Project Management The effectiveness of the plans Essay

Project Management The effectiveness of the plans - Essay Example Project management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of company resources for a relatively short-term objective that has been established to complete specific goals and objectives. For planning and organizing the resources, Program evaluation and review technique(PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM) are widely used techniques for better planning and control in project management. It forms the basis for all planning and predicting and these techniques provide the management with the ability to plan for the best possible use of resources to achieve a goal within the stipulated time and allotted budget. These techniques which were used for defense during the World War II, are now used by business managers across the world to get a visibility of the activities involved in the project so that repetition of activities is reduced. It helps the management to handle the uncertainties involved in the program by analyzing how much time is required for each activity and which activity is crucial for the timely completion of the project. It is useful for the management to collect all the relevant information for making decisions. The major deficiency of other methods such as the Gantt, milestone or bubble chart is the inability to show the interdependencies between event s and activities, which is overcome in the network analysis. The foremost advantage of PERT is that it requires planning in detail to create a network of activities. Network development and critical path analysis reveal interdependencies and problem areas that are not very clear if other methods are used. The technique lays its focus on determining where the greatest effort should be made for a project to stay on schedule. The next greatest advantage of network analysis is that the business manager can know about the probability of meeting specified deadlines by development of alternative plans. Another advantage of this analysis is that we can evaluate the effect of changes in the program. For example this technique can evaluate the effect of contemplated shift of resources from the less critical activities to the activities that are identified as probable bottlenecks. Thus resources and performance tradeoffs can be evaluated. This analysis also helps to present even the most complicated data into a diagram which can be presented to the custo mer/ management which makes the understanding and decision making easier. The network diagram and the calculation of total float is shown in the appendix - 1 and 2 respectively. The total project duration is 73 days and the critical path for the project includes the activities A, B, I, J, L, M, N, O, P, R. If the project starts on May 5th, 2008, the earliest date it will be completed is 13th August, 2008 if it is assumed that there are 5 days working in every week. From the analysis, we can say that when there is a 4 day delay during Q or E, there will not be any change because these activities are not a part of the critical path. When activity P is finished one day in advance, then the whole project will

What Sets Us Apart Essay Example for Free

What Sets Us Apart Essay In the essay â€Å"What Sets us Apart,† by Mortimer B. Zuckerman, he examines the issue of how America is regarded by foreign countries and the impact America has in these countries. Zuckerman acknowledges of Hollywood contributing to â€Å"a significant piece of America’s ‘soft power’† on how we are perceived by other countries; meaning that American culture is not viewed favorable by other countries because of Hollywood. Zuckerman’s perception is something that I agree with; unfortunately, America is viewed in a negative way by other countries because of Hollywood contributing to an askew image of America, a misperception by foreign countries, and the tolerance by the American society. First of all, the reason Hollywood has such a profound impact on the appearance on American society, is because they supply â€Å"over 70 percent of the European film makers and 90 percent† to the rest of the world. Sadly, Hollywood targets the â€Å"younger population audience who constitute the bulk† of the film industry, which has a tremendous impact to what movies contain. Of course, being a younger crowd will imply more â€Å"action, violence, sex, and special effects,† which seems as though it will not have an effect but it does. Since Hollywood is the biggest supplier of films to other countries, whatever is shown in these films (action, violence, sex, and special effects) will reflect the â€Å"American lifestyle. Thanks to these images, â€Å"Hollywood has made Americanism a dirty word. † Furthermore, these misperceptions of the American lifestyle has made foreign countries once â€Å"favorable opinion[s] of the United States† drop in recent years. The liberty portrayed in America gives rise to the fears of an up rise by the people in a communism country. Thus making democracy â€Å"less attractive,† rather than displaying the beauty of democracy. People from foreign countries that have strong values see our society with little to no morals, and a lot of promiscuity. All of these factors emitted by the media have attributed to making America a less desirable place to other countries. Moreover, the American society has tolerated and accepted what the media has presented to other foreign countries. The purchase of any these products means we have accepted what is being displayed and agree with what is shown in them. As Americans we need to educate other countries that we are educated individuals whom have strong values and value diversity. We need to show how organized and well-established we are as a democratic society. Here in America, freedom and liberty is granted to individuals in their lifestyle choices. Being American grants us the freedom that not many countries offer; as Americans we can demonstrate the beautiful attributes we have as a society. Overall, we need to demonstrate and educate countries whom view us poorly that we are not what the media displays. Instead, let us show the beautiful aspects of life this country offers to all ethnicities. Here, in America, like Zuckerman said we are provided with â€Å"self-help, self-improvement, and self-renovation† that no other country can offer.

The Scope Of Study And Limitation Construction Essay

The Scope Of Study And Limitation Construction Essay The topic for this dissertation is a study on the construction wastes minimization in Malaysia Construction Industry. Nowadays, construction and demolition waste that produced in the site is increasing and becoming larger portion of the waste disposed in Malaysia landfill. This research is selected and carried out mainly due to the waste materials from site have been largely generated and most of the Construction Industries in Malaysia have not been practising by using 4Rs Concept to minimize the waste on site. This is might cause serious impact to the environment. The construction waste has generated a significant amount of waste to the earth that causes major impact on the global. Therefore, solutions have to be implemented to minimizing the construction waste to reduce the impact of the environment. Rising disposal costs and reduction in number of landfills create a need to search for alternatives to reduce, reuse, recycle and replace of construction waste being generated. Under this assertion, implementation of construction waste management can be one of the apparent solutions for the industry to minimize waste and waste disposal, ultimately reducing costs incurred during the process and contributing to the global Environmental-friendly movement (Bon-Gang Hwang, 2010). The construction waste will increase from time to time in during the development of very large projects especially located in Town area. Thus, the necessity of finding appropriate solution to reduce the potential of construction waste been generated. Nowadays the waste management is not an option anymore but necessary. It must be seriously concerns and implement a useful tool to minimize the construction waste on site. Therefore, Reused and Recycle has been known as one of the best solution to recycle the waste materials into recycled contents and turn into usable materials. Sadly though, our national domestic recycling rate still excurse around a mere five percent (Bernama, 2006). Currently in Malaysia, it is still not much of the construction industry practice of 4Rs Concept. Thus, implementing of 4Rs Concept is one of the methods to solve the material waste to minimize the waste. According to Yusoff (2010) has apparently stated that wastages affect not only to the environment but also incur extra costs. In Malaysia, there is a huge potential in reuse and recycle of construction waste into alternative materials that is usable in Malaysian Construction industry if implement correctly. This will hopefully bring about construction resurgence (Yusoff, 2010). In many of the developed countries have started to implement reuse and recycle of the construction materials aggressively. The construction wastes affect not only the environment but also incurred extra cost has been spent on the new material. This is mainly due to maybe the un-used material on site has been damaged and additional cost need to reorder the material. Therefore, there is a need of implementing a good material storage to avoid damaging the material. Other than that, the method of reuse and recycle of waste has been largely used on other developed counties. This means that there are has the huge potential in reuse and recycle of waste material on site in Malaysia. Thurs, implementing 4Rs Concept to reduce the extra cost incur on the unnecessary materials and also reuse and recycle of construction waste in the Malaysian construction