Kirk Patrick, Kirk Samuda, Analog ; Digital Signals Essay Example for Free

Kirk Patrick, Kirk Samuda, Analog ; Digital Signals Essay Understanding the nature of digital signals, binary, and other multi-level signal types do require an explanation of the two most prominent telecommunications types that exist, and examples of how they are applicable to specific devices, the binary is association and its function. (Please note that the majority of the information below are extracts from various websites, used to validate and support a theoretical premise; on which an understanding of multilevel signals exist. ) Analog and Digital Signals The term analog comes from the word analogous meaning something is similar to something else. It is used to describe devices that turn the movement or condition of a natural event into similar electronic or mechanical signals. For example a non-digital watch contains a movement that is constantly active in order to display time, which is also constantly active. Our time is measured in ranges of hours, minutes, seconds, months, years, etc. The display of a watch constantly tracks time within these ranges. In effect the data represented on a watch may have any number of values within a fairly large range. The watchs movement is analogous to the movement of time. In this respect the data produced is analog data. Digital signals, on the other hand, are distinctively different. Digital signals dont have large ranges, nor do they reflect constant activity. Digital signals have very few values. Each signal is unique from a previous digital value and unique from one to come. In effect, a digital signal is a snapshot of a condition and does not represent continual movement. Binary Association Every electronic signal is broken down into binary language, classified as ‘0’ and ‘1’. The most obvious example of digital data is that communicated on-board a computer. Since a computers memory is simply a series of switches that can either be on or off, digital data directly represents one of these two conditions. We typically represent this on and off status with 1s and 0s where 1 represents an on bit and 0 represents off. The nature of analog is to closely capture the essence of natural phenomenon, with its action and subtlety. Digital data can only attempt to capture natural phenomenon by sampling it at distinct intervals, creating a digital representation composed of 1s and 0s. Obviously, if the interval between samples is too large, the digital representation less accurately represents the phenomenon. If the sampling occurs at too short of an interval, then an inordinate amount of digital resources may be utilized to capture the phenomenon. The changes involved may not be significant enough to warrant so frequent a sampling for accuracys sake. To digitally represent sound authentically, a sample must be taken over 44, 500 times per second. When copying an analog signal from one generation to another, deterioration of the original signal occurs. A prime example is when we copy a videotape. Since video recorders are analog machines, copying a tape several times results in the accumulation of unwanted analog values called noise. Eventually these signals become so evident, that the original analog signal is compromised and the video dub suffers from intense graininess and poor audio sound. Our technology is limited in the transmission and duplication of analog signals because of the infinite number of values that are allowable. Digital signals, however, have basically two values. It is much easier to work with two values rather than an infinite number. Consequently our current level of technology allows us to maintain the original quality of a digital signal. With a value of on or off. Advantages and Disadvantages The main advantage of digital modulation over analog modulation is that in digital modulation, all input and output are in binary form. Anything that isnt a 1 or a 0 is rejected by the modulator. This filters out a lot of noise that analog modulation lets through, which may not be related to the intended message. Advantages Noise immunity Multiplexing(Time domain) Regeneration Simple to evaluate and measure Disadvantages Requires more bandwidth Additional encoding (A/D) and decoding (D/A) circuitry Digital modulation can easily detect and correct noise. Whereas analog modulation has little complexity digital modulation is preferred over analog because it is by far more secure. Digital modulation can easily detect and correct noise irregularities. Analog modulation though complex is minute when compared to digital modulation. Digital modulated signal can travel a longer distance compared to analog modulation. Analog signals have a great advantage over digital signals in that they have a much higher density that can present more refined information. Disadvantages of the system include the tendency to create unwanted variations in the information transmission such as noise, which can occur in random patterns. When a signal is copied and potentially re-copied, each subsequent version exhibits more of the random patterns, making information transmission harder and ultimately causes signal loss. In order to avoid these disadvantages, or at least mitigate their effects, the concept of  modulation can be used. The base signal is modified in some way to help retain the information as it is transmitted. An example of this is when the amplitude of a waveform is altered in what is known as amplitude modulation. Other options for retaining an electric signal over different generations are by using increased shielding or different cable types twisted together.

