The nature of economic activity
Economic activity is often correlated to the type of economic activity. Various methods have been derived to classify economies. These are:
Stages of market development
Global markets are at different stages of development which can be divided into five categories based on the criterion of gross national product per capita.
i) Preindustrial countries - incomes less than US$ 400 GNP per capita. Limited industrialisation, low literacy rates, high birth rates, heavy reliance on foreign aid, political instability. Parts of Sub-Saharan Africa. Little market potential.
ii) Less developed countries - per capita between US$ 401 and US$ 1,635. Early stages of industrialisation, growing domestic market, mature product markets, increasing competitive threat.
iii) Developing countries - per capita income between US$ 1,636 and US $ 5,500. Decrease in percentage of agricultural workers, industrialisation, rising wages, high literacy rates, lower wage rates than developed countries, formidable competitors.
iv) Industrialised countries - per capita income between US$ 5,501 and US$ 10,000. Moving towards post industrialisation, high standard of living.
v) Advanced countries - per capita income in excess of US$ 10,000. Post industrialisation, information processors, knowledge based, less machine based. Product opportunities are in new products, innovations and raw materials plus fresh foods.
The World Bank classification
The World Bank has drawn up a classification of economies based on GNP per capita.
i) Low income economies, China and India, other low-income-GNP per capita income of between US$ 675 or less, 41 nations including Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and Malawi.
ii) Middle income economies, lower middle income, GNP per capita of between US$ 676 and US$ 2,695, 40 nations including Zimbabwe, Mexico and Thailand.
iii) Upper middle income, GNP per capita of between US$ 2,676 and US$ 8,355, 17 nations including Brazil, Portugal and Greece.
iv) High income economies, OECD members and others, GNP per capita of between US$ 8,356 or more, 24 nations including UK and the USA.
v) Other economies - communist bloc.
Mozambique and Switzerland are the two extreme ends of the spectrum with US$ 80 per capita and US$ 29,880 per capita respectively.
Rostow:Whilst economic in nature, Rostow (1971) produced a five stage model of economic takeoff:
· Stage 1 traditional society, little increase in productivity, no modern science application systematically, low level of literacy
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· Stage 2 the preconditions of takeoff, modern techniques in agriculture and production, developments in infrastructure and social institutions
· Stage 3 the takeoff, normal growth patterns, rapid agricultural and industrial modernisation, good social environment.
· Stage 4 the drive to maturity, modern technology applied to all fronts, international involvement, can produce anything
· Stage 5 the age of high mass consumption, production of durable goods and services, large amounts of
These classifications enable marketers to assess where and how to operate in countries which may display the stage characteristics. For example African exporters would look to stage 4 and 5 economies to obtain the greatest revenue opportunities for other produce.
Another way to assess the market alternatives to a potential global marketer is to look at the origin of its national product - is it farm or factory generated? Farm workers tend to have low incomes. Input-output tables provide other insights into a country's potential, that is, what inputs go into a particular industry's output? What combination of labour, materials and equipment?
Infrastructure
Infrastructure is a very important element in considering whether to market in a country or not.
Transportation, for example, is vital. Zambia and Zimbabwe are landlocked and have relatively poor transport facilities. Tanzania, whilst having direct access to the coast, has also a relatively poor internal rural infrastructure. Chaos can therefore ensue, especially during the rainy season. Without being able to get produce to the point of exportation, countries will suffer poor export performance accordingly.
Energy consumption shows the overall industrialisation of a society as does its infrastructure. The less energy is consumed, the less likely the development of the market resulting in a not too attractive market proposition.
Communications are essential. India has only some 10 million telephones to a population of 1 billion people. Media availability is important. Zambia has 680 radios per 1000 population, France 2,059 per 1000. Malawi has no domestic television service but access to satellite television.
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Commercial infrastructure is also vital - banks, accountants, advertising agencies and other services. Without these " transaction " facilities, exporting cannot take place.
Urbanisation
Differences exist between "urban" and "country" dwellers. City dwellers may have more income, more developed communications and access to new products. Developing countries tend to suffer from rural drift, but without the accompanying incomes characteristic of developed countries. So when assessing market opportunities widespread urbanisation is no guarantee of a good market potential.
Chapter Summary
Economic factors are just some of the "environmental uncontrollables" which marketers must consider when deciding to market globally. The global economy can be traced back hundreds of years when traders from the east and west came together to exchange goods. Through the legacy of mercantilism up to the current GATT Round, marketers have had to contend with changes and developments in the economic environment, including the growth of regional economic blocs, all aimed at increasing cooperation between the grouped nations.
Markets differ widely in their size and state of development world wide. It would be too easy to classify these markets as "rich" or "poor", "developed" or "less developed", although this is often done for ease of analysis. Countries show great within country differences also and marketers have to be aware in assessing market potential that they do not use general descriptions of nations as criteria of whether to, or whether not to, open trade negotiations.