industry. This will hopefully minimize the construction waste from being largely generated on site. Problem Statement It is obviously that most of the construction industries may produce or generate a tremendous amount of debris and also solid waste from sites. These debris and solid waste will leave onto the sites for decades or just dump into the sea that may cause to water pollution not just to our country but also damaging the world. In order to allow construction waste to be minimized, it is either by managing the material properly such as provide a good housekeeping, provide proper material storage and so on or using 4Rs Concept such as reduce, reuse, recycle and replace of material waste on site. Most of the constructions industries generate lots of debris that can be totally cease because in every construction industry during activities in on going, there will be waste occurred no matter what method used to prevent it. It is depend on how the project management reduce the waste to the minimal. In Malaysia, majority of the construction industry do not take advantages or practise of using reuse and recycle method and at the end the material abandon on the construction site. Consequently, this will cause increasing of burden on landfill loading and operation on site. Thurs, it is time for Malaysia to start to manage the material properly and also practise using recycle and reused to minimize the material waste on site. Therefore, it is advisable to all construction industries in Malaysia should start to practise 4Rs Concepts in order to minimize the construction waste. Research Goals Project Aim The aim of this dissertation is mainly to carry out study regarding to minimize the construction waste in the construction industry. The Malaysian construction industry should implement several methods to minimize the construction waste material such as provide proper management for the material, reuse and recycle method and so on. Therefore, all the solution should be implementing in all construction industry in order to achieve the aims of this study. Objectives of Project To identify the types of waste that can be used to reuse or recycle in construction industry. To analyse the benefits of construction waste minimization in construction industry. To give out recommendation on how to overcome the construction waste problem in construction industry. Key Questions What are the types of waste that can be used to reuse and recycle in construction industry? What benefits can the construction waste minimization contribute to the construction industry? Which types of method can be implemented to overcome the construction waste problem in construction industry? Background of Study Nowadays many constructions industries around the world have produced a tremendous amount of waste into this world. Many of the waste produced from the constructions site has been dump on all over the places and it will increase from time to time relatively with development of rural and urban areas if construction industries did not managed them properly. Therefore, construction waste management plays an important role to minimize or control the amount of waste that produce from the construction site. The Malaysian construction industry has now mainly concerns regarding to the amount of construction waste generated in Malaysia. In many of the developed countries have been using reuse and recycle of construction waste. Therefore, reuse and recycle have been recognised as one of the most workable strategy to control and minimize the waste on site. In most of projects, more than half of the construction wastes are recyclable materials. There are several authors have been highlighted strategies for waste minimization. One of the strategies that find repeated mention in the literature is the strategy referred to as 3Rs reduce, reuse, recycle. (Shekdar, 2008; Wang et al., 2008; Kibert and Languell, 2000;Teo and Loosemore, 2001). Therefore, there is a good opportunity to implementing 4Rs concept rather than 3Rs. This is mainly due to the 4Rs Concept is a better and workable strategy that can be used to control and minimize the construction waste. Scope of Study and Limitation This research is mainly focusing on the construction wastes minimization in Malaysian construction industry. In this research, a case study of construction wastes minimization in Malaysian construction industry which mainly focusing on cities or town area such as Kuala Lumpur. Firstly, this research is carry out to ensure whether that the practise of reuse and recycle waste has been implemented in Malaysian construction industries. Besides that, to investigate the current trend of the waste management in Malaysian construction industry in order to find out the waste minimization method that provides smooth flow of process. Secondly, this research is carrying out by questionnaires to the relevant respondents that have the skills and knowledge regarding to the research topic. Not all respondents has the knowledge that can contribute to the research topic due to not many respondents had the experience and knowledge regarding to the construction waste minimization. The targets of the respondents are mainly focus on who have the experiences and knowledge regarding to the construction waste minimization in Kuala Lumpur such as contractors, specialists, professionals, project manager, etc. Contribution of the study First of all, this research is carried out due to various reasons. The main reason of this research is to reduce the cost of construction material and disposal. Due to this reason less waste will be generated means that a reduced quantity of materials will be purchased and less waste taken to landfill will reduce gate fees for disposal as well. This will improved recovery practices and motivate a sustained change in waste management practise in future. In order to reduce the cost of construction material, reused and recycled construction waste is the best solution to dispose the waste materials in the construction industry. Secondly, reused and recycled is an economically viable option. Using reused and recycled, the waste materials on site will not be dumped indiscriminately and sent to incinerators of burnt on-site or sent to landfill sites. Contractors could just send the materials to recycling centres. From recycling of construction wastes, contractors could recoup their losses and make a healthy profit out of it. This method is already been used in the United States. In Malaysia, reused and recycled is still not commonly practise. Therefore, there is much potential to contribute on the market for recycled construction wastes. Therefore, our country not just cut down the landfill sites but also cut down a lot of expenses on construction material to construction industry. The construction industry produces substantial amount of waste, which is about four times of that produced in households thereby accounting for more than 50 per cent of the waste deposited in a typical landfill (Ferguson et al., 1995; Coventry and Guthrie, 1998). This means the rising of disposal costs and reductions in number of landfills that create a need to seek for other solutions to either reduce, recycle and reuse or providing a good material storage management for the material from being damage and lead to construction waste. Lastly, the contractors in every construction industry should be practising 3Rs Concept or provide proper training regarding on efficiency of the material storage management. This will hopefully to prevent losses in the construction industry because the amount of construction waste generated is equal to waste of money in the construction company. This research is carried out to investigate the best options to minimize or dispose the waste from the site in order to make the company gain profits. Research Methodology This research will be focus on the benefits of the construction waste management, the types of waste used to reuse or recycle and the method used to overcome the construction waste in order to minimize the construction waste in Malaysia construction industry. The stages of the research methodology can divided into 4 stages, which are: Stage 1 Literature Review and the Pilot Study Stage 2 The Technique of Data Collections Stage 3 The Result of Analysis and Findings Stage 4 The Conclusion and Recommendation of Data Analysis Stage 1 Literature Review and the Pilot Study The literature review is a critical and in depth evaluation of previous research. The literature review serves to demonstrate and more understanding and knowledge of theoretical and research issues related to research topic. In order to collect information in the literature review, the secondary sources is implement which included journal articles, books, newspapers, magazines, online sources, senior dissertation, etc. Therefore, a comprehensive of literature review regarding to the construction waste minimization in Malaysian construction industry is carry out. These will hopefully providing some useful information in carrying out the research topic in literature review. The literature review act as a guide to discovered more knowledge regarding to the research topic. Stage 2 The Technique of Data Collections Primary Source Primary source can be collected through case study, questionnaire and interview. These are the effective alternative solution that enables to collect adequate and solid information regarding to research topic. The questionnaire survey technique is chosen to collect the data. Questionnaire Questionnaire will be the primary data collection which was selected as survey method for this research. The data collection is based on the open-ended questionnaires will be given out 20-50 respondents to relevant person who has the experience and knowledge in construction waste management. The questionnaire was designed in several sections