Wednesday, October 30, 2019
The Social Impacts of Tourism in Singapore Essay
The Social Impacts of Tourism in Singapore - Essay Example By thoroughly addressing and discussing all of these issues as well as any and all other key and related matters, we will be able to come to a much more informed and knowledgeable understanding on the subject matter at hand overall. This is what will be dissertated in the following. The history of Singapore in fact goes back as far as the 3rd Century, when a Chinese account was known to have described the island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula. Singapore is an incredibly cosmopolitan society in which people live harmoniously and where interaction among the different races is commonly seen. As well in Singapore, food is constantly readily and available, and there are many different cuisines that are available to the general population. There is "Chinese, Indian, Malay, Indonesian and Western, Italian, Peranakan, Spanish, French, Thai and even Fusion. It is very common to savor other culture's food and some of the food can be very intriguing" (Singapore, 2007). The cuisine of Singapore is often times viewed as a prime example of the ethnic diversity of the culture of Singapore overall, and for example, "traditionally Malay hawker stalls selling halal food may serve halal versions of traditionally Tamil or Chinese food. Chinese stalls may introduce Malay or Indi an ingredients, cooking techniques or entire dishes into their range of catering. Some dishes introduce elements from all three cultures, while others incorporate influences from the rest of Asia and the West" (Wikipedia, 2007). Overall then, food in itself has really been quite heavily promoted as a major attraction for tourists, and as well it is usually promoted by that of various different initiatives undertaken by the Singapore Tourism Board or the other associations that it deals with, for that matter. Overall, "The multiculturalism of local food, the ready availability of international cuisine, and their wide range in prices to fit all budgets at all times of the day and year helps create a 'food paradise' to rival other contenders claiming the same moniker" (Wikipedia, 2007). Religion is also an incredibly integral part of Singapore, and for the most part, Singaporeans celebrate all of the major festivals that are associated with their retrospective religions. Religious tolerance is also incredibly essential in Singapore, and because of the racial tolerance that is considered normal and natural throughout the area of Singapore, there are few to no racial disputes, or disputes of any other kind for that matter, as the violence rate in Singapore is incredibly low. All of these factors add up to a very high tourism rate in Singapore, and although tourism is good for any location, as it increases revenue and status for the locale, there are still potential and viable implications that can occur from an overflow of tourism. One of the most important factors of all here as well is that of the residents' responses, and whether they are negative or positive, they are still equally as crucial to the overall impacts that tourism causes. Tourism in Singapore is an incredibly major industry, and millions of
Monday, October 28, 2019
American Intervention in Soviet-Afghan War Essay Example for Free
American Intervention in Soviet-Afghan War Essay During the Cold War, the United States resolved to take a shot at the Soviet Union by siding with Afghanistan and taking great measures to stop Soviet influence and communist ideology. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in an attempt to expand its influence in the Middle East with the absence of American influence. At this point in the Cold War the United States and Soviet Union were more or less at the climax of their dilemma, so the U. S. therefore decided to get involved by fortifying Afghanââ¬â¢s primary rebellious group, the mujahidin. The United States jeopardized homeland security by providing significant support to mujahidin revolutionaries, and in doing so the U. S. helped them hinder Soviet rule over Afghanistan. There are plenty of reasons ratifying Americaââ¬â¢s lack of foresight and prudence, one being that the state of the Soviet Union was not great as it was. One should take into consideration that the Soviet Union was already in a drastic decline when the United States began to intercede in Soviet-Afghan affairs. Benjamin Frankel, an esteemed writer who wrote an article for History in Dispute, described how there was a prolonged controversy in the Soviet Union on the topic of how to proceed with communist policies (14). Secondly, America already expressed its hard-line policy toward the USSR in a more detrimental way. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan established the Strategic Defense Initiative to protect the U. S. from potential ballistic missile attacks by the Soviet Union. In total, as the ABC-Clio database prescribes in paragraph ten of ââ¬Å"Cold War, 1945-1991â⬠, the USSR spent approximately $80 billion on the Soviet-Afghan War. The fall of the USSR was hastened by its lofty spending on the unnecessary cause. Similar to the economic problems in the Soviet Union, the United Statesââ¬â¢ actions concerning Soviet-Afghan affairs inflicted great burdens upon the U. S. economy. The United States wasted a substantial amount of money in order to aid mujahidin rebels so they could counteract their Soviet oppressors, but received no compensation in return. As an unknown author from Mount Holyoke College estimates in ââ¬Å"Origins of the Talibanâ⬠, the United States lost about $3 billion just on funding these covert ops. The mujahidin and Afghanistan as a whole provided little in return. The mujahidin, for one, only used America for what it provided and discarded the country once transactions were complete. Also, Afghanistan contained insufficient natural resources compared to its Middle-Eastern counterparts. In addition to this actionââ¬â¢s negative impact on the U. S. economy, it was also unjustified by the United Statesââ¬â¢ failure in persuading Afghans to convert to its political viewpoints. The United States did not spread democracy or even impede the Soviet Unionââ¬â¢s communist influence on Afghanistan. Instead of acting how it did, the United States should have allowed Afghanistan to develope itself and figure out its own problems to an extent. One sign of progression in the country occurred in the mid-2000s when Afghanistan held its first presidential election. For example, Canada has benefitted by having the foreign policy of isolationism. Shifting back to the mujahidin, Benjamin Frankel describes it, stating, ââ¬Å"Once they helped to push the Soviets out of Afghanistan, they turned their attention to the hated ââ¬Ëinfidelââ¬â¢ West and its ââ¬Ësatanicââ¬â¢ leader, the United Statesâ⬠(16). Benjamin Frankel went on to speak of how the Afghans were apathetic toward the message of democracy, while they already disdained the ideology of communism (16). These reasons explain why the two parties never became allies and split ways once the Soviets withdrew in 1989. Sometime in the midst of the United States attempting to spread democracy in Afghanistan, the Jimmy Carter regime passed an embargo on wheat and corn against Russia as another attempt to burden the Soviet Union. The Russian Grain Embargo, enacted in 1980, had a negative financial impact on American farmers. This act was drawn up to reciprocate the past ongoing tensions between the United States and Soviet Union which heightened when the United States began to help the mujahidin in 1979. On the subject of U. S. and USSR trade, representative George McGovern stated at a 1980 Senate hearing in paragraph ten on the Annals of American History database that agricultural produce took up 75% of their trade. With this lack of trade, the USSR and U.à S. each deeply suffered. As a result of the Russian Grain Embargo, prices on a bushel of wheat dropped 50? and prices for a bushel of corn dropped 30?. As McGovern later proclaims to the senate in his speech in paragraph nineteen, projected numbers ââ¬Å"do not take into consideration the tremendous increase in cost of production for crop year 1980 for farmers, coupled by depressed markets. â⬠This act, indirectly associated with rising tensions also causing the U. S. to fortify the mujahidin, made live very hard for farmers. The Russian Grain Embargo left a great mark on agrarian society in both the United States and the Soviet Union, but moreso in the U. S. This statement demonstrates the irony behind the embargo. The harm done to the USSR was substantial, though. One may say that the Russian Grain Embargo went with the hard-line policy Reagan put forth toward the USSR, but this argument is invalidated by the financial burdens on America and the Soviet Union. Subsequently in his speech, George McGovern states in paragraph twenty, ââ¬Å"The U. S. omestic blow to the agricultural community can reasonably be concluded to be greater than the one we are delivering, at least in the long run and at least in economic terms. â⬠Plus, Russia was coming off a record low year for crop production, further supporting this actââ¬â¢s injustification. Despite the fact that the Russian Embargo Act was mainly a burden to farm society, it also proved or will have proven to be a burden to other important parts of society. The Russian Grain Embargo also devastated both the United States and the Soviet Union in ways other than agriculturally including everyday citizens. In paragraph eighteen McGovern alludes to his great statistical knowledge, noting that American taxpayers compensated for the debt of the Russian Grain Embargo by paying a sum of $3. 8-5 million. The credibility of the United States as a reliable trade partner skyrocketed due to the embargo. The administration of former President Jimmy Carter probably did not foresee this outcome or even think about it. Another outcome of the act was expanded herd slaughter in Russia. Russians thus consumed bad or in some cases unsanitary meat because of the lack of U.à S. meat shipments. Instead of wasting our time creating unnecessary policies or embargoes or groundlessly creating a powerful Afghan resilient force, the Unites States should have seized other important opportunities. For example, during the period in which the United States sent weapons to the mujahidin, Afghanistanââ¬â¢s neighboring country Pakistan developed a nuclear-weapon program. This is ironic because limiting nuclear-weaponry in any place was apparently supposed to be a chief concern of America, yet we did nothing about it. Pakistan could have shared nuclear secrets with its ally neighbors, thus jeopardizing American security. Benjamin Frankel wrote about the possibility that Pakistan could eventually use their nuclear weapons. In that case, America would certainly regret not committing itself to the issue. Before acting, we have to first ponder all implications ââ¬â the pros and cons. Either the various leaders of the United States from 1979 to 1989 did not do this or they misevaluated. When a country is already on an nevitable path to its downfall, spending a large amount of money to try to hasten it is unnecessary. Blocking trade to that country is inessential and dumb if all parties involved are negatively affected like in the case of the Russian Grain Embargo. In the end, the Unites States and Soviet Union were burdened by their shortsighted approaches; ergo, we should learn from their mistakes and attempt to fix any remaining consequences. Unfortunately, we may one day have to endure the reper cussions of not taking action if a Middle Eastern country sets off a nuclear bomb.
