IT Security Essay Example for Free

IT Security Essay With the advent of the new technological age, businesses and individuals find it more and more difficult to cope with the growing amount of information. The more technological businesses become, the more information they are compelled to process and store, thus creating a whole set of challenges and controversies in the IT field. The problem is that managing business information is impossible without developing and implementing effective data storage systems. Very often, backing up business data to a remote location becomes the only possible means to guarantee effectiveness of all information processes within organization. In this context, online backup services could potentially resolve the most complicated IT issues in business. Really, in business, organizations gather large amounts of information about their products, market reputation, customers, and competitors. They work to determine the major weaknesses and strengths of their sales strategies and use this information in the process of achieving strategic organizational objectives. Information improves organizations’ competitive positions, and â€Å"the company losing information may have its competitive edge dulled. Losing a competitive edge can be a significant cost to any business, but even losing competitive edge is not as dangerous as losing and revealing information about possible business vulnerabilities and gaps to potential and current competitors† (Halibozek, Jones Kovacich, 2007). The fact is that the loss of data may take different forms and patterns; the reasons of losing information are also many and numerous. Regardless of whether the loss of data is caused by a virus or an external attack, customer files, emails, financial and accounting information – all these may become a serious threat to the stability of businesses. Statistical research suggests that one half of businesses that lose critical information file for bankruptcy (Jacobi, 2005); as such, online backup mechanisms seem to be a viable solution to the discussed problems. The problem of losing information is well-known to businesses, but here it is more than important to investigate the relevance of online backup services. The problem of losing information in business is significant from the IT security perspective for numerous reasons: these include the risks of losing competitiveness, the risks of bankruptcy, and the risks of competitive vulnerability, as discussed in the previous paragraph. Investigating the relevance of online backup services is needed to evaluate its effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and the principles of use. Losing information seems a difficult and hardly resolvable problem, but with the current speed of technological advancement, even the most controversial and difficult technological issues can be successfully resolved. The issue of losing data is not an exception, and TechSoup meta-site provides brief but comprehensible information with regard to using online backup services. Upon visiting the website, the first impression is that information is well-structured, is divided into several subcategories, and is written in an easy understandable language – the features that even inexperienced IT users can use to grasp the meaning of online backup services. Furthermore, it is objectivity of provided data and the lack of clear or hidden advertising that makes the website fully informative and not imposing. That the authors discuss both pros and cons of using online backup services makes it possible for the reader to make a relevant and justified choice; and where online backup services display serious technological limitations, the meta-site provides a set of recommendations for overcoming these limitations in practice (Lasa, 2006). For example, when it comes to using online backup services, â€Å"speed and amount of data backup is limited by the speed of your Internet connection. Online backup over dial-up connection will be slow and is generally only suitable for small amounts of data† (Lasa, 2006). Here, it also means that the speed of data management and its effectiveness largely depends on the particular choice of Internet providers. Bearing in mind the variety and number of Internet companies in the market, choosing the right one with the best and the most appropriate speed of connection will help companies resolve these issues at hand. Also, the meta-site suggests that companies that limit their choice of data storage mechanisms to online backup services actually trust all important information to a single person (and provider), and in case the data is lost, the given provider will hardly be able to restore it. To mitigate these risks, the authors also recommend using CDs or DVDs to archive backed-up data (Lasa, 2006). These are the most feasible solutions to the issues, with which online backup services can be associated. In general, the website provides detailed and unbiased information about online backup services. Unfortunately, the information regarding the seriousness of data storage issues is absent. As such, IT users may not understand the seriousness of the issue and may not be willing to seek immediate and effective solutions. Even when the need to investigate the problem arises, IT professionals will need to search the net for possible statistical or descriptive information with regard to the issue of losing information and its impact on businesses. Nevertheless, the provided information is structured in a way that makes it easier to understand HOW to cope with the growing information management tensions. The website does not simply describe how online backup services work, but evaluates their benefits and drawbacks, and provides a set of recommendations for choosing a provider. The structure of information is extremely convenient and is designed to cover broad audiences. Conclusion Certainly, the mere fact that IT users can access information about backup services does not mean that the issue of data management and storage is no longer relevant. On the contrary, the more meta-sites devote time and effort to describing such services, the more concerned they become about possible implications of losing information in business. Objectively, technology works to provide IT users and professionals with a whole set of effective instruments for storing and managing data; and it is obvious that online backup services can significantly reduce the risks of losing important and sensible data. Simultaneously, even when using online backup services, there is still much room for technological improvement, and whether businesses and individuals are offered relevant technological solutions depends on the speed and the quality of the current technological progress.

Decision Making in a Nursing Ethical Dilemma

Decision Making in a Nursing Ethical Dilemma Introduction Decision making in an ethical dilemma circumstances could be difficult at time as one is prone to use similar past experience as a yardstick to analyse the circumstances. McGhee and Perrin (2008), define ethical dilemma as a situation that gives rise to conflicting moral claims resulting in disagreements about choices of action. Therefore using a framework as a tool to guide one through the ethical dilemma would aid in arriving a client-centred decision. This paper aims to look into Ranjit’s decision to die in his own home instead in a hospital as requested by his children using the model for ethical decision making by Kerridge, Lowe and McPhee (2005). Clearly state the problem Ranjit, a 77 year old man diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease lost his motor functions. He prefers to be cared and die at home however his children are concerned about not being able to meet his needs as they do not possess with necessary skills to handle his disease if he deteriorate. Ethical Problem Ranjit may have Parkinson’s disease however it does not limit his freedom to make his own decision. Therefore the ethical issue is raised in contradiction of his autonomy. Social Problem No one is able to care for Ranjit when his condition required more attention, therefore a caregiver is required if Ranjit wish is passed through. Legal Problem Ranjit is of a legal age in the eye of the law; he is capable to make sound decision for himself. His diagnosis may lead others to make baseless assumption about his capability to make a decision. Get the facts Parkinson’s disease is defined as chronic neurodegenerative disorder, which is related to loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra. Symptoms such as tremor, brandykinesia and rigidity present in early stage and later stage non-motor features including autonomic dysfunction, falls, and sleep disturbances as loss in non-dopaminergic areas (Ministry of Health, 2007). According to Hoehn and Yahr (1967), Parkinson is classified into five stages, from stage one tremor over one limb to stage five confinements to bed. The prevalence rate in Singapore was found to be 0.3% for the population aged 50 and above (MOH, 2007). People with Parkinson do not only experience distress with their own movement, but the increasing motor deficit also diminishes their ability to express, communicate and interact with others (Doyle Lyons, Tickle-Degnen, Henry, Cohn, 2004). Disability is seen more prominent as the disease progresses, caregiver may experience strain, burnout or financial bur dened (Tan 2013). Therefore communication is critical for patient and caregiver to discuss openly about the disease, understanding their frustrations will help them to live with the disease (Chiong-Rivero et al., 2011). Although with pharmacotherapy can improve the quality of life