Education system essay Essay Example for Free

Education system essay Essay From the articles I have read, it seems as though parents, teachers, and the education system continue to blame one another for poor student performance in school and on state tests. However, I believe that each of these groups plays a key role in student success or failure. School administration and board members seem to be completely oblivious to the real reasons students perform poorly and parents lack involvment in their childrens schooling and education at home. I do believe that income does play a key role in education, however, I dont agree with it. Schools in low income neighborhoods dont recieve the proper funding to provide students with the materials they need to be successful in school, but the students dont score high enough on state tests to earn the school money for these materials; its a lose lose situation (Barbanel, 2002). For these issues, I believe the lack of government involvment and recognition is the cause of student failure. Despite all these factors, students should also be held accountable for being successful in school. Even if schools recieve proper funding, materials, and training, it is ultimately up to the student to stay motivated to succeed. From personal experience, I found that it was much easier to stay motivated in classes that I felt engaged in. The classes that teachers made a connection with me in and really knew their stuff were always the classes I had a higher success rate in. I think teacher involvement is a huge deal in school, it makes a student want to go to school, and feel like they belong rather than just going because they have to. Recently, Maine and fourty-four other states have adopted the new Common Core standards that will make academic standards even higher for kids in grades K-12 (Gallagher, 2013). The purpose of these standards is to increase critical thinking skills and teach students to solve problems on their own. Common Core is designed to allow teachers to be facilitators and students to take responsiblity for their own education. However, as positive and ecouraging as Common Core sounds, experts say that a drop as high as 40% will be seen in the new testing in 2015 (Gallagher, 2013). ____________________________________________________________ BARBANEL, J. (2002, March 31). Elementary and Middle School Report Cards. Retrieved from The New York Times: http://ethemes.pearsoncmg.com/0205405940/article_06/index.html Ghallagher, N. K. (2013, July 7). Back-to-school means facing tougher academic standards this fall | The Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME. Retrieved from http://www.kjonline.com/news/test-scores-likely-to-drop-under-new-standards_2013-07-20.html

Working Hours of Construction Employees in Hong Kong

Working Hours of Construction Employees in Hong Kong This study examines whether the local construction workers satisfied with the length of their working hours and whether there is necessary for the Government to constrain the working hours of the labours by imposing regulations or similar control measures. For your background of this study, this chapter outlined (1) background of this study; (2) the aim and objectives of this study; (3) methodology adopted and (4) overview of the study scope. Background Construction industry significantly contributes to Hong Kongs economic. The long working hours as the negative impression of the construction industry causes aging problems and lack of fresh blood in the industry. According to the Working Time Directive from Europe (Directive, 2003), weekly working hours of at least 48 hours or more should be regarded as long. Therefore, more than 48 hours could be regarded as long working hours which makes consistency among studies. Alongside with that there are voices that the workers in Hong Kong are currently required to work excessively long hours some suggested that the average workers have to work for a range of 60 to 70 hours per week. This is long if it is compared to the average working hours of labour in the U.S., the European countries, Japan or other developed countries. The nature of Hong Kong construction industry is using long working hours to cope with the tight construction schedules. Normally, the workers in the mentioned regions generally work less than 44 hours per week (OECD, 2004). In Hong Kong, the employers of the contractors are complaining that they currently suffer from labour shortage and problem of an aging labour force. Therefore, there are two significances of this study. First, the reduction in the length of the working hours shall help to make building construction a more attractive industry for young men and women and shortage and aging problems. The youth may be encouraged to join the building construction industry. Second, people may suffer from fatigue after repeatedly working for long hours, such fatigues may lead to personal and/or family problems, occupational diseases and safety hazards. Thus, the situation on labours working hours must be revealed and studied. Research Aim and Objectives This research aims investigate of there is a need for the Government to constrain the working hours of the local construction workers to a designated limit by imposing regulations or similar control measures. The study covers understandings of the weekly length of working hour of the labour and their satisfaction of the length. And it also investigates the reasons of the longer working hours compared to the counterparts in the other advanced countries, examines if there are alternative ways to implement building construction works without the need of the workers to work for more than 44 hours per week. It is expected that this study can make contributions to reveal these