Explanation of various types of fixed price

Fixed price contracts have a preset price that the vendor must adhere to in performing the work and in providing materials. There are different types of fixed price contracts. Explain them. [Explanation of various types of fixed price contracts] 2. Direct contracting is another procurement method that is used under a limited number of exceptional circumstances. Explain the conditions for adopting direct contracting, requirements and steps for direct contracting Conditions for adopting direct contracting Requirements for direct contracting and Steps for direct contracting] 3.Write short notes on Cost Plus Fee Contracts. [Explanation of Cost Plus Fee Contracts Features Conditions for adopting Advantages and disadvantages] 4. The methods of selecting a consultant are designed to achieve the objectives of quality, efficiency, fairness and transparency in the selection process and to encourage competition. Discuss any 2 methods of selecting consultants. [Explanation of any 2 of the method s With Where it is appropriate Type of assignments for which this method of selection is adopted] 5.The contract intro process commences right at the beginning stage of bid document preparation inviting contractors to bid, and proceeds through the contract negotiation, contractor selection, monitoring and controlling of the contractor's work and terminating the contract. Explain the areas that need attention for effective control of the contracts in a project [Core competence of the project manager Requirements of the working system Use of Work Breakdown Structure Recognizing the limitations with flexibility] 6. Explain the need of Procurement law and what are its objectives? [Explain the need of Procurement law List the Objectives]

Malcolm X Essay

1.What details of the events has each writer selected to focus on? Each writer selected to focus on the person that Malcolm X was overall. I believe that they put so much emphasis on the events that took place up until his assassination to show how important he was. Each person meant what his purpose was in the ballroom that day. Each writer also mentioned how many people were there to show his importance also. One crucial detail was that Malcolm X was shot by a member of his own race. 2.How has each writer organized the details that have been selected? Each writer organized the details as if they were watching a television show. They presented the end result first. Then they explained what led to that outcome. Afterwards they explained the reaction the assassination. I can relate to the way they organized the details. When I witness or find something out, I normally say what happened. For example, â€Å"Amber, the car is broken.† Of course the next question would be, how? 3.How does each writer interpret Malcolm X, his followers, the gunmen, and the significance of the assassination? Each writer perceived Malcolm X to be a leader, respected by many. They showed how relaxed he was when the argument began. His followers were in shock because he showed them how to be calm and control themselves through hard times. The gunmen were perceived as someone Malcolm X had problems with in the past. The assassination was shocking because he was killed by a black man when he focused on the mistreatment of the whites. 4.How has each writer used language to express his or her perspectives and to influence the thinking of the reader? Each writer used language by explaining the emotions of everyone when the assassination occurred. The writers wrote in a way to show how important Malcolm X life was. I think that expressing how you felt on a situation is the best way to connect to writers. Your feelings can help others relate.

BUS Assignment 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

BUS Assignment 4 - Essay Example I think that managers should alert workers about employee monitoring. The employees need to understand why they are being monitored. They should be aware of the company’s policies and Business Code of Conduct so that they know that the monitoring is within the guidelines of the law. If I were the owner of the company, I will still have the same opinions regarding monitoring of employees. Some form of restraint should still be observed. â€Å"As with most ethical issues, the governing concern should be mutual respect and mutual accountability† (Mujtaba, n.d.). Class discussion 1: Topic B I believe that the degree of variation in the range of earnings across various jobs in our economy is justified because a salary of a person is a product of several factors which I believe he has worked for. These factors include his education, training, experience and luck. No one has a right to question these because I think whatever one is earning now is the result of hard work, somet hing which one has strived for. As an example, I am sure that before Kobe Bryant reached his current rate, he had to undergo a lot of training and sacrifices. It was not an easy path at all so everything he has now, he definitely deserves it.

Course Work 1 ( Legal Framework of Protective Security) Essay

Course Work 1 ( Legal Framework of Protective Security) - Essay Example â€Å"The tort of negligence has developed this century largely as a result of the judgement in the case of Donoghue v Stevenson† (â€Å"Negligence: The Law of Tort, 2010, pgh. 1). In that particular case, a woman was having an ice-cream float. She happened to see something in her ginger which appeared to be decomposed snail. Since she complained to the courts regarding the company, Stevenson, having a duty of care towards herself as the buyer of the drink, she mainly blamed the company for its negligence. This was due to the fact that she had to not only seek out a medical professional, but in addition suffered much psychological stress as a result of the event. In this manner, this was an excellent case to be used as a precedent in UK law. It defined a clear ruling that basically states that everyone who is presumed to be one’s ‘neighbour’ is therefore responsible for being protected by the person who is in his duty of care. Duty of care, therefore, will be defined here. Duty of care is the obligation to exercise a level of care towards an individual, as is reasonable in all the circumstances, to avoid injury to that individual or his property.The duty of care is therefore based on the relationship of the different parties†¦.† (â€Å"What is the Duty of Care?†, 2010, pghs. 1-2). ... The second party in Cheryl’s security detail, John, is probably responsible for the blogger’s broken rib, since he kicked the man in the chest. Since Martin only held the man down, technically he is not responsible for any of the damage caused to the hip-hop blogger. Both Carl and John could both be charged with Actual Bodily Harm, even though Carl was the main aggressor. What is important is that John also is seen as responsible for his actions, as well. Even though he didn’t commit the extent of bodily harm to the blogger that Carl did, he is nonetheless still responsible for his actions and should be held responsible for those actions in a court of law. Carl will probably be tried on both civil and criminal charges, which will be discussed more in the next section. As it stands for now, however, Carl must be ready to defend himself in court, and as such, certain types of defences will be discussed in a different section. Several factors must be taken into acco unt in that section, especially the idea that Ms. Rice was fearing for her life at various points. However, the fact that Carl and his team brutally attacked the blogger with little forethought except having heard the man yell out the singer’s name precipitated an event which is sure that the blogger had no idea was going to happen. The metallic object in his hand happened to be a walkman so he could record the interview that he wanted to have with Cheryl. The blogger himself could definitely be charged with trespassing due to the fact that he had gotten into the venue without proper access to have an interview. II. Advisement to Carl on His Position in Civil and Criminal Law (650 words) Good advice for Carl is to not speak, except to

Under what circumstances, if any terrorism is justified Essay

Under what circumstances, if any terrorism is justified - Essay Example Augustine who first gave the two principles of entering into a war i.e. the war should be jus in bello (just in action) and jus ad bellum (just in cause). This definition was accepted in the English law and is considered the basis of commonly accepted laws for waging or entering into a war with other nations. Terrorism and any apologist for terrorism will only be able to provide a lukewarm cause for the act (jus ad bellum) but the second requirement of just actions can not be accepted as they often occur. For instance, targeting innocent civilians is not permissible in any way while the first targets of any act of terror are often civilians. It must be noted that there can be no distinction made between terrorism and retaliation for terrorism which can be termed as terrorism itself (Sterba, 2003). For instance, if the US launches a strike against terrorists and kills innocent civilians in the process they can not be termed â€Å"collateral damage†. A spade has to be called a spade and killing innocent civilians defies the dictum of jus in bello. This is precisely the reason why those who try to justify an attack against civilian targets are wrong. An attack on civilians is murderous; it can not be justified by being based on a cause, or by being done against a certain nationality or even against people who have wronged us. The problem of finding a just cause for terrorism has always been the idea that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter (May, 2003). This notion has to be clarified using the legal definition of terrorism and the legal definition of war. Once that is done, it will be clear that any nation, group or person who targets civilians for political gains is a terrorist and can not justify their acts in any way. In fact, Sterba (2003) says that only two wars in recent history fulfilled both the clauses of just means and just cause, The Pakistan India war which led to the creation of Bangladesh and the Tanzanian

Plz look the instruction, Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Plz look the instruction, - Essay Example So in many ways normal and abnormal are in the eyes of the beholder. The human mind adapts and changes over time and in so doing changes its perceptions of normal and abnormal. Further, that which was considered as normal years ago may be considered abnormal today (Plante, 2006). In our first example, we will look at a phenomenon that is considered normal now but will be seen as abnormal in the future. We will examine the developments in robotics and medical technology. At present advances in medical technology have enabled the human race to transplant organs and replace malfunctioning livers and kidney. However more is yet to come. Medical technology will in the future be able to significantly alter the human race to astounding levels (Kurzweil, 2006). These discoveries will be able to stop ageing, enhance memory and increase human performance. Medical technology will be able to recreate the human race. While we are already witnessing some forms of human alteration through medical intervention the future will change what we presently consider normal very abnormal. Presently the use of prosthetics has enabled scientists to recreate limbs. For example disabled South African athlete Oscar Pistorius competed in the 2012 Olympics men using carbon fiber blades. A decade ago his feat was unimaginable. Presently athletes’ using bionics or performance enhancing drug are regarded as unfair and cheats, but as technology advances and everyone has access to these technologies objections will cease .In other words we will no longer see disabled athletes as disadvantaged. Take this train of thought further and one will realize how far medical technology will go in the future such that it will be abnormal to view human beings as disabled or ageing. Science will be able to significantly alter, rectify and enhance the human form and performance through the use of technology and drugs. This is known

