Wednesday, July 31, 2019

The Details on Security Change After 9/11

The word â€Å"cliche† is sure to have been used hundreds if not thousands of times for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in September 11, 2001 or commonly known as 9/11. The meaning of 9/11 first on the domestic scene is that America joined the ranks of those that suffered the brunt of terrorism for decades such as the United Kingdom, Germany and Italy. America lost â€Å"its innocence† since this terrorist incident is of greater magnitude compared to the World Trade Center bombing in February 1993 or in terms of the socio-political impact, it really brought home the message that â€Å"no one is safe.† On the global scale, 9/11 meant that even a superpower or the â€Å"only superpower† can fall prey to a low-intensity type of warfare known as terrorism. It prove that such an act can affect economic and market outputs considering that it weakened the stock exchange and flights were cancelled for a few days throughout the United States. 9/11 also redefined the meaning of terrorism and â€Å"holds lesson for other states, not just America, by demonstrating the U.S. resolve and ability to remove regimes that harbor or sponsor terrorism, 9/11should have strengthened the deterrent message to governments that would contemplate aiding terrorists. (Knopf, 2002)† It showed that whether it is state-sponsored terrorism or ideological group-led terrorism like Al-Qaeda, governments and nations of the world must unite to battle this modern-day organized plague. In response to 9/11, the U.S. government implemented the Patriot Act of 2001 or completely known as â€Å"†Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. This piece of legislation contains sections that defines and effects controls and measures in the fight against terrorism such as: Enhancing domestic security against terrorism; International money laundering abatement and anti-terrorist financing; Removing obstacles to investigating terrorism; Providing for victims of terrorism, public safety officers and their families; Increased information sharing for critical infrastructure protection; Strengthening the criminal laws against terrorism; and Besides the Patriot Act, 9/11 brought about the existence of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through House Resolution 5005 and whose major mandate is to prevent terrorist attacks within and reduce the vulnerability to terrorism of the United States. Since DHS became the focal point of the U.S. response to terrorism some major government agencies were transferred to the DHS. One of the major outputs of the DHS is coming out with the National Response Plan (NRP) in December 2004 (DHS, 2004). The NRP â€Å"is an all-discipline, all-hazards plan that establishes a single, comprehensive framework for the management of domestic incidents. It provides the structure and mechanisms for the coordination of Federal support to State, local, and tribal incident managers and for exercising direct Federal authorities and responsibilities. (DHS, 2004)† Having been aligned with the National Incident Management System (DHS, 2004), the NRP had more 32 signatory government departments and agencies. Although it is an incident response plan, the NRP carries policies â€Å"to protect national security, coordinates the activities of the other members of the law enforcement community to detect, prevent, preempt, and disrupt terrorist attacks against the United States. This includes actions to prevent, preempt, and disrupt specific terrorist threats or actual incidents that are based upon specific intelligence or law enforcement information. (DHS, 2004)† Although brought out in general terms, the new security measures in place gives a signal to the domestic marketplace that vigilance and stricter enforcement of security rules is already in place. Trade and commerce with the United States became more stringent especially in terms of cross-border access between U.S., Mexico and Canada. On the whole, the effectiveness of the change security posture after 9/11 is being met on two fronts. One group agrees with the measures believing that it really curtails terrorist activities. On the other hand, another group declares that starting with the Patriot Act, then the rise of the Department of Homeland Security and the implementation of the National Response Plan, all these are questioned due to their singular and collective effects on rights, freedom and liberties Americans enjoy. But as in any history of the United States, the debate or division brought about by the new security measures in effect is always welcomed since this is one of the true tests of democracy – when two or more groups agree to disagree. Five years after 9/11, the full measure of the efficacy of the security policies and methods in place can only be truly gauged when a future major terrorist incident can be prevented and the perpetrators captured – only then can some of the â€Å"questionable human rights violation measures† can be vindicated! But for now, we can only â€Å"hope and pray† that such incident will not happen again or else another event that would live in infamy would be in our midst.

Oedipus the King Essay

One of the most important literary devices used by Sophocles in his play Oedipus the King is what is known to modern critics as the â€Å"Greek Chorus. † The chorus was an important part of Greek tragedy, not only in the plays of Sophocles, but in the work of many other playwrights as well. Sophocles, in addition to incorporating well-known myths and historical motifs into his play, used the chorus as an additional method by which to ensure the audience’s understanding of the action on the stage. He also used the chorus to help the audience to feel a sense of a participation in the action of the play and to direct their sense of the plot and to focus the audience’s sympathy on appropriate characters. The use of the chorus in Greek tragedy was, as mentioned, a common literary device, but Sophocles is well known for being a creative adapter of conventions and in his hands, the chorus functions in myriad capacities, some obvious and some subtle. In order to appreciate the importance of the chorus in a play like Oedipus the King, it is crucial to first have an understanding of how the chorus traditionally functioned in Greek tragedy. Physically, the chorus was made up of â€Å"an anonymous group of fifteen† (Taplin 12) who, in addition to functioning as characters within the play, proper, also participated in the orchestra, providing â€Å"musical accompaniment [†¦ ] on the aulos, a double pipe with reeds [†¦ ] the aulos-player stood in the orchestra, also in tragic costume† (Taplin 12). The chorus also chanted, snag, and danced â€Å"the choral odes which divide the acts of tragedy† (Taplin 12) while occasionally singing or chanting † in lyric dialogue with the actors† (Taplin 12) . In addition to these roles, the traditional chorus also featured a leader: â€Å"the koryphaios, probably distinguished slightly by costume† (Taplin 12) who might also contribute dialogue to the play. Furthermore, the chorus held a connotation for Greek audiences which is all but unknowable to modern observers and this connotation relates to the presence of â€Å"chorale† bodies of chorus-like arrangements in everyday Greek society. Even the rudimentary aspects of the chorus in its theatrical incarnation: singing and dancing, held for the Greeks, a very different social and cultural resonance than for moderns. In Greek life, † a chorus was an integral part of many communal occasions, religious and secular—festivals, weddings, funerals, victory celebrations,† (Taplin 13) and the chorus also helped to lend a sense of ritual and ceremony to â€Å"all ‘festive’ occasions in Greek life† (Taplin 13). As such, the chorus as a literary device held for the Greeks in relation to theater: â€Å"a prominent and important place [†¦ ] in the performance as a whole† (Taplin 13). The distinction between ancient and modern observers is a very important distinction to make when discussing the Greek chorus as a literary device. Quite simply, for the modern observer, the best understanding of the function of the chorus may well be that the modern observer should regard the chorus as a kind of bridge between the mythical action of the play and the audience who observes this action. In fact some critics assert that this â€Å"bridge† role was also intended by Greek playwrights who used the chorus and specifically intended to be used this way by Sophocles in Oedipus the King. For these critics, the chorus represents â€Å"an â€Å"ideal spectator† that directs our thought and attention† (Hogan 44) and this is an intentional function of the chorus as a literary device as adopted by Sophocles. Obviously, in its function as a bridge between the audience and the action on the stage, the chorus in Oedipus the King plays a pivotal, rather than decorative role. For example, in relating a sense of irony to the audience, the chorus is used by Sophocles specifically â€Å"On three occasions† (Hogan 21) to provide a focal point of ironic realization on the audience’s behalf. Therefore, when â€Å"Oedipus defends his innocence [†¦ ] both he and the chorus of Athenians remain profoundly sensitive to the pollution that still clings† (Hogan 21) while, similarly, when â€Å"Oedipus rationalizes the murder† (Hogan 21) he invokes the sense of the chorus-as-court-of-law. The irony, of course, being that both the chorus and the audience are sympathetic to the plight of Oedipus just as it is hoped on Oedius’ behalf that â€Å"A court of law would be sympathetic† (Hogan 21). Another example is when Oedipus speaks to the chorus and says: â€Å"I pray god that the unseen killer, whoever he is, and whether he killed alone or had help, be cursed with a life as evil as he is, a life of utter human deprivation. † (Sophocles 28, 297-300). Here, the coryphaeus, or leader of the chorus, also speaks lines which, ironically, indicate that he â€Å"is thinking of the killer, who is much nearer for questioning than he knows† (Hogan 36). Each of these uses of the chorus by Sophocles heightens the sense of irony in the play while simultaneously promoting a sense of audience involvement and, obviously, forwarding the plot of the tragedy. The chorus is exceptionally important as a device in helping to direct the action of the play to and through the climax. The verbal interplay between Oedipus and the chorus increases near the end of the play. By inspecting â€Å"Oedipus’ words (and to the Chorus’) during the final part of the play, we will learn what beliefs and allegiances have survived† (Sophocles 14) and what little glimmer of redemption can be said to exist in the play’s tragic climax and aftermath can be gleaned from the words of the chorus, which close the play. Although Oedipus’ closing speeches are filled with pain and lamentation, the human world remains to him as â€Å"he hears the voice of the Chorus. Clarity and poise return as he tells the Chorus it was Apollo who destroyed his life, but that it was he and no one else who chose to strike out his own eyes† (Sophocles 14). The chorus,then, emerges as the target Oedipus’s confession and the implied target of the â€Å"moral† of his story. The audience, of course, is the chorus and vice-versa, so that the closing lines of the play: â€Å"Don’t call a man god’s friend until he has come through life and crossed over into death never having been god’s victim† (Sophocles 67, 1765-1766) emerge as the cathartic â€Å"lesson† distilled from the mythic action of the story, by way of the chorus, to enrich the audience’s understanding. Works Cited Hogan, James C. A Commentary on the Plays of Sophocles. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1991. Sophocles. Oedipus the King. Trans. Robert Bagg. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1982. Taplin, Oliver. Greek Tragedy in Action. London: Routledge, 2003.

