Disability pension Essay Example

Disability pension Essay Example Disability pension Essay Disability pension Essay State measures which intend to address needs of 15% of its citizens who have disabilities include the PWD Card (for 20% discounts on medicines, medical services, etc. ) and Disability Pensions from the Government Insurance Service System (GSIS). However, these are largely limited and ineffective because the discounts can only be availed of by non-poor PWDs (who are the only ones who can afford to buy medicine, go to the hospital, or eat in a restaurant in the first place), while GSIS Benefits are only for government employees. Retirement programs rely solely on contributions from employment during the lifetime of a person which is not available to people with disabilities that have not had the opportunity to work because of disability-based discrimination or the lack of work-related disability accommodation. The main poverty-alleviation program of the government is the CCT. Over 90% of the national budget for the Department of Social Welfare is for the CCT. It addresses MDGs on maternal / infant mortality, health and education. It documents (but does not target) disability in Household Assessments which identify the poor. Furthermore, the Philippine CCT does not utilize disability in the Proxy Means Test in determining who the poor are. Thus, the presence of a PWD in a household is given little consideration. Although NHTS-PR identified 305,729 households with members with disabilities, not all of them benefits from the CCT program. In a NCR survey conducted by PIDS in 2008, poverty incidence among households with a person with disability is 40%. This is considerably high compared to the 7. 1% (the lowest among 17 regions) poverty incidence in the general population. The poverty incidence rate is higher in other regions not as developed as the NCR. The mainstream poverty-alleviation programs will always have households with a person with disability as beneficiaries because of the fact that they are poor. Success of these programs is very limited and temporary in the sector. Most of these programs did not consider the additional disability-related expenses (especially for those with extensive disabilities) which are over and above the usual expenditures in a household where no member has a disability. Common disability-related expenses are medicines, assistive devices and maintenance (i. e. wheelchair), medical supplies (i. e. urine bag, catheter), diaper and others. Even if the person with disability has a source of income (job), a big chunk of the earning goes to the disability-related expenses. The table below illustrates this. Person w/o disability Blind Deaf Wheelchair user Wheelchair user with PA Transportation P56-P78 P56-P156 P56-P78 P400 P400 Meals P50 P50 P50 P50 P50 Employment related deductions Cost of specialized support such as PA, Sign Language Interpreter none. Depends P 426. 00 (P53. 25/hour) Depends (sign language interpreter costs P312. 50/hr) None P426. 00 (P53. 25/hr) In cases where a family member has an extensive disability, another person is required to be present. This is usually a parent, a sibling or a child. If they belong to the working age group, it translates to one earning-capacity not utilized and income for the household not realized. This unrealized income plus the additional disability-related expenses compounds the financial and economic situation of a household with a person with disability. A poor household with a person with disability given the same amount of financial assistance as part of the mainstream program (e. g. 4Ps) given to a household with no person with disability will not be able to get out of poverty. Aside from the lack of necessary social support services and poor compliance to existing laws (i. e. Accessibility Law) that will greatly impact the social inclusion of persons with disabilities, the conditions of certain programs will work against the realization of the envisioned goal if the financial situation of affected households is not considered. A program giving strong consideration to this is necessary. The Government has legal, social and economic responsibilities to take care of the people. The bigger picture will show that having a disability does not affect only the person but also the family. Addressing the needs of the sector of persons with disabilities will arrest the cycle of disability and poverty. This will result to a lesser economic burden for the government of the affected sector of the population. Disability pension is supplemental to the mainstream poverty-alleviation programs. This will target the additional disability-related expenses of the individual. This will give purchasing power for products and services that will result to equalization of opportunity and social inclusion of persons with disabilities. Proposed budget: No. of beneficiaries (HH identified by NHTS-PR) Amount of cash grant Frequency Total 305,729 500. 00 12 (months) 1,834,374,000.