ancillary approach in managing disease cannot be overlooked. Utilisation of rehabilitation services for Parkinson patients will go a long way to keep them active within the community to prevent isolation and depression. Occupational therapy can be involved in teaching client and care givers in coping with activities of daily living. Physiotherapist can be involved in gait training and strengthening muscles to prevent falls. Caregivers can consider sending Ranjit to various alternative services such as Agency Integrated Care (AIC), day care centre or respite care. Consider the four principles Autonomy Autonomy is defined as the freedom and ability to exercise one’s choice and the ability to decide for oneself. The principle in autonomy is to respect a person’s decision, privacy and confidentiality and receive full disclosure (Staunton and Chiarella, 2008, p. 31; Butt and Rich, 2008, p. 42). His children are against Ranjit decision to be cared and die at home, despite his disease his right to choose should not be stripped off. As healthcare provider it is important to respect and promote client’s autonomy (Singapore Nursing Board (SNB) Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, 1999, p.4). Beneficence Beneficence is described as taking action to help other; the desire to do good (Butt and Rich, 2008). The nurse would advocate client’s interest accordance to SNB Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (1999, p.8) value statement 7, to promote client’s best interest by ensuring desires are acknowledge and considered by the healthcare team. The team shall consider Ranjit’s decision to be cared at home as it is deemed good for him. Non- Maleficence Non- maleficence is defined as â€Å"above all, do no harm’ (Staunton and Chiarella, 2008). (ANMC) Code of Professional Conduct (2008) conduct statement 4 stated nurses to ensure the safety and quality of care are not compromised. If Ranjit’s decision was granted, a caregiver should be nominated to prevent harm at home such as fall. Justice Justice is based on the concept of fairness (Hendrick, 2000, p. 121). This suggests that one shall be treated fairly and be given equal chance to make decision. Statement 2.3 under Australian Nursing Midwifery Council (ANMC) National Competency Standards for Registered nurses (2006), to demonstrate respect for client’s legal right in relation to health care. Identify Ethical Conflicts Beneficence versus Autonomy The first conflict to be addressed her is whether Ranjit should be cared at home or die in hospital. No doubt hospital is well equipped with equipment and healthcare team to provide a care plan for him till he die but however Ranjit has the right to refuse admission, treatment or care from the hospital. Therefore his primary treating doctor should provide a full disclosure on the disease process, risk and potential problems to allow him to make an autonomous choice. Beneficence versus Non Maleficence The second conflict here is his children perceived hospital is the best place for him as they do not have the necessary skills to look after him. However what seem to be best may not be as it place Ranjit at risk for acquiring infection or develop depression to his wish rebuked. Non Maleficence ethical principle here is involved if Ranjit’s decision is approved by his children. Due to the lack of care at home, he may be faced with potential issues such as falls, pressure sores and chest infection. Consider the law Consent Mr Ranjit has the mental capacity to take consent as evidenced by his active commitments with various activities. His consent may be deemed valid if he is able to understand and retain information and communicate his decision as stated in Mental Capacity Act (2008). Right to refuse treatment As the children wanted him to be institutionalised, Ranjit can refuse admission to a hospital or a nursing home. Advance directives An advance medical directive (AMD) an Act to provide for, and give legal effect to, advance directives to medical practitioners against artificial prolongation of the dying process and for matters connected therewith (Advance Medical Directive Act, 1996). Mr Ranjit may consider AMD to safeguard his wishes, case he became unconscious or terminally ill. Making the ethical decision Ranjit’s decision to be cared at home should be granted as he is competent to make his own decision and what is deem best for his interest. Family conference involving patient’s treating doctor, patient and his family may be helpful in this circumstance to hear from individual’s perspective to reach a conclusion that may benefit all. However the ultimate decision is still on Ranjit thus his children should respect his decision and look for alternative revenue to provide care for their father. Document the decision In accordance to statement 6.3 of ANMC National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse (2006), Documentation must be written clearly and concise to provide accurate assessments. Therefore it is important for nurses and doctors to document all discussion shared as evidence to prevent unnecessary miscommunication. Evaluate the decision Ranjit’s care plan will need to be evaluated when there is a change in his condition or needs (ANMC National Competency Standards for the Registered Nurse statement 8.2, 2006). As Ranjit is able to make an autonomous decision to be cared at home, his children can employ a caregiver to be home to look after the father, the care plan will need to be evaluated every three months to better support and meet his needs.

An Overview Of Employee Suggestion Schemes Commerce Essay

An Overview Of Employee Suggestion Schemes Commerce Essay Innovations are becoming increasingly important for organizations to remain competitive in the dynamic business environment. Employee Suggestions Systems plays a key role for organizations wishing to become more innovative. It is a useful tool used in the organization to elicit employees creative ideas. Over the past decades, suggestion schemes have been studied from many perspectives. The objective of this paper is to present the history and evolution of suggestion schemes, from their early beginnings to sophisticated computer based systems that are widely popular in many countries. We start by discussing the origins of suggestion systems, followed by discussing how they have evolved over the years, and understand a typical process involved in suggestion system. We would like to discuss the future model of suggestion system that can sustain and contribute significantly towards the success of the organizations. Through a literature review, we describe the existing research on suggest ion schemes to understand the critical drivers and barriers for the success of the suggestion schemes. This paper also cites and illustrates the well-known suggestion systems used by UAE organizations and their benefits. The literature, while extolling the many virtues of suggestion programs makes it clear that achieving the expected results from the programs is quite challenging as it involves organizational as well individual level factors and needs to focus on creativity and as well transformation of the creativity into innovations. The paper provides the list of driver and barriers to suggestion schemes mainly stemming from creativity, innovation and suggestion system literatures. The suggestion making and suggestion implementation are two crucial stages and both are equally important for the success of the scheme and are influenced by a number of factors. Organizations must therefore identify these critical factors to nurture both these stages. The schemes can be applied in any sector to elicit employee creative ideas but must have a formal mechanism to action this. Managers need to be aware critical success factors that are essential for the success of the schemes. It is clear that suggestion schemes will not yield results without the active involvement of everyone in the organization, and the required resources and support from top management. The future of suggestion scheme is bright as a tool for fueling innovation. Organizations need to recognize and evaluate their schemes to yield its potential benefits. There need to be sustainability in suggestion schemes. Organizations need to assess their schemes to recognize if right conditions exist for their sche mes to flourish. This paper should be of value to practitioners of suggestion schemes and to academics who are interested in knowing how this program has evolved, and where it is today and what future it holds. Although much research has been conducted on identifying these critical success factors to the authors knowledge, little focus has been directed towards sustenance of the suggestion system. This paper makes the contribution for identifying the research gap in the suggestion schemes and has assimilated the existing knowledge on suggestion systems to provide a quick run through to the field and has extended the search for drivers and barriers to suggestion scheme from creativity and innovation literature. Key Words: Employee, Suggestion System, Creativity, Innovation, Employee Involvement, Ideas Management Introduction An Employee Suggestion Scheme (ESS) is described as a formalized mechanism that encourages employees to contribute constructive ideas for improving the organization in which they work (Milner et al., 1995). Another elaborate definition explains suggestion schemes elicit suggestions from employees, classify them, and dispatch them to experts for evaluation (Cooley et al., 2001). After this, the suggestion might be adopted, in which case the suggestion maker will be rewarded. But even if a suggestion is rejected, the suggestion maker may still be