mentions if actions shall be taken by the legislators to control the maximum working hours of labour serving the building construction industry. The objectives of this study are as followed: To identify the situation of working hours faced by the local workers. To examine the possible impacts due to excessively long working hours of the workers in the building construction industry. To identify the concept of work life balance. To examine the leading international practice on controlling the maximum number of working hours of individual workers per week. To conduct a questionnaire survey to the workers in the building construction industry for the situation. To conduct interviews with site agents or project managers of the building general contractors for the situation. To conduct interviews with the leaders of the local labour unions for any improvements. To discuss the issues identified and make conclusions and necessary recommendations (for further studies). 1.4 Methodology The objectives of this study can be achieved through the following methods: Literature review on books, journals and websites were carried out to summarize exiting knowledge on related topics. Data collection was carried out by conducting a questionnaire survey to front-line workers in the industry. Data collection was carried out by interviewing project managers and leaders of the local labour unions in the industry. Data analysis was conducted by using SPSS16.0 for window. The reliability assessments, descriptive analysis, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted. 1.5 Scope of Study In order to achieve the objectives, this study is divided in the following main chapters: Chapter 1 Give a brief introduction of the backgrounds, aim and objectives, methodology and scope of this study. Chapter 2 Give an overview of construction industry in Hong Kong; Investigate the impacts of long working hours; Investigate the concept of work life balance; and Elaborate the concept of work life balance Chapter 3 Describe methodology adopted for this study. Chapter 4 Conduct analysis on the collected data by using statistics techniques; Discuss on the findings of study. Chapter 5 Give conclusions and recommendations; Give limitations of this study; Provide suggestions for further research. CHAPTER 2:  LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of Construction Industry In Hong Kong, the construction industry plays an important role in the economy of Hong Kong. The Government announced in the 2011-2012 Budget that HK$58 billion would be spent on infrastructures, which is nearly HK$10 billion more than within 2010-2011. According to the Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies at Construction Sites, was published by the Census and Statistics Department, the industrys employees were accounted for 56,502 of the labour force in 2010. Also, the Government plans to invest continuously in infrastructure to promote growth, that the estimated capital works expenditure will exceed HK$60 billion for each of the next few years. In additional 600 thousands square meters land for commercial or business use will be available to enhance the self competitiveness among advanced countries. The Government expects there are 60,000 additional job vacancies will be created in this year. 2.1.1 Long Working Hours The long working hours should be divided by genders, for the male employees, long hours should be regarded as over 60 hours per week; for the female employees, it should be regarded as over 40 hours per week (Dex et al., 1995). In these recent years, Messenger (2004) had compared the working hours of employees in various countries, and found that the advanced countries like Japan, in which a high proportion of employees have to work 50 or more hours per week. According to the Working Time Directive (Directive, 2003), 48 hours per week was defined as long hours and which was used as the indicator in this study. As stated in The State of Work-Life Balance in Hong Kong 2010 survey conducted by Community Business, 48.7 hours was the average working hours to the employees in different industries. The Government announced in the 2010 Report on Annual Earnings and Hours Survey that there are more than 60% of employees in construction industry have to work more than 48 hours per week, and also the median weekly working hours increased 1.6% from 2009 to 2010. As stated in the overseas literatures review, the ideal length of working hours should be about 7 to 9 hours per day or 48 to 50 hours a week. 2.1.2 Factors for Long Working Hours The study (New Zealand Census, 2006) found that requirements of jobs, income, the culture of workplaces, and the job satisfactions provided motivate people work longer time. First, the requirements of the job include completion of the tasks appointed, even high workload and respond to the clients demands; Second, the need for more income should be driven by both maintaining basic needs of life and consuming luxury goods; Third, the culture of the construction site should be always under tight schedule, no matter due to inappropriate management or unexpected weather or accidents; Forth, the satisfaction of the workers should be intangible rewards of works (Lindy, 2009; Raphael and Itzhak, 2006; Weston et al. 2002). As the construction industry in Hong Kong is very competitive in the previous years, the number of projects is not enough for the workers due to the economic recession. Since the construction period of each contract is limited, contractors would like to compress the period of construction as possible for their own profit. Therefore, the workers have to complete their works as soon as possible to prevent delay of schedule and shorten the construction period by days. Otherwise, workers may not able to get further job opportunities. 