because of different various factor the exchange rate has been fluctuated in constant basis (International Crude Oil Trade, Year 2013, 2015). The economic performance of country, overall financial and business performance of the country, interest rate parity, inflation rate, and employment rate play significant role in the fluctuation of the currency price in foreign exchange market (Rosenberg, 2003). The fluctuation of FX Rate has significant impact on the business communities, specifically the companies playing in the international market means the exporters and the importers are mainly affected by the FX Rate fluctuations (International Refined Products Trade, Year 2014, 2015). The particular research is on the FX Rate fluctuation and its impact o n the domestic businesses, which plays globally. Problem statement In case of the FX Rate swing in favour of the domestic currency then the rate of the domestic currency will be hiked, and then the exporters have to face severe loss because they got payment in foreign currency but they have to invest domestic currency in order to produce the product materials (Weithers, 2006). Therefore, good performances of the domestic currency fetch losses to the exporters, whereas the importers are benefitted by the good performance of the domestic currency as they have to pay in foreign currencies. On the other hand, in case of domestic currency provides bad performances then the exporters are benefitted and the importers have to face monetary losses. Research aim and objectives The research aim to detect the risks for the business occurs due to the volatility of FX rate. The objectives of the research are; To detect the impact of FX rate on international business. To understand the factors, which are liable for the fluctuation of FX Rate To find out effective remedies so that the impact of currency fluctuations can be minimized. Research questions Q1: Is there any major impact of volatile nature of FX Market on the international market? Q2: What are the key factors of the volatility in the FX market? Q3. How the impact of the volatile FX Market on global organization can be restrained? Hypothesis Hypothesis of the research are as follows: H0: Volatile FX market has direct impact on the business organizations; specially, the organization doing business internationally. H1: Volatile FX market has not any direct impact on the business organizations Literature review The FX rate is prone to be volatile as there are different factors, which influence rate of foreign exchange. Difference in interest rate, difference in inflation, Current account scarcities, Public debt, term for trading along with the political stability and economic performance of the domestic country are the significant variables of FX market (Wystup, 2006). Because of the different variables the performances of the domestic currency in international market use to fluctuate (Ree, Yoon, Park, 2015). Moreover, the fluctuations of the domestic currency in the international market greatly influence the business of the business organization, especially, the organization, which has exposure in the international market. The profitability of the organization hugely varied because of the FX Rate fluctuations. Even for the FX rate fluctuation the organizations have to face severe monetary losses (Ree, Yoon, Park, 2012). The global players more specifically the firm involve in export or i mport business are mainly affected by the FX Rate fluctuations. Variable The key variables that influence the FX rate are, difference interest rate, inflation, interest rate parity, political stability economic performance of domestic nation etc (Grieb, 2013). Operational definitions and measurement The companies doing business internationally must keep an eye on the FX market as the volatility in FX market can impact on the profitability of the business of these organizations (Reiswich Uwe, 2012). Good performances of the domestic currency fetch losses to the exporters, whereas the importers are benefitted by the good performance of the domestic currency (Kliatskova Mikkelsen, 2015). On the other hand, in case of domestic currency provides bad performances then the exporters are benefitted and the importers have to face monetary losses. Research methodology The quantitative research methodology has been applied for the research so that a widespread understanding can be achieved about FX market volatility (Ong Barkbu, 2010). Research process The secondary research help in acquiring the basic ideas and the primary data help in accomplishing the research aim and objectives. Research design Descriptive design has been applied for the research for acquiring deep detail knowledge on the research topic. Data collection tools A survey technique has been applied for collecting the essential data for the research. Data analysis For effective analysis of the data statistical tools, various charts and tables have been used. Dependent and independent variables Dependent variables are the variables than an individual wish to predict, estimate and what is affected when executing the experiment and things that is affected in the experiment. Independent Variable Independent variable is the variable that can be changed and one can control the variables (Rebonato Rebonato, 2004). Conclusion As per the findings of the research process, the conclusion has been made, from the conclusion the necessary understanding about the approval of the hypothesis has been made and the recommendations are also made by the conclusion (Ree, Yoon, Park, 2015). References Grieb, T. (2013). Does FX Volatility Affect the Distributions of Commodity Futures Returns?.International Journal of Financial Research, 4(4). Grimwade, N. (2000).International trade. London: Routledge. International Crude Oil Trade, Year 2013. (2015).World Oil Trade, 37(1), pp.33-42. International Refined Products Trade, Year 2014. (2015).World Oil Trade, 37(1), pp.63-72. Kliatskova, T. and Mikkelsen, U. (2015).Floating with a Load of FX Debt?. [Washington, D.C]: International Monetary Fund, European Department. Ong, L. and Barkbu, B. (2010).FX Swaps. Washington: International Monetary Fund. Rebonato, R. and Rebonato, R. (2004).Volatility and correlation. Chichester, West Sussex, England: J. Wiley. Ree, J., Yoon, K. and Park, H. (2012). FX Funding Risks and Exchange Rate VolatilityKoreas Case.IMF Working Papers, 12(268), p.1. Ree, J., Yoon, K. and Park, H. (2015). FX funding risks and exchange rate volatility.Emerging Markets Review, 25, pp.163-175. Reiswich, D. and Uwe, W. (2012). FX Volatility Smile Construction.Wilmott, 2012(60), pp.58-69. Rosenberg, M. (2003).Exchange-rate determination. New York: McGraw-Hill. Weithers, T. (2006).Foreign exchange. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley Sons. Wystup, U. (2006).FX options and structured products. Chichester, England: Wiley.