Writing Procedure for soil compaction Lab Report

Writing Procedure for soil compaction - Lab Report Example This helps in reducing void ratio. The main purpose of soil compaction is to reduce settlement under working loads, increase the soil shear strength, and prevent accumulation of large water pressures that may result in soil liquefaction during earth tremors. The following equipment will be necessary in order to achieve a proper soil compaction: 5 small tin containers; compact mould; metallic mixing pan and a plastic water bottle; weighing balance of up to 10kg for determining the weight of soil mass; a sieve; straight edged steel to smoothen soil sample ends; and a compaction hammer of about 5.5 lbs (Fang 262). The whole process begins by preparing the soil sample to be used during compaction. To begin with, a soil mass is taken and passed through a sieve so as to ensure that the right quantity and type of soil is obtained. The soil sample is passed through the sieve until 3-4 lbs of the sample is obtained. The sample soil is then wetted with the right quantity of water and missed thoroughly. Once this has been done, the wetted soil sample is carefully put into a plastic bag and left overnight (Fang 268). This is done to ensure that water in the soil sample is thoroughly absorbed so as to obtain homogeneous water content as shown in figure 1. However, before beginning compaction, it is important to set up equipments properly. As such, the compaction mold with the base plate is measured is weighed using the weighing balance and the measurement recorded (Fang 268). It is worth noting that the compact mold should be greased to prevent soil sample from sticking in the mold. After preparing the sample, the next procedure involves testing the compaction. The first step is to lock the mold, base and the collar plate together. The soil is added to the mold and filled until over half the mold is filled with loose soil. Then, using the compaction

Otto Von Bismarcks and unification of Germany Essay

Otto Von Bismarcks and unification of Germany - Essay Example True to his word, in 1863, the Poles began to fight for concessions from Russia, The Russians believed that retaining control of Poland was essential to their policy. France stood with the Poles but Bismarck threw his support to Russia forming a friendship relationship with Russia. This was strategic on Bismarck as he felt a free Poland would threaten the Prussian territory. While this was going on, Austria called a meeting of the Germanic Confederation to have the Berman Princes find the best way of preserving a German Confederation. Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria wanted the support of the historic dynasties to help in containing liberalism, democratization and socialism. Since Austria had the dominant control in this Confederation, Bismarck did not want the King of Prussia to attend. These two politicians disagreed for some time over the Prussian King’s decision, and finally, after much emotion persuasion, the Prussian King did not attend the meeting. Since he was the second most powerful leader, after Austria, no decisions could be made at the meeting. Austria was having problems at home at this time as well so the matter was tabled. This was a victory for Bismarck. Austria seemed to be losing their power as the Margyars, Poles and Czechs were pulling away feeling less important (Gall, 121-148).Next, Schleswig and Holstein was uncomfortable under the Treaty of London of 1852 which put the Dannish King as the Duke of Holstein and the Duke of Schleswig. Schleswig. Schleswig and Holstein were made up mainly of Germans, at least in the south and they resented having a Danish leader. In 1863, Busnarcj exploited the demise of the King of Denmark and joined with Austria in the Danish War putting Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenberg into the Prussian and Austrian control. In 1865, Holstein was put under the Austrian control and Schleswig was controlled by Prussia. This was a big step forward for Bismarck. Through all of this Bismarck was constantly trying to persuade the Prussian kind to put

Entrepreneurial Strategy Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Entrepreneurial Strategy - Term Paper Example According to Amit, Brigham and Markman â€Å"entrepreneurial strategies let people to be innovative, creative and responsible for decisions they make† (Meyer & Heppard, 2000).As a result of pursuing entrepreneurial strategies, companies put themselves in a situation to frequently and systematically recognize and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities.Enterpreneurial strategy involves a persistent, managerially sanctioned pattern of innovation related activities and resource allocations that compose a component of the company’s inclusive corporate strategy (Russell, page 640). This thesis will dwell majorly on entrepreneurial strategy concerning its importance/significance, opportunity recognition; .Current theories on economic literature explain strategy adoption according to forces of the competitive environment. Importance of Entrepreneurial Strategies Designing of business plan An entrepreneurial company develops innovations slowly.Explotation tends to force out explo ration and the company hits a performance crisis. Small companies have to balance exploration and exploitation. At some point in small companies at the start of the lifecycle design and innovation capability gets relegated in order to bring in the profits from the idea on which the firm was founded. Successfully spotting change factors, assessing their significance, reacting and adapting creates long term values. This can only be achieved by having a entrepreneurial strategy. Innovation The global environment moves faster all the time, innovation and its partner change are requirements for survival and success. Innovation often the foundation of creations is vital for any company to compete effectively in the twenty first century. Building on the importance of entrepreneurial action, Smith and DiGregorio explain that the fundamental nature of entrepreneurialship is newness, new resources, new clients, new markets, new combination of existing resources and clients. They put forward t hat equilibrating actions are based on both existing and related resources that modify existing knowledge about markets. In dissimilarity disequilibrating consequences are based on both existing but unrelated resources that are incompatible with existing mental methods. Execution of corporate entrepreneurship strategies is important and can play a major role in the success of efforts to produce innovation in companies. The development of a new proposal requires the recombination of existing knowledge and its extensions (Bettis & Hitt, 1995). Creating new businesses requires new knowledge which is necessary because new businesses are based on technologies that differ from currently employed companies. These new businesses function in new markets, making it a necessity for the company to develop knowledge of how to use new technology and compete effectively in the new market. Their work explains the inertia that sometimes occurs with larger successful companies. Many companies are usi ng alliances and networks to acquire knowledge that is critical for innovation and implementation. Entrepreneurial Resources Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies identify and exploit opportunities that competitors have not discovered or underexploited. An appropriate location of resources is needed to identify entrepreneurial opportunities with the utmost potential returns and to be used as a disciplined approach to exploit them (McGrath & MacMillan, 2000).The entrepreneurial s

Analysing the organisational approach to segmentation,targeting and Assignment

Analysing the organisational approach to segmentation,targeting and positioning - Assignment Example Procter and Gamble also acknowledged as P&G is one of the leading packaged product providers in the world. The company operates globally and offers a variety of products under different brand names. Furthermore, in the highly dynamic business environment, marketing strategy is considered to be a crucial determinant for attaining competitive advantage and for gaining profitability with the aim of surviving at the marketplace. Thus, this paper consists of critical strategic analysis of P&G related with market segmentation, target market and positioning followed in different geographical regions.Procter and Gamble, popularly known as P&G is the one of the leading consumer packaged products company. The company’s annual sales turnover is nearly US$84 billion with annual net earnings exceeding US$10billion. It has also established a brand portfolio of about US$25 billion. Additionally, the company offers a wide range of products which include household care products, grooming produ cts, personal healthcare products and beauty products among others (Procter & Gamble, 2012). The company operates its business in almost all the continents across the world. Evidently, it operates in 180 countries located in different continents. The company offers its products through grocery stores, membership club stores, discount stores and through merchandisers. Moreover, the company employs in excess of 110000 employees globally. From the critical perspective, it has been identified that markets in which P&G operate are highly competitive due to the presence of global and local competitors. Despite high competition faced by the company, it has been able to sustain its business profitability and to establish itself as one of the renowned brands across the world. It is worth mentioning that the company’s primary mission and purpose is to offer superior quality branded products and services that significantly contribute towards improving the lives of its worldwide spread c ustomers. Over the period of time, the company has prospered dramatically and is continuously able to improve its overall performance and thereby increase it revenue earnings capability. With due consideration to the above recognized facts, the paper intends to critically analyze P&G’s approach to segmentation, targeting and positioning. Furthermore, this paper entails certain valuable recommendations for the company so that it is able upheld its existing market dominance and superiority along with focusing on offering quality products to its long-list of trusted consumers. Market Segmentation Strategy It has been critically observed that as a key strategic differentiator from its close competitors, the company offers a wide range of products to its globally dispersed customer base. In general, the company’s business strategies are fundamentally focused on outsized scale operations, product innovation and development along with strong product branding in order to seek greater competitive advantages. The company’s strategy is continuously directed towards innovating new products and selling these products to its diverse assortment customers in order to attain sustainability and constant growth. Moreover, the company has made considerable investments worldwide and has significantly involved in joint ventures, acquisitions along with establishing alliances to enlarge their business operations and market reach (Graul & et. al., 2006). Additionally, the company operates under three major global business units namely P&G Household Care, P&G Family Health and P&G Beauty. Correspondingly, these global business units of the company are primarily separated into five major divisions which include Healthcare, Snacks and Coffee, Fabric Care, Baby and Family, P&G Beauty and Home Care (Graul & et.