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Finance And Accounting In The Media Industry Accounting Essay

Media and amusement includes a assortment of merchandises that entertains or keeps informed a day-to-day consumer. The industry is segmented into wireless, telecasting, wireless broadcast medium, etc. The competition in the media and amusement infinite is increasing twenty-four hours by twenty-four hours. To be on the top or even to last in this extremely competitory market one has to be really efficient in pull offing the information systems.Finance and AccountingRelationship to Accounting: There is really small difference between finance and accounting. Both autumn under the legal power of main fiscal officer who uses a peculiar MIS to function the intent of both. The difference lies in the sense that in finance the intent is to maximise the net income whereas the intent of accounting is score maintaining so that a base for revenue enhancement payment is prepared. A fiscal director analyses the natural information ( provided by the comptroller about the company ‘s yesteryear, present and future ) as inputs to MIS for doing of import determinations. Accounting is non concerned with hard currency flows. It is merely based on the recognized grosss when sale occurs. Finance is merely concerned to hard currency flows. The magnitude, timing and hazard of hard currency flows are the focal point of finance director. Finance involves determination doing under unsure conditions and is concerned with future whereas accounting is concerned with the past records.WHY MIS IS USED?ALarge organisations have a batch of information. This aggregation of informations can non be of any usage if it is non streamlined so that informations can be retrieved easy. MIS would assist in commanding, tracking and monitoring of informations. Segregation of informations into faculties would ensue in faster determination devising. Would assist in traveling paper free. Use of MIS would guarantee the consequence as per the outlook and analysis of informations would be done easy.SAP FOR FINANCE IN MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENThypertext transfer protocol: //www.sap.com/global/images/tce/spacer.gif Reliance Mediaworks uses SAP for functioning its fiscal jobs. SAP for Media provides trim solutions to maintain up with rapid alterations driven by the Internet, on-line publication, and digital broadcast medium. License acquisition and surpassing royalties – Reports on accurate royalty statements are prepared utilizing SAP. Core accounting and coverage capablenesss Fiscal supply concatenation direction Treasury Management Shared services Supply Chain ManagementRELIANCE MEDIAWORKSCompany profile In 2005 Reliance ventured into this infinite and rapidly adopted the criterions required to last in this market. The twelvemonth 2005 saw the entry of new participants across all sections of the E & A ; M industry. Reliance made its manner into amusement by purchasing out ‘Adlabs ‘ and besides acquired a wireless station known as BIG FM 92.7after command for 50 FM wireless Stationss across with aggregative commands of over INR 1.5 billion. In this M & A ; E industry one can non bury the function of finance and accounting in the success way of these companies. Finance and accounting should be really efficient so that there are no statistical errors/delays. The presence of trust mediaworks is felt in Film Services: Motion Picture Processing and DI ; Visual Effects ; Film Restoration and image sweetening ; Digital Mastering: Studios and Equipment leases with installations located at US and India. Most companies that fail in this industry have no or hold a weak information system for finance and accounting system. Finance holds the key for company ‘s success. Reliance Media works adopted a really good MIS every bit shortly as it entered the infinite. It implemented a ‘SAP ‘ made MIS and rapidly got the positive consequences of utilizing it. Use of SAP in Reliance Mediaworks Used for accounting intents. Used for revenue enhancement intents. Used for organizing general legers. Keeping collectible and receivable histories. Besides used for computation of assorted ratios and analyzing them. Used for preparation of one-year and quarterly studies. Used for puting up a fixed budget.AccountingFiscal accounting consists of: – General ledger – Sap helps in pull offing a general leger for the company. General leger keeps an history of the assets, grosss, disbursals and the liabilities of the company. At the bosom of the Financials faculty, the General Ledger constituent automates the integrating of all your fiscal information and poster to your histories – supplying the terminal point for all drumhead information in the system. From the General Ledger all the cardinal direction studies of your concern ‘ are generated, including the balance sheet, gross statement, trading history and test balance. Comprehensive bore down capablenesss and graphical coverage makes job designation and declaration simple in the extreme. The General Ledger shops information on all of your histories, including all minutess – supplying the ability to update work-in advancement, stock values, foreign currency fluctuations, debitors and creditors, so that an accurate representation of the concern ‘ fiscal state of affairs is ever presented. Flexibility is provided in the set up of your chart of histories, which can be standard of customised to accommodate the alone demands of you concern. Full integrating from the full Prism system ensures the General Ledger presents dependable, accurate and timely direction information. Treasury Management of Assetss Reliance has a separate faculty for the intent of exchequer direction. This faculty invariably manages the assets and the investings that have been made by the company. Investings Reliance Mediaworks is invested in many bonds and common financess. The list of these investings every bit good as such other investings is maintained by SAP. New investings to be made are besides analysed by the MIS. A proviso for decline is made to recognize a diminution, other than impermanent, in the value of long-run investings and is determined individually for each single investing. Fixed assets and depreciation / amortization Tangible assets Assetss that can be equated in footings of money are known as touchable assets. Expenses incurred for up maintaining of the assets are taken into history. Depreciation on fixed assets is provided on the consecutive line method, . Cost of movie rights comprises original purchase monetary value / minimal warrant. Cost is ascertained on specific designation footing where possible. In instance multiple movies / rights are acquired for a amalgamate sum, cost is allocated to each movie / right based on direction ‘s best estimations. The single movie prognosis method is used to amortize the cost of movie rights acquired. Under this method, costs are amortised in the proportion that gross grosss realised bear to direction ‘s estimation of the entire gross grosss expected to be received. If estimations of the entire grosss and other events or alterations in fortunes indicate that the realisable value of a right is less than its unamortised cost, a loss is recognised for the surplus of unamortised cost over the movie right ‘s realisable value. Liabilitiess illustrations of liability histories include histories collectible and long term debt. Gross Gross is recognised to the extent that it is likely that the economic benefits will flux to the Company and the gross can be faithfully measured. Advertisement / sponsorship gross Reliance generates its grosss from advertizements and sponsorships that it offers to assorted companies. Large Frequency modulation every bit good as some other subordinates of ‘Reliance Mediaworks ‘ like the ‘Adlabs ‘ generates grosss through advertisement offerings. Film production and related income The twenty-four hours the movie rights are sold, the income/revenue from movie production is registered in the book of histories. Income from movie distribution activity Distribution rights for a movie produced by Reliance Mediaworks, abroad rights, picture, music or orbiter rights are sold and the grosss are registered by SAP. Film production services Gross from treating / printing of cinematographic movies is recognised upon completion of the related processing / printing. Theatrical exhibition and related income Grosss are besides generated by the sale of tickets at Big Cinemas. The amusement revenue enhancement is exempted from the gross. Interest income / income from movie funding Grosss may besides be generated from financing a peculiar movie and so finally purchasing the movie. Foreign currency minutess Due to operations in assorted states, Reliance has the grosss in assorted currencies which is converted into rupees at the terminal of the twelvemonth. The difference in exchange rates may do extra gross for the company. Expense/Cost Expense or cost can specify as escapes from the company. Personal costs Wages, rewards, fillips, PPF, staff public assistance disbursals Operational costs Advertisement, bank charges, rent, insurance, labor charges, loss on sale, bad debts, printing and communicating, other assorted disbursals. Other costs include involvement payment on the loans, fiscal charges etc. Receivable accounts- : Pull offing a list of receivable histories can be really boring if done manually. This job is solved utilizing SAP which records and manages such histories. The Accounts Receivable constituent of the Prism Financials faculty reveals a 360AÂ ° position of gross revenues public presentation – the footing for accurate and effectual decision-making. Histories Receivable shops all client information, footings, minutess and balances, streamlining dayto- twenty-four hours disposal. It provides direction with full and accurate graphical analysis, projections of gross revenues, grosss and hard currency flow. Credit control installations with comprehensive diary notes and gross revenues history facilitate easy client direction. Full integrating is provided from Histories Receivable to the General Ledger and Cash Book constituents of the Financials faculty, every bit good as the Job Costing and Inventory faculties on a existent clip footing. Collectible accounts- : Merely as we have receivable histories to enter the income so besides a record should be maintained for the outgoing payments that are to be made. With the Histories Collectible constituent of the Prism Financials faculty you ‘ll accomplish efficiencies throughout your bill and payment procedure. By hive awaying all your provider information, minutess and balances, and supplying elaborate analysis of your purchases, Accounts Payable will turn out an priceless tool within your histories section. Staff can automatically make payment tallies and print computerised cheques and remittals, in add-on to leting multiple currencies by creditor. Extensive graphical coverage on all disbursals incurred provides direction with critical determination doing information. Taxation- : Calculation of revenue enhancements ( gross revenues and purchases ) and coverage of the same is easy done utilizing SAP. Income-tax disbursal comprises current revenue enhancement disbursal computed in conformity with the relevant commissariats of the Income revenue enhancement Act, 1961 and deferred revenue enhancement charge or recognition. Deferred revenue enhancement charge or recognition and the corresponding deferred revenue enhancement liability or plus is recognised for clocking differences between the net incomes / losingss offered for income revenue enhancements and net incomes / losingss as per the fiscal statements. Deferred revenue enhancement assets and liabilities are measured utilizing the revenue enhancement rates and revenue enhancement Torahs that have been enacted or substantively enacted at the balance sheet day of the month. Entertainment revenue enhancement is besides levied as a signifier of revenue enhancement. Accrual accounting- : Accrual means entering gross or cost every bit shortly as they are earned and non wait for the clip when they would be settled. SAP helps in pull offing collectible and receivable histories harmonizing to accrual accounting.Benifits to Reliance MediaworksThe operating costs have reduced and the efficiency has been increased thereby increasing the entrance royalties. The dealing and communicating charges have gone down drastically thereby increasing the net income borders for the company. The cost of integrating with finance and accounting direction has cut downing and has resulted in incremental gross for the company. Replacing manual accounting with the new system has improved the transparence and simpleness of pull offing histories. Version: SAP Crystal Reports Editions: SAP Crystal Reports comes in a individual edition that is the feature equivalent of the old Developer Edition. SAP Crystal Reports Dashboard Design bundle is a soft package of SAP Crystal Reports and SAP Crystal Dashboard Desing ( once known as Xcelsius Engage ) . Datas beginnings: Native, ODBC, OLE DB, and JDBC connectivity to relational, OLAP, web services, XML, and enterprise informations beginnings, and new salesforce.com driver. License theoretical account: Licensed per named user Languages: English, Gallic, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese ( Brazilian ) , Dutch, Swedish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Norwegian, Thai, Czech, and FinnishSystem RequirementsDisk infinite: 300 MB available difficult thrust infinite, 600 MB recommended with SAP Crystal Reports, version for Ocular Studio.NET Operating systems: Microsoft Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP with Service Pack ( SP ) 2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, or subsequently Integrated development environments: SAP Crystal Reports, version for Ocular Studio 2008, 2005, and 2003 Brassy Support: Embedded Flash objects can be viewed with the.NET Winform spectator, .Net Webform spectator, Java DHTML spectator, SAP Crystal Reports spectator, and exported PDF files.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Free Trade Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Free Trade - Essay Example Privatisation; this means transfer of past public owned organisation services and goods to private sector Limited intervention; governments should not interfere with markets expect in building infrastructure. Unembroidered market prices; this implies that governments will desist from controlling market prices. Export - led development; this are development strategies that emphasize export and foreign trade instead of protecting domestic industry. (Dornbusch, pp.69-85) Do open market economies grow faster than closed ones Many studies on market economics have argued that open trade system enhances a faster growth of economy. The point for this strong favour in terms of open trade is based on studies and on a conclusion that outward- based economies realize faster growth rates than those economies that are inward oriented. However, this seems to be overstated, as Dornbusch, (pp.69-85) observers, currently the advantages of open markets are being oversold continuously in the related literatures and in the IMF and World Bank publications. Yet, it is hard to understand the advantages of liberalization of markets among market economies. Economists reports that the effects of openness are very complicated and general mixed as to what extend the trade polices impact the growth of economy. More so the fact that studies explain trade openness in different ways makes it hard to classify countries depending on their level of trade openness. Thus, it does not come as a surprise when different results are obtained when different measures are used. (Dornbusch, pp.69-85) The correlation between free market and the economic growth of a country is a hotly debated issue in the trade and development literature. Until now, this issue remains unresolved. It is important... This essay stresses that the correlation between free market and the economic growth of a country is a hotly debated issue in the trade and development literature. Until now, this issue remains unresolved. It is important to note that, many literatures on this topic have put a lot of attention on the correlation between trade policies and economic growth instead of emphasizing trade levels and growth. This paper makes a conclusion that free trade or open trade is characterized by removal of trading barriers between countries. This is meant to stimulate more trading between countries which is faster and without any hindrance. The policy makers of these policies argue that free trade leads to higher economic growth in countries. However, free trade policies advanced by the IMF and the WB has lead to poor and middle economic countries to experience more economic hardships brought about by stiffer monetary policies. Some of the economies collapsed or stalled. A good example is the Asian crisis. Keeping in mind all the arguments presented open trade definitely is a cause of concern and cause of slow economic progress amongst the populace of the world but it is extremely important to remember that it is not the only cause of concern, some of the policies undertaken by states are implemented incorrectly which result in growing poverty and economic hardship being witnessed in many countri es especially African states. However, it cannot be stated that liberalization or open market is the ONE and ONLY cause of increase in economic hardships amongst the world’s populace.

