Consumer Behaviour-Travel and Tourism Essay Example for Free

Consumer Behaviour-Travel and Tourism EssayI want to do this Whats This? .. . suitcases image by Alexander Ivanov from Fotolia. com Many factors influence actuate and touristry consumer behavior. As of 2010, the global travel industry contributed 9. 2 percent of the worlds total gross domestic product, according to the gentleman Travel and Tourism Council. People travel for work, to punish family and friends and for pleasure. When it comes to making choices about where and how to travel, multiple factors influence travel and tourism consumer behavior. Global Economy. Travel is often seen as a luxury, and when people are earning less or worried about earning less, they may eliminate travel from their budgets. As the world economy struggled in 2009 and into 2010, the travel industry suffered along with other businesses. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, global travel and tourism was down nearly 5 percent in 2009, specifically due to a struggling economy. Still, as the economy bounces back, the tourism industry will as well. The World Travel and Tourism Council predicts a 3.2 percent growth in the travel and tourism industry in 2011. Internet and Social Media Consumers have instant access to reviews and opinions about travel spots and accommodations around the world, as well as airlines, car rental agencies and other related travel companies. More and more, people turn to the Internet to research potential trips and seek out bargains. Thus, the Internet and social media undersurface influence consumers travel choices. According to The Digital Letter, reviews on sites like TripAdvisor can make or break a destination. Prospective travelers can read reviews and fall upon out if others found the hotel to be clean and the staff courteous, or if the service they will receive is worthy of their time and money. The Digital Letter points out that travelers can find everything they want to know about a destination in a matter of minutes on site s such as Facebook, Twitter and Google. While a businesss website can also play a factor in consumer choice, if independent online reviews arent consistent with the companys claims, travelers are likely to make a different selection.Personal Budgets dismantle with a bad economy, some people still need or want to travel. In 2010, savvy travelers have many ways to find deals online and expurgate their costs before heading out the door. Airlines offer online specials for discount flights and last-minute trips, and companies such as Kayak exist solely to gather the best travel deals on the Internet into one place, so shoppers can compare prices. Travelers no longer need to rely on the standard price for transportation or accommodations. They may now make their travel choices based solely on price. .

Angel and Demons Book Report Essay Example for Free

Angel and Demons Book Report EssayANGELS AND DEMONSAngels and demons is a heart pounding adventure written by the author Dan Brown and published in 2000. Dan Brown is also famous for his bestselling novel The Davinci code (published 2003) both these novels feature the fictional college professor Robert Lang feign as the main character or hero in the story. Both of these stories revolve around the delicate subject of religion as he incorporates religious fact into fantasy.First off, our characters include Robert Langdon who is a professor of symbology at Harvard University. He is flown to a Swedish nuclear research facility known as CERN (Which really does exist) by the director of CERN Maximilian Kohler to investigate the murder of esteemed scientist da Vinci Verta. Leonardo Verta was the head scientist of a research group working on an antimatter energy source until he was killed, and the anti-matter stolen. Robert leaves CERN with Leonardos daughter Vittoria Vetra to capital o f Italy in search of the stolen anti-matter.Robert leaves CERN with a advanced counterpart and one clue to solve the unraveling mystery of who stole the anti-matter and killed Leonardo Verta the ambigram branded into the scientist chest saying Illuminati. Soon after arriving in Rome Robert and Vittoria are rushed to Vatican City by commander of the Swiss guard Commander Olivetti, as the situation grows more dire after four heights ranking cardinals are kidnapped by the illuminati assassin, with one clue, one will each be slaughtered on the alters of science along the path of illumination. When the threat comes in that if they dont stop the assassin by eight oclock the Vatican will be destroyed, as they consort against the clock to stop the destruction of the Vatican new problems will rise and betrayal is around every corner.This book is strongly recommended for readers who enjoy large scale mysteries and people who enjoy stories involving conspiracies. This is because this story involves a race against m and a struggle to stop a secret society that controls half of the government itself. This tale is a mind bending race against time and an enemy who seems to be everyone and control everything.

Media Prima and Astro Malaysia: Staff Management

Media Prima and Astro Malaysia Staff Management1.0 IntroductionMedia Prima is the biggest listed media group in Malaysia, owning whole chief(prenominal) private television stations and having approximately 54 per cen beat of Malaysian television viewers, with its closest rival, the pay-television satellite operator, Astro, which offers over spot centigrade channels or stations, controlling a market sh atomic number 18 of roughly 29 per cent. RTM controls 17 per cent of the market.Media Prima wholly owns TV channel like TV3, NTV7 and TV9 and holds a 99.5 per cent interest in 8TV. TV3, Media Primas flagship television station and the number one free-to-air television station in the coun tense, finished the 2007 season dominating the classs top 20 programmes (The New Straits Times, 4 January 2008). TV3 recorded a 33 per cent sh atomic number 18 of viewers in 2007 among over a hundred channels unattached on satellite and FTA TV (The New Straits Times, 4 January 2008). The group al so controls radio stations Fly FM and Hot FM, with a have listenership of 3.5 million. Besides that, Media Prima has a 43 per cent stake in the equity of The New Straits Times Press, which has four newspapers in its stable. Media Prima is give tongue to to r all(prenominal) 22 million Malaysians daily ab reveal 11 million television viewers, seven million newspaper readers and four million radio listeners. Malaysias state is a little over 25 million.Astro All Asia Ne twainrks Plc, the group that has the monopoly over Malaysias subscription television operation, reaches intimately 10 million viewers in some two million homes representing a penetration reckon of approximately 38 per cent of Malaysias TV households in 2010. (Astro Annual Report, 2010) Astro began operating in 1996 and today offers over 100 channels with a wide mix of foreign and local programmes. Its sister company Air date Management Programming runs the eight radio stations in its stable, complicate Hitz, Mix, Light Easy, Era, My, Xfresh, THR, and Sinar.2.0 education and DevelopmentConduct a Training and Development in an organization is necessity where it needs is identified during each employees annual travel schooling critical review. From this process, the acquisition of new skills, competencies, attitudes and knowledge departing choose the employees to changed behaviour from reactive to proactive, greater maturity and critical thinking.In Astro, employee satisfaction survey was carried out to complement existing communication channels. Opinions of 3,054 employees were collated by online survey forms. The survey sought employees views on 13 major categories covering various aspects of their jobs. (Appendix B) The total favourable for Training and Cargoner Development where employees think about Astro is doing argon 65 percent. This figure is considered moderate where it should take further action to improve. Thus, in 2009, Astro convened two full-scale town H whole meeti ngs to sh be latest exploitations and discussed the Companys direction, 48 training seminars on topics ranging from leadership courses to safety and health trainings as well as introduce new naughty definition service which is branded as Astro B.yond. Information that had transpired was recorded in DVDs, and will tear to Astro offices across the country in future for training and development purposes.Realities in economic and advances in technology cause the availability of jobs in TV station have changed rapidly. thitherfore, there were several training initiatives designed to maturation the number of skilled people in Media Prima. In 2009, the organization invested about RM1.14 million for staff training which conglomerate 3,615 man-days in total in the organization. A summary of the organization training breakdown for 2008 and 2009 is shown in Appendix C. The majority of the training is provided to technical staff which conducted at the organization itself. This is to image that the organization carry on the best quality and keep up to date with the latest technology and techniques available in media production.Although both organization utilize Training and Development, but the ways of conduct is very contrastive. Astro adopt an audiovisual method where employ of DVDs for training and development will helps the organization to reduce cost, manpower and not time consuming. On the other side, Media Prima utilize apprenticeship training where the employees enter the skilled trades given through instruction and experience in the practical and theoretical aspects of domesticate. When employees face problems in workplace, they advise solve it based on their experience gained during the training.3.0 Performance Management SystemA new implementation military rating system in Astro consists of a 360 feedback mechanism to get a residuald assessment of the employee own peers. The need for this counter equilibrise is also reflected in a revised Performa nce polish up Form. cardinal important aspect of the new performance evaluation is the Relative Ranking Rating which rewards high performing employees in a transp atomic number 18nt manner. Employees who fall down the stairs the lowest of the three-tier scale will be coached and guided via a Low Performance Management Process (CAP) system. (Appendix D)At Astro, employees ar given clear expectations of the accomplishments craved of them as well as the ways to perform and achieve these expectations. This is done through the Performance Management System (PMS) beneath which periodic performance evaluation exercises be conducted to review employees performance. With this system, employees be aware of their strengths and also given ample room to work on improving their performances. The reviews run in 2 cycles in the span of the financial year a year end review in January followed by a midyear review in July.Media Prima has introduced a 360 degree feedback system which is also referred to as the multirater or multisource feedback. It provides employees with performance feedback from supervisors, co-workers, peers, customers and treating staff. It also includes self-assessment. We implemented this system as we take human capital management and development very seriously. 