and categories, the questionnaires will be distribute to the construction industry companies located in city area of Kuala Lumpur. The target respondents to distribute the questionnaire are mainly focus on the person who has knowledge regarding to the types of waste used to reuse or recycle, the benefits of the construction waste management and the method to overcome the construction waste. Secondary Source Secondary source can be collected through journal articles and journal review. In this secondary source, carry out study as much journal articles as possible in order to understand and provide help on this research topic. Other than that, other secondary source in including books, newspapers, magazines, internet sources, senior dissertation will also be carried out to conduct this dissertation. The information that has been review or study must relate to the research topic in order to carry out this research efficiently. Stage 3 The Result of Analysis and Findings The data can be collected through surveying in questionnaire method. The structure of the questions is based on the research topic which is minimizing construction waste in the Malaysian construction industry. Approximate 20-50 sets of questions are send to the relevant respondents who has the experience and knowledge with the construction waste minimization. The respondents are mainly targeted on the project manager, specialists, professionals, etc. After the data of questionnaires has been collected and gathered, the analysis result will be analysed and present into bar charts, pie charts or histogram form with explanations in details regarding to the data collected. Form the data that had been collected, writing up of the content of the dissertation is used in this stage to write up the result of analysis and findings that cover the chapters proposed in every each of the following section. Stage 4 The Conclusion and Recommendation of Data Analysis In this stage, the overall result of the survey is combined and gathered, then come out with the conclusion of the data analysis. After result analyse of the data is taken, recommendation of the data analysis from the survey is suggested regarding to the construction waste minimization in Malaysia construction industry. The construction wastes minimization in Malaysian construction industry To identify the types of waste that can be used to reuse or recycle in construction industry To analyse the benefits of construction waste management in construction industry To give out recommendation on how to overcome the construction waste problem in construction industry Literature Reviews (Secondary source) STAGE 1 Technique of Data Collection (Primary source, Questionnaires) STAGE 2 The Result of Analysis and Findings A case study about the fire protection system in commercial building A set of question will be distribute to the commercial buildings users to dertermine theier knowledge about fire safety An interview would be carry out to the fire safety professionalSTAGE 3 Conclusion and Recommendation STAGE 4 Figure 1.1: The Flow Chart of the Research Methodology Summaries of Chapters Chapter 1: Introduction to the Research The Chapter 1 for the project and dissertation is introduction to the research. Under this chapter, the researcher needs to explain to the reader that the reason that choosing the dissertation title and briefly introduce the research title. The research goals for this research also one of the important parts to be included in this chapter. The aim, objectives and hypothesis to be tested for the research title should be clear before start. A research content is a basic requirement to be prepared before proceed to the next stage. This is to brief the whole process of dissertation to the reader before read the content. Chapter 2: Literature Review Literature review is to introduce the types of materials that can be reuse and recycle in Malaysian construction industry, the construction waste management that may lead benefits to the Malaysian construction industry and recommend on how the construction waste problem can be overcome in Malaysian construction industry. In this chapter, literature review will done by carried out studies on Articles from the internet, online sources, books and journals regarding to the construction waste in Malaysian construction industry, the types of particular waste material that can be used to reuse and recycle in order to minimize the waste in Malaysia and recommend some solution to overcome the problem regarding to construction waste. Chapter 3: Research Methodology In this chapter will explain about the research methodology used in order to carry out this research. This chapter consists of the scope of this chapter, the statement of the research aim, the rational of questionnaire, research samples and lastly the method of analysis. In the first stage, the principle of waste management that normally manage in Malaysian construction industry. The second stage will be introducing the benefits of waste management that may lead benefits to the Malaysian construction industry. After that, introduce the types of waste material that can be used to reuse and recycle and recommend the most effective ways to overcome the waste problem in Malaysian construction industry. In order to achieve effective and efficient feedback from the respondent, all the design questionnaire should met with all the research objectives. Chapter 4: The Result of Analysis and Findings In this chapter will analyse the result from the questionnaire that collected from the relevant respondents. The purpose of this chapter will analyse the data collected and to analyse the information that obtained to charts or histogram from the respondents regarding of that particular title. Chapter 5: Conclusions and Recommendations In this chapter will sum up the conclusion and recommendation regarding of the project and dissertation on this research topic. Base on the result that obtained, the researcher should write down the conclusion and recommendation on this research topic. This will conclude all the information obtained and summarise the major conclusion to briefly explain what this research topic is all about. 1.9 Summary As a conclusion, a brief introduction has been stated in this chapter regarding to the construction waste minimization in Malaysian construction industry. Besides that, background of construction waste in the industries is reviewed and come out with several factors such as reduce, reused, recycle and replace. Next, problem statement has been stated the problems that face in the current construction industries regarding to the waste, thus 4Rs Concept is implement to minimize the waste. Therefore, the aim and objectives is carried out to determine the research topic. Other than that, the scope of the study has also carried out to come out with the location that the researcher going to focus and what are the targeted respondents. Lastly, research methodology is carried out to determine the method used to collect the data such as primary and secondary sources. After the data collected, analysis of the result will be conducted to analyse the information obtained into charts and histogram. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1 Introduction In this chapter, literature review is going to carry out in depth study on the overview of the Malaysian Construction industry. After that, introduce the types of waste that normally generated in Malaysia and the method to overcome the construction waste from site in order to minimize the waste produce on site. The process of this is to investigate whether Malaysia construction industry has practise and carried out the 4R Concept in order to minimize the waste on site. 2.2 The overview of the Malaysian construction industry Figure 2.1: National GDP and Construction GDP of 2006 to 2009 In Figure 2.1 stated that the GDP has constantly increased from 2008 to 2009. This means that the economy is growing in Malaysia. Therefore, Malaysian construction projects are needed to give momentum to the economy to make firm on the Construction GDP. When the economy grows, the standard of living, opportunity for the jobs, economy will increase as well. Whenever things that has a good side, there will be also a bad side of it. The bad side is that as there are demands of developments in Malaysia, the construction wastes produced will also increase as well. The construction industry will be known as non-environmental friendly industry due to pollution of air, water, sound and land. Other than that, it will also cause natural disasters such as flooding, landslides and so on. This is mainly due to inappropriate construction management and Lack of concern for the environmental consequences of large development projects. It is believed that the GDP has increase constantly. This shows that the standard of living, opportunity for the jobs, economy is increasing which mean waste generate by the Malaysian construction industry will be also increasing that may lead to pollution such as noise, air, water and land. This may cause to natural disaster such as landslides and flooding. Most of the developed countries such as Kuala Lumpur, they did not concern about the waste that produced to the environment and they just concern about the profit they are going to earn after the project is done. The construction industry in our country is fast becoming a big waste generator. The extensive building and infrastructure development projects have led to a huge increase of construction and demolition waste recently. With that in mind, the government introduced EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) in 1987 within the framework of the Environmental Quality Act (EQA). Environmental impact assessment (HA) is a legal measure to curb environmental pollution and ecological destruction at the source Environmental