Monday, September 30, 2019

Types of Beam

Introduction to Structural Analysis Contents Introduction . †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦3 Type of beam †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4, 5, 6 & 7 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦8 Introduction A beam is a structural member which carried load. These loads are most often perpendicular to its longitudinal axis, but they can be varying types. A beam supporting any load develops internal stresses to resist applied loads. The types of beam is determined by the kind of support the beam has at its ends or anywhere along its length. This is because each type of support generates of specific kind and combination of reactions.Types of beam A. Cantilever beam Used to create the floating or hovering effect. This is used to create of a bay window, balconies, and some bridges. The weight load is spread back to the main beams of the structure in the cantilever beams and allowing a portion of the structure to go beyond the supported perimeters of the structure foundation. Building in downtown area Cincinnati. Overhang in building is supported on variable depth cantilevers. Loading on the cantilevers primarily tip loading due to outside columns. (Cincinnati, Ohio) Entrance to stadium taken during construction.Roofing supported on variable depth glue-laminated cantilevers. Loading due to roof weight, wind, and snow. (Berne, Switzerland) World Trade Center. Further example of building overhang supported on variable depth cantilevers. Note that adjacent cantilevers have common tip displacement. (New York City) B. Steel I beam 1. B. Steel I Beam Very popular choice in the construction is no other than steel I-Beam. The I-Beam is also known as W shape. This is widely used in the steel construction. This I-Beam design is common fundamental beam design in commercial structures, but it can be used in the residential design also.Continuous steel plate beam bridge. This 3-span bri dge has a composite section consisting of the steel girder and the concrete roadway on top. The I-beams were fitted with shear keys as in the structure. (Near Lausanne, Switzerland) Quai Bridge. Variable depth continuous riveted steel I-beam highway bridge under construction. In addition to the vertical web reinforcement on the outside girder, note the compression web reinforcement on the inside of the left girder. (Zurich, Switzerland) Continuous I-section plate beam bridge. Detail of bridge showing hinged bearing on intermediate pier.This is the fixed point of the bridge for longitudinal temperature expansion. (Decatur, Illinois) C. Flitch beam Used for coating steel and wood to create a lightweight beam with adequate strength, so this beam design are composite beams. The addition of the wooden elements will allow the beam to be fixed to existing wooden structures. While maintaining the strict construction budget, this is used to support the heavy vertical loads. Flitch beam is ve ry useful when the additional load carrying capacity to an existing beam. Project that involved flitch beamD. Hip beam Project that involved hip beam The hip beam is one among the types of beam; it is very popular in roofing design. A hip beam will provide support for other load bearings beams branching off at symmetrical angles. This is more often used in the residential constructions. References http://nisee. berkeley. edu/godden/godden_a. html/ http://classof1. com/homework_answers/civil_engineering/types_of_beam/ https://www. google. com. my/search? q=type+of+beam&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org. mozilla:en-US:official&client

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Music Appreciation Essay

Question 4: Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture was a very interesting song; there were many changes through out the piece. It started out sounding like a battle symphony where Tchaikovsky used the instruments to make a choppy sound, which reminded me of a march, as well as gun sounds. He has a great use of crescendo at the beginning. Along with increasing the sound level he also increases the tempo and brings the piece into a dramatic point as all of the instruments join. This includes many different types of instruments: orchestra, woodwind, and percussion. This composer also has a great use of repetition, in the first minute of the song he repeats small sections with the same instrument, but as the song develops he makes this more complicated and repeats longer sections and changes instruments each time. I really like this style because it allows the listener to hear each instrument individually, which is rarely done in a song. Drums are used to keep the beat in this section of the piece, whic h makes the battle feeling stronger and alludes to a heartbeat sound. But it is really the trumpets that stand out in the song and give the beginning of the battle presentation. After the repetition involving different instruments the song begins a decrescendo, this is a great transition into the next big change in the music. A dramatic shift happens and the music turns into a soft, smooth melodic tune that you would dance to at a ball. There is the use of a tiny bell sound that lightens the mood. The notes in this section are much longer and smoother than previously. Also, the woodwinds were taken out during this section and we only hear orchestra. I did not particularly enjoy this song until it transitioned in such a dramatic way; I have never heard such a transition in a piece where it goes from a battle theme to a ball dance theme. This section is very relaxing when compared to the pervious part. We then  transition into the third section and the tempo speeds up, the instruments still include the orchestra and a tambourine was added. The music quickly becomes quiet with a long pause and returns to the sound of the trumpet just like in the beginning of the piece along with the orchestra. There is a great crescendo and all of the instruments join in together, to me this section really clashes due to all the different sounds. This is where the gun shot sound comes in. All of the instruments join in a long scale that continues to decrescendo as the tempo slows. This is a simple part to write but I believe it is a very good part because it makes all of the instruments really need to work to stay together because it would be very obvious if one were a note off on the scale. As the scale ends the instruments instantly come to a loud crash. There are so many bells and trumpets and other instruments playing that it is hard to distinguish what is going on. This part is very repetitive with all of the instruments playing. The song then changes into a faster tempo and I recognize this tune from somewhere else, it is the trumpets and drums mainly playing until the cannon sound returns once again, and we come back to the battle scene. The is a very big, dramatic scale leading into the large bell sounds as the song is ending. All of the instruments then play the same half notes with short pauses between them and end with a long note to finish of the song. Overall, I really enjoyed this piece it was very interesting to listen to and hear all the different ways that the composer switched up the mood in the song. Question 8: Mozart Don Giovanni Act 2 Finale Part 2 Commendatore Scene is a great piece of opera, and I usually do not like opera. This part of the opera takes place in Don Giovanni’s dining room, he is having a feast made for a king when Donna Elvira arrives to tell him that she is no longer mad at him, but he questions why she isn’t and it is because she now pities him. She then asks him to change his lifestyle, but he refuses to and laughs claiming that women and wine are the necessities of mankind. She angrily leaves and then you hear her scream. Don Giovanni tells Leporello to find out why she screamed. He then leaves and comes back frightened as well and jumps under the table. He tells Don Giovanni that the statue he invited from dinner has arrived. Don Giovanni meets him at the door. The statue tells him to repent  for his sins, but just as before he refuses. When he does this a flash appears and the Earth below them opens and the statue pulls him down to hell. When Donna Elvira arrives on the scene the tempo is quick with light music showing the excitement and turn of events, but when she is asking him the important question of changing his lifestyle the music quiets down because he wants you to hear what she is saying to him. Then during his answer the music crescendos as he pokes back at her and gets down on his knees as well. Then as the discussion continues the music is played as the characters speak and stopped when they stop speaking. At the end of their argument they are holding each other and both singing at the same time and while they are doing this music crescendos with their argument to make it more dramatic. Then when she leaves the room and screams the tempo speeds up and gets loud for a second when Leporello screams. When he is explain what is going on to Don Giovanni the tempo increases to its greatest point showing fear and anticipation. When Leporello stomps on the ground to imitate the steps of the statue the music mimics him as he does it, which adds to the effect. We then hear the great set of knocks at the door accompanied by the whole orchestra and woodwinds. As the flash occurs all of the instruments are playing loudly in a sort of frantic way. There then is a long pause before they all come back in together dramatically as the statue enters. The music quiets as the statue begins to talk and this makes his voice sound very loud and booming in a scary way. It then turns to just the orchestra playing this Halloween type of tune that gives off a scary, creepy feeling. As the statue talks again the music quiets, I really like how the composer does this because it really sets his voice apart from the others. As he continues to speak the music in the background does a little scale heightening the anticipation. This continues quietly as they argue back and forth. The music quiets right before the statue makes his big announcement of why he came and they comes back in with a loud burst when he begins to speak. As the statue speak the music gets louder and as he stops speaking it grows quieter to show his authority. When Don Giovanni is answering the music goes back to the orchestra making the Halloween type of music. As they are holding hands the music cuts in and out, playing when Don Giovanni is talking and stopping when the statue is. This music crescendos as the Earth opens beneath them and does not stop until the play does getting louder and  deeper in sound as it goes. Question 5: Wagner’s Die Walkure â€Å"The Ride of the Valkyries† is a very familiar piece to most people because it is used in many other things. The leitmotif is what is so memorable in this song and what has been used so many times. The purpose of the leitmotif is to have a consistent sound that listeners will remember because it continues to repeat over and over again. A motif is very important because it creates a theme, it then links this sound to the story and when people hear this again they will think back to what was going on. This leitmotif has been used for so many different movies and played by so many people. I think the leitmotif is a great way to make a piece stand out, generating a common theme and repeating it over and over will stick it into the listeners minds and they will anticipate and expect it to come and when they are correct it bring a sense of joy. I like the idea of using this type of form; I believe it is very powerful and effective. Question 7: Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 is my favorite of all of his songs. This is another example of a great motif. The first four notes of this piece set the stage for the rest of the song. It is three short notes (G) followed by a longer note (Eb). The time signature is 2/4 and there is a quarter note rest at the beginning of the bar. This was actually used in World War 2 as ‘dot-dot-dot-dash’ for ‘V’, which stood for victory. This is a very widely known set of four notes. The best part about this piece is the fermata that Beethoven put in the opening because it is an indefinite hold which means that the conductor can hold onto the note as long as he wants.