360 degree assessment is a process whereby the company takes stock of its capability once every two to three years to meet caper challenges. The process begins with the company putting in place a competency framework which is aligned to the business direction of the company. The competency framework is used as a guide to recruit, develop, assess and compensate the employees based on performance and capabilities. In the case of Media Prima, an external consultant was hired to conduct the info entreaty process as well as the feedback and the follow up process.4.0 Compensation and RewardsThe Group operates a performance based bonus scheme for all employees, including the executive direct or directors. The criteria for the scheme is dependent on the achievement of key performance indicators (KPI) set for the Groups business activities as measured against targets, together with an assessment of each individuals performance during the period. Bonuses collectible to the executive directors are reviewed by the Remuneration Committee and approved by the Board.Employees compensation is determined by their performance which is measured across various profound Performance Indicators (KPIs). Media Prima uses a point-based system which ranges from 2 to 5 in determining the weight of the bonus (5 being the highest performing). This process is used to assess all employees (100%). The percentage of employees achieving each performing level and the entitlement of each level is listed in Appendix E.Exploring the Four Stages of the scrutinize Process Case StudyExploring the Four Stages of the Audit Process Case StudyInternal Audit is an independent function that provides an objec tive assurance and consultancy natural action to improve and add value on an organizations operation. The attendees motor to help the Merami Berhad accomplish its objectives by evaluating the effectiveness of its danger management, control, and governance processes by bringing a discipline, systematic approach. The canvas process is divided into four stages which are Planning (Preliminary critique), Fieldwork, Audit Report, and Follow-up Review. One of the main key objectives to carry out an audit is to minimize the time and avoid disrupting on liberation activities.As we are a public accounting firm for Merami Berhad for the past five years. Meramin Berhad is a public listed company, whose sales for the year 2009 were over RM 25 million. The audit fees we normally weight to Merami Berhad are RM 50,000. Before an audit is assigned to staff, the attender mustiness consider a few matters such as the size of the company to be audited. If it is a Public Listed Company, 3 or 4 staff will be required. Besides that, the budget is very important as the auditor are incessantly advised to stay within the budget so that the audit fees is sufficient to cover all the cost incurred especially the disbursements. The auditor should also consider about the deadline. An audit assignment usually has very tight deadlines and therefore staff must ensure that the Audit Report is submitted to the Partner of Review on time so that the signing of accounts is not delayed.When the audit manager assigns a job to the senior, the first thing the senior does is to meet with his team members to discuss about the job and to delegate duties to the respective members. The audit assistant will normally be asked to retrieve the previous years file of the company from the filling room. The previous year file is always used as a guide only. Staff must always tailor- puddle the audit for the year according to the events that occurred during the year. Once the termination years file is re trieved, a new file will be opened for the current years audit.STAGE 1 PLANNING (PREMILIRARY REVIEW)Planning is essential as this is the first time we understand Merami Berhad business and their controls in the company. During the planning stage of the audit, the auditorwill contact the leaf node to notifythem of an upcoming audit and to schedule a time during the year that is most convenient for the audit to commence and take place. The auditor will send them a preliminary barlist. This is a list of documents (e.g. organization charts, financial statements) that will help the auditor learn about their unit before planning the audit. by and by reviewing the discipline, the auditor will plan the review, conduct a risk workshop primarily to identify key risks and raise risk awareness, draft an audit plan, and schedule an start meeting.Engagement LetterMerami Berhad is informed of the audit through anannouncement or getmentletter from the Internal Audit Director. This letter com municates the ambit and objectives of the audit, the auditors assigned to the audit, the audit methodology used in the audit and other relevant information. This letter practises as a contract which outlines the responsibilities of the auditor and client to prevent any un indispensable misunderstanding of what is expected or required of the other party. The auditor and the client must also agree on the terms of the engagement.Opening ConferenceNearer the start of the audit, the auditor will arrange a meeting with Merami Berhad to discuss the scope and objectives of the audit. The opening host should be held to gather information about the mission, critical processes, and control procedures of the unit to be used in the preliminary survey process. The opening meeting should include senior management and any administrative staff that may be involved in the audit. Merami Berhad describes the unit or system to be reviewed, the organization, available resources (personnel, facilities, equipment, funds), and other relevant information.The audit senior usually discusses with the client about the companys performance for the year in terms of increase or pass in profitability. This may due to factors ranging from launching of new products during the year to high-position staffs leaving the company. These will all be documented in the Business Understanding Document.The inbred auditor meets with the senior officer like a shot responsible for the unit under review and any staff members he wishes to include. It is important that the client identify issues or areas of special concern that should be addressed. The time frame of the audit will be determined, and we should discuss any potential timing issues (e.g. vacations, deadlines) that could impact the audit. The opening conference is an important step in a regular audit. It is an opportunity to establish the proper tone and to begin building good relationships.Preliminary SurveyIn thisphasethe auditor gathers rele vant information that they have gained from the opening conference is used in conjunction with other relevant information about the unit in order to take for a general overview of operations. He talks with key personnel and reviews give outs, files, and other sources of information. This may include information on budgets and strategic plans as well as past audit reports. There are certain risks that the auditor will always review to ensure that they are being adequately controlled and managed these include financial traffics, local risk management and business continuity planning.Internal Control ReviewAll of this information is then used to pay off a preliminary assessment of the risks and controls for Merami Berhad unit. The auditor will review the units internal control structure, a process which is usually time-consuming. In doing this, the auditor uses a alteration of tools and techniques to gather and analyze information about the operation. The review of internal cont rols helps the auditor determine the areas of highest risk and design tests to be performed in the fieldwork section. In the interests of quality and consistency, the luff of Internal Audit reviews this work and agrees the scope of work to be carried out.Audit ProgramPreparation of theaudit programconcludes the preliminary review phase. The audit program establishes theproceduresnecessary to have it off an in force(p) and effective audit. It includes a detailed plan of the work to be performed as well as the steps required to achieve the audit objectives. There should be sufficient detail for less experienced staff to perform the steps however it should not be overly detailed whereby it might cause auditors to make steps routinely and override their judgment.STAGE 2 FIELDWORKTransaction TestingRevenue CycleSales procedure and capital admit transaction are the 2 checking procedures under revenue cycle.Sales ProcedureA sales quotation provides a pre-sales processing environment which allows prospective buyers to examine the costs involved for a completion of work. A sales quotation commonly consists of information like quantity, item and its description, unit expenditures and etc. Many businesses cannot have an upfront price for the service they provide. Thus, sale quotation should be provided by companies to its customers to give them an estimate of the cost involved.In addition, a delivery order is written directions from a consignor or shipper of a shipment to a carrier or freight forwarder to release the shipment to the named delivery party in freight-pre paid shipment. It allows direct delivery of goods to the carrier or warehouseman.Invoices are essentially a detailed bill left by vendors and outside supplier for goods or services rendered to a company under sales procedure. The document may be called a Sales Invoice, from the point of view of the vendor, or a Purchase Invoice by the buyer. A typical invoice might list the quantity of each item, prices, billable hours, service description and a contact address for payment. While some expenses may be paid through an accounts payable department by the posted due date.Besides, immediate payment sale can be used in several different contexts. A cash sale has to do with the acquire of goods or services and involves the