Health Foods on Campus

Introduction According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), â€Å"more than one-third of U. S. adults (35. 7%) are obese. Approximately 17% of children and adolescents ages 2-19 years are obese. † The state of Iowa ranks above the national average at 28. 4%, leaving the responsibility of changing this epidemic to local communities. According to the Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource August 2010 issue, â€Å"the soda demand is so great there is enough to supply [everyone] with more than 52 gallons of soda a year. The rate of soda and junk food consumption has greatly increased throughout the United States; the Iowa State Campus is not an exception. Purpose and Scope As students as Iowa State, we are best fit to research how to change the lifestyles of our peers. In order to decrease the obesity epidemic, we are proposing to assist in changing someone’s routine diet by replacing the vending machine snack options. The existing vending machines have little variety or choice of healthy foods. Furthermore, most beverage-centered vending machines only have water as a choice as a healthy alternative.Giving students the selection of healthy foods will not only lower their risk of obesity during their stay at Iowa State, but it will provide students with the tools to make healthy choices about food once they are away from ISU. Methods Our analysis will be derived from three levels; macro-level, meso-level, and micro-level. These different depths of scope will provide us with the most well rounded view of the obesity epidemic, as well as which methods of fixing the problem proves to be most effective.Macro-level analysis will stem from a complete description of the United State’s relationship with obesity, food consumption, and activity levels. From there, research specifically relating to the ISU community will be acquired through sample surveys and an interview with ISU’s Peggy Martin, Director of Expanded Food and Nu trition Education Program. The first step would be to poll 150 students or more regarding how they want the university to overcome obesity. If our hypothesis reigns true, we will determine that replacing vending machine snacks with healthier ones will be the most efficient method.The focus audience will be Mayor Ann Campbell, since she has the power to pass this proposal on to the city council or discard it. If she passes it on, the primary audience will be the city council members, since they are the ones who voice their opinions and affect the final vote of the citizens of Ames, who are the secondary audience. Other concerned audiences include the citizens of nearby cities or people who visit Ames, as well as any other communities considering a similar proposal. Risks of Junk Food and Soda ConsumptionJunk food is described as any food that contains little or no nutritional value. Outside of the lack of nutritional value junk food has many negative effects as well. Studies show lin ks to obesity, type II diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. The United States is one of the unhealthiest nations in the world, consuming more fast food than any other nation per capita. The rise of childhood obesity is on the brink of being an epidemic, showing that the United States’ own culture has come to include junk food.Many people get their eating habits from their families growing up, even those who eat healthy as a children now are at risk for developing unhealthy habits when they move away to college, given that for the first time they are forced to make food-related decisions on their own, with little to no education on health. Students may also feel that they are too busy to plan out healthy meals; looking for quick and easy meals found at many convenient locations on campus. Students turn to soda for the caffeine for energy and fast food for sustenance.The lack of available healthy options and the accessibility of junk food on and around campus is a major ca use for concern. Obesity and Diabetes Obesity is defined as a body mass index greater or equal to 30 (CDC). In 2009-2010 35. 7% of U. S. adults were classified as obese that is 78 million people. These numbers are a dramatic increase from over a few decades ago. Obesity is a life threatening condition that has many negative side effects. Hypertension, adverse lipid concentrations and type two diabetes are some of the major problematic conditions that come with being obese.The state of Iowa has one of the largest populations of obese people in the nation (Table 1. 1). Table 1. 1 As one can see, obesity is a major concern in the United States. This is due to the U. S. ’s unhealthy obsession with junk food and soda. Poor diet often leads to obesity in children and adults. Along with obesity, poor diet also can lead to type II diabetes. Diabetes is a metabolic disorder that leads to high levels of glucose in the blood stream. Diabetes can lead to all sorts of problems to name a f ew kidney disease, blindness, amputations and death (CDC).Over 25 million people are suffering from diabetes in the U. S. There is much to be concerned about with obesity and diabetes being so widespread. The main cause of this is unhealthy diet. A large portion of the average American’s unhealthy diet is soda pop. Even diet soda has negative health effects. Dangers of Soda Pop Soda pop is an American staple. It goes great with other American classics such as hotdogs and hamburgers. Unfortunately children are drinking it in excess and developing bad habits that will follow them for the rest of their lives.In fact studies show that 16% of the average American’s caloric intake in a day comes from sugary beverages (WebMD). Heavy soda consumption can lead to rapid weight gain and studies also show connections to osteoporosis and certain types of cancers. But regardless of the negative effects and the doctors warnings people continue to buy and drink soda more than ever. Co ca-Cola reported record numbers in the past few years. Soda is a part of people’s daily routines. Many people do not think twice about grabbing a soft-drink when thirsty or in need of some energy.College students drink enormous quantities of soda, they use it as study aids because of the caffeine content or grab one because they are thirsty. In many cases it is the easiest option. Vending machines located throughout campus in every corner of every building. But other than the obvious health effects mentioned above, in which soda is a leading cause of, what other negatives are happening to college students due to soda and other unhealthy dietary habits? Student Performance and Unhealthy Diet Students are busy creatures.They have a lot on their plate with school work and those who hold jobs as well can feel downright overwhelmed. What do these students do to survive the hectic lifestyle they lead? The answer is fast food, junk food and soda pop, and anything quick and easy to g rab on the go. There is no shortage of these options on and around college campuses across the U. S. and at Iowa State. The quicker and easier the food the worse it usually is for you. Most students do not take that into consideration, they are young and in good health.The fact is even if these bad habits do not catch up with you right away, there are plenty of dangers waiting around the corner in the future. Most students are probably not aware of the effects that their diet is having on them now. Poor diet not only leads to life threatening diseases but can have a number of psychological effects on a person. Depression can form from unhealthy diets, as students feel bad about their bodies and even chemical reactions from sugars and other ingredients in junk food can lead to depression like states.Studies have also been conducted in the past regarding the effects of junk food and soda on memory and links have been made that show a person who regularly eats fast food and drinks soda has lower memory and comprehension. A health student is a happy student is a successful student. Benefits of Healthy Snacks The term â€Å"snack† has gained a definition similar to â€Å"junk food† over recent years. According to Nutrition. com’s Snack Attacks article, the idea that snacks are fattening is a myth, as well as the idea that snacking is the same as eating junk food. The article states that by eating snacks during a ong stretch of time between meals will eliminate any overeating during a meal, as long as these snacks are healthy alternatives. Since blood sugar drops three to five hours after a meal, occasional snacks boosts metabolism, according to Everyday Health’s article Healthy Snacking Benefits. Being hungry puts one’s body into starvation mode and will slow down metabolic processes, which causes the body to store fat. The article Healthy Snacking Benefits also discusses this when explaining that snacks high in nutrients, fiber, and protein, and not so high in fat will kickstart the body’s metabolism and can curb cravings.Snacking should also be thought of as fuel, and constant replenishment of this fuel prevents one from becoming overly tired and â€Å"unable to concentrate. † (Healthy Snacking Benefits) Healthy snacks give the body an extra energy boost and keeps a person more mentally alert and focused. Nurition. com discusses a similar topic and explains that the idea that â€Å"snacks spoil your appetite for meals† (Snack Attacks) is a myth. In fact, snacking two or three hours before a full meal may simply restrict the body from becoming extremely hungry and causing one to overeat.However, fattening snacks such as potato chips, chocolates, sweets, etc. will increase overall caloric intake if not considered into daily intake as a whole. Healthy snacks do not typically cause these problems. Growing children, athletes, teenagers, and adults all have varying needs when it comes to die tary needs. All athletes needs more energy than the average person, therefore allowing them to need energy â€Å"in the form of carbohydrates, whereas teenagers need higher energy snacks and nutrients for their continually growing bodies, and while adults need to only maintain their health should eat more frequent, smaller snacks. Snack Attacks) Fruits, low-fat dairy products, grains, and vegetables are snacks that may boost energy and â€Å"battle fatigue,† as well as â€Å"protein-laden food like fish, meat, eggs, cheese, and tofu† because these contain amino acids which increase concentration. (Healthy Snacking Benefits) According to abc. com, raisins, soy products, walnuts, avocado, and high-fiber foods are the top 5 heart-healthy snacks. â€Å"[At the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting], researchers presented results of separate studies that evaluated the effects of raisins and soy on blood pressure. The studies found that oth foods lowered b lood pressure when consumed regularly. † (Top 5 Heart-Healthy Snacks) The researchers believe that the potassium intake from the raisins cause the decrease, while genistein, found in soy products increased dilation of the blood vessels, which led to a decrease in blood pressure. Walnuts contain â€Å"healthier monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats† and these reduced low density lipids and increase high density lipids. They also have high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and walnuts have twice as many antioxidants as any other nut. Avocados are packed full with vitamins, fiber, and potassium – 60% more than bananas.Any high fiber foods help to â€Å"cleanse the digestive tract of potentially dangerous fats. † These foods may include oats, beans, fruits, vegetables, and grains. (Top 5 Heart-Healthy Snacks) Healthy snacks such as these have been studied and found to reduce many types of diseases and disorders. Joint diseases, ADHD, schizophrenia, and many oth er diseases may be prevented through snacking on these healthy foods. (Healthy Snacking Benefits) Health and the Iowa State Community Our entire report and analysis has been conducted under the assumption that Iowa State University is a community afflicted by the pains of obesity and unhealthy eating.To insure that combatting obesity would be both well received and relevant to Iowa State students and community, our team distributed a 7-question survey, prompting students to give us their true feelings on obesity’s affect on the community, what solutions they would find most effective, and if our goal of changing the vending machine products would cause any negative response. The short survey provides our group with much needed approval and validation from the community. If we had come to find that students would reject the proposed plan of action, steps could be made to resolve the issue and stay on course.More so, if students had found obesity to be an irrelevant issue, our group would be hard-pressed to find funds for a problem that wasn’t seen to exist. Luckily, obesity is not out of the field of vision for the Iowa State community. When asked, â€Å"How much do you agree with the following statement, â€Å"Obesity is the biggest problem in the Iowa State University community†? 