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Observation and Analysis of the Business Essay

1 Introduction The following Report is based on the Research, Observation and Analysis of the Business letters that are contained at the end of this report. The outcome of this report will help me with my communication and design skills; I will then be a much better position to prepare my own Business letter in the future. This Report was set by Terry Dickenson and Adrianne Oates to be completed by 11th November 2002. This Date has been met. I have studied the Business letters and discussed with a couple of colleagues the layout, design and content of the letters and this has influenced the points made in the report. I obtained the Business letters from Wickes, Sports Shoes Unlimited and . 2 Examination of Business letters Letter number 1: Wickes Layout The Layout is very important in a Business letter. Whether it looks professional and Business like is very important. It has to look like a Business letter. The Wickes Business letter has a nice letterhead. It has the logo and it does not come down further than 4 cm. It doesn’t have an Address, however it does have the Head Office and the Registered Office address in the footer along with a contact number and the company registration number. The Business letter header has been printed in black and white. The logo is black and white logo. Printing/Paper The paper is just cheap printing paper; the letter has been printed out in Black and White. It is been made to look professional by having a letterhead but has been printed in black and white. This means the letter is in expensive to produce. The paper is standard printer paper; it has no embossing or watermark on it. Font/Writing style The font is a sans serif font, probably Arial. It is Black text on white paper. It is fairly small text, about 12 or 14 point. The company has used Bold text to make the important text stand out. Content/Accuracy The content of the Letter is accurate; it contains no errors and has been set out in an appropriate manner. The letter is very general. It has been created using mail merge, the letter has been sent to all the customers in the company’s contacts database. The company has put the main points next to bullet points, this means the customer will remember the main points, this is what the company wants so it is well designed. Letter number 2: Sports Shoes Unlimited Layout The Sports Shoes Business letter has a nice letterhead. It has colour. It has, like the Wickes Letter got a logo and the letterhead does not come down further than 4 cm. The Address and contact numbers has been put in the footer instead of the header. The company registration number has not been put on the letter at all. The Business letter header has been printed in colour. It makes the letter look a better quality letter. The logo is in colour. Printing/Paper The paper is quite expensive. The letter has been printed out in colour, because of the letterhead. It has been made to look professional by having a letterhead. The company have spent time and money making the letter look good. It has been printed on glossy paper, which is expensive. The letter has then been printed in colour as well. This means the letter is more expensive to produce than the Wickes letter. The paper is glossy, but it has no embossing or watermark on it. Font/Writing style The font is a sans serif font, like the Wickes Letter. It is Black text on white paper. It is fairly small text, about the same size as the text on the Wickes letter, 12 point. The company has used no Bold text, but has used capitals to make the important text stand out. Content/Accuracy The content of the Letter is accurate; it contains no errors or miss spelt words. The letter has been set out in an appropriate manner. The letter has probably been created using mail merge, the letter has been sent to all the customers in the company’s contacts database, just like the Wickes letter. This is common for companies who want to contact all their customers; it is a cheap and effective way to create the letter. The company has used paragraphs to break up the long text. This means the customer will remember more of the letter than if it was solid blocks of writing. It is also more likely the customer reads the whole document rather than giving up after the first couple of lines if the writing is broken into manageable chunks. Letter number 3:New College Letter Layout The New College letter has a letterhead. It is in black and white. It has, like the Wickes and the Sports Shoes Letter got a logo and the letterhead does not come down further than 4 cm. It does not contain an Address in the letter, however it does have a contact number. The Business letter header has been printed in black and white. It makes the letter look less appealing than a letterhead in colour, but it is cost effective. The logo is in colour. Printing/Paper The paper is not expensive at all, it is standard printing paper like the Wickes letter. The letter has been printed out in black and white. It has been made to look professional by having a letterhead. It has been printed on normal non-expensive printing paper. This means the letter is not expensive to produce at all. The paper has no embossing or watermark on it, the letter has just been printed straight out onto normal paper as you would a report or a word document. Font/Writing style The font is a sans serif font, like the Wickes and the Sports Shoes Letter. It is Black text on white paper. It is medium sized text, about one point bigger than the other two letters. The company has emphasised the title of the letter by putting it in bold type and underlining it, it has also been put in capitals. No emphasising has been used to make any of the body text stand out. Content/Accuracy The content of the Letter is accurate; it contains no errors or miss spelt words. The letter has been set out in an appropriate manner, using paragraphs. The letter has not been created using mail merge, however it doesn’t need to have been because it has been addressed to a group of people rather than an individual. It is a cheap and effective way to create the letter; this can only be done if there is no confidential information in the letter. The company has used paragraphs to break up the long text. The company has used fairly large text to make it easy on the eyes. 3 Conclusions Having analysed the three Business letters I have came up with the following conclusions that will help be when making my own Business Letter: 1. Always have a colour letterhead. 2. Do not make the letterhead come down the page more than 4 cm. 3. Use bold text and capital letters to emphasise phases and words. 4. Always include some contact information. 5. Always sign and print your name at the end of the letter. 6. Use paragraphs to break up the long text. 7. Use the most cost effective method of printing your letter. 8. Use mail merge if necessary to save time. Doing this analysis has equipped me well to carry on and do my own Business letter.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Marketing Case Study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Case Study - Essay Example Some of the most important issues concerned Gap’s segmentation and targeting strategies with view to market size, growth potential and appropriate marketing mix. Gap’s segmentation model is a combination of demographic, psychographic and to some extent geographic characteristics (Etzel et al, 2001). For example the GapKids and babyGap branches target market segments based on their age, whereas Old Navy targets consumers with limited incomes (p. 196) and whole families. Specific market segments, identified by Gap are based on: Income: lower income groups with annual income between $20,000 and $50,000 were initially targeted by Old Navy. This group comprises mostly of teenagers who represent a limited market potential for the company. Apparel products tend to be â€Å"commodity-like† (Datamonitor, 2005), and for most companies differentiation is based on competitive pricing strategies to win market share. In targeting market segments, Gap follows the â€Å"multiple-segment† model (Etzel et al, 2001), meaning that each market segment is targeted with a specific marketing mix. The Gap brand is targeted at the â€Å"20- to 30-year olds† (p. 196) who prefer the classic line of khaki pants and button-down shirts both for business and casual clothes. The positioning of the brand is further completed by the large assortment of colors and sizes for all-cotton apparel. The company’s attempt to reposition the Gap brand into the fashion-oriented segment lead to market share loss, because the company "alienated" (p. 196) their core customers and failed to attract the "fickle" (p. 197) teenage consumers. Repositioning back "to its roots", along with other measures, improved Gap’s market position in 2001. Banana Republic, which was acquired by Gap in 1983 (p. 196) was positioned as an upscale Gap, extending the previous adventurous positioning of the brand. Unlike Gap’s success in specialty clothes

Thursday, September 26, 2019

The king of saudi arabia, king abdullah Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The king of saudi arabia, king abdullah - Essay Example In actuality, Abdullahs reign has included a number of atrocious human rights infringements within Saudi Arabia (Bowen 46). Little is made out on the subject of King Abdullahs upbringing. He was born within Riyahd in the year 1924, the fifth child of Saudi Arabias naissance king, Abdul-aziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud referred to as Ibn Saud. The mother to Abdullah, Fahda bint Asi Al Shuraim, was the eighth wife of Ibn Saud out of the twelve that he had. Abdullah has about fifty or sixty brothers and sisters. At the instant of Abdullahs delivery, his father was then Amir Abdul-aziz, as well as his monarchy, included just the northern, in addition to the eastern parts of Arabia. Amir Abdul-aziz triumphed over Sharif Hussein from Mecca in the year 1928 and pronounced himself emperor. The royal family unit was quite underprivileged until about the year 1940, while Saudi oil proceeds began to stream (Cordesman 34). Particulars of Abdullahs schooling are sparse; however, the authorized Saudi Information Directory affirms that he had a reserved religious schooling. According to the index, Abdullah enhanced his formal education with wide-ranging reading. He spent an extended stint residing with the wasteland Bedouin individuals so that he could learn traditional Arab standards, as well. In the month of August of the year1962, Prince Abdullah was taken on to front the Saudi Arabian nationwide Guard. The nationwide Guards duties take account of providing safety measures for the regal family unit, putting off coups, as well as protecting the Muslim Holy municipalities of Mecca, along with Medina. The power takes in a standing military of 125,000 soldiers, in addition to a tribal military, of 25,000 men. To date, King Abdullah oversees the National Guard that is made up of his fathers new clan descendents (Alshamsi 2). March of the year 1975 witnessed Abdullahs half-brother Khalid thrive to the throne in the lead of the

Management Principles and Application for Construction and the Built Essay - 1

Management Principles and Application for Construction and the Built Environment - Essay Example The management of development tasks obliges learning of present day administration and additionally a comprehension of the design and construction process. Construction activities have a particular arrangement of tasks and objectives, for example, an individual timeline for finishing. While the institutional courses of action or methodologies will vary, the management of such activities is much in a similar manner to the principles applied in business management (Horlene & Randy, 2010). Construction show features that are present in a conventional business set up thus control in a similar way, as an enterprise organisation is possible. In most cases, the mission and the arrangement of tasks to be accomplished by the project recognize construction projects from the general rules of organizations. As indicated by the Project Management Institute, the arrangement of tasks and functionalities are dependent on the nature of the project and type of organisation employed. Construction project management is all about coordinating and facilitating human and material assets for the duration of the life of a task by utilizing current administration strategies to attain the planned targets of extension, expense, time, quality and structural requirements (Hablot, 2011). By complexity, the general management of construction works and modern organizations expect a more extensive viewpoint with the more prominent progression of operations. In any case, there are sufficient likenesses and, in addition, contrasts between the two so that present day management procedures created for construction administration may require adjustments to fit the particular task.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Obtain a copy of the annual report for Intercontinental Hotel Group Coursework

Obtain a copy of the annual report for Intercontinental Hotel Group PLC for the year ended 31 December 2011 - Coursework Example Financial performance and position of the Group â€Å"The big picture is 9 hotel brands, over 153 million guests annually, more than 672,000 rooms in over 4,500 hotels in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world† (IHG website, 2012), The nine renowned brands being Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, Candlewood Suites, EVEN Hotels, Hualuxe Hotels and Resorts. Performance of the Brands The performance of all the brands during 2011 compared to the previous year has improved (Exhibit – I). Total gross revenue has increased by 8% to 20.2 bn in 2011 compared to $18.7 bn in 2010 for the group as a whole. Exhibit - I $ in bn. However, the performance in terms of cost and profitability in respect of the brands could not be worked for comparison due to inadequacy of details furnished in this respect. Performance can be analyzed with reference to classific ation of the business into Franchised, Managed and Owned & Leased. 12 months ended 31 December in $m 2011 2010 % Change Revenue Franchised 502 465 8.0 Managed 124 119 4.2 Owned and leased 204 223 (8.5) Total 830 807 2.9 Operating profit before exceptional items Franchised 431 392 9.9 Managed 52 21 147.6 Owned and leased 17 13 30.8 500 4 26 17.4 Regional overheads (49) (57) 14.0 Total Operating Profit 451 369 22.2 It could be observed that operating profits vary considerably due to incidence of expenses and overheads at varying levels. For example, in franchised revenue is up by 8% and operating profit is up by 9.9%, where as in managed hotels it is 4.2% and 147.6% and owned & leased hotels (-) 8.5% and 30% respectively . Key Performance Indicators The key performance indicators measure the group’s progress in the business. The KPIs over the past three years and their growth have been good. Year 2009 2010 2011 Net Rooms Supply 632325 0647161 658348 Gross Revenue ($ bn) 16.8 18 .7 20.2 CSR (Green engage hotels) 911 1122 1722 2011 2010 Earnings per share (EPS) 1.30 0.98 Revenue per available room: Revenue per available room is up by 6.2%. (Annual Report, p. 2) The Group’s reportable segments segmental information The reportable segments in the business have been classified based on the geographical locations of the hotels. There are five segments viz. Americas, Europe, AMEA (Asia Middle East and Africa) and Greater China and the central segment. Operating profit has increased in all the geographical segments. Since the central segment carries the burden of general support services provided by it to all the segments, the figures are not comparable. RevPAR growth in the Americas at 7.5% and Europe at 4.7% respectively has contributed significantly for the overall performance of the business. It is important to note that gross revenue includes revenue related to Franchised, Managed and Owned & Leased. 2011 2010 % Change % Change in revenue Operating Pro fit Americas 451 369 2.2 2.9 Europe 104 78 33.3 2.4 AMEA 84 82 2.4 1.4 Greater China 67 54 24.1 15.2 Central (147) (139) (5.8) 7.7 Operating Profit Before Exceptional Items 559 444 25.9 8.6 It could be observed that as in the case of franchised, managed and owned and leased classification of the business, % change in operating profit is inconsistent with the % change in revenue due to incidence of expenses and overheads in different reportable segments at varying levels. Impact of exceptional items on profitability The operating profit

