Monday, September 30, 2019

Introduction Of Gibraltar Mine Commerce Essay

Gibraltar mine is the 2nd largest unfastened cavity Cu mine in Canada, which is located near Williams Lake in British Columbia. The Gibraltar sedimentation is a copper-molybdenum porphyritic rock. The chief primary mineral is sulphide mineral Pyrite and Chalcopyrite. As the militias proclamation at December 31, 2008, Gibraltar mine got a mine life to at least 2035. After finishing the Phase I & A ; II undertakings, the Gibraltar mine achieves the capacity of 55,000 metric tons per twenty-four hours. There are two sorts of mineralization ores, which are sulfide ore and oxide ore. The former 1 could be done by the regular mineral processing method, and the latter one should be done by the method called SX/EW ( solvent extraction electro-winning ) . Gibraltar mine besides updated their excavation and processing equipments for the development. Additional, Gibraltar mine has done a great occupation on the environment and sustainability issues.OverviewLocationThe Gibraltar copper-molybdenu m mine is located about 65 km Northwest of Williams Lake in south-central British Columbia with a well-developed substructure. The mine is accessible by a combination of main roads ( 97 ) and paved roads, and it is close to a rail web that provides service for cargo of Cu dressed ores through the Pacific Ocean port of North Vancouver ( Taseko, 2009 ) . Figure 1: Gibraltar – Regional Location ( Beginning: Taseko, 2009 )PropertiesThe Gibraltar mine is the 2nd largest unfastened cavity Cu mine in Canada ( Gibraltar, 2009 ) . The mine is a 46,000 metric tons per twenty-four hours operation with a life of mine mean one-year production of 100 million lbs of Cu and 1.1 million lbs of Mo. The mine is undergoing an enlargement and modernisation undertaking that will increase one-year Cu production capacity to 115 million lbs by 2011 ( Taseko, 2009 ) . Figure 2: The Satellite View of the Gibraltar Mine ( Beginning: Google Earth, 2009 )Brief historyThe development of the mine is as follow ( MREP, 2009 ) , 1910 The Gibraltar ore sedimentation was foremost discovered 1971 Originally built by Placer Development 1972 Began operation, 24 hours/day, 7 yearss a hebdomad 1998 Shutdown by Boliden due to the low Cu monetary values after 26 old ages operation 1999 Acquired by Taseko Mines Limited ( 100 % ) , put on standby 2003 Copper monetary values begin to increase, explorative boring plan began 2004 Reopened, and the SX-EW works was being restarted 2006 An extended boring plan discovered extra 30 % of militias 2008 Gibraltar proven and likely militias are increased by 28 % to 472 million metric tons, or 2.7 billion lbs of recoverable Cu widening mine life to 2035 ( Gibraltar, 2009 ) 2009 Prosperity Environmental Assessment study is submitted to both Provincial and Federal authoritiessGeologyFigure 3: Gibraltar – Minesite layout ( Beginning: InfoMine, 2009 ) The Gibraltar sedimentation is a copper-molybdenum porphyritic rock. The chief primary mineral is sulphide mineral Pyrite and Chalcopyrite. The ore occurs in seven detached zones, all within a 204 million twelvemonth old flinty stone. The mineralized zones are Gibraltar East, Pollyanna, Gibraltar West, Gibraltar West Extension, Gibraltar North, Connector and Granite Lake ( MREP, 2009 ) . â€Å" The cavities occur within the Granite Mountain batholite in a wide zone of shearing and change. The Sawmill zone lies about 6 kilometres to the South, along the southern border of the batholite, within a complex contact zone between the batholite and Cache Creek Group stones † ( InfoMine, 2009 ) . The mine site covers about 109 square kilometres and consists chiefly of 251 mineral claims and 30 excavation rentals ( InfoMine, 2009 ) . When the mine restarted in 2004, militias were merely 149 million metric tons, or about 12 old ages of mine life. The mission for the Gibraltar mine direction squad is to increase militias and widen the mine life. Over the past four old ages, over $ 20 million has been spent on three major drill plans, each plan ensuing in a important addition to turn out and likely militias. The most recent drill plan, in the spring and summer of 2008, resulted in a 28 % addition to turn out and likely militias, as announced in December 2008. Under present militias, the mine is expected to stay in current operation state of affairs until at least 2035. Here is the proclamation at December 31, 2008. Table 1: Calpe Militias and Resources at December 31, 2008 Class ( at 0.20 % Cu Cut-off ) Size ( M Tonnes ) Class Recoverable Metallic element Contained Metallic element Cu ( % ) Mo ( % ) Cu ( B pound ) Cu ( B pound ) Proven & A ; Probable Militias 472 0.315 0.008 2.7 3.0 Measured & A ; Indicated Resources 959 0.298 0.008–5.7 ( Beginning: Gibraltar, 2009 )FinanceTaseko Mines Limited Owns the 100 % of the Gibraltar mine ‘s involvement. The production of the Gibraltar mine is showed as below: Table 2: Summary of the Operating Statisticss Q2 20091 Fiscal 20082 Fiscal 2007 Entire metric tons mined ( 1000000s ) 14.8 51.8 35.4 Metric tons of ore milled ( 1000000s ) 6.5 13.6 9.5 Depriving ratio 1.2 2.7 2.6 Copper class ( % ) 0.35 0.351 0.328 Molybdenum class ( % ) 0.011 0.009 0.011 Copper recovery ( % ) 83.0 75.8 77.5 Molybdenum recovery ( % ) 30.6 31.8 29.6 Copper production ( 1000000s lb ) 39.0 76.9 51.8 Molybdenum production ( 1000s lb ) 404 840 580 Copper production costs, cyberspace of by merchandise credits, per pound of Cu US $ 0.94 US $ 1.87 US $ 1.03 Off belongings costs for conveyance, intervention ( smelting & A ; refinement ) & A ; gross revenues per pound of Cu US $ 0.29 US $ 0.43 US $ 0.35 Entire hard currency costs of production per pound of Cu US $ 1.23 US $ 2.30 US $ 1.38 Notes to postpone: 1 Q2 2009 relates to the 6 months stoping June 30, 2009 2 Fiscal 2008 relates to the 15 months stoping December 31, 2008. ( Beginning: Taseko, 2009 ) From the above tabular array, we can happen that the depriving ration of the Gibraltar mine is at a significantly reduced compared with the anterior old ages. Harmonizing the Taseko mines Second Quarter Results, the Gibraltar mine â€Å" operated for the first six months of 2009 under a program initiated in November 2008, based on 45,000 metric tons per twenty-four hours factory † ( Taseko, 2009 ) . â€Å" This new operational program along with worsening input costs, and the realisation of the Phase I enlargement, resulted in well reduced costs compared to prior old ages. The mine is presently reexamining a return to lodge mean strip ratio based on recent strength in Cu and molybdenum demand and corresponding additions in metal monetary values † ( Taseko, 2009 ) . As known, the market of metals suffered a historical hardest clip during 2008 and 2009, due to the planetary fiscal crisis. However, the entire hard currency cost of production per pound of Cu of Gibraltar mine declined aggressively to US $ 1.23 in 2009. Therefore, even though the monetary value of Cu has declined, Gibraltar ‘s net income border has still improved.MiningMining OperationMining at Gibraltar is carried out utilizing conventional unfastened cavity methods in the Pollyanna on the east side of the belongings, which is 1.8 kilometer long by 0.7 kilometers at its widest point. Drilling is done by a fleet of 3 rotary blast hole drills, which drill 32 centimeter diameter holes and 15 m deep. Blasting is done two to three times a hebdomad and creates 13.7 m high benches in the cavity wall ( MREP, 2009 ) . â€Å" Blasted ore is loaded by one of three P & A ; H shovels into one of 11 draw trucks that hold between 205 and 240 metric tons each. They haul the ore about 2.4 kilometers to a gyratory crusher located above the cavity near the factory edifice. The draw trucks transport most waste stone to dumps along the north wall of the Pollyanna cavity where they are bit by bit make fulling in the cavity. Some waste stone that contains oxidized Cu mineral ore is hauled out of the cavity to a reserve for polishing procedure † ( MREP, 2009 ) . Harmonizing to the Annual General Meeting Presentation, the building for the Phase I enlargement and modernisation was completed in January 2008, accomplishing 46,000 metric tons per twenty-four hours steady province. And Phase II enlargement undertaking was completed in March 2009, to increase the capacity to 55,000 metric tons per twenty-four hours ( Gibraltar, 2009 ) .Mining EquipmentGibraltar mine acquired new excavation equipment in topograph ic point to manage higher factory rates, as below. Figure 4: New Mining truck – 240 ton TEREX MT 4400AC ( Beginning: TEREX, 2009 ) Figure 5: New Mining Shovel – P & A ; H 4100C Electric MS ( Beginning: Zlotnikov, 2009 ; P & A ; H Mining Equipment, 2009 )ProcedureFigure 6: Mill Flowsheet of Gibraltar Mine ( Beginning: Gibraltar, 2008 )Comminution ProcedureComminution is a procedure, which breaks the stone from big balls into smaller pieces and so to finer atoms. There are crushers used for interrupting the big stones and bomber to finer atoms. In Gibraltar mine, the new provender & A ; crunching circuit described as, ROM goes in to a gyratory crusher ( 54Ãâ€"74 ) followed by four parallel secondary crushers ( 13Ãâ€"84 ) in closed circuit. Then, the crushed ores are conveyed into the 34 pess SAG factory through a 45A ° conveyor at a rate of 49,000 metric tons per twenty-four hours. The ore was distributed to 6 ball factory circuits, which pulverize the ore to sand. Then, the stuff discharged from Millss is separated by hydro-cyclones ( The flood & lt ; 0.5mm, underflow & gt ; 0.5mm ) . In add-on, there are 2 re-grinding factory, which are used to cut down the rougher floatation merchandises from under 0.5 millimeter to under 0.1 millimeter ( Chen, 2008 ) .Flotation ProcedureThe froth floatation is really a physical procedure that uses wetting agents and wetting reagents to increase the hydrophobicity of the minerals. The sulfide minerals, such as copper pyrites and peacock ore, are water-resistant ( hydrophobic ) . Ther efore, foams are added to the slurry to do aggregator ( bubbles ) stronger adequate to keep the affiliated minerals to the surface ( EduMine, 2009 ) . From the Millss the slurry is piped into floatation cells, which float a assorted Cu and moly dressed ore, which is piped to a Mo floatation circuit where the moly and Cu dressed ores are separated. These dressed ores pass through a thickening before being dried. In the Copper-Moly Separation Circuit, NaHS is added in this circuit as a Cu sedative in order to forestall the Cu from drifting. Meanwhile, the moly can still drift ( Chen, 2008 ) . Figure 7: Original and Modernized Flotation Circuit ( Beginning: Gibraltar, 2009 )Polishing ProcedureIn the early phase, Gibraltar besides operated a SX/EW ( solvent extraction electro-winning ) works on site to retrieve cathode Cu from Cu oxide minerals, viz. azurite, malachite, chalcocite and cuprite. The procedure involved fade outing these minerals in sulfuric acid with the aid of of course happening bacteriums in out-of-door hemorrhoids of waste stone, followed by electroplating the dissolved Cu metal from the acid in the enclosed refinery edifice. Gibraltar ‘s SX/EW works produced around 38,430 metric tons of cathode Cu from 1986 to 1999. The installation was reopened in 2007 and is one time once more bring forthing Cu cathode at a rate of 1.1 million kgs per twelvemonth ( MREP, 2009 ) . The chiefly intent of the SX/EW works is to pull out Cu from the pregnant leach solutions ( PLS ) collected from the site ‘s leach mopess and heap leach tablet. â€Å" The procedure takes PLS and extracts the Cu in three extraction mixer-settlers. The Cu is extracted through a liquid ion-exchange reagent carried in kerosine. † The Cu is selectively transferred to the organic stage, due to the chemical reaction. The laden organic stage is separated and flows to a strip mixer-settler where the Cu is transferred from the organic to the electrolyte. â€Å" The electrolyte is filtered and heated before being passed through the electro-winning cells where the Cu is plated out on chromium steel steel cathodes. Sporadically, the cathodes are removed from the cells, washed and the Cu sheets automatically harvested. The attendant high quality cathode Cu is bundled and sold † ( InfoMine, 2009 ) .ENVIRONMENT AND SUSTAINABILITYGibraltar Mine besides locates in the bosom of BC ‘s Cariboo Chilcotin tableland, which is a high interior part of assorted cone-bearing woods and grasslands. â€Å" It is home to many different types of wild animate beings, cervid, moose, reindeer, black bears, wolves, every bit good as farm animal. † The intent of Gibraltar ‘s renewal program is to return the site to the wild animate beings. In 1999, an environmental appraisal complete when Taskeo bought the mine concluded the cost to be $ 32.7 million for both renewal and H2O direction. Final inside informations have non been mapped out, but so far grass and legume vegetive screens have been established on disturbed land to instantly command air current eroding and supply eatage ( MREP, 2009 ) . Meanwhile, Gibraltar formed a successful partnership with the Cariboo Regional District ( CRD ) , which designed, built ( 2003 ) and now maintains a landfill on one of the mine ‘s waste stone shit. The landfill accepts 13,000 metric tons of family waste from CRD communities each twelvemonth ( MREP, 2009 ) . The public gave a agree ballot to the landfill site plan, because they believed that set uping such a installation at a mine site would be environmentally, socially and economically sustainable, and could be developed as a public private partnership ( InfoMine, 2009 ) . â€Å" Under the understanding, Gibraltar would stay responsible for the waste stone and drainage below the landfill and the Cariboo Regional District would be responsible for the air infinite above the waste stone † ( InfoMine, 2009 ) . The benefits of set uping the landfill at the Gibraltar mine ‘s waste stone shit are legion: ( InfoMine, 2009 ) Located on industrial land, with no demand to construct roads and upset new land, environmental impact and extra cost of building were eliminated. Large on-site mine equipment could construct the landfill at half the cost. The landfill would congratulate mine renewal. The mine ‘s extended surface and groundwater monitoring system would besides function the landfill.DecisionPut a short decision, non like Fisher!