Sunday, July 28, 2019

The Concept Of Political Correctness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

The Concept Of Political Correctness - Essay Example After much struggle and various trials and errors, our society has made a conscious effort to end racial bigotry in all its forms. This has given rise to the concept of political correctness. We have only to look at television programming and content to realize how stereotyping is perpetuated and accepted. In most television shows, the man portrayed as gay usually always has a lisp, the rapper is black, and the Latino is an illegal immigrant. The reality is far from it. We have only to look at the media to prove the point; in this case, we look at media celebrities. Clay Aiken and Ricky Martin, both gay men, do not have a lisp; Eminem, one of the best rappers of America, is white; George Lopez is not an illegal immigrant, in fact, he is an American born Latino.The Native-Americans find their lot no better. We have teams named â€Å"Indians† and â€Å"Chiefs† which portray stereotypical Native-Americans hooked noses, and feathers, as their mascots and logos, said to hono r the Native-Americans. Never mind the racially motivated names of the teams, their mascots and logos are enough to prove that it is no homage to the Native Americans, but massive stereotyping at work. In our times, it is unacceptable that any group of people is discriminated against, yet by perpetuating the stereotypes and tolerating them, we end up being passive bigots, as we, passively, accept that certain groups of people either look or behave in a certain way when we do not object to the stereotypical portrayal of such people.

Saturday, July 27, 2019

GCC central Bank Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

GCC central Bank - Assignment Example The objectives of the Central bank and the proposed functions of the Central Bank in GCC have been proposed to uphold the best interest of the Gulf economy. Introduction The banking industry of Gulf Cooperation Council is based on then six main GCC countries- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The GCC central bank is likely to face new opportunities and challenges as the Gulf countries experience major changes in the economic and demographic sectors. The banking industry in the Gulf countries is majorly evolving with the market being majorly transformed and driven by consumer demands. A major shift is noted in the industry creating a diverse customer base for the banks which will include an increasing number of women and youth. The central bank should shift to more customer centric approach to create value for the customers and implement a model which provides a higher level of service for the customers. The global banking industry encourages the banks in GCC to achieve high performance levels by implementing new strategies like: Capturing the growth opportunity in the changing regulatory environment, strengthening the existing distribution network and creating new distribution networks using up to date technologies, develop and nurture talent to retain good talent within the organizations, use customer analytics based in predictive analysis models and streamline the operating model with the strategic objectives of the organization. The GCC central banks are likely to gain more by focusing on the retail segments and strengthening their distribution networks. In the light of globalization, it is critical for the GCC banks to re-evaluate their operating models so as to ensure sustainable profitability and increasing operational performance. Discussion Recommended Structure of the Central Bank for GCC The structure of the Central bank for GCC should be based on a more market oriented approach than an organization oriented appr oach. There exists a high degree of concentration in the GCC baking industry and there are strict restrictions on the entry of foreign banks in the GCC market. The banking system prevalent in GCC vary based on the size and operations of the banks (Berger, 1995, p.444). Also, the operating environment for commercial banks and Islamic banks is different due to different financial and institutional conditions prevailing in the area. The major structural factors that drive the prospects of development of the GCC bank are the increasing competitiveness in the domestic banking markets, efficient corporate debt markets, use of compliant financing as an important strategy, efficient local equity markets, increasing investments from private institutions and increased use of derivatives and other financial instruments. The structure of the GCC central bank should be heterogeneous based on banking, equity and debt. As the industry is largely concentrated, a greater control on the banking asset s is required by the GCC central bank. The bank has to formulate policies with reference to the fact that the liquidity factors the lending rates are majorly influenced by the oil prices (Rousseau, 1998, p.1162). The banking institution should be primarily dominated by

Friday, July 26, 2019

Personal paper on SoHo, NYC. First-person Essay

Personal paper on SoHo, NYC. First-person - Essay Example . Geographically, Soho is a neighborhood located in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is a zoned neighborhood bounded by Houston Street and Lafayette Street, with the Centre Street on the East and Canal Street on the South. As a place, one can immediately observe that there is more to the city than its geographical location evident with the characters of its more than 250 iron cast buildings. Indeed there is more that meets the eye because what made Soho special are not only its buildings but its inhabitants and its history. Dreams and perfection were created in that community, a dwelling place were great artworks were conceived and worked during the stillness of its night and the brightness of its day. Soho’s nature to become the nest and breeding place of so many artists can be said to be a happy accident or perhaps even by Divine Providence. In the early part of Sohos history, the place was virtually empty where its historic buildings became unattractive to factories or any form of business. At some point, it was thought of as a miserable place, without place to work, all space and no money from industry where abandoned buildings litter the community. For a time, there may be no money coming in during in Soho but its historic buildings and its lofts that has large unobstructed space where light can get in freely, has a special charm to artists. It could provide them the space to work and for their art to flourish. Its bane of being absent of industry and factories actually became an advantage and an asset because it afforded artists rent cheap to do their creative works. Just imagine a place, or a community where all of its residents are dreamers or purveyors of beauty whose heads are always on the cloud even if their feet touches ground. Many may have been gone but you can still feel that artistic aura, to explore and to open up, and pour ourselves in creative ways that only God understand.

Marketing (Relevant to an Australian company) Essay

Marketing (Relevant to an Australian company) - Essay Example The brewery is open to the public and contains a cafà ©/restaurant. The company operates in one industry, being brewing, and in one main geographical segment, being Australia. Its Chairman is Ian Cochrane and CEO is Jason Marinko. It was founded in 2000 by a group that included directors Howard Cearns, Adrian Fini, and Nic Trimboli with a passion to make (and drink) a particular style of beer .It makes a specific style of pale ale that displays great balance of flavour and refreshment. Because of its ability to deliver a unique flavour experience the brewery has won a number of Australian International Beer Awards. It has been named Champion International Brewery (2002), Champion Australasian Brewery (2002) and the Pale Ale has been named Champion Ale (2002, 2007) and Champion Bottled Ale in 2001.1 (About Us) Macro environment Forces (Kotler,154)2 are the non controllable forces that shapes opportunities and controls threats for the business. The social, economic, legal, political and technological environment comes under this category. Australia is currently ninth3 on the World League Table for beer drinking and while low and full-strength brews were once the staple drink at all Aussie events, their popularity is waning, as theyre replaced by imported and domestic premium beers, wines and pre-mixed, ready-to-drink spirit.The beer consumption by females has gone up considerably and consumers are trading up to premium products to confirm social status. ( Low-carb beer and ready-mix bourbon top of the list for silly season drinkers,30/11/2006) As the corporate world becomes more environment conscious, there is a strong pressure on the organisations to become environment friendly. The corporates now believe in developing properties that add value to the community. In this direction,the company has plans to build a brewing facility that

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Why so many people return to college later in life Essay