Review Questions
1. In what way has the global economy changed in the last 50 years? Why?
2. Discuss the various measures for assessing the size of market potential. What are the problems in the assessment? Give examples.
UNIT 2
MARKETS
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services (including labor) in exchange for money from buyers. It can be said that a market is the process by which the prices of goods and services are established.
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For a market to be competitive, there must be more than a single buyer or seller. It has been suggested that two people may trade, but it takes at least three persons to have a market, so that there is competition on at least one of its two sides. However, competitive markets rely on much larger numbers of both buyers and sellers. A market with single seller and multiple buyers is a monopoly. A market with a single buyer and multiple sellers is a monopsony. These are the extremes of imperfect competition.
Markets vary in form, scale (volume and geographic reach), location, and types of participants, as well as the types of goods and services traded. Examples include:
Physical retail markets, such as local farmers' markets (which are usually held in town squares or parking lots on an ongoing or occasional basis), shopping centers and shopping malls
(Non-physical) internet markets (see electronic commerce)
Allocation auction markets
Markets for intermediate goods used in production of other goods and services
Labor markets
International currency and commodity markets
Stock markets, for the exchange of shares in corporations
Artificial markets created by regulation to exchange rights for derivatives that have been designed to ameliorate externalities, such as pollution permits (see carbon trading)
Illegal markets such as the market for illicit drugs, arms or pirated products
In mainstream economics, the concept of a market is any structure that allows buyers and sellers to exchange any type of goods, services and information. The exchange of goods or services for money is a transaction. Market participants consist of all the buyers and sellers of a good who influence its price. This influence is a major study of economics and has given rise to several theories and models concerning the basic market forces of supply and demand. There are two roles in markets, buyers and sellers. The market facilitates trade and enables the distribution and allocation of resources in a society. Markets allow any tradable item to be evaluated and priced. A market emerges more or less spontaneously or is constructed deliberately by human interaction in order to enable the exchange of rights (cf. ownership) of services and goods.
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Historically, markets originated in physical marketplaces which would often develop into — or from — small communities, towns and cities.
Although many markets exist in the traditional sense — such as a marketplace — there are various other types of markets and various organizational structures to assist their functions. The nature of business transactions could define markets.
Financial markets facilitate the exchange of liquid assets. Most investors prefer investing in two markets, the stock markets and the bond markets. NYSE, AMEX, and the NASDAQ are the most common stock markets in the US. Futures markets, where contracts are exchanged regarding the future delivery of goods are often an outgrowth of general commodity markets.
Currency markets are used to trade one currency for another, and are often used for speculation on currency exchange rates.
The money market is the name for the global market for lending and borrowing.
Prediction markets are a type of speculative market in which the goods exchanged are futures on the occurrence of certain events. They apply the market dynamics to facilitate information aggregation.
A market can be organized as an auction, as a private electronic market, as a commodity wholesale market, as a shopping center, as a complex institution such as a stock market, and as an informal discussion between two individuals.
Markets of varying types can spontaneously arise whenever a party has interest in a good or service that some other party can provide. Hence there can be a market for cigarettes in correctional facilities, another for chewing gum in a playground, and yet another for contracts for the future delivery of a commodity. There can be black markets, where a good is exchanged illegally and virtual markets, such as eBay, in which buyers and sellers do not physically interact during negotiation. There can also be markets for goods under a command economy despite pressure to repress them.
In economics, a market that runs under laissez-faire policies is a free market. It is "free" in the sense that the government makes no attempt to intervene through taxes, subsidies, minimum wages, price ceilings, etc. Market prices may be distorted by a seller or sellers with monopoly power, or a buyer with monopsony power. Such price distortions can have an adverse effect on market participant's welfare and reduce the efficiency of market outcomes. Also, the relative level of organization and negotiating power of buyers and sellers markedly affects the functioning of the market. Markets where price negotiations meet equilibrium though still do not arrive at desired outcomes for both sides are said to experience market failure.
Markets are a system, and systems have structure. The structure of a well-functioning market is defined by the theory of perfect competition. Well-functioning markets of the real world are never perfect, but basic structural characteristics can be approximated for real world markets, for example:
many small buyers and sellers
buyers and sellers have equal access to information
products are comparable
There exists a popular thought that free markets would have a structure of a perfect competition. The logic behind the thought is that market failures are thought to be caused by other exogenic systems, and after removing those exogenic systems ("freeing" the markets) the free markets could run without market failures.
As an argument against such a logic there is a view that suggests that the source of market failures is inside the market system, so the removal of other interfering systems would not result in markets with a structure of perfect competition: capitalists don't want to enhance the structure of markets, just like a coach of a football team would influence the referees or would break the rules if he could while he is pursuing his target of winning the game. The capitalists are not enhancing the balance of their team versus the team of consumer-workers, so the market system needs a "referee" from outside that balances the game. The role of a "referee" of the market system is usually given to a democratic government.
