Private Finance Initiative and UKs Construction Industry Essay

Private Finance Initiative and UKs Construction Industry - Essay Example Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a device employed by United Kingdom’s government to arguably to make the construction industry more competitive and more profitable. This does not come as a surprise since the UK construction industry provides a tenth of the UK's gross domestic product, employs 1.4 million people and is worth around  £65 billion per annum. With an output of  £81.9bn in 2006, the UK construction industry is ranked in the global top ten. Thus, it is only then logical to support the industry. PFI is a way of funding major new public building projects such as hospitals, schools, prisons and roads. Private consortiums, usually involving large construction firms, are contracted to both design and build a new project, and also to manage it. The contracts typically last for 30 years. The building is not publicly owned but leased by a public authority, such as a council or health trust, from the private consortium. The private consortium raises the cash to build the project. It is then paid back with interest by the government through regular payments over the period of the contract. PFI projects could be viewed as a means of enabling government services to be "outsourced" to private sector suppliers. PFI is not the same as privatization as the Government retains ultimate responsibility to the public for the service concerned. Outside the UK, PFI is more commonly known as Public Private Partnerships (PPP). The policy has not been without its critics. As with any form of hire purchase, buying something on tick is more expensive than paying for it up front. The Edinburgh Royal Infirmary is often cited as an example of how expensive the PFI can be. It cost  £180m to build and will cost  £900m to pay for. ... Use of PFI in the Construction Industry Since the advent of PFI, the construction industry has found itself on much more stable ground. Between 2001 and 2002, its output is estimated to have increased by 9.7%. According to the Major Contractors Group (MCG), a major construction trade association which represents UK firms such as Carillion (formerly part of Tarmac), Costain and Amec, construction companies engaged in the private finance initiative expect to make between three and ten times as much money as they do on traditional contracts. (Research and Markets Online, 2003) Bill Tallis, the director of MCG, said construction firms traditionally received rates of return of 1.5% to 2% on contracts but were now expecting margins of 7.5% to 15% on PFI building schemes. The high profit available to investors in PFI schemes explains why John Laing PLC has sold off its basic construction company and bought up stakes held in such projects by hard-pressed Amey PLC. (Macalister, 2003) This strategy is reinforced by figures from the European Construction Industry Federation (ECIF), which show that the UK construction sector grew by over 8% last year while its counterpart in Germany and France slumped by 2.5% and 0.7% respectively. (UK DTI Online, 2007) The UK government defends PFI by its use of something called the 'public sector comparator'. This shows whether or not privately financed schemes offer better value for money than conventional funding. The main problem with this is that the government has provided an accounting device called 'risk costing' which has meant that private firms generally emerge as winners. When a consortium of private companies agrees to build something for a public