Health Care Conditions Essay Example for Free

Health Care Conditions Essay As we analyze the factors contributing to health care costs we must find a solution that provides high-quality care for an aging population. Improvements to modern medicine are prolonging life causing a schism between a health care system oriented towards acute care and the increasing chronic care needs of older adults. Studies do show that health care costs for older Americans account for one third of all national health care expenditures. This being said the average expenditure for health care services for adults 65 and over is nearly four times the cost of those under 65. More significant changes need to be considered given the financial crisis our health care system faces. Health care costs are not solely due to longevity; consider increased utilization, new medical technologies, general inflation, fraud, and waste and abuse. This paper will discuss one article to be used in my final presentation on health care for anaging population. Data collection procedures The study on chronic health conditions used a questionnaire presented to study participants by in-person and telephone interview using computer-assisted software. They also used the Statistics Canada Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) for age prevalence patterns and to show how chronic condition prevalence varies by age group. The use of the CCHS survey for historical data and comparisons is very appropriate for this study. The use of a questionnaire, while not ideal, is appropriate for the large number of participants. The survey sampled approximately 130,000 people aged 12 years or older. In-person interviews are the most reliable, but the downside to using telephone interviews using computer-assisted software is that participants may go through the questionnaire quickly or skip questions if they are unsure. Identity protection for research subjects Confidentiality is the protection of information that an individual has trusted you with and disclosed to you for a particular reason. Informed consent is a process in which the researcher explains to the participant what steps are taken to keep their information confidential and what would happen if there were a data breach. The participant then has the information needed to determine if this is adequate and whether or not to continue with the project. The article does not discuss the steps taken to  protect the identity of participants. There is no mention of patient record abstraction, personal information collected or informed consent. Reading the article, it is an assumption that the only information collected was the age and number and type of chronic conditions for each participant. Study reliability and validity The reliability of this study, that is, the consistency and repeatability of the measure is high. A question related to the number and type of chronic conditions experienced by each participant is reliable and is measuring one topic. The questionnaire meets face validity – it is a common-sense assessment and the question measures exactly what they want to study. Data analysis procedures To answer the research questions, the researchers used data from the CCHS survey to develop a baseline of the number of chronic conditions within certain age groups. That data was then projected for 25 years based on the target population which was derived from a model of the economic demographic system (MEDS) projection. The hypothesis, â€Å"The expectation is that, as the large baby boom cohort moves into older age categories, the overall proportion of the population with chronic conditions will increase† (Denton Spencer, 2010), is best answered by projecting the number of people in each age group based on historical data and factoring in immigration, emigration, mortality, and fertility rates. I believe this study is quantitative. It involves randomly selected participants, uses face-to-face and phone questionnaires, the data analysis is statistical and is presented in tables and graphs, and is used to recommend a final course of action. The study design is descriptive, also called observational. Validity is important in descriptive studies; the lower the validity, the more study participants you will need. â€Å"For an accurate estimate of the relationship between variables, a descriptive study usually needs a sample of hundreds or even thousands of subjects.† (Hopkins, 2000) Conclusion In conclusion, the study shows that more than two-thirds of the population over the age of 12 has a chronic condition and 90% of them are over the age of 65. The researchers believe that as the participants move into higher  age groups the prevalence of chronic conditions will increase, which this study proves. The prevalence rate in 2005 is 68.7% and the prevalence rate in 2030 is 71.9% which is an increase of 3.2%. But how does this affect health care utilization and cost? With a modest reduction in the prevalence of chronic conditions, one-third of the projected increase in health care spending could be cut by 2030. In this study, a modest reduction is described as reducing the number of chronic conditions by one. Those with three chronic conditions would be reduced to two, two would be reduced to one, and one would be reduced to none. The strengths of this study are the high reliability and validity of the data recorded from the questionnaires. The data analysis and projections based on the target population, adjusted for emigration, immigration, mortality, and fertility was the best option for this type of study. The weaknesses of the study were the inability to abstract data on chronic conditions from the medical records of the participants, and the exclusion of participants in institutions which resulted in an under-estimation of chronic conditions in older populations. Another weakness noted by the researchers was that there was no record of the severity of the condition. This does not allow for accurate accounts of those cured of the chronic condition during the study period. References Denton, F.T., Spencer, B.G. (2010). Chronic health conditions: Changing prevalence in an aging population and some implications for the delivery of health care services. Canadian Journal on Aging, 29(1), 11-21. Doi:http://dx/doi.org/10.1017/SO714980809990390 Hopkins, W.G. (2000). Quantitative Research Design. SportsScience, 4(1), retrieved online May 26, 2014 from http://www.sportsci.org/jour/0001/wghdesign.html