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Teams and Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Teams and Leadership - Essay Example Ideally, a leader is capable of creating a vision for the organization and has the ability to inspire the people around him. However, these important traits are usually not present in leaders at a very high level. Most leaders in practice in most practice are working at a demanding operational level that requires a specific set of knowledge and skills—and therefore the virtuous traits are often ruled out. It will be very helpful of to consider leadership in management. It will serve in the best interest of the organization (Trent 2004). Forming the right team is crucial in attaining success in the performance of tasks because research shows that the composition of a team and the complexity of the tasks are directly related to performance. This was of particular concern the study of Higgs, Plewnia, and Ploch (2005). The authors used the Belbin Team Role model to operationalize team diversity and used questionnaires to assess task complexity and performance. The results of the study demonstrated that there is a clear relationship between team compositions (which is related to diversity), complexity of task and team performance. Complex tasks are positively related to a diversified team. However, it is negatively related for straightforward tasks. This implies that it will be beneficial to consider the complexity of the task when forming a cohesive team. The mix of the individuals is important because the talents of a diversified group are more likely to cover wider tasks. The degree of complexity will give clues on w hat will comprise the mix of individuals to be included in the team in terms of diversity of personal traits. These insights will provide a helpful framework in establishing high performance teams. There is also correlation between team constraint and team performance. Constraint is defined as the quantitative measure that pertains to the pattern of connections between contacts in

Monday, September 23, 2019

Information Technology and the NHS Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Information Technology and the NHS - Case Study Example The bridging of these two domains has created new challenges in this field. Due of competitive pressures, Internet and intranet business sites are often given high priority, with senior management imposing unrealistic deadlines. Completion time may be based on nothing more formal than wishful thinking, yet, because the site deployment is integrated with many other aspects of business operations, schedule slips can have dire financial consequences. Before we explore how to plan in Internet time, however, let's review the basics of heuristic and parametric estimating. It is a well-known fact that effective project estimation is one of the major challenges in software development. Many software developers and managers acknowledge the fact that proper planning is not possible without proper estimation of the project. Under estimating a project leads to under-staffing it which in turn leads to under-scooping the quality assurance effort and in turn setting too short a schedule ultimate resulting in missing of deadlines. The software industry, as a whole has found to be not estimating projects really well. A software estimation model defines characteristics whose values it needs and the ways these values are used to compute the effort. An estimation model cannot work in vacuum- it needs inputs to need the values of the output. At the start of the project, when the details of the estimates are itself not known, the estimation model will require the values of the characteristics that can be measured at any stage. Top down estimation approach Expert judgment is still the dominant technique in practice today for estimation of software project size and effort. The function points can be counted using the standard function point counting rules. In addition to the size estimate the top-down approach requires the estimation of productivity and the efficiency. The basic approach is to start with the productivity levels of standard projects or use the productivity statistics. The productivity estimate is then used to calculate the overall effort estimate. To sum it up, the top-down estimation requires Get the estimate of the total size of the software in terms of the function points. Using the productivity level from the project baseline, fix the productivity levels for the project. Obtain the overall effort estimates from the size and the time estimates. Refine the estimates taking the project specific factors into consideration. The size of the project is required to be known in order to determine the effort estimate of the project. But the size of the project cannot be known at the time when the project is being conceived and the project is in the initial phases. Hence, there must be some initial size estimate depending on the resources at hand at that moment in order to realize the effort estimate. A common approach is to use a simple equation for the effort estima

Sunday, September 22, 2019

I.G. “International Grocer” Essay Example for Free

I.G. â€Å"International Grocer† Essay 1. Values and principles a. Respect; at I.G. we treat all of our employees with courtesy as human beings first and foremost, at the same time; we stand strongly against any actions of exploitation and taking advantage of others. We welcome, acknowledge and respect other opinion. We deal with our difference with open mindedness. b. Honesty; at I.G. We expect all employees to be honest about their work and how they feel about the management. While honesty is a difficult value to be accomplished by all employees, here at I. G. we encourage honesty by rewarding good honest actions and feed backs that lead to company improvement, and by setting a high level of forgiving threshold when mistakes are made and admitted. c. Tolerance; at I.G. is a tolerant work environment. Our employees are made of men and women of all ages and different back ground and cultures; we don’t tolerate any prejudice and biases towards any employees in any way shape or form. d. Caring; at I.G. we care about each employee and ask that you do the same to the company! We expect all employees to show compassionate and practice forgiveness when possible. 2. Accountability: a. Responsibility for own actions; every individual is responsible for their own actions whether they are positive or negative. Positive actions are recognized and acknowledged by management for rewards, and negative actions can lead to disciplinary actions. b. Appropriate use of information; the use of information on a need to know basis, information should only be conveyed to the appropriate employees. Company’s plans, pricing, pay scale, etc. are not to be disclosed without proper approvals. c. Avoiding conflict of interest; keeping the Company’s interest should every employee’s priority. 3. Standard of conduct and practice a. Complying with Job description; every employee is hired with a set of skills that should allow them to perform their jobs, and expected to comply with the task that is been assign to them. b. Commitment and loyalty;  employees are expected to be satisfied with their workload and resources at their disposal to do their jobs and fell proud of what they do. The Goal at I.G. is to make all employee feel a sense of ownership at the company. c. Proper technology use; Data is an important part of our everyday operations. The use of computers hardware, internet services, and emails should be used exclusively for work purposes. 4. Disciplinary actions a. Dealing with complains; proper investigation will be conducted to handle complaints. Every complaint will be handled very seriously by our HR, no matter how small and insignificant it might seem at that time. We have a zero tolerance for any sort of harassment, work violence, and any misconduct. We encourage support employees to step up and file a complaint when they feel uncomfortable in their surroundings to avoid bigger problems and to find workable resolutions in a timely manner. b. Penalties for violations; Employees will be written up for wrong doing for two times, Third time could lead to suspension or termination of job. Crimes (identified by local law enforcement) will be turned over to the police to handle. B. Training Program: 1.Training will be held quarterly y to insure that all employees are up to date with Ethical training. Training will be based on a simulated scenario from different departments. Training will include but limited to I.G’s standard and procedures guide. 2.Training will be Web based an interactive; this will include short quizzes to ensure that the information is understood and comprehended. There also will be suggestion box to listen to other alliterative training delivery methods. Employees who attend all 4 ethic trainings in the year, and pass the quizzes will get an appreciation bonus. 3.Training will take 2 hours; it will be in the conference room with maximum attendance of 10 employees at a time. Employees will be given an opportunity to block their preferred time to attend one of 5 conferences during the week. 4.Training will be presented by professional third party company, I.G. Managers will be trained and certified to help conduct all trainings. C. Explaining the process for the following: 1. Monitoring Employee Misconduct: a. All Misconducts will be immediately recorded in the employee record. I.G. will utilize all of its resources to educate all employees with the company policies. HR will write up, reprimand, and/or terminate base on the level of misconduct and the findings. b. I.G. will continually monitor any harassment actions, internet misuse and theft during work hours and breaks. c. Company resource such as video surveillance, internet logs, and review of anonymous complaints will be used to monitor misconduct. 2. Auditing employee Misconduct: a. Auditing will include a full review of recorded phone conversations, call logs, internet records and employee records of pervious misconduct. Auditing will take in consideration the possibility of being misunderstood before taking a corrective action. b. Audits will be conducted in infrequent patterns; they will be announced the day of the audits. c. Management will assign a combination of HR and Department Managers to conduct audits. 3. Reporting Misconduct I.G. has an open door policy to bring issues to the HR office without the fear for recourse; HR will handle all misconduct complaints with confidentiality. Also employees can write a letter with anonymous Complaint and drop it in the suggestion box.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Risk Assessment And Treatment Of Paedophiles Criminology Essay

