Structural Violence Essay - 1732 Words

Structural violence is the way in which a social structure will harm people by not providing, by limiting or by barring people from receiving basic needs. Structural violence impacts people on the bottom rung of society. People who live in poverty or are not considered being of a high social standing. This could be because of a person’s age, sex, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, or any other aspect that makes them different from the majority of the population or different from what people consider to be the norm. However, structural violence does not necessarily need the majority of the population to define it, it can manifest by a few people in the country or out making decisions for the populace. Structural violence differs from†¦show more content†¦Let’s re-examine the inner city school mentioned above. What are some assumptions about this school? It is a public school, it is in an area with lower incomes, the children and teachers who populate this school are mostly of a singular race or ethnicity, the education they receive may be less than sufficient, the majority of the children will not go on to higher education, it would take too many resources to fix a school in this area. What are some assumptions about a school in the suburbs? It may be public, the surrounding area is mostly middle class families, the teachers and children who populate the school are mostly of a singular race, the education is sufficient or above the current standard, the majority of children will go on to higher education, it is worth the effort to put resources into enhancing the school. This is an example of structural violence. One group is treated differently from another and as a result has a more difficult life. The children in the inner city school will have a harder time throughout their lives because of this violence. Unlike the structural violence in Haiti or Marshal Islands we discussed in class, this example is not very evident to people. It is not even very noticeable to the people who live with this violence; it has been the way life has always been. Structural violence can come from individual, social and political bearings. Although structural violence is not derived from anyoneShow MoreRelatedCritique Of The Galtung s Concept Of Structural Violence2627 Words   |  11 PagesCritique of the Galtung’s concept of structural violence: Violence is a concept which can be felt more aptly than defined. The word ‘violence’ rightly mentions the causation of injury or harm.It is an umbrella term that incorporates a broad range of violence.Different political analysts and psychologists have defined violence in their own institutionalized way. Violence is the opposite of Peace as peace is defined as â€Å"absence of violence†. Here violence becomes a broad concept and demands to be distinguishedRead MoreStructural Violence the Unseen Violence Essay845 Words   |  4 PagesThe term violence brings to memory an image of physical or emotional assault on a person. In most circumstances, the person affected due to violence is aware that a violent action has been performed on that person. There is another form of violence where the affected individual, in most cases are unaware of the violence inflicted upon them. These types of violence are termed as structural violence. Structural violence is a form of invisible violence setup by a well-defined system, to limit an individual’sRead MoreHomeless and Structural Violence1143 Words   |  5 Pagesthat those with economic capital have a responsibility in caring for their needs thus they embrace their worthiness in society. As a result of this they label themselves as â€Å"righteous dopefiends† (2009, p. 5). Bourgeois and Schonberg show how structural violence has affected the Edgewater homeless, such as self-blame, lack of access to quality medical care and what is described as intimate apartheid. Righteous Dopefiend (Bourgeois and Schonberg, 2009) gives firsthand insight into the experiences theRead MoreStructural Violence And Welfare Provision For 100 Families Essay1348 Words   |  6 Pagesthe rise due to increasing economic inequality caused by events beyond their control. These people are at the bottom of a social pyramid where power is concentrated at the top in the hands of a few politicians. In the report Urban Poverty, Structural Violence and Welfare Provision for 100 Families in Auckland, the authors use strong emotive language such as, stigmatising, discriminatory, punitive, violent, abusive, bondage, and through the use of phrases like, specific perpetrator and victim, institutionalisedRead MoreEssay On Structural Violence1142 Words   |  5 PagesThe stakeholders involved with the problem of structural violence and things such as a built environment involve much of the community partners or advocates to want to reduce black infant mortality. Most efforts that h ave been made to reduce this type of disparity among the African American community is the supplemental nutrition program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Many times, if women are below a certain income level they can qualify for WIC which provides them with resources, many ofRead MoreStructural Violence Csi2333 Words   |  10 PagesSTRUCTURAL VIOLENCE CSI Zubeida Shaik – 27 August 2010 Submitted to University of the Free State – BML Programme 1. BACKGROUND INTRODUCTION â€Å"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.† This classic phrase penned by George Orwell in his novel Animal Farm, signified a heartrending moment in the tale of farm animals becoming corrupted by power, as they destroy the utopian world of equality that they originally set out to create. When using this analogy to reflectRead MoreArizona Copper Strike : Conflict Analysis1717 Words   |  7 Pagesassociated with violence or violent acts. Violence being defined actions, words, attitudes, or systems that cause a physical, psychological or social damage and prevent people from reaching their full human potential. Violence is often deeply rooted into systems of relationships and extends into the culture of a society, much like the Arizona Copper Strike. Johan Galtung prescribed a clear distinction between three types of violence: structural, cultural, and direct. Structural violence exists when someRead MoreViolence And Its Effect On The Road Of Violence2596 Words   |  11 Pages Violence is a concept which can be felt more aptly than defined. The word ‘violence’ rightly mentions the causation of injury or harm.It is an umbrella term that incorporates a broad range of violence.Different political analysts and psychologists have defined violence in their own institutionalized way. Violence is the opposite of Peace as peace is defined as â€Å"absence of violence†. Here violence becomes a broad concept and demands to be distinguished. Johan Galtung, defines violence as the differenceRead MoreEssay about Racism and Discrimination in Healthcare2285 Words   |  10 PagesHealthcare systems are microcosms of the larger society in which they exist. Where there is structural violence or cultural violence in the larger society, so will there be evidence of systematic inequities in the institutions of these societies. The healthcare system in Australia is one example—from a plethora of similarly situated healthcare systems—in whic h the color of a patient’s skin or the race of his parents may determine the quality of medical received. Life expectancy and infant mortalityRead MoreStructural Violence And Its Effects On Society903 Words   |  4 Pages Structural violence has become a frequently used instrument in the word of systemic oppression. This type of oppression and unfair limitations of civil, criminal and basic human rights can cause suffering and death to many innocent lives. Sociologist Johan Galtung was the one who developed this theory of structural violence. Indicated in one of his articles â€Å"Violence, Peace, and Peace Research†, structural violence is the â€Å"systematic constraint on human potential due to economic and political