The Pakistani Stock Market and its Analysis

The Pakistani Stock Market and its Analysis In this report we will be giving an overview of the Pakistani Stock Market with specific emphasis on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). The history of the Stock Market will be provided, along with an analysis on the major spikes in the market and the reasons for these spikes. The major sectors contributing to the Stock Exchange Market are also highlighted in this report. Moreover, the Stock Markets role in the growth of the economy along with market indicators will also be discussed. The Last objective that we will be covering in our report would be to identify the factors which affect the performance of the Stock Market. The time frame that this report will cover will be between January 2001 and December 2009. Overview The Pakistan stock market has three major listings: Regular Days Timings: Pre- market sessions from 09:15am to 09:30am and normal trading sessions from 09:30am to 03:30pm. The Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) The Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) The Islamabad Stock Exchange. (ISE) The ISE was incorporated as a guarantee limited Company on 25th October, 1989 and became fully operational on August 10, 1992. In 1997 ISE it introduced an automated trading system (ISECTS) and later changed it to ULTRA TRADING system in 2002. Presently ISEs turnover has reached 1 million shares per day and has 118 members.  [1]   Another stock exchange in the Pakistan stock market is the LSE, which is the first automated stock exchange of Pakistan, is also the second largest stock exchange of Pakistan. It was established in October 1970 and currently has 519 listed companies from 37 sectors of the economy. The total market capitalization is approximately Rs 2746.325 billion.  [2]   The last stock exchange in Pakistan is the KSE, which is the largest stock exchange in Pakistan and was established on September 18 1947 and was incorporated on March 10, 1949 in order to maintain the interaction between the lenders of capital such as savers and investors and borrowers of capital such as government and companies. As individuals had excess amount of cash and were looking at options to gain more money and while companies were seeking for investors who would invest in there firm to increase capital. Karachi Stock exchange provided them with a platform to allow the business to take place between them with benefits being enjoyed by both the parties. The stock exchange started with 5 companies with a paid-up capital of 37 million. Trading use to took place through the open out cry system on pits on the trading floors. The first index introduced by Karachi Stock Exchange was the KSE 50 index. In 1991 foreign investors were given the opportunity of operating in the secondary capital market and also due to the privatization policy in Pakistan the development of the Karachi Stock Exchange accelerated. The KSE 50 index was removed as it was not truly representing the stock markets performance as a result in 1991 the capital weighted KSE 100 index was launched. It started trading through the computerized trading system Karachi Automated Trading System (KATS) since 1997. In 2005 online trading was also introduced making it more easy to use for investors. Membership of KSE is fixed and limited to 200 members, which can include individual, corporate and foreign entities. Prospective members have to buy membership from existing members and the price is negotiable between the buyers and sellers  [3]  . The most dominant sectors in the Pakistani market are the Oil and Gas exploration and distribution companies such as OGDC, POL, PPL, and PSO. Fertilizer manufacturing firms are also important companies in the market. These would include ENGRO and FFCG. Moreover, other sectors which make up a major chunk of the stock market are telecommunications (PTCL), power generation (HUBCO) and commercial banking sector (NBP, Standard Chartered and MCB)  [4]  . KSE has a total listing of 650 companies as of 2010, with a total market capitalization of Rs 2,890 billion at the end of March 2010. At the moment the stock exchange trades on 4 indices of which two are world known indices which are KSE 100, KSE All Share Index and the other two are KMI 30 and KSE 30. KSE, being the leading stock exchange in Pakistan trades ordinary shares, preference shares, redeemable certificates and term-finance certificates such as corporate bonds, and since 2003, futures trading in some active stocks also started. KSE also wants to have wide based investor participation. This would help in dealing with them more easily and would increase the efficiency of the stock exchange. It wants to become a Hub for capital funds this would be done by increasing the float of existing trade companies. It also wants to introduce cross-border listing of companies and the trading of indices would also take place through cross-border listing. Market Indicators: There are three indicators that show how well the economy is doing presently or is going to do in the future. Investors use these indicators to make their investment decisions. These three indicators are: Leading Indicators: These indicate future events and the Stock Market is a part of this. They are assumptions into the future. The Stock Market is a leading indicator because the stock market usually begins to fall before the economy starts to fall, and the Stock Market becomes better before the economy comes out of a recession. These indicators are very important for investors because they predict what the economy is going to be like in the future and thus influence investment decisions. However they are only short term predictors of the economy. Lagging Indicators: This indicator is one that follows an event. The most important lagging indicator is unemployment. It has the ability to see if a pattern is occurring or about to occur. If the unemployment rate is increasing steadily, then this indicates that the economy is doing poorly. Coincident Indicators: This indicator occurs at approximately the same time as the conditions they denote. They change at the same time as the economy or the stock market. Personal income is a coincident indicator; high personal incomes indicate a strong economy. GDP is also a coincident indicator. Affects of KSE on the economy: One of the main goals of KSE is to reflect Pakistans economic health by providing an efficient, fair and transparent Securities Market. Therefore KSE plays a leading role in the growth and development of Pakistan. The GDP and the components which contribute to calculating the GDP show that when they are of positive value, the GDP will be good. These components will only be positive when the people are consuming and/or saving, when there are investment opportunities etc. all this reflects the KSEs functionality. If KSE is functioning in a good condition, stock trading is been done in numbers, then consumption and investment in Pakistan is increasing. Thus, we can say that it is the KSE that enhances and pushes up the activities of Pakistans economy. It is through KSE that many major companies have succeeded in traveling the long journey to success. Through this Market (KSE) businesses issue stock to raise money in order to finance expansions and also, when there is a need of additional capital in order to operate successfully. The common term for such financing is Equity Financing. How does this all affect the economy then? It is through these stock issues by businesses and companies that give investors an opportunity to invest in a moderate risk instrument. When companies will issue stock in order to expand its operation and investors will buy stock; it will automatically give a boom to the economy through creating employment opportunities in a country through which production and consumption in the economy increases. The unemployment rate for Pakistan, which is steadily declining. One factor contributing to this decline is the Stock Exchange.  [5]   The money which could have been lying idle in the saving accounts or in idle deposits with the bank is now being invested to promote business activity. It is also benefiting several economic factors such as commerce, industry and agriculture. People who used to save money because of lack of investment opportunity now are investing that money in stock markets. KSE being the highest tax payer in Pakistan contributes a large sum of money in the economy where the listed companies also contribute 10 percent of total revenue collected by the Government. Even the KSE brokers contribute about 50 percent of their profits by paying taxes on them. Lastly the investors who also pay 10 percent of their dividends as taxes. All this money goes to the government who further invests it in the economy. KSE also provides opportunities for investments to the small investors. Those investors, who either love to be an owner of the company or stay home or earn profits, get benefited by investing in Stocks. Any one whether big or small stock investor can invest in KSE. In short KSE provides the small investors to own stock of the same firms as large investors. In terms of share prices and their demand and supply all stock markets are fluctuating markets. Share prices tend to rise or remain stable when the economy is either growing or is stable. And when an economy is going through hard times like depression, recession or financial crisis the stock market tends to crash down. Through fluctuation of KSE stock prices we can say that the market plays a vital role in the growth and downfall of Pakistans economy. With the emergence of KSE, it has attracted many foreign investors who have been investing large amounts of money in Pakistans stock markets and especially Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). This has given a boom to the economy in the early days when foreign investment was started in Pakistan. Beside the factors mentioned above there are other factors that affects the KSE and eventually the economy. A very small number of the population of Pakistan is actual participant of KSE. Trading is done by a few major investors who are the market makers. They tend to manipulate the market for their own good more then actually making it for others. This creates volatility in the market causing it to crash down at times. Other related factor is the small number of investors who invest usually by following the price trend which is decided by the market forces i.e. the supply and demand. The demand and supply eventually reflects the trading of stocks which reflects the economy of Pakistan. Recent events and incidents concerning internal security situation and political uncertainty have hurt the trading of stocks and KSE. Indirectly the economy also suffered because of this. As Pakistan is largely dependant on global economies, it suffers when countries like US and EU are going through recession phase. Stock market loses its trading activity which was being done by foreign countries. When theres less foreign investment, KSE Index tends to fall. If this goes on for long then the economy gets affected negatively. Lately many investors have shown interest in Mutual funds which is why it has become an important player in Karachi Stock Exchange. Though its true that mutual funds are the least risky investment, but when the market crashes down due to some reason, the ones who invested in mutual funds face losses. This is because when some variables like recession, political or economic situation of the country, war, inflation etc. affect the market, they also affect the entire range of stocks. The type which is traded in stock market is closed-end Mutual Funds, price of which is determined by the demand and supply of the shares. This is the reason why the investors suffer losses when market crashes down. Analysis: In 2001, the KSE index had grown to 1770 points after its introduction with a base of 1000 points in 1991.  [6]  On September 11, 2001 when two planes crashed into the world trade center in New York, there was a slight effect on the Pakistani market, even though it was not very pronounced the stock market still remained closed for 3 days and opened with the introduction of new circuit breakers to check volatility. The index fell from 1255.99 points to 1208.3 points, and continued falling for a few days as an aftermath of the event. In October 2001, KSE reported a 33% increase in its index for the month owing to a resolve in the Crescent Investment bank overexposure and also positive financial indicators for Pakistan such as a debt write off and a reduction in interest rates. The market again fell from May 18 to 20, 2002 when there was a tension in the Pakistan-India border, resulting in a loss of 252 points in the index. Moreover the short comings of the COT system which promoted overtrading by investors as well as sudden withdrawal of funds from COT financiers contributed to the sudden loss in the index. In 2002, KSE experienced phenomenal growth in the market (an increase of 92%) because of the effective macro economic policies that the government implemented. KSE got the title of The best performing market amongst the leading stock markets of the world as Pakistan and Srilanka were the only two countries in Asia to not report a loss in that year. The bullish economy was present because of a number of reasons which include an increase in interest of foreign investors in the market. The start of 2003 however was bearish because of the Iraq crisis which bought uncertainty in the market. Moreover high leverage and over bought positions in the carry over market by speculators increased uncertainty. Because of speculation, those who had bought the stocks through borrowings, started panic selling them to make a large profit and which resulted in a sharp fall in the KSE index. However when the uncertainty of the Iraq war crisis reduced, the market recovered significantly along with anticipations of favorable future relations with India. Moreover, the announcement of the budget and the successful visit of the Pakistani president to the USA boosted investors confidence, and 2003 ended with the KSE all time high index of 3402 points. The 2003 boom continued till the mid of 2004 and resulted in an index of 5620.7 on 16th April 2004. Moreover a record turnover of a billion shares was also seen on this day. During the year KSE continued to perform well and has succeeded in doing so because of various reasons such as the continuation of sound macro economic policies by the government. By 2005, due to a period of robust growth the index had skyrocketed to 9,989 points. After hitting a peak at an approx of 10303 points, in March 2005, we see the Karachi 100 index of the Karachi stock exchange falling back into instability till the end of May 2005 (30/may/2005 @ 6707.56 which was the 2005 market crash). On 8th October 2005, Northern parts of Pakistan were hit by an earthquake which devastated the country and led to the stock market declining sharply. However some sectors actually increased trading such as cement, food, and banking sectors because investors believed in a positive future outlook. We analyzed that there were two kinds of responses that investors give out whenever the economy of Pakistan hits a political or law and order crisis either there is a marked indifference or there is a marked difference. According to Bloombergs researchers, the KSE is affected positively when the investors, both local and foreign take an action when they believe that the country holds promise. The index takes a negative turn when investors pull out from the market, or when there is more supply and less demand, as the economy or one major player as a whole takes a downturn. In 2006, rising gold prices made the investors transfer their money from stock to gold which was just one of the factors why the KSE reached from 12000 points only to sink to 9600 points. Foreign buying interest had been very active on the KSE in 2006 and continued in 2007. The KSE underwent through a fall in 2008 mostly because of the global financial crisis and partly due to the domestic situation in the country. The index plunged in 31 December 2008 to 5685.01 from the record of 15,676.34 on April 18, 2008. The once thriving KSE-100 index of over 15676 points now went at a record low around 9,187 on 21 November 2008 where the KSE put a floor price for stocks to keep it from plunging down. The index froze to 9187.1 points till 14 December 2008. After resuming trading however the index only managed to further slope down from 15 December 2008 onwards. It only stopped going down after it hit a new low at 4815.34 points on 27 January 2009 and from then gradually started to recover throughout the entire 2009. As said, the fall of stock market fall of 2008 contributed to a few things. First the domestic troubles caused by regime change lack of political stability in Pakistan, convinced a lot of people that Pakistan was not much of a land of opportunity. Then with the global crisis, Pakistan too was affected. The credit default swap rose causing Standard Poors and Moodys to lower its ratings to a negative for Pakistan and putting altogether more pressure on the Pakistani Currency. And with foreign reserves falling by more than 60 percent, investors both local and foreign thus started to believe that the country which was under so much debt will soon if not immediately will start to default. The countrys CPI too spiked high, and though the State Bank of Pakistan tried its best to enforce a tighter monetary policy, it still failed. Eventually all these factors caused increasing inflation and current account deficit. High inflation and high interest rates for the major players meant cutting down cost, most companies then suspended their growth plans till the economy stabilized. But this also meant unemployment. For investors, spending cost increased and saving and investment cost decreased. Foreign investors seemed alarmed and took Pakistans weak economy not very attractive.  [7]   Factors Affecting KSE: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) is affected by number of factors directly or indirectly. Some of the major factors are: Interest Rates Inflation Monetary policy Foreign Direct Investments Law and order Interest Rates The cost of borrowing money, and they have a huge impact on KSE especially short-term interest rate; the Stock Exchange is basically a place where an individual can invest his/her money to gain profit by taking a risk. On the other hand depositing in bank also has its advantages, such as getting a fixed return on the money that is deposited through the interest rates, and has its negatives such as low interest rates. An investor wants a high interest rate on his deposits for the money that he deposited initially as compared to a low return through a low interest rate. Thus when the interest rates decrease, investors find investing in stock exchange more attractive than keeping their money as deposits in bank and earning very a very low return on the amount they deposited. However when interest rates increase; potential investors would find depositing their money in banks more beneficial, and not invest in the KSE, thus creating fluctuations in the market equilibrium constantly. Moreo ver, to find out the value of future dividends, investors must discount them and find out their present value and what they are worth at this point in time. A high interest rate would make the future dividend values less valuable in todays Rupees; and would decrease the value of the stock. Inflation Rate Inflation is one of the biggest threats to the economy, and is increasing steadily in Pakistan, being 9% in 2005, 7.9% in 2006 and reaching as high as 25% in 2008 after the increase in global petrol prices. When inflation occurs individuals are more concerned with spending rather than saving, and thus would not use the money to invest in KSE. Net earnings of the company determine the price on the stock market. When it is speculated that the company will have high earnings then the stock prices of the company would increase. When it is estimated that the company is not going to perform up to par, then its stock prices fall. The prices of the stocks are directly proportional to the earnings of the company. Thus an increase in inflation will cause the revenue of the country to fall, and thus affect the stock prices negatively. A decrease in inflation would cause the opposite shift. Monetary policy: The monetary policy of a country is used to achieve the objectives of the government by adjusting the amount of money being circulated in the economy through OMOs, the discount rate, or through the reserve requirement. Unanticipated changes in the monetary policy increases the risk premium on stocks for a certain period. This either increases the riskiness of stocks; it reduces the willingness of investors to hold risky stocks, or both. When the monetary policy is tightened (the money supply is reduced in the economy) it causes investors to see stocks as being more risky and thus they demand a greater return on their investment for investing in the stock market, and eventually it drives down stock prices. A tight monetary policy reduces the financial buffers of an investor and increases the exposure of investors to future shocks in the market. The affect of monetary policy only affects the stock market to a certain extent. Foreign Direct Investments Stock market liberalization is when the countrys government decides to allow foreigners to purchase stocks on that countrys stock exchange. In Pakistan, the stock market was liberalized in February 1991, which attracted foreign investors, and foreign direct investment and indirect investment started which had a positive impact on the stock market as well as the Pakistani economy. When more investors entered, the risk premium on stocks fell, and because of the increase in the demand competition of the stock market, stock prices rose. As the foreign currency inflows increased, there was an increase in supply which caused the Pakistani rupee to appreciate. This increased the prices of the shares and improved the foreign exchange reserves. Stock liberalization reduces the cost of equity capital of the country because it divides the risk between domestic and foreign investors. There is no restriction on foreign ownership of stocks except in life insurance companies. The net portfolio inve stment starting July 2009 stood at $431.93 million in Pakistan. Moreover, the amount of overseas investment in the local stock market increased to 9% in 2009. Law and order and Natural disasters: Karachi Stock Exchange is affected to a level by the law and order situation in the country, and the affect depends upon the severity of the crises. Investors invest in KSE thus a huge factor of risk is present, when you see the current situation of Pakistan, especially Karachi, where there is huge chaos when we talk about Law and order. Bomb blasts in Pakistan have a very minimal amount or no amount of affect on KSE due to the reason that this is now a routine of Karachi and Pakistan. If we see last 5 bomb blasts, it does not have any affect on KSE.  [8]  However as we can see Natural disasters do have a huge affect on KSE. According to the report regarding the earthquake in 200 the trading was bearish. This is because companys were investing more on revamping the earthquake victims rather than growing, many employees of various companies had family members, or their own homes affected and destroyed in this disaster; thus shortage of labor reduces the production of company. If the production of company is slow then it becomes dull for investor to buy shares of that company, and thus the trading on the stock market declined. Moreover, the import of earthquake relief items such as tents and plastic sheets caused an increase in the trade deficit of Pakistan. All these factors made investors less willing to invest i n the stock market. Appendix Table 1: Table 2: Table 3: Date of the bomb blast KSE 100 Index Before On the day After 28th December 2009 9,422.23 Closed (due to various holidays) 9,507.95 5th February 2010 9,769.73 Closed (due to public holiday) 9,809.98 30th April 2010 10,454.63 10,428.12 10,389.46 10th June 2010 9,678.38 9,379.78 9,471.12 7th October 2010 10,029.36 10,191.68 10,260.48 Table 4: Table 5: Table 6: Table 7: Table 8:

The Nature of Construction Problems: Past and Present

The Nature of Construction Problems: Past and Present ABSTRACT: This paper aims at deriving a comprehensive understanding pertaining to the different construction difficulties that have been faced in the past and are being faced now in the present also. It provides a vivid analysis of why the problems were faced, the nature of the problems and how they were dealt with. It has been a long time since the first inception of architectural ideas that had crept into our ancestors’ minds. Right from the Stone Age, man has actually been into this act of constructing stuff for making his life easy. At the very juncture of the Metal Age, he got a further boost with the advent of new materials and construction techniques. Furthermore, came the times when architecture was at its peak. Everywhere in the world there was zeal to construct structures that not only made life comfortable for man, but also soothed his eyes. The classical orders of the Greeks packed the punch of serving as better structural members along with being a visual treat. The Romans had been articulate in constructing an efficient system of water supply in the form of a series of arches together being called as aquaducts. It still stands as an example people look up to design urban spaces. Egyptians were no less. They were meticulously constructing pyramids and mortuary tombs that were way beyond the human scale. They had designed the first forms of conveyor systems in building construction. Similarly, India saw the construction of a lot of architectural wonders. Right from the construction of the monolithic stone structures of the Ajanta-Ellora caves and the temples of Mahabalipuram to the Islamic structures of Taj Mahal and the Humayun’s tomb it had been a marvellous leap in the form of architectural progress. Finally came the times of controversies about architecture when Gustav Eiffel proposed the construction of an all metal structure now called the Eiffel tower. There was a lot of noise about the fact that how it would finally look when it was constructed in Paris. Many people said that it might turn out to be a scar on the face of the city. But, now fortunately it is known as the first thing that helps us identify the city of Paris. There have also been controversies about Zaha Hadid’s designs. She is one of the pioneer architects as far as t he use of fluidic forms is concerned. Her designs have almost always been at the helm of criticism by the senior architects of her times. But, she has been articulate in executing her own designs. Similarly, in the recent times Frank O’ Gehry had faced a lot of challenges in bringing up his work called Bilbao museum. He has been criticised like hell up to the level of being called the mad architect. Now as we come up to the fact of such progress in the field of construction, can we deny that there have been no difficulties in the construction of these age old structures? No will be the answer. As we go back to the times when the monolithic stone structures of the Kailasa temple was constructed, we get to know that no good technology was available at that time. However, they have managed to actually make it possible to form a massive temple out of a single rock. Imagine that how the person who started the construction, actually just used a chisel and a hammer to build such a huge temple. It is said that he started from the top and kept on chiselling till the bottom. It is evident that this wonderful construction must have taken a long time to come up. But, it has not been constructed by a single sculptor. Imagine the difficulty in passing on the same knowledge about the structure to so many artisans over the ages. There might have been several changes made to this temple structure during the construction. This must have made it even more difficult for the sculptors. Now raises the question of managing the waste that was generated in this process. How were all the cut out st ones used? Yes, they were used to make roads and for pety constructions. But wasn’t it really difficult to manage these heavy masses? Yes, it must have been tedious. A similar structure had come up previously. The Konark temple in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa had a huge contribution in raising the architectural taste of the people of the country. In this construction, they used the method of constructing sand ramps as it was being constructed towards the top end. This had actually ensured that the structure didn’t get decayed during the construction process. However, this structure had made use of a huge pole at the centre in the form of a magnet that gave the massive stone structure all its strength. This had been acquired by the British during their reign in our country. But, later on what it was used for nobody knows. Just imagine how that huge magnet was made to stand just by the use of very basic tools. This speaks of the difficulty in constructing structures belonging to the typology of stone temples. Now, when the importance of Constantinople came into existence, there was a sudden need for the construction of several public buildings. At that time there was a huge recession in the field of construction in Europe. There was a shortage of resources, funds, architects and even labourers. This thing gave rise to a new form of architecture. This form of architecture came to be known as Polymath Architecture. In this form of architecture the existing buildings were used to build several other buildings. The Roman basilicas were used to build the Basilican churches that formed the basis of Christianity. The columns of the condemned buildings were actually truncated to get a uniform size. As a result, the buildings were having a size very close to the human scale. Explicitly or purposely, this form of architecture happened to be more close to people. Even the foundations of several buildings were used to meet the needs of the times. The rotunda buildings were used to used to build bapti steries when the question of child baptism came into existence. These spaces required a kind of radiating building plan in order to accommodate the required activity. So, the unavailability of resources at that time was addressed in such a way. Now, when we come to construction of buildings that are built with the on public money, the question of minimalism comes into existence. The usage of minimum amount of resource and funds comes into existence. Taking the example of a case, when an architect is given task of designing a public building, he has to make sure that he does not raise the cost of the building to the height of making it unfeasible. Nowadays, in case of construction of public buildings, the factor of tender pops up. The person coming up with the most apt design within the least of cost frame usually gets the project. Such a case can be taken up when it comes to the Bilbao museum. It was designed by Frank O’ Gehry. He had gone through the criticism of the entire world because of his design. His design was so complex that it made use of aircraft design software. He had actually gone to the point of overusing resources. The frames of the building were made using thick steel sections. A large layer of fabri c was used to cover the building. Above this a layer of titanium sheets were used. Around twenty four thousand square meters of such were used. As a result of this, he was criticised over the fact that a similar functionality and aesthetics was achievable with lesser use of resources. But, he had paid no heed to what the people said. He has a concept of a fish just because he had memories of going to a fish market with his grandma. This vague justification brought about a lot of talks throughout the world. Luckily, the titanium prices had gone down at that point of time. So, he had the privilege of not getting the project cancelled. When residential projects are taken into consideration, there are several pety issues that come up. Funds remain limited in most cases. There have been cases when construction of a single house has gone through a ceasework period of more than a year just due to the lack of funds. Other religious issues play a vital role in our country when it comes to construction of residences specially. Several people actually back out when the architect is reluctant to listen to his specifications about how the building should be. Industrial buildings have challenges that are totally different as compared to other buildings. They should have the ability to actually justify all the government norms regarding the minute points like waste generation and hazard safety factors. They should have special anthropometric specifications but they should not use too much of space. So, as we come to conclude this, we can actually see that several issues are getting solved in this context. Several architects are coming up with innovative ideas to actually cater to the ideas of the government and the environmental impact assessment bodies to make a statement regarding this matter. So let us hope for a hassle free and green future ahead!!! References: History Of Architecture by Sir Bannister Fletcher Construction Delays: Extension Of time and prolongation claims by Roger Gibson