immediate possession of the new owner, without any delay in time amid leveraging and assuming full ownership in just about every situation. In the world of finance and in retail situations, people are engage in cash sales on a delay basis,Segregation of duties is critical to effective internal control. It reduces the risk of both erroneous and inappropriate actions. The discussion of cash receipts and accounting for such receipt need to segregate. This is to reduce the likelihood that errors will remain undetected by providing an accounting check over the receipt of cash. For example, those who handle cash receipts would not have the authority to prepare or s ign cheques, would not have access to accounting records and would not be involved in reconciling bank accounts. If a person has access to both the cash receipts and the accounts receivable records, it is possible for cash to be diverted and the shortage of cash in the accounting records to be covered which can result in theft of the entitys cash. In the other hand, for those who perform sales activity including those who maintain contact with customers and issue sales orders, would not perform any credit approval, billing, shipping, credit memo, cash receipts and accounting activities.cash admit TransactionMost business customers pay by cheque or electronically. Cash receipts are only given to acknowledge cash payments which are rarely made by business customers. Cash register and lockboxes are often used as safeguards here. In order to prevent fraud and error, different employees should be responsible for receiving and recording cash collections here.The purpose of preventing fra ud and error is the rigorousness, completeness, timeliness, authorization, valuation, classification, posting and summarization. Its very important to the cash receipt transaction.The auditor can check monthly bank reconciliation to prevent any recorded cash receipts not deposited in order to ensure the validity of the cash receipt transaction. For instance, misstatement in sales that may occur includes fictitious sale being recorded in the account o f a regular customer. outlay CycleThere are two checking procedures under expenditure cycle, which are buy procedure and cash disbursement transaction.Purchasing ProcedureA purchasing transaction normally begins with a purchase requisition generated by a department or support function. A purchasing order is then the purchase of goods or services from a supplier. As soon as the goods and services have been rendered, the entity records a liability to the supplier and pays later.Basically, there are three types of for purchase transacti ons which are the purchase of goods or services on cash or credit, payment of the liabilities arising from such purchases and return of goods or services. The second type is cash disbursement transaction to clear liabilities resulting from purchase of goods or services. The lowest type is a purchase return transaction which involves the return of goods previously purchased to supplier for cash or credit.Good segregation of duties must be done in order to prevent embezzlement or any fraudulent activities. Firstly, a emptor who orders should not be the person who receives goods. This can prevent the purchaser from placing excessive orders and keeping the rest of goods. Next, a person who purchases items should not be the person who writes the cheques for it. This can avoid the person from creating orders and make payments to fictitious companies. Then, the person who writes cheques should not handle the reconciliation. This is because nobody will aware even if he writes cheques to himself or relatives.Cash expenditure TransactionCash disbursement can be defined as paying out of funds in a discharge of a debt or expense. Transaction Related Audit Objective (TRAO) is used here to evaluating the existence and quality of controls. The auditors transaction-related audit objectives follow and are closely related to management assertion. That is because the auditors elementary responsibility is to determine whether management assertions about financial statements are justified. These transaction-related audit objectives help the auditor accumulate sufficient competent evidence required by the standard of fieldwork and decide proper evidence to accumulate for classes of transactions with a framework.In order to ensure the validity of the cash disbursement transaction, the auditor tests the validity of purchase transactions whether there is any fictitious or non-existent purchases may have been recorded in the clients records. Assets or expenses will be overstated i f fraudulent transactions are recorded.As for Completeness, auditor must ensure that purchase that has been made in recorded accordingly. If fail to do so will lead to understating of assets or expenses, and the corresponding accounts payable will also be understated.As for Timing, a timing error occurs if transactions are not recorded on the dates the transaction took place.As for Authorization, the person who has authority to approve purchase should not have access to cash disbursement for the purchase.As for Valuation, appropriate methodology is used to calculate transactions and to review various reconciliations. The valuation of accruals depends on the type and the nature of the accrued expenses.As for Classifications, the major issues related to the presentation and disclosure assertions are identifying and reclassifying any material debits contained in accounts payable. For instance, segregation of purchasing and cash disbursement journal is crucial to ensure that correct amo unt would be allocated properly. If purchase transactions are not properly classified, assets and expenses will be misstated.As for Posting and summarization, control tools should be used to reconcile vouchers to the daily accounts payable listing or else the daily postings to the purchases journal should be reconciled to the accounts payable subsidiary records.Income Statement or Profit and Loss AccountFirst of all, the auditor should determine and try to find out the major changes or the modification that would affect the normal relationship has been made in the production and sales area. Audit assistant are responsible to handle on detect the significant adjustment in the policies of company that would affect the item stated in the income statement. later on analyze on such adjustment to ensure that no material error is found then it will continue proceed to the final stage of the audit section. For example, significant changes in employee benefits might affect salaries and empl oyee compensation and have an effect on the income statement.Other than checking in the income statement of a company, the auditor would also look into the balance aeroplane on the assets and liabilities. Before the auditor start to work on it, a copy of clients balance sheet should be prepared to working papers.There are procedures of carrying out an audit on assets and liabilities. Auditors should categorize each item in the balance sheet accordingly to the audit checklist.AssetsAll of these are the components of assets.For Cash in BankTo ensure the information that stated in the column of the balance is complied what it really had in the bank, a confirmation ask letter will be sent to all the related bank which the entity had dealing with within the financial period. In addition to get confirm to relevant bank that the balance in the bank of the company, the auditors also can get an opportunity to request the bank to provide other information such as the securities that the com pany held in the safekeeping.The response from the bank give the company a gold evidence to prove that cash at bank that stated in the balance sheet is complied with the real amount in bank at the balance sheet date. With the cooperation of bank, the confirmation of cash on deposit provides evidence to the existence of cash at bank and as to rights and obligations. If the balance per bank statement is different, bank reconciliation would have to be done by the audit assistants.For Account ReceivableA details list of account receivables balances of the customer should be obtain before the auditor and access to the balance. The auditor will trace totals to comparative summary of accounts receivables balance and randomly select customers account from the listing to send itemized statements to get the response or confirmation of the balance. Review the confirmation replies letter from them and test accounts where there are no replies. Keep track with the potential bad debts to be writte n off, if exist, check the opening balances again.For InventoriesWhen scrutinize is material to the financial statements, the auditor is required to look the entitys physical inventory counting unless it is impracticable. Examine clients physical inventories count determine whether the clients counting methods are effective. The purpose of inventory attendance is to enable the auditor to obtain audit evidence regarding the existence and mark of the inventory and consider if there is any obsolescence in it. The auditor may select a sample of inventory items from the client count records and trace them to the perpetual inventory records for checking purposes.For Prepayment expensesRandomly choose the official receipts or documents that can support prepayment expenses and test on it. Then, send conformation letter to conform the amount due.For Non Current AssetsThe auditor should obtain a list of fixed assets expenses that register under the clients company such as depreciation cha rges, handout or gain on the disposal of the fixed asset, net book value, revaluation amount and etc. The revaluation done should be back by the evidence or documentation authorized by the professional. Check to invoice and agree to the description, price, date and etc. The physical existence and the condition of the assets should be check and determine whether it is located at companys premises. As for disposal of fixed assets, ensure that there is proper authorization and that profit or loss on disposal is properly recorded.LiabilitiesFor Short Term Notes PayableA bank conformation letter should be sent out to inquire loanword balance status of the company. Auditors have to calculate the principal and interest paid to check whether it comply with the figure in the balance sheet.For Long Term DebtsReview the loan agreement and direct the attention to the relevant information to acquire the accurate interest charged based on the nominal interest rate calculation and auditor have to be ensuring that the interest rate stated in the