International Commercial Arbitration Law Assignment

International Commercial Arbitration Law - Assignment Example The paper tells that an international commercial arbitration has been an element of study owing to some of the unique features it is associated with. In the era of globalization, the volume of disputes between parties in trade has increased significantly, and often the judgment provided by the local jurisdiction fails to satisfy the parties to the action. The delay in the procedure of judgment also hampers trade activities between them and becomes significant in determining market conditions. International commercial arbitration tries to solve a few of these problems by providing a mutual solution to the issues on the basis of judgment provided outside the legal framework of either country. In matters of international arbitration, the agreement covering arbitration has gained importance over the years. The method of international arbitration is widely popular for resolving disputes that arise from international commercial agreements and a wide variety of international relationships. The main advantage of international arbitration lies in the fact that parties originating from different backgrounds of culture and legal framework can resolve disputes without the consideration and formalities of the legal systems of their respective countries. Other advantages of international arbitration include the fact that it allows the avoidance of uncertainty and the practices associated with local courts regarding the procedure of litigation so that quick and efficient decisions can be reached and the dispute resolved within a short time. The process of international arbitration also grants a high amount of flexibility to the parties in the process of designing the arbitral procedures. In casesof international commercial transactions, the parties have various choices in including mechanisms for resolving disputes that arise under the contract. If a party in the arbitration remains silent for a period of time, then the disaffected party can initiate legal proceedings in a co urt and can attain jurisdiction over the other with ease (Redfern, 2005: 15). International Commercial Arbitration International commercial arbitration tends to resolve disputesinvolving commercial contracts under the guidance and supervision of a number of international institutions and bodies framing international rules. The popular bodies that deal with the issues are the International Chamber of Commerce and the International Centre for Dispute Resolution. Most of these bodies use the â€Å"terms of reference† to summarize the claims and issues of the disputes in a particular procedure, and this is then signed by the parties before the start of the legal proceedings. One of the important characteristics of international commercial arbitration is that thearbitrators try to mitigate disputes before moving to the courts. The decision imposed by international commercial arbitration is binding on both parties. Another attraction of international commercial arbitration is that distrust of foreign legal systems often influences the parties in the action, as does the anticipated cost of using such legal systems. However, switching to international commercial arbitration reduces these types of risks considerably. Arbitrators have significant