Angela Merkels leadership style free essay sample

As The Economist (September 28th 2013) says, Angela Merkel won a landslide victory and became the chancellor of Germany for the third time. The crisis gave us a hard time and most big European countries dumped their leaders during this period. However, Angela Merkel again proved to be a leader that most people follow and admire. Is it purely because she does things right for her people? Or does it rather spark from her personality, including her behavioral, communication skills or influential authority? This paper will elaborate ideas on what makes Germany’s chancellor such a powerful leader and by using psychological theories it will lead the reader to defining the leadership style Ms. Merkel exercises. To define and get to know Angela Merkel’s personality closer, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is an excellent tool, which reveals preferences and one’s personality with a reliability of 83%. As Psychologytoday. com claims (Psychologytoday, 2012) and one could also anticipate it, she is an ENTJ type person. We will write a custom essay sample on Angela Merkels leadership style or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This basically means that Ms. Merkel is decisive, honest and powerful enough to become a leader. In addition, an ENTJ type person notices illogical and inefficient procedures quickly and is able to solve problems fast and effectively due to being well informed and not afraid of presenting strong opinions. This is also backed by her notoriety of disagreeing with most of other’s opinions in the European Parliament and Council. Communication is rated as the single and most important factor when it comes to selecting managers or job success. As regards communication (Independent. co. uk, 2013) we must say that Ms. Merkel is a mediocre debater and she does not give many speeches. Nonetheless is she able to contribute to connecting emotionally with German or other people. What about body language? It can either draw or drive away one’s attention and determines to a significant degree how much an individual likes another. They are basically unconscious signs and their perceptions that provide meaning. As for Ms. Merkel, she meets success early and her body language, mainly exercised by her low steeple â€Å"trademark† of hands has become notorious and well used amongst people. It expresses a significant level of assertiveness and contributes to a highly elevated level of confidence, which makes other people trust her. She mainly relies on her body language in expressing herself, which other people very well understand. What about her appearance in public? According to a scholarly article from the University of Amsterdam (van Zoonen, Liesbet, 2006), Angela Merkel represents a deep political and professional persona to the public and does not reveal her private persona at 1 all, such that it has become an issue in the election campaign. Not to mention her appearance and style that has been strongly criticized since the beginning of her public career. These facts are closely linked to perception and how a person would judge her at first glance. As we quickly tend to â€Å"judge a book by its cover† according to physical and social perception, Ms. Merkel would definitely not be the book we would be willing to read. A probable explanation for her lack of interest in her appearance, reserved character and strong self-discipline comes from her earlier life, as beliefs about ourselves are built during our early childhood. She was raised in East Germany and has always been a high achiever mostly caring about her career rather than appearance. Additionally, people tend to develop significant beliefs about themselves as adolescents or adults, for instance when they arise from strong emotional experiences. As chairwoman of the CDU (Christian Democratic Union of Germany), Ms. Merkel survived the union’s financial scandals as well as other harsh times the party faced. Her careerist past and present has lead her showing less interest in caring about what others think about her. Taking the above-mentioned opinions into consideration, how is it still possible that she is taken as Europe’s most powerful woman? In general, pure physical traits should not be the basis of judgment. The way we perceive a person also depend on our previous education, experience, state of mind, similarity, social status or expectations. If we take the social status of Angela Merkel and the expectations German people have of her, we can conclude that what she is doing is perceived as right, no matter what critics say about her public appearance. When it comes to such a leader, it is not anymore about appearance. According to the Guardian (theguardian. com, 2013), Ms. Merkel knows what her country wants. She gets her people and Germans get her as well. She simply makes sure Germany works and gets away with her mistakes and in the end looks like a good â€Å"mum†. This leads to the discussion of the authority she exercises which persuades people around her that she is on the right track. Using the types of influence tactics from McShane’s and Von Glinow’s book of Organizational Behavior (McShane, Von Glinow, 2010), we can analyze Ms. Merkel’s influencing authority. She exercises silent authority meaning compliance alongside with resistance leading to hard influence tactics. To better understand these concepts let’s have a closer look at the influencing tactic of ingratiation and impression. Within silent authority these terms mean that one tries to increase the liking by, or perceived similarity to, some 2 targeted person or group of people, being the Germans in this case. Impression management, similarly to ingratiation aims at achieving popularity by actively shaping one’s public image. These perfectly apply to Angela Merkel’s acts of contradicting to every opinion that would be