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Media Role in Everyday Life

Analyse the following quote: â€Å" it is because the media are central to our everyday lives that we must study them†¦ as social and cultural as well as political and economic dimensions of the modern world. † (Roger Silverstone, Why Study the Media? 1999. ) criteria understand respond to question construct logical argument key terms/concepts used accurately provide relevant examples where required Reading 1. 1 Why Media Studies is Worthwhile: Bazalgette ‘Media studies is controversial because it is still new and because it deals with things that are not only continuing to change but are also the focus of many anxieties. 2000:5 ‘Newspapers, film, radio, television and, increasingly, computer software and communications networks are generally considered to be immensely popular in ways that are not fully understood and about which there is little consensus. They are consequently blamed for all kinds of social ills, political problems and cultural degeneracy. Ea ch of these media has also, in its time, been seen as the harbinger of apocalyptic change – for better as well as for worse. Similar essay: Disagreement in Natural SciencesBut because the oldest of them – the mass circulation press – has only been in existence for little more than a century, the process of change has been too fast for anyone to arrive at definitive conclusions about what its social, political and cultural effects really are. ‘As much as everyone likes to think they rebel against their parents and teachers, and keep up to date with new ideas and technologies, we are all substantially formed through the frameworks of ideas and thought of earlier generations, and we all find change difficult. ‘ ‘Change almost always provokes strong feelings: excitement, anxiety, tension, fear, anger.The media, conspicuous and changing objects in a world that is itself changing, are a particularly public focus for these kinds of emotion and argument. There is therefore much disagreement about how the media should be understood, regulated and consumed. 2000:6 It is essential to r ecognise that media studies, even as we enter the twenty-first century is still new. ‘†¦. it is a subject still in the process of being formed. Full of disagreements and different claims as to what it is ‘really about'. It is also a hybrid subject: that is to say, the ideas and approaches that it draws upon come from many different sources. The mass circulation press, the cinema, radio, television, digital software and the internet each attracted comment, analysis and speculation from the start (2000:7) Everyone who spoke or wrote about these media was themselves already educated within existing academic disciplines and motivated by particular interests 2000:7 Nevertheless, hybrid disciplines do appear all the time: semiotics, structuralism, sociolinguistics, and many more. Media studies snaps them all up: there can never be too many different ways of analysing just what is really going on in those fleeting images. Those rapt audiences.Those smoke filled boardrooms of owners. Technology and theory 2000:8 – The media themselves change much faster than any theory. In fact it is often changes in the media – even basic technological changes – that impel changes in the academic construction of the subject. As I write this in the late 1990s we have moved into a period of what are profound changes brought about by digital technologies. Until the 1980s the term ‘media' meant what it said (although it was, and still is, widely misused as a singular noun). It refers to numbers of different ways of physically reproducing and carrying meanings.The whole point of a media text is that it moves and flows: the meaning is never ‘there' at a given moment, but in juxtaposition and sequence, in the tension between one moment and another. 2000:8 2000:9 Media studies is thus a catch-all title designating a wide variety of courses, and since these are all embroiled both in developing a coherent theoretical base and in keeping up with technological and institutional developments in the media themselves, does it even make sense to lump them all together? 2000:9 In media studies you are asked about the profit motive.In media studies you are asked this. You are asked to look at cinema and television as industries which employ large numbers of people and to understand how they work, how they are financed and why they produce what they do. 2000:10 In media studies you may be asked to think about films, television programmes or other ‘media texts' in the same way. But you will certainly also b asked to think about how they address you – or other people – as a member of a group: as British, say, or as a black person, or as a man, or even – but how often? – as all three.By asking you to think about texts in this way, and by making you investigate who made, say, a film or programme, and why, and in whose interests, media studies is essentially political. Every investigation of even quite short or trivial texts potentially leads into larger questions about power structures in society and how they are organised. 2000:10 – It is just as ‘political' to be asking questions about who owns this newspaper, who financed this film, and why; or perhaps more interestingly, who wouldn't finance that film and why, or how one kind of television programme is more likely to be made than another.The politics of the media affect our lives as much as the politics of Parliament or Congress, and can be more satisfying to investigate since the evidence is all around you every day. 2000:10 At the same time it is the inclusion of this political dimension that media students often find the most satisfying and worthwhile aspect of the subject. ‘You stop taking things at face value'. You should beware of media courses which render the subject down to a few handy maxims such as ‘the basic function of all media is to sell audiences to advertisers'.To object that this ca n hardly apply to public service broadcasting or a community video workshop is not to deny that these institutions will also have political roles to play and manipulative techniques to use. But it does reassert the principle that there is more than one way to look at any text. A political dimension to critical analysis should add complexity, not simplification 2000:10 So far, I have identified two basic principles that media studies courses are likely to have in common: using economic and political perspectives as key ways of understanding the media.These are the most characteristic differences between media studies and most other subjects. But no course will concentrate on these areas alone. 2000:11 One of the strengths – and also the challenges – of media studies is precisely that it asks you to consider texts from different and often sharply contrasting perspectives. What do you study in media studies? 2000:11 Just what – if anything – constitutes a va lid argument for studying one text, or one group of texts, rather than another? There are five main ways of answering this question? Popularity (2000:12) The emphasis might be on the phenomenon of mass audience pleasure and on understanding and legitimating the enjoyment people derive from these texts or in contrast, the aim of the analysis might be to reveal how audiences are manipulated and deluded by stereotypical or reactionary material Exemplification is an obvious ground for worthiness of study, especially when the aim is to illustrate an aspect of theory, such as genre or representation. Notoriety (2000:12)– is an interesting and useful reason for studying a text that can offer a way in to thinking about social, political and cultural contexts.Texts which are interesting to study in their own right, but whose notoriety reveals much about their conditions of production or consumption, include banned or controversial television documentaries etc ‘Such ‘case s tudies' form the starting point or central exemplar which can illuminate aspects of the media we don't normally think about or see. Turning points and groundbreaking texts could be included in the previous category, but texts can be significant without being notorious, especially in retrospect. Aesthetic value (2000:12-13) s a criterion that many media teachers would deny using as a way of selecting or judging texts. 2000:13 What is it all for? ‘It is also obvious that the media industries themselves are hard to get into and rely increasingly on freelancers, ‘2000:14: that a knowledge of history, politics, economics, accountancy, law – you name it – would be equally useful as a basis for working, as, say, a journalist or editor It is increasingly likely that, whatever job you do or whatever your domestic circumstances, there will be more opportunities for you to engage with the media, and not just as a consumer.Indeed, the field of ‘alternative' and s ubversive media production may be the one that grows fastest over the next few years (who knows? How could you tell? ) as access to technology and circulation systems widens Inside or outside the corporate producers, the new voices will come from the people who are already literate in the new media What media studies can really do is open up your understanding of how things work, how people become informed – or misinformed – and how the myths and ideologies that govern all our lives are created and sustained. Reading 1. Media and Communications: Theoretical traditions 2002:23 The field of Australian media and communications theory and research is in a unique position. On one hand, it is highly derivative†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. this is partly due to general globalisation of ideas today, but also to Australia's past as a British colony and in more recent decades, to its dependence on the United States. On the other hand, in Australia we are able to observe and compare the influences and models emanating from the metropolitan centres of the Northern Hemisphere and to selectively combine and modify them in accordance with our own national reality and place in the world -.. dentify the origins of the major paradigms or schools of thought which have arisen in European and American theory and research as they apply to media and communications; to trace the formative influence they have had on particular styles of work in Australia; and to show how they have become transformed in the process of being adapted to our experience here EUROPE VERSUS AMERICA 2002:23 .. ‘European means heavily interpretive and holistic in scope – that is, taking a macro perspective, looking down on society as a whole. Its sociopolitical stance is critical of society as it exists, and most often specifically Marxist.In its methods, it is deductive in that it applies general principles to the analysis of particular cases By contrast, the American approach is strongly empirical and micro in its scope – at its extreme, its form of knowledge relies on the direction observation of distinct phenomena, preferably controlled and measurable occurrences, like in a laboratory experiment. Its sociopolitical stance is said to be liberal or pluralistic – in other words, it is not aligned with any sector of society which has an interest in changing the world, but in that sense, it is really more conservative 002:24: However ideas do not belong to geographical territories and it is important to appreciate that, even if critical theory has traditionally been weak in the United States, Europe in fact has not only produced the characteristic critical and interpretive schools of thought, but also has a strong tradition of ‘positivism', which is much more aligned with ‘American' empiricism and functionalism (Giddens 1974). Positivism is basically the idea that the methods of natural science can and should be applied to understand and contr ol society and culture, which includes the media.Western Marxism and Ideological Critique 2002:24 In order to understand contemporary media studies, it is crucial to understand the significance of the Frankfurt School and its tradition A critique of the rise of the mass media (mainly the new media of cinema and radio in those days) which has defined one important direction for Marxist criticism ever since 2002:25 This is the ideological critique of the media Reading 1. 3 Self and Experience in a Mediated World Reading 1. 4 New Media and Technological Development A Beginner's Guide to Textual Analysis