Biodiesel Is Good For Our Country Essay Example for Free

Biodiesel Is Good For Our Country Essay While world population, technology and civilization continues to advance, the pressure on the Earth’s resources is rapidly advancing as well. Humankind has set his environmental footprint deeper and deeper into the planet’s renewable and non-renewable resource. But there’s not turning back to caveman days. Scientists and researchers have not ceased to continually find sources of fuel that will help mankind survive in an environmentally sustainable manner. Using renewable energy has been invented a long time ago. â€Å"Biomass in the form of firewood still represents the main fuel source for many of the world’s people and conventional large-scale hydroelectric generation is a major existing use of a renewable energy source. However, wood fuel is becoming increasingly scarce and given the high capital cost of large hydro projects and, in some cases, major environmental impacts of such schemes, there has been growing interest in smaller scale hydro plants around the world. † (Elliot, 1997. P. 103) Interest in developing biodiesel as an alternative source for engine power has increased. Biodiesel’s growing popularity stems from the fact that its source is available in many parts of the country. Its easy availability helps the country be less dependent on countries that supply oil. For biodiesel consumers, the National Biodiesel Board has a complete listing of registered biodiesel suppliers. â€Å"Biodiesel, which is made from agricultural products such as recycled cooking oil or soybeans, can be used in its pure form known as biodiesel B100 or mixed in any percentage with conventional diesel fuel. The most typical commercial blend involves 80 percent diesel oil to 20 percent biodiesel or biodiesel B20. † (Qualters, 2003) Quality biodiesel is nontoxic. Since most of the raw materials used in biodiesel is made from organic material, it is generally biodegradable as well. The bio fuel emits lesser carcinogens as compared to the regular diesel fuel. In the US alone, an estimated 10 million miles has been driven by biodiesel and biodiesel blends. Clean Cities programs have many success stories on using biodiesel. â€Å"In 2000, biodiesel became the only alternative fuel in the country to have successfully completed the EPA-required Tier I and Tier II health effects testing under the Clean Air Act. These independent tests conclusively demonstrated biodiesel’s significant reduction of virtually all regulated emissions, and showed biodiesel does not pose a threat to human health. † (Biodiesel Board, 2006) Some skeptics fear using biodiesel fuel and its blends because there is need of engine modifications. Studies and use of biodiesel has proven that the usual engine designs are fully compatible with biodiesel. Maintenance costs are just as comparable to conventional diesel vehicles. â€Å"In older vehicles, high-percentage blends of biodiesel (greater than 20%) can affect fuel hoses and pump seals made from certain elastomers. The effect is lessened with lower percentage blends. Elastomers (found in hoses and gaskets) that are biodiesel-compatible are required for use with B100 and high-percentage biodiesel blends. All diesel fuels require special measures for use in cold temperatures. Biodiesel has a higher cloud point than conventional diesel. † (EERE, 2006) Using biodiesel is good for the country because of its political, economic and social benefits. Since it is domestically produced, the country would not have to be forever negotiating with world crude oil prices. Each time the oil rich countries change their prices, domestic consumption is affected. An example of this effect is when the country had to maximize daylight to save fuel consumption. â€Å"Brawny diesel engines have helped drive the world economy for more than a century. From an economic and operational perspective, theres little reason to expect that will change anytime soon. Diesels big draws are power, durability, and