Ready Mix Concrete Essay Example For Students

Ready Mix Concrete Essay ASSIGNMENT CONSTRUCTION METHODS AND TECHNOLOGY READY MIX CONCRETE SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY: PROF. SACHIN JAIN SONABH DHARIWAL VARUN GOEL INTRODUCTION: Ready-mix concrete is a type of concrete that is manufactured in a factory or batching plant, according to a set recipe, and then delivered to a worksite, by truck mounted transit mixers. This results in a precise mixture, allowing specialty concrete mixtures to be developed and implemented on construction sites. The first ready-mix factory was built in the 1930s, but the industry did not begin to expand significantly until the 1960s, and it has continued to grow since then. Ready-mix concrete is sometimes preferred over on-site concrete mixing because of the precision of the mixture and reduced worksite confusion. However, using a pre-determined concrete mixture reduces flexibility, both in the supply chain and in the actual components of the concrete. Ready Mixed Concrete, or RMC as it is popularly called, refers to concrete that is specifically manufactured for delivery to the customers construction site in a freshly mixed and plastic or unhardened state. Concrete itself is a mixture of Portland cement, water and aggregates comprising sand and gravel or crushed stone. In traditional work sites, each of these materials is procured separately and mixed in specified proportions at site to make concrete. Ready Mixed Concrete is bought and sold by volume usually expressed in cubic meters. RMC can be custom-made to suit different applications. Ready Mixed Concrete is manufactured under computer-controlled operations and transported and placed at site using sophisticated equipment and methods. Concrete’s natural color is gray. Its favored uses are utilitarian. Its very ubiquity causes it to blend into the background. But ready-mix concrete does have one remarkable characteristic: other than manufactured ice, perhaps no other manufacturing industry faces greater transport barriers. The transportation problem arises because ready-mix concrete both has a low value-to-weight ratio and is highly perishable—it absolutely must be discharged from the truck before it hardens. These transportation barriers mean ready-mixed concrete must be produced near its customers. For the same reason, foreign trade in ready-mixed concrete is essentially nonexistent. This article is an introduction to the basics of the market for ready-mix concrete, focusing mainly on its consumers and its producers in the United States, but with occasional comparisons to other countries when contrasts are useful. INDUSTRY HISTORY AND BACKGROUND: Ready-mixed concrete’s ubiquitous use as a building material is largely because of two advantages. It is cheap. It also allows great diversity in design and function, because in its fluid form, it can be poured into molds of any shape. Concrete’s weakness, quite literally, is that while it is reasonably strong when bearing compressive (pushing) loads, it is an order of magnitude weaker in its ability to bear tensile (pulling) forces. Concrete was regularly used as a building material throughout the twentieth century, but when the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association was founded in 1930, only a handful of ready-mixed plants operated in the United States. The standard practice at the time was for construction firms to mix their own concrete at the job site using bagged cement and aggregates the contractors purchased themselves. (This practice remains common in developing countries. ) However, with the wartime industrial and government building during the 1940s and the housing and highways building boom that followed, demand for ready-mixed rose sufficiently to take advantage of the scale economies of specialized offsite concrete mixers. By 1958, the first year in which the industry was considered a separate four-digit manufacturing industry in the Standard Industrial Classification system, there were 3,657 ready-mixed concrete plants. Since that time, the industry has continued to grow, albeit with occasional recessionary setbacks. Over the past 30 years, the industry has been shifting from one dominated by single-plant firms to one where multi-plant operations are becoming increasingly common. In 1958, about 3,100 firms owned the 3,657 ready-mixed plants. By 2002, the number of industry plants had increased to 5,570, but the number of industry firms had fallen below 2,600 (U. S. Census, 1963 and 2006a). This consolidation is reflected in the industry concentration measures seen in Table 1. In 1958, the largest four firms in the industry accounted for only 4 percent of output, and the largest 50 firms a mere 21 percent. The analogous values for 2002 were respectively 11 and 42 percent, still low compared to most manufacturing industries, but substantially higher than earlier values. However, these national concentration measures understate concentration within individual geographic markets, which because of the high transportation costs of concrete, better reflects the competitive environment industry producer’s face. A TYPICAL READY-MIXED CONCRETE PLANT: The manufacturing process for ready-mixed concrete can be crudely analogized to making mud pies, except a typical batch of â€Å"batter† weighs 20-40 tons and the output is delivered to customers in $150,000 vehicles. The plants where these pies are made are typically Spartan affairs, even as manufacturing facilities go. They include facilities for handling raw materials, usually including steel cement silos (cement must be protected from moisture in the air, lest it harden prematurely), open piles of aggregate (sand, gravel and rock) sorted by size, a pay loader and conveyor system for moving aggregate, and a water source. There is also often a structure with limited office space and rooms that house controls for the batcher—the equipment that weighs and feeds the various ingredients into the mixing bin. The bin sits n an elevated structure to allow drivers to pull the mixer trucks, which are the other key pieces of capital equipment found at ready-mixed plants, underneath for loading. Numbers from the 2002 Census of Manufactures, the latest for which comprehensive data are available, offer a sense of the economic scale of a typical ready-mixed plant. The average value of raw materials inventory on hand at a plant was $81,000. The average book value of its capital stock (both structures and e quipment) was $2. million, and mean annual sales were $3. 