68% of respondents answered that they at least somewhat agreed (Table 2. 1). Table 2. 1 Without this approval from the community, efforts to change obesity trends would be wasted.However, provided this overwhelming concern, it is now inherent that we offer the community a solid plan of action, that will produce real results, with little concern over life changes. One vital factor in our quest to make the ISU community healthier is the maintenance of one’s usual daily life. Abrupt changes can often bring depression and fear, and with a task as grand and as fragile as weight loss and health, we must tread lightly. Choosing a medium from which we would provi de healthier food options is a difficult task, and so we must account for accessibility, frequency of use, and potential for change.Iowa State University has made grand changes to it’s on-campus dining centers, but what about members of the community who do not have dining plans? Where do they buy the quickest, and often the most unhealthy, snacks? Vending machines. When over 150 students were asked, â€Å"How often do you purchase food items from vending machines located on campus? † The overwhelming majority responded that they only purchased snacks from the vending machines on campus a few times a month or year (Table 2. 2). Table 2. 2Although targeting vending machines may not initially reach the greatest population of students or community members, changing the contents of the vending machines will prove to be worthwhile. When survey participants were told of the proposed method of changing obesity trends at ISU by replacing current vending machine items with heal thier options, potential vending machine use increased (Table 2. 3). Table 2. 3 Clearly, Iowa State community members approve of the proposed method, not only as beneficial for the community as a whole, but our solution remains as one that everyone would take part in; overweight or not.Approval from the community is especially important, however it does not prove to be an authoritative reason for replacing the current vending machine items. To acquire the approval of funds from the GSB and Ames community, it is imperative that an expert weighs in on how to best alleviate the impact of obesity at Iowa State University. In an interview with ISU’s Director of Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program, and author of â€Å"Eat Simpler, Healthier with New Healthy & Homemade† cookbook, Peggy Martin states that, â€Å"making healthy choices takes planning. Within a world of homework, projects, exams, and extracurricular activities, what ISU student has time to plan? Repla cing unhealthy snack option in the vending machines on ISU campus will cut the hassle of planning out each meal. ISU community members will no longer leave their apartments worrying about finding healthy food because it will be more accessible, available in each building, wherever a vending machine is located. Registered dietician Martin also provided our team with concrete example of healthy foods that can be sold in vending machines.Implementing our solution as soon as possible is key, as Martin says, â€Å"eliminating temptation in today’s sugar-ridden environment will prove difficult, but worthwhile. † Meso-level analysis of ISU community members through survey, and micro-level analysis of individual nutrition through interviewing Peggy Martin provides our team with necessary information needed to be successful on Iowa State campus. With the revamping of vending machine products ISU community members will be more likely to purchase vending machine snacks; increasin g profit, health, and awareness.Conclusions and Recommendations 1. Implementation of vending machines One solution to the obesity problem that ISU students face on campus is to change and regulate the university’s vending machines. The existing vending machines in use have little to no variety or choice of healthy foods. Most beverage type vending machines only have water as a choice as a healthy alternative. With giving students the selection of health foods, it will lower their risk of obesity during their stay at Iowa State.According to an article by the journal of adolescent health â€Å"contents of school vending machines relate to diets either positively or negatively, depending on what is sold in them. Therefore, it is important that schools address the quality of food sold in vending machines in their wellness policies† (Rovner 18). This means that the healthier foods in vending machines relate positively to diets and junk food relates negatively. By putting in only the vending machines with healthy food on our campus we will see a positive correlation with the students’ diets. . Variety of foods to see what sells best Before replacing over 100 vending machines on campus we want to make sure the products are going to make revenues for the college. We can test out different types of products that will be available by replacing current vending machines in popular locations like the C-Stores and providing samples of the alternative products. By doing this we can get an idea of what is popular among the students. After we find out what products sell best, we can put them into our vending machines. 3. Wellness programsBecause of the tax on the junk foods, we will be able to create other wellness programs to help students having obesity or health related issues. Some programs may consist of having a free health screenings to show the negatives of unhealthy eating and giving recommendations on new healthy lifestyles. We can give health ti ps and guides for people who want to change their eating habits. These programs will mainly be funded by taxing the junk foods that are sold on campus. 4. Cost of healthy foods subsidized by taxing junk food Healthy food is not relatively expensive, but some foods have a short shelf life.The costs of replenishing these items in the vending machines are going to be slightly high because of human capital cost, having someone go and replace the vending machines routinely, and waste cost because of the foods’ expiration date. There are those processed healthy foods that cost more than normal ones because of the process to keep the nutrients in them cost more. To subsidize these costs, we can put an extra charge or tax on to the existing junk foods. It is not economical for Iowa State to get rid of all junk food that people do want; by giving it a tax we can level the cost of buy and replacing the healthy ones.This will give students an incentive to choose the healthy foods becaus e of the cheaper cost and may change the students eating habits. References â€Å"Healthy Snacking Benefits. † EverydayHealth. com. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. . â€Å"Nutrition. com. sg – Healthy Eating – Snack Attacks. † Object Moved. Web. 18 Apr. 2012. . CAROLLO, KIM. â€Å"Top 5 Heart-Healthy Snacks. † ABC News. ABC News Network, 26 Mar. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2012. lt;http://abcnews. go. com/Health/top-heart-healthy-snacks/story? id=15996098>. â€Å"2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet. † Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 23 May 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. . Boyles, Salynn. â€Å"Sodas and Your Health: Risks Debated. † WebMD. WebMD, 09 Mar. 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. . Ogden, Cynthia L. , Margaret D. Carroll, Brian K. Kit, and Katherine M. Flegal. â€Å"Prevalence of Obesity in the United States. † Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Jan. 2 012. Web. 25 Apr. 2012. . Pelch, Anna. â€Å"The Health Effects of Soda Consumption. † Home. St. Joseph's Academy. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. ;http://scijourner. org/;. Rovner, Alisha J. , Tonja R. Nansel, Jing Wang, and Ronald J. Iannotti. â€Å"Food Sold in School Vending Machines Is Associated With Overall Student Dietary Intake. † Journal of Adolescent Health 48. 1 (2011): 13-19. Science Direct. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. Interview with Peggy Martin Survey (Appendix) Appendix I Survey: The Iowa State Community and HealthParticipant, Thank you for choosing to participate in this short survey. With your help, you can aid our efforts to convert Iowa State University campus to one that promotes healthy food choices. All information obtained is anonymous and will only be used for an English 302 class project. All survey questions are optional and you may stop your completion of the survey at any time. Thank you for your contribution! How much do you agree with the following statement, â€Å"Obesity greatly affects the population of the United States†? A. Strongly Agree B. Agree C. Neutral D. Disagree E.Strongly Disagree How much do you agree with the following statement, â€Å"Obesity is a problem in the Iowa State University community†? A. Strongly Agree B. Agree C. Neutral D. Disagree E. Strongly Disagree How often do you purchase food items from vending machines located on campus? A. More than 3 times a week B. Once or twice a week C. A few times a month D. A few times a year E. Never How much do you agree with the following statement, â€Å"The items currently available for purchase on the ISU campus do not reflect the purchases I would prefer to make†? A. Strongly Agree B. Agree C.Neutral D. Disagree E. Strongly Disagree If the vending machines on ISU campus had healthier options you would be: A. More likely to purchase items from the vending machines B. Equally as likely to purchase items from the vending machines C. Less likely to purc hase items from the vending machines D. I do not use the vending machines on ISU campus How much do you agree with following statement, â€Å"Iowa State University is responsible for providing the community with healthier food options on campus†? A. Strongly Agree B. Agree C. Neutral D. Disagree E. Strongly Disagree