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Corporate financial management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Corporate financial management - Essay Example n.d.). Lloyds has strengths as well as products, which are from both the companies that include Lloyds TSB’s approach towards risk and HBOS’s leading bancassurance businesses. The company’s multiple brands provide service to the customers regarding pricing as well as positioning in order to cover and attract more of the market. The two main brands of the company in England are Lloyds TSB as well as Halifax while in Scotland the company’s main brand is Bank of Scotland. The company tries to keep its cost down and improve its services to customers as the company can deliver effectiveness through shared services (Lloyds Banking Group, n.d.). Investigation on Rights Issue of Lloyds Banking Group There are several means of raising capital in an organisation. One such means applied by Lloyds Banking Group has been right issue. The company sold its new shares at discount. It was found that the existing shareholders of the company were offered new shares in ratio to their holdings. The left out shares that were not sold were bought by other investors as well as investment banks underwriting the process that has promised to swab up the unwanted shares in order to ensure that Lloyds gets its money. The reason behind Lloyds raising the fund has been that the bank wanted to evade from being involved in the Government’s toxic Assets Protection Scheme (APS). The bank had 43pc owned by their taxpayers. Originally, in order to insure ?260 billion in loans from the scheme, Lloyds Was expected to pay ?15.6 billion and thus increasing the taxpayer stake to 62pc. Royal Bank of Scotland that took part in the APS ended up being 84pc which were owned by the Government after putting its risky loans for insurance. However, Lloyds has to pay the Government a fee of ?2.5 billion in response for the protection that was by now offered by the taxpayers since the declaration of the scheme in 2009 (Telegraph, 2009) ‘The offer on the table for the share holders’ was that Lloyds, for every current share owned offered 1.34 new shares at a deep discount of around 37p each. The most important consideration has been the cost associated to the average shareholders. The typical investors who owned 740 shares were provided the opportunity to retain their stake in the company by buying around 991 new shares at a price of ?366.67 (Telegraph, 2009). It can be analysed that the fees that Lloyds had to pay was huge. The company planned to spend ?500m on all its cost out of the ?13.5billion raised by them (Daily Mail Reporter, 2009). It was further proposed that if the shareholders of Lloyds don’t do not take any measure at all then Lloyds is going to sell the shareholders allocation of shares on its behalf and send them the profit by cheque (MoneyHighStreet Staff, 2009). For the 2.8 million private shareholders the average holding was 740 shares, which denotes that if they assume their rights in full, they would have had to pay al most ?370. Small investors were involved in right issue of Lloyds. Some were the institutions such as pension funds and investment firms along with the taxpayers. However, for those investors who didn’t take up the offer had to receive a cheque from the bank for the sale of their nil-paid rights. Moreover, the underwriters had guaranteed to buy the shares that was not subscribed for by

Friday, September 27, 2019

Strengths of the welfare system Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Strengths of the welfare system - Essay Example In 1996, the welfare system was improved so that it can provide justifiable benefits to people with need (Welfare Information,† US Welfare System - Help for US Citizens†). The welfare system of America comprises several public programs, which intends to provide support to the people. For example, one important program of American welfare system is food stamps program, which assists poor people in purchasing grocery products. There is also unemployment benefits program that provide support to the employees who lost their occupations. The Medicaid program of American welfare system delivers inexpensive healthcare services to the low-income group people, thus assist the poor individuals to maintain healthy lifestyle. The child welfare program helps to prevent child abuse and encourage care for children who need assistance such as to live in foster homes or to arrange for reunification and adoption among others (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, â€Å"How the Child Welfare System Works†). The key strength of welfare system in America is that it provides assistance to people with need and thereby fights against poverty. It provide financ ial support with respect to domiciliary expenditures, food, clothing requirements and lodging, until the particular individual gain the ability to earn and to live. Historically, there was much concern in America regarding unequal treatment particularly for African ancestry. While providing support, families of African ancestry was likely to be abused and neglected. For example, it can be observed that African children are likely to be removed from foster homes on the basis class and they also experienced poverty, poor lodging and low level of access to health insurance. As an outcome, it eventually resulted in criminal behavior among black people. The rise of welfare system in America contributed greatly to the wellbeing of African ancestry in order to maintain a

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions Literature review

Life Cycle Assessment of Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Literature review Example This increase in demand will lead to construction of new power plants; this means that more greenhouse gas will be released into environment; and the environment will continue to be affected by the greenhouse emissions. Generally, there exists a number of ways in which electric energy (electricity) is produced; and each method of production has benefits and disadvantages in relation to operation cost, and impact on the environment, among other factors. For example, the major sources of electric energy include: nuclear energy, coal, natural gas, hydroelectric, oil, biomass, solar and wind among others. Therefore, there is a great need that the future power plants are built such that greenhouse emissions are kept as minimum as possible, and environmental impact is minimized. In this regard, this research paper has carried out a life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from four natural gas and biomass power plants in United Kingdom. The plants investigated in this research inc lude: Elean, Knapton, Sleaford and Sutton Bridge power plants. These power plants source electricity from natural gas, oil, and/or biomass among others. Table of Contents 1.INTRODUCTION 5 1.1 Aims 6 1.2 Problem statement 6 2.LITERATURE REVIEW 7 2.1 Understanding Lifecycle assessment 7 2.2 Lifecycle assessment of the various energy sources 8 2.2.1 Fossil Fuel 8 2.2.2 Lignite 8 2.2.3 Coal 8 2.2.4 Oil 9 2.2.5 Biomass 9 3.METHODOLOGY 9 4.ELEAN POWER PLANT 10 4.1 Power plant’s Brief preview 10 4.2 Characteristics of straw used on the power (the major source of fuel) 10 4.3 Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from Elean Power Plant 12 4.3.1 The source of Straw used in Elean Power Plant 12 4.3.2 Transportation of straw to the power plant 12 4.3.3 Calculation of greenhouse emissions as a result of combusion of diesel 18 4.4 Emission with carbon capture 33 4.5 MASS BALANCE FOR ELEAN POWER PLANT 34 4.6 ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF ELEAN POWER PLANT 37 5.SLEAFORD RENEWABLE ENERGY PLANT 39 5.1 Preview of sleaford power plant 39 5.2 Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from Sleaford Renewable Energy 41 5.3 Calculation of greenhouse emissions as a result of combusion of diesel 44 5.4 Emission with carbon capture 56 5.5 Mass Balance 56 5.6 ECONOMIC ANALYSIS FOR SLEAFORD RENEWABLE ENERGY 59 6SUTTON BRIDGE POWER STATION 60 6.1 Brief Preview of the power plant 60 6.2 Life cycle assessment of greenhouse gas emissions from Sutton Bridge Power Plant 61 6.3 Emission with carbon capture 67 Elean power plant is considered one of the major Biomass fired power stations in the world; in fact, according to Farming and Countryside Education (2013), it is the largest power plant in the world that is powered by straw. In addition, it is normally considered the first straw fired power plant in the United Kingdom. It is located in Cambridgeshire at Sutton area near Ely, and it was constructed in the period between 1998 and 2000 (that is, construction of the power pla nt begun in 1998, and was completed in 2000) (Farming and Countryside Education, 2013). It is estimated that the power plant consumes approximately 200000 tonnes of straw every year, and that it generates electric power that is enough to serve about 800000 homes (Galbraith, et al., 2006). Or according to   Farming and Countryside Education (2013), it produces electric power that is enough to power two towns whose sizes can be compared to that of Cambridge.   Elean power plant has two barns which are 18 meters high, and are used to house straw (fuel for the production of electricty); these barns are located on the either side the plants 25 meter high boiler   (Centre for Climate and Energy Solutions, 2012). In order that the plant fits perfectly into unfavourable surrounding landscape, it was constructed approximately 8 meters into the ground surface   (Brem, 2005).