Ebola in The Hotzone :: Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever

Back in 1980 a certain Frenchman resided near the slopes of Mount Elgon. Mount Elgon and its slopes are an island of vegetation surrounded by savannah. And at the center of this island, being part of the mountain, lies a certain large cavity, Kitum Cave. It is this cave that our Frenchman one day decided to visit, bringing a paid â€Å"friend† along with him. It is speculated that it was during this trip that our Frenchman first contracted the virus Ebola. A few days later he is not feeling well. He is suffering from headaches, fever, and pain behind his eyes. His appearance has become similar to one who has not slept in days. Eventually his coworkers began to worry about him, and upon finding him in such condition, sent him to the local hospital. The hospital was unable to cure him and was mystified. And so our Frenchman was sent to the more advanced hospital of Nairobi, traveling by public airways, likely making contact with many. Before his death at the Nairobi hospital, th e Frenchman managed to infect his doctor by vomiting upon him. Death was expected for the doctor, Dr. Musoke. However, after ten days after the event, his health began in improve and he managed to pull through. Ebola, a filovirus related to Marburg, had now become recognized by the modern world. Four years earlier in Sudan a worker of a cotton factory somehow contracted Ebola. He contracted the virus to a coworker, and from that coworker Ebola spread throughout and devastated parts of Sudan with a fatality rate of 50 percent. First, small clots would appear in the victim’s bloodstream, resulting in a slowed down and thickened bloodstream. Various parts of the victim’s body would lose their once constant and expected supply of blood. Skin begins to acquire spots of red which later develop bubbles of white blisters. The skin is now soft and pulpy and easily tears. The victim’s mouth is not spared from this fate. It begins to bleed painfully, the surface of the tongue as well as victim’s windpipe slough off and are later expelled from the body via vomit. The heart bleeds into itself, the brain clogs with dead cells, and the liver begins to turn to mush. Eyes turn red from blood and the face becomes a droop because of the loss of connective tissue. T he victim’s appearance is zombie like. Before death strikes, the victim begins a series of wild convulsions, spreading blood all over the place.

The Goal, By Eliyahu Goldratt Essay -- Productivity, Bottlenecks

When reading the book The Goal written by Eliyahu Goldratt, there were many lessons that I learned in order to have a clear and concise understanding of a positive level of productivity in a company. To have a positive level of productivity there are may components that are taken into consideration. Understanding what it actually means to be productive and how to increase the level of productivity by knowing the actual goal of the company that is trying to be reached and the components that go into the process of being productive. There are many factors that contribute to the level of productivity and being able to identify these factors is the key ingredient to having a successful level of productivity. When trying to improve productivity for a company, one must first understand what it means to be productive and what it means to not be productive. Jonah classifies that, â€Å"I have come to the conclusion that productivity is the act of bringing company closer to its goal. Every action that brings the company closer to its goal is productive. Every action that does not bring a company closer to its goal is not productive† (Goldratt, 32). But when determining on what is productive and not productive, the actual â€Å"goal of the company must first be determined. â€Å" If the goal is to make money, then an action that moves us toward making money is productive and an action that takes away from making money is non-productive† (Goldratt, 41). Alex has finally realized what it means for his company to be productive, but the key is to know how to see if the company is meeting the goal that is desired or in this case making money. There are certain measurements that ca n â€Å" express the goal of making money perfectly well, but which also perm... ...ventory and operational expenses decrease. Once the constraint is determined, the five-step process is followed to find out how to fix or correct the restraint. From what I haven taken from this book, I have come to a conclusion that with a few steps, you can find a way to make your company productive and meet the overall goal of your company. A clear understanding of what your company’s goal is and to be able to use this goal to understand what being productive means in terms of your company. Knowing the measurements that are needed to reach your goal. The ability to try new experiments and be able to brainstorm and talk together with a dedicated team of researchers that want to reach the goal and wont stop experimenting different processes until the end goal is met. Works Cited Goldratt, Eliyahu M., and Jeff Cox. The Goal. N.p.: Gower, 1989. Print.

Virgin :: Renaissance Writing Essays Virginity

Virgin Virgin: Not yet touched, handled, or employed for any purpose; still undisturbed or unused; perfectly fresh or new (Oxford English Dictionary online, definition 16b). For the Renaissance writers, virginity was a precious ideal and a favorite theme. It went by many names: virtue, chastity, purity, maidenhead; but it signified that rare thing that was untouched, fresh, new. In a large sense, it was everything that the Old World of Europe ached and searched for: a new thing, the New World. Virginity was a thing men wanted to admire and treasure, but also to conquer and consume. And to the bearer, the virgin, it was an invaluable asset. Virginity is bounty, riches, and treasure. When European explorers first set foot on the ‘virgin soil’ of the Americas, they were awestruck by the profusion of life, resources, and beauty. This land, innocent of the European touch, "†¦ had many goodly woods full of deer, coneys, hares, and fowl, even in the midst of summer in incredible abundance (Barlow 1067)." The plowing of earth is often compared to the ‘tilling and sewing’ of a virgin woman. Sir Walter Raleigh (1064) explicitly employs this sexual metaphor when he writes "†¦ Guiana is a country that hath yet her maidenhead, never sacked, turned, nor wrought; the face of the earth hath not been torn †¦" Virginity is so admired that the word ‘virtue’ is a synonym for it. But in large part, it is prized only because of the difficulty of overcoming it. The deflowering of a girl or a new-found land is an exciting challenge to be surmounted. Raleigh goads his Queen to take the challenge of colonizing Guiana when he writes of her: "For whatsoever prince shall possess it shall be greatest, †¦ shall hereby hear the name of a virgin which is †¦ able to †¦ invade and conquer so great empires so far removed (1066)." While virginity retained leaves the suitor unsatisfied, it does likewise to the virgin. This mutual yearning and frustration seems to drive Renaissance writers to new heights of poetic expression. For example, Stella reassures Astrophil that, while she must make him wait, she too burns with passion: "Trust me while I thee deny, In myself the smart I try, †¦ (Sidney 993)" In Shakespeare’s first sonnet, he laments that his would-be lover, by denying him, is "Making a famine where abundance lies, Thyself thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel (1169).

