Saturday, January 25, 2020

Effects of South West Monsoon (SWM) on Cloud Cover and Shape

Effects of South West Monsoon (SWM) on Cloud Cover and Shape INTRODUCTION An investigation of the cloud shape stability and the cloud covering is presented on the immediate pre and post south-west monsoon (SWM) commencement. The study focuses on Sri Lankan region bounded by longitude 700E-950E latitude 00-200N during the months April, May June in the years 2012 and 2013. Monsoon onset is a remarkably abrupt event and has established the criterion to determine the onset date which is noticeably controversial and a complicated issue. The prime aim of this paper is to understand the vagaries of the cloud dynamics on the before, inception after the SW monsoon and the analysis are carried out purely based on the computer based image processing rather than chemical physical processes. Cloud shape stability which is determined by the pixel orientation based on the neighbourhood begins to drop in April-May and remains in that low level in subsequent months of both years while cloud cover which is determined by the brightness of the pixel starts to go up in the same period and remains in that high level in the following months as well. The south-west (SW) monsoon brings somewhat organized heavy rainfall to Sri Lanka. The economy of the country is largely influenced by the SW monsoon because major industries such as agriculture and power generation are highly depended on rainfall. Therefore, studying the commencement of SW monsoon and its structure is significant. There is no universally accepted definition or criterion to determine the monsoon onset and previous studies exhibited considerable year to year variation of SW monsoon onset [1]. Further, the climate system is a highly uncertain dynamical system which involves large number of factors such as precipitation, temperature, outgoing long wave radiation, wind speed and direction, humidity etc. Monsoon is also an onset-active-break-revival life cycle phenomenon [11]. Therefore, the establishment of a criterion to determine the onset is a noticeably controversial and complicated task. Major monsoon area of the world exists in South and East Asia and the Indian Ocean monsoon interact with the South China Sea monsoon [10]. Most of the previous studies relating to the monsoon onset were based on wind, precipitation, outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) and brightness temperature [1, 9, 11]. According to the summarization done by Wang et al from 1992 to 2001, only in one among seventeen (17) stud ies was involved with cloud data [1]. However, Wonsick et al document the seasonal progression of the Asian monsoon by analysing clouds and convection in the pre-peak and post-monsoon season [6]. Moreover, maximum cloud zone and the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) over the Indian region during the SW monsoon was investigated by Sikka et al and it has been found that the two maximum cloud zones are present during June-September, one of 150N and the other of equatorial region [4]. Most of the monsoon studies based on clouds as well as other variables were highly pertinent to China and Indian region. To the best of our knowledge, there have been no or very little research have been done to investigate the monsoon commencement in Sri Lankan region using the cloud patterns. In addition to the monsoon studies, there are certain studies relating to clouds. Among those, identification of tracer clouds done by Nilanjan et al [7] and automated cloud classification done by Bryan et al [3] motivated us to study the seasonal c loud dynamics. Thirty minute interval cloud images were downloaded from the http://202.54.31.45/ARCHIVE/ASIA-SECTOR/INFRARED. Images are taken from the Indian National Satellite System (INSAT) KALPANA 1 geostationary satellite. These images are derived from the emission by the earth and its atmosphere at thermal infrared wavelength of 10.5-12.5 Â µm and they cover the latitude range 100S-500N and the longitude range 450E – 1050E. The ground resolution at the sub satellite point is nominally 8 Km x 8 Km. Images are stored in the above web site as colour RGB JPEG format. Pixel resolution of the images is about 1200 x 1024 (72 dpi x 72 dpi) with 24bits depth including image header. The region bounded by the longitude 700E-950E and the latitude 00-200N extracted from the original image and the grey converted image is used for this study. This extracted bounded region provides a good coverage for the island of Sri Lanka. Moreover, this study investigates the cloud images from January 2012 to July 2013. Our objective of this research is to distinguish the strange behaviour of the clouds during the potential SW monsoon onset period. Sequel of this paper is as follows: next section describes the methodology followed by the results and discussion. The last section is allocated for a conclusions and recommendations. METHODOLOGY Local orientation which is used as a feature of a satellite image is a major contributor to determine the cloud shape life time. Local orientation which is also called the linear symmetry (LS) is characteristics by the least change of grey value in one direction and maximal change in the orthogonal direction [2,5]. Therefore, a linear symmetry tensor for an image is constructed with respect to the local neighbourhood for each pixel of the image. In this way, local symmetry tensors of the concerned bounded area of the 30 minute interval satellite images were constructed. By preserving the first image as the reference image, comparison takes place with its LS tensor and that of the subsequent images till the correlation drops below a specified threshold. In this study the threshold is 0.9. As long as this correlation of the subsequent image is higher than the threshold, is considered as the same cloud shape with the reference image. The time period until the drop of the correlation of the LS tensors below the threshold is considered as the life time of that particular cloud shape. This process was continued by taking the next immediate image as the new reference image and mean value of the life times is taken as the cloud shape life time for the particular day. In addition, the cloud cover was determined in the said area of the image using the feature of brightness of the pixel. If the pixel brightness is higher than the global threshold which is determined by the otsu’s method, it is considered as the cloudy pixel. As such the cloud cover area was calculated for the chosen area of image by counting the number of cloudy pixels. Similarly, the average was taken as the cloud cover of the particular day. Finally, the cloud shape life time and the cloud cover were analysed in the months of April, May and June which include the SW monsoon potential onset period [8, 10], of the years 2012 2013 which is presented in the following section. All calculations and analysis were done using the software MATLAB and Microsoft Excel. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION To look at the vagaries of the cloud dynamics in the immediate pre and post south-west monsoon commencement, monthly variation of cloud shape life time and cover from January 2012 to July 2013 are calculated and presented in figure 1 with the standard deviation. In both years, cloud shape stability life time start to drop in April-May and after the drop, this low level sustains during the entire peak monsoon period (June-September) in year 2012. Similar trend can be seen up to July in the year 2013. On the other hand, cloud cover starts to increase in same period and remains in that higher value during the whole peak period of monsoon in year 2012. Once again that trend can also be observed up to July 2013. According to the previous studies, Wang et al (2004), Wonsick et al (2009) and Tsing-Change Chen et al monsoon build up on average from 2nd week of May to 1st week of June[1, 6, 8, 10]. When we closely look at how a cloud behaves in this previously identified monsoon onset period, interestingly, we can see a remarkable change of behaviour in both cloud shape life time and the cloud cover occurred in the data considered for this study. First of all, highest cloud cover is increased by 48.56% than the previous day on May 19, 2012. Similarly in 2013, this happens on May 25 which is a 48.47% increase than the previous day. After goes up that high level of cloud cover is averagely 40 per cent or higher in 2013 while it is 40 per cent or higher in most of the days in 2012 remains till mid-June. This is shown in the figure 2. While cloud cover is increased on May 19 2012, the cloud shape stability time is strangely dropped by 51% on the same day when compared with that in the previous day. As shown in figure 3, after this drop the average low life time sustains till mid-June. For example, cloud shape life time of May 18, 19 and 20 are 12.42, 6.08 and 7.36 hours respectively and then it does not increase to a level as high as 12 hours. Similar behaviour can be observed in 2013 too. As higher cloud cover increased occurred on May 25, 2013, cloud shape life time brings to 6.42 hours on that day from 9.83 hours on previous day. This is a 34.75% drop which remains at that low life time as low as 5 hours up to mid-June. We can also see that the cloud shape life time drop occurred on May 20, 2013 by 37.66% than the previous day. However, the following day again it goes up by 50%. In addition, on May 28, 2013, once again we can observe the life time diminish by 38.98% but that drop brings 4.92 hours of life time on May 27 to 3.0 hours on May 28 which is not higher than 5.0 hours either of days and it is not a reasonably long run downward trend. Therefore, the life time drop occurred in May 25, 2013 is unusual. According to the literature, summer monsoon first appeared in South China Sea (SCS) and moves progressively northward [1]. The consistency between the above said dates and onset dates of the previous studies on south china sea and indian monsoon region are significant [1, 9]. In the literature, we can find a considerable amount of studies for defining onset of the monsoon. Some of them are based on multivariable. Certain studies have tried to define the onset using a single variable. However, resulting onset dates for some years were greatly divers because the choice of local variables are sensitivity to the region [1]. One of salient feature of most definitions is that a remarkable change the value of chosen factor or factors and sustains that value to some reasonable period. For instance, Wang et al define the South China Sea (SCS) summer monsoon onset as an index of 850 hPazonal winds average over the central SCS (USCS) is positive and remains positive on subsequent days (3 pentads) with accumulating mean greater than one [1]. Moreover, according to Tsing Chen et al wind field and rainfall are other important widely used factors for determining the onset. Again, these factors reach a certain critical amount and sustain that value for some consecutive d ays which is adopted as the criterion of monsoon onset [10].Similarly, we are able to identify the remarkable change of cloud shape life time and the cloud amount and sustain that change a considerable number of days in the same fashion. conclusions/RECOMMENDATIONS In 2012, within the potential SW monsoon onset period of 2nd week of May to 1st week of June (according to the previous studies), highest cloud cover increase occurred on May 19 and it is 48.56% higher than the previous day. After it goes up it remains in that value of around 40 per cent most of the days till mid-June and averagely higher in the entire peak SW monsoon period (June-September). On the other hand, cloud shape stability on the same day is dropped by 51 per cent than the previous day. Again this is the highest drop within the monsoon onset potential period. Similarly after the cloud shape life time goes down, it remains till mid-June and mean value is as low as the same within the whole monsoon peak period. Similar observation can be seen in that period of 2013 too. Highest cloud cover increase of 48.47% than the previous day is occurred on 25th May, 2013 and it remains till mid-June at as high as 40%. Moreover, the cloud shape life time too behaves as same as the previou s year. When compared with the previous day it is dropped by 34.75% on 25th May and that this low value remains in subsequent days till mid-June. In the light of the above findings, there is a sound reason to explain that the level of cloud cover and their shape life time are good indicators for determining the arrival date of the SW monsoon. On the other hand determining the monsoon structure such as arrival and withdrawal date, break time and its strength is a challenging demand. In the future, we expect to develop the image processing tools for capturing the structural information of the satellite cloud images in order to describe and figure out weather patterns as well as monsoon. REFERENCES B. Wang, Linho, Yongsheng Zhang, and M. M. Lu, 2004: Definition of South China Sea Monsoon Onset and Commencement of the East Asia Monsoon, Journal of Climate, 17, 699-710 Bigun, J., Gosta, H. Grandlund, Optimal Orientation Detection of Linear Symmetry, 1987, Proceedings of the IEEE First International Conference of Computer Vision. London, IEEE Computer Society Press, pp 433-438 Bryan A Baum, Vasanth Tovinkere, Jay Titlow, and Ronald M Welch, 1997: Automated Cloud Classification of Global AVHRR Data Using a Fuzzy Logic Approach, Journal of Applied Meteorology, 36, 1519-1540 D. R. Sikka, and Sulochana Gadgil, 1980: On the Maximum Cloud Zone and the ITCZ over Indian Longitudes during the Southwest monsoon, Monthly Weather Review, 1840-1853 H. L. Premaratne and J Bigun, 2002: Recognition of Printed Sinhala Characters Using Linear Symmetry, The 5th Asian Conference on Computer Vision, Melbourne, Australia, 23-25 January 2002 Margaret M Wonsick, Rachel T Pinker and Yves Govaerts, 2009: Cloud Variability over the Indian Monsoon Region as Observed from Satellites, Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 48, 1803-1821 Nilanjan Ray, Dipti Prasad Mukherjee and Jyotirmoy Das, 1999: Identification of Tracer Clouds: A Shape-based Approach, Current Science, 76, 916-923 S. Ramanayake, Lareef Zubair, and H. B. Nayakekorala, 1998: Week of Onset and Withdrawal of the Southwest Monsoon in Sri Lanka, SLAAS annual conference 54:251-252, December 1998 Tsing Change Chen and Ming Cheng Yen, 1994: Interannual Variation of the Indian Monsoon Simulated by the NCAR Community Climate Model: Effect of the Tropical Pasific SST, Journal of Climate, 7, 1403-1415 Tsing Change Chen and Jau-Ming Chen, 1995: An Observational Study of the South China Sea Monsoon during the 1979 Summer: Onset and Life Cycle, Monthly Weather Review, 123, 2295-2318 Tsing Change Chen, Ren Yow Tzeng and Ming Cheng Yen, 1988: Development and Life Cycle of the Indian Monsoon: Effect of the 30-50 Day Oscillation, Monthly Weather Review, 116, 2183-2199