Stop Procrastinating and Complete Your Dissertation

Stop Procrastinating and Complete Your Dissertation Are you an ABD (All-But-Dissertation) student? Doctoral dissertation looming over your head like an ominous black cloud? The dissertation is the most difficult and time-consuming academic requirement a doctoral student faces. Its way too easy to procrastinate and put off writing your dissertation under the guise, I need to read more before I can write. Dont fall into that trap! Dont let your dissertation drag you down. Stop your procrastination. Why do we procrastinate? Research suggests that students often procrastinate when they perceive the dissertation as an overwhelming task. Big surprise, huh? Motivation is the biggest problem that grad students face in writing the dissertation. A Lonely Time The dissertation is a time consuming and lonely process that usually takes about two years (and often longer). The dissertation often is a major blow to a graduate students self-esteem. It is not uncommon to feel as if its an insurmountable task that will never be completed. Organization and Time Management are Key The keys to completing the dissertation promptly are organization and time management. The lack of structure is the difficult part of the dissertation because the students role is to plan, carry out, and write up a research project (sometimes several). A structure must be applied in order to complete this task. One way of providing structure is to view the dissertation as a series of steps, rather than as one mammoth task. Motivation may be maintained and even enhanced as each small step is completed. Organization provides a sense of control, holds procrastination at minimal levels, and is key to completing the dissertation. How do you get organized? Outline the small steps needed to complete this large project.All too often, students may feel that their only goal is to finish the thesis. A goal this large may feel indomitable; break it down into the component tasks. For example, at the proposal stage, the tasks may be organized as follows: thesis statement, literature review, method, plan for analyses.   Each of these tasks entails many smaller tasks. The list for the literature review may consist of an outline of the topics you wish to discuss, with each outlined as detailed as possible. You may even wish to list relevant articles in the appropriate places within the outline. The method will consist of the participants, including items on locating them, rewards, drafting informed consent forms, locating measures, describing psychometric properties of the measures, piloting measures, drafting the procedure, etc. The hardest parts of writing your dissertation is starting and staying on track. So how do you write your dissertation? Read on for tips on how to write your dissertation and successfully complete your graduate program. Start Anywhere In terms of completing your list of dissertation tasks, it is not necessary to start at the beginning. In fact, believing that one starts the dissertation proposal by writing his or her introduction and thesis and ends with the plan for analyses will detain progress. Begin where you feel comfortable and fill in the gaps. You will find that you gain momentum with the completion of each small task. Feeling overwhelmed by any particular task is a sign that you have not broken it down into small enough pieces. Make Consistent Progress Writing Every Day, Even if Only for a Short Period. Set aside periods of time to write on a regular basis. Establish a firm schedule. Train yourself to write in short blocks, for at least an hour a day. All too often we insist that we need large blocks of time to write. Blocks of time certainly help the writing process, but the ABD often lacks such resources.   For example, when we were writing the dissertation, we taught 5 classes as an adjunct at 4 different schools; blocks of time were difficult to find, other than over the weekend. Aside from pragmatics, writing at least a little every day keeps the thesis topic fresh in your mind, leaving you open to new ideas and interpretations. You may even find yourself thinking about it and making conceptual progress as you complete mundane tasks such as driving to and from school and work. Use Incentives to Assist You in Overcoming Procrastination. Writing requires consistent, well-organized effort and a system of self-imposed incentives to overcome procrastination. What kind of incentives work? Although it depends on the individual, a safe bet is taking time off from work. We found vegetation time such as time spent playing computer games to be helpful as an incentive to reinforce progress. Methodically Break Through Writers Block. When it is difficult to write, talk through your ideas to anyone who will listen, or just talk out loud to yourself. Write out your thoughts without criticizing them. Take time to warm up, by writing to clear your thoughts. Get the ideas out without scrutinizing each sentence; it is often easier to edit than it is to write. Work through your ideas by writing, THEN edit extensively. You will write many drafts of each section of the dissertation; a first (second, or even third) draft need not approach perfection. In addition, it is acceptable to use dashes to mark when you cannot find the appropriate word to express your idea, but want to go on; just remember to fill in the dashes later. The important thing is that you develop a pattern of producing some output regularly that output can be edited or even thrown out, but it is important to produce something. Recognize and Accept the Fact That Writing Is a Time-consuming Process. Dont Rush Yourself. No draft will be perfect that first time around. Expect to go through several drafts of each section of your dissertation. Once you feel comfortable with a particular section, take time away from it. Ask others to read your writing and consider their comments and criticisms with an open mind. After a few days or a week, reread the section and edit again; you may be quite surprised by the impact of a fresh perspective. Writing the dissertation is much like running a marathon. The seemingly insurmountable may be attained through a series of small goals and deadlines. Accomplishing each small goal may provide additional momentum. Make consistent progress each day, use incentives to assist you in attaining your goals, and acknowledge that the dissertation will require time, hard work, and patience. Finally, consider the words of Dag Hammarskjold: Never measure the height of a mountain, until you have reached the top. Then you will see how low it was.

