President Obama’s Green Initiative

Author: Jonathan Gal

Most of the world spends their days focusing on the automotive industry to answer all of their questions about green alternatives, cleaner fuels, renewable resources, and a better future for all inhabitants. As a collective whole, the country has really begun to make use of their old and ailing furniture and cabinetry during remodels and rebuilds, and all of this adds up more than we can possibly fathom. The things that we aren’t yet seeing as part of the Green Initiative are developing quickly behind the scenes, creating jobs in the otherwise barren market, and coming closer each day to widespread implication by consumers.

President Obama has set forth multiple bills which are designed to move the country, and thus the world, toward a completely different future in the way that we create, pay for, and utilize the energy resources that we need. Solar power is one of the key factors moving forward in this crusade, offering backup resources and a fine-tuned safety net for the research and design of our future power plants and advanced technologies. There are statewide and individual incentive programs for the funding and usage of solar power by residential consumers and industrial facilities.

There are many great incentives offered by the government to those who choose to utilize greener, renewable, and natural resources this year. Just 10 short years ago, solar power was used by less than 3% of the world for both residential and commercial applications, and today this number is above 13%, climbing rapidly. Not only this, but solar power is the cleanest form of renewable energy, creating no carbon emissions throughout the harnessing, storage, or usage processes. This has given the green light to many of the most prominent energy companies in the world to forge forward with research and development of this clean power. This can be used for residential applications, such as in solar lights, as well as commercial applications such wind farms.

One of the most important aspects of the new green initiative in America is that an estimated 4 million jobs will be created for the blue and white collar workers here, and none of these will be able to leave the country. This means that there can be no outsourcing or shipment of duties overseas. This kind of promise and hope only comes along every so often, and the green initiative will make it possible once again for American workers, corporations, and families to rest easier, safer, and cleaner for the long future ahead.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/president-obamas-green-initiative-1493934.html

About the Author

Jonathan Gal is a solar lighting expert and owner of YCA Solar Lights, an organization dedicated to promoting clean, energy efficient solar lighting technology. To find out more about how solar technology is changing the way we live, especially with respect to lighting, you are invited to visit Jonathan’s Solar Lighting site.

Solar Power Technologies on Hold

Author: Juan Trevino

Two solar power technologies exist, the passive and the active technology. The passive technology are the photocell panels or the photovoltaic film that receives sunlight and generates electricity more apt for a space station or a home. The active technology is a solar thermal that uses a dish to concentrate sunlight that produces steam, which in turn powers a turbine that generates electricity. Another active technology, which is not being promoted, hidden form public view, is using the Stirling Engine to move a power generator.

The passive technology is ready to go, and there are a few homes that have already installed the system. This system is totally clean, backed by the USDOE Solar American Initiative, it requires sufficient space on the roof to position the panels or film, and uses an inverter to turn direct current into alternate current homes can use. The Utility companies have also developed the Net Metering system to buy electricity on their terms, from homes that have generate a surplus of electricity. The new federal tax law “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008″ effective January 2009 provides a 30% tax credit of the cost of a solar system. Some States are also providing large incentives to install solar systems, although with the current economic crisis these paybacks can be curtailed or delayed. The rest of the payback has to come from real savings generated over time by the system from the Utility company. This passive solar system is expensive as of today, and payback is obtained in 8 years of savings. Photovoltaic film or photocell panels are low efficiency and voltage, and compare badly with the option of buying electricity from the utility company. Currently you require from 13 to 15 photocell panels to generate the 2.5 to 3.0 Kilowatt hours generating capacity.

Walmart has established a pilot plan to install photovoltaic panels in several of their stores. If the system produces a return, they will massively implement it in all their stores, since they have sufficient roof space currently not utilized.

