CommunityforTomorrow.org

"hope through next generation science and technology"  

Glossary

AQUAPONICS:   is the symbiotic cultivation of plants and aquatic animals in a recirculating environment.

CENTRAL BANK: Almost all modern countries have a central bank which is a large bank operating either as a direct governmental institution or as a private institution whose management is strictly controlled by the government. Most central banks were established by law as the result of a national financial emergency, such as the collapse of a prior credit expansion (U.S. Federal Reserve Banks), or the desire of the government for more funds than it cares or dares to raise through taxes or private loans (Bank of England).

Central banks usually attempt to control interest rates, reserve requirements and note issues of the nation's banks and act as the bank of last resort when other banks are pressed for funds while holding investments which the central bank will discount on demand. By such technical procedures, the central bank attempts to control the quantity of money in the broader sense and thus indirectly influence prices, production and employment. Central bank policies are usually determined by a desire to (1) prevent financial panics, recessions or depressions, usually by the expansion of circulation credit, and (2) provide the government with funds to cover any deficits not fully covered by funds from private sources.

CENTRALIZED SYSTEMS Systems where decision making, flow of data or goods and services, or the beginning of activities are initiated at the same central point and disseminated to remote points in the chain or organization.

ELECTRICAL INDUCTION The passing of a conductor through a magnetic field existing between two poles of a magnet generates electrical current.

FEDERAL RESERVE ACT OF 1913: The law creating the Federal Reserve System with its 12 Federal Reserve Banks, which act as the American Central bank. The Act has been amended many times. The underlying idea was to provide an elastic currency through the creation of an American central bank, without arousing the then existing unpopularity of every centralization in the United States and the traditional hostility to the central bank idea due to the experience with two preceding Banks of the United States. See Central Bank.

HYDROPONICS: The growing of plants, especially vegetables, in water containing essential mineral nutrients rather than in soil.

NEXT GENERATION TECHNOLOGIES: are not simply products or services, but entirely new ways of thinking, communicating and collaborating; they require a massive shift in the development and implementation of technical systems.

SINTERING: The solidification and fusing of compressed powdered metal.

SUPPLY AND DEMAND: are the forces that make market economies work. Together, they determine the quantity and price of goods sold in competitive markets. Supply is the amount of goods available at a given price at any time. Demand is how many consumers desire the goods that are in supply.

  © 2009 Community for Tomorrow