Saturday, August 31, 2019
Five sector circular flow of income of Australian economy
?Outline the main features of the five-sector circular flow of income model of the Australian economy. Explain how leakages and injections influence the level of economic activity. The five sector circular flow of income model describes the operation of an economy and the linkages between the main sectors in an economy. The model divides the income to five sectors; the individuals, Businesses, financial institutions, governments and international trade and financial flows.The individuals consist of all individuals in the economy and looks at their activities such as earning income and spending it on goods and services. They supply factors of production (inputs) such as labour and enterprise to businesses who then produce goods and services. Individuals then receive incomes as rent, wages, interest and profits. It is important to think of the individuals sector and the business firms together as together they affect the amount of economic activity in a circular flow of income. The bus inesses buy factors of production and use them to sell goods and services.They are dependent on individuals, as their spending becomes their income to then spend on producing the goods and services in demand for the consumers. Individuals and businesses are interdependent they are both needed to exist. The institutions involved in the borrowing and lending money of money are the financial institutions sector. They act between the savers and borrowers of money and consist of; banks, building societies, finance companies, credit unions, superannuation funds and life insurance companies.It enables individuals and businesses to both save and borrow money. The financial institutions mobilise savings so they can be used for investment. In the circular flow of income savings are leakages as it is money withdrawn causing a reduction in both the circular flow of income and in economic activity. The leakage of savings causes a fall in expenditure on goods and services, a fall in production, a fall in the demand for resources and a fall in income to the owners of those resources. To counteract the leakagesof savings there are injections of investment. Investment is any current expenditure that is made in order to obtain benefits in the future. Investments represent an injection into the circular flow and have the opposite effect of a leakage. Spending on investment would lead to rising expenditure, production, employment and income levels in the economy. The individuals, businesses and financial institutions make up the private sector of our economy. The government sector consists of the Commonwealth, state and local.They are responsible for collective (community) wants and obtain resources by imposing taxes on the other sectors of the economy. The government then uses tax revenue to undertake government expenditure. Taxation is a leakage in the economy and causes a reduction in the level of economic activity. Government expenditure represents an injection as it goes tow ards collective goods and services. The sector is our public sector and together with the private sector makes up the domestic sector in our economy.International trade and financial flows cover all transactions that our economy has with the rest of the world. This includes exports, imports and international money flows. Imports are goods and services produced overseas but sold in Australia and these payments represent leakages from the circular flow. Exports are goods and services produced in Australia but sold overseas to overseas customers and increase the size of the circular flow, as they are injections.
Friday, August 30, 2019
Descartesââ¬â¢ Religious Journey to find God Essay
In the book Meditations on First Philosophy, Reneââ¬â¢ Descartes states many theories and makes many points on a numerous amount of things. In ââ¬Å"Meditation One: Concerning Those Things That Can Be Called Into Doubtâ⬠, I struggled with what Descartes was actually saying in terms of God, did he believe in His existence or didnââ¬â¢t he? However, by ââ¬Å"Meditation Three: Concerning God, That He Existsâ⬠, I realized where Descartes stood religiously. I agree with Descartes when he doubts the existence of God in the first two meditations because by the third he has found his own way and proof that God does exist and to believe in Him. Descartes has many things that he considers to be reasonable to doubt. Throughout Descartesââ¬â¢ life he has had a long standing opinion that there is a God who is able to do anything who has actually created Descartes himself. He has believed in Godââ¬â¢s existence and Godââ¬â¢s creations his whole life. However, in Meditation I he is trying to clear his mind of what he believes in, and consider others beliefs that contradict his. He finds himself questioning, ââ¬Å"How do I know he did not bring it about that there is no Earth at all? No Heavens?â⬠(page 463 Kindle). He acknowledges that he judges others sometimes for their mistakes when they feel they have all the knowledge. Descartes views this is a deception on Godââ¬â¢s part. Descartes argues that since God is said to be supremely good, why would he deceive us? Since God did not create me to be deceived all of the time, why would he allow me to be deceived on any occasion? An argument Descartes makes on the do ubt that God exists, is that some people view God as only good and that if He really did exist, no evil things would ever happen. Descartes tries not to oppose the opinions of others in this first meditation. He wants to imagine that he came to be what he was by fate, chance, or a connected chain of events, or some other way besides God creating him. Since being deceived or even making a mistake is seen as an imperfection, he says that the less powerful they see the creator of who we exist, the more probable it will be that we are so imperfect that we are always deceived. Descartes argues that it is not enough to make these observations and that we must take steps in our lives to remind ourselves of what we believe in and keep them in our memories. We need to take them exactly as what they are, although sometimes we may doubt them, so that it is more consonant to believe them rather than to deny them. This takes Descartes into his first meditation; he forces himself to believe that his creator is not a supremely good God, the source of truth, but rather an evil genius who is powerful, intelligent, and clever. H e looks at this evil genius as though he has spent Descartesââ¬â¢ entire life in an attempt to deceive him. He knocks out his seemingly obvious beliefs of heaven, air, earth, colors, shapes, sounds, and all other external things as nothing but hoaxes of his dreams, things that are not real and that do not exist. All of these things he now doubts. He sees himself now as having no hands, eyes, flesh, blood, any senses; they are just false beliefs that he possesses these things. Even though it is no longer in his power that he knows anything true, it is within his power to take care decisively, to withhold his assent to what is false, although more powerful, however clever and smart this evil genius may be, to have any effect on him. Descartes decides to put aside all of his doubts, as though he has discovered all of his doubts to be false, and decides to stay on this course until he knows something for certain, or in fact that he discovers for certain that nothing is certain. In ââ¬Å"Meditation III: Concerning God, That He Existsâ⬠, Descartes closes his eyes, stops his ears, turns away his senses from their objects and begins endeavoring a more intimate knowledge of his self. He clarifies that he is a thinking thing, that he doubts, affirms, denies, knows few objects, and is also ignorant of many things. He recognizes that he is able to love, hate, and perceive. Descartes says that he cannot be certain of anything without knowing if God exists and if he can deceive. The idea of God is that he is infinite, independent, all powerful and all knowing, the creator of absolutely everything on this Earth, the creator of the earth, the universe, everything. All of these things are so great that the more carefully Descartes looks studies and considers them, the less persuaded he feels that the idea of them owes its origin to his self alone. This makes him come to his conclusion that God absolutely exists. Descartes feels he had to come from God, because if he came from his self, then he would have no doubts or desires or even thoughts of deception. There is no reason that he should continue to exist every day, or even minute, unless there is a higher power, a stronger force, that preserves him, which would be God. There are many reasons for me, which are different than Descartes reasons that God does in fact exist. Although science has made many breakthroughs trying to doubt God and His existence and all that He has made, they have not necessarily been able to prove he does not exist. The whole entire belief of God relies solely on faith. To have faith is to believe in something that you may not necessarily be able to see. To doubt the existence of God at all, goes against everything that He stands for (even though we all may have doubt in His existence at some point in our lives). Explaining that God exists is nearly impossible, it is something we are taught to believe at a young age (depending on how you were raised of course), without really being explained why or how. Everyone on this earth has their own personal experiences or beliefs about God, and those who believe in God have found Him in their own unique ways. Sometimes to truly believe in something, we have to doubt it at first and take a journey to find our own personal reasons to believe in it, just as Descartes did. Descartes struggled with an explanation of deceit and mistakes. He did not understand why God would allow those things to happen when he is supposed to represent only honesty and good in the world. An explanation that he did not refer to is the devil. The bible explains to us that God is good and the Devil is bad. From personal experiences, I used to struggle with why God would allow such horrible things to happen, why did he let my friends die in car crashes, why does death even exist at all? However, later in life, I discovered that the bad does not necessarily come from God, but it comes from the devil. We are to do our best to avoid hateful acts and to overcome evil, which are works of the devil. God is our creator and our reason for being, but we also have a responsibility and choice of life. He has created a world for us that we have taken advantage of and that has managed to unfortunately gain many evil acts and people. We are supposed to live by the bible, if we do not then Godââ¬â¢s plan and course is taken astray. Although He ultimately controls everything, He also allows us to make our own decisions, choose our own paths, learn from our mistakes, and suffer the consequences of those mistakes. It is in our control to determine where we want to go in our lives and where we want to end up in our afterlife. After all, for those of us who believe in God, our being here on earth is only to prepare us for our after life, which hopefully will someday take us to Heaven.
