Energy Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Energy - Research Paper Example This will cut down the production cost of goods which will translate into economic growth. Alternative energy sources conserve the environment. Global warming will be contained if incentives are increased. The government should promote the use of different energy sources to diversify the economy dependence on one energy source has negative effects on the economy. Alternative energy increase employment opportunities and provide cheaper energy sources. The role of engineers in the alternative energy issue is to design the technology to enable the public to use the alternative energy effectively. Solar energy incentives are used to encourage domestic and industrial consumption of solar energy as an alternative source. The government provides tax exemptions to the users of such energy. This form of incentives is used by residents in hot areas like Texas (Reiley, 2009). Wind energy incentives are given by government to encourage domestic and industrial use of the form of energy. The tax exceptions made available by the government include the franchise tax deduction. The businesses can also be exempted from property tax. The alternative fuel incentives grants program benefits institutions with grants to use alternative energy sources. The grants may be used to install solar panels in the Scholl to reduce dependence on grid electricity or upgrade the vehicle fleets to hybrid vehicle (Garrison, 2011). Wind energy is energy generated when wind rotate the blades of a turbine. This form of energy is common in windy areas. The merits associated with the form of energy are that they do not pollute the environment. The form of energy is sustainable. The cons are that the wind farms destroy the aesthetic value of the shores and it is not reliable as wind does not blow continuously. Solar power can be used in production of electricity, cooking and water purification. Solar power is used by converting the suns rays into useful energy. The

ASA Bangladesh Essay Example for Free

ASA Bangladesh Essay ASA stands for Association for Social Advancement, which is a non-governmental organization aiming at helping poor people to get out of poverty. Bangladesh earned its independence in 1971, but because of the war, the whole country needed to be reconstructed. The unstable and bureaucratic political system slowed down the speed of economic development. In the meantime, some small non-governmental organizations stepped into Bangladesh to help the local people restore their life in different respects. The official ASA website shows that the organization was founded in 1978 with its goal of empowering the poor. In the beginning phase, ASA started some programs such as â€Å"training program, communication support service program and legal aid and awareness build-up program†. The results of the programs, however, were below expectations. There were several limitations in developing ASA. For example, the employers had difficulty to get paid; the design of the programs was not consistent with the local situation; the natural disaster happened at that time. All these factors forced the managers to formulate a practical solution. ASA began to favor women as clients and addressed social concerns, such as education, sanitation and health. Since 1992, ASA has launched special programs in savings, credit and security fund areas (emergency loans or insurance), which are still the main financial businesses at ASA. Main Services of ASA The annual report of the year 2011 states that the main services of ASA include loans, savings, insurance, a Technical Assistance (TA) program and ASA’s sister concern Hope for the Poorest (HP). The new program introduced is the Primary Education Strengthening Program. The following product descriptions are based on the ASA official website. 1. Loans ASA provides two kinds of loans—primary loans and special loans. Primary loans aim at providing financial support for poor people, who can get a maximum first loan from $105 to $265 based on their specific situations. Special loans are designed for enterprises or entrepreneurs with the initial maximum amount from $662 to $6500. Both kinds of loans carry a maximum of 27% interest and weekly or monthly payment. For primary loans, the payback period is normally up to one year (4, 6 or 12 months); for special loans, the duration is from 1 to 2.5 years (12, 18, 24 or 30 months). 2. Savings With respect to a savings account, people have three choices: mandatory savings, voluntary savings and long-term savings. Mandatory savings are especially for clients who have loans at ASA with a deposit rate of at least BDT 10. As an additional choice, the mandatory savings’ clients are able to choose voluntary savings with any deposit rate greater than BDT 10. Both savings accounts earn interest monthly with 6% annual rate of return. The savers are allowed to withdraw the money anytime but they have to keep the balances no lower than 5% of the loan amount. Long-term savings are suitable for everybody. The savers do not need to have loans or any other relationship with ASA. The deposit rate for this account can be Tk. 50 to Tk. 500 per month (specifically Tk. 50, Tk. 100, Tk. 200, Tk. 300, Tk. 400 or Tk. 500). For a 5-year account, the interest rate is 9% annually; for a 10-year account, the interest rate is 12% annually. If clients need to withdraw prior to maturity, they will receive the money at a lower rate of return. 3. Insurance The insurance products include loan insurance and life insurance. All loan borrowers are mandatorily enrolled in these two insurance programs. The premium of loan insurance is â€Å"BDT 5 for a loanee or BDT 10 for a loanee and his/her spouse per thousand loan disbursement†. Clients have to pay the premium before disbursement. The life insurance program requires BDT 10 as premium for eight years. The premium is included in the loan installment. 