income statement same with the result of calculation.For Income Tax AccountThe documentation of the transaction of the company is required to keep for minimum 7 year required by law. Client is required to show documentation and support for every aspects of companys revenue return. For example, if the client claims itemized deductions, receipts for those deductions must be produced. In addition, to justifications for why the taxpayer felt that those deductions were legitimate. Besides that, taxpayers must open their accounting methods to inspection and demonstrate that all of their income was in fact properly documented and claimed on the tax return. This can be done through proper recording and classification for provision for taxation and deferred taxation.Advice sluttish CommunicationsAs the fieldwork progresses, the auditor discusses any significantfindingswith the client. Hopefully, the client can offer insights and work wit h the auditor to determine the best method of resolving the finding. Usually these communications are oral. However, in more complex situations, memos and/or e-mails are written in order to ensure full understanding by the client and the auditor. A lot of information is shared via e-mail, of course, but there is more face-to-face conversation.Other than that, I would like to mention for this communication question is language. Most communications with a greater group of people (and formal meetings) are held in English however it depends a lot on who is speaking if you will understand that person. overly if it is only me and, says, two other Indians, it is very likely that they switch to Hindi or Kannada (local language) without noticing. I then sometimes have to remind them to stay with English. Distinguishing between first and surnames is also impossible for me, same with deciding if a name is male or female I just have to guess or find some neutral ways to address or ask for peo ple. In particular cases, we may also provide drafts of organizations charts, proposed forms or modifications to forms, financial data or other statistics, or drafts of findings and recommendations that later may be incorporated into the formal audit report. These are all considered informal communications between the auditor and the client. Their purpose is to promote constructive communication and avoid misunderstandings. Our goal NO SURPRISES.Audit Summary / Financial MonitoringUpon completion of the fieldwork, the auditor summarizes the audit findings, conclusions, and recommendations necessary for the audit report discussion draft. Write a summary memo to document the results of fieldwork. Conclude as to whether the information reported by the state sureness in the Section 1512 reports is accurate, reliable, and timely. The audit summary gives an overview of all work done sheets according to their topics. The audit summary template gives the title, the audit number, the topic of the summary and of the work done sheets, and the creation date. In addition to the work done sheets, the audit summary also contains a summary of the observations and findings as well as an general assessment and conclusion of the audit result. Before writing the audit summary, auditors should agree the working papers on which the summary is based with their audit lead.Working text fileWorking papers are a vital tool of the audit profession. They are the support of the audit opinion. They connect the clients accounting records and financials to the auditors opinion. They are comprehensive and serve many functions. The result of audit activities must be documented truthfully, consistently, clearly, and completely, with a comprehensible description of all material details. This involves both the contents of a fieldwork activity and the procedure itself. This documentation of fieldwork activities is referred to as working papers to express its connection with the work results. The basic requirements for proper documentation apply to all types of fieldwork activities, although there are different types of documents, depending on the nature of the audit. In addition to the working papers which are mandatory, other documents can be created as optional extras they contain information beyond the minimum information requirement. The working papers are an indication of the audit quality in general. This needs to be considered because queries by different groups of addresses or their requests for information may often require access to this documentation. Accordingly, the working papers may serve as discussion or evidence documents, for example for queries from the Board, the unit requesting the audit, Internal Audit Management, the Audit Committee, or the external auditors. The preparation of working papers is subject to certain organizational requirements. Each auditor always has the main responsibility for preparing the documents, both during and immediately afte r fieldwork. Even though the audit lead and Audit Manager have ultimate responsibility for quality assurance, each auditor has to prepare and maintain the working papers with the necessary attention to detail. Working papers may be compiled by hand or entered directly into a system (which is normally more expedient, because it makes it easier to access the information again).STAGE 3 AUDIT REPORTThe third stage of carrying an audit is to prepare an audit report. After all the evidence for each of the item in the financial statement have been collected and proven, the senior audit and the audit assistant is going to check the closing balance amount of the balance sheet and the trial balance with the ledger account whether they are compatible with each other and to ensure that each figure is agreeing with the previous year audit account in order to prepare a working trial balance and the working paper. After this all procedure has been done, our audit assistant will prepare an audit re port which expresses the opinion of the auditor, evidence of audit and recommendation for the information improvement.Discussion conscriptionIn order to implement this process, first the auditors will discuss to prepare a draft for internal audit report to outlining the audits work, recommendation for the information that should provided and the timeframe to complete the report. The draft that prepared by the management department will show that who will responsible to implement the job, the action to be taken and the timeline to do the job. After the draft has been discussing, a meeting among the auditor will be held in order to assign the job to the person selected for preparing the report and meanwhile the draft will be sent to the particular auditor.Formal DraftThe report will become the final report if the response of the management is integrated with the audit report draft. The important information that present in the report includes the title of the report, the duty of the management and the auditor in preparing the report, the scope paragraph that show the evidence of the interrogation and the accounting principles use to prepare the report, the opinion paragraph which expresses the opinion of the auditor and whether the financial statement is complying with the statutory requirement and the name, signature and address of the auditor who preparing the report. This is to make sure that if there is any fault present in the report, it is the responsibility of the particular auditor to in charge with the case.Final ReportAfter that, the auditor will present the final report to the audit committee and the copies of the report will sent to the senior auditor, the management department of the audit firm and our client, Merami Berhad to review and get the approval.Client ResponseIn our report, we could include or attached the client response in the audit finding prior to issuance of the final report. The client should highlight how report findings will be d etermined and include an implementation timetable in the response. However, some managers may likely to make a stopping point which not to implement an audit recommendation and to accept the risks that might occur with an audit finding. For example, the treasury balances are reconciled monthly instead of reconciled daily. The differences are out of the way and have been controlled since that date. The adjusting entries are made with proper documentation and review.Client CommentsIn our report, we always include the clients comment on our Internal Audits performance as it is part of the Internal Audits self-evaluation program. The feedback has proven to be very beneficial to us as we improve our procedures due to clients suggestion.STAGE 4 FOLLOW-UPFollowed-Up ReviewThese required certain actions taken to resolve the audit report findings may be tested to ensure the desired result were achieved. For each item include in the follow-up, review status information provided by management to determine if information addresses all parts of finding and if a corrected date or revised due date has been provided. During this stage, we will contact unit management to obtain any missing information. We also evaluate action reported as taken in response to each finding to see whether the finding has been satisfactorily corrected. If necessary, develop audit tests to prove that the finding has been corrected based on the nature of the finding and responses. The Director of Internal Audit or the auditor in charge of the follow-up review will prepare a roll for senior management that notifies them that audit activities are underway and describes the follow-up process. This memo should include timeframes for the project, a copy of the outstanding findings relating to areas reporting to that senior manager, a request that they distribute the findings to these areas and ask the managers to provide Internal Audit with the information requested, a statement that these comments wer e previously distributed as part of an audit report or close-out letter, and telling that the results will be reported to the Chancellor and Board of Trustees.Followed-Up ReportIn the follow-up report, it lists all of the actions taken by the client to resolve the original report findings. Unresolved findings will also appear in the follow-up report and will include a brief description of the finding, the original audit recommendation, the client response, the current condition, and the continued exposure to board of company. A discussion draft of each report with unresolved findings is circulated to the client before the report is issued. The follow-up review results will be circulated to the original report recipients officials as deemed appropriate.

Women Opting Out Of Work

Women Opting Out Of WorkOpting out is a term intimately commonly understood to describe the decision of married women to voluntarily quit master key c beers and remain out of the labor force for a relatively extended period of metre during which they ar engaged in family c atomic number 18 giving, primarily motherhood, to the animadversion of paid employment. Women use a variety of strategies to reconcile work and family responsibilities, including time out of the labor force, opting out, by virtue of the attention given it by the media, has assume special prominence and a distinct identity. The novelty of opting out is that the women said to be returning theme to re-create the traditional family form of male breadwinners are, unconnected the proceed-at-home mothers of the 1950s, seasoned victors with considerable public life success who are making their decisions in an historical context that affords them a wider range of options than were available to earlier generations of women, raze privileged women. Employment, when anticipated at exclusively after marriage, was regarded as short-term and secondary. In the 1970s, educated women made a break with the past and began, in earthshaking numbers, to combine sustained employment with motherhood. Opting out is the ability to exercise this option which is typic bothy open only to women with a male partner whose earnings move offset the loss of their own. (Stone, 2007a)Some women have resorted to opting out of work because they are not satisfied with their careers. They are not choosing to quit but rather are unable to continue, pushed out by the conditions of their jobs rather than pulled home by their children. Highly educated, elite professional women get tired of the demands of work, do not like the set up on their family lives, and opt out of the fast professional tracks of law, business, and journalism to take care of their children. Some of these women are full-time mothers others work part-ti me, typically at less(prenominal) demanding jobs. Not all elite professional women are opting out by any means. How much of womens decision to stay home is a choice, and how much is the closure of inflexible and hostile workplaces. Suffice it to say here that the political orientation of intensive mothering, combined with the rising demands of workplaces and lack of public support for childrens welfare (e.g., healthcare, daycare, maternity and fatherhood leave) create severe difficulties for many mothers, privileged and otherwise. (Belkin, 2003, October 26.) Their children are pure, innocent and helpless and need a selfless nurturer who will shelter them from the corrosive outside world, each by providing care herself or ensuring that alternative (although inevitably second-best) care is provided. The mother/child bond is uniquely tight, and lasting, and essential to a childs healthy psychological ontogeny and only a mother (not a father, other family member, or paid caretaker) can provide this care. bugger offs are responsible for nurturing, listening, responding, explaining, negotiating, distracting, and searching for appropriate alternative care, practices which are so labor-intensive, so time-consuming, so energy-absorbing because mothers understand themselves as largely responsible for the elbow room their children turn out. Children seem happier, more rested and childlike. They get on better with siblings, and are quite creative in their uses of free time. (Hays, 1996, p. 120) Professionals who had quit their jobs and were stay-at-home mothers -opted out, as conventionally understood -which found that the large majority of these women were exceedingly conflicted about their decision, Further challenging the prevailing explanation that their decision was primarily about motherhood. (Stone, 2007a)Because of the high cost of living, life becomes expensive thus making women to wait for work to support the demands of their families. Middle-class wome n cant afford to quit their jobs without scaling back considerably. The families of working class parents are believed to flourish with large amounts of unscheduled time, and openhanded intervention in their activities is not considered a worthwhile use of anyones time. Poor and working-class parents use fewer words with their children, and although children prove quite capable of expressing opinions, adults do not actively cultivate this ability, nor do they cultivate the questioning of authorities and negotiation. Finally, discipline is a matter of rules and sometimes physical force, not reason. As a result, poor and working-class children find themselves disadvantaged vis a vis their middle-class peers, and privilege is passed down. Mothers who work full-time, for instance, often defend this choice as better for the child in the long-run. Also importantly, mothers are held responsible by others for their childrens well- beingness, which means that choosing not to adopt tenets o f this ideology requires a defense which is often made in terms of the ideology itself. The accomplishment of natural growth does not, however, mesh as neatly with the procedures and expectations of schools and the workplace as does concerted cultivation, which encourages children to engage in many time management and lingual practices that institutions expect and reward. (Lareau, 2003) Women do not quit their careers because of a preference to stay home with their children. Some professions might be more or less contributive to womens persistence suggests that there are lessons to be learned from certain fields that might be usefully applied to others, especially the corporate sector. Although virtually all of the women in the sample were happy to have more time to spend with their children, most still identified with their professions and intended to return to work at some point in the future, although their plans are uncertain. Having a job, especially a fulfilling professiona l career, is more interesting than housework and child-rearing. Men dont want housewives, Some men fantasize about having a woman running their home and doing not much more, sure. But nowadays, a lot of men prefer to marry more supreme women, and would find the idea of supporting a wife intimidating. Women with children are found to have lower full-time, year-round labor force participation rates general than male graduates or women without children, but those with advanced degrees showed a strong commitment to their careers by returning to work after only brief absences following vaginal birth (Stone, 2007a)I would agree with Ann Crittenden the Author of The Price of Motherhood Why the Most Important Job in the World is still the Least Valued. This is because she portrays women as the substantially mother, the wise mother . . . is more important to the community than even the ablest man her career is more worthy of honor and is more useful to the community than the career of any man, no matter how successful. A mothers work is not just invisible it can become a handicap. Raising children may be the most important job in the world, but you cant put it on a rsum. The idea that time spent with ones child is time wasted is embedded in traditional economic thinking. People who are not formally employed may create human capital, but they themselves are said to suffer a deterioration of the stuff, as if they were so many pieces of equipment left out to rust. Inflexible workplaces guarantee that many women will have to stinger back on, if not quit, their employment once they have children. The result is a loss of income that produces a bigger engage gap between mothers and childless women than the wage gap between young men and women. The very definition of a mother is selfless service to another. We dont owe Mother for her gifts she owes us. And in return for her bounty, Mother receives no lack of veneration. Crittenden proves homemakers are essential to the ec onomic and political success of our country and its inhabitants. She also emphasizes the contributions of the large number of educated women who have chosen to stay home and raise children.(Crittenden, February 2001)Opting out is a luxury unavailable to most women and only applicable to those with high earnings/savings or wealthy partners professional women with the option to opt out might take it because they are not given flexible options to stay in their professional jobs and parent women in all job sectors are more affected by the recession, especially in jobs like finance where a male-dominated environment might lead to high-ranking women being axed because of the perception they arent tough enough women with the ability to pretend they werent forced out of their jobs might do so by claiming they chose not to work to stay home and parentsuch women are not included in unemployment numbers or given the attendant benefits of unemployment and the new frontier might be the flexibili ty stigma. The only way to get rid of the flexibility stigma is to embrace a culture where professional men and women each take off work in sufficient measure to care for children or attend to household tasks. Then, we might in a world where there is a parent stigma but at least it wont be borne solely by women. (Leonhard, 2010, August.)Conclusion.Because it does not conform to the standard conception of a profession, motherhood might seem to have no place in this issue. A woman requires no special expertise, no knowledge, skill or educational degree to become a mother. Furthermore, the work she does as a mother is unpaid, sometimes even unrecognized as work. These two features of motherood its accessibility to any fertile girl or woman, and the fact that society provides no financial compensation to mothers for their hard workare often lamented, though towards very different political ends. In fact, motherhood might be considered the very opposite of a profession a status depende nt upon biological, cultural and social factors, not educational ones, and involving labor done without pay or recognized steps to advancement. (article)

The Importance Of Dams To Water Quality Environmental Sciences Essay

The Importance Of Dams To pissing Quality Environmental Sciences EssayWater plays an exceptional signifi johnt role in the economic system and in the life of all countries. It is of vital importance for the existence of people, animals and vegetation. The aligntling of people in diametrical regions of earth has always been closely dependant on the possibilities for pee tack parallel to those providing with food, shelter and heat. The increase in the population, development and enrichment of mankind in number of places has reached a level at which the pee supply requisiteed for the population, industry, irrigation and production of electric car power has been brought to a critical point. Only one-fifth of the fresh peeing which is available is suitable for human consumption.There is spotted distri neverthe littleion of piss regarding space, time and superior. That is why artificial redistribution of water is needed by undertaking expensive engineering in order to obtain w ater for given place in a defined quantity and quality.Definition of DamDam is a man do barrier constructed to contain flow of water attain across a river, lake, sea forming a informant behind it. They atomic number 18 mostly constructed from earth, natural visibles, c all all over rocks.Types of dekametres-Arch blocks Arch close ups be do from cover. They atomic number 18 curved in the shape of an arch, with the top of the arch pointing back into the water. Arch dekametres be usually constructed in narrow, steep valleys. They like all dekameters need salutary rock for their foundations, to resist the force of water on the occlude. An arch shape is partd for resisting the pushing force of the current water behind the dkm.Buttress jams These close ups argon made from concrete masonry or both. The watertight upstream lean supported is by triangular shaped walls, called buttressinges. The buttresses are spaced at regular intervals on the downstream font. They resist the force of the reservoir water trying to push the butch over.The buttress dam was developed from the idea of the gravity dam, except that buttress dam uses a lot less because there are a lot of empty spaces between the buttress dams. Like gravity dams, they are made to suit to both narrow and wide valleys and they must be constructed on stable rock.Since 1945, 14 buttress dams withstand been constructed in the UK, mainly for hydroelectric schemes in Scotland.Cross-section done gravity dam (http//www.britishdams.org/ to the highest degree_dams/gravity.htm)Gravity dams -A gravity dam is made from concrete or masonry, or several(prenominal)times both. It is called a gravity dam because gravity is the force that holds it down to the ground returnping the water in the reservoir pushing it over.Cross-section by means of gravity damA cross-section(prenominal) (or slice) through a gravity looks roughly like a triangular shape.Gravity dams are mostly employ at sites wh ich tolerate narrow valleys, but they do need to be built on a stable rock. They rotter be constructed fairly on any ter rain.There are more(prenominal) than 260 gravity dams in Britain. Masonry was use in many early dams, as far back as the 17th Century. However, concrete became more common from rough 1900.Embankment dams their main features- There are several roles of embankment dams the determinations go varying degree of inbuilt conservation. For e.g.Relating to the degree of seepage within the dam which is authorityled by provision of filters and drainsThe use of free draining rock fill in embankment ,The control of foundation seepage by grouting, drainage and cut-off constructions.The shape of dam looks like a delicate hill or pile. The hill or the pile is made up of impermeable1material, so that the water basinnot pipe through the dam. The core of the dam is made up of clay or asphalt concrete these typefaces of dams are mostly used on wide valleys. The wide base helps water to exert less pressure on the foundation of the dams this is the main reason these dams could be built on loco nastiness. There are ii types of embankment dams earth alter dam rock filled damFor rock filled dams the rock pieces are cut hardly to form a dam. Earth filled dams rock filled dams pile further be divided into different categories of dams-concrete earth fill- concrete is used in the core of dam as impermeable material.asphaltic core rock fill-This type of dam is build with asphalt core (i.e. rock gravel) as the main fill material in the dam.Bituminous concrete face earth and rock fill-Bituminous concrete membrane is used in the water barrier for a dam as it is easy to maintain and economic viable.Types of spillwaysSpillways are structures which are found on or near dams, these structures are used when reservoir is full to pass floodwater safely, and in a controlled way, across a dam.There are 3 types of spillways-Overflow spillway- These types of spi llways are mostly created on gravity dam or a buttress dam. The spillway section in these dams are lower than the other sections of the dam allowing water to flow over its top and down from the front face of the dam.Side channel spillway- These types of spillways are used mainly with embankment dams. They are fitting located upstream and towards the position of the embankment dam. The water flows over the spillway, into a side channel of the dam and flows out safely through a tunnelShaft spillways- This type of spillways is also known as Morning Glory, this spillway resembles like inverted funnel over a tower which looks like a shaft in the reservoir as soon as the water level rises in the reservoir it falls into the shaft and it is remote through the bottom of shaft via a tunnel.Shaft Spillway (http//www.britishdams.org/about_dams/shaft.htm)How are dams built?To build a dam both(prenominal)(a) sequence of events are inevitable for building the foundations of the dam and creat ing a reservoir. Dam is usually constructed across a river to create a reservoir in the valley which helps in storing the water that flows into it naturally. Sometimes, they are built across dry valleys, or valleys with small streams, to create a storage domain for water that is transported from elsewhere.(I)Diverting the river flow from the site Streams and rivers are diverted to create a dry land for the construction of the dam. Small rivers, streams or tushals are usually diverted through a tunnel, or a channel that is constructed most the side of the dam. Soft soils and rocks are removed to make a route, while harder rocks have to be blasted with explosives, to loosen up the soil and form soft debris.If dams are built across wide rivers with large volumes of flowing water. It would be impr put to workicable and too expensive to construct a separate channel or a tunnel to divert the flow of water. Instead, a dry construction pit is formed on one side of the river, leaving the other side open for the water to flow through. The first portion of the dam is constructed in the dry pit. When it is finished, another dry area is formed on the other side of the river, and the remaining part of the dam is built. Meanwhile, the river flows through openings in the completed portion of the dam, and the reservoir can start to fill behind it (http//www.britishdams.org/about_dams/divert.htm)(ii)Constructing a foundation for the dam-A dam is usually built on a soil or on a hard rock foundation, different foundations are used depending on the type of dam and type of topography2around it. The foundation needs to be strong enough to hold and maintain the weight, structure of the dam, and the force of water pressure playacting on the walls of the dam. The dam foundation generally needs to be below the ground level of the dam. To construct foundation soft soil and rocks need to be removed by excavation, drilling or by blasting rocks with explosives.Rarely, areas of weaker s oils or rocks are found below the planned foundation level of the dam and this need to be removed and replaced with stronger materials for a stronger foundation.Some rock foundations have crevices3and fissures4in them. These have to be filled with grout or sealing material to stop water seeping out from the reservoir through the cracks, once the dam is made. This is usually done by drilling holes down into the weak rock with cracks and by pumping grout in them, which spreads outwards to fill up the cracks and making the rock hard.(iii)Building a dam (structure) -There are two major types of dam constructions (i) Concrete dams(ii) Embankment damsConcrete dams-As limited amount of concrete is required in a concrete dam, the concrete is mixed together in a special building called a concrete batching ready, which is built near the dam site. Sometimes for very large dams, there can be a number of batching defines. The concrete in the dam is placed by two different methods.(a) Pouring c oncrete -The traditional method of constructing a dam is to pour a wet mixture of concrete into a mould made in the required shape of the dam. The mould is usually made from sheets of timber it is also known as formwork. The mould is not made to the full length and breadth of the dam, as the dam is built upwards in small stages of about 1 to 2 metres at a time. The concrete is left to dry and harden before they can work on the next section on the top.The concrete needs to be transferred from the batching plant to the dam this can be done by number of methods. Like a system of conveyor belts is used from the batching plant to the dam site or sometimes the concrete is taken by the trucks to the dam site from where it is poured into skips which are then lifted to the top of the dam by cranes and poured.(b) Compacting concrete with rollers- Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) dams are formed by spreading a dry layer of mix of concrete and compacting and mashing it down using a heavy steel r ollers. The dam is raised slowly step by step to about 600 mm. The edges of the dams are formed first, by making low concrete walls on the upstream and downstream sides of the dam. Concrete is then moved to the area between the walls and spread in a thin layer using bulldozers. Rollers are then driven over the concrete to compact it down and harden it up.(iv)Filling up the reservoir with water(v)Testing that does the floodgates and valves work(vi) Monitoring and recording the behaviour of newly built damUSES OF DAMSWater supply -This water is used to supply water to homes and factories. Reservoirs are designed in such a way to make itstock the rain that falls during the rainier separate of the socio-economic class, so that there is a continuous supply of water for the drier periodHydroelectricity- Waters in the reservoirs could be used to store water to endure hydroelectric power stations. Hydroelectric power is produced by using the potential energy from falling water to drive water turbines that in turn, turn electric generators. The reservoir water is stored at a height higher than the turbines, which are in the power station. Sometimes, the power station is directly in front of a dam, and pipes through the dam feed water directly to the turbines. In some other solecisms, the power station is downhill from the reservoir, and the water is fed to it through colossal pipes or tunnels called penstocks.Flood control-A reservoir can be used to control the amount of water flowing in a river after heavy rain or snow fall. The water level in the reservoir is kept low during the wetter periods of the year. When heavy rain occurs, it is gated by the dam and held in the reservoir like a collecting tank. When the reservoir gets too full, the floodwater can be passed downstream over a spillway.Sometimes, floodgates are used on top of spillways, and they can be fully or partly opened to control the amount of water let out into the river downstream. If dam werent the re the water level in rivers can rise dramatically. Sometimes, the water flows over riverbanks or walls causing flooding of farmland, property, and in the worst cases, loss of life.Irrigation-Plants grow naturally on fertile soil that is watered by rain. However, in different regions of the world where the climate is very dry for some split of the year, the soil becomes so dry that it restricts the growth of vegetation. This occupation can be overcome by irrigation, a man-made system for watering the land. As water is released through spillway into downstream and to the drier partsNavigation -The construction of a dam across a river forms a reservoir that holds water raises the water level upstream, , and it slows down its rate of flow. This improves the navigation conditions upstream of the dam for ships and boats. Dangerous areas of rocks and sandbanks, previously in shallow water, become well covered, and rapids in the river disappear. Also, water from the reservoir can be relea sed into the river downstream during the drier seasons of the year to make sure that it is deep enough for navigation all the year round.How do dams affect people and environment around it?Reservoirs are generally created to act as a resource or to give benefit to people. Rarely , inundation, or flooding of land and the management of the water in the reservoir can have an adverse set up on people, the wildlife ,the environment and the habitats, not only inside and around the valley, but also downstream of the dam or the spillway. The advantages and disadvantages of creating a new reservoir and a dam should be conceptualiseed during the planning stages. Suitable methods should be decided and worked upon to eliminate or to reduce the disadvantages, so that the reservoir provides an general resourceful benefit to people.These are some of the issues that are considered-People- Peoples livelihood and their quality of living are also affected when the land is inundated by the reservoir s, on which they used to live and earn living .For some large reservoirs, or dams, hundreds of thousands of people have had to leave their homes and well established businesses had to migrate elsewhere and set up boththing from scratch. In the past, there have been cases that many of these people that were forced to migrate for the betterment of society had not been given adequate stipend for their losses, and some had not even been given new places to live let alone the compensation. During relocation some of the communities who had been living together for a long time were confounded up and moved to different areas due to construction of the dam, which also led to emotional and mental traumas. Some people made their living from farming and used the water from river for irrigation and some used the river for fishing. Majority of them suffered when they were relocated, as they were not given new land to work, if land was given it was far more less than they in truth used to have or the land was infertile and the land was too far from a river so river could not be used for irrigation. They needed different skills to get another job and adequate training was not always provided. These days, authorities trustworthy for the dams are becoming more aware of these issues. Resettlement plans have been worked on, developed and applied to minimise the disruption and suffering caused to people during relocation, which used to live in the reservoir areas. Good plans make sure that fair compensation and employment opportunities would be provided. In some cases, efforts have been made to resettle migrants in their own chosen communities.Plants and animals Dams are generally constructed across rivers or lakes to store water that would naturally find its path to the lower reaches of the river and finally into the sea. The building of a dam upsets the natural flow of water and the balance of the river which affects the animal and plant life in and around it. some of the r easons how it whitethorn change the natural balance are -At the upstream of the dam, the dam is made, river is flooded and it becomes a reservoir.The disposition of the flow of the water downstream is changed.The dams generally accumulate sediments that normally flow downstream in a natural flowWhen the river valley is flooded with water, animals are forced to leave there natural habitat and plants and trees are cut. In some cases rare species have been extinct due to the negligence of the authorities. Now for some large projects, plans for nature reserves have been made .In some natural reserves same species of plants and trees have been replanted in them and some of the native affected animals have been moved there. However, the natural reserves can only really work when authorities carefully give a thought that how the plants and animals depend on each other in an environment.A dam across a river generally forms a barrier to fish that migrate, such as salmon, pomfret, sailfish. seek passes should be include in the design of a dam. This would allow adult fish to swim upstream to spawn, and then come back downstream later with their young ones. Fish passes usually take the form of a fish lock or fish ladder. These fish passes need to be designed very carefully and precisely to make sure that the conditions are just about right for the fish to use them.Sedimentation- Rivers always carry sediments. When river is flooding a reservoir, the speed of the flowing water comes to almost a halt and the sediments fall down and get deposited on the reservoir bed. Over a number of years, the sediment in the reservoir can pile up, and form a hard rock which may reduce the space available for storing water in the reservoir. Most of the sediments that are held back in the reservoir would normally be moved downstream by the flowing water. If too much sediment is accumulated in the reservoir, the natural balance of the sediments in the river downstream can be changed, affec ting people, wildlife and plants as far away as the river estuary, meets the sea. Farming land, which uses water from reservoirs for growing crops, can be deprived of its nutrients and choke off which are normally accumulated when the river floods the reservoir. Nutrients are essential for fertilising the soil for agriculture. When designing a reservoir, the quantity and the quality of sediment that will flow into the reservoir have to be monitored and controlled. The reservoir needs to be designed to reduce the amount of sediments that are deposited upstream, and to maximise the sediment flow downstream. Positioning spillways and outlet pipes and tunnels can control and regulate the flow of sediments downstream. Sometimes sediment is knowingly accumulated in the reservoir. Then at regular intervals, it is removed. This can be achieved by letting water flow out of the reservoir through the outlet pipes at the bottom of the dam, so that the sediments easily get flushed out.Water qua lity The quality of water can slowly deteriorate when it is stored in a reservoir as the water is stagnant .Flowing river water maintains a constant supply of dissolved oxygen. turn oxygen is vitally needed to support aquatic flora and fauna, and to prevent some chemical reactions to pollute the water. There are many numbers of factors that can reduce oxygen levels in a reservoir, for e.g. organic material in the water can readily use up oxygen as it decomposes. The depth of the water in the reservoir, temperature difference between the water at the top of the reservoir and the bottom and its flow can also affect the oxygen levels. The type and the chemical nature of the land that is covered by a reservoir may affect the water quality. Pesticides and other chemicals from farms and toxic materials from industries can pollute the water. The streams and rivers flowing into the reservoir act as a major source of pollution as they may be carrying pollutants. The designers of a reservoi r and the dam have to consider all these factors and whether if any of these factors will have an adverse effect on the quality of the water. If the answer is yes, the designers need to include special natural rubber measures to maintain secure quality of water.Historical site- river valleys have high heritage set as throughout history people have settled in them. Many of the worlds archaeologic sites, historical buildings and monuments can be found on the beds of these river valleys. Often these sites include sacred buildings such as churches, temples and their burial sites, which are areas of high sentimental values to the local inhabitants. Such heritage sites could be lost forever when a reservoir is made and the site is inundated with water. In the past, no such go were taken in these dam projects to explore, preserve or save any of the local heritages. Recently, special measures have been taken in account for building of some projects. They have included following guideli nesIntensive archaeological investigations at the sites believed to have traces by ancient civilisations, before dam or a reservoir constructions proceeds. relocation of burial sites with proper respect and dignity.Redesigning the structure of the dam, to minimise the loss of heritage site.The dismantling, relocation and re-erection of ancient monuments to preserve the interests of localsSafety and the maintenance of the damIn 1925, the two dams failed causing a flood that swamped a village in North Wales called Dolgarrog, this flood killed 16 people. The disaster was initially started when the Eigiau Dam, a small gravity dam failed. The released water from the reservoir of the broken dam flooded downstream and overtopped the reservoir of Coedty Dam which was an embankment dam the high pressure of water inside the reservoir forced this dam to fail. Thus, releasing the huge volume of water that that swapped Dolgarrog and killed people.This disaster at Dolgarrog led the British govern ment to pass the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act in 1930 that introduced laws on the prophylactic of the reservoirs. This act has been updated, and the current one is known as the Reservoirs Act, 1975. According to this acts all the dams in the United Kingdom that can hold at least 25,000 cuboid metres of water would be maintained and looked after to ensure the safety of the general public. Under the Act, there is a usually Panel (or group) of civil engineers who are responsible for checking the safety and maintenance of these reservoirs and their dams. These are also known as Panel Engineers, and to qualify, these panel engineers need to be well qualified and vastly experienced in dam and reservoirs safety maintenance. After 10 years every existing reservoir is thoroughly chequered that if they meet all their safety requirements. Panel Engineers are also required to actively participate with the new construction of dams and reservoirs, or if the existing reservoirs needs to be repaired and changed entirely. According to this act reservoir owners are lawfully responsible for the safety and the maintenance of their reservoirs, dams. These dam owners are forced to employ suitably qualified civil engineers to make periodic checks on safety of the dam during the intervals between the Panel Engineers brushups.Safety check by EngineersSome of the safety checks are listed belowVisual inspections An important part of a reservoir safety check is visual inspections. Unusual features like cracks on the surface of a dam may reveal important clues about the condition of the internal proboscis of the dam which may not be visible to the naked nerve of the inspector.On embankment dams, the civil engineers always look for hollows, bulges cracks and leaks on the outer face and on the upstream face of the dam, when the water is low. These features could possible betoken number of factors like the dam becoming more unstable, and that if there is a possibility that, wit h time, the portion of the slope could collapse, just like a landslide or the dam could crumble down on its own weight. Hollows on the dam can also indicate that floodwater has been overflowing the dam and slowly eroding the downstream slope. Engineers also look through or underneath the dam for any signs of water leaking. Water leaking through the dam can erode away the material inside the dam gradually creating a large cavity. This may lead to the collapse of the cavity itself which may reduce the stability of the dam. If the water is leaking under the dam or near the foot it can be a problem in its foundations in this case the entire dam needs to be reconstructed as the foundations get mushy and dam can collapse any second. Concrete dams have inspection galleries theses are tunnels running through the entire dams. These galleries just between 5-6 feet high just about big enough for a person to walk through. This helps engineers as the can inspect the conditions of the dam both in side and outside. The concrete surface is checked for signs of any erosion, deterioration, cracking or moulding. The engineers also look for the stability of the dam and look for any signs that could suggest that the dam or sections of it are moving. Checks are also made for any leaks on every part of the dam. Inspector checks the dam for all types of conditions, water pipes, valves and floodgates and even the quality of the water. The valves and gates are operated and greased regularly to check that they work and would work when required.Monitoring behaviour- Although dams look like a solid structure, they generally do move under the forces of nature, and which may cause water to seep through tiny pores in the structure. The height of an embankment dam in reality reduced due to its weight over the years. Reduction of the height of dam is called settlement. A reservoir filled with water pushes a dam downstream a little and tries to make it slant and slide on its foundation. The str ucture of the dams is mostly made out of metal and concrete which may contract and expand the dam as the temperature changes throughout the year. Civil engineers have to often ensure the stability of dams by designing dams that can minimise water seepage and could withstand the effects of natural forces. Changes in the behaviour of a dam does not occur overnight, they occur slowly, and gradually so these changes cannot be detected by naked eye so the dam needs to be monitored regularly using scientific instruments that can measure changes at very small values . This way any unwanted behaviour can be detected in early stages before it causes a major structural problem. Some instruments are permanently fitted in dams, while others are generally taken to the site to make measurements.These are some the things that are monitored-Seepage or leakage- A crack in a dam can indicate there would be increased leakage or seepage. In embankment dams, it could indicate that there is internal eros ion of the fill material is taking place.Settlement- Optical instruments are used to measures levels on the crest of an embankment dam, to check if the height of the dam is reduced. If a crest appears to settle it can be a warning of problem a occurring within the body of the dam. The crest levels are generally designed to be of a veritable height or to a higher place the normal full reservoir level. This ensures that the dam is not overtopped if in case it is flooded by excess floodwater or by waves on windy days.Tilting -Pendulums are installed in the vertically shafts of the dam to monitor any tilting in the damConsidering floods Dams are usually designed to hold back and collect water that flows into the valley behind it in the reservoirs dams are also used to control the amount of water that passes out through it. Hydrologists are used to estimate the quantity and the quality of water that flows into a reservoir. Civil engineers use this information to find a location and pl an the appropriate height of the dam. The dam needs to be of certain height, high enough to ensure that it will not be overflow excess flood water, unless it is designed to do so via tunnels or spillways. Accidental over toppling of water could damage the property downstream and in worse can be fatal or it could wash away part of the downstream side of an embankment dam which may affect the stability of the dam and it could collapse. These events can form catastrophic floods, as the water is released from the reservoir, could cause death and destruction to the people who live downstream. Floodwater is usually passed through a reservoir using a spillway, tunnels or safety canals safely. If people and property are at risk, spillways are opened safely so that they could pass the huge amounts of flood water controllably. Hydrologists often estimate the size and the danger of the flood by studying past rainfall records for the area and considering recent climate changes or the sudden cha nge in the topography e.g. a large slope formed due to a landslide. They use this information to design new, better, efficient, spillways and also check the existing ones. Often, small-scale models are created to check the design.Checking for quakes- Every year there are more than 200 temblors are detected just alone in Britain. The majority of them are extremely small and have very small value on the Richter scale, but after regular intervals of every eight years at least a Magnitude 5 earthquake on Richter scale occurs. Luckily Magnitude 6 earthquake is about the largest and biggest that could ever occur in Britain, but the odds of that happening is very small or even negligible. A Magnitude 6 earthquake can easily damage structures that are poorly constructed, have weak foundations or that have not been designed to absorb earthquake shocks.If a dam fails during an earthquake it can be very serious, because the water released from the reservoir could cause havoc and severe flood ing downstream. Due to this reason, new and existing dams in Britain are checked that if they could absorb the shocks of an earthquakes.There are a few handful dams in Britain which are believed to have been damaged or have been severely affected by earthquakes. The most important case was found in 1957 when the Black brook Dam, in Leicestershire, was severely affected by a Magnitude 5.3 earthquake. Tithe tremors of this earthquake caused heavy coping stones to shift and cracks and crevices appeared on the faces of this gravity dam which was constructed from concrete and masonry.

Searching for knowledge: method, gloss, and the failure of information :: Ethnography

I. Sketching KnowledgeI have a recurring nightm atomic number 18 that I am on my way to becoming a post-modern positivist. In thedark recesses of my inner sanctum, my constant justifications of the worth of inductive, nonhypothesisdriven,participatory, and emic-centered research finally give way under the pressure of graduatestudents dismissal of methods as unimportant and an all too often dismissal of anthropology by somegiven that its just anecdotes. These fears atomic number 18 backed by a frightening credit that I have colleaguesin other disciplines (i.e., critical geography, social work, and even sympathetic political science) whoappear to take our method more seriously than we do. Is anthropology ill-omened?This semester I am teaching ethnographic methods to a class of first year graduate students and Iam often struck by how stinging they are to know how it is done. But simultaneously, how difficult it isfor them to specify any concrete method beyond interviewing and observ ing. Often they are actually mostinterested in questions of logistics the real how is it done questions. How did you get a visa, where didyou live, how long did you stay, how did you afford it, did your partner come with you, were youinsured? And of course, a professor who has taught the course before advised me that I shouldnt preparelectures, but rather just tell stories. So I spend a lot of my time in this class state stories, (whichsatisfies my pedagogical fears over not knowing enough about method to cover 20 hours of course-time having had a significant part of my own training in the go out and do it approach), but also imploringthese anthropologists-in-training to think about what information they are interested in, and the best waysto get it. I tell them that we need to take data collection seriously, or at least we need to have a seriousthink about what allow answer our questions. However, some of them seem to think of it as busy-work.As they repeatedly tell me, one of th e dogmas of Malinowski-as-practiced dissertation fieldwork is your2questions will change once you are in the field, so why should they spend loads of time thinking abouthow to answer their original question? Also, some ask, doesnt this jeopardize the temperament of inductiveresearch? I believe in the necessity of the anthropological flexibility that these students are highlightingthrough their questioning of research preparation. However, it seems to me that some of them areconflating fixity and research design, rather than giving real consideration to particular methodological

David Copperfield :: essays research papers

David CopperfieldThe reinvigorated David Copperfield, written by Charles Dickens, deals with thelife and times of David Copperfield. About a century ago in a small town inEngland, David was born on a Friday at the stroke of midnight, which isconsidered a sign of poisonous luck. Davids initiate has already died and his auntcomes to stay with him and his mother as this novel gets off to a very slowstart. Soon David becomes aware that his mother has transaction with another manand asks single of his servants, "if you marry a person, and the person dies, whythen you may marry another person, maynt you?" David is immediately angeredthat his mother has betrayed his father and goes off to live with his aunt. Awhile later, David goes back home but quickly gets into trouble and is sent offto school.     Dickens uses excellent description in his telling of this story and thereader can easily relate to the characters. The setting of a small town inEngland is st andard in all of his novels, including immense Expectations. Thereason for this Dickens setting is because he was born in the town ofPortsmouth, England in 1812. Although as a young child he moved to Chathamwhere he go through a pleasant childhood in which many scenes from hischildhood are intertwined throughout his novels. Dickens father was constantlyin debt and was eventually sent to jail. This fund was agonizing for youngCharles as years later he wrote "No words can express the secret agony of mysoul. I felt my archean hopes of growing up to be a learned and distinguished man,crushed in my breast." This directly relates to Dickens discussion of David ina wine home base later in the novel. A couple of years later, Dickens attendsschool at the Wellington House Academy where he fell in make out with Maria Beadnellbut her father opposed the marriage and nothing became of it. David Copperfieldis more of a biography of Dickens life made into fiction than of just a regula rstory about a boy. Dickens writing skills are apparent as he ties chapterstogether in an easy to understand novel where the writing seems to move alongswiftly. Dickens work is rich with metaphors and enjoyable to analyze as instatements such as, "he eats at one gulp exactly like an elephant." This bookis a classic and may be considered his best work. There are times when thenovel moves slowly, but the positives outstrip the negatives and David