Chase Strategy OPS571 Week 3 Essay
This week a portion of our study focused on sales and operations planning. The sales and operations planning process helps companies provide better customer service, lower inventory, shorten customer lead times, stabilize production rates, and give top management a better view of the business (Chase & Jacobs, 2011). Sales and operations planning evolved into aggregate planning that stresses the importance of cross-functional teamwork and tightly integrated efforts between sales, distribution, logistics, operations, finance, and product development (Chase & Jacobs, 2011). Aggregate planning focuses on intermediate-range (three to 18 months) plans that target lowering costs and using capacity most efficiently. The main purpose of an aggregate plan is to determine the best combination of production rate, workforce level, and inventory (Chase & Jacobs, 2011). Chase Strategy The chase strategy is one of three production strategies for aggregate planning in use today. According to Hamlett (2013), the chase strategy, or demand matching strategy, sets production to meet or match the demand for products. It is an appropriate strategy for production situations with variable demand and little to no inventory. To handle variations in demand, a company matches the production rate to the order rate by hiring and firing employees. The chase strategy is used mostly in service industries that focus on meeting forecasted demand and adjust the workforce accordingly. Meeting demand can come in the form of workforce adjustments that include the use of day labor, contractors, seasonal workers, and overtime pay. Advantages and Disadvantages A primary advantage is the flexibility to meet demand fluctuations. Another advantage is keeping inventory low, freeing up cash to buy other items such as raw materials or components, thus reducing inventory carrying costs that are associated with holding inventory in stock. The cost of capital, warehousing, depreciation, insurance, taxes, obsolescence, and shrinkage are all inventory carrying costs (Hamlett, 2013). Due to variations in product demand a company using the chase strategy can experience fluctuating workforce levels in response to changing demand. The impact to the company is increased hiring and training costs and a decrease in employee morale (Ritzman & Krajewski, 2003). Examples of Chase Strategy The combination of improved productivity and flat or declining global demand has businesses requiring supply chain re-engineering. The result of these efforts has made them more efficient than ever before. Finding demand to absorb the supply generated is a growing challenge that has affected companies large and small, including the iconic chocolate company Hersheyââ¬â¢s (Kash, 2011). After years of growth and success, Hersheyââ¬â¢s hit a rough period in which senior management saw diminished financial results. Management realized they were not properly aligned to compete effectively, requiring an overhaul in strategy. Research and employee surveys revealed senior management was not aligned in their beliefs about how the company should compete in the future. The result was conflicting messages across the entire operation. Marketing had not responded to retailers growing need for lower inventories, better use of shelf space, and less product packaging complexity (Kash, 2011). The changes in the marketplace caused Hersheyââ¬â¢s to review every aspect of its ââ¬Å"demand chainâ⬠without impacting the current supply chain in place. Hershey discovered that many products were not aligned with consumer demand and retailers were not happy about carrying increasing inventory due to confusing product offerings (Kash, 2011). The company identified the need to move from a supply-driven approach to a demand-driven, consumer-focused strategy based on a pull versus push model (Kash, 2011). It was clear Hershey could no longer win pushing more variations of supply into the market; instead it needed to employ a customer focused supply approach. The resulting transition to a demand-driven model exceeded expectations with the company, in February 2010, announcing record cash flows from 2009 operations doubling 2008 cash flows and 35 percent higher than 2004 record cash flows (Kash, 2011). Another example of a company using the chase strategy is retailer Neiman Marcus that ramps up temporary employment to meet an increase in holiday sales. The increased employees are utilized both in-store and in the warehouse to meet customer demand. Neiman Marcus mails out their ââ¬Å"Christmas Bookâ⬠in mid-September and sees a large increase in orders immediately afterward. Sales volume begins a steep ascent that peaks in early December (Auguston, 1992). The September demand represents 52 percent of peak shipments, and October represents 91 percent of peak shipments. Demand in November and December are in excess of 100,000 shipments per week reaching a peak demand volume of 28,000 orders per day translating to more than double normal sales (Auguston, 1992). Neiman Marcus meets this enormous demand shipping 90 percent of holiday sales within 1 day and 99 percent within 2 days with 99.4 percent accuracy. Achieving these extraordinary results requires advanced planning that includes hiring 300 additional people to work in their distribution center during the holiday season. Twenty percent of these temporary workers return each year (Auguston, 1992). Conclusion The chase strategy helps companies match production to demand by hiring and firing workers as necessary. The chase strategy is a best fit for companies that require manufacturing flexibility and change capacity on a frequent basis. The major cost of this strategy is the hiring and firing of workers and the associated decline in morale. For industries that require highly skilled labor, or where there is strong competition for labor, this strategy is not an optimal choice. This strategy is effective when low-skilled labor is acceptable and during periods of high unemployment. References Auguston, K. (1992, December). Neiman Marcus Plans Picking to Meet Peak Holiday Demands. Modern Material Handling, 10(25), 44-48. Chase, R., & Jacobs, F. R. (2011). Operations and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Hamlett, K. (2013, Spring). Strategies Used in Production Planning & Scheduling. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron/strategies-used-production-plannig-scheduling-1808.html Kash, R. (2011, April). The Hershey Company: Aligning Inside to win on View as multi-pages
Thursday, August 29, 2019
The Kansas-Nebraska Act Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words
The Kansas-Nebraska Act - Essay Example There was a divided interest at this point as there was also strong consideration of territorial implications. Stephen A. Douglas, the proponent of this proposed bill, was highlighting national expansion, but the people were most concerned on the extension of slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act is therefore a highly political issue that sparked interest among the people and their rights to express their freedom to take stand concerning the issue. This policy certainly affected the Midwest because it divided the consensus stand on the idea behind national expansion. Instead, people were directed to focus on the critical issue about the extension of slavery. Prior to this, there was already a strong desire to eliminate slavery as clearly stated in Lincolnââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"House Dividedâ⬠speech (PBS; Wikipedia). In the absence of consensus effort to be united on one stand, division should be remarkable and this was what Lincoln tried to emphasise in his speech concerning the issue ass ociated with Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincolnââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"House Dividedâ⬠speech Lincolnââ¬â¢s speech was an awakening point which could give further justification needed to obtain national solidarity that was threatened by political elements at that time. In order to make his points clearer, Lincoln tried to reference three of most controversial major governmental policies that for him if the people would not be united, particularly the governing body, there would be disunity and separation of popular interest diverted to personal and not to national assurance. Lincoln tried to emphasize national territory as a primary concern for the alignment of political goal of the nation. At this point, he urged the law-making body as far as legal combination was concerned, and so he believed ââ¬Å"a house divided against itself cannot stand.â⬠He was on the side revealing the point that a government could not remain to stand strong half slave and half free. In line with this, he cited the case of Kansas-Nebraska Act and other major governmental policies that gained popular protests and reactions. So there is therefore a good structure on Lincolnââ¬â¢s speech, which elaborates the need to take stand based on the prevailing reality. Lincoln emphasized the need to consider alarming output of some major governmental policies, which has become the strong basis of his stand to point out the Government could not just eventually take center stage but should need to understand solidarity for national expansion or growth. This makes Lincolnââ¬â¢s speech highly organized with appropriate point and structure, trying to combine persuasive manner in addressing a particular issue. Charles Beecherââ¬â¢s sermon, elements of rhetoric or style Obviously, Beecherââ¬â¢s way of addressing the issue on national policies on slavery was an expansion of text coming from the bible. He remarkably gained his authority and strong voice on the issue with reference to some bi blical text. As part of the development of his sermon, the focus of his application on the chosen biblical text was his own interpretation and stand on the national policies on slavery. This made a powerful combination of obtaining voice and authority in his sermon considering that there could be much more appreciation already placed on the actual issue and on the biblical text. Beecherââ¬â¢s sermon therefore has a specific voice trying to influence popular interest as it was timely and created a specific
Wednesday, August 28, 2019
Economics and business strategies Research Paper
Economics and business strategies - Research Paper Example Practically, the objective of the team owners differs depending on the nation, league and the team. Further, the objective of the team members is significantly affected by the relation of the team to additional assets of the team owner. Consequently, Zimbalist presents that there is no league, which has all the members with equal motivations as well as objectives; therefore, the generalization that leagues can have members with similar motivations and objectives is inconsistent and imperfect.i On the other hand, a corporate-guided market is a form of a dominant market through which abundance is achieved. Through corporate guided markets, aggregate spending is also conducted. In order to understand how this market works, it is crucial to put into consideration how corporations succeed at providing a new market for a branded product. Discussion Zimbalistââ¬â¢s Explanation of Different Owner Motivations of Sports Teams Concept of Competitive Balance and Different Owner Motivations Zi mbalist illustrates various concepts that motivate team owners in their business. First, he states that the team owners are not primarily motivated by the quest to make profits. Certain team owners are motivated by the social prestige so that they seek to be associated and identified with well-liked and successful sports team. Media publicity accounts for the reasons the team owners are motivated to invest in sport teams.ii Even though profit making is part of the business objectives, it does not count as the leading motivation behind such kind of businesses. The push for power, aspiration for prestige, predisposition to team identification and associated feeling of team loyalty drive and motivate the team owners to invest in league business. In addition, the other motivational reasons for team owners that equate to social prestige include personal fulfillment and enjoyment, commitment to professional sports and satisfaction found in sports.iii Second, a part of the team owners is m otivated by the pursuit of profits in sports business. Team owners may be motivated to invest in teams for nonprofit making reasons, making such team owners to be perceived as philanthropists. In contrast, some team owners are primarily motivated to achieve profits out of their investments in the teams. The behaviors revealed by the team owners in pricing regulations and the player salaries demonstrate that profit maximization also accounts for team owner motivations in sport teams. Nevertheless, the ownership motivation involving profit maximization has various inconclusive dimensions to support the hypothesis.iv Third, team ownership is motivated by the need for successful business tycoons to advertise the business products and seek approval of the community in the business they operate. The sports teams are used by these businesspersons to commercialize their ventures in sports sphere.v Furthermore, Zimbalist asserts that team ownership is motivated by the need to publicize busin ess ventures and seek refuge in the federal tax legislationââ¬â¢s development.vi The ownership of teams offers business tycoons tax sheltering opportunities unavailable to other types of ventures. Generally, the
Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Principal-agent theory provides definitive answers to how ownership Essay
Principal-agent theory provides definitive answers to how ownership and control problems should be overcome in particular firms - Essay Example As Lane indicates, the analysis of multifaceted private contracting initiated the development of the principal-agent theory. A difference can be made between temporary contracting as with the buying and selling of goods on the one hand and continuing contracting on the other hand whereby an individual hires another individual or group of individuals to work for them against compensation (2). A principal-agent correlation is a contract in which one or more individuals appoint another individual to carry out some service on their behalf whereby the former is the principal and the later is the agent. This entails entrusting some decision making power to the agent which is fairly common. For instance, a homeowner (principal) may employ a carpenter (agent) to repair her table while a client (principal) may hire a lawyer (agent) to defend his case. Principal-agent correlations also normally arise within organizations, even though the above two examples describe relations in a private setti ng. In organizations, the role of the principal is often played by the board of directors, which contracts a manager to manage the institution in the interest of the investors or in the interest of the stakeholders in the case of a nonprofit organization (Caers et.al, 26). Principal-agent theory is used to portray a dyadic relation between a buyer and a seller. At its most basic levels, this model originated from economics. In this relationship the buyer makes a deal with the seller and has the finances to acquire the sellerââ¬â¢s service of the service. This means that the buyer has the control required to fund and realize the service that they require. Conversely, the seller can push the association to their favor and increase the price since they have more knowledge concerning the service they are providing than the buyer does. However, either the seller or buyer can employ this to their benefit depending on phrasing of the contract. Principal-agent theory assumes that the sel ler and the buyer do not yearn for a jointly beneficial result of the association, but would somewhat pay less or charge more than what the other is offering (Cohen, 5) In a principal-agent interaction at least two people are to partner in the formation of a service that has value. However, the two individuals are not of the same legal standing or partners. The agent is the individual who works for the principal while the principal puts up the payment for agentââ¬â¢s effort against the value that the agent gives to the principal in the form of a product of some sort. Consequently, principal-agent interaction is basically an agreement on how much of the value that the agent produces should go back to him/her as an earning. Nevertheless, what makes the principal-agent model unique is the extra assumption of asymmetric information, meaning that the agent knows more than the principal about the service under consideration in a manner that may influences the contracting results (Lane, 2). In the principal-agent model, the payoff to the principal relies on an action taken by the agent. The principal cannot contract for the action, but can pay off the agent founded on some evident sign that is associated with the action. The first mover is the principal who decides an incentive system for paying the agent depending on the apparent sign. On the hand, the agent decides the best action to take, given the incentives, and then chooses whether to accept the principalââ¬â¢s offer, based on the estimated payment and the prejudiced cost of carrying out the action. Upon agreeing, the agent decides an action that makes the most of his remunerations and the principal monitors the signal associated with t
Monday, August 26, 2019
Research on brand strategy, Chinese brand issue and countermeasures Dissertation
Research on brand strategy, Chinese brand issue and countermeasures - Dissertation Example Chinese brands lack the global standards of competitiveness. They have been focusing on the development of self-owned brands but they continue to face issues such as a weak brand and lack of brand protection consciousness. Thus with the aim to recommend an affective brand strategy for Chinese enterprises, three objectives were set in the study. Extensive literature on the subject was reviewed and then based on a qualitative study, and purely on secondary data the study objectives have been achieved. Reason why Chinese brands have not been able to establish in international markets range from low quality perception, to adherence to Chinese brand names and the lack of competency to decide on brand positioning and brand personality. Chinese brands are known to simply respond to opportunities without implementing brand strategy. The benefits of an effective brand strategy have been amply highlighted throughout the study which includes loyal customers, higher market share and larger reven ues. Brand strategy helps brands adopt a differentiation strategy and focus on specific elements. Citing the examples of Haier and Lenovo, the study finds that an effective brand strategy can help domestic Chinese brands to achieve success in the international markets. Through brand positioning, through a planned growth strategy, Chinese brands can develop sustained competitive advantage even in foreign markets. An effective brand strategy helps overcome the negative perception associated with Chinese brands. The study concludes by suggesting counter measures that Chinese brands can adopt to establish in international markets. Limitations to the study have been highlighted and recommendations for further research on the subject have been made. Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background 1 1.2 Rationale of the Study 3 1.3 Research Aims and Objectives 5 1.4 Structure of the Study 5 Chapter II Literature Review 2.1 Chapter Overview 7 2.2 The concept of brand 7 2.3 Concept o f Brand Strategy 8 2.4 Theories governing brand strategy 11 2.5 Reasons for poor brand strategy 15 2.6 Chapter Summary 17 Chapter III Methodology 3.1 Research Philosophy 18 3.2 Research Design 18 3.3 Chosen Method 19 3.4 Research approach 20 3.5 Data Collection Strategy 20 3.6 Data Analysis 22 3.7 Ethical concerns 22 Chapter IV Findings and Discussion 4.1 Chapter Overview 23 4.2 Findings 23 4.3 Discussions 30 4.4 Chapter Summary 33 Chapter V Conclusion and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusion 34 5.2 Countermeasures 36 5.3 Limitations of the Study 38 5.4 Recommendations for further research 38 References 39 Tables, Charts and Figures Chart 1.1 Brand-consciousness Chinese consumers 2 Figure 2.1 Brand Equity Pyramid 9 Table 4.1 Guangdong Tea Exports 28 Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background With the economic development and improvement in peopleââ¬â¢s living standards, products have become increasingly rich, offering value to the customers. In fact, competition in every field has made busi nesses and markets turbulent prompting marketers to create a distinctive brand image for their products. This requires change in the way organizations build and sustain brands. Most powerful brands in the world support their brand as an asset, essential to the organizationââ¬â¢s long-term strategy (Davis, 2002 cited in Tregert & Westerlund, 2003). Since brand is an asset with an assumed value, brand awareness, brand associations and brand loyalty have to be actively managed. Global brands across the world have
Sunday, August 25, 2019
EFFICIENCY OF CAPITAL MARKETS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
EFFICIENCY OF CAPITAL MARKETS - Essay Example Funds that have bet against the market and performed poorly have been closed or folded into other funds, because their performance is not strong enough to attract new buyers. When one counts fund performance over two different periods of time, if one does not allow for survivorship bias, the data can be biased in favors of those funds that have done well, and can make the overall marketââ¬â¢s fund performance seem better than it is. 3) What is the relationship between risk and return? How do we normally calibrate returns for risk? In a classic model, the higher the risk, the greater the return should be. Risk is the potential for loss weighed against return, the actuality of gain. With survivorship bias and fund piloting (where a group of funds begin at the same time with the notion that only the successful will ultimately survive), risk tends to be hidden by the mutual fund industry, making it seem like returns are higher than they are, and safer. 4) What is alpha and what does it measure? Alpha is a risk-adjusted statistical measure that weighs the return that is afforded in excess of the risk borne. It can usually be determined by subtracting funding performing from a relevant benchmark index. If one bets on the fund manager, one expects the fund to outperformance the basket of stocks bought in an index. 5) What is a t test and what does it measure? The t-test is a statistical measure used to weigh the significance of two different sample means, through a comparison of the variance between the means. In the case of the Malkiel study (p. 554) it indicates that there is a fairly strong difference between the mean performance rating of surviving funds and non-surviving funds, supporting the notion that survivorship bias must be account for to get a true picture of mutual fund records over time. 6) What conclusions can you reach about "the hot hand" investor? Who are the notable exceptions to this observation? The idea of a ââ¬Å"hot handâ⬠manager
Saturday, August 24, 2019
Class discussions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words
Class discussions - Assignment Example Redundancies are sometimes relayed through emails. This often lead to confusion amongst staff members not knowing the reasons for these actions and whether they are likely to be next in being fired. Personally I believe that there are ways in which communication in an organization can be effectively relayed and avoid misinterpretation and misinformation. Being a senior staff in an organization, I would engage my colleagues in face-to-face discussions. In an organization, this means that staff meetings are important and allow staff members of various levels in the organization to freely express thoughts and ideas on how to improve the organization. Listening Listening is defined as the act of making an effort to hear something. Recently I discovered a weakness in my listening ability, which really cost me. My boss called me into his office and requested me to re-submit a report based on an earlier fieldwork that I had undertaken, but since I did not take the time to listen I thought t hat he referred to a report based on a previously finished project. Since I had not yet finished writing the report and did not want to appear lazy, I rushed on my desk and quickly typed the rest of the latest report without proper usage of words and emailed the report to the boss. He later called me and told me that he wanted a previously done report and that since I had gone an extra mile to submit the latest report, he would go through it. I went back to my desk and resubmitted what he had asked for. The following day he summoned me to his office and told me that the latest report was shoddy and that was unlike me. You can imagine how it tarnished my good records. Electronic messages Electronic messages are messages relayed through electronic means. Emails are example of electronic messages. Recently an internal memo was sent to every employee in the organization indicating that the management had decided to scrap the evening office tea in order to cost cut on the organizations s pending budget. I jokingly typed an email with the intention of sending it to my colleague who is also a friend. The email read [the next cost cutting strategy would be for us to take turns in guarding the gate]. I accidentally entered the [send to all] button and the message reached the senior management. After twenty minutes, I received an email from the human resource warning me against inciting staff members. You can imagine how it felt. Personalization of systems System personalization is designed to suit a userââ¬â¢s preference and function. windows 7 has recently come up with the latest versions with improved capabilities. For example, previously it was only possible to use one wallpaper on the desktop. Users who wanted a rotation of wallpapers would require installing a software program that would swap wallpapers in regular intervals. Windows 7 now comes with an option to use multiple wallpapers that rotate automatically depending on a userââ¬â¢s mood. Personalization based on language preference can be instrumental in enabling users speaking different languages to translate and understand information being relayed (Panek, W and Wentworth, T, 2010). Some of the common features present in all the three windows 7 editions include improved desktop navigation and home group. The new desktop features include a retooled taskbar that is redesigned to help the user work smarter and cut clutter. It also