Risk Assessment And Treatment Of Paedophiles Criminology Essay An essential aspect of dealing with paedophiles, for the government and the public as well, is risk assessment. This means calculating the probability of the occurrence of a harmful behavior and its impact on the target and all that will be affected (Kemshall, 2001). The assessment is based in observing and evaluating the factors that are indicators of the likeliness of offending or re offending as well as those propensities that endure in known or probable offenders. There are two approaches to risk assessment: the actuarial, a statistical calculation of probabilities, and the clinical, based on the observation of factors that proved to have resulted in sex offences. Actuarial methods The most well established scales of actuarial tools are: The Rapid Risk Assessment for Sex Offence Recidivism (RRASOR) Static 99 The Risk Matrix 2000 (RM 2000) and The Sex Offence Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG). The RRASOR (Grubin, 1998) comprises of the evaluation of prior sexual arrests age targeting male victims relation of the victims to the offender. RRASOR succeeds in identifying large groups of low risk offenders with low probability of recidivism and small groups of high risk offenders with high probability of recidivism. Static 99 is a combination of RRASOR and SACJ and considers static risk factors. It has a strong validity for male sex offenders who have been already served in prison. The items of Static 99 are: male victims never married offences that didnt involve contact victims that are unrelated victims that are strangers other sex offences other than sexual current types of violence more than 4 sentencing dates age that vary between 18 and 24.9 years. The Prison, Probation and Police Services in England and Wales use the Risk Matrix 2000. Its uniqueness compared to the other tools is that it can be used for whichever type of violence, sexual or non sexual. The RM 2000 has two stages. Stage 1 age at the commencement of risk number of appearances in court for sex offence related issues number of appearances in court for other offences than sexual Evaluation of these factors leads in placement in four groups: low, medium, high or very high risk. Stage 2 history of offences against male victims history of stranger sexual offence victim history of non contact sexual offences lack of long term intimate relationship If any subject has one of these factors, moves up one group on the previous ranking. If all four factors are present, the subject moves two groups upwards. The Sex Offence Risk Appraisal Guide (SORAG) was developed in Canada by a sample of inmates of a high secure psychiatric hospital. It is used widely to predict violence committed by sexual offenders but it is also quite popular on non psychiatric offenders. It comprises of 14 items: living with biological parents until the age of 16 maladjustment in elementary school history of alcohol related problems evidence of sustained intimate relationship criminal activity with absence of violence criminal activity with violence prior convictions regarding sexual offences convicted sexual offences against girls under 14 years failure in achieving conditional release age at index offence personality disorder criteria from DSM-III are met schizophrenia criteria from DSM III are met evident deviant sexual preferences evident psychopathy. Clinical methods Clinical methods are conducted in psychiatric hospitals by interviewing and evaluating the responses of known sex offenders. They are not considered as reliable as the actuarial methods, yet they can provide structured behavioural rating scales as aid to the actuarial tools (Kemshall, 2001). Clinical methods can estimate successfully the impact of environmental factors on harmful behavior. Clinical methods can be categorized in unstructured and structured methods (Shaw, 2011). The psychoanalytic approach proposed by the unstructured model relies heavily on the human factor and so, it is considered to be outdated and highly subjective. On the other hand, the structured models are well respected and, subsequently, used as they combine psychoanalysis with statistical tools. The structured clinical methods that are most frequently used are: Psychopathy Checklist Revised (RCL-R) Historical, Clinical, Risk 20 (HCR 20) Sexual Violence Risk 20 (SVR 20) Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY). Managing risk In order to manage the risk posed to society by sex offenders there have been established agencies all over the United Kingdom. For risk management to e effective there has to be a solid information base and strong coordination between all the participants involved in the task of control and prevention of sex offences. It is an ongoing procedure that must be kept up to speed with the developments, apply new strategies and measure the efficacy of the actions taken. In Scotland the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) has been established since the Management of Offenders Act 2005. The aim of MAPPA is to aid the work of criminal justice organizations in association with social services, so as they can reduce the acts of sex offenders and prevent recidivism of know offenders (MAPPA Annual Report 2009/2010). In England and Wales the Probation Service uses the Offender Assessment System to estimate the likelihood of re offending and re conviction. The Offender Assessment System uses the gathered information to alert the Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA). MAPPA was established under the umbrella of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 Treatment of paedophiles Since the causes of paedophilia are yet unknown, it is a difficult task to determine the right course of treatment. At the moment, as there is no cohesive approach for the definition of paedophilia or its causes, there is a lack of the necessary consistency to the corresponding actions in regard of treating paedophiles as well. It is open to debate whether paedophiles exhibit mental disorder and if they are in need of treatment or their actions are of a sane person and are in need of punishment (Gordon Grubin, 2004). However, the main common goal for all the approaches of treatment is to reduce the danger of recidivism (Perkins et al, 1998). Treatment of paedophiles has changed its course many times over the years. The surgical castration(Perkins et al, 1998) that was used as a means of treating paedophiles and other convicted sex offenders, was abandoned by the 70s (Gordon Grubin, 2004), as hormonal therapy was gaining ground. Hormonal treatment included giving oestrogens but had high rates of side effects, such as thrombosis of carcinogenesis. Oestrogens gave their place to cyproterone acetate and medroxy progesterone acetate (Gordon Grubin, 2004). The drug treatment managed to reduce recidivism as only 15% of the users relapsed as opposed to the 68% of the non users (Perkins et al, 1998).Currently, dynamic psychotherapy is widely used for sex offenders (Gordon Grubin, 2004). The first step towards treatment is for the sex offenders to admit to their guilt. This is important as the treatment will try to persuade the offender to understand and empathize with the victim, while the psychological and physiological characteristics of paedophilia will be quelled. However, those who do not admit guilt can still be included in the treatment, although it will be an even more demanding task. At the same time, monitoring high risk factors and using a support system can avert re offending behavior (Hanson Harris, 2000). Most of the attempts in treating paedophiles involve the restoration of the cognitive process. The distortion of cognition is considered to be a coping mechanism, that the offenders tend to develop before or after they offend (Sheldon Howitt, 2007). The cognitive behavioural therapy is used to help paedophiles find a way to avoid sexual arousal from abnormal situations (Perkins et al, 1998). What is necessary for those who provide the treatment is to understand that each individual sex offender has different treatment needs and that a combined methods approach is more likely to be successful. The Sex Offender Treatment Programme (SOTP) is a well established programmed of treatment for sex offenders and is widely used around the world. It is being managed by the Prison Offending Behaviour Programmes Unit and has been developed by the British Prison Service. The most significant criteria, SOTP is based upon, are application of treatment methods that have proved to be effective, an empirically based model and treatment in accordance to the severity of each case (Perkins et al, 1998). Reintegration of Paedophiles Although still in a small scale, there have been schemes towards reintegrating released paedophiles. Starting by forming and application in Canada and the United States, schemes, such as the Stop It Now Program, started to be applied also in the United Kingdom and Ireland (McAlinden, 2006). The Stop It Now Program offers a professional assistance to those who have offended, those who are close to offending and those who suspect that there has been foul play in their environment. The most widely used program in reintegration of sex offenders is the Circles of Support and Accountability that has been running in England for a few years. In this program the offender is the core of a circle of volunteers. These volunteers help the offender in solving practical job and boarding related issues. At the same time they hold the offender accountable for his actions and behavior in general, while at the time they are obligated to report any suspicion of re offending to the authorities. Although the pilots are ready to be executed, they are not yet active. In some areas the difficulties lay in funding the project and in other cases it is extremely difficult to find volunteers (Armstrong et al, 2008). Due to the obstacles these schemes keep finding suggestions are made that the particular programs or other initiatives could work under the umbrella of inter agency risk assessment and management procedures (McAlinden, 2006). In addition to the pre existing policies, this kind of schemes can help the goal of making re integration more effective. Public disclosure High profile cases, such as the Sarah Payne abduction and murder by a known paedophile, resulted in the name and shame campaign from the media and especially the News of the World. The campaign started with the initiative of the newspaper (Moyes, 2000), promoting the naming of all convicted paedophiles, and received much attention from the public and the authorities as well. The publics wishes, accentuated by the media pressure, for disclosure for all sex offenders were met by the government to a pilot scheme where anyone could report someone else with access without supervision to their child. The scheme was implemented by Home Office in 2009 in four police areas in England and one area in Scotland and by 2010 it was set to run nationally. However, as other schemes, it didnt find the anticipated participation (Kemshall et al, 2010), pointing out in a divergence between what the government provided and what the public actually demanded for (Kemsall Weaver, 2012). The reasons for this were multiple. Primarily, the public perceives these kinds of schemes, run through the police, as an increase in policing the everyday life, when they should be assumed by other agencies. Moreover, they are thought as a way to push the responsibility onto the public instead of the proper authorities (McCartan, 2010). It has also been established (McCartan, 2010) that the public views sex offenders as a complex issue, with child sex offenders being the most dangerous, so there is the need of differentiation in disclosure schemes. Publicizing the schemes is an important tool for the successful implementation of them. They are to be explicitly explained to the public so as to be efficient (Kemshall Weaver, 2012). In addition to this, public needs evidence that the schemes are actually beneficiary and result in child protection (Kemshall et al, 2010).