Art for Heart’s Sake

The text under consideration isâ€Å"Art for heart's Sake† written by an American sculptor, cartoonist and writer, Reuben Lucius Goldberg . He worked a lot as a cartoonist and some of his cartoons became highly popular, among his best works are Is there Doctor in the house? (1929), Rede Goldberg's Guide to Europe(1954) and I Made my Bed (1960) . The story is about an old sick man, about Mr. Ellsworth. He is very capricious and everybody are tired of his behavior. Once his doctor decides to employ a young promising artist who will teach him painting. Mr.Ellsworth is bad in painting but one of his picture is accepted for the Lathrop show and awarded 1000$. And finally this old man says that Art is nothing and he has bought the gallery where he won such prize. According to the change of the number of participants the text can be dievided in to 4 parts: The first is â€Å"Pineapple juice for Mr. Ellsworth†. When the male nurse Koppel persuades pineapple juice to Mr. Ellswor th, but he refuses to drink it. The second â€Å"Proposition for Mr. Ellsworth from his doctor†. In this part doctor Caswell comes to see Mr.Ellsworth and made him proposition to take up art. The third â€Å"Art lessons for Mr. Ellsworth from young and promising artist† This part about teaching Mr. Ellsworth drawing by Frank Swain- eighteen years old promising student. The fourth â€Å"First Landscape prize for Mr. Ellsworth† When the Lathrop Gallery prized 1,000$ Mr. Ellsworth for his masterpiece â€Å"Trees Dressed in White† The atmosphere of the text is ironical and sometimes it is humorous. For example when doctor Caswell said with supreme effort: â€Å"Congratulations, Mister Ellsworth†. Here we see how Caswell tells it without sincerity.Author shows that everything is a joke or a play for Mr. Ellsworth and also he shows , that money can do everything and he makes fun of it: if you have money you can do and get everything you want, for example prize of the Lathrop Gallery, maybe he needn’t money he just wants to proof that he is God . Mr. Ellsworth doesn't respect others, he spits on someone's opinions. Finally Mr. Ellsworth is prized with 1000$ by the gallery because he bought it. According to the narrative technique of the text. It is narration intercepted with dialogue and description.We can see here a chain of actions and some dialogues during the text, and also there is describing Mr. Ellsworth and some things such as bowl of fruit. Speaking about vocabulary level we can see high level vocabulary. Everybody and Mr. Ellsworth is well-educated and very smart. Everybody talk to Mr. Ellsworth very respectively, but Mr. Ellsworth doesn't respect them and he uses a lot of colloquial words and slang such as Nope, Rot, by gum. It shows us that old man spit on everything. Speaking about the syntax we can see here many long compound sentences, respective addresses to Mr.Ellswoth with word â€Å"Sir† (Not bad, si r; Yes, sir;) it means that everyone afraid of Mr. Ellswoth and it means they have respect for him. And also there are some short answers from him. For example: Bosh! ; Nope! ; By gum. All of this shows us the degree of education of every participant but it doesn't mean that Mr. Ellswoth is not well educated he just doesn't care about anything. Speaking about stylistic devices we can see here gradation shows that his behavior is awful for example â€Å"He won't take his pineapple juice. He doesn't want me to read to him.He doesn't like anything! From these phrases we see that the old man is very capricious, he drinks when he wants, he listens what he wants. He has much money and he thinks that everybody obliged to him. There is also a metaphor such as â€Å"god-awful smudge† which shows us that he is layman in art. And also Mr. Ellswoth uses such metonymy as â€Å"an old pineapple juice† it shows us disrespect and attitude to his nurse. There are some repetitions show ing doctor Caswell's astonishment â€Å"Fine, fine†¦ See, see†¦ †. We can see here 3 main characters.Doctor Caswell is well educated person he knows what he do and he is smart. Young Frank Swain he is a promising student but doesn't have long-live experience, but hi is smart too. And of course Mr. Ellswoth he is educated person but he doesn't show it. He is old man he has money and he thinks that he is above everybody, that is why he doesn't respect others. This text was interesting for me; there are many rich and fool people in the world such as Mr. Ellsworth and the author showed us his life and made fun of such behavior, it is funny and interesting.Livin ‘ (Spanish) ? , ? : ? ? ? , ojitos ? , : [:] , Sh?s livin ‘, Y , Sh?s livin ‘ ? ? City ? ? besabe ? , ? ? ojitos ? , Sh?s livin ‘ , ? , ,