Career Exploration Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Career Exploration - Assignment Example Online solutions provide a wide range of tools that can be helpful in the career assessment. These tools have been uniquely tailored to not only disclose individual’s interest but also reveal how such interests translate to related carrier options. In this work I will detail the outcome of the following assessment test: Career Directions Inventory, Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, and the Jackson Vocational Interest Survey. The initial assessment focuses on personal trends throughput the different carriers. The results highlighted here depict my interest level with regard to particular activities when compared to other people. The assessment questions are customized to gauge an individual’s work-style and occupational interests. These Occupational interests are divided into 12 different interest types. The Basic Interest scores are displayed individually as percentiles. For instance, a score of 80% implies you obtained a higher score in this Basic Interest compared to 80% obtained by other people tested. Based on this assessment, the measures of my occupational interests came out as follows: I scored highest in clerical, a factor that simply implies that I enjoy Answering phones and greet clients warmly. Assist in filing duties, Perform basic bookkeeping duties, Compile financial records, organize office activities and other related duties. I got high score in Persuasive, signifying that I take pleasure in work that entails advising, influencing, counseling, motivating, guiding, and directing the tasks of others. Based on Assertive scale it is obvious that I prefer a work situation that allows one to assert his/her authority on others. This may include monitoring and directing their tasks. The second factor considered in the tests is the personality concept. This assessment follows John Hollands RIASEC theory that views the world of work based on six different models (Baker, 2014). Here, the test is stretched to include a seventh model that

Mobile marketing is more effective than e-mail marketing Essay

Mobile marketing is more effective than e-mail marketing - Essay Example The researcher states that this era is known as the era of information technology in view of the fact that the innovations brought by the information technology have not only modernized the ways businesses and individuals carry out their tasks but also improved the living standards. With the emergence of the Internet, the majority of people started using it for email and communication purposes. But soon it was replaced with mobile technology. Now the majority of people use mobile phones to complete their daily tasks. Seeing the increasing interest of people in mobile technology, business marketers have started using it for marketing and promotion of business contents. Mobile marketing is a process through which traditional marketing activities are carried out using a mobile phone. Basically, the mobile marketing is the process of using mobile phones to provide customers with location and time specific, custom-made information, which promotes goods, services, and ideas. However, the q uestion is that in this technology based era how effective is mobile marketing. This paper presents a comparison of mobile and email marketing strategies. The basic purpose of this research is to prove the claim that mobile marketing is more effective than email marketing. According to Roach, the current position and modern characteristics of the mobile technology as a one-to-one communication device define that mobile marketing is evocative of an inventive kind of direct marketing. Up till now many researchers have carried out extensive research to determine the factors which have an effect on consumer acceptance of marketing contents distributed through mobile marketing. In addition, various researchers such as (Barnes and Scornavacca), (Barwise and Strong) and Leppaniemi and Karjaluoto) discuss similar ideas. Additionally, their research is based on three key components: first of all there is a need to see that the user has given their approval to take delivery of marketing conte nts to their mobile phone; the level of authority the service provider maintains throughout the transaction, and the level to which the mobile user has trust on the brand being marketed. In the same way, (TRAPPEY and WOODSIDE) and (Merisavo, Kajalo and Karjaluoto) also discuss the features and elements of the marketing material and distribution. They have discussed various factors driving the consumer's level of acceptability (Merisavo, Kajalo and Karjaluoto) and (TRAPPEY and WOODSIDE). On the other hand, thus far, there has been little research committed to discovering the characteristics of this medium, and whether they have an effect on a customers’ decision to agree to or refuse marketing communications delivered straightforwardly to their mobile phone (Roach). Research Methodology This research will be based on the qualitative research methodology. For this purpose, I will collect data from academic journals, marketing books, newspapers and online promotional material in an attempt to support my research. I will analyze some of basic aspects that demonstrate superiority of mobile marketing methods for business promotion. This research will qualitatively assess some of the major aspects to prove how mobile marketing is more efficient than email marketing. Results and Discussion The one of the major problems with trying to reach customers through email is that the majority of business organizations had already made use of this strategy that it can without doubt be considered as spam by the target customers. In this scenario, mobile advertising and mobile marketing are a brilliant way to reach customers, in particular when business

Green Concept In Local Commercial Complex Environmental Sciences Essay