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Catcher in the Rye Essay: The Judgmental Caulfield :: Catcher Rye Essays
The Judgmental Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, is a classic novel about a sixteen-year-old boy, Holden Caulfield, who speaks of a puzzling time in his life. Holden has only a few days until his expulsion from Pency Prep School. He starts out as the type of person who can't stand "phony" people. He believes that his school and everyone in it is phony, so he leaves early. He then spends three aimless days in New York City. During this time, Holden finds out more about himself and how he relates to the world around him. He believes that he is the catcher in the rye: " I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in a big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around-nobody big, I mean-except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What have I to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff..." (173). He briefly enters what he believes is adulthood and becomes a "phony" himself. By the end of the story, Holden realizes he doe sn't like the type of person he has become, so he reverts into an idealist; a negative, judgmental person. Holden's idealism is first brought forth when he describes his life at Pency Prep. It is full of phonies, morons and bastards. His roommate, Stradlater, " was at least a pretty friendly guy, It was partly a phony kind of friendly..." (26) and his other roommate, Ackley is "a very nosy bastard" (33). Holden can't stand to be around either one of them for a very long time. Later, he gets into a fight with Stradlater over his date with Jane. Holden is upset because he thinks that Stradlater "gave her the time" and that he doesn't care about her; 'the reason he didn't care was because he was a goddam stupid moron. All morons hate it when you call them a moron' (44). Holden not only sees his roommates as phonies and bastards, but he also sees his headmaster at Pency Prep as a "phony slob" (3). This type of person is exactly what Holden doesn't want to be. He strives to be a mature adult; caring, compassionate, and sensitive. Even when Holden goes out or reads a story, it is just full of phoniness, ".
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Bae Hbr
Harvard Business School 9-396-311 Rev. November 6, 1996 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System No airport anywhere in the world is as technologically advanced as the Denver International Airport. 1 Itââ¬â¢s dramatic. If your bag [got] on the track, your bag [was] in pieces. 2 In November 1989 ground was broken to build the Denver International Airport (DIA). Located 25 miles from downtown Denver, Colorado, it was the first major airport to be built in the United States since the opening of the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in 1974.In 1992, two years into construction, the projectââ¬â¢s top managers recommended inclusion of an airport-wide integrated baggage-handling system that could dramatically improve the efficiency of luggage delivery. Originally contracted by United Airlines to cover its operations, the system was to be expanded to serve the entire airport. It was expected that the integrated system would improve ground time efficiency, reduce close-out time for hub operations, and decrease time-consuming manual baggage sorting and handling.There were, however, a number of risks inherent in the endeavor: the scale of the large project size; the enormous complexity of the expanded system; the newness of the technology; the large number of resident entities to be served by the same system; the high degree of technical and project definition uncertainty; and the short time span for completion. Due to its significant experience implementing baggage-handling technology on a smaller scale, BAE Automated Systems Inc. , an engineering consulting and manufacturing company based in Carollton, Texas, was awarded the contract.Construction problems kept the new airport from opening on the originally scheduled opening date in October 1993. Subsequently, problems with the implementation of the baggage system forced delays in the opening of the airport another three times in seven months. In May 1994, under growing pressure from shareholders, the business community, Denver residents, Federal 1Fred Isaac, Federal Aviation Administration regional administrator, quoted in ââ¬Å"Denver Still Working Out Kinks as Its First Birthday Arrives,â⬠USA Today (February 28, 1996), p. 4b. Fred Renville, United Airlines employee quoted in ââ¬Å"Denver Still Working Out Kinks as Its First Birthday Arrives,â⬠USA Today (February 28, 1996), p. 4b. Assistant Professor Ramiro Montealegre and Research Associate H. James Nelson of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Research Associate Carin Isabel Knoop, and Professor Lynda M. Applegate prepared this case as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Some names have been disguised. Copyright à © 1996 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685 or write Harvard Business School Publishing, Bosto n, MA 02163. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any meansââ¬âelectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwiseââ¬âwithout the permission of Harvard Business School. 1 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling SystemAviation Administration (FAA) commissioners, and the tenant airlines and concessionaires, Denver mayor Wellington Webb announced that he was hiring the German firm Logplan to help assess the state of the automated baggage system. In July, Logplan issued an 11-page report to the City of Denver that characterized BAEââ¬â¢s system as ââ¬Å"highly advancedâ⬠and ââ¬Å"theoreticallyâ⬠capable of living up to its promised ââ¬Å"capacities, services and performances,â⬠but acknowledged mechanical and electrical problems that ââ¬Å "make it most improbable to achieve a stable and reliable operation. Logplan suggested that it would take approximately five months to get the complete BAE system working reliably. It also suggested that a backup system of tugs, carts, and conveyor belts could be constructed in less than five months. In August 1994, Mayor Webb approved the construction of a backup baggage system. At the same time, he notified BAE of a $12,000-a-day penalty for not finishing the baggage system by DIAââ¬â¢s original October 29, 1993 completion date. Webb also demanded that BAE pay for the $50 million conventional tug-and-cart baggage system.Gene Di Fonso, President of BAE, knew that his company could demonstrate that flaws in the overall design of the airport and an unsystematic approach to project changes had affected implementation of the integrated baggage system. He wondered whether he should just cancel the contract and cut his losses, or attempt to negotiate with the city for the support requ ired to finish the system as specified, despite the severe deterioration in communication and rising hostility. Could the problems with the automated system be overcome with the dedication of additional resources?Given that the system represented a significant departure from conventional technology, would reducing its size and complexity facilitate resolution of the problems that plagued it? And, if the city could be persuaded to accept a simplified system, would the tenant airlines, particularly those with hubbing operations that had been promised more advanced functionality and better performance, be likely to sue? Building the Most Efficient Airport in the World Until about 1970, Denverââ¬â¢s Stapleton Airport had managed to accommodate an ever-growing number of airplanes and passengers.Its operational capacity was severely limited by runway layout; Stapleton had two parallel north-south runways and two additional parallel east-west runways that accommodated only commuter air carriers. Denverââ¬â¢s economy grew and expanded greatly in the early 1980s, consequent to booms in the oil, real estate, and tourism industries. An aging and saturated Stapleton Airport was increasingly seen as a liability that limited the attractiveness of the region to the many businesses that were flocking to it. Delays had become chronic.Neither the north-south nor east-west parallel runways had sufficient lateral separation to accommodate simultaneous parallel arrival streams during poor weather conditions when instrument flight rules were in effect. This lack of runway separation and the layout of Stapletonââ¬â¢s taxiways tended to cause delays during high-traffic periods, even when weather conditions were good. Denverââ¬â¢s geographic location and the growing size of its population and commerce made it an attractive location for airline hubbing operations. At one point, Stapleton had housed four airline hubs, more than any other airport in the United States.In poor weather and during periods of hightraffic volume, however, its limitations disrupted connection schedules that were important to maintaining these operations. A local storm could easily congest air traffic across the entire United States. 3 3According to James Barnes [1993], ââ¬Å"By 1994, Stapleton was one of the top five most constrained airports in the US. There were over 50,000 hours of delay in 1988 and by 1997 the FAA had projected that Stapleton would experience over 100,000 hours of delay per year. â⬠2 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 The City and County of Denver had determined in the mid-1970s that Stapleton International Airport was in need of expansion or replacement. In July 1979, a study to assess the airport's needs was commissioned by the City of Denver to the Denver Regional Council of Governments. Upon completion of the study in 198 3, a report was issued saying that, due to its size and geographic location, and strong commitments by United and Continental Airlines, Denver would remain a significant hub for at least one major U. S. arrier. The study recommended expansion of Stapletonââ¬â¢s capacity. Political Situation4 The City of Denverââ¬â¢s 1983 mayoral race precipitated initiatives to improve the airfield infrastructure. Three candidates were vying for mayor: Monte Pascoe, Dale Tooley, and Frederico Pena. Pascoe, a prominent Denver attorney and former State Democratic Party co-chair, seized upon the airport issue, forcing other candidates to adopt stronger positions on airport expansion than they might have otherwise. 5 Pena and Tooley, however, drew the highest numbers of votes in the general election, and were forced into a runoff.At the persistent urging of the Colorado Forum (a collection of 50 of the stateââ¬â¢s top business executives), Pena and Tooley signed a joint statement committing the mselves to airport expansion. Pena won the runoff. Committed by a public promise that could have been enforced, if necessary, by the most highly motivated members of the regionââ¬â¢s business leadership, Pena immediately restated his intent to expand Stapleton. The City of Denver and neighboring Adams County began to develop plans for long-term airport development in 1984. In 1985, a new site northeast of Denver was chosen.Consummation of the airport siting issue, however, was left to Adams County voters, which had to vote to permit the City of Denver to annex property therein. The city hired a consulting firm to help organize its resources and its efforts to work through the legal process. The data that was gathered through the master planning and environmental assessment later proved useful for public education. An ââ¬Å"Annexation Agreementâ⬠between Adams County and the City of Denver was reached on April 21, 1988. Adams Country voters approved a plan to let Denver anne x 43. 3 square miles for the construction of an airport.In a special election on May 16, 1989, voters of Denver endorsed a ââ¬Å"New Airportâ⬠by a margin of 62. 7% to 37. 