2.2 Impacts for excessively long working hours There are many researches focus on the relationships between long working hours and fatigue, which could be associated with physical and psychological health of human. For this characteristic, Dex et al. (1995) believed that it brought both positive and negative impacts. At the positive side, the long hour working man could be regarded as a responsible, hardworking and motivated person to his/ her work, family and society. He/ she could earn more income to the family and be served as a role model. At the negative side, fatigue and stress come along with the deprivation of rest. Those feelings are not good for individual social network and family, and may damage to physical and mental health. Insufficient rest could also damage performance and cause safety problems, most accidents were due to unconsciousness (Lindy, 2009; Johanna and Joanne, 2003; Fox and Dwyer, 1999). 2.2.1 Fatigue Fatigue is not easy to be defined, which could be acute and cumulative. Konz (1998) believed that long daily work hours and long weekly work hours would make people being fatigue, especially if there is a lack of rest. Those effects of fatigue should be divided into direct and indirect outcomes, while the indirect outcome is in term of performance of work or health problems. His approach was to avoid overtime of work, that the working hour over 12 hours per day and 55 hours per week should be regarded as overtime. For the mechanisms which contributed to fatigue, Rogers et al. (1999) pointed that age, health status, quality and quantity of sleep, length of working hours, work experience, work motivation and home or family life should be used for measuring degree of fatigue. In the Asian countries liked as Japan and South Korea, researches showed that workers complained of physical and mental fatigue after excessively long working hours, such fatigue could not be escaped and be kept into the next day. The chronic fatigue brought harmful to cardiac health and decreases the cardiovascular functions (Park et al., 2001; Shimonitsu and Levi, 1992). There are evidences that the degree of fatigue is in positive relationship with the length of working time and negative relationship with the length of recovery time. 2.2.2 Physical Health A Japanese term Karoshi means people die from a syndrome of cardiovascular attacks liked strokes, myocardial infarction or acute cardiac failure after excessively overwork (Spurgeon et al., 1997). For a more biological explanation, Liu et al. (2002) conducted a research to investigate the relationship between heart diseases and length of working hours by comparing the workers who have to work more than 61 hours per week and who have to work less than 40 hours per week. The study reflected that overtime work increases blood pressure and heart rate, which induces cardiac symptoms such as chest pain. Presence of abnormal heart rate and blood pressure increases the risk of acute myocardial infarction (abbr.: AMI). Also, insufficient rest increases the rate of AMI; the risk of AMI should be induced by the combination of working hours and the quantity and quality of sleep. Besides heart diseases, Yasuda et al. (2001) pointed out that long hours working may damage the self immunity, chronic headache and irritable bowel problems might be induced by working overtime (CIPD ,2001). 2.2.3 Psychological Health In Hong Kong, the number of construction site workers in September 2010 was in total 56,503 people, in which published by the Census and Statistics Department, the ratio of male and female was approximately 12:1. The female site workers are minority in the construction industry. Shields (2000) noted that women who used to work longer hours are more likely to develop depression compared to their colleagues working normal hours. Depression could be a measure in considering stress, which the term Stress is difficult to be defined. Spark et al. (1997) concluded that there were outcome measures when defining stress. The outcome measures should include depression, anxiety, frustration, mood symptoms, poor sleep quality, role strain, irritability/ tension, problems with relationships and general mental stress amongst other things. All these diverse indicators are used to define stress in different bases. There is a small but significant correlation between psychological health symptoms and length of working hours, it should be contrast relationship. However, it was not easy to provide evidences to access the actual association with long working hours and poor mental health outcomes (Kodz et al., 2001). 2.2.4 Performance Most of the available evidences support that poor performance is related to longer working hours, but the relationship should be complicated and not conclusive. By measuring the performance effects, productivity outcomes and, speed and accuracy tests are the direct and indirect measurements respectively. A report showed that the productivity reduced for 2-4% whiles the length of working time increased by 10% (Shepard and Clifton, 2000). By conducting survey with management level, Worrall and Cooper (1999) showed that 68% of managers felt that there was an adverse effect on their productivity after working for long period of time. Kodz et al. (2001) pointed out a poll result that 62% of the managers believed that shorter working hours gives workers more incentive in production. Fatigue induced by long working hours could be regarded as a stressor, and excessive stressors will lead to decrease the performance of workers, suggested by Proctor et al. (1996). However, an appropriate level of stressors will increase arousal and enhance performance. Some researches tried to find the relationship between work performance and the weekly working days and the daily working hours, those researches had tested the employees by adjusting the different combination of working time. Shepard and Clifton (2000) noted that the length of workweek possibly affects the productivity through effects on individual motivation, effort and satisfaction, physical well-being, stress and fatigue, and absenteeism. The result showed that there are many variables in considering the correlation of working hours and performance. 