Math Achievement Essay

Abstract This paper outlines the author’s purpose for reviewing literature on gender differences in mathematics education. An overview of research findings on gender and mathematics from industrial societies (USA, Australia, and UK) and from some developing countries in Southern Africa (South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana) is then presented. Some causal factors for the existence of gender differences in mathematics achievement are critiqued and the link between mathematics and social entities (democracy and power) are challenged. The implications of the above for research on girls learning mathematics in Botswana (and Africa) are finally suggested. Introduction Literature review should not be considered as merely part of the requirements in scholarly enterprises, but as a critical undertaking in which the investigator exercises a constant scepticism on an issue of interest. In this paper, literature review is used as a process to critique the conscious and unconscious assumptions of scholarly research on gender differentials in mathematics education. It serves as a qualitative analysis to determine how these assumptions force the definition of problems and findings of such scholarly research efforts. The paper examines literature on research studies which have dealt with gender differentials in mathematics classroom dynamics. The disenfranchisement of girls in mathematics learning discourses and girls’ motivational orientations in mathematics are important issues for the human development efforts in Botswana. The paper draws upon literature from  Western countries, specifically the USA, the UK and Australia where research on gender differences in mathematics has been considerable and influential. The socio-political, cultural and socioeconomic contexts in these countries, however, differ from those of Southern Africa in many aspects of development (education, technology, economic, etc.), but there are possibilities to draw parallels, albeit in a limited way. Through considering parallels and differences between Western industrial cultures and Africa, the paper examines issues pertinent to African girls affecting their education. The literature analysis is against the backdrop of problems such as HIV/AIDS and unplanned pregnancies faced by girls within African communities. Botswana (like most of Africa) is grappling with the HIV/AIDS pandemic; high levels of unemployment and poverty (BIDPA, 2000). The African Economic Commission (1999:5) states that: Data from Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe indicate that girls 15 to 19 years old have an (HIV/AIDS) infection rate four to ten times that of boys in the same group. This is the age group within which research on gender and mathematics has tended to focus. According to Okojie (2001), the Botswana study, commissioned by the African Academy of Sciences Research Programme, indicated the rate of teenage pregnancy being higher than that of most other African countries. HIV/AIDS, unplanned pregnancies and lack of interest in mathematics are amongst real problems that girls in the developing world face which must be taken on board when embarking on a sociological research analysis involving gender differences. Notwithstanding these developments, the question of how to motivate students in the classroom is a leading concern for teachers of all disciplines. Student motivation becomes especially relevant to mathematics education in the light of recurring questions about how to get more students interested and involved in the subject. As we proceed in the new millennium, Botswana is plagued with significant high-school dropout rates and declining interest in mathematics among secondary school students. Educators and policy makers  need to understand the educational techniques that may ‘suffocate students’ interest in learning’ (Boggiano and Pittman, 1992), then work to rekindle that interest. This paper is concerned with the use of mathematics as a ‘filter’ for further education and career choices. This affects girls more as they tend to shy away from the study of higher level mathematics, science and engineering as reflected in the University of Botswana yearly intake (Fact Books 2002; 2003; 2004/5; 2005/6). The literature analysis proceeds from an articulation of girls’ reported achievement tendencies within mathematics learning discourses in the developed world and explores the situation in Africa, particularly Southern Africa, with a special focus on Botswana. Gender differences in mathematics education The developed world’s perspective on gender and mathematics Contemporary research studies reflect scholars’ maturing view of the complexity of causation of differences between males and females in mathematics education. As Fennema (2000) rightly points out, from around 1970, ‘sex differences’ index was used to imply that any differences found were biologically, and thus, genetically determined, immutable and not changeable. During the 70’s and 80’s ‘sex-related differences’ criterion was often used to indicate that while the behaviour of concern was clearly related to the sex of the subjects, it was not necessarily genetically determined. Latey, ‘gender differences’ refers to social or environmental causation of differences that are observed between the sexes. This paper critically reviews work by leading researchers in the era of this new understanding of gender differences. According to Leder (1996) there were probably more research studies published on gender and mathematics than any other area between 1970 and 1990. Fennema (1993, 2000) concluded that while many studies had been poorly analysed and/or included sexist interpretations, there was evidence to support the existence of differences between girls’ and boys’ learning of mathematics, particularly in activities that required complex reasoning; that the differences increased at about the onset of adolescence and were recognised by many leading mathematics  educators. Salmon (1998) concurred with the notion that gender differences increase at secondary school level, particularly in situations that require complex reasoning. In the absence of an African position disputing such views, it suffices to assume that similar differences might occur in the Southern African c ontexts. Studies by Fennema and Sherman (1977, 1978) documented sex-related differences in achievement and participation, and found gender differences in the election of advanced level mathematics courses. They hypothesised that if females participated in advanced mathematics classes at the same rate that males did, gender differences would disappear. Stanley and Benbow (1980) used interpretations of some of their studies as a refutation of this ‘differential course-taking hypothesis’. They argued that gender differences in mathematics were genetic, a claim which was widely attacked and disproved, but whose publication had unfortunate repercussions (Jacobs and Eccles, 1985). Fennema and Sherman (1977, 1978) identified as critical, beliefs about the usefulness of, and confidence in learning mathematics, with males providing evidence that they were more confident about learning mathematics and believed that mathematics was, and would be, more useful to them than did females. There was evidence that while young men did not strongly stereotype mathematics as a male domain, they did believe much more strongly than did young women that mathematics was more appropriate for males than for females. The importance of these variables (confidence, usefulness and male stereotyping), their long-term influence, and their differential impact on females and males was re-confirmed by many other studies (Hyde et al., 1990; Tartre and Fennema, 1991; Leder, 1992). Earlier, Maccoby and Jacklin (1974) had reported differences between females and males in spatial skills, particularly spatial visualization or the ability to visualize movements of geometric figures in one’s mind. The Fennema-Sherman studies and the Fennema and Tartre (1985) longitudinal study investigated spatial skills or spatial visualisation. They found that while spatial visualisation was positively correlated with mathematics achievement  (that does not indicate causation), not all girls were handicapped by inadequate spatial skills, except those who scored very low on spatial tasks. Fennema (1993) suggested that an appropriate curriculum redesign could compensate for these weak skills. Other studies (Kerns and Berenbaum, 1991; Voyer, Voyer and Bryden, 1995) reported boys outperforming girls on tests of visual/spatial abilities: the ability, that is, to draw inferences about or to otherwise mentally manipulate pictorial information. The male advantage in spatial abilities was reportedly not large, but detectable by middle childhood and persisted across the life span. Casey, Nuttall and Pezaris (1997) concluded that sex differences in visual/spatial abilities and the problem-solving strategies they support contribute to sex differences in arithmetic reasoning. Although they were not particularly innovative nor offered insights that others were not suggesting, the Fennema-Sherman studies had a major impact since they were published when the concern with gender and mathematics was growing internationally. They were identified by Walberg & Haertel (1992) and others as among the most often quoted social science and educational research studies during the 80’s and 90’s. The problems of gender and mathematics were defined and documented in terms of the study of advanced mathematics courses, the learning of mathematics, and selected related variables that appeared relevant both to students’ selection of courses and learning of mathematics. The Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scales have been widely used as guidelines for planning interventions and research studies. Campbell (1986) found that girls’ lack of confidence in themselves as mathematics learners, their perception of mathematics as difficult, and their view that mathematics is a male activity, all had impact on girls’ attitudes, achievement, and participation in advanced courses. In a longitudinal study of sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth grades, Tartre and Fennema (1991) found that, for girls, viewing mathematics as a male domain was correlated to mathematics achievement. Girls in single-sex schools or in out-of-school mathematics projects – who did not see mathematics as an exclusively male domain tended to have higher mathematics success. When this dynamic was changed to make mathematics accessible to both girls and boys, girls’ interest and involvement were found to rise. Reyes and Stanic (1988) and Secada (1992) have argued that socioeconomic status and ethnicity interact with gender to influence mathematics learning. Forgasz and Leder (1998) share the view that gender differentials in participation rates are associated with the interaction of positive attitudes and beliefs about mathematics and socioeconomic status. The transferability of these findings, based on Western cultural concepts, poses a problem for African contexts. Socioeconomic status indicators in Botswana for instance, somewhat differ from the UK model and need be appropriately contextualised. The question of ethnicity also becomes problematic in the Botswana context since about 85% of the population is of Tswana ethnic origin. Moreover, ethnic differences have never been of significance and might not necessarily affect gender differences in mathematics in the same way as in Western contexts. Trends of gender differences in mathematics from the United Kingdom The gender gap in performance throughout the subjects in the United Kingdom has been shifting in favour of girls since the early 1990s. In national curriculum tests and at higher level GCSE grades, girls outperform boys. For example, in 1997, 49% of girls achieved five or more higher grade GCSEs compared with 40% boys (DfEE, 1997). However, at the lower levels of GCSE attainment, the gender gap is smaller in percentage point terms. In 1997, 8.8% of boys and 6.5% of girls failed to gain GCSE qualifications (DfEE, 1997). These figures show some of the paradoxes in gender and attainment. Males gain most of the higher education top awards but the trend is for girls in general to do better in public examinations than boys – differences which are apparent in the earlier years of schooling. Consequently, current concerns about schooling are now more related to boys’ underachievement (as demonstrated in public examinations) than to that of girls. The question is whether such outcomes at school and higher education reflect approaches to assessment, methods of teaching, and/or expectations of society. The OfSTED (2003) report found that boys progress more than girls in mathematics throughout schools. Research indicated that in mathematics the gap between boys and girls attaining level 4 and above at the end of Key Stage 2 was only one percentage point, with boys at 73% and girls at 72%; however, 32% of boys achieved level 5 and above whilst only 26% girls did (OfSTED, 2003:13). According to OfSTED (2003:14) although the differences are smaller than those in English, it is a continuous trend and it is therefore still vital to understand why girls perform better in certain subjects such as literacy and underachieve in comparison to boys in mathematics. One key reason may be the perception girls have of this subject area. The 1998 OfSTED Report on ‘Recent Research on Gender and Education Performance’ stated that â€Å"science, mathematics, technology, ICT and PE are rated as ‘masculine’ by pupils and preferred by boys† (Arnot et al., 1998:31). Girls rated English, humanities, music, PSE and RE as feminine and preferred by girls. However, Archer and Macrae (1991) are cited in the same OfSTED report suggesting that mathematics has become more gender neutral perhaps reflected in the smaller gap between genders than that of literacy. The reason the gap has become smaller may be because girls are more prepared to tackle ‘masculine’ subjects. Public concern about the underperformance of boys has risen since the early 1990s as girls outstripped their male classmates academically. Although the proportion getting five C’s or better increased from 38% in 1996 to 46% in 2003, the gender gap remained steady at 10 percentage points in favour of girls. Both boys and girls in deprived areas got much lower grades than their more advantaged peers. But while girls in poor areas were improving faster than those in affluent areas, the gap between rich and poor boys remained constant. Dr. Deborah Wilson, Bristol University expert on the gender gap in schools, argued that the differences are likely to be a result of factors outside school: â€Å"The effect of poverty on exam results is greater than the effect of gender. If we focus more on the reasons for poverty affecting performance we might get better results for both boys and girls†Ã‚  (TES, 13 August 2004). According to Mendick (2002), in England, the evolving gendered patterns of attainment in mathematics need to be juxtaposed with the unchanging gendered patterns of participation in the subject. There are very few remaining differences between the attainment of male and female students in either GCSE, AS, or A-level mathematics examinations (taken at ages 16+, 17+ and 18 respectively) (Gorard et al., 2001; Guardian, 2002a, 2002b). Although boys are still more likely to secure the top A* and A grades at GCSE and A-level respectively, the differences are small and getting smaller. In contrast to these shifting patterns of attainment, the decision to continue with advanced mathematics remains highly gendered in favour of boys. This polarization persists despite decades of feminist intervention; as Shaw (1995:107) argues: â€Å"the most striking feature of subject choice is that the freer it is, the more gendered it is.