an inherent advantage over gasoline: higher energy content and resulting fuel efficiency. † (Weinhold, 2002. P 1) Economic benefits may not be readily seen in the short term but in the long term, as more people use biodiesel, the cost of biodiesel will be more competititive due to the economies of scale. Advancing technology research on biodiesel blends will be able to further develop biodiesel blends that have even better chemical statistics such as: unburned hydrocarbons 20% reduction, carbon monoxide – 12 % reduction, and particulate matter – 12 % reduction. Even lubricity is made better with the use of biodiesel compared to the conventional fuel. Another benefit that can be derived from using this type of alternative fuel is the comparable performance that the consumer gets from it. â€Å"Horsepower, torque, acceleration, cruising speed, and fuel economy are similar to those for diesel fuel. The energy content of B100 is 10%-12% lower than conventional diesel. This leads to roughly 2% lower energy content in B20 blends. The cetane number for biodiesel is significantly higher than that of conventional diesel fuel. † (EERE, 2006) Where average consumers look into the bottomline of fuels as the amount of power they can deliver, studies has continued to support the quality power that biodiesel can deliver as proven in the table and explanation below. â€Å"The values below represent those of energy content of average No. 2 diesel fuel and average biodiesel in the US. 2 While BTU changes of 1-2% can be picked up in lab tests for horsepower, torque, and fuel economy, in practice it is difficult to detect any differences with a 1-2% change in fuel BTU content outside normal variability experienced from day to day operations, even in closely monitored fleets. † (USEP, 2002) Average Density and Heating Value of Biodiesel and Diesel Fuel Net Heating Value % Difference vs. Fuel Density, g/cm3 Avg. , Btu/gal. No. 2 Diesel Avg. No. 2 Diesel 0. 850 129,500 Biodiesel (B100) 0. 880 , 296 8. 65 % B20 Blend (B20) 0. 856* 127,259* 1. 73 %* B2 Blend (B2) 0. 851* 129,276* 0. 17 %* * Calculated Values from those of No. 2 Diesel and Biodiesel (B100) The discovery of biodiesel was driven by the need to source fuel that is more compatible with the environment. This need was realized as petroleum prices increased, population demand on energy advanced and environmental degradation on the Earth’s resource was felt on largescale observations such as global warming. There will come a time when man will be able to run their technology on more organic and renewable forms of energy. The benefits that consumers get from biodiesel are essential in helping the country invest on other organic and more renewable and more available forms of energy. At best, if the country adopts using biodiesel on a larger percent consumption, political disputes may lessen its impact on social relationships between nations of the world. The 911 catastrophe and wars historically recalled have been the consequence of conflict between nations due to need to control scarce resource such as oil. For all its worth, it is imperative that consumers and the country invest on biodiesel because it is good for the consumers health as much as the country’s well being in the short term and the long run. References EERE, 2006. Using Biodiesel in Vehicles. http://www. eere. energy. gov/afdc/afv/bio_vehicles. html Elliot, David. 1997. Energy, Society, and Environment: Technology for a Sustainable Future. Routledge Qualters, Sheri. 2003. Area firms start to take a shine to biodiesel as an alternative fuel. Boston Business Journal February 10, 2003 http://boston. bizjournals. com/boston/stories/2003/02/10/focus1. html USEP, 2002. â€Å"A Comprehensive Analysis of Biodiesel Impacts on Exhaust Emissions†, US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA420-P-02-001, October 2002. Weinhold, Bob. 2002. Fuel for the Long Haul? Diesel in America. Journal; Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 110, 2002