2.2.5 Safety and Accident People after working for long hours would like to lose their attention and would to take risks, work-related accidents might then happen. Fatigue due to long working hours might cause man-made disasters. Wellens (2001) noted that Chernobyl or the Exxon Valdez oil spill were contributed by such fatigue. Besides the fatigue, losing attention while working might bring harms to the workers in certain working environments which are exposure to toxic chemical or hazards. Ong et al. (1982) said that the prevalence of hand injuries should be related to lack of training, supervision, inexperience and time of day. The time of day when is most likely to have accidents should be around the 8th to  ­9th hour at work (Hanecke et al., 1998). The Labour Department announced the number of accidents of the construction industry was 7.1% among the major economic activities, which about 2,755 accidents within 2009-2010. According to the statistics published by Labour Department, the top five types of accidents were (1) Injured whilst lifting or carrying, (2) Slip, trip or fall on same level, (3) Striking against or struck by moving object, (4) Striking against fixed or stationary object and (5) Contact with moving machinery or object being machined. The above types of accidents should be man-made, which could be prevented or avoided by great attention, good supervision and training. There are clearly showed that long working hours could be related to safety and accidents in particular working environments. 2.3 Work-life Balance Work-life balance (abbr.: WLB) has been being concerned in Hong Kong few years ago. As began at 2004, The University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Asia carried out a survey on the topic of work-life balance among the local employees, which was a questionnaire based survey. In that research, there were some benchmarks related to the situation in Hong Kong, they were length of working hours, general reasons for working overtime, effects on health, availability of sick leaves and annual leaves, and loyalty to company of the employees. In 2006, Community Business started to conducted a similar survey called The State of Work-Life Balance in Hong Kong, which published annually. The local situation about WLB is reviewed by this survey per year. And the objectives of the surveys are different by each year, the newest report published in 2010 studying the role of flexible work arrangements in improving the WLB of employees and reviewing the previous results since 2006. 2.3.1 Definition Until present, the concept of work-life balance is not well defined, but all the definitions are related to the work hours. If the hours of day are not measured, the concept of work- life balance should be intangible. The different combination of working hours and non-working hours in a day could provide a clear picture on the balance. Some people say WLB concerns flexibility of schedules, while the others say it is a reduction in working hours (Kodz et al., 2001; Dow-Clarke, 2000; Major et al., 2001; Fox and Dwyer, 1999; Wallace, 1999; ODriscoll et al., 1992). Also, the term of work-life balance is not the one used to describe the same issues around the world. Different researchers gave different terms to the issue in their own studies. For example, ODriscoll et al. (1992) preferred the term inter-role conflict to describe the conflicts within an individuals roles; work-family conflict brought up by Major et al. (2001) and Fox and Dwyer (1999); work-to-nonwork conflict proposed by W allace (1999). Dow-Clarke (2002) defined WLB with respect to family life, income and the life cycle of her selected employees. The work hours in WLB represent as short as achieving or maintaining individuals desired balance between work and family life. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in UK have made some practices of WLB in 2001, which are flexi-time, staggered hours, time off in lieu, compressed working weeks, shift swapping, self-rostering, working from home and etc. However, most of the practices are not practical to the workers in construction industry, especially in this study. Flexible working hours have been proposed in Hong Kong for several years, but it is not very popular; the practice has been only supported by large business companies and the Government. To narrow down the literatures review of WLB, the effects of working long hours on WLB would be focused. 