rewarded with a token gift. So the managers or dedicated committees evaluate the suggestions and implement the one that works (Chaneski, 2006). The reward may range from a certificate to a reward commensurate with the savings generated by the suggestion. Researchers in this area explain that the suggestion scheme is a mechanism or a tool that fosters creativity, elicits untapped reservoirs of ideas and fuels both product or process innovations , triggers a work place improvement, improves process effectiveness, saves money or helps generate new revenue and increases organizational commitment and accountability among employees (Carrier,1998; Buech et al., 2010; Fairbank and William,2001; 96. Townsend,2009;Islam, 2007;Arthur et al., 2010 Lloyd,1996). Thus they are structured to have many goals and purposes (Kanna et al., 2005). There are others who view suggestion systems as mechanism to improve quality as well (Islam, 2007; Kanna et al., 2005). It is a known fact that no one would know the job, its specific processes( Darragh -Jeromos, 2005) better than the employees themselves as they are on the shop floor and are experiencing the advantages of what they are doing(Du plessis et al., 2008). Therefore, the suggestion scheme can be an advantageous way to gather suggestions in the work place by fostering this concept and taping into all employee creativity (Darragh-Jeromo, 2005). Over the past decades, suggestion schemes have been studied from many perspectives. In this paper, our objective is to present the history and evolution of suggestion schemes, from their early beginnings to sophisticated computer based systems that are widely popular in many countries. We start by discussing the origins of the suggestion system, followed by how it has evolved over the years, and understand a typical process involved in the suggestion system. Through a literature review, we describe the existing research on suggestion schemes in order to understand the critical drivers and barriers for the success of suggestion schemes. This paper also identifies future research opportunities in this field. The History and Evolution of the Suggestion Schemes In 1721, Yoshimune Tokugawa, the 8th Shogun, placed a box called Meyasubako at the entrance of the Edo Castle for written suggestions from his subjects (Arif et al., 2010). Although this is the most basic system known, an industrialized suggestion systems origin traces back to the 19th century. In 1880, William Denny, a Scottish shipbuilder asked his employees to offer suggestions in order to build ships in better ways (Islam 2007). Following this, the Kodak company became pioneer in this endeavor with its program being introduced in 1896 (Carrier, 1998). Industry associations, such as the Employee Involvement Association (EIA), then came into existence and they have contributed greatly to the increased formalization, objectivity, and professionalism of suggestion programs (Townsend,2009). Formerly, the National Association of Suggestion Systems, the EIA has instituted educational, statistical, and professional development programs to raise the bar of best practices in the encouragem ent, evaluation, development, and implementation of ideas that add value to their organizations. The IdeasUK, UKs foremost association for the promotion of employee involvement programmes was founded in 1987, its prime purpose being to assist organizations in both the public and private sector, an organization with more than 100 members worldwide. On the other hand in Japan the program was well known as the Kaizan Program. While Kaizen-oriented suggestion systems are primarily interested in generating many small improvements, western suggestion systems encourage the pursuit of innovation (Ohly et al., 2006). Simultaneously, suggestion schemes also became popular in many countries and they have a considerable history that includes USA, Europe, Asia and the Middle East (Cooley et al., 2001). The well-known suggestion schemes have been in existence for over 60 years and companies like Japans Toyotas and Indias Tata Steel Mill represent a usage of these historic systems. Around the 1990s suggestion schemes became increasingly popular. In 1994, one employee suggestion alone saved British Gas  £4.4 million. The research around 1996 reported that the world class suggestion systems are exceeding 40 ideas per person annually, with greater than 80 percent implementation rates and high levels of participation (Savageau, 1996). The ETA 2004 annual suggestion program provided statistics from 41 of its member organizations in the United States. From this limited sample, a total of more than $811 million in savings and other benefits were realized as a result of employee suggestion programs (Townsend,2009). The latest 2009 Annual Survey of IdeasUK highlighted the following benefits amongst their membership organizations such as Boots, HSBC, Ministry of Defence and Dubai Aluminum. Cost savings of over  £100m with the average implemented idea worth  £1,400.00. Return on Investment of at least 5:1. Employee involvement increased with average participation rates of 28% The trend of cost savings due to employee suggestions continues till today. The Existing Research on Suggestion Systems An illustration of a formal process involved in the suggestion schemes Suggestions systems have come a long way (Arif et al., 2010) transiting from anonymous postboxes (Crail, 2006) or suggestion box to a sophisticated computer based electronic suggestion system (Fairbank and William 2001; Ahmed, 2009). The suggestion system is a process of two or more stages comprising mainly the suggestion making, the evaluation and implementation of the idea (Van and Ende, 2002; Prathur and Turrel, 2002; Lipponen et al., 2008; Bakker et al., 2006; Marx, 1995;Griffiths et al., 2006). There has been a negligence of research on the initial ideas generation phase that precedes the innovation, mainly because one major group of researchers who consider organizational creativity is fostered through the personal characteristics and motivations of creative individuals turned its attention to context and organizational factors(Carrier,1998). However the common process involved in the suggestion management system is depicted in fig 1: Description: http://www.apo-tokyo.org/productivity/pmtt_004b.jpg In recent times the suggestion schemes have also been known as Idea Capture Systems or Idea Management Systems. Leach (2006) claims that the Idea capture system can fall into four categories: Centralized suggestion schemes, De-centralized suggestion schemes, Work based systems Informal systems. Literature shows that the subject of suggestion schemes is multidisciplinary. Broadly the theoretical base for suggestion schemes emerges from the literature on creativity and innovation. This is mainly because the researchers describe suggestion systems as tools that stimulate creativity or innovation (Carrier,1998). Innovation begins with creative ideas (Amabile et al., 1996) and thus creativity and innovation are interlinked and the process in the suggestion system is mainly focused on eliciting the employees creative ideas and implementing them to fuel innovations. The main focus of the research then goes to the factors that trigger creativity and innovation. Researchers have examined these factors from three points of views (Buech et al.,2010) The first considers work environment. A second stream of research, focusing on the features of suggestion systems, weighs the influence of feedback about suggestions, management support of the system and rewards for successful suggestions, the third deals with the characteristics of the individuals. The creativity and innovation literature also highlights these contextual, organizational and individual factors that foster creativity and innovation but it is also evident that the contextual factors that foster creativity and innovation would also foster the suggestion making as well (Ohly et al.,2006). The factors cited to be drivers to creativity, suggestion system and innovation are identified below. Factors fostering Suggestion Making, Creativity and Innovation A good suggestion scheme should play a vital role in improving communication and promoting and enhancing the sense of common purpose (McConville, 1990). People need social, informational, and economic support to be able to create something new (Majdar, 2005). The creativity in an organizational context emerges from a process of sharing information with other people within the organization (Bakker et al., 2006). Although the social networking alone cannot be considered as an important source of information for innovation(Bigliardi et al., 2009), the high quality social exchange relationships (Kudisch, 2006), social influences(Klijn et al., 2010),collaboration(Bjà ¶rklund,2010; Fairbank et al.,2001), and diverse group exchanges(Shalley et al.,2004) can stimulate employee creativity. Even in a field where innovation is essential, most of the acute challenges do not concern innovation skills, but rather the organizational context of innovation the work communities culture, habits, and practices (Bjà ¶rklund, 2010). Creativity and innovation will only be sporadic occurrences and will not thrive without a supportive environment and culture (Malaviya Wadhwa, 2005;Amabile et al.,1996). Every organization has its own culture and needs and its suggestion system should be molded around that (Marx, 1995). The organization structure often hinders tacit knowledge sharing by establishing wrong authorities (Alwis et al., 2008). Several studies have shown how certain organizational structures facilitate the creation of new products and processes, especially in relation to fast