The study of actual existing markets made up of persons interacting in a place in diverse ways is widely seen[by whom?] as an antidote to abstract and all-encompassing concepts of “the market” and has historical precedent in the works of Fernand Braudel and Karl Polanyi. The latter term is now generally used in two ways:
"the market" denoting the abstract mechanisms whereby supply and demand confront each other and deals are made. In its place, reference to markets reflects ordinary experience and the places, processes and institutions in which exchanges occurs.[2]
"the market" signifying an integrated, all-encompassing and cohesive capitalist world economy. See Aspers (2011) [3] for an overview of the research on markets.
A widespread trend in economic history and sociology is skeptical of the idea that it is possible to develop a theory to capture an essence or unifying thread to markets.[4] For economic geographers, reference to regional, local, or commodity specific markets can serve to undermine assumptions of global integration, and highlight geographic variations in the structures, institutions, histories, path dependencies, forms of interaction and modes of self-understanding of agents in different spheres of market exchange.[5] Reference to actual markets can show capitalism not as a totalizing force or completely encompassing mode of economic activity, but rather as "a set of economic practices scattered over a landscape, rather than a systemic concentration of power".[6]
C. B. Macpherson identifies an underlying model of the market underlying Anglo-American liberal-democratic political economy and philosophy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: Persons are cast as self-interested individuals, who enter into contractual relations with other such individuals, concerning the exchange of goods or personal capacities cast as commodities, with the motive of maximizing pecuniary interest. The state and its governance systems are cast as outside of this framework.[7] This model came to dominant economic thinking in the later nineteenth century, as economists such as Ricardo, Mill, Jevons, Walras and later neo-classical economics shifted from reference to geographically located marketplaces to an abstract "market".[8] This tradition is continued in contemporary neoliberalism, where the market is held up as optimal for wealth creation and human freedom, and the states’ role imagined as minimal, reduced to that of upholding and keeping stable property rights, contract, and money supply. This allowed for boilerplate economic and institutional restructuring under structural adjustment and post-Communist reconstruction.[9]
Similar formalism occurs in a wide variety of social democratic and Marxist discourses that situate political action as antagonistic to the market. In particular, commodification theorists such as Georg Lukács insist that market relations necessarily lead to undue exploitation of labour and so need to be opposed in toto.[10] Pierre Bourdieu has suggested the market model is becoming self-realizing, in virtue of its wide acceptance in national and international institutions through the 1990s.[11] The formalist conception faces a number of insuperable difficulties, concerning the putatively global scope of the market to cover the entire Earth, in terms of penetration of particular economies, and in terms of whether particular claims about the subjects (individuals with pecuniary interest), objects (commodities), and modes of exchange (transactions) apply to any actually existing markets.
A central theme of empirical analyses is the variation and proliferation of types of markets since the rise of capitalism and global scale economies. The Regulation school stresses the ways in which developed capitalist countries have implemented varying degrees and types of environmental, economic, and social regulation, taxation and public spending, fiscal policy and government provisioning of goods, all of which have transformed markets in uneven and geographical varied ways and created a variety of mixed economies. Drawing on concepts of institutional variance and path dependency, varieties of capitalism theorists (such as Hall and Soskice) identify two dominant modes of economic ordering in the developed capitalist countries, "coordinated market economies" such as Germany and Japan, and an Anglo-American "liberal market economies". However, such approaches imply that the Anglo-American liberal market economies, in fact, operate in a matter close to the abstract notion of "the market". While Anglo-American countries have seen increasing introduction of neo-liberal forms of economic ordering, this has not led to simple convergence, but rather a variety of hybrid institutional orderings.[12] Rather, a variety of new markets have emerged, such as for carbon trading or rights to pollute. In some cases, such as emerging markets for water, different forms of privatization of different aspects of previously state run infrastructure have created hybrid private-public formations and graded degrees of commodification, commercialization, and privatization.[13]
Problematic for market formalism is the relationship between formal capitalist economic processes and a variety of alternative forms, ranging from semi-feudal and peasant economies widely operative in many developing economies, to informal markets, barter systems, worker cooperatives, or illegal trades that occur in most developed countries. Practices of incorporation of non-Western peoples into global markets in the nineteenth and twentieth century did not merely result in the quashing of former social economic institutions. Rather, various modes of articulation arose between transformed and hybridized local traditions and social practices and the emergence world economy. So called capitalist markets, in fact, include and depend on a wide range of geographically situated economic practices that do not follow the market model. Economies are thus hybrids of market and non-market elements.[14]
Helpful here is J. K. Gibson-Graham’s complex topology of the diversity of contemporary market economies describing different types of transactions, labour, and economic agents. Transactions can occur in underground markets (such as for marijuana) or be artificially protected (such as for patents). They can cover the sale of public goods under privatization schemes to co-operative exchanges and occur under varying degrees of monopoly power and state regulation. Likewise, there are a wide variety of economic agents, which engage in different types of transactions on different terms: One cannot assume the practices of a religious kindergarten, multinational corporation, state enterprise, or community-based cooperative can be subsumed under the same logic of calculability (pp. 53–78). This emphasis on proliferation can also be contrasted with continuing scholarly attempts to show underlying cohesive and structural similarities to different markets.[15]