4. ASA University Bangladesh The university provides higher education with an affordable tuition payment. Meanwhile, the managerial level of the university tries their best to offer advanced facilities and experienced faculties for the students. They combine theoretical and practical learning and the university deserves credit for the high employment rate. 5. WASH program and TA program WASH stands for water, sanitation and hygiene. This program aims at improving the condition of sanitation in very poor places. TA, technical assistance, sends staff to different countries and areas to help people who are in difficult financial situations to improve ASA’s reputation. Avoiding Adverse Selection and Moral Hazard Researchers argue that ASA does not have a series of complicated criteria for getting loans. The borrowers should have income lower than $50 a month and must attend one group meeting a week for 4 weeks plus saving Tk. 10 per week. After that, they are able to get a loan (Ahmmed, n.d.). The same idea is also presented in the work of Sheikh and Amin (2011), which indicates that ASA follows a very similar model to Grameen Bank’s. They send supervisors to inspect borrowers’ businesses and hold mandatory weekly meetings for borrowers to share experience and to take suggestions from others. ASA also collects repayments in that meeting and keeps track of the group performances (p.356) From the product perspective, ASA secures their loans to some extent. All borrowers have to be in the savings program and leave at least 5% of the loan amount in the account. The loan insurance enhances this security as well. All these methods keep the institution from getting a high default rate. In fact, it turns out that borrowers are willing to pay back the loans on time. Special Points about ASA In the microfinance world in Bangladesh, ASA is famous for its innovative ideas, namely high efficiency and low costs. At ASA, staff use a different accounting method which is easy to master, so they do not need to have an accountant in the office. Secondly, every branch has freedom of preparing its own target and is allowed to deposit or withdraw money whenever it needs to. Thirdly, the set-up engenders less hierarchy. The regional managers are also the supervisors; credit officers have the authority to grant loans. As compared to Grameen Bank, ASA minimizes its staff numbers and cuts layers as much as it can. Lastly, ASA does not have any training program, neither training center nor trainers. â€Å"Work routines are standardized and simplified so that new recruits need only a few days of supervised work experience in a branch before being sending off to another one to start work†.1 Challenges ASA Faces: 1. Interest Rate of Return Microfinance differs from common banking. MFIs should be allowed to charge a higher interest rate to at least cover the costs of processing the loans. However, in Asia, the biggest potential market, governments control the interest rates in some extent. This regulation interfere the development of Microfinance. 2ASA, as a main MFI in India, has the same difficulty in its business as well. 2. The Weakness of the Insurance Bangladesh is an undeveloped country with many problems that are hard to solve, such as a high unemployment rate, lack of health insurance, gender discrimination and liabilities to floods. Though ASA forces all members to get enrolled in the insurance program, it does not guarantee to collect the premium from every member on time. Nearly all members have the difficulty of balancing their payments and normal life expenses. 3. Entering into the Poorest Areas Sarder and Nabi (n.d.), who work at headquarter of Bangladesh Bank, claimed that â€Å"MFIs/NGOs could not become able effectively to reach among the people of economically backward regions of the country. As a result, MFIs showed poor performance to reduce poverty in economically poor areas.† Because of the special features of MFI, it is not realistic to develop its business in the very poor place without any government assistance. Keeping the balance is already a challenge for ASA; if there is no financial support from local governments, ASA, and other MFIs, cannot enter into these places without budget concerns. Different features of Grameen Bank, BRAC and ASA First, though all three institutions require borrowers to have a certain amount of landholding, the specific criteria are different. By Grameen Bank, the member needs to have at least half an acre landholding; the other two institution have a looser clause of landholding, which is maximum half an acre. In order to insure the borrower’s repayment ability, BRAC and ASA lend money only to people whose families have at least one family member earning wages. Second, from the perspective of group size, Grameen Bank has the smallest one, which includes only 5 members. ASA’s group is 4 times larger than Grameen Bank’s. And BRAC has the largest group members—30 to 40 people per group. Third, each of these institutions asks the members to save weekly. Grameen Bank and ASA both require 10 Taka a week, while BRAC requires for 20 Taka per week. Fourth, Grameen Bank and BRAC have the same credit delivery mechanism, which is 50 weeks for one loan cycle with 20% interest rate and maximum loan size of Tk. 10,000. ASA, however, has a shorter loan cycle which is 46 weeks with 15% interest rate and the maximum loan size of Tk. 5000 to TK. 7000. Implications: The successful experience of ASA shows that microfinance needs both variety product designs and effective guarantee methods for repayments. ASA provides different loans or saving programs for different borrowers, which helps the institution to reach as many potential clients as it can. Meanwhile, the insurance policies prevent a certain default rate. This design brings out the best in each other.