Why so many people return to college later in life - Essay Example The cost of it is just too much for an average family to afford, and although student loans are available in most of the western countries, many still find it costly and therefore opt to not pursue college at all. Scholarship grants, on the other hand, are also available in most countries, but the stringent rules often discourage applicants. Besides, not everyone interested to avail are able to pass the qualifying examinations. Aside from the financial limitations which hinder many from pursuing college education, there have been other and very varied reasons. Some who have been lucky to have landed good-paying jobs reason that they are already earning good in their jobs and therefore feel that they do not anymore need a college degree to earn. There are also those whose main reason is that they are tied up to family obligations such as raising a child or caring for sick relative. Other reasons include personal fears, insecurities, or just plain excuses to avoid going to college. To mention a few of them: perceived incapability to cope with college life; indecisiveness as to what they want to do with their lives; or even perceived inferiority for having only average grades which they believe are not admissible in college. There are million other reasons why many go through life without college education. And while there are those who eventually find the happiness and contentment they seek in life even without college education, there are also many who wish to or are really working on going back to college later in life. It is interesting to understand why many people would want to or actually are going back to college later in life - to the stressful, fast-paced, mind-grueling life that so many among the younger generations would want so much to avoid. Why do people in their forties, fifties even sixties would add stress to their otherwise laid-back, stress-free lives? Most common reason why people go back to college later in life is

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Reflection of the Vision Module Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Reflection of the Vision Module - Essay Example However, I soon realized that creativity is a funny thing. What sounds wildly creative and imaginative to one person sounds like a mess of silliness to another. Our first mistake as a group was not sorting out our differences from the beginning as to the very nature of the project itself. One idea that was pitched was a creative use of technology that involved newspaper headlines that were projected on a screen. This was my idea. Others in the group wanted a more traditional presentation of ideas through a featured lecturer set-up. Another faction of the group wanted to create a fully realized dramatic presentation complete with singing, poetry and props. We spent much energy and time trying to accommodate everyone’s ideas. There was a lot of conflict at this stage of the project, but that is to be expected. I kept thinking after each meeting that we would soon find something to do that everyone would be happy with, but after a while, I gave up hope. One of the biggest problem s was the fact that several group members refused to do anything that was not part of their original idea. Anything dramatic or any sort of performance was out of the question for these group members. We could not resolve this rift in the group, so we did something that in the end would prove to be unwise. We moved on with a hybrid of ideas that excluded these members. Basically, through frustration, the majority of the group sent a â€Å"like it or lump it† message to the minority that objected to the performance. This caused considerable problems. One is the fact that the few members that were marginalized failed to keep commitments and did not contribute much work towards the final product. This is understandable, but it really harmed our final product. We decided to write a dramatic performance that included technology I was in charge of utilizing. Just before the performance, some members wanted to make last minute changes to the script. There was a falling out among mem bers. Two members of the group sabotaged the performance by drawing the curtain and hiding behind it. Needless to say, the message of our presentation was somewhat lost among the chaos. Reflecting on this group learning activity really has been a thought provoking exercise. It has been a great opportunity to try something new, reflect on the possible mistakes and note how they could be avoided in the future. Themes that came up continually when I was thinking about this experience include group dynamics, group decision making, leadership styles and styles of communication. Reading about how groups form and share ideas has really helped me to better understand how this group learning activity could have been improved. Actually, the learning activity was great, it was the final product that needed to be improved. The idea that groups go through phases such as storming, norming and performing is interesting. Understanding that there will be differences of opinions in a group is powerfu l information that I do not think all of the members of our group understood. Looking back on the experience, too many people took criticism and critique personally, causing the group to stall in the storming phase. We never really established the norms of how the group should work. As a result, the person or people with the stormiest personalities got their way while the soft-spoken members were pushed to the side. Better resolution of the first phase of team formation would have led to a better end

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Roles Women played in the American Revolution Essay

Roles Women played in the American Revolution - Essay Example Women took up various roles and responsibilities during the revolution to support the cause. The most important is that on the battle field. Many women as soldiers fought the war alongside and as fiercely as men. Women fought the war believing that the only reason that must be considered in serving the country was pure patriotism and not anything else. Nancy Hart, Mary Hays, Margaret Corbin, Deborah Sampson are a few examples. Margaret Corbin fought bravely alongside her husband John Corbin. She was a camp follower and had learnt how to load and fire canons. She was on the frontline along with her husband. When her husband got injured she assumed his duties and got injured too. After the war she served at Corps of Invalids at West Point (Nash & Graves, 2000).. Deborah Sampson is another incredible example of a woman fighting the odds to serve the country. She assumed the identity of a man, namely Timothy Thayer, to enlist herself in the army. Soon her identity was discovered. She again later enlisted as Robert Shirtliffe. As Robert Shirtliffe she fought courageously in various battles. Her identity was again discovered when she got injured and was treated by a physician. Soon after, she was discharged honourably from the army (Shmoop, 2010). Mary Hays was a camp follower serving as a water carrier. She, like Margaret Corbin, assumed the duties of her husband when he got injured. Nancy Hart was known for her sharp shooting skills. She shot at British soldiers with deadly accuracy in the Georgia frontier. She was known by the name â€Å"War Woman† (Nash & Graves, 2000). Apart from actively taking part in the battle as soldiers, women also contributed as camp followers. Many women, mostly wives of soldiers, were allowed to travel with the army. They took part in many activities and served as companions to male soldiers, cooks, nurses, etc. They washed the clothes of the soldiers and cooked food for them. They also took care of

Monday, July 22, 2019

Pro-Forma and Business Cycle Research Paper Essay Example for Free

Pro-Forma and Business Cycle Research Paper Essay This report will compare the pro-forma financial statement of two companies: Bank of America and General Electric also-known as GE. It will describe and summarize the comparison of both organizations and their fiscal stability. It will also detail the typical business cycle of these two companies. Pro-Forma Financial of General Electric and Bank of America General Electric and Bank of America are two companies in the US that are competing to increase their sales, as well as their income in order to increase profits. Both companies are very strong financially: GE is an agglomerates industry with a market capital of $259.56 billion and Bank of America one of the major financial institutions with a market capital of $183.25 billion. Both companies make an effort to improve their bottom figures in each financial year. Bank of America had some merging and restructuring expenses in 2008, but was still showing remarkable earnings. However in the latest first-quarter 2014 report, a net loss of $276 million was published. In 2014, GE decided to acquire the power and Grid business of Alstom. GE expects the deal to be accretive to earnings in the first year. (www.businesswire.com, 2014). Financial Viability and Ratio Analysis of General Electric According to the GE third-quarter 2014 annual report, the organization is performing well and has experienced profit growth since 2013 in the following areas: operating earnings, revenues, industrial segment profits, industrial segment organic revenue, and growth market orders. In addition, new technologies sparked an increase in equipment orders. Likewise, the organization has a strategy in place that has created growth in services business. GE will continue to simplify operations and focus on the needs of its consumers. Furthermore, GE is continuing to gain approval to acquire Alstom Power and Grid businesses. This acquisition is expected to take  place in 2015. The acquisition is expected to increase GE’s cost per share and it will help GE obtain its goal of receiving most of its earnings through industrial businesses. (GE Reports Third-Quarter 2014, 2013) A ratio analysis is a â€Å"quantitative analysis of information contained in a company’s financial statements. (Definition of Ratio Analysis, 2014) It is used to â€Å"evaluate various aspects of a company’s operating and financial performance such as its efficiency, liquidity, profitability and solvency† (Definition of Ratio Analysis, 2014). This is a great tool to calculate how the company is doing over a certain amount of time. GE’s efficiency ratio for day’s inventory, for example, was 54.76, however in 2013, it was 77.36. Receivables turnover was another huge improvement from 2004, at 12.21, to 2013 at 6.81(General Electric Co, 2014). GE’s short term debt has decreased from 21.02% in 2004 to 13.24% in 2013 however the long term debt has increased, with 28.41% in 2004, and 36.97% in 2013. The current ratio has also improved with 2.39 in 2004, and 2.53 in 2013, this is a big win for GE! (General Electric Co, 2014) This shows that the company is more able to pay debts and short term obligations than when it first began (Current Ratio Definition, 2014). Financial Viability and Ratio Analysis of Bank of America In order to know the financial health of an organization, it is imperative to know the organizations financial viability. We have looked at the financial viability for Bank of America and find it to be a viable company. We looked at Bank of Americas Return on Investment (ROI) which is calculated by looking at Bank of Americas yearly return compared to the total investment we need for a project. Bank of Americas Revenue was 98,353 million with Net Income at 5,222 million for the year ending 2013. Total liabilities were 1,884,932 million with 2,123,613 million in total assets (Bank of America, 2014). Bank of Americas working capital ratio is 1.126 which shows us that is able to have enough cash to repay debts. Bank of Americas debt ratio is .8876 which shows that this company can repay long term debt. These few ratios help us see that this business is able to generate enough surpluses in order to meet their recurring payment obligation which also verifies the companys viability (Bank o f America, 2014). Business Cycle A business cycle is the growth or decline in an economy. As of today the economy has grown from the recession in September 2008 that left many people without jobs, the stock market plunges and many companies going bankrupt and closing. Furthermore, the goal of economic policy is to keep the economy in a healthy growth rate that create jobs for people, but slow enough to avoid inflation. Many factors can cause an economy to spin out of control, or settle into depression. The most important, over-riding factor is confidence of investors, consumers, businesses and politicians. The economy grows when there is confidence in the future and in policymakers, and does the opposite when confidence drops (Amadeo, 2014). Recent banking trends offer subtle indications about the business cycle. The financial crisis in 2008 stemmed from explosive monetary policy during the preceding period (Hofschire, 2014). During the financial crisis in 2008 it left a lot of companies wondering if they will ever get back to where they were before the market plunged. Financial institutions, such as Bank of America made it difficult for home buyers to take out loans to purchase properties. Although the housing market dropped, it was harder to qualify for loans because the qualifications were stricter. Furthermore, home owners were in upside loans because they could not afford to pay back the loans. During the financial crisis in 2008 General Electric (GE) was one of the major companies that produced numerous of appliances, such as refrigerators, stoves, microwaves and much more. However, they took a huge financial loss as their earnings started to decrease as sale prices declined (Smith, 2008). General Electric said profits from its money and commercial finance divisions should total $2 billion in the third quarter, down nearly 20 percent from $2.45 billion in the second quarter (Smith, 2008). General Electric Capital is a large contributor to the companys global earnings. Furthermore, General Electric had to give up some assets to raise their capital. As of today GE is one of the largest companies, which generate home appliances and they were able to overcome the financial crisis and regain their financial earnings. Conclusion This report shows that both GE and Bank of America are seeing steady growth and are slowly recovering from the recession. Both GE and Bank of America  seem to be in the expansion part of the business cycle as sales would project. GE has improved in its current ratio between 2004 and 2013, and Bank of American still needs to improve its current ratio. Both companies have seen an increase in many areas of their financials and plan to continue to increase sales and profits. References Alstom Board Chooses GE Offer. (2014, June 21). Retrieved November 29, 2014, from www.businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140621005026/en/Alstom-Board-Chooses-GE-Offer#.VHu2r-8g9es Amadeo, K. (2014). What Is the Business Cycle? Retrieved November 30, 2014, from useconomy.about.com: http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/business_cycle.htm Bank of America. (2014, May). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from www.forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/companies/bank-of-america/ Current Ratio. (2014). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from www.investopedia.com: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/currentratio.asp GE news. (2014, October 17). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from www.genewsroom.com: www.genewsroom.com/press-releases/ge-reports-3q%E2%80%9914-operating-eps-038-6-3q-industrial-profit-9-operating-margins-90 General Electric. (2014, May). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from www.forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/companies/general-electric/ General Electric. (2014, November 2 8). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from financials.morningstar.com: http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=GE Ratio Analysis. (2014). Retrieved November 30, 2014, from www.investopedia.com: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/ratioanalysis.asp Schire, D. H. (2014, February 28). March business cycle update. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from www.fidelity.com: https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/market-and-economic-insights/economy-update-march-14 Smith, A. (2008, October 9). Wall Street crisis hits GE. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from money.cnn.com: http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/09/news/companies/ge_earnings/ Walker, A., McEntire, L. (2014). Investor Relations. Retrieved November 29, 2014, from www.bankofamerica.com: http://investor.bankofamerica.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=71595p=irol-newsArticleID