Friday, January 17, 2020

Literature Essay

Narrative- â€Å"Only Daughter† by Sandra Cisneros In â€Å"Only Daughter,† Sandra describes her struggled life of being an only daughter of a Mexican-American family with six sons. She uses Spanish words to explain her family’s background and tradition. She explains how she accomplished her goal because of father wanting her to get married. She explains her life with past and recent events. Description- â€Å"Words left Unspoken† by Leah Hager Cohen In the story â€Å"Words Left Unspoken,† Leah describes her relationship with her grandfather. Leah describes thoroughly what her grandpa would do to catch her attention, or to speak to them without having to talk. She also explains how her grandmother, father lived in a small place where you couldn’t even stretch out your arms without hitting the other person in the room. Comparison and contrast- â€Å"Two Ways to Belong in America† by Bharati Mukherjee In the story â€Å"Two Ways to Belong in America,† Bharati describes her sisters and her relationship. They are on different sides of in the debate over the status of immigrants. Mukherjee tells us the differences between her sisters and herself live since they had gotten in America. She makes the essay with sympathy saying that she believed that people that worked in the U.S. should be able to become immigrants. Classification and Division- â€Å"Mothers Tongue† by Amy Tan In the story â€Å"Mother Tongue,† Amy describes how she changes the way she speaks when she’s with her mother. She and her husband don’t notice when she changes English because they are so used to it. Amy also explains how her mother’s tongue was the one to help her get her senses with the world.