Evolutionary Polynomial Regression

Evolutionary Polynomial Regression Evolutionary polynomial regression (EPR) is a data mining technique based on evolutionary computing that was developed by Giustolisi and Savic (2006). It combines the power of genetic algorithm with numerical regression to develop symbolic models. EPR is a two-step technique in which, at the first step, exponents of symbolic structures are searched using a genetic algorithm (GA) that is the key idea behind the EPR, and in the second step, the parameters of the symbolic structures are determined by solving a linear least squares problem.   The general symbolic expression used in EPR can be presented as follows Where y is the estimated output of the process, m is the total number of the polynomial terms which excludes the bias term a0, F is a function constructed by the process, X is the matrix of independent input variables, f is a function defined by the user, and aj is a constant value for jth term. The first step and key idea in identification of the model structure in EPR is to transfer Equation 1 into the following vector form Where is the least-squares estimate vector of the N target values; is the vector of d=m+1 parameters aj and a0 ( is the transposed vector); and is a matrix formed by (unitary vector) for bias a0, and m vectors of variables. For a fixed j, the variables are a product of the independent predictor vectors of inputs, . EPR starts from Equation 2 and searches for the best structure, i.e. a combination of vectors of independent variables (inputs) . The matrix of input X is given as [15]: Where the kth column of X represents the candidate variable for the j th term of Equation 2. Therefore the jthterm of Equation 2 can be written as: Where, Z jis the jthcolumn vector in which its elements are products of candidate independent inputs and ES is a matrix of exponents. Therefore, the problem is to find the matrix ESkmof exponents whose bounds are specified by the user. For example, if a vector of candidate exponents for inputs, X , (chosen by user) is EX=[0,1,2] and number of terms (m) (excluding bias) is 4, and the number of independent variables (k) is 3, then the polynomial regression problem is to find a matrix of exponents ES 4-3 [15]. An example of such a matrix is given here Each exponent in ES corresponds to a value from the user-defined vector EX. Also, each row of ES determines the exponents of the candidate variables of jth term in equations (2). By implementing the above values in equation (4), the following set of expressions is obtained: Therefore, based on the matrix given in equation (5), the expression of equation (2) is given as: In the next stage, the adjustable parameters, aj, can now be computed, by means of the linear Least Squares (LS) method. The original EPR methodology was based on Single-objective Genetic Algorithm (SOGA) for explore the space of solutions while penalizing complex model structures using some penalization strategies. In this method, in the first stage, the maximum value for the number of terms (m) is assumed then a consecutive search for the formulas having 1 to m terms is undertaken. To accelerate convergence, the results obtained in each stage of search could be randomly entered into the population of the next stage search [15]. However the single-objective EPR methodology showed some drawbacks, and therefore the multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) strategy has been added to EPR. In 2006, Guistolisi and Savic (2006) improved the EPR technique to overcome these shortcomings, using Multi-Objective Generic Algorithm (MOGA) instead of SOGA. The main features of the developed method are as follows [22]: 1) Increasing the model accuracy, 2) Reducing the number of polynomial coefficients, 3) Minimization of the number of inputs (e.g. the number of times each Xi appears in the model). In the developed version, a simultaneous search is conducted for polynomials having 1 to m coefficients; consequently, it is faster than the previous version (i.e., SOGA). In order to determine all models corresponding to the optimal trade-off between structural complexity and fitness level of the model, The EPR technique is Equipped with a range of objective functions which help to optimize the result based on Pareto dominance criterion. The objective functions used are: (i) Maximization of the fitness; (ii) Minimization of the total number of inputs selected by the modeling strategy; (iii) Minimization of the length of the model expression. The objective functions mentioned above can be used in a two objective configuration or all together. In which one of them will limit the complexity of the models, while at least one objective function controls the fitness of the models. In this study the multi-objective EPR is used to develop the EPR-based models. The coefficient of determination (COD) which is used to evaluated the level of models accuracy at each stage is Where Ya is the actual measured output value; Yp is the EPR-predicted value, and N is the number of data points in which the COD is computed.