Friday, August 23, 2019
Studying abroad or in home country Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words
Studying abroad or in home country - Essay Example Studying abroad someone is in a position to take advantage of multiple programs such as scholarships and to become better members of society as they are able to relate better with the different ethnic and cultural worldviews. Students studying abroad are able to experience new cultures. There is no better way of finding out about another culture than immersing oneself in it and studying in another country offers students that opportunity. Once one is working, holidays and experiences overseas may be limited to a short time but school offers a long enough period to gain different cultural experiences while acquiring new skills. Students studying in their home country only get to experience that of their own and miss out on how different experiences broaden oneââ¬â¢s mind. Students studying abroad are able to make friends from different parts of the world and this gives them international connections to get jobs and funds in case they are interested in starting charitable organizations back in their home countries. There is likelihood that the universities chosen have students from the localities as well as others from all over the globe. A student who takes this to their advantage can graduate having established many lasting friendships with people from different backgrounds that can be great for networking and even future trips. The feeling of being internationally connected is a dream of many people around the globe and the best way possible to achieve this is through studying abroad. Being a part of an internationally diverse community even academic wise can enhance the quality of learning by providing a wide spectrum of opinions and expertise. Key job skills such as adaptability, global understanding and opinions, tolerance and leadership as well as independence are directly learnt by learning and living abroad. The job market today is highly competitive and it is likely to continue to so be and so students have to
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Discuss how the entry of foreign banks may prove growth-enhancing in a Essay
Discuss how the entry of foreign banks may prove growth-enhancing in a developing country - Essay Example This essay discusses the concept of globalization that gained increasing acceptance among countries across the world. It encourages nations and their authorities to consider themselves as a part of the international community. It urges countries to increase their contacts with the outside world and engage in various economic exchanges in the global market. Accordingly, nations have undertaken various measures to accomplish this goal. The concept of globalization has also pervaded the international financial sector. An increasing number of international banks have expressed the desire of expanding their business activities across the globe. Their preferred target of location has been the economies of the developing countries. Most of the developing nations used to operate as closed economies and were served only by the domestic indigenous banks. The operations of these domestic banks were restrictive in their scale and could cater to the financial requirements of a limited section of the population. Thus, the international banks found these economies as ideal locations for establishing their business activities. Foreign bank entry in a specific country is defined as the procedure by which international banks establish their operations in an economy. This is primarily accomplished by introducing a new branch or by setting up a subsidiary bank in the host nation. Tschoegi has observed that the current trend of globalization has also been observed in the international banking sector. ... According to the World Bank Report (200), over 50 per cent of the banking sector assets of these nations are owned by international banks. The foreign banking institutions have also expanded their business activities in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, the Middle East region and the Soviet Union. However, the rate of expansion of the banksââ¬â¢ operations has been comparatively slower in the second group of nations. Economists have been tempted to question why the foreign banks have found the developing economies to be suitable locations for expanding their business. Analysts have also evaluated the effects of the foreign bank entries on the developing nations. This paper has attempted to examine the microeconomic impact of the entry of international banks as reflected upon the developing nations. (Clarke, 2001, p.1-5) The Transition Efforts of Developing Countries Ever since the industrial revolution in Europe in the 1780s, countries across the world have experienced dif ferent degrees of industrialization and hence economic development. The rate of economic development of a nation depended on how effectively it adapted its existing economy to the new machine methods of industrial production. Countries which rapidly integrated these new technologies into their prevailing production processes witnessed a high rate of economic growth. Contrarily, nations which were slow to adapt to the innovative production technology experienced a much lower rate of economic progress. In this way, the rate of economic development has varied between the different countries of the world. Economists have classified the countries into three main categories based on their present level of economic development: the developed countries (DCs), the developing countries
Catharine Beecher and Charlotte Perking Gilman Essay Example for Free
Catharine Beecher and Charlotte Perking Gilman Essay In the article ââ¬Å"Catharine Beecher and Charlotte Perking Gilman: Architects of female powerâ⬠the author attempts to compare and contrast the convictions and beliefs of Charlotte Gilman and, her great-aunt, Catharine Beecher. One of the most important factors that is seen repeatedly in the article, is the concept that the environment encompassing the home is the center of all commerce for a woman. This thought process continues to build and establishes the idea that what begins in the home continues to radiate out into the lives of the woman and her family. Each female author further attempted to define the roles of a woman directly corresponding with the roles beginning in a womanââ¬â¢s private life and extending into the public life. Although Catharine Beecher and Charlotte Gilman had completely different interpretations of this ideology, the fact that the foundation of the argument was the same purports that the concept, regardless of interpretation, could have some basis on reality. The author of this article, Valerie Gill, very thoroughly cites from not only Catharine Beecherââ¬â¢s books ââ¬Å"A Treatise on Domestic Economyâ⬠and ââ¬Å"American Womanââ¬â¢s Home,â⬠but also from Charlotte Gilmanââ¬â¢s book ââ¬Å"Moving the Mountainâ⬠and several of her lectures and articles including an article titled ââ¬Å"Applepieville.â⬠Gill (1998) states, that ââ¬Å"Like Catharine Beecher, Gilman links the role of the women to the general health of the social system; the dependent and isolated situation of women in their homesâ⬠¦Ã¢â¬ (p. 2). Gill (1998) goes on to further state that ââ¬Å"In spite of their different strategies for defining and locating women, however, Beecher and Gilman share an interest in the topography of female experienceâ⬠and that ââ¬Å"Both writers conceptualize the identity of women in spatial as well as socioeconomic terms, assuming that the fulfillment of their own sex can be quite literally mapped o ut.â⬠(p. 2). The article then moves into much greater detail, analyzing each womanââ¬â¢s many forms of printed material. The extent and degree of information and detail written in this article about each represented author and their contributing works can ultimately beà seen as one of the articles main strengths. However, although this article gives a vast amount of information on the womenââ¬â¢s opinions and beliefs the article at times seems disassembled and erratic. The flow of the article is somewhat hard to follow, and without an increased measure of concentration, the ability of the reader to comprehend and decipher whom the author is speaking of can be lost. Also, with the extensive amounts of information and detail that each female author contributes to the argument, readers are bombarded with data to interpret and distinguish upon. With the author of the article not decisively choosing the strongest points of argument from each author, the information becomes overwhelming and possibly confusing at times. The article ââ¬Å"Catharine Beecher and Charlotte Perking Gilman: Architects of female powerâ⬠attempts to give readers two different perspectives of a womanââ¬â¢s role in her home and how this affects her presence in society. Readers are given a multitude of supporting facts from both womenââ¬â¢s interpretations on the topic. This fact, in certain circumstances, proves to be not only a strength of the article but also a weakness. Regardless of how each woman author interpreted these ideals, the simple fact remains clear that each assumed the role and presence of a woman becomes clearly defined as beginning in the home. References Gill, V. (1998). ââ¬Å"Catharine Beecher and Charlotte Perking Gilman: Architects of female powerâ⬠. Journal of American Culture, 21 (2). Retrieved from http://ctcdns02.ctcd.edu:2122/search/multiSearch.do;jsessionid=F6C4B68D9202464AFE8BAF1AC27987B8
Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Waste Materials In Construction Sites
Waste Materials In Construction Sites Malaysian construction industry still faces increasing in the generation of construction waste materials and for sure they face problems in the removal of this waste. In the last two decades, huge construction building and infrastructure development projects have led to raise the production of construction waste material. The construction waste has a significant impact on the environment, and its environmental effects are in direct relation to the quality and quantity of the waste it generates. (Begum RA, Siwar C, Pereira JJ, Jaafar AH) In Malaysia, The construction industry generates a lot of waste material that can be reused and recycled. Most of the waste materials go into landfill which is both direct cost to construction, and workers productivity and also has wider environmental implication. Moreover, Malaysia have little reliable statistic of construction and demolition that shows the rate of waste generation, type of waste, method of handling process of wastage, and the quantity of materials wastage minimized at source, reused or recycled on-site or off-site in a specific type of construction such as residential construction. (Haliza B.M 2010) According to (Hassan et al. 1998) which shows that on average, the generation of waste can be breakdown into 36.73% from household waste, 28.34% from industrial and construction waste while other sources (market and commercial waste, institutional waste, landscaping waste and street sweeping waste) account for the remaining 34.93% in the Central and Southern region of Malaysia as shown in Figure 1.1. This figure shows that the waste generated from construction plays a significant role in contributing to the disposed in the landfills. PROBLEM STATEMENT The construction fields produce huge amounts of waste by consuming natural resources (Poon, 2007). Waste in the construction industry includes such delays as time, cost, lack of safety, rework, unnecessary transportation journeys, long distances, improper choice or management of programme or equipments and poor constructability.