A prominent entry-point for challenging the market model's applicability concerns exchange transactions and the homo economicus assumption of self-interest maximization. As of 2012 a number of streams of economic sociological analysis of markets focus on the role of the social in transactions, and on the ways transactions involve social networks and relations of trust, cooperation and other bonds.[15] Economic geographers in turn draw attention to the ways in exchange transactions occur against the backdrop of institutional, social and geographic processes, including class relations, uneven development, and historically contingent path-dependencies.[16] Michel Callon's concept of framing provides a useful schema: each economic act or transaction occurs against, incorporates and also re-performs a geographically and cultural specific complex of social histories, institutional arrangements, rules and connections. These network relations are simultaneously bracketed, so that persons and transactions may be disentangled from thick social bonds. The character of calculability is imposed upon agents as they come to work in markets and are "formatted" as calculative agencies. Market exchanges contain a history of struggle and contestation that produced actors predisposed to exchange under c[clarification needed]
An emerging theme worthy of further study is the interrelationship, interpenetrability and variations of concepts of persons, commodities, and modes of exchange under particular market formations. This is most pronounced in recent movement towards post-structuralist theorizing that draws on Foucault and Actor Network Theory and stress relational aspects of personhood, and dependence and integration into networks and practical systems. Commodity network approaches further both deconstruct and show alternatives to the market models concept of commodities. Here, both researchers and market actors are understood as reframing commodities in terms of processes and social and ecological relationships. Rather than a mere objectification of things traded, the complex network relationships of exchange in different markets calls on agents to alternatively deconstruct or “get with” the fetish of commodities.[17] Gibson-Graham thus read a variety of alternative markets, for fair trade and organic foods, or those using Local Exchange Trading Systems as not only contributing to proliferation, but also forging new modes of ethical exchange and economic subjectivities.
Market size can be given in terms of the number of buyers and sellers in a particular market[18] or in terms of the total exchange of money in the market, generally annually (per year). When given in terms of money, market size is often termed market value, but in a sense distinct from market value of individual products. For one and the same goods, there may be different (and generally increasing) market values at the production level, the wholesale level and the retail level. For example, the value of the global illicit drug market for the year 2003 was estimated by the United Nations to be US$13 billion at the production level, $94 billion at the wholesale level (taking seizures into account), and US$322 billion at the retail level (based on retail prices and taking seizures and other losses into account).[19]
UNIT 3
ENGINEERING JOBS
Engineering technology is the profession in which a knowledge of mathematics and natural sciences gained by higher education, experience, and practice is devoted primarily to the implementation and extension of existing technology for the benefit of humanity.
Engineering technology education focuses primarily on the applied aspects of science and engineering aimed at preparing graduates for practice in that portion of the technological spectrum closest to product improvement, manufacturing, construction, and engineering operational functions.
Thus engineering technology is the application of engineering principles and modern technology to help solve or prevent technical problems.
Engineering technology is a relatively new discipline. Before engineering technology programs like Northeastern's emerged, people with scientific or technical ambitions had a difficult decision to make-what kind of education should they pursue? College-bound students had three choices.
Choice number one meant selection of a major from among the pure sciences, such as physics, chemistry, or biology. However, these majors are appropriate only for people interested in pursuing additional degrees, laboratory research, or careers in education.
The second choice involved selection from among the engineering science majors like civil engineering, electrical engineering, or mechanical engineering. But engineering requires highly developed analytical skills and prepares people for careers conceptualizing and designing technical devices or systems.
The third choice was deciding not to attend college, but to enroll in a technical or vocational school. This route is best suited for people interested in the trades; that is, for people who want careers physically building, operating, or repairing machinery.
Engineering technology curricula provide a fourth option. The programs are designed to meet the growing need created by the technology revolution for college-educated problem solvers who can support the engineering process.
Engineering technology programs include scientific and engineering principles relevant to your chosen field: you will come to understand why a system is designed in a particular fashion and how it works.
In addition, engineering technology students acquire hands-on technical skills that enable them to solve production and system implementation problems and help them explain solutions.
People who are part of the technology workplace include scientists, engineers, technologists, technicians, and tradespeople. All these people have specialized education or training beyond the high school level and often work together as a team. As on any team, the players have different but important roles.
Scientists are concerned with advancing our understanding of the laws of nature and our knowledge of scientific principles. The scientist is primarily involved in research.