The Solar-thermal system is not adequate for homes and mainly will be used for large Utility companies. However, the active system based on a Stirling engine to power a generator which could be applicable for homes, is not available for massive distribution. Although all of its components have been developed, no one has yet integrated the solar power generating kit, or a home appliance. This home system or appliance should be very low cost because it requires: a solar collector or dish which could cost around $200 USD, a stiriling engine with a cost of $350, the 3 KW per hour power generator with a cost of $350, and the battery bank which is the expensive ticket item and could run several thousand dollars, to store electricity if the system is a stand alone not tied to the power grid. If the home is currently supplied by a utility company, then the battery bank is not needed and the Net Metering system with the public utility company can be used. In addition to the sun collector dish the rest of the system can be packaged in two boxes. One which has the stiriling engine and power generator, and the other with the battery if you are a location not tied to the grid. It can also have a gas heater installation as a backup to when there is a lack of sunlight making this a very reliable alternative.

Apparently, there are companies in America, New Zealand, India, Sweden, and other countries trying to develop the stiriling engine . A few companies are receiving funding from investment funds to develop the stiriling engine for this home appliance. Infinia Corporation, a US company has a head start, because they are currently producing a big sterling engine to power up 10 homes at a time and installing many of them in a centralized solar farm in California. Other companies should not be discouraged because markets are so huge, there will be enough room for all suppliers. Just in United States alone there is a potential of 124 million homes that could use the solar power appliance, plus commercial and industrial sites.

Having the home powering appliance, can be the initial steps for returning to sustainable systems. Today, the sun is light and warmth, provided to us from God and Nature, free for all of us to use and enjoy. A home solar powered generator would provide clean energy, and allow equal footing to all nations rich and poor, to devote their funding into other worthwhile social services such as health and education. Rich nations which have electrical grids and power generation capacity would suddenly feel there would be no need to continue increasing Power generation capacities and hopefully they would discontinue all those plants that contaminate. Please see Poverty generation:  http://www.articlesbase.com/politics-articles/poverty-and-the-new-world-order-809385.html

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/solar-power-technologies-on-hold-673269.html

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Hacking – the Last Option for Job as a Computer Specialist in Eastern Europe?

Author: Stig Kristoffersen

Lots of intellectuals within computer science within Eastern Europe have lots of knowledge and know how. However, they are struggling getting a computer related job. Especially during the recessions or depression going on these days all over the globe, but hits the Eastern Europeans more than anywhere on the globe.

This is a fact that the criminal organizations has and still use to their advantage. Their knowledge is turned into tools within the computer crimes and lots of them are working for organized networks like the Russian mafia.

If a company with online business, whether its sales of products or services or anything else are desperate enough to win a fight towards their competitors, and they are willing to step over the legal boundary, they can pay some few hundreds of dollars for a DDOS attack on their competitors servers.

They are even offered a 10 minutes test to see if their competitor will grind to a halt or not. Or even if competitors would like to look into secret documents stored on their servers? For only a few hundred dollars this is also possible to achieve. You want to check if your girl or boy friend have some secrets stored, like photos or anything else? Just put the money on the table and the secrets are sent to your email if you want it done.

Behind all these services are hackers, those almost mythical figures portrayed in the movies, media as cult figures. We have been shown characters in for instance the classic movie from 1995, where Angelina Jolie acts as the pretty and hip hacker called Acid Burn, and in Matrix movie where the idealistic hacker called Neo is portrayed by Keanu Reeves. These characters are not so far from the reality as we would think. They are around us today, operating in various roles and activities, both legal and illegal.

They are hard to catch

In August last year, one of the most serious ID theft cases was revealed to us. Eleven persons were caught and taken to justice for having stolen more than 40 million bank cards. The data were sniffed from various store chains in USA and stored on servers in Eastern Europe and sold further to other criminals. The people behind this was one unknown from China, three Americans and one from Belarus, one from Estland and three more from Ukraine.

The attacks comes as we all know, from Eastern Europe were hacking seems to be very common and wide spread phenomena.