Men Continuous Searching for the New Avenue of the Known and Unknown Reality

The title itself gives a fascinating debate. The â€Å"Known Reality† can be broadly explained because humans already know what it is. It is already known by many people. If we give meaning to the â€Å"Unknown Reality† it is something we haven’t seen yet, went yet or even discovered. How will man find the access to that reality? Will we know if it is the unknown we’ve been searching for? I’ll give my opinion on the â€Å"Unknown†, maybe it is the reality that is already in front of us but we don’t see it because we neglect our understanding for it.Maybe we don’t open our minds and make that reality unknown. The avenue between the known and unknown is being open minded, trying to listen in both sides for us to understand both realities. If we keep tolerating ourselves in neglecting our capability to understand, then man will have an endless search for that avenue. Contradiction to that, if man has the determination and hunger to seek the truth, then they will find what they are looking for that both reality is there, and will realize that the avenue to it is the ability to listen and understand.If man continues to be blind, they will never reach that avenue and the â€Å"Unknown Reality† itself. Both realities are in front of us. But people only pay attention to only one side and brings an effect of ignorance to people. Many people have not yet realized the truth that is being laid down to them for being ignorant. I believe that what they are searching for is easily seen when we give understanding to it. Men Continuous Searching for the New Avenue of the Known and Unknown Reality The title itself gives a fascinating debate. The â€Å"Known Reality† can be broadly explained because humans already know what it is. It is already known by many people. If we give meaning to the â€Å"Unknown Reality† it is something we haven’t seen yet, went yet or even discovered. How will man find the access to that reality? Will we know if it is the unknown we’ve been searching for? I’ll give my opinion on the â€Å"Unknown†, maybe it is the reality that is already in front of us but we don’t see it because we neglect our understanding for it.Maybe we don’t open our minds and make that reality unknown. The avenue between the known and unknown is being open minded, trying to listen in both sides for us to understand both realities. If we keep tolerating ourselves in neglecting our capability to understand, then man will have an endless search for that avenue. Contradiction to that, if man has the determination and hunger to seek the truth, then they will find what they are looking for that both reality is there, and will realize that the avenue to it is the ability to listen and understand.If man continues to be blind, they will never reach that avenue and the â€Å"Unknown Reality† itself. Both realities are in front of us. But people only pay attention to only one side and brings an effect of ignorance to people. Many people have not yet realized the truth that is being laid down to them for being ignorant. I believe that what they are searching for is easily seen when we give understanding to it.

The Microsoft trial the Pro an Cons Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

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British petroleum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

British petroleum - Essay Example Some of the brands of the company are ARCO, Castrol, and Wild Bean Cafà ©. When companies show balance sheets for the group and for the company they are reporting the income of a subsidiary that is part of a parent company. The group balance sheet is the result of the entire company. The company is a subsidiary that reflects the result of a business segment of the firm. The financial statements of British Petroleum illustrated in its latest annual report only reflect the results of the group or the parent company. The assets minus liability equation can be interpreted as a liquidity ratio. A more specific evaluation of short term liquidity would occur by subtracting the current assets against the current liabilities. The accounting equation states that assets equal liabilities plus stockholders equity (Cliffnotes, 2012). The straight line method is calculated dividing cost minus salvage value by depreciation time. â€Å"The declining balance depreciation method uses the depreciable basis of an asset multiplied by a factor based on the life of the asset† (Assetaide, 2009). The use of an alternative method of depreciation such as double declining would increase the expenses of the company in the early years, thus the profitability of the company would be lower in the short term. Stewardship accounting refers to, â€Å"A traditional approach of accounting that places an obligation on stewards or agents, such as directors, to provide relevant and reliable financial information relating to resources over which they have control but which are owned by others, such as shareholders† (Williamson, 2002). There are several factors that affect the price of common stocks. The prices of stocks are influenced by the general state of the economy, the financial performance of a company as illustrated in its financial statements, and by political factors among other reasons. If I was a potential investor of British Petroleum I would be very satisfied with

Children Overcoming Obesity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Children Overcoming Obesity - Essay Example What are some programs encouraging physical activities among children? B. Is providing sporting activities effective in treating childhood obesity? C. Is eating healthy foods the best solution to overcome obesity? D. Is cooking meals at home encourages children to eat healthy? Provision of programs focused towards promoting healthy eating lifestyle and providing physical activities that children will enjoy highlights overcoming obesity among children. What are some programs encouraging physical activities among children? One of the programs that may help improve the prevalence of obesity among children is incorporating physical education curriculum. Physical activities of 60 minutes a day is ideal for the body. However, more hours could be added depending on the body size of the child. In the study by DeRene and company (2008), they found out that incorporating physical activity in the curriculum which is done after school has decreased the skin folds of children who participated and even improved their distance in their walk- run test. Physical activities may include brisk walking around the oval of the school. This could be enjoyed by children since they could tell stories while walking without actually the thought of doing the exercise for the sake to reduce their weight. Jumping rope is another activity children could enjoy as a program. In China, jumping rope is one of the activities incorporated in their physical education. Chinese children group themselves together to have five members to jump ropes during their physical education period and recess time. Observations reveal that flexibility and physical fitness are not the only benefits of jumping rope but it is a form of enjoyment among kids too since giggling and laughing is a part of the activity. Other alternative is sports programs. How the sport is played, equipment to be used, and benefits of the sport should be explained to the participants though. Apart from this, schools should have their own s porting gym or playground. This would be another â€Å"come on† for them to enjoy the sport. Is providing exercise activities effective in treating childhood obesity? Studies confirm that physical exercises through sports are effective in preventing obesity in children. In 2008, a study by Weintraub and colleagues appeared in Arch Pediatr Adolesc Medicine wherein the authors revealed that children in the soccer group showed a significant improvement in their body mass. This might be attributed to the fact that exercises help reduce fats by building muscle mass. As the individual participates in exercises involving squats, lifts, and isometric presses, the fats stored in the body are used and muscles are strengthened. However, children who are already obese should take extra precaution to do the exercises gradually since they are prone to joints and muscles injuries. Is eating healthy foods the best solution to overcome obesity? Although obesity is caused by many factors, heal thy foods with exercises prove to be the most realistic solution for its prevalence. Healthy foods include more fruits and vegetables in the diet. This food group which is rich in minerals and vitamins are low in calories and even aide in burning unwanted fats in the body. In one study, authors found out that pomegranate consumption lowers body weight among mice because it decreases body fats (Vroegrijk, 2011). The

Revenue management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Revenue management - Assignment Example Therefore, by 2020, it is projected that there will be a shift in landscape in RM. To ensure the success of RM strategies, the revenue managers in the hospitality industry need to be convinced of the ability to deliver return on investment and made aware of the resources needed to maximize potential. The hotels should also make sure that their organizational structure supports the RM policy. Besides, there needs to be a cultural understanding which major department like sales, marketing, and revenue work together to share information crucial to revenue management success. Furthermore, it is forecasted that the application of RM will become more strategic and will be supported by the increasingly sophisticated technology. This is because it includes more of income streams of the hotel. In this regard, by 2020, revenue management is likely to be applied to function-space and also incorporate revenue streams including restaurants and spas, as well as golf courses. Consequently, the RM function will become more central to operations of the hotel, and will quite to be expected be a separate department under supervision of the general manager. The core, strategic role of revenue management will need upgraded measurement techniques (Hayes and Miller 55-68). This implies that other than revenue per available room (RevPAR), the future RM might have a profit-oriented metric, for instance, total revenue per available room or the gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR). As for the future revenue managers, they will require analytical, leadership, and communication skills. A formal RM education as well as negotiation skills would also be helpful. According to (Nessler 86), the managers would also use tools or internal compression which will aid them establish the unconstrained demand and close out close non-profitable channels. Since RM will move from tactical to a more strategic role, analytics along with supporting technology will play a crucial role in