(Lee. et al.,1999) Wastages affect not only on environment its also bring extra project costs to the contractors and developers. Many countries especially the developed countries have started to aggressively recycle the construction materials due to its many benefits. In Malaysia, there is a huge potential in recycling of construction waste and if implemented correctly; will only bring about a construction resurgence. (Wong X. W. 2010) It is then obvious that waste management should be implemented. Reducing, reusing and recycling appear to be profitable alternatives that will increase the lifetime of landfills and reduce exploration of natural resources. (Woolley, 2000) Most importantly, our environment will not face more deterioration. In addition to the environmental benefits in reducing the demand on land for disposing the waste, the recycling of construction wastes, can also help to conserve natural materials and to reduce the cost of waste treatment prior to disposal (Poon, 2002). Despite the efficiency and expertise of the builders in the use of the material there is an increase in the cost of disposal of demolition waste, which requires the need to develop an effective plan for waste management options using the reduction and recycling. Contractors, developers, architects and engineers should have knowledge about how to deal with construction waste materials by reducing, reusing and recycling. Also the governmental authority must play a role by introducing suitable legislation to implement the law and follow up on all offenders who do not follow the laws. With the expansion of urban areas, all relevant parties must make sure that waste materials are minimized and there is a full execution of recycling, waste materials to guide the construction industry in the right direction. (Mohd.N. 2010) OBJECTIVE OF RESEARCH To identify the types of waste materials in construction site To determine approach being use at construction site to reduce waste materials. To give recommendation on reduce, reuse, and recycle of construction waste materials. SCOPE OF STUDY The study covers area of Selangor at Malaysia. SIGNIFICANT OF STUDY Construction industry has an important impact on the environmental in term of unbalanced ecology, change of living environment, potential sewage, and depletion of natural resources, energy usage and production of waste. This study will generally talk about reduction materials wastage issues in construction field. Reduce the material wastage in construction is approved in applying reuse, recycling and reduce the building materials in construction activities. This thesis reviews the technology on construction waste recycling and their viability. CHAPTER II LITRATURE REVIEW INRODUCTION On this chapter, definition, classifications, advantages of reduce waste construction materials and reasons that lead to waste the materials. Investigate or study the related information about this case in from literature information will be definitely implemented in the Methodology. Literature reviews is very important in the research works and consider as foundation for any study which depend on the information of previous researches that has been carried out on the related subject. It provides further knowledge about the scope of research. DEFINITION Construction waste material can be defined as the difference between the value of materials delivered and accepted on site and those properly used as specified and accurately measured in the work, after deducting the cost saving of substituted materials transferred elsewhere, in which unnecessary cost and time may be incurred by materials wastage. Construction waste is any material where there holder has an intention to discard the material as no longer part of the normal commercial cycle or chain of utility. (Ferguson, 1995). According to The environmental protection Act 1990 (EPA 90) Section 75 defines waste as any materials which formalizes remains substances or streaming or other unnecessary surplus substance coming from the application of any process: and any material which involves to be disposed of as being damaged, run down, spoiled, or contaminated, but does not contain any material that is an explosive within the meaning of the explosives Act 1875; or Any substances that are unwanted and ignored or on other hand deal with as if the materials were waste shall be supposed to be waste unless the contrary is proved. (PING, OMRAN, PAKIR, 2009) The waste building materials, packaging, and rubble resulting from construction, remodelling, repair, and demolition operations on pavements, houses, commercial buildings, and other structures. (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Waste is defined as the by-product generated and removed from construction, renovation and demolition workplaces or sites of building and civil engineering structure. (Cheung, 1993) Waste is defined as any material by-product of human and industry activity has no residual value. (Serpell and Alarcon, 1998) Construction materials wastage is unused materials (such as blocks, bricks, concrete, glass, plastics, steel, wood and soil generated by new building construction, renovation, or pulling down of existing construction. The World Book Dictionary defines waste as useless or worthless material; stuff to be thrown away. MAJOR TYPES OF WASTE MATERIALS According to the Environment Protection Department (EPD) (Chung, 2000) .The additional wastages require more time and extra resources for removal which might delay the building operations. The most important sources of construction material waste containing such as: 1. Concrete/cement. 2. Steel/reinforcement. 3. Brick/block. 4. Plastic/PVC 5. Glass 5. Timber/formwork. 6. Screw/bolt/nail. 7. Tile, ceramic tile 8. Non-ferrous metal aluminium CONCRETE Generally, the usage of concrete is mostly for substructure and superstructure of buildings wastage is largely caused from the mismatch between the amount of concrete required and that ordered from suppliers in the case of ready mix concrete supply. The service provider might not be familiar with the exact quantity due to improper management planning, leading to over-ordering. Wastage is also happened because the delays and needless waste handling processes. STEEL REINFORCEMENT As known steel bars are considered one of the most materials being used in construction site. Wastage of steel mainly resulted from cutting. Also wastage might be happen due to damages during storage and rusting. Pre-bending in the manufacturing works can eliminate cutting waste. TIMBER While timber is one of the main materials using for formwork wastage usually happen because the continuous or bad usage and as well as the over cutting. Timber usually dumped after use to do form work. Timber cannot resist termites and can easily break. So it is not suitable for long-term usage. Old timber also usually ends up in the trash and cannot be recycled. BRICK AND BLOCK Because the common usage of bricks and blocks in construction as walling and for partition. Wastage usually caused due to the improper cutting and careless of handling material. Improper handling might raise wastage of brick and blocks damage because of the breakable nature of the materials. Bricks remained on site without usage will end up in the trash skip in the end. PLASTIC/PVC Plastic wastage normally resulted from the cutting during piping work. Also plastic wastes happen due the inappropriate storage which throws it on site without considering its bad weakness and durability. PVC or plastic will melt if it direct contact with heat. Plastic also cannot resist chemical reactions. SCREW/BOLT/NAIL/ TILE The usage of those items usually being as connection. For sure they are used with large quantity which easily damaged due to the carelessness of the workers. Throwing screws or nails by workers lead to increase the wastage of them. Also wastage of tiles commonly happens during cutting. BENEFITS OF CONSTRUCTION WASTE REDUCTION Minimizing the total costs of the project throughout avoided removal costs, averted buying new materials, and revenue profit from materials sale due to reusing of materials onsite. Helps societies, construction companies, and construction owners comply with state and local policies, such as disposal bans and recycling goals. Promote general image of construction companies which minimize waste disposal. (Zhang, 2008) Reduce the environmental impact of the waste. Cleaner and safer construction site. Conserves space in existing landfills. Additional costs are avoided by diverting waste from landfills. CAUSES OF WASTE MATERIALS GENERATION According to Ekanayake who has discuss the causes of construction waste material he said that there are many factors lead to construction waste at site and he specified that the most important are ordered the common sources of construction waste under six categories: (1) design; (2) procurement; (3) handling of materials; (4) operation; (5) residual related; and (6) others. Furthermore those sources of waste materials probably happen during main phases of the project life cycle, (1) design, (2) operational, (3) material handling and, (4) procurement. (Ekanayake) Design Carelessness to dimension skills of some materials Design changes during construction progress. Lack of experience of designers and project managers in scheduling works. Lack of attention paid to standard sizes available on the market Designers familiarity with alternative products Complication of reading drawings details Lack of information in the drawings Errors in contract documents No completed contract documents at the beginning of project low quality materials selection Procurement Suppliers and workers errors Accidents coming from carelessness of labors Damage to work done caused by subsequent trades Use of wrong materials, which need replacement Failure to reach the required quantity before work from quantity surveyors. Late passing of information to responsible person on types and sizes of materials to be used Equipment broken and rainy weather Handling materials Damage happens due to the transportation process Unsuitable storage for materials caused damages to them Materials supplied in loose form Bad construction site layout where materials close to working place Misunderstanding between teamwork and workers Theft Operations Ordering errors Lack of possibilities to order small quantities Buy materials which can not be comply with specification CONSTRUCTION WASTE REDUCTION Construction Waste Reduction has been defined by the UK Environment Agency (1997) as reducing construction waste by protective measures (prevent, reduce at source, and reuse of wasted materials) and waste management measures (quality improvement, and recycling). Similarly, Envirowise (1998) defined Construction Waste Reduction as the process of systematic waste reduction at source, by preventing and reducing waste before its physical generation, and encouraging reuse, recycling and recovery. Therefore, according to (Riemer and Kristoffersen 1999) reducing waste materials is a process of avoidance, eliminate or decrease the waste on sources or allow reuse and recycling process of waste materials for such purposes in construction field. Waste reduction hierarchy has been addressing (reduce) as one of the highest main concern for decreasing the amounts of waste. The crucial objective of the strategy of waste reduction is to avoid or eliminate it from the outset, at the beginning stage phase of the project. (Andy, Andrew and Simon) Waste reduction is achieved through the application of a Waste Reduction Hierarchy which is applied from design through to disposal, as detailed below:- 1. Reduce. Avoidance of unnecessary consumption of materials at the concept and design stage of procurement; 2. Reuse. Reuse requires the design and utilization of re-useable containers and materials without subjecting the item to a manufacturing process that changes its original configuration and composition (e.g. reusable packaging and pallets for storage); 3. Recycle. Product recycling requires the raw material to be recovered and used to manufacture another product; 4. Disposal. Disposal of waste to landfill is the least acceptable form of waste management, and is to be regarded as the option of last resort. REDUCE In the past, waste reduction strategies have taken many forms, but the main purpose has remained the cornerstone of most waste reduction strategies which is to find out the maximum practical benefits from waste materials and to produce the minimum amount of waste. The understanding of what construction materials need to buy is the most first and important part in waste reduction, then monitoring materials usage, and after that find ways to avoidance, reduce, reuse, then recycle the wasted materials. A good strategy is to target the major component in the waste material stream, and put into practice the easy waste reduction steps first. Below are some ideas to help you identify waste reduction opportunities:- Buy pre-cut materials like foam boards and floor trusses to minimize waste. Re-utilize wasted substances like siding, inside trim, door, and framework for wood, hardwood floors, and bath fitting. Planning for usage 4 x 8 panels and standard timber lengths; plan to create functional usage of standard lengths of heating tube material, metal pipes, wiring, siding, and gutters. Find out new developed methods that can decrease and make usage of materials more economically and efficiently. Consult trade publication, construction companies, and local organizations for information on resource efficient building designs and techniques. Choose design which allow and give opportunity to dismantling all parts of the structure as an alternative choice instead of the demolition, which might save building materials for recover them to be useful source of materials for volunteer organizations. Work with famous designers, contractors, and suppliers those who have good characters in usage of resource-efficient design and building. Select to expand long period of new or existing buildings. Choosing the best quality, more durable substances extend the life of the building structure and giving easier remodelling, protection, or renovation. Usage of elegant design characteristics from architect and designers might be useful for minimization of building wastage and enhance the productivity due to the genius designation like multi-purpose rooms, encouraging smaller footprints, and choosing construction materials which friendly to environment and energy efficient. Construction companies also might use cutting