Friday, September 20, 2019

Components Of Material Management Construction Essay

Components Of Material Management Construction Essay The decision to purchase starts with the decision to build or to produce depending on the type of product an organization produces. The construction industrys product is a tangible structure that can either be residential house, school, hospital, office building, recreation center, sport complex, or roads, bridges, dams, sewers, railways, airport runways, pipe lines, etc. To produce the end result of the effort to construct, different resources are required by an organization. These resources are manpower, money, machineries, and most importantly material. It is estimated that 60-70 percent of a project direct costs accounts for material cost. Therefore material procurement is an important aspect of every construction work, and worth planning earlier when the decision to construct starts. Planning material procurement starts with identifying and estimating the amount of materials needed, evaluating the availability of the material in market, selecting the reliable source for obtainin g the material, and answering questions on the problem of transportation and storage of the material on site throughout the construction period of the project. This is to avoid unwanted or extra cost incurred as a result of poor material management process. Material management function starts from office where likely constraints associated with every type of resource needed to build the prospective project can be sorted out. It further extends to construction site where practical implementation of the plans and schedules developed during the initial planning stage of the material procurement is needed. Construction site layout of temporary facilities such as office, staff canteen, security shed, material stores, position of crane, and temporary walkways largely affects the movement of workers and material delivery vehicles. And the proposed position of permanent structures within the project site cannot be affected because of temporary facilities. This put a challenge on the project manager who must study the activities likely to happen on site and provide solution to anticipated risk and inconveniences that arises due to poor arrangement of site temporary facilities. With careful positioning of temporary site facilities, material deliv ery can be easier, accident can be minimized, access to material of work can be faster and ultimately the speed of construction process can be increased. 2.0 Literature review on material management The procurement of material of work is the reason for which an organization should maintain a competent material procurement department. The primary function of this department is to plan the quantities of the materials needed at a particular time, identify the source of purchasing the materials and initiate the process, planning of inventory and control, ensures quality control measures are taken, and maintain a steady flow of material to avoid shortage during the construction period. Other function of the department includes coding and classification of material, maintaining good record of the movement of material right from delivery to storage and use, and observing the current trends in purchase system and market availability of construction materials. 2.1 Components of Material Management Contractors are bound to cut expenditures and make even more profit if adequate attention is given to material and equipment planning, scheduling and control. Therefore profitable contracting requires sound material management. It is found that bout 60-70 percent of a project direct cost is incurred on material and equipment. Construction projects are undertaken to finish within a specific time, cost, and quality. To this end number of people, material, machineries and equipment are needed collectively to tackle the individual activities that together make up the whole project. Although projects are classified into two; Infrastructure and Building projects both requires a common resource depending on the size and complexity of the project. On a large building project such as multi-storey building as well as highways construction, the typified equipment used are machine excavators, heavy bull dozer and number of trucks for carting away surplus excavated material, and transporting aggr egates, cement, blocks, reinforcement bars, timber, etc. to the project site. Other materials used in building type project are sanitary appliances, surface finishes such as marble, granite, ceramic tiles, plaster board, paints, etc. Material management is composed of series of activities that must be collectively identified, planned, organized, implemented, and monitored and controlled. These are:- Purchasing Handling and Transportation Receiving and Inspection Storage and Warehousing. Purchasing: When the need for material arises, the material procurement or purchasing department makes an inventory of the material, sometimes refer to as Material Indent and send to the selected supplier. This is termed as Purchase order/ Material Enquiry. Initially, the suppliers quotation had been received and reviewed by the purchasing department. It is also the sole responsibility of the department to negotiate price with suppliers and select the most reliable one in terms of quality of product, delivery time, and lowest purchase cost. Upon receiving purchase order from the contractor, the supplier makes available all the materials in the correct quantity and quality before transporting to the contractor who receives the goods in his own store. The materials supplied to the contractor are often accompanied by consignment notes indicating the types and quantity of the material loaded, and usually this happen within a short time having confirming before placing the order that the materials needed are available in the suppliers store. However in some cases, the contractor has to follow up order especially if time is against the project. This is known as Expediting by Contractor. Expediting can be done through phone calls, email, fax or any means of communication available. Material Handling and Transportation: Difficulties can be encountered with handling and transporting materials to the project site especially large fragile materials such as interior glass partitions. Handling materials should start from the point of uploading onto transporting vehicle through maneuvering of the vehicle around busy area to have to reach the project site, and downloading and storage. It further extends to proper positioning in the store till the period when the material can be incorporated into structure or component. Material handling and transportation procedures are not limited to fragile items only. Long and heavy materials such as steel column, galvanized steel angle iron for steel trusses, reinforcement bars, precast concrete components, bricks/blocks and cement bags are almost first line items needed onsite, and deserves careful handling both offsite and onsite. Some materials applicable to a particular trade may be required at a time when other trades are busy working. For example aggregates can arrive at the project site when steel fixers/iron benders are fabricating reinforcement bars. And the truck may have to pass across the iron workers before reaching the designated point of delivery. To avoid such an incident, the planners should take consideration of all materials likely to be required within the time other trade workers are working. This ensures smooth interaction between workers of different professionalism onsite. Receiving and Inspection: Different types of materials of work are being delivered on site prior to construction work begin or as the work proceeds. Some materials are fragile such as glass panel, asbestos, ceiling board, wooden and plastic door panels etc. while others are of metallic or aluminum nature e.g. door and window frames, steel columns, reinforcement bars, burglar proof etc. Other materials that are directly tipped onsite include aggregates, bricks/blocks, and cement. Whatever type of material needed onsite must be received and ascertained by site manager or the clerk of work upon arrival of delivery. Materials are prone to breakage and or damage in the cause of transportation. Similarly shortage can occur mistakenly as materials are being uploaded from the suppliers store. However, as a precaution to ensure quality control, proper record of the number of materials received and inspection of their qualities is necessary. This ensures security of expenditure since shortage and broken items are necessarily wastage. Efficient material record also documents the material movement in and out of store for use. It shows the material destination from the store including date and signature of the receiving person e.g. masonry foreman. Three important documents received by the store officer are copy of purchase order from the purchasing department, suppliers advice document, and consignment notes. This enables the store officer to organize and plan for clearances of material. Where materials received are from internal divisions e.g. from contractors central store to the site store the document involved are usually Material transfer and Return to store Notes. Storage and Warehousing: Competent and experience staffing is needed to perform the activities of storing materials. Although aggregate materials may not require warehousing, some materials such as sanitary appliances, glass panels, door and window frames, electrical equipment such as air conditions, ceiling fans, room heaters, water heaters, and interior finishing materials such as floor tiles, wall tiles, carpets and rugs etc. requires storage within an enclosed storeroom to safeguard the material against loss, theft or pilferage, damage, etc. Nevertheless, in some cases material deterioration may occur in the cause of keeping materials in store. For example heavy materials placed over a fragile material can result to breakage. Therefore a designated operation of store personnel that takes into account downloading deliverables, good positioning and proper arrangement in the store should be maintained. Also good storage practice ensures that materials to be used early are kept close r to the store entrance for ease of access to the material in order to avoid displacing other materials before reaching the needed item. And frequent rotation of materials around storeroom should be avoided as it leads to breakage or damage of materials. 2.2 Objectives of Material Management The goal of operating any business entity is to make profit over the goods or services it offers. In this respect, construction business is not an exception. The goal of the investment made on plants and machineries, expenditure on material of work and payment of staff and lobour wages is to make a reasonable profit at the end of every project work. At the inception of every project work, there is gradual absorption in the use of materials to form components. The components makes up a structure and the structure makes up the whole building. However the total quantity of all the materials needed to build a project must not be obtained at hand before work starts, rather the materials will be supplied daily or periodically as scheduled by the project management team. This requires efficient planning of inventories, effective buying and purchasing strategy, good storage and inventory control, timely supply and distribution of materials, and maintaining the harmonious relationship between the supplier and the customer. 2.3 Function of Material Management The function of material management can be divided broadly into primary and secondary functions. Primarily it aims at planning material of work required, purchasing which includes selecting the reliable supplier, ensuring the availability of material at the designated point, and ascertaining and maintaining the steady flow in material supply. The secondary function has to do with proper recording of material through coding and classifications of the materials to ensure proper record are kept both for receiving and using of material. The other secondary functions of the material management deals with the assessment of difficulties in handling and transportation of the material. This challenges the project management team with need to adopt systematic implementation of their plans at all level of the management organization. Ultimately it requires strict monitoring and control. 2.4 Problem of Material Management There are number of problem associated with material management. The problems may be associated with structure of an organization, storage space requirement, delivery problem, lack of security, market availability of materials, legislation etc. These problems are examined in details below: Organization Structure: Good organization structure that properly defines roles and responsibility of the individuals at all level is likely to support material management purpose. The coordination and communication between estimating department, research and development department, purchasing department, and plant and machineries department should be maintained at highest level. Where there is poor coordination and communication, internal memo/notes cannot reach an intended destination. For example when there is plant breakdown e.g. excavator is not working due to mechanical problem and the plant and machineries department did not alert engineering department about the problem until the time when soil excavation is needed. Or quantity of materials such as cement is low in the store without informing the purchasing department by the store officer. Storage Space: Large number of materials is required depending on the magnitude of the project. And the term storage space implies both enclosed and open space that can be used to keep materials of work safe until the need for it arise. All materials need protection against many threats such as pilferage, theft, damage or loss. Material such as aggregates, bricks/blocks may not require enclosed storage protection than proper outdoor positioning and stacking. However, other materials such as reinforcement bars, steel columns, timber, and galvanized steel for trusses must be protected against contact with water in order to avoid rust/corrosion. The size of proposed building may occupy 60% of the total project site, enabling the remaining 40% to be used for temporary access and site facilities. In such case, the planners must arrange for periodic delivery of certain materials to avoid cluttering the space, and maintain constant operation to keep the surrounding area clean. Problem of Delivery: Not withstanding material order is placed early, a situation exist in which material can not arrive on time. This may be due to a problem on the side of the supplier. And certain specialized materials may not be available within the proximity of the construction site. The material must be transported possibly from another city e.g. hot rolled or cold rolled materials. Eventually worker must be left redundant and time is being wasted. Security Problem: Security of materials onsite is of paramount importance. Gradual pilferage and theft are issues of concern to the project managers. Loss of materials through pilferage and theft represent financial lost to the project as a whole, and in the end it increases the cost of the project. Materials are prone to be stolen despite being in store. And some materials as earlier mentioned may not require indoor storage. Therefore, a well designated vigilante must be maintained 24 hours onsite. Availability of Materials on Market: Steady flow of materials throughout project duration is among the primary function of material management. However, this can be affected by market availability of the material of work. Occasionally manufacturers can run out of raw material or be affected by government policy to the extent that production may have to be slow or suspended. Unavailability of materials of work on market can affect material management by either increasing competition in material purchase or delay the general work progress. Legislation: Domestic manufactures are not likely capable to satisfy construction industrys need for raw materials. This is true no matter how develop a country is, certain products must be imported from another country. Example of these materials can be specialist hot rolled items, structural members such as steel I section columns, galvanized steel angle iron, air conditions, heaters, wall tiles, floor tiles, etc. and government policy on importation can affect the flow or availability of material on market. Another example can be seen in the price of labour to be used for government projects. Construction labour costs are divided into two; government price, and the price determined by other labour unions such as bricklayers union, steel fixers union, etc. All labour cost whether union cost or government cost can be influenced by the act of legislative committee who are responsible for monitoring and controlling the aspect in a particular country. 