Eco-efficiency and it's Impact

Over the years, as countries and regions around the world began to develop, it slowly became evident that industrialization and economic growth come hand in hand with environmental degradation.^[1] Eco-Efficiency has been proposed as one of the main tools to promote a transformation from unsustainable development to one of sustainable development.^[2] It is based on the concept of creating more goods and services while using fewer resources and creating less waste and pollution. “It is measured as the ratio between the (added) value of what has been produced (eg. GDP) and the (added) environment impacts of the product or service (eg. S02 emissions).” ^[2] The term was coined by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in its 1992 publication “Changing Course,” and at the 1992 Earth Summit, eco-efficiency was endorsed as a new business concept and means for companies to implement Agenda 21 in the private sector.^[3] Ergo the term has become synonymous with a management philosophy geared towardssustainability, combing ecological and economic efficiency.^[3]

Eco-efficiency (measures to minimize environmental impact through the reduction or elimination of waste from production processes) has become a goal for companies worldwide, with many realizing significant cost savings from such innovations. Peter Senge and Goran Carstedt see this development as laudable but suggest that simply adopting ecoefficiency innovations could actually worsen environmental stresses in the future. Such innovations reduce production waste but do not alter the number of products manufactured nor the waste generated from their use and discard; indeed, most companies invest in ecoefficiency improvements in order to increase profits and growth. Moreover, there is no guarantee that increased economic growth from ecoefficiency will come in similarly ecoefficient ways, since in today’s global markets, greater profits maybe turned into investment capital that could easily be reinvested in old-style eco-inefficient industries. Even a vastly more ecoefficient industrial system could, were it to grow much larger, generate more total waste and destroy more habitat and species than would a smaller, less ecoefficient economy. Senge and Carstedt argue that to preserve the global environment and sustain economic growth, businesses must develop a new systemic approach that reduces total material use and total accumulated waste. Focusing exclusively on ecoefficiency, which offers a compelling business case according to established thinking, may distract companies from pursuing radically different products and business models.

ECON, but not as you know it

Stanford MBA Essay Writing Advices

Links to read:
http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/school/stanford-graduate-school-of-business/a/essays

http://admissionado.com/mba/resources/stanford-gsb-mba-essay-analysis-2014/

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2013/06/06/the-2013-2014-stanford-graduate-school-of-business-essay-analysis

http://www.beatthegmat.com/mba/2013/06/11/stanford-gsb-essay-tips

Video to watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB8Evr9I7b4

Must Listen Gospel Songs of Elvis

Read the link below:
http://www.examiner.com/article/list-of-12-best-elvis-presley-gospel-songs-of-all-time

Here is a list of 12 Best Elvis Presley Gospel Songs of all-time:

12). Joshua Fit The Battle – a rhythmic hand-clapping song telling the Biblical story about the walls of Jericho.

11). I Believe In The Man In The Sky – a country gospel song of worship and praise.

10). Mansion Over the Hilltop – a great revival hymn with country roots.

9). You’ll Never Walk Alone – A song about faith and going through life’s storms. Elvis lifts his voice to the heavens as he sings.

8). He Touched Me – This 1972 gospel album, a compilation of gospel and contemporary Christian music, earned Elvis his second Grammy Award.

7). We Call On Him – This beautiful tribute to God’s amazing lovemade its debut in 1971.

6). In My Father’s House – This religious song refers to scripture. John 14:2 says, “In my Father’s house are many mansions…” This beautiful hymn attributes to that message.

5). Where Could I Go But To The Lord – a traditional, spiritually uplifting gospel hymn.

4). There’ll Be Peace in the Valley (For Me) – Elvis performed this beautiful hymn on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957.

3). American Trilogy – Some may not consider this a religious song, but listening to Elvis sing, “Glory, Glory, Alleluia... His truth is marching on,” will lift anyone’s spirit.

2). Take My Hand, Precious Lord – an inspirational song filled with tender mercies and grace.

1). How Great Thou Art – A live version of this song garnered Elvis his third and final Grammy for Best Inspirational Performance. This is truly his best gospel performance. 

Learning from Data (ML) CALTECH - Online Course

A real Caltech course, not a watered-down version

• Free, introductory Machine Learning online course (MOOC)
• Taught by Caltech Professor Yaser Abu-Mostafa [article]
• Lectures recorded from a live broadcast, including Q&A
• Prerequisites: Basic probability, matrices, and calculus
• 8 homework sets and a final exam
• Discussion forum for participants
• Topic-by-topic video library for easy review

URL: http://work.caltech.edu/telecourse.html

CourseEra - Stanford Online : Mathematical Thinking

Course Goals & Syllabus:
 
The goal of the course is to help you develop a valuable mental ability – a powerful way of thinking that our ancestors have developed over three thousand years.
Mathematical thinking is not the same as doing mathematics – at least not as mathematics is typically presented in our school system. School math typically focuses on learning procedures to solve highly stereotyped problems. Professional mathematicians think a certain way to solve real problems, problems that can arise from the everyday world, or from science, or from within mathematics itself. The key to success in school math is to learn to think inside-the-box. In contrast, a key feature of mathematical thinking is thinking outside-the-box – a valuable ability in today’s world. This course helps to develop that crucial way of thinking.
The primary audience is first-year students at college or university who are thinking of majoring in mathematics or a mathematically-dependent subject, or high school seniors who have such a college career in mind. If that is you, you will need mathematical thinking to succeed in your major. Because mathematical thinking is a valuable life skill, however, anyone over the age of 17 could benefit from taking the course.
The course starts on Monday September 17 and lasts for seven weeks, five weeks of lectures (two a week) followed by two weeks of monitored discussion and group work, including an open book final exam to be completed in week 6 and graded by a calibrated peer review system in week 7.
Lecture videos are released at 10:00AM PDT on Mondays and Fridays. (Week 1 is slightly different: The Monday video release (listed as Lecture 0) is a short welcome and course description, the Wednesday and Friday releases are of lectures 1 and 2.)
The lecture topics are (in addition to the initial Instructor’s welcome on the first day of class):

1. Introductory material
2. Analysis of language – the logical combinators
3. Analysis of language – implication
4. Analysis of language – equivalence
5. Analysis of language – quantifiers
6. Working with quantifiers
7. Proofs
8. Proofs involving quantifiers
9. Elements of number theory
10. Beginning real analysis

Course URL: https://class.coursera.org/maththink-2012-001/lecture/index

Business Insider : Best Universities in the world : CALTECH

Links to read:

1. Grad office: http://www.gradoffice.caltech.edu/academics 

2. Division of Engineering and Applied Science: http://www.eas.caltech.edu/ 

3. Bio-Engineering in EAS : http://www.be.caltech.edu/

4. Computing + Mathematical Sciences in EAS: http://www.cms.caltech.edu/

Other Links:

The world university rankings: [CALTECH]

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2011-12/world-ranking/institution/california-institute-of-technology 

The NEW 100 Best Universities In The World:

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-100-best-universities-in-the-world-2012-10