Individual Authentic Journey Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Individual Authentic Journey Report - Essay Example Authentic Leadership Report Introduction Background of the Report During the recent economic crisis, the disillusioned global audience was witness to an economic crisis of global proportions as the greed exhibited by some of the world’s economic leaders as they attempted to make more money for themselves in collusion with various private enterprises set in motion the unprecedented collapse of most of the world’s financial systems. This economic crisis could have been averted if the leaders entrusted with the momentous responsibility of managing these major corporations had conducted themselves in an honest and integral manner as opposed to the avarice and greed that they exhibited. By conducting this authentic leadership study upon myself, I will be able to improve my own transparency as well strengthen my overall accountability by following the recommendations of the findings that will be laid out in this report. This will help in causing me to develop my capabilities and evolve from being a leader whose leadership only extends to the success of the company’s bottom line to one who is able to aptly confront the various societal and organizational challenges and the various public policy issues in a manner that can be perceived to be both integral and honest. By cultivating these qualities, I hope to be able to transform myself into the image of a leader who is capable of repairing the damaged relationship that exists between the corporate world and the general public. By doing this I will be able to restore, hope, meaningfulness, confidence, optimism and resilience to both sides of the divide. Report Aims and Objectives The Sole Purpose of my undertaking this authentic leadership research was so as to enable me establish my intrinsic leadership qualities as well as formulate a plan that will enable me further develop myself into a better leader. With the recent global economic crisis and especially with the collapse of some of the worldâ⠂¬â„¢s major corporations such as Enron corporation and the Lehman brothers Holdings Inc, there has been a somewhat tremendous loss of confidence by the general public in the capabilities of the leaders in some of the world’s major corporations. Scope and of the Report The scope of the study will be mainly concentrated on relating several incidences that will serve to highlight various attributes that serve to portray me as being an authentic leader. The study will draw on my previous life experiences as well as reference several books. Limitations of the Report As a result of my being both the participant and the researcher, it might be difficult for me to assume the position of â€Å"Bird’s eye view† while conducting the research. To effectively counter this, I will endeavor to ensure that I maintain objectivity in conducting the research project (Magolda, Creamer and Meszaros, 2010). Justification of methodology undertaken The methodology of this report is ma inly derived from using autoethnography. Autoethnography is a form

Financial Reporting & Analysis Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Financial Reporting & Analysis - Coursework Example The researcher of this coursework describes the subject of the conceptual framework in financial accounting as well as on an evaluation of whether the criticism, that is leveled on the conceptual framework for failing to fulfill its main objective depends on outlining the main objectives of conceptual framework and comparison with what is undertaken in the field by the practice. The analysis depends on actualizing that the conceptual framework financial accounting concurrently reflects, represents, mirrors, or measures the normal feature of the pre-existent economic reality. The conceptual framework can further be analyzed in terms of the evaluating the accounting principles, inherent concepts and enhanced or entailed focus of general function financial reporting elaborated in the Conceptual framework. The main idea behind the introduction and development of the conceptual framework lies in the provision of the structure for creating accounting standards that act as the main or sole center for resolving emergent accounting disputes. In conclusion, the researcher sums up his study and opinions and states that the criticism of a conceptual framework for being a failure and not satisfying its purposeful roles is hence notable and real. Lack of certain rules in the frameworks denies the essential regards desired for control of the professional. The framework, hence requires a streamlined approach aimed to mend the framework that would create a real economic approach that is healthy for the accounting profession in entirety

Using GIS Profiling to Solve Serial Burglaries Research Paper

Using GIS Profiling to Solve Serial Burglaries - Research Paper Example It then elaborates on GIS tool and its appropriateness in solving serial crime using geographic profiling. More significantly, the paper relates geographic profiling to solving serial burglaries. Serial crimes are illegal acts that warrant punishment based on criminal law. They are crime defined by repetitive nature. Serial crimes include murder, rape, arson, bombing, and robbery. Serial criminals frequently develop behaviors of committing the same type of crime in a similar manner. Sequence of crimes committed by the same lawbreaker constitutes serial crimes that law enforcement agencies files. Studies relate serial criminals to immoral upbringing or environment. Advancements in technology have contributed to increased serial crimes around the globe. Criminals are highly innovative and frequently adopt emerging technology advancements before criminal agencies acquire such technologies. Such innovative criminals have also acquired similar crime tracking devices used by law enforcement agencies. For instance, innovative criminals have encrypted radio communication networks of state agencies.’ Insecurity cases have increased around the globe because of innovativeness of criminals. Criminals have devised advanced systems of committing a crime and escaping from law enforcement agencies. For instance, Serial killers and terrorists use modern communication technologies such as satellite imagery, night vision goggles and smart phones in locating their targets and enemies. Evidence also exists of terrorists who have formed operations centers for monitoring social networks, videos, and global news broadcasts. Serial killers such as the 2008 Mumbai terrorists used modern weapons such as AK-47s, hand grenades, and explosives (Goodman, 2014, p. 1). The terrorists employed use of search engines in planning the attacks and in identifying specific hostages.

Quantitative reasoning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Quantitative reasoning - Essay Example According to Thomas Day: â€Å"If adverse drug reactions were classified as a disease it would rank as the fifth leading cause of death in the United States.† (â€Å"About Medical Care for The Elderly†, n.d.) Elderly people consume nearly 30% of all drugs. This group of people takes drugs more than any other social group. Elderly people have many different problems with their health, that’s why they take medicine to relieve pain in different parts of body. One of the main problems for them is taking medicine. The interaction of drugs is the most dangerous. The average elderly person takes nearly three-four prescription medicine at a time. Sometimes people don’t understand that there are some side effects. The combination of drugs can be very necessary for effective treatment, but it needs special attention and care. Elderly people are more sensible to medicine than young ones are, because of the changes in functions of the organs such as kidneys, liver, etc. If there is too much medicine in the blood elderly people can face such side effects as memory loss, dizziness, retention of fluids, confusion, internal bleeding, sometimes even death. They are also more sensible to particular side effects. Dosage is very important. It must be taken into consideration that the level of dosage for young people won’t do for older ones. Usual doses and their frequencies are too high for them. Inappropriate dosage can be dangerous and cause many problems. But there are exceptions when older patient needs a high level of medications, for example, in case when resistance in the cells is being treated. Another problem is inobservance of dosage and its frequency by older people. Some of them take more than it is prescribed trying to recover faster, some neglect taking all necessary medicine in time or refuse to take it at all, some of them have problems with memory or confusion. That’s why it is extremely important for care

Martha Graham Essay Example for Free

Martha Graham Essay Yes, I would do that. I had found my fate. †(Hari 70) Daoud Hari is a man that travels in and out of Darfur many, many times putting himself at risk. He was willing to risk his own life while many others think only of themselves. Bravery is not something many people are born with. Some people may obtain it and some do not. Martha Graham is one of the people that did obtain bravery, and it was a very strong bravery that is very rare to find. â€Å"Martha Graham’s dancing and choreography exposed the depths of human emotion through movements that were sharp, angular, jagged, and direct. (â€Å"Martha Graham Dancer’s Journal†) Martha Graham experimented with many different movements and many different ways so her dancing was very different from the dance movement people were most comfortable with. Many people criticized her and told her that her work was too out of the ordinary. â€Å"If Graham ever gave birth,† one critic equipped, â€Å"it would be to a cube. † (â€Å"The Dancer†) No matter what critics said, she kept going. Martha Graham was an innovative and focused individual. Her love of dance was so intense she refused to leave the stage when critic’s said she was too old. That’s the type of bravery people need, the bravery to keep doing something that one believes in when the majority is against them. Daoud Hari’s bravery is similar to Martha Graham’s. Daoud Hari had to learn to accept what might happen to him if he kept returning to Darfur. Sometimes it is difficult to accept the fate, but Daoud Hari was willing to accept the possibility of death if it meant he could change the way people viewed Darfur. â€Å"No single group held the territory. There was no one to call for permission to come through. This is when it is most dangerous to travel. † (Hari 122) Daoud Hari always had to get where he needed to be. No matter what the circumstances were at the time, he provided as much information as possible to the reporters traveling with him to get the word out about Darfur. Armed with his ability to speak Zaghawa, Arabic, and English he was able to translate for the news and aid organizations. Even though the government of Sudan had outlawed journalists to the region, Daoud Hari risked the possibility of capture and even death. This is complete bravery- to accept something that could happen any moment of any day at any time. Heroes need to have trust in themselves. Martha Graham always had trust in herself no matter what she did. Most of her works she created were based on a historical or emotional feeling. â€Å"There are always ancestral footsteps behind me, pushing me, when I am creating a new dance, and gestures are flowing through me. Whether good or bad, they are ancestral. † (Yaari) The dances with a historic background behind them were called the Greek cycle. These dances were the ones that officially made her famous. The movements in them were so empowering people were shocked after experiencing them. The reason people liked them was because they related so much to how harsh history had been to society in the past and how it might be in the future. Serious issues such as the Great Depression and the Spanish Civil War were brought to the stage along with the dark emotions experienced by all. If she had never followed her brain, heart, or spirit then none of these dances would have come alive. Trusting in herself was a key factor in the making of many of her works. Martha Graham, much like Daoud Hari, had to find a way to believe in herself and take dance to the next level whether based on her gut feeling or her spirit regardless of what people thought of her. Daoud Hari always followed his gut. Whenever he saw people in pain, he would trust his gut and try and help the people in need no matter who they were or what they believed in. â€Å"The commander ordered a soldier to go get him some food, but I said that he must not eat our kind of food, that someone must go into town and get him an American-style sandwich that a white man could eat, and a coke or Pepsi. There was an argument about the cost of this, but I assured the commander that our food would kill this man, and I truly believed that he was not strong enough for anything but his own food. (Hari 160) Daoud Hari is one of the few in the world that could actually tell a guard to go get another prisoner food because the prisoner looked like he was about to die. Trusting his gut that the guard would do it is about 99% of the battle that he had to face. It was not getting the prisoners food; it was standing up to the guard and saying that he will die if he does not have an American- style meal. Martha Graham and Daoud H ari are both heroes in their own way. They both have confidence, bravery, and trust in themselves, which are the necessary traits that a hero needs to be a true hero. In the world there are people who see bad things being done to people and do not do anything about it and there are people who do something about the bad things being done. This is essential because Daoud Hari and Martha Graham both helped the people that needed to be helped. Martha Graham helped dancers develop a new style that they might like better than ballet, providing a wider spectrum to choose from. Daoud Hari helped numerous news reporters get into Darfur and get back out safely with what they wanted and what they needed to know about what is happening in Darfur.