review of projects prevents not only environmental degradation, but also construction errors and faulty economic analysis (Yusoff, 2010). In developed country such as United States, the construction industry has already produced tones and tones of construction waste on site. Whereas, in under develop country such as Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is expected that numerous numbers of wastes is going to produce in the Malaysia construction industry. The waste produced in Malaysia will be more than United Stage due to there is more development on-going that cause waste definitely. Recently, the development of building and infrastructures project generates most of the waste due to hacking, dismantling, repairing work. On the other hand, the government also introduce the Environmental Impact Assessment. Environmental impact assessment is a legal measure to stop environmental pollution and ecological destruction at the source Environmental review of projects. It is not just minimizing the waste that generated in Malaysian construction industry but also environmental degradation. According to Ibrahim (2010) has stated that the construction materials wastage has shown that the costs of materials have been exceeded 50 percent of the construction cost, depending on the type of construction. The main reasons of causing such material wastage due to poor setting out error, workmanship, ordering of materials not meeting specifications and requirement, excessive use of materials, breakage in poor handling of materials and improper planning of storage (Ibrahim, 2010). This shows that in the construction industry, the percentage of the construction waste produced consist of very high percentage in Malaysia. Therefore it is time for everyone to take into consideration of implementing several ways to minimize the construction waste on site. Some waste is unavoidable even under perfect conditions of design and construction. But excessive waste is common in the construction process and has received lack consideration by contractors or the industry. The waste levels in Malaysia is considerably high and from the Malaysia Environmental Quality Report 2005 we may find that waste may be generated and treated in many forms. Based on notification received by the Department of Environment (DOE), a total of 548,916.11 metric tonnes of scheduled wastes were generated in 2005 as compared to 469,584.07 metric tonnes in 2004 (Teoh Su Ping, 2009). It is surprisingly that the construction material turned up to be construction waste rapidly and gradually increasing from 2004 to 2005. It is just within one year, the waste that generated has gone up rapidly and the volume of the waste is calculated in metric tonnes of wastes which mean the production of waste is very serious in Malaysia. There is a lot of opportunity to improve on waste minimization in Malaysia. The breakdown according to waste categories and industry types are given in (Figure 2.2 and Figure 2.3 respectively). Of the total wastes produced; 8s5,734.92 metric tonnes (15.6%) were treated and disposed at Kualiti Alam Sdn. Bhd., 8,423.26 metric tonnes (1.5%) were treated and disposed at Trinekens (Sarawak) Sdn. Bhd., 17,650.01 metric tonnes (3.2%) of clinical wastes were incinerated at licensed off-site facilities, 5,224.00 metric tonnes (1.0%) were exported for recovery purposes, 149,569.99 metric tonnes (27.2%) of scheduled wastes were recovered at off-site facilities, an estimated 120,345.25 metric tonnes (21.9%) were treated on-site and 161,968.68 metric tonnes (29.5%) were stored onsite at waste generators premises. Six land farms and 16 on-site waste incinerators had been licensed by DOE to allow for on-site treatment and incineration respectively. (Malaysia environmental quality report, 2005). Figure 2.2 DOE: Quality of Scheduled Waste Generated by Category, 2005 (Sources from Malaysia environmental quality report, 2005) Figure 2.3 DOE: Quality of Scheduled Waste Generated by Industry, 2005 (Sources from Malaysia environmental quality report, 2005) 2.3 The types of waste produced in Malaysia There are various waste generated in Malaysia industry. The waste can be differentiating as following: Construction and demolition waste Commercial and industrial waste Domestic waste Special waste In this research, it is mainly focus on construction and demolition waste that generated in Malaysian construction industry. The construction and demolition waste is accounted as the second highest in Malaysia. Although construction and demolition waste is not the highest waste that produced in Malaysia but construction and demolition is consider quite high in Malaysia. Figure 2.4 Types of waste produced in Malaysia 2.3.1 Construction and Demolition waste The construction industry uses a wide of material including lumber or wood, concrete, aggregate, drywall, masonry products, plastic and metal products. In addition, hazardous materials such as paints, solvents, and adhesive are used. Many of these materials eventually become wastes. Typically, up to 10 percent of the materials delivered to a construction site become waste (Magdich, P. 1995). According to Magdich (1995), it is understandable that the most of the material used in construction industries are normally wood, concrete, aggregate, metal and so on. The construction waste defines as most of these materials only uses 90 percent in the construction and the rest of the 10 percent will be end up wastage on site. The demolition waste defines as waste that generate from the demolition work of the buildings or structures. The component of the construction and demolition wastes differ mainly depend on the mature of the project or activities involved. Table 2.1 shows the major components of the Construction and Demolition wastes. Construction waste Demolition waste Dimension lumber Dimension lumber Plywood Plywood Metals Asphalt Concrete / Masonry Concrete / Masonry Fibreglass Drywall Soil and land-clearing waste Appliances Foam insulation Plastics Hazardous waste (solvent / Oils) Carpet Others Others Table 2.1: Major Component of Construction and Demolition wastes (Source from Magdich.P.1995) Construction waste Percent (%) By Volume Dimension lumber 25 Gypsum Wallboard 15 Masonry and Tile 12 Cardboard 10 Manufactured Wood 10 Asphalt 6 Other Wastes 5 Fibreglass 5 Other Packaging 4 Metal 4 Plastic and Foam 4 Total 100The estimated composition of Construction wastes in Malaysia is shown in below Table 2.2 and 2.3. Table 2.2: Estimated Composition of Construction waste in Malaysia (Source from Magdich, P. 1995) Demolition waste Percent (%) By Volume Wood Products 33 Masonry and Tile 13 Concrete 53 Others 1 Total 100 Table 2.3: Estimated Composition of Demolition waste in Malaysia (Source from Magdich, P. 1995) 2.4 The classification of the construction waste In construction industry, the waste can be produced in anytime and anyplace on site or off site. There are great possibility of the material waste may be arise when deliveries to site is inappropriate handling or material on sites have been idling for too long. This means the wastes can be occurred in any moment and in all stages of constructing the projects. Therefore, material should be handling appropriately, mov

Depleted Uranium Ethics Of the Silver Bullet :: Argumentative Persuasive Weapon Papers

Depleted Uranium Ethics Of the Silver Bullet I. INTRODUCTION/ABSTRACT: â€Å"All the soldiers there were wearing NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical warfare) protective clothing. We said: ‘What’s going on here?’ And their answer was: ‘Didn’t you know? This ammunition is a bit dodgy.’† – Tim Pubrick, Gulf War veteran, British Royal Army tank commander.6 Depleted uranium (DU) ammunition is a very recent advancement in military weapons use. Due to its effectiveness against piercing armor, DU ammunition has recently become a popular item among NATO armies and will most likely become a mainstream form of conventional ammunition among many other armies of the world. However, massive amounts of circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that the use of DU ammunition has known to cause dramatic side effects, such as health problems, stillborn babies, toxic and poisonous land, water supplies, and residential territories. Hence an important question arises, is it ethical to use DU ammunition on the battlefield? II. WHAT IS DEPLETED URANIUM (DU)? Before we can analyze the ethical use of DU ammunition, it is important to first establish the technology behind DU and DU weapons. Uranium is one of the heaviest elements found in nature and is emits alpha, beta, and gamma particles. It is 1.7 times denser than lead.12 The half-life of U238 (DU is 99% U238) is 4.5 billion years!13 Uranium byproducts(such as Thorium (Th232)) have even longer half-lives, making uranium an element that gets more radioactive during its own decay process.5 Natural uranium is 99.274% U238, 0.720% U235, and 0.0055% U234.14a Uranium is enriched when its contents of U235 reaches 3.2-3.6% (since U235 is fissible). Weapon-grade uranium is +90% U235.14a What is depleted uranium? We start out with natural uranium and extract enriched uranium for nuclear fuel and weaponry. The leftover from the extraction process is something very similar to natural uranium, known as â€Å"depleted uranium†. The only difference is that DU has 0.202% of U235 and 0.0008% of U234.14a How much DU do we currently have? As of June 1998, we have around 57,800 huge steel cylinders of DU or 496,000 metric tons. 14b Storage of DU is very complicated and problematic since corrosion of DU storage cylinders often occurs over relatively short periods of time.15 III. MODERN APPLICATIONS OF DU: The applications of DU are quite extensive. DU is very low cost and is readily available. DU can be used as a commercial aircraft counterweight. A Boeing 747 needs 1,500 kg of DU.