3%. According to Edmond, ââ¬Å"Those two referendums passed largely on the merits of the economic benefits: jobs and sales tax revenues. â⬠Economic Considerations A number of trends and events in the mid-1980s alarmed bank economists and other of the region's business leaders in the mid-1980s. The collapse of oil shale ventures between 1982 and 1986 saw mining employment fall from 42,000 to 26,000 jobs, while service support jobs fell from 25,300 jobs to 13,700. Construction jobs fell from 50,700 to 36,600 jobs, and the value of private construction plummeted from $24 billion to $9. 5 billion. 7 A lackluster economy led many government officials in counties and municipalities as well as in Denver to embark upon an unprecedented policy of massive public construction to save the region from what was reg arded in 1987 as an economic free-fall. A $180 million-plus municipal bond was issued for public improvements, including a new downtown library, neighborhood and major roadway improvements, and a host of overdue infrastructure investments.During the same period, 4Extracted from: Moore, S. T. : ââ¬Å"Between Growth Machine and Garbage Can: Determining Whether to Expand the Denver Airport, 1982-1988,â⬠Annual Meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Atlanta, Georgia, November 4, 1994. 5Ibid. 6 7 Colorado Business Outlook Forum, University of Colorado School of Business, 1990. Small Area Employment Estimates; Construction Review, U. S. Department of Commerce, 1990 3 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System he Pena administration moved decisively to confront an increasingly aggressive Chamber of Commerce leadership that was promoting airport reloca tion. The determination of the ââ¬Å"pro-New-Airportâ⬠clan was growing. The project was being marketed as a technologically advanced, state-of-the-art structure to draw businesses, import federal capital, and fund the creation of new jobs with bonded debts to overcome the short-term decline in the economy. The airport was to become a grandiose project to revive the Colorado economy and a master showcase for the Public Works Department. The entire business community,â⬠recalled a member of the Mayor's administrative team: The Chamber of Commerce, members of the city council, the mayor, and state legislators, participated in informational discussions with other cities that had recently built airports. [This enabled] everybody to understand the magnitude of the project. So we studied the other two airports that had been built in the United States in the last 50 years and said, ââ¬Å"Tell us everything that you went through and all the places you think there will be problem s. â⬠We were not going into it blindly.Forecasts of aviation activity at Stapleton by the Airport Consultant team, the FAA, and others, however, did not anticipate events such as a new phase of post-deregulation consolidation, the acquisition in 1986 of Frontier Airlines by Texas Air (the owner of Continental), significant increases in air fares for flights in and out of Stapleton, and the bankruptcy of Continental. Consequently, the level of aviation activity in Denver was overestimated. Instead of rising, Stapletonââ¬â¢s share of total U. S. domestic passenger enplanements fell 4% per year from 1986 through 1989. 8 The Master PlanThe City of Denver's approach to preparing a master plan for the airport was typical. ââ¬Å"One hires the best consultants on airfield layout, noise impacts, terminal layout, on-site roadways, off-site roadways, cost estimating, financial analysis, and forecasting,â⬠observed DIA administrator Gail Edmond. ââ¬Å"They brainstorm and generat e as many alternate layouts as possible. â⬠Alternatives were discussed and eliminated at periodic joint working sessions, and a technical subcommittee was organized to gather input from the eventual airport users, airlines, pilots, and the FAA. ââ¬Å"Everybody knows how to begin an airport master plan,â⬠Edmond added.Following a bid, the consulting contract was awarded to the joint venture of Greiner, Inc. and Morrison-Knudsen Engineers for their combined expertise in the fields of transportation and construction. The consulting team, working under the direction of the DIA Director of Aviation, focused first on four elements: site selection; the master plan; the environmental assessment; and developing support by educating the public on economic benefit. The final master plan presented to the city by the team in the fall of 1987 called for the construction of the worldââ¬â¢s most efficient airport.It was to be created from the ground up with no predetermined limitatio ns. The plan was to allow the airport to grow and expand without compromising efficiency. Twice the size of Manhattan at 53 square miles, the nation's largest airport was to be designed for steady traffic flow in all weather conditions. It was to comprise a terminal with east and west buildings joined by an atrium structure, three concourses, an automated underground people mover, and five parallel 12,000-foot-long runways on which as many as 1,750 planes could take off and land daily.Its flow-through traffic patterns would allow planes to land, taxi to concourse gates, and take 8 Furthermore, when selling the project to voters, planners at one point forecast up to 36 weekly flights to Europe by 1993. The number recorded in 1993, however, was four. The number of passengers departing form Denver was to rise from 16 million in 1985 to some 26 million by 1995. The 1994 figure, however, was about the same as the number of passengers in 1985, or half of Stapletonââ¬â¢s capacity. 4 Pur chased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] om) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 off again all in one direction. The ultimate buildout, projected for the year 2020, was to include up to 12 full service runways, more than 200 gates, and a capacity of 110 million passengers annually. Estimated cost (excluding land acquisition and pre-1990 planning costs) was $2 billion. By the end of 1991, the estimated cost had increased to $2. 66 billion. Plans called for the project's completion by the fall of 1993.In September 1989, Federal officials signed a $60 million grant agreement for the new airport, which was to be financed in multiple waysââ¬âby issuing revenue bonds and securing federal grantsââ¬â supplemented by a sizable investment by the city [county of Denver 1991]. Estimated federal grants for the new airport originally totaled $501 million. Portions of these were forthcoming from the FAA, for feder al fiscal year 1990 in the amount of $90 million and for federal fiscal year 1991 in the amount of $25 million. The remainder of the $501 million letter of intent was to be received on an annual basis through fiscal year 1997.The revenue bonds assumed the ââ¬Å"Date of Beneficial Occupancyâ⬠(DBO) to be January 1, 1994, with bond repayments to begin on that date. At that time, the city determined that DIA would meet the DBO no later than October 31, 1993. A member of the Mayorââ¬â¢s administrative team described the approach. What we did was plan the DBO date and then we planned an extra six months just in case there was a lag in the opening, which, in essence, allowed us to create stability in the market. The other thing we did was that we conservatively financed and filled every reserve account to the maximum.So we borrowed as much money as we could at the lower interest rate and were able to average the debt cost down, not up, as we thought it would be. A Build-Design Pr oject By the time construction began at DIA in November 1989, a transfer of authority was taking place in the City of Denver. Wellington Webb was elected the new mayor. According to one of his assistants, the Pena administration had announced that the airport would be operational in October 1993. ââ¬Å"This was a build-design project, which means that we were building the airport [while] we were designing it,â⬠he explained. Because of the delays early on in the project, we had to accelerate construction immediately. There was a lot of pressure and too many players. This was an airport built by committee. We had regular meetings to straighten things out, but it didnââ¬â¢t always work. â⬠Although the Webb administration inherited the airport project without a commitment on the part of the major carriers, the support and input of concerned airlines were absolutely key, not only financially but also in terms of input on overall airport layout, scope, and capacity, and su pporting systems such as fueling and baggage handling.Denver launched the DIA program without specific commitments from either of Stapleton airport's two major tenant airlines, United and Continental, which together accounted for more than 70% of existing passenger traffic. Continental committed to the new airport in February 1990, United in December 1991. Fundamental changes were made to the airport layout plan and facilities (some already under construction) to accommodate the operational needs of these carriers. The Webb administration followed the predecessor administrationââ¬â¢s emphasis on assuring that the projectââ¬â¢s greatest beneficiaries would be local businesses.The desire was to involve as many individual firms as practicable and to use Denver area talent. It was reasoned that local talent was easily accessible to the program management team (PMT), knew Denver building codes and practices, and had available the necessary professional labor pool to accomplish the design in accordance with the demanding schedule. In addition, existing law stated that 30% minority-owned firms and 6% women-owned firms had to participate in a public works program. The result was a contracting philosophy that maximized opportunities for regional businesses and the local workforce to compete for the work.At least five of 60 contracts awarded for the design of DIA went to Denverarea firms. These 60 design contracts generated 110 construction contracts. Eighty-eight professional service contracts also had to be coordinated. Many local firms had to be hired and the program was 5 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System chopped up into many small projects. Involvement totaled 200 to 300 firms and reached 400 during the construction phase. Five different firms designed the runways, four the terminal.The city's emphasis on encouraging everyone to comp ete and yet be part of the project increased the potential for interface and coordination problems. Denverââ¬â¢s flat economy led the administration to keep construction money within the city. Although this benefited the city, it introduced an additional burden on administration. As many as 40-50 concurrent contracts involved many interrelated milestones and contiguous or overlapping operational areas. The estimated daily on-site work force population exceeded 2,500 workers for a 15 to 18-month period beginning in mid-1991 and peaked at between 9,000 and 10,000 in mid-1992.Adding to the human resource coordination problems was a forecasted 4,000 deliveries daily. Construction volume for six months in mid-1992 exceeded $100 million per month. The prolonged period of assessment and negotiation prior to final approval of the project, and the financial plan selected (which required that bond repayments begin on January 1, 1994), pressured the PMT to push the project ahead at all cost . Because the project had to assume the characteristics of a ââ¬Å"fast-trackâ⬠project early in the construction startup, the compressed design period precipitated a more dynamic construction effort han might be anticipated for a ââ¬Å"competitively bid, fixed priceâ⬠program. Reliance on a design/build method for the project was, according to one DIA official, ââ¬Å"unusual because projects this complex normally happen during separate stages. For example, you need to finish up the site selection before you begin the master planning. â⬠Moreover, communication channels between the city, project management team, and consultants were neither well defined or controlled. ââ¬Å"If a contractor fell behind,â⬠a resident engineer who reported to one of the area managers said, the resident engineer would alert the contractor and document this.The resident engineer would document what would have to be done and what additional resources were necessary to get back on s chedule and finish the contract on time. As a public agency it was enormous, the amount of documentation that we did. I donââ¬â¢t know how many trees we cut down just for this project. The resident engineer had about five to eight 12-drawer filing cabinets of documentation and this was nothing compared to what the area manager had. It was just incredible. There were at least four to six copies of everything. The scheduling manager described the evolution of the tracking system that was used.One of the biggest problems we had was keeping track of all the changes. So we developed a database system that was installed at each one of the resident engineerââ¬â¢s trailers and each contract administrator was then charged with keeping that system up to date and feeding us disks, which we would then merge together periodically to produce an integrated report. But every party had developed their own tracking system before the start of the project. That worked well for each group, but the re was no way to take each one of these divergent systems and combine it into one, comprehensive report.So when we introduced the change tracking system everybody said, ââ¬Å"fine, thatââ¬â¢s wonderful, and Iââ¬â¢ll update it when I get to it and when I get time. â⬠It took three years to implement the tracking system. Project Management In a fast-moving, ever-changing environment such as the development of a new airport, the management structure must be able to rapidly produce engineering alternatives and the supporting 6 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 ost and schedule data. 9 But because DIA was financed by many sources and was a public works program, project administrators had to balance administrative, political, and social imperatives. 10 The City of Denver staff and consultant team shared leadership of the project and coordinated the in itial facets of DIA design. ââ¬Å"The initial thought,â⬠reflected one staff member, ââ¬Å"was that the city staff would do their thing and the consulting staff do theirs and later we would coordinate. It became evident within a very short time that we were doing duplicate duties, which was inefficient.Finally the city decided to coordinate resources. â⬠The city selected a team of city employees and consultants and drafted a work scope document that clearly separated the cityââ¬â¢s from the consultantsââ¬â¢ responsibilities. The elements the city did not delegate to consultants included ultimate policy and facility decisions, approval of payments, negotiation and execution of contracts, facilitation of FAA approvals, affirmative action, settlement of contractor claims and disputes, selection of consultants, and utility agreements.The city delegated some elements such as value engineering, construction market analysis, claim management, on-site staff and organizati on, and state-of-the-art project control (computerized management of budget and schedule). Exhibit 1 depicts the DIA management structure. The program management team became the organization dedicated to overseeing planning and development for the new airport. Headed by the associate director of aviation, the team was partially staffed by city career service employees.To add experience and capability, the city augmented the PMT with personnel from the joint venture of Greiner Engineering and MorrisonKnudsen Engineers, the consulting team. Observed one program management team member, ââ¬Å"This working partnership of the City of Denver and consulting joint venture team developed into a fully integrated single organization, capitalizing on the best to be offered by all participants, and optimizing the use of personnel resources. â⬠DIAââ¬â¢s operational project structure comprised five different areas subdivided into smaller units.The working areas were: site development (ear thmoving, grading, and drainage); roadways and on-grade parking (service roads, on-airport roads, and off-airport roads connecting to highways); airfield paving; building design (people-mover/baggage-handler, tunnel, concourses, passenger bridge, terminal, and parking); and utility/special systems and other facilities (electrical transmission, oil, and gas line removal and relocation). An area manager controlled construction within each area.Area managers were responsible for the administration of all assigned contracts and, in coordination with other area managers, for management of the portion of the overall site in which their work took place. United Airlinesââ¬â¢ Baggage System From the publicââ¬â¢s perspective, the ââ¬Å"friendlinessâ⬠of any airport is measured by time. No matter how architecturally stimulating a new airport structure, the perception of business or leisure travelers is often registered in terms of efficiency in checking luggage at the departure are a or waiting to claim a bag in the arrival area.The larger the airport, the more critical the efficient handling of baggage. Remote concourses connected by underground tunnels present special problems for airport planners and operators because of the great distances passengers and baggage must travel. The purpose of an airport being to move passengers as efficiently as possible, moving bags as quickly is 9 The DIA project used the so-called ââ¬Å"fast-trackingâ⬠method, which made it possible to compress some activities along the critical path and manage the construction project as a series of overlapping tasks. 0 These included considerations such as affirmative action, local participation, neighborhood concerns, civic pride, input from the disabled community, art, secondary employment benefits of contract packaging, concern for the environment, and political interest. 7 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A ): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System part and parcel of that responsibility. Rapid transport of frequent flyers accomplishes very little if bags are left behind.DIA's Concourse A, which was to house Continental Airlines, was situated some 400 meters, and United Airlinesââ¬â¢ Concourse B nearly 1,000 meters, north of the main terminal. Concourse C, home to other carriers including American, Delta, Northwest, America West, and TWA, sat parallel to the other two concourses more than 1,600 meters north of the main terminal. The initial project design did not incorporate an airport-wide baggage system; the airport expected the individual airlines to build their own systems as in most other American airports. 1 United Airlines, which in June 1991 signed on to use DIA as its second-largest hub airport, proceeded to do just that. Needing an automated baggage handling system if it was to turn aircraft around in less than 30 minutes, United, in December 1991, commissione d BAE Automatic Systems, Inc. , a world leader in the design and implementation of material handling systems, to develop an automated baggage handling system for its B Concourse at DIA. The contract, which included engineering and early parts procurement only, was valued at $20 million; and the task was estimated to be completed in two and one-half years. We began working at DIA under a contract directly with United Airlines,â⬠recalled Di Fonso. ââ¬Å"Obviously, United Airlines has experience with airports. They concluded that the schedule had gotten totally out of control from the standpoint of baggage and they acted to serve their own needs, basically to protect themselves. We contracted with United and were already designing their portion of the system before the city went out for competitive bidding. â⬠BAE was founded as a division of Docutel Corporation in 1968.Docutel, which had developed the Telecar (a track-mounted automated baggage system), constructed an autom ated baggage system for United Airlines at San Francisco airport in 1978. When Docutel ran into financial difficulties during this installation, United asked Boeing, a major supplier of its aircraft, to take over the company. Boeing agreed and the new company, a wholly-owned subsidiary dubbed Boeing Airport Equipment, completed the San Francisco installation. In 1982, Boeing sold the company to its senior management, which renamed it BAE Automated Systems.In August 1985, BAE became an operating unit of Clarkson Industries, a wholly-owned subsidiary of London-based BTR plc. BTR plc (formerly British Tire and Rubber), was a $10 billion conglomerate with global interests in building, paper and printing products, and agricultural and aircraft equipment. In 1994, BAE's 365 employees worked on projects across the United States and in Europe and Australia. In-house engineering, manufacturing, and field support capabilities enabled BAE to develop, design, manufacture, install, and support e very project it undertook from start to finish.BAE also provided consulting, engineering, and management services for airport projects and a variety of material handling applications. With sales of $100 million in 1994, up from approximately $40 million in 1991, BAE accounted for 90% of U. S. baggage sorting equipment sales. Between 1972 and 1994, the company had successfully designed, manufactured, and installed nearly 70 automated baggage handling systems (worth almost $500 million dollars) at major airports in the United States, in New York, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Miami, Newark, and Pittsburgh.It had also installed systems in Vancouver and London and was selected, in 1992, as a consultant to the $550 million main terminal for the New Seoul Metropolitan Airport in South Korea. BAE was a very self-contained, integrated company structured along two business lines: manufacturing and engineering. Its approximately 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility was capable of producing nearly all of the components required by BAE systems save motors, gearboxes, and bearings. The engineering department was structured according to major projects. Each project was assigned a project manager who reported directly to the company president. 1 Rifkin, G. : ââ¬Å"What Really Happened at Denverââ¬â¢s Airport,â⬠Forbes, SAP Supplement, August 29, 1994. 8 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 Implementing an Integrated Baggage-Handling System BAE had already commenced work on United's baggage system when the PMT recognized the potential benefits of an airport-wide integrated baggage system. Moreover, as one DIA senior manager explained, ââ¬Å"airlines other than United simply were not coming forward with plans to develop their own baggage systems. Airport planners and consultants began to draw up specifications and th e city sent out a request for bids. Of 16 companies contacted, both in the United States and abroad, only three responded. A consulting firm recommended against the submitted designs, on the grounds that the configurations would not meet the airportââ¬â¢s needs. BAE was among the companies that had decided not to bid for the job. BAE had installed the Telecar system at a number of other airports and the basic technologies of the Telecar, laser barcode readers, and conveyor belt systems were not new. What was new was the size and complexity of the system. A grand airport like DIA needs a complex baggage system,â⬠explained Di Fonso, Therefore the type of technology to be used for such a system is the kind of decision that must be made very early in a project. If there is a surprise like no bidders there is still time to react. At DIA, this never happened. Working with United Airlines, we had concluded that destination-coded vehicles moving at high speed was the technology nee ded. But quite honestly, although we had that technology developed, its implementation in a complex project like this would have required significantly greater time than the city had left available.A United project manager concurred: ââ¬Å"BAE told them from the beginning that they were going to need at least one more year to get the system up and running, but no one wanted to hear that. â⬠The City of Denver was getting the same story from the technical advisers to the Franz Josef Strauss Airport in Munich. The Munich Airport had an automated baggage system, but one far less complex than DIAââ¬â¢s. Nevertheless, Munichââ¬â¢s technical advisors had spent two years testing the system and the system had been running 24 hours a day for six months before the airport opened. Formulating IntentionsAs BAE was already working on Unitedââ¬â¢s automated baggage handling system and enjoyed a world-wide reputation as a superior baggage system builder, Denver approached the compan y. BAE was asked to study how the United concept could be expanded into an integrated airport system that could serve the other carriers in the various concourses. BAE presented the City of Denver with a proposal to develop the ââ¬Å"most complex automated baggage system ever built,â⬠according to Di Fonso. It was to be effective in delivering bags to and from passengers, and efficient in terms of operating reliability, maintainability, and future flexibility.The system was to be capable of directing bags (including suitcases of all sizes, skis, and golf clubs) from the main terminal through a tunnel into a remote concourse and directly to a gate. Such efficient delivery would save precious ground time, reduce close-out time for hub operations, and cut time-consuming manual baggage sorting and handling. Although an automated system was more expensive initially than simple tugs and baggage carts, it was expected that it would reduce the manpower which was required to distribute bags to the correct locations.Bags unloaded from an aircraft arriving at a particular concourse would barely be touched by human hands. Moved through the airport at speeds up to 20 mph, they would be waiting when passengers arrived at the terminal. To prove the capability of its mechanical aspects, and demonstrate the proposed system to the airlines and politicians, BAE built a prototype automated baggage handling system in a 50,000 square foot warehouse near its manufacturing plant in Carrollton, Texas. The prototype system convinced Chief Airport Engineer Walter Slinger that the automated system would work. [The City of Denver] approached us based on one core concept,â⬠recalled Di Fonso. ââ¬Å"They wanted to have a fully integrated, airport-wide baggage system. The city 9 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System had two major concerns. First, they had no acceptable proposal. Second, United was probably going to go ahead and build what it needed and the rest of the airport would have been equipped with something else. Di Fonso continued, When we arrived on the scene, we were faced with fully defined project specs, which obviously in the long run proved to be a major planning error. The city had fallen into a trap, which historically architects and engineers tend to fall into as they severely underplay the importance and significance of some of the requirements of a baggage system, that is, arranging things for the space into which it must fit, accommodating the weight it may impose on the building structure, the power it requires to run, and the ventilation and air conditioning that may be necessary to dissipate the heat it generates.In April 1992, BAE was awarded the $175. 6 million contract to build the entire airport system. According to Di Fonso, company executives and city officials hammered out a deal in three intense working sessions. ââ¬Å"We placed a number of conditions on accepting the job,â⬠he observed. The design was not to be changed beyond a given date and there would be a number of freeze dates for mechanical design, software design, permanent power requirements and the like. The contract made it obvious that both signatory parties were very concerned about the ability to complete.The provisions dealt mostly with all-around access, timely completion of certain areas, provision of permanent power, provision of computer rooms. All these elements were delineated as milestones. Denver officials accepted these requirements and, in addition, committed to unrestricted access for BAE equipment. Because of the tight deadlines, BAE would have priority in any area where it needed to install the system. Di Fonso elaborated, When we entered into the contract, Continental Airlines was still under bankruptcy law protection.The city was very concerned that they would be unable to pay for their concourse . They only contracted for about 40% of the equipment that is now in concourse A, which was the concourse that Continental had leased. Beyond that, concourse C had no signatory airlines as leaseholders at the time. The city, therefore, wanted the simplest, most elementary baggage system possible for concourse C. The outputs and inputs were very, very crude, intentionally crude to keep the costs down because the city had no assurance of revenue stream at that point in time.The city did not get the airlines together or ask them what they wanted or needed to operate. The approach was more along the lines of ââ¬Å"we will build the apartment building and then you come in and rent a set of rooms. â⬠Project Organization and Management No major organizational changes to accommodate the new baggage system were deemed necessary, although some managerial adjustments were made on the DIA project. Design of the United baggage system was frozen on May 15, 1992, when the PMT assumed manage rial responsibility for the integrated baggage system.The direct relationship with BAE was delegated to Working Area 4, which also had responsibility for building design efforts such as the people-mover, airside concourse building, passenger bridge main landside building complex and parking garage, and various other smaller structures. The area manager, although he had no experience in airport construction, baggage system technologies, or the introduction of new technologies, possessed vast experience in construction project control management. BAE had to change its working structure to conform to DIA's project management structure. Di Fonso explained, 10Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 There was a senior manager for each of the concourses and a manager for the main terminal. The bag system, however, traversed all of them. If I had to argue a case for righ t of way I would have to go to all the managers because I was traversing all four empires. In addition, because changes were happening fast at each of these sites, there was no time to have an information system to see what is concourse A deciding and what is concourse B deciding.We had to be personally involved to understand what was going on. There was no one to tie it all together and overlap all these effects because the basic organization was to manage it as discrete areas. It was pandemonium. We would keep saying that over and over again. Who is in charge? For the first two years of the project, Di Fonso was the project manager. The project was divided into three general areas of expertise: mechanical engineering, industrial control, and software design.Mechanical engineering was responsible for all mechanical components and their installation, industrial control for industrial control design, logic controller programming, and motor control panels, and software design for writ ing real-time process control software to manage the system. At the time the contract with BAE was signed, construction had already begun on the terminal and concourses. Substantial changes had to be made to the overall design of the terminal and some construction already completed had to be taken out and reinstalled to accommodate the expanded system.Installation of the expanded system was initially estimated to require more than $100 million in construction work. Walls had to be removed and a new floor installed in the terminal building to support the new system. Moreover, major changes in project governance were taking place during the baggage system negotiations. In May 1992, shortly after the baggage system negotiations commenced, the head of the DIA project resigned. The death in October 1992 of Chief Airport Engineer Slinger, who had been a strong proponent of the baggage system and closely involved in negotiations with BAE, also exerted a significant impact on the project.Hi s cooperation had been essential because of the amount of heavy machinery and track that had to be moved and installed and the amount of construction work required to accommodate the system. His replacement, Gail Edmond, was selected because she had worked closely with him and knew all the players. Her managerial style, however, was quite different from Slingerââ¬â¢s. A Public Works manager recalled his first reaction to the change: ââ¬Å"[The airport] is not going to be open on time. â⬠A United Airlines project manager summarized Edmondââ¬â¢s challenge thus: Slinger was a real problem solver.He was controversial because of his attitude, but he was never afraid to address problems. He had a lot of autonomy and could get things done. Gail was in a completely different position. Basically, she had a good understanding of how the project was organized and who the key players were, but didnââ¬â¢t know much about the actual construction. Also, the city council didnââ¬â ¢t give her anywhere near the autonomy and the authority that Slinger had and she had to get approval from the council on just about all decisions. They really tied her hands and everyone knew it.Di Fonso echoed the project manager's assessment: Walter [Slinger] understood that one of the things we had to have was unrestricted access. I think he clearly understood the problem the city was facing and he understood the short timeframe under which we were operating. He was the one that accepted all of the contractual conditions, all the milestones of the original contract. He really had no opportunity to influence the outcome of this project, however, because he died within months after the contract was signed. I think Gail 11 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 96-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System did an excellent job [but] she was overwhelmed. 12 She just had too much. The layers below focused inw ard, worrying about their own little corners of the world. ââ¬Å"Not only did we not get the unrestricted access that was agreed upon,â⬠Di Fonso emphasized, ââ¬Å"we didnââ¬â¢t even have reasonable access. â⬠Ten days after Slingerââ¬â¢s death, a BAE millwright found a truck from Hensel Phelps, the contractor building Concourse C, blocking her work site. She asked someone to move the truck or leave the keys so it could be moved.According to a BAE superintendent, ââ¬Å"she was told that ââ¬ËThis is not a BAE job and we can park anywhere we please: is that clear? ââ¬â¢Ã¢â¬ Elsewhere, BAE electricians had to leave work areas where concrete grinders were creating clouds of dust. Fumes from chemical sealants forced other BAE workers to flee. Di Fonso pleaded with the city for help. ââ¬Å"We ask that the city take prompt action to assure BAE the ability to continue its work in an uninterrupted manner,â⬠he wrote. ââ¬Å"Without the cityââ¬â¢s help, th e delays to BAEââ¬â¢s work will quickly become unrecoverable. 13 To further complicate matters, the airlines began requesting changes to the systemââ¬â¢s design even though the mechanical and software designs were supposed to be frozen. ââ¬Å"Six months prior to opening the airport,â⬠Di Fonso recalled, ââ¬Å"we were still moving equipment around, changing controls, changing software design. â⬠In August 1992, for example, United altered plans for a transfer system for bags changing planes, requesting that BAE eliminate an entire loop of track from Concourse B. Rather than two complete loops of track, United would have only one.This change saved approximately $20 million, but required a system redesign. Additional ski-claim devices and odd-size baggage elevators added in four of the six sections of the terminal added $1. 