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Parents Role in Our Life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Parents Role in Our Life - Essay Example It is on the basis of these points of view that early American kindergartens normally involved parents in nursery activities including participation in clubs inside the school. (Grolier Encyclopedia of Knowledge [1999] [Vol.15 p.202], United States of America; Grolier, Inc.) In the literary memoir "In this Boy's Life", the arguments that support parental persuasions in the upbringing of a child are clearly evident. The son (Toby who later on became Jack) is bitter because the mother is bitter. There is hatred in the heart of the young because there is hatred in the heart of the old. And as far as concerning the father who left the home, the abandonment had created a strong rebellion inside the forsaken son. This went to the extent of a change of name to forget the runaway parent. Going back to the mother who resorted to finding some luck in quick solutions to get rich possibly in retaliation to what her estranged husband did, the son was there overly eager to help the isolated and lonely mama. This is validated by the child's account of his fondness toward the mother when he recalled that "for the rest of the day, she kept looking over at me, touching me, brushing back my hair" (Wolff 4) and of his sharing in her dreams when he observed that he "was caught up in my mother's freedom, her delight in her freedom, her dreams of transformation" (Wolff 5). Another man later came into the life of Jack's mother. But while the stepfather gave some comfort and company to the duo, the young boy was not totally convinced to believe in the offered help of the stranger. The journey about the mother and son hopping from place to place also demonstrated the negative effects of the unstable pursuits. We later see the son himself without firm convictions and controlled personal dispositions. In his juvenile years, he pretended to be obedient but he was not. He pretended to be a fine gentleman yet he was rough. His attempts were shown by the multi-paged letters which he sent to a pen friend. The number of pages only meant how much he yearned to prove to the world that he was not what he actually was. He pretended to be a rich fellow or tried to be so. When he did this, he was just actually following into the footsteps of his poor mother who tried to do all the best she could, bad or good, to give herself and her son a certain level of success. Unfortunately, everything was in vain. In sum, children become what they are on the foundations that were inculcated into their minds during the early stages of life. At this period, whatever observations impressed on the youth will leave lasting marks. Toby or Jack in the story, for example, was told by his mother of tales of fame and wealth in her own childhood. As he grew, the son became obsessed by the imagination of affluence or the ambition to gain fortune, no matter how to. The imprint on the youthful mind almost always comes from the parents. This is logically so because of the physical association that starts from birth. Except in unusual cases like adoption, the bonding of parent and child is solidly built and developed in the passing of time. In the case of Jack, he stayed on with his mother, although this did not appear to be his own choice. Their day-to-day encounters were thus inevitably present, in sad or happy moments and under great challenges or

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

An Insight into Berger's Analysis of Holbein's Ambassadors Essay

An Insight into Berger's Analysis of Holbein's Ambassadors - Essay Example He feels that the spectators should understand the difference between the art and the viewers that helps them to distinguish between reality and illusion. However, his understanding has given more meaning to the art. Thesis: Art is a form of representation of current life style. It means reflecting all the social aspects from social to political, is what Berger’s analyses. As far as Holbein’s Ambassadors is concerned, Berger is straight forward in clearly illuminating the notion of slave trade, colonialism and sexual domination. His observation also shows that he is not behind illusion. He clearly illustrates the truth of art that carries just the illusion. But the same art gives more implications apart from being a form of painting. Berger’s initial step in analysing begins with a hint about the oil painting tradition of the Renaissance. He then points out how the trend of art that took different meaning under the power of modern advertising and wealth of the ru ling class. Berger is keen in focusing on the individualism or male dominance, class bias, etc. He makes a remark that any work of art of any era tends to reflect the expectations and demands of the ruling class. Art history confuses the meaning of an art work then reveals its real politics. Due to this opinion he refers to the texture, flooring, clothing, objects as part of the wealthy and capitalistic class and their interest. At this point it appears true that the art of Ambassadors does not show any emphasis on the other common people, expect the skull that has been presented in an abnormal fashion. Berger would like to interpret the skull image as highly mystical. Mystical might also refer to the slave trade during that period. When content appears less important, the techniques used in the art justifies the commercial aspect, for example the texture of the cloth, instruments and books used by the Ambassadors etc. This quality isolates the work from other oil painting art. Diff icult explanation of surfaces and fabric in the painting focusing on the wealth is an indication of the demands made for the artist. So, the artist had to concentrate on the status of the men portrayed rather than pertaining to art. Aydemir supports this aspect by referring to the cool position of the men in the art as â€Å"a specific modality of the self-display of masculinity, of appearing as recognizably masculine without too hard, without the effort tainting the projected image† [p-60] When we look at the Ambassadors from the viewpoint of what it conveys about society, such as the look of men or what their eyes conveys, the relationship between them and the things surrounded by them will make a different impact to the readers. In such a condition, the inspiration to touch and feel will not dominate. Berger’s interpretation on the relation between the men and the rest of the world, says that they focus on something of which they are not interested. The objects betw een them were intended to explain their position in the world. When years pass by the tradition transforms to different standards. So our interpretation also changes according to the contemporary knowledge. This point too appears to be acceptable though the artistic features have not been interpreted here. Berger seems to consider the appreciation of art only as a transmission of emotion. The emotion is then provoked by the image from the perspective of past experience. Hence artistic appreciation is limited in his analysis. The pictures

Monday, September 23, 2019

Critical review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical review - Essay Example In the final outcome of the research, they incorporated â€Å"rich perspectives gained from the teacher-researchers and theoretical frameworks associated with resistance, habits and learning to teach by co-teaching. The paper advocates co-teaching as an essential component of teacher education programs.† (Tobin, Seiler, and Smith, 1992, 69). Therefore, the study by Tobin, Seiler, and Smith highlights the several critical dilemmas that face teacher education programs in urban settings and others that are fairly more all-encompassing. This paper undertakes a critical review of the theoretical and methodological features of the study and main findings and conclusions in order to determine the various strengths and limitations of the study. In a reflective exploration of â€Å"Educating Science Teachers for Socio-Cultural Diversity of Urban Schools†, it becomes lucid that the researchers undertake an important area of study with regard to socio-cultural diversity in teaching environment. Significantly, the study attempts to bring out the conflict between theory and practice for the use of student teachers who learn to teach in urban schools. Based on the field experiences in a variety of urban placements, they come up with their practical conclusions about the aspects that can best contribute to an effective teaching program in these schools. All through their study, they make the case for an approach to science teacher education, essentially based field studies and they provide some insights into the challenges of learning to teach science in urban schools as well as some suggestions for change. They also provide theoretical framework with regard to teaching as experience or practice. â€Å"One way to characte rize the problems we experienced with the methods course this semester is that so much of it involved talk and words, albeit in a context of ongoing daily student teaching experiences. This is one

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Incident in Indian history Essay Example for Free