Green Concept In Local Commercial Complex Environmental Sciences Essay Construction industry is one of the most important industries in Malaysia. This is because construction industry has direct or indirect influence with other 142 industries such as material processing, mining, quarrying, machinery, manpower etc. It plays an important role in national economy as government always manipulate the construction industry to govern the local economy. As proven recently, the Tenth Malaysia Plans with planned duration of 5 years (2010-2015) are with some infrastructural facilities earmarked for development to facilitate the nations growth. One of the mega projects which the government had launched recently is the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) projects which worth a total around RM36.6 billion covering a 20 kilometers radius around the Kuala Lumpurs city center will carry two million passenger-trips per day when completed. Unfortunately, all the developments and constructions are the burden to the natural ecosystem. Sadly, construction industry is well known for its 3Ds which is dirty, dangerous and demanding. In the term of dirty, large amount of wastes both chemical and non-chemical or solid wastes are produced during the production of buildings. Undeniably, landfill is limited and improper waste management will cause serious pollutions to the environment affecting the health of the locals. Furthermore, enormous energy is wasted or loss through the envelope of the buildings. This increases the workload of the HVAC systems in the buildings as well as the demand for higher electricity consumption. As the demand of electricity increased, the power plants will have to generate more power to cope with the demand. In Malaysia, many of our power plants are still using coal as a source of energy. Burning coal is harmful to the environment. Thus, buildings with better envelope and more eco-friendly materials are needed to promote the sustainability of our mother nature. Research background It can no longer be disputed that the resources of this earth are finite, that its capacity to absorb our wastes is limited, that if we (as a species) want to survive, we cannot continue our ruthless exploitation of the environment (Szokolay, ed. 2008). Mondazzi (2005) stated that the world are realizing these impacts through the loss of open space, the shortage of water supplies, a growing dependence on energy and electricity from non-renewable resources, the decay of urban centers and attendant negative health impacts as suburbs continue to sprawl. Global warming is an emerging issue of international challenges. The green building movement has its roots in the energy crisis of the 1970s and the creative approaches to saving energy that came with it, including the use of active and passive solar design and tighter building envelopes. The rapid growth population has caused the rate of development around the globe. This has also helping the increment in the concentration of greenhouse gases. Buildings are some of the biggest energy consumers in the world, accounting for one-quarter to one-third of all energy use and a similar amount of greenhouse gas emissions (Wen Hong 2007). The global contribution from buildings towards energy consumption, both residential and commercial, has steadily increased reaching figures between 20% and 40% in developed countries, and has exceeded the other major sectors: industrial and transportation (Luis  Pà ©rez-Lombard 2007). From 1971 to 2004, the worlds total final energy consumption increased 87 percent, with an annual average growth rate of 1.9 percent (Wen Hong 2007). This statistic has brought the worlds attention about the energy crisis. The purpose of carry out this research is to improve the understanding in conserving energy in buildings. According to Sassi (2006), population growth and the raising of low living standards will require more resources, produce more waste and increase the impact on the natural environment. Buildings have lifespan of decades. Whatever buildings being built will always affects the next generations. The evidence for climate change is growing more alarming each year. The exceptionally hot summers such as those of 2003 and 2005 warned experts that the pace of this warming is faster than previously envisaged in their worst case scenarios (Sue, Davide and Fergus 2009). Problem Statement The first problem is the nature and use of our existing technology, which is largely inefficient, outdated, and even in some cases obsolete. In the United States alone, the building sector uses non-renewable and environmentally hazardous energy, emits 39 percent of all energy-related carbon dioxide, lacks the ability to retain its generated energy long enough to sustain indoor air quality levels, and fails in recycling and managing water and waste (Osman 2010). Whereas in Malaysia, construction industry is relying on the cheap foreign labours workforce from other countries such as Indonesia, Philippine and Vietnam. This causes the local companies to use foreign labours rather than high tech equipment which will maybe costs more. Victor Julee (2004, p. 391) stated that others have argued that mere mitigation of environmental impacts is not sustainable, and that new approaches are preferable, for example based on maintenance or even enhancement of ecosystem services. The scientific and technological knowledge base for green building is also limited, which is not surprising given the recent origin of the discipline (Eric 2010). Xiaoling, Liyin, Yuzhe, Guoyou (2011, p. 36) stated that financial cost is usually considered as the critical barriers for real estate developers who are hesitating whether to develop green real estate project or not. The energy aspects of environmental design and construction have been more thoroughly researched than other aspects, such as water conservation and reuse, recharging of groundwater, construction runoff control, the use of green building products, and indoor environmental quality (e.g., daylighting, ventilation, low emitting materials, and indoor chemical and pollutant source control) (John 2010). This may lead to the uncertainties that the developers or owners need to take which they may need to undergo some further research to implement green concept on buildings. Aim Objectives The aim of this study is to ascertain the benefits and challenges in implementation of green concept in local commercial complex and find out the strategic of implementation. The objectives of this study are as follow:- To find out the factors which drive the owners or developers to implement green concept To understand the benefits in implantation of green concept in commercial complex To understand the challenges in implementation of green concept in commercial complex To find out the strategic plan to overcome the challenges in implementation of green concept in commercial complex   To  outline the implementation plan or strategy  of green concept Scope of study The scope of this study is focused on the benefits of implementing green concept in Malaysias commercial complex and the challenges faced by the owners or developers, consultants and contractors in implementing green concept in commercial complex in Malaysia. Research Methodology Primary data Interview Interviews enable to provide detail information and personal opinion towards particular issues. Interviewees will be selected who are relevant to the research objectives and possess reasonable experience in the field. Series of questions will be asked during interview sessions with the parties who had involved in the construction and operation of commercial complex which include owners or developers, contractors, consultants and commercial