9 million. This typical plant had 18 employees, 14 of whom were considered production workers (which include truck drivers). FIRM STRUCTURE: Construction industry was benefited by Ready-mix Concrete right from its inception during the late 40’s. This technology has since then grown in a big way in Europe and USA, consuming more than 60% of the cement produced. In the coming years, Ready-mix Concrete industry in India is likely to consume more than 5% of the cement produced. Despite the industry’s move toward consolidation, hundreds of ready-mixed firms are still single-plant operations. In 1997, the most recent year for which such data were available, these producers accounted for 44 percent of industry plants and 80 percent of its firms. Ready-mixed concrete plants, whether in single-plant firms or not, are usually highly specialized. Plants in the industry fabricate few precast concrete products; despite similarities in precast concrete’s production process and that the ultimate buyers in the construction industry are often the same. Well over 90 percent of ready-mixed plant revenues come from ready-mixed sales, meaning single-plant firms in the industry derive the vast majority of their revenues from their primary product. Plants making prefabricated concrete products are similarly specialized in those products, with less than 10 percent of their revenues accounted for by ready-mixed sales (U. S. Census Bureau, 2006b). Multi-plant firms with ready-mixed concrete operations tend to be more diversified, but their diversification comes through owning plants in other industries. These can be prefabricated concrete operations, cement plants, or sand and gravel mines. In 1997, about half of the ready-mixed plants that were owned by multi-unit firms were owned by firms that also operated plants in other industries besides ready-mixed concrete. Thus, diversification among larger firms is not universal, since the other half of plants in multi-unit firms are owned by businesses that are ready-mixed specialists. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE: The basic process for making ready-mixed concrete has not changed for the past 60 years: dry raw materials are measured, loaded into a bin, mixed, placed into a truck, and water is added (sometimes the order of the last two steps is interchanged). The modest technological advances that have occurred in the industry have come in five areas. The first change is automated batching systems. Batching—the process of weighing and mixing the raw materials before they are loaded on the truck—was once a manual operation. An operator would mechanically control the hopper gates that regulated the flow of raw materials into the central mixing bin, weighing each component while proceeding, often by eye on an analog scale. Automated batching systems, where an operator inputs the â€Å"recipe† for a ready-mixed batch into an electronic control system that handles the weighing and mixing operations automatically, began diffusing through the industry during the late 1970s and early 1980s. A second change is the substantial increase in the capacity of concrete trucks. A 1953 standards publication described certified mixing trucks ranging in capacities from 2. 5 to 7. 5 cubic years (National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, 1953), with standard capacities at the time being 3. 0 to 4. 0 cubic yards. Today, the typical truck capacity is 10 cubic yards, with some able to carry as many as 12. However, because a cubic yard of concrete weighs approximately two tons, the gross weight of a fully-loaded 12-yard truck could be upwards of 38 tons. This comes close to states’ legal limits, which are uniformly 40 tons (some allow overages with a special permit, but most do not have exceptions when the cargo is divisible like concrete). A third change is a continuing expansion in the variety of chemical admixtures that can be added to a concrete batch to affect its properties in useful ways. For example, admixtures can affect workability (how easily the concrete can be formed into shapes), curing times, color, porosity, and other attributes. This flexibility in the physical attributes of the final product has increased the range of uses of ready-mixed concrete. A fourth change involves improvements in logistical coordination gained through the move toward centralized delivery dispatch. Ready-mixed concrete producers are not just manufacturers, they are logisticians: they deliver, typically on short notice, a perishable product to time-sensitive buyers in multiple locations. Owning several plants in a local area and coordinating their deliveries through a central office offers potential productivity gains by consolidating overhead (one dispatcher handles deliveries from several plants that would each have their own dispatcher in single-unit firms) and allowing more efficient use of available resources through cross-plant substitution of production and deliveries. Hortacsu and Syverson (2007) find evidence of these productivity gains among ready-mixed plants whose owning firms are vertically integrated into cement. Non production workers account for a lower fraction of employment at these plants, consistent with a reduction in overhead labor from moving to central dispatch. Firms’ plant location choices also reflect attempts to harness such efficiency benefits. For example Lafarge (2005), an integrated cement and concrete producer, states in its 2004 20-F filing that, â€Å"We aim to place our ready mix concrete plants in clusters in each micro market in which we operate in order to optimize our delivery flexibility, capacity and backup capability. 3 While Hortacsu and Syverson look specifically at vertically integrated firms, the findings suggest that the logistical efficiencies do not rely on vertical structure per se. What appears instead to be important is the total size of the firm’s ready-mixed operation in the local market. That is, while plants in vertically integrated firms are more productive on average than unintegrated plants in the same market, they do not have signi ficantly different total factor productivity levels than plants in unintegrated firms with similar local concrete sales. Coordination and its possible efficiency gains are therefore not exclusive to vertically integrated firms, but rather are available to any firm with the necessary scale (and the operational ability to manage such operations). A final technological advance affected the concrete industry, although it actually occurred for the most part outside of the industry. Concrete pumps are used to place concrete on a job site by pumping it through tubes suspended from a boom. These concrete pumps are typically owned and operated by construction contractors or specialty firms, rather than by the ready-mixed producer. Pumps allow virtually uninterrupted placement of concrete and make it easy to change the location where concrete is poured. (The alternative process is to load bucket after bucket with wet concrete, move the buckets one load at a time into place with a crane, and pour the contents into the mold. ) Certain admixtures mentioned earlier increase the flow ability of wet concrete, improving pumping performance. Pumping is limited in practical terms only by the power of the pumps, which can be quite large. The 92-floor Trump Tower in Chicago, for instance, is being built with the help of a 680-horsepower concrete pump able to lift 3,000 pounds 1,000 feet in one minute (Sleets and Klaxton, 2006). ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS: Ready-mixed concrete plants can emit both waterborne and airborne pollutants. The former include spilled oil or fuel, as well as fine and coarse particles of aggregates and cement, which can be inherently detrimental as well as raise the alkalinity of runoff water to toxic levels. Airborne emission concerns primarily involve dust from the concrete mixing process itself or from trucks driving on unpaved portions of plants. Plants typically monitor potential pollutants and control them as required. Runoff water is often captured in settling ponds that allow solids to be separated before the water is either discharged or recycled. Dust is controlled by hooding mixing facilities and either paving or occasionally spraying-down unpaved areas of the plant. THE NATURE OF DEMAND: This section discusses factors that influence ready-mixed concrete demand: who the customers are, how one might define a market within the industry, the nature of the product, and its common substitutes. Ties to Local Construction The ready-mixed industry’s fortunes are closely tied to the level of activity in the construction sector. The sector buys the vast majority of ready-mixed output: 94 percent, according to the 2002 Benchmark Input-Output Tables. Bureau of Labor Statistics annual employment data over 1973 to 2005 show a simple correlation of 0. between the employment growth rates of the ready-mixed concrete industry and the construction sector. The combination of the industry’s high transport costs and its reliance on the construction sector imply that the ready-mixed â€Å"market† is not a singular, nationwide unit, but instead a collection of quasi-independent local geographic markets. Data from the 2002 Commodity Flow Survey indicate that the average s hipment distance for the detailed product category of which ready-mixed comprises the majority of shipments (â€Å"no refractory mortars and concretes†) is only 32 miles. By way of comparison, the average distance for all commodities is 546 miles. The basic demand conditions faced by ready-mixed producers in any given local market therefore depend on how robust construction activity is in that same market, not elsewhere. Moreover, this variation in market demand is likely to be exogenous to the nature of competition among local ready-mixed concrete plants. This is because construction projects require intermediate materials from a wide array of industries, making the cost share of ready-mixed small. Looking at the 2002 Benchmark Input-Output Tables again, ready-mixed concrete accounted for only 3 percent of the construction sector’s intermediate materials costs. Therefore a shock to the competitiveness of the local ready-mixed industry (that lowers average concrete prices, say) is unlikely to cause a construction boom. Causation thus travels from construction demand to concrete competitiveness, not in the reverse direction. Relationship Capital Ready-mixed concrete is physically quite homogenous. While concrete can be differentiated along some dimensions (like compressive strength or cure ime) by varying the cement-to-water ratio or including chemical admixtures, these differentiations are minor in scope relative to those seen within many manufacturing industries (automobiles or household audio and video equipment, for instance). Moreover, the differentiation in attributes of concrete output across plants is likely to be smaller still. Because of transport constraints, ev ery plant typically produces the entire spectrum of ready-mixed concrete varieties, rather than some plants specializing in certain types of concrete and others in different types. Space Exploration EssayThe capacity of the silo may range from 50-500 tonnes. Cement/ Fly-ash is pumped into the silo for refilling. The typical picture of a central mixer is shown in Fig-2 3 MATERIAL STORAGE YARD: Fig-5 A material storage is used for storing coarse aggregates(20mm, 10mm, 5mm), fine aggregates(river sand, crusher sand). Generally this is an open yard having separations for each materials. Wooden planks steel plates are used as separating material. A layer of PCC is poured at the base to prevent material wastage as well as mixing of undesirable materials from the soil. It is also elevated to prevent the ground water from mixing. The size of the storage yard should be sufficient to fulfill the requirement as per the batching plant capacity. Sometimes the storage yard may be a closed yard from which the materials may be transported through a belt conveyor to ensure better quality. The material should be properly laid in the yard so that it ensures easy flow of material from the yard to the auto weight through the gates. A loader is generally placed near the storage yard for the re-arrangement of materials. The typical picture of a central mixer is shown in Fig-6 CENTRAL MIXER : pic] Fig-6 A central mixer is one of the main component of a batching plant. Its function is to mix the materials properly to prepare the proper grade of concrete. The capacity ranges from . 5-3 m3 per batch. After mixing, it discharges the concrete into the transit mixer. The mixing time for concrete may range from 30-60 seconds per batch. There are blades inside the mixer fo r proper mixing of te concrete. The typical picture of a central mixer is shown in Fig-5 The aggregates are put in the mixer by the auto weight. The water and the admixture is pumped into the mixer by means of pipes connected to the mixer. There is also another pipe connected with the mixer from which the pumped cement comes in the end for mixing. Type of mixers: †¢ Single shaft mixer †¢ Twin shaft mixer. †¢ Vertical mixer. AUTO WEIGHT: Fig-7 An auto weight is used for weighing the materials. The gates are connected with the auto weight from which the material is flown into. The auto weight is connected with the central mixer in which it places the material. OPERATING UNIT: Fig-8 The operating unit is used to drag the materials near the gate by a drag-line. A boom is there which moves over the materials and the unit is generally a human operated system. AUTO GATES: Fig -9 MOISTURE CONTROLLER: Fig-10 ADMIXTURES: Fig-11 WATER PUMPING SYSTEM: Fig-12 CONTROL PANEL Control panel controls all the parts of RMC plant. It increases the workability of the plant. It is situated at the control panel room which monitors all the functions. It increases the accuracy of the concrete mix which in turn shows in the strength. Moisture content can also be controlled by the control panel. Different mode of mechanical transportation of concrete is †¢ Transit Mixer †¢ Concrete pump and pipeline. †¢ Tower crane †¢ Ropeways or cableways †¢ Belt conveyors TRANSIT MIXER: pic] Fig-13 Fig-14 Ready-mixed concrete, by far the most common form of concrete, accounts for nearly three-fourths of all concrete. Ready mixed refers to concrete that is batched for delivery from a central plant instead of being mixed on the job site. Each batch of ready-mixed concrete is tailor-made according to the specifics of the contractor and is delivere d to the contractor in a plastic condition, usually in the cylindrical trucks often known as cement mixers. As early as 1909, concrete was delivered by a horse-drawn mixer that used paddles turned by the carts wheels to mix concrete en route to the jobsite. In 1916, Stephen Stepanian of Columbus, Ohio, developed a self-discharging motorized transit mixer that was the predecessor of the modern ready-mixed concrete truck. Development of improved ready-mixed trucks was hindered by the poor quality of motor trucks in the 1920s. During the 1940s, the availability of heavier trucks and better engines allowed mixing drum capacities to increase, which in turn allowed ready-mixed concrete producers to meet the high demand for concrete that developed as a result of World War. In case of RMC industries since the demand is spread over a larger geographical area, transit mixers are invariably used for transportation of concrete. Transit mixers are truck mounted drum mixers in which concrete is kept agitated by the continuous rotation of the mixer drum. The transit mixer needs to have a water tank. Speed of rotation of mixer will depend on whether it carries ‘central mixed’ or ‘Transit mixed’ concrete. Function of Transit mixer varies from a mixer in case of transit mix concrete to an agitator in case of central mixed concrete. Depending on function, speed of the drum varies from 2 to 6 rpm for ‘Central mixed’ concrete to 4 to 16 rpm in case of ‘Transit mixed concrete’. Maximum no. of rotation is usually limited to 300. In RMC industry, fleet of transit mixer form a major portion of capital investment. For balancing a capital of 60 to 80m? /day of concrete production, at least 4 transit mixers are required. Generally the time of transit after addition of water is limited to 60-80 minutes. In India transit mixers are being extensively used by project sites having batching plants for concrete production. Manufacture of transit mixers in India is licensed. Mixers of 2. 