Incident in Indian history Essay There is a very famous incident in Indian history which serves as lesson for all rulers for all the times, some rulers take positive cues from it, mend their ways, treat themselves as servants of public and keep public interest above theirs while others who are drunk with power and arrogant in behavior, refuse to learn anything, become another example in long list of individuals whose name pops up when there is a talk about how common masses dislodged the ruling class from the throne. The incident is about a corrupt ruler’s abuse and insult of a honest, patriotic and intelligent Sanyasi. The Sanyasi takes a vow to uproot the mighty corrupt ruler and after few years gets success in his mission. The Sanyasi had honesty, integrity, patriotism few good followers as his asset and we still know that period of Indian history as golden period. You might have got the idea till now, the mighty corrupt ruler was Dhananand and the Sanyasi was Shri Vishnugupt, whom we know as Chankya. Chankya’s worthy student Chandragupta, after he conquers Magadh, also frees the motherland from clutches of foreigners. This incident came to my mind when I saw how, one year ago, the corrupt members of a particular party heaped insult after insult on a patriotic Sanyasi, who was just demanding the return of our ill-gotten money from foreign land and end of corruption in India. The corrupts were sp afraid of saffron cloths of the Sanyasi that they had to arrest him in night at 2 am, that too after talking to him and giving him assurance that they will act on his demands. But the Sanyasi wanted a concrete action from the corrupt thugs and was hoping against the hope that they will issue an ordinance on declaring the black money as national asset and those who have stashed away that money would be declared as criminals and given very hard punishment. He wanted the corrupt thugs to issue the ordinance as he has seen how they have been fooling the Anna Hazare and his team on JanLokpal bill. It’s for all of you to see how the government hasn’t passed the bill toll today, even after promising the moon. If the corrupts wanted it, they could have done that but this would have given them so much trouble because many times its they and their close ones who have stashed the black money abroad and involved in all corruption scandals. You can’t expect a thief to pass a law for his own punishment. The corrupt ruling class had to act against their loved ones after such law is passed and Indian public too, which has become aware about all the wrong doings and its effect on them, would pressurize them to act. The Supreme Court which is now acting as very much independent agency, as envisioned in constitution of India, would have got the corrupt thugs in more trouble. All these 65 years the corrupt people of political class, specially the party which ruled us the most, have looted this nation systematically. It’s them and their close one who has billions of dollars stashed away in foreign banks. This is making them so nervous that they won’t allow this to happen otherwise their queen bee will be exposed too and public in this information age would be able to see how systematically this Gandhi Nehru clan and its cronies have looted our nation. That’s why the ruling class started bribing the whole nation through easy money making mass bribing schemes such a farmer loan waiver scheme or the bigger scandal in form of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guaranty Scheme. These mass bribery schemes have helped the corrupts to win elections but have given a big financial burden on tax payers like me and our economic progress is slowing down because of such nonproductive schemes. The ruling class knows that Indians suffer from short term memory loss. They know that Indians would just forget what these corrupt thugs have been doing now and as central elections are 2 years away, they can make fool of Indians again and through some mass bribery scheme, fanning communal violence and minority appeasement they can dream of coming to power again. These corrupt thugs don’t have long term wellbeing of India in mind and are just focused on short term gain of winning elections by hook or crook and punishing the patriots of this land to appease certain section of minorities, hiding the orruption and ego massaging of certain individuals. They tried it all in recent UP elections but it’s for the world to see how the Prince charming whole extended Gandhi clan along with great sadist Digvijay Singh failed miserably to keep even the assembly constituencies of Raibareli Amethi with grand old corrupt party. I just can’t believe that the Congress Party once had Sardar Patel and Subhash Chndra Bose as its members. Their souls must be suffering with pain and thinking that why at all they wanted freedom from British? If you don’t even have right to sit on peaceful protest and the administration can still beat up the hungry and thirsty sleeping children, women and elderly men, in middle of night than what kind of freedom and democracy is this? Don’t you think that the incident which happened with Baba Ramdev his supporters a year ago brings sad memory of Jaliawala bagh back to your mind? The situation was same, all people were doing just peaceful protest and General Dyre, a foreigner, ordered his Indian policemen to fire and kill people. The Indian policemen in his command didn’t even hesitate to kill their own peaceful countrymen and this time you have Italian, a foreigner, ordering the same thing on sleeping innocent countrymen in middle of night. The cunning politician who calls Osama Bin Laden as Osama Ji, visits the home of terrorists and cast doubts on security forces of India has guts to call a patriotic Sanyasi as thug and we all just listen, smile and look away as if it’s not your or mine problem. What kind of people we have become? Just imagine if these corrupt thugs can do such lowly acts with such an extraordinary individual as Baba Ramdev, what they could do to us or what they have been doing with this nation all these years? I don’t have any hesitation in saying that Congress party is root of all evils of India as they ruled India the most. They had golden chance of shaping India’s destiny at independence but Nehru was too westernize to think for Indian way solution. So we still have many laws which are prevalent from 1890s too, its hard to believe but its truth. If, in front of our eyes and in this information age they have been able to do scams of such a greater magnitude as Coalgte, 2G spectrum scam, Adarsh Society Scam, Food grain scam, insulting a honest patriotic army chief and many more such things, than just think what they have been doing in past? Infact the corruption started in 1947 itself by doing Geep scandal. I feel sometimes that this party is just meant for looting and siphoning away India’s wealth like the way British did for 200 years. The Nehru Gandhi Clan and many congressmen, by being close to Britishers, knew and perfected the art of divide rule and siphoning money and stashing away in foreign lands. Its because of people like these the tolerant Hindus are becoming violent in their thoughts and trying to avenge the humiliation of Bharat Mata and fellow Hindus. I think they are still thinking that young educated mass in India don’t matter as we don’t go for voting and are just arm chair or cyber activists. I know there is some truth in it and may be they may again get away with it. But I know one thing for sure that all these agitations by likes of Anna Hazare Baba Ramdev are atleast making people aware of what kind of corrupt people are ruling us. In long run this awareness will help in making India a better democracy. I urge all nationalistic like-minded Indians to start speaking and telling truth whenever wherever they get chance. We need to awaken the mass. I try to do it whenever I am in any public place such as trains, buses, local transports, in social gatherings, office talks with colleagues. I prefer travelling in sleeper class of train many times so that I get the chance to meet more and more people and make them understand the challenges in front of the nation. I make sure that everybody understands the point of view and urge them to vote in every election. I take their pledge that they will vote in all elections. It doesnt matter whom they vote for but they should vote as it’s the only way we can play part in building India. This is the war of Kurukshetra, you can’t remain neutral in this war, and you have to pick a side. By being neutral I mean that not voting and going on for picnic on voting day is not an option anymore. You will get the government that you deserve and I don’t think we deserve to be ruled by the current bunch of corrupts whose name is there in different big corruption scandals. If the educated middle class doesn’t rise to the occasion than again the next government will be decided by the people for whom the caste religion and free food or money for one day is enough for making voting choices. In recent elections you might have seen how they seized liquor money from candidates which was meant for distribution among voters. The poor illiterate village masses have been shackled so long in barriers of castes, religion, food money that they many times miss the bigger picture. So until the educated middle class who are affected by everyday corruption doesn’t take pledge to do the voting seriously, I don’t see much chance of improving the situation in India. I know we all common Indians are not like sun which can remove the darkness in one go but we are like small diyas which when placed together, have the best chance of outshining the sun. I urge all like-minded Indians to step up their protests wherever they can. It may be through blogs, through open talks, at hotels where you go for lunch or dinner, at parks, students can do it in their campus, if electronic print media isn’t doing its work and many times acting as B team of this corrupt rule than we have to play our part in saving this nations soul. If we don’t register our protest, the corrupt ruling class will feel that we don’t care about our nation and just busy with earning our money and living our life casually. its upto us now, we have to show them through our deeds that we are still awake and won’t tolerate the looting of common wealth anymore. They had played with pride of a Sanyasi who doesn’t want anything for himself. He has enough fame through his good deeds. He has enough resources to sustain himself for life long. He is not having any immediate family which is getting benefitted out of his fame. He is a patriotic Sanyasi like Chankya and the foreigner controlled ruling class should know what happened after a corrupt thug insulted and humiliated an honest and patriotic Sanyasi. Although I don’t agree with some of the points which Baba Ramdev is insisting on such a removal of big currency notes and having all education in Hindi other regional languages or bringing Dalit Christians Muslims under reservation. But his other issues are worthy causes for which we have to raise our collective voice. The ruling class is playing with a simple honest individual like Anna Hazare, who is asking nothing for himself and making a fool of him every day by one lie or another. They had played with pride of an honest army General and maligned his character by all possible means. On other hand the likes of Rajas, Chidambaram, Dayanidhi Maran, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sharad Pawar are having time of their life and they are busy in inventing new ways of looting the public money. If we want this to be stopped than I urge you to play your part in making of this nation. It would be really late if we keep silence and allow the corrupt to play their dirty games. I think Baba Ramdev has chosen 3rd June for starting his protest as because its an historical date on which Nehru, Mountbatten Jinnah agreed to divide India on religious lines. The time has come again to fight for the cause of India and keep it united by chants of Vande Mataram. I sincerely believe that we Indians deserve much better government so that our future generations can live with pride in developed India.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Favourite Movie Essay Example for Free

Favourite Movie Essay My favourite movie is 3 idiot. 3 Idiots is adapted from a Chetan Bhagat’s novel. It is not just a story of 3 engineering students. The movie also presents the struggles of life that people have to face in their lives. The movie portrays how the human struggle for existence begins with the birth of a child. The child opens his eyes in the world to see the expectations floating in the eyes of his parents who want their children to become Engineer, Doctor, IAS, or some other officer, and glorify their family name. The movie effectively highlights the problem of parents pushing their children to choose what they don’t like and make them forget or ignore their hobbies that could have become a great profession for them. This happens overhere with Farhan who wanted to be a wildlife photographer. He could never do well in engineering but once he took up his hobby as profession he never looked back and established new milestones of success. On the other hand, Raju represents the class of children who under the burden of expectations of their parents start to fear failure. This ultimately kills their confidence and leads to their failure. This fear of failure sometimes forces them to take extreme steps as it happens with Raju who tries to commit suicide. But once he gains back his confidence he starts to taste success in whatever he endeavors. The film also depicts that life at engineering colleges is not fun; they have to deal with some serious problems including struggle to get good grades, ragging and mental pressure that forces a student to commit suicide. So I learnt a lot of things from this movie and the most motivating dialogue of this movie told by Rancho â€Å"Don’t run after success, be capable and success will come running after you† motivated me a lot in my life. Last of all I want to say that individual performances, screenplay, direction, editing to cinematography, especially melodious songs gave a perfection to this movie and made this movie, my favourite movie.

Friday, September 20, 2019

Water And Wastewater Analysis Focusing On Formaldehyde Environmental Sciences Essay

