Global information technology infrastructure for a global non-profit organisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology at Massey University

Page 103 missing from vault and scanned copyWith the recent worldwide growth of the Internet, computers are becoming interconnected in a global communications network. Most people view the Internet as a universal communications medium that can replace telephone, television, and radio. Historically, for organisations and enterprises that could afford to do so, expensive telecommunication lines and Wide Area Network technologies were used for global communications, which allowed computers to communicate using proprietary protocols. For non-profit organisations in particular, the Internet has made it possible to connect offices and individuals, using open standard protocols, at a fraction of the cost of other alternatives. This study focuses on the investigation and development of a global communication system and information technology (IT) infrastructure that uses the Internet as its communication platform for a particular non-profit organisation, OMF International. Without a clear understanding of the limitations of the technologies involved, the development of an IT project is likely to be flawed or fail. (Standish Group, 1995) The findings from this investigation revealed that a global communication system and IT infrastructure, suitable for OMF International, needed to overcome limitations in the use and access of the Internet, the unreliability of different email systems to deliver email messages, and financial and human resource constraints. The study found that methods used in 'for-profit' organisations for the development of an IT infrastructure, were applicable to this non-profit organisation, resulting in the successful implementation of a global communication system and IT infrastructure. The choice of IT solutions and technologies within OMF was often based on functionality rather than feasibility, and its global IT infrastructure requirements were overlooked. The study found that by comparison Lotus Notes' client/server IT infrastructure requirements were considerably less than that of Microsoft Exchange client/server, however, alternative low-cost open standard messaging options were more affordable. Conclusively, open standard IT solutions for global communications are better suited that for this non-profit organisation, than proprietary solutions. The study also highlighted the need for an IT architecture, that would provide a plan and strategic context for future IT development within OMF International, which would overcome problems with concurrent IT projects using different technologies

Person to Person in Hong Kong

While still in the midst of their study abroad experiences, students at Linfield College write reflective essays. Their essays address issues of cultural similarity and difference, compare lifestyles, mores, norms, and habits between their host countries and home, and examine changes in perceptions about their host countries and the United States. In this essay, Dan Hellinger describes his observations during his study abroad program at Hong Kong Baptist University in Hong Kong, China

Smart Photos

Recent technological leaps have been a great catalyst for changing how people interact with the world around us. Specifically, the field of Augmented Reality has led to many software and hardware advances that have formed a digital intermediary between humans and their environment. As of now, Augmented Reality is available to the select few with the means of obtaining Google Glass, Oculus Rifts, and other relatively expensive platforms. Be that as it may, the tech industry\u27s current goal has been integration of this technology into the public\u27s smartphones and everyday devices. One inhibitor of this goal is the difficulty of finding an Augmented Reality application whose usage could satisfy an everyday need or attraction. Augmented reality presents our world in a unique perspective that can be found nowhere else in the natural world. However, visual impact is weak without substance or meaning. The best technology is invisible, and what makes a good product is its ability to fill a void in a person\u27s life. The most important researchers in this field are those who have been augmenting the tasks that most would consider mundane, such as overlaying nutritional information directly onto a meal [4]. In the same vein, we hope to incorporate Augmented Reality into everyday life by unlocking the full potential of a technology often believed to have already have reached its peak. The humble photograph, a classic invention and unwavering enhancement to the human experience, captures moments in space and time and compresses them into a single permanent state. These two-dimensional assortments of pixels give us a physical representation of the memories we form in specific periods of our lives. We believe this representation can be further enhanced in what we like to call a Smart Photo. The idea behind a Smart Photo is to unlock the full potential in the way that people can interact with photographs. This same notion is explored in the field of Virtual Reality with inventions such as 3D movies, which provide a special appeal that ordinary 2D films cannot. The 3D technology places the viewer inside the film\u27s environment. We intend to marry this seemingly mutually exclusive dichotomy by processing 2D photos alongside their 3D counterparts

Financing Dutch direct investments to transition economics

Firms interested in a direct investment in a transition countries often face difficulties in obtaining external finance. In this study Dutch survey data are used to check if financial obstacles are an important argument for Dutch firms not to engage in an FDI or if other nonfinancial arguments prevail in the decision not to invest. The analysis shows that financial problems are indeed large, but the major arguments for firms not to invest are not financial in nature. The uncertainty of the investment, lack of time and capacity and internal arguments are most often mentioned as obstacles for an FDI.financial economics and financial management ;

Explaining Foreign Direct Investment in Central and Eastern Europe: an Extended Gravitiy Approach

In this paper, we question whether there is a catch-up effect or announcement effectin Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from the European Union (EU) to the ten EU accession countries. We study FDI outflows from the Netherlands, a small open economy with few historical ties to Eastern Europe, and compare FDI in the transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe to FDI in other regions - most notably to transition countries in Central Asia. In our analysis we try to impose as little structure as possible on the data and allow for heterogeneity within the different regions. In an effort to improve on past studies in the same area, we use a very broad sample of countries, we present country-specific results and test how robust regional dummies are, we check for omitted variable bias and we try to correct for possible non-linearity in the gravity relationships. We find that many of the differences in results of previous studies can be attributed to these specification problems. There is no evidence that an overall catch-up effect or announcement effect exists. Rather,economic fundamentals explain differences in inward investment in the region. FDI and trade are mostly complementary and there is no evidence that there is crowding out between regions.macroeconomics ;

The delaying effect of financing constraints on investment

We develop a simple model in which a firm considers a number of investment projects. Because of limited financial resources, the firm can undertake at most one project. In line with the literature on real options we stress features like irreversibility, uncertainty and the possibility to postpone the investment decision and argue that financing constraints tend to increase the value of waiting.Economics ;