3.0 Relations of the Existing site layout to position of Material/Site facilities Construction sites are bound to face trouble not only technically related, also management related difficulties results into unwanted situation that affect time and cost. Site-based management can make a significant improvement in the cost and time saving during the construction process without involving mass of additional work. Among the important tasks of site management is the site layout planning. Without effective and systematic approach to site planning, extensive time loss and cost overruns could result especially in large projects, where the number of manpower, subcontractors, and equipment involved are high. A detailed planning of the site layout and location of temporary facilities can enable the management to make considerable improvement through minimizing travel time, waiting time, and increasing workers morale by showing better and safer work environment. Existing Site Layout: Contrary to the above idea, the existing site layout shows concrete batching plant, timber, materials 1, material 2, temporary building, waste materials, reinforcement, scaffold store, store 1, store 2, and temporary road with little information to fully identify the use of the facilities. It further located the concrete batching plant quite away from any storage facility. Waste material is situated behind the temporary office. And finally the project site does not contain security room and toilet. The major short coming of the existing site layout is lack of proper definition of the site facilities, whether the store is for cement or tools, what sort of material can be stored in the facilities named Material, as both do not convey ideal information that indicates the type of materials to be stored. Assuming the current position of the temporary facilities is to be maintained, the lead time of concrete work must be slow due to large distance between the concrete batching plant and stores. There is proposed two units of 2-storey building as shown on the site layout, however no provision for tower crane that hoist materials of work to high rise area. Waste material facility should not be too far from the center where most construction activities takes place, this is true in order to encourage the site sanitarians in keeping the site free of scraps that can cause injuries e.g. cut off pieces of metal or timber, broken asbestos, long span aluminum roofing sheet, etc. The temporary walk ways in the existing site layout does not lead up to the spaces between both semi-detached and double storey twin buildings. Following rainfall, the surrounding site area is likely to become bog and muddy, thus inconveniencing traffic around the site. 4.0 Anticipated problems to be encountered on the existing site layout Most engineers have the impression that site planning can be undertaken simultaneously as the work proceeds day by day. It is important to know that condition of project site will be the condition in which workers live for the duration of the project. Thus, careful pre-planning is imperative. Since construction labour cost constitutes 30-40 percent of project total cost, it is important to realize that significant cost saving will be achieved if the labour force moves freely and quickly within the project site. With free and quick progress of labour force, large amount of work will be done in a day. Conversely, lack of free movement slows rate of production by obstructing the cycle time of material delivery to workers. 4.1 Anticipated Problem Strictly speaking, the existing site layout contradicts the general site management idea. Construction projects are to start on a specific date and end on a specific date. Consequently, individual activities in the project are given expected starting and finishing time. Unless the activities are on schedule, the project will not finish on the time it is expected to finish. And unless production is maintained at highest speed level, the individual activities would not meet the schedule. To maintain production at highest speed level, access to material of work must be uninterrupted. Interruption to material access is caused by different reason including the distance through which the material must pass before reaching the final production point. The following problems should be anticipated by the site manager:- Laydown Space: The site layout does not consider simple laydown space for materials such as aggregates, bricks/blocks, etc. which do not require enclosed space for storage. Also for materials which are arranged to be periodically brought to site such as pile for foundation and precast concrete components. If bored pile foundation is to be used for the double-storey building and the scheduled work force is that only 80 piles can be driven into the soil per day. There bound to be problem for space to stack these items upon delivery before they are used. Plant Equipment Wrongly Located: The concrete batching plant located far away from any storage facility indicates how far workers need to travel in order to bring material of work to the batching plant. The batching plant and the material stores are located in two opposite sides of the project boundary. This apparently increases the cycle time for the production of wet concrete mix. The ideal procedure for casting wet concrete should not suggest any delay in the production cycle which can be achieved by keeping all the materials needed closer to the batching plant. When materials are closer to production point, the number of labourers needed to be supplying the materials can be reduced because of the short cycle distance than they otherwise have to cover assuming the material is far away. Consequently, the amount of money that must be paid for lobour is reduced. Poor Location of Temporary Building/ Site Office: It is important to locate temporary site office closer enough to be able to monitor the site activities probably by looking through the window. However, it is equally important to locate the office where noisy construction activities can be avoided as much as possible. The location of the temporary office as shown on this existing site plan seem to be too close to construction activities especially vibration and sound produced by jetting down pile into the ground. Large magnitude of vibration and sound is produced during hammering pile down into the ground, and dust flew up when drilling and chiseling holes on concrete or wooden components. Thus the office is also too close that dust may be entering into the building as a result of such activities. Inadequate Space between The Existing Site Facilities: The existing facilities such as temporary building, reinforcement, scaffold store, waste material, material, and store are located too close to one another. The effect of this can be manifested by the need for material delivery to the store between waste material and materials. Locating site facility in a confined space do not allow delivery vehicle to reach the location of the facility. And in the extreme it results into double handling of the material by having to off-load temporarily before arranging for workers to move the material to its final destination. Double handling should be avoided as much as possible as it waste time, and often attracts petty charges which when accumulated can make a reasonable amount of money. Insecurity: The major problem to be faced by the site manager comes from the complete omission of the provision for site security shed. Materials, plant and equipment are never to be taken home by workers nor always brought from high rise areas down to store and locked up, and the next morning they are taken up again. This is tedious. It is a good practice if small electric tools such as drilling machine, welding machines can be left where they have been used today for instance on 2nd floor, and tomorrow the work continues without need for taking it up again. However, this can only be proven good practice if constant day and night security of the material is maintained in the construction site. Material pilferage by labourers is another reason for maintaining security on site. Omission of Staff Canteen: Notwithstanding workers are always busy onsite, provisions should be made for location of temporary staff canteen. Omission of this facility on this project site may cause workers to travel some distance for need of water, cigarette, mints, cake, etc. and when this happens, automatically the work is retarded. Lack of Temporary Toilet: The provision of this seemingly less important site facility is almost necessary in every project site. Site management personnel, visitors, members of statutory agencies, and workers are bound to require toilet to ease themselves of their demand. It is impracticable while work is on progress for a worker to seek to go back home or anywhere away from the project site for the need of toilet. Therefore temporary site toilet should be among the site planners focus when design temporary site facilities. 5.0 Proposed New Site Layout The architectural drawings of a project indicate among other things, the proposed position of the individual structures within the scope of the project work. Invariably, this position must be maintained and never to be altered because of the need for temporary site facilities such as material stores, security shed, staff canteen and toilets, site office, position of crane, etc. It is the project managers responsibility to examine the activities that take place in the cause of construction work and provide viable alternative that maintain the proposed position of the structures as well as proper location for the temporary site facilities. In achieving this, number of factors deserves consideration. These are lead time of individual activities on the project, ease of access to material of work, activity cycle time, raw material delivery, safety of workers, types of materials, and space requirement for laydown purpose and free interaction. Site Security Shed: Among the important site facilities is security shed as it provides shelter for site security personnel against weather. It can be constructed of timber, metal/aluminum, tent leather, and even masonry materials such as brick/block, and stone defending on the decision of the project management team. Security shed is almost provided in every type of building project whether it is office building, commercial building, school, hospital, etc. therefore it is advantageous to build the facility once and for all. Building security shed using temporary material like timber, metal etc. can be considered as waste of money and time since the temporary one must be replaced by the permanent structure to serve the same purpose at the end of the project work. The most suitable position for locating security facility is always by the main entrance of the building, since security personnel are to monitor any movement in and out thereby looking after the properties in and around the building. In this respect, site security building is no exception. Its position has to be by the site main entrance. And it should be properly sited to allow clear coverage of reasonable locations both left and right. Specifically to this project, the security building should be by the right side of the entrance. This is because the left side is a proposed double-storey structure, and can block proper view of the semi-detached structures at the opposite side due to double-storey height of the building. Conversely, positioning the facility at the right hand side enhances proper viewing of the facade of the double-storey, as well as reasonable view of the semi-detached structures. Material Store: There can be number of stores on site defending on the type of material to be kept in the store. Site material stores do not need to be located all in one position. The location has to be based on the type of material in the store, distance between the store and the point of using the stored items, and accessibility by the delivery vehicle. All material stores must be accessible to the material delivery van, and be close enough to ease difficulty in removing items out of the store. Inaccessibility of store location result into double handling a situation where materials need to be temporarily off-loaded before moving the same into the store. This is time consuming and attracts expenses. Waste Material Store: Waste is being generated in the course of executing works onsite. Therefore daily waste management should be designed and maintained throughout the project duration. Site waste can be broken stones, blocks/bricks, empty cartons, cut-off pieces of metal, aluminum, timber, etc. which is no longer needed or seen as valuable. Defending on the site managers decision, waste can be stored as salvaged items which can subsequently be sold for recycle purpose. However, not all onsite waste can be salvaged for recycling. Waste such as paper cartons and polythene e.g. for tiles, sanitary and electric appliances are best disposed up by taken them away to any refuse collection point nearby, since it is not needed for recycle. This type of waste may not require enclosed storage facility. A simple laydown waste collection point can be satisfactory before they are disposed-off. Only solid non-combustible waste e.g. cut-off metal as piling material, steel angle iron, steel sectio ns, rebar etc. can be stored in waste material facility before they are removed for recycling. The best practice for onsite waste collection is to collect the generated waste on daily basis just at the point it occurs. Since different trades are working at different places around the project site, it can be difficult to set a single point for waste collection. The waste collected from all points can be taken to central waste collection facility from where the accumulated wastes from all the project activities are moved out of the project site. For example, waste can be generated at 2nd floor, 3rd floor, 4th floor, and ground floor respectively. The waste collected at each floor should be packed and brought down to the central waste collection point. Like material store, the proper location for central waste collection should always be accessible by both vehicle and workers to increase morale in dumping and subsequent removal away from the project site. Scaffold Store: There are different types of scaffold designed to serve different purpose. These are independent tie scaffold, bird cage, slung scaffold, mobile tower scaffold, and putlog scaffold. The independent tie and bird cage scaffolds are specially designed for external works, covering from ground floor up to high rise areas to enable painting, plastering, glazing, and external electric work. They are mounted immediately on arrival, and once mounted do not need to be dismantled until the end of the project. Such scaffold does not need to be kept on site; ideally they can