5 to 7. 0 cum capacity are now available on order. An important consideration is the matching of payload of 3. 0 to 4. 0 cum of concrete i. e. 10 tonnes including the weight of the mixer with a standard chassis of trucks available. While a 10 tonner chassis is common, anything above this calls for change in axial load, traffic restrictions and huge price differential. The annual production capacity is around 50. A concrete pump can be advantageously used in conjunction with RMC. Deployment of a concrete pump would however mean an additional investment of at least Rs. 0 lakhs. The RMC plant in charge should be conversant with operations research techniques for optimum utilization of transit mixers. Fig 15 RMC PLANT TRANSIT MIXER CYCLE CONCRETE PUMP PIPE LINE Fig 16 A concrete pump is a tool for transferring liquid concrete by pumping. There are two main classifications of concrete pumps. The first type of concrete pump is attached to a truck. It is known as a truck-mou nted boom pump because it uses a remote-controlled articulating robotic arm (called a boom) to place concrete with pinpoint accuracy. Boom pumps are used on most of the larger construction projects as they are capable of pumping at very high volumes and because of the labor saving nature of the robotic arm. The second main type of concrete pump is mounted on a trailer, and it is commonly referred to as a trailer pump or line pump. This pump requires steel or rubber concrete placing hoses to be manually attached to the outlet of the machine. Those hoses are linked together and lead to wherever the concrete needs to be placed. Trailer pumps normally pump concrete at lower volumes than boom pumps and are used for smaller volume concrete placing applications such as swimming pools, sidewalks, and single family home concrete slabs. There are also skid-mounted and rail mounted concrete pumps, but these are uncommon and only used on specialized jobsites such as mines and tunnels. TOWER CRANE Fig 17 A crane is a lifting machine, generally equipped with a winder (also called a wire rope drum), wire ropes or chains and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of a human. Cranes are commonly employed in the transport industry for the loading and unloading of freight, in the construction industry for the movement of materials and in the manufacturing industry for the assembling of heavy equipment. BELT CONVEYORS Fig 18 A belt conveyor consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material the conveyor belt that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley is called the idler. There are two main industrial classes of belt conveyors; Those in general material handling such as those moving boxes along inside a factory and bulk material handling such as those used to transport industrial and agricultural materials, such as grain, coal, ores, etc. generally in outdoor locations. Generally companies providing general material handling type belt conveyors do not provide the conveyors for bulk material handling. In addition there are a number of commercial applications of belt conveyors such as those in grocery stores. The belt consists of one or more layers of material they can be made out of rubber. Many belts in general material handling have two layers. An under layer of material to provide linear strength and shape called a carcass and an over layer called the cover. The carcass is often a cotton or plastic web or mesh. The cover is often various rubber or plastic compounds specified by use of the belt. Covers can be made from more exotic materials for unusual applications such as silicone for heat or gum rubber when traction is essential. Material flowing over the belt may be weighed in transit using a beltweigher. Belts with regularly spaced partitions, known as elevator belts, are used for transporting loose materials up steep inclines. Belt Conveyors are used in self-unloading bulk freighters and in live bottom trucks. Conveyor technology is also used in conveyor transport such as moving sidewalks or escalators, as well as on many manufacturing assembly lines. Stores often have conveyor belts at the check-out counter to move shopping items. Ski areas also use conveyor belts to transport skiers up the hill. A wide variety of related conveying machines are available, different as regards principle of operation, means and direction of conveyance, including screw conveyors, vibrating conveyors, pneumatic conveyors, the moving floor system, which uses reciprocating slats to move cargo, and roller conveyor system, which uses a series of powered rollers to convey boxes or pallets. TESTING LABORATORY One of the main features of RMC is uniform and assured quality of concrete. Also the mix is to be designed to produce concrete of desired properties. This calls for the RMC plant to have full fledged concrete testing laboratory of its own. The testing laboratory should have the following equipment. 1. Concrete cube testing machine 2. Apparatus for sieve analysis 3. Moulds for casting standard cubes 4. Table vibrator 5. Tank for curing cubes 6. Vicat`s apparatus 7. Slump cone 8. Weigh balance All necessary tests to ascertain the properties of ingredients are conducted in the laboratory. Various grades of concrete mixes are designed by usual mix design procedure. For each consignment, concrete cubes are made and tested to keep a a check on quality of concrete produced. This will also fulfill the mandatory requirement of concrete testing as laid down by the municipal bodies. NEW METHOD OF PRODUCTION OF RMC A new method for the recycle of sludge generated at ready-mixed concrete plant has been reported at present. This method is able to apply sludge water by adding a retarder for mixing water, without the amendment of mix proportion of concrete due to the use of sludge water, within 3% of sludge content by cement weight since ready mixed concrete made by this method was applied for a building construction. The growth of RMC is predominantly driven by demand from the metro cities. In cities like Mumbai, the mandatory use of RMC is in construction of flyovers provided the requisite impetus to growth, according to an ICRA analysis. RMC is particularly useful when the building activity is located in congested sites where little space is available for siting the mixer and for stock piling of aggregates. The use of RMC is also advantageous when only small quantities of concrete are required or when concrete is to be placed only at intervals. Even as the concept of ready-mix concrete (RMC) is still catching up in the country, cement majors are keenly focusing on entering the new area in a big way. Anticipating huge potential for the product, cement majors, including Associated Cement Companies, Grasim, LT, India Cements, Priyadarshini Cements, Chettinad Cement and Madras Cements, are foraying into the RMC business and the share of RMC is expected to go up from present levels of around 5 per cent of the total cement production to the global average of 70 per cent, according to industry players. The teething troubles has been overcome by the RMC Industry and at present there are over 37 RMC plants delivering over one lakh cubic metres of mixed concrete every month. RMC plants are working in Delhi area also. Envisaging higher demand, the 16. 