complex managers. Questions for interviewees will be specific and set according to the research aim and objectives. Secondary data Literature Review Literature review is an important method because it provides wide range of information and further understanding which is relevant for this research topic in regards of its aim and objectives. The sources of literature review will be from books, articles, journals, thesis, and newspapers. These can be obtained from college library or public library. Other resources may obtain through the World Wide Web which includes emerald database and Wikipedia. This enable the overseas publications and studies can be easily obtained. Some of the useful data will be cited into this study as references. Chapter Outline of Dissertation Chapter 1 Introduction This chapter includes a background of research, problem statement, aim and objective, and scope of study. In addition, brief research methodology and research plan are also included in this chapter. Chapter 2 Literature Review Literature review presents a detail review and provides further understanding on the green building. It is usually referred and cited from various sources such as books, articles, journals and online database. Chapter 3 Research Methodology This chapter presents the details of methods which have been used to collect data and information to achieve the aim and objectives of this study. It also includes the rationale for the methodologies used. Chapter 4 Analysis and Discussion Analysis of data collected from the methods used in Chapter 3 is done in this chapter. The analysed data will be in the form of chart, histogram or graph with further explanations. Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendation This chapter concludes the study in accordance with the aim and objectives of this study. Recommendations are made for encouraging future studies which are not completed in this study. References A list of sources which have been cited and quoted in this study is provided. The referencing format is based on the Harvard referencing system. Figure 1.: Research planResearch Plan Literature Review Introduction Western North California Green Building Council (2012) defines that green building, or sustainable design, is the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings and their sites use energy, water, and materials, and reducing building impacts on human health and the environment over the entire life cycle of the building. It is also known as energy optimisation. Studies carried out by experts and professionals around the world have indicated and proofed that buildings consumed the most energy compared to other sectors. Over the years, the energy consumption has been increased drastically. Studies have forecasted that energy consumption will be increased by an alarming percentage. According to Wen Hong, Chiang, Shapiro and Clifford (2007), the worlds final energy consumption is expected to increase 1.5 times from 2004 to 2030. In the develop countries, energy consumption has surged tremendously leading to global energy crisis. Those countries are mostly in South America, Asia , South-East Asia, and Middle-East. There are researches stated that buildings in China are one the most energy consumption in the world. Ksenia Chmutina (2010) stated that energy consumption per building in China is 2-3 times higher than that of the developed countries with similar climatic conditions and buildings are less comfortable as a result of poor thermal performance and too little insulation in most of Chinas buildings. In recent years, Asia (including South-East Asia) has the highest economic growth in the world but this comes with an adverse effect. A research conducted by Wen Hong et al (2007) shows that From 1971 to 2004, the worlds total final energy consumption increased 87 percent, with an annual average growth rate of 1.9 percent. Around 43 percent of the total increment was attributable to Asia, where final energy consumption increased 275 percent, with an average annual rate of 4.1 percent, more than twice as fast as the global average. Nowadays, most of the newly constructed commercial buildings are equipped with centralised energy management system or building automation system. This system controls everything from lighting to HVAC. They detect and eliminate waste, and enable the efficient use electricity resources (Iwayemi, Wan and Zhou, 2011). With the help of the energy management system, corporations and proprietors are able to save their money by paying less for the electric bills. Energy management system not only optimises the energy usage but it also maintains the comfort of the occupants. Energy management system is an integrated system which manages and controls multiple systems or elements in the buildings such as lifts, lighting, security system, HVAC system etc. Normally, energy management system is made up of a hierarchy structure comprises of 3 levels which are field level, automation level, management level. The lowest level of the hierarchy is the field level which consists of sensors and actuator s. These sensors and actuators are basically like ears, eyes and limbs of the system. They sense and deliver the information to the upper level of hierarchy. The second level will be the automation level which consists of direct digital controllers (DDC). These controllers provide accurate designated reactions or control according to the building activities using digital devices. The most upper level of the hierarchy is the management system level which is centralised digital controller. This level is acts as the brain of the whole system. It receives data and information from the sensors and the actuators, then process it. After that, the system decides what actions to be taken to facilitate the energy efficient of the whole building. Furthermore, the system not only able to control things but it also stores the data about the electricity consumption of each unit or component as reference for the building owner. It also detects the condition of components and reminds the owner wher e maintenance is needed for better energy efficiency. In providing better built environment, there are some benefits to the occupants. A research conducted by Steemers and Manchanda (2009) shows that low energy design can achieve some of the highest levels of occupant satisfaction provides clear evidence that can encourage building owners and designers to be more confident of strategies and technologies that are more energy efficient. Occupants may tend to work more efficiently and increase their productivity in the pleasant environment. Excessive artificial lighting may causes intense glare and illumination as it will disrupts the visual comforts and resulting the occupants fatigue as well as headache. Thus, maintaining comfortable illumination may helps to