Enhanced Oil Recovery By In Situ Combustion Environmental Sciences Essay

Enhanced Oil Recovery By In Situ Combustion Environmental Sciences Essay Enhanced oil recovery is oil recovery by the injection of materials not normally present in the reservoir. In situ Combustion (ISC) is the process of an enhanced oil recovery process to improve the recovery of heavy crude oil. As it is the oldest thermal recovery technique, it has been used for over nine decades with many economically successful projects. Nevertheless, it is regarded as a high-risk process by many, primarily because of many failures of early field tests. Most of those failures came from application of a good process (ISC) to the wrong reservoirs or to the poorest prospects. This paper contains a description of ISC, a discussion of laboratory screening techniques, an illustration of how to apply laboratory results to field design, a discussion of operational practices and problems, and an analysis of field results. For complete review, the case study is done on Balol and Santhal fields in Mehsana. In-situ combustion has been known since 1888. Mendeleev was the first scientist to suggest the in-situ conversion of coal into combustible gases. Based on the earlier laboratory results, Sheinman and Dubrovai in 1934 proposed the processed the process of oil displacement by means of a moving underground fire-front. A number of field tests, were performed in various regions in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The results from these tests indicated that the heat losses were large, therefore the injected hot gases reached the formation zone with zero thermal energy. These studies however were followed by laboratory research field tests and development of mathematical models to simulate in-situ combustion as a result of which this process has been recognized and can be used as a promising method of recovering heavy oil from petroleum reservoirs. The principle of in-situ combustion is to achieve combustion within the pores of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir, burning part of the oil in place in order to improve the flow of the unburned part. Combustion is supported by the injection of air into the reservoir at one or more wells. The heat generated during combustion is sufficient to raise the rock to a high enough temperature to enable the combustion front to self propagate after initial ignition by increasing mobility of the fluid. Methodology The in-situ combustion process was applied to petroleum reservoirs depending on wide range of characteristics like Nature of formation, depth, temperature, reservoir thickness, permeability, porosity and oil saturation in order to recover oil. Pressure is also a factor but not much critical. The process was applied in reservoirs with average permeability ranging from 40 to 8000mD, whereas the oil saturation varied from 25 to 95%. In addition fuel content is one of the most important factors influencing the success of a fireflood process. The fuel content of the reservoir is the amount of coke available for combustion that is deposited on reservoir rock as a result of distillation and thermal cracking. If the fuel content is too low, the combustion process in the reservoir cannot be self sustained. Moreover, a high fuel content requires a large amount of air and high power cost which means low oil production. Gates and Ramey (1980) compared the estimated fuel content by various methods including laboratory results with that of field project data. It has been shown that fuel content determined experimentally in the laboratory by tube -run method can provide a reasonably good estimation of the fuel content obtained in the field. In situ combustion is basically injection of an oxidizing gas (air or oxygen-enriched air) to generate heat by burning a portion of the resident oil. Most of the oil is driven towards the producers by a combination of gas drive (from the combustion gases), steam and water drive. This process is also called fire flooding to describe the movement of a burning front inside the reservoir. Based on the respective directions of front propagation and air flow, the process can be forward, when the combustion front advances in the same direction as the air flow, or reverse, when the front moves against the air flow. Reverse Combustion This process has been studied extensively in laboratories and has been field tested. In brief, it has not been successful economically for two major reasons. First, combustion started at the producer results in hot produced fluids that often contain unreacted oxygen. These conditions require special, high-cost tubular to protect against high temperatures and corrosion. More oxygen is required to propagate the front compared to forward combustion, thus increasing the major cost of operating an in situ combustion project. Second, unreacted, coke-like heavy ends will remain in the burned portion of the reservoir. At some time in the process the coke will start to burn and the process will revert to forward combustion with considerable heat generation but little oil production. This has occurred even in carefully controlled laboratory experiments. In summary reverse combustion has been found difficult to apply and economically unattractive. Forward Combustion Forward combustion can be further characterized as dry when only air or enriched air are injected or wet when air and water are co-injected. Dry Forward Combustion The first step in dry forward ISC is to ignite the oil. In some cases auto-ignition occurs when air injection begins if the reservoir temperature is fairly high and the oil reasonably reactive. Artificial Ignition has been induced using down hole gas burners, electrical heaters, and/or injection of pyrophoric agents or steam injection. Figure : schematic illustration of the in-situ combustion process (Source) After ignition the combustion front is propagated by a continuous flow of air. As the front progresses into the reservoir, several zones exist between injector and producer as a result of heat and mass transport and the chemical reactions. The above figure is an idealized representation of the various zones and the resulting temperature and fluid saturation distributions. In the field there are transitions between zones. A. The burned zone is the volume already burned. This zone is filled with air and may contain small amounts of residual unburned organic solids. As it has been subjected to high temperatures, mineral alterations are possible. Because of the continuous airflow from the injector, the burned zone temperature increases from injected air temperature at the injector to combustion front temperature at the combustion front. B. The combustion front is the highest temperature zone. It is very thin, often no more than several inches thick. It is in this region that oxygen combines with the fuel and high temperature oxidation occurs. The products of the burning reactions are water and carbon oxides. The fuel is often misnamed coke. In fact it is not pure carbon but a hydrocarbon with H/C atomic ratios ranging from about 0.6 to 2.0. This fuel is formed in the thermal cracking zone just ahead of the front and is the product of cracking and pyrolisis which is deposited on the rock matrix. The amount of fuel burned is an important parameter because it determines how much air must be injected to burn a certain volume of reservoir. C/D. The cracking/vaporization zone is downstream of the front. The crude is modified in this zone by the high temperature of the combustion process. The light ends vaporize and are transported downstream where they condense and mix with the original crude. The heavy ends pyrolize, resulting in CO2 , CO, hydrocarbon gases and solid organic fuel deposited on the rock. E. The steam plateau. This is the zone where some of the hydrocarbon vapors condense. Most of those condense further downstream as the steam condenses. The steam plateau temperature depends on the partial pressure of the water in the gas phase. Depending on the temperature the original oil may undergo a mild thermal cracking, often named visbreaking that usually reduces oil viscosity. F. A water bank exists at the leading edge of the steam plateau where the temperature is less than steam saturation temperature. This water bank decreases in temperature and saturation downstream, with a resulting increase in oil saturation. G. The oil bank. This zone contains most of the displaced oil including most of the light ends that result from thermal cracking. H. Beyond these affected areas is the undisturbed original reservoir. Gas saturation will increase only slightly in this area because of the high mobility of combustion gases. Wet Forward Combustion A large amount of heat is stored in the burned zone during dry forward in situ combustion, because the low heat capacity of air cannot transfer that heat efficiently. Water injected with the air can capture and advance more heat stored in the burned zone. During wet combustion injected water absorbs the heat from the burned zone, vaporizes, moves through the burning front and condenses, expanding the steam plateau. This results in faster heat movement and oil displacement. Depending on the water/air ratio, wet combustion is classified as: (1) incomplete when the water is converted into superheated steam and recovers only part of the heat from the burned zone, (2) normal when all the heat from the burned zone is recovered, and (3) quenched or super wet when the front temperature declines as a result of the injected water. ISC requires particular attention to air compression, ignition, well design, completion, and production practices. Air compression causes high temperatures because of the high c p / cv ratio of air. Compressor design must consider these high temperatures to ensure continuous, sustained operations free from the corrosive effects of air and the explosion hazards of some lubricating fluids. Mineral oils are not recommended. Synthetic lubricants withstand the higher temperatures and offer lower volatility and flammability than conventional lubricants. In order to achieve the combustion in the petroleum reservoir, mainly Spontaneous ignition and Artificial ignition are the two methods that are used for heavy oil recovery. Ignition can occur spontaneously if the oil is reactive, the reservoir temperature high enough, and the reservoir is reasonably thick. Down hole gas-fired burners allow good control of the temperature of injected gases and may be operated at a greater depth than other methods. The disadvantages include the need to run multiple tubing strings in the injection wells. Catalytic heaters run at lower temperatures but are expensive. Electrical heaters can be lowered with a single cable, and can provide excellent temperature control. They can be reused repeatedly. There is, however, a depth limitation because of electrical power losses in the cable. Chemically enhanced ignition may require handling and storage of dangerous materials. Steam may be used to locally increase reservoir temperature and facilitate auto ignition . It suffers from depth limitation because of wellbore heat losses, but when the conditions are right it can be a very simple and effective method for ignition. Combustion process was also employed as primary and tertiary recovery processes. Applications In situ combustion can be applied to many different reservoirs. Some suggested screening guidelines are: Nature of the Formation : The rock type is not important provided that the matrix/oil system is reactive enough to sustain combustion. As in any drive process, high permeability streaks are detrimental. Swelling clays may be a problem in the steam plateau area. Depth: Depth should be large enough to ensure containment of the injected air in the reservoir. There is no depth limit, except that this may affect the injection pressure. Pressure: Pressure will affect the economics of the process, but does not affect the technical aspects of combustion. Temperature: Temperature will affect auto ignition but is otherwise not critical. Reservoir Thickness: Thickness should be greater than about 4m (15 ft) 2,3 to avoid excessive heat losses to surrounding formations. Very thick formations may present sweep efficiency problems because of gravity override. Permeability: This has to be sufficient to allow injection of air at the designed air flux. The air injectivity is especially important for heavy oil reservoirs. Conditions are favorable when kh /ÃŽÂ ¼ is greater than about 5md m/cp.3 Porosity and Oil Saturation: These have to be large enough to allow economic oil recovery. The product, à Ã¢â‚¬   So , needs to be greater than 0.08 for combustion to be economically successful. Oil Gravity: This parameter is not critical. Insitu viscosity has to be low enough to allow air injection and resulting oil production at the design rate. Oil Nature: In heavy oil projects the oil should be readily oxidizable at reservoir and rock matrix conditions. The laboratory experiments can also determine the amount of air needed to burn a given reservoir volume. This is key to the profitability of the process. Current Status of In-Situ Combustion The in-situ combustion process is attractive economically, provided it is applied to petroleum reservoirs containing approximately 50% oil saturation. The fuel content is one of the important parameters for combustion support at a relatively low air/oil ratio. Although laboratory experiments can provide some basic understanding of the process, the primary evaluation factor is a field application before the process is employed on a large scale. The present status of oil production by in-situ combustion in the United States is nearly 11,000 bbl/day. The commercial dry ISC project at Romania is the largest project of its kind and it has been in operation for more than 34 years. The Balol and Santhal projects in India have been in operation for more than seven years and have been applied in a wet mode. Currently, combined all these three projects produce approximately 2300m3 /day. It is likely that very little laboratory research can be performed to improve the displacement efficiency of this process. With continued improvement of the in-situ combustion technology, it is almost certain that some form of this process, such as dry, wet, and partially quenched combustion, will find greater application in the coming years. Currently, commercial In situ combustion projects are Economic Evaluation It is recognized that the success or failure of an enhanced oil recovery process depends on the economic evaluation. An economic study completed by Wilson and Root (1966), which is based on a modified form of two-dimensional model presented by Chu, compares the cost of heating a reservoir. The cost comparison was studied for a reservoir either in the presence of steam injection or forward combustion without oil production. The main consideration was to determine heating cost of the same dimensions of a reservoir by either steam injection or by forward combustion. The following conclusions were drawn from this study; (1) Combustion is favored over steam injection as the sand thickness decreases the pressure increase. (2) As the coke deposition increases, steam injection is favored over the combustion process. (3) As the heated distance in the reservoir increases, reservoir heating by combustion is more favorable as compared to steam injection. (4) Decreased injection rated favors the cost of steam injection relative to air. (5) Increased wellbore losses with increasing depth favor combustion. Conclusions It has been shown that in-situ combustion process is suitable to displace oils of gravities greater than 10 degree API. The average oil recovery by employing in-situ combustion is 50%. The major amount of oil is recovered before breakthrough of the combustion zone. For heavy oils, about 50% crude oil recovery occurs after breakthrough, whereas low-viscosity oil production declines very rapidly following breakthrough. The breakthrough of combustion zone can be recognized by an increase in gas production and its oxygen content. This is followed by a sharp increase ranging from 100 degree to 200 degree Fahrenheit in bottom hole temperature. In addition, the increase in water cut of the produced oil also indicates the breakthrough of the combustion zone. At the same time, pH of the produced water decreases, which is usually due to increase in the content of ions such as iron and sulphate. CASE STUDY IN-SITU COMBUSTION AT MEHSANA, GUJARAT. Mehsana asset, located in the northern part of Gujarat state in India is the highest oil producing onshore asset of ONGC with annual crude oil production of 2.35 MMT. Its having oil fields producing both heaviest crude and the lightest crude in India with API gravity ranging from 13ËÅ ¡ 42ËÅ ¡. Balol and Santhal fields form a part of this heavy oil belt with a API gravity 15ËÅ ¡-18ËÅ ¡. Balol and Santhal field encompass 22.17 MMT and 53.56 MMT of oil in place respectively. The crude is asphaltic in nature containing 6-8% asphaltene and the oil viscosity ranges from 50-450 cps at reservoir pressure of 100 kg/cm ² and 70ËÅ ¡ C temperature. Reservoirs have the permeability of the order of 3-8 darcies and are operating under active water drive. Subsequent Artificial lift methods resulted into high water production than oil. In many wells it became 95-100% and some wells had to be closed due to high water cut. The poor primary and secondary necessitated for In- Situ combustion technique in these fields. Exploitation of heavy oil from these heavy oil fields was a challenge for Mehsana asset. Based on results of laboratory studies, the In-situ combustion process was identified as the most suitable technique for enhancing the recovery from these fields. PILOT SCHEME A pilot test was designed and initiated in 5.5 acre area of southern part of Balol field in 1990-91. The first well CP#10 and thereafter Balol#171 were ignited with the help of foreign experts. The sustained combustion and production gain from nearby producers lead to conceptualization of the commercialization schemes in entire Balol field. In another attempt, a pilot scheme was also designed for Lanwa oil field and an inverted five slot pattern with four producer wells had been ignited in 1992. At present the commercialization of the scheme is in progress to enhance the production from the field. A pilot scheme is also running since 2002 in Bechraji field with four EOR injectors. COMMERCIAL SCHEMES Based on the techno-economic success of Balol Pilot project, commercial schemes were designed for entire Balol field for exploitation of heavy oil. Considering the similarities between the Balol and Santhal oil fields, this EOR technique has been implemented on a commercial scale in 1997 both at Balol and Santhal fields. Presently four commercial schemes viz. Balol Ph-1, Santhal Ph-1, Balol Main and Santhal Main are running successfully. Till date total 61 wells have been ignited in Balol and Santhal under these commercial schemes. More wells are in line for conversion into EOR injectors. For commercial exploitation of Balol and Santhal fields using In-situ combustion technique, four major air compressor plants, two, each in Balol and Santhal fields were set up. These plants supply compressed air to injector wells at reservoir conditions. Compressors except emergency air compressors at all the plants run on electricity. Combined installed capacity of these four plants is of compressing 4.9 NMm3/day air at maximum pressure of 123 Kg/cm2. Since water is required to be injected subsequently during wet phase, facilities for water treatment and injection are also installed in the respective plants. All these four plants are connected to each other with an integrated air grid network for better utilization of resources. A mobile unit called Ignition trailer is being used to initiate ignition process. Gas burners are used for artificial ignition in Mehsana. RESULTS After implementation of the technique, decline in production from Balol and Santhal fields was arrested. A number of wells have started flowing on self which were in artificial mode prior to in-situ combustion process. Production testing data of affected wells show the gradual increase in liquid production and decrease in water cut resulting increase in net oil production. Presently EOR gain from both the fields in the tune of 1200 TPD and air injection is in tune of 1.4MM Nm3/d. Production performance of these fields shows the gradual increase in oil production and decrease in W/C% with increasing number of injectors/air injection rate. It has not only given a new lease of life to Balol and Santhal fields but has also increased the oil recovery factor by 2-3 folds from 6-13% to 39-45%. OTHER HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROJECT ONGC is one of the few organizations in the world, which has taken up In-situ combustion process on such a large scale. Total 68 wells have been converted in EOR injectors at Mehsana Asset so far. Most of the EOR injectors are old producer wells. They have been converted to injector wells after proper washing and cleaning of wells. Ignition is being done in the reservoir at an average depth of 990 meters, having 100 Kg/cm2 pressure and 70 degree Celsius temperature. Present Air-Oil ratio in these fields is about 1160 Nm3/m3 and Air-Oil ratio on cumulative basis it stands at 985 Nm3/m3, which indicates quite good efficiency of ISC process. Figure : Production profiles of Santhal and Balol fields (Source) MAJOR ISSUES Occurrence of Auto-Ignition: In Mehsana Gas burner is being used for artificial ignition. In this method air is injected through the annulus and natural gas through tubing. An aluminum plug fitted at the tip of burner prevents air and gas to mix. The plug pops out when gas injection pressure is more than air injection pressure and forms gas-air mixture at the bottom. A pyrophoric chemical is being used to initiate the flame. At well no. Balol # A on 1998 the burner caught fire without lowering pyrophoric liquid. Burner temperature shot up to 910 degree Celsius and was soon controlled by ignition tem members. There was no damage to thermocouple and down-hole assembly in this well. After this incidence auto ignition occurred successively in another three wells. In last two wells Santhal #B and Balol # C, thermocouple got damaged. Ignition experts were unable to establish the reason and remedy for auto ignition. Due to this failure, ONGC had completely suspended all the ignition operations fearing further auto igni tion and damage to thermocouple. A close study of all four cases of auto ignition revealed that gas injection was used to be done at full discharge rate of gas compressor. Due to this sudden release of huge amount of gas, a very rich mixture of air and gas forms making situation vulnerable for auto ignition. To overcome this problem, ignition team came up with an idea to put a cushion of an inert gas in the tubing before starting gas injection. At the time of plug pop up, now this inert gas release first afterwards natural gas comes in contact with air. This cushion provide ample time between plug pop up and release of natural gas which facilitate in regulating the gas injection rate to prevent formation of unwanted combustible mixture. The whole idea was put up before the management which was promptly agreed and broke the dead lock of suspended ignitions. After adoption of this technique till date no case of auto ignition encountered. EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION OF AIR COMPRESSOR Compression of air at high pressure is a costly affair because of huge consumption of electricity. To minimize this wastage of energy and for optimize the utilization of air compressors, it was thought to connect all the four plants with a common air grid. Subsequently the air grid was constructed using 6 and 4 dia pipelines as required. Now compressors are being run as per the total air requirement. By using this grid, on an average INR 2.0 Crores per month (USD 5.3 million per annum) are being saved as electricity charges. FAILURE OF AFTER COOLER OF AIR COMPRESSOR Running of large air compressor is difficult in India especially during summer due to high temperature. It may lead to explosion at compressed air piping due to accumulation of carryover lubricants and high discharge temperature. Two incidents of bursting of 3rd stage (Final stage) after coolers of HP compressor had taken place at a compressor plant of Santhal field. As a remedy synthetic lubricant has been introduced. Further regular chemical cleaning of the lines is being carried-out and monitoring of operational parameters has been intensified. OOZING OF AIR/FLUE GASES In Mehsana, mostly old wells were used for injection as well as for production. In some cases failure of casing or cementation have observed and has caused pressure built-up in outer casing and even in some cases oozing of gases/air from well site has also been observed. The remedies are 1) New additives for cementation (like thermal cements and calcium aluminates) have been introduced which help to withstand higher temperatures. 2) It is recommended to cement the casing to the full depth in case of new injector wells to prevent the risk of coming out of gas into overlying permeable layers. 3) It is suggested by IEOT (ONGC Institute) to have casing of API 5CT L-80 13 Cr steel in new injector wells and tubing in all wells. 4) New injector wells are being drilled to suit specially for in-situ combustion. 5) Regular monitoring of injection pressure, annulus pressure and outer casing pressure. Research Work Figure : showing the working model made in the laboratory The working model for the In situ combustion was made in laboratory. In this model Injection well and the production well is present on the left and right side respectively, gas injection at high pressure, igniter is taken as the kitchen lighter, test tube is made as an artificial reservoir and ignition zone near the artificial reservoir and also the temperature showing device at the bottom of the production well. This model can be compared to the real conditions with the help of the following diagram. Figure : In situ combustion process (source) There were many challenges during the modeling. These challenges were faced according to the need, economy and the factors available. For example reservoir simulation was not perfect, combustion zone was not able to be built exactly in the pores due to lack of oxygen supply. Hence I discover that this process is very economical as compared to other EOR processes but it is very risky as injection of gas should be done at correct place and ignition should be controlled then this process acts as magic recover the oil to 65%. I was successful in recovering the oil but the simulation problem was a main constraint of this working model as that requires a whole laboratory for its working. Hence according to my research heat loss should be minimum, combustion should be in controlled manner are the major challenges that should be overcome. And these can be overcome by calculating the area in which injection is to be done and what should be the ignition system use for ignition (whether a chemical can be used, artificial igniter at the combustion can be used or if the temperature of the bottom of the hole is very high that can give spontaneous ignition) should be preplanned according to the condition. The latest and important factor is the chemical injection to ignite the heavy crude oil, let us suppose the oil present there is very heavy oil that cannot be directly ignited; for that situation a chemical can be injected inside which will burn first and then increases the temperature of the respective zone to such an extent that the oil present there will ignite and the further process should start.

