Electronic waste
Electronic waste is a general term used to refer to electronic products nearing their end of life cycle. These products comprise a wide array of devices. They include computers, laptops, television sets, VCR, stereos, fax machine and much more. However, there is some confusion regarding the proper definition of electronic waste. According to some people, devices such as old fridges, electric cookers, and microwaves do not comprise e-waste whereas, some consider these appliances as electronic wastes.
When the devices and tools get discarded, individual components within them cause harm to both human health and the environment. These components include a variety of metals and chemicals. Some of the metals include Lead and mercury. The toxicity typically depends on the condition and density of the device at the time of disposal. CRTs contain traces of mercury vapor which is toxic. The liquid in LCDs also has adverse effects on health and the environment.
However, many electronic gadgets can get reused, recycled or refurbished. The primary factors limiting the uptake of e-waste recycling include planned obsolescence. This is a case whereby manufacturers give products very short life spans. Newer products get produced rapidly making the user feel the pressure to upgrade constantly. This leads to higher volumes of waste. The recycling of the goods also poses a health and environmental hazard. During extraction of components, toxic gasses get released into the atmosphere and soil. It is also expensive to recycle e-waste.
The Network effect
The network effect describes a phenomenon whereby a product or service gains more value when used by more people. A perfect example is the internet. Internet technology was used to serve only the military and researchers. It was of little value to people outside those fields. However, as the technology became more available to the public, its value increased exponentially. Nowadays the internet is a very crucial part of our daily lives. In fact, various critical processes and transactions entirely depend on IT networking (Gallagher, 2011).
For a company, cloud computing whereby all systems get interconnected through the cloud provides a lot of conveniences. Employees can work from anywhere, and risks of data loss are minimal. All information is kept safe on an online server. Branches in distant locations also get remotely managed (Uzzi, 1996).
An article by Kush and Arora, (2013) states that temporarily disposed of can lead to the pollution of soil and groundwater. Informal processing, on the other hand, can result in health hazards for the workers. Most of the waste ends up in poor third world countries. Workers in scrap yards usually lack protective gear, and the extraction processes involve burning which releases toxic gasses into the air. The consequence is health and respiratory complications. The toxins include chlorinated and brominated substances. Furthermore, they also contain biologically active minerals.
Defense Travel
The defense travel management system is a fully integrated and automated travel system. It facilitates end-to-end traveling for the DOD. It also enables them to create authorizations called TDY travel orders. They also get to prepare reservations, generate travel vouchers and receive approvals among other things. For an organization, this system will enhance the convenience of travel for staff members. It will also prevent wastage of time in manually making reservations and generating travel vouchers. The demerits, however, are that it is an added cost to the company. The system is costly to establish and maintain. In the event of system failure, all process will grind to a halt. This will cause massive losses for the firm (Vavul, Williams, Vavul, & Fitch, 2004).
References
Gallagher, J. (2011). Information Systems : A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology Version 1. 3.
Kush, A., & Arora, A. (2013). Proposed Solution of e-Waste Management, 2(5), 7–10. http://doi.org/10.7763/IJFCC.2013.V2.212
Uzzi, B. (1996). The sources and consequences of embeddedness for the economic performance of organizations: The network effect. American sociological review, 674-698.
Vavul, J., Williams, H., Vavul, H., & Fitch, C. (2004). U.S. Patent Application No. 10/909,337.