So why is this the case? Why are there so many cases related to Eastern Europe? Often the hackers are located in countries were it is difficult to have a effective cooperation with the police authorities. It is of course an advantage to have less chance to be taken when dealing with activities like this.

The level of technologoy know how in these countries are very high, as traditionally these countries have good educational systems which enables people with skills to aspire wthin these areas.

Today it is very difficult for these skilled persons to get work in the traditional industry, both in private and public sector, and they need money to earn for a living like anyone else.

The mafias have their own IT departments

The education increase in Eastern Europe, but faster than job opportunities and then computer crime will become a way of living for these highly educated people. There are people who have a full time job working with computer crime.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cyber-law-articles/hacking-the-last-option-for-job-as-a-computer-specialist-in-eastern-europe-763450.html

About the Author

He has a background as civil engineer and geoscientist. He has worked mainly within the oil and gas industry from the mid 1980s. He has written a few fictional novels as well as being the author of some professional litterature within oil and gas sector, he is now an editor of some web sites.

Mathematics Education Majors

Author: Tis Amit

Are you one of those who are looking to make career as a mathematics teacher? If your answer is yes then there various options to become mathematics tutor. Either you can follow an education degree at the master’s or bachelor’s degree level and have your regular education training in math, or you may even earn a math degree at different levels and then have training with the necessary coursework.  Nevertheless, if you are already a mathematics teacher and looking forward to advancing your career then selecting a degree program in mathematics can be the best option. These days many colleges and universities in the United States are offering mathematics education programs that may further help you improve your individual proficiency.

Generally, a degree program in mathematics education primarily focuses on math-specific education training along with the general education necessities that are necessary for every professional licensure. The degree programs can be broadly categorized into two sub-categories, mainly the bachelor’s and master’s degree. The bachelor’s degree in mathematics education focuses on a science prospectus along with math-focused tutor training. In addition to this, the bachelor’s degree program primarily includes learning of mathematics in different areas and provides mathematics major as a specialization. Apart from all this, the master’s degree program basically emphasizes on K-16 schools and methodology or the way students are educated in mathematics. The program can be very beneficial for you if you are a licensed teacher. Moreover, the coursework includes studies in math-centric topics and classroom administration.

If we carefully look at the employment prospects for mathematics education degree graduates, it actually seems to be very bright. Once you complete the program, you can make a career as an actuary. As an actuary, you may use your logical skills to calculate and manage risk for banking, financial services, and insurance industries. The other job profile you can look for are financial analyst and economic statisticians as well. Adding to this, in recent times a serious scarcity of math teachers exists has further created the growing demand for bright new mathematics tutors. Today as a graduate of the mathematics education degree program or being mathematics major, you can definitely pursue a great career in the education industry.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/mathematics-education-majors-1482612.html

About the Author

Do you want to become a mathematics teacher? Browse complete information on best education colleges that offer degree programs in mathematics education in USA and Canada at EducationMajorsU.com. Choose the best education programs for you and start your teaching career now.

innovative hr practices

Author: shiny p. kumar

INTRODUCTION

Innovative HR practices build competencies and capabilities for superior and winning performances today and simultaneously create long term fertility for innovation of business ideas and strategies for future.

Employees who go the extra mile by performing spontaneous behaviors that go beyond their role prescriptions are especially valued by the management. This phenomenon is critical for organizational effectiveness because managers cannot for see all contingencies or fully anticipates the activities that they may desire or need employees to perform (Katz & Kahn 1978, Organ 1988). Work behavior that goes beyond the reach of organizational measures of job performance holds promise for long term organizational success (Van Dyne, Graham & Dienesch 1994) because these types of action are purported to improve organizational efficiency, effectiveness and adaptability (Organ 1988). Doing jobs beyond what is required without expecting to be rewarded is what is referred to in this study as Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB).