The Besieged Lieutenant in Othello Essay -- Othello essays

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, the audience finds a victim who is beset by Iago more than once, but who recovers in both cases – Cassio. He is the sole survivor among the main characters. In his book of literary criticism, Shakespearean Tragedy, A. C. Bradley rejects the ancient’s accusation that Cassio is an inexperienced soldier: That Cassio, again, was an interloper and a mere closet-student without experience of war is incredible, considering first that Othello chose him for lieutenant, and secondly that the Senate appointed him to succeed Othello in command at Cyprus; and we have direct evidence that part of Iago’s statement is a lie, for Desdemona happens to mention that Cassio was a man who ‘all his time’ had ‘founded his good fortunes’ on Othello’s love and had ‘shared dangers’ with him (III.iv.93). (199) Cassio makes his first appearance in the play in Act 1 Scene 2, when he is conducting the official business of the duke of Venice, namely the request of the â€Å"haste-post-haste appearance / Even on the instant† of the general because of the Ottoman threat on Cyprus. Brabantio’s mob briefly delays matters, and then Cassio disappears from the stage until Act 2. He disembarks in Cyprus and graciously announces: â€Å"Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle, / That so approve the Moor!† After chatting with Montano and other gentlemen of the isle, he welcomes Desdemona, â€Å"our great captain’s captain,† ashore: â€Å"The riches of the ship is come on shore! / Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees!† Observing how Iago, in his negative remarks about women, grates on Desdemona, Cassio gives her some sound advice for enduring the banter of the ancient: â€Å"He speaks home, madam. You may relish him more in the so... ...of the play. However, we have a number of brief revelations of his personality that mark him distinctly – in his genuine anxiety for Othello’s safety, in his abstaining from taking part in the bold and suggestive comments of Iago to the two women as they wait for Othello’s ship and, a little later, in his sincere regret about the loss of his reputation after he has partaken of the wine which Iago has forced upon him. (85-86) WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980. Bradley, A. C.. Shakespearean Tragedy. New York: Penguin, 1991. Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare’s Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos. The Besieged Lieutenant in Othello Essay -- Othello essays In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, the audience finds a victim who is beset by Iago more than once, but who recovers in both cases – Cassio. He is the sole survivor among the main characters. In his book of literary criticism, Shakespearean Tragedy, A. C. Bradley rejects the ancient’s accusation that Cassio is an inexperienced soldier: That Cassio, again, was an interloper and a mere closet-student without experience of war is incredible, considering first that Othello chose him for lieutenant, and secondly that the Senate appointed him to succeed Othello in command at Cyprus; and we have direct evidence that part of Iago’s statement is a lie, for Desdemona happens to mention that Cassio was a man who ‘all his time’ had ‘founded his good fortunes’ on Othello’s love and had ‘shared dangers’ with him (III.iv.93). (199) Cassio makes his first appearance in the play in Act 1 Scene 2, when he is conducting the official business of the duke of Venice, namely the request of the â€Å"haste-post-haste appearance / Even on the instant† of the general because of the Ottoman threat on Cyprus. Brabantio’s mob briefly delays matters, and then Cassio disappears from the stage until Act 2. He disembarks in Cyprus and graciously announces: â€Å"Thanks, you the valiant of this warlike isle, / That so approve the Moor!† After chatting with Montano and other gentlemen of the isle, he welcomes Desdemona, â€Å"our great captain’s captain,† ashore: â€Å"The riches of the ship is come on shore! / Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees!† Observing how Iago, in his negative remarks about women, grates on Desdemona, Cassio gives her some sound advice for enduring the banter of the ancient: â€Å"He speaks home, madam. You may relish him more in the so... ...of the play. However, we have a number of brief revelations of his personality that mark him distinctly – in his genuine anxiety for Othello’s safety, in his abstaining from taking part in the bold and suggestive comments of Iago to the two women as they wait for Othello’s ship and, a little later, in his sincere regret about the loss of his reputation after he has partaken of the wine which Iago has forced upon him. (85-86) WORKS CITED Bevington, David, ed. William Shakespeare: Four Tragedies. New York: Bantam Books, 1980. Bradley, A. C.. Shakespearean Tragedy. New York: Penguin, 1991. Coles, Blanche. Shakespeare’s Four Giants. Rindge, New Hampshire: Richard Smith Publisher, 1957. Shakespeare, William. Othello. In The Electric Shakespeare. Princeton University. 1996. http://www.eiu.edu/~multilit/studyabroad/othello/othello_all.html No line nos.

Vacant Chapter 12 Waiting

I knock, but there's no answer. I let myself in and I'm immediately relieved to see Emily's things still around the house, including her bedding on the couch. Remorse creeps back into my chest as I think about the numerous times I've tried to convince Emily to take my room – my bed – but she never has. I kneel down on the floor in front of the sofa to worship the scent lingering in the sheets. She always smells like baby powder, the cheap off brand they sell at the Dollar Tree, but regardless of the price, it smells like heaven to me. I close my eyes and enjoy her essence while also promising myself to buy her name-brand lotion. No more generic. The shouting startles me awake. â€Å"I don't care! Get the mother-fucking money. I don't pay you to lose my shit!† Then I hear the unmistakable sound of a fist meeting flesh. My blood runs cold as I wonder if it's Emily next door. The thought hits me like the fist from next door: What has she done to get money for herself? I've had many neighbors while I've lived here. It's to be expected, as the downtrodden are a transient population. That unit was empty when†¦.when I left, so I hadn't thought about a new tenant. I also hadn't figured on undesirables moving in. I'd never worried about my safety, but now I have to think of Emily's safety and protection. This is no place for her. I hear a feminine scream amid the sounds of skin being struck and I know it's not my girl. I know what her scream sounds like after a spider infestation and that's not it. It's not Emily. â€Å"Get up, Punta!† I hear more ramblings and shouts in Spanish; the female cries in response. All I can think is, Thank God it's not Emily. But it is someone – someone's daughter, sister, or friend. I do the only thing I can. I call the police and let them handle it. While I've read heroic tales of men saving the day, it's not safe or practical in this case. It's very likely that the monster next door has a weapon, and I'm no good to protect Emily if I'm dead. The cops come and go quickly. The woman refuses to press charges, but the man is escorted off the property with a warning not to return. He'll be back, though. They always are. My thoughts drift to moving to a better neighborhood, but then I realize I may not have a job because I'm a complete coward who left for a week without calling his boss; it'll be a miracle if I'm not fired. How will I take care of Emily without a job? I'm an idiot. God, how did I fuck this up so badly? I dial Margie's number and her cheerful greeting relaxes me a bit. â€Å"Hey, Marge, it's Ethan.† â€Å"Well hey, Sugarplum. How was your vacation?† She knows I wasn't on vacation, and I try to discern if there is sarcasm in her voice, but I can't seem to detect any. â€Å"Margie, I wasn't on vacation.† â€Å"Sure you were, kid. It's on the schedule; I approved it myself. There's paperwork and everything. The owners are glad you finally took some time off. You had more than three weeks coming to you. It makes them nervous that you've never taken a day off in five years.† I'm confused and my silence must confirm this to my manager. â€Å"So, are you coming in tomorrow? I'm down a cashier and could use ya.† Cashier? I'm a â€Å"back of the house† guy. The â€Å"make sure there's always chips on the display† guy; low man on the grocery store food chain. â€Å"Uhhhh†¦Ã¢â‚¬  is my incoherent reply. â€Å"It's time you take on more responsibility, kiddo. You have that pretty girl to take care of.† She knows. She knows about Emily. How does she know? â€Å"I'll see you tomorrow, Ethan.† I'm left holding the phone wondering what the hell is going on.