Product Life Cycle Of Cadbury Dairy Milk

Product Life Cycle Of Cadbury Dairy Milk Cadbury chocolates was started in Birmingham in 1824 by John Cadbury. Chocolate in those days was a very elitist product. Cadbury Dairy Milk came up with the mix of milk and chocolate tray which is pretty much how the product still is. There has been no drastic change in the recipe of the product but the packaging and the representation and prominence of the glass and half of milk logo has changed over a period of time. Cadbury India began its operations in 1948 by importing chocolates and then re-packing them before distribution in the Indian market. Today, Cadbury has five company-owned manufacturing facilities at Thane, Induri (Pune) and Malanpur (Gwalior), Bangalore and Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) and 4 sales offices (New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkota and Chennai). Its corporate office is in Mumbai.Worldwide, (http://www.iloveindia.com/economy-of-india/top-50-companies/cadbury-india.html) A Timeline: 1904   A new recipe is perfected by George Cadbury for milk chocolate. 1905   Cadbury launches Dairy Milk onto the market a new milk chocolate that contains far more milk than anything previously tasted and with a unique creamy taste. 1913   Dairy Milk becomes Cadburys best selling line. Mid 1920s   Dairy Milk becomes UK brand leader a position it still enjoys today. 1928   Fruit Nut is introduced as a variation of Dairy Milk. The glass and a half advertising slogan is introduced. 1933   WholeNut is added to the Dairy Milk family. 1948   Cadbury Dairy Milk is sold in India 1998   Dairy Milk is re-launched with the new and modern pack design, but its recipe and unique taste are still very similar to the original recipe. 2005   Cadbury Dairy Milk celebrates its 100th birthday. (http://www.innovation.cadbury.com/allaboutus/ourbrands/featurebrands/Pages/CadburyDairyMilk2.aspx?TabIndex=1) Brand Identity : Kapferers model Stage in the Product Life Cycle Cadbury Dairy Milk is in the maturity stage of the product Life cycle. It currently has a market share of 70% in the chocolate market and is way ahead of its competitors. There is a high degree of brand awareness. The colour purple and the glass and half full logo is amongst the most recognised logos and the association of the two with Cadbury Dairy Milk is synonymous. Market Scenario/Challenges According to AC Nielson study of 2007: Facts Figures The Indian Chocolate market is estimated to beat around 1500crores. It is growing at the rate of 18-20% per annum With 72% of the market share in India, Cadbury is the market leader. Companies The 2 main competitors in the Indian market that Cadbury faces any competition from are Nestle and Amul. There are several new and local brands like Candico, Sweet World etc. which are trying to make its presence felt. Consumer Trends The Mithaai or sweet has been the tradition in India so far. Chocolates are noow trying to break into that league and hence faces stiff competition more from this product category than its immediate competitors. Chocolates are more of an impulse buy. Consumers are preferring chocolates to Mithaai because of proper packaging, longer shelf life, mid-range pricing and convenience. Consumers have started showing interest in not just milk chocolates but other varieties like Dark Chocolate etc. One of the major challenges that Cadbury Dairy Milk faces is a decline in sales due to new variants being introduced in the market by other brands which could result in the product moving from maturity to decline stage. Another major challenge comes from a different product category altogether which is the Indian Sweets or Mithaai. Steps taken by brand at each stage- at a communication and product level Introduction Cadbury Dairy Milk advertising has always depicted a rich tapestry of human emotions and relationships. In the 1980s, it was positioned as the perfect expression of love, captured in memorable copy: sometimes Cadbury can say it better than words. During the early1990s, Cadbury Dairy Milk emphasised its international identity, communicating that it was the real taste of chocolate. In 1994 came the path-breaking real taste of life campaign. The ad featuring a woman running on the cricket field celebrating the victory is still strongly etched in our mind even today. This campaign created a dramatic shift in the way chocolates were perceived. Cadbury Dairy Milk has increasingly become trapped as a reward or bribe for children and this campaign unshackled the brand by re-positioning it to the free-child in every adult. Cadbury Dairy Milk redefined itself as the perfect expression of spontaneous, shared good feelings, providing the real taste of life experience. The strategy paid off: Bran d Cadbury grew by over 50% in sales volumes. (Super brands) Growth Then in 1998, the next stage of growth for the brand dealt with popularising consumption in a social context, especially in more traditional settings like weddings. With the campaign Khaanein waallon ko khaanein ka bahana chahiye featuring Cyrus Broacha, Cadbury Dairy Milk aimed to substantially increase penetration levels. The campaign was launched in tandem with the award winning Kuchh khaas haicampaign and the media strategy was to let the two co-exist towards a common vision: A Cadbury in every pocket. The brand penetrated into smaller towns and sales volumes grew by 40% (Source: Internal Sales Data). (Super brands) Crisis Management The worm controversy resulted in Cadburys brand image taking a beating. They had to recall a batch of chocolates. Instead of taking any short term measures, Cadbury used this opportunity to take action and rebuild the trust of people. They launched a project Vishwas which educated retailers and wholesalers on storage and other aspects apart from educating consumers. The other major step was to change the packaging. The companys repackaging exercise, which used a combination of packaging technologies, was unprecedented in the category. With the redesigned packaging in place, the company decided to communicate the measures it had taken to safeguard quality standards. To add credibility to its pitch, Cadbury took recourse to Amitabh Bachchans deep baritone. This was the first time that a celebrity was used to endorse Cadbury Dairy Milk. The commercial did wonders to consumer confidence. A series of ads with Bachchan including Pappu Paas ho Gaya to Miss Palampur brought back the lost credibility of the people. With Bachchan they also launched their new positioning of Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye bringing in the tradition of celebrating a joyous occasion in India with sweets and now Cadbury Dairy Milk in particular. Maturity The focus for a period shifted to taking the concept of Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye further. The Pehli Tareekh Hai campaigns talked about the importance of having Dairy Milk and celebrating on getting your pay on pay-day. The ads had a very retro-feel to it and did click with the audience. But, it is the recent string of Shubh Aarambh ads that have brought back the old charm of Cadbury Dairy Milk with its very interesting insight of mixing the traditional with the new age. Summary Cadbury Dairy Milk has adapted itself to the Indian market quite impressively. From making a sweet eating nation to switch to chocolates to becoming the market leader, Cadbury Dairy Milk has done it all because of the emotional connect it established with the consumers. Its communication also always focused on the emotional aspects and feelings of life apart from spontaneity. Its communication has always showcased its values and personality. In my opinion, the Kuch Meetha Ho Jaaye concept is a goldmine which can be used in a variety of ways in a country like India.