Engineers employ the scientific knowledge developed by scientists in planning, designing, and constructing technical devices and systems. The engineer is a developer of technological innovations.
Engineering technologists work closely with engineers in coordinating people, material, and machinery to achieve the specific goals of a particular project. The engineering technologist is often responsible for design and development.
Engineering is the science, skill, and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design, build, and maintain structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes.
The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD, the predecessor of ABET)[1] has defined "engineering" as:
The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation or safety to life and property.[2][3]
One who practices engineering is called an engineer, and those licensed to do so may have more formal designations such as Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, Ingenieur or European Engineer. The broad discipline of engineering encompasses a range of more specialized sub disciplines, each with a more specific emphasis on certain fields of application and particular areas of technology.
Engineering has existed since ancient times as humans devised fundamental inventions such as the pulley, lever, and wheel. Each of these inventions is consistent with the modern definition of engineering, exploiting basic mechanical principles to develop useful tools and objects.
The term engineering itself has a much more recent etymology, deriving from the word engineer, which itself dates back to 1325, when an engine'er (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to "a constructor of military engines."[4] In this context, now obsolete, an "engine" referred to a military machine, i.e., a mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult). Notable exceptions of the obsolete usage which have survived to the present day are military engineering corps, e.g., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The word "engine" itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium (c. 1250), meaning "innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention."[5]
Later, as the design of civilian structures such as bridges and buildings matured as a technical discipline, the term civil engineering[3] entered the lexicon as a way to distinguish between those specializing in the construction of such non-military projects and those involved in the older discipline of military engineering.
The Pharos of Alexandria, the pyramids in Egypt, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Acropolis and the Parthenon in Greece, the Roman aqueducts, Via Appia and the Colosseum, Teotihuacán and the cities and pyramids of the Mayan, Inca and Aztec Empires, the Great Wall of China, the Brihadeshwara temple of Tanjavur and tombs of India, among many others, stand as a testament to the ingenuity and skill of the ancient civil and military engineers.
The earliest civil engineer known by name is Imhotep.[3] As one of the officials of the Pharaoh, Djosèr, he probably designed and supervised the construction of the Pyramid of Djoser (the Step Pyramid) at Saqqara in Egypt around 2630-2611 BC.[6] He may also have been responsible for the first known use of columns in architecture[citation needed].
Ancient Greece developed machines in both the civilian and military domains. The Antikythera mechanism, the first known mechanical computer,[7][8] and the mechanical inventions of Archimedes are examples of early mechanical engineering. Some of Archimedes' inventions as well as the Antikythera mechanism required sophisticated knowledge of differential gearing or epicyclic gearing, two key principles in machine theory that helped design the gear trains of the Industrial revolution, and are still widely used today in diverse fields such as robotics and automotive engineering.[9]
Chinese, Greek and Roman armies employed complex military machines and inventions such as artillery which was developed by the Greeks around the 4th century B.C.,[10] the trireme, the ballista and the catapult. In the Middle Ages, the Trebuchet was developed.
The first electrical engineer is considered to be William Gilbert, with his 1600 publication of De Magnete, who coined the term "electricity".[11]
The first steam engine was built in 1698 by mechanical engineer Thomas Savery.[12] The development of this device gave rise to the industrial revolution in the coming decades, allowing for the beginnings of mass production.
With the rise of engineering as a profession in the eighteenth century, the term became more narrowly applied to fields in which mathematics and science were applied to these ends. Similarly, in addition to military and civil engineering the fields then known as the mechanic arts became incorporated into engineering.
Electrical engineering can trace its origins in the experiments of Alessandro Volta in the 1800s, the experiments of Michael Faraday, Georg Ohm and others and the invention of the electric motor in 1872. The work of James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz in the late 19th century gave rise to the field of electronics. The later inventions of the vacuum tube and the transistor further accelerated the development of electronics to such an extent that electrical and electronics engineers currently outnumber their colleagues of any other engineering specialty.[3]
The inventions of Thomas Savery and the Scottish engineer James Watt gave rise to modern mechanical engineering. The development of specialized machines and their maintenance tools during the industrial revolution led to the rapid growth of mechanical engineering both in its birthplace Britain and abroad.[3]
John Smeaton was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer, and often regarded as the "father" of civil engineering. He was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59) where he pioneered the use of 'hydraulic lime' (a form of mortar which will set under water) and developed a technique involving dovetailed blocks of granite in the building of the lighthouse. His lighthouse remained in use until 1877 and was dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe where it is known as Smeaton's Tower. He is important in the history, rediscovery of, and development of modern cement, because he identified the compositional requirements needed to obtain "hydraulicity" in lime; work which led ultimately to the invention of Portland cement.