61 million to the cost of the system. One month later, Continental requested that automated baggage sorting systems be added to its west basement at an additional cost of $4. 67 million. The ski claim area length was first changed from 94 feet to 127 feet, then in January 1993, shortened to 112 feet. The first change added $295,800, the second subtracted $125,000, from the cost.The same month, maintenance tracks were added to permit the Telecars to be serviced without having to lift them off the main tracks at an additional cost of $912,000. One year later, United requested alterations to its odd-size baggage inputsââ¬âcost of the change: $432,000. Another problem was the cityââ¬â¢s inability to supply ââ¬Å"cleanâ⬠electricity to the baggage system. The motors and circuitry used in the system were extremely sensitive to power surges and fluctuations. When electrical feedback tripped circuit breakers on hundreds of motors, an engineer was called in to design filters to correct the problem.Although ordered at that time, the filters still had not arrived several months later. A city worker had canceled a contract w ithout realizing that the filters were part of it. The filters finally arrived in March 1994. A third, albeit disputed, complication related to Denverââ¬â¢s requirement, and city law, that a certain percentage of jobs be contracted to minority-owned companies. The City of Denver had denied BAEââ¬â¢s original contract because it did not comply with hiring requirements, where upon BAE engaged some outside contractors in lieu of BAE employees. Di Fonso estimated that this increased costs by approximately $6 million, a claim ejected by the Mayor's Office of Contract Compliance. Then, in September 1993, BAEââ¬â¢s contract negotiations with the City of Denver over maintenance of the system resulted in a two-day strike of 300 millwrights that was joined by some 200 electricians. BAE negotiated with Denver for maintenance workers to earn $12 per hour on certain jobs that the union contended should be worth $20 per hour. As a result, BAE lost the maintenance contract. 12 In addition to her role as Chief Airport Engineer, Edmond kept her previous responsibilities as Chief of Construction and Acting Director of Aviation. 3 Rocky Mountain News, January 29, 1995 12 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System 396-311 Project Relations Much of the effort for implementing the baggage system was directed within one of the four working areas. ââ¬Å"The relationship with the management team was very poor,â⬠recalled Di Fonso. The management team had no prior baggage handling competence or experience. This was treated as a major public works project.The management team treated the baggage system as similar to pouring concrete or putting in air-conditioning ducts. When we would make our complaints about delays and access and so forth, other contractors would argue their position. The standard answer was, ââ¬Å"Go work it out among yourselves. â⬠. . . With contractors basically on their own, this led almost to anarchy. Everyone was doing his or her own thing. Another perspective was offered by a project manager from Stone & Webster, a consultant to the PMT, reflecting on the work done by BAE: ââ¬Å"This contractor simply did not respond to the obvious incredible workload they were faced with.Their inexperienced project management vastly underestimated their task. Their work ethic was deplorable. â⬠14 PMT management insisted that access and mechanical issues werenââ¬â¢t the problem. ââ¬Å"They were running cars in Concourse B all summer (1993),â⬠Edmund observed. ââ¬Å"The problem was that the programming was not done and BAE had full control of the programming. â⬠15 Lawsuits and a Backup Baggage System In February 1993, Mayor Webb delayed the scheduled October 1993 airport opening to December 19, 1993. Later, this December date was changed to March 9, 1994. Everybody got into the panic mode of trying to get t o this magical date that nobody was ready for,â⬠a senior vicepresident for BAE recalled. In September 1993, the opening was again postponedââ¬âthis time until May 15, 1994. In late April 1994, the City of Denver invited reporters to observe the first test of the baggage system, without notifying BAE. Seven thousand bags were to be moved to Continentalââ¬â¢s Concourse A and Unitedââ¬â¢s Concourse B. So many problems were discovered that testing had to be halted. Reporters saw piles of disgorged clothes and other personal items lying beneath the Telecarââ¬â¢s tracks.Most of the problems related to errors in the systemââ¬â¢s computer software, but mechanical problems also played a part. The software that controlled the delivery of empty cars to the terminal building, for example, often sent the cars back to the waiting pool. Another problem was ââ¬Å"jam logicâ⬠software, which was designed to shut down a section of track behind a jammed car, but instead shu t down an entire loop of track. Optical sensors designed to detect and monitor cars were dirty causing the system to believe that a section of track was empty when, in fact, it had held a stopped car.Collisions between cars dumped baggage on tracks and on the floor; jammed cars jumped the track and bent the rails; faulty switches caused the Telecars to dump luggage onto the tracks or against the walls of the tunnels. After the test, Mayor Webb delayed the airportââ¬â¢s opening yet again, this time indefinitely. ââ¬Å"Clearly, the automated baggage system now underway at DIA is not yet at a level that meets the requirements of the city, the airlines, or the traveling public,â⬠the mayor stated. The city set the costs of the delay at $330,000 per month.Recognizing that his reputation was staked on his ability to have a baggage system performing to a point at which the new airport could be opened, Mayor Webb engaged, in May 1994, the German firm Logplan to assess the state of the automated baggage system. In July, Logplan isolated a loop of track that contained every feature of the automated baggage 14 15 Forbes, ASAP Supplement, August 29, 1994. Forbes, ASAP Supplement, August 29, 1994. 13 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System ystem and intended to run it for an extended period to test the reliability of the Telecars. Jams on the conveyor belts and collisions between cars caused the test to be halted. The system did not run long enough to determine if there was a basic design flaw or to analyze where the problems were. Logplan recommended construction of a backup baggage system, and suggested using Rapistan Demag, a firm it had worked with in the past. Construction of a backup system was announced in August 1994. The system itself cost $10. million, but electrical upgrades and major building modifications raised the projected cost to $50 million. In the meantime, the City of Denver, as well as many major airlines, hired legal firms to assist with negotiations and future litigation. ââ¬Å"We will have enough legal action for the rest of this century,â⬠a city administrator mused. The City of Denver had to communicate with such parties as the United States Federal grand jury, Securities Exchange Commission, and the General Accounting Office. The federal grand jury was conducting a general investigation concerning DIA.The SEC was investigating the sale of $3. 2 billion in bonds to finance DIAââ¬â¢s construction, and GAO the use of Congressional funds. Di Fonso, reviewing Mayor Webbââ¬â¢s letter and requests that BAE pay a $12,000-a-day penalty for missing DIAââ¬â¢s original October 29, 1993 completion date, as well as assuming the costs of building the $50 million conventional tug-and-cart baggage system, summed up the situation thus: ââ¬Å"We have gotten to the point with the city that literally we are not talking to each other. Consultants recommended a backup baggage system, and the minute that the decision was made, the city had to defend it.We are left out in limbo. â⬠14 Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012 396-311 -15- Exhibit 1 Organization Chart Acting Associate Director of Aviation Denver International Airport City Attorneys Contract Compliance DIA Coordinator Tenant Facilities Administrative Assistant Marketing/Public Information Manager Planner Program Manager Computer Systems Administration Deputy Program Manager Airline Specialty Systems Environmental Engineer Contracts Risk Management Financial Manager of Design Contract Administration Administrative AssistantManager of Project Controls Architectural Supervisor Engineering Supervisor Document Control Contracts Staff Clerical Staff MIS Schedule Cost Estimating Project Managers & Support Staff Manager of Construction Project Controls Support Staff Safety Manager Senior Project Engineer QA/QC Manager Employee Relations Area 1&2 Manager Area 3 Manager Area 4A Manager Area 4B Manager Area 5 Manager Construction Support Staff Source: City and County of Denver, Colorado, Airport System Review Bonds, Series 1991D, October 1991. Purchased by Ashley Matcheck ([emailà protected] com) on April 11, 2012
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
The values and ideologys that a Head Teacher should have
A leader is considered to be a individual who knows about the people being led and managed, pass oning values and precedences and patterning good pattern. Effective leaders adopt a strategic attack and lead by illustration. Most significantly they know that people are their cardinal resources and without them, there would be no organisation to take and managed ( Kydd, 2003 ) . An effectual headteacher should hold some basic features that distinguish him from the other staff of the school. As Smith ( 1993 ) implies, ââ¬Å" an effectual headteacher has a vision and a mission for the school. He inspires committedness to the school ââ¬Ës mission and so gives way and aim to its work. He coordinates the work of the school by apportioning functions and deputing duties, promoting staff engagement in professional development programmes and makes usage of the accomplishments instructors get in these programmes â⬠. He recognizes the work that is done by others ( particularly instructors ) and gives feedback and support whenever he considers necessary. He can therefore foster an apprehension of the school vision and set up the school clime. Ubben and Hughes ( 1992 ) stated that principals could make a school clime that improves the productiveness of both staff and pupils and that the leading manner of the principal can further or curtail teacher effectivity. Decidedly, a positive school clime can heighten staff public presentation, advance higher morale, and better pupil accomplishment ( Freiberg, 1998 ) . It may be considered as the one of the most of import constituents of the school reform. A positive school clime promotes higher academic accomplishment, helps pupils recognize and make their maximal potencies and by and large lend to the betterment and effectivity of the school. If principals are extremely skilled, they can develop feelings of trust, unfastened communications, collegiality, and advance effectual feedback. In the complex environment of schools, all headteachers need to understand instructors ââ¬Ë perceptual experiences of their behaviours. They must cognize and understand how to supply the foundation for making an atmosphere conducive to alter. They must besides be able to go witting of the demands of their instructors, authorise them to portion the vision, and enable them to make an effectual school clime. A skilled headteacher is the 1 that has sensitiveness towards personal jobs of the others. He is able to understand peoples ââ¬Ë demands, harmonizing to their background and their emotional issues ( Smith, 1993 ) . He is non merely a typical, professional headteacher, but besides a human with feelings and rules. Besides, by demoing involvement towards instructors ââ¬Ë and students ââ¬Ë jobs, he can cut down the employees ââ¬Ë negative attitudes in their school working environment and do both instructors and students feel valuable. In a school ââ¬Ës environment, good communicating and coaction between the instructors, is of great importance. Collegiality is strongly related with the mutuality of the instructors in the school. The good relationships among them are indispensable and critical, because, as Barth ( 1990 ) argues ââ¬Å" relationships between them are the sine qua non that allow, stimulate, and sustain all other efforts at school betterment â⬠. Andrew Hargreaves ( Bennett et al. , 1992, p.81 ) argues that: ââ¬Å" Collegiality forms a important board of policies to reconstitute schools from without and to reform them from withinaÃâ à ¦ School betterment, course of study reform, instructor development, and leading development are all seen as being dependent, to some extent, on the edifice of positive collegial relationships for their success â⬠. Sing the impacts of a positive clime in a collaborative school environment, we can non dissent with the above statement. It is true that when the interpersonal and professional dealingss of the school staff, and specifically instructors ââ¬Ë dealingss are good, so the communicating within the school flourishes. In instances where instructors develop friendly dealingss, discoursing non merely school ââ¬Ës affairs, so the communicating between them is improved, given that they interact non merely as co-workers but as friends excessively. From my small experience in schools, I have to state that in school environments, where instructors were really pass oning, their public presentation was much better comparing with those whose dealingss were non every bit collegial as they should hold been. After all as Willi Unsoeld, ( Johnson and Johnson, 1994, p.8:7 ) a celebrated mountain climber, one time said to a group of mountain climbers, ââ¬Å" Pull togetheraÃâ à ¦ in the mountains you must depend on each other for endurance â⬠. Teaching is strongly related with mountain mounting. Like mountain climbers, instructors should hold assurance to the abilities of their co-workers, back up the attempts that are made by the others, acknowledge their part and eventually believe that their competencies are being utilised and valued by the other instructors. It is doubtless acceptable and understood that the headteacher ââ¬Ës function in the procedure of bettering communicating in school is significant. He is considered to be the cardinal figure in enabling the development of human dealingss, particularly between instructors, developing to work within the school as a whole. Colin Riches ( Bush and West- Burnham, 1994, p.261 ) points out that ââ¬Å" Effective direction has to get down from a full apprehension of the inside informations of how the communicating procedure impacts on every direction activity â⬠. Because of the headteacher ââ¬Ës influence, it is of import that he or she communicate efficaciously with the others. However, in order for good communicating to be achieved, communicating channels should be unfastened both ways. By this I mean that the principal should be accessible to everyone in the school. Coursen and Thomas ( Smith and Piele, 1991, p. ) write that ââ¬Å" it is of import for people to experience you are available and welcome personal contact with them â⬠. Roger Major ( Smith and Piele, 1991, p. ) argues that ââ¬Å" principals can utilize sincere congratulations whenever possible to make a more constructive ambiance in schools â⬠. Indeed, acknowledging the work that instructors do in the school, can better the relationships between them, since the instructors will experience valued and appreciated. Even the negative feedback will non act upon school ââ¬Ës positive clime, if it is done in the right manner, like in a personal treatment and non in public. In reexamining the literature, we find that dialogue accomplishments are besides indispensable for an effectual headteacher who wants to cultivate good communicating and better the conditions in the school. Riches ( Bush and West- Burnham, 1994, p.260 ) defines dialogue as ââ¬Å" a manner of accommodating involvements and cut downing struggle in state of affairss where people have to interact with one another but where no side is powerful plenty to enforce its will â⬠. The headteacher should be able to snuff out all the struggles that may happen between the staff, and reconstruct the concerted clime in school ; therefore, it is so of import for the principal to avoid favoritism, be just, nonsubjective and diplomatic. From all written above, the function of the headteacher in the development of a positive, communicative and collaborative clime in schools is incontestible and undisputed. All these accomplishments are gathered in the definition of the headteachers ââ¬Ë function, given by Southworth ( Bush and Middlewood, 1997, p.40 ) who writes that: ââ¬Å" The caputs take an active involvement in the instructors ââ¬Ë work and lives ; they attend to instructors ââ¬Ë person and corporate demands and involvements ; they set up ways in which staff can portion and speak about their work in the schoolrooms ( e.g. demoing assemblies, staff meetings, informal visits by the caput to instructors in their schoolrooms after school ) â⬠. Acting in this manner, most of the headteachers seek to set up and keep an organisational civilization that facilitate openness, sharing and communicating in their schools.
Tuesday, October 22, 2019
Ply and Other Words from the Fold
Ply and Other Words from the Fold Ply and Other Words from the Fold Ply and Other Words from the Fold By Mark Nichol Looking into the origin of ply as a result of thinking about the expressions ââ¬Å"plying [someone] with drinksâ⬠or ââ¬Å"plying [someone] for information,â⬠I found etymological connections to an interesting variety of terms. Here are some words related to ply based on its Latin ancestor. Ply derives from the term plicare, meaning ââ¬Å"to fold.â⬠Generally, words ending in -ply that have a long-i sound are related to ply and each other; those with a long-e sound (such as deeply) merely have a root word ending with p, followed by the adverbial ending -ly. The exceptions to the first class are comply and supply; in each case, the second syllable stems from plere, the Latin word meaning ââ¬Å"to fillâ⬠(though the sense of ââ¬Å"agreeâ⬠for the former is influenced by ply). The senses of ply in the first sentence, and others, are from a shortening of apply and derive from the related meaning of ââ¬Å"bendâ⬠; when you ply someone with drinks or for information, you are bending (that is, manipulating) that person. Another meaning of ply is ââ¬Å"travel regularly,â⬠related to the sense in the phrase ââ¬Å"ply a course.â⬠One can also ply oneââ¬â¢s trade, meaning ââ¬Å"conduct businessâ⬠or suggesting diligent practice or performance. The name for the ballet movement called the plie, from French, is related. Ply is also a noun meaning ââ¬Å"a layerâ⬠or ââ¬Å"a foldâ⬠; plywood (and its daffy derivate, plyboo, referring to plywood made from bamboo) stems from this word, and it is the source of references to strands of yarn or layers of fabric or paper. When you multiply, you create many folds; multiply originally meant simply ââ¬Å"increaseâ⬠and only later acquired its mathematical sense of increasing an amount by an equal amount a given number of times. Similarly, to duplicate or triplicate and so on is to create two or more folds or iterations. A plier, meanwhile, is someone who or something that bends or folds, hence pliers for the name of a hand tool. Something that is easily plied is pliable or pliant; the former generally refers to an object, while the latter adjectival form is usually applied to a person who is submissive or easily influenced. (The synonym compliant is based on the unrelated comply.) Reply, meaning ââ¬Å"to give an answer,â⬠originally carried over into English the literal Latin meaning of ââ¬Å"fold back,â⬠but that sense is obsolete. Meanwhile, apply basically means ââ¬Å"to bring something in contact with anotherâ⬠(and an application is something that accomplishes this task) and to imply is to involve or enfold, while to implicate someone is to involve or enfold them, and an implication is something that does just that. Employ, interestingly, comes from the same root word as imply, but it acquired a primary meaning related to hiring. Implicit, referring to something implied, is also related to imply. Something made explicit, by contrast, is unfolded, or revealed, and to explicate is to unfold, or explain, something, an action called an explication. To complicate is to make something intricate as if it has been folded; a complication ensues. Complicit and its noun form complicity are related, as is accomplice, denoting someone who has been enfolded in a crime or a scheme. Complex, meanwhile, is also related, stemming from the Latin word for ââ¬Å"braidâ⬠or ââ¬Å"weave,â⬠as is the rare antonym simplex and their noun forms complexity and simplicity. Plait and its variant pleat, each of which serves both as a noun and a verb, share an origin with ply through French, as does plight, which originally had a neutral connotation of ââ¬Å"conditionâ⬠but later developed a sense of being in danger. (An unrelated meaning of plight, which stems from pledge, was ââ¬Å"promiseâ⬠; the negative sense of plight that means ââ¬Å"a dangerous situationâ⬠may derive from confusion with the other meaning of plight, in that a pledge or promise often entails risk.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:20 Words with More Than One SpellingSelect vs. SelectedQuiet or Quite?
Monday, October 21, 2019
Frankenstein support mockpersausive letter format essays
Frankenstein support mockpersausive letter format essays (Author's Note: This was a semi-creative project. We had to address the issues in a persuasive letter rather than a boring ol' report, so please become unconfused as far as the format..) Scientists are all too ready to lock themselves away with their research, unwilling - perhaps even incapable - of seeing the consequences of their actions. It is our duty as their educators to provide them with not only a means to gain knowledge but also insights into the society into which they will ultimately release their findings. Since none here are literary or English majors, it may seem difficult at first to integrate such needed sociological concerns into their current courses of study, so it is our duty to give them easily-reliable examples which parallel with their own course of study, examples that will And what better to illustrate and retain attention than a tragedy? I suggest that the Mary Shellys novel Frankenstein be included as a central text in the current Humanities courses required here. The reason Frankenstein may hold more relevance as part of the program than say, a classical Greek play, is the subject matter alone. Hopefully, the literary connections are more likely to be drawn, if we can appeal to the students interests as best as we can. Perhaps then they are more likely to believe that the humanities do have something to do with them. The specifics it also raises about ethics and responsibilities of science speak more than enough of the novels behalf.Many scientists in the far-reaching fields today may feel overwhelmed, perhaps even taking on a Gaudi-esque credo to their respective research. That Spanish architect is quoted as saying that he didnt have time to wonder, that he had to spend all of [his] time working. While this is a commendible work ethic, such a belief can lead scientists to bring the curse to mankind&q...