Ethical Challenge of Protecting Software in Emerging Economies: Copyright Law and Enforcement in Pakistan :: Software Technology Protection Essays

Ethical Challenge of Protecting Software in Emerging Economies: Copyright Law and Enforcement in Pakistan Introduction The United States and Pakistan have similar laws protecting software using copyright and patents despite being at very different stages of economic development. Pakistan has an emerging economy with a per capita GDP of $2000 per capita and a literacy rate of 46%.[i] The US has a more mature economy with per capita GDP of $37,600 and a 97% literacy rate[ii]. Despite having similar laws regarding copyright and patent protection Pakistan has rampant piracy problems not seen in the US. It is estimated that 95% of digital media sold in Pakistan is pirated[iii]. This may be in part due to the high cost of software relative to income compared to US where software piracy exists but is less rampant. This discrepancy raises the question: Is it ethical to apply the same rules to two countries regardless of economic condition and industry maturity and what is the global effect of having the same laws but enforcing them differently? Background Two primary methods for protecting software throughout the world are patents and copyright[iv]. Each provides a different measure of protection. The goal of each is to promote the sharing of new inventions and creative works while ensuring that the developer of the work is compensated. Copyright provides the copyright holder rights to the work for 75 years after creation or 50 beyond author’s death whichever is shortest. It not only protects the actual syntax of the code from being copied but covers structure, sequence, and organization of the program. This is to prevent people from simply rewriting an application in another programming language. Copyright, as applied to more traditional written works such as books and songs provide for â€Å"fair use† by others. Fair use means that others can use a small portion of a copyright protected work without permission for certain reasons such as education or critical commentary. The fair use clause is not really applic able to software because it is rare that a small portion of a computer program would be used in the situations covered by the fair use clause. This is an example of stretching an existing law to cover new technology. Patents protect software in a different way by giving the creator rights to the process performed by the protected program.

Causes of Road Accidents

Causes Of Road Accident †¢ The first major cause of road accidents in Ghana is poor driving skills. †¢ Drivers  talking on mobile phones while driving have caused several road accidents †¢ Gross indiscipline is the cause in most cases amongst Ghanaians. †¢ Most accidents are caused by broken down vehicles on our roads. †¢ It appears in Ghana there is a leeway for drivers to drive on worn/second hand tyres. †¢ The unworthiness of some cars on our roads also invariably leads to road accidents. Over-loading of vehicles beyond their expected gross weights is a known cause of accidents. †¢ Fatigue driving is a known cause of road accidents by long-distance drivers. †¢ 10% of road accidents in Ghana are caused by drunk driving . †¢ Over-speeding constitutes about 50% of road accidents in the country. †¢ The poor nature of some of our roads has also often been cited as a cause for some vehicular accidents in the country. †¢ Disregard for traffic regulations by most drivers also leads to accidents on our roads. Non-existent road markings and signs. Road Safety Caustion Causes of Road Accident Fatality Rate in Road Accident Other News 300 road safety trainee's pass out RSMSL makes strides in road safety Road Safety Management Services train tow truck drivers Road Safety Management Services distributes new tow trucks Road Safety Management Services inaugurates board of directors Road Safety Assistants Support Police at Presidential Inauguration Road safety: A Shared ResponsibilityFriday, 29. Mar 2013 Road safety: A Shared Responsibility Road accidents mostly happen as result of recklessness, carelessness, overconfidence and illiteracy among others, exhibited by drivers, not respecting road safety regulations, jumping the red light, wrong overtaking especially on the highways, and in cities like Accra and Kumasi†¦. Read More More News  »

Chinese Cinderella Essay