Introduction to Investment Appraisal Techniques

Firms throughout the world expand by starting projects and carrying out investments in different industries and sectors. An important building block in these investments is the analysis and later the evaluation of these projects on the basis of economic, cost and financial data. Investment appraisal techniques provide the financial data and also help managers determine the financial viability of each and every project under consideration. Concepts Related to Investment Appraisal MethodsAlmost all appraisal techniques are based on certain building blocks. These building blocks require estimations and forecasting of present data into the future. For instance future growth rates and interest rates need to be predicted in order to calculate the cost of capital for different projects. Similarly another important estimation is related to the cash inflows and cash outflows for a particular project. This requires the project evaluators or analysts to come up with accurate forecasts for sales , costs and other operating costs.Firms also need to look at the useful or life cycle of the project because that will determine the total net cash flows for a particular project, the time period will also tell the project evaluators about the time horizon of the project so that other economic and market factors could be considered as well while making the decision. Firms also need to plan the type of project evaluation techniques that must be used by the evaluators; for instance with projects that have a short-life span the Pay-Back method should be used to compare the speed with which each project is providing the initial investment.Many of the appraisal techniques must be used together to come to conclusions because of the way the data is presented to evaluators. For instance if a project is giving high returns in the later years but the overall average return is greater than another project that is giving high returns in the initial years than the evaluators might select the lat ter project because it is less risky. Important Investment Appraisal Techniques Pay-Back Period: This method simply calculates the time it will take a project to earn back the amount of money that was initially invested.This technique is extremely important in the comparison of those projects which have similar total life but varying cash flows throughout the life cycle. For instance in a scenario where interest rates are rising then evaluators would want to go for a project which has a lower Pay-Back period. This is because as interest rates increase the cost of capital will also increase and the real value of the returns will fall as we move into the future.Net-Present Value: This method discounts back all future cash-inflows and cash-outflows to the present values; the critical factor in this method is the determination of the discount/interest rate used to bring back the future values to the present. The important thing with this methodology is that it allows businesses to calcu late the real return that they will earn from the project i. e. businesses factor out the inflation or the nominal return that they might get from a project.Accounting Rate of Return: The ARR method provides the evaluators with a percentage that shows a return on the invested amount: say for instance if the ARR is 8% then the project is generating 8% returns annually on each dollar invested. This method does not discount the cash flows but it is helpful in the sense that it explains the potential of the project to generate enough cash flow so that a comparison can be made with other projects on an annual return basis. Internal Rate of Return: This method gives the evaluators with a percentage that shows the projects achieving net present value equal to zero.Essentially, the method calculates the rate at which the projects future calculated return (NPV) is equal to the initial invested amount. This method is extensively used by companies that plan on implementing large-scale projects . This rate gives evaluators an idea of what sorts of costs of capital is acceptable and at which levels or rates can we expect a profit. Value Addition from Appraisal Techniques The appraisal techniques discussed above are an extremely efficient way of substantiating projects and comparing the viability of different projects.The fact of the matter is that when firms want data for different projects while deciding which project to undertake they must objectively evaluate each project and the appraisal techniques provide an effective way of calculating financial data which can be used for analysis. Project Annual Net Cash flow Initial Investment Cost of Capital IRR NPV 1 ? 100,000 ? 449,400 14% A B 2 ? 70,000 C 14% 20% D 3 E ? 200,000 F 14% ? 35,624 4 G ? 300,000 12% H ? 39,000 Calculations for A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H The four projects have a useful life of 10 years. For project 1: Total Cash flow for 10 years: ?1,000,000. IRR: NPV= -? 449,400 + 100,000/ (1+R)1 + 100,000/(1+R)2 +†¦+ 100,000/(1+R)10 = 0. A = 18%; IRR = 18%. By using the trial and error technique we calculated the IRR to be 18%. NPV: -449,400/(1+0. 14)0 + 100,000/(1+0. 14)1 + 100,000/(1+0. 14)2 +†¦+100,000/(1+0. 14)10 = -449,400 + 521,611. 56 = 72,211. 56; B = 72,211. 56 For Project 2: IRR: NPV = -Initial Investment (C) + 70,000/(1+0. 2)1 + 70,000/(1+0. 2)2 +†¦+ 70,000/(1+0. 2)10 = 0; C = ? 293,474. NPV = -293,474/(1+0. 14)0 + 70,000/(1+0. 14)1 + 70,000/(1+0. 14)2 +†¦. + 70,000/(1+0. 14)10 = 71,655; D= ? 71,655For Project 3: Annual Net Cash Flow: IRR: NPV = -200,000 + E/(1+0. 14)1 + E/(1+0. 14)2 +†¦. + E/(1+0. 14)10 = 0; E = ? 38,343. Cost of Capital: 35,624 = -200,000 + 38,343/(1+F)1 + 38,343/(1+F)2 +†¦+ 38,343/(1+F)10 ; F = 11. 00% : through trial and error we calculated the value of cost of capital as 11. 00%. For Project 4: Annual Net Cash Flow: 39,000 = -300,000 + G/(1+0. 12)1 + G/(1. 12)2 +†¦. + G/(1. 12)10 ; G = ? 60,000; IRR (H): NPV= -? 300,000 + 60,000/ (1+R)1 + 60,000/(1+R)2 +†¦+ 60,000/(1+R)10 = 0. H = 15. 1%; by trial and error method we calculated the IRR of the 4th project as 15.1%. Project Selection Based on Available Data The investment techniques that have been used to evaluate the 4 projects have given us some important factors to consider before making the final decision. In light of the data available we suggest that project 3 should be chosen because firstly the initial investment is the lowest amongst all the four projects. Secondly another important factor is that the difference between the cost of capital and the IRR is less than some of the other projects more importantly the IRR is 14% which is the lowest amongst all the four projects.This means that if project 3 is pursued the company the is likely to achieve quick returns and even if the performance of the project is not outstanding due to external factors the company can make substantial returns from the project. The critical factor is that project 3 can b ring in returns far more quickly than other available projects as any returns beyond the 14% mark would be real returns on the investment. Another significant factor would be the saved money from the initial capital that can be used for other projects with similar or even better returns prospects.The cost of capital for this project is also the lowest amongst all other projects; this is also an indicator that change can be absorbed by the company. With project 3 we see that the annual cash flows are amongst the highest if we use the annual cash flow/ initial investment basis for comparison between all the four projects. This also indicates that project 3 is more viable than some of the other projects such as project 1. The only criticism of project 3 is that the gap between cost of capital and IRR is smaller than let’s say from project 1 or project 2.This creates a potential problem if and when interest rates start to increase then the project might become non-profitable in t erms of real rate of return. Conclusion The investment appraisal techniques have become an essential methodology to solve and answer critical questions when it comes to selecting major expansion projects. When companies go to venture capitalists or other financial institutions they must fulfill certain criteria before being given the amount of money they are looking for.Even in the investor industry most investors are required to provide there rate of return requirements before companies or other financial institutions could make tailored products for the investors. It must be emphasized here that companies must understand that other economic data is crucial in relation with the financial data that these appraisal techniques provide. Bibliography: The Institute of Chartered Accountants England and Wales, Investment Appraisal Techniques, viewed February 5, 2010 < http://financial. kaplan.co. uk/Documents/ICAEW/MI_Ch3_p. pdf> Schuster, Northcott, Gotze, 2008. Investment Appraisal: Met hods and Models, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg Martina Rohrich, 2007, Fundamentals of Investment Appraisal, Oldenbourg Coursework4you. co, Advantages and disadvantages of different appraisal techniques viewed February 5, 2010 < http://www. coursework4you. co. uk/essays-and-dissertations/finance-and-accounting/investment-appraisals/P_F_61_Advantages_and_disadvantages_of_different_investment_appraisals_techniques. php>Course Work 2 Introduction: The dynamics of any industry determine what factors will impact the demand and supply of a particular good or service being bought or sold in that particular market. Some of the major factors that affect the demand for most kinds of products or services include: consumer tastes, income levels, availability of substitute goods and their prices, availability and prices of complementary goods, future price expectations and the general level of literacy of the population and population growth.The other aspect of any market would be the supply side; how do the supply side factors impact the market for goods or services. For instance some major factors include technological advancements, cost of production, the number of suppliers and regulatory framework. A combination of these demand side and supply side factors determines the prices that markets ultimately charge from consumers given that the markets are allowed to function in a free market setting. Technology Market: In particular the Computer MarketWhen we discuss the computer market in isolation we must understand that it is affected greatly by the overall technology market which plays a critical role in determining which new products and services will be offered by these computers and how will these computers be manufactured in the future. Technology has revolutionized the way we do business and other activities around the world. A significant contribution of technological revolution is the machine we call: a computer. From the time of the first computers and up til l today we have witnessed remarkable change.For starters let’s just talk about the change in size of the computers. The point here is that ever since the advent of the computing machine and later the full fledged computer we have since tremendous amount of changes that have occurred along the revolution. These changes have had an impact on both the price of the computer and also on the cost of production of a modern day computer. Demand Side Factors The growth in different technology products such as hand held devices, laptops, desk top computers, I-pods, I-pads, E-books, and PDAs are some examples of what the consumer of today’s world has been buying and accepting for some time.The important factor here is that most technological products are not market oriented rather they are product-led or developed with a perspective of generating enough interest and demand from the market as opposed to the idea of providing products which are required by the market. The demand fo r computers in specific can be divided into two broad categories firstly the demand from the corporate world or offices and secondly from home users who demand desktops. When companies around the globe started to employ and use desktop computers in the 1980s and 1990s; one could see a revolution taking place that would forever change the workplace.These companies converted there existing manual operations on to computers and resultantly we saw dramatic changes in efficiency levels and the ability of companies to become more productive increased many folds. (Samuelson, 2005) This change in the way companies work led to computers becoming a need for majority of the companies in different sectors such as manufacturing, services and primary related industries. The computers, especially desktop computers had become a necessity for companies by mid-90s and onwards. This factor had made computers an important part of any firms capital requirements.(Samuelson, 2005) As far as the households were concerned computers soon after they were being mass-produced in the 80s become a necessity because of the change in the societal factors and requirements at workplace and schools demanded households to have computers at home. During these similar times (80s and 90s) income levels of the middle class households also increased on yearly basis. This was especially the case in the developing countries such as India, China and Brazil. The income levels were also rising in the developed countries which also warranted the increase in demand for computers.We saw that through the 1990s and 2000s the demand for complementary goods and services to the computers also increased. For instance the internet warranted the need for routers, wireless networks and other devices that were mandatory for office work and households. Similarly camera equipment that could connect them to PCs, mobile cables and other many products and services that were used in conjunction with the PCs were being increa singly demanded. We also saw the strength in the demand for substitutes and a consistent fall in their prices.For example a direct substitute of a computer is a handheld device which could be used for most of the purposes that a computer might offer. Even though these substitutes were available yet people ensured that they have at least one personal computer. This strength in demand is a result of the many features that a computer provides over some of its substitutes such as printing options, scanning, and video conference and so on. These added advantages and features have made computers an absolute necessity for the modern home.Another important factor that has played a critical role in increasing the demand for computers is the future expectations of technology and uncertainty. Because people feel that in the near future more emphasis will be given on efficiency and productivity it is imperative to keep up to date with the present technology. The combination of all these factors have created a scenario where by computers have become a part of the daily life of all individuals of the modern age. The internet has only helped the cause of the computers and we see that computers are an essential part of the workplace as well as the home of a particular individual.Supply-Side Factors The technological leap in the latter half of the last century has changed the way work takes place in a typical office of a manufacturing plant today. The reason is simple: the computer and technologies related to the computer. Not only have computers made it easier for companies to make products faster but they have also made companies more flexible and technology hungry. The supply of computers has been increasing at a great pace not only because of high demand but also due to technological changes that are taking place at all times.Between 1990 and 2002 there was a large decline in the prices of computer chips; this in part explains why computers prices were still falling even t hough demand continued to rise during that period. An important factor to understand here is that after the initial increases in the demand in the early 90s soon there was a surplus scenario in the chip market secondly, the rapid change in technology meant that older machines were quickly becoming obsolete hence pushing the prices even further down. (Lipsey and Chyrstal, 2007) Source: http://www.oup. com/uk/orc/bin/9780199286416/01student/interactive/lipsey_extra_ch03/page_01. htm In the diagram above we see that the prices of chips continued to fall between 1990 and 2002 except for the 92-95 period when the prices actually went up slightly the reason for the rise could be explained as the shift in the demand curve to the right as a result of the increase in the demand for complementary software that required high speed computer usage during this time; such as multimedia programs or other gaming and educational programs.The decline in the chip prices also explains the fact that cost of production was also declining rapidly during this time and that more and more suppliers of computers were entering the market. This increased competition for customers meant that prices had an even bigger drop. The increased competition also meant that firms that produce computers try to compete on cost as well as brand image. In an overall analysis of the supply-side of the computer and technology market we would say that prices have had a consistent downward pressure because of declining cost of production and a constant and rapid change in technology.There are a number of other important factors such as the availability of other important devices that have caused the prices of computers to fall down such as cheaper motherboards and RAMs. (Lipsey & Chrystal, 2007) Competition is also an important factor in determining the quality and prices of products such as computers. We see that competition has impacted cost of production by a large amount; many firms that manufacture comp uter and related devices have introduced more and better technologies that are cheaper and faster in processing data.In a lot of ways the market expects and demands computers which are cheaper and faster as we move into the future. This is because businesses and individuals know that computers are meant to reduce the time taken to complete work and achieve this objective in a cost effective way therefore more and more people and businesses demand cheaper computers. Market Scenario: Demand and Supply The market situation is such that the production of computers and the pace of technology have outpaced the overall growth in demand for computers.More importantly the increase in the demand for computers has been in phases when a shift in demand has caused a slight increase in computer prices. The decline in prices is also evident because of transfer of technology amongst different regions of the globe. Many of the developing countries have received technology and cheaper computers from the developed world which has further increased the process of better technological innovation and ever declining prices of computers.There is also a case of understanding that computers are a type of machine that must be renovated or renewed periodically therefore many companies are willing to sell them at lower prices knowing that costumers will buy new machines in the future and they will invest in newer technology. Therefore computer manufacturers have been pursuing brand holding strategies which includes selling computers to buyers at competitive rates.