changing environments (Lam,2010). Organization structures have to be modified in different industries so that the organizational structure of a company or a department supports transfer and transmission of tacit knowledge in the best way (Alwis et al., 2008). Management practices of the organization play a role in the success of the suggestion programs (Carrier, 1998). Management has a responsibility to satisfy the need for employee participation and they are required to create a culture which is supportive of employee involvement in the decisions which affect their work (Reychav et al., 2010). Senior management ought to demonstrate their faith in the scheme, promote and support it and encourage all managers to view it as a positive force for continuous improvement (McConville, 1990). Management must get actively involved by creating the opportunities for employees to submit their ideas, get those ideas properly evaluated, give recognition when it is due and implement them as soon as possible (Du plessis, 2008). Converting managers, particularly those in the middle is crucial (McConville,1990). Undoubtly, people will produce creative work when they perceive for example that the management is required to encourage (Amabile et al., 1996). T herefore a visible commitment from top management can encourage employee active participation in the scheme. Studies have shown that a traditional, autocratic management style results in low levels of employee engagement and motivation (Hayward, 2010). Empowering leadership has the capacity to positively influence employee psychological empowerment -an element of importance in affecting creative outcome (Zhang, 2010). On the other hand leadership styles that include threats, intimidation, and coercive tactics appear to universally discourage creative behavior on the part of employees (Anderson et al., 2008). The coworker support (Madjar,2008;Majdar 2005;Shalley et al.,2004;Arif et al., 2010) is another important element that can trigger employees to make suggestions. Tatter (1975) notes, the best way to kill a system are to let an idea remain in limbo for four, five or six months. The goal should be to completely process a suggestion in about 30 days and in no more than 60 days. To handle employee creativity effectively, it is important to organize the process of idea extraction to idea fo llow-up properly, otherwise employees will not be motivated to put their ideas forward and many ideas will be lost (Van Ende, 2002). The knowledge possessed by individual employees can only lead to a firm competitive advantage if employees have the motivation and opportunity to share and utilize their individual knowledge in ways that benefit the organization (Arthur et al., 2005). Therefore the development of an infrastructure (Marx 1995) with simple methods (Hultgren, 2008) for submitting suggestions (McConville, 1990) is a key aspect of the suggestion scheme. The companies lack of action on suggestions provided by non-managerial employees can de-motivate employees from participating in employee relation programs (Cho and Erdum 2006). Fairbank (2003) argues the formal Employee suggestion Management systems(ESMS)s are superior to the stereotypical suggestion box because they make it easier for employees to submit ideas that will eventually be implemented, provide a transparent pro cess for evaluating the suggestions, and generate timely feedback regarding the fate of the suggestions and any rewards they earn. Such a system can help to monitor the progress of the scheme on a regular basis (Hultgren, 2008). The more comfortable employees are with the format, the more suggestions will be received, and the more money will be saved (Mishra, 1994). Good ideas can come from anyone, at any level, any place, anytime (McConville, 1990; Majdar ,2005). Therefore a suggestion scheme should make all its employees at all levels eligible to participate (McConville, 1990; Lloyd, 1996). The involvement can be increased if employees develop a sense of belonging to the organization (Cruz et al., 2009). Empowerment is necessary so that the workers evaluate their own ideas before making a suggestion, as suggesting many ideas do not necessarily mean greater cost reduction and at the same time, it would be an added cost to process and may cause delays (Wynder, 2008). The biggest obstacles in the suggestion cycle lie in the area of review, evaluation and guidance. Insensitive comments of proposal reviewers can sometime kill an employees improvement initiative (Neagoe et al., 2009). When the review, evaluation and guidance aspect of the system functions properly, it can be a great motivating force that will attract many excellent proposals (Neagoe et al., 2009). If ideas are made public, these ideas, good and bad, could have started other creative ideas elsewhere in the organization (Stenmark, 2000). A modern well-managed suggestion scheme lies not in the immediate financial returns, but in the contribution made to achieving greater involvement and team- work (McConville,1990). Creative ideas are more often the product of social interaction and influence than of periods of thinking in isolation (Majdar, 2005) The cash rewards and recognition alone will not make a suggestion system successful (Strane,2000). Employee morale should be boosted by creating success stories and measuring the success of the scheme through the implementation of ideas (Marx, 1995; Hultgren, 2008; Lloyd, 1996; Cho Erdem 2006). A suggestion system is clearly a money saver in an organization (Mishra, 1994). There needs to be various strategies in place to avoid employee boredom and to consider the life cycle of the system, employees must be rewarded not only with tangible but also intangible benefits (Ahmed 2009). Incentives are important for employees to feel that submission of their useable ideas will be rewarded (Du plessis et al., 2008). It was also found that the volume of employee suggestions over time will be positively related to the amount of payout (Arthur et al., 2010). Depending on the attention given to advertising the schemes and how participation is rewarded, organizations could improve the return on the idea capture system (Leach et al., 2006). Individuals have the greatest possible number of characteristics that positively influence their creative performance (Muà ±oz-Doyague, 2008). Keeping workers intrinsically motivated is the key part for improving creativity and performance. No doubt, intrinsic motivation is a universally important and substantial factor (Suh et al.,2008). Sending individuals to state-of- the-art seminars, training programs, and conferences as a reward for their creativity might increase the positive impact (Griffiths-hemans et al., 2006). This will be the energy of renewal and the drive to a successful future. The Barriers to suggestion systems Research also reports on barriers that could hinder the success of the suggestion scheme. They are mainly cited as work load pressure, task reutilization, task standardization, unsupportive climate, aversive leadership, co-worker mistrust, coworker incompetence, budget problems, impractical idea, technical issues, competition, delay in assessment, controlled supervision, lack of support, fear of evaluation, free riding, lack of self confidence, low commitment to organization and system, rigid rules,self-interest, challenge of the work and resistance from middle managers(Alwis Hartmann 2008;Amabile et al.,1996;Anderson Veillette 2008;Bakker et al., 2006;Carreir 1998; Oldham and Cummings 1996;Lyold 1999;Mclean 2005;McConville 1990;Toubia,2006;Sadi,2008;Wong Pang Finally, the existing research also evidences that although the interest and practice in Continuous Improvement (CI) are widespread in many organizations, many of them have major problems in sustaining success in their CI programs (Rapp and Eklund, 2007),). Many organizations are faced with problems associated with both the implementation and sustainability of their CI programs. There is no study which gives account of the design features for frequency of feedback or extent to publicity (Leach,2006).Despite the increasing popularity of the gain sharing plans, evidence for their effectiveness has remained mixed(Arthur et al., 2010). Suggestion systems should not exist primarily as a means to recognize employees only (Darragh Jeromos 2005) but to utilize the scheme to its fullest extent. So a well designed system will accomplish both these goals resulting in tangible as well as intangible benefits (Ahmed, 2009). Overall suggestion system is a great mechanism that involves individual a nd teams in improving the organization performance (Crail, 2006) and they have a strong and significant effect on both process and product innovation (Townsend, 2009). It perfectly matches todays market need to deal with knowledge based workers who expect their involvement to be recognized and utilization of their skills to its fullest (Kesting et al., 2010). # Indicators Source 1 Supervisory encouragement Mclean 2005;Marx 1995;Shalley Gilson 2004;Tatter 1975;Frese et al 1999;Lloyd 1996;Ohly et al 2006;Arif et al 2010;Hardin 1964 2 Co worker support Madjar 2008;Majdar 2005;Shalley Gilson 2004;Arif et al 2010 3 Top Mgt Support Huang Farh 2009.;Amabile et al 2004;Carreir 1998;Egan 2005;Jong Hartog 2007;Marx 1995;McConville 1990;Du plessis 2008;Ahmed 2009;Mishara 1994;Powell 2008;Prather Turrell;Rice 2009;Zhang 2010;Khairuzzaman;Bell 1997 ;Unsworth 2005;Hayward 2010. 