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Domestic Violence: The Tracy Thurman Story :: Violence Against Women Essays

There is one particular case that stands out in my mind when I think of domestic violence. The Tracy Thurman Story. Tracy Thurman was a Connecticut housewife. She suffered a horrendous abuse at the hands of her husband. As the days got older so did the beatings and was more horrified each day.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When Buck and Tracy got involved she realized that he had a gambling problem. She had confronted him about him losing money while gambling in front of his friends. Buck became furious and punched the door working his way around Tracy. Buck then starts yelling and saying how his mother put a gun to his head and asked Tracy never to leave him. Seeing his vulnerable side, Tracy felt sorry for him. This showed Tracy that Buck had a shattered soul and a sense of humanity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Not too long, after Tracy found out she was pregnant. After telling Buck the news, he beat her for the first time. Tracy then leaves from Florida to Connecticut, her hometown and stays with a close friend. Buck follows her to Connecticut and begs, pleads, and promises that it will never happen again. They then get married, stayed in Connecticut, and had a baby boy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Buck is unable to find work and convinces Tracy to move back to Florida. After losing a game of cards, he goes to rage and beats Tracy again leaving her two black eyes. Tracy moves back to Connecticut, only to have Buck follow her and takes the baby away from Tracy.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  At this point Tracy gets a restraining order against Buck. He is not allowed in the state of Connecticut, and Tracy’s home. She sees Buck standing in front of her home and calls the police. The police cannot find the court order against Buck. When the officer comes to the house and tells Tracy that her husband has a right to stand in the street and it would be easier if they weren’t married.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A couple days later, Buck is outraged. He goes to Tracy’s house again screaming for her to come out of the house. This time he doesn’t let up. Tracy then calls the police again and tells them that Buck is outside her house again and wants a patrol car to come by the house. The officer takes a detour back to the station. The officer takes forever to get to the house.

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A Cask of Amontillado Essay: Theme of Masonry -- Cask Amontillado Essa

The Theme of Masonry in A Cask of Amontillado  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The fundamental question in Edgar Allan Poe's "A Cask of Amontillado" is the nature of Montresor's motive for the revenge he "vowed" to obtain when Fortunato "ventured upon insult" (209). Montresor believes a wrong is "unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong"(209). While Montresor endeavors to make his vengeance known to Fortunato, the author's references to Masonry in his use of characterization, setting and irony indicate Montresor's motive. Fortunato throws back a bottle of wine in a "gesticulation [Montresor] did not understand," a sign of the Masons, a secret society of which he affirms he is a member (212). This secrecy is emulated in Montresor's slaughter of his foe. Montresor's deadly act, he himself, and ultimately Fortunato are shrouded in secrecy. Montresor's destruction of his foe is carried out at dusk. He leads Fortunato through the darkness "down a long and winding staircase" "into the inmost recesses of the catacombs" "at the most remote end of t...

