The La Jolla Project :: Architecture Architectural History Essays

The La Jolla Project The presence of the past is everywhere. One does not have to look very far to realize that the past has quite an influence on the present. In fact, there are a few examples of modern works of art at the University of California, San Diego, that bring to mind architectural works of the past. One such example is the La jolla Project, which is a collection of stone blocks on top of a hill on the Revelle College lawn south of Galbraith Hall. The isolated groups of blocks refer to architectural elements such as columns, posts, lintels, windows, and doors; but the collection, as a whole, resembles a modern reconstruction of Stonehenge. The La Jolla Project and Stonehenge differ from each other in many ways, but they also share some striking silmilarities that are constant reminders that the past is very much a part of modern life. The La Jolla Project is the third work in the Stuart Collection, which is a group of site-specific sculptural works at the University of California, San Diego. The La Jolla Project was installed by Richard Fleischner and was completed in 1984. The Project consists of 71 blocks of pink and gray granite (Stuart Collection 5). All the blocks are rectangular in shape and range from about 3 to 15 feet in length. The stones were quarried in New England and cut near Providence, Rhode Island, where the artist lives (Stuart Collection 6). Unlike the La Jolla Project, Stonehenge was probably not an abstract sculptural installation made of polished granite blocks. Stonehenge was built starting in 3100 B.C.E.(Encyclopedia Brittanica 287). The builders used mostly sarsen, a gray sandstone. Bluestones, or blocks of bluish dolerite, were also used. The number of stones used is unknown because the present structure of Stonehenge is the product of at least four major building phases. The stones have endured many centuries of rough weather and erosion. Stonehenge is located on Salisbury Plain in Southern England. Although it is not the largest henge (circle of stones) of the Neolithic Period, it is a remarkable site because it is one of the most complicated megalithic sites. Stonehenge was repeatedly reworked from 3100 to 1500 B.C.E. (Encyclopedia Brittanica 287). Each new major building phase added new elements to the site. The present-day arrangement at Stonehenge is the result of the last building phase which ended nearly 3,500 years ago.