4 organizational Encouragement Fairbank and Williams 2001;Alves et al 2007;Ahmed 1998;Alwis Hartmann 2008 Amabile et al 1996;Arthur Kim 2005;Bjà ¶rklund 2010;Darragh-Jeromos 2005;Ellonen et al., 2008;Griffiths-hemans Grover 2006;Janssen, O., 2004;Klijn Tomic 2010;Kudisch 2006;Neagoe Klein 2009;Mclean 2005;Malaviya, P., 2005;McConville 1990;Powell 2008;Prather Turrell; Recht Wildero ,1998;Shalley Gilson 2004;Al-Alawi et al 2007;Rietzschel 2008;Zhou George(2001);Stranne 1964;Van Ende 2002;Bell 1997 ;Khairuzzaman;Bigliardi Dormio 2009 5 Communication Alves et al 2007;Aoki 2008;Arthur et al 2010.;Binnewies et al 2007;Bjà ¶rklund 2010.Klijn Tomic 2010;Kudisch 2006;Madjar 2008;Majdar 2005;Madjar 2008;Majdar 2005;McConville 1990;Ahmed 2009; Recht Wildero ,1998;Shalley Gilson 2004;Tatter 1975;Khairuzzaman;Monge ;Al-Alawi et al 2007;Clark 2009;Fairbank and Williams 2001;Stranne 1964 6 Evaluation Egan 2005; Rietzschel 2008;Neagoe Klein 2009;Marx 1995;McConville 1990;Ahmed 2009;Powell 2008;Tatter 1975;Van Ende 2002;Hultgren 2008;Lloyd 1996;Winter 2009;Sarri et al ,2010;Fairbank and Williams 2001. 7 Publicity Reuter 1976;Mishara 1994;Tatter 1975;Fairbank and Williams 2001. Kudisch 2006;Neagoe Klein 2009;Leach et al 2006;Marx 1995;McConville 1990;Prather Turrell;Lloyd 1996;Winter 2009;Crail 2007 8 Resources   Alves et al 2007;Amabile et al 1996;Griffiths-hemans Grover 2006;Klijn Tomic 2010;Mclean 2005;McConville 1990;Shalley Gilson 2004;Van Ende 2002;Lloyd 1996;Bigliardi Dormio 2009;Clark 2009 9 Rewards Lloyd 1996; Klijn Tomic 2010;Arthur Kim 2005;Arthur et al 2010. ;Bartol Srivastava 2002;Darragh-Jeromos 2005;Neagoe Klein 2009;Leach et al 2006;Lloyd.1999;Marx 1995;McConville 1990;Du plessis 2008;Ahmed 2009;Mishara 1994;Rapp and Eklund 2007;Rice 2009;Shalley Gilson 2004;Tatter 1975;Teglborg-Lefevre, a.C., 2010;Van Ende 2002;Arif et al 2010;Bell 1997 ;Frese et al 1999;Winter 2009;Al-Alawi et al 2007;Baird Wang 2010;Bartol Srivastava 2002;Clark 2009;Crail 2007;Rietzschel(2008);Suh Shin 2008. ;Lyold 1999 10 Training Paulus 2008;Tatter 1975;Baird Wang 2010;Stranne 1964;Birdi 2005 11 Effective simple System Reuter 1976;Lloyd 1996 Arthur Kim 2005;Lloyd 1999;Marx 1995;McConville 1990;Fairbank 2003;Mishara 1994;Prather Turrell;Rapp and Eklund 2007;Tatter1975;Van Ende 2002;Arif et al 2010;Frese et al 1999;Hultgren 2008; Winter 2009;Bigliardi Dormio 2009;Clark 2009;Fairbank and Williams 2001;Lyold 1999;Bassadur 1992;Hultgren 2008 12 feedback Cho Erdem 2006 ;Bakker et al 2006 ;Buech et al 2010;Leach et al 2006;Mishara 1994;Powell 2008;Rapp and Eklund 2007;Arif et al 2010;Hultgren 2008;Fairbank and Williams 2001. ;Stranne 1964;Bassadur 1992;Van Ende 2002;Du plessis 2008 13 Implementation of suggestion Marx 1995;McConville 1990;Hultgren 2008;Lloyd 1996;Cho Erdem 2006 14 Job factors Amabile et al 1996;Anderson Veillette 2008. ;Bjà ¶rklund 2010.;Buech et al 2010;Griffiths-hemans Grover 2006;Hirst 2009;Powell 2008;Rego et al 2009;Shalley Gilson 2004;Shalley Gilson 2004;Frese et al 1999;Axtell et al 2000;Muà ±oz-Doyague et al( 2008);Unsworth 2005;Cruz et al 2009;de Jong den Hartog 2010. 15 Empowerment Recht Wildero ,1998;Lipponen et al 2008;Mclean 2005;Powell 2008;Axtell et al 2000;de Jong den Hartog 2010; Unsworth 2005 16 Expertise Bantel Jackson 1989;Bjà ¶rklund 2010;Griffiths-hemans Grover 2006;Klijn Tomic 2010;Madjar 2008;Majdar 2005;Verworn 2009;Bigliardi Dormio 2009 17 Individual attributes and self efficacy Huang Farh 2009.;Egan 2005;Lipponen et al 2008;Verworn 2009;Frese et al 1999;Axtell et al 2000;Aoki 2008.; Lipponen et al 2008;Binnewies et al 2007;Bjà ¶rklund 2010. ;Griffiths-hemans Grover 2006 ;Klijn Tomic 2010 ;Lipponen et al 2008;Litchfield 2008;Malaviya, P., 2005;Powell 2008; Recht Wildero ,1998;Shalley Gilson 2004;Verworn 2009;Janssen 2004;Litchfield 2008;Cruz et al 2009;Huang Farh 2009.;Aoki 2008.;Arthur et al 2010. ;Bjà ¶rklund 2010.;Darragh-Jeromos 2005;Egan 2005;Muà ±oz-Doyague 2008 18 job control Anderson Veillette(2008);Mclean, L.D., 2005;Sadi (2008);Anderson Veillette(2008) Wong Pang (2003);Neagoe, L.N. Klein, V.M., 2009;McConville(1990) 19 Organizational impediments Stenmark(2000);Alwis Hartmann(2008). Anderson, T.a. Veillette, a., 2008;Wong Pang (2003);Toubia 2005;Bakker, H., Boersma, K. Oreel, S., 2006);Amabile et al (1996);Lyold (1999);Fairbank, J.F., Spangler, W.E. Williams, S.D., 2003.Du Plessis, AJ, Marx, AE Wilson, G 2008 Fairbank, J.F., Spangler, W.E. Williams, S.D., 2003. Carrier C., 1998;Fairbank, J.F., Spangler, W.E. Williams, S.D., 2003;Du Plessis, AJ, Marx, AE Wilson, G 2008;.BaMcConville(1990);Mostaf El-Masry( 2009) 20 Team work Rapp and Eklund 2007; Amabile et al 1996;Aoki 2008;Carreir 1998;Darragh-Jeromos 2005;Mclean 2005;McConville 1990;Shalley Gilson 2004;Baird Wang 2010;Egan 2005;Pissarra Jesuino 2005;Fairbank and Williams 2001. 21 Competition Bakker, H., Boersma, K. Oreel, S., 2006) 22 Support for innovation Lipponen et al 2008;Hultgren 2008 23 employee participation Alves et al 2007;McConville 1990;Lloyd 1996;Fairbank and Williams 2001. ;Cruz et al 2009; Neagoe, L.N. Klein, V.M., 2009 Discussion Suggestion systems have evolved from a traditional suggestion box to sophisticated electronic systems aiming to encourage all employees to take part in suggestion schemes and to rapidly process the ideas received from the employees and put to practical use. Large organizations are focusing on achieving bigger goals at company level as well as at employee level to accrue the tangible as well as intangible benefits. However companys need to carefully implement the program as every organization has its own culture, it needs to tailor the program to meet their organization needs and what they expect from this system must be clearly known. While suggestion schemes have evolved over the decades, the main underlying factor driving this engine is to pursue workplace improvements, process or product innovations. Research in this field has been mainly focused on features of suggestion schemes, guidelines for implementation and critical success factors and critical barriers encompassing the organizational as well as the individual contexts. Research also evidences its contribution as to how organizations have utilized the tool to obtain small workplace improvements through to good sized innovation and if implemented they contribute in building organizations innovation capability. The suggestion making and suggestion implementation are two crucial stages and both are equally important for the success of the scheme and are influenced by a number of factors. Organizations must therefore identify these critical factors to nurture both these stages. The schemes can be applied in any sector to elicit employee creative ideas but must have a formal mechanism to action this. Managers need to be aware of critical success factors that are essential for the success of the schemes. It is clear that suggestion schemes will not yield results without the active involvement of everyone in the organization, and the required resources and support from top management. The suggestion schemes are here to stay mainly because they are the vehicle for innovations. Today we live in a knowledge economy where innovation is not only significant but a key corner stone for an organizations growth and sustainability. The future of the suggestion scheme is bright as a tool for fueling innova tion. Organizations need to recognize and evaluate their schemes to yield its potential benefits. There needs to be sustainabil

The Curious Atmosphere of Macbeth :: Free Essay Writer

The Curious Atmosphere of Macbeth       The Bard of Avon created a complex atmosphere in his writing of the tragedy Macbeth. Let's give detailed consideration to this aspect of the drama in this paper.    In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye shows how the atmosphere is altered for the better at the end of the play:    This theme is at its clearest where we are most in sympathy with the nemesis. Thus at the end of Macbeth, after the proclamation "the time is free," and of promises to make reparations of Macbeth's tyranny "Which would be planted newly with the time," there will be a renewal not only of time but of the whole rhythm of nature symbolized by the word "measure," which includes both the music of the spheres and the dispensing of human justice [. . .]. (94-95)    In his book, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, H. S. Wilson explains why the atmosphere is so important in Macbeth:    Macbeth is a play in which the poetic atmosphere is very important; so important, indeed, that some recent commentators give the impression that this atmosphere, as created by the imagery of the play, is its determining quality. For those who pay most attention to these powerful atmospheric suggestions, this is doubtless true. Mr. Kenneth Muir, in his introduction to the play - which does not, by the way, interpret it simply from this point of view - aptly describes the cumulative effect of the imagery: "The contrast between light and darkness is part of a general antithesis between good and evil, devils and angels, evil and grace, hell and heaven . . . and the disease images of IV, iii and in the last act clearly reflect both the evil which is a disease, and Macbeth himself who is the disease from which his country suffers."(67-68)    L.C. Knights in the essay "Macbeth" mentions equivocation, unreality and unnaturalness in the play - contributors to an atmosphere that may not be very realistic:    The equivocal nature of temptation, the commerce with phantoms consequent upon false choice, the resulting sense of unreality ("nothing is, but what is not"), which has yet such power to "smother" vital function, the unnaturalness of evil ("against the use of nature"), and the relation between disintegration in the individual ("my single state of man") and disorder in the larger social organism - all these are major themes of the play which are mirrored in the speech under consideration.