Free Essays on Hume -existent Vs. Non-existent

Nothing that is distinctly conceivable implies a contradiction. Whatever we conceive as existent, we can also conceive as non-existent. †¦ In this claim made by Hume, nothing is distinctly conceivable implies a contradiction, implies whatever exists must have cause and in this case if that something is distinctly conceivable it has cause and it does not imply a contradiction. The example of the â€Å"bachelor† states that all bachelors are unmarried. This is self-contradictory and is contrary. To say that some bachelors are married implies/is a contradiction of saying all bachelors are married because either you are married or not and if you are married you can not be a bachelor. Therefore, the example of the bachelors is demonstrable. It does not show a valid deductive argument. The claim to say that â€Å"whatever we conceive as existent, we can conceive as non-existent.† would be thought to be seen as grounds against Hume’s claim that God’s existence is not demonstrable, but he justifies this claim by taking imaginative inductions. For example, dogs exist is true but on the contrary the idea that dogs do not exist is conceivable. We can imagine the world without dogs and even though this may be true, it is not a truth that is demonstrable. God’s existence is such that its contrary is not self-contradictory and no contradiction is implied and therefore God exists.... Free Essays on Hume -existent Vs. Non-existent Free Essays on Hume -existent Vs. Non-existent Nothing that is distinctly conceivable implies a contradiction. Whatever we conceive as existent, we can also conceive as non-existent. †¦ In this claim made by Hume, nothing is distinctly conceivable implies a contradiction, implies whatever exists must have cause and in this case if that something is distinctly conceivable it has cause and it does not imply a contradiction. The example of the â€Å"bachelor† states that all bachelors are unmarried. This is self-contradictory and is contrary. To say that some bachelors are married implies/is a contradiction of saying all bachelors are married because either you are married or not and if you are married you can not be a bachelor. Therefore, the example of the bachelors is demonstrable. It does not show a valid deductive argument. The claim to say that â€Å"whatever we conceive as existent, we can conceive as non-existent.† would be thought to be seen as grounds against Hume’s claim that God’s existence is not demonstrable, but he justifies this claim by taking imaginative inductions. For example, dogs exist is true but on the contrary the idea that dogs do not exist is conceivable. We can imagine the world without dogs and even though this may be true, it is not a truth that is demonstrable. God’s existence is such that its contrary is not self-contradictory and no contradiction is implied and therefore God exists....

Business Decision Making Essay Example

Business Decision Making Essay Example Business Decision Making Essay Business Decision Making Essay Comprehensive Report with visual presentation and notes You are the Operations Manager for Abyil Ltd, a business strategy consultancy company. You are requested to submit a MIS report to the board of directors of your company. Your task is to prepare the necessary information for decision making using details provided below. Objectives: (Outcomes) 1. Use a variety of sources for the collection of data, both primary and secondary 2. Apply a range of techniques to analyse data effectively for business purposes 3. Produce information in appropriate formats for decision making in an organisational context 4. Use software-generated information to make decisions at operational, tactical and strategic levels in an organisation In your assignment you should consider: (assessment criteria) 1. 2. 3. 4. Review and evaluate inventory control systems in an organisation Prepare a spreadsheet to enable material requirements planning and calculate economic order quantities Prepare a project plan for an activity and determine the critical path Using data from a given business scenario, prepare a range of graphs using spreadsheets and draw valid conclusions based on the information derived Use trend lines in spreadsheet graphs to assist in forecasting for specified business information and thus inform decision making Create information for decision making by summarising data using representative values, and use the result s to draw valid and useful conclusions in a business context Analyse data using measures of dispersion, and use to inform a given business scenario Integrated with below Grading Guidance: 1. Brief explanations earns a PASS 2. Answers with relevant examples earns a MERIT 3. Answers with appropriate examples and comparative discussions / recommendations earns a DISTINCTION Oxford College of London Assessment format: This assessment should be in a form of a Management Report on Management Information Production. You should submit a set of print outs with appropriate notes and visuals to support your decision. Student should use appropriate referencing systems: Harvard Referencing Systems. (Details available at www. uwe. ac. uk/bbs/studyskills in core context. ) Level 5 Level 5 qualifications recognise the ability to increase the depth of knowledge and understanding of an area of work or study to enable the formulation of solutions and responses to complex problems and situations. Learning at this level involves the demonstration of high levels of knowledge, a high level of work expertise in job roles and competence in managing and training others. Qualifications at this level are appropriate for people working as higher grade technicians, professionals or managers. Level 5 qualifications are at a level which broadly compares to the level of demand, but not necessarily the volume of study, of intermediate higher education qualifications such as diplomas of higher education, foundation and other degrees that do not typically provide access to postgraduate programmes. Important Plagiarism, collusion and non-compliance with assessment regulations are offences under the awarding body regulations and where suspected will be thoroughly investigated under official procedures. Penalties may be imposed depending on the severity of the offence, as per the awarding body guidance. Appropriate citations of source documents are essential when presenting written/word processed work and it is crucial that you quote the books, journals, websites etc that you used whilst you carried out desk research. For full details on above facts please refer to student handbook and course hand book. Oxford College of London Critical Path Analysis 1 a) Find the Critical Path of the following network using the EST/LSTs Activity 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Preceding Activity 0 1 1 1 2 3 5 2, 6 7, 8 3 4 9, 10, 11 Duration (days) 4 7 5 6 2 3 5 11 7 4 3 4 b) Calculate the float of the network 1 c) The standard deviation of the activities on the critical path in 1a) are: 1, 2, 1. 5, 3, 2. 5, and 3 respectively. Based on these values calculate the probability of achieving a schedule time of 40 days for the project duration. 2. A mail order company is analysing a random sample of its comp uter records of customers. Among the results are the following distributions: Size of Order ? Less than 1 1 and less than 5 5 and less than 10 10 and less than 15 15 and less than 20 20 and less than 30 30 and over total Number of customers April September 8 4 19 18 38 39 40 69 22 41 13 20 4 5 144 196 Required: 1. Using the MS Excel spreadsheet, calculate the Arithmetic mean, and standard deviation order size for the April sample. 2. Re-present the given data in two different graphs appropriate. Oxford College of London 3. a. Using the Ms Excel spreadsheet comment on the correlation coefficient for the information provided – Cost of Adverts and Additional Sales b. Using a RADAR graph, comment on the business performance relationship and advice accordingly for each month’s operation. Operational Month Jan Feb Mar April May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Cost of adverts Additional Sales ? 000 generated ? 000 15 25 24 65 25 50 30 35 35 15 40 42 45 28 88 20 70 22 75 15 4. You are to determine the stock policy for Expo Plc and have the following data: a. Cost of placing the orders and receiving delivery ? 50 b. Holding cost per unit of stock for one year ? 2. 40 c. Annual demand, certain and regular 48,000 units d. Estimated purchase cost per unit ? 1. 00 e. Delivery time after placing orders 2 weeks You are required to: a. Calculate the total cost of placing orders and holding stock if 25 or 100 orders are placed during the year. b. Determine the minimum cost using a simple EOQ model of Q=v2cd/h c. Calculate and comment upon the effect of a discount of 2. 5% for orders of 5000 units. Oxford College of London 5. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Route 1 Route 2 Route 3 Route 4 Route 5 Route 6 Route 7 Route 8 Route 9 1286 1419 1509 1322 1128 1384 1505 1401 1362 1329 1103 1292 1457 1339 1485 1572 1292 1305 1410 1383 1227 1184 1429 1498 1517 1255 1262 1340 1401 1288 1359 1540 1322 1417 1132 1396 1277 1343 1596 1461 1235 1520 1485 1336 1426 The above data has been collected by a researcher who performed a primary research using observation method on the customers boarding buses over 5 days at bus station. a. Calculate the MEAN, MEDIAN, MODE using MS Excel spreadsheet for the week. b. Produce a radar chart using the MS Excel spreadsheet to identify the congested routes. c. Using an appropriate graph, identify a best trend line and comment the significant use of this for a business decision.