Last term our class studied Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah. It is Adeline’s story, about her tough and horrible childhood as a neglected and unloved daughter of a rich and arrogant man, and a cruel, and abusive Stepmother. Right from the moment her mother died, Adeline was labelled as ‘bad luck’. Her family was very superstitious and believed she caused her mothers death so was therefore despised, no one wanted her around at all. Unfortunately for Adeline she didn’t really have any parents, her father loathed her as she had supposedly killed his beloved wife, and now she no longer had a mother so she was taken care of by her Aunt Baba who lived with the family at the time. Aunt Baba was the only real family Adeline had when she was young, but was grateful that she had an Aunt has wonderful as hers. A great moment I found in this book that showed the connection between Aunt Baba and Adeline and the close relationship that they have, was the time when Adeline came home from kindergarten one afternoon with a medal and a certificate, her Aunt was so proud of her and Adeline just seemed so excited and happy because for once she felt like someone cared for her. Her aunt opened her safe keep box that she kept secretly away and put the certificate away with the rest of her treasures. I think its wonderful how her Aunt cares for her niece like that when she doesn’t even have to, and it proves how much of a kind-hearted person Aunt Baba really is. Through out reading this book, I’ve noticed how Adeline changes, in the beginning she is a curious, smart and loving little girl, but towards the end of the story she gets a little more depressed and lonely. She is annoyed at the way her parents treat her but she puts up with it because she knows the consequences if she was to speak out. Adeline enjoyed being at school more than she enjoyed being at home, she felt like she belonged there and she loved it more than anything else. She was treated fairly and equally, everyone accepted her the way they accepted everyone else, she didn’t feel like an outcast or alone anymore. She was a very lively yet shy little girl and was loved by everyone she met except for her family of course. But then Adeline was then moved to live in Shanghai after her Nai-Nai passed away. When they arrived in Shanghai, Adeline was beginning to feel displaced again because she was forced to live on a different floor of the house than everyone else because Niang was now in charge again. This was when her life started to get worse and worse. Niang was handling Adeline’s life far more dreadful than anyone else’s. She made sure that Adeline and her siblings were punished terribly if they dare did something wrong. Adeline was getting quite upset about the way her parents were behaving towards her, but she handled it in her own way, just staying calm and quiet but raging inside, accepting that this was the way it was going to be. Adeline became happier when she joined sacred heart (sheng Xin) school in first grade. She made friends with a sporty and athletic girl named Wu chun mei and also became elected class president. Unlucky for Adeline, Niang didn’t like this at all because Adeline had actually achieved something on her own and Niang was realising how loved and appreciated she really was. Adeline was not permitted to have friends over or go to friends houses under her stepmothers instructions. She was only allowed to eat whatever was put in front of her at dinner times and was not allowed snacks in-between meals. She could not enter certain parts of the house without permission and she was forbidden to talk to fourth brother and little sister. An easier way of putting that, is that Niang did not approve of Adeline having fun of any kind. But this made Adeline stronger and more independent, as she learnt to do things on her own that other children normally would do with their parents. I don’t think she liked being left out and treated differently when she’s at home but she learned to cope with it and in a way she sort of had her own little world around her where she would dream of things that she would never be able to do in real life that way she could still keep herself hopeful and entertained. She has a very vivid imagination and is smart and brave. She was always top of the class and received a ton of awards for best academic student. Her classmates looked up to her but she never seemed to understand why. She thought of herself as a poor, dirty unloved child because that was the influence she was getting from her family, but her friends and her Aunt and grandfather believed that she would go places one day. When she was younger, her goal was to get her Parents and her family to love her and appreciate her but after she had won so many awards and certificates then she realised what potential she had and started to focus on her studies a bit more. Her grandfather enlightened her on the all of the amazing possibilities and opportunities in the world and how she could also have them someday if she worked hard enough. She changed a lot when Ye-Ye passed away, she grew more and more intelligent and hardworking as she was determined to make her grandfather proud. She had a lot of encouragement and a lot of