Thursday, January 9, 2020

Essay about Corruption in The Great Gatsby - 1141 Words

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in 1896 and died in 1940. After dismissed from the army in 1917, he returned to Princeton and finished his first novel This Side of Paradise, which made him wealthy overnight. He then married Zelda, a beautiful but expensive girl. During his time (which he named Jazz Age), the whole American society was immersed in the post-war deteriorations and economic booming. The so-called lost generation forfeited their believes on American dream and solely aimed to pursue material and sensual pleasures. Fitzgerald himself also fully engaged in such main stream of the roaring twenties. He and his wife indulged in alcohol, dancing, and jazz music in the upper class parties. While gradually he realized that all†¦show more content†¦The real purpose for Gatsby to do so was to attract his past lover Daisy and win back her love. Five year ago, Gatsby met and fell in love with her during his service in the army. However, Daisy was tired of waiting for Ga tsby who was poor and engaged in the WWI and finally married to Tom Buchanan, who was quite wealthy and influential. But the material and physical satisfactions didn’t fulfill Daisy’s empty and hollow spirit. With the help of Nick, Gatsby and Daisy had a reunion in Nick’ house and their love seemed to revive. While soon Gatsby found that Daisy was no longer the pure and innocent girl he dreamed in the past, but a beautiful, silly, selfish and vulgar creature. Gatsby still struggled to repeat the past and hoped Daisy would change her mind and live with him forever, which led to a more pathetic tragedy to him. Afterwards the drunken Daisy, who drove in Gatsby’s car, killed Tom’s mistress Myrtle accidentally. But she made a conspiracy with Tom and cruelly through the guilty on Gatsby. Consequently, George Wilson, the husband of Myrtle rushed to Gatsby’s house abruptly and shot him to death and then committed suicide. Gatsby was eventually made the scapegoat for the cruel and selfish Daisy and her husband. Nick tried hard but few people attended Gatsby’s funeral, which was a big contrast to his luxury party with hundreds of guests. After the event, Nick decided to go back to the Midwest and keep distance from the roaring, cold and hypocrisy cityShow MoreRelatedCorruption In The Great Gatsby Analysis1160 Words   |  5 PagesIn a state of oblivion, the greatest of men can get corrupted by the object they seek.The thing they desire with great ferocity blinds them and it becomes their only focus, causing them to ignore the casualties they incite in the journey.This corruption courses throughout Fitzgeralds ‘The Great Gatsby’, while centering itself on a young man madly in love with a young woman, and the great ordeals he pursues her love.As simple as the plot is presented, the underlying theme of the novel centers on theRead MoreCorruption In The Great Gatsby Essay701 Words   |  3 Pageswas corrupt and selfish. In the Great Gatsby the upper class is shown as corruptive. The people in the upper class such as Tom and Daisy don’t really care about their actions because they feel invincible due to their amount of money and the power they have. Fitzgerald illustrates the corruption in the way upper class is care-less about their behavior. The way people in the upper class behave toward others and in society demonstrates how corruptive they are. At Gatsby parties the people behaved asRead MoreTheme Of Corruption In The Great Gatsby809 Words   |  4 PagesJust like any other word, corruption has multiple interpretations. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, corruption as a noun means dishonest or illegal behavior, especially by powerful people. Power also has a number of interpretations in a variety of different contexts. Historians associate power with an ability used to force people into obeying leaders. Scientists associate power as a rate at which work happens. F. Scott Fitzgerald associates corruption with New Yorkers who possess an abundanceRead MoreCorruption In The Great Gatsby Essay822 Words   |  4 PagesScott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is about a writer named Nick Carraway. He leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922 . Nick chases his American Dream and ends u p living next door to a mysterious, party-loving millionaire, Jay Gatsby, who is   across the water from his cousin, Daisy and her husband, Tom Buchanan. In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald reveals that the upper class society is corrupt from money. This is best proven through Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. UpperclassmenRead MoreThe Great Gatsby : The Corruption Of The American Dream1771 Words   |  8 PagesThe Great Gatsby: The Corruption of the American Dream The Great Gatsby may appear as a novel containing dramatic, twisted relationships; however, the main theme has to do with the culture of the 1920s, and how it leads to the downfall of the American Dream. The 1920s were an age of change: politically and socially. The nation’s wealth nearly doubled, leading many Americans into a prosperous society, while others experienced extreme poverty (The Roaring). People began performing, women wore flapperRead MoreEssay on The Corruption of the American Dream in The Great Gatsby1302 Words   |  6 Pages On April 10, 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald published The Great Gatsby, a novel that would later become one of the best known pieces of classic literature in history. However, at the time of its publication, Gatsby was fairly unpopular ad the reviews were never consistent. As shocking as it may seem, I believe it is because Fitzgerald’s intelligence and creativity levels were way ahead of his time, which is evident when one pays close attention to the themes of the novel. ForgivenessRead MoreThe Great Gatsby Displaying the Corruption of the American Dream742 Words   |  3 PagesThe Great Gatsby: The Corruption of the American Dream In the 1920’s many people left their countries to come to America seeking for the American dream. The American Dream meant being successful and happy. Many people started to learn that they couldn’t find that happiness without the money. In Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the characters based their lives off of wealth and materialism, forgetting what the real idea of the American dream was. Throughout the story, Daisy, Gatsby and MyrtleRead MoreThe Corruption of the American Dream in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby1345 Words   |  6 Pagessocial and economic mobility earned through hard work, as corrupted and debased by the egotistic materialism of the 1920s, an era which Fitzgerald characterizes chiefly by its greed and lavish hedonism, in his celebrated novel The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald, in The Great Gatsby, seeks to discredit the supposed purity of the American Dream and belief that anyone can attain it through hard work. Instead, he argues that the dream is a mere delusion, altered so significantly from its original form that itsRead MoreEssay on The Great Gatsby: The Corruption of the American Dream1010 Words   |  5 Pagesnovel ‘The Great Gatsby’ where there are a variety of characters that are living or seeking The American Dream. Whether it was Daisy and Tom Buchanan who were supposedly living the perfect lifestyle, Jay Gatsby who found himself submerged in money and always throwing parties for the higher class population of New York as well as Daisy, or Myrtle Wilson who throughout the novel seeked to be a high class woman, they all ended up unhappy or lost their own lives as a consequence. Jay Gatsby was a self-madeRead MoreEssay The Great Gatsby: Differences and Corruption of Classes543 Words   |  3 PagesThe Great Gatsby: Differences and Corruption of Classes Money is essential for survival; it can bring happiness, despair, or corruption. It rules our daily lives, is preferred in large amounts, and separates us into different social classes. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, is a perfect example of this since the class structure within the novel, portrays how money or the need for it can cause corruption in all the different social classes. This is shown through the three distinct