reduce the energy consumption and keeping the health of the occupants. One of the aspects in buildings which can save a substantial amount of energy is the artificial lighting. Artificial lighting which consume less energy or electricity might also tend to reduce heat gain by the indoor environment. Therefore it helps to reduce the workload of air-conditioning to maintain the indoor air temperature. About 40 per cent reduction in electricity consumption was achieved after the deployment of CFLs which depicts that efficient house lighting with CFLs will conserves significant electric energy for other purposes (Sule, Ajao and Ajimotokan and Garba, 2011). The use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) that utilize up to 75 per cent less energy or electricity than incandescent light bulbs, can last up to ten times longer (Sule et al., 2011). For the equivalent amount of brightness output (lumen), the CFLs consumes 3 to 4 times less energy than incandescent lamps. CFLs also last longer than incandescent light bulbs. The CFLs lifespan is at least 8 times longer than incandescent light bulbs. As a normal CFLs, it will last for six thousands to fifteen thousand hours and incandescent light bulbs only last for seven hundred fifty hours to one thousands hours. Another factor which will affect the energy consumption of buildings will be the management and organisation. Some office buildings and hotels maintain indoor temperatures as low as 18 to 20 degrees centigrade when the comfortable temperature is about 24 degrees centigrade (Chan, 2004). Many of the occupants in those buildings are wearing jackets and using USB heaters to keep them warm. To maintain such low indoor temperature, HVAC system will consumes a lot of energy and needs frequent maintenance as well. Basically, energy consumed to maintain such low temperature will be just wasted for nothing. Many office buildings do not switch off the HVAC during lunch hour which mean that the HVAC is operating for the furniture but not occupants. Other than HVAC, lighting inside the buildings also takes up a large portion in overall buildings consumption. Many buildings are not designed to optimise the use of natural lighting. Therefore, those buildings need a lot of artificial lighting to il luminate the indoor environment and increase the electricity consumption. In the other hand, large area of the artificial lighting are switched on for just a few occupants in the offices. This situation is more or less similar to the HVAC system where the energy is consumed for nothing. Despite how little amount energy needed to operate the HVAC system, it will not able to use the energy efficiently if the building envelope is not properly insulated. Insufficient airtight building envelope causes the warm or cool air may leak through. This will influence the comfort of occupants and greatly increases the workloads of HVAC system and therefore increases the consumption of energy. High thermal transmittance of the materials used for building envelope will causes the heat transfers from the buildings to the surrounding causing severe heat loss inside the buildings. A research conducted by VanBronkhorst, Persily and Emrnerich (2005) shows that infiltration accounts for roughly 15% of the heating load in all office buildings nationwide, and a higher percentage be recently constructed buildings. Thus, the buildings must be insulated sufficiently and provide good air -tightness to prevent the leakage of heat without noticing. However, the thermal insulation of buildings ca n be improved by using several low thermal conductivity materials such as aerated concrete blocks, fiberglass polyurethane and aluminium foil. The windows for most of the buildings in Malaysia are having high thermal transmittance and it is one of the major causes where the heat disperses through the windows. There are methods to be made to solve this problem. The windows can be tinted and double glazed to lower the thermal conductivity of the windows. Building orientation also plays an important role in energy efficient buildings. It affects the energy required for HVAC system. This is because solar radiation will heat up the buildings envelope faster such as walls, doors and windows. This means that higher solar radiation causes the HVAC system to consume higher energy to maintain the indoor air temperature. Building orientation is act like the natural shelter to prevent direct sunlight and solar radiation which will increase the heating rate of building envelope and causes over illumination to the indoor environment. Over illumination will affects the visual comfort of the occupants. As a result, occupants may easily fatigue and suffer from headache. Another reason associated with building orientation will be the ventilation effects which are the natural winds or seasonal winds. The Energy Commission building or the ST Diamond building in Malaysia is one of the greenest buildings in the world. The sides of the building are 25 ° tilted from vertical to prevent direct sunlight and excessive sunlight. The tilted and tinted glazing allows comfortable glare free light to be reflected into the building from the landscape. Around 50% of the entire building area is illuminated by daylight. Furthermore, the building is sustainable as it is installed with 1930m2 of photovoltaic solar panels which will produce around 280,000 kWh annually. Issues and barriers on Green Buildings In the context of green concept, there are some arguments and issues relating to health and environment. Some materials used in lamps, such as mercury, are toxic to the environment and must be handled carefully. Large amounts of mercury pose serious health risks to neurological disorders and birth defects but with lesser amounts of mercury, it will cause the lamp to fail, reduce the luminance of lamp and shorten the lifespan of the lamp. In designing and constructing the energy efficient buildings, construction costs for the buildings will be much higher compared to the normal buildings. This is because energy efficient or low-energy buildings need better designs and construction methods to increase and control the amount of natural lighting to illuminate into the buildings. In the other hand, low-energy buildings need additional materials or better materials to be built in concerning to reduce the thermal transmittance of the buildings. Developers may not have the capital to build such energy efficient buildings. If they are able to do so, the rental will also increased, thus the costs will just transfer to the occupants or consumers. This will increase the financial burden of the occupants of the buildings. Many people presume that the green building is inevitably costs more or less profitable compare to normal building. Halliday (2008) stated that it is also reasonable to assume that the