† In fact, from 1994 to 2002, the proportion of the total number of 17 and 18 year-olds entered for A-level mathematics in England who are male showed little change, dropping only slightly from 65% to 63% (Government Statistical Service, 1995 to 2002; Guardian, 2002b). This greater participation of males in mathematics courses becomes more pronounced as you go up the levels from A-level, to undergraduate, and then to postgraduate, and is reflected in the larger number of men than women working in mathematically-oriented fields. Mendick (2002:1) argued: The gender gap in maths performance in this country, while still marginally in favour of boys, is continuing to narrow (Smithers, 2000; Gorard et al., 2001). However, the gender gap in participation in maths remains in spite of more than two decades of feminist initiatives for change. Moreover, maths becomes increasingly male dominated as we progress from sixth-form (ages 16 to 19) to undergraduate levels, and from undergraduate to postgraduate levels (Boaler, 2000)†¦ girls continue to disproportionately opt out of maths, a powerful area of the curriculum that provides a ‘critical filter’ (Sells, 1980) to high status areas of academia  and employment. The above suggests that although girls are doing better than boys overall across the subject areas in the UK, they still fall behind when choosing mathematics at higher levels of the education system. Mendick also portrays mathematics as a powerful subject, a signifier of intelligence that acts as a ‘critical filter’ controlling entry to higher status areas of academia and employment. Thus, for those concerned with social justice, it is pertinent to ask how it is that people come to choose mathematics and in what ways this process is gendered, which is the point of concern for this paper. According to Bevan (2005), the findings from the review of existing research included evidence that girls outperform boys in mathematics up to the beginning of A-level, but that the differences are small, and are not consistent across all components of the subject; attitudes to mathematics vary according to gender; there are significant differences in the expectations of boys and girls regarding their own performance in mathematics; boys and girls differ in their typical learning styles; and that ability grouping impacts differently on boys and girls. Bevan’s (2005) interviews revealed that teachers with very limited exposure to formal research were able to articulate judgments about gender differences in learning mathematics based solely on classroom experience; and that their intuitive judgments were often broadly correct, but tended to exaggerate the extent of any real differences. Presently there is no comparative research concerning Botswana teachers’ judgments on gender differences in the learning of mathematics. Sparkes (1999) pointed out that the gender gap in the UK was related to a variety of social issues including: parents’ educational attainment, growing up dependent on an income support recipient/eligible for free school meals, housing tenure and conditions, family structure (such as lone parent family), parental interest, involvement, practice, etc. These trends are different from the situation in Botswana and any comparisons need a contextual analysis of the situation. Perspectives from Africa with specific reference to Southern Africa Gender differences in mathematics education in developing countries are one critical area of research that needs further exploration. There is limited information about the status of contextual research on women and girls in those settings in relationship to their mathematical education. As Kitetu (2004:6-7) acknowledges from an African view: Unfortunately, while a lot of gender programmes have been carried out, not much research has been done within the classroom in the continent. Our understanding of gender in classroom practices is most often based on what has been studied in Western Europe and North America. I would like to argue that there is always a cultural angle in studies of social practices. Fortunately, there are emerging research efforts in the area of mathematics as the African continent begins to face up to the realities of gender differences in classroom practices. The persistent patriarchal attitudes in Africa tended to prevent researchers from problematising the gender issue. Investigating gender differences and Black South African learners’ attitudes towards mathematics, Mahlomaholo and Sematle (2004:4-5) reported that: The differences between boys and girls were very clear at all levels of analysis†¦ For example they (girls) said it was because of parental pressure/choice or because their friends were studying the discipline, or because their teachers instructed them to study mathematics. Others even went to the extent of citing chance or fate as responsible for them taking mathematics as an area of study†¦ They were apologetic and not taking responsibility on themselves†¦ They even expressed their embarrassment at not being good at mathematics, they also expressed the fear for their teachers whom they compared to lions†¦ they tended to agree that mathematics is for all and not for a particular gender. For the girls in Mahlomaholo and Sematle (2004:6-7), mathematics was â€Å"too  difficult† and  Ã¢â‚¬ ¦they were fed up with the subject and†¦ cannot be expected to continue with a subject that they were failing so dismally†¦ did not even have an interest in the subject as it demanded too much work and time to study while the boys saw much value in the discipline†¦There is no reason at all why some human beings do not have appropriate views regarding the study of mathematics, it is only because the views of a culture and a milieu that undermines women speak through them and have manifested themselves firmly in their minds. In their study of three successful women in mathematics related careers, Mahlomaholo and Mathamela (2004:3) reported the prevalence of a conventional patriarchal approach in the South African society. They argued that: It tends to privilege male interests and their privileged positions at the expense of women through the belief that the status quo where male dominate is natural and given†¦ Schools tend to operate in line with this approach. To underscore how the three women persevered in mathematics within the hostile cultural attitudes, Mahlomaholo and Mathamela (2004:7) argued that: †¦socialisation and upbringing, including home and family background, as well as parental support, were identified as factors that enabled the three women to go beyond the limitations of their situations. Mahlomaholo and Mathamela were convinced that beyond contextual and social factors the women had strong conceptions of themselves. They had self-belief in their abilities and a love for mathematics, which could not be dampened either by teachers’ negative remarks or the social structure’s negative stereotypes. The study identified social contextual factors and intra-psychic motivational factors as responsible for enabling female learners of mathematics to either excel or fail at the subject. Cassy (2004:5-6) reported from Mozambique that: â€Å"Although the main aim of the  education policy of the country is to promote, among others, gender equity in access to all education levels, there are more females than males, who do not benefit from this. This gender discrepancy increases over the education levels, being more at the tertiary level and particularly in mathematics and its related fields.† Cassy found significant differences between the patterns of attitudes towards mathematics expressed by boys and girls in which boys rated their attitudes more positively than girls did. Boys were more confident in working in mathematics than girls, and girls were more convinced that mathematics was a male domain than boys. Furthermore, girls were reported to believe much more than boys that mathematics is more appropriate for males than for females. Both girls and boys were found to agree that mathematics was useful. These findings are not different from what has been reported in Western research studies. Perhaps this was to be expected since the study used the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale with its robust Western cultural questioning style. Cassy (2004:6) acknowledges that: â€Å"the majority of girls did not like the connotation of the items.† This calls for a more contextualised itemisation of the scales adopted from Western research contexts. Chacko (2004) presented another study from a Southern African perspective on the problems of students in learning mathematics and the approaches used in teaching mathematics in South Africa. Chacko reported no differences between girls and boys in terms of liking the subject. Chacko (2004:4) wrote: †¦ they do like mathematics and would like to do well in it but for them it is a very difficult subject. This interest in doing mathematics came out more prominently in township schools where they considered it important for future jobs. The South African students’ belief that mathematics is difficult was found among secondary school students in Zimbabwe (Chacko, 2000). Chacko (2004:4-5) further argues that students were encouraged to do well in mathematics because â€Å"their goals in life are something that is urging them to like mathematics which according to Hannula (2002) is ‘the value of  mathematics – related goals in the student’s global goal structure.’† It seems, from Chacko’s arguments that the liking of mathematics was not intrinsic to the students, but driven by the urge to do well in the subject because of the need and importance it presented for their future trajectories. According to Chacko (2004:8), girls in township schools seemed to spend more of out of school time on household chores, which could affect their studies. The same could be said about Botswana girls as Chacko (2004:5-6) further argued: †¦ chores took most of their time while school work was at the end when they were already tired to concentrate. This is more a developing country problem where chores in the house are kept for girls, which could affect the time they spent on learning and their vision for the future. †¦ Some of the girls in the township schools said that when they do not find time to complete homework, due to the reprimand from teachers, they would rather miss school. Once they miss school, it becomes difficult to catch up, which eventually lead to failure and drop out. Some of these problems are unique to the African contexts, and cannot be ignored when embarking on research on gender and mathematics. Chacko (2004:8) reported that the majority of students wanted mathematics to be made fun and to be related to life where they can see its use. â€Å"Girls in particular would like to see the content related to situations in life where these could be applied.† Some reported being shy and afraid to tell teachers that they did not understand, to avoid being ridiculed in public (by fellow classmates or teachers). Some of these issues are distinctive features of gender differences in African contexts which distinguish them from those of Western industrial societies. From the researcher’s experiences of teaching in secondary schools in Botswana and Nottingham (UK), there seems to be common ground with Chacko’s arguments. Over the years there have been efforts to address the gender disparities in  education in Africa, with a particular concern on the enrolment of girls, which for years has been very low. As Kitetu (2004) put it: The imbalance in boys’ and girls’ participation in schooling was linked to the age-long belief in male superiority and female subordination. This situation was further explained as aggravated by patriarchal practices, which gave girls no traditional rights to succession†¦ encouraged preference to be given to the education of a boy rather than of a girl. These small-scale investigations are recent efforts towards a better understanding of gender differentials in mathematics from an African perspective.