Knowledge Management: PETRONAS

Introduction Today, oil and gas companies around the world are not just professional organizations who specialize in mechanical drilling and extraction processes. Increased oil demands and the need for improved productivity have forced these organizations into new methods and knowledge intensive approaches. For instance information technology has now become very much an integral part of the oil exploration and oil extraction business. The collaboration between multi disciplinary teams has become a norm. Real-time information communication from remote reservoirs, and processing of such data in a collaborative environment that involves multiple teams and vendor locations has become an essential part of the business decision making process. In other words, a knowledge based approach underlies the critical business decisions in oil majors. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284). As an oil and gas extraction company of the world, with presence in more than 30 countries across the world, PETRONAS is one of the Oil Majors. Being an increasingly competitive sector, skilled staff are always on demand in the Oil and Gas industry. This implies that organizations have to defend against attrition and be armed with effective knowledge management practices that manage vital information about processes, best practices and information about field experts and tacit knowledge about the entire operational processes. Effective knowledge management process is at the heart of business competitiveness and success. Knowledge Management Knowledge is a multidimensional and heterogeneous entity. Proper storage, classification and retrieval of knowledge is critical for innovation, cost control and hence the competitiveness of any industry. Particularly, for knowledge intensive firms such as PETRONAS, where high skilled engineering processes are involved, there is a need for ‘integrated operations’ between various knowledge areas. Ultimately, improving the production optimization process is at the heart of all knowledge management practices in PETRONAS. One of the important areas that lack coordination in the Oil and gas sector in general is the working of the reservoir engineers, the production engineers and the process engineers at the facilities. This implies that operation decisions are not always made in consultation with the onshore engineers. In other words this leads to what is known as the fragmented approach. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz) 2009, pg 285 Integrated Operations (Process facility and reservoir sensors and Collaboration among vendors and operators) (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 285) Information technology has now penetrated every area of the production and process control aspects of the Oil and Gas companies. However, most of these IT tools are specialized and lack the integration that makes it difficult to access relevant data for purposes of production analysis and optimization. It is necessary that all the three major divisions (reservoir management, production management and process management) exchange real-time data. A shared information space might be the answer to the problems as it promotes better access to real-time data and integration of the various processes, which is the key to achieving production optimization. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS Knowledge management practices are very recent at PETRONAS. As the Knowledge Management manager, Miss Murni Shariff, disclosed in a recent interview, only in 2006 the company seriously focused on KM practices. Prior to that KM was mostly restricted to content and information management. (KMTalk, 2009) There are two types of knowledge namely tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge, as the name suggests, refers to knowledge that could be easily documented. This type of knowledge is gained by reading, observation and discussion. For instance, documented guides about a program or the operational features of a product are examples of explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is more implicit and it is not easy to document it and consequently much harder to share. Tacit knowledge is developed over a period of time when an individual gains insights and details about the various functions in the organization. (MMU, 2006) Currently, PETRONAS is focusing on all efforts towards transferring this tacit knowledge of its staff and making it accessible for future reference and for new workers. Achieving this tacit knowledge sharing pertaining to the various complex processes within the organizations is crucial for the company to reduce costs and become competitive. As Stephen Birell, marketing director of Vardus, a KM company focusing on the Oil and gas sector states, â€Å"The way the industry can drive down cost is by attacking the areas of huge cost which are facilities and drilling. And if everyone follows best practice and shares their learning, you won’t have people making the same mistakes twice. And that ultimately saves money.† (Chowdury, 2006) Three issues are the main motivating factors for the implementation of KM practices across the organization. These are 1) aging workforce- With more than three and half decades since its institution many of the technical staff members at PETRONAS are nearing their retirement age and this mass retirement would drastically impact upon the performance unless swift knowledge management policies are in place to capture the tacit knowledge of these experienced older workforce. 2) The global oil industry is very competitive placing a high premium for the experienced and knowledgeable workforce. High attrition rate at PETRONAS is one big problem as competitors are luring skilled staff. In this context the issue of Trust becomes foremost. The following 5 C’s are recognized as trust factors among knowledge intensive workers. These are a) Competence, b) Commitment, c) Conflict, d) Communication and e) Caring. Of these commitment is foremost and it is the responsibility of the team leade r or the manager to ensure that commitment to the organization and its values are developed naturally as a response to the motivation and example shown by the leader. (Ralston, 2007) Finally, increasing international operations also implies international competition and in this scenario an effective KM plan is indispensible for the organization to smoothly manage and coordinate the international operations. KM makes it possible to simply follow the ‘PETRONAS way’ of transferring knowledge across the different organizations. (KMtalk, 2009) Initially, the main focus was on technology and in removing the hindrances in sharing knowledge stored in varied database formats. However, more than the technical problems it is the problem associated with human acceptance that is currently a pressing issue. In other words, promoting effective change management is the key to implementing KM practices. At PETRONAS new initiatives were implemented to promote better change management. Communities of Practice A new, ‘Communities of practice’ (CoP) initiative was implemented with the idea of starting an effective KM program across the entire organization to better facilitate transfer of information between the various divisions in a swift and effective manner. Currently, there are over 50 CoP’s with each Cop having 30 members. A leader or a champion is chosen among each CoP team based on their performance criteria. The CoP’s were provided with a basic structural framework with which they can implement KM solutions and promote group-wide collaborative values. Regular monitoring of the CoP operations and impact of the same are undertaken. These leaders are also encouraged to share success stories on online CoP newsletter. To encourage enthusiastic participation from the staff, the Knowledge management team is also currently promoting a rewards system wherein the reports from the various Cop’s would be reviewed and the best performing team recognized and awarded (Murni Shariff, 2008) This CoP approach at PETRONAS has shown significant positive results so far with effective information exchange between various operating units already visible across the organization. This would also significantly improve the training for younger generation staff as they fast replace the retiring older generation. A simple online tool that was designed to evaluate the penetration of the CoP based KM practices has confirmed these positive improvements. ( Murni Shariff, 2008) Conclusion Knowledge management practices are critical to the continued competitive growth of any organization. In simple terms it facilitates effective reuse of organizational resources which is tantamount to considerable cost savings. Particularly, in a knowledge intensive and high-tech organization such as PETRONAS, KM practices help to promote better collaboration between multidisciplinary teams. This could help avoid millions of dollars in costs by helping workers avoid unnecessary delays and repetitive mistakes. The current KM practices involving Communities of practice concepts are showing good acceptance among the staff which is important for effective change management. As more and more staff members are encouraged to participate in KM activities, more intensive KM practices and collaborative platforms could be established. This would help in realizing organization wide process integration and overall business alignment. However, regular knowledge auditing is the key to understand the flow of knowledge within the organization and to ascertain areas where improvements could be effected by increasing knowledge sharing. Continued management support is the key as even a small amount of time and resources spent on good KM practices would definitely translate to considerable productivity gains in the longer run. References Dariusz Jemielniak & Jerzy Kociatkievicz, (2009), Handbook of research on Knowledge intensive organizations, Pub by Information Science Reference. Faith Ralston, (2007), How to manage four types of Knowledge Workers- Play Your Best Hand, Adams Media. U.S.A KMtalk, (2009) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS : Interview with Murni Shariff, viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Murni Shariff, (2008), PETRONAS : Engaging Knowledge Worker Communities to Stimulate Innovation and Build Corporate Capability, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Naguib Chowdhury, (2006), Knowledge Management Implementation in PETRONAS: A Case Study, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Manchester Metropolitan University, (2006) Introduction to Knowledge Management, viewed Jan 24th 2012,