innovation requited has a cost implication of time, planning, risk and enhanced information requirements, so inevitably innovators will be penalise and their profit margins reduced when put in direct competition with non-eco-friendly building. Developers and owners will always consider and look into the details in implementing new green technology. Uncertainties in new technology may hold back the implementation of the technology. Duda (2009) stated that overall the largest barrier facing the implementation of green facades is perceived financial risk associated with event beyond the control of the owner or unexpected due to lack of examples and research. This means that we may need more local green buildings as evidence to convince local developers or owners and also as guideline for them. Lastly, there is lack of policy and standards for green building. Policy makers often wait until something undesirable or catastrophic happens before we implement controls and policy to resolve the issue (Duda, 2009). In Malaysia, we are having this problem too. We have GBI to evaluate green building but we dont have a specific policy and standards to govern the green building. There is Uniform Building By-Law (UBBL) for normal building construction but there are no green building codes or standards in Malaysia. Without these standards and policy, developers and owners are not bound to comply them. Government Initiatives in Malaysia In Malaysia, government had firstly built the low-energy office building (MECW, Putrajaya) in 2001 with integrated energy efficient design and showcased the building to illustrate the benefits of it to the public. The MECW building saves RM600,000 per annum in electric bill. Normal buildings consume around 250 kWh/m2 every year while MECW building only consumes 114 kWh/m2 every year. Malaysias government also built the Energy Commission Building in 2005. This building has a unique diamond shape which is purposely designed for reducing the thermal heat gain from sunlight. The sides of the building are 25 degree tilted from vertical to prevent excessive solar radiation and sunlight shine into the building. The tilted and tinted glazing allows comfortable glare free light to be reflected into the building from the surrounding landscape. The authorities in Malaysia are proposing regulations and policies on the effort of energy efficient in Malaysias construction industry to improve the surrounding environment and reduce the demand growth rate of electricity. The regulations and policies will not only benefit the environment but the nation economics as well. With the reduced demand growth rate of electricity, the government does not need to build more power stations and facing time constraints on the development of sustainable energy. Designing Green Building Having a green building, it must be well designed in term of sustainability and environmentally friendly. Designing a green building is not an easy task. It need to consider the elements and components which will help to reduce the carbon footprint and energy consumption such materials used, the life cycle of the building and the natural lighting. These elements and components are the key ingredients for a green and sustainable building. Generally, the green building designers must consider the following 3 principles:- Connectivity: design to reinforce the relationship between the project, the site, the community, and the ecology. Make minimal changes to the natural functioning. Reinforce and steward those natural characteristics specific to the place (Williams, 2007). Indigenous: design with and for what has been resident and sustainable on the site for centuries (Williams, 2007). Long life, loose fit: design for future generations while reflecting past generations (Williams, 2007). Materials used for green building must be of low carbon footprint during its manufacturing process and throughout its whole life cycle. Designers should take into consideration that the sizes and shapes of the materials or components to be used. This is because the cutting and operations on the site may affect the wastages of the materials. As the wastages reduced, the construction costs also reduced and profits will increase. With the current computer modelling technology, Building Information Modelling or BIM, Autodesks Ecotect and Green Building Studio are now gaining popularity around the globe to help the designers in carbon assessment of the buildings. This would promote the green concept designs to be a more consistently meet the target of the owners without over-design or under-design. It is recommended to divert the buildings into components and modules, then manufacture it offsite. This is also known as prefabrication. Currently in Malaysia, manufacturing of buildings components offsite is getting more and more popular, especially in city area such as Kuala Lumpur and Penang. This is because delivery of concrete from cities outskirt has a time limitation. If the concrete trucks stuck in a traffic jam more than the permissible duration, the concrete will harden. Furthermore, prefabrication can improve quality, reduce wastage and reduce construction costs. Components and modules manufactured in factories have high consistency in size and ease the quality checking process. Repetitive components and modules with high consistency of size simply mean that the factories will arrange the cuttings or moulding and allocate their resources more effectively, so that the wastage is minimal. In addition, prefabrication also reduces the construction activities and time on proje ct site. With shorter time on site, it also reduces the exposure of incomplete works to the weather. This may actually helps to slow down the corrosions of building materials such as steel bars and paint. Hence, it reduces the probability of rejected works and redo of works which will increase the costs of construction and wastages. Why buildings need to be green? In economic point of view, energy efficiency is defined as the ability to generate the same economic output with less energy input (The Aspen Institute, 2009). In conjunction, it also conserves the environment by reducing the carbon footprint caused by conventional energy production. There are some undeniable benefits which the green buildings can provide, which are:- Enhance biodiversity not use materials form threatened species or environments and improve natural habitats where possible through appropriate planting and water use (Halliday, 2008). Reduce wastages not consume a disproportionate amount of resources, including money and land during material sourcing, construction, use of use or disposal; not cause unnecessary waste of energy, water or materials due to short life, poor design, inefficiency, or less than ideal construction and manufacturing procedures. Buildings have to be