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Cultural Anthropology Midterm Study Guide

Anthropology 2 Midterm Study Guide: Professor Li Zhang Midterm Date: October 30, 2012 Week 1 What is the scope of cultural anthropology? Discuss its focus of inquiry, approach, and major changes over time. ?Cultural anthropology is concerned with the nature and extent of social and cultural differences among different societies. Focus on Inquiry: Why there are different cultures and how they came about and are affected or changing. Focus on Approach: Approaches could be urban, political, legal, medical, psychological, environmental, feminist, etc. Goals: ?Understanding how differences among societies are shaped. Understanding the unequal power relations between societies produced by colonialism, imperialism and contemporary global practices. ?To compare the perspectives of different societies and how each of them interprets the world. Changes in cultural anthropology over time: ?Used to be a way to proves inferiority of others and justify oppression and ethnocentrism. Now its mostly about being critical of inequality, ? We also do fieldwork in western, ‘developed’ countries. ?There is more globalization now. ?Early anthropology focused on studying isolated, tribal societies. ?Over time they began to study large urban industrial societies. Today the scope of cultural anthropology has expanded into various subdivisions, such as urban political, and medical. Compare the two major schools of early anthropological thought: British social anthropology and French structuralism in terms of their primary concern and focus. British Social Anthropology: ?Emerged in early 20th century. Main founding figure was Malinowski. ?Radcliffe-Brown, Evans-Pritchard, Gluckman, and Leach also were important figures. ?Two theoretical foundations were functionalism and structural functionalism: 0Functionalism – Explanation of why certain social institutions exist. Explains the cultural responses to basic individual needs that are biological and/or physiological. 0Exa mple: cannibalism may be explained through a survivalist function ?Structural Functionalism – Concerned less with individual needs and actions and more with the place of the individuals in the social order. ?Figures out the relationship of individuals to the larger social body. ?Example: Cannibal Tours – colonists arrived and stripped villages of sacred objects and introduced European monetary system to make the villagers subordinateDuring these early years, social anthropology was deeply intertwined with the British colonial government that provided the financial support for research and teaching in anthropology. The primary interest was in Africa – to study their languages and generate knowledge about their political and legal systems. French Structuralism ?Primary figure in school of thought is Levi Strauss. ?Focused on the elementary structures of kinship, mythology, and language. ?Some concerns include the patterns or underlying structures and how seemingly unrelated things may actually be from a complex system of interrelated parts. Form is emphasized over content. ?The internal logic of a culture and its relationship to the structures of human society and human mind. Comparison: ?Both schools of thought are concerned with studying the structure and layout of the society. ?British social anthropology is concerned more with the relation of the individual to society while French structuralism is concerned with how individuals are connected to one another to form the society (mythologies, language, human mind). Week 2: How does Edward Taylor define â€Å"culture†? Discuss the four key aspects of culture by providing one example for each aspect. Examples can be drawn from the readings, films, or other sources including your own observation. British anthropologist Edward Taylor defines culture as: â€Å"a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a man as a member of society. † The four elements of culture are: 1. Culture is learned. ?Culture can be learned consciously and unconsciously through interacting and imitating the people around us. It can happen in informal settings such as your home, or formal places like churches and schools. Example: as children we learn to imitate words we hear adults speak and learn to speak the language. Proper etiquette is taught by looking at how others behave or from interacting with people who teach it to them. 2. Culture is shared. ?Members of a group share common beliefs, values, memories, and hope. ?Example: American culture is identified with individualism, while Chinese culture is identified with collectivism. This difference can be seen through the food and meals they choose. Americans usually don’t like to share their meals and order individual plates while the Chinese typically share their food and eat family-style. Example: â€Å"Eating Christmas in the Kalahari† by Richard Lee 0For Christmas, Lee buys the largest ox to show his gratitude for the Bushmen’s hospitality during his stay. He becomes confused when everyone in the village says that the ox he bought was no good and that is has no meat on it. 0In Bushmen village, it is part of their culture and tradition to insult each other so that people don’t become arrogant. Lee learned this by asking the Bushmen about it, showing how culture is shared by communication and interaction. 3. Culture is symbolic. Creation of culture depends on the human’s ability to use symbols and be able to have symbolic thought. ?We are able to give meaning to a thing or event and grasp the meaning. It can be arbitrary and conventional and depends on the social context that is widely accepted by society. However, the context can vary for each society. ?Examples: -McDonalds has become a symbol of fast food and unhealthy eating in America, but it is viewed as high class and modern in China. ?Colors tend to have symbolic meanings attached to them. Red represents love, yellow represents life, black represents death, etc. . Culture is dynamic. ?Culture isn’t a static cage to lock people in. It is something that changes over time. ?People use their culture creatively and actively instead of rigidly following the rules. ?There are some differences in culture between groups and societies, but the differences aren’t absolute. ?Cultural hybridization allows different cultural traditions and practices to merge together. 0Examples: – Food culture: fusion of food features a combination of different elements of cultures from all over the world. – Western psychotherapy combines Buddhist meditation with western psychology.What is ethnocentrism? Why is it problematic? In your discussion, draw examples from either Bohannan’s â€Å"Shakespeare in the Bush† or the film Cannibal Tours. How would a diffusionist argue against ethnocentrism? Ethnoce ntrism is the tendency to use one’s own culture as a yardstick to measure other cultural practices and beliefs. †¢Tendency for people to see their own culture as superior and natural. People make judgments according to their own cultural lens, giving them a narrow perspective; they see all other cultures as inferior to theirs.Examples: Cannibal Tours: The western tourists continuously compared the natives’ lifestyle to their own and saw their culture as primitive and backwards. They saw the natives as uncivilized and poor people who lacked the technology they possessed back at home. Bohannan’s â€Å"Shakespeare in the Bush†: While reading through Hamlet, both the storyteller and the audience exhibit ethnocentrism. What Bohannan took for granted and viewed as common sense were things that the elders did not understand because it didn’t exist in their culture.Ghosts and the afterlife did not exist in the native’s culture, and young people should not fight against their elders. Elders constantly made remarks about the play as if they knew what was going on, believing that they were telling her the true meaning of Hamlet and how her interpretation of Hamlet is actually wrong. According to Franz Boas, no culture is pure and authentic. Instead, cultural boundaries are porous and cultural exchanges have long existed in human societies. 0Diffusionism shows that all cultures are interrelated to one another, so ethnocentrism does not exist. In Ralph Linton’s â€Å"One Hundred Percent American,† he shows that cultures are not 100% from their own country and that culture is diffused and adapted by various places as part of their culture. What is cultural relativism? Discuss its pros and cons. What is your take on it? Support your argument with evidence and analysis. Cultural Relativism is the view opposite of ethnocentrism: believes that one shouldn’t judge the values and practices of other people accordi ng to their own standards. †¢The main idea is to see things from the point of view of those who live their lives.This allows the anthropologist to fully appreciate another culture. Pros: ?Objective approach in doing research; helps anthropologists another culture more thoroughly. ?Promotes unity between cultures and between groups of people in general since it would help people respect and understand each other. Cons: ?Helps justify controversial practices such as female genitalia mutilation, cannibalism, animal sacrifice, etc. *I am of the opinion that cultural relativism is an important philosophy to apply to any anthropological research, however a delicate balance must always strive to be maintained.To me, respect should always be asserted, but human rights should have authority over political correctness. †-malinowski According to Malinowski, what is a holistic approach to doing ethnographic research and why is it important? What constitutes the proper conditions for ethnographic fieldwork? Explain three central ethnographic techniques (don’t just list them, but explain in greater detail). A holistic approach in doing ethnographic work is to understand a culture as a whole and all aspects are connected/intertwined and must be understood in relation to one another. The goal of the ethnographer should be to provide an anatomy of the culture, understand the facts and put the focus into a broader context. †¢You must understand that all the small institutions of a culture, such as religion, education, kinship, are all related to one another in order to grasp the meaning as a whole. †¢The proper conditions for ethnographic fieldwork is to observe the details of the natives’ family and communal life by staying as close in contact with them as possible and cutting yourself off from the company of anyone else other than the natives.You must immerse yourself into the local society for a long duration because there is a difference b etween sporadic plunging into the company of the natives and really living with them and connecting with them. Three central ethnographic techniques: 1. Observation and participant observation. ?Careful and detailed observation is important to collect data to answer questions, which requires a lot of patience. ?You should try to be objective and keep away from any bias thoughts or else the collected data will be compromised.You must also remember to be invisible and make sure they don’t know they are being observed or else the data will be inaccurate. ?Participant observation is when you participate in events with the natives in order to analyze and take notes. 0This allows you to get closer to the natives and helps you to better understand their culture through your experience and interaction with them. 2. Interviews. ?Interviews involve asking several individual questions to get a better understanding of the culture from a native’s point of view. The goal of the inte rviews is to see a pattern that emerges in the answers you receive. ?Interviews can be informal, semi-structured, or structured. ?Informal interview – an interview that doesn’t follow a straight schedule and takes advantage of the opportunity when it arises. ?Semi-structured / structured interview – interviews that are planned out with the questions you want to ask written down and planned beforehand. 0Semi-structured interviews may have some open ended questions. 0Interviews are the most effective method and are the core of ethnographic research. When you interview people you know, you may get introduced to people that you could possibly interview, and you can therefore gather up more data and opinions for your research. This is called the snowballing effect. 3. Key informants and life histories. ?Also called cultural consultants. These people are important figures that are able to give you more insight and information in various aspects of a culture. 0They are the few people who are willing to tell you more and explain in clear details while incorporating their personal experience to help you understand.Key Informant: Someone you build an amicable relationship with, who acts as a representative of the culture. Generally someone in a high position who will be able to explain the ins and outs of the culture from an intimately informed POV. What are the core issues in the code of ethics for anthropologists (discuss at least three)? Why is it important to follow them? The three core issues in the code of ethics for anthropologists include: 1. Full disclosure. ?It is important for the anthropologist to be open and honest to the people s/he is studying. Must inform them of every aspect of the study and any consequences that may happen as a result of the study. 2. Informed Consent. ?The people being studied must be well informed about the procedure, and the anthropologist must have them sign a paper or ask for verbal consent before proceeding w ith the study. 0This is to make sure that they have fully agreed to the terms and have proof that they have willingly volunteered themselves. 3. Potential Harm. 0It is the anthropologist’s duty to inform the subject of any consequential harm that may come to them. The anthropologist must ensure not to harm safety, dignity, or privacy of any parties involved. ?It is important to follow the code of ethics in order to avoid any lawsuits and also to make sure that the people being studied are well informed and know exactly what they are signing up for so that no harm will come to them. Week 4: Today most anthropologists recognize that race is a social construct that does not have a biological reality. Discuss how Boas and Montagu each defend this view. What evidence from modern genetics does the film â€Å"Race: The Power of an Illusion† provide to further support this position?Franz Boas also referred to as the â€Å"Father of American Anthropology,† talks about ra ce as a social construction in his paper, â€Å"Mind of Primitive Man† ? He believes that racial groups never existed, and that races are not as pure as we imagine them to be because migration patterns in the past intertwined cultures together and created diverse groups of people. ?Boas talks about purity and boundedness, stating that biological significance is only possible when races have uniform, closely inbred groups where family lines are alike. However, these conditions can’t be achieved with humans, especially in large populations. He also argues about the instability of populations, meaning that the physical and psychological attributes of people are dynamic and fluctuate constantly to adapt to various circumstances. 0The biological, linguistic, and cultural traits of people are the product of historical development and the environment. Ashley Montagu in her article, â€Å"The Concept of Race in the Human Species in the Light of Genetics,† uses the idea of cooking an omelet as a metaphor for the making of race. 0When an omelet is made, the end result may all look the same, but the ingredients used to make the omelet may vary.This is the basis for the anthropological view of race in that although groups of people may have different appearances and characteristics, everyone is essentially the same. 0His argument is based on modern genetics, stating that no two humans are genetically identical to one another, therefore races cannot categorize groups of people since they don’t share the same genetic background.  ¦Racial characteristics are artificial and have no genetic base. Example of the use of modern genetics in the film, â€Å"Race: The Power of an Illusion. †¢In the film, a group of students performed an experiment to compare genetic similarities to other classmates using blood samples, skin color, and saliva swaps. The result of the experiment turned out to be different from what they expected. The students found that their genes were most similar to people they least expected, and that there was no correlation between their genetic patterns and their skin color. †¢Dr. Richard Lewontin, with the use of gel electrophesis, found that 85% of all variations among humans are between individuals of the same local population. There is as much difference between two individuals of the same race as there is between individuals of different races, so race can’t be determined biologically. What is scientific racism? Why is it flawed and dangerous? Use one of the examples discussed in the lecture to support your argument (Morton versus Gould or The Bell Curve). How do anthropologists understand gender and patriarchy? Provide two examples (from the lecture or your own observation) to show that gender roles change from society to society and from time to time.Scientific Racism is the attempt to prove â€Å"scientifically† that some â€Å"races† are not just different, but superio r to others. 0Scientific techniques and observations are usually utilized to prove this belief but the collected data is usually inaccurate and tainted with racist beliefs. Example: Dr. Samuel George Morton versus Stephen J. Gould. †¢Samuel George Morton attempted to prove that some races were superior to others by measuring the skulls of people of different races,  ¦He believed that the cranial capacity of the skulls would tell how intelligent people were. His results concluded that white people were the superior race among other groups, because his measurements showed that they had the largest skulls compared to the others. ?Stephen J. Gould repeated the research and found several errors with Morton’s conclusion. 0Morton manipulated his data by including more female skulls for blacks than for whites, so the measurement for the skulls of the blacks turned out to be smaller. 0When Gould measured again fairly, the average size of a black person’s skull turned out to be much larger than the skull of a white person’s. The data was manipulated because of Morton’s bias. His beliefs caused him to already have the results in mind that he wanted, regardless of what is actually true. Example: The Bell Curve 0A book written by Richard J. Hernstein and Charles Murray: argues that blacks carry inferior genes of intelligence compared to whites, and so they naturally score lower on IQ tests.  ¦Their low IQ scores are what prevent the blacks from attaining a higher level job, and it is also because of their low intelligence that they have a higher crime rate. The controversy that comes with this claim is that if the government agrees with it, then the blacks should not receive social welfare for their low-income families because they are genetically inferior. Scientific racism is usually incorrectly proven using data that has been deliberately altered to support bias beliefs, so the results are not accurate. The danger that can result fro m this if it is actually proven, the groups may be neglected or abused, or at the very least treated with social injustice. Gender – All the traits that a culture assigns to and indicates in men and women. It is a social construct of male and female characteristics and roles. ?Gender differences come from culture rather than biology. ?Patriarchy – A social and political system rule by men in which women have inferior social and political status. 0Females are carried out as subordinates to men in this system. Most common in patrilineal societies (involving counting the descent line of the father’s line, which includes property inheritance, names, titles, etc. ) Examples of gender roles changing between societies and through time: ?Forager/hunter and gatherer societiesThis type of society shows a typical gender division of labor. Men were responsible for hunting and fishing while women were responsible for gathering fruits and nuts. Men would usually bring in more food than women, so the men had a higher social rank in these societies. When women are the ones to contribute more food, then the women would have an equal relationship with the men. ?Agriculture societies Men are assigned to heavy labor such as plowing the field, while women are responsible for domestic work, child rearing, and light far work around the house. These societies tend to have a stronger gender inequality. Industrial societies Gender roles in industrial societies tend to change over time in response to economic conditions and social climates. Before the 1900s, it was common for men, women, and children to work in factories. Things began to change in the 1900s with the large influx of immigrants that increased the male labor force and also brought up ideas that women weren’t fit to work in the factories and should stay home and take care of the kids instead, During WW2, things changed again as men are drafted into the military and women began working in factorie s again to fill the gap.The women’s return to the factory was received in a positive notion and was even viewed as patriotic. What are gender stereotypes? What is the role of advertising in making and reinforcing gender stereotypes and normalcy? Draw two concrete examples from the film (Killing US Softly) in your discussion. Gender stereotypes – oversimplified yet strongly held ideas about the characteristics of men and women. Advertisements mainly target women and girls about beauty and the ideal body they should have, as well as a childlike / quiet demeanor. Many girls express the fear of being fat, and the number one wish of girls between the age of 11-17 is to be thinner. ?Most of the people who suffer from eating disorders are girls who are self-conscious and obsessive about their body. Examples in Killing us Softly: ?Ads of women of color tend to show them with animal prints which turn them into animals rather than human beings. ?Ads about women who lost weight t ypically say they were able to get married because they lost weight.This gives the idea that women who are fat probably won’t ever get married, and this serves to lower women’s self-esteems even further and increase their drive to become skinnier and purchase products to expedite the process. ?Images of thin women are often used to silence women and put them down. ?Ads show pictures of women exhibiting passive body language such as their hands over their mouths and faces. ?When there is an ad of a man and a woman, the man is usually taller and is looking down at the woman, while the woman looks up and smiles compliantly. This encourages female submission to men and conveys the message that women should be quiet and obedient. According to Martin’s article, how do stereotypical gender roles shape scientific accounts of the egg-sperm romance? Stereotypical gender roles shape scientific accounts by how the sperm and the egg are described and how they function. ?The sperm is described as masculine, active, agile, and penetrating, while the egg is described as passive, feminine, fragile and dependent. ?The egg is portrayed as a damsel in distress who waits quietly in a still spot for her knight in shining armor, the sperm, to fight his way to her. The female reproductive system is seen as wasteful and a failure while the male reproductive system is seen as productive. ?Scientists question why women are born with so many eggs only to have most of it go to waste, yet the don’t consider the excessive amount of sperm men create as a waste. ?New research found that the sperms aren’t that forceful and what actually matters is that the surface of the egg is what traps the sperm, showing that eggs are more active than previously thought. This shows that the relationship between the egg and the sperm is interactive. Even with this new research, the egg is still viewed in a bad light. ?The more active role of the egg is seen as too aggressiv e and the reproductive system of women as a dangerous place since it tries to kill sperm cells that enter it. How does Ortner explain why women are universally put in an inferior position to men? Do you agree with her argument? Why or why not? Support your view with evidence. Ortner argues that the subordination of women is a universal idea by referring to how a lot of anthropological literatures show accounts of how women are devalued in society. Symbolic acts of women are believed to justify their inferior role. Menstruation is considered a symbolic act that restricts the freedom of women. During a women’s menstruation period, she was not allowed to come near sacred objects because of the fear that she might contaminate them. Menstruation was believed to be a threat of warfare. ?Social and political structures also serve to affect the status of women in societies, and exclude women from participating in areas with people of high authority. ?Women are associated with nature while men are associated with culture, and culture is typically viewed as superior to nature.Men use their creativity to create technology and symbols that are transcendental and last for eternity, while women are restricted by their natural duties that involve reproduction and creating life.  ¦Destruction of life by men has more prestige and is viewed as transcendental, while creation of life by women is regarded as less important.  ¦The things that men create last forever while what women produce are doomed to die.  ¦The reason why women are associated with nature more is because of their physiology, social role, and psyche. ?No I do not agree with Ortner.I believe that these views are socially constructed, and that we’ve evolved past them. Week 5: What are the five different economic systems in the world? Define each briefly. ?Forager: hunting and gathering; moving from place to place; gender roles due to unequal division of labor, egalitarian (old people are respect ed). ?Horticulture: Cultivation with simple tools, fields not permanent property (slash and burn) mobility, depend on rainfall. ?Agriculture: Use animals for food and labor. These groups are less mobile, live in larger and more permanent settlements, and use advanced irrigation systems. Pastoral: Focus on domesticated animals for food; nomadic. ?Industrial: Mechanized forces, factories, and technology for mass production; increased population density. Briefly explain the three basic principles that govern exchanges according to Karl Polanyi. ?The Market Principle: Supply and Demand, Capitalism. Coffee beans they were selling. Export of crop. ?Redistribution: Socialism; Goods move from local level to center: taxation, welfare. Redistributing the pigs and wealth within the people. ?Reciprocity: exchange between those who are socially equal (gift economies); want to give back.What is a moral economy? What is a system of total service defined by Marcel Mauss? ?Moral Economy: A type of e conomy in which economic activities are an integral part of social relations and moral obligations. Economic and non-economic activities and institutions are embedded in one another. Economic activities and exchange systems are governed by conceptions of social justice, norms, and expectations. ?Systems of total service – The exchange is not solely about property and wealth, but also about the social and moral obligations. Part of the more general and enduring contract.According to Marcel Mauss, why does a gift have the special power to cause its recipient to pay it back? ?The Power – Gifts are never â€Å"free,† so they give rise to reciprocal exchanges. The giver does not merely give an object, but also a part of him/herself. This intrinsic bondage weighs on the conscience of the recipient. What is potlatch? How do Ruth Benedict, Marcel Mauss, and Marvin Harris explain why potlatch exists? ?Potlatch means to give away, or a gift; it is a festival ceremony, and its goal is to give away joy and wealth – more than the rival. Explanations – 0Ruth Benedict: Driven by obsession with prestige and status, (because the more that you give the more prestige you claim). 0Marcel Mauss: Compelled by reciprocity, (responding to a positive action with another positive action, rewarding kindness). 0Marvin Harris: Serves an economic purpose (rational cultural adaptation). Says that potlatch is a logical cultural mechanism. Says that participating in potlatches creates a constant flow of goods. Serves as an economic purpose, human social life is a response to practical problems of earthly existence.