Why Do People Work

Why do people work? Think about the reading and your own knowledge of human nature. In his essay â€Å"Work and Labour† Igor Shchegolev referred to Daniel Yankelovich’s three conceptions of work (described in â€Å"The Work Ethic Is Underemployed†). â€Å"First, as labour, as a way to exist; second, as a way to improve one’s level of life; and third, as a moral necessity†, paraphrased Igor. These conceptions closely resonate with an ancient orthodox perception of three stages Christian might act in: stages of a slave, an employee, and a son towards his father. Although, at first glance, the question â€Å"Why do people work? may sound as a rhetorical one, there is possible to formulate three main motivations – on a base of both mentioned above theories. There are vital necessity, stimulus for reward, and nonmaterial reasons: moral duty or passion. The first motive does not leave people another choice. â€Å"One who is not working – i s not allowed to eat†, teaches an old Slavonic proverb, appealing to the vital necessity of work. Tireless Ant of Aesop's Fable â€Å"The Ant and the Grasshopper† sees no other ways for himself as the only hard work. There is the only way to survive. He has to. He does.The majority of people on earth follow him in the same way, let alone those struggling to make both ends meet all the time. Besides, in modern society where consumption is highly valued it happens that it is workers’ dependence on purchases what â€Å"determines how much work they do† (according to â€Å"Working too hard†, The Press). Regardless of the variety of necessities, those people alike the slaves who have no alternatives. Another reason why people work is to obtain benefits, which may vary from person to person. Generally, people in this group might focus on calculation any possible profit from work they do.There may be the steps of career or certain earnings, or tax rates. W hatever the motive, it aims to conform to employee’s expectations, so these interests are self-centred. Such workers tend to always think they contribute enough; therefore, to be rewarded is one of the privileges of theirs. Similarly, some Christians perform a definite behaviour in theirs life, waiting on the bounty. In this case they are alike the employees of kind the described group. People depicted in both paragraphs make all their efforts in order to achieve personal premium. They work to live.Finally, the last group of incentives to work represents the immaterial qualities that people possess. â€Å"Life is given to us for doing good deeds†, teaches us folk wisdom. For some of the people all of the time there is no question why to work; they are convinced – for the good of the commonwealth. A feeling of a moral duty inspires them. In the history of USSR there were great examples of altruistic work: people were eager to move into extremely remote places of the country in order to break new ground. They were full of endeavour and enthusiasm to secure the future of new generations.At the same time, there is a type of people who work because they are devoted to it – their passion. They may continue to work in their spare time as well, being absolutely satisfied. These people sacrifice their heart and soul. They live to work. To sum up, there is diversity of reasons that prompt people to work and it is entirely possible that they can be intermixed in each particular case. However, alike in an organism every part is vital, all kind of workers are essential in our society as well. There is for the purpose of bringing good balance into its existence.

History of Magazines in Kenya

HISTORY OF MAGAZINES IN KENYA Magazines are a form of print media that are printed periodically for a specific group of people with a common interest. Magazine publishing started way back in the 1660s with Erbauliche Monaths-Unterredungen (Edifying Monthly Discussions) being the first magazine to be published in Germany and in the world as a whole. This was in the year 1663. However, the next magazine that followed was much different than the first. The Gentleman’s Magazine published in1731 in England included more entertainment in form of essays, stories, poems and political commentary.Magazines then looked like books, printed in black and white. They were merely a channel where literate men passed on their points in the above mentioned forms of entertainment. In 1739, The Scots Magazine was published and is still published up to date though as a daily business newspaper. In the year 1741, the first magazine in America was published and named American Magazine just three days before Benjamin Franklin’s General Magazine was published. Several magazines were then established until in 1933 when the first men’s magazine, Esquire was published.This was the beginning of special-interest magazines. Further on into the 1950s to 1970s, magazines were inclusive of models gracing their covers. Magazines in Kenya started publishing way back in the 1970s. An example of a magazine published then is Joe Magazine which was founded by Hilary Ng’weno, the publisher and Terry Hirst, the artist. This magazine was full of humour, used art and fiction to narrate cultural, political and social aspects of daily Kenya living. It target was the urban residents but after Ng’weno left in 1974, Hirst tried changing it to include the rural residents as well.However, it lost market and shut down in 1979. Ng’weno however did not end his publishing career there. He did some other publishing works such as Weekly Review, which nurtured important persona lities such as Hanningtone Gaya. In this era of modernity, magazines are grouped into three; * Consumer magazines: these are sold by subscription and at newsstands, in bookstores and supermarkets. * Industrial, company, and sponsored magazines: are produced by companies specifically for their employees, customers and stockholders and by clubs and associations for their members. Trade, professional, and business magazines: carry stories, features and ads aimed at people in specific professions and are either distributed by the professional organizations themselves or by media companies. (Baran) A lot of magazines have come up in Kenya in this century. These are such as the first men’s magazine in Kenya and East Africa known as HM (His Magazine) which is produced by Media Seven Group(Kenya) Limited. This magazine basically aims for men in between 21-40 years of age and it is all about knowledge and insights men could grasp to better their relationships.Media Seven Group also pr oduces Her Magazine, Monthly Motor, Mum and Dad, Teen Life, Business Monthly and G Magazine. Other magazines in Kenya are such as Samantha’s Bridal Weddings Magazine, Passion, Pregnant, True Love, Parents (possibly the oldest magazine), The Insyder, Tupike, and Salon among others. SAMANTHA’S BRIDAL WEDDINGS MAGAZINE Samantha’s Bridal Weddings Magazine is a consumer magazine that is based on weddings and acts as a guide for people planning their weddings. It was started in 2005 by Dr. Catherine Masitsa.The inspiration to begin Samantha’s Bridal Weddings Magazine came from Going Out, a magazine that talked about interesting sites in Kenya. Dr. Catherine Masitsa saw the need for an informative magazine on weddings and all that is involved and thus Samantha’s Bridal Wedding Magazine. However, immediately after Going Out ended, she ventured into Business Woman, another magazine and later Samantha’s Bridal. Samantha’s Bridal Weddings Magazi ne is the first Kenyan wedding magazine and is named so after Dr. Catherine Masitsa’s mother and because it is â€Å"girly† and has a soft touch to it.PERSONNEL People involved in production of Samantha’s Bridal Magazine are editor at large (Catherine Masitsa), sub editor (Christabel Ododa), creative director, contributors, printers, advertising sales executive, advertising sales coordinator, distributors, photographers, models, make-up artists and advertisers. PROCESS AND PERSONNEL ROLES This magazine’s production technically has four stages. Stage one is research. The editorial team comes up with a blueprint which is the rough outline of what the magazines should look like.The Blueprint has the themes, how every page should look like, what should be included and who needs what for the magazine to come up. The editors look for material to write about in connection with the theme, enter contractual agreements with the models and photographers and search f or venues to build up the magazine. The editor is also involved in copyrighting which basically involves coming up with the words of the theme. In the latest issue of Samantha’s Bridal the theme was Dress trends, the writers thus had to look for something to write on dresses.The next stage is the design stage. In this stage is where the sub editor puts together the articles, arranges the articles and puts words in the advertisements. The work is then sent to the designer who lays out the tempo and the photos to come up with an authentic layout. After the designer has done his work its back to the editor for proof reading then to the designer again to prepare the artwork for print in PDF format in cd form to send to local printers and in transfer file protocol to send to international printers. The third stage is printing.The printer makes digital print outs of final look of the magazine which is sent back to the office for approval by the chief editor who has to sign every pa ge. The digital print outs are called proofs. Once the proofs are approved they are sent back to the printers then final printing begins. This process of printing begins when artwork is electronically transformed into a film which is then checked and transformed to the printing plate. The printing plates are then mounted on the web off-set printer which transfers the artwork on paper.Color separation on the papers is done through a process of colors, â€Å"CYMK†. This is cyan, yellow, magenta and black. The pages are mixed with these colors to differentiate between pictures and words. Printing starts with the light colors first and onto the dark colors. The machine sorts the papers from the first to last, binds the magazine and trims it into the size of that particular magazine. The last stage: the distribution of the magazine. Samantha Bridal Magazine uses PDS to distribute their magazine to all their advert clients and to supermarkets all over Kenya.Samantha’s Bridal Magazine produces 10,000 copies each selling at 495 Kenyan shillings. TREND CHANGE * Comparing magazines today and those in the past, there is evidence of a big difference embraced by the magazine industry. * There is use of more graphics and colored images to brighten and liven up the magazines. * Magazine publishers have ventured into the internet to meet the competition posed by other forms of media. * Publishers now are focused on concentrating on their defined audiences rather than the whole multitude. ETHICS Every magazine has a house style that makes it unique and distinct.A house style is the set of standards for the writing and design of an organization. House style identifies a particular company. This is seen in the font size, flow of articles, number of pages, size and layout of magazine. The magazine Industry is very cautious in terms of confidentiality and ethics. This is so in that, when a company wants an advertisement design made for them by the designer; it has to be sent back to the company for its approval. The proof is another example of cautiousness where every page has to be signed to show approval before the printer can go ahead.When a venue for taking photos is chosen the owners of the place have to approve the use of their place as well. Apart from approval by the concerned, magazines rarely face ethical dilemmas in terms of what they write about. This is because, they do not write on real life stories apart from events that have occurred such as parties or dinners. FUNDS Advertisements are what keep a magazine running. Samantha’s Bridal Weddings Magazine has a sales team whose main work is to source for people who want advertisements. The team approaches agencies like Scan group to get companies to advertise with them.A full page advert cost 185,000 and this is basically how a magazine makes money. GOVERNING BODIES AND REGULATORS Government: it offers licenses to the publishing company of the magazine. For instance, Samantha bridals magazine is licensed to produce the magazine and air the TV show. Editorial style book: it governs how the magazine will look like. It is an organizational book that determines the layout of the magazine. THEORY APPLICATION According to Baran, Social Cognitive Theory states that people learn through observation- and applying it to mass media.We either imitate what we see or identify with it. When women look through the magazine, others get ideas of how they would want their weddings to be (imitation) while those who are already married appreciate what they see since they know the feeling (identification). CHALLENGES According to Hanningtone Gaya, publisher of the Media Seven Group magazines, these are the challenges magazine publishers in Kenya face; * Kenyan advertisers do not believe in advertising in magazines, therefore there is no advertising revenue to sustain magazine publishing. Kenyans do not like reading books or magazines, which undermines magazine circulation and subscription. * Most magazine publishers carry very shallow articles which are not well researched. * The magazines appear periodically and therefore disappointing to loyal readers, subscribers and advertisers. * The high cost of printing and poor quality in color printing is a major disadvantage in Kenya. { http://www. gvpedia. com/Kenya/Hanningtone-Gaya-Top-Magazines-Publisher. aspx} REFERENCES www. amanthasbridal. co. ke Stanley Murage- Creative Director, Samantha’s Bridal (0720316292) http://www. infoplease. com/ipea/A0154485. html#ixzz1bQvU4EoQ http://www. media7group. com/component/search/magazines%2Bhistory/%252F? ordering=&searchphrase=all http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Joe_%28magazine%29 http://www. gvpedia. com/Kenya/Hanningtone-Gaya-Top-Magazines-Publisher. aspx Baran S. J. , (2010), Introduction to Mass Communication. Media Literacy and Culture, 6th Ed. , McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.

Leisure Industry Competition Essay

1. Discuss using examples from a leisure industry of your choice, the extent to which competition creates efficiency. There are many ways in which a firm or leisure industry can be considered to be efficient. First of all they may be productively efficient. This is where they would be operating at their lowest average cost, meaning they are benefiting from all economies of scales and experience no diseconomies of scale. They particularly must avoid any waste of factors of production. Allocative efficiency exists when the firm is operating where Price is equal to Marginal Cost. When a firm or industry is allocatively efficient this means they are producing what society wants and allocating resources to increase both output and quality. This may be in the form of specialisation. If dynamic efficiency exists this means that the firm or industry is experiencing abnormal profit. Their aim must always be to increase output in the future often by investing in research and development, such firms are often benefitting from monopoly power. Pareto efficiency is where production of one good can increase without the production of another decreasing. I believe that increased competition will create productive efficiency. This is because if there is increased competition through an increase in the supply of for example entertainment channels entering the TV broadcasting industry this will result in firms having the reduce their prices of advertising slots due to the potential fall in the number of viewers. This will mean that they are now price takers in the market and as a result their revenue will decrease. As the firms are profit maximisers they will be unsatisfied with their revenue falling and as a result they will need to reduce their average cost in an attempt to maintain their previous profit level. They will reduce their average cost by avoiding any waste of factors of production in the production of the good/service and in order to do so they will often reduce their output of any new television programmes as there is a potential that they may be unsuccessful and as a result viewers will often see an increase in the numbe r of repeats of television programmes. They will also decrease their output of new programmes in order to stop any potential diseconomies of scale and improve communication in the production of their good/service. Therefore at this point I believe that in  the leisure industry firms such as ITV have become more productively efficient as a result of increased competition. Some firms also have the ability to attain economies of scale. An example would be SKY who obtained technical economies of scale by the introduction of 3D and HD boxes, and purchasing economies of scale by the purchase of previously unavailable channels and programmes such as HBI and the FA cup. Attaining these economies of scale reduced SKYs average cost leading to them being more productively efficient. This further backs up my point that increased competition does result in greater efficiency. However, it could be argued that this is dependent upon the scale of competition. For example, when Channel 4 and Channel 5 first entered the market this was not the case, meaning efficiency did not increase. However, as these channels have become more well established this is now the case. One could also argue that this is also not the case for the BBC due to the fact that they are funded by the Government and do not compete on price. The BBC is a public monopoly but they are certainly not efficient. The BBC is not cutting costs in order to become more productively efficient; the Government is reducing their funding therefore this has created the need for the company to be more productively efficient. They are doing this in a number of ways such as moving production from London to Manchester as it is cheaper and therefore will reduce their costs. Therefore increased competition is not the factor that is causing the BBC to become more productively efficient – Government intervention is. This leads me to the conclusion that the greater the number of firms the more likely they are to increase productive efficiency. But increased competition is not the only factor; government intervention must also be considered. In the leisure industry there is always a need for Travel Agents to be allocatively efficient, this is because it is vital that they produce what society wants. If it was the case that certain Travel agents were not providing the holidays that consumers wanted this would simply result in holiday makers going elsewhere. This is especially the case at present because barriers to entry/exit have decreased meaning new firms are entering the market all of the time due to improved communication. This has increased competition mainly due to the internet as many travel agents and comparison websites have set up online to compare the best deals, which increases the  power to the consumer as they are no longer required to visit the main four travel agents. This has resulted in a greater need for travel agents to avoid mis-allocation of their resources by decreasing the number of planes and destinations. This is because if they do not allocate their holidays to societies needs their Marginal Cost will increase above their price. Therefore increased competition leads to an increase in the need for firms to allocate resources to what society needs and ensure that they are increasing their quality and output to become allocatively efficient. We have established that increased competition will inevitably result in increased output; however it will also increase external costs. For example in eco tourism, if output increases in visits to the rainforest this will cause a major increase in the number of negative externalities. Therefore in this case it would be beneficial to decrease the output of such visits in order to reduce negative externalities. In fact I would argue that a monopoly provider of eco tourism holidays would be the most beneficial for the environment as they might produce holidays at the social optimum level. Taking these factors into consideration I strongly believe that increased competition will force firms to think about how they can allocate resources efficiently but sometimes at a social cost. With SKY benefiting from technical economies of scale it could also be argued that by investing in HD and 3D boxes this has also allowed them to become dynamically efficient as their abnormal profits allow them to invest in research and development which allows them to increase output in the future with the same factors of production inevitably leading to monopoly power. This benefits consumers as they are able to consume greater output in the form of 3D and HD programmes or a wider range of channels in the future without the needed for greater factors of production. However, I could argue that this is not in fact them demonstrating greater efficiency as a result of increased competition but rather creating even more barriers to entry for other firms wishing to compete with them in the broadcasting market. It also could be questioned as to how much of their abnormal profits are actually being invested into research and development as I am aware that the majority of their profits goes to shareholders. Therefore I am led to believe that although theoretically SKYs monopoly power and the lack of competition they  face gives them the opportunity to be dynamically efficient; in reality it is questionable as to what will drive competition in the future. Although it could in fact be more competition that will drive future efficiency and not the abnormal profits of just a few firms. I strongly believe that increased competition is most likely to result in efficiency in the travel market as there are little barriers to entry that current travel agents are able to put up in order to stop competition affecting their profits. This is mostly due to the fact that the internet has allowed many new companies to set up online giving consumers the opportunity to compare prices directly; therefore increasing the need for travel agents to be allocatively efficient making the statement true. However I accept some may argue that if a firm is being allocatively efficient at a social cost they should not be considered to be allocatively efficient and therefore my judgment could be questioned. On the other hand when firms are not competing on price, like for example the BBC, an increase in competition is not likely to result in them becoming more efficient as decreasing their average cost is not likely to be a priority but instead they are more likely to need to increase the quality of their good or service. In theory I believe that the best way to ensure efficiency in the future is to invest in R+D (creating new barriers to entry like SKY) and the way to get firms to do this is increased competition. In reality this may result in negative externalities or potentially abuse of monopoly power and monopolies may often end up being inefficient in the long run.

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and International Essay

The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources and International Trade Law - Essay Example The main objective of the treaty is to conserve and sustainably use plant genetic resources for food and agriculture. In addition, there must be fair and equitable sharing of the benefits that arise in the use of plant genetic resources (Curci 3). Achieving the main objectives of the treaty has several implications on the intellectual property rights. In addition, the treaty has several implications on the conservation of genetic resources. The general regime on access to genetic resources and benefits sharing are some of the provisions in the treaty that are relevant to the intellectual property rights. In the treaty, bilateral negotiations were made between genetic provider countries and other user countries. According to Biber-Klemn and Cottier (217), the main elements of the treaty include: the affirmation of the sovereign rights of the provider states over their genetic resources; the creation of environmentally friendly genetic resources that can bring benefits to user countries; and the access to a country’s genetic resources by other nations being subject to Prior Informed Consent (PIC). The access to and the transfer of genetic resources technology in the treaty states that countries engaging in the contract must cooperate subject to national legislation and international law (Lewinski 69). This is to ensure that such intellectual property rights are supportive and do not go against the established objectives of the treaty, according to Lewinski. The rights of farmers are also included in the treaty, particularly Article 9 of the treaty. Article 9 recognizes the contribution of local traditional communities and farmers to the conservation and development of plant genetic resources for the purpose of food and agriculture production. In addition, the article places the responsibility for the realization of the rights of farmers by the national governments. The contracting parties should ensure that there is protection and promotion of

SUMMARIZED ARTICLE Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

SUMMARIZED - Article Example The president told the media that he refused to rule out US action in Iraqi against the Sunni Islamic militia group who have spread out towards Baghdad and are threatening to divide the country and establish their own jihadist nation (Moon1). The stock market’s losses accelerated rapidly following president Obama’s comments, with industries and consumer discretionary sectors fronting the decline. The VIX, Wall Street fear meter, expanded to eight point three percent to end at 12.56% (Moon1). The Dow Jones Industrial mean dropped 109.69 points or 0.65%, to end at 16,734.19. The S&P 500 tumbled 13.78 points or 0.71% to 1,930.11 (Moon1). The Nasdaq composite slid 34.30 points or 0.79 percent to 4,297.63. The Dow reached an intraday low at 16,703.73 while the S&P and the Nasdaq fell to a session low at 1,925.78 and 4,284.528 respectively. Retail sales, in macroeconomic news, rose 0.3 percent in May, and almost half the growth rate that economists had projected. American’s new claims for unemployment grants rose unexpectedly in the previous week (Moon1). Despite both economic indicators being below expectations, neither was considered weak enough to change the opinion of bettering economic states and the market’s recent uptrend is still considered intact. Energy shares ranked among one of the recent few gainers. The S&P energy section index rose 0.3%. Oil costs hit nine-month highs on concerns that intensified violence in Iraq could interfere with oil supplies from the key OPEC exporter (Moon1). Major US Airlines’ shares dropped for the second day consecutively as oil prices increased. American Airline Group Inc, the world’s largest transporter, slid 4.9 percent to $40.2 while United Continental Holdings Inc slid 5.9 percent to $42.60 (Moon1). One of Nasdaq’s most active stocks, Geron Corporation, surged 21.2

POLITICS how effective is parliament in ensuring executive Essay

POLITICS how effective is parliament in ensuring executive accountability - Essay Example An accountable executive must be in a position to; meet statutory obligations and audit requirements, produce substantive evidence in court proceedings, withstand attention from and scrutiny of the media, meet set standards for accreditation and justify their actions to commissions of inquiry like parliamentary commissions and the Royal Commissions (Budge et al, 2003). Parliament is the highest representative organ of the government that individually and collectively accounts to the people. It therefore must reflect social and public concerns so as to remain legitimate and accountable in the eyes of the public. By the mandate given in the constitution, parliament has a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability of the executive arm of the government and achieve this role by assuming oversight to all activities of the executive and all its auxiliary bodies. To do this effectively, parliament staff must be strengthened in their oversight role so as to deliver their mandat e as non partisan officials of the state. Parliament therefore uses a number of mechanisms to check on the transactions of the executive. In doing so, institutional accountability of parliament must also be maintained collectively. Since fosters of accountability must first show that they are accountable as well. This is achievable by the members of parliament developing a code of behaviour that will guide them as they pursue this mandate (Garnett et al, 2012). This essay is discusses the mechanisms put in place by parliament to hold the executive to account. It discusses these in detail, their pros and cons, and then concludes with an analysis of how effective they are in ensuring executive accountability. First among these mechanisms is the use of parliamentary select committees, then there is ministerial question time and finally there is prime minister question time. The following section discusses these measures into detail. Select Committees Parliamentary select committees are committees that can be appointed by the House of Commons or the House of Lords or Joint Committees drawn from both houses. Examples of these committees are the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee and the Joint Committee on Human Rights Respectively. Committees may be sessional, which means they are permanent or near permanent, or they may also be ad-hoc, meaning they are appointed just to complete a certain task and then disbanded (Garnett et al, 2012). Committees in parliament are formed to ensure transparency, efficiency and accountability of executive and as stated earlier of parliament itself. The work of committees is primarily to pore over the transactions of the executive and ensure executive transparency to the public. Constitutional Committee This committee of the House of Lords spans across all parties and has the mandate has the mandate of resisting constitutional change that will harm the interest of the people. It inve stigates a proposed amendment by engaging experts including members of the executive and the public before any amendments are made. Economic Affairs Committee The economic affairs committee is a committee of the House of Lords charged with the responsibility of scrutinizing the financial

Module 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Module 4 - Essay Example 6. Mrs Turpin is shown as a woman who revels in a deep-satisfaction about her role in the world. With possessions like a house and her race, she considers herself far more superior to those who possess a house alone. Thus, the author shows her as a woman indulgent in her glory. 7. The dramatic irony becomes evident when the girl hurls her book at Mrs Turpin. The girl’s inability to withstand any more of Mrs Turpin’s pride and satisfaction is evident in this display of irony. 8. Mrs. Turpin final revelation is that human beings will be saved by Christ because of their identity as a human. God’s judgment is not based on the spiritual virtues because these are removed by their humanity. Thus, when Mrs Turpin views the spirits rising to heaven, she finds herself at the end of this line being no better than anyone else. 9. Flannery O Connor rightly points out the need for humanity today to view events that they do not come across in real life. The reader is indeed at a quest to find literature that shows them sin and innocence: the redemption and restoration act in today’s world. Good literature is indeed uplifting. It allows an individual to see their own flaws and work to improve them. It also contains the ability that makes an individual see the good that exists in humanity: a feeling that can cheer up any soul. Humor is felt to be a form of catharsis that allows the audience or reader to vent their feelings. It is a great form of art for the individual to relieve themselves of the tension and frustrations of

Involving Parents Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Involving Parents - Assignment Example One of the other important items about this involvement is being able to measure whether the implemented plan has been of any importance in terms of the success attained by students (Chavkin & Williams, 2007). In the State of Michigan, parental involvement refers to the active engagement of parents in the learning activities of their children. However, it has been revealed that there is a high need to move beyond the involvement of parents to their engagement. The state of Michigan has educators who are among the best in the entire world. It is thus important that the state, schools. School districts and parents are all united to support a common goal. Thus, the following plan towards parent involvement in education will help my school district in developing, assessing and implementing the engagement policies, plans and programs. Some of the plans that include outreach strategies include activities that are related to home learning, use of resources within the community, as well as policies and actions that support the schools and the district. Therefore, the following is a plan that will help to enhance the involvement of parents. In this plan, teachers and administrators will be required to assess their level of readiness to involve parents and how determined they are to engage and use them. Definition of the plan: Each of the parents is expected to take part at different levels in the learning activities of his or her child. The involvement of parents will be empowered and encouraged through the application of committees that are in charge of empowering and enabling parents to be involved in the education of their children (Cervone & O’Leary, 2012). At the closing stages of the second semester, the members of the committee will be in a position to start making the implementation actions as they will be in place. These actions will be as a result of their formation. Before

REL133 wk 5 contemporary issues facing the assigned Eastern religious Essay

REL133 wk 5 contemporary issues facing the assigned Eastern religious tradition - Essay Example This means that these movements have something in common with what societies understand as constituting religion. There is what can be considered as mainstream religions like Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, atheism and so on. The fact that there are some movements that are implicitly regarded as religions in their very nature and characteristics is an indication that all religions share a common characteristic or a number of characteristics which can be sorted out. One such religion that shares many characteristics with other religions is Hinduism and, in this paper, the common characteristics that Hindu religion shares with other religions will be outlined and discussed. Like many other religion’s mythologies, Hindu mythology is rich, multifarious and inclusive. In this case, like many other religions, Hindu mythology is a portrayal of terrible in benevolence, triviality alongside the cosmic and sublimity in grotesque (Vaz, 2001). Many religions are based on these pi llars and are not an ordinary ideation but an ideation of powers that are beyond human understanding. Apart from Christianity and Islam, most religions draw or associate the powers with some form and in many cases, the forms are numerous and hierarchical (Vaz, 2001). Like many religions, Hinduism has many gods and each god has its own association, function, and associated shape or form. Moreover, Hinduism like many other religions such as Islam, Christianity and Jewish religions draws their inspiration and religious knowledge from texts. Christianity draws from a number of texts combined into a bible and Islam has a number of texts combined into a Quran. Hinduism has important texts such as Upanishad, Rig Veda and Bhagvad Gita; usually referred to as the four Vedas or â€Å"books of knowledge† (Beversluis, 2000, p. 52). Religion constitutes a belief in a power and Hinduism, like many religions is a power and not an ordinary ideation. Hinduism acknowledges the presence of four major goals namely material, satisfaction of desire, human position and beyond life. The acknowledgement of an existence beyond life is among all religions and entails a goal of achieving liberation from unending cycles of rebirth in which all living beings are locked. Like Christianity, Hinduism believes in the trinity of god. While Christians acknowledge God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; Hinduism believes in â€Å"Brahama the creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the destroyer† (Flood & Olivelle, 2003, p.273). Many religions integrate various heterogeneous elements and like them, Hinduism is a complex and a continuous whole with religious, artistic, social and economic aspects. These aspects inhere in the fact that Hinduism, like many other religions, covers the wholeness of life. As a result, Hinduism is not fit explained in terms of a single definition but rather a characteristic. In addition, there are countless rituals that are associated with Hin duism as in other religions. Christianity, Islam and many other religions base their belief and knowledge on various rituals, which are meant to appease their gods and spirits (Vijay, 2001). Hinduism is a religion that is associated with many gods and goddesses. Like many other polytheist religions, these gods are believed to rule the world. The three gods that are

Microsoft Company Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Microsoft Company - Case Study Example What accounts for this company’s international success despite the potential for intense competition in most markets? Some reasons for company’s international successes are diversity in products ranges, a continuance of professionalism and partnering with other companies for better products. One of the major reasons for success is continuous innovation in products and services (Satell, 2013). Find a list of company’s values. Pick 2 of the values and explain how you think those values would influence the way employees do their work? Although the company has listed many values, the most important two values are mutual respect and continual self-improvement. These 2 values boost the self-confidence of employees regardless of different ethnic or personal background and result into an increase in productivity (Microsoft, 2015). Research the most recent annual report of the company ( most companies post their annual reports online in the Investor Relations section of their web page ) and list all the factors in the external environment that have affected the company. Focus on both the general and specific environment. The external factors that have affected the company are the rapid rate in advance of the technology, mergers, and acquisitions of various tech companies. It is also facing problems due to patent –infringement or anti-trust suit filed against Microsoft in various countries during last few years. What is the organization’s mission? Whom does the organization serve, and how does it serve them?

South west region cuisine (Arizona, Utah, Texas etc) Essay

South west region cuisine (Arizona, Utah, Texas etc) - Essay Example The American historical regional cuisine is still very much alive today, and it is what differentiates different regions. The South West region is characterized by rustic cooking, comprising of a fusion of various ingredients and diets that could have been eaten by the native Mexicans and the colonial settlers from Spain (Olver, 2014). Therefore, the characteristic cuisine of the South west region is the Mexican food, mainly characterized by the use of large chunks of meats, with beans as the accompaniments and chili pepper as the main spice (White, 1993). Thus, the combination of the large chunks of meat, beans and chili pepper making a thick soup, serves as a characteristic South west region cuisine, which is very popular even nationally and abroad. Nevertheless, even within the South west region, the preferred cuisines do vary, with the regions of Utah, New Mexico and Colorado being popular for the New Mexican cuisine, which is basically the Chili soup, while Texas has a fusion of the New Mexican cuisine with its own ingredients, to form the cuisine referred to as Tex-Mex while Arizona has its own p opular cuisine referred as Sonoran (Olver, 2014). The Tex-Mex is unique, notably because of the use of Sour cream, which is a basic ingredient used both as an ingredient in cooking and as a cooling garnish. Therefore, the Tex-Mex cuisine comprises of the large amount of meat, cumin, cheese and the characteristic sour cream (Detterick-Pineda, 2004). The Tex-Mex is a fusion cuisine from different regions, which has combined the characteristic large chunks of meat with cheese and the sour cream being a German influence, to deliver a unique cuisine to the State, which continues to evolve even to date. On the other hand, the Cali-Mex is a cuisine popular in the South west region coastal State of California (White, 1993). The state is one bordering Mexico, and

Video game industry analysis Essay Example for Free

Video game industry analysis Essay History The history of video games goes as far back as the 1940s, when in 1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith, Jr. and Este Ray Mann filed a United States patent request for an invention they described as a cathode ray tube amusement device. Video gaming would not reach mainstream popularity until the 1970s and 1980s, when arcade video games, gaming consoles and home computer games were introduced to the general public. Since then, video gaming has become a popular form of entertainment and a part of modern culture in most parts of the world. There are currently considered to be eight generations of video game consoles, with the seventh and the eighth concurrently ongoing. Early Founders During the golden age of video games in the 1970s, it was a rush to the start to see which company and which programmer could create a video game and platform that could trump the rest. However, most large video game manufacturers can trace their roots far before that decade, reaching back into the early 1900s or even the late 1800s. While some video game companies, such as Nintendo and Sony, would begin their economic pursuits in other fields, companies like Atari and Sega were created with an eye toward producing the ultimate gaming system. The first major video game company to come into being was Nintendo, which would eventually make video games popular again in the 1980s. Nintendo is a Japanese company that was created in 1889 and was originally named the Marufuku Company. In 1951, this company, which manufactured Western-style playing cards in Japan, would take the name Nintendo, meaning â€Å"leave luck to heaven. In 1891, the Philips Company, owner of Magnavox and an important frontrunner in the video game production race, was established in the Netherlands. In 1947, another major video game icon was founded under the name Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Company. After the founders realized this name was too cumbersome to say and remember easily, they modified the Latin word sonus (meaning sound) to form the company name Sony. Sega was founded in 1952, under the name Service Games, as a company that provided coin-operated games and jukeboxes to American servicemen in Japan. It would not be until 1972, well into the beginning of video games, that Atari was formed as a cooperative partnership between leading video game programmers Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. First Video Games and Platforms The idea for an interactive video game was first conceived of by Ralph Baer, an engineer with an airborne electronics company, in 1951. Commissioned to design a television for the company, Baer believed the TV could be more marketable to consumers if it contained a type of interactive game (Kent 2001). His idea was shot down by the company, but other engineers and programmers would not let it settle for long. The first official video games, a table-tennis type game and a computer space game, were developed in 1958 and 1961, respectively. These early video games proved to be the necessary catalyst for game programmers and were the early predecessors of the popular arcade games Pong and Space Invaders. Pong, created by the Atari Company in 1972, turned into an incredible success in arcades and led to the creation of the first home video gaming system, the Magnavox Odyssey. After the moderate success of the Odyssey, several video game companies would follow with their own home gaming systems in 1976 and 1977, including the Atari Video Computer System (VCS). Video Games Take Off By 1978, home video game consoles were beginning to sell well, and more competitors had entered the market. Nintendo of Japan released its first video game that year, a simplistic version of the board game Othello that was marketed in arcades. The popular toy makers Mattel and Milton Bradley also entered the video game scene in the following two years with a hand-held video game unit from Milton Bradley and the Intellivision by Mattel, the first video game console to offer true competition to Atari. During this golden age of video games in the late 1970s, the two leading contenders, Magnavox and Atari, both tried to add competition to the home computer market. Magnavox released the Odyssey 2, a programmable video game console that included a built-in keyboard, while Atari began selling its own personal computer designed to rival Apple. However, most consumers connected Atari only with video games, and the computer system was widely disregarded. During this time period, Atari also released its first home version of the popular arcade game Space Invaders, leading to a massive increase in sales for the VCS game console. As video gaming entered the 1980s, two incredibly popular games that would revolutionize the industry were created. Pac-Man, created by Namco in 1980, became the best-selling arcade game of all time and the first video game that was popular with both males and females. The later version, Ms. Pac-Man, would also prove to be immensely popular at arcades. The next year, in 1981, Nintendo of America created Donkey Kong for arcades. While the hero of Donkey Kong was originally named Jump man, this name was later changed to Mario and he would become an icon in years to come as a key video game hero. Unfortunately, as video games began to take off in the early 1980s, the market quickly became flooded with multiple consoles and games, and the industry experienced a market crash in 1984. Industry Growth Along with increasing Internet and broadband penetration throughout the world, online and mobile gaming represents the greatest push in the video game growth. The implication of this increase in accessibility to technology is many developing countries -specifically the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China) – are now becoming major players in the industry. As online and mobile gaming becomes more affordable, video gaming becomes more accessible to developing countries. Though console gaming currently represents the largest market in the industry, its growth is projected to slow down in the upcoming years, from a 10. 9% growth between 2003 and 2008, to a 5. 5% between 2008 and 2013. In 2008, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) represented the largest video gaming market share (35. 3%). In 2013 it is projected the Asia-Pacific region will be the leader in both growth and market share. The projection is market share in EMEA and North America will decline, while it is expected to increase in Latin America. The video game industry in the BRIC economies has developed in parallel fashion to these countries’ general economic expansion. It is projected the BRIC countries will have increased market share in future years. Market size The Video Games are a cultural phenomenon that is growing ever more prominent among young and old alike. They have become an integral part of the mass media culture and have been in existence for nearly as long as the television. While the video games of today are growing ever more detailed and lifelike, early video games like Pong, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man were equally impressive and highly entertaining at their time. From their earliest years to the complex video game landscape of the twenty-first century, video games have developed into enchanting, alternate worlds that have captured the hearts of millions of players. As of today, it is estimated that video game consoles represent more than 25% of the worlds general-purpose computational power. Also they were banned in China since June 2000 and now China is seeing explosive growth. Market size from 2003 to 2013 in $billions REVENUE FOR 2012. Size of global traditional video game market revenue, excluding mobile games on smart phones and tablets: $70 billion, up from $65 billion in 2011 Size of global video game market revenue, including mobile games on smart phones and tablets: $78. 5 billion for 2012 Retail software revenue: $28 billion, down from $29. 5 billion in 2011 Online revenue, including digital delivery, subscriptions, Facebook games: $24 billion, up from $18 billion in 2011 (Source: DFC Intelligence) CONSOLE MAKERS Microsoft Corp * Xbox 360 launched in the United States: November 2005 * Xbox consoles sold: 67 million. * Kinect motion sensors sold: 19 million Major initiative: Microsoft is expected to show off new entertainment features of its Xbox 360 and a new version of Halo. Sony Corp * PlayStation3 launched in the United States and Japan: November 2006 * As of March 31, PlayStation3 units sold: Over 63 million units * As of June 6, 2011, Sony Move motion sensors shipped: 8. 8 million units Major initiative: Sony is expected to push new games to boost sales of the Vita and PlayStation 3. Nintendo Co Ltd * Launched Wii in the United States: November 2006 * Wii units shipped: More than 95 million * DS units shipped: More than 151 million. * 3DS units: More than 17 million Major initiative: Nintendo will finally unveil the first home console in six years at E3. Device is expected to feature HD graphics, a special tablet controller and motion sensors. SOFTWARE PUBLISHERS Activision Blizzard Annual revenue: $4. 8 billion Top franchises: Call of Duty and World of Warcraft Electronic Arts Inc Annual revenue: $4. 1 billion Top franchises: The Sims and Madden NFL Take-Two Interactive Software Annual revenue: $826 million Top franchises: Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption Ubisoft Annual revenue: 1. 06 billion euros Substitute Products. Substitute products for games maybe songs from music industry, movies from movie industry, and television programs from television industry which people also sought fun and entertainment. There have not been so many problems with the substitute products because video game industry is uprising. According to a writer for Fortune, music sales have been falling in recent years, the movie going experience hasn’t change that much and network TV is on the skids. Political Determinants Unlike many other industries, the gaming industry isn’t universally affected by political determinants. Political determinants are generally specific to a country. While violence and sexual content of games are common themes of discussion, how they are handled varies from country to county. Social and Environmental Factors Social Factors Video games have an enormous place in society – most kids are exposed to video games in some sort of capacity growing up. Just like other technological mediums, there are both positive and negative social issues related to video gaming. Some Positive Effects of Playing Video Games Video games have proven to be effective tools for children’s learning when used appropriately as they impart specific attitudes, skills and behaviors on the player. For example, some video games have helped to teach children how to effectively deal with their asthma and diabetes. Further, in a study with college students, playing a golf video game improved students’ actual control of force when putting, even though the video game gave no bodily feedback on actual putting movement or force. Video games have also been shown to increase surgical skills for doctors, and research has more broadly proven that people can learn iconic, spatial, and visual attention skills from video games. [1] Some Negative Effects of Playing Video Games. Research has shown that video games can lead to negative effects on children’s physical health, including obesity, video-induced seizures, and postural, muscular and skeletal disorders, such as tendonitis, nerve compression, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Additionally, the amount of time spent playing video games has been shown to have a negative correlation with academic performance. [2] But even more prevalent, is that playing video games has been shown to have a positive correlation with antisocial and aggressive behavior. Violent video games are most commonly defined as games where the player can intentionally harm the other characters. Not only do a majority of video games today fall under this definition, but a recent study established that the majority of 4th to 8th grade students prefer violent games. [3] Environmental Factors E-Waste Almost 50 million tons of electronic products are discarded every year, and the figure continues to grow as the lifespan of new devices continues to shrink. According to the environmental organization Greenpeace, that estimated amount of e-waste generated every year put into containers on a train would be enough to circle the globe! In fact, up to five percent of all municipal solid waste worldwide is this electronic waste (e-waste). Such is the magnitude of this e-waste that it now ties with plastic packaging in number; yet electronic waste is much more hazardous. While mobile phones and computers are the main causes of this ever-increasing waste as they are replaced on average more frequently, video games and video game consoles contribute significantly to e-waste. [1] http://www. mediafamily. org/facts/facts_effect. shtml [2] http://www. buzzle. com/articles/effects-of-video-games-on-children. html [3] http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m0816/is_6_21/ai_n9772319/.

Evaluating Life Cycle of Pavements

Evaluating Life Cycle of Pavements Case Study from Nevada Department of Transportations Perspective Nowadays increasing number of agencies and companies have started to shift to the principles of sustainability in conducting business and activities. These principles also make good business sense as we try to improve the environmental, social and economic value of a product. The transportation industry is no different and many Departments of Transportation (DOTs) have already shifted to this by incorporating Life Cycle Analysis of pavements. Life cycle analysis of pavements is a comprehensive approach where economic costs of different alternatives during the life of a pavement are evaluated and the best one is chosen to be implemented. It is a complex process and varies from one DOT to another but usually there are some guidelines laid down by the Federal Highway Administration that are followed. For our case study, we have selected the Nevada Department of Transportation, also known as NDOT. This report presents a brief overview of the various components and strategies used in pavement analysis, maintenance and rehabilitation are discussed in detail. NDOT has a defined Pavement Management System to collect data and the application of LCA for construction of pavements has already been started. The various parameters considered in LCA as well as the limitations are discussed in this report. Keywords: Pavement, Life Cycle Analysis, NDOT, Maintenance, Rehabilitation Pavements, like any other thing, have a definite life cycle. They are constructed by keeping a certain period of utility in mind. The continuous use of roadways often leads to their degradation in their serviceability. The rate of this deterioration is dependent on many factors both environmental and load related. Using appropriate maintenance and rehabilitation techniques at the right time also can impact the life of a pavement drastically. The life cycle of pavements can be very broadly described as Stage 1: New Pavement Newly constructed pavements fall into this category. They require almost no repairs while in use. Stage 2: Minor Repairs After some initial time, the utility of the roads begins to decrease. Some maintenance work is favored. Stage 3: Major Repairs After long time in service the roads become deficient structurally and continuous use of roads in this state is not recommended. Stage 4: Complete Reconstruction Roads in this state of disarray are not be used except under extreme circumstances and require a complete overhaul and construction of new pavements. However, some agencies have been lagging in their effort to properly preserve their roadways. This has led to one third of the roads in United States being in poor or weak condition. Annually an estimated of 70 billion dollars to maintain the highway network in USA. This considerable sum has led people to try and manage pavements more efficiently. Constant evaluation of pavements has been adopted by many state DOTs to try and limit pavement deterioration once it is in use. There are two major categories for repairs of pavements in general terms are Maintenance Rehabilitation Maintenance is the process of repair of roads is done on a small scale as the pavements contain only minor faults and are fixed relatively easily. Some common maintenance techniques include fog seals and crack sealing and mainly slow down the deterioration rate of the pavements [1]. Rehabilitation is the procedure where existing portions of damaged pavements are completely redone as the damage is of significance. Rehabilitation techniques include in-place recycling and overlays and reset the whole process of deterioration [1]. The cost of either maintenance or rehabilitation of pavement is substantive and continuous to rise even today. This has lead highway agencies to use tools that can help combine economics and operations research to achieve pavements that are both cost effective without compromising their long-term properties. The most common method in use is the Life Cycle Cost Analysis or the LCCA [2]. It is a process where the value of the total project is calculated using the initial cost and discounted future costs over the life of the pavement. The components of LCCA is defined by different DOTs independently. For this report the case of Nevada DOT is chosen and LCCA used by NDOT will be explained later. The Nevada DOT was founded in 1917 and has since built and maintained almost 5,400 miles of road. There is an additional of more than 46,000 miles of public road mostly maintained by local agencies. The roads maintained by NDOT account only for 20% of roads in Nevada but these roads account for 52% of all traffic and 82% of heavy truck traffic of the state [3]. In the fiscal years of 2013 and 2014, NDOT spend around 270 million dollars on maintenance rehabilitation repair works. As one can infer from the figures the process of maintaining the roadways is costly and therefore NDOT uses various tools that can help to minimize this cost in the long run. Some of these tools are discussed in this report. Connecting the empirical data collected from the field and theoretical data calculated by an engineer in the lab has been one of the most difficult task in pavement engineering. Long term pavement performance has gained importance as it is a major component of any cost analyses that is conducted on the pavements. Therefore, predicting long term performance of pavements with good accuracy can provide valuable data for pavement modeling. Field data collected from various sites can also be used to verify whether the materials possesses required qualities or the design was sufficient. This can in their turn help in altering future pavement designs to better perform in the field. This has led to the creation of a Pavement Management System by pavement engineers. Data collected from various sites in the field is collected in the PMS and stored for further analysis by engineers. This collected data can be utilized to develop and verify pavement performance models The PMS used by NDOT was established in 1980 and is accordance with ISTEA guidelines. It monitors various pavement characteristics with time on a mile-by-mile basis for the entire NDOT system. The data collected includes cracking, rut depth, patching, surface condition, and ride with data on traffic and accidents are collected for informational purposes only. Using the data collected from the field seven performance indicators are calculated to classify pavements into four repair categories. The performance indicators calculated are Ride Rut Depth Cracking Patching Bleeding Raveling Present Serviceability Index (PSI) The PSI used by NDOT is calculated by the following formula PSI = 5*e-0.0041*IRI 1.38RD2 0.01(C+P)0.5 Where IRI = International Roughness Index (in/mile) RD = Rut Depth (in) C = Cracking Area (ft2/1000 ft2) P = Patching Area (ft2/1000 ft2) For the considered pavement points are assigned for the severity and extent of each of the distress indicators. The total summation of the points is used to assign the pavement into one of four repair categories which are Do Nothing Maintenance Overlay Reconstruction For details refer to Development of Pavement Performance, Analyses and Procedures [4]. The PSI of pavements is kept in check by performing routine maintenance and rehabilitation activities. As explained maintenance as a process only slows down the rate of deterioration while on the other hand rehabilitation will show an initial change in PSI and may also change the rate of deterioration of pavement. Generally, one observes that the cost of maintenance of pavement tends to be lower than the cost of rehabilitation. Therefore, if one has to be cost effective there needs to be a balance between the maintenance and rehabilitation of pavements. That is using only one type of repair work will be more economically inefficient. NDOT has chosen specific repair activities to catalog in the state of Nevada based on availability of previous data. If a technique was chosen without sufficient performance data, then the model would be of limited use only. The techniques thus used by NDOT include Maintenance Techniques: Rehabilitation Techniques: Sand Seals, Chips Seals. Flexible Overlays, Roadbed Modification, Mill and Overlays Sand Seals Sand seal is the application of an asphalt emulsion being sprayed on with a layer of clean sand or fine aggregate being embedded in the emulsion either by spreading immediately or using a pneumatic tire roller. After application of the tire-roller excess particles are removed from the pavement. The sand seals are useful for improving the surface properties of pavements and can also help in filling up any fine cracks of pavement surface. In addition, the sand can also improve the skid resistant properties of the road while reducing the chances of raveling. [5]. Chip Seals Chip seals have become one of the most used surface treatment technique for roads with less traffic. Similar to a sand seal, a chip seal is the process of spraying asphalt and applying a layer of aggregate over it. The asphalt applied could be in form of hot asphalt cement, cutback or emulsified asphalt. After the application of any of the listed types of asphalt aggregate layer is administers onto the surface, before the asphalt either cools down or the emulsion breaks so as to maximize adhesion. The aggregates in the asphalt matrix are further seated and reoriented using a pneumatic roller. Afterwards the excess aggregates are removed from the surface by use of brooming. Chip seals are used as a protection from further raveling as well as seal any small cracks that are in the pavement. Sometimes use of lightweight aggregates is justified in chip seals in cases where heavier aggregates might become a cause for windshield cracking. LWA are manufactured mainly from light minerals like shale, slate or clay and are usually more expensive and less durable than normal aggregates but these are much lighter in weight. This light weight prevents these aggregates from being able to crack windshields in the case they become projectiles. The cracking of windshields can also be prevented by use of polymer modified emulsion [5]. Flexible Overlays Flexible overlay is a method of rehabilitation wherein on top of the old structure a new intermediate layer is constructed. The major purpose of this new layer is to both add an additional structure to the pavement and to prevent the proliferation of reflective cracks from the structure underneath. The old structure can still provide a uniform support. The design and planning of the overlay should be done keeping into consideration the expected traffic loading that the pavement will be under. As such this technique usually causes an increase in the highway profile. Care also has to be taken to prevent moisture from getting between the overlay and old structure. To prevent this the materials uses in the overlay should be tested for both moisture susceptibility and durability [6]. Roadbed Modification Asphalt roads are also reclaimed using roadbed modification. This technique is usually applied to pavements where the PSI has fallen way below desired level. Pulverization of existing pavement is done to a depth depending upon the structure of the old pavement. The pulverization process sometimes also includes base materials sometimes if the depth of pulverization is greater than the bituminous layer. On the other hand, if the depth is lower than that of existing structure then use of cold milling can be beneficial as this will lead to minimal disturbance to the materials underneath. The materials pulverized is then mixed with cement and water, where it acts basically as aggregates. This concrete is spread out and compacted according to the design intended. Pavements with very weak or uneven foundations can benefit from this technique [7]. Mill and Overlays The mill and overlay method is a method of rehabilitation where the top surface of the damaged pavement is removed, usually up to 2 inches. This removal is done by the use of a milling machine capable to perform the task. The removal of the top layer comprises of the milling portion of the method and usually takes around a couple of days. Afterwards a new layer of bituminous layer is constructed on top of the structure, in place of the removed surface. The surface of the milled pavement is coated with liquid asphalt that acts as a tack coat between the old structure and the new bituminous layer. The construction of the overlay can take around one to two days depending upon the width of pavement and the traffic. The asphalt overlay to be placed on pavement is usually embedded to a depth of 1ÂÂ ½ using a paver [8]. When developing NDOTs pavement performance model three categories of data were considered Structural, Environmental and PMS. A list of factors from these categories was created that could possibly affect pavement performance was compiled into standard data collection form. Analyzing all the standardized data the following data sets were finally used when developing the model- Materials data of activity being modeled: These data include the types and percentages of asphalt binder and aggregates used in the maintenance or rehabilitation activity for which the performance model is being developed. Materials data of existing pavement layers: These data include the types and percentages of asphalt binder and aggregates used in the layers underlaying the maintenance or rehabilitation activity for which the performance model is being developed. Structural data: These data include the thickness of the various layers in the pavement structure including the thickness of the maintenance or rehabilitation activity that is being modeled. The structural number (SN) as defined by the AASHTO design guide was used to normalize the structural data among all of the pavement section. Reference 3 describes the method used to convert the layer thicknesses into SN values. Pavement performance data: These data include the PSI, percent cracking, and average rut depth values as obtained from the NDOT PMS data base. Traffic data: The equivalent single axle load (ESAL) was used as the traffic element. The average daily ESAL figures were obtained from the PMS data base and used to obtain the cumulative ESALs over the life of the maintenance or rehabilitation activity. Environmental data: These data include maximum and minimum temperatures, number of freeze/thaw cycles, number of wet days, and annual precipitation. LCCA is a tool that is used by NDOT to evaluate the economic assessment of pavements when considering the entirety of its useful life. It takes into consideration the initial costs as well as maintenance and repair cost that the pavement is likely to undergo in its life. This tool can be used by pavement engineers to optimize their budget to improve the overall useful life of the pavement. Different alternatives for repairs are considered and the one with the most utility or least cost is chosen to be put forward for consideration. LCCA is made from the following steps- All initial treatment alternatives must be identified For each alternative, their analysis period as well as treatment scheme should be determined The price of annual and each alternatives maintenance should be computed The economic assessment calculated for each alternative should be compared The alternative with the best economic assessment should be selected based on LCCA When performing LCCA, NDOT uses the AASHTO prescribed Present Worth method. This method is highly recommended and frequently used by state highway agencies. In this method, any future expense is converted to present value of the dollar. The present value of future expenses is the amount of money which will need to be invested at a particular compound interest rate for the total sum to be equal to the value of the future expense. The formula used in calculation is PW = F(1/(1+i) n) Where F = The future expense after n years i = Discount rate n = Number of years Since the costs of production keeps on changing with time due to inflation and other economic factors, a discount rate is chosen to compare the cost across all time periods. LCCA is performed on the pavement for a specific analyses period. The length of this analyses period has been calculated for various types of roads keeping important factors into consideration. Highway Class Analysis Period (Years) High Volume Urban 30 50 High Volume Rural 20 50 Low Volume Paved 15 25 Low Volume Aggregate Surface 10 20 For newly constructed flexible pavements NDOT recommends an analysis period of 25-40 years while for rehabilitation they recommended a period of 20 years. This data is derived from two major conditions, (a) It represents a realistic life of asphalt mixtures and (b) one or two rehabilitation periods are included in the period. Pavements have a defined life cycle. Regular repair work must be done during the useful life of a pavement to maintain it to a serviceable level. NDOT uses PSI as an indicator to determine the serviceability level of pavement. PSI can range from 0 to 5.0 and repair is done on a pavement when the PSI drops below an unacceptable level. NDOT uses 2.5 as the terminal level of PSI with roads having average daily traffic of more than 750. NDOT also has placed some reality checks in place for calculating the pavement performance period. They are not considered in when in performance models because they can act as an empirical check to the values obtained from theoretical models. These checks include data such as traffic accidents, high maintenance costs, specific site failures, etc. LCAA also include cost factors that encompass all the expenditure that is incurred by the pavement from the design phase till the end of its useful life cycle. These costs have to be properly compared for different alternatives in LCCA to arrive at the most economic pavement. These costs can include First Costs: These include both the expenditure for the initial construction of the pavement and the cost for the operations that occurred to facilitate the construction like surveys, designs and analyses. Annual Maintenance Costs: These include the expenditure that is use to maintain an optimum PSI level of the pavement so as to provide a smooth ride to the drivers. Road User Costs: These are the costs that are associated with driving on the road and include things like increase in travel time, accidents, change in fuel consumption by vehicle etc. Salvage Value: This is the value of the road at the end of its life cycle. These casts can be either positive or negative depending on the condition of the road. 1. Pavement Interactive 2. Evaluation of pavement life cycle cost analysis: Review and analysis 3. State Highway Preservation Report 4. Development of Pavement Performance, Analyses and Procedures 5. https://www.fs.fed.us/eng/pubs/html/99771201/99771201.htm 6.http://onlinemanuals.txdot.gov/txdotmanuals/pdm/flexible_base_overlay_and_flexible_base_thickening.htm 7. https://www.nevadadot.com/uploadedFiles/NDOT/About_NDOT/NDOT_Divisions/Operations/Construction/CM%20Section%206%20-%20300.pdf 8. https://www.stpaul.gov/departments/public-works/street-maintenance/mill-overlay

Study Of The Vat System In Ethiopia Finance Essay

Study Of The Vat System In Ethiopia Finance Essay Government collects revenue from different types of sources to invest for public services like education, health, road and infrastructure distributes equally to the public. This revenue will be the one in which it levies from different income is called a tax. A tax is a blood vessel of a country for development, most of developed countries their tax harmonies are very attractive and strong, the people are well known about the tax what and why you are pay, if you are not pay you accept like you didnt accomplished your duty even your right. How ever in most Sahara counties like Ethiopia the people do not well understand about the necessity of the tax what and why you are pay, thats why the fraudulent and smugglers would be many and high developing country. Hence the problem of tax collection and assessment in Ethiopia is the gap between the taxpayers willingness to pay tax is as a major with different implementation and other problems by the tax collectors. In general in Ethiopia, where the awareness of taxpayers, the culture of paying taxes and the capacity of tax administrators appear poor. The tax system should be balance the economic activity and expected the people on the ability to pay a tax in proportion to their level of income. From the broad concepts of taxation the tax should be divided in to two major groups. These are direct and indirect tax, from these indirect tax the one in which highly Comprehensive that includes producers, wholesalers and retailers is the value added Tax (VAT). The value added tax (VAT) is a new tax system introduced in Ethiopia since 2003 as a Replacement to sales tax.This tax collects from domestic transaction and importation of goods. Where this tax is replaced the sales tax the assumption was the sales tax does not collect on added value, the value added tax minimizes the damage that may be caused by attempts to avoid and evade the tax and helps to ascertain the profit obtained by the tax payers and the tax initiates saving and investment because the tax is levied on consumable goods and services and does not tax capital and enhance economic growth and improves the ratio relationship between gross domestic product and government revenue. And has a proclamation, cites as a proclamation No. 285/2002. This paper will state the current main issues of VAT administration like organizational structure, staffing and training, Tax Payers Identification and Automation, invoicing and book keeping Requirements, controlling of filing and payment, Audit of VAT, Refunds management, penalties and cost of administration and compliances with its strength and weakness in Ethiopias as follows 2. OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY How it works the Administration and compliance of VAT system in Ethiopia with its positive and negative during implementation of the current system and explains what compliance risks there are and why and how the risks occur over all those problems will be discussed and further the solutions shall be recommended in the report of study. 3. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY The study is gathered from different secondary data of annual reports and from assessment of different researches of administration of VAT system In Ethiopia by different Authors. 4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study is limited on the current of VAT administration in Ethiopian and compliance risks With its strength and weakness in which applies will be generalized. 5. DEFINITIONS A value added tax is a modern tax system and broad based .It replaces the sales tax, have two rates 15% and 0% with exemptions of the tax. The threshold is based on the annual sales of goods and services above 500,000 Ethiopia birr. Have two types of registration that is obligatory and voluntary registration, the voluntary registrants are registered when 75% their sales are supplied for VAT registered. The reports are monthly which provides in the declaration format whether it credit or nil. Any taxpayers who are not registered for VAT automatically payable to turn over tax (TOT). The exemption in VAT also applies in TOT. 6 .ANALYSIS (MAIN BODY) Value added tax in Ethiopia introduce in the year 2003 cited as proclamation No. 285/2002 which replaces the sales tax with the assumptions mentioned in the introduction part. The current Ethiopia Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) was Federal Inland Revenue Authority (FIRA) before 2008. During the period of FIRA the VAT would introduced and implemented in our country and still exercises after merging of FIRA and Customs Authority. The administration of VAT includes organizational structure, staffing and training, Tax Payers Identification and Automation, invoicing and book keeping Requirements, controlling of filing and payment, Audit of VAT, Refunds management, penalties and cost of administration all these activities are pertain to how applies and affects the government revenue and strategy properly will be describe as follows: 6.1 Organizational structure, staffing and training Ethiopia Revenue Authority should be taken an organizational structure for VAT to be implemented through the branches of the Authority and the staff recruited and trained during the preparation of the VAT introduced. Hence due the complication of the system in the Ethiopia case a special VAT unit in FIRA was setting up. Along this line, there were efforts to design the organization structure and to determine the number of staff to be trained and deployed. Some have been taken from the ex-sales tax unit, some have gone from the tax reform program and the Ministry of Revenue and some have been newly recruited. At present, the newly introduced Value Added Tax is administered by a newly established department located at the Mexico square and some branches in the country and by the Ethiopian Revenue and customs Authority. The new department in ERCA is answerable to the General Manager. The staffs are graduates of accounting, economics and the management profession. The organo-gram and staff assignment is depicted in the following diagram. General Manager ERCA Tax Payers registration and Education Division (7) VAT DEPARTMENT Head (5) VAT Administration (2) Revenue Collection and Enforcement Assessment and Audit Division Revenue Accounts and Consolidation Diagram 1:- Organo- gram of the VAT Department By: Arega Hailu Teffera June/2004 Even though, the VAT is computerized, considering the current and future challenges, the VAT department requires additional personnel in all areas- taxpayer education and service, accounting and collection, enforcement and audit. Efforts currently underway within the Ministry and ERCA to strengthen the VAT administration, to improve service delivery, training of staff should continue to address the shortfall encountered. Specially, the administration should focus in strengthening its audit and enforcement wings. 6.2 Tax Payers Identification and Automation Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and VAT SIGTAS were implemented during 2000-2003. These systems have been operational by the FIRA and regional states and city administrations revenue authorities through country-wide network As earlier described the system introduced during Federal In land Revenue Authority where it is Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA). The system is an important for efficient and effective tax and customs administration. Any taxpayer has only one identification number; this will be used for VAT purpose, for with holding tax, for property tax e.t.c. In our country case taxpayers couldnt used different identification number. Except The trade license number issued by Ministry of Trade and Industry Automation of VAT administration commenced with a simple software developed by a local IT firm. In an attempt to deploy better software that integrates the different functions and processes of VAT administration, the government entered an agreement with a Canadian firm known as CRC-SOGEMA in April 2003. The software development project, VAT SIGTAS, was finalized and made operational at the VAT Department during February 2004. Later on, the new software rolled out to the regional branches of the ERCA. It was also made operational in four regional states and two city administration revenue authorities following the delegation of VAT administration. Large taxpayers, started applying VAT SIGTAS in October 2005 upon the decision of the tax authority to administer all taxes of large taxpayers under one office. Previously the large taxpayers used to settle their VAT obligations at the VAT Department. The proper implementation of SIGTAS all taxes would help realize the following anticipated benefits of the project: increased revenues and enhanced control, better service to taxpayers, standardize practices throughout operational departments, reduction of non-value adding activities, real-time management (reminders, remittances, etc.), and Integrated management of all taxes (especially for audit). The regional and city administration tax offices are also using the new system for their VAT operations with the previous VAT functionalities provided unchanged. Efforts are underway to deploy SIGTAS all taxes, with certain modifications, in all regional states and city administrations. The CRC-SOGEMA has already conducted requirements study. 6.3 invoicing and book keeping Requirements Is a very important for issuance of invoices during transaction of VAT system these invoices are printed by registered printing press after getting approval from ERCA. The invoices are separately printed for taxable and exempted transactions. In addition to the printing of invoice recording are mandatory for every VAT registered and required separate of taxable invoice and exempted. The VAT proclamation stipulates that VAT registrants should keep records of account for at least 10 years. However, due to lack of tax administrators follow-up and control, lack of awareness among the society and the prevalence of poverty.these rules are not applied perfectly as to the law required many problems faced with getting invoices, using duplicated invoices, lack of consistency in using invoice, most business holds two books ;one for tax Authority and for Banks . usually the understated income holds book for tax Authority and the over stated book would be for Banks, Do not use invoices approved by the Authority, dealing with buyer to issue the lower price in the invoice , also issue fraudulent invoices using invented VAT numbers of their own and collect VAT for their own e.t.c. These will be paralyzing the function of revenue as a whole. In order to solve this problem of invoicing the ERCA gets the expiriance from Latine America to be used the electronical cash registered at retailer on a net work with the SIGTAS. 6.4 controlling of filing and payment According to proclamation No. 285, Article 26/1, every registerd person is required to file VAT return with ERCA for each accounting period and to pay the tax for accounting period by the deadline for filling the VAT return. Article 26/2 , the VAT return for every accounting period shall be filled no later than the last day of the calendar month following the accounting period, where as VAT on taxable imports is collected at Customs and made by C.P.O automatically. The VAT liability is computed based on the invoice credit method in that the registered person will remit the difference between VAT received and VAT paid during transactions conducted during the accounting period. ERCA made a controlling and filing of VAT using computerized system to administer VAT properly authorities use computer programs, namely: Standard Integrated Government Tax Administration System (SIGTAS) and Automated System for Customs Data Management (ASYCUDA). The computer programs are used to maintain taxpayer register and process VAT returns. Detection of non-filers seems to be carried out mainly manually. The authority tries to identify non-filers in collaboration with the Ministry of Trade and Industry. In Ethiopia every trader is required to renew business license annually with the pertinent offices under the Ministry of Trade and Industry or regional governments. To renew business licenses, traders are required to produce evidence from tax authorities that all taxes have been Paid. The tax authorities on their part, before providing the evidence to taxpayers, 6.5, Audit of VAT Auditing is a basic measuring of for effective tax collection, Audit of VAT in our country was very complicated before the introduction of computerized the tax system, due to different fraudulent of using invoice as mentioned in the above invoicing and book keeping requirements. However, the audit case by the audit selection committee. The selection criteria include; credit declaration, nil VAT declaration, non filers, unusual VAT filing and information obtained from third parties and customs decleracion. Based on the above selected criteria would be subject to audit. Most of VAT registrant provides monthly report as credit or nil. This is the effect of tax evasion by the taxpayers. All these problems affect the potential of revenue this would be due to lack of taxpayers awareness, human resources auditor in particular, the number of VAT registrant compare to auditors or the employees in tax authority is very low they cannot cover by the actual current employees in the ERCA. 6.6 Refunds Management The VAT proclamation No. 285/2002 Article 27/1 stated that at least 25% of the value of a a registered persons taxable transaction for the accounting period is taxed at zero rate, the ERCA shall refund the amount of the VAT applied as a credit in excess of the amount of VAT charged for the accounting period within two months after the registered person files an application for refund, accompanied by documentary proof of payment of the excess amount. The second Article 27/2 relates to unused excess credit. For non-zero rated transactions, the amount of VAT applied as a credit in excess of the amount charged for the accounting period is to be carried forward to the next five accounting periods and credit against payments for these periods. The registered person can claim refund if it has still unused excess credit at the end of the five month period. Refund claims are subject to checks and audit by the tax authority. In view of promoting export supplies, the tax authority effects VAT r efund for exporters in 15 days after checking and verifying the documents presented to it. 6.7. Penalties Taxpayers that are not compliant to the VAT law are subject to administrative criminal penalties. According to the VAT proclamation, articles 45-47 administrative penalties are imposed while persons are not registered for VAT where registration is required, when any registered person issued incorrect tax invoices, where invoices are issued without being registered, where there is underpayment and late filing of returns. Administrative fines range from a fine 100 percent of the amount of tax payable and a fine of up to 50,000 Birr. According to articles 48-59 criminal offences are liable to prosecution. A tax offence is a violation of the criminal law of the country and thus is subject to criminal charge and prosecution. Tax evasion, obstruction of tax administration, failure to notify changes in business address and business line, unauthorized VAT collection, improper tax debit and credit notes, aiding or abetting, offence by entities, offence by tax officers, offence by receivers are liable on convection to monetary fine of Birr 1000- 200,000 and imprisonment of not less than 1 year to not more than 15 years depending on the gravity of the offence. 6.8. Cost of Administration In the case of Ethiopia the cost of VAT administration must be proportional with professional standards of like developing countries. The researches indicate in most developing countries cost of administration estimates the range between 1 2% of collection. Actually low collection may not reflect efficiency but rather indicate unused of resources may occurred. In our country the administration costs are: salaries and wages and top-ups to staff deployed to VAT department, the cost of fixed assets and consumables including telephones, faxes, internet, electricity and power, fuel and lubricants etc. Since customs collects duties and taxes in a single administrative document, i.e. the customs declaration, it is very difficult to apportion the cost of administration for VAT all these costs are the total consumable of ERCAs administration cost for VAT (the above costs are only for VAT actually expend ). Therefore when take 2003 2004 FIRA Customs report the total cost of administration for VAT was 9,718,848 birr and total collection of VAT during the year would be 5,234,730,000 birr, so total administration cost was 0.00186 this is under the standard from the point of professional standards sited. ( I think this information is too late, but it can see or indicate the current performance, how ever now a day there are a lot changes to use resources effectively like the deployment of automation, recruitment of employees by allocate more budget how ever, it is not researched, but still it has a limitation) (Source: FIRA and Customs- Administration and Finance, Budget for 2003/2004 fiscal year.) Tax Payers Compliance From any taxpayer that expected they must comply with the laws and regulations of tax and customs duty. How ever as an employee of tax and customs authority the real situation of the taxpayers behavior is not what we are expected them. They are not complying with the tax and customs law. For instance with the fulfillment of the VAT registration requirement, timely reporting with the actual transaction they did, using authorized VAT collection, making true financial statement for tax purpose, providing the correct VAT invoice for any client e.t.c. consider the above issues; most of our taxpayers are not compliance. This would be faced in daily activity during tax and customs assessment and collection. Even there is a positive improvement to comply with law in changing the taxpayers attitude through different way of awareness creation. Strength on VAT administration When ever the VAT administration in Ethiopia has a problem, but there are positive actions are taken off by the Authority to facilitate the tax and customs servies with strong enforcement for non compliance taxpayers. Basically the Authority pursued the reform program in order to achieve the main objectives that are tax policy and administration reform, and customs reform and modernization. From the reforms the tax policy and administration reform have a result during the implementation would be : income tax law that was in force for more than 40 years was replaced in July 2002; VAT was introduced on January 1, 2003 to replace sales tax. Turnover tax was introduced on January 1, 2003 to apply to those taxpayers whose annual turnover is below VAT threshold. Excise tax was rationalized to more accurately reflect the current market situation. National implementation of the TIN network through the installation of communication equipment at FIRA, and City and Regional administrations sites. And taxpayers were registered for TIN. The replacement of the estimated assessment method with the more standard assessment method in order to achieve equity and administrative efficiency in connection with presumptive taxation. Tax collection and audit manuals prepared and put in use. Large Taxpayers Office and VAT Department established. Operational departments are automated as part of the modernization of the FIRA. TIN system interface with the Ethiopian Customs Authority is operational.(before merging the two Authority) Using this in mind the strength way of FIRA, currently ERCA would be perform many activities to improve services delivery and the potential of revenue on VAT administration. Thus are; The reform introduced during FIRA would take as a base to perform effectively and introduced BPR. Make extensive consultation with stake holders, comprehensive taxpayers education program and aggressive advertisement campaign. strongly used of computerized tax and customs system ( SIGTAS, TIN, ASYCUDA ++) Create positive attitude for the tax collector with good payments. Conducted comprehensive trainings on the VAT law, regulation, directives and administration techniques for tax officers drawn from different area of the country. Create strong enforcement unit on VAT 7. Measures were taken to enforce registration: for non compliant 8 Administrative and criminal cases are strongly followed-up 9. Strongly applied deterrent provisions: penalties and prosecution e.t.c, thus would be Taken to improve performance of VAT administration. 9. Basic Weakness 1. Lack of strong and follow up for non complaints 2. Lack of human resources specially VAT auditors 3. Lack of taxpayers awareness. 4. In some lack of ethics . Although VAT was successfully introduced in Ethiopia due to adequate preparations, different challenges have been faced in implementation as I have stated in VAT administration. In general ERCA faced the following challenges in VAT administration still- Resistance against VAT registration, Failure to register due to the prevalence of large informal sector, Low level of tax awareness, Suppression of taxable sales, Failure to issue invoices during transaction, Negotiate with customers during transaction to account VAT or not, Print and use of identical invoices, one registered by the FIRA and the other not, Issuance of fictitious invoices among related persons without actual transaction to overstate input VAT and claim refund, Prevalence of significant number of constant credit filers, nil-filers and non-filers, Non-remittance of VAT collected, Prevalence of missing traders, poor audit and enforcement capacity of the tax authority, and Mal-practices in the administration aspect. Recommendations From the above study I recommended as following: Recruit quality and quantity of human resource to be deployed and Training and development for staffs who will join and who have already joined. All liable businesses registered for VAT in all sectors of the economy must be registered and it needs strong and practical monitoring and controlling system. that fall within the threshold should be identified and an action to be compliant.. Must be apply frequent audit system ,donot delay the auditing. Due to lack of auditor, the auditors must selective based on the size of the business with return of tax from these. Make consistent tax educations for taxpayers in each tax Authority to create awareness. Create ethical tax servants e.t.c All the basic challenges that mentioned must be change and improve with substantial monitoring and controlling effort. Conclusions Ethiopian Government committed to improve the tax harmony in each stage of the tax authority by allocating resources with the efforts of ERCA. The effort which applied is the introduction of tax reform in Ethiopia. The Government introduced the VAT since 2003, mainly to broaden the tax base, and to compensate for revenue loss as a result of duty reduction at customs, to reduce distortions by other indirect taxes, and to encourage trade and investment. With the challenges that already stated, the performance of tax from VAT would be increase. For the increasing of VAT collection the introduction of IT has great role. The implementation of SIGTAS increases revenue collection, Real-time Management of Non-compliers, Facilitation of Assessments and Reassessments, Prompt Calculation of Penalty and Interest, Provision of Better Service to Taxpayers, these are facilitated the collection of VAT progressively. Appreciating the role of IT in VAT administration, during FIRA decided to automate the administration of all taxes in an integrated manner. Thus, the functionalities of VAT SIGTAS were extended to embrace the other taxes and ERCA would be catch-up the system and implemented successfully. SIGTAS all taxes was tested at the Large Taxpayers Office in August 2006. Currently, all tax centers of the FIRA are using SIGTAS all taxes software. The application of SIGTAS has been instrumental in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the tax administration. And Extensive consultation with stakeholders, comprehensive taxpayer education programmed, aggressive advertisement campaign and an intense registration drive did help the tax authority. Over all the experience of Ethiopia in automating tax administration, including VAT, shows that success in IT implementation is mainly dependent upon: aggressive implementation as per schedule, strict control over procedural issues, active action in case of peculiarities, monitoring and feedback, continuous manpower development, timely provision of hardware and supporting services, and proactive and genuine participation of every member of the tax authority.

Speed Kills :: essays research papers fc

Speed Kills The high speed limits are often causes of accidents that cause serious injuries and even death. The speed limit should be lowered so we can control accidents caused by high speed driving, pollution, and the high cost of operation and insurance. First of all it is obvious that a motorist driving over the speed limit has more chances of getting into an accident that a motorist who is traveling at the average speed. One who drives fast does not have proper and that well of a control on the vehicle as one that is moving at a safe speed or at the speed limit mark. It is true that traveling above the speed limit will save time and time is money but is it really worth it. Speed over the limit is a major factor in about two to five percent of fatalities. When driving over the limit it is hard to determine the other drivers speed, this is called the speed variance and this can cause an accident while overtaking the other vehicle or simply changing lanes because the other driver could be speeding up as well, at the same time as you are changing lanes that would result in an accident. Speed not only kills it also costs money and other problems. Cars traveling at higher speeds increase the amount of fuel usage and therefore this causes more pollution in the environment. Not only that since it uses more fuel and takes up fuel faster one has to get gas more often and this will cause the driver to spend more money. Driving fast will increase the wear and tear of your car and the predicted reliability could drop and you might have to replace the automobile faster than expected because the vehicle wont lasts you as long as it was suppose. When you speed you have chances of getting speeding tickets that are very high in cost and you have to pay for them. Speeding tickets also raise your insurance rate; just two speeding tickets can increase your insurance premiums by fifty percent. According to Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) study in which speed limits were varied at 100 locations nationwide resulted "raising posted speed limits by as much as 15mph had little effect on the motorists' speed." The data actually indicates that accident rate reduced at sites where speed limits were raised. Traveling at high speeds saves time and gets you to your destination quicker and the traffic usually travels five to ten miles faster than the posted speed limit.