and advanced framing techniques to minimize building wastage, this method may produce few waste, and holding over surplus to the next construction site or donating by them to the volunteer organization. REUSE Separation of the materials is the most important thing in reuse wasted materials also separation should be separated in good condition to keep materials durability. A majority of these materials are durable and therefore, have a high potential of reuse. It would, however, be desirable to have quality standards for the recycled materials. There are many materials might recovered from construction sites waste and they can be sold, donated, stored for later use, or reused on the current project. Some materials are convenient for reuse such as doors, cabinets, windows, carpet, brick, light fixtures, ceiling and floor tiles, wood, HVAC equipment, and decorative items (including fireplaces and stonework). Construction waste can be used in the following manner: Reuse on site of blocks, stone slabs, timber, piping railings etc. Sale material that cant used again on site through design restraint or design changes. Recycle materials such as plastics, broken glass, scrap metal etc. Use materials like broken block or brick, plaster concrete pieces etc. in other application at the construction. For ex. levelling, cavity under coat of paths where the passage not required of heavy moving loads. Big pieces and unused parts can be sent to lower areas to fill them. Soft materials might be used as can be used as cover material over sanitary landfill, like sand, dust etc. RECYCLING There are some materials can be directly recycled onsite into new construction or offsite at a construction and demolition processor. Typical materials recycled from construction sites contain metal, timber, asphalt, pavement, and concrete pieces, roof materials, corrugated cardboard and wallboard. Most of the construction wastages throw out to landfill. There are many opportunities for the construction companies to reduce that in order to extend the life period of landfill sites, decrease transportation requirements and reduce the primary resource requirements. DISPOSAL Landfilling is the main method of disposal of all solid wastes including the construction waste materials in most of countries. Landfilling is not capital intensive and does not require skilled labour unlike compositing or incineration. MATERIALS CAN BE RECYCLING Recycling of construction materials has been recommended from many researchers in their studies and companies work in that field but the factual administering of construction and demolition waste recycling is limited to a few types of solid wastes. According to (Mindess et al., 2003): who thought that economy, compatibility with other materials and material properties should be taken into account when considering recycle materials. He justified that recycling can be only useful when the recycled product is economical compared to the natural resource in cost and quality. He added recycled materials will be preferable in areas where less raw materials and land filling sites exists. It investigates the technology on construction waste recycling and their viability. In addition, (Mindess, 2003) has been mentioned to materials recycling practice had been studies such as concrete, plastic, brick, ferrous and non-ferrous metal, masonry, glass and timber. CONCRETE In fact, concrete is the most materials being wasted during construction and demolition. According to (Emily, 2010), manufacturers produce more the 25 billion tonnes of concrete per year. Large quantities of concrete waste during tear down/building new construction therefore concrete need to recycle. It is an easy way to recycle concrete. The most important thing is to sort concrete and remove the steel rebar then after sorting concrete go through out crush machine to grind them forming very small pieces as sand or aggregates. Crushing can be made on site to reuse at the same time. BRICK Bricks wastage coming from construction site might be polluted with mortar, rendering and plaster, and usually they being blinded with another materials such as wood and concrete. But there are difficulties being faced in the separation of bricks which usually need to be separated and sorting by hand. There are small percentage around 10 to 15% of bricks from damaged buildings are facing bricks, therefore they need manpower and it might be expensive to sort and clean bricks. Therefore contaminated bricks are not economical to be used because that will be more costing than natural bricks. In 2004, Japanese building site had been burning the destroyed bricks into slime burnt ash. And, in recent year, bricks are commonly be crushed to form filling materials and hardcore in Hong Kong. STEEL Preferably, it is better to reuse steel wastage directly on site. If the direct usage is not possible, then it can be fuse to manufacture new steel. According to (Coventry, 1999) there is more than 80% of the steel wastage coming from construction fields being recycled into new materials in the Netherlands, despite the fact that almost 100% may be claimed to be recyclable. Steel organization reports that roughly 100% steel reinforcement is made from recycled scrap and 25% steel sections are made from recycled scrap. Scrap steel is almost completely recycled and allowed repeated recycling. Also in Japan, they recycles construction steel such as steel reinforcement and rebar due to fabricated steel or cut to resize off-site with the cutting waste, 100% of steel waste might be recycled to keep away from wastage at construction site. GLASS According to (Coventry, 1999), in UK, 425,000 tonnes of glass has been recycled. However, the recycling rate is fairly low in Hong Kong 1% comparing with countries such as USA, Japan and Germany which their rates are 20, 78 and 85%, respectively. Glass can be reused in the construction industry for a number of applications: (i) Window: (Coventry, 1999) thought that window glass might be reusing on construction that will be depend on how they deal with glass handling, storage, transportation from/to construction site, and the quality. (ii) Glass fibre: for material properties improvement, glass can be recycled in the manufacture of glass fibre using long easy process starting from collecting the waste to recycle pin then transported to treatment plant, the glass then should be sorted according to its colour and type and washed to clean it from any impurities after that glass crushed and melted then moulded into new product. Glass can be used in thermal and acoustic insulations, which can be mixed with strengthen cement, gypsum or resin products. (iii) Filling material: they had practiced recycling for glass in UK as a fine material for cement replacement called ConGlassCrete that support the strength of concrete. (iv) Tile: in US 100% replacement of recycled glass that gives good-looking reflective appearance on the exterior after burnishing. (v) Paving block: in United State they created aggregate from recycled glass by crushing. Also in Hong Kong, they are developing this recycling technology, which can produce advantages such as promote good-looking reflective appearance on the exterior after burnishing, minimize water absorption of concrete block and provide good compressive strength. However, the problems on instability, sharpness of aggregate and alkali-silica reaction expansion need to be resolved. By adopting pulverized fly ash for depressant in alkali-silica reaction and reduce the impurities are necessary in improving the quality of paving block adopting recycled glass aggregate. (vi) Asphalt in road: 15% of old glass had been recycled forming asphalt in Taiwan. Furthermore glass needed to grind to very soft materials replacing asphalt (vii) Aggregate in road: also in US material called glassphalt has been made from crushed glass and used as an aggregate in bituminous concrete pavement. (viii) Man-made soil: Japan practices adopted waste glass as ultra-fine particles at high temperature. MASONRY Masonry waste usually crushing as recycled to become masonry aggregate. So after grinding till become masonry aggregate will be such thermal insulating for concrete. it can also help concrete to be more strength with comfortable thermal insulation, masonry waste can be used after recycled for traditional clay bricks (i) Crushing recycle masonry aggregate till be as ash then will be replacement for clay in brick including sand sodium silicate brick. (ii) Using masonry aggregate in traditional clay brick in this case it prefers to avoid any contain of any element that will prevent effects on durability and strength of clay brick. (iii) In case of sing masonry in sodium silicate brick it might contains some of elements like lime but have to be under pressure of 15 bars to create sodium silicate bricks. NON-FERROUS METAL The major non-ferrous metal materials gathered from construction sites are aluminium, copper, lead and zinc (Coventry, 1999). Furthermore after separations and sorting of those materials, they can be sold directly to the scrap metal traders for recycling or directly to end-user by melting. In UK, the usage of aluminium is up to 95,000 tonnes with about 70% recycled in 1997,recycling of copper is up to 119,000 tonnes out of a national market of 262,000 tonnes used (100% recycling rate can be achieved). While paper and cardboard form approximately 37% of construction wastes by volume (EPD, 2002). Recycling companies usually reprocess them as paper product by purification. PLASTIC In fact, it is very hard to recycle plastics wastages if they are blended with other plastic or impure materials but according to (Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000) great possibility to reuse materials such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and Polyvinylchloride (PVC) especially if they being gathered properly segregate and spotless. Because of the damages in some of the characteristic of the old plastic the possibilities of high level recycle will be definitely restricted. Virgin material should include in recycling. The recycled materials are utilized for the manufacturing of new plastic includes 70% recycled material; 30% virgin material is utilized for securing sufficient ultra violet (UV) resistance in the Netherlands. Furthermore it might be probable to develop this substitute ratio up to 80 or 90% in the coming years. According to (Coventry, 1999) there are many major chances to address when considering the recycling of plastic such as:- (i) Panel: in 1992 roofing panels have been started due to the recycling of diaphanous PVC. Because of the impurity and the consolidation, the recycling materials have less quality than new roofing component, so that should be applied for only the inferior face. This panel must be transformed to powder using cryogenic milling. Then powder should mingle with plasticizers and also mix up with other materials to produce new panel. (ii) Plastic might be street furniture, roof and floor, piling, PVC window, noise barrier, cable ducting and pipe, cladding and insulation foam through recycling and redesign for usage. (iii) there are new methods has been developed to allow construction materials to be with time infused with recycled plastic ingredient in order to increase strength, durability and impact resistance, and improve appearance. TIMBER The wastage of wood from building site operations is generated in huge amount all over the world. According to (Coventry, 1999) he mentioned to that the wastage of timber generated in UK is more than 2.5 tonnes per year. For sure, wastage of wood has possibilities to be recycled after collection for some purpose such as: (i) Timber wastage coming from building activity might be utilized directly for reusing in any applications in construction projects but before reusing need to clean the from nails and resize the them to the proper way. Furthermore unspoiled timber should be reused as board, beams, doors, floorboard, roof beam, balcony ramparts, partitions, and pile. In Japan they already developed wood waste into new technology turning them to furniture, shoring wooden pile for relocate pine trees, wood bench and timber stair. (ii) A special lightweight concrete might be formed from aggregate made from recycled small wooden pieces. (iii) According to (Hendriks and Pietersen, 2000) in Japan wood waste might be recycled as energy sources, for Ex. fuel, charcoal for power generation. Also there are more than 400,000 tonnes of wood from building activities are produced in Netherland. (iv) wood pieces wastage throwing from building activities might be recycled and reused as new building materials as partitions, board for roof, ceiling and floor, cladding in agricultural building, advertisement panels, a packaging substitute, wall and sound barrier. (v) Paper, In Japan, they recycled timber producing board and mulching. Besides that wastage of wood might be mixed with topsoil to improve soil texture and coated with plastic to produce material called plastic lumber. (vi) Clipped timber is recycled by spraying them onto sloped soil surface in Japan, which is called geofibre. (vii) Timber waste can be recycled to create insulation board, kitchen tool and furniture from the chipped timber under pressure at around 180 Ã ¢-Ã ¦C for 40 min with