against German people’s interest and expressing her thoughts by emphasizing it. However, the way she achieves this compliance is through resistance. This is backed by her control of information and assertiveness about any effects that might be adverse to her people. In fact, (theguardian. com, 2013) she never mentions plans, visions or ideologies. Despite, in public she sticks to â€Å"good housekeeping† but in private she becomes keener on achieving her objectives. What is important here is that people are aware of this and as long as their interests are represented or their disinterests are dismissed, they will follow such a leader. Taking into consideration the above opinions, theories and facts we can present the successful leadership style of Angela Merkel with the help of the path-goal theory of leadership. The path-goal theory states that a good leader is the one who provides the information, resources and support to his or her employees (McShane, Von Glinow, 2010). What makes it different from previous theories is that the path-goal theory concentrates more on the employee side, not the leader side. In other words, the leader is acting as a servant to fulfill their employees’ needs in order to maximize their ability. In the path-goal theory there are four different leadership styles which are Directive, Supportive, Participative and Achievement-oriented. Directive leadership style means that the leader clarifies to employees about the goals and the way to achieve these goals. This gives the employees a clear perception of their roles in the particular task. In supportive leadership style, the leader is friendly and considerate for the employees and tries hard to create a pleasant atmosphere for people to work in. This style is quite the same as people-oriented leadership. Participative leadership style encourages employee involvement in the management decision process and the leader often consult employees’ opinions and suggestions before making a final decision. Achievement-oriented leadership style encourages employees to achieve the peak performance. Leader with this kind of leadership style usually sets challenging goals, seeks improvement in employee performance and shows confidence in employees ability in accomplishing high level tasks. Considering different kinds of situations, leadership style may vary from one to another. There are four main contingencies of path-goal theory that determine which 3 Leadership style is the most appropriate one for leaders to choose. These contingencies are Skill and experience, Locus of control, Task structure and Team dynamics. By analyzing these four main contingencies step by step we can conclude a clear leadership style of Ms. Merkel. Although things are a little different from companies and organizations when talking about leading a government and a whole country, the fundamental theory is the same. First of all, it’s common sense that most Germans are not professionals about politics, and not familiar with the issues which Ms. Merkel and her government are faced with every day. So we can say the chancellor is leading a country where people cannot fully understand what is going on. In this situation, it’s good to apply the directive leadership style to lead and achieve the country’s goal. Secondly, when it comes to locus of control, it’s not hard to find out that the majority of Germans are with the characteristic of internal locus of control. In this situation, it is better to adopt the achievement-oriented leadership style instead of the directive one. Thirdly, the tasks, which Ms. Merkel and her government deal with every day, are not routine, because they have to handle lots of emergencies and unexpected difficulties. Under these circumstances, the directive style is the right way to lead the government and the people. Last but not the least, there exist many other parties in the parliament and throughout the country we can find disagreements about Ms. Merkel’s governance. Even in her party, the Christian Democratic Union, different opinions occur every now and then. How to control the chaos and organize all of them to work towards the same goal? The directive and participative leadership style might be the solution. Taking all the four contingencies into consideration, we can analyze and find out that the leadership style of Ms. Merkel is mostly directive, which turns sometimes into participative and achievement-oriented when needed. And this conclusion is in accordance with what Ms. Merkel have done as the chancellor of the German government. She is a powerful woman with a determined mind. She is quite aware of what her goal is and she understands exactly what her country wants (the guardian. com, 2013). She sticks to her country’s objectives and exhibit the shared vision to her people. She leads her government to well handle with tough issues such as Iraq, Iran and its nuclear power station. She lowered the unemployment rate from 11. 3% to 5. 3% and lead Germany to survive through the financial crisis and European debt crisis. In this directive and achievement-oriented style 4 of leadership she wins the hearts of most of Germans and gets the majority of their votes, which is a new record for her. To conclude, we can go through the competencies of effective leaders in the book of Organizational Behavior (McShane, Von Glinow, 2010). As it is said in the book, when talking about personality, the leader’s higher levels of extroversion and conscientiousness are important for an effective leader, which is not the case with Ms. Merkel. However, except for the personality aspect, Ms. Merkel is a perfect leader in all other aspects, i. e. Self- concept, drive, integrity leadership motivation, knowledge of the business (the state), cognitive and practical intelligence and emotional intelligence. No wonder Ms. Merkel has become the most successful and powerful woman in Europe.