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. :: Essays Papers

Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was born November 11, 1922, in Indianapolis, Indiana, the son of, Kurt Vonnegut, Sr., a successful architect, and Edith Sophia Vonnegut. He had two older siblings, a brother Bernard, and a sister Alice. He attended Short ridge high school. This is where he first realized his talent for writing. He was the editor of the school newspaper. Kurt graduated in 1940, and after high school, attended Cornell University and studied bio-chemistry, and was also a columnist and editor of the Cornell daily sun. However, because of bad grades, Kurt found himself almost flunking out of Cornell University. He saved himself from expulsion by joining the army in 1942. While in the army, several devastating experiences happened to Kurt. First in 1944, he received the news that his mother had committed suicide. A few months later Kurt was captured by the German Army. He was forced to produce a vitamin enriched malt for pregnant women. While doing this he happened to survive the firebombing of Dresden. His book Slaughterhouse-five is partially about the bombing of Dresden. After being rescued by the Soviets, Vonnegut returned home. He was working as a Police Reporter for the Chicago News Bureau and studying anthropology at the University of Chicago. He later moved to Schenectedy, New York. Here he worked in Press Relations for the General Electric Plant. This experience that led to the creation of his first novel Player Piano, . It was after the publication of this novel that he moved to Rhode Island, while in addition to writing short stories, he taught High School English and opened the first Saab dealership in the United States. After realizing the shrinking of the Short Story market, he began concentrating entirely on

Small-Scale I.T. Infrastracture

This paper entitled I.T. Infrastracture for Andrea Stevens Cosmetics is a pre-formal draft for the proposed network design for the Stevens Cosmetics Information Technology system.This paper discusses the fundamental technical specifications needed to develop and implement the procedures needed to upgrade the hardware, software and procedures currently used by the company in the manufacturing and sales of the company's merchandise.This paper is limited as a draft and not intended as a complete project specification and technical reference for the project. Further verification and research is advised.In order to guarantee continuous usability of computer terminals and adaptability to emerging technologies for at least five (5) years in the future, it is advised that all terminals be upgraded to the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors with at least 1 Gigabyte of memory. Video, sound and network cards are not mandatory. A wireless network adapter or two (2) USB 2 ports, however, are requi red in order to accommodate the network requirements to be discussed on the next points.Instead of individually shared printers, multi-functional network printers with the feature to set its own IP address is recommended. This will eliminate the dependency of the printers in having a host computer to necessitate its operation.

A Clock Work Orange essays

A Clock Work Orange essays This Stanley Kubrick film A Clock Work Orange is a multifaceted work of art with many different layers. One of the most prominent layers of this film is the one that relates to Behavior Modification. It shows quite colorfully the basic components of respondent conditioning such as; neutral stimulus (NS) unconditioned stimulus (US), unconditioned response (UR), conditioned stimulus (CS), and the conditioned response (CR). As well as higher order conditioning, discrimination and generalization. This movie expresses many of these aspects of behavior modification. Which is often portrayed in an obvious and over the top manner to prove a greater point. In doing so they have also illustrated some of the many misconceptions people have about behavior modification. In the beginning of this movie we are introduced to Alex, a young boy with a quick wit and a flare for Ultra Violence. The evil we see him indulged in before his "conditioning", starts with him and his gang maliciously beating an old homeless veteran and ends with him brutally killing a middle age well-to-do women. This last act of deviance lands him in jail and on the path to respondent conditioning. Respondent conditioning starts with the understanding that certain type of stimuli elicits a certain natural response. This is referred to as the US and the UR. In respondent conditioning we use these in conjunction with a neutral stimulus to get a CS and a CR. I will now identify the US, CS, UR, and CR as it pertains to the film. The behavior that was trying to be manipulated in this movie was Alexs evil tendencies towards sex and violence. The unconditioned stimulus the government used was the toxins they injected into Alex. This caused an unconditioned response of paralyzing nausea and dry heaving. They paired the dry heaving and nausea with videos of explicit violent sex scenes. There by making violence and sex the c ...