Crowd Simulation in Films

Crowd Simulation in Films This dissertation is about the study of crowd simulation and why the crowd simulation is in need in the movies. Particularly concentrating about the computer generated movies simulating a large crowd is the most difficult task in the production pipeline. So finding a better way to give the audience the feel of crowd is the challenge. Researching about the silhouettes and its uses will help to implement the silhouette to establish the crowd. Silhouettes helps in many ways to create a mystic mood. . As implementing silhouette in the crowd simulation will helps to reduce the secondary animation and facial expression. As there are so many softwares exist to helps the crowd simulation, This paper will focus on a procedure which will create a crowd simulation by transferring the animation from one character to another character in a simpler and easier way. Chapter 1: Introduction Animation gives the life to the character. Animating a particular character takes a long time to give the feel. This dissertation is about researching the animation, animating the entire crowd is the difficult task in the animation pipeline. So this dissertation is mainly carried out to find a way to transfer the animation from one character to another character in a simpler and easier way. Crowd simulation is a process of simulating a group of members, objects or characters. When simulating a large number of characters in a live feature film is not a big deal. Man power is more important in simulating a crowd in feature film. Particularly concentrating on the computer generated movies, replicating the characters animation and behavior from one character to many character is a big deal. A lot of research is done about the crowds and the formation of crowds in society. For example, social gatherings, meetings, assemblies, religious ceremonies and sport events. 1.1| Aim: The main aim of the project is to achieve an essential method for crowd simulation for animation. 1.2| Research question: The research question for this study will be. What is crowd simulation? Why we need crowd simulation? Researching the existing crowd simulation method. Disadvantages of existing crowd simulation method. How silhouette helpful for the animation poses? How silhouette will be useful for simulating a crowd? 1.3| Statement of problem: Animating the entire crowd is the most biggest problem. Technically, creating the crowd is not a big deal but at that same time transferring the animation to each and every character with the different timing is the big deal. The another problem is that the rendering the whole scene with lots and lots of character in a particular scene will make the scene the most complicated one. So finding a better solution for creating the entire scene in Maya with lots and lots of character which has the different timing in their animation. There are several methods for the development of crowd simulation. The major method is using Mayas Dynamics. There are several external softwares which helps to simulate a entire crowd. But the method which said by this dissertation is quite simple and easier than comparing to another external softwares and Mayas Dynamics. 1.4| Objectives: Various types of crowd simulation method. Silhouette/ Various types. To study the golden poses for animations. Explore the secondary motion for animation. New methods of producing crowd simulation. 1.5| Significance of study: Most of the computer generated movies currently released like Madagascar, Horton hears a Who, had a clear idea about the crowd simulation. The focus of the study in this dissertation is about the simulation of crowd in a simpler and easier way and developing a simple procedure for transferring animation from one character to multiple characters. This study is carried out for developing a better technique for crowd simulation in future upcoming CG projects. 1.6| Hypothesis: The hypothesis of this dissertation is an animator can easily transfer the animation from one character to multiple character for simulating a crowd and also using the silhouette to visualize the crowd shot with a different perspective. Chapter 2: Review of literature This chapter will discuss about the article, books, Internet websites, publications which are related to this dissertation. There are few important topics are covered related to the cinematography, photography, silhouette, animation poses, crowd simulation. 2.1| Book and Internet websites: 1. Malcolm Le Grince,2001.,Experimental Cinema in Digital Age It explains about the experiment carried over Cinema from olden days to modern age. This book mainly concentrated about the cinemas that are experimented in modern ages. They experimented using the different types of cameras and various shots that enhances the scene. 2. Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristian,2001.,Film Art- An Introduction It explains about the art of film making, this gives the introduction about the film making. This book is referenced particularity to study about the lights and its uses. This gives a clear idea about the back lighting is and how essential to shoot a silhouette shot. 3. Beazley, Mitchell and Ang, Tom,2008.,Fundamentals of modern photography It explains about the photography and how photography helpful to convey the moral to the audience. This book concentrates about the camera and its uses for the photography. Rules and techniques for achieving the Silhouette stills. 4. Frost, Lee,2003.,Photography It explains about the various types of photography in various mood setup. How different light setup enchants the scene. This book clearly explains about the advantages and disadvantages of different styles in photograph in different environment. This book is mainly referred to study the advantages and disadvantages of silhouette shooting. 5. Emma Rutherford, Lulu,2009.,Silhouette: The Art of the Shadow It explains about how the silhouette is oriented with the art and craft. This book gives a simple definition for the silhouette as Silhouette is the simplest of art forms. This says about the fascinating history of art and craft in Europe and America. 6. Popular Mechanices (Hadly, Paul, 1947.,Silhouettes for salons,From Pg No. 171 to 173) This book meanly concentrated on the mechanics of machines in 1947. But from the page 171, this book has a quote about the silhouette photography. Hadly had a clear definition for the silhouette photography and he particularity chosen the early morning and late evening time because that light sources will be perfect for silhouette photography. This light sources naturally become the back lighting when the still is taken by aiming the sun. 7. Thalman, Daniel.,Crowd simulation This book is referenced for the purpose to have an clear idea about simulating a crowd and crowd AI. Artificial intelligence is applied on the crowd with speed control, locomotion control and personification control. This book explains from the modeling to the final rendering of the simulated crowd. Also this book gives an idea about simulating the environment sources like clouds, skies, plants, lakes and terrains. 8. Brinkmann, Ron.,The art and science of digital composting: Techniques for visual effects This book is referenced to have a clear study about the digital compositing in the post production pipeline. It has a clear idea about the replication of the rendered mesh. This consumes the render time the 3D softwares like Maya, 3D Max and so on. Simulating a crowd in the post-production level is more better than production level. 9. http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-silhouettes (Accessed on 02-10-10) This website is analyzed to study about the ways to achieve the silhouette photographs in a simper and easier way. This website gives a tutor to the viewer about the ways to take silhouette photography. 10.http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/85-free-high-quality-silhouette-sets/(Accessed on 02-10-10) This website is referenced to study about the poses of different anatomy models in silhouette mode. Professional animators use the silhouette mode to value the animation key poses. This website has a library of silhouette poses of props, male, female, mammals and so on. 11.http://www.cgtutorials.com/t3343/Autodesk_3ds_max/Crowd_simulation__biped__with_AI_implant(Accessed on 02-10-10) This website is referenced to study about the crowd AI. Artificial intelligence is one of the most important guide to achieve the realism in simulating the crowd. This website gives an idea about the particle effects and the collusion. Energy control, Personification control, direction control, locomotion control is easily achieved in AI. 12.http://www.creativecrash.com/tutorials/how-to-create-a-simple-crowd/page2(Accessed on 02-10-10) This website gives a method to create a simple crowd using the particle simulation. The basic idea in this tutorial is developing a crowd with low mesh ans defining a collision point using locater. The character is animated using the clip and four different clips is imported to 15 characters. These characters are guided using the expression editor. This method is based on the MEL(Maya Embedded Language.) 2.2| Interpretation: By reviewing the literatures like books, magazines, articles and Internet websites, the researcher had a better idea to develop a simple procedure to simulate the crowd and a crystal clear vision about the crowd AI (Artificial Intelligence). This literature review is also concentrated on the silhouettes and its uses in the production field. Silhouette is the best way to represent the enthusiasm. This research helped the researcher is present the entire crowd in the silhouette mode for the enthusiastic feel. Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1| Types of research: Analytical This dissertation is of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the title,Silhouette an essential method for crowd simulation animation. This research document carries the content from the Internet website, books and articles. This research is mainly done to develop a procedure to simulate a entire crowd in a simple and easier way and also to research about the silhouette is how essential to visualize the crowd to get a enthusiastic feel. This dissertation is carried out with the information collected through different sources like: Magazines Journals Forums Research papers Books Internet Websites Articles Google search engine and wikipedia are the two major sites helped a lot to gather information from various websites around the web. 3.2| Population: The people who are suitable for this population are Animators, cinematographers and visual effect artists. They were examined by series of questions regarding the simulation of an entire crowd using the silhouette. The population of this research work carries the production experienced person, students, Animation tutors. 3.3| Sampling: Judgment Sampling 3.4| Scope and limitation: This research is limited to the simulation of crowd. Chapter 4:Crowd Simulation 4.1| Definition A crowd is defined to be collection of people or group of people[1]. The term crowd is mainly referred to the collection of humans as well as animals[2]. Crowds in also defined as the sharing of emotional experience. A crowd can be named by the purpose or different types emotions, such as riot, social gatherings, meetings, assemblies, religious ceremonies, general meetings and sport events[3]. 4.2| Crowd: Scholars differ about what classes of social events fall under the rubric of collective behavior. In fact, the only class of events which all authors include is crowds. Clark McPhail, who treat crowds and collectives as synonyms. His important contribution is to gone beyond the others to carry out empirical studies of crowds. He finds them to form an set of types. The treatment of crowds is Gustave LeBon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1896), in which the author, a frightened aristocrat, interpreted the crowds of the French Revolution as irrational reversions to animal emotion, and inferred from this that such reversion is characteristic of crowds in general. Freud expressed a similar view in Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1922). Authors thought that their ideas were confirmed by various kinds of crowds, one of these are the virtual economic. In Holland, during the tulip mania (1637), the prices of tulip bulbs rose to astronomical heights. An array of such quotes was quoted by the authors from the different part of the world. Mainly and other historical odds is said by Charles MacKays Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841). At the University of Chicago, Robert Park and Herbert Blumer approved with the speculations of LeBon and other that crowds are formed by emotional. But a crowd is capable of any emotion, not only the negative ones of anger and fear. A number of authors modify the common-sense of the crowd to include episodes during which the participants are not assembled in one place but are dispersed over a large area. Turner and Killian refer to such crowds, examples being Billy Grahams, their expanded definition of the crowd is justified if propositions are compact crowds do so for diffuse crowds as well. Some psychologists have proved that there are three fundamental human emotions: fear, joy, and anger. Neil Smelser, John Lofland, and others have proposed three corresponding forms of the crowd: the panic (an expression of fear), the craze (an expression of joy), and the hostile outburst (an expression of anger). Each of the three emotions can characterize either a compact or a diffuse crowd, the result being a scheme of six types of crowds. Lofland has offered the most explicit discussion of these types. 4.3| Types of Natural crowd: There are already many types of crowd in the society, mainly they are classified into businesses and projects based crowd formation. But when we study about crowd sourcing and the crowds that influence it, we always like to the talking about one big crowd, one only crowd type that can fulfill every task. Well thats not what happens in reality, and Author Nicholas Carr had a interesting blog post which states about this and his mind thoughts over the typology of crowds, after studying about the crowd sourcing we can find a piece for the PBS Digital Nation site. He suggests the following 4 types of crowds in crowd sourcing: Social production crowd: consists of a large group of individuals who lend their individual talents to the devolved creations like Wikipedia or Linux. This one basically fits in the most examples of crowd sourcing. Averaging crowd: classifies exactly as a survey group, giving an average judgment about some complex matter in some cases, is more accurate than the judgment of any one individual person in the society. Nicholas Carr defines that prediction markets are a typical examples of this different types of crowd, or even the stock market for that matter. Data mine crowd: A large group that, the basic common knowledge and understanding of all its members who produces a collection of behavioral data or information that can be collected verified by the authors from various country put under a series of examine in order to gain insight into behavioral or market patterns. The example are defined here is the crowd that are mainly feed Googles search engine and Amazons search engine. So here we all are involving ourselves in this crowd sourcing effort without knowing that were particularly helping the system. Networking crowd: a group that exports and import information through a shared communication system such as the phone network or Internet service. Internet service are mainly concentrated on the social networking like Orkut, hi 5, Facebook or Twitter. Here were not aware about being members of information collection, and if not handled carefully by the companies, could put a backfire on this type of services. After these 4 types, two were suggested. One by Clay Shirky, who was also, involved in this discussion, and another one from a suggestion by a commenter on the blog, Tom Lord. Thats crowd sourcing working right there! Transactional crowd: a group used to coordinate what are mainly point-to-point transactions, such as the type of crowd collected by eBay, Match.com, Innocentive, LinkedIn and similar services. Event crowd: A group organized through online communication for a particular event, which can take place either online or in the real world and may have a political, social, aesthetic, or other purpose. Crowd Simulation in Films Crowd Simulation in Films This dissertation is about the study of crowd simulation and why the crowd simulation is in need in the movies. Particularly concentrating about the computer generated movies simulating a large crowd is the most difficult task in the production pipeline. So finding a better way to give the audience the feel of crowd is the challenge. Researching about the silhouettes and its uses will help to implement the silhouette to establish the crowd. Silhouettes helps in many ways to create a mystic mood. . As implementing silhouette in the crowd simulation will helps to reduce the secondary animation and facial expression. As there are so many softwares exist to helps the crowd simulation, This paper will focus on a procedure which will create a crowd simulation by transferring the animation from one character to another character in a simpler and easier way. Chapter 1: Introduction Animation gives the life to the character. Animating a particular character takes a long time to give the feel. This dissertation is about researching the animation, animating the entire crowd is the difficult task in the animation pipeline. So this dissertation is mainly carried out to find a way to transfer the animation from one character to another character in a simpler and easier way. Crowd simulation is a process of simulating a group of members, objects or characters. When simulating a large number of characters in a live feature film is not a big deal. Man power is more important in simulating a crowd in feature film. Particularly concentrating on the computer generated movies, replicating the characters animation and behavior from one character to many character is a big deal. A lot of research is done about the crowds and the formation of crowds in society. For example, social gatherings, meetings, assemblies, religious ceremonies and sport events. 