The eNotes Blog Bookless Libraries TheyreComing

Bookless Libraries TheyreComing Just this week, I was watching an episode of  Downton Abbey  and one of the scenes was set in the library. Beautiful leather-bound volumes filled the vast room from floor to ceiling and covered every wall. Lord Grantham took no notice of them at all, as he stood, brandy in hand, waiting for his valet to fetch his evening coat. The visual image of this early twentieth century library struck me on a couple of levels; first, how books like the ones that adorn the Crawleys home were once meant for the very elite. The servants downstairs might have indulged themselves occasionally in a penny dreadful but it is unlikely that any of them read, or had access to, much more. The second thing that I noticed was the sheer numbers of tomes, and how unnecessary, really, it is in the twenty-first century to have to devote so much physical space to the printed word. Dont get me wrong. There is nothing I love more than the heft of a book. I love the way they smell. I delight in actually turning pages. Until it is time to move. I have as many books in my Kindle now as I do on my buckling shelves. And they all fit in my smallest pocketbook. So I suppose I understand that modern libraries are facing the same dilemma. The space and time needed to house and administer books is enormous. Not long ago, bookless libraries were only an idea, but now they are happening. This fall, San Antonio, Texas will open its first entirely electronic lending library. There will be fifty computer terminals and eReaders that patrons can check out and take home. Even though the project cost $1.5 million dollars, its advocate, Judge Nelson Wolff, argues that it is cost effective. The new institution, dubbed BiblioTech uses existing city facilities, and, perhaps more importantly, is available to a largely underserved community whose residents often do not have their own personal electronic devices. Is this the future for most libraries? Probably. But not for a while yet. To say there is still an enormous amount of material to be digitized is a understatement. And there are copyright issues with which to contend. Sarah Houghton, director of a library in California, complains that 99 percent of the materials that the general public want to check out,   such as best-sellers,  simply arent available to libraries digitally. Another issue inhibiting the growth of bookless libraries is the training of staff, not only on use of the devices, but how to explain them to their patrons, many of whom may have had little or no experience with digital readers. Moreover, the expense of acquiring all of these new devices is often prohibitive for most public libraries. And what happens when these devices become outdated? Today, it seems that technology improves every two years, if not sooner. Better not upset Lord Grantham just yet. You may still need to borrow that volume of Tocquevilles  Democracy in America.

Switching behavior and cycling durability on TiO2 coated Mg4Ni thin Essay

Switching behavior and cycling durability on TiO2 coated Mg4Ni thin film mirror - Essay Example Transmittance of the mirrors that were coated with the TiO2 film in the transparent state is improved by interference of multiple layers. Switching responses of multilayer thin films (Pd/Ti/Mg4Ni) was not effected by the outermost coatings of the TiO2 films, that is, hydriding and dehydriding speeds almost the same compared to the uncoating mirrors. Magnesium [1-3] and magnesium-based thin films [4-9] with a cap layer of Pd that can be switched between transparent and mirror states by hydrogen gas loading have attracted attention for their potential applications as smart windows, optical switches, and hydrogen sensors. Among various switchable mirror materials, magnesium-nickel alloy thin films [5-7] are one of the most promising candidates for practical use of a switchable mirror from the point of view of material cost and optical switching performance. It shows, however, fast degradation like other switchable mirror materials; after about 150 switching cycles it can not be switched again [10]. This low stability is the most severe obstacle for their applications. The investigation of the degradation mechanism indicates that the formation of magnesium oxides at the outermost surface and failure of the Pd cap layer are the major causes of the degradation [10]. Magnesium in the thin film of Mg-Ni is easy diffusing towards the outermost surface during the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processing due to the fact that the total energy is reduced by the segregation of the Mg to the surface [11]. The researchers have developed various devises to extend the lifetime of this mirror system for practical applications. For this purpose, the various polymer materials have been used as a protection layer by spin coating to surface of the mirror [12], and the hydrogen diffusion metals such as Ti, Nb and V as a protection layer inserted to the Pd top layer and the Mg-Ni thin layer period [13]. Polymer coatings can extend the switching