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

The Impact On The Middle East - 1430 Words

All throughout history from the from the pre-modern period all the way to the contemporary period, there have been major events both inside and outside of the middle east that have had an impact on the middle eastern communities. While some were more drastic than others, they all had an impact one way or another that helped shape the society we know of today. Starting with the pre-modern period, in 1095, the pope had called for a crusade which was in fact the only successful crusade. In this situation, the Byzantine emperor called on the christians to help him in which they did so with lots of vengeance and anger. The Byzantine emperor then commanded them to attack Jerusalem in which they did in 1099 coming out on top. Fortunately they won and ended up having the Muslim Army take back Jerusalem resulting in gaining more power than they had previously. Another event was the Turks entrance beginning in the 9th century. The Turks entered the lands of Islam in 2 ways such as being bought as guards and coming in as full tribes. Khalifs bought them at first to be imperial guards know as mamluks due to them being useful for multiple reasons. As a mamluk, they were very dependent on their owners and had little to no connection with others. Eventually the mamluks got together and overthrew all the princes that had used them that lead to them taking over. This lead to the beginning of the Mamluk dynasties in 1250 which was them taking over in a never ending manner. Another way theShow MoreRelatedPhenomenology And Its Impact On The Middle East Essay966 Words   |  4 Pagesexistence. The examination included not just observations of the way the world appears, but observations of one’s thoughts, and when and how they occur. The phenomenological research gives us the opportunity to explore the current conflicts in the Middle East. It guides us to find specific information as to why this phenomenon occurred. 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Monday, December 23, 2019

Essay about Vitamix Revenue Recognition - 1116 Words

Vitamix Revenue Recognition – â€Å"Special Cases† Proper revenue recognition is important in because it has a direct impact on quarterly income statements, incentive calculations, investor confidence, and perception of an organizations financial health. The scandals at Enron and WorldCom illustrate how important properly recognize revenue is to the financial integrity of a company and how abuse can be extremely dangerous. (Labaton, 2006) To maintain consistency across organizations, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) relies on the standards published by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to establish the guidelines for revenue recognition. (FASB, 2011) Companies can only recognize revenue if it is both realized and†¦show more content†¦The extended service plan does not start until after the factory warranty expires. Should Vitamix recognize the revenue received from the sale immediately or at the time when the factory warranty expires? Revenue Recognition Vitamix should recognize the revenue immediately because the cost of servicing the extended warranty can be reasonably calculated. The accounting team calculates the costs associated with servicing this warranty based on historical averages and accrues for it as a percentage of sales. Since we can estimate the cost, we can therefore produce an accurate net revenue amount because this amount is a conservative and reasonable amount of the realized and earned revenue. (Connors, 2011) Household Show Consignment Sales Overview To show the versatility and power of the Vitamix product, the company frequently demonstrates their machines at large retail locations. The retailer requires that they ship pallets of product to various retail stores and then Vitamix contracts with independent contractors to demonstrate the product. However, the retailer does not purchase the machines at that time, but requires that Vitamix manage that inventory for them. When a customer of the retailer wishes to purchase the machine, they take a machine along with any other products they wish to purchase to the retailers point of sale. The retailer sends Vitamix a purchase order for the machines processed through their point of sale system on a daily basis. Should

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Communication In Business Free Essays