Sunday, July 21, 2019

A Serious Games Overview Education Essay

A Serious Games Overview Education Essay Computer and video games are normally known understood as a form of entertainment. However, surprisingly and rapidly they are becoming recognized as providing a powerful means for learning and being called Serious Games, both among educators and the game development community. A lot of research is being conducted to explore Serious Games possibilities. This paper investigates the notion of games as means for learning/training Serious Games, will look to the available definitions, investigate its relations with other terms and categories Entertainment/ Learning /Gamification show its applicability, limitations and lastly we will suggest future studies to be conducted about it. Introduction: Todays serious games is a big and serious business; the serious game sector is expected to grow significantly in the medium term. In 7th of July 2010 IDATE (market analysis and consulting firm) released its Serious Games market report where is estimated that serious games in 2010 generated 1.5 billion EUR in revenue around the globe, and that by 2015 sales will be almost seven times what they are in 2010 with an average annual growth rate of 47% between 2010 and 2015. [1] A key question, when discussing serious games, is what the concept itself actually means. Even a brief survey of the literature soon reveals that there seems to be as many definitions available as there are actors involved, but most agree on a core meaning that serious games are (digital) games used for purposes other than mere entertainment. Another question of interest concerns the claimed positive effects of such games, or of applications from related and sometimes overlapping areas Entertainment, Learning and Gamification. In addition to obvious advantages, like allowing learners to experience situations that are impossible in the real world for reasons of safety, cost, time, etc. (Corti, 2006 [2]; Squire Jenkins, 2003 [3]). However, it is not the case that all games are good for all learning outcomes (van Eck, 2006 [4]). The aim of this paper is to take a closer look at some aspects of these issues. A lot of emphasis is putted into gaming, gaming types, gaming advantages and disadvantages. There been many studies about it, as people looking to it as the new innovative way that may enhance our life. We will start our research by defining Games in general to subset from it Serious games, then explore SG definitions, explore SG relation with Entertainment games, Learning and Gamification. After that we will look to SG attributes, applicability, limitations to finally suggest some potential research area. An overview of Games: This paper focuses on the domain of serious games and since SG is a subset of games we will take first a look at Game definition to conclude from their a start point for our research. A game is a system in which players engage in an abstract challenge, defined by rules, interactivity, and feedback, that results in a quantifiable outcome often eliciting an emotional reaction. By Koster is his seminal work A Theory of Fun [5] According to Caillois play and games fall on a continuum between what he terms ludus, rule bound games and paidia, anarchic playing, therefore we need first to differentiate between game and play. Whereas the word play is used for games as well as for toys, there is a difference. Following Caillois concept in his book Man, Play and Games (2001)[6] we can light on the difference, Caillois describes paidia and ludus as two poles of play activities. Where paidia (playing) describes free-form, expressive, improvisational behaviors and meanings, ludus (gaming), on the other side, characterizes rule-based playing with determined goals. In matter of serious games we are talking about ludus with a context of having a purpose behind playing the game. So we can define play as it is less the opposite of seriousness than the vital ground of spirit as nature, a form of restraint and freedom at one and the same time. (Gadamer, 1986) [7] The Concept of Serious Games: The term serious game is not new; the first time term was introduced by Clark Abt who discussed the term in his Serious Games book in 1970. [8] Serious games usually refer to games used for training, advertising, simulation, or education that are designed to run on personal computers or video game consoles. However searching the web, a number of different definitions are available, such as: Games that do not have entertainment, enjoyment, or fun as their primary purpose (Michael Chen, 2006, p. 21) [9] The use of computer game and simulation approaches and/or technologies for primarily non entertainment purposes by (PIXELearning.com, 2006) [10] Game-based learning/serious games is all about leveraging the power of computer games to captivate and engage end-users for a specific purpose, such as to develop new knowledge and skills. According to Corti (2006, p.1) [2] Serious game is a mental contest, played with a computer in accordance with specific rules, that uses entertainment to further government or corporate training, education, health, public policy, and strategic communication objectives. by Zydas (2005, p.26) [11] When comparing serious games with just computer games, Zyda argues that serious games have more than just story, art, and software. It is the addition of pedagogy (activities that educate or instruct, thereby imparting knowledge or skill) that makes games serious. However, he also stresses that pedagogy must be subordinate to story and that the entertainment component comes first. [11] Some consider fun the prime factor in games and education and, according to Prensky (2001) [12], games should be fun first and then should encourage learning. Similarly, Michael and Chen (2006) [9] argue, with regard to serious games, that the main point is to get players to learn something, and, if possible, have fun doing it. Fun, however, is neither the only form of entertainment, nor the only way to engage players in a game. Besides fun, there are several elements that contribute to players engagement. According to Corti (2006) [2], the motivational virtues of video games are what initially attract training and development professionals to turn to game-based approaches, but there is a lot more to game based learning/serious games than simply using fun as a means to engage learners. Related Concepts to serious Games: There are related and sometimes overlapping domains to Serious Games (Entertainment, Learning and Gamification) which we need to distinguish their relativity to Serious Games. Serious Gaming vs. Entertainment Gaming: An adequate question to ask is how serious games differ from entertainment games. The below table compare Serious Games and Entertainment Games from Michael and Chen (2006) [9] view points where they discuss it from a design and development perspective following four criteria to compare Task/Experience, Focus, Simulations and Communication Serious games Entertainment games Task vs. rich Experience Problem solving in focus Rich experiences preferred Focus Important elements of learning, To have fun Simulations Assumptions necessary for workable simulations Simplified simulation Processes Communication Should reflect natural (i.e., non-perfect) Communication Communication is often Perfect The differences between entertainment games and serious games -Table 1 For serious games it is more important for the players that the model or simulation can be used to solve a problem, than providing rich experiences of the kind sought by hardcore gamers. Further, for serious games it is essential that the most important elements of learning are in focus and that the assumptions necessary for making a simulation workable are correct, which if not; the simulation will teach the wrong kinds of skills. Entertainment games, on the other hand, allow players to focus on the fun parts and to use a number of techniques for simplifying the simulation processes. In serious games, Michael and Chen (2006) [9] argue, it may be important to rethink the use of such simplifying techniques. For example, serious games should respond more to the conscious decisions made by players than to chance, and therefore randomness may be inappropriate. Another example is communication, which often is perfect (i.e., without delays and misunderstandings, etc.) in entertainment game s, whereas some serious training applications should rather reflect that communication hardly perfect. As with simulations and serious games, the distinction between entertainment games and serious games is not very clear either. It is evident that it is the goal of the first to entertain, and of the latter to educate/train/inform the player. However in some situations entertainment games are used for serious purposes as well. In addition to that serious game designers, researches argue that fun can be a crucial element to motivate a player to continue playing a serious game. SG and Learning: The recognition and adoption of games as learning technologies has helped educators in utilizing games as a means for providing serious learning opportunities for players. With games understood as learning technologies, the question arises as to whats different about the learning when games compared to that typically within schools. One of the more obvious differences resides with the control afforded to the learner as player, where the state of control is typically afforded to players in games and teachers in schools. Games, therefore, present a learner-centered approach to learning, whereas traditional education presents a teacher-centered approach. The other different is that in games it is up to players to construct for themselves, their own knowledge, whereas in the latter, it is up to teachers to transfer knowledge to the learner. So the two processes of teaching and learning can be argued as quite different. Learning can be understood as a process whereby learners active construct knowledge through experience and interaction, whereas teaching