Water And Wastewater Analysis Focusing On Formaldehyde Environmental Sciences Essay Formaldehyde (FA) has been widely used in wood, paper and textile industries as well as in the production of a number of chemicals and for the preservation of biological material. It also present in almost all common foods and its estimated that adult dietary intake is 11 mg/day. Occasionally, it is used as a disinfectant to disinfect water filters. (ADWG, 2004) FA can be toxic allergenic and carcinogenic to human beings (Lyon, 2006). Several epidemiological studies of occupational exposure to formaldehyde have indicated an increased risk of nasopharyngeal cancers, leukemia and eye irritations (OSHA, 2008). The International Agency for Research on Cancer has concluded that FA is probably carcinogenic to humans (IARC 1987). FA may be present in water through industrial effluents, ozonation of naturally occurring humic materials, contamination by accidental spills and overflows as well as deposition from the atmosphere (ADWG, 2004). A study showed that the FA concentrations in rainwater are expected to be up to three orders of magnitude higher than in surface water, which indicated that atmospheric deposition is a significant source of FA in aquatic systems (Kieber et al., 1999). Generally, the concentration of formaldehyde in water is very low which has a low environmental risk to human and organisms. However, when accidental spills or overflows happened, chemical analyses and monitoring programs are needed. 1.1 Formaldehyde in drinking water FA enters in drinking-water mainly from the oxidation of natural organic matters such as humic materials during ozonation (Glaze et al., 1989) and chlorination (Becher et al., 1992). Leaching from polyacetal plastic fittings in which the protective coating has been broken can sometimes be one of the resources of FA in drinking-water (IPCS, 2002). According to Australian guideline value, the concentration of formaldehyde in drinking water should not exceed 0.5 mg/L (ADWG, 2004). 1.2 Formaldehyde in wastewater FA has been used in many industrial activities as a key chemical. In organic synthesis industry, the synthesis of special chemicals such as pentaerythritol and ethylene glycol used FA as one of the agents. In addition, FA is essential in production of resins, textiles, paper products, medicinal products and drugs (Khiaria et al., 2002). Therefore, effluents arising from these industrial applications may contain significant amounts of FA which is needed to be determined and treated. 1.3 Chemical analysis of formaldehyde in water and wastewater Since the concentration of formaldehyde in water can be occasionally high which may be potential risk to human health, we should conduct some methods to measure the accurate concentration of it. The chemical analysis of formaldehyde can provide meaningful information on the quality of water therefore actions can be taken immediately to ensure that water suppliers provide consumers with water that is safe to use and meet the public recreational and aesthetic requirements if changes occurred. Advice on sample collection In sample collection, the sampling site, time and weather conditions are needed to be considered to obtain a volume of water which can be the representative of the water body. Before it is analyzed in laboratory, we should try to keep it in such a manner during store and transport processes, sometimes preservatives can be added in order to minimize any changes that may occur (Private Water Supplies website). The essential steps in sampling program are shown below (From unit 5, lecture notes). Problem Definition Formaldehyde Sampling Program Design Sample Preparation Chemical Analyses Field Sampling Reporting Data Analysis 2.1 Sample containers Formaldehyde belongs to volatile organic compound, therefore, its recommended to use 40mL brown glass vial or transparent glass vial with aluminum foil covered outside as the sample container to prevent it from releasing to air or deteriorating after exposing to light. The cap must have teflon-lined septum. The polypropylene screw caps should be used instead of typical phenolic resin caps due to the possibility of sample contamination from FA (US EPA 1998). In addition, when taking samples, we should use pre-cleaned bottles that are free from volatile organics (Standard operating procedures for water sampling methods and analysis, WA, 2009). 2.2 Sample collection Sample collection is very important in determining the safety of water, so its essential to ensure that the samples are representative, reliable and full validated. For complicated and unstable water quality such us wastewater effluent, sample collection should also cover the random and regular variations in water quality as well as the fixed conditions. 2.2.1 Types of Sampling The types of sampling include grab sampling, composite sampling, flow-related sampling, automatic sampling and continuous monitoring. Each method has its own characteristics and suitable for different water body and sampling purpose. For drinking water, we use grab sampling method. For grab sampling, all of the test material is collected at one time. So the grab sample can only reflect the water quality state at a particular site and time, and then only the sample was properly collected can it represent the water body we concerned (Norwalk Wastewater Equipment Company website). Grab sampling has some advantages. For example, some specific type of unstable parameters such as VOCs, chlorine residual and nitrites in water treatment plant can be effectively analyzed. Sometimes, grab sampling can also be conducted for pH, temperature and DO monitoring (NWEC website). For drinking water, the water was well mixed, stable and generally free of contamination. Therefore, grab samples can already be good representations of the water quality. In addition, this method is very common, easy and low capital cost. For wastewater, we use composite sampling method. Composite sampling is another sample collection technique which consists of many individual discrete samples that have been taken at regular intervals over a period of time. Therefore, the collected samples can reflect the average performance of water quality during the collection period (NWEC website). Wastewater treatment plants receive unfixed and variable amounts of sudden increased waste flows from industries and households during a day followed by intermittent periods of no flow (NWEC website). Analyzing a single grab sample of effluent at a fixed time and site can introduce some bias and cannot reflect the real varying flow patterns in effluent outlets. Therefore, composite sampling method is more plausible for evaluating the holistic performance and state of wastewater quality. 2.2.2 Sampling sites Drinking water sampling For drinking water sampling, we can either take a sample from a customers tap, or storage tank or some representative places. From a tap Choose a tap which is most frequently used. Any external fittings such as filters and contaminants such as grease and sediment build-up around the spout should be removed prior to testing. Since tap outlets are suspected to be contaminated, disinfection should be conducted by swabbing both outside and inside of the tap several minutes before sample collection. The disinfection reagent can be 0.1% sodium hypochlorite solution (Forensic and Scientific Services, Queensland Government 2008). To get a representative fresh water sample, the tap should be run for a while (about 2-3 minutes) to remove the stagnant water in the tube. From a storage tank For shallow depth (Small water supply tank), To get a representative sample of the source of supply, the sampling depth is recommended to be 0.5m. The bottle inside and the cap inside should not be touched. The neck should be plunged downwards into the water and then turned upwards until the water is overfilled and mouth is towards upside (FSS, QLD Government 2008) For deep depth (Large water supply dam), To get a representative sample, the water sample should be collected by using a suitable depth sampling device such as hosepipe, sampling rod or pump etc. Be careful not to disturb bottom sediment. Wastewater sampling For wastewater sampling, we should take the samples from outlets of wastewater treatment plant. Since we use composite sampling method for wastewater analysis, we should pour equal portions of freshly collected samples into the appropriate container. 2.2.3 Collection instructions According to surface water sampling methods and analysis technical appendices in Western Australia in 2009, the recommended collection techniques are listed as follows: The containers for holding samples should not be pre-rinsed. It is recommend that the bottles should be used to collect sample directly rather than decanting. However, in some cases, decanting samples from big collection vessels into sample vials are acceptable provided that all the containers are free of contamination. For example, sometimes a clean bucket with about 10L capacity or a large 1L breaker can be used to collect the surface sample and then transfer to the laboratory sample container. To minimize the exposure to air and light, samples should be overfilled containers and then the cap should be tightly sealed free of air bubbles and faced down to help prevent leakage. 2.2.4 Complete lab form and sample label After sample collection, we should complete the lab form which contains the sampling information such as water volume, sampling sites, etc and stick label on each sample container which recorded sampling location and time. 2.3 Preservation Filtration For wastewater samples, the filtration treatment should be conducted since some suspended particulates may block the testing instruments. Preservation Some experiments indicated that aldehydes are susceptible to microbiological decay. To inhibit microbial decomposition of organic compounds, it is recommended to add 0.1 ml of CHCl3 (Economou et al., 2002) or alternatively, 15 mg of copper sulfate pentahydrate in water samples (US EPA 1998). 2.4 Sample transportation and storage Transportation During transportation process, we should minimize the contamination and disturbance to water samples, conserve them in the dark and maintain in cool condition with a chilled insulated container and then return to the lab as quick as possible (Environmental health guide, WA, 2006). Storage Before the lab analysis, the samples are recommended to be refrigerated but not freezed at 1-4 °C in the dark. Available techniques for sample extraction 3.1 Available techniques Sample extraction is used to concentrate the analyte for its successful analysis by instruments. There are various methods for FA extraction. Each method has its own characteristics. The object is to choose an optimal technique to avoid excessive loss of the analyte and achieve desired performance. Soxhlet extraction and solvent extraction are traditionally common extraction techniques, particularly for organic compounds. However, since their limitations such as the need of a large volume of solvent, lack of thermal stability and volatility of some analytes and interference from contaminants in the extraction thimbles (Grob et al., 2004), they may not desirable for FA extraction. According to recent studies and researches, some extraction techniques have already achieved good results. They are listed as follows. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) SPE is a technique including two extraction steps. The first step is the non-equilibrium removal of the analytes from the liquid sample by retention on a sorbent. The second step is the solvent elution or thermally desorption of the selected analytes (Grob et al., 2004). One successful approach for determining formaldehyde in drinking water has been to use colorimetric-solid phase extraction with EmporeTM Anion Exchange-SR 47-mm extraction membranes as extraction cartridges and elution from the SPE cartridge by sodium hydroxide solvent (Hill et al., 2009). Another successful approach for formaldehyde analysis in water was by using poly (allylamine) beads for solid-phase extraction and eluting from the C18 cartridge by hydrochloric acid (HCl) solvent (Kiba et al., 1999). SPE is one of the most widely used techniques in FA analysis. Due to its high sensitivity and efficiency, it can determine the low FA concentrations down to 80 ppb by several minutes (Hill et al., 2009). However, one of the drawbacks of it was its e high packing and sorbent selection requirements which might be costly and time-consuming in stuff preparation. Another problem is SPE may have analyte loss during elution when analyte passing though tube. Ultrasonic extraction (USE) USE is a fast technique using ultrasound assisted method to assure good contact between sample and solvent (Grob et al., 2004). One of the researches has stated the successful use of USE in FA extraction. Formaldehyde was first extracted with water by ultrasound assisted, and directly introduced into a derivatization column which was packed with a moderately sulfonated cation-exchange resin. The resin was charged with 2, 4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) previously and used as solid support. The formaldehyde DNPH derivative was eluted by sodium dihydrogen phosphate in 50% ACN solvent (Chen et al., 2008). Compared with traditional techniques, this method was proved to be fast, accurate, sensitive and labour-saving. In addition, only small quantities of solvent and sample were required. Therefore, its a promising extraction method (Chen et al., 2008). However, the drawback of this method was its low recovery efficiency. For low concentrations of analytes in samples, multiple extractions are often required (Grob et al., 2004). Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) SFE is a fast and efficient technique. Analytes are more soluble in supercritical fluids (SFs), which are dense gases above their critical temperature and pressure, when they are in their liquid state. Therefore, the important properties such as the melting point and solubility of analytes in the SF are needed to be considered (Grob et al., 2004). A study has stated the SFE in FA analysis using CO2 as the extraction fluid, and the experiment was carried out at 13.8 MPa, 120 °C with 15 min of static extraction time, 15 min of dynamic extraction time and 80 ÃŽ ¼l of modifier (methanol). The DADHL derivative which was the product of the condensed FA with ammonia and acetylacetone can be detected by UV spectrometer (Reche et al., 2000). However, one of the drawbacks of SFE in FA analysis was the use of supercritical CO2 fluid. Since the low polarity of CO2 but the polarity of FA, the extraction was difficult and recoveries are poor. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) SPME is a good extraction method which can incorporate with GC or HPLC to get the high performance in sample analysis. It used a fiber coated with an extracting phase which can concentrate the analytes and then the fiber is transferred to the injection port of separating instruments and analytes are desorbed from the fiber and rapidly delivered to the column (Pawliszyn, 2009). One of the researches has stated the SPME experiment for FA analysis. Prior to use, the 75 ÃŽ ¼m Carboxen-Polydimethylsiloxane fiber was conditioned in the injection port of GC at 300 °C under helium flow for 1.5 h. Then the extraction was carried out at 80 °C for 30 min using the fiber with a medium stirring of sample. Next, the thermal desorption was reacted in a splitless mode at a temperature of 310 °C for 3 min (Bianchi et al., 2007). SPME technique has some advantages in FA. SPME is a simple, easily-conducted and solvent-free technique. The detection limits can reach parts per trillion which is really useful in FA analysis since the concentration of FA is water is very low. In addition, SPME is fast and low cost which can minimize sample holding times, reduce analyte loss and sample contamination (Trenholm et al., 2008). However, one of the problems is SPME may have analytes loss during extraction that nearly 1% of analytes goes on fiber (Leap technologies website). Stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) The theory of SBSE is similar to SPME which used a spinning glass-covered magnetic bar coated with a thick layer of polydimethylsiloxane to extract analytes, then thermal desorption can be carried out in the GC injection port (Grob et al., 2004). SBSE has been applied successfully to trace analysis especially VOCs and semi-volatile compounds in environmental, biomedical and food applications. The detection limits can be extremely low which are suitable for FA analysis in water (David et al., 2003). Theres limited information of FA analysis relating to SBSE technique, however, its still a promising method in the future. Newer techniques Newer techniques such as pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), subcritical water extraction (SWE) and microwave-assisted solvent extraction (MWE) are enhanced liquid extraction techniques. Compared with traditional soxhlet extraction and solvent extraction, these methods are less time-consuming, less solvent consumption and more efficient and can be exerted to low concentrations of analytes in samples. 3.2 Water and wastewater sample extraction For drinking water formaldehyde analysis, we can use solid-phase extraction (SPE) which is commonly used, easy-operated and available in laboratory. For wastewater formaldehyde analysis, we should remove particulates by filtration prior to extraction because particulate matter in the sample can interfere with the analysis such as absorbing some analytes of interest and causing low analytical recoveries. And then we can use SPE, USE, SPME or other advanced techniques for sample extraction. Current techniques for sample analysis Spectrophotometric methods The theory of spectrophotometer is to measure the intensity and amount of light which have been absorbed or reflected by the analytes as function of colour or wavelength (Skoog et al., 2007). 4.1.1 Reflectance spectrophotometer One of the studies has developed a method that successfully monitored the FA concentrations in water samples using purpald as the colorimetric reagent (Hill et al., 2009). Firstly, a colourless intermediate was formed by purpald reacting with FA in alkaline solution. And then an intensely purple tetrazine was formed due to the oxidization of intermediate. The purple tetrazine was served as the colorimetric product (Dickinson et al., 1974). After completing the colour reaction in the syringe, the 1mL sample is passed through an extraction disk. The amount of extracted analyte is then measured on-disk using a BYK-Gardner diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The reflectance data can be collected at 20nm intervals over the visible spectral range. After that, the BYK-Gardner QC-Link software in PC is used to calculate the Kubelka-Munk function F(R). Then the analyte was compared to a calibration plot of F(R) at 700nm which was the most effective analytical wavelength to determine the FA concentration (Hill et al., 2009). This method successfully analyzed the FA concentrations at the range of 0.08 to 20ppm using only 1mL samples and just costing several minutes. 4.1.2 UV/Visible spectrophotometer UV/Visible spectrophotometer can be used to measure the absorbance which is the difference of intensity of light before and after passing through a sample by an object as function of wavelength or color (Skoog et al., 2007). One of the studies for FA determination used Hantzsch Reaction for derivatives. The colourless solution became yellow colour gradually owing to the synthesis of DADHL which formed from the condensed formaldehyde and acetylacetone in the condition of excess of ammonium salt. Then UV/Vis detection was carried out with a UV-1603 Spectrophotometer (Reche et al., 2000). The maximum absorbance was approximately at 415nm which was used in analyzing FA concentration in sample and the standard solution (Shimadzu Application News). 4.1.3 Advantages and disadvantages The spectrophotometers are widely used in many laboratories and institutes. This method has advantages such as the lower instrument capital and operational cost and easy operation. However, the sensitivity and selectivity are lower than GC and HPLC method. For extremely low FA concentrations in water sample, this method is limited in application. 4.2 Chromatography methods For chromatography, since FA concentrations in water and wastewater are very low, it must be derivatized prior to analysis to ensure quantitative and qualitative detection. Nash reagent, dinitrophenylhydrazine and PFBHA reagent are typical agents which can have color reactions with FA. Then their derivatives can provide better sensitivity for UV, fluorescence or MS detection (Michels et al., 2001). 4.2.1 GC GC is widely used in FA analysis. According to many researches using GC for FA determination, the mobile phase is usually helium and the different stationary phases were covered on column. By measuring the different retention time of the analytes, FA concentrations can be calculated out. 1. GC/MS In FA analysis, different molecules in solution can be separated during the sample travel by GC and then the mass to charge ratio of ionized fragments of FA can be detected by MS (Robert et al., 2007). One of the researches used the pentafluorobenzyl hydroxylamine (PFBHA) reagent to form derivatives and then used a Varian CP-3800 GC system connected with a Varian 4000 ion trap MS system for detection. The injector was operated at 250 °C in split mode and separation was conducted on a 0.25ÃŽ ¼m DB5-MS capillary column. Electron impact ionization (EI) in full scan from 150 to 275m/z was used in MS analysis (Trenholm et al., 2008). Then the FA concentrations can be measured by recording mass to charge ratio. Another similar study also used PFBHA derivatization reagent and GC/ MS method (Bianchi et al., 2007). Advantages and disadvantages of GC/MS: Combining GC with MS can have better identification and separation of molecules than single GC since molecules behave different in GC and MS. For FA analysis, GC/MS is widely used due to its rapid operation, high precision and selectivity. Having considered its good performance and cost effectiveness, it is proposed to be an alternative of traditional methods (US EPA 1998). One of the drawbacks is GC/MS is less sensitive than HPLC in identification of the FA derivatives. Another problem is GC/MS is susceptible to interference. For wastewater sample, the compounds are often complex, therefore the interferences may lead to imprecise analysis. 2. GC/ECD US EPA offers another alternative method to measure FA.  The oxime derivatives were formed by adding pentafluorobenzyl hydroxylamine (PFBHA) reagent to FA solution at pH of 4. Then they are extracted from the water with 4mL hexane. After processing through an acidic wash step, the extracts are analyzed by GC with electron capture detection (GC/ECD). After comparing with the calibration standard, the analytes can be identified. Two chromatographic peaks have been observed for FA that both (E) and (Z) isomers are formed for FA carbonyl compounds (US EPA 1998). Comparison of GC/MS and GC/ECD: ECD offers better detection limits (