1.1| Aim: The main aim of the project is to achieve an essential method for crowd simulation for animation. 1.2| Research question: The research question for this study will be. What is crowd simulation? Why we need crowd simulation? Researching the existing crowd simulation method. Disadvantages of existing crowd simulation method. How silhouette helpful for the animation poses? How silhouette will be useful for simulating a crowd? 1.3| Statement of problem: Animating the entire crowd is the most biggest problem. Technically, creating the crowd is not a big deal but at that same time transferring the animation to each and every character with the different timing is the big deal. The another problem is that the rendering the whole scene with lots and lots of character in a particular scene will make the scene the most complicated one. So finding a better solution for creating the entire scene in Maya with lots and lots of character which has the different timing in their animation. There are several methods for the development of crowd simulation. The major method is using Mayas Dynamics. There are several external softwares which helps to simulate a entire crowd. But the method which said by this dissertation is quite simple and easier than comparing to another external softwares and Mayas Dynamics. 1.4| Objectives: Various types of crowd simulation method. Silhouette/ Various types. To study the golden poses for animations. Explore the secondary motion for animation. New methods of producing crowd simulation. 1.5| Significance of study: Most of the computer generated movies currently released like Madagascar, Horton hears a Who, had a clear idea about the crowd simulation. The focus of the study in this dissertation is about the simulation of crowd in a simpler and easier way and developing a simple procedure for transferring animation from one character to multiple characters. This study is carried out for developing a better technique for crowd simulation in future upcoming CG projects. 1.6| Hypothesis: The hypothesis of this dissertation is an animator can easily transfer the animation from one character to multiple character for simulating a crowd and also using the silhouette to visualize the crowd shot with a different perspective. Chapter 2: Review of literature This chapter will discuss about the article, books, Internet websites, publications which are related to this dissertation. There are few important topics are covered related to the cinematography, photography, silhouette, animation poses, crowd simulation. 2.1| Book and Internet websites: 1. Malcolm Le Grince,2001.,Experimental Cinema in Digital Age It explains about the experiment carried over Cinema from olden days to modern age. This book mainly concentrated about the cinemas that are experimented in modern ages. They experimented using the different types of cameras and various shots that enhances the scene. 2. Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristian,2001.,Film Art- An Introduction It explains about the art of film making, this gives the introduction about the film making. This book is referenced particularity to study about the lights and its uses. This gives a clear idea about the back lighting is and how essential to shoot a silhouette shot. 3. Beazley, Mitchell and Ang, Tom,2008.,Fundamentals of modern photography It explains about the photography and how photography helpful to convey the moral to the audience. This book concentrates about the camera and its uses for the photography. Rules and techniques for achieving the Silhouette stills. 4. Frost, Lee,2003.,Photography It explains about the various types of photography in various mood setup. How different light setup enchants the scene. This book clearly explains about the advantages and disadvantages of different styles in photograph in different environment. This book is mainly referred to study the advantages and disadvantages of silhouette shooting. 5. Emma Rutherford, Lulu,2009.,Silhouette: The Art of the Shadow It explains about how the silhouette is oriented with the art and craft. This book gives a simple definition for the silhouette as Silhouette is the simplest of art forms. This says about the fascinating history of art and craft in Europe and America. 6. Popular Mechanices (Hadly, Paul, 1947.,Silhouettes for salons,From Pg No. 171 to 173) This book meanly concentrated on the mechanics of machines in 1947. But from the page 171, this book has a quote about the silhouette photography. Hadly had a clear definition for the silhouette photography and he particularity chosen the early morning and late evening time because that light sources will be perfect for silhouette photography. This light sources naturally become the back lighting when the still is taken by aiming the sun. 7. Thalman, Daniel.,Crowd simulation This book is referenced for the purpose to have an clear idea about simulating a crowd and crowd AI. Artificial intelligence is applied on the crowd with speed control, locomotion control and personification control. This book explains from the modeling to the final rendering of the simulated crowd. Also this book gives an idea about simulating the environment sources like clouds, skies, plants, lakes and terrains. 8. Brinkmann, Ron.,The art and science of digital composting: Techniques for visual effects This book is referenced to have a clear study about the digital compositing in the post production pipeline. It has a clear idea about the replication of the rendered mesh. This consumes the render time the 3D softwares like Maya, 3D Max and so on. Simulating a crowd in the post-production level is more better than production level. 9. http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-photograph-silhouettes (Accessed on 02-10-10) This website is analyzed to study about the ways to achieve the silhouette photographs in a simper and easier way. This website gives a tutor to the viewer about the ways to take silhouette photography. 10.http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/85-free-high-quality-silhouette-sets/(Accessed on 02-10-10) This website is referenced to study about the poses of different anatomy models in silhouette mode. Professional animators use the silhouette mode to value the animation key poses. This website has a library of silhouette poses of props, male, female, mammals and so on. 11.http://www.cgtutorials.com/t3343/Autodesk_3ds_max/Crowd_simulation__biped__with_AI_implant(Accessed on 02-10-10) This website is referenced to study about the crowd AI. Artificial intelligence is one of the most important guide to achieve the realism in simulating the crowd. This website gives an idea about the particle effects and the collusion. Energy control, Personification control, direction control, locomotion control is easily achieved in AI. 12.http://www.creativecrash.com/tutorials/how-to-create-a-simple-crowd/page2(Accessed on 02-10-10) This website gives a method to create a simple crowd using the particle simulation. The basic idea in this tutorial is developing a crowd with low mesh ans defining a collision point using locater. The character is animated using the clip and four different clips is imported to 15 characters. These characters are guided using the expression editor. This method is based on the MEL(Maya Embedded Language.) 2.2| Interpretation: By reviewing the literatures like books, magazines, articles and Internet websites, the researcher had a better idea to develop a simple procedure to simulate the crowd and a crystal clear vision about the crowd AI (Artificial Intelligence). This literature review is also concentrated on the silhouettes and its uses in the production field. Silhouette is the best way to represent the enthusiasm. This research helped the researcher is present the entire crowd in the silhouette mode for the enthusiastic feel. Chapter 3: Research Methodology 3.1| Types of research: Analytical This dissertation is of qualitative and quantitative analysis of the title,Silhouette an essential method for crowd simulation animation. This research document carries the content from the Internet website, books and articles. This research is mainly done to develop a procedure to simulate a entire crowd in a simple and easier way and also to research about the silhouette is how essential to visualize the crowd to get a enthusiastic feel. This dissertation is carried out with the information collected through different sources like: Magazines Journals Forums Research papers Books Internet Websites Articles Google search engine and wikipedia are the two major sites helped a lot to gather information from various websites around the web. 3.2| Population: The people who are suitable for this population are Animators, cinematographers and visual effect artists. They were examined by series of questions regarding the simulation of an entire crowd using the silhouette. The population of this research work carries the production experienced person, students, Animation tutors. 3.3| Sampling: Judgment Sampling 3.4| Scope and limitation: This research is limited to the simulation of crowd. Chapter 4:Crowd Simulation 4.1| Definition A crowd is defined to be collection of people or group of people[1]. The term crowd is mainly referred to the collection of humans as well as animals[2]. Crowds in also defined as the sharing of emotional experience. A crowd can be named by the purpose or different types emotions, such as riot, social gatherings, meetings, assemblies, religious ceremonies, general meetings and sport events[3]. 4.2| Crowd: Scholars differ about what classes of social events fall under the rubric of collective behavior. In fact, the only class of events which all authors include is crowds. Clark McPhail, who treat crowds and collectives as synonyms. His important contribution is to gone beyond the others to carry out empirical studies of crowds. He finds them to form an set of types. The treatment of crowds is Gustave LeBon, The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind (1896), in which the author, a frightened aristocrat, interpreted the crowds of the French Revolution as irrational reversions to animal emotion, and inferred from this that such reversion is characteristic of crowds in general. Freud expressed a similar view in Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1922). Authors thought that their ideas were confirmed by various kinds of crowds, one of these are the virtual economic. In Holland, during the tulip mania (1637), the prices of tulip bulbs rose to astronomical heights. An array of such quotes was quoted by the authors from the different part of the world. Mainly and other historical odds is said by Charles MacKays Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds (1841). At the University of Chicago, Robert Park and Herbert Blumer approved with the speculations of LeBon and other that crowds are formed by emotional. But a crowd is capable of any emotion, not only the negative ones of anger and fear. A number of authors modify the common-sense of the crowd to include episodes during which the participants are not assembled in one place but are dispersed over a large area. Turner and Killian refer to such crowds, examples being Billy Grahams, their expanded definition of the crowd is justified if propositions are compact crowds do so for diffuse crowds as well. Some psychologists have proved that there are three fundamental human emotions: fear, joy, and anger. Neil Smelser, John Lofland, and others have proposed three corresponding forms of the crowd: the panic (an expression of fear), the craze (an expression of joy), and the hostile outburst (an expression of anger). Each of the three emotions can characterize either a compact or a diffuse crowd, the result being a scheme of six types of crowds. Lofland has offered the most explicit discussion of these types. 4.3| Types of Natural crowd: There are already many types of crowd in the society, mainly they are classified into businesses and projects based crowd formation. But when we study about crowd sourcing and the crowds that influence it, we always like to the talking about one big crowd, one only crowd type that can fulfill every task. Well thats not what happens in reality, and Author Nicholas Carr had a interesting blog post which states about this and his mind thoughts over the typology of crowds, after studying about the crowd sourcing we can find a piece for the PBS Digital Nation site. He suggests the following 4 types of crowds in crowd sourcing: Social production crowd: consists of a large group of individuals who lend their individual talents to the devolved creations like Wikipedia or Linux. This one basically fits in the most examples of crowd sourcing. Averaging crowd: classifies exactly as a survey group, giving an average judgment about some complex matter in some cases, is more accurate than the judgment of any one individual person in the society. Nicholas Carr defines that prediction markets are a typical examples of this different types of crowd, or even the stock market for that matter. Data mine crowd: A large group that, the basic common knowledge and understanding of all its members who produces a collection of behavioral data or information that can be collected verified by the authors from various country put under a series of examine in order to gain insight into behavioral or market patterns. The example are defined here is the crowd that are mainly feed Googles search engine and Amazons search engine. So here we all are involving ourselves in this crowd sourcing effort without knowing that were particularly helping the system. Networking crowd: a group that exports and import information through a shared communication system such as the phone network or Internet service. Internet service are mainly concentrated on the social networking like Orkut, hi 5, Facebook or Twitter. Here were not aware about being members of information collection, and if not handled carefully by the companies, could put a backfire on this type of services. After these 4 types, two were suggested. One by Clay Shirky, who was also, involved in this discussion, and another one from a suggestion by a commenter on the blog, Tom Lord. Thats crowd sourcing working right there! Transactional crowd: a group used to coordinate what are mainly point-to-point transactions, such as the type of crowd collected by eBay, Match.com, Innocentive, LinkedIn and similar services. Event crowd: A group organized through online communication for a particular event, which can take place either online or in the real world and may have a political, social, aesthetic, or other purpose.