Enhancing an organization’s competitive ability is increasingly critical and behaviors, which may improve individual and organizational efficiency, become more valuable. Although there have been many studies of OCB in organizations, no known studies have examined the linkage of individual innovativeness with OCB where the effect of superior–subordinate as a mediator, is included.

INNOVATIVE HR PRACTICES

All managers have heard and read countless times how to build teams, empower your workforce and develop trust. The common place human resource practices prevalent across the entire business world are just as relevant to this business as any other. The HR policies must be integrated with business policies. The HR Professionals must have balance in terms of centralization or decentralization of HR practices are ethnocentric while others management be geocentric or regiocentric.

TOMORROW HR PRACTICES

 In turn trends like these are changing the way firms are managed organizations today must grapple with revolutionary trends accelerating product and technological change, globalizes competition, deregulation, demographic changes and trends towards a service society and the information. These trends have dramatically increased the degree of competition in virtually all industries, while forcing firms to cope with unprecedented product innovation and technological change. Companies in such an environment either become competitive high performers or they die.

EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION, MORALE AND INNOVATIVE HR PRACTIES

                                         “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”                                                                                           

                                                                             – Charles Dicken

 The challenges facing the organization have never   been greater

    Issues coming on the radar of an HR Manager today are diverse; from micro level            issues where an individual employee needs hand holding to the macro issues pertaining to a global workforce and virtual teams. HR managers are expected to offer instant solutions for these issues and strategies.
As an HR Manager there are a number of areas where you might want to bring in an external consultant.

  Employee Motivation in work place

         A strong team needs individuals who are dedicated to giving their best at   work.  Highly self-motivated, committed, ambitious employees give the most to their company and get the most from their work. But if you are lacking employee motivation in the workplace the effects can be dramatic. Low team morale, lack of initiative, lack of energy, mistakes and high staff turnover are just some of the clues that motivation is an issue.

          One of the simplest ways to get motivated is to create a Self-Motivation Action Plan.

By following this simple three-step process you can create an action plan that will get you motivated again.
 
STEP 1: Clarify the goal
The first step of your Self-Motivation Action Plan is to be clear about the end result. Identify a project that you lack motivation about. Let’s use “Make some sales calls” as an example.

Your goals should be SMART. In other words: Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and with a Timescale.

STEP 2: Identify the Obstacle

The second step of your Self-Motivation Action Plan is to be clear about what is standing in your way. There are two types of obstacles – practical and emotional. Examples of practical obstacles are lack of time, resources or information. Examples of emotional obstacles are lack of confidence or fear of failure or rejection.

Make a list on your Self-Motivation Action Plan of all the obstacles standing in the way of you achieving your goal.

STEP 3: Handle Each Obstacle
The third step of your Self-Motivation Action Plan is the most challenging. Go through each obstacle and handle it. If the obstacle is lack of time, ask yourself “How can I create time for this? What do I need to stop doing, start doing or delegate in order to create time?”

If the obstacle is lack of confidence, ask yourself “What am I afraid of? What is the worst thing that could happen?” Often the worst-case scenario is not as bad as you feared. But if it is serious, how can you reduce the risk of it occurring? What resources do you have that will help you?

As long as there are obstacles in the way you will lack the motivation to complete your project. 
 
However, a clear Self-Motivation Action Plan will help you complete projects without adrenalin, willpower or unhealthy stress.

    INDIVIDUAL INNOVATIVENESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZEN SHIP BEHAVIOR

The inconsistency with which innovativeness is defined in the literature makes it difficult to grasp the essential attributes (Hurt, Joseph & Cook 1977). According to Midgley and Dowling (1978), individual innovativeness refers to the individual’s openness to new ideas and decision making to adopt an innovation free from the influence of the experiences of other employees. This definition is referred to throughout this study because it intuitively gives a more accurate interpretation of innovativeness, which is well supported, both directly and indirectly, in the literature.