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Fast Cars and a Clean Environment Essay -- Environmental Ethics Ethica

Fast Cars and a Clean Environment Many people would love the idea of having the fastest car ever or just having a speedy and sleek sports car to drive around for that matter. The idea of being able to â€Å"flex† the power of your car every time the light turns green make people long for a high-speed car. Many automakers are making faster and faster or cars with more horsepower for this demand. For instance, BMW’s E36 (1996- 1999) M3 models peaked at an amazing 234 horsepower and 226 pounds per feet of torque, but this wasn’t enough for many BMW enthusiasts. So in 2001 BMW came out with its E46 M3 model that housed an astonishing 333 horsepower and 270 pounds per feet of torque engine, which is an increase of almost 100 horsepower from the previous E36 M3 models. This dealt with the demands for faster cars (1). There is a great price for living out this dream. The earth’s already depleting supply of fossil fuel and damage to the environment, such as the ozone layer, is being further injure d from the combustion engines of cars. With the combination of more and more people learning about the environmental problems caused by combustion engines and the raised prices for gas caused by the huge demand for oil, automakers are now working on environmentally safe cars that consume less gas. Then why isn’t everyone driving an environmentally safe car right now if they know that they are killing the environment as they drive? One of the main reasons that many people have no intentions of ever purchasing these cars is simply because of the fact that these cars are known to have almost twice as less horsepower as an average car and therefore accelerate almost twice as slow. Many car enthusiasts, who love to drive fast cars, will have no reason... ...s_47915.asp 4.Karim Nice, How Fuel Cells Work, howstuffworks.com, 10 Nov. 2003, http://science.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm 5. Karim Nice, How Rotary Engines Work, howstuffworks.com, 10 Nov, 2003, http://auto.howstuffworks.com/rotary-engine1.htm 6. Roger Schreffler, Japan Carmakers Show Fuel Cell, H2 I.C. Concepts, Prototypes at Tokyo Motor Show, 2003, The Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Letter, !7 Nov. 2003, http://www.hfcletter.com/letter/November03/ 7. California Clean Air Act Streamlining AB 3048 (Olberg), 2003,California Environmental Protection Agency, 17 Nov 2003, http://www.calepa.ca.gov/Legislation/1996/ab3048.htm 8. Clean Air--California's Successes and Future Challenges,2003,California Environmental Protection Agency, 17 Nov 2003, http://www.arb.ca.gov/ba/omb/50thfinal/tsld009.htm 9 . Dinan BMW, 10 Nov. 2003, http://dinancars.com/default.htm

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

A Philosophical View of Animal Rights :: Philosophy Animal Rights Equality Essays