traditionally is a process by which teachers distribute knowledge to learners through transmission The design of serious games games with a focus on education should be about creating meaningful experiences and activities for players, rather than a means for transmitting knowledge from the game to the player Serious Games and Gamification: Serious games and gamification are both trying to solve a problem, motivate people, and promote learning using game-based thinking and techniques. Serious games tend to take the approach of using a game within a well-defined game space, while gamification tends to take the use of a game outside of a defined space and apply the concept to items like walking up steps piano stairs. So we can say that serious games are created by using game-based mechanics, philosophy, and game thinking to engage people, motivate action, promote learning, and solve problems. In other words, they are created through the gamification of traditional learning content. [8, 11, 13] Serious Games Attributes: Now after defining serious game and discuss it, in relation to other related concept, we need to highlight some of the common game attributes that must be taken in consideration when developing it .These are some suggested attributes by Anne Derryberry [14]: Back-story and story line: Every game has a story upon which it is based, and a story line that it follows, even if inferred. The story line is not the game play itself, but rather the rationale for the game play. Game mechanics: These handle all the specific functions within a game, including such things as how the games physical world behaves; in-game weather; and the actions a character takes when given a command. Rules: The corollary to game mechanics are the rules of the game ,the constraints in game play that exist on every players actions and abilities Immersive graphical environment: This is the sensory representation of the experience layer of the game, including 2D/3D graphics, sound, and animation. This environment can be static (it resets at the end of each player session) or persistent (it continues to evolve even when a player isnt logged in). Interactivity: This focuses on the impact a players actions have on the world and includes issues of persistence and player interaction Challenge/competition: This is at the heart of any game. The competition might be against the game, against ones self, or against other players. Risks and consequences: These must attend every challenge, but they exist in the safe game environment where the consequences of an action or decision do not impact the real world. Serious Games Advantages: The idea of using games for work and in workplace generates a lot of excitement and appeal to both employer and employees. This excitement is a result of the advantages games. Some of this advantageous are as follows [15]: Engagement: Games are compelling and maybe addictive and the engagement it produces is hard to match with other training methods. Games feel safe: Games provide a safe place to practice, where learners know they will not be penalized for their mistakes. Playing games can be a safe place to try different approaches, to experiment, and to make mistakes and to fail. Reduce Cost and Complexity of training: The cost of developing game is usually lower than cost of other types of training. Get direct feedback: It is often possible for the educator to watch or replay complex learner actions during the game, something that would be difficult to achieve in a real-life demo. Situated cognition: Games are effective partly because the learning takes place within a meaningful (to the game) context. What you must learn is directly related to the environment in which you learn and demonstrate it; thus, the learning is not only relevant but applied and practiced within that context By researcher Van Eck, The most common application areas for Serious Games are: Health Care: Applications range from patient treatment to health education for medical practitioners. As an example of SG in medical staff training, haptic technology provides people a sense of touch in computer-generated environments [16]. Military/ Government: Using game-based simulations, the military saves significant amounts of money, cutting expenditures in fuel, ammunition, maintenance, and so on. In addition, games are generally orders of magnitude safer than live training while still offering significantly realistic and useful training experiences. For example, Americas Army [AME 05] [17] Corporate: The use of games in the corporate environment represents one of the fastest growing sectors of the serious games industry. Companies like IBM, CISCO and other technically savvy companies already use simulations and games to motivate staff to learn specific job-related skills [18] Games for Good: Games for Good leverages game mechanics for social benefit. Games created for this segment of the industry hope to teach, train or simply generate awareness of a topic, an issue or a societal problem, therefore creating change in thinking, actions or attitudes. Ex: Games that teach young people to become globally conscious citizens, contributing their own solutions to social issues [18] Education: Games are changing the way children learn, helping them think differently and stimulating new ways people of all ages can use their minds. Limitations of Serious Games: Although games can be effective learning environments, not all games are effective, nor are all games educational. Similarly, not all games are good for all learners or for all learning outcomes. By- Diana Oblinger, 2006 Some of the possible issues that may limit Serious Games benefits and that need to be considered are as follows: Playing the game becomes more important than the learning Cost of producing a game exceeds learning return on investment Game takes a long time to produce and is ineffective at training Game too easy or too hard Learning curve to start playing game is too high for the target audience Learner remembers game but not content Other learning tools may be more effective Information incomplete or inaccurate in the game The game is too difficult to maintain or keep up to date Keys to Success in Serious Games How to make it work? How to ensure the purpose of the serious game is achieved? Suggesting here some tips to make serious games achieve its purpose and get the ultimate desired result. [19, 20, 21] Know your target audience: People are different and so can be learners who will like different types of games, so its recommended to provide more than one game, targeted to different audiences as to cover the different needs of people. Focus in on specific objectives and outcomes: Choose a game that supports the learning objectives and content, but balance this with the requirements of game play. Dont make the game too easy: Easy learning games do not produce good learning outcomes. Learners are more likely to remember when things go wrong Use competition and/or collaboration: As competition motivates learners and collaboration allows social learning that is effective in motivating behavioral change. Test: Even the simplest games can have unexpected faults. Consider having learners create their own games: This can be useful exercises because it requires the student to think through the subject thoroughly and think of challenges they may like to have. Future Research: How to prove that Serious Games business is really worth it and how to calculate the ROI? I believe this is one of the hardest question facing serious games, as such a 1:1 relationship between a game and a desired outcome is often hard to tease out in something as nebulous as diversity training. Another interesting search area will be a Customized Serious Games design represents a new, complex area of design for the game world. Where designers have unique opportunities to make a significant contribution to game design, by organizing game play to focus on changing, in a predefined way, the beliefs, skills, and/or behaviors of those who play the game, while preserving the entertainment aspects of the game experience all based on different users needs. Conclusion: The fact that games are part of our everyday life in one way or another cannot be ignored; and examples can vary from our direct gaming plays a game on your smart phone or online using your social network profile with your direct intent to play to indirect gaming collecting points via grocery shop cards without your intent to play. Games main goal is entertainment, but they have more universal applicability that gave extra functions in various aspects of everyday life. Which produce Serious Games, the games that are intended to not only entertain users, but have additional purposes such as education and training. They can be similar to educational games, but are primarily focused on an audience outside of primary or secondary education. Serious Games can be of any genre and many of them can be considered a kind of edutainment, but the main goal of a serious game is not to entertain, though the potential of games to engage is often an important aspect of the choice to use games as a teaching tool. When deciding to use a game for training, its important to clearly state your learning objectives and to determine exactly what advantages the game will provide to the player. If the game is too easy or too hard, or does not focus on the objectives, it may simply waste the learners time. Depending on the type of game you intend to use, you may need to go through a substantial testing phase to ensure success. A serious game is usually a simulation which has the look and feel of a game, but is actually a simulation of real-world events or processes. The main goal of a serious game is usually to train or educate users. Furthermore, in order to stimulate the learning effect of the players/trainees experiments, direct feedback from the game on the actions of the players is essential. Designing effective, engaging serious games requires theoretical understanding of learning, cognition, emotion, and play.