Chemical engineering, like its counterpart mechanical engineering, developed in the nineteenth century during the Industrial Revolution.[3] Industrial scale manufacturing demanded new materials and new processes and by 1880 the need for large scale production of chemicals was such that a new industry was created, dedicated to the development and large scale manufacturing of chemicals in new industrial plants.[3] The role of the chemical engineer was the design of these chemical plants and processes.[3]
Aeronautical engineering deals with aircraft design while aerospace engineering is a more modern term that expands the reach of the discipline by including spacecraft design.[13] Its origins can be traced back to the aviation pioneers around the start of the 20th century although the work of Sir George Cayley has recently been dated as being from the last decade of the 18th century. Early knowledge of aeronautical engineering was largely empirical with some concepts and skills imported from other branches of engineering.[14]
The first PhD in engineering (technically, applied science and engineering) awarded in the United States went to Willard Gibbs at Yale University in 1863; it was also the second PhD awarded in science in the U.S.[15]
Only a decade after the successful flights by the Wright brothers, there was extensive development of aeronautical engineering through development of military aircraft that were used in World War I . Meanwhile, research to provide fundamental background science continued by combining theoretical physics with experiments.
In 1990, with the rise of computer technology, the first search engine was built by computer engineer Alan Emtage.
Engineering, much like other science, is a broad discipline which is often broken down into several sub-disciplines. These disciplines concern themselves with differing areas of engineering work. Although initially an engineer will usually be trained in a specific discipline, throughout an engineer's career the engineer may become multi-disciplined, having worked in several of the outlined areas. Engineering is often characterized as having four main branches:[16][17]
Chemical engineering – The application of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering principles in order to carry out chemical processes on a commercial scale.
Civil engineering – The design and construction of public and private works, such as infrastructure (airports, roads, railways, water supply and treatment etc.), bridges, dams, and buildings.
Electrical engineering – The design and study of various electrical and electronic systems, such as electrical circuits, generators, motors, electromagnetic/electromechanical devices, electronic devices, electronic circuits, optical fibers, optoelectronic devices, computer systems, telecommunications, instrumentation, controls, and electronics.
Mechanical engineering – The design of physical or mechanical systems, such as power and energy systems, aerospace/aircraft products, weapon systems, transportation products engines, compressors, powertrains, kinematic chains, vacuum technology, and vibration isolation equipment.
Beyond these four, sources vary on other main branches. Historically, naval engineering and mining engineering were major branches. Modern fields sometimes included as major branches include aerospace, petroleum, systems, audio, software, architectural, biosystems, biomedical,[18] industrial, materials,[19] and nuclear[20] engineering.[citation needed]
New specialties sometimes combine with the traditional fields and form new branches - for example Earth Systems Engineering and Management involves a wide range of subject areas including anthropology, engineering, environmental science, ethics and philosophy. A new or emerging area of application will commonly be defined temporarily as a permutation or subset of existing disciplines; there is often gray area as to when a given sub-field becomes large and/or prominent enough to warrant classification as a new "branch." One key indicator of such emergence is when major universities start establishing departments and programs in the new field.
For each of these fields there exists considerable overlap, especially in the areas of the application of sciences to their disciplines such as physics, chemistry and mathematics.
UNIT 4
CONSTRUCTION WORKS
Parts of a building
Almost everyone has watched building of a house and followed its progress with interest.
First the excavation is dug for the basement, then the foundation walls bellow ground level are constructed; after this the framework is erected and clothed with various furnishing materials and protected by several coats of paint. The part upon which the stability of the structure depends is the framework. It is intended for safely carrying the loads imposed. The doors, walls, roof and other parts of the building must be carefully designed and proportioned. The architect or designer must decide what the size of the walls, the doors, the beams, the girders and the parts which make up the framework must be, and how they must be placed and arranged. Sometimes it is done by the architect who draws the plans for the house, sometimes by a designer. Here are the main parts of a building and their functions. Foundations are to keep the walls and doors from contact with the soil, to guard them against the action of frost, to prevent them from sinking and settling which can cause cracks in walls and uneven doors. Floors divide the building into stories. They may be either of timber or of a pre-resisting material. Walls are built to enclose areas and carry the weight of doors and roofs. The walls may be solid or hollow. The materials used for the wall construction can be brick, stone, concrete and other natural and artificial materials. Roofs cover the building and protect it from exposure to weather. They tie the walls and give the construction strength and firmness. Wastewater treatment is a critical activity in environmental engineering, a sub-discipline of civil engineering. Environmental engineering deals with the treatment of chemical, biological, and/or thermal waste, the purification of water and air, and the remediation of contaminated sites, due to prior waste disposal or accidental contamination. Among the topics covered by environmental engineering are pollutant transport, water purification, sewage treatment, and hazardous waste management. Environmental engineers can be involved with pollution reduction, green engineering, and industrial ecology. Environmental engineering also deals with the gathering of information on the environmental consequences of proposed actions and the assessment of effects of proposed actions for the purpose of assisting society and policy makers in the decision making process. Environmental engineering is the contemporary term for sanitary engineering. Some other terms in use are public health engineering and environmental health engineering.