4-million tonne cement major, ACC is planning to beef up its existing RMC infrastructure of 11 units with two new RMC units one at Noida and the other in Mumbai, during the current year. During the last fiscal, Madras Cements set up two RMC plants near Chennai, with a capacity of approximately 9 lakh cubic metres, while Chettinad Cements installed an RMC facility near Coimbatore. Grasims RMC business accounted for a turnover of Rs 116 crore during 2003-04, against a turnover of Rs 59. 8 crore during the previous year. For growth of the industry, government bodies, private builders, architects/engineers, contractors, and individuals required to be made fully aware about the advantages of using ready mix concrete, government bodies/consultants needs to include ready mix concrete as mandatory in their pecification for execution, government specifications for CPWD and PWD jobs should include Ready mix concrete as a mandatory item. Apart form this tax breaks are required for the growth of RMC and developers/contractors needs to be discouraged from piling up materials likemetal, sand etc. on roads/foot paths. metal, sand etc. on roads/foot paths. CONCLUSION: The concept of RMC is catching up in the country and the demand for this is increasing day by day. Anticipating this huge demand for the product many construction majors are entering in to the RMC business. So the growth rate is expected to rise from the current rate. Still then the product needs more improvement which requires more research and development. Now a days more compact and efficient RMC plants are introduced by various companies which will ensure more productivity and economy which will help in fulfilling the present market demand. ADMIXTURES WATER READY MIX CONCRETE 10 MM AND 20MM CRUSHED METAL CRUSHED/ RIVER SAND FLY ASH SILO CEMENT SILOS

The Effect of Heat and Growth on the Survival of Bacteria free essay sample

Aims The purpose of the two experiments was to determine the fundamental effects that temperature has on the growth and survival of bacteria. During the first experiment five different bacterial broth cultures of Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus stearothermophilus were individually incubated at temperatures of 5, 25, 37, 45 and 55Â °C for one week in an aim to distinguish the effect temperature has on growth and survival of the five different species. After one week they were observed for distinguishable changes by the turbidity showing an indication of bacterial growth, or the clarity an indication of no survival. The second part of the experiment was to examine the effect temperature had on the survival ability of the five bacteria mentioned above. One of the five bacterial species were allocated per work bench for individuals to create broth culture with and expose to temperatures of 40, 60, 80 and 100Â °C for 2, 5, 30 and 90 minutes.

How to Write a Research Essay in Mathematics

How to Write a Research Essay in Mathematics Mathematics is a method and language of cognition of the surrounding world. Mathematics is an exact science that does not tolerate arbitrariness in interpretation and various speculations. This is the embodiment of order and rigid logic. It helps to understand the world around us, to learn more about its laws, since these laws are subject to the same order that prevails in mathematics. One way to understand universal mathematical laws is to write a study on this subject. In this article, we will explain how to do this and what mistakes to avoid. What Skills Can Be Developed When Writing a Research in Mathematics Studying mathematics, students: Develop a mathematical style of thinking, the ability to generalize, the ability to analyze; Learn to find patterns; Form the ability to think and reason logically, formulate thoughts correctly and clearly, draw correct logical conclusions; Acquire the ability to quickly think and make decisions; Form the skills of planning ahead, the ability to keep several consecutive steps in mind; Develop skills of conceptual and abstract thinking, the ability to consistently and logically build complex concepts or operations and keep them in mind. Main Stages of Mathematics Research Essay Writing Basically, every math project writing is carried out according to the four following stages: 1.Preparation. Defining the theme and goals of the project. 2.Planning. Identification of sources of information; Determination of methods for collecting and analyzing information; Determining how results are presented; Establishment of procedures and criteria for evaluating results and the process; 3.Research. Information gathering, solution of intermediate tasks. Basic tools to use are: Interview, Polls Observations, Experiments, Work with additional literature. 4.Results and (or) conclusions. Let’s find out in detail what should you do on each stage of your paper writing in order to make it well-researched, structured and logical. From Where to Start Choosing the Topic In order to begin research, you need to find a problem that you can investigate and that you would like to solve. This problem will tell you how to formulate a research topic. The ability to see the problem is sometimes valued higher than the ability to solve it. The main task of any researcher is to find something unusual in the ordinary, to see the difficulties and contradictions in those things where for others everything seems habitual, clear and simple. The easiest way to develop the ability to see problems is to learn to look at the same objects from different points of view. What Could Be the Topic of Research in Mathematics? Experimental these are topics that involve conducting your own observations and experiments; Theoretical these are topics on the study and synthesis of information, facts, materials contained in various theoretical sources: books, scientific articles, etc. Justification of the Relevance of the Research Problem The crucial stage in the preparation of the study is the stage of justifying the relevance of the topic. To substantiate the relevance means to explain the necessity of this topic in the context of the general process of scientific knowledge. Justifying the relevance of the chosen topic, you should indicate why this particular mathematical problem is currently relevant. The relevance may consist of the need to obtain new data and the need to test new methods, etc. Justifying the relevance, it is necessary to briefly highlight the practical reasons and difficulties for which the study of this topic has become necessary. How to Develop a Hypothesis for a Mathematical Project Once the mathematical problem is found and justified, the researcher can begin to develop a hypothesis. Translated from the ancient Greek language, the hypothesis means the basis, the assumption, the judgment about the natural connection of phenomena The hypothesis must satisfy a number of requirements: Be verifiable; Contain an assumption; Be logically consistent; Fit the facts. The hypothesis is formulated as a complex sentence: ‘if , then ’. Such a formulation should direct the attention of the student to the disclosure of the essence of the phenomenon, the establishment of cause-effect relationships. In the course of the experiment (or using another scientific method), the hypothesis is refined, supplemented, developed or rejected. How to Find Relevant Sources for Math Research Before finding the list of references online, follow this algorithm of actions: Find out the academic standards for your work. Teachers have more serious requirements for a number of works, for example, only articles published in scientific journals during the current year. Your professor can also specifically identify