Many f our historic brands such as Johnnie Walker and Guinness were built on the same corporate citizenship that we hold today. We agree to the fact that we cannot change the world on our own. With our participation and continuous support towards the UN Global Compact, we can learn from others and show leadership. We will write a custom essay sample on Communication In Business or any similar topic only for you Order Now Though, here at Adagio Pl, we recognize that there are still many changes and improvements that need to be made among us and also among our supply chains. This submission hopes to continue our commitment to the UN Global Compact policies by proposing recommendations based on our experiences and mistakes to the local network. Our local network region chosen will be India. The recommendations are based on two principles of the UN Global Compact. The principles are 1) Principle 2: â€Å"Businesses should make sure they are not complicit in human rights abuses. † (The Ten Principles/ Principle 2 2012). 2) Principle 8: â€Å"Businesses should undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility’ (The Ten Principles/ Principle 8 2012). The recommendations are:- Encourage suppliers to Join the Suppliers Ethical Data Exchange (Sexed). Encourage other corporations to harness employee’s power. Recommendation 1 Our experience in developing countries has shown how complicity in human right abuses can arise when negligence occurred in the supply chain. We learned from our mistakes and come up with the following recommendation to prevent such thing from happening again in India. We Join the Suppliers Ethical Data Exchange (Sexed) (Adagio 2007). Through Sexed, suppliers will post a self-assessment of their practices and products. These can be accessed by any of their customers. At present we count 300 of our own suppliers in Sexed. The assessment of each supplier is then closely checked against the Ethical Trading Initiative standards of human rights. We encourage all suppliers of Adagio Pl to Join the Sexed. We also Join a group of food and drink manufacturers who have strong belief on the fact that their supply chains should operate in the highest standards towards human rights. We are currently working with suppliers assessed as non-compliant and try to make them improve. Incase there is no improvement from our supplier; we retain the possibility of seeking alternative sources of supply. This year, we stopped our business with one of our supplier in Asia because he was not willing to report his performance. Benefits and Implications Consumers: They are given information about the product that they will be using directly from our supplier. Moreover they will know whether or not the supplier is compliant with current human right policies. Suppliers: Getting involved in Sexed will definitely capture the interest of other companies in the product they made. Shareholders: By avoiding human rights controversies, the company will be protected against legislative and financial repercussion and as a result the company’s profit will not be affected. Recommendation 2 Since we’re been creating our 201 5 targets, we have been working hard to minimize our environmental impact. Targeting the obvious things can be straightforward. But to able to address our other impacts, we needed the knowledge and ideas of the people on the ground in our daily operations. We realized that the employee’s involvement could be the missing link to achieve our environmental targets. We come up with the Greening as recommendation (Adagio Sustainability Responsibility Report 2011). Greening is the codename for the strategy implemented to encourage employees to act in an environmental friendly way. The employees from different site will form teams known as the â€Å"GREEN TEAM†. Teams will compete to win Olympic- Tyler medals for completing environmental initiatives. These ranges from bronze medal projects to gold medal achievements. Winning sites will be chosen across the whole world and each winner will be awarded EYE,OHO to invest in the new environmental friendly project either on site or locally. Also depending on the success of the program, one idea is to launch a new platinum category to reward gold medal sites that will help another facility start a green team. Our business is about celebration and we try to bring that into everything we do. And also the reason why Greening will work is we tap our people’s sense of community and also their nominative spirit. Benefits and Implications Employees: Capture the interests of 20,000 people working on all level of our business in 80 sites across 40 countries and also provide a platform for the employees to share their idea. Consumers: This will create an impact in the mind of our consumers. People are starting to care for their future generation. They want to deal with firms who are environmentally responsible. Greening will definitely create something positive for our company. Environment: The purpose of Greening is the impact it has on the environment whilst the main purpose of the whole program. The award winning project will be implemented throughout all sites in the world. We are expecting achievements like cutting amount of water used by 60% or reducing amount of carbon dioxide emission by 50% on our site. Greening will definitely be beneficial for the environment. Challenges The implementation of the proposed recommendations will be a challenging task. The problem with the first recommendation is that withdrawing from a non- compliant supplier will only displace the problem rather than solving it. Our action could affect the supplier’s employees and owners. For small community, the loss in business of the supplier could have big economic implications. Our objective is to balance those risks and help the supplier to improve instead. The challenge faced due to the second recommendation is not all employees will be willing to take part in the program. Creating awareness among the employees is also of great concern for A success story We at Adagio Pl have responsibility towards our stakeholders and the environment. We continue to show our support to the principles of the UN Global Compact. We believe that the proposed recommendation could be used as a guideline by our local network and other corporation to fulfill their social contract towards their stakeholders. By creating innovative and smart CARS approaches, our business and our society will benefit hence continuing our success story. How to cite Communication In Business, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Impact on Cultural Differences in Software Industry in Singapore