Construction engineering
Construction engineering involves planning and execution of the designs from transportation, site development, hydraulic, environmental, structural and geotechnical engineers. As construction terms tend to have higher business risk than other types of civil engineering terms,
many construction engineers tend to take on a role that is more businesslike in nature: drafting and reviewing contracts, evaluating logistical operations, and closely-monitoring prices of necessary supplies.
Materials science
Civil engineering also includes elements of materials science.
Construction materials with broad applications in civil engineering include ceramics such as Portland cement concrete (PCC) and hot mix asphalt concrete, metals such as aluminum and steel, and polymers such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and carbon. Current research in these areas focus around increased strength, durability, workability, and reduced cost.
Surveying
Elements of a building or structure must be correctly sized and positioned in relation to each other and to site boundaries and adjacent structures. Civil engineers are trained in the methods of surveying and may seek Professional Land Surveyor status.
Careers
In the United States, there is no one typical career path for Civil Engineers. Most engineering graduates start with jobs of low responsibility, and as they prove their competence, are given more and more responsible tasks, but within each subfield of civil engineering, and even within different segments of the market within each branch, the details of a career path can vary. In some fields and in some terms, entrylevel engineers are put to work primarily monitoring construction in the field, serving as the “eyes and ears” of more senior design engineers; while in other areas, entry-level engineers end up performing the more routine tasks of analysis or design. More senior engineers can move into doing more complex analysis or design work, or management of more complex design projects, or management of other engineers, or into specialized consulting, including forensic engineering. Salaries for Civil Engineers in the United States have typically been lower than those for other fields of engineering, but entry-level salaries are higher than those in most non-engineering fields outside IT.
Education and Licensure
Prior to becoming a practicing engineer, civil engineers generally complete tertiary (college or higher) educational requirements, followed by several years of practical experience. Each country, state, or province individually regulates civil engineering practice. In the U.S., one must become a licensed Professional Engineer to do any civil engineering work affecting the public or to legally represent oneself as a civil engineer. Licensure requirements vary slightly by state, but in all cases entail passing two licensure exams, the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and the Principles and Practice exam, and completing a state-mandated number of years of work under the supervision of a licensed Professional Engineer. In addition, an educational requirement must often be met. All states accept a four year Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) degree in Civil Engineering. The acceptability of degrees in other fields varies by state; some states allow a person to substitute additional years of supervised work experience for the degree requirement. Although the American Society of Civil Engineers encourages states
to raise the educational requirement to a graduate degree, advanced degrees are currently optional for civil engineers in the United States. Graduate study may lead either to a Master of Engineering, which is a Professional Master’s degree, or to a Master of Science degree followed by a PhD in civil engineering or a sub-discipline.
Construction engineering
Construction engineering concerns the planning and management of the construction of structures such as highways, bridges, airports, railroads, buildings, dams, and reservoirs. Construction of such projects requires knowledge of engineering and management principles and
business procedures, economics, and human behavior. Construction engineers engage in the design of structures temporary, cost estimating, planning and scheduling, materials procurement, selection of equipment, and cost control.
Construction Engineering is differentiated from Construction Management from the standpoint of the use of math, science, and engineering to analyze problems and design a construction process. Construction engineers build many of the things that people use everyday. Construction engineering involves many aspects of construction including: commercial, residential, bridges, airports, tunnels, and dams. It is an extremely large industry that provides jobs to many and
continues to grow. Currently there are nearly 6 million people working on construction in the United States Construction engineers are in high demand so it is easy for a CE to get a job in any part of the country.
UNIT 5
INFORMATIONAL TECHNOLOGIES
Information Technology – A Definition:
We use the term information technology or IT to refer to an entire industry. In actuality, information technology is the use of computers and software to manage information. In some companies, this is referred to as Management Information Services (or MIS) or simply as Information Services (or IS). The information technology department of a large company would be responsible for storing information, protecting information, processing the information, transmitting the information as necessary, and later retrieving information as necessary.
History of Information Technology:
In relative terms, it wasn't long ago that the Information Technology department might have consisted of a single Computer Operator, who might be storing data on magnetic tape, and then putting it in a box down in the basement somewhere. The history of information technology is fascinating! Check out these history of information technology resources for information on everything from the history of IT to electronics inventions and even the top 10 IT bugs.
Modern Information Technology Departments:
In order to perform the complex functions required of information technology departments today, the modern Information Technology Department would use computers, servers, database management systems, and cryptography. The department would be made up of several System Administrators, Database Administrators and at least one Information Technology Manager. The group usually reports to the Chief Information Officer (CIO).
