Bacteria and Food Poisoning

Bacteria and Food Poisoning The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that around 80 million people a year in the U.S. alone contract food poisoning or other foodborne diseases. Foodborne illness is caused by eating or drinking food that contains disease causing agents. The most common causes of foodborne diseases are bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Foods containing toxic chemicals can cause foodborne diseases as well. Typically, our immune system fights off germs to prevent illness. However, some bacteria and viruses have developed ways of avoiding immune system defenses and causing sickness. These germs release proteins that help them avoid detection by white blood cells. In addition, antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become increasingly prevalent and a worldwide public health issue. Strains of resistant E. coli and MRSA have become increasingly proficient at causing infection and avoiding immune defenses. These germs can survive on everyday objects and cause disease. There are over two hundred types of bacteria, viruses, and parasites that can cause foodborne diseases. Reactions to these germs can range from mild gastric and digestive system discomfort to death. The easiest way to prevent foodborne illness is to properly handle and cook foods. This includes washing and drying your hands, washing utensils carefully, replacing kitchen sponges often, and cooking meat thoroughly. Below is a list of a few bacteria that cause foodborne diseases, along with the foods that are associated with them, as well as symptoms that are likely to develop from ingesting the contaminated foods. Bacteria That Cause Foodborne Illness Microbe - Aeromonas hydrophilaAffiliated Foods - Fish, Shellfish, Beef, Pork, Lamb, and PoultryDiseases - Gastroenteritis, SepticemiaSymptoms - Diarrhea, Blood and Mucus in Stool    Microbe - Bacillus cereu Affiliated Foods - Meats, Milk, Rice, Potato, and Cheese ProductsDiseases - B. cereus Food PoisoningSymptoms - Diarrhea, Abdominal Cramps, Nausea    Microbe - Campylobacter jejuni Affiliated Foods - Raw Chicken, Unpasteurized Milk, Non-chlorinated WaterDiseases - B. cereus CampylobacteriosisSymptoms - Diarrhea, Abdominal Cramps, Nausea and Fever, Headache and Muscle Pain    Microbe - Clostridium botulinum Affiliated Foods - Canned Foods Including: Vegetables, Meats, and SoupsDiseases - Foodborne BotulismSymptoms - Weakness, Double Vision and Vertigo, Difficulty in Speaking, Swallowing, and Breathing, Constipation    Microbe - Clostridium perfringens Affiliated Foods - Non-refrigerated Prepared Foods: Meats and Meat Products, GravyDiseases - Perfringens Food PoisoningSymptoms - Severe Abdominal Cramps, Diarrhea    Microbe - Escherichia coli O157:H7Affiliated Foods - Undercooked Meats, Raw Ground BeefDiseases - Hemorrhagic colitisSymptoms - Severe Abdominal Pain, Watery and Bloody Diarrhea, Vomiting    Microbe - Listeria monocytogenes Affiliated Foods - Dairy Products, Raw Vegetables, Raw Meats, Smoked FishDiseases - ListeriosisSymptoms - Flu-like Symptoms, Persistent Fever, Nausea and Vomiting, Diarrhea    Microbe - Salmonella spp. Affiliated Foods - Poultry and Eggs, Milk and Dairy Products, Raw Meats, Fish, Shrimp, Peanut ButterDiseases - SalmonellosisSymptoms - Nausea, Vomiting, Abdominal Pain, Fever, Headache, Diarrhea    Microbe - Shigella spp Affiliated Foods - Poultry, Milk and Dairy Products, Raw Vegetables, Fecally contaminated water, Salads: Potato, Chicken, Tuna, ShrimpDiseases - ShigellosisSymptoms - Diarrhea, Abdominal Pain, Fever, Vomiting, Blood or Mucus in Stool    Microbe - Staphylococcus aureus Affiliated Foods - Poultry and Egg Products, Meat Products, Dairy ProductsDiseases - Staphyloenterotoxicosis, StaphyloenterotoxemiaSymptoms - Abdominal Cramping, Nausea and Vomiting, Prostration    Microbe - Vibrio cholerae Affiliated Foods - Contaminated Water, ShellfishDiseases - CholeraSymptoms - Watery Diarrhea, Abdominal Pain, Dehydration, Vomiting, Shock For additional information on bacteria, food poisoning, and foodborne diseases, take a look at the Bad Bug Book. Again, the single most important thing you can do to prevent foodborne illness is to keep your environment clean when preparing food. This includes washing your hands with soap and water and sanitizing utensils and counter tops. In addition, it is vital that you cook meats thoroughly to ensure that germs are killed.

Essay on How Insurance Works

Essay on How Insurance Works Essay on How Insurance Works This is a free example essay on Insurance: In August of 2003 I took a position with AdminOne Corporation located in Bentonville, Arkansas as a Financial Services/Systems assistant. AdminOne is a privately owned and operated Third Party Administration that provides all of its clients virtually all their benefit needs. We work directly with employers representing a wide variety of industries to provide a comprehensive assortment of services with hassle-free Customer Service. For organizations determining that the high cost of health care requires alternate methods of funding, plan design, and plan management, AdminOne can provide many different functions. Some of these functions include: preparing all communication material, assisting in the implementation of the plan, recommending cost containment procedures and plan document changes, analyzing existing plan benefits and funding methods. Additionally, AdminOne also provides a wide variety of other products and services at the client’s demand, such as life insurance, long term disability, short-term disability, 401K plans, etc. As like many organizations, AdminOne feels that our customers deserve the highest quality of service and administration of their benefit plans. In keeping this our main focus, we have acquired the highest quality, technologically advanced claims adjudication system available on the market. AdminOne use the RIMS (Resource Information Management System, Inc.) system. RIMS began their business in 1981 and are still the dominant leader in claims adjudication systems. There are over 400 insurance companies across the United States that use the RIMS system, however, they haven’t seen the advantage of AdminOne. We believe we have an advantage over other insurance companies because we have built in the technology and automation functions to provide the maximum opportunity to pay claims accurately, timely, and in the most cost efficient manner for our clients. Our system is way more advanced than other insurance companies in many ways. First of all, it has the ability to link multiple fee schedules to single providers. Second, unlimited note screens can be used to aid in the documentation of every inquiry. Third, every customer who comes through us can doesn’t have to worry about fraud or abuse to their benefit plans. This is because we have installed a security system that will detect any hacking or abuse to any benefit programs. We believe this added on feature should keep clients knocking on our door for service. A new addition to our RIMS system is our customized client access website. This website is actually connected with our RIMS software so that clients can actually view their current claims. This is another advantage for us in that it keeps the phones from ringing all of the time. For example, if Allen Canning Co. wanted to access their current claims and make an adjustment because of termination of one of its employees, they could easily visit our website and make the adjustments themselves. This keeps our clients from having to call in and requiring us to make the manual adjustment. Moreover, to keep our system up to date and working efficiently, it was imperative that AdminOne recruit a systems team. There were five positions that needed to be filled and I was one of the recruits for the position. My primary responsibility, as a systems assistant, is to help my supervisor, Angie Baker, with client billing functions, implementation procedures for new clients and new computer systems and training on new systems. I actually talk to clients, such as Allen Canning Co, and help them decide how they want their claims invoices to look like. This usually takes thirty minutes to an hour to complete. Following the interview, I take their claims information and input the data in to RIMS. However, the process of inputting the data can be very extensive because every piece of information about each customer of the organization must be inputted. Then I go through a huge amount of modules and processes to produce the desired result, the invoice. Each invoice has its own number and group name associated with it. For instance, if I see AC802 in the top right corner of the plan document, I know that am working on Allen Canning Company’s invoice. Another responsibility of mine is to train clients on our custom designed client access website. I travel at least once a week to the surrounding cities and train our clients on how to use our website. Most of the time I meet with managers and other users of the system to insure they know how to input the data correctly. Most of the users have a general idea on how to use the system, but there are a few that don’t and I have to start from scratch. Furthermore, after the managers and current users understand how our website works, I give them user names and passwords which RIMS already assigns to their group name. After all this, they are now ready to view their claims and make any adjustments where they are needed. However, the clients only have limited access to our website. For instance, they cannot go into our system to change billing rates or selecting a different plan. That is something that only AdminOne has access to and there cannot be any debate. The client access website is one part of our system that I tend to a lot of the time. At the end of every day, I log in to the RIMS website and download any changes that went on in the system. For instance, if A.G. Russell Knives hired some new employees and added them to their plan, then I would extract that data and save it to our main server, which contains all of our client information. However, we do back up the server weekly to prevent loss of information in case of a fire or something along those lines. Moreover, I deal a lot with marketing materials, presentations, and proposals when necessary. For instance, whenever AdminOne has the opportunity to acquire a new client, our company will have meeting with that client in person or via videoconferencing. Sometimes I will join my team and participate in these meetings. The topics usually discussed in these meetings range from new ideas on administrative software to potential clients that we could obtain in the future. The meetings are normally 30 minutes to an hour and are very beneficial to our company. In addition to working for AdminOne as a systems assistant, I also do a number of job duties for the financial side. My primary responsibility is to update our RIMS system whenever we receive payment from our clients or when we have to cut checks to our re-insurance carriers. This is the more complicated area of my job and requires a lot more number crunching. I actually assist our accountant in keeping AdminOne’s books balanced and make sure that the money we receive goes in the correct account. My favorite part of the financial services assistant is the monthly billing, which we generate through our RIMS software. The process for calculating invoices and printing them from our server can actually be quite tedious. For example, whenever we get a new client, it is my duty to input their plan information into our system as soon as possible. I do this by creating a new table in RIMS that is specifically for our new client. Then I give them a group number, which is generated by RIMS, so that we can distinguish them from other clients. After all this is completed, RIMS will calculate their invoice based on what I input. However, since AdminOne is a third party insurance provider, we do not get all of the money that comes from paying the invoice. We have to pay other PPO carriers and re-insurance carriers based on a percentage that I enter. This is where the hard stuff comes into play because every client we have has a completely different plan. Some companies prefer to use a brok er and some clients prefer to use re-insurance carriers. Whatever the client’s decision may be; the point is that we actually enter the disbursement of payment into RIMS and it calculates the fees for us. That is the awesome attribute about RIMS because everything is automated. In addition to using the RIMS software, I also use many other software applications to complete my duties as a financial services assistant. Microsoft Excel and Quick Books are the main two that I use quite often. These applications are used to record payments whenever we receive them and aid in the accounts payable process. For instance, after I receive payment from Allen Canning Co, I open Allen Canning’s folder in Excel and update their information. This information includes the current number of people that is on their plan, which PPO carriers they used, and if they used a broker. Next I print out all of their sheets on Excel and match them to the printouts that RIMS generated. If all is correct then we are ready to cut the checks to the appropriate providers. Following the update of Excel, I then turn my attention to Quick Books. First, I prepare all of the paperwork, which was generated by RIMS and Excel, to enter the exact dollar amount. This part is very crucial because if I make one mistake it will throw off our balance sheet and income statement. Then we could possibly cut too much money or not enough. Second, I take the dollar amounts that I just entered and create a balance sheet that is generated by Quick Books. These balance sheets are then matched with our projected balance sheets that we generate earlier in the month. Sometimes the balance sheets don’t match up, but that doesn’t mean that there was an error entering the dollar amounts. It could mean that their head count had changed for their plan, such as firing someone or hiring someone. Next, after we have matched up the balance sheets, and everything looks good, we then cut the checks to the other providers. These checks are actually produced through Quick Boo ks and contain the dollar amounts for which I entered earlier in the process. Finally, after all the checks have been cut I immediately take them to our mailbox so that they can be mailed to the providers. One additional thing I did learn from my co-op experience was the act of confidentiality. This doesn’t play a big role in all organizations, but it is huge at AdminOne. It is imperative at insurance firms to keep all customers’ information kept suppressed. For instance, if I accidentally sent Allen Canning’s invoice to the wrong company, that firm could view their rates and what they are billed. This could pose a huge problem because the other firm may view their rates as being higher than Allen Canning’s and get very frustrated and we could possibly lose their business. Because everybody knows that insurance rates and premiums are based on whether the client is more risky or less risky. If they are more risky, then they will have to pay a higher premium and if they are less risky, they will pay a lower premium. Another example of keeping information suppressed is our internal network, or intranet. AdminOne has their own private network within the company that holds only accounting information and billing information. These records are to be kept suppressed at all times and AdminOne employees make sure that it does. That is why we install firewalls and blockers to keep outsiders from hacking into our system. There has been never been an occasion where anyone has tried to hack in, but there is always a first time for everything. So I guess you could see how keeping information suppressed is a must in an insurance organization. Upon joining AdminOne in early August, I really didn’t know what to expect since this was my first job in a real work environment. So I decided to come up with three objectives, or goals, that I could try to achieve throughout my co-op experience. The first goal that I set for myself was to obtain a better understanding of how internal business procedures actually work. Because I learn about them all of the time from the classes that I take and I really want to see if that is how it actually is in a real environment. The second objective that I came up with was to learn how to implement new systems in a real work setting. I believe that this is important for all ISYS majors for the simple fact that computer systems are always changing. New hardware and software hits the market all of the time and it is important as an ISYS major to become familiar with as much as you can. My third and final objective was to learn how to prioritize my duties so that I could be more efficient. S ince this was my first real job, I thought that this would be a good objective because it would definitely look good to my employer if I got a lot of work done in a short amount of time. I believe that it makes a person look good and motivated if they can prioritize and get more things done in a small amount of time. In conclusion, I would like to say that this co-op experience has really helped me in many ways. I am very fortunate I received a job that had something to do with my major and it has encouraged me to keep pursuing a career in this field of study. Since I have been working for AdminOne, I have learned so much more about my job than I ever could from a textbook. Not saying that the classes I have taken haven’t helped me, but I actually got some hands on experience while working there. For example, I have learned how to use many more software programs than I ever had while taking my ISYS classes. However, there are a few classes that really helped me out and can now see what they were talking about all this time. My Organizational Behavior class is one of the main classes where I developed a strong foundation. In that class we learned about the roles and norms of certain organizations and how they all differ depending on the organization in which you work. And on the first day o f my job I could see with my own eyes what they were talking about. I saw how all of my co-workers conducted themselves in the work environment and outside the work environment. I also leaned about our dress code while working at AdminOne, which is norm itself. In addition, my Business Statistics class was another key factor. I believe if I hadn’t taken that class, I wouldn’t be where I am because the job that I have right now requires a lot of number crunching. That is basically all we learned in Business statistics. Overall I am very pleased with my co-op experience and believe it will be very beneficial for my future. I enjoyed telling you about my organization and I hope you now have a better understanding of what we do. ______________ is a professional essay writing service which can provide high school, college and university students with 100% original custom written essays, research papers, term papers, dissertations, courseworks, homeworks, book reviews, book reports, lab reports, projects, presentations and other assignments of top quality. More than 700 professional Ph.D. and Master’s academic writers. Feel free to order a custom written essay on Insurance from our professional essay writing service.

LGBTQ blog post Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

LGBTQ blog post - Essay Example The plight of homosexuals has continued to roll over the decades and even the 21st century is seemingly no different. The social stigmatization that homosexuals receive in the contemporary society cannot be overlooked. Immediately one is identified as a gay or lesbian that becomes the genesis of their stigmatization. Many people even in the countries that boast of being developed still view lesbians and gays as malevolent and a lot of dereliction is directed to them. Different people have postulated unfounded opinions and judgments concerning homosexuality. Some think it is a developmental problem that has psychological contributions. Others have had several questions unanswered concerning the issue of homosexuality. â€Å"†¦..what factors contributed to its purported prevalence? Was it a holdover of primitive instincts usually found only in ‘uncivilized’ groups? Or was it an effect of modern life?’’ (Kaufman and Terry 27). These demonstrate how much people have pondered about the issue which has resulted into faulty perceptions about the gay and lesbian people as w ell as the transgender. With different persons coming up with diverse explanations, stigma and disgrace has been the order of the day in the homosexual world. As reported in the International Journal of Sexual Studies, gay parents are more susceptible to stigmatization. The outcome of this empirical study conducted to determine the extent of social stigmatization of the gay parents revealed much more that what had been hypothesized. People tend to look at the gay parents as ‘undeserving’ parents who are misleading examples to the society. It is not any news to hear that some countries have declared homosexuality illegal and that those found oriented to this sexual bearing should be sentenced to death. Uganda is one of the countries that surprised the world by its coarse laws

Harp of Burma Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Harp of Burma - Essay Example This position regarding the message of the book is accentuated by the author’s opinion that the war was unjustified and that the Japanese soldiers ought to have absconded the war. This position infers that the tone of the literature discouraged the active involvement of the Japanese soldiers in the war. Published in 1948, the book was later translated from Japanese language to English by Howard Hibbert. The title of the book was not just a convoluted idea, it stems from the fact that the Japanese soldiers engaged in the war were encouraged to sing as a way of boosting their confidence e and morale to emerge victors in the fight. Amidst this was a soldier who use to play Harp for other solders in the same spirit of building confidence and the zeal to vigorously fight. This book is also directed as a film. The central theme discussed and that can be inferred after reading the book is the need to avoid war confrontation and instead opt for peace. The literature in the book recounts how the Japanese soldiers were killed in thousand and the bodies decomposing in the jungle. It shows how Japan’s involvement in the war made any other agenda for the country lag behind in the interest of pursuing war. Japan, Italy, and Germany were skewed on one side forming one axis against the British and her allies on the other side. Japan and the allies in the war were trounced and in this book, the Japanese soldiers captured by the British were told to inform the rest that the war has ended and one of the soldiers who happen to be playing the Harp volunteer to dutifully undertake to the responsibility (Takeyama, 46). He left the rest of the solders to pursue other in the effort to deliver them the message. In the jungle, he is surprised to find most of his colleagues killed in millions that he co uld not even make arrangements to bury them as he initially wished. The soldier is taken aback by

Oil Spill Recovery Essay -- Energy Environmental Wildlife Essays

Oil Spill Recovery Can you imagine a world where clean water does not exist anymore? Can you imagine going to your kitchen and seeing black water instead of clear coming out of the faucet? Would you still go to the park if the rivers, lakes, and oceans would turn the color of oil and pollution? Would you still take your kids to see the fish and other living species if they were no longer living and floating belly up? How much would you pay to get the clean rivers, lakes, and oceans back? How much would it cost to get the living organisms living again in the rivers, lakes, and oceans? Maybe it is hard to imagine this world today because it is not as bad, water is not black, and living organisms don’t float bellies up when you walk by, but if we don’t think of the long run consequences of our polluting way of life today this horrible world won’t be so hard to imagine. Water covers about 70% of the Earth’s surface. It is the most valuable natural resource we have. For the most part all living organism require water to live, without water we would not exist. Water pollution is a very huge problem. By polluting our rivers, lakes, and oceans we are harming our planet. Organisms are dying at a very disturbing rate. Our drinking water has become greatly affected as well. There are a variety of causes of pollution they include sewage, fertilizers, wash off deposits, pathogens, petroleum, radioactive substances, heat, and other. The enormous accidental petroleum spills are an important cause of pollution especially along shore lines. Off-shore drilling operations contribute to the pollution pool. Certain statistical estimates state that for every million tons of oil transported one ton gets spilled. This paper will concentrate on oil s... ... 3rd edition, pg 373. 6.McKnight, J; Pelstring L. Patuxent River Oil Spill. Road to recovery. http://www.dnr.state.md.us/naturalresource/winter2003/oilspill.html 7.The Website of Hydrocarbons Industry. Lamor Coproration AB - Oil Spill Response and Recovery Equipment. http://www.hydrocarbons-technology.com/contractors/environment/lamor 8. Harju, T, High technology Finland. Managing oil spills more effectively (2003). http://www.indixon.com/enkku/rs-harvester.html http://www.hightechfinland.com/2003/energyenvironment/environment/indixon.html 9.Oil Spills at the Water Surfave. Office of Response and Restoration, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . 2002 http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/living/surface.html 10Preventing Oil Spills. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 2004 http://www.epa.gov/oilspill/prevent.htm

Successful Property Development