which sources you need to use in your mathematical research. Learn about the reputation of the author. In any field of knowledge, there are such names, whose glory is unshakable. References to the works of such titans will not allow doubts to penetrate into the heads of listeners, and they will help you to gain a certain authority. This does not mean that the names of lesser-known figures should be ignored. Even if their views are fundamentally different from the fundamental statements of thinkers, you can safely use them. The main thing here is not the lack of reputation, but the absence of the author’s bad reputation. Today it is not difficult to find scandals on the Internet in which certain authors or scientists were involved. Plagiarism always pops up at the wrong time, leaving unfortunate explorers with not the most pleasant glory. Beware of information online. Such sources are in the public domain, regardless of their professionalism and level of skill. More credible is the information from the websites of government agencies, research centers, and international scientific journals. Here you need to pay attention to the reputation of a company that owns the site. Skip articles that were published at the expense of the author, not the publisher. If the publisher did not want to spend money on the release of one or another author, it is unlikely that his opinion has any weight in the scientific community. Use the sources that can be your main assistants in the work on a scientific paper. You can safely use the lists of sources found in peer-reviewed or scientific articles. They were written by experts with extensive experience and knowledge in a particular area. Such works are created in order to convey certain information to the community. As a rule, the authors of such articles are highly qualified specialists who can be safely trusted. And the reviews are not only written by such professional authors but also repeatedly checked by experienced experts on the subject of the article. Check out alternative views. If you have doubts, you can always ask your professor about the credibility of the source of interest. As a rule, teachers are fairly well informed about the degree of confidence in a particular author. In this case, you should always find out an alternative opinion before the end of the work. What and How to Write in the Practical Part of Your Math Research The specific content of the main part of your work depends on the type of mathematical research, which can be: Empirical based on the processing and interpretation of materials of experimental or applied research, conducted by a student to confirm the hypothesis proposed in the introduction; Theoretical based on evaluative analysis of information contained in scientific sources, which serves as the foundation for the presentation of their own, original, and possibly disagreeing with the generally accepted point of view of the author’s views on the problem under consideration; Combined combining the first two approaches to research and clearly structured into two parts: theoretical and practical, in which information obtained from scientific sources is confirmed by the student’s personal empirical research; Empirical Mathematical Research This type may include computational-graphic works or case studies, which imply, for example, the development of a physical model or the solution of a specific mathematical problem. Theoretical Mathematical Research If your task is to do theoretical and analytical research, then the started research is developed in the main part. In this case, the main part of the work is the in-depth continuation of the problem analysis based on the theoretical framework tools (the methods listed in the introduction). This can be a comparison and detailed consideration of the views of different scientists and authors in order to substantiate their own point of view, which will be demonstrated in the conclusions. Combined Mathematical Research You should start the main part of this study by listing the tasks indicated in the introduction. Then propose ways to solve them and describe the results of the application development. As a confirmation of the effectiveness of the methods, data of experiments, observations, as well as illustrations and help on implementation are systematized using tables, graphs, diagrams. Project Mathematical Work Usually, such works are written by future engineers, technologists, in order to suggest ways to improve the subject of research or to develop an independent project from scratch. In this case, the main share of the main part of the work consists of drawings, formulas, calculations, dependency graphs, and the like. How to Combine All the Power of Words with Math Symbols Of course, mathematical research is impossible without mathematical calculations. However, the main task of the student is not only to make the correct calculations, use the necessary formula or approach, but also to be able to explain his choice with words. Therefore, when you write a study in mathematics, you must explain each of your actions logically, using mathematical terms, and do so in such a way that the reader cannot make a double interpretation of your words. Explain each point from the new line and make sure that your paper is convenient to read and perceive. It is not recommended to use arrows when you move from one step to another, just write about your intentions with the help of the words. Top Mistakes to Avoid Writing Your Math Essay To better understand the basics of the correct approach to writing math research, we consider the most common mistakes of students who lead them to a dead-end and do not allow them to test their hypothesis in the right way and get the correct result. First, many students begin research, forgetting generally accepted rules, definitions, or formulas. Study the material on the topic completely before you start writing the work. Often, students know the rules and formulas, but simply do not understand them. You should not just study the material, you should penetrate into it and realize the purpose of applying the received information. It happens that a student perfectly knows all the material and understands it, but for a specific task, he chooses a completely different formula or a wrong research method. Try a few easier tasks to learn how to choose the right formulas and methods. One of the most common mistakes is neglecting a careful study of the conditions of the problem. As many experienced teachers say, half of the solution to the problem is already inherent in it, and this is absolutely true. The correct understanding of the condition gives the correct direction of thoughts when testing a hypothesis. A very annoying but common problem for many students is constant computational errors. Professional teachers say that many talented students simply do not pay attention to elementary calculations, as a result of which they come to the wrong answer. A common mistake in solving geometric problems is the neglect of the properties of geometric shapes. Often such problems are based on these properties, so this is the first thing you should pay attention to. When students perform certain actions using formulas, one must remember the properties of mathematical operations. This material is taught in primary school, but often students, being passionate about the study itself, forget about it. Conclusion Of course, math research writing cannot be easy because you face two tasks at the same time to calculate correctly and to write properly. Be sure to follow the right scientific methods and use up-to-date sources, and this will facilitate achieving your goal several times.