The Formula for Expected Value

The Formula for Expected Value One natural question to ask about a probability distribution is, What is its center? The expected value is one such measurement of the center of a probability distribution. Since it measures the mean, it should come as no surprise that this formula is derived from that of the mean. To establish a starting point, we must answer the question, What is the expected value? Suppose that we have a random variable associated with a probability experiment. Lets say that we repeat this experiment over and over again. Over the long run of several repetitions of the same probability experiment, if we averaged out all of our values of the random variable, we would obtain the expected value.   In what follows we will see how to use the formula for expected value. We will look at both the ​discrete and continuous  settings and see the similarities and differences in the formulas.​ The Formula for a Discrete Random Variable We start by analyzing the discrete case. Given a discrete random variable X, suppose that it has values x1, x2, x3, . . . xn, and respective probabilities of p1, p2, p3, . . . pn. This is saying that the probability mass function for this random variable gives f(xi)   pi.   The expected value of X is given by the formula: E(X) x1p1 x2p2 x3p3 . . . xnpn. Using the probability mass function and summation notation allows us to more compactly write this formula as follows, where the summation is taken over the index i: E(X)   ÃŽ £ xif(xi). This version of the formula is helpful to see because it also works when we have an infinite sample space. This formula can also easily be adjusted for the continuous case. An Example Flip a coin three times and let X be the number of heads. The random variable X  is discrete and finite.  The only possible values that we can have are 0, 1, 2 and 3. This has probability distribution of 1/8 for X 0, 3/8 for X 1, 3/8 for X 2, 1/8 for X 3. Use the expected value formula to obtain: (1/8)0 (3/8)1 (3/8)2 (1/8)3 12/8 1.5 In this example, we see that, in the long run, we will average a total of 1.5 heads from this experiment.  This makes sense with our intuition as one-half of 3 is 1.5. The Formula for a Continuous Random Variable We now turn to a continuous random variable, which we will denote by X.  We will let the probability density function of  X  be given by the function f(x).   The expected value of X is given by the formula: E(X)   Ã¢Ë† « x f(x) dx. Here we see that the expected value of our random variable is expressed as an integral.   Applications of Expected Value There are many applications for the expected value of a random variable. This formula makes an interesting appearance in the St. Petersburg Paradox.

Impressionist and Expressionist Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Impressionist and Expressionist Music - Essay Example Music, like any other arts, had its share of changes as the generations of artists changed their tastes and styles. In the 20th century, the impressionists and expressionists arose. Impressionism in paintings, based from the name, created an impression that called for the mood and setting that the paintings depicted. Similarly, impressionist music had similar characteristics although one of the pioneers, Claude Debussy disliked the term used. His aim then was to make something different from what seemed to be an overuse of the romantic approach to music. However, no matter how the great Debussy argued about the term used for his music, there was not much he could have done but to continue to create the sound that he wanted to let people listen to (Ajero). It was such a great success, obtaining the goal of the composer that is, creating a new kind of music and has influenced other musicians from that time on. Impressionist music uses alternating slow and fast sounds that creates an im pression of action and emotions. The slow music evokes emotions such as love, sadness, happiness, despondency or a reflective mood. On the other hand, the fast movement of the sounds in an impressionistic music suggests activity like dancing, or perhaps jumping for joy. This is probably the reason why the music is called impressionist, because it does leave an impression of what must be the composer’s imagination when the music was being created.... The sound is never loud when the movement goes slow and vice versa. This shows that in impressionist music, the volume and speed complement each other. The impressionist music also has a smooth flow in changing its speed and volume, making the transition beautiful to listen to (modernexample). Moreover, the changes in the volume of sound in the music create an impression of moving far or near to the listener. For example, when the sound is amplified, it gives a feeling of being very near the source of the sound but when the sound softens, the sound seems to be coming from a distance. The pitches created in the impressionist music are similarly varied with similar effects as the motion and volume of the sound. The overall impact of these sound qualities is the creation of a beautiful composition that stirs different emotions in just one piece of music (modernexample). The expressionist music on the other hand is not as beautiful to listen to. This is perhaps because the music was deli berately created to express feelings that were often suppressed. The high pitch in this kind of music is similar to how the fear of a woman or a child is expressed through a high sounding scream. It evokes a chilling feeling that listeners might not like to listen to for entertainment purposes. The sounds are similar to those often played during Halloween and in horror movies. Often, a note is played for a short period in between silence. This makes the music seem chopped or fragmented. At one point, the musician seems to be very careful in his movements that the sound is soft and slow. This expresses the fear the character in the music is feeling. For this reason, most of the sounds made in the expressionist music are low and slow. At another, the

Dox Thrash - Making Prints of His Real Life Research Paper

Dox Thrash - Making Prints of His Real Life - Research Paper Example Since the art was funded by the government, the art could be used for government purposes. One such artist is Dox Thrash. Defence Worker is one print created by Thrash which will be examined as a relative piece of art of the Depression Era. Another print from Thrash is Boats at Night which is also inspired by social realism will also be looked at. While Thrash was making prints of his real life, the U.S. government took these prints and used them for their own purposes. Defence Worker and Boats at Night by Dox Thrash will be examined in relation to social realism inspired art being used for United States government propaganda. Dox Thrash created both of these prints using a pioneering technique. Thrash had created a new printing technique called carborundum mezzotint.1 Both prints were commissioned by the WPA during the depression. The subjects of these prints were influenced by social realism. The Depression Era made many artists, including Thrash, rethink their perspectives on life and art. Artists begin to think capitalism might not be the best form of government. Kathe Kollwitz was a German artist that dealt with the same issues as Thrash. One of her paintings will be compared to Thrash in order to show how different countries reacted to the situation after World War I. The artists sketched, painted, or carved art reflecting their new views. An analysis of these two works will be undertaken along with a comparison to Kollwitz’s work. Dox Thrash has created two incomparable prints that illustrated the Depression Era, but his art was used as government propaganda in the end. Dox Thrash’s Defense Worker is a male worker. Thrash completed this piece in 1942.2 The worker is using a jackhammer, power sweeper, or some other piece of equipment. The huge male is a worker. This can be determined by the clothes, boots, and helmet the man wears in this print. There is a white billow of steam behind the figure.     Ã‚  

The marketing communications plan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The marketing communications plan - Essay Example The second stage of the plan spells out the strategies that will be used in the segmentation, targeting, and positioning processes. According to Malone (2007), the technology industry is busting with innovations in an un-choreographed time schedule, which means that failure to innovate timely product is likely a recipe for failure by the technological companies. The competition is high such that manufacturers in the industry have to continually research and create new products that are more suited to customers’ needs and expectations. Hewlett-Packard Company is a perfect example of a successful company in the global technological industry. The company specializes in the providing technologies, products, software services and solutions for consumers, small and medium term enterprises, and large enterprises. The major products lines that the company deals in include a wide range of printers and their associated by-products, personal computers, networking products, industry and enterprise servers, storage devices, and software products. In the past year, the company was ranked as the world’s largest PC vendor in terms of units that were sold; this is according to Fetterman (2012). ULTIME HP TV is a digital media receiver that has network appliances, which are designed to play digital content from varying sources such as Movie-TV programs, video calling , social networking apps. Twitter, Skype, face book, Video , YouTube , bbc I player movie streaming , 3D , free view , Hd , Memory Hard- 7506b, Multimedia , audio playback. Input devices Wireless WIFI , Bluetooth 40Hs , Ports 3 HDMI 2Usb , SCART Input, HP Wireless audio system , Â   From a wider perspective, it can be stated that the marketing communication plan is mainly intended to competitively position Hewlett-Packard Company within the in-home entertainment systems sector. The plan aims to ensure that the new ULTiME HP TV generates high sales revenues and is a favorite among the