Methods Of Minimizing Delays Construction Essay

Methods Of Minimizing Delays Construction Essay A successful construction project is accomplished when the project is completed and hand over to the owner within time, costs, specifications and quality required and to the satisfaction of stakeholders. Thus, completing a construction project on time is vital as it secure the rights of the participating parties on the project. When a project is delayed, it will cause the resources employed to be exceeded as what has been planned. This extra use of resources will lead to disputes and claims arise as extra costs will be incurred to complete the project by the participating parties. Abd El-Razek et al. (2008) identified that delay in construction project is considered one of the most common problems causing a multitude negative effect on the project and its participating parties. Delays are insidious often resulting in time overrun, cost overrun, disputes, litigation, and complete abandonment of projects (Sambasivan and Yau, 2007). Many projects are of such a nature that the client will suffer hardship, expense, or loss of revenue if the work is delayed beyond the time specified in the contract. Then, again, delay has cost consequences for the contractor: standby costs of non-productive workers, supervisors, and equipment, expenses caused by disrupted construction and material delivery schedules and additional overhead costs (Clough, 1986). Delay on project will affect the parties to the contract involved. Issues regarding entitlement to extra costs or prolongation of time for the project may arise as consequences to the project delay. Questions arise as to the causes of delay and the assigning of fault often evolves into disputes and litigation (Bolton, 1990). Thus, it is very important to find out the methods with relevant to its causal factors of delay so that the effects of the delay on the project can be reduced. This is because the project delay itself and also the resolution of disputes are both a waste of resources. It is important to predict and identify problems in the early stages of construction and diagnose the cause to find and implement the most appropriate and economical solutions (Abdul-Rahman and Berawi, 2002). Several researches had been carried out to studied and recommended on methods to minimize delay in construction industry in their studies of investigating causes or causes and effects of delays in either specific types of construction projects or in general, representing the overall construction industry. 3.2 Methods of Minimizing Construction Delays Assaf et al. (1995) in the literature review of his study of investigating the causes of delay in large building projects in Saudi Arabia, noted that studied by Chalabi and Camp (1984) suggested that in developing countries, where workers are relatively unskilled, adequate planning at the very early stages of the project was important for minimizing delay and cost overruns in most projects. Chan and Kumaraswamy (1997) conducted a study to survey the causes of construction delays in Hong Kong as seen by clients, contractor and consultants, and examined the factors affecting productivity. This study also suggests some useful pointers towards minimizing the problems causing delays on construction site. Following are the recommendations: The relationship between success on site and strong management teams underlines the need for effective site management and supervision by contractors and consultants. Manpower, at both the technical and the managerial levels, should have their own knowledge updated by continuous professional development schemes. This may be in the form of short training programmes or day release courses in educational establishments. Insufficient knowledge of the sites causes many delays in projects. The investigation of site conditions, together with the design of groundworks and foundations, should be thorough, complete and clearly presented before commencement of construction so as to reduce the impact of any unforeseen ground conditions. Effective data communication between various groups and levels involved in a project, emphasizes the need for efficient methods of information processing in the construction industry. To accelerate the communications and decision making among all parties, appropriate overall organizational structures and communication systems linking all project teams should be developed throughout the whole life of the project. The roles and responsibilities of those involved in the project team should be clearly defined, and the designated decision-makers should also be clearly identified. Comprehensive strategies need to be formulated to minimize variations, whether client-initiated or consultant-initiated, wherever possible. A clear and thorough client brief is considered the most useful strategy for reducing variations. Contingency allowances may be incorporated for inevitable variations. These allowances may be better quantified by using risk analysis techniques. Strategies should also be formulated to mitigate the impact of such inevitable variations after obtaining the consultants advice, together with the contractors inputs, on their cost and time implications. Value management techniques may be useful both when developing the design from the brief at the conceptual design stage, as well as in limiting any variations to those that are absolutely essential. The differentials in perception between the different groups of participants in the industry should be noted and discussed in suitable fora, with a view to bridging the gaps and avoiding or resolving some of the avoidable problems that have been highlighted herein. The results of the foregoing survey should be taken into consideration in developing a construction time prediction model for local building and civil engineering construction industries, as has been planned in the next phase of this research programme in Hong Kong. Noulmanee et al. (1999) investigated causes of delays in highway construction in Thailand. They suggested that delay can be minimized by discussions that lead to understanding Aibinu and Jagboro (2002) conducted a study to survey the problem of construction delays in Nigeria. The study was carried out to examine the effects of delays on the delivery of the projects in Nigeria and some recommendations were made to minimize the effects of the projects delays. A questionnaire survey was done over 61 construction projects to determine and assessed the impact of the delay projects on its delivery. Time and cost overruns were found to be the common effects of construction delays. The recommendations made to reduce the impact of the construction delays were: Acceleration of site activities coupled with improved clients project management procedures; and Inclusion of the contingency allowance in the pre-contract estimate. Chan and Kumaraswamy (2002), in their study of compressing construction duration in Hong Kong explored strategies used to compress construction durations for various types of building projects. The paper sought out the critical factors that contribute to the faster construction procedures in Hong Kong. The authors recommended specific technological and managerial strategies to be used to reduce the construction durations. Odeh and Battaineh (2002) in the study of causes of construction delay in traditional contracts suggested that to improve the situation of delays, a joint effort by all participants in the construction industry is needed by: Enforcing liquidated damage clauses and offering incentives for early completion. Developing human resources in the construction industry through proper training and classifying of craftsmen. This calls for providing incentives such as offering a tax deduction on money spent on training, and for authorizing trade unions or other agencies to regulate, follow-up on training, and classify trades. Developing human resources also applies to construction engineers who usually lack adequate managerial skills. There is an urgent need for offering training courses in scheduling, time and cost control, information systems, and management of human resources. Adopting a new approach to contract award procedure by giving less weight to prices and more weight to the capabilities and past performance of contractors. Adopting new approaches to contracting, such as design-build and construction management (CM) types of contracts. Such contracts reduce delays by limiting owner interference, improving the design, and improving the contractual relationships among all parties to the project. Frimpong et al. (2003) give some recommendations minimize delays in the study of causes of delay and cost overruns in the construction of groundwater construction projects in Ghana. Their recommendations are as follows: Appropriate funding levels should always be determined at the planning stage of the project so that regular payment should be paid to contractors for work done. In order to improve contractors managerial skills there is need for continuous work-training programs for personnel in the industry to update their knowledge and be familiar with project management techniques and process. Effective and efficient material procurement systems should be established within projects. Material procurement has the potential to cause major delays to construction projects. Therefore, material procurement process should be executed properly by improving procurement process in order to avoid supply delays. Developing effective and efficient technical performances in the groundwater industry through different types of training programs. The training should cover project planning, scheduling, time and cost control, and the information systems. There should be adequate contingency allowance in order to cover increase in material cost due to inflation. Nguyen et al. (2004) studied the project success factors in large construction projects in Vietnam. Factor analysis was employed to categorize these success factors perceived by 109 respondents from 42 construction-related organizations. The success factors identified in this study were: Clear objectives and scope; Commitment to project; Top management support; Timely, valuable information from different parties; Effective strategic planning; Awarding bids to the right designer/contractor; Continuing involvement of stakeholders in the project; Frequent progress meeting; Adequate funding throughout the project; Availability of resources; Absence of bureaucracy; Community involvement; Clear information and communications channels; Accurate initial cost estimates; Systematic control mechanisms; Competent project manager; Multidisciplinary/competent project team; Comprehensive contract documentation; Up to date technology utilization; and proper emphasis on past experience. Five critical success factors were identified: Competent project manager; Adequate funding until project completion; Multidisciplinary/competent project team; Commitment to project; and Availability of resources. Obviously, the factors shown are mostly human-related factors. This implies that people play a decisive role regarding the success or failure of a project. Further, factor analysis uncovered that most of the success factors can be grouped under four categories, here titled the four COMs: Comfort concerns ensuring that resources, efforts and leadership are well aligned for the implementation of the project. It includes adequate funding throughout the project, comprehensive contract document, availability of resources, continuing involvement of stakeholders, and competent project managers. Competence requires having appropriate technology, experience, and specialties available for the project. It includes up to date technology utilization, proper emphasis on past experience, multidisciplinary/competent project team, and awarding bids to the right designer/contractor. Commitment ensures that all parties concerned with the project and all levels in the management hierarchy of each participating organization are willing to manage, plan, design, construct and operate the facility harmoniously. It includes commitment to project, clear objectives and scope, and top management support. Communication helps clarify and disseminate all necessary project information and status to all internal and external project stakeholders. The project will then have the opportunity to avoid failure and reach for success through the achievement of team-spirit and a sense of ownership. It includes community involvement, clear information/communications channels, and frequent progress meeting. Koushki et al. (2005) recommended some suggestions which could be used to minimize time delays and cost overruns in the study of investigating the delays and cost increases in the construction of private residential projects in Kuwait. They suggested that the owner of a new residential project in Kuwait to: Ensure adequate and available source of finance; Perform a preconstruction planning of project tasks and resource needs; Allocate sufficient time and money on the design phase; If cost-effective (depending on the size of the residential project), hire an independent supervising engineer to monitor the progress of the work and ensure timely delivery of materials; and finally, the most important factor of all, Select a competent consultant and a reliable contractor to carry out the work. Assaf and Al-Hejji (2006) suggested some recommendations that pointed out by all parties which are the contractors, consultants and owner to minimize and control delays in construction projects. Owners should give special attention to the following factors: Pay progress payment to the contractor on time because it impairs the contractors ability to finance the work. Minimize change orders during construction to avoid delays. Avoid delay in reviewing and approving of design documents than the anticipated. Check for resources and capabilities before awarding the contract to the lowest bidder. Contractors should consider the following factors: Shortage and low productivity of labour: enough number of labours should be assigned and be motivated to improve productivity. Financial and cash flow problems: contractor should manage his financial resources and plan cash flow by utilizing progress payment. Planning and scheduling: they are continuing processes during construction and match with the resources and time to develop the work to avoid cost overrun and disputes. Site management and supervision: administrative and technical staff should be assigned as soon as project is awarded to make arrangements to achieve completion within specified time with the required quality, and estimated cost. Consultants should look to the following points: Reviewing and approving design documents: any delay caused by the consultant engineer in checking, reviewing and approving the design submittals prior to construction phase, could delay the progress of the work; Inflexibility: consultants should be flexible in evaluating contractor works. Compromising between the cost and high quality should be considered. Finally; Architect/design engineer should focus on the following issues: Producing design documents on time: Architect/engineer should set a schedule to complete design documents on time, otherwise result in a delay of work completion. Mistakes and discrepancies in design documents: they are common reasons for redoing designs and drawings and may take a long time to make necessary corrections. Ibnu Abbas Majib (2006) in his study of causes and effects of delay in Aceh construction industry, Indonesia suggest some methods which can be employed to minimize construction delays. A total of thirty five methods of minimizing delays were identified in his study. The most effective methods of minimizing delays identified are to: Ensure adequate and available source of finance until project completion; Competent project manager; Availability of resources; Frequent progress meeting; Awarding bids to the right/experience consultant and contractor; Use of experienced subcontractors and suppliers; Multidisciplinary/competent project team; Accurate initial cost estimates; Competent and capable of clients representative; Use of appropriate construction methods; Perform a preconstruction planning of project task and resources needs; and Project management assistance. Abd El-Razek et al. (2008) conducted a similar study of causes of delay in building construction projects in Egypt from the point of view of contractors, consultants, and owners suggested that in order to significantly reduce delay a joint effort based on teamwork is required. Fugar and Agyakwah-Baah (2010) emphasized in their study of delays in building construction projects in Ghana from the perspective of clients, consultants and contractors that the adequate and timely provision of financial resources in building construction project management cannot be over emphasized. This is because the finance is the hub around which everything else revolves. Everybody and everything connected with construction is adversely affected by lack of sufficient cash flow. They made the some recommendations as follows: Construction clients must ensure that funds are available or adequate arrangements for funds are made before projects are started. The long and bureaucratic processes involved in honouring payments to contractors in Ghana must be shortened for efficiency and contractors payments must be honoured as and when they due in strict compliance with the provisions of the contract. Contract provisions which allow contractors to claim interest on delayed payments must be strictly enforced to serve as deterrent to clients. The idea of establishing a commercial bank for building and construction is worth revisiting so that contractors can have access to credit in times of liquidity difficulties. On the other hand, to overcome some contractors ineptitude which correlates directly with delay factors such as underestimation of cost, time of completion and complexity of projects, poor scheduling and control and poor site management, the researchers recommend the following actions. The Civil Engineering and Building Contractors Association of Ghana must institute measures to ensure that its members go through continual education so that the technical and managerial competences of contractors who belong to it can be improved. The acquisition of a certain number of credit hours in continual education should be a criterion for membership renewal. The Ministry of Works and Water Resources, the body responsible for the registration and classification of contractors wishing to execute public projects, must insist on its requirement that contractors must have in their employment certain key technical staff as a condition for registration. Above all, effective ways must be designed to verify the list of staff produced by contractors in support of their application and to ensure also that these key staff positions are continually filled by technically competent individuals. Summary 53 methods of minimizing delays were identified from the review of literature above. These methods will be used to develop questionnaire for surveying purposes. Followings were the methods identified: Perform a preconstruction planning of project tasks and resources. Continuous update manpower, both technical and managerial. Thorough and complete investigation of site conditions. Clear information and communications channels. Clear and thorough client brief. Include of the contingency allowance in the pre-contract estimate. Use value management techniques when developing the design from the brief at the conceptual design stage, as well as in limiting any variations to those that are absolutely essential. Accelerate site activities. Improve clients project management procedures. Enforce liquidated damage clauses. Offer incentives for early completion. Adopt a new approach to contract award procedure by giving less weight to prices and more weight to the capabilities and past performance of contractors. Adopt new approaches to contracting, such as design-build and construction management (CM) types of contracts. Determine appropriate funding levels at the planning stage of the project. Effective and efficient material procurement systems. Competent project manager. Multidisciplinary/competent project team. Commitment to project. Allocate sufficient time and money on the design phase. Hire an independent supervising engineer to monitor the progress of the work. Pay progress payment to the contractor on time. Minimize change orders. Avoid delay in reviewing and approving of design documents. Check for resources and capabilities before awarding the contract to the lowest bidder. Number of labours assigned should be enough and be motivated to improve productivity. Contractor should manage his financial resources and plan cash flow by utilizing progress payment. Continuous planning and scheduling during construction. Site management and supervision: administrative and technical staff should be assigned as soon as project is awarded to make arrangements. Produce design documents on time. Avoid making mistakes and discrepancies in design documents. Consultants should be flexible in evaluating contractor works. Compromising between the cost and high quality should be considered. Clear objectives and scope. Frequent progress meeting. Top management support. Timely, valuable information from different parties. Effective strategic planning. Award bids to the right/experience consultant and contractor. Continuous involvement of stakeholders in the project. Availability of resources. Absence of bureaucracy. Community involvement. Systematic control mechanisms. Comprehensive contract documentation. Up to date technology utilization. Proper emphasis on past experience. Use of experienced subcontractors and suppliers. Accurate initial cost estimates. Competent and capable clients representative. Use of appropriate construction methods. Project management assistance. Idea of enforce contract provisions which allow contractors to claim interest on delayed payments must be strictly to serve as deterrent to clients. Establishing a commercial bank for building and construction so that contractors can have access to credit in times of liquidity difficulties. Design effective ways to verify the list of staff produced by contractors in support of their application and to ensure also that these key staff positions are continually filled by technically competent individuals.