affordable, manageable and maintainable in use (Halliday, 2008). Minimise pollution create minimum dependence on polluting products and materials, management practices, energy, power and forms of transport (Halliday, 2008). Create healthy environments enhance living, leisure and work environments; and not endanger the health of the builders or occupants, or any other parties, through exposure to pollutants, the use of toxic materials or providing host environments to harmful organisms (Halliday, 2008). Reduce operating costs as the building is well design in term of building tightness and use of natural lighting, it would actually help to reduce the amount of the electric bills. Green buildings not only bring benefits to the environment but also the financial profits as well as the health and comfort of the occupants. In the context of oil price hiking, countries and corporations should be more concern about their financial and economical profitability, for instance it also slows down the electricity demand growth and the global warming effect. C:UsersShingDocumentsAssignment (adv. diploma)Project DissertationAttachmentsIMG_0286.JPG (Source: Halliday, 2008, Sustainable Construction, adopted from Shorrock and Henderson, 1990) Figure 2.: Potential reduction in CO2 Factors which drive the Green Building Hiking of energy price In these recent years, global oil price is volatile. As the worlds demand on energy is keep increasing, the supply will become more sacred and the prices to produce energy will also go up. This is because the energy industry will need more resources, bigger plants and better equipment to produce more power. In Malaysia, energy generation is still relying a lot on non-renewable resources which are fossil fuel, natural gas, coal, and petroleum. These resources are subjected to global economy effects which mean the prices fluctuate as the global prices. Undeniably, the electricity costs in most countries also fluctuate over time as these resources prices. C:UsersShingDocumentsAssignment (adv. diploma)Project DissertationAttachmentsMsia energy production.jpg (Source: IEA, 2011) Figure 2.: Energy production in Malaysia Higher market value and cost effective There are numbers of studies were carried out regarding the value of green buildings. Czech Green Building Council (CZGBC, 2012) stated that commercial building with environmental certification in the UK is sold at about 38 % higher price than a comparable non-sustainable building. Other studies from Germany and Switzerland show that a house or apartment in a high energy standard or with certification can be sold in the market by up to 17 % higher price than a conventional project (CZGBC, 2012). In conjunction, United State Green Building Council (USBGC, 2011) also stated that building sale prices for energy efficient buildings are as much as 10% higher per square foot than conventional buildings. An upfront investment of 2% in green building design, on average, results in life cycle savings of 20% of the total construction costs more than ten times the initial investment (USBGC, 2011). Furthermore, tenants who choose to rent the green commercial buildings have their own reasons. The following figure shows the reasons and statistics. Sour

Modern Nco: Maintaining a Marine’s Heritage

Since the Marine Corps’ beginnings, non-commissioned officers (NCOs) have played an important role in the many successes in the Corps and in the United States. Obviously, the modern NCO today might be a bit different than when the Marine Corps was first established on November 10, 1775, but they uphold and are the complete embodiment of the Corp’s history and traditions in values of honor, courage, and the commitment to the NCO creed. Honor guides the Marines to exemplify the ultimate in ethical and moral behavior, and to respect others as well as themselves.In the Marine Corps, practically every custom, both written and unwritten, has stemmed from the conduct of past Marines. It is only appropriate that our Marines today recognize this and dutifully portray this in their everyday as well as in combat. On every battlefield that our country has been on since the founding of the Corps, Marines have been there to defeat all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Within these battlefields, there have been NCOs that have fought, led, and died in combat—to complete their mission and to protect their fellow Marines fighting alongside them.An NCO must always keep in mind mission accomplishment and the welfare of their men and woman. This needs to be displayed in the workplace as well. It is the responsibility of NCOs to make sure that their junior marines know what it is to honorably be â€Å"a Marine†. This means that their conduct as a Marine is to be carried on to an NCOs civilian side as well. Having courage doesn’t mean that you can’t be scared; it means you push forward in the midst of fear. Along with carrying the honor of being a Marine, modern NCOs carry the courage one needs to be successful in both combat and as a civilian.There have been many in the corps who have displayed courageous acts. It is the duty of an NCO, as well as all Marines, to have the courage, that inner strength to do what it right and adhere to a hig her standard of conduct, and to make tough decisions under hard stress and pressure. It is said in the first line of the NCO creed that an NCO is â€Å"dedicated to training new Marines and influencing the old. † Dedicated. Dedication is what makes the Corps so unique. The modern Marine NCO is supposed to be dedicated. Dedicated to the work that he or she does on a daily basis.Dedicated to the life he leads for his or her junior marines. Dedicated to themselves, having personal integrity in all that they do. To close, The most outstanding custom in the Marine Corps is simply â€Å"being a Marine† and all that it implies. Call it morale, call it what you will—it is that pride which sets a United States Marine apart from the men of other armed services. It is not taught in manuals, yet it is the most impressive lesson a recruit learns in boot camp. It is not tangible, yet it has won fights against material odds. Senator Paul H.Douglas said it best: â€Å"Those of us who have had the privilege of serving in the Marine Corps value our experience as among the most precious of our lives. The fellowship of shared hardships and dangers in a worthy cause creates a close bond of comradeship. It is the basic reason for the cohesiveness of Marines and for the pride we have in our corps and our loyalty to each other. † An NCO is proud of his Corps and believes it to be second to none. He is carries the honor of the Corp’s heritage, courageous, and loyal to his comrades and to the Marine Corps, adhering always to the motto Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful).

Central American History