Sunday, October 20, 2019
Simple or Progressive Perfect Forms
Simple or Progressive Perfect Forms There are two types of perfect tenses; simple perfect tenses (present perfect, past perfect and future perfect) and progressive perfect tenses (present perfect progressive, past perfect progressive and future perfect progressive). The perfect forms are generally used to represent something that has happened up to another point in time. For example: Present Peter has visited Paris twice. (In his life, up until now)Jane has been playing tennis for two hours (until now) Past They had lived in New York for 3 years before they moved to Seattle. (up to the time they moved to Seattle)She had been studying for 4 hours when he arrived. (The four hours directly before he arrived) Future We will have finished the course by this time next year. (up to this time a year from now)I will have been working for 2 hours by the time he arrives tomorrow. (the two hours before he arrives tomorrow) So, what are the differences between the simple and progressive forms of the perfect? Well, first of all, remember to keep in mind the progressive is only used with ACTION verbs (see last weeks feature for examples of non-action or state verbs). Another important difference is that we use the simple perfect forms to express finished QUANTITIES and the progressive perfect forms when we are stressing the continuous duration of a specific action mentioned. Now, lets take a look at the specific differences between the two forms: Present Perfect Progressive Recent activity: to emphasize the recency of a past activity. we often use lately or recently : Shes been working hard recently Emphasis on the duration or length of an activity : Jack has been painting for 4 hours. Recently finished activity with a present result : Ive been working in the garden, thats why my hands are so dirty. No difference in meaning. Often the present perfect progressive and the present perfect can have the same meaning. This is often the case with verbs of living, occupation or vocation) : Ive been living in Leghorn for 3 years. OR Ive lived in Leghorn for 3 years. Present Perfect Indefinite time in the past (experience). Emphasis is on the completed action at an indefinite time in the past. : Susans written 3 books. Emphasis on QUANTITY : Ive read 300 pages of Tom Smiths latest book. Duration from past to present (see #4 of present perfect progressive) : Peter has worked for that company for 5 years. Here is an excellent example of the difference between the two forms when referring to duration of an activity as compared to quantity: Hes been driving for 6 hours. Hes driven 320 miles. Past Perfect Progressive Past perfect progressive is used to express CONTINUOUS activity up to a specific point of time in the past. Example: They had been waiting for 2 hours before their friends finally arrived. Past Perfect Past perfect is used to express FINISHED activity before a specific point of time in the past. Example: He had already eaten when his wife came home. Futureà Perfect Progressive Future perfect progressive is used to emphasize the length of time or duration of an event occurring before and up to another event in the future. : By the time they arrive, we will have been waiting for 4 hours! To emphasize the duration of an activity. : John will have been studying for 6 years by the time he finishes his exam. Future Perfect Future perfect is used to refer to an event completed before another future event or time. : By the time Mary finishes this course, she will have taken 26 exams. To emphasize not how long something has taken, but that the action is completed. : By the time he retires, he will have worked for 36 years. Here is a little quiz to check your knowledge: They a) have been working b) have worked in the garage, thats why their clothes are greasy.She a) had met b) had been meeting John before he came to work here.By the time the letter arrives, a) I will have left b) I will have been leaving.When Karen telephoned, they a) had been studying b) had studied for two hours.Im tired. I a) have just finished b) have just been finishing my homework.Peter a) has been reading b) has read 3 books by Hemingway.By the time we finish, we a) will have painted b) will have been painting for 4 hours.I made sure that I a) had learned b) had been learning Italian well before I left for Rome.She a) has known b) has been knowing John for 10 years.They a) have thought of you b) have been thinking of you a lot recently. Answer Key aaaaabbaab
Saturday, October 19, 2019
The impact of language on Friday life in Foe Essay
The impact of language on Friday life in Foe - Essay Example Upon arrival in England, Susan offers to accommodate Friday (McGrath 1). She had a desire to document her experiences while on the Island, but is limited in her language skills. Thus, she requests Daniel Foe, a writer, for assistance. This mission is not fully accomplished since Foe, being the language expert, chooses what he thinks is entertaining to write about, thus frustrating Susanââ¬â¢s efforts to have her story told (Caracciolo 105). Language is one of the themes in J. M. Coetzeeââ¬â¢s book Foe. Language is key and paramount in any communication and accurate or inaccurate presentation of issues through language as a tool of communication can impact positively or negatively on the message being communicated. If not well presented, it could give the wrong message and impression about the content value of any work of art. Language gives a person power to communicate adequately. By Daniel Foe suppressing and omitting part of Susanââ¬â¢s story does an immense disservice to what she, in reality, wants to communicate. Lack of proper and/or appropriate language skills and knowledge can also be a significant impediment (Caracciolo 105). This is the case with Susan when she is frustrated by Foe for choosing to incorporate the truth about her, but feeling the book bibliography with fiction. Susanââ¬â¢s case highlights the power of language because, if she was well equipped with proper writing skills, she would have been in a better position to write her own story. In her frustration, she attempts to write the story herself but fails due to her lack of proper writing skills. Through the character of Susan, Coetzee is highlighting the plight of the voiceless. Since Susan cannot communicate well, she is left helpless, thus representing the people in society who cannot be heard because of their incapability to communicate effectively (McGrath 1). Foe, on the other hand, represents the people who tyrannize the underprivileged by downplaying their issues resu lting in them not being heard at all. Using the theme of language, Coetzee brings out the plight of those who are oppressed because of their language handicap and the oppressors like Daniel Foe who ensures that the oppressed remain downtrodden. Coetzee uses another character, Friday, to further the theme of language in his book. He is said to be mute because, according to his master Crusoe, his tongue was chopped off by his previous master. This can be interpreted to show the extend oppressors would go to silence the marginalized in the society. Cutting off his tongue totally stops and impairs the downtrodden such as Friday form speaking or having a say in matters concerning or affecting them (Woelert 118). The writer being from South Africa may through these characters be highlighting the brutality of the Apartheid system. It can be construed as a way that those in authority used to silence the minority. His inability to speak because his tongue was cut off by his colonial masters totally limits his language communication skills and ability. Friday brings to mind not only the plight of the Africans in South Africa, but also the unvoiced oppressed people in the society. Crusoe is another character in the novel whose refusal to talk about his past can be seen as to portray Coetzeeââ¬â¢s language theme on non verbal communication. He is in a position to tell his story but instead chooses not to in comparison to Friday who if given a chance may be willing
Friday, October 18, 2019
British Gas. Proposal for Corporate Social Responsibility Program Research Paper
British Gas. Proposal for Corporate Social Responsibility Program - Research Paper Example Evidently, in the United Kingdom, the extreme weather periods during winter means that temperatures reach freezing levels that are highly unfavorable to the health of local inhabitants. To this end, the local populace has to adopt artificial warming strategies in order to cope with the harsh weather conditions. The heating services are normally offered by local heater service providers at a fee. In this regard, one such company is the British Gas Company located in the Middlesex County in London, United Kingdom. Evidently, the cost of maintaining such heater services normally rise drastically since the hours of heat warming are determined the length of the extremities of the winter period. In this regard, it is critical to point out the disparities in the levels of income that hamper the abilities of the lower income families to maintain their gas payment for the heater services. This most often results to a termination of the heater services and leaves the poor families susceptible to a host of health complications and life threatening situations. To this end, the necessity of a corporate social and responsibility plan is pertinent towards addressing the needs of the low income earners in Middlesex County without affordability to the high gas bills. Evidently, the Corporate Social Responsibility will aspire to achieve three pertinent issues, increase access of to gas provided by British gas; provide assistance in financial resource mobilization for the low income earners so as to increase their purchasing power; to lobby for incentive measures from the gas provider that will ensure access to low cost gas. Financial Issues in the Community The aftershocks of the global financial crisis greatly affected the economies of the European countries and the purchasing power of local households Moon. In this regard, the household incomes of various households across L ondon were negatively affected to the effect that the purchasing power of basic necessities was significantly decreased. The situation has been aggravated further by the rising costs of basic amenities such as food, clothing, and shelter. In addition, other essential commodities such as house heater services during winter climates have become increasingly unaffordable. This has been due to the increase in service charges for gas supply by provider companies such as British gas. To this end, the cheapest gas charges are at least three hundred pounds monthly (Social action plan and household energy efficiency: Ofgem : report 2004). This rate is above the purchasing power of very many low income households. Evidently, One in ten households in London households is unable to afford the high gas charges. To this end, the low income earners are subjected to health related risks arising from the harsh cold winter. These include pneumonia, frost bites, common cold among other. Furthermore, t he poor families are subjected to increased death rates arising from the extreme winter period. Evidently, a raft of measures needs to be introduced so as to increase the purchasing power of the low income earners, provide alternatives that guarantee low cost gas supply, and solicit for contributions that will go towards alleviating the cost of gas supply to the low income earners. Description of the Corporate Social Responsibility Program The precincts of a social responsibility program entails four major components. Foremost, a CSR program requires businesses to carry out their financial duties in a social responsible and ethical manner. Second, it entails ensuring that the safety of people and the environment is protected. Third, it involves ensuring
Tax Accounting II Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words
Tax Accounting II Case - Essay Example Schneider as his tax professional in the latest filing of his income tax returns.1 The accountant may be considered to have knowledge of things done in the past about deducting the cost of artwork as part of deductible expenses. As to whether there could be tax assessment by IRS because of possibly underreported income due to higher reported expenses in the past, the same should be viewed as tax avoidance because there was really no intention to avoid or cheat on taxes. Moreover, it could be inferred from the case fact that claiming the cost of artworks as deductible business expense is allowed if treated or given as a kind of employee compensation.2 The difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion is that the former is legal as a way to reduce tax but the latter is against the law because there is an intention to defraud the government for the correct payment of taxes. In the case of Mr. Conor, he did not intend not to pay taxes, he claimed in good faith the cost artwork as business expense with the presumed knowledge of the accountant although the latter failed to object in previous years. In tax avoidance, which is a legitimate minimizing of taxes, the taxpayer should use methods approved by the IRS.3 Mr. Conor was only lacking in knowledge of method on how deduction could be made legitimate. Thus his CPA said that expense is allowed if given as employee compensation. It would have been tax evasion if Mr. Conor was not allowed at all to have claimed as expense the cost of artworks. The same would amount to reporting expenses that are not allowed and thereby understating income and the related tax. The fact also that half of the cost of artwork was now claimed in the latest tax return with the consent of the CPA should support the argument that the method used earlier was an allowed by and therefore a tax avoidance was more applicable than tax evasion.4 This researcher views that Mr. Schneider has not fully complied with the professional norms of
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