2.3.2 Effects of long working hours on Work-Life Balance There are so many long hours standards in the various researches, some interviewed the employees working for 42 hours per week and some recorded the employees working more than 50 hours per week (Galambos and Walters, 1992; Wallace, 1999). It is not easy to compare the effects on long works. This review would aim to the effects on WLB only. As it is hard to measure the impacts of work on home, Kodz et al. (2001) concluded that most of the researches took off attitudinal survey or case study approaches. The survey released by DTI and Management Today in 2002, showing that the UK employees would prefer shorter working hours rather than winning the lottery and most of the workers admitted the low accessibility of any flexible working practices. For the effects on family life, there are three associations due to working long hours, (1) Disruption to family activities, (2) Dissatisfaction with the involvement and the amount of time spent in child care, and (3) Dissatisfaction with the amount of time spent with couples (La Valle et al., 2002). For the effects on personal life, they are relevant to depression and anxiety, stress, work life and role strain (Dow-Clarke, 2000; Galambos and Walters, 1992). In addition, Wallace (1999) concluded that the work life of individuals was the invader to the family life. 2.3.3 Influence of Work-Life Balance Besides the negative effects of working long hours on WLB, there are some practices like compressed workweek schedule and flexi-time schedule would be positive for working performance, job satisfaction and satisfaction with work schedule (Baltes et al. 1999). As mentioned before, there are some practices for improving WLB, which are all related to the work hours. Flexible time schedule, staggered hours, compressed workweek, shift swapping, self-rostering, annual hours, job sharing, working from home, and etc (DTI, 2001). All of them are the mechanisms to enhance the employees attitudes to work. Invancevich (1974) carried out a work performance comparison between workers worked for compressed workweek and workers worked for normal schedule; and Baltes et al. (1999) evaluated the work performance of workers under flex-time and compressed workweek, both of the studies showed the positive outcomes in shorter workweek. The latter study reflected job satisfaction and satisfaction with work schedule too. Baltes et al. (1999) pointed that the positive effects of compressed workweek would not diminish over time, and there was no disruption to the productivity of absenteeism too. The State of Work-Life Balance in Hong Kong Survey (2010) showed the problems resulting from poor WLB, there were the responses from employees. About 60% of respondents felt fatigue level, sleepiness and extreme tiredness prolonged by the poor work-life balance. Third of them complained the loss of amount of time to spend with family. Over a quarter of employees believed that their work hours invaded to their social life and decreased their job productivity. The results should be approximately same as the Work Life Balance Survey of Hong Kong Working Population published by HKU in 2009. To make a conclusion, the poor work-life balance affects the time arrangement of the employees throughout a day, functions as a stressor to the workers and harms the health of the workers. 2.4 Hypotheses of Study Long working hours is recognized as an element in the local construction industry. The factors for long working hours of each individual are various, most of them could be classified as four dimensions, requirements of jobs, income, cultures of workplaces and work satisfaction provided (Lindy,2009; Raphael and Itzhak, 2006; Weston et al., 2002). Impacts due to long working hours have been discussed for many years, which could be personal, family and social related. At the positive side, the employee could be served as a hardworking, motivated person, who should be a role model in a family (Dex et al., 1995). At the negative side, the physical and psychological health, family life, social network and safety problems are being affected by the long working hours (Lindy, 2009; Johanna and Joanne, 2003; Fox and Dwyer, 1999). Work-life balance is an important concept in a living person, but it is just mentioned for years in Hong Kong. There are many practices used to improve the balance, to reduce the proportion of work hours within the whole life. Such as flexible time schedule, staggered hours, compressed workweek, shift swapping, self-rostering, annual hours, job sharing, working from home, and etc are the ways used over the world (DTI, 2001; Baltes et al., 1999; Invancevich, 1974). For the consequences due to unbalanced work-life, there are loss of the involvement in family activities and child care, the amount of time with couples and full of stress and anxiety (La Valle et al., 2002; Dow-Clarke, 2000; Wallace, 1999; Galambos and Walters, 1992). Hypothesis 1- As suggested by the previous literatures, long working hours really affect the employee by different dimensions (Fox and Dwyer, 1999; Galambos and Walters, 1992). The workers are driven to work for longer hours by their own motivations (Lindy, 2009; Raphael and Itzhak, 2006). Since the degree of satisfaction in working long hours is different by people, it hypothesizes that the attitudes towards motivations that can enhance workers satisfaction in long working hours. Hypothesis 2- As mentioned before, people with unbalanced work-life will diminish their time in participating activities other than works (La Valle et al., 2002; Wallace 1999; Baltes et al. 1999), and make the life not well developed and healthy. It hypothesizes that flexible work arrangement can help work-life balance in all aspects like personal life, family life and productivity of work. CHAPTER 3:  Methodology 3.1 Introduction In the previous chapter, the background of the work hour problems faced by the workers in the construction industry was reviewed. Besides, the problems induced by long working hours and influences of Work-Life Balance were introduced in the literature review. The objectives of this study are (1) to identify the drawbacks of working hours to the local workers; (2) to examine the possible impacts due to excessively long working hours of the workers in the building construction industry; (3) to identify the concept of work-life balance; (4) to examine the leading international practice on controlling the maximum number of working hours of individual workers per week. In order to achieve the research objectives