Organizational change, creativity, and innovation schemes have been installed with individual ‘champions’. The vision is that these changes to the organizational culture will lead to greater organizational effectiveness and consequently, change agents are used to guide and facilitate the change process (McDermott & Sexton 1998, Mallon & Kearney 2001.) That is, employees who are innovative in their work place are, in essence, satisfied with their jobs and this triggers them to come up with new ways to improve current conditions. One of the ways of how innovative employees express themselves is through performance of OCB. Individual innovativeness contributes to an organization’s renewal, survival and growth in today’s turbulent and competitive business environment through the performance of OCB (Amabile 1988).

INNOVATIVE HUMAN RESOURCE LEADER

To join a dynamic, growing organization that knows where it wants to go. To make a significant contribution to business results by applying my unique talent for creating strategic focus and alignment, developing 21st century leaders and culture, and building an organizational community that shares a common mission, vision, and values.

TRENDS & NEEDS

Need for Organizational Change

New paradigms for Europe are clearly emerging: knowledge for and through the knowledge-based economy and sustainable development. European enterprises need to adapt and learn from this evolution and may need to be reorganized. Computer use and knowledge management will become key innovation and competition factors for

all types of businesses, notably the manufacturing and related service industries. However, technology innovation will not be enough and careful attention to organizational aspects is required. Success is related not so much to the current organizational methods, but rather to the way that firms adapt themselves.

For this to happen, organizations need to assess their performance. Industry has to be convinced that solid competitive positions are attained through quality and added value and not on cost aspects alone. This evolutionary trend involves developing

Work environments which support teamwork as well as personal job satisfaction.

European industries have to learn to look at traditional and high-tech production from a more holistic perspective, e.g. taking into account aspects such as technological innovation, human motivation and behavior, life-cycle responsibility, logistics

and company organization. New attitudes towards organizational change need to be understood and supported.

For innovation to succeed, human and technological issues should be considered within an integrated approach.

 Europe already exploits the knowledge opportunities given by the information society. In

addition adaptability of organizations and speed of adaptation are becoming critical issues. It should be recognized that Europe needs to promote more integrated RTD programmes, linking people, research and market dynamics1 within which exploitation plans – as well as socio-economic aspects – should be included from the start.

Collaboration and co-operation within the value chain have become a new concept of work

Organization, based on individual skills as well as teamwork, even between competitors.

Collaborative commerce is emerging characterized by more fluid, dynamic and complex relationships. Such multidimensional relationships are often described as “value constellations”.

SUPPORT NEEDED FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE AND IMPROVEMENT OF HUMAN CAPITAL

Present industrial developments involve technology and organization, the performance of both being highly dependent on human resources. Knowledge will increasingly bring a key competitive advantage within human resources.

Moreover, production tasks are being automated to an ever greater extent while the demand for a qualified workforce is growing dramatically. At the same time, when analyzing the workforce, we see a shortage of skilled people in strategic industrial areas. The available skills do not always correspond in quality and quantity to the skills required. This contrast will place a significant strain on our society. The technology trend indicates that unemployment will rise amongst unskilled Workers. This will entail enormous efforts in the field of education as well as a tremendous increase in continuous learning, and may require co-ordinate efforts towards the benchmarking of knowledge management within different countries, regions or organizations, and the implementation of learning schemes.

CONCLUSION

 Finally I conclude that in the competitive world the organization should have the innovative ideas then only it can lead the organization very successful. Human Resource leader should follow creative practices that practices should help to develop the employer as well as employee. Then only the organization can run successful.

REFERENCE

Gary Dessler , Human Resource management 8th Edition published by Pearson Education(Singapore) pre ltd., Indian branch,482F.I.E,Paypargani.

http://www.citehr.com/107855-innovative-hr-practices.html http://www.jigyasaconsulting.com/services/employee_motivation.htm http://Awww.expressindia.com/fe/daily/20000308/faf05055.html

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/human-resources-articles/innovative-hr-practices-1135577.html

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