Working in partnership with others in education

Mary Warnock emphasized on the importance of placing the assorted forms of disablements frequently leads to different sorts of particular educational demands. She points out that autistic spectrum differs from other childhood conditions and affect an unusual manner of sing the societal universe and the form of development ( Cigman, 2007 ) . The Particular Educational Needs codification of Practice devotes a chapter to parents saying â€Å" working in partnership with parents which portray how LEAs and schools should back up parents during statutory appraisal. † Parents must be allowed to take portion in the determination devising procedure when bespeaking a statutory appraisal ( DfES, 2001 ) .The Education Act ( 1996 ) suggests that LEAs have the duties in run intoing the particular educational demands of kids. This procedure begins when a referral is issued to the LEA bespeaking a statutory appraisal in order to find how to run into the demands of kids with particular demands . This procedure takes about 26 hebdomads to be carried out and completed. However, if the Local Authorities disagrees with the referral or petition, parents have the legal right to appeal to the Particular Educational Needs Tribunal ( SENT ) , ( Farrell, 1997 ) . There are assorted jobs and issues that parents experience when seeking educational aid for their kids with particular demands. First, the clip frame for an entreaty to be accepted and acknowledged by the courts takes about six hebdomads. As a consequence of the long waiting period, parents frequently become stressed and defeated. Sometimes the procedure period is excessively long therefore giving rise to other terrible jobs, such as diagnosing and intervention for illustration if a kid is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ( ADHD ) at a certain age ( 0-16 ) but at 17 old ages the diagnosing will be classified as something else. Conduct upset is an illustration. Applying independently for a statutory appraisal can be really nerve-racking for parents ; a long ‘waiting game ‘ and parents may get down to miss assurance in the system ( Cowne, 1996 ) .A In most instances parents find it hard to acquire the procedure started, holding to ‘fight ‘ to acquire their kid assessed ( Taylor, 2003 ) .A The Education Act ( 1996 ) states that it is the LEA ‘s duty to organize the demands to run into a kid ‘s demands as have been identified by the statutory appraisal and underlined in the statement.A In treatments held by the Audit Commission with parents, the bulk agreed that whenever the school failed to mention their kid for an appraisal, they found it thwarting and nerve-racking. A parent in peculiar commented â€Å" I found it hard to get down the procedure † . I had to implore†¦ ‘ ( Taylor, 2003 ) . Some parents felt there is a immense hold in get downing the procedure whereas others experience clip troubles whilst the procedure begins.A The House of Commons ( 2006 ) reports that there is a great concern in the length of clip it takes to measure and treat a statement ; this in its ain right can hold terrible effects on a kid ‘s instruction. Lack of parental partnership besides seemed to hold posed jobs for parents while seeking educational support for their SEN kids. Throughout appraisal of particular demands proviso, parents have a right to take part to the full, nevertheless they can merely make so if appropriate information about the system and procedure they are prosecuting in are given to them.It besides helps if the professionals genuinely listen to the parents. Whitaker ‘s research ( 2007 ) ascertain issues for parents of kids with Autistic Spectrum Disorders ( ASD ) in mainstream schools and found that parental partnerships were the beginning of many dissatisfaction. He states that â€Å" Parents placed a high value on the willingness of school staff to listen and take earnestly any concerns that they may hold about their kid ‘s experiences and advancement. Conversely aˆÂ ¦failure to take parental concerns earnestly was a powerful cause of dissatisfaction peculiarly where parents felt they were seen as needlessly crabbed. † ( Wall, 2003 ) Parents do go vulnerable and stressed if they are sing troubles in obtaining adequate information and support from schools and Local Authorities. ( Robson, 1989 ) declared that â€Å" a successful partnership is based on equality, whereby each spouse recognises and benefits from the endowments, accomplishments expertness and cognition of the other. At times one spouse may follow a comparatively inactive function, in other state of affairss a more active function. † The Lamb Inquiry ( DCSF, 2009 ) besides highlighted that parents preponderantly wanted a system that worked for them and their kids: Parents have told us that good, honest and unfastened communicating is the most indispensable component for constructing assurance and good relationships. Face to confront communicating with parents and handling them as equal spouses with expertness is critical to set uping and prolonging assurance ( Wall, 2003 ) . This clearly shows how hapless communicating between schools and Local governments can be strenuous for parents. In an article a parent shared her ambitious experiences in having appropriate educational support for her 11yr old boy. Christine Grainger, a female parent from Surrey, says voyaging the system on behalf of kids with particular demands is hard and time-consuming. Christine ‘s 11-year-old boy Dean, has dyslexia, dyspraxia and attention-deficit hyperactivity upset ( ADHD ) and she had a conflict to acquire the specializer learning he needed. Christine says she is disillusioned with the system. At the terminal of his response twelvemonth, she was told Dean had jobs and was being put on the SEN registry. When he was finally given a statement stating he needed 20 hours of support, Christine was told the school did non hold the specialist staff required to back up him and was asked to happen a different school â€Å" First of all Dean did n't desire to go forth his school because he ‘d do some particular friends and it was besides hard seeking to happen a school that would run into all of Dean ‘s demands â€Å" We found we could n't merely take him to any school, I had to seek and happen a school that would accept him with all the jobs that he ‘s got † ( Tomlinson, 1981 ) . Inclusion has been identified as one of the cardinal issues that parents find unsatisfactory. It is of import because it affects kids with and without disablements. Harmonizing to Taylor ( 2003 ) the issue debated in 1970 ‘s, was whether handicapped kids learn best in incorporate or unintegrated categories. Conversely some parents felt that they were given excessively much information and non adequate clip to understand. Most parent ‘did n't understand what the information meant in English†¦ ‘ experiencing ‘bombarded ‘ ( Taylor, 2003 ) . It is said that it is the Local Authority ( LA ) responsibilities to guarantee that a proposed statement is sent out to parents no subsequently than 12 hebdomads after the statutory appraisal Begin. The statement consists of six subdivisions in which parents find it difficult to understand what it all entails ( Cigman, 2007 ) . Problems persist even once the statement has been issued. Most parents found out that their kids had received a statement but failed to understand what each subdivision was approximately. One parent stated that † she will be maintaining an oculus on the school to guarantee that the kid ‘s statement is followed through † ( Taylor, 2003 ) . The most hard job that parents come across is ; acquiring their kid assessed, particularly if the kid was referred by the school. When a parent realizes that their kid seems to be sing troubles whilst acquisition, parents should first reach the school.A If the school agrees that there might be jobs, with the parents consent they will register the kid on the school action /school action plus docket. These are intercession plans that assist kids with educational demands to make the set marks in class.A If parents find these plan unsuitable for their kids ‘s demands referral for a statutory appraisal is otherwise available.A Merely a parent, the school, wellness authorization or societal services section is allowed to bespeak statutory assessment.A It is ever advisable that parents should advise the school foremost. However, some parents have problem speaking to their kid ‘s school because ‘the school wo n't accept that kid has particular educational demands ‘ ( Moore, 2004 ) . There is a procedure that parents has to follow when seeking appraisal for their kid. Wolfendale introduced a instance survey scenario, where the parents approached the educational psychologist when they came to the school for a everyday visit, they found that the school had ne'er informed the psychologist about their kid ( Bell, 