Question: Discuss about the Impact on Cultural Differences in Software Industry in Singapore. Answer: Introduction In the current continuously transforming global business atmosphere, the issues associated with culture and the gaining knowledge about various cultures have become significant and has become a pre-requisite for the success of the organizations. The significance of culture and the differences in culture has become very much critical especially for the organizations functioning in the international markets and even having employees who hail from several cultures (Moran, Abramson and Moran 2014). It has been observed that since culture has the power to have an effect on the activities of the business, the organizations requires to consider the concepts related to culture in their daily operations in order to function successfully in the global environment. Culture and cultural differences are key issues for each and every organizations in each and every industry. As explained by de Carvalho, Patah and de Souza Bido (2015), these notions have become much more essential for computation due to the nature of making agreements, internationalization of the various procurement, partnering and joint venturing in the respective industries. It has been observed that with respect to the other industries there has been a rise in the strategic coalitions in the software industries even raises the importance of the cultural differences due to the communication of the employees from numerous cultures (Shah, Harrold and Sinha 2014). The benefits of managing differences in the culture in an effective manner have been explained by several researchers. It can improve the effectiveness of the firms and provide the company an extensive competitive edge. Conversely, the ineffectiveness to handle and manage the cultural differences can lead to adverse issues like the postponement of software services and fall in the productivity. Hence, gaining knowledge and taking care of the cultural differences in the software industry is become a significant topic specially in software industries in Singapore as there are various software companies functioning in the country and thus there are availability of employees who are hailing from numerous cultural backgrounds (Estleret al. 2014). Research Objectives The aims and objectives of the paper has been the most significant factors that would be influential for the development of the paper as these objectives would be helpful to the researcher for the completion of the paper in an effective manner. The aims and objectives with respect to this paper are given as follows: To determine how cultural differences are existent in the software industry of Singapore To understand the how differences in the culture has an influence in the communication system among the employees and themanagement To determine to what extent cultural differences has an influence on the outcome of the industries The actions undertaken by themanagement in order to deal with the issues related to cultural differences Problem Statement The statement of the problem has been the issues that has compelled the researcher to undertake this research in accordance to this topic. It is seen that with the advent of globalization there has been entry of new software firms in the economy of Singapore along with employees from various cultures. Culture plays a significant role in the development of any organization and it is seen that themanagement of the firm undertakes various strategies in order to establish an effective cultural environment. The degree of culture aids in the development of the software industry and as software industry is a developing sector, it is seen that there are employees from various cultural backgrounds are taken appointed and therefore understanding their impacts is of utmost importance that would be influential for improving the functional section of software industry. Thus, determining the impact of these differences requires to be identified in order to construct various strategies. Research Questions The research questions that has been framed are in respect to the problems that have been discovered by the researcher with respect to the cultural difference in Singapore. The research questions would be utilized in order to course the research and determine the impact of cultural differences in the cultural differences in the software industries in Singapore. The research questions are given as follows: Q 1. How can cultural differences have an impact on the software industries in Singapore? Q 2. How does the differences in culture have an impact on the relationship among the employees and the management? Q 3. What impact does the differences in the culture have on the operational activities of the software companies in Singapore? Q 4. What actions can be undertaken by the management in order to improve the differences in the culture within the organizations? Literature Review The literature review that is being constructed comprises of the suggestions that have been discovered from various other research papers constructed by the researchers with respect similar researches completed earlier. The review of literature tries to determine the meaning of cultural differences and the impacts that these differences have on the software industries. Rees-Caldwell and Pinnington (2013) has explained that there are various factors that had an impact on the differences in culture and identifying each of these factors would lead to development of various strategies that would be effective in the development of the organization. There are various definitions for culture and these definitions vary greatly with respect to the field of the research. Verner et al. (2014) defined culture as the simple method of what individuals does and what they perform like a society. Britto et al. (2014) has explained culture in the software industry is regarded to be the features of the industry, the values, goals and strategies of the organization where they function. Culture has numerous properties, which has been accepted widely. While investigating on the national cultures, it is seen that Niazi et al. (2013) has recognized four dimensions of culture and they include avoidance of uncertainty, power distance, collectivism and individualism and even masculinity and femininity. These four dimensions provide a framework for looking after the impact of the cultural differences on the management and even the company. This section of the paper would try to explain the main theme of the thesis that would be taken into consideration so that effective measures can be taken that would be influential for the construction of effective research with respect to the topic. It is seen that there are various aspects that are taken into consideration while understanding the impact of cultural differences in the software industry in Singapore. It is seen that it is essential to first understand the background of the software industry in Singapore and it is seen that there are Singapore has a unique software industry as the organizations are developing from time to time and therefore has strategies and policies that would enhance the industry. The culture that has been prevalent in Singapore is even analyzed and it is seen that Singapore has a diversified economy over as employees and individuals from various parts of the world migrate in this country and thereby making it a diversified culture (Rees-Caldwell a nd Pinnington 2013). It is seen that there are understanding the effects of cultural difference plays a vital role in the operational activities of the firm. The main factors that has an effect on the cultural difference requires to be determined so that effective measures can be taken that would be fundamental for improving the operational activities of the software industry and the relationship between the employees operating in the software industry. The evaluation of the software industry along with the factors that are interlinked with the