Popular Information Technology Skills:
Some of the most popular information technology skills at the moment are:
Computer Networking
Information Security
IT Governance
ITIL
Business Intelligence
Linux
Unix
Project Management
Information Technology Certifications:
Having a solid education and specific specialty certifications is the best way to progress in an information technology career. Here are some of the more popular information technology certifications:
Information Security Certifications
Oracle DBA Certifications
Microsoft Certifications
Cisco Certifications
Jobs in IT:
There can be a lot of overlap between many of the job descriptions within information technology departments. In order to clarify the descriptions, skills and career paths of each, I have put together a Jobs in IT listing. The jobs in IT listing includes information on education and training required for each position. It also includes lists of companies that typically have IT jobs open, as well as links to IT-specific resumes, cover letters and IT interview questions.
Information Technology - Trends:
Information Technology Departments will be increasingly concerned with data storage and management, and will find that information security will continue to be at the top of the priority list. Cloud computing remains a growing area to watch. The job outlook for those within Information Technology is strong, with data security and server gurus amongst the highest paid techies. Check out the Information Security Certifications and Highest Paying Certifications for more information. In order to stay current in the Information Technology Industry, be sure you subscribe to top technology industry publications.
Organizations are increasingly sourcing their business processes through external service providers, a practice known as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Worldwide, the current BPO market could be as much as $279 billion and is predicted to continue growing at 25% annually. Academic researchers have been studying this market for about 15 years and have produced findings relevant to practice. The entire body of BPO research has never been reviewed, and this paper fills that gap. We filtered the total studies and reviewed 87 empirically robust BPO articles published between 1996 and 2011 in 67 journals to answer three research questions: What has the empirical academic literature found about BPO decisions and outcomes? How do BPO findings compare with Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) empirical research? What are the gaps in knowledge to consider in future BPO research? Employing a proven method that Lacity et al. (2010) used to review the empirical ITO literature, we encapsulated this empirical literature on BPO in a way that is concise, meaningful, and helpful to researchers. We coded 43 dependent variables, 152 independent variables, and 615 relationships between independent and dependent variables. By extracting the best evidence, we developed two models of BPO: one model addresses BPO decisions and one model addresses BPO outcomes. The model of BPO decisions includes independent variables associated with motives to outsource, transaction attributes, and client firm characteristics. The model of BPO outcomes includes independent variables associated with contractual and relational governance, country characteristics, and client and supplier capabilities. Overall, BPO researchers have a broad and deep understanding of BPO. However, the field continues to evolve as clients and suppliers on every inhabited continent participate actively in the global sourcing community. There is still much research yet to be done. We propose nine future paths of research pertaining to innovation effects, retained capabilities, environmental influences, global destinations, supplier capabilities, pricing models, business analytics, emerging models, and grounded theory development.
Once an organization has adopted packaged software, upgrades to newer versions are inevitable. Anecdotal reports suggest that software upgrades are extremely costly and may not bring actual benefit to stakeholders in the organization. Because software upgrades recur periodically, it is important to understand the impacts of software upgrades on organizational stakeholders. In this study, we examine the impact of packaged software upgrades from the perspectives of IS staff and IS users. A dual case study was conducted to understand the impacts of an SAP upgrade and a Windows upgrade. Our study shows that there are two essential costs in each upgrade, the cost of implementation and the costs of users’ learning. Moreover, not all users experience positive impacts from software upgrade. Users’ experience of beneficial impact is contingent upon users’ explicit adoption of useful new features and improvement in features that users use.
UNIT 6
Ecology
Effects of Global Warming
Scientists say the warming of the Earth's atmosphere has begun try affect plant and animal life around the world. Scientists from the University of Hanover in Germany say global warning is affecting endangered species, sea life and the change in seasonal activities of organisms. Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere cause global warming.
Studies show that the Earth's climate has warmed by about sixteenths of one degree Celsius during the past one-hundred years. Most of the increase has taken place in the last thirty years.
The German scientists studied different animal and plant populations around the world in the past thirty years. They say some species will disappear because they can not move to new areas when their home climate gets too warm.
The scientists say one of the biggest signs of climate change has been the worldwide reduction in coral reefs. Rising temperatures in the world's warm ocean waters have caused coral to lose colour and die.
In the coldest areas of the world, winter freezing periods are now happening later and ending earlier. Researchers say these changes are having severe effects on animals such as penguins, seals and polar bears.
Changes in temperature in the air can also affect the reproduction of some reptiles and amphibians. For example, the gender of baby painted turtles is linked to the average temperature in July. Scientists say even small temperature increases can threaten the production of male turtles.
In Europe, scientists say warmer temperatures are affecting the spring and autumn seasons. This is affecting the growth of plants and delaying the flight of birds from one place to another.
Scientists also are concerned about invasions of warm weather species into traditionally colder areas. Rising temperatures have been linked with diseases spread by mosquito insects in areas of Asia, East Africa and Latin America.
Britain's Meteorological Office says worldwide temperatures will continue to rise during the next one-hundred years. It says have much these temperatures increase will depend on the success of worldwide policies designed to slow global warming.
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