Family Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Family - Research Paper Example As stated above, Sami suffers from chronic bronchial asthma, which was discovered at birth.Mohammed used to suffer from asthma;however, it disappeared many years ago.Besides following their family doctor's orders in Saudi Arabia, the parents were treating their child with a well-known type of herb, called Magr in Arabic, which is believed to improve asthma.When they travelled to Australia, they had to change their doctor and stop using the traditional treatment.Sami's case intensified when they arrived in Australia, which worried his parents very much.However, their doctor told them that this was a result of the change of environment.He advised them to live in a house without trees around which were found to increase the severity of Sami's asthma.They also took great care of their child during winter, when he gets more affected.In addition, they deal carefully with fumes and odours such as perfumes.Above all, they were assured by their doctor that Sami's case will improve as he gets older. According to Wright and Leahey (2005), the proper way in which the family will be evaluated is to use the Calgary Family Assessment Model (CFAM). The CFAM categorizes the family assessment into three main sections, namely, structural, developmental, and functional assessments, each of which are addressed separately below. IV.STRUCTURAL ASSESSMENT. The sub-dimensions of internal structure, external structure, and context are explicated by the following categories (Wright & Leahey, 2005). Internal Structure: The internal structure covers the categories of the composition of the family, the gender of the people in the family, the parents' sexual orientations, the rank order, the family's sub-systems, and the personal boundaries of the family members. Family Composition. Mohammed's family is a nuclear family consisting of the father, the mother, and two offspring. They are married under Shari'a, or Islamic law. They still kep in contact with their respective families. When they were in Saudi Arabia, Mohammed's parents were living in the same house as his family. Gender. The fact that Mohammed is a man and

Same-Sex Families Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Same-Sex Families - Research Paper Example This would be an attempt to fill the gap in the body of literature concerning the same sex couples. The results of my research will be useful in many ways. Particularly, they would serve to satisfy the doubts, curiosity and misconceptions people generally have with respect to the same sex marriages. In my research, I will involve the homosexual couples that have been united by the civil union. Because I want to know the differences (if any) between marital satisfaction of homosexual and straight couples, the relationship between both types of couples will be studied with respect to certain factors, common to both. Particularly, the aim of my research is to find whether the struggles homosexual married couples go through, the hardship they face and the criticism they are conventionally offered intensifies their love and affection or has a negative influence on their relationship. It is expected that the more their relationship is criticized, the stronger their relationship becomes. Gay and lesbian couples are similar to straight couples in a number of ways. For example, the affinity, and hence the satisfaction level between partners in all sorts of couples gradually declines with the passage of time irrespective of the sexual orientation of individual partners. (Farr, Forssell, and Patterson, 2010, p. 200). The literature review about homosexual couples in 1991 suggested same satisfaction level in gay and lesbian couples as noticed in straight couples. (Whiteman, Diddel, and Hohengarten, 2005, p. 14). Review of existing body of literature suggests that many homosexual partners deal their relationship more wisely than heterosexual partners. Homosexuals tend to be more prudent in sustaining their marital relationship typically because they know, that it takes much less effort to break free of a homosexual bond than a heterosexual relationship. (Gottman and Levenson, 2003, p. 88).

Environmental Studies Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Environmental Studies - Assignment Example overtime in abundance usually comprise of shallow, warm, marine waters, which is exactly the kind of environment that is required by organisms to form a kind of calcium carbonate shell and skeleton and extract the essential ingredients from the ocean water. These organisms soon die out and their shell and skeletons accumulate and settle to form a type of biological sedimentary rock. This rock will contain at least fifty percent calcium along with a multitude of other minerals and materials, namely; Quartz, clay minerals, feldspar and a few more. There are several large limestone deposits in the world that have been extracted for use in industry. In parts of the United States there are extensive deposits of limestone of various ages from a handful of thousands to more than 350 million years old. In India, several deposits of limestone can be found that are used by the local industries for production processes. More than two-third of India's production of limestone comes from five stat es of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh. Each of these contributes more than 9 per cent of the country's output. The areas of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, each of which are producing over 5 per cent of the country's lime ­stone, account for another 28 per cent of the coun ­try's production of limestone. . In India, the regions mentioned above; Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, were the major sources of limestone that contributed to the nation’s supply. Together, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had a tremendous total of 2,126 million tones of limestone in weight that contributed a total of twenty six percent to the country’s overall production of limestone. Andhra Pradesh, individually,... This paper approves that limestone is the key ingredient in the creation of cement that is used to construct infrastructure. Despite the fact that India produced limestone in such abundance, there have been several shortages of cement that have halted construction altogether. The purest form of natural limestone that is found in some areas of India where limestone deposits exist, is used primarily for decorative purposes in government buildings, museums, extravagant hotels, and sometimes even homes if the occupants are able to afford it; Pure marble limestone is expensive compared to normal limestone. Limestone marble takes several unique shapes and patterns that make it valuable for these purposes in the form of floor tiles, statues, landscaping and roofing. This report makes a conclusion that sustainability is essential for the welfare of our world and the steady growth of society. We work to increase the sustainability of natural resources and the environment, for that purpose, we offer suggestions and recommendations to organizations. In this case, limestone is the resource in discussion. It is clear that limestone deposits will run dry, in fact, shortages have already begun. It is therefore important to look for sustainable solutions and replacements for limestone that will ensure continued, quality production for the business. A project known as The Efficient Limestone Crusher Project was introduced to increase the sustainable quarrying of limestone using specialized crushers and heavy machinery, applying this method may also prove sustainable for the business.

Same-Sex Families Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Same-Sex Families - Research Paper Example This would be an attempt to fill the gap in the body of literature concerning the same sex couples. The results of my research will be useful in many ways. Particularly, they would serve to satisfy the doubts, curiosity and misconceptions people generally have with respect to the same sex marriages. In my research, I will involve the homosexual couples that have been united by the civil union. Because I want to know the differences (if any) between marital satisfaction of homosexual and straight couples, the relationship between both types of couples will be studied with respect to certain factors, common to both. Particularly, the aim of my research is to find whether the struggles homosexual married couples go through, the hardship they face and the criticism they are conventionally offered intensifies their love and affection or has a negative influence on their relationship. It is expected that the more their relationship is criticized, the stronger their relationship becomes. Gay and lesbian couples are similar to straight couples in a number of ways. For example, the affinity, and hence the satisfaction level between partners in all sorts of couples gradually declines with the passage of time irrespective of the sexual orientation of individual partners. (Farr, Forssell, and Patterson, 2010, p. 200). The literature review about homosexual couples in 1991 suggested same satisfaction level in gay and lesbian couples as noticed in straight couples. (Whiteman, Diddel, and Hohengarten, 2005, p. 14). Review of existing body of literature suggests that many homosexual partners deal their relationship more wisely than heterosexual partners. Homosexuals tend to be more prudent in sustaining their marital relationship typically because they know, that it takes much less effort to break free of a homosexual bond than a heterosexual relationship. (Gottman and Levenson, 2003, p. 88).

Discuss at least one conceptual idea, model or theory in respect of Coursework

Discuss at least one conceptual idea, model or theory in respect of your topic area and evaluate it using case study material - Coursework Example This report has been organised into eight parts, and it has been appropriately numbered throughout the document. The methodology that was used is reviewing of secondary sources. Unexpected and rapid change has become a modern society norm. However, the world has become a steadily volatile place with water shortages, health epidemics, terrorism, changing consumption patterns, economic crises, increasing fuel prices, food and global warming confronting most countries (Sterman, 2012). The impact combination of such factors has reignited focusing of sustainable development as a continuing problem for governments and businesses in general, and for tourism specifically. It has been argued that the tourism sector is required to be prepared to address current and forthcoming problems in order to maintain the viability of the industry and the resources upon that it is depending; and therefore, there is a need for proactive strategic planning and decision-making by governments, businesses and any other stakeholders to increase opportunities, reduce adverse impacts as well as maintaining competitive merits. Furthermore, Sharpley (2000) argued that the sustainable tourism principles are accepted in general, but the function of tourism remains justified by the economic development objectives. Recently, Sharpley (2009) stressed that the discourse of sustainable tourism has been all going around in circles without a breakthrough and little use in the sector, suggesting a need to go beyond sustainable tourism so that tourism development can progress. However, it is still apparent that the rising focus on the climate change, environment, and sustainable development has led to wider planning perspectives for tourism worldwide, overcoming previous fixations with marketing growth and economic strategies (Kozak & Baloglu, 2010). Such a shift toward a sustainable development platform is representing a major step forward for the tourism