software business provides extensive knowledge, which would be influential for the development of the firm. The analysis can be done by taking help of the past and the present trends and the influences the future indications that the software industry would undertake so that cultural differences would be mitigated. Evaluating the main theme with respect to the cultural differences can be an effective one and this would aid the researcher to i nitiate various activities that would be influential for the development of solutions with respect to the impact of cultural differences in the software industry in Singapore. There has been an expanding interest in the studies with respect to cultural differences in the software industry. Sderberg, Krishna and Bjrn (2013) has examined that there has been a connection among the cultural differences and the activities of the software industries with the perspective of Singapore. Singapore is a developing country and with the advent of globalization there has been entry of various software industries along with the existence of the domestic software industries as well. The rise in the level of competition has led to the companies hiring employees from various parts of the globe and thereby leading to the development of cultural differences in the industry. There are various aspects that require significant examination with respect to this topic as it has been observed that cultural differences has a significant impact on the functions of the software industries and therefore in order to rectify the differences and improve the relationship among the employees and the management and thereby improve the operational activities of the software industries as well. Research Methodology The methodology for the concerned research paper has been framed in order to aid the researcher to establishing a guideline or course that would be followed by the researcher in order to collect the data that would be best effective for the completion of the paper. The research methodology even aids the researcher to look for the kind of data that would be best useful for the collecting data that would meet the problem statement of the research and would help the researcher to identify the impacts of cultural differences in the software industries. The each and every step of the methodology that would be used by the researcher would be explained individually. Research Onion The research onion comprises of the various efficient progression with the help of which the research methodology can be constructed. Its effectiveness is dependent in its flexibility for any kind of research methodology and can be utilized in a variety of aspects(Gustafsson, Herrmann and Huber 2013). The research onion comprises of the various layers that would be used by the researcher to complete the methodology in an effective manner. The each layer of the onion will be explained as follows: Research Philosophy The research will be undertaken by taking help of the philosophy of positivism as it mainly concentrates on understanding the various impacts that are faced by the software industries due to cultural differences. The primary data that is gathered with the help of the positivism philosophy would improve the validity of the research. Furthermore, the outcome of the research would be quantifiable and observable (Fuggetta and Di Nitto 2014). Research Approach The present research would follow the deductive approach as the paper will mainly concentrate on examining the impact of cultural differences on the software industries in Singapore. The research would establish a hypothesis that is dependent on the recognized concepts and would examine the validity by comparing them with the primary data. Research Type The impact of cultural differences on the software industries operating in Singapore would be undertaken with the help of the primary research. It is seen that primary data would be influential for collecting the precise data as the responses of the employees would be influential for the development of the precise results (Bryman and Bell 2015). Research Design The primary research will be undertaken by taking help of the quantitative research design as this research involves investigating the associations, explaining the examining cause and effect relationships. The present research will examine the impact of cultural differences in the software industry in Singapore. Quantitative data would be gathered by surveying the individuals who are working in the software industry (Edison, Bin Ali and Torkar 2013). Descriptive research design would be undertaken for the completion of the paper as it has been observed that explained answers from the responses would be influential for the completing the paper effectively. Sampling Technique and Population The paper would either make use of the random or probability sampling technique in order to select the employees who are functioning in the software industry in Singapore. The researcher has decided to select employees of various ages and departments of the organizations. A sample size of 100 respondents would be sued for the completion of the paper in an effective manner. Time Table STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PLAN DEADLINE FOR THE COMPLETION Submission of the proposal 1st week Design of a research plan 1st week Gaining access to work in a particular area 1st week Literature Review 2nd week Sample frame 3rd week Design and testing of the questionnaire 3rd week Designing of the final questionnaire 4th week Interviews and posting 5th week Raw tabulation of the data 5th week Analysis of the data 6th week Report up findings 7th week Presentation of the final research product 7th week References Britto, R., Freitas, V., Mendes, E. and Usman, M., 2014, August. Effort estimation in global software development: A systematic literature review. InGlobal Software Engineering (ICGSE), 2014 IEEE 9th International Conference on(pp. 135-144). IEEE. Bryman, A. and Bell, E., 2015.Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA. deCarvalho, M.M., Patah, L.A. and de Souza Bido, D., 2015. Project management and its effects on project success: Cross-country and cross-industry comparisons.International Journal of Project Management,33(7), pp.1509-1522. Edison, H., Bin Ali, N. and Torkar, R., 2013. Towards innovation measurement in the software industry.Journal of Systems and Software,86(5), pp.1390-1407. Estler, H.C., Nordio, M., Furia, C.A., Meyer, B. and Schneider, J., 2014. Agile vs. structured distributed software development: A case study.Empirical Software Engineering,19(5), pp.1197-1224. Fuggetta, A. and Di Nitto, E., 2014, May. Software process. InProceedings of the on Future of Software Engineering(pp. 1-12). ACM. Gustafsson, A., Herrmann, A. and Huber, F. eds., 2013.Conjoint measurement: Methods and applications. Springer Science Business Media. Moran, R.T., Abramson, N.R. and Moran, S.V., 2014.Managing cultural differences. Routledge. Niazi, M., Mahmood, S., Alshayeb, M., Riaz, M.R., Faisal, K. and Cerpa, N., 2013, October. Challenges of project management in Global Software Development: Initial results. InScience and Information Conference (SAI), 2013(pp. 202-206). IEEE. Rees-Caldwell, K. and Pinnington, A.H., 2013. National culture differences in project management: Comparing British and Arab project managers' perceptions of different planning areas.International Journal of Project Management,31(2), pp.212-227. Shah, H., Harrold, M.J. and Sinha, S., 2014. Global software testing under deadline pressure: Vendor-side experiences.Information and Software Technology,56(1), pp.6-19. Sderberg, A.M., Krishna, S. and Bjrn, P., 2013. Global software development: commitment, trust and cultural sensitivity in strategic partnerships.Journal of International Management,19(4), pp.347-361. Verner, J.M., Babar, M.A., Cerpa, N., Hall, T. and Beecham, S., 2014. Factors that motivate software engineering teams: A four country empirical study.Journal of Systems and Software,92, pp.115-127.