Tuesday, August 20, 2019
Analysing The God Of Small Things English Literature Essay
Analysing The God Of Small Things English Literature Essay May in Ayemenem is a hot, brooding month. The days are long and humid. This luscious and mysterious description of India sounds unmistakably like a tourist novel yet this example of post colonial exoticism is used to lure in readers to the novel The God of Small Things. Whilst being better known for its celebrity stakes of the Booker Prize, the author Arundhati Roy is ethnic, a strong activist and her cultural authenticity passively provides an authentic Indian voice through her idealised western way of talking and thinking about the east. Roy plays into a colonial style known for its dominating, restructuring and authoritative power over India using references from politics and history to keep the story real and dangerously intoxicating for her western readers. It serves the dual purpose of being able to write back to the empire whilst becoming a product of global capitalism, hybridity of the west and the east, using eastern examples of western ideals through examples of critiqued p ower relations and subverted ideas of the exotic. The society of Ayamenem strongly follows westerns ideas adopted from its colonial background by living with a caste system in which there are two classes, the inferior touchables who are of a higher class than the untouchables. This idea is borrowed from the class system of the British so the inequality between both is familiar to its readers but is also exotic in the way that it controls society and influences everyday life. The extremity of having the untouchables so grateful to the touchable class that a man is willing to kill his own son when he discovers that he has broken the most important caste rule, that there is no interclass relations. These rules of society are unknown to that of the reader; it provides them with the mystery and danger of the exotic. Also having no interclass relations means that there is a lot of tension in the relationships between characters in the novel. The untouchables have internalized class segregation and are aware of the limits of their place in society. Relationships with these people are strongly discouraged but the members of this family find reason to cross and defy these rules. This is unusual behaviour and the idea of resistance against the adopted colonial system is exciting to its western audience who believe that the underdog can win although Roys account provides enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing the consequences of the characters defiance. The novel also exoticises Indias inequality, making it light hearted and approachable for its western audience. The style of writing suggests that Roy has written the story from an outsiders perspective, looking, observing and commenting on daily life, strange insects appeared like ideas in the evening, questioning her authenticity through her strategic use of words and in this example she tells the reader of strange insects in the afternoon yet these insects should be familiar to the teller of the story. This westernisation becomes more apparent through Indian society who seem like they are trying to appeal to the wider western audience. While choosing a name for the family pickle company the relevance of the name was an important factor, At first he wanted to call it Zeus Pickles and Preserves, but that idea was vetoed because everybody said that Zeus was too obscure and had no local relevance, whereas Paradise did. (Comrade Pillais suggestion -Parashuram Pickles was vetoed for the opposite reason: too much local relevance). Instead of marketing to their local community, the name Paradise seemed more suitable which shows how self aware their society has become knowing that the pickling company could be seen on a global scale promoting its exotic feeling to produce global product. Roy promotes this kind of thinking throughout her novel and in a sense she is able to sell her culture through her strategic storytelling. She tells of hotels that have truncated traditional kathakali performances from six hour classics to twenty minutes cameos for the small attention spans of the tourists. It shows how Indian society has given into its colonialisation, allowing their cultural values and actions to be altered so that it can be marketed on a global scale. The strategic use of how India will be seen from a tourist point of view appeals greatly to those who have never seen India and in these terms Roy provides the idealistic tourist guide that they have been seeking wi th bite sized portions of a culturally authentic experience such as her use of traditional Malayalam words throughout the text. Not only has Roy tried to westernise India in her novel, she has also borrowed ideas and put them into and Indian context. The notion of love is not widely or publicly spoken about in India (although glamorised through film), it is something that is private and varies with the type of belief system one has. The God of Small Things is unique in this way; it could almost be seen as a tragic Indian love story showing the different interpretations of the dimensions of love. The idea of romantic love barely exists in Indian society as it collective society who make decisions together while romantic love is independently chosen and a modern way of finding a partner. Roy explores this through the relationship between characters such Chacko and Margaret. Chacko is Indian and he falls in love with a European woman and their relationship is the least stable as they find that it does not work and although it is demanding to say the least, Chacko decides to devote himself to her even after they have split so he can always be there for her. This type of relationship can be identified with easily as it seems to be more common throughout the west and it shows how multicultural relationships work within society. Baby Kochamma also tries to find meaning in her life through unrequited love for a Irish priest. The idea of unrequited love is discouraged in Indian society as it is embarrassing for the family as it is publicly unsuccessful. Familial love is then the most important and scared of all types of relationships. The parents in the novel have a very strong and deep love for their children that readers can relate to, Chacko loves his daughter Sophie so much (even though he barely knew her) that when she dies he is distraught and has to move away. Ammu also has a very strong love for her children and she shares that with Velutha (her love interest) who also shows an unselfish love for her children as a reflection of his love for Ammu. The twins also love each other very much and their love is so strong that they can easily know what each other is thinking and feeling although this is where Roy introduces a twist to the plot by having these types of love become forbidden and incestuous. She crosses the line that most Indian authors would we unwilling to as such things are unspoken of and yet at the same time this excites the western readers who can handle reading about such a taboo experience. She shows that love is a powerful and uncontrollable force that cannot be contained by conventional social codes because a traditional Indian society (in the case of Ammu and Velutha) seeks to destroy romantic love as it believes that love should only be an emotion that is explained through two peoples cultural background and political identities. Roy speaks of love laws that have to be abided and such rules seem ridiculous and even intriguing to see how people live by them and the fascination of what happens if one might break these rules and how desperation and desire fight the overbearing force of being punished for loving the wrong person. The themes used by Roy are universal and provide a comfortable introduction to India. She is aware of how to sell her culture to the global market and is successful in promoting this novel as an authentic experience to the western world. It is not threatening but yet hybridity of cultures, strategically using exoticism to her advantage almost tricking her western audience into their curiosity to know more through her ability to be able to tell a great story which has no secrets and is exposed for all to take with them.
Monday, August 19, 2019
Philosophy of Teaching Essay -- Teachers Education Careers Essays
Philosophy of Teaching As I think back to teachers in my past, many images come to mind. I remember teachers that were kind, patient and understanding. I also have memories of teachers that were short tempered, angry or just plain lazy. Some were eccentric, while others taught with a relaxed teaching style. So I ask myself, what separates the good from the bad? Why are some teachers so effective while others fall short? What in fact makes a good teacher? Obviously these are not easy questions to answer. All I can do is share my own opinions and beliefs on qualities that I feel make a great teacher. As teachers we have an overwhelming responsibility to prepare students for the rest of their lives. When they leave high school or college they should be trained to meet the challenges, and be prepared to handle any number of new and unusual situations. I feel that school puts too much emphasis on what some may consider to be core subjects. The essentialism approach to teaching is the most common, however I feel it is not the most effective way to prepare students for the real world. Essentialism does have its place in education, however I feel students are forced to learn too many useless facts and skills that they will probably never use. In the long run do all those algebraic equations really help when you are entertaining clients or planning a business trip? These are good skills to have, and it is important to know facts about the world we live in, but we must also include real world problems and situations. In my opinion the best approach to teaching is progressivism. I feel that the best way to prepare students for the real world is to put them in real world situation... ...porate other subjects into the learning process. If they are drawing the human form I will suggest the research of human anatomy. I will encourage my students to learn about the history of art and in doing so they will learn valuable lessons on the history of the world. My students will learn math skills as they take a photograph and double or triple its size to recreate it on paper. In my classroom I want to not only help children develop their art talent but encourage them to explore and investigate the world around them. Learning can and should be fun. If students can draw on their interest then there is no limit to what they can learn. We all have a natural instinct to crave knowledge. I hope as a teacher I can stir that instinct and help my students learn a variety of valuable skills that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
Sunday, August 18, 2019
racism :: essays research papers fc
What would you do if the Constitution said you were just as good as everyone else but some people still acted as if you were something they had just scraped off their shoe? This sort of thing happens to millions of people on a regular basis. Americans of African, Asian, or Mexican descent are all subject to this kind of treatment. Caucasians are as well, but it is not as publicly notarized as the aforementioned. Most of these feelings towards another of a different skin color are deeply rooted in our minds from previous generations. Many, many years ago, African-Americans were used as slaves. The slave owners treated them badly. The ownerââ¬â¢s own children then grew up with the same ideals and passed them on to the new generation. Through the years, people have spoken out about these ill-conceived ideas making the ominous threat of racism more discreet than ever before. While searching online I googled Supremacist groups , I discovered a numbered list of Klu Klux Klan, Aryan, Skinhead, and many other white supremacist groups. I was shocked when I saw how many this one list had. It listed over 800 different groups. I know that number is not nearly accurate because there are many smaller groups that have not yet made themselves known publicly. Even people that do not belong in these racially biased groups perform some acts of racism. Racial profiling- the discriminatory practice by police of treating blackness (or brown-ness) as an indication of possible criminality. "Driving While Black (or brown)" is a campaign started by the American Civil Liberties Union because a study showed that minorities only make up 16% of all drivers, yet they are 74% of all drivers stopped and searched. Generally, only 12 to 13 percent of the U.S. citizens are African American, although Black inmates make up 40.29 percent of death row's population. As of 1996, there have been 232 citizens executed under the death penalty since 1977. Only one white person has been put to death for the murder of a black person. One perfect example of true racial profiling and discrimination is this next story. Danny Glover, a famous African-American actor was in New York City. It was late at night and he was trying to hail a cab. None of the cabs would stop and pick him up because of the fact that he was an African-American male.