Every IB Business and Management Past Paper Available FREE and Official

Every IB Business and Management Past Paper Available FREE and Official SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you want to do well on your IB exams (which you should since acing them will get you college credits), you need to prepare like you would for any standardized test such as the PSAT, SAT or ACT, with practice tests. Preparing for the IB exams doesn't simply mean reviewing your class notes. You should use IB Business and Management past papers as practice tests so that you feel prepared for the length, format, and types of questions asked. In this article, I'll provide you with links to IB Business and Management past papers, free and official. Additionally, I'll give advice on how to use them to ace your real IB test. Free IB Business and Management Past Papers Links The IB has cracked down on illegally uploaded real past papers in the last few years, so many previous sources are no longer available. Compounding this problem, IB so far has not provided any free sample IB Business and Management exam papers on its website. We'll be sure to update this article as soon as they do with links, though! While searching for "free IB Business and Management papers" online may still turn up some results, we do not recommend using them, as there's no guarantee those papers are real past IB papers. Instead, we recommend using the relatively inexpensive official paid IB past papers and markschemes for further practice. Paid IB Business and Management Past Papers Links To download safe and official IB Business and Management SL/HL past papers and markschemes, purchase them from the Follet IBO store directly. Currently, the IBO store has two sets of English-language IB Business and Management SL past papers and IB Business and Management HL past papers in the new, 2016-exam format: one set from May 2017 and one from November 2016. (There are a small number of past IB Business Management papers in French and Spanish available on the store as well.) Note: The IBO sells each paper and mark scheme individually (boo); an individual paper or mark scheme costs $3 (or about  £2.50). This means a full test (with all papers and mark schemes) will cost about $12. Buying everything on the site from 2015 to 2017 will be costly (not to mention in different languages), so we recommend you only buy the two most recent (November 2016 and May 2017) past papers. These past papers will be the most similar to your test, and two exams will provide plenty of practice. How to Use These Exams An IB Business and Management test will take you 3 hours for SL or 4.5 hours for HL. If you are going to invest that much time, you need to be maximizing your learning from these tests. To make sure you get the most out of each practice test, follow these rules: #1: Split the Test Over Two Days In May 2019, the IBO scheduled Paper 1 and Papers 2 on two separate days before and after a weekend. If possible, you should copy this schedule exactly so that your practice is realistic. At the very least, make sure you are taking the two papers on two different days. Having to hold on to the information over multiple days (with a weekend in-between!) makes it difficult to cram for this test. You need to have mastered the IB Business and Management concepts and be able to write intelligently about them. #2: Use Exact Timing. Make sure you time yourself so that you force yourself to practice your pacing. The time allowed per paper is: Business and Management SL Paper 1- 1 hour 15 minutes Paper 2- 1 hour 45 minutes Business and Management HL Paper 1- 2 hours 15 minutes Paper 2- 2 hours 15 minutes Do not stray from this timing, not even by a minute. You need to get used to the actual exam timing. Also, you’ll get an inflated practice exam score if you allow yourself extra time. Don’t do it! Stick to the real timing so that you have a realistic indicator of your IB score. #3 (and the most important): Review! After completing all papers, review your exam with the mark scheme. Why do you need to review? Reviewing helps you figure out what mistakes you are making or what information you do not know before you take the real IB Business and Management exam. If you don’t check your answers, you’ll make the same mistakes on the actual IB Business and Management test. Take some time (at minimum an hour) to review your answers. Taking one practice test with in-depth review is far superior to taking 8 tests without review. What’s Next? Learn more about IB Business and Management and related topics: IB Business and Management Study Guide Return on Assets: What It Is and How to Use It Check out where to find past papers for your other classes: Every IB Biology Past Paper Available: Free and Official Where to Find IB Chemistry Past Papers - Free and Official Every IB Economics Past Paper Available: Free and Official Every IB English Past Paper Available: Free and Official Every IB Geography Past Paper Available: Free and Official Every IB History Past Paper Available: Free and Official Every IB Math Past Paper Available: Free and Official Where to Find IB Physics Past Papers - Free and Official Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: