Concrete mixing Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Concrete mixing - Lab Report Example e is influenced by the chemical composition of the cement, hydration as well as development of microstructure, admixtures, and characteristics of the aggregate. In addition, the quality is strongly influenced by placement, consolidation, as well as curing. The performance of the concrete throughout its service life is also largely influenced by the method employed in mixing, placing, curing and transporting the concrete. It is also necessary for the civil engineers to perform various quality control tests which should include slump tests, air content tests, as well as strength-gain-with-time tests. It is a well known fact that concretes which are considered as good and those considered as bad may have the same ingredients. The difference between good and bad concretes may come about due to the expertise of the engineer as well as the technicians who handle the concrete during construction. Concrete has been employed in many more applications in the past few decades due to the advances that have been made in concrete technology. It is necessary for civil and construction engineers to be aware of the available alternatives to the conventional concrete, roller-compacted concrete and fiber-reinforced concrete. The weight of air entraining agent should 0.05% of cement. Air is entrained in the concrete by the air-entraining admixtures which contain surface-active agents which are concentrated at the air-water interface. Bubbles are formed readily when the surface tension is lowered, and the bubbles stability remains after being formed. The mixing water foams with the air-entraining admixtures and the formed consequently locked into the paste during the hardening of concrete. The entrapped air voids are not the same as entrained air voids. This is because the air voids are formed by chance when air enters the fresh concrete during mixing whereas the entrained air voids are formed on purpose as described above. The size of the entrapped air voids can be as large as 3 mm

Insider Dealing in Hong Kong Essay Example for Free

Insider Dealing in Hong Kong Essay Although insider dealing has been a criminal offence under section 291 of Chapter 571, Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) in Hong Kong since 2003, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) was initially slow to prosecute offenders, commencing its first criminal insider dealing prosecution only in January 2008. Factors to be considered to commence criminal proceedings In deciding whether to commence criminal proceedings against an alleged insider dealer, the SFC will have regard to the guidelines in the prosecution policy of the Department of Justice, which require two basic factors to be considered: 1. Sufficiency of evidence The burden of proof is greater in criminal proceedings and the SFC will generally only recommend criminal proceedings where there is admissible, substantial and reliable evidence that an offence has been committed and there is a reasonable prospect of a conviction. Where there is a lack of sufficient evidence to meet the criminal burden of proof, the SFC is likely to initiate civil proceedings. 2. Public interest Whether, taking into account the circumstances of a particular case, it is in the public interest to bring a prosecution before the courts. First Criminal Case of Insider Dealing in Hong Kong In the case of HKSAR v Ma Hon-yeung (DCCC 229-240/2008) which involved Ma Hon-yeung, former Vice President of BNP Paribas Peregrine Capital Ltd, now known as BNP Paribas Capital (Asia Pacific) Ltd (BNP Paribas), an investment bank. The case is related to trading in the shares of Egana Jewellery Pearls Ltd (Egana), a listed company in Hong Kong prior to an announcement made to the market on 11 Jul 2006 aboutprivatization of the company. Ma Hon-yeung learned of a proposed privatization of Egana and tipped off his girlfriend, Ivy Lo Yuk-wah and three other family members, Sammy Ma Hon-kit, Cordelia Tso Kin-wah and Ronald Ma Chun-ho, within days of becoming privy to the proposed deal. All of them bought shares in Egana before the company announced a privatization plan and made a profit as a result. Between 1 June 2006 and 6 July 2006, trading in Egana’s shares ranged between HK$1.35 and HK$1.61 with average daily turnover of 636,630 shares. Trading in the shares of Egana and EganaGoldpfeil were suspended on 7 July 2006 pending an announcement. On 11 July 2006, Egana and EganaGoldpfeil made a joint announcement about a proposed privatization of Egana. The proposal offered shareholders a choice of receiving HK$1.80 per share or one share of EganaGoldpfeil for every 1.5 Egana shares or a combination of both. Following the announcement on 11 July 2006 the share price closed at HK$1.84 with substantially increased turnover of 25 million shares. The privatization proposal was approved by shareholders and by the court and became effective on 23 October 2006. Egana was delisted on the following day. Ma acted as a financial consultant for Egana during the privatization move, which he knew was confidential, price sensitive information. Ma had counselled or procured Ivy and Sammy to trade in Egana shares. He was convicted of insider dealing contrary to section 291(1)(b). Ivy, bought 1.51 million shares in Egana between June 20 and July 6, 2006. She was convicted of insider dealing contrary to section 291(5)(a). Ma transferred a total HK$1.7 million into Ivys account before the privatization announcement. She later sold the shares and transferred the money back to Ma’s account. Sammy , Cordelia and Ronald bought Egana shares separately from July 6. Sammy, Ronald and Cordelia traded in Egana shares having information through Mas connection to Egana about the proposed privatisation. Owing to their close family relationship between Ma andhis three family members, who received and made profit by utilizing such information, all of them were convicted of insider dealing contrary to section 291(5)(a) and (8) of SFO. Ma and Ivy were given custodial sentences of 26 months and 12months respectively. Ma’s three family members were ordered to serve 200 hours of community service. Fines were also imposed in amounts equivalent to the profits they had made while dealing in Egana shares ahead of the privatization which are HK$230,000, HK$210,000, HK$330,000, HK$110,000 and HK$17,000 respectively. The Court also ordered them to pay the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) investigation costs totaling HK$322,742. This is the first time any person has been sentenced to jail for insider dealing in Hong Kong. The family members avoided custodial sentences because they were merely opportunistic investors making use of the relevant information divulged by the vice-president. There was no evidence that they assisted him in carrying out his plot for personal gain by using insider information. The conduct of the girlfriend, on the other hand, warranted a custodial sentence as she was the person executing the plot on behalf of the vice-president. She was fully aware of his position of trust in the financial institution and had used her trading account to perpetrate the plot. As such, the court viewed her involvement in the misconduct as being much more serious than that of an opportunistic investor; community service could not adequately reflect her culpability. However, we continue to see obvious and flagrant breaches of the insider dealing laws, such as insiders and/or their families’ members will exploited the confidential information they obtained to make a gain on disposal of shares. One of the reasons may be that the punishment for insider dealing in Hong Kong is mild for the offenders.

The Contrast of Virginia Woolf and Alice Walker Essay -- Writers Moral

The Contrast of Virginia Woolf and Alice Walker After reading the four essays assigned to this sequence, it becomes interesting to contrast two author's points of view on the same subject. Reading one professional writer's rewriting of a portion of another professional writer's essay brings out many of each of their characteristics and views. Also, the difference in writing styles could be drastic, or slight. Nevertheless, the writers display how versatile the English language can be. Alice Walker was born in 1944 as a farm girl in Georgia. Virginia Woolf was born in London in1882. They have both come to be highly recognized writers of their time, and they both have rather large portfolios of work. The scenes the might have grown up seeing and living through may have greatly influenced their views of subjects which they both seem to write about. In her essay "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens," Alice Walker speaks first about the untouchable faith of the black women of the post-Reconstruction South. She speaks highly of the faith and undying hope of these women and their families. She even comes to recognize them as saints as she describes their faith as "so intense, deep, unconscious, the they themselves were unaware of the richness they held" (Walker 694). In a passage in which she speaks about the treatment and social status of the women of the sixteenth century, Woolf explains that a woman who might have had a truly great gift in this time "would have surely gone crazy, shot herself, or ended up in some lonely cottage on the outside of town, half witch, half wizard, feared and mocked" (Woolf 749). Her use of some of these powerful nominative shows that she feels strongly about what she is writing. Also for her, life growing up and stories she may have heard may have influenced this passage greatly. In her passage she imagines what it may have been like had William Shakespeare had a sister. She notices how difficult it would be even given the same talents as Shakespeare himself, to follow throughout and utilize them in her life. It is clear after reading further into Woolf's passage that obviously she lived in a different time period, only about fifty years apart though. The way she relates and tells a very similar story with an entirely different setting shows without the reader even knowing that she wa... ... Whether this style that Virginia Woolf uses is correct or not, it is powerful and it pauses the reader and , most importantly, helps the reader think in exactly the same manner as she was when she wrote it. The pauses she experienced in her thoughts when she wrote the story about the story about the writer's sister are simulated and relived when the reader crosses them. Both writers do a fine job of stressing the morals in their writing. The reader can, in Walker's essay, put himself in the first person and imagine the South very easily because of how descriptive she is in her narration. The reader of Woolf's essay clearly can understand and come to realize the unfairness and downright cruelty of the pure neglect of hidden talent among many women throughout time. She does this through simply telling a good story. This perhaps show that Virginia Woolf may have been fond of Walker's work. Woolf chooses to clearly state and agree with the same points Walker makes and shows the ideas in a different light because indeed she is a different person with different attributes. This shows up dominantly in her rewriting of Walker's "In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens."

The Chrysanthemums :: essays research papers

1. The Chrysanthemums On Henry Allen's ranch east of Salinas Elisa plants yellow chrysanthemums as Henry is selling thirty head of cattle to agents of the Western Meat Company. After he and Scotty go to round up the cattle, a tinker shows up. He asks for work which Elisa says she hasn't. He asks for seeds for a lady on his route. Elisa gives him seedlings with instructions, and then she finds work for him which he does professionally. To celebrate the sale Henry drives her to Salinas for dinner at the Cominos Hotel and a movie; they drive past the tinker on the road and she privately weeps. 2. The White Quail Mary has her garden designed before its lot is bought, before she's married. She picks Harry because she thinks the garden will like him. After the house is built and the garden established Harry finds her perfect though untouchable. She doesn't care for his occupation (making loans for cars); it's unfair. She routinely locks him from her tiny bedroom on the garden. He tries the lock and leaves quietly. She refuses to let him have a setter pup since it might damage her garden. After a white quail visits the cement pond she fears a cat will come and asks Harry to put out poison fish. He refuses but will try to hit such a cat with his new air rifle. Next morning he shoots the white quail then tells Mary it was the cat he buried. 3. Flight Mama Torres makes Emilo and Rosy fish when they can. Pepà ©, who is beautiful but lazy, is sent to Monterey for medicine and salt. At Mrs. Rodriguez's he kills a man with his father's black switchblade knife. He returns before dawn, then rides into the high hills as his family bids him, now a man, adios. After a day's riding he sleeps and is awakened by a horse down the trail. He rides another day before his horse is shot out from under him. He exchanges shots and receives a granite splinter wound in his right hand. He runs on for several days and is finally shot dead. 4. The Snake Young marine biologist Dr. Phillips brings a sack of starfish from the tide pool to his laboratory on the cannery street in Monterey. The lab: rattlesnakes, rats, cats; killing a cat. Arrival of a tall, lean woman just as he begins timed work making a starfish embryo series. While she waits he begins embalming the cat. She wants to buy the male rattlesnake which she wants to keep in the lab. Her snakish behavior during the feeding annoys Phillips. The starfish series is ruined. She never comes back. 5. Breakfast A cold pre-dawn, by a country road, I see a tent with a lit campstove.

RSA Guideline

â€Å"Establishment of Operational Road Safety Engineering Units in the Road Authorities (Pads) of 2 Southern – States of India† Slash Chancre Triad, International Road Safety Specialist It is recognized that the in order to improve road safety it is vital for institutional strengthening, capacity building and reform to urgently take place in the road sector.The Tasks of Technical Assistance Services under two assignments as already addressed in Kraal-India (the World-Bank financed EST. I Project for PAD) ND are currently being addressed in Karakas-India (DAB financed PRAM Project for PAD) are: Road safety tools and techniques vital for roads to be safe and sustainable; Institutional strengthening and reform by providing adequate on and off training; and introducing well-proven and appropriate proactive and reactive engineering approaches / measures and educational aspects to improve road safety.The author will briefly address regarding various activities performed and topics addressed. Such as Safe Road Management System, 5 Pillars, Crash Data Collection, Database, Analysis and Reports for dissemination; Road Safety Engineering; Economics; Low Cost Counter – Measures and Program; Vulnerable Road Users; History of Road Safety Audit with Stages, Checklists and Report; Road Safety Review and Inspection; Operations Processes, Procedures, Manuals and Guidelines; Strategies and Policies; Road Safety Co-ordination and Action Plan; International Practices; Road Safety Engineering related Awareness Campaigns; InstitutionalStrengthening and Capacity Building: Organizational structure, Training Need Assessment, Job-descriptions; On and Off – the Job-Training and Standards; Monitoring and Evaluations; Innovations and developments In Traffic Control Devices (signs and marking materials); RAP; Procurement of road safety tools (such as book, code, software and equipment); Crash Barriers; School Zone Treatments; Case studies. Also discussions on th e most up-to-date concepts, principles and practices for Institutional reform In the road safety.

OXO: Satisfaction Guranteed Essay

OXO’s most profitable customers are those with dexterity problems like arthritis such as the wife its founder, Sam Farber, had when coming up with the idea of starting OXO. Now OXO designs products that are usable by as many people as possible. This means that men and women, young and old, left and right handed, and those with special needs can utilize their products (OXO, 1990). â€Å"Through market segmentation, companies divide large, heterogeneous markets into smaller segments that can be reached more efficiently and effectively with products and services that match their unique needs (Kotler & Armstrong, 2014).† Psychographic segmentation is primarily used by OXO in efforts to target a multitude of consumer’s with different lifestyles. Each OXO product â€Å"was developed based on the concept of Universal Design (also known as Inclusive Design), a philosophy of making products that are usable by as many people as possible (OXO, 1990).† Many of the com petitions kitchen gadgets from the research attempt to conform to the needs of consumers such as OXO has done. There are few that have reached the standard for universal ease of use. The value proposition that is extended to OXO’s clients is a satisfaction guarantee which is clearly stated on its website. â€Å"We guarantee everything we make! If for any reason you are not satisfied with an OXO product, return it for replacement or refund (OXO, 1990).† OXO’s satisfaction guarantee is similar to that of some of it’s competitors but not all. Companies such as CUTCO and CHEFS share the 100% satisfaction guarantee value proposition. In order for OXO to develop their product line to stand out from competitors â€Å"Smart Design’s first assignment was to come up with tools that were comfortable in the hand, dishwasher safe, high quality, good looking and  affordable.† OXO’s â€Å"designers divided tool types by wrist and hand motions: twist/turn (used to scoop, stir and peel), push/pull (graters and knives) and squeeze (scissors, garlic press and can openers).† 3 Levels of Product Core customer Value: What is the customer really buying? OXO’s customers are purchasing â€Å"wonderfully comfort–able tools that are easy to use (Corporate Design Foundation).† Actual product: brand name, quality level, packaging, design, features OXO’s hand tools are sold under the name Good Grips, chosen because â€Å"it communicates the major advantage of the line quickly,† explains Farber. OXO’s goal is to provide â€Å"budget–conscious consumers with tools that adhered to OXO’s principles of universal design, focusing on user comfort.† OXO makes grave attempts to use less plastic in packaging (Corporate Design Foundation). Augmented product: delivery and credit, product support, warranty, after-sale  OXO provides product support via email, phone, fax, and mail. The company’s satisfaction guarantee is a warranty within itself. Customers can return products for a replacement or a full refund. After researching OXO’s products it became very apparent that the company follows an intensive distribution strategy. Their products are found in many different shopping outlets such as JC Penny, Bed Bath and Beyond, Kohl’s, Amazon.com, and Sur La Table just to name a few. This type of distribution is very convenient for the company if they’re aim is to provide comfortable gadgets for all to use. Distributing to these types of stores appears to target all lifestyle groups. The pricing of OXO’s Good Grip products seem very reasonable in nature from the product prices I have seen recently. I’ve even purchased a few of the gadgets myself because the pricing and handiness. In comparison to like items, OXO adopted the correct pricing scheme and has made itself a viable competitor in the home goods market. OXO is doing what any other reasonable and profitable company is doing by advertising on social media sites. There is vast community of social media  users that can be pose as potential customers of OXO. Facebook and Twitter are the two most reputable social media sites and they OXO utilizes both to broaden its customer base. Facebook alone has: Over 1.15 billion users, one million webpages can be accessed with the â€Å"Login with Facebook† feature 23% of Facebook users login at least 5 times daily  47% of Americans say Facebook is the top influencer of their buying decisions On average, Americans spend %16 of each online hour on Facebook. 70% of marketers acquire new customers through Facebook. And Twitter: Now has over 550 million registered users and 215 million monthly active users Between 2012 and 2014, Twitter achieved a growth rate of 44% 34% of marketers use Twitter for lead generation (Romeri, 2014).† The vast amount of internet users speaks for itself. OXO is conducting business via internet and attracting a multitude of clients through social media and word of mouth. OXO has raised the bar for the kitchen gadget market with its Good Grips product line and its guarantee of satisfaction. They’ve even taken it a step further to cut advertising costs by advertising through social media sites and even creating a blog site in order to listen and respond to consumer thoughts and concerns on their products. References Corporate Design Foundation. (n.d.). Getting a Grip on Kitchen Tools. Retrieved from Corporate Design Foundation: http://www.cdf.org/issue_journal/getting_a_grip_on_kitchen_tools.html Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (2014). Principles of Marketing. Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc. OXO. (n.d.). Blogger Outreach. Retrieved from OXO: http://www.oxo.com/bloggeroutreach/ OXO. (1990). Our Roots. Retrieved from OXO: http://www.oxo.com/OurRoots.aspx OXO. (1990). Satisfaction Guarantee. Retrieved from OXO: http://www.oxo.com/Satisfaction.aspx Romeri, M. J. (2014, February 18). New Social Media Statistics You Need to Know. Retrieved from Social Media Today:

Case on Industrial Dispute Essay

Road Transport Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Corporation’), has been constituted under the Road Transport Corporation Act, 1950. The respondent which is a Trade Union of the appellant-Corporation, filed an Application before the Labour Court, Dehradun under Section 11-C of the U. P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 read with Section 13A of the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, praying for a declaration that the 15 persons who were appointed on contract basis as ‘drivers’ and ‘conductors’ as shown in the annexed chart, be declared as regular and substantive workmen of the Corporation. It was also prayed in the said Application that the concerned workmen be given all the benefits and facilities of regular employees. The aforesaid Application was allowed by the Labour Court, Dehradun by its order dated 19. 9. 2001. The Labour Court directed that the concerned workmen be given the minimum wages admissible to the regular employees in the pay scales of ‘drivers’ and ‘conductors’. The Labour Court also held that the said workmen are employees of the Corporation. It is not disputed that the concerned workmen were appointed on contract basis. Before the Labour Court, the Corporation had contended that Rule 2 of U. P. S. R. T. C Employees (Other than Officers) Service Regulations, 1981 (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Regulations’) clearly mentions that these regulations shall not apply to employees working on contract basis. The persons working on contract basis filed Writ Petition No. 41349/1999 Kanchi Lal and others vs. U. P. S. R. T. C before the Allahabad High Court for grant of same benefits as the regular employees of the Corporation, but the said writ petition had been dismissed. However, the bjection of the Corporation was rejected by the Labour Court. It filed a writ petition thereafter before the High Court which was dismissed by the impugned judgment. It was contended in the writ petition by the appellant that the concerned workmen had not been selected in terms of the process of selection required for appointment of regular employees and hence they cannot be directed to be given minimum pay scales of regular employees. It was also contended that the Labour Court acted beyond its jurisdiction by passing the impugned order dated. In our opinion, the Labour Court could not have granted the relief it granted by the order dated 19. 9. 2001, as that could only have been granted on a regular reference under Section 4-K of the U. P. Industrial Disputes Act or under Section 10 of the Industrial Disputes Act. A perusal of the order of the Labour Court dated 19. 9. 2001 shows that it has not referred to any standing order of the appellant. On the other hand, paragraph 3 of the said order refers to Rule 2 of the 1981 Regulations which clearly provides that the Regulations do not apply to employees engaged on contract basis. In our opinion, the Labour Court cannot amend the Regulations while hearing an application under Section 11-C of the Industrial Disputes Act. As already stated above, the scope of Section 11-C is limited to decide a question arising out of an application or interpretation of a standing order and the Labour Court cannot go beyond the scope of Section 11-C of the U. P. Industrial Disputes Act. For the reasons given above, the appeals are allowed. The impugned judgment of the High Court as well as the order of the Labour Court dated 19. 9. 2001 are set aside. However, it is open to the concerned workmen to raise their grievances before the concerned authority under Section 4-K of the U. P. Industrial Disputes Act or under Section 10 of Industrial Disputes Act, as the case may be, and if the State Government refers such a dispute to the Labour Court or Tribunal, we hope that the same will be decided expeditiously. No costs