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Environmental Hazards Essay
If someone was to ask you, ââ¬Å"What is an open dump? â⬠What would you say? Would you know what to tell them? An open dump is abandoned piles of household garbage, bags of yard waste, appliances, old barrels, used tires, and demolition debris can threaten the health of wildlife, the environment, and humans. They can cause such health, environmental, and safety issues as fires or explosions, the inhalation of toxic gases, injuries to children playing in or around the dumpsites (I have personal experience of cutting my foot on broken glass as a child playing in an open dump), diseases carried by flies, rodents and mosquitos, and other hazards. Open Dumps, 1996 ââ¬â 2011). Early Landfill Believe it or not, landfills go way back in history. Of course, back then they were called ââ¬Å"garbage dumps. â⬠For instance, early American settlers used to deal with their garbage by dumping it over the back fence, burying it in their back yards, or dumping it in rivers. They also would burn their garbage. (Amsel, 2005 ââ¬â 2013). We can go even further back in history with this subject. Case in point: Did you know the cause of the bubonic plague (14th century) was too much garbage in the streets? Allow me to explain. The bubonic plague, also called, the ââ¬Å"black death,â⬠spread through Africa, Asia, nd Europe, killing 75 million people. What these people did not know at the time was they had too much garbage in their streets. There was so much it was in piles. These piles of garbage in turn attracted rats. The rats had fleas. The fleas carried the disease. With rats carrying the disease from place to place, the lack of sanitation made it the worst epidemic in human history. (Amsel, 2005 ââ¬â 2013). Many of the early landfills were made in wetlands. These wetlands were thought to be wasteland at that time. These landfills leaked into lakes and rivers and built up gases, such as methane. As garbage rots, it gives off a flammable gas, called methane. Because of this many garbage dumps would catch fire or explode! The first garbage burning plant was built in 1885 in New York on Governorââ¬â¢s Island. It was called an ââ¬Å"incinerator. â⬠There were 300 incinerators burning garbage in the U. S. by 1914. (Amsel, 2005 ââ¬â 2013). Leachate ââ¬â The most serious problem with landfills is groundwater contamination. As water percolates through the ground (like water does in a coffeemaker), chemicals can be released in the ground and get carried along in a process called leaching. The resulting water with the various pollutants is called leachate. As the water percolates through Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), a noxious leachate is generated that consists of residues various decomposing organic matter mixed with various metals from rusting items in the landfills. This can funnel directly into the groundwater without correct precautionary measures. (Wright, 2011). Methane ââ¬â Municipal Solid Waste is about 2/3 organic material. Because of this, it is subject to natural decomposition. Buried wastes are anaerobic, meaning they decompose without oxygen. A major by-product of this process produces a combination of about 2/3 methane and 1/3 hydrogen and carbon dioxide, called biogas. This is a highly flammable mixture. This has caused homes to explode at up to 1000 feet away and has caused some deaths. Also, gases seeping up to the surface have killed vegetation by poisoning their roots. (Wright, 2011). Incomplete Decomposition ââ¬â Commonly used plastics resist natural decomposition because of their molecular structure. Microbes are unable to digest them because they are polymers of petroleum-based compounds. There have been biodegradable plastic polymers developed from other sources, such as cornstarch, lactic acid, cellulose, and soybean protein, as well as petroleum. Wright, 2011). Settling ââ¬â Finally, as waste compacts and decomposes, it settles. This problem was recognized from the beginning and there have been no buildings built on landfills. Settling creates shallow depressions that collect and hold water. These can also be deep holes. This can be addressed by continuous monitoring and filling to restore it to a level surface. (Wright, 2011). Modern Landfill Modern landfills are designed to address the previous mentioned issues. The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has upgraded requirements for landfill siting. New landfills are to be sited well above the water table on high ground. The floor is contoured so water drains into a tile leachate collection system. The sides and floor are covered with a plastic liner and at least two feet of compacted soil. This allows any percolating leachate to drain into the leachate collection system and be treated as necessary. Layers of refuse are positioned so the fill is built up in the shape of a pyramid. It is then with at least 18 inches of earthen material and then seeded. This cap and the pyramid shape help the landfill in shedding water. The entire landfill site is surrounded by groundwater monitoring wells and periodically checked. This checking must go on indefinitely. (Wright, 2011). Mariannhill Landfill, South Africa I chose the Mariannhill Landfill, South Africa for innovative practices in making it more productive and reducing its environmental impact. In reading the description of this landfill, it seemed more like a recreation area and less like a landfill. I could tell a lot of thought and planning went into this. This landfill contains several ââ¬Å"cellsâ⬠to hold waste. Soil from the landfill area is removed and put in storage. The resulting hole is the cell. Once the cell is full the soil is replaced. Vegetation is also removed and placed in a large holding nursery on the site. This is called Plant Rescue Unit or PRUNIT. There is a barrier system in each cell to prevent harmful waste by-products from seeping into the environment. Leachate is treated on site. This is done by a biological primary treatment with sludge followed by a ââ¬Å"polishing treatmentâ⬠by a reed bed. The Mariannhill site treats landfill water to reduce leachate until the water is reusable. Mariannhill has also set up a landfill gas extraction scheme. It has been operational for four years as of 2008. It also has a bird hide and conservation area with nature trails that link up with existing green space in the metro. (Mariannhill Landfill Conservancy, 2008). This has been a truly eye-opening assignment. Little did I realize as a child that some of the areas I was playing in were so dangerous. Iââ¬â¢m not sure if my parents knew, but they always told me to stay away from places like that. I am so thankful these places (older landfills and ââ¬Å"dumpsâ⬠) are practically figments of the imagination now. We need to take better care of our planet! Letââ¬â¢s all chip in!
Friday, August 16, 2019
Ethics Game Dilemmas Essay
After completing the ethics games and answering the questions regarding two different dilemma faced by the company G-BioSports, I have compiled this report to present the issues that were brought up in both scenarios. The situations were taken from the point of view of the Associate Director of Operations if the company and the goal was to enforce the company policies, keep the company safe from any lawsuits, act fairly, and come up with the best solution for all parties involved. It is well known that what is legal may or may not be ethical (Trevino, 2011). According to Loyola Marymount University, there is a three-step strategy to resolve ethical problems. Step one is to analyze the consequences, step two analyze the actions, and step three to make a decision. (Loyola, 2009) Mysterious Blogger The ethical dilemma faced by G-BioSports is that one of the employees has been posting blogs regarding company products and safety procedures. However, none of the blog posts were particularl y harmful to the company. This issue is ranked one of the ââ¬Å"ten issues raised by IT capabilities.â⬠The issue is privacy: does informationââ¬â¢s availability justify its use? (techrepublic.com, 2006) The subsequent issue involved an anonymous email sent by an IT employee named Jamal Moore. He bypassed company security procedures to illegally access company intranet and track blogging from a home PC, as well as sending an anonymous email to expose the blogger. After further review of all email documents, the next step was to determine what company policies had been undermined by these actions. In regards to the anonymous email sent by Jamal, company policy states that ââ¬Å"email transmissions sent outside of our intranet raise confidentiality concerns.â⬠As well as, ââ¬Å"There is a legitimate concern about the security of external email.â⬠Jamal is therefore breaking the company code of conduct for using company resources on his home computer, as well as bypassing security protocols due to his IT knowledge. Aaron also violated the companyââ¬â¢s Confidential Information section of policy which reads, ââ¬Å"Also, employees may not discuss the companyââ¬â¢s business, information, or prospects in any chat room, or web log (blog), regardless of whether t hey use their own name or a pseudonym.â⬠These policies show that Aaronââ¬â¢s actions violate the contractual agreement forbidding him to expose company information, even if it is for a non-threatening purpose. Both cases should result in some form of disciplinary action. In order to fairly justify the disciplinary actionà performed all parties involved must be identified, ranking them from highest to lowest impact. After analyzing the effects on all people involved, diagnosing and comparing possible solutions to disciplinary measures must be tackled. The final step would be in implementing the best course of action which meets all goals and would best suite our company and its values. It was helpful when reviewing each solution, to choose an ethical perspective or lens to identify the best course of action from a non-personal standpoint. When evaluating the situation, I examined each of the different perspectives of each ethical lens and how our companyââ¬â¢s values could be incorporated into each lens. The Rights and Responsibility lens best fit our companyââ¬â¢s overall position on ethical issues (Trevino, 2011). Veiled ID The second ethical simulation examines different aspects of diversity and corporate ethical standards. The incident involved a former employee break-in to company premises and assaulting a current employee who was hospitalized. New security measures need to be implemented in order to prevent any future security breaches. The decision was made to create security measures that will require all employees to carry a photo ID badge to grant access into company facilities. Aisha Mullah, a valued employee for many years, has an ethical inquiry about the photo ID system. Aisha practices the Muslim faith and it is a strict religious requirement that her face must be covered at all times, including in photos. The ethical issue at hand is how to develop a security policy that protects the safety of our employees and accommodates anyone with special needs similar to hers. G-BioSports new security measures should improve employee safety as well as create a good work environment for success. The first step in the decision making process is determining the ethical issue or dilemma. In Aishaââ¬â¢s case, the implementation of photo IDââ¬â¢s for security purposes will create a problem due to her religious beliefs. G-BioSports code of ethics guidelines states, Equal Employment Opportunity and Diversity that, ââ¬Å"Promoting diversity within our workforce is importantâ⬠. It also states ââ¬Å"G-BioSports strictly prohibits discrimination or harassment on the basis of gender, gender identity, race, color, veteran status, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, mental, or physical disabilityâ⬠. After thorough evaluation of all possible ethical perspectives and issues, I believe theà relationship lens is the correct procedure to follow. This lens would tell us that because our relationship with our employees is necessary to maintain a safe, productive, and morally structured environment we need to take special needs of employees in consideration. This employee needs leniency on the security policy in order to maintain her religious views, but the rest of the company would still follow the ID policy. This way the group as a whole will benefit from the security measures and the relationship with the employee with special needs will be satisfied. Any future ethical problems that arise can be handled in a similar way and employees will feel comfortab le presenting issues they are experiencing with management. Personal Relation The ethical issues that were discussed related to my company in that many employees of my company are from different cultural backgrounds, religions, and have different sexual preferences. Discrimination is definitely something that could be a major problem with the group of individuals that work for the company but the accepting policies and procedures allow for everyone to fit in and feel comfortable. There is no need to hide anything about our personal background in order to get the job or to keep your current without being discriminated against. References Loyola Marymount University. (2009). Resolving an ethical dilemma. Retrieved from http://www.lmu.edu/Page27945.aspx Techrepublic.com. (August 15, 2006. 10 ethical issues confronting IT managers. Retrieved from http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-ethical-issues-confronting-it-managers/6105942 Trevino, L.K. & Nelson, K.A. (2011). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
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