discouragement through the years but she chose to listen to the people that were cheering her on, like her grandfather and her Aunt Baba and Wu chun-mei, because she, just like anyone else, would obviously decide to follow the rewarding and successful path in life. Adeline decides that since her childhood has been a mess and a disaster she doesn’t want it to carry on this way so she is doing good things in her life and makes a change. She wins the play writing competition and dedicates her play to Ye-Ye and gets the opportunity of a lifetime to attend school in England with her brother. I could only Imagine how excited and overwhelmed she must’ve been when she heard that her father was so proud of her. She reached both of her goals in life which made her very pleased with herself and her outstanding achievements. One thing I learnt from Adeline Yen Mah is that no matter how hard it is, and no matter how tough life might seem, as long as you try your best it all pays off in the end. Chapter 15: Boarding School in Tianjin Without explaining where she was going, Niang and her father drove her to St. Joseph’s School, where she previously attended kindergarten. She was there again, but this time as a boarder. Sadly, when her father had to fill out papers for the flight to Tianjin, he couldn’t remember her name or her birth date. Neither her father or Niang said good-bye. The next morning she woke up in the bright room and met Nancy Chen, who was in the bed next to her. Nancy’s mother asked what was wrong with Adeline’s parents leaving a child alone in a dangerous situation—the Communists would soon be invading. That explained to Adeline why the large school only had a couple of hundred students. After a few months, Adeline remained the only student at St Josephs. All the students had fled with their families to escape the communists. Adeline hoped that she would wake up one morning and her parents were there to collect her to take her home, but then she didn’t know if that would be worse. The way her family just left her there all by herself is appaulling and it’s a very memorable moment in the book for me because I think that if I was in Adeline’s situation, I would be extremely terrified. No one there to play with or talk to, that would drive me crazy. The anxiety of worrying when the communists were going to come along and take you away. Sitting there alone everyday curious to know if anyone actually cared about you anymore, if you were even remembered? When her father forgot her name, that was probably the worst thing a parent could’ve done, whilst on his way to dropping her off at boarding school forever. I felt terrible for Adeline, she has never had her parents there to support her and her father doesn’t even know her name or birthday. A life without loving Parents is possibly the worse life you could have. You need your mum to read you bed time stories and tuck you into bed at night and you need your dad to teach you how to ride a bike and be proud of you. She still has parents but if they are willing to leave you at a boarding school all by yourself when there are soldiers coming, then I don’t think they make good parents at all. The worst part about this chapter is when she is playing with a basketball in the playground by herself, and a teacher runs into the playground and calls to Adeline â€Å" Adeline your Aunt is here to take you back to Hong Kong with her on her ship†. She was standing there with her heart racing 1000 beats per second thinking is it true? Could she really be here? The one person Adeline cares about, has come to rescue her, this is like a dream come true for her. She sprints across the playground as fast her tiny feet could carry her, and stops to find a stranger. She would‘ve been so confused, isn’t this meant to be my Aunt? She is thinking. The disappointment would’ve been unbearable. Gone from being so excited to the biggest let down ever in a second. Even I was getting excited for her, I thought wow this could be her chance to escape and start fresh, with her lovely Aunt the one that has always been her best friend. I instantly imagined her and her Aunt Baba on a beautiful ship sailing across the sea far away from everyone else. But then everything changed, when I read on to see that it was Niangs Sister and then I got a whole different picture in my head, of poor Adeline living the rest of her life away in a dark and dingy dungeon taking orders from the dreadful Niang again. It started to feel like she actually was Cinderella. I thought that was one of the most dreadful parts of this whole story. It felt like it was the part where Adeline was forgotten and abandoned. If that was to ever happen to me one day, I would be grateful that I read Chinese Cinderella because I would do exactly what Adeline did, hope, pray and try my hardest to reach success.