Throughout this paper the masculine gender is used when referring to developers. This is purely for convenience and does not imply that successful developers have to be male. Demand for new buildings from tenants and owner occupiers is the basis of all commercial property development in the United Kingdom. A typical development scheme will be initiated by a developer identifying a demand for a new building or buildings in a certain location. A major office user for example may wish to combine a number of regional offices into one new building able to accommodate new echnology and enable all of the Company's departments to be housed under one roof. The image to be presented by the new building will also be important and the Company may prefer a prominent town centre location with easy rail access or a fringe of town location on the motorway network. The experienced developer will know that if a development is to be successful the location must be the one which will appeal to tenants or purchasers who will either pay rent or a capital sum to occupy the property. There are many examples of unsuccessful schemes which failed because of poor location. With shopping centre evelopment the choice can be very subtle and a slightly ‘off-pitch' location may be enough to discourage tenants from leasing shop units in the new centre. If a site for a new development is identified and the site (or redundant buildings) is available for purchase, planning consent for the scheme must be sought from the Local Authority. It is usually the case that the developer will have concentrated on those locations where the planners will support development proposals and planning consent is likely to be received. If the location is correct and planning consent is likely the developer must also rrange finance to buy the site, build the scheme and let (or sell) it. He may also wish to sell the completed income producing investment. If he does so and the money he receives from the sale of the investment is more than the capital and interest he borrowed to build the scheme, he will receive a monetary profit. There are many sources of finance for developers but conventionally money will be borrowed from banks to buy the site and build a scheme with long term finance being provided by life assurance funds and pension funds. Long term finance in this ontext means the purchase of the completed investment by the fund which will enable the developer to repay all his short term debt and (hopefully) give him a profit. The investment market and development market are therefore closely linked and the developer will be mindful of the fund's requirements from the start of the development process. The most common form of development funding which involves the institutions if known as ‘profit erosion, priority yield'. This method allows the developer to borrow most of his short term finance from the institution and not pay it back until the cheme is completed and let. At this time the fund takes over the scheme in return for providing the developer's short term monies. The developer departs with a lump sum fee for carrying out the project which will be calculated by capitalising that amount of rent from the scheme which will be calculated by capitalising that amount of rent from the scheme which exceeds the fund's required return on the money lent; in other words its ‘priority yield'. Even if the rent from the scheme does not exceed the fund's priority yield, the developer will still receive a fee but obviously not as uch as he would get if he lets the building(s) at a high rent. There are many other types of development funding some of which are described in ‘Property and Money' by Michael Brett (see the bibliography at the back of this booklet). The developer will employ a professional team to design and cost the proposed building. The architect as leader of the design team has a crucial role to interpret his client's intentions and produce a design which will meet the requirements of tenants, planners and long term funders. Other commentators such as journalists, he general public, and the Prince of Wales may also criticise the design of a scheme where it is perceived to be ugly or inappropriate for its location. Successful commercial development requires therefore a combination of good location, planning consent, good design and funding. Even if these factors are present the scheme may still fail, at least in the short term, if the economy is weak and firms cannot expand. This introduction provides a resume of a typical development and the process can now be considered in more detail. The Developer The developer is the instigator of the scheme. He provides the entrepreneurial flair to identify the development opportunity and bring it to a successful conclusion. In doing so he will make use of established relationships with commercial estate agents and his knowledge of the occupier market. Most large development companies specialise in particular areas of the market. Slough Estates for example, built its reputation in the development of industrial and warehouse property whereas Hammersons developed the first shopping mall in the United Kingdom at Brent Cross. Some life assurance funds act as their own developer and one example is Norwich Union in the development of the Bentalls centre in Kingston on Thames. Various government agencies also act as developers such as District and Regional Health Authorities with hospital building. Increasingly, the newly privatised utilities will carry out their own developments. There are many types of developers. Some are ‘developer traders' who build with a view to selling the scheme when it is complete. Others will develop and hold the completed investment in their investment portfolio. Some developers are quoted on the stock exchange and others are little more than one man bands. Throughout the development process, but crucially at the start before funds are committed, the commercial developer will carry out an appraisal which will predict the eventual profits to be earned from the scheme. A considerable amount of work has to be done to produce a full appraisal as all the costs of the scheme have to be considered. The site itself will have to be fully investigated and this will involve bore hole surveys to enable the structural engineer to estimate the cost of the foundations. An environmental impact study may be required before planning consent is forthcoming. With the assistance of his agent, the developer will also predict the rent which the scheme will produce and (if the investment is to be sold), the investment value. If a scheme is to be successful the investment value less all capital and interest costs will have to leave an acceptable profit. If a developer has used rents in the appraisal which are too high, perhaps in expectation of rent rises in the development period, he may eventually make no profit at all and the scheme (from the developer's viewpoint) will have failed. To avoid risk and to attract other tenants to a development, a developer will often eek a pre-let tenant for a scheme. Before construction starts, a tenant will sign an agreement to lease all or part of the scheme at an agreed rent. This is particularly valuable in shopping centre development where an anchor tenant such as a department store will make a commitment before development commenced, thereby giving confidence to other lessees to take shop units. A developer who borrows money to buy a site, construct a building, and seek lessees will have no appreciable earnings until the scheme is let. It would be difficult therefore, for any interest on capital borrowed to be repaid during the