Accounting for Individual Differences in the Workplace

Accounting for Individual Differences in the Workplace Introduction In today’s society, there is little doubt that individual differences are certainly important in the workplace as one of critical predictors of training outcome, individual productivity or stress at work. For the reason it affects us most in every way to name a few, we perceive and respond information, our abilities and skills such as logic, creativity and critics, etc., it is necessary for an organisation to understand, value and enjoy the benefits it would bring. This essay would write about the definition of individual differences to begin with; analysis individual differences in demographics, intelligence, and personality; some commonly mistaken assumption in measuring them and recommendation for improving it in selecting and managing people. The aim of the paper in the end is to provide some suggestions for managers to mitigate any false assumptions’ impacts in person differences’ assessment. What are individual differences? Studying individual differences is concerned with variations between one person to another, in other words, it is defined by Ashleigh and Mansi (2012:68) as â€Å"those parts of â€Å"us† which differentiate â€Å"us† from others†. Investigating individual differences is a continuing concern within organisations enables us to, in the view of predicting people’s behaviours, making team formation easier, in turn, managing the team more effectively while there is a common goal and value among team members. The facts remain that each individual is likely to have a regular pattern of behaviour towards similar situation. While there are other key differences between individuals, such as creativity, values, emotions, the scope of this essay will be focused on 3 key points in demographics, intelligence and personality and the way to measure them in a setting of organisational behaviour. Individual differences in demographics According to a definition provided by Ashleigh and Mansi (2012:80), it refers to â€Å"differences within a population group-such as race, age, income, disabilities, educational level, experience, marital status and gender†. For work psychologists, it is important to take those factors into consideration in order to know the group of people involved in research, and their impact on finding results if any in the way to design data application in reality. For example, in the research carried out by Tsui and O’Reilly (1989), some demographic factors, namely age, sex, race, education level, job tenure were used to investigate their impacts on the relationship of supervisors and subordinates. This study outlined that a negative relation between differences and work effectiveness had been reported, not mention to increased role ambiguity for subordinates. Hence, reducing dissimilarity from those factors mentioned above in job allocation and team formation is likely to improve work effectiveness. Moreover, criteria in demographics like age or experience can be employed as supporting factors in the generation-specific HR strategies. For example, young employees are looking for an attractive and supportive environment in which offers learning goal orientation, in exchange, they will display job commitment; while, this environment, on the balance of it, should retain a wealth of valuable knowledge and skills from the older ones (D’Amato and Herzfeldt, 2012). Thus, proper and suitable HR strategies should be given differently to each group. Additionally, while younger employees are, in a way, more creative, fast action, quick response to changes, especially with modern technology, risk-loving, but do lack of professional experiences coming with prices, as against with a bit conservative, slower in response to new changes, but a more professional way of working, rational decision-maker for the older ages. Therefore, it is undoubtedly true that when HR managers fit the job w ith a person or design training strategies for staff, demographic differences should be given a serious consideration to provide suitable programs. Individual differences in intelligence To explain the definition of â€Å"intelligence†, let just put it versus â€Å"ability†. While Wiseman (1967:290) declared that ability â€Å"is defined operationally by the performance of an individual in a specific situation†, for Cooper (1999:6), in general, â€Å"are any behaviours that can sensibly be evaluated† by either monitoring behaviour or asking others to give evaluation such as typing, reading a map, cooking, etc. On the other hand, as for intelligence Binet and Simon (1905) agreed that it has shown the ability to judge, understand and reason easily, while Vernon (1956) added â€Å"the more general qualities of thinking, level of concept developing, reasoning and grasping relations†. By comparison, the term ability has a broader meaning than that of intelligence which means â€Å"mental ability†. There is also a room opening for ongoing debate whether it is fixed or not, or nature-nurture debate. In the study of Dickens and Flynn (2006), increasing amount of nutrition, test familiarity, educational games, TV show complexity, etc. have been attributable to intelligence improvement. However, Lynn Vanhanen (2006) found that such IQ discrepancies found in across ethnicities, races, and nationalities are proposing â€Å"a difference in innate brain capacity†. Furthermore, Marks (2010) analysed the association between IQ and situational factor like literacy skills across time, nationality, and race.In addition, regarding to the nature-nurture debate, there are those who believed that only environmental factor is absolutely qualified enough to account for individual differences in intelligence Karmin (1977), however, nearly 20 years later, Mackintosh (1995) declared that heritability should be taken into consideration as well. In more details to what extent, Cooper (1999) ar gued that, with constant conditions, intelligence is influenced by genetic component to the extent of 50 60%. These results are consistent with other studies (Plomin et al. 2001; Neisser, 1996) and suggesting that genetic factor may account for more in IQ differences than environmental factors. Therefore, if we are fortunate enough to be born by clever parents and have appropriate educational training, it is possible that our IQ score can be shifted. That leads to another question, i.e How to measure intelligence?. In order to measure it, cognitive ability test which is a part of psychometric test has long been used to reflect individual’s intelligence quotient (IQ) (William Stern, 1912) is calculated as follows: a mental age divided by chronological age, and then multiplied it by 100. One of the most popular and widely used tests of intelligence is Wechsler Scales of Intelligence first introduced by David Wechsler in 1955. A great deal of research and literature has been taken place in the relationship of intelligence and work performance. This combination of findings provides some support for the conceptual premise that general intelligence is certainly a good predictor in assessment of job performance and training proficiency (Sakett et all., 2008; Furnham, 2005; Drasgow, 2003). Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true while other conditions should stay the same, otherwise, this criteria is absolutely not the only variable that influences performance, but job knowledge and motivation, do also rate a mention here (Kamin, 1995). One of the advantages associated with psychometric test is that it provides a comparison ability in scores which based on the same standard within a group of people. Secondly, this kind of test offers a prediction of performance in a various settings. For example, to assess one’s ability in the recruitment process, situational judgement tests would be given, e.g asking reaction of salesman towards customer’s complaint. Particularly, in the context of the organisation, a great number of organisations have found these tests are effective enough, both in the sense of cost and means for employee selection in recruitment and after-training seasion. On the other hand, there exists some special skills which can not be assessed quickly and accurately through psychometric tests, such as hand and eye coordination (Cooper, 1999). In fact, some previous study found that about half to two-thirds of large companies apply psychometric testing in senior managers’ assessment in Europe (Cook, 2004; Furnham, 2004; Salgado, 1997), and 72% of UK organisations employed ability tests in selecting and assessing process (CIPD, 2007). Individual differences in personality There is a degree of lacking consensus around the terminology of personality. For Furnham (1997:161), the term refers to â€Å"enduring traits or characteristics that account for consistent patterns of responses†, later on, Pervin added (2004:6) more details in the sense of feeling, thinking and behaving. Although there have been some other ways to elaborate its definition, they all shared the common feature is that making every human beings unique in their interaction with the environment. The key theories of personality can be listed as follows: psychodynamic, behaviourist, humanistic, biological, trait and type and social-cognitive. However, due to limited scope, this essay will focus on behaviourist (Pavlov, Watson, Thorndike and Skinner, 1849-1990) and trait and type (Allport, Cattell and Eysenck, 1916-1998). Regarding behaviourist theory, they put emphasis on psychological investigation in observable, measurable behaviour regarded as the merely appropriate method. They stated that through reinforcement either punishment or reward, all behaviours can be modified. The environment can, however, initiate our initial response; but on the account of reinforcement experiences, our behaviours are possibly shaped, thus creating learnt associations which, in turn, direct our future behaviours provided in the same settings. As for the type and trait theory, their approach’s similarity lies in the fact that both of them consider grouping people into personality characteristics. While the type theory places people into discrete groups, as against with seeing personality feature as a continuum for trait theory. For example, a person would be considered either introvert or extrovert in a view of the type theory. By contrast, the trait theory (Allport, Cattell and Eysenck) would find anyone can be anywhere in the between of introvert and extrovert included those towards the extremes (Matthewman, et all., 2009) and that amount and type of trait would be constant. Later on, Costa and McGrae (1992) discovered the essence of traits had been found in 5 factors which were developed into â€Å"Ocean theory† mentioning about 5 traits, namely Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism. It is regarded as a widely acknowledged template in explaining the human personality†™s structure (Arnold, 2010). Although Ashleign and Mansi (2012) agreed that â€Å"trait theory is considered the most useful of personality theories for organisational psychologists† so far for its pattern of behaviour detection and classification, its limitations can not be overlooked. In particular, this approach not only offers frameworks in major pattern of behaviours, in which personality assessment can be constructed and employed (Bayne, 1994). However, the fact remains that human behaviours are affected by lots of situational factors (Bandura, 1999), thus individuals are highly unlikely to behave in the same way all the time (Armstrong, 2003). That is the reason why this approach will probably have a limited prediction in value to typical behaviours (Pervin, 1994). Moreover, it fails to explain how these 5 factors develop and the way of their influence on human behaviours which is the centre of work psychology’s interest. Therefore, Makin (1996) claimed that their level of anticipation is no t quite high. One question that needs to be asked, however, is whether reading Big Five traits may make people jump into conclusion too quickly that Neuroticism is something least favourable among all. The answer is it should be dependent on the situation and job’s characteristics. There are actually some jobs requiring a high N scale. For example, Spencer Lord, a HR specialist, says highly neurotic people are often strong in roles that require attention to detail, e.g positions in finance or compliance. Due to their natural caution for avoiding worry about consequences, they can also be very effective in assessing risk (2013). By contrast, being too extroverted may be associated with try to be dominant, attention seeking which are possibly not a good thing in teamwork. In addition, Robertson (2001) claimed that the strongest predictor of job performance is Conscientiousness. However, it failed to consider in a situation demanding being creative and innovate which high C scale usually lacks of. Futhermore, not mention of the fact that, especially in such a rapidly changing world, being adaptive and flexible is certainly necessary (Maltby, et all., 2013:414). Personal characteristics’ measurement probably remains significantly important in the occupational assessment process in organisations. In fact, there have been some popular ways, such as personality questionnaires which is another part of psychometric tests, interviewing and behavioural observation. Firstly, a personality questionnaire contains a lot of standardised statements which need to be responded by candidates. Those statements are filtered from a large database to the target group based on essential characteristics that an organisation needs to know (Matthewman at all., 2009). Their scores would be compared with that of specific group which is â€Å"norms† tables. Therefore, this kind of measurement is also called as â€Å"normative personality measurement†. For example, 16PF5 was developed from the Cattell model of personality, as for NEO-5 was based on the OCEAN model (Costa and McCrae, 1985), or the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is also a commonly used one. The fact remains that 56% of UK companies using personality tests at some point of their assessment procedure (CIPD, 2007). On the other hand, despite the great benefits that it offers if being applied in the right way, personality tests can not be trusted as the only source of assessment in people selection. Firstly, candidates may give fake answers in the way they think that would score them up in employers’ eyes. However, this problem can be mitigated by three ways, namely through direction as â€Å"be honest, no right and wrong answer†, social desirability (Crowne and Marlowe, 1964) and answers whose choices are forced. Secondly, the interview has long regarded as the most commonly used forms of people selection (Keenan, 1995). Although it was brought into criticism for being subject to bias and unreliability, some recent researches show that a structured interview with well trained interviewers is highly likely to improve its validity (Dipboye, 2005; Posthuma et al., 2002). Therefore, it is essential to ensure that those questions in the interview should be a job analysis related and consistent. Moreover, as for the interviewer, he should keep set of assessing criteria constant among interviewees in general, and in their responses in particular (Arnord et al., 2010), e.g: rating each answer with multiple rating scale, taking special notes, asking multiple interviewers if possible. Conclusion â€Å"In most situations it is best to use a combination of several personnel selection techniques to ensure fairness and accuracy†.