Recycling Model for Waste Reduction

Recycling Model for Waste Reduction CE 1.1) Since the early schooling days, my teachers have noticed that I tend to always orient towards the chemical processes and the design-oriented aspects of control systems. And well, they were very right because later I recognize my passion of being a Materials Engineer. As it was a tough competition to get admitted in a reputed engineering university. Hence, soon after the completion of my secondary education from the Al-Falah Boys College, I studied hard and was able to ace the admission exam of the engineering university. My efforts pay off and I was able to get admitted in Dawood College of Engineering and Technology Karachi, Pakistan. From here, I studied Bachelor of Metallurgy and Material Engineering. I stayed here during the time period from 2009 till 2012. During my stay here, I have performed various practical and research-based projects in order to fulfill the requirement of my degree. In few of the non-technical subjects, I also have conducted various types of surveys . This project of Methodology used in EPAS Waste Reduction Model was performed by me as my final year project at Dawood University. This project was completed within the assigned deadline of 11 months. I have performed this project along with another group mate under the guidance of my supervisor. BACKGROUND: CE 1.2) Being a materials engineer, it is mandatory to know about the processes and the tools utilized in various processes. This project is also the illustration of various metal objects that has to be recycled using the Waste Reduction Model that is being used in EPAs. In this research, I have studied the complete methodology and studied the step by step process and stages. It is an important factor to recycle the metal objects so that they can be reutilized for various purposes. However, for some metals, the recycled version is not as pure as the original one and hence has the limited number of applications. In this study, I have studied three types of metals and their impacts. CE 1.3) Before starting the project and presenting my idea to the supervisor, I and my team member decided to conduct the beforehand research so that during the proposal defense we are very lucid with the concepts. Hence, we downloaded the related literature from the authentic websites such as Google scholar, ACM and IEEE digital libraries. We also have gone through the basic articles regarding the specifications and characteristics of specific metals. Though there were many questions in my mind unanswered which I later clarified from a supervisor. These all articles, research papers, and literature were cited properly while preparing the thesis for our project. Moreover, while performing on this project we make sure to follow an ethical and professional code of conduct. CE 1.4) When we were done with the initial home, we presented our project idea to our supervisor. He asked us few of the very basic questions to check our concepts. We were easily able to answer them all because of our initial research. The supervisor was glad about our preparation and with few additions, he approved our project. He further advised us to start with the preparation of the project milestone and the organizational plan. His advice was later proved to be very beneficial as because of this we were able to keep a check on the progress of our project. We also were assigned a co-supervisor who can guide us in the case of the unavailability of supervisor. CE 1.5) To ensure the progress and timely completion of the project, we have to submit the monthly progress reports. Along with these monthly project reports, we have to presently on a quarterly basis. And upon completion of the complete project, a detailed thesis was submitted citing all the references all along. These documents and the presentations were prepared using the Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. To ensure the safety, these files were submitted in the pdf format later. The complete project reporting mechanism is shown below in the chart. Project Reporting Mechanism: PERSONAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITY: CE 1.6) While studying the impact and the results of reproduction and recycling, we have studied each and every phase involved in the complete cycle. I divided the project into different stages to ensure its completion within the allocated time. These stages involve the following: Studying the literature Process cycle development Collection of dumped metal Transportation Stage Recycling Stage Separation of end products and recycled products Transportation to the retailed facility Studying the recycling emission factor Results analysis Documentation phase However, at different stages of the project, I was stuck. There my supervisors helped me a lot and guided me. At a stage, I also consulted a professor from another university to get better exposure. CE 1.7) In this project we have discussed the three metal forms including the aluminum cans, steel cans, and the copper wires. Aluminum cans are made of aluminum sheet bars. The supply of raw materials for the production of aluminum embrace limestone and salt, which must be extracted and elated; Crude oil, which must be extracted, refined and transported; which must be produced by respective first and transported materials. All the processes of mining emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels for the electricity and transport processes and non-energy production processes. These inputs are required to produce alumina (which is the main commercial mineral aluminum), aluminum castings, castings, plates and rolls for the manufacture of aluminum cans. CE 1.8) This module for the career episode is the illustration of the overall cyclic process which is shown in the figure1 below. The above figure shows the recycle cycle for the Aluminum ingot and cans in WARM. In order to recycle these cans, the aluminum objects are collected from wastes and are transported to the recycling plants. These metal pieces are transported to the metals manufacturing facility. Raw materials are added into this used metal. On undergoing the recycling process, the recycled metal is again transported to the retail facility upon separation of the end products and by-products.   After the usage of the product, the cycle repeats. The combustion of this metal (Aluminum cans) emits ash residue which is transported to the landfill. CE 1.9) The cyclic process explained previously was for the residual of aluminum cans. This recycling process is almost same as in the case of the steel cans and the copper wires. The complete cyclic process is shown in figure 2 and 3 respectively. Steel boxes are defined as three parts welded HOT steel rolled in a blast furnace and basic oxygen oven or electric arc furnace (for recycling cans) boxes. The production of steel cans involves the extraction of iron ore and lime. These raw forms are utilized in order to develop cast iron, sheet metal and lastly the manufacture of steel boxes. Figure 1: Life Cycle of Aluminum Can CE 1.10) Copper is comparable to other metals examined by the EPA, the vigor used in the ore, the commerce unit and the production and dealing out of the fuels used in production. The industrialized procedure begins with the extraction of the raw material. The ore melted and refined; the utilization of limestone electricity in this part of the results of the process is not very low energy CO2 emission process (USGS, 2004a). The refined copper melts in bars, which are led in the copper wire coils, which are annealed to facilitate the ductility and conductivity. The wire can be coated with either the good quality steel or with any good insulating material. Figure 2: Life Cycle of Steel Cans Figure 3: Life Cycle of Copper Wires CE 1.11) After defining the detailed processes we moved towards the analysis of results. The aim of the project was to define and find out the process energies at various stages for both the recycled objects and the original one. From observations, it was concluded that the process energy made for the original aluminum cans is approximately 184.74 per ton whereas this energy in case of the recycled aluminum can drop at the 36.24 per ton. However, the transportation energy for the original and recycled one is evaluated to be 0.91 and 0.44 respectively. Same parameters were observed for the steel cans and the copper wires as well. For steel cans, process energy and transportation energy for the virgin inputs are found to be 31.58 and 4.60 respectively. While in the case of the recycled steel cans these values drop as 11.78 and 4.03. For copper wires, transportation energy is 2.17 and the process energy is 101.05 for the recycled one, however, for the new metals these values were 0.46 a nd 122.52. CE 1.12) The optimum results were obtained as a result of this study and the project was completed in the allocated time efficiently. While, there are some limitations on the trial process. The factors that have been developed by aluminum bars of energy and greenhouse gas emissions here can be used from an aluminum bar, energy and the associated emission products processing aluminum bars produced for some (other than aluminum cans) as a substitute to produce an aluminum end product Probably quite significant. For example, the energy of aluminum cans associated with the processing of the aluminum ingots can generate about 25 percent of the total life cycle energy for the production of virgin aluminum cans. SUMMARY CE 1.13) This project was a great learning experience for me. I have learned various perspectives of recycling process with the help of different research articles. I was able to make this project a success due to continuous support and help of my supervisor and the team-mate. Working in collaboration with my team member, I have learned the effective skills of working as a team.

Reasons Why Investment Trusts Trade at a Discount

Abstract The fact that investment trusts and close-end funds in general trade at a discount has elicited debates among financial scholars and practitioners, often referred to as the closed-end puzzle. Based on this, this paper explores and explains some of the reasons that investment trusts trade at a discount. It also provides an in-depth explanation of characteristics of close-ended funds and conditions that lead to the classification of the share price as either a discount or a premium. Investment trusts trading at a discount are those trading at prices that are below their net asset value. Those trading at a price higher than the net asset value are considered as being sold at a premium. Some of the main reasons that are explored in this paper include miscalculation of the net asset values of the investment trust, taxes on realized capital gains, agency costs, managerial abilities and investor sentiment. Even with the explanations that are provided in this paper, the closed-end fund prize puzzle continues to be debated upon and researched. Introduction The fact that investment trusts often trade at a discount is an aspect that has drawn interests from academics and practitioners in the field of finance. To have a better understanding of these reasons, it is ideal to provide an exhaustive definition of investment trusts. Investment trusts, which are typical to the United Kingdom, are defined by Barnhart and Rosenstein (2010) as types of investment firms that are formed with the primary aim of holding securities for other companies and the obtainment of capital from the public issue of shares trading on the stock market. They are also referred to as closed-end funds because they only offer a fixed quantity of shares that new investors can purchase from already existing shareholders (Hartzell et al., 2006). The prices of shares of investment trusts are determined by the forces of supply and demand in the share market. As a consequence, there are incidents where the price of a share may either be higher or lower than its net asset valu e. Whenever a share trades at a price that is higher than its net asset value, it is considered to be trading at a premium. On the contrary, if a share trades at a value that is lower that its net asset value, it is considered to be trading at a discount (Berk & Stanton, 2007). In this regard, this report intends to discuss reasons why they trade at a discount. Reasons for discounting Investment Trusts One main characteristic of investment trusts and closed-end funds in general is the fact that they are permanent capital ventures and thus, the shares’ supply is fixed (Chan et al., 2008). Numerous attempts that have been made by researchers and practitioners to explain the investment trust discounts, and have resulted in conflicting results, commonly referred to as the closed-end fund puzzle. Even though these funds are known to trade at discounts, it is important to note that newly opened investment trusts and closed-end funds in general, usually begin trading at a premium of approximately 10% of their net asset value. After their initial premium trading, they shift towards trading at a discount that is at average rate of 10% within the first 120 days. After which, discounts remain substantial. In case closed-end funds are closed or terminated, there is an increase in their share prices, which in turn eliminates the existent discounts (Cherkes et al., 2009). Explanations for investment trust discounts that have been made by researchers include the risk of liquidity, the past and future performance of shares on the market and the miscalculation of the fund’s net asset value. Investor sentiment is also another reason for discount trading in investment trusts (Yanran & Liyan, 2007). This section intends to provide a more in-depth discussion of these reasons. Misestimating the Net Asset Value (NAV) This reason has been pointed out by Halkos and Krintas (2006), who argue that such miscalculations of the NAV can result from a possible accumulation of capital gains illiquid assets that had not been realized. The reason why funds with high capital appreciations that have been unrealized ought to trade at a discounted share price is that potential holders of such funds will assume a potential tax liability. In a research that was carried out by Kousenidis et al. (2011) on the effect of liquidity on closed-end funds, he established that there is a possibility of illiquid assets to be traded at a discount to provide higher expected returns. In support of inaccuracy of NAV measurement as a reason for discounts in closed-end fund trading, Yanran and Liyan(2007)suggested that when closed-end funds own large amounts illiquid assets or restricted stock that are not fairly trading in the market, their NAVs can fail to provide an accurate reflection of their true value. As a consequence of t his, the shares might either trade at a lower or higher value than the NAV. Investment trust discounts are also affected by restricted stock holdings. However, given that such holdings are often quite small or at a zero value, they do not hold as valid reasons for investment trusts trading at a discount. For investment trusts, there is usually no assurance that there will always be an available market. Therefore, this lack of an assured redemption of shares makes their valuation to be discounted. In addition to this, investment trusts that hold relatively liquid securities are valued lower than their net asset values (NAVs) at the marketplace (Cherkes et al., 2009). Putting appropriate measures in place to avoid miscalculation of the trust net asset value is vital to solve this issue. Agency Costs and Managerial Ability Discounts in closed-end funds could be a reflection of poor performance in the management of the fund or an overcharge of management fees (Bradley et al., 2010). Agency costs may also vary according to the agency issues or conflicts that may occur due to different interests between agents and principals. Managerial abilities have also been listed by researchers as being among the main factors that determine whether investment trusts can trade at a premium or a discount. The theory that investment trusts can trade at a discount if the managers charge a fee was originally proposed by Boudreaux in 1973 (Berk & Stanton, 2007). He suggested that if fund managers charge investors a fee but fail to add value to their investments, then the value of the fund is likely to be less than its NAV. In a case where managers add value to the investment trust, the reason why it might trade at a discount is when investors are made to believe that the funds’ managers are not good at investing the ir funds. If investors believe that their money is being managed by people who are good at selecting viable investments, then the fund will trade at a premium. In a research carried out on the ownership of closed-end funds Cherkes et al.(2009) established that investment trusts with larger percentage of insider ownership are likely to trade at higher discounts. This is because investors of funds that are selling at higher discounts stand a chance of receiving windfall gains in case the funds undergo immediate liquidation at their net asset value. He also established that higher expense ratios lead to higher discounts of funds because management fees are considered as being deadweight losses. Thus, discounts are used to represent the capitalization of the management fees value. Management of trusts also affects their future performances in the market, which also determine whether investment trusts are to be traded at a discount or premium. Halkos and Krintas (2006) argue that in case s where investment trusts are managed in a highly professional manner and with a positive track record, investors may have the will to pay a premium for a share of the funds. This is also due to the fact that such trusts are often expected to maintain their superior performances in future. On the other hand, funds that are expected to underperform in the market are expected to be traded at higher discounts, mainly because of the scepticism that potential investors may have for the fund (Berk & Stanton, 2007). Estimation of future performance of investment trusts can be done by comparing trends in the NAV, which are estimated on a frequent basis. It can also be done by evaluating the managerial capabilities of the fund. It can be thus argued that investment trusts whose management has a good reputation tend to perform well in the market and therefore, trade at a premium. On the contrary, poorly managed trusts fail to thrive in the market and therefore, are likely to trade at a discou nt. Taxes Another reason why investment trusts trade at a discount is taxes. According to Jin(2006), full taxes on the realized capital gains of a fund are paid for by the current shareholders, even though the highest percentage of their gains was accumulated before the investors bought the shares. Based on this, it can be argued that funds whose accumulated gains are large ought to trade at a price lower than their NAVs also suggests that investment trusts that have a high appreciation of unrealized capital sell at discounts because holders of such funds assume potential tax liabilities that depend on the holding periods of the investors. Berk and Stanton (2007) posit that discounts in closed-end funds are partially caused by the fact that investors usually lose valuable opportunities to trade tax because of holding shares in closed-end funds. Some of the tax trading approaches include individual portfolio movement. On comparing British and U.S. closed-end funds, Cherkes et al.(2009) establis hed that British funds do not have the freedom of distributing capital gains as the US funds do. In addition, shareholders have no liability in case the invested capital gains tax, except if they decide to put the holdings that they have in the fund up for sale. Yet U.S. and British closed-end funds behave in a quite similar manner. Thus, it can be concluded that discounts in investment trusts and closed-end funds cannot be explained based on country-specific tax factors. Investor Sentiment Many researchers have focused on the aspect of investor sentiment as a reason for discounts in investment trust trading. This hypothesis was proposed Lee, Shleifer and Thaler in 1991 (Yanran & Liyan, 2007). According to them, premiums and discounts in closed-end funds are determined by the attitudes of opinions that investors have about them. To explain this hypothesis, two kinds of investors are identified. These are the noise investors and rational investors. Whereas the expectations of rational investors on their asset returns are rational, noise investors’ expectations are influenced by sentiment. They have the tendency of either overestimating or underestimating the expected returns on investment. Therefore, when investment trust shares are traded, noisy and rational investors make their investments based on their respective judgments. Due to the risk associated with assets and the fact that every investor is risk averse, closed-end funds ought to trade at equilibrium pri ces that reflect opinions of the noisy and rational investors, which are often discounts. A proposal was made by Halkos and Krintas (2006) that noisy investors tend to concentrate more on the closed-end fund ownership than on the ownership of the underlying assets of the funds. Pessimism by noise traders on the future of fund drives down its price to a value lower than its NAV. This causes rational investors to avoid the buying the fund’s shares because of the risks associated with trading the funds at a discount. Chan et al. (2008) also argue that the sentiment of noise traders is stochastic and, therefore, cannot be accurately predicted by rational traders. Particularly, it is impossible for rational investors to make a perfect forecast whether noise investors will either be pessimistic or optimistic at the time that they intend to sell their assets. Due to the fact that rational traders are careful about the prices with which they will resale their assets, the unpredictabl e nature of noise traders’ sentiment increases the level of risk on the assets they intend to trade (Kousenidis et al., 2011). The biggest risk associated with noise investors is that they will be pessimistic at the time when rational investors intend to sell their assets, causing a drop in prices. Since there is always a risk of an adverse sentiment shift, the possibility of trading shares at a discount is always existent (Yanran & Liyan, 2007). Conclusion This paper has provided an in-depth explanation of some of the reasons why investment trusts usually trade at a discount. Apart from this, other aspects of investment trusts have been explained. One of the main characteristics of investment trusts that has guided the establishment of reasons discussed in this paper is that it is a closed-end fund. This means that supply of shares is fixed, regardless of the market dynamics. Therefore, fluctuations of these funds that result into premiums or discounts are mainly caused by demand factors. The main reasons why investment trusts trade at discounts include the attitudes that investors have on the fund, commonly referred to as investor sentiment, agency costs and managerial abilities, taxes and miscalculation of the net asset value of the fund. However, the factor that is contented upon by most researchers in this field of finance is investor sentiment, which is a behavioural approach of understanding this concept. Some of the other reason s that have been cited in several other researchers include the institutional ownership and performance of the trust in the market. In future research, a more specific research could be carried out by focusing on a specific investment trust in the UK. References Barnhart, S.W. & Rosenstein, S., 2010. Exchange?Traded Fund Introductions and Closed?End Fund Discounts and Volume. Financial Review, 45(4), pp.973-94. Berk, J.B. & Stanton, R., 2007. Managerial Ability, Compensation, and the Closed?End Fund Discount. The Journal of Finance, 62(2), pp.529-56. Bradley, M., Brav, A., Goldstein, I. & Jiang, W., 2010. Activist arbitrage: A study of open-ending attempts of closed-end funds. Journal of Financial Economics, 95(1), pp.1-19. Chan, J.S., Jain, R. & Xia, Y., 2008. Market segmentation, liquidity spillover, and closed-end country fund discounts. Journal of Financial Markets, 11(4), pp.377-99. Cherkes, M., Sagi, J. & Stanton, R., 2009. A liquidity-based theory of closed-end funds. Review of Financial Studies, 22(1), pp.257-97. Halkos, G.E. & Krintas, T.N., 2006. Behavioural and fundamental explanations of discounts on closed end funds: an empirical analysis. Applied Financial Economics, 16(5), pp.395-404. Hartzell, J.C., Sun, L. & Titman, S., 2006 . The effect of corporate governance on investment: evidence from real estate investment trusts. Real Estate Economics, 34(3), pp.343-76. Jin, L., 2006. Capital gains tax overhang and price pressure. The Journal of Finance, 61(3), pp.1399-431. Kousenidis, D.V., Maditinos, D.I. & Sevic, Z., 2011. Premium/Discount Of Closed-End Funds As A Measure Of Investor Sentiment: Evidence From Greece. Journal of Applied Business Research, 27(4), pp.29-52. Yanran, W. & Liyan, H., 2007. Imperfect Rationality, Sentiment and Closed end fund Puzzle. Economic Research Journal, 3, pp.117-29.

Scientific Management Theory and Inefficiencies in Healthcare

Based on the scientific management theory, what are some of the routines in health care that seem to be inefficient? What examples of participative decision making exist in your workplace? Provide your rationale. The Scientific Management approach was initially described and theorized by Frederick Winslow Taylor in the in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. In his book â€Å"Principles of Scientific Management†, first published in 1911, Frederick Taylor formulated a view on management that was highly inspired by engineering principles.As such, the studies of Frederick Taylor can be seen as a culmination of a series of developments occurring in western industrialized countries, in which engineers took the lead in developing manufacturing productivity and in industrializing organizations. Frederick Taylor developed Scientific Management out of the belief that tasks could be optimized scientifically, and that Scientific Management could design the best rational way o f performing any task, which would lead to enhanced productivity and profitability.Enhanced productivity would not only lead to greater profits for the employers, but also for the workers, who would be given the tools and training to perform at optimum performance. The development of best practices should be based on detailed observation of work processes, and on vigorous training and selection of the best-suited workers. The routine that seems to be inefficient in my work place is the procedure of blood transfusion.In my hospital before and after each blood transfusion the nurse has to verify all the papers with a second nurse and the nursing supervisor. This is very time consuming and delay the treatment especially at the time of emergency transfusions. So we notified this issue in the meeting and they changed the policy. Instead of nurse supervisor, nurse manager in each unit can verify the papers before transfusion and after blood transfusion nurse supervisor can review the pape rs.

A Peaceful and Charasmatic Leader, Martin Luther King Junior

â€Å"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.† Martin Luther King Junior once said. â€Å"Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.† he said. Dr.King had a dream that one day he would â€Å"look to a day when people would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.† A point that has been disputed about the Civil Rights is using the â€Å"passive unless provoked and the violent approach, but upon research, it seems clear that the Martin Luther King Junior’s approach to the civil rights movement was most effective, because he was a powerful yet inspirational leader. Martin Luther King Junior was a charismatic leader, never using violence†¦show more content†¦However, there are other ways of leading â€Å"the road to equality, such as Malcolm X and The Black Panther’s style of leadership, to which were not as effec tive as Dr.Kings. This is because Malcolm X’s style was â€Å"passive until provoked†, which was similar to to being in the middle of peace and violence. He lead in peace, but was also forceful to other people to make them follow his views and ideas. This has caused a lot of violence, because not all people agree with the same idea, and not all people have the same opinions. It is challenging, and harsh. Forcefulness and violence is not the right way to go for equality and justice, to which the Black Panthers also did. It might seem effective, to go and commit violent actions to change the society’s viewpoint, but at what cost? The cost of lives? Or a broken leg or arm? It is not right to commit acts of violence, because people have different viewpoints, and violent actions would cause no good. Violence is not the way to go, and it should only be used under moral-based situations, not by changing someone’s opinion. In conclusion, I believe that Dr.Kings l eadership to the Civil Rights issue was the correct way, because he used a nonviolent approach to change the society’s opinions, but also maintained a success. Dr.King once said, â€Å"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.† And so,