development period. It is usually the case that interest is repaid as a lump sum when the fully let investment is eventually sold. Interest in these circumstances is said to be ‘rolled up' until the end of the development period. In arranging finance, the developer will often have a short term interest in the scheme, whereas the fund purchasing the investment when fully let, has a long term interest. Funds are, therefore, particularly interested in tenant quality in the longer term and building flexibility which may not be of primary importance to the developer. Local Authorities may initiate development, particularly retail, by making town centre ites available on ground leases to developers. The Authority will have a long term interest in the scheme's success, as they will receive a grounds rent, probably geared to the full rental value of the development. Not all developers have a short term interest in a development. Major developers may hold completed investments in a portfolio rather than ar range long term finance by selling the investment to a fund. Planning In the words of Clara Green ‘planning applications (like prayers) receive one of three answers – yes, no or yes but. ‘ The process can be one of great frustration and ifficulty for developers and for a major scheme it is usual for a specialist planning consultant to be employed to negotiate a consent with the Local Authority. Planning law is complicated but in general terms, planning consent is required for most major building in the United Kingdom. The department of the Environment is responsible for planning and the Secretary of State for the Environment is advised by teams of professional planners, surveyors and architects. All applications are made to local councils and it is only the most important or controversial applications which will be of interest to the higher tier of overnment. Most applications are, therefore, decided locally although the Secretary of State may decide to call in any application at his or her discretion. To obtain planning permission, an application will be made to the District Council although applications in the future also may be considered by the new unitary authorit ies. The developer can choose the type of application he wishes to make. If he wishes to seek approval to the principle of development, he can make an outline application. This is sometimes referred to as a red line application, as a red ine is drawn around the site plan supporting the application. If consent is granted, this will be subject to reserved matters and the developer will have to seek a subsequent consent for these detailed matters later. Alternatively a full application may be made which will include all detailed matters as well as the basic principles. The Local Authority will decide the application in the context of plans which will have been previously published and approved by the Secretary of State. Under the present two tier system of Local Government, the County Councils produce structure lans for their area which show in strategic terms the type and location of development which will be permitted during the period of the plan. The District Councils produce local plans which deal with detailed matters related to specific areas of land. If the planning application does not accord with the local plan, the Local Authority will be justified in refusing the application but obviously a developer would be unwise to make an application of this type. Structure plans have a life of between 5 and 15 years and comprise a lengthy written statement supported by explanatory diagrams. The important matters dealt with in the structure plan are strategic matters such as tourism and leisure, waste disposal, new housing, employment and transport. The Authority has a two month period in which to decide an application but it can ask the applicant for more time. If the application is refused the applicant can appeal to the Secretary of state and the matter in the majority of cases, will be decided by a Government Inspector. In major cases, the Inspector will make recommendations to the Secretary of State who will, after advice, take a decision. There may also be a Public Local Enquiry here evidence is heard by the Inspector over a number of days from all interested parties. In producing their structure and local plans as well as deciding applications, Councils have to take into account policy statement produced by the government. These are called Planning Policy Guidance Notes (PPGs) and they are published or amended from time to time. Two of the most important are PPG 6 which relates to out of town retail development and PPG 13 which deals with transport. There are a total of 25 PPGs and many are frequently revised. For example a new PPG 12 was produced in April 1999. This revision emphasised the importance of regional planning which now has it own PPG (PPG 11) and also stressed the government's commitment to a plan led system. Any developer seeking to build against government guidance as stated in the PPGs faces a long, expensive and uncertain battle and therefore is well advised to tailor development proposals to accord with published guidance. The government is at pains to demonstrate that the plan led system is sensitive to demographic changes and this is seen in the revisions to PPG 3 (Housing) which take account of the prediction that ‘7 out of ten new ouseholds forming over the next 20 years are likely to be single person households' (Nick Raynsford, Housing and Planning Minister). A topical revision PPG 25 (Flood Risk) which aims to avoid development in flood risk areas and emphasises a precautionary approach in marginal areas with flood defences to be shown to be in place (and paid for by the developer) before development is approved. The Development Team The team will be employed by the developer at the start of a project and it role will encompass design, costing, funding and marketing. In summary its functions are as follows: Architect The Architect is the leader and coordinator of the design team who has a major role in interpreting his client's requirements and producing a design brief. The brief establishes the client's basic requirements and from this the Architect and other members of the design team will produce detailed design drawings. These will eventually be given to selected building contractors who will tender for the job of constructing the building. During construction, the Architect will inspect the work as it proceeds on behalf of his client. Because the Architect's work is so important he ill be paid a fee based on a percentage of the total cost of the building work. For a new building this will normally be between 4% and 5% of the cost of the work. Quantity Surveyor The Quantity Surveyor estimates the eventual cost of the new building and will produce regular cost checks as the design is developed. Before tenders are invited from building contractors, he will inform the client of the estimated cost of the works (the pre-tender estimate) and the client can then proceed to tender with confidence. Services and Structural Engineers In some instances the engineers will be responsible for producing design drawings nd specifications of the building services (air-conditioning, electrical installation etc) and the structure (foundations, structural frame). Increasingly however, the services engineer will only produce a statement of how the services will perform (a performance specification) rather than a full design. In these circumstances, design becomes the responsibility of the contractor. Estate Agents Developers usually have established relationships with firms of estate agents who will be aware of development opportunities. The agent will also provide marketing advice and will be responsible for letting the building. Other Consultants Other consultants include solicitors, landscape architects and planning consultants. With some complicated and large schemes, a project manager may oversee the project on behalf of the client. Specialist noise or environmental consultants may be required where development will take place in environmentally sensitive areas where special planning conditions have been imposed. Successful Schemes A scheme will be successful if its location and design has attracted a number of first class tenants and will continue to do so in the future should any tenants vacate. A uccessful scheme will provide a secure and growing investment for the eventual long term investor as well as an adequate monetary profit for the developer. There are many reasons why development schemes are unsuccessful, some of which are discussed below: Poor Location This is the most obvious but nevertheless very common reason for failure. A shopping scheme may be located where there is a lack of pedestrian flow. An office building may be located where vehicular access is difficult or the chosen site does not provide the required image and identity for the tenant/s. On a wider scale, he development may be located in a city which is in decline, to the detriment of long term investment quality. Some commentators are casting doubt on the future quality of fringe of town retail warehousing schemes which do not have the support of an established town centre. Poor Design A shopping centre must be designed to maximise pedestrian flow and enable shoppers to both park and gain easy access. If the design fails to do this, the public may avoid the centre and tenants will be hard to find. Also shopping centres must allow frequent changes of image and must provide the correct ambience for the ublic. Attention to detail with the internal design will allow this to benefit the investment. Thee are many examples of office buildings constructed in the 1960's and 1970's which do not provide the necessary ducting and image for modern tenants using today's technology. These developments may have been regarded as successful when they were first constructed, but in terms of a long term investment are of dubious quality. Lack of flexibility with many buildings means that where occupier requirements change the buildings cannot and voids are the result. Increased Costs during Design or Construction If a developer allows costs to increase, he will eventually make no profit whatsoever from the scheme. If costs increase beyond those used in the appraisal the developers profit will be eroded. The expertise of the design team to contain costs whilst, at the same time, producing a quality building is of vital importance but sometimes mistakes are made. A lack of coordination between building work and services is a typical example leading to redesign, delay and increased costs. Planning Errors When a contract is awarded to a contractor, it is important that the site of the evelopment is firstly in the legal control of the developer and secondly the same site for which planning consent has been granted. There have been many examples of mistakes in this area to the detriment of the project. Empty Property A newly built shopping centre with few tenants is clear evidence of a scheme which falls short of success. There are many examples amongst those centres completed during the recession. As with office and warehousing property pre-let tenants are particularly valuable in recessionary periods. Public Sector Development The Private Finance Initiative. In the past public sector development such as roads, hospitals and bridges were built by government contracting with the private sector for the design and construction works. Civil servants and their consultants would work to precise specifications of what was required to be built. When the development was complete the government would then be responsible for running the completed hospital, road or whatever to the benefit of the public. The Private ~Finance Initiative (or PFI) is intended to revolutionise the traditional method of producing public facilities described above. It was conceived in 1992 during Norman Lamont's troubled chancellorship and was vigorously supported by his successor Kenneth Clarke. In essence PFI only required the government to state how the building is to be used and the performance it must achieve. The private sector is then invited to tender for the design, construction and running of the new facility. The reward for doing this is negotiated with the government agency responsible for the facility and will usually take the form of a regular monetary payment so long as the facilities provided continue to meet the agreed criteria. Kenneth Clarke stated that PFI is ‘a radical and far reaching change in capital investment in public services which will break down further barriers between the public and private sectors'. The central argument in favour of PFI is that the private sector is more capable of promoting efficiency than government and will provide business solutions to public sector requirements. It is also argued that the risks of increased construction and running costs, which appears to be a feature of public sector schemes, will disappear with PFI where all the risks are borne by the private sector. Critics of PFI point out that it is extremely difficult to produce a performance specification for, say, a highly complex building such as a hospital and this will lead to private sector contractors being allowed to cut corners to the detriment of the public. It is also pointed out that the government can always borrow money more cheaply than the private sector and that this will inevitably lead to increased costs which will be passed on to the public. The change of government in May 1997 led to a thorough review of the experience gained from using PFI in the previous five years. Malcolm Bates was appointed to arry out a review which resulted in 29 recommendations aimed at rationalising and reinvigorating the PFI process. The ‘Treasury Taskforce' was the government's response to the review and this body consisted mainly of city financiers who were charged with building up PFI expertise in government. The taskforce had a life of three years and is replaced by ‘Partnerships UK' which will operate as a joint private/public consultancy to assist with the PFI process. There are currently hundreds of PFI schemes in the process of completion and the present government is wedded to this form of procurement for public sector projects.

The Role Of Socialization And Gender Roles - 852 Words

INTRODUCTIOn tell me what you are focussing on†¦..family and theirgender roles Socialisation is the process by which a child learns to respect his or her environmental laws such as norms, values and customs. Socialisation helps the infant gradually become self-aware and a knowledgeable person, skilled in the ways of the culture into which he or she is born. Children within the primary socialisation of the family learn a great deal from parents and other care givers such as grandparents, grandmothers, child-minders and baby-sitters, siblings and neighbours. People who successfully come through primary socialisation to be well adjusted individuals then progress to secondary agents of socialisation, such as education, employment and the media. Within contemporary Western society it is very important to socialise people to know their gender identity. Gender identity and the roles of males and females within socialisation begins from the moment you are born and your biological sex has been identified whether a girl or a boy. Gender roles are developed after birth through the agents of both primary and secondary socialisation. According to the Marxist perspective the agents help to reinforce the gender stereotypes, which are a negative product of patriarchal influences which take place first within the family. For example, according to the functionalists the family performs several essential functions for society. It socialises children and provides practical support forShow MoreRelatedGender Socialization And Gender Roles998 Words   |  4 Pagesattention to the gender equality issues many societies face. Is this increased awareness helping towards a neutral gendered socialization process which will inevitably eliminate the inequality? Gender socialization is the process where an individual is impacted by agents of socializa tion through their life stages which consequently creates the gender roles we see in today’s society. The only way to start working towards a gender equal world is by making changes towards the gender socialization process. GenderRead MoreSocialization Of Gender Roles1524 Words   |  7 Pagesborn, we are born into a world of conformity and obedience. Early in our lives, we look at authority figures like parents or teachers as these sentinels of guidance, as omnipotent beings with unwavering precision in their lessons. The concept of socialization is very perplexed, and it’s difficult to identify the variables that shape our development as we grow. As children, we communicate with the world free of inhibition, and find no fault in any of our actions; we could throw a tantrum and no one wouldRead MoreGender Socialization And Gender Roles999 Words   |  4 PagesEarly gender socialization is perhaps one of the most relevant issues and debates of early childhood. The beginnings of stereotypes for gender roles are typically established at birth, and continue a process of learning specific cultural roles and standards in accordance with the sex of the individual. Gendered interactions begin early in the family and hence influence the process of gendered socialization, as was such the case for myself growing up. Socialization comes from a number of sources:Read MoreGender Roles And Gender Socialization985 Words   |  4 PagesForum 1: Gender Roles and Gender Socialization 1.   Explain why gender is not a property of individuals but rather a feature of social situations.   Give specific examples, including your own experiences, in which gender differences were assumed to be natural but were really social constructed. Note: It helps to distinguish between the concepts of sex and gender in answering this question (see definitions in Chapter 3 and lecture notes). Gender is not a property of individual because it providesRead MoreGender Socialization And Gender Roles1452 Words   |  6 Pages120 Professor Lessor 5/14/2016 Gender role in socialization Gender socialization and gender roles have always existed in society. Gender roles are playing major part in our way of living. As we grow, we learn how to behave and respect from those surrounding us as well as children learn at a young age what it means to be a boy or a girl in our society . there are certain roles placed on boys and girls in accordance with their gender. These gender roles are set on children from birth andRead MoreGender Socialization And Gender Roles Essay2371 Words   |  10 PagesSociety has this unknown expectation for genders to have a type of distinction toward one another, attitudes and behaviors that males and females are required to have. Gender socialization is society’s way to categorize the propensity for males and females to be socialized differently. Media, violence, even politics has a large contribution to the division among genders in the 21st century creating by creating a new culture of independents. Media has been promoted very sele ctively and carefully,Read MoreGender Socialization and Gender Roles Essay1184 Words   |  5 PagesGender socialization and gender roles have always existed in society. When analyzing gender roles, they are not always equal or consistent when comparing cultures, however, the expectations of females and males are often times clearly defined with a little to no common area. The Japanese culture is an example of the defined gender roles that change over time. According to Schafer (2010), because â€Å"gender roles are society’s expectations of the proper behavior, attitudes, and activities of males andRead MoreThe Role Of Socialization On Gender Identity2394 Words   |  10 PagesThe Influence of Socialization on Gender Identity Gender-Role Conformity As evident from the generalized patterns found in differences in behaviour and outlook observed between the sexes, it may be tempting, as has been done in the past, to conclude that gender is an unavoidable aspect of human existence as determined purely from one s genes. Indeed, human physiology is subject to sexual dimorphism; statistically significant differences in brain size and rate of maturation of specific substructuresRead MoreGender Socialization Is The Process Of Learning Gender Roles And Expectations1177 Words   |  5 Pagestradition of gender socialization that facilitates prejudicial practices within the work environment. Gender socialization is the process of learning gender roles and expectations. It is what determines which things are considered masculine or feminine. This process tends to reinforce traditional gender ideologies. The cult of domesticity, or the idea that a woman’s place is in the home taking care of children while the man works, is one prominent expression of traditional gender roles. During childhoodRead MoreEssay about Socialization and the Learning of Gender Roles886 Words   |  4 PagesThe term socialization refers to the â€Å"lifelong social experience by which individuals develop their human potential and learn culture.† [Macionis et al. p 55] The concept of socialization is that our actions are driven/learned by culture. Socialization is also the foundation of personality, which we build by internalizing our surroundings. Through the lifelong process of socialization, society transmits culture from one generation to the next. A good example of socialization is the learning of gender