2003 ) In fortunes where parents and school do non hold, a parent may near the Local Authorities ( LA ) independently. However, the LA may be loath to get down the procedure for fiscal grounds. The Audit Commission wrote a study ‘Statutory appraisal and statements of SEN: in demand of reappraisal? ‘ the Audit Commission looks at public money and the best manner to utilize it.A It writes that the demands for statements are lifting and ‘statements are intended for kids with higher degrees of demand†¦ based on a statutory appraisal ‘ ( IPSEA, 2001 ) . Geting a statutory appraisal is cost effectual and may non help the kid ‘s demand, this is why it is difficult to acquire LA to hold to the referral, ‘ if you do n't measure the demand how can you find what is required to run into it ‘ ( IPSEA, 2001 ) .A The lone path to acquiring a statement is through an appraisal ; the statement guarantees that the kid ‘s particular educational demands will be met.A There is besides the issue of the kid ‘s part ; they excessively have a part to do in their appraisal and the type of intercession programme that will profit them. The kids act ( 1989 ) and the Child Care Act ( 2006 ) supports the importance of listening to the kid which is besides echoed in the codification of pattern ( DfES ) , 2001. ) This is an of import consideration as it is frequently presumed that really immature kids and particularly those with particular demands are incapable of lending to discussion sing their instruction and acquisition, when in world they have valid sentiments and part to do which can inform parents, practicians and pattern. If kids are capable of lending to the procedure of appraisal so their positions should be valued and respected. Inequality is another facet that generates troubles for parents. It might be the instance that particular educational demands parents do non have the same intervention in comparing with the parents of normal mainstream pupils. One of the statements put frontward by those in favor of educational inclusion for all SEN kids is that such kids benefit from the societal life in a mainstream school and from the function theoretical accounts provided by typically developing kids ( Cigman, 2007 ) .There are more concerns about SEN kids than those who are considered normal, because of their forte, greater accent is placed on their educational development, as such parents with SEN kids are faced with more challenges than parents who have normal kids. Inclusion is besides a challenge faced by parents with particular kids. This is due to the fact that, particular kids do non work as the normal kids in the same schoolroom scene. There is the job of puting suited acquisition challenges, reacting to pupils ‘ diverse acquisition demands and get the better ofing possible barriers to larning and appraisal for persons and groups of students ( Farrell, 1997 ) .. In decision, it is apparent that the jobs and issues that parents encounter in determining educational support for their kids with SEN are many and continues to blossom as new diagnosing are made. It is really clear that the statutory appraisal which is of paramount importance is the really hard and disputing for parents. Many times parents are non given a opportunity to hold an input or do a positive part towards their kid.

Finance Management Essay

In a world without FIs the users of corporate funds in the economy would have to approach directly the household savers of funds in order to satisfy their borrowing needs. This process would be extremely costly because of the up-front information costs faced by potential lenders. Cost inefficiencies would arise with the identification of potential borrowers, the pooling of small savings into loans of sufficient size to finance corporate activities, and the assessment of risk and investment opportunities. Moreover, lenders would have to monitor the activities of borrowers over each loan’s life span. The net result would be an imperfect allocation of resources in an economy. 3. Identify and explain three economic disincentives that probably would dampen the flow of funds between household savers of funds and corporate users of funds in an economic world without financial intermediaries. Investors generally are averse to purchasing securities directly because of (a) monitoring costs, (b) liquidity costs, and (c) price risk. Monitoring the activities of borrowers requires extensive time, expense, and expertise. As a result, households would prefer to leave this activity to others, and by definition, the resulting lack of monitoring would increase the riskiness of investing in corporate debt and equity markets. The long-term nature of corporate equity and debt would likely eliminate at least a portion of those households willing to lend money, as the preference of many for near-cash liquidity would dominate the extra returns which may be available. Third, the price risk of transactions on the secondary markets would increase without the information flows and services generated by high volume. 4. Identify and explain the two functions in which FIs may specialize that enable the smooth flow of funds from household savers to corporate users. FIs serve as conduits between users and savers of funds by providing a brokerage function and by engaging in the asset transformation function. The brokerage function can benefit both savers and users of funds and can vary according to the firm. FIs may provide only transaction services, such as discount brokerages, or they also may offer advisory services which help reduce information costs, such as full-line firms like Merrill Lynch. The asset transformation function is accomplished by issuing their own securities, such as deposits and insurance policies that are more attractive to household savers, and using the proceeds to purchase the primary securities of corporations. Thus, FIs take on the costs associated with the purchase of securities. 5. In what sense are the financial claims of FIs considered secondary securities, while the financial claims of commercial corporations are considered primary securities? How does the transformation process, or intermediation, reduce the risk, or economic disincentives, to the savers? The funds raised by the financial claims issued by commercial corporations are used to invest in real assets. These financial claims, which are considered primary securities, are purchased by FIs whose financial claims therefore are considered secondary securities. Savers who invest in the financial claims of FIs are indirectly investing in the primary securities of commercial corporations. However, the information gathering and evaluation expenses, monitoring expenses, liquidity costs, and price risk of placing the investments directly with the commercial corporation are reduced because of the efficiencies of the FI. 6. Explain how financial institutions act as delegated monitors. What secondary benefits often accrue to the entire financial system because of this monitoring process? By putting excess funds into financial institutions, individual investors give to the FIs the responsibility of deciding who should receive the money and of ensuring that the money is utilized properly by the borrower. In this sense the depositors have delegated the FI to act as a monitor on their behalf. The FI can collect information more efficiently than individual investors. Further, the FI can utilize this information to create new products, such as commercial loans, that continually update the information pool. This more frequent monitoring process sends important informational signals to other participants in the market, a process that reduces information imperfection and asymmetry between the ultimate sources and users of funds in the economy. 7. What are five general areas of FI specialness that are caused by providing various services to sectors of the economy? First, FIs collect and process information more efficiently than individual savers. Second, FIs provide secondary claims to household savers which often have better liquidity characteristics than primary securities such as quities and bonds. Third, by diversifying the asset base FIs provide secondary securities with lower price-risk conditions than primary securities. Fourth, FIs provide economies of scale in transaction costs because assets are purchased in larger amounts. Finally, FIs provide maturity intermediation to the economy which allows the introduction of additional types of investment contracts, such as mortgage loans, that are financed with short-term deposits. 