Cost functions Final Exam Essay

1. The degree of operating leverage is equal to the ____ change in ____ divided by the ____ change in ____. 2. The short-run cost function is: 3. Theoretically, in a long-run cost function: 4. Evidence from empirical studies of long-run cost-output relationships lends support to the: 5. In the linear breakeven model, the breakeven sales volume (in dollars) can be found by multiplying the breakeven sales volume (in units) by: 6. In a study of banking by asset size over time, we can find which asset sizes are tending to become more prominent. The size that is becoming more predominant is presumed to be least cost. This is called: 7. Buyers anticipate that the temporary warehouse seller of unbranded computer equipment will 8. In the long-run, firms in a monopolistically competitive industry will 9. In the short-run for a purely competitive market, a manufacturer will stop production when: 10. A firm in pure competition would shut down when: 11. Asset specificity is largest when 12. Uncertainty includes all of the following except ____. 13. Experience goods are products or services 14. Declining cost industries 15. Of the following, which is not an economic rationale for public utility regulation? 16. ____ as practiced by public utilities is designed to encourage greater usage and therefore spread the fixed costs of the utility’s plant over a larger number of units of output. 17. The practice by telephone companies of charging lower long-distance rates at night than during the day is an example of: 18. When the cross elasticity of demand between one product and all other products is low, one is generally referring to a(n) ____ situation. 19. In natural monopoly, AC continuously declines due to economies in distribution or in production, which tends to found in industries which face increasing returns to scale. If price were set equal to marginal cost, then: 20. A cartel is a situation where firms in the industry 21. The existence of a kinked demand curve under oligopoly conditions may result in 22. Which of the following is an example of an oligopolistic market structure? 23. Even ideal cartels tend to be unstable because 24. In a kinked demand market, whenever one firm decides to lower its price, 25. Some industries that have rigid prices. In those industries, we tend to

The Charactertic Coral and Mussels Have in Common

The Charactertic Coral and Mussels Have in Common The term sessile refers to an organism that is anchored to a substrate and cannot move about freely. For example, a sessile alga that lives on a rock (its substrate). Another example is a barnacle that lives on the bottom of a ship. Mussels and coral polyps are also examples of sessile organisms. Coral is sessile by creating its own substrate to grow from.  The blue mussel,  on the other hand, attaches to a substrate like a dock or a rock via its byssal threads. Sessile Stages Some animals, like jellyfish, start their lives as sessile polyps in the early stages of development before becoming mobile, while sponges are mobile during their larval stage before they become sessile at maturity.   Due to the fact that they dont move on their own, sessile organisms have low metabolic rates and can exist on small amounts of food.  Sessile organisms are known to clump together which improves reproduction.   Sessile Research Pharmacological researchers are looking into some of the potent chemicals that are produced by marine sessile invertebrates. One of the reasons for that the organisms produce the chemicals is to protect themselves from predators due to the fact that they are stationary. Another reason is they may use the chemicals is to prevent themselves against disease-causing organisms.  Ã‚   The Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef was built by sessile organisms. The reef consists of over 2,900 individual reefs and covers an area of over 133,000 miles. Its the largest structure built by living organisms in the world!

Dealing with he said and she said

Dealing with he said and she said Dealing with he said and she said Dealing with he said and she said By Maeve Maddox I once had a high school English teacher who encouraged her students to use as many synonyms for said as possible, for example: he gasped, she grumbled, and they snorted. Maybe she was just trying to get us to stretch our vocabularies. These days, writers prefer the simple word said, feeling that its more colorful synonyms tend to distract the reader. There are, of course, exceptions. If a character is asking a question, a word like asked is a more logical choice. An occasional shouted or screamed is also permissible in moments of extreme duress for the characters. Sometimes, however, even the he saids can slow conversational flow. Im presently revising a mystery novel, deleting every unnecessary word I find. Here are some of the revisions Ive made to get rid of speech attributions that are not absolutely necessary. Example one: Hello again, Miss Dunbar, he said, motioning for her to sit. I’m afraid you’re not having a very pleasant holiday.â€Å" People do seem to be dying in my vicinity,† she said. REVISION: Hello again, Miss Dunbar. I’m afraid you’re not having a very pleasant holiday. He motioned for her to sit. People do seem to be dying in my vicinity. Since only two people are in the room, attributions are unnecessary. I get rid of the first said by rearranging the sentence, allowing the mans gesture to identify him as the speaker. The second said is unnecessary because only two people are present. Example two: Weve found the murder weapon, Sir, the policeman said, holding out what he was carrying on a towel. Sallie looked at the object in bewilderment. It looks like a flute, she said. It is a flute, Dave said. A flute that shoots .22 caliber bullets. REVISION: Weve found the murder weapon, Sir. The officer was carrying something on a towel. Sallie looked at the object in bewilderment. It looks like a flute. It is a flute, Dave said. A flute that shoots .22 caliber bullets. I get rid of the first two saids by letting gestures identify the speakers. I keep the third attribution to make clear which of the three men present is speaking. Sometimes a character thinks something without saying it aloud. Example Three: The policeman waited for Sallie to get onto the escalator in front of him. So I cant make a break for it, Sallie thought. REVISION: The policeman waited for Sallie to get onto the escalator in front of him. So I cant make a break for it. I get rid of Sallie thought by typing the thought itself in italics. The scene is being narrated from Sallies point of view. REMINDER: This is not a matter to worry about as you write the first, or even second, draft of your novel. Throw in all the saids and snorteds you like. Save the pruning for the final revision. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Fiction Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:50 Handy Expressions About HandsAt Your DisposalEach vs. Both

The issue of how children should be treated in the tax system.and more Assignment

The issue of how children should be treated in the tax system.and more - Assignment Example The Canada Child Tax Benefit came to existence as a response to a commitment made by the parliament of Canada in the year 1989, to completely eliminate child poverty in Canada by the end of that millennium. For a person to qualify for this payment they must be living with and providing care to a child of bellow 18 year, must be Canadian residents, and must have a common-law partner or a spouse. This paper aims at discussing how children should be treated in the tax system. The first time Canada introduced financial assistance to families with children bellow the age of 18 was in the year 1945. This was made possible through the Family Allowance Act of 1944. In 1979 the monthly rate of family allowance was reduced from 25.68 dollars to 20.00 dollars. When income taxation was introduced in Canada in the year 1918, tax exemption was allowed for each child. The Canada Child Tax Benefit was introduced in the year 1992 and took effect in the year 1993. The Canada Child Tax Benefit aims pri marily at low income families with dependent children. The net effect of all these changes was that higher income families were treated the same way for tax purposes independent of the number of dependent children in the family (Hale, 2002). The Harper government reintroduced some modest tax breaks for higher income families with children, including tax credits for dependent children and children’s fitness and arts credits. The Harper Government also introduced the Universal Child Care Benefit which pays $1200 per child as taxable income to parents. According to Robert M. Haig and Henry Simons income is defined as values of commodities and services that a citizen consume minus or plus any change in net worth in a given period of time. This definition of income is commonly known as Haig-Simons definition of income. In this contest both outflow and inflow of resources are taxable (Hale, 2002). Given that children bellow the age of 18 do not have any activities that generate inc ome but have activities that require resources it will be unfair if their consumptions are taxed equal to the grownups. When parents or guardians spend money on commodities and services that relate to the upbringing of their children, there is a certain amount of money that is taxed. This might make life harder for families with children, especially those with low income. This explains the necessity of the Canada Child Tax Benefit. The Canada Child Tax Benefit highly contributes to the horizontal equity in the Canadian tax system. Horizontal equity in taxation refers to equal taxation of individuals with the same amount of income. In a case where two people have equal gross income, people with children will be taxed more. This is because they always have to spend more as compared to the childless individual. The increased expenditure is because they have extra person to take care of. The Canada Child Tax Benefit creates equality by making sure that those with children get some tax r elief thus making their general taxation almost the same to that of people who do not have children (Hale, 2002). This makes sure that no income earner is subjected to unfair taxation. It also ensures that the low income earners have an easy time bringing up their children. The Canada Child Tax Benefit can also contribute to vertical equity in taxation. Vertical equity is a principle which states that citizens with higher income should always pay more taxes as compared to those with low

Finance Dissertation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Finance - Dissertation Example Islamic banking and finance is the new representation of financial institutions and it is also said to be the answer in looking for a better and fairer way of managing money and in underpinning the real financing activities. Since its origin, just over thirty years ago Islamic banking has been the fastest growing industry in the financial system and financial markets of several countries. It has â€Å"concentrated in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, but they are also present as niche players in Europe and the United States† (Cihak & Hesse, 2008, p.3). For instance, Islamic banking in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is more lucrative compared to conventional or commercial banks of the country (Parker, 2010). Aside from profitability, Islamic banks also are strong in asset growth despite of the abrupt decline of credit ratio compared to the average banking sectors in many countries. However, when global financial crisis had entered the real economy, Islamic banks started to incur more and more lucrative losses than their conventional counterparts, because Islamic investments are more prone to risk. The aim of this paper is to investigate the financial stability of Islamic banks versus conventional banks in the perspective of the global credit crunch. ... The growing literature mostly contained issues of comparison between the role of Islamic and conventional banking in the global credit crunch. When it comes to empirical analysis of financial stability the argument would always be about risk whereas when it comes to empirical papers, most of the arguments are discussing the efficiency of handling risks (Cihak & Hesse, 2008, p.3). The severe deficiency of money or credit which is also known as credit crunch has created a big impact on banking operations and practices around the world. Global credit crunch is a higher form of risk that distinguishes the differences executed by Islamic banks from those executed by conventional banks. Several institutions in various countries are now offering Islamic financial services like Murababa, Ijara, and Musharaka, wherein Muslims and non-Muslims can lend money without interest and no trading debt (Ahmad, 2010, p.38). According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the success of Islamic banks is present in almost all Middle East countries except Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE. Based on the study of Hassan and Bahshir (2005), Islamic banks are said to be efficient when it comes to resources allocation, profitability, liquidity, development of assets, and many more. However, according to Schoon (2009, p.187), Islamic banks are settled in a less efficient and cost effective market as long as the average rate of return is elevated. He said further that Islamic banks are not efficient in terms of liquidity ratios because of an absence of liquid assets and accepted primary liquidity instruments such as cash, bank balances, negotiable instruments, etc. It also