Wind Powered Battery Charger Engineering Essay

Wind Powered Battery Charger Engineering Essay Renewable energy is a burning issue nowadays; different energy resources are being analyzed, tested and improved in order to replace non renewable energy resources. Wind is one of the renewable energy resources which is available in abundance, especially in Europe, huge amount of energy can be produced by using windmills and then this energy can be saved for later usage. This project looks at the brief history of windmills; their past usage, present usage and future. In addition to this, a prototype circuit is also build which utilizes wind energy to charge 4.5v battery when wind energy is less and 12v battery is charged when high energy is produced by the wind. In addition to this, future recommendations are also made to improve the circuit design. Acknowledgments First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my supervisors, Mr. Nader Anani. He has been giving me his professional advice and guidance throughout the duration of this work. It was his support and confidence in me that led me to successfully complete this project. It has been a pleasure working under his supervision. I wish to dedicate this thesis to my family who I dearly love and respect. Table of Contents Introduction In the near future renewable energy resources like solar and wind energy will be replacing conventional non renewable energy resources. Non renewable energy resources are limited in their availability and are running out quickly due to their vast use in the modern society. [1] We rely on coal, oil and gas for running our industries; now that these resources are becoming scarce it is our responsibility to look for other forms of energy so that the future generations do not suffer due to this shortage. A lot of research is being carried out to select a reliable energy resource that can meet the energy demands of the future, which is reliable and efficient. Energy plays important role in various forms to let human being accomplish different tasks and makes human life easier and more comfortable, from the basic electrical energy that drives electrical and electronic machines and Internet to the kinetic and mechanical energy of vehicles, planes, and all other speedy sources of locomotion. The modern technological world has its own merits and demerits and challenges and issues which are accompanied with it as a result of scientific and industrial revolution and technological advancement. However with exponentially increasing use of devices and equipments requiring power and energy, these sources of energy saw the dreadful event of shortage and rareness. Hence scientists and researchers throughout the world started working on these burning issues and this gave birth to the field of renewable energy. This project is an attempt to develop a system which utilizes wind energy to efficiently charge up batteries that can be later used as a form of energy. Aim The aim of this project is to design, construct and test a battery charger fed from a wind energy source. Objectives Objectives of the current project are given below: Literature review and investigation of wind energy and its history Proposal of hardware design to build a wind powered battery charger Development of prototype circuit for charging batteries using Wind Energy Testing and analysis of the developed system Discussion on the results obtained Recommendations for the future work System Block Diagram Block diagram of the proposed system is given below: Figure : System Block Diagram As clearly illustrated in the system HLD, wind energy will rotate the wind turbines and by using generator within the wind turbines mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy, this electricity generated by the generator is unregulated and full of harmonics, in order to regulate this supply of electricity a regulator is required which in turn can be used to charge the battery. Report Structure This report will give an overview of the techniques and methods used to achieve the final product. 1) Introduction: This chapter discusses the aim, objectives, and explains the circuit block diagram. Figure : Breakdown of Report 2) Literature review: This section of report concentrates on the literature review regarding wind turbines and their use in modern day energy market. In addition to this technical information regarding components used for this project is also given. 3) Method: Method illustrates the detailed experimental procedures and different stages which are completed in order to attain the end product. 4) Results: The results obtained which are related to the performance of the finished product are given in results section. 5) Discussion and Conclusions: Further discussions on the results and the conclusions drawn after the completion of the project is presented in the fifth chapter. 6) Future work: This chapter presents possible ideas that can be implemented on the designed prototype, to achieve different kind of benefits. 7) References: References of information taken from internet. It also contains Bibliography section with details of the books and the texts, articles, magazines and the data sheets used. 8) Appendices: The appendix contains data sheets of the components use in this project. Literature Review Literature Review of this project is divided in following main sections: History and introduction of wind turbines Modeling of wind energy and generator History and Introduction of wind turbines In the beginning, a structure comprising of blades in the form of a fan was known as a windmill which was used to grind grain and pump water using wind energy. This windmill was later on developed to generate electricity and was renamed a wind turbine. [3] On the other hand a wind turbine is a machine which extracts energy from wind to generate electricity by the rotation of propeller like blades that drives a generator through shafts and gears present within it. It is a rotating machine which converts kinetic energy from wind into mechanical energy and this mechanical energy is converted into electricity using a generator. [4] File:Veladero 01.png Figure 3: Wind Turbine in Hilly Area [3] History: A wind turbine is a machine which extracts energy from wind to generate electricity by the rotation of propeller like blades that drives a generator through shafts and gears present within it (Britannica, 2011). It is a rotating machine which converts kinetic energy from wind into mechanical energy and this mechanical energy is converted into electricity using a generator. Since ancient times, man has harnessed the power of the wind to provide motive power for transportation. Likewise, the technique of grinding grain between stones to produce flour is similarly ancient, and widespread. Where and when these two came together in the first place is unknown, but a likely scenario suggests a Persian origin, from where the knowledge spread back into Northern Europe as a result of the Crusades. [4] Since the Persian mills were quite unlike the early European designs it seems just as likely that the adaptation of wind as a power source was independently discovered in Europe. Of course wind was not the first non-human power source applied to the task of grinding corn as it was preceded by both animal power, and in all probability by water power. European millwrights became highly skilled craftsmen, developing the technology tremendously and as Europeans set off colonizing the rest of the globe, windmills spread throughout the world. The basics of windmill design include those built by the British, who developed many advanced control mechanisms over the centuries, and the Dutch who used windmills extensively to pump water and for industrial uses, as well as to grind grain. [5] As steam power developed, the uncertain power of the wind became less and less economic, and we are left today with a tiny fraction of the elegant structures that once extracted power from the wind. These remaining windmills, seen all over the world, are a historic reminder of a past technological age. A number of mills have been restored either visually or in some cases back to full working order. However the promise of widespread power from the wind lives on both in the form of wind turbines producing electricity, and in the form of small scale wind pumps often largely low-tech installations still used extensively in the world of agriculture. [2] File:Wind turbine 1888 Charles Brush.jpg Figure 4: An old wind farm[4] Wind Power in Afghanistan: Wind power has been used for more than 2000 years and the first windmill used for mechanical purposes was built in Afghanistan in the 7th Century. This was a vertical axis windmill with rectangular shaped blades which was six to twelve sails covered in reed matting and was used to grind corn and drawing water. windmill39 Figure 5: Historical wind mill in Afghanistan [1] Wind Power in Britain: Evidence of windmills in England dates from the 12th century, with earlier references to mills generally held to be talking about either animal or water powered mills. The 14th and 15th centuries provide evidence of what the early mills looked like with illustrations in diverse media such as memorial brasses, stained glass, and wood carvings, as well as the expected manuscript records. These early illustrations all showed the simple all wooden post mill structure. The first illustration was shown in the late 1270 A.D which was a four bladed mill mounted on a central post. This was known as the post mill and was already a fair technologically advanced setup as compared to the Persian mills. These mills used wooden gears for the motion of the horizontal shaft to vertical movement to turn a grind stone. [4] Wind Power in Holland: As early as 1390 the Dutch set out to refine a design known as the tower mill. This was actually a standard post mill affixed to the top of a multi story tower with separate floors devoted to grinding  grain, removing chaff, storing grain and living quarters for the wind-smith and his family. Both the post mill as well as the tower mill designs had to be adjusted according to the wind manually. This was done by pushing a large lever at the back of the mill. Also optimizing the windmill energy and power output plus protecting the mill from damage by furling the rotor sails during storms was the main job of the wind-smith. [1] Improvement in the design of the Wind mill: A primary improvement in the design of the European mills was the use of sails that generated aerodynamic lift. This feature improved the rotor efficiency as compared to the Persian mills by allowing an increase in rotor speed and hence which resulted in superior grinding and pumping action.[5] The process of perfecting the windmill as well as making incremental improvements towards its efficiency took 500 years. By the time the process was completed the windmill sails had major features which were recognised by modern designers as being crucial to the performance of modern wind turbine blades. Some models also featured aerodynamic brakes, spoilers, and flaps. windmill Figure 6: Mid 20th Century Windmill [4] While continuing well into the 19th century the use of large tower mills declined with the increased use of steam engines. The next step in the development of wind power occurred many thousands of miles to the west. [1] Wind Power in the USA: For hundreds of years the most important application of windmills at the subsistence level has been mechanical water pumping. This was done using relatively small systems with rotor diameters of one to several meters. These systems were perfected in the United States during the19th century. It initiated with the introduction of Halladay windmill in 1854, and continuing to the Aermotor and Dempster designs. [4] The most significant modification of the American fan shaped windmill was the development of steel blades in 1870. These could be made lighter and worked into more efficient shapes. But, they worked so well that their high speed required a reduction in gear to turn the standard reciprocal pumps at the required speed. [1] In the late 19th century, advancement was made to the original design and a new type of wind mill known as the multi-blade windmill was manufactured. This design was used in the first large windmill in order to generate electricity. Wind Power in Denmark: Poul la Cour was the pioneer of electricity generating wind turbines and he published a journal based on wind power during the same year. Also it was reported that by 1918 around 120 local utilities in Denmark had a wind turbine. The approximated size was from 20 to 35 kW. At that time the wind turbines covered 3 percent of Danish electricity consumption and Danish interest in wind power increased at a high rate. [4] During the World War, the Danish engineers built a number of two as well as three bladed wind turbines although their concept is a three bladed machine. This type of turbines was used in areas usually based on a wind-diesel setup which ran the electricity supply system. The systems used designs focused on DC (direct current) generators to satisfy their needs but in 1951 these DC generators were replaced with AC (alternating current) generators and therefore became the second wind turbine to generate AC. [5] In 1980, Christian Riisager, built a small 22 kW wind turbine in his back yard using an earlier design known as the Gedser Wind Turbine (three bladed wind turbine). His turbine design became a success within households around Denmark and this success gave the present day Danish wind turbine designers an inspiration. [3] This inspiration led them to design all their wind turbines and this trend started from 1980 to the present day. A new generation of wind turbines was developed in 1981 and that became a technological breakthrough for modern wind turbines throughout the world. The serial manufacturing of wind turbines started and Danish manufacturers had much more of a track record than companies and their individual countries. Another thing to note is that California, which is one of the biggest wind farms in the world, has about half of the wind turbines of Danish origin. 20th Century Developments and Modern Wind Turbines: In the past, the Dutch refined the windmill and adapted it for draining lakes and marshes and when settlers took this technology to the New World in the late 19th century, they began using windmills to pump water for farms and ranches, and later, to generate electricity for homes and industry. [5]20th century was the time when windmills were actually recognised as Wind Turbines. Across the plains they were used to pump water as well as to generate electricity but at the same time as new methods of utilising wind energy were being introduced this trend gradually spread around the world. windmill Figure 7: Evolution of Windmill Design in 20th Century At present the modern wind turbines are based on three blades using AC generators and output is rated in mega watts (MW) or giga watts (GW). Some modern wind turbines are based on four to five blades and they are being used on both AC and DC. The governing body is the World Wind Energy Association and as per their annual World Energy Report, a total number of 76 countries in the world are using wind energy for commercial purposes. The main countries that widely use wind turbines at present include USA, UK, France, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Spain and China. The countries that recently became users of wind energy resources are India, Pakistan and Turkey. These figures suggest an increase in use of high output wind turbines but currently mini or small wind turbines are available and are being used where they have an output power requirement ranging from a few watts (W) to kilo watts (kW). [3] For a long time individual wind turbines were installed to support single households but now this idea has been advanced to improve the usage of this energy. Nowadays, wind turbines are installed on a large area may that be land or sea. The output is connected to a grid system. Many countries have installed a number of wind farms across their plains and suitable windy locations but the largest on-land wind farm is known as Roscoe Wind Farm and is located in Texas, USA. This wind farm comprises of 627 wind turbines and a total installed capacity of 781.5 MW and provides enough power for more than 250,000 average Texan homes. It is located about 200 miles west of Fort Worth, and covers nearly 100,000  acres. The second largest wind farm is also located in Texas, USA. This wind farm is known as the Horse Hallow Wind Energy Centre and has 421 wind turbines that generate a total capacity of 735 MW. Out of the total 421, 291 of them are 1.5 MW wind turbines and 130 are 2.3 MW wind turbin es. The turbines are owned by Florida Power Light and the company operates 46 other wind farms throughout the US. [4] 1-rosco-wind-farm Figure 8: Wind farm in England [5] The largest Off-shore wind farm in the world is the Thanet wind farm. It is located in the North Sea about 7 miles off the coast of Kent, England. The wind farm has 100 turbines and has the capability produce enough energy a year to power more than 200,000 homes. The second largest offshore wind farm is called Horns Rev 2 and is located on Horns Reef in a shallow area off the westernmost point of Denmark. Horns Rev 2 consist of 91, Siemens wind turbines with a total generating capacity of 209  MW. [7] Thanet-wind-farm-opened-006 Figure 9: Off shore wind farm along the coast of Kent (England) [5] Future of Wind Turbines: It is predicted that wind energy will be the most cost effective source of electrical power in the near future. A good part of this prediction has been proven during the current energy rush so its reliability can easily be visualised for future. Recent improvements in wind turbines have shown that the trends which have led to the dramatic fall in the cost of wind energy are set to continue. Countries all over the world are setting their targets for wind power and it is estimated that about 22,000 MW, in the form of 40,000 wind turbines will be installed in the next 10 years. Europe is the hub of this global business and will continue to be as around six companies supply over half of the worlds wind turbines. [6] As more and more countries start using this reliable source of electricity, master plans are being set for the future. Already the USA, China, Germany and UK have set targets to build further wind farms and each one bigger than the other. As USA has currently the biggest on-land wind farms in the world, they would like to maintain that in the future. Around six wind farms are planned within the USA for the next 15 years and they should be able to maintain the record of largest wind farms in the world. One of the planned wind farms is the Alta Wind Energy Centre in the Mojave Desert California. This farm will have more than 600 wind turbines and when it is completed this will have the capacity to generate 1,550 MW of energy which is double the capacity of the largest existing wind energy farm. USA has no off-shore wind farm but their future plans include the installation and usage of this setup. [6] 20100730-193513-pic-977799504 Figure 10: Wind farm in China [6] China also plans to increase their usage of wind energy and they are also involved in future projects as well as developing wind farms. One of their future aspirations is the under construction Gansu Wind Farm. It has been estimated that when completed by 2020 and would have the output capacity of 10 Giga watt (GW). They also plan to reach 100 GW overall wind energy output by 2020 as other future wind farms are under construction. By that time it could be the largest capacity wind farm in the world. In the UK, wind energy is being used extensively and more plans have been set in place for the future. They have more plans to build off-shore wind farms instead of on-land ones as well as to increase the capacity of current setup. Another master plan is to build a wind turbine factory, run by the German giant company Siemens and is expected to complete by 2015. Germany is also involved in certain future projects as their current setup is highly dependable on wind farms. Currently around 20,301 on-land wind turbines are located in the German federal areas and the country has plans to build more wind turbine farms and reach a high capacity by 2020.They are planning more offshore wind energy as well and predict a capacity of about 10.000 MW by 2020. Most of these off-shore farms will be erected up to 20-60 km away from the coastline. energy-frozen-fish-wind-farms-turbines_18081_600x450 Figure 11: Modern wind farm in Germany [2] Types of Wind Turbines: Since the development of the wind turbines, numerous designs have been introduced and used worldwide. The difference in these designs was on the basis of size, output power and shape of the wind turbine. The largest wind turbine and the one with the most individual output power up to date is the Enercon-126. Its rated output is about 7 MW and its rotor diameter is 126 meters. Wind turbines can be divided into two basic types and this is determined by the way the turbine spins. One is the horizontal axis wind turbine and is most commonly used (FIG- 12) while the other one is the vertical axis wind turbines (FIG-13). [3]http://www.ecotownforleicestershire.coop/assets/images/masterplanImages/energyreportVertical-axis-wind-turbine.jpghttp://www.aboutgenerator.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/how-to-build-a-wind-turbine.jpg FIG 12 [9] FIG 13 [9] Horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) is the common style wind turbine which has a design similar to that of a wind mill and has blades that look like a propeller that spin on the horizontal axis. The main rotor shaft and electrical generator are at the top of the tower and are pointed into the wind. Small turbines are pointed by a simple wind vane placed square with the rotor (blades), while large turbines generally use a wind sensor coupled with a servo motor. [9] Since a tower produces turbulence behind it hence the turbine is usually pointed upwind of the tower. Wind turbine blades are made stiff to prevent the blades from being pushed into the tower by high winds. Since the turbulence leads to fatigue failures so most HAWTs are upwind machines. Since the blades always move perpendicularly to the wind they help receive power through the whole rotation. [9] Small wind turbines are being used extensively in off-grid systems like street lighting, phone booths, lighting up parking areas and public mobile chargers. These wind turbines are usually used with another device such as solar panels and are part of a setup. They are light, easy to install and reliable in all wind conditions. Green-Column2 Figure 14: Green Column [1] Vertical axis wind turbine (VAWT) is when the main rotor shaft is arranged vertically.   The main advantage of this arrangement is that the wind turbine does not need to be pointed into the wind and can be most reliable on sites where the wind direction is highly variable or turbulent. In a VAWT the generator and other main components can be placed near the ground so the tower does not need to support it. It is difficult to mount these type of turbines on towers so they are often installed nearer to the base on which they rest, such as the ground or a building rooftop. The wind speed is slower at a lower altitude which means less wind energy is available so air flow near the ground and other objects can create turbulent flow resulting in issues like vibration. However, when a turbine is mounted on a rooftop, the building will generally redirect the wind over the roof and this doubles the wind speed at the turbine. [9] There are two subtypes of VAWT: Darrieus wind turbines are commonly called Eggbeater turbines as they look like an eggbeater. They are highly efficient but produce large ripple and cyclic stress on the tower which will contribute towards low reliability. They generally require some external power source to start turning because the starting torque is very low. The torque ripple is reduced by using three or more blades which will result in a higher solidity for the turbine rotor. Solidity is measured by blade area over the rotor area and newer models of this type of turbines are not held up by guy-wires but have an external superstructure connected to the top. Savonius wind turbines is a drag type turbine and are commonly used in cases of high reliability in things such as ventilation systems. Because they are a drag type turbine they are less efficient than a common HAWT but they are excellent in areas of turbulent wind and self starting. Wind turbine manufacturers: As wind energy has become a widely used concept, a number of companies have introduced their designs and perfected them. The most popular companies around today are Enercon (Germany), Vestas (Denmark), GE Wind Energy (USA), Siemens Wind Power (Germany), RE Power (Germany), Sinovel (China), Goldwind (China) and Gamesa (Spain). All these companies are famous for manufacturing as per their own HAWT designs and their systems are being used worldwide. Enercon, Germany based company, is the only company to have made the most powerful and largest wind turbine in the world known as Enercon-126. They continue to work on more ideas and increase the output capability of their wind turbine. On the other hand Vestas which is a Denmark based company is the biggest manufacturer of wind turbines in the world. Most of their wind turbines and installed in Europe as well as USA and their orders keep on increasing day by day as per demand and dependence on wind energy. It was stated that most of the designs from other companies are actually modifications to the original design created by Vestas and this influence can be seen in their systems. [10] Other companies like GE Wind Energy and Siemens have made major contributions in the manufacturing and enhancing the capabilities of wind turbines of the present age and they are looking forward to the future for more opportunities to make themselves well known within the industry. [10] Small sized wind turbines made their way into the industry due to the need for smaller and off-grid systems. Marlec Renewable Power is one of the companies that initiated this type of wind turbines and they came up with the idea named Rutland wind turbines. Rutland wind turbines are being commonly used in UK and Europe these days but further international use has been planned due to the interest shown by foreign investors. Rutland wind turbines have current designs using 3 to 6 blades but they are mini versions of HAWT and no VAWT designs have been introduced up to date. They have mostly been used in off-grid systems and add a good combination to the environment surrounded by wind turbines. [10] Disadvantages of wind turbines: The strength of the wind is not constant and it varies from zero to storm force. Which means that wind turbines will not generate the same amount of electricity all the time as well as there will be times when they generate no electricity at all. Many people feel that the countryside should be left untouched so the landscape could be left in its natural form. Wind turbines are noisy as each one can generate the same level of noise as a family car at very high speed. People see large wind turbines as unattractive structures and not pleasant to look at. They could disfigure the countryside and might seem a horrible sight. Wind turbine construction can be very expensive and costly to the surrounding wildlife during the building and installation process. In some areas of wind farm developments birds have been found dead around the base of turbines. Many people think wind turbines are a great idea, yet a large proportion of these people would oppose a wind farm development close to their home due to their land price reduction as well as noise pollution. Modeling of wind energy and generator In order to develop the prototype circuit in the laboratory, wind energy has to be simulated along with the generator. At first it was decided to use a 12 volt manual generator which can be operated by hand to output 12v so that this can be fed for the rest of the circuitry. A cheap 12v Generator could not be found, very expensive models were available but it was decided not to buy them as it will increase the cost of the product dramatically. Finally, it was agreed that the 12v DC from the power supply will be used to simulate the output of the wind generator. Method Method section of this report throws light on the wind power battery charger circuit used and also explains different techniques used in order to build the prototype. Method section of this report can be sub divided in the following main categories: 1: Research regarding components used in this project 2: Circuit Design and Explanation 3: Circuit Construction Research regarding components used in this project At first it was decided to develop a battery management circuit from scratch by using analogue circuitry, buck converter and 555 timer or microcontroller in order to switch the buck converter, but after some research and investigation it was found that there are some specialized ICs available which can be used for managing battery charging circuits. Different verities of battery management IC were available from Liner technologies, Analogue devices, microchip and National Instruments: but selection criteria for the IC involved: a DIP package for easy prototyping, operating temperature range of -40 to +85à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™, supply voltage rating of up to 18v and cheap in price. After some search through different vendor websites, LTC1042 seemed to be a suitable candidate for this particular application. After mutual consent it was decided to use LTC1042 as main charge management IC in this project. Circuit Design and Explanation Looking through the LTC1042 datasheet, it was discovered that this IC can be adopted for the needs of renewable energy resources and can easily manage different load types based on the amount of energy being produced at one particular time. Application notes of LTC1042 suggested a circuit for using this IC for managing wind powered battery charger. In order to prove the concept of the system, it is decided to build this circuit and experiment with it. Chosen Circuit: The circuit to be built is shown in the diagram below: Figure 15: Wind Powered Battery Charger Circuit Circuit Explanation This circuit behaves in a latching manner, i.e. depending upon the voltage being generated by the wind generator different type of load will be on and off. LTC1042 is a CMOS window and manages the turning on and turning off of different loads. This circuit contains two batteries and one load, its operation is summarized in the following lines: 1: If the generator output voltage is below 13.8v, charge regulator circuit is active and Ni-Cad battery will