8. How do FIs solve the information and related agency costs when household savers invest directly in securities issued by corporations? What are agency costs? Agency costs occur when owners or managers take actions that are not in the best interests of the equity investor or lender. These costs typically result from the failure to adequately monitor the activities of the borrower. If no other lender performs these tasks, the lender is subject to agency costs as the firm may not satisfy the covenants in the lending agreement. Because the FI invests the funds of many small savers, the FI has a greater incentive to collect information and monitor the activities of the borrower. 9. What often is the benefit to the lenders, borrowers, and financial markets in general of the solution to the information problem provided by the large financial institutions? One benefit to the solution process is the development of new secondary securities that allow even further improvements in the monitoring process. An example is the bank loan that is renewed more quickly than long-term debt. The renewal process updates the financial and operating information of the firm more frequently, thereby reducing the need for restrictive bond covenants that may be difficult and costly to implement. 10. How do FIs alleviate the problem of liquidity risk faced by investors who wish to invest in the securities of corporations? Liquidity risk occurs when savers are not able to sell their securities on demand. Commercial banks, for example, offer deposits that can be withdrawn at any time. Yet the banks make long-term loans or invest in illiquid assets because they are able to diversify their portfolios and better monitor the performance of firms that have borrowed or issued securities. Thus individual investors are able to realize the benefits of investing in primary assets without accepting the liquidity risk of direct investment. 1. How do financial institutions help individual savers diversify their portfolio risks? Which type of financial institution is best able to achieve this goal? Money placed in any financial institution will result in a claim on a more diversified portfolio. Banks lend money to many different types of corporate, consumer, and government customers, and insuran ce companies have investments in many different types of assets. Investment in a mutual fund may generate the greatest diversification benefit because of the fund’s investment in a wide array of stocks and fixed income securities. 2. How can financial institutions invest in high-risk assets with funding provided by low-risk liabilities from savers? Diversification of risk occurs with investments in assets that are not perfectly positively correlated. One result of extensive diversification is that the average risk of the asset base of an FI will be less than the average risk of the individual assets in which it has invested. Thus individual investors realize some of the returns of high-risk assets without accepting the corresponding risk characteristics. 13. How can individual savers use financial institutions to reduce the transaction costs of investing in financial assets? By pooling the assets of many small investors, FIs can gain economies of scale in transaction costs. This benefit occurs whether the FI is lending to a corporate or retail customer, or purchasing assets in the money and capital markets. In either case, operating activities that are designed to deal in large volumes typically are more efficient than those activities designed for small volumes. 14. What is maturity intermediation? What are some of the ways in which the risks of maturity intermediation are managed by financial intermediaries? If net borrowers and net lenders have different optimal time horizons, FIs can service both sectors by matching their asset and liability maturities through on- and off-balance sheet hedging activities and flexible access to the financial markets. For example, the FI can offer the relatively short-term liabilities desired by households and also satisfy the demand for long-term loans such as home mortgages. By investing in a portfolio of long-and short-term assets that have variable- and fixed-rate components, the FI can reduce maturity risk exposure by utilizing liabilities that have similar variable- and fixed-rate characteristics, or by using futures, options, swaps, and other derivative products. 15. What are five areas of institution-specific FI specialness, and which types of institutions are most likely to be the service providers? First, commercial banks and other depository institutions are key players for the transmission of monetary policy from the central bank to the rest of the economy. Second, specific FIs often are identified as the major source of finance for certain sectors of the economy. For example, S;Ls and savings banks traditionally serve the credit needs of the residential real estate market. Third, life insurance and pension funds commonly are encouraged to provide mechanisms to transfer wealth across generations. Fourth, depository institutions efficiently provide payment services to benefit the economy. Finally, mutual funds provide denomination intermediation by allowing small investors to purchase pieces of assets with large minimum sizes such as negotiable CDs and commercial paper issues. 6. How do depository institutions such as commercial banks assist in the implementation and transmission of monetary policy? The Federal Reserve Board can involve directly the commercial banks in the implementation of monetary policy through changes in the reserve requirements and the discount rate. The open market sale and purchase of Treasury securities by the Fe d involves the banks in the implementation of monetary policy in a less direct manner. 17. What is meant by credit allocation regulation? What social benefit is this type of regulation intended to provide? Credit allocation regulation refers to the requirement faced by FIs to lend to certain sectors of the economy, which are considered to be socially important. These may include housing and farming. Presumably the provision of credit to make houses more affordable or farms more viable leads to a more stable and productive society. 18. Which intermediaries best fulfill the intergenerational wealth transfer function? What is this wealth transfer process? Life insurance and pension funds often receive special taxation relief and other subsidies to assist in the transfer of wealth from one generation to another. In effect, the wealth transfer process allows the accumulation of wealth by one generation to be transferred directly to one or more younger generations by establishing life insurance policies and trust provisions in pension plans. Often this wealth transfer process avoids the full marginal tax treatment that a direct payment would incur. 19. What are two of the most important payment services provided by financial institutions? To what extent do these services efficiently provide benefits to the economy? The two most important payment services are check clearing and wire transfer services. Any breakdown in these systems would produce gridlock in the payment system with resulting harmful effects to the economy at both the domestic and potentially the international level. 20. What is denomination intermediation? How do FIs assist in this process? Denomination intermediation is the process whereby small investors are able to purchase pieces of assets that normally are sold only in large denominations. Individual savers often invest small amounts in mutual funds. The mutual funds pool these small amounts and purchase negotiable CDs which can only be sold in minimum increments of $100,000, but which often are sold in million dollar packages. Similarly, commercial paper often is sold only in minimum amounts of $250,000. Therefore small investors can benefit in the returns and low risk which these assets typically offer. 21. What is negative externality? In what ways do the existence of negative externalities justify the extra regulatory attention received by financial institutions? A negative externality refers to the action by one party that has an adverse affect on some third party who is not part of the original transaction. For example, in an industrial setting, smoke from a factory that lowers surrounding property values may be viewed as a negative externality. For financial institutions, one concern is the contagion effect that can arise when the failure of one FI can cast doubt on the solvency of other institutions in that industry. 22. If financial markets operated perfectly and costlessly, would there be a need for financial intermediaries? To a certain extent, financial intermediation exists because of financial market imperfections. If information is available costlessly to all participants, savers would not need intermediaries to act as either their brokers or their delegated monitors. However, if there are social benefits to intermediation, such as the transmission of monetary policy or credit allocation, then FIs would exist even in the absence of financial market imperfections. 