A Philosophical View of Animal Rights Should animals be harmed to benefit mankind? This pressing question has been around for at least the past two centuries. During the early nineteenth century, animal experiments emerged as an important method of science and, in fact, marked the birth of experimental physiology and neuroscience as we currently know it. There were, however, guidelines that existed even back then which restricted the conditions of experimentation. These early rules protected the animals, in the sense that all procedures performed were done so with as little pain as possible and solely to investigate new truths. Adopting the animals? perspectives, they would probably not agree that these types of regulations were much protection, considering the unwanted pain that they felt first followed by what would ultimately be their death. But, this is exactly the ethical issue at hand. For the most part, animal rights are debated in regards to two issues: 1) whether animals have the ability to rationalize or g o through a logical thought process and 2) whether or not animals are able to experience pain. However, ?it will not do simply to cite differences between humans and animals in order to provide a rational basis for excluding animals from the scope of our moral deliberations? (Rollin 7). This, Bernard Rollin claims, would be silly. He says that to do this is comparable to a person with a full head of hair excluding all bald men from his moral deliberations simply because they are bald. The true ethical question involved is, ?do these differences serve to justify a moral difference (Rollin 7). Also, which differences between humans and non-humans are significant enough to be considered in determining the non-human?s fate? Over the years, many differences have been proposed. Some theorize that rights depend upon the ability to possess interest, which in turn depend upon the ability to form verbal formulations, for example. If this were so, then it would rule out the possibility of rights for most animals, with maybe the exception of some primates. But, as Rodd states, ?beings incapable of possessing genuine rights might possess moral status in virtue of other qualities, such as the capacity for suffering? (Rodd 4). So, it is easily seen how many views have accumulated over time. The task of determining animal rights has also come into the context of examining these inherent differences on qualitative and quantitative levels.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Writing Application Letters

Application Letter There are some mistakes and ambiguous expressions in the following application letter for a job as a salesperson. Rewrite it after making the corrections or amendment to it. |Human Resources Department | |Avon Products (Guangzhou) Ltd. | |3? f 420, E. Huanshi Road | |Guangzhou 510075 | | | |July 3, 2009-9-26 | |Dear Sir or Madam: | | | |Noticing the enclosed advertisement in today’s Yangcheng Evening Newspaper, I wish to apply a part-time job as a salesgirl for| |the direct selling of your beauty products. | | | |I am a junior student at Guangdong College of Commerce. My major is Marketing. I studied Marketing, Marketing Techniques, | |Psychology of Consumption, Psychology of Women, Business Law, Labor Law, Business Ethics, Communications, Public Relations, | |etc. | | |I have some experience in marketing in the last two years. During the summer vacation and winter vacation of 2008, I once | |stayed at the Beauty Products Counter in the Taibai Department Store as a salesgirl. Last year I worked as a part-time | |salesgirl on Sundays for Procter and Gamble (Guangzhou) Ltd. I come from house to house to sell Rejoice 2-in-1, and Head and | |Shoulders shampoos. | | | |I think my education and some experience in marketing w ill let me to offer services for your sales promotion. If you give me a| |trial, I would do my best to give you every satisfaction. I will await for your answer. | | |Sincerely yours, | | | |Kay Jin | Writing task Option #1: You have seen the following recruiting advertisement in the local press and would like to apply for the position. Read the advertisement carefully and write a letter of application within 100-120 words, giving details of previous experiences, salary, etc. |Welcome to Our Team – Top Salary | | | |ASSISTANT SALES MANAGER wanted by an international company manufacturing textile piece goods. The applicant must have had | |adequate experience in the sales division of a large company and be willing to accept responsibility. | Option #2: You write an application letter to apply for a position that you may be interested in doing after graduation. Use your own educational background and work experience. What is an application letter? It is normal to send a cover letter (letter of application) with your resume even if you are also sending a complete application form. There may be occasions when you want to send a letter of application, with which you enclose a resume. Tips for writing winning application letters ? Write the letter to a specific person – the person you think is the one who would hire you. Take the trouble to find out the name of the person who is in the likeliest position to hire you. You can always call the receptionist and ask for the company’s mailing address and then ask the name of the specific person you’re looking for. Asking for an address makes it more likely that you’ll get the information you want rather than asking only for the name of a person with a specific title. ? Do your research. The more â€Å"general† your cover letter, the less successful it is likely to be. You want to demonstrate that you know something about the reader’s company, something that you had to do some research to find out. Customizing your letter to a particular company is impressive and makes you stand out from the pack of the job seekers. Tell the reader what you can do for the company, not what you want the company to do for you. Begin by stating some specific way in which you can help the company or department accomplish a particular goal, pre ferably giving an outstanding example of a related accomplishment. E. g. â€Å"Having had direct responsibility for three successful mergers in the energy industry, I am an ideal candidate to assist you with making a smooth transition I your recent merger with Company X†. ? Be specific about the job you are seeking. Hirers do not want to serve as your employment counselor, they want you to have already done your homework and figured out exactly what job you want. The â€Å"I can fulfill so many roles, just put me where I’m needed most† approach will get your letter filed in the wastebasket. ? Quantify your accomplishments. After your initial attention-grabbing statement of how you can help the company and stating your greatest related accomplishment, list four or five additional accomplishments – bulleted and quantified. ? Mention only accomplishments that directly relate to the job you want to get. ? Keep it brief, succinct and simple. Your cover letter should be short and to the point. Rarely should it be longer than one page. Remember, you are trying to capture the reader’s interest in knowing more about you. Telling your life story is boring. ? Make it easy on the eyes. When you’ve finished writing your letter, print it up and take a â€Å"big picture† look at it. Is it visually appealing? Is there plenty of white space (using bullets increases the white space)? Is it filled with complicated sentences and jammed to the margins? Does it look like a letter you would want to read? ? Close with an invitation for the reader to act. Tell the reader you would like to talk or meet and include these words: â€Å"Please give me a call at such-and-such a phone number. † Don’t say â€Å"I’ll give you a call in a few days to follow up and see if you’re interested in meeting†.

Monday, September 16, 2019

Quality Management and Six Sigma Essay

Describe the evolution of quality from the early 20th century through the Japanese post-World War II, to the â€Å"Quality revolution† in the U. S. and elsewhere in the 1980’s through the early 21st Century. Identify the underlying forces to the ‘quality revolution’. Explain the role of the quality ‘gurus’ including Walter Shewhart, Joseph Juran, W. Edwards Deming Early Twentieth Century Inspection was the primary means of quality control during the first half of the twentieth century Separate the planning function from execution function Managers/engineers plan and supervisors/workers execute Bell system was very popular up until this time Production organizations created separate quality departments, lead upper managers to believe quality is responsibility of the quality department and turned focus to quantity/efficiency 1980’s Henry Ford developed â€Å"total quality practices† once he visited Japan in 1982 Japanese constantly referred to â€Å"the book† which had become Japan’s industrial bible and helped Ford Motor Company realize how it had strayed from principles over the years Walter Shewhart Western Electric Group leader Created era of statistical quality control (SQC), application of statistical methods for controlling quality Goes beyond inspection to focus on identifying/eliminating problems that cause defects Used by military in WWII to determine quality standards for suppliers Post-World War II Large shortage of civilian goods in the US made production a top priority Most companies still thought of quality for a specialist, used mass inspection Dr. Joseph Juran and Dr. Edwards Deming Introduced statistical quality control techniques to the Japanese post-WWII Significant part of educational activity was focused on upper management rather than quality specialists alone Got support of top management to integrate quality throughout organization and developed a culture of continuous improvement. By 1970’s Japanese began to heavily penetrate Western markets U. S. â€Å"Quality Revolution† Decade of the 1980s major change in how quality is looked at in a company Deming aired â€Å"If Japan Can†¦ Why Can’t We? † After the television show manufacturers began to ask for his health 1984 the US made October National Quality Month By 1990’s quality drove nearly every organization’s quest for success Organizations began to share knowledge through books and new quality awards were established Underlying Forces Of The Revolution 1970s global competition and appearance of higher-quality foreign products on the market lead U. S> consumers to consider purchasing decisions more carefully Large differences in quality between Japanese and U. S. made products so demand for high quality/reliability in goods at a fair price went up List and describe the seven contemporary forces identified by ASQ that will influence the future of quality Defining quality – describe the various dimensions of quality – including formal definitions of quality: transcendent quality, product-, user- and value-based quality, fitness for use, conformance to specifications and meeting or exceeding customer expectations. Show visually the quality perspectives. Identify the definition of quality to individual divisions in a corporation – e. g. , sales, marketing, supply chain, operations, distribution, etc. Judgment/Transcendent Perspective Defines quality as â€Å"the goodness of a product† Firms with this perspective wish to use quality as an image variable in the minds of their consumers Provides little value to mangers for decision making Product-Based Perspective â€Å"Quality is a function of a specific, measurable variable and that differences in quality reflect differences in quantity of some product attribute, such as number of stiches per inch† Essentially means a greater amount of product features leads to higher quality and ability to charge a higher price User-Based Perspective Defines quality based on the fact that quality is determined by what the customer requires All individuals are different and thus have different perspectives of quality Defined as â€Å"fitness for intended us, or how well the product performs its intended function. † Product needs to perform what it is marketed to do Value-Based Perspective â€Å"A quality product is one that is as useful as competing products and is sold at a lower price, or one that offers greater usefulness or satisfaction at a comparable price. † Ex: Buying a generic product like Roundy’s bread over Wonder bread for cheaper Perspective often requires competitor analysis, leads benchmarking to become essential to a firm using this perspective Manufacturing-Based Perspective â€Å"The desirable outcome of engineering and manufacturing practice, or conformance to specifications. † Specifications are determined by designers of the products/services and acts as basis for definition of quality Aim to conform to these specifications every time to ensure consistency SEE FIGURE Describe the movement of quality as a management framework through Feigenbaum’s total quality and the movement to TQM and TQ TQ is people-focused management system that aims at continual increase in customer satisfaction at continually lower real cost. Total system approach (not separate functions) Fegenbaum recognized importance of a comprehensive organizational approach to quality in the 1950s and coined the term total quality control Japanese adopted it and named it companywide quality control List the three key principles of Total Quality Management (TQM) 1. A focus on customers and stakeholders.