The executive branch of state government Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

The executive branch of state government - Essay Example The public elects the president to serve a term of four years after which he can be reappointed to power again, (Brannen & Baker, 2005). The presidential position term is renewable once through reappointment. The executive ensures that the national laws implemented and enforced, (Ferguson, 2006). This is done in order to ensure that the daily responsibilities of the federal government are carried out smoothly. These responsibilities include collecting of taxes, representing the political and the economic interests of United States to the world and safeguarding the affair of the nation within its borders. The president enacts and implements the legislative laws. The president also bargains contracts, and he heads the armed forces and the state. Legislature   The congress also labeled as the legislature comprises of the senate and the members of the house. The senate comprises of two legislators from all the states and the assembly involves the two houses. Similarly, the senate consi sts of about one hundred senate members, each state with two representatives, and the public appoints the senate members from their states. They serve for the period of six years after which can be reelected for another six-year term. The nation’s assistant president heads the congress, (Gershman, 2008). However, he is not expected to vote unless in a special case like when a tie between two powers occurs. The senate also has the duty of approving the presidential nomination to the cabinet as well as other related posts.... The senate should rectify the contracts made by the government by approximately two-thirds approval votes. The representative body consists of state representatives from various regions. The population they represent from their respective states determines these representatives. Presently, there are about 436 house members. The increasingly populated states give more representatives to the legislature that the scarcely populated states. The representatives are appointed by the public to rule for a term of two years, and the representatives appoints the speaker of the house. The crucial role of the legislative department is to make state laws, by first drafting the law and later discussing it, (Hall & McGuire, 2005). The congress votes whereby by if the law is voted in by at least two thirds, is adopted as law for the nation upon approval by the president. The judiciary The judiciary entails the Central Court of the US (that head the judiciary) and minor national courts, (Garcia, 2003 ). The difficult cases from the legislative department are taken to the judiciary for hearing. The body rules whether a case is legal from the constitution or not. The president chose such justices and the senate approves them. The power of the Supreme Court is final and thus cannot be challenged by any court. Theories Collective action This theory explains how people can cooperate to over social dilemmas they face. Collective action hypothesis suggests that people have the power to discern cooperation values and social rules. This is a shift from the normal capacity of a human being, in which he exhibits self- interest and short-term benefits. This extends the accomplishment of the collective action. However, the solidarity attitude can be eliminated if

Service Marketing- managing supply and demand Essay

Service Marketing- managing supply and demand - Essay Example Differences between supply and demand occur because services cannot be inventoried, thereby giving it the unique characteristic of ‘perishability’. This is particularly found in sectors such as banking, healthcare, retail and hospitality sectors where the service manager is at a loss trying to balance the supply and demand issues. This is despite the fact that profitability is enhanced if the managers can balance the supply and demand issues (Klassen & Rohleder, 2001). However, with certain changes in the strategy, the supply and demand issues can be managed to some extent. While the different services sector attempt to enhance customer satisfaction levels, they are unable to schedule the services due to the uncertainty of demand. Klassen and Rohleder (2001) find that uncertainty of demand patterns and the inability to make precise demand forecasts have been responsible for the challenge and the struggle that services have been facing in managing capacity and demand. Unc ertainty and fluctuation of demand can be traced to culture and habit. In the banking sector demand changes every five minutes and the off-peak periods could last up to an hour. In the retail sector also demand is marked by uncertainty as the shoppers are not logical in their shopping habits. Services are intangible, perishable, heterogeneous, and inseparable (Gronroos, 1998; Ladhari, 2009).The term â€Å"service† denotes a sense of interpersonal attentiveness which contributes to customer satisfaction (Johns, 1998). However ‘fluctuating service demand’ is the greatest challenge facing the service managers. The challenge is intensified as the demand and the capacity occur simultaneously. Customers have to be served when they want the service and service cannot be inventoried. This is what creates the challenge. The challenge occurs more in capacity-constrained service organizations that face fluctuations in demand. Organizations cannot keep the productive capacit y high when the demand is low. One solution to overcome the challenges of wasting productive capacity is to tailor the capacity as per past experience to meet demand variations (Lovelock). For instance, in the hotel sector, some labor can be on contract basis that can be hired during the peak seasons and laid off during the low seasons. They can even rent out service equipments during low season to make up for low demand. In the service sector it is not possible to schedule customers. When the demand for the hotel rooms does not increase in proportion to the enhanced supply, the revenue per room derived by the hotel is low. The profitability of a company depends upon their ability to extract maximum possible revenue from a fixed quantity of goods and services. This is also known as Yield Management (YM). This allows the hotels and even the airlines to set prices based on the demand. Airlines such as Ryanair, South West Airlines and EasyJet have been proactive and adopted YM (Gothess on & Riman, 2004). This enabled them to maximize capacity utilization. While the new entrants in the airline sector adopted this approach, the established players in the sector initially were reluctant to change their policy. Over time, the older airlines too had to take this approach seriously and bring about changes. Thus flexibility in the pricing can help reduce capacity wastage and encourage maximize capacity utilization. Revenue Management (RM) and YM are interchangeably used. The airlines started using this technique to increase yield by allocating

Government Legislation Essay Example for Free

Government Legislation Essay There are certain laws that companies must follow in order to stay in business. Legislation means simply law. There are 3 main laws that businesses need to follow, these are: 1. Health and Safety (1974) This is probably the most important bit of legislation that was passed relevant to a business. If a business does not coincide with the law about health, then potentially the customers could fall ill, or possibly die, leaving the company in ruins. Everything has to be put into it to maintain a high standard of hygiene etc Health also has to be maintained with the workers. 2. Discrimination Tahir Hussains example of discrimination is a very good one. He was unemployed and was well qualified. Hed applied for numerous jobs, but was not getting any offers for an interview. He was quite upset by this and so decided to test the system. He sent in two application forms to every business he originally sent applications in for, one with his own name, and the other one saying that it was from a white middle aged lady. What he found out was that the white lady received far more offers of an interview than he did. He launched 12 claims of race discrimination and won 4 of them, and partly won 5 more. 3. Employment Employees working under a contract of employment are protected against unfair dismissal.