23. What is mortgage redlining? Mortgage redlining occurs when a lender specifically defines a geographic area in which it refuses to make any loans. The term arose because of the area often was outlined on a map with a red pencil. 24. Why are FIs among the most regulated sectors in the world? When is net regulatory burden positive? FIs are required to enhance the efficient operation of the economy. Successful financial intermediaries provide sources of financing that fund economic growth opportunity that ultimately raises the overall level of economic activity. Moreover, successful financial intermediaries provide transaction services to the economy that facilitate trade and wealth accumulation. Conversely, distressed FIs create negative externalities for the entire economy. That is, the adverse impact of an FI failure is greater than just the loss to shareholders and other private claimants on the FI’s assets. For example, the local market suffers if an FI fails and other FIs also may be thrown into financial distress by a contagion effect. Therefore, since some of the costs of the failure of an FI are generally borne by society at large, the government intervenes in the management of these institutions to protect society’s interests. This intervention takes the form of regulation. However, the need for regulation to minimize social costs may impose private costs to the firms that would not exist without regulation. This additional private cost is defined as a net regulatory burden. Examples include the cost of holding excess capital and/or excess reserves and the extra costs of providing information. Although they may be socially beneficial, these costs add to private operating costs. To the extent that these additional costs help to avoid negative externalities and to ensure the smooth and efficient operation of the economy, the net regulatory burden is positive. 5. What forms of protection and regulation do regulators of FIs impose to ensure their safety and soundness? Regulators have issued several guidelines to insure the safety and soundness of FIs: a. FIs are required to diversify their assets. For example, banks cannot lend more than 10 percent of their equity to a single borrower. b. FIs are required to maintain minimum amounts of capital to cushion an y unexpected losses. In the case of banks, the Basle standards require a minimum core and supplementary capital of 8 percent of their risk-adjusted assets. c. Regulators have set up guaranty funds such as BIF for commercial banks, SIPC for securities firms, and state guaranty funds for insurance firms to protect individual investors. d. Regulators also engage in periodic monitoring and surveillance, such as on-site examinations, and request periodic information from the FIs. 26. In the transmission of monetary policy, what is the difference between inside money and outside money? How does the Federal Reserve Board try to control the amount of inside money? How can this regulatory position create a cost for the depository financial institutions? Outside money is that part of the money supply directly produced and controlled by the Fed, for example, coins and currency. Inside money refers to bank deposits not directly controlled by the Fed. The Fed can influence this amount of money by reserve requirement and discount rate policies. In cases where the level of required reserves exceeds the level considered optimal by the FI, the inability to use the excess reserves to generate revenue may be considered a tax or cost of providing intermediation. 27. What are some examples of credit allocation regulation? How can this attempt to create social benefits create costs to the private institution? The qualified thrift lender test (QTL) requires thrifts to hold 65 percent of their assets in residential mortgage-related assets to retain the thrift charter. Some states have enacted usury laws that place maximum restrictions on the interest rates that can be charged on mortgages and/or consumer loans. These types of restrictions often create additional operating costs to the FI and almost certainly reduce the amount of profit that could be realized without such regulation. 8. What is the purpose of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act? What are the social benefits desired from the legislation? How does the implementation of this legislation create a net regulatory burden on financial institutions? The HMDA was passed by Congress to prevent discrimination in mortgage lending. The social benefit is to ensure that everyone who qualifies financially is provided the opportunity to purchase a house shoul d they so desire. The regulatory burden has been to require a written statement indicating the reasons why credit was or was not granted. Since 1990, the federal regulators have examined millions of mortgage transactions from more than 7,700 institutions each calendar quarter. 29. What legislation has been passed specifically to protect investors who use investment banks directly or indirectly to purchase securities? Give some examples of the types of abuses for which protection is provided. The Securities Acts of 1933 and 1934 and the Investment Company Act of 1940 were passed by Congress to protect investors against possible abuses such as insider trading, lack of disclosure, outright malfeasance, and breach of fiduciary responsibilities. 30. How do regulations regarding barriers to entry and the scope of permitted activities affect the charter value of financial institutions? The profitability of existing firms will be increased as the direct and indirect costs of establishing competition increase. Direct costs include the actual physical and financial costs of establishing a business. In the case of FIs, the financial costs include raising the necessary minimum capital to receive a charter. Indirect costs include permission from regulatory authorities to receive a charter. Again in the case of FIs this cost involves acceptable leadership to the regulators. As these barriers to entry are stronger, the charter value for existing firms will be higher. 31. What reasons have been given for the growth of investment companies at the expense of â€Å"traditional† banks and insurance companies? The recent growth of investment companies can be attributed to two major factors: a. Investors have demanded increased access to direct securities markets. Investment companies and pension funds allow investors to take positions in direct securities markets while still obtaining the risk diversification, monitoring, and transactional efficiency benefits of financial intermediation. Some experts would argue that this growth is the result of increased sophistication on the part of investors; others would argue that the ability to use these markets has caused the increased investor awareness. The growth in these assets is inarguable. b. Recent episodes of financial distress in both the banking and insurance industries have led to an increase in regulation and governmental oversight, thereby increasing the net regulatory burden of â€Å"traditional† companies. As such, the costs of intermediation have increased, which increases the cost of providing services to customers. 2. What are some of the methods which banking organizations have employed to reduce the net regulatory burden? What has been the effect on profitability? Through regulatory changes, FIs have begun changing the mix of business products offered to individual users and providers of funds. For example, banks have acquired mutual funds, have expanded their asset and pension fund management busin esses, and have increased the security underwriting activities. In addition, legislation that allows banks to establish branches anywhere in the United States has caused a wave of mergers. As the size of banks has grown, an expansion of possible product offerings has created the potential for lower service costs. Finally, the emphasis in recent years has been on products that generate increases in fee income, and the entire banking industry has benefited from increased profitability in recent years. 33. What characteristics of financial products are necessary for financial markets to become efficient alternatives to financial intermediaries? Can you give some examples of the commoditization of products which were previously the sole property of financial institutions? Financial markets can replace FIs in the delivery of products that (1) have standardized terms, (2) serve a large number of customers, and (3) are sufficiently understood for investors to be comfortable in assessing their prices. When these three characteristics are met, the products often can be treated as commodities. One example of this process is the migration of over-the-counter options to the publicly traded option markets as trading volume grows and trading terms become standardized. 34. In what way has Regulation 144A of the Securities and Exchange Commission provided an incentive to the process of financial disintermediation?