Teachers and Students Essay -- Teaching Education Essays

Teachers and Students The education habits of students are rooted in them from the earliest days of their educational careers. The different influences on students, whether it be inside educational institutions, or outside is huge. The teacher of a classroom is the first and most pertinent influence in a student's educational career. Teachers provide students with the basic skills they would need to survive not only in the academic world, but also the world beyond. The relationship between teachers and their students is the key element in creating an educational atmosphere that is both pleasant and effective. The experience of a student at school, especially at a younger age, in most cases sets the main base of the skills of that student. Teachers who provide a solid base most likely did so because they were able to relate to the classroom as a whole, and also to students as individuals. This is very important in the learning process. The teacher is the leader of the classroom. S/he is the one to decide the lesson plan for the students, and the best way of implementing that lesson plan in a given day. The excitement and enthusiasm that a teacher is able to create in the classroom, assists students in learning the subject not only with more positive energy, but also helps them be interested in topics that they would normally not be interested in. Often times there's a debate about the issue of whether teachers treat different students differently, either because of their ethnic background or their gender. David Thomas discussed this issue in his article, "The Mind of Man". Thomas argued that girls' performance in school is better than boys' not because girls are smarter and boys are not, but because they are treated diff... ...bjects and life outside the classroom. Also, teachers should not be blamed for the poor performance of boys (or girls) in their classroom on the basis that they treat them differently. After all, boys are boys, and girls are girls. Girls are conditioned to be calm and boys are conditioned to be active. This is something that the children already have within them when they enter the classroom. It is up to the teacher to be flexible enough to work with both different types of personalities in a given day. A great challenge...but not impossible! Works Cited Rose, Mike. "Lives on the Boundary." The Presence of Others. Eds. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000: 105-118 Thomas, David. "The Mind of Man." The Presence of Others. Eds. Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000: 120-124

Importance of Breakfast Essay

Studies have shown that person who take breakfast are more alert, with higher level of concentration and better problem-solving skills, and generally perform better in quality of work. The best time to eat breakfast is within an hour after waking up. After 10am, if people feel it is too late to eat breakfast, they can eat a healthy snack to give them some energy for the morning until lunch. If people having breakfast and develop a healthy breakfast routine, they will realize and understand the importance of breakfast. Let’s find out the importance of eating breakfast. To start the day, people need energy. One healthy way to get energy is through eating breakfast. The word â€Å"breakfast† literally means â€Å"to break the fast.† Breakfast provides your body and brain the nourishment it craves after an overnight fast. Having a meal in the morning helps you feel satisfied longer and helps deter snacking later in the day. Breakfast is essential to kick-starting your metabolism for the day. While you are sleeping and fasting, your body slows down many processes and burns less calories. Eating breakfast helps send the signal that it is time to bring these systems back up to speed so you burn more calories throughout the day. Now, you have know ones of other importance of breakfast, so let’s look another important of breakfast. Breakfast can produce brain power. Breakfast is your brain meal. When you wake up you have been fasting for about 8 hours. Energy giving glucose levels in your brain have dropped. The energy of the brain must be restored. Simply eating the right foods in the morning can maximize your brain power. Having a breakfast also can make your brain functioning at its optimal level. Your brain needs glucose to function, and after a night of not eating, your body’s stores have been depleted. Breakfast helps raise your blood glucose levels back to normal to give plenty of fuel for your brain to perform its best. The benefits of breakfast don’t just to get energy and to produce brain power. Regularly eating a healthy breakfast also help you to control the body weight. Eating breakfast may reduce your hunger later in the day, which may make it easier to avoid overeating. When the persons skip a healthy meal in the morning, that persons will pick snacks high in sugar and fat to curb the hunger. Another is healthy choices. Eating breakfast may get you on track to make healthy choices all day. When you eat breakfast, you tend to eat a healthier overall diet, one that is more nutritious and lower in fat. When you skip breakfast, you’re more likely to skip fruits and vegetables the rest of the day, too. Bear in mind that eating breakfast is important for your health. Without breakfast, it’s like climbing a mountain without any necessary equipment thus puts you at risk. The importance of breakfast is to get the energy, to produce brain power and help you lose excess weight and maintain your weight loss.

Smart Material

â€Å"SMART MATERIALS† ABSTRACT The world has undergone two materials ages, the plastics age and the composite age, during the past centuries. In the midst of these two ages a new era has developed. This is the smart materials era. According to early definitions, smart materials are materials that respond to their environments in a timely manner. The definition of smart materials has been expanded to materials that receive, transmit or process a stimulus and respond by producing a useful effect that may include a signal that the materials are acting upon it. Smart materials cover a wide and developing range of technologies.A particular type of smart material, known as chromogenics, can be used for large areaglazing in buildings, automobiles, planes, and for certain types of electronic display. Smart materials have been around for many years and they have found a large number of applications. There are many types of the materials present some of them listed below: Shape memory alloy 2) Piezoelectric materials 3) Magnetostrictive materials 4) Magneto- and electro-rheological materials 5) Chromic materials Due to the property of responding quickly with environment and many applications in daily life smart materials deserve a great future scope.I. INTRODUCTION Smart materials have been around for many years and they have found a large number of applications. The use of the terms ‘smart' and ‘intelligent' to describe materials and systems came from the US and started in the 1980? s despite the fact that some of these so-called smart materials had been around for decades. Many of the smart materials were developed by government agencies working on military and aerospace projects but in recent years their use has transferred into the civil sector for applications in the construction, transport, medical, leisure and domestic areas.The first problem encountered with these unusual materials is defining what the word† smart? actually means. One di ctionary definition of smart describes something which is a stute or ‘operating as if by human intelligence' and this is what smart materials are. A and back again when you return inside. This coating is made from a smart material which is described as being photochromic. There are many groups of smart materials, each exhibiting particular properties which can be harnessed in a variety of high-tech and everyday applications. These include shape memory smart material is one which reacts to its environment aby itself.The change is inherent to the material and not a result of some change in volume, a change in colour or a change in viscosity and this may occur in response to a change in temperature, stress, electrical current, or magnetic field. In many cases this reaction is reversible, a common example being the coating on spectacles which reacts to the level of UV light, turning your ordinary glasses into sunglasses when you go outside alloys, piezoelectric materials, magneto- rheological and electro-rheological materials, magnetostrictive materials and chromic materials which change their colour in reaction to various stimuli.The distinction between a smart material and a smartstructure should be emphasised. A smart structure incorporates some form of actuator and sensor (which may be made from smart materials) with control hardware and software to form a system which reacts to its environment. Such a structure might be an aircraft wing which continuously alters its profile during flight to give the optimum shape for the operating conditions at the time. II SHAPE MEMORY ALLOYS Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are one of the most well known types of smart material and they have found extensive uses in the 70 years since their discoveryWhat are SMAs? A shape memory transformation was first observed in 1932 in an alloy of gold and cadmium, and then later in brass in 1938. The shape memory effect (SME) was seen in the gold-cadmium alloy in 1951, but this was of li ttle use. Some ten years later in 1962 an equiatomic alloy of titanium and nickel was found to exhibit a significant SME and Nitinol (so named because it is made from nickel and titanium and its properties were discovered at the Naval Ordinance Laboratories) has become the most common SMA.Other SMAs include those based on copper (in particular CuZnAl), NiAl and FeMnSi, though it should be noted that the NiTi alloy has by far the most superior properties. How do SMAs work? The SME describes the process of a material changing shape or remembering a particular shape at a specific temperature (i. e. its transformation or memory temperature). Materials which can only exhibit the shape change or memory effect once are known as one way SMAs. However some alloys can betrained to show a two-way effect in which they remember two shapes, one below and one above the memory temperature.At the memory temperature the alloy undergoes a solid state phase transformation. That is, the crystal structur e of the material changes resulting in a volume or shape change and this change in structure is called a„thermoelastic martensitic transformation?. This effect occurs as the material has a martensitic microstructure below the transformation temperature, which is characterised by a zig-zag arrangement of the atoms, known as twins. The martensitic structure is relatively soft and is easily deformed by removing the twinned structure.The material has an austenitic structure above the memory temperature, which is much stronger. To change from the martensitic or deformed structure to the austenitic shape the material is simply heated through the memory temperature. Cooling down again reverts the alloy to the martensitic state as shown in Figure 1. The shape change may exhibit itself as either an expansion or contraction. The transformation temperature can be tuned to within a couple of degrees by changing the alloy composition.Nitinol can be made with a transformation temperature an ywhere between –100? C and +100? C which makes it very versatile. Where are SMAs used? Shape memory alloys have found a large number of uses in aerospace, medicine and the leisure industry. A few of these applications are described below. Medical applications Quite fortunately Nitinol is biocompatible, that is, it can be used in the body without an adverse reaction, so it has found a number of medical uses. These include stents in which rings of SMA wire hold open a polymer tube to pen up a blocked vein , blood filters, and bone plates which contract upon transformation to pull the two ends of the broken bone in to closer contact and encourage more rapid healing . It is possible that SMAs could also find use in dentistry for orthodontic braces which straighten teeth. The memory shape of the material is made to be the desired shape of the teeth. This is then deformed to fit the teeth as they are and the memory is activated by the temperature of the mouth. The SMART exerts enou gh force as it contracts to move the teeth slowly and gradually.Surgical tools, particularly those used in key hole surgery may also be made from SMAs. These tools are often often bent to fit the geometry of a particular patient, however, in order for them to be used again they return to a default shape upon sterilisation in an autoclave. Still many years away is the use of SMAs as artificial muscles, i. e. simulating the expansion and contraction of human muscles. This process will utilise a piece of SMA wire in place of a muscle on the finger of a robotic hand.When it is heated, by passing an electrical current through it, the material expands and straightens the joint, on cooling the wire contracts again bending the finger again In reality this is incredibly difficult to achieve since complex software and surrounding systems are also required. Figure 1 – Change in structure associated with the shape memory effect. NASA have been researching the use of SMA muscles in robots which walk, fly and swim! Domestic applications SMAs can be used as actuators which exert a force associated with the shape change, and this can be repeated over many thousands of cycles.Applications include springs which are incorporated in to greenhouse windows such that they open and close themselves at a given temperature. Along a similar theme are pan lids which incorporate an SMA spring in the steam vent. When the spring is heated by the boiling water in the pan it changes shape and opens the vent, thus preventing the pan from boiling over and maintaining efficient cooking. The springs are similar to those shown in Figure 5. SMAs can be used to replace bimetallic strips in many domestic applications.SMAs offer the advantage of giving a larger deflection and exerting a stronger force for a given change in temperature. They can be used in cut out switches for kettles and other devices, security door locks, fire protection devices such as smoke alarms and cooking safety indicato rs (for example for checking the temperature of a roast joint). Aerospace applications A more high tech application is the use of SMA wire to control the flaps on the trailing edge of aircraft wings.The flaps are currently controlled by extensive hydraulic systems but these could be replaced by wires which are resistance heated, by passing a current along them, to produce the desired shape change. Such a system would be considerably simpler than the conventional hydraulics, thus reducing maintenance and it would also decrease the weight of the system. Manufacturing applications SMA tubes can be used as couplings for connecting two tubes. The coupling diameter is made slightly smaller than the tubes it is to join. The coupling is deformed such that it slips over the tube ends and the temperature changed to activate the memory.The coupling tube shrinks to hold the two ends together but can never fully transform so it exerts a constant force on the joined tubes. Why are SMAs so flexibl e? In addition to the shape memory effect, SMAs are also known to be very flexible or super elastic, which arises from the structure of the martensite. This property Of SMARTs has also been exploited for example in mobile phone aerials, spectacle frames and the underwire in bras. The kink resistance of the wires makes them useful in surgical tools which need to remain straight as they are passed through the body.Nitinol can be bent significantly further than stainless steel without suffering permanent deformation. Another rather novel application of SMAs which combines both the thermal memory and super elastic properties of these materials is in intelligent fabrics. Very fine wires are woven in to ordinary polyester cotton fabric. Since the material is super elastic the wires spring back to being straight even if the fabric is screwed up in a heap at the bottom of the washing basket! So creases fall out of the fabric, giving you a true non-iron garment!In addition the wires in the s leeves have a memory which is activated at a given temperature (for example 38 C) causing the sleeves to roll themselves up and keeping the wearer cool. PIIEZOELECTRIIC MATERIIALS The piezoelectric effect was discovered in 1880 by Jaques and Pierre Curie who conducted a number of experiments using quartz crystals. This probably makes piezoelectric materials the oldest type of smart material. These materials, which are mainly ceramics, have since found a number of uses. What is the piezoelectric effect?The piezoelectric effect and electrostriction are opposite phenomena and both relate a shape change with voltage. As with SMAs the shape change is associated with a change in the crystal structure of the material and piezoelectric materials also exhibit two crystalline forms. One form is ordered and this relates to the polarisation of the molecules. The second state is nonpolarised and this is disordered. If a voltage is applied to the non-polarised material a shape change occurs as th e molecules reorganise to align in the electrical field. This is known as electrostriction.Conversely, an electrical field is generated if a mechanical force is applied to the material to change its shape. This is the piezoelectric effect. The main advantage of these materials is the almost instantaneous change in the shape of the material or the generation of an electrical field. What materials exhibit this effect? The piezoelectric effect was first observed in quartz and various other crystals such as tourmaline. Barium titanate and cadmium sulphate have also been shown to demonstrate the effect but by far the most commonly used piezoelectric ceramic today is lead zirconium titanate (PZT).The physical properties of PZT can be controlled by changing the chemistry of the material and how it is processed. There are limitations associated with PZT; like all ceramics it is brittle giving rise to mechanical durability issues and there are also problems associated with joining it with ot her components in a system. Where are piezoelectric materials used? The main use of piezoelectric ceramics is in actuators. An actuator can be described as a component or material which converts energy (in this case electrical) in to mechanical form.When a electric field is applied to the piezoelectric material it changes its shape very rapidly and very precisely in accordance with the magnitude of the field. Applications exploiting the electrostrictive effect of piezoelectric materials include actuators in the semiconductor industry in the systems used for handling silicon wafers, in the microbiology field in microscopic cell handling systems, in fibre optics and acoustics, in ink-jet printers where fine movement control is necessary and for vibration damping.The piezoelectric effect can also be used in sensors which generate an electrical field in response to a mechanical force. This is useful in damping systems and earthquake detection systems in buildings. But the most well know n application is in the sensors which deploy car airbags. The material changes in shape with the impact thus generating a field which deploys the airbag. A novel use of these materials, which exploits both the piezoelectric and electrostrictive effects, is in smart skis which have been designed to perform well on both soft and hard snow. Piezoelectric sensors detect vibrations (i. e. he shape of the ceramic detector is changed resulting in the generation of a field) and the electrostrictive property of the material is then exploited by generating an opposing shape change to cancel out the vibration. The system uses three piezoelectric elements which detect and cancel out large vibrations in real time since the reaction time of the ceramics is very small . By passing an alternating voltage across these materials a vibration is produced. This process is very efficient and almost all of the electrical energy is converted into motion. Possible uses of this property are silent alarms for pagers which fit into a wrist watch.The vibration is silent at low frequencies but at high frequencies an audible sound is also produced. This leads to the concept of solid state speakers based on piezoelectric materials which could also be miniaturised. Do polymers exhibit these effects? Ionic polymers work in a similar way to piezoelectric ceramics, however they need to be wet to function. An electrical current is passed through the polymer when it is wet to produce a change in its crystal structure and thus its shape. Muscle fibres are essentially polymeric and operate in a similar way, so research in this field has focussed on potential uses in medicine. ature of the piezoelectric effect making them invaluable for the niche applications which they occupy. MAGNETOSTRIICTIIVE MATERIIALS Magnetostrictive materials are similar to piezoelectric and electrostrictive materials except the change in shape is related to a magnetic field rather than an electrical field. What are magnetost rictive materials? Magnetostrictive materials convert magnetic to mechanical energy or vice versa. The magnetostrictive effect was first observed in 1842 by James Joule who noticed that a sample of nickel exhibited a change in length when it was magnetised.The other ferromagnetic elements (cobalt and iron) were also found to demonstrate the effect as were alloys of these materials. During the 1960s terbium and dysprosium were also found to be magnetostrictive but only at low temperatures which limited their use, despite the fact that the size change was many times greater than that of nickel. The most common magnetostrictive material today is called TERFENOL-D (terbium (TER), iron (FE), Naval Ordanance Laboratory (NOL) and dysprosium (D)). This alloy of terbium, iron and dysprosium shows a large magnetostrictive effect and is used in transducers and actuators.The original observation of the magnetostrictive effect became known as the Joule effect, but other effects have also been ob served. The Villari effect is the opposite of the Joule effect, that is applying a stress to the material causes a change in its magnetization. Applying a torsional force to a magnetostrictive material generates a helical magnetic field and this is known as the Matteuci effect. Its inverse is the Wiedemann effect in which the material twists in the presence of a helical magnet field.How do magnetostrictive materials work? Magnetic materials contain domains which can be likened to tiny magnets within the material. When an external magnetic field is applied the domains rotate to align with this field and this results in a shape change as. Conversely if the material is squashed or stretched by means of an external force the domains are forced to move and this causes a change in the magnetisation. Where are magnetostrictive materials used? Magnetostrictive materials can be used as both actuators (where a magnetic ield is applied to cause a shape change) and sensors (which convert a move ment into a magnetic field). In actuators the magnetic field is usually generated by passing an electrical current along a wire. Likewise the electrical current generated by the magnetic field arising from a shape change is usually measured in sensors. Early applications of magnetostrictive materials included telephone receivers, hydrophones, oscillators and scanning sonar. The development of alloys with better properties led to the use of these materials in a wide variety of applications.Ultrasonic magnetostrictive transducers have been used in ultrasonic cleaners and surgical tools. Other applications include hearing aids, razorblade sharpeners, linear motors, damping systems, positioning equipment, and sonar. MAGNETO– AND ELECTRO RHEOLOGIICAL MATERIIALS All of the groups of smart materials discussed so far have been based on solids. However, there are also smart fluids which change their rheological properties in accordance with their environment. What are smart fluids? Th ere are two types of smart fluids which were both discovered in the 1940s.Electro-rheological (ER) materials change their properties with the application of an electrical field and consist of an insulating oil such as mineral oil containing a dispersion of solid particles (early experiments used starch, stone, carbon, silica, gypsum and lime). Magnetorheological materials (MR) are again based on a mineral or silicone oil carrier but this time the solid dispersed within the fluid is a magnetically soft material (such as iron) and the properties of the fluid are altered by applying a magnetic field. In both cases the dispersed particles are of the order of microns in size.How do smart fluids work? In both cases the smart fluid changes from a fluid to a solid with the application of the relevant field. The small particles in the fluid align and are attracted to each other resulting in a dramatic change in viscosity as shown in Figure 7. The effect takes milliseconds to occur and is com pletely reversible by the removal of the field. Figure 8 clearly shows the effect of a magnet on such an MR fluid. With ER fluids a field strength of up to 6kV/mm is needed and for MR fluids a magnetic field of less than 1Tesla is needed. Where are smart fluids used?Uses of these unusual materials in civil engineering, robotics and manufacturing Electrodes Suspension fluid Particle Figure 7 – Schematic diagram showing the structure of a electrorheological fluid between two electrodes. The top figure shows the structure in a low field strength where the particles are randomly distributed. When a higher field strength is applied, as in the bottom diagram, the particles align causing a change in the viscosity of the fluid. Figure 8 – A puddle of magnetorheological fluid stiffens in the presence of a magnetic field. courtesy of Sandy Hill / University of Rochester) are being explored. But the first industries to identify uses were the automotive and aerospace industries wh ere the fluids are used in vibration damping and variable torque transmission. MR dampers are used to control the suspension in cars to allow the feel of the ride to be varied. Dampers are also used in prosthetic limbs to allow the patient to adapt to various movements for example the change from running to walking. Future Scope: The future of smart materials and structures is wide open.The use of smart materials in a product and the type of smart structures that one can design are only limited by one’s talents, capabilities, and ability to ‘‘think outside the box. ’’ In an early work5 and as part of short courses there were discussions pertaining to future considerations. A lot of the brainstorming that resulted from these efforts is now being explored. Some ideas that were in the conceptual stage are now moving forward. Look at the advances in information and comforts provided through smart materials and structures in automobiles. Automobiles can b e taken to a garage for service and be hooked p to a diagnostic computer that tells the mechanic what is wrong with the car. Or a light on the dashboard signals ‘‘maintenance required. ’’ Would it not be better for the light to inform us as to the exact nature of the problem and the severity of it? This approach mimics a cartoon that appeared several years ago of an air mechanic near a plane in a hanger. The plane says ‘‘Ouch’’ and the mechanic says ‘‘Where do you hurt? ’’ One application of smart materials is the work mentioned earlier of piezoelectric inkjet printer that serves as a chemical delivery to print organic light-emitting polymers in a fine detail on various media.Why not take the same application to synthesize smaller molecules? With the right set one could synthesize smaller molecules in significant amounts for characterization and evaluation and in such a way that we could design experiments with relative ease. A new class of smart materials has appeared in the literature. This is the group of smart adhesives. We previously mentioned that PVDF film strips have been placed within an adhesive joint to monitor performance. Khongtong and Ferguson developed a smart adhesive at Lehigh University. 0 They suggested that this new adhesive could form an antifouling coating for boat hulls or for controlling cell adhesion in surgery. The stickiness of the new adhesive can be switched on and off with changes in temperature. The smart adhesive also becomes water repellent when its tackiness wanes. 50 The term ‘‘smart adhesive’’ is appearing more frequently in the literature. A topic of research that was in the literature a few years ago was ‘‘smart clothes’’ or ‘‘wearable computers’’ being studied at MIT. The potential of this concept is enormous. This sounds wonderful as long as we learn how to work smart er, not longer.CONCLUSION: From the abilities of the smart material to respond the environmental changes the conclusion arises that ‘‘smart’’ in the name do not meet the definition of being smart, that is, responding to the environment in a reversible manner. Due to their properties they must deserve a great future. REFERENCES [1]Mechanical Engineers’ Handbook: Materials and Mechanical Design, Volume 1, Third Edition. Edited by Myer Kutz. [2]www. memorymetals. co. uk [3] www. nitinol. com [4] www. sma-inc. com [5]www. cs. ualberta. ca/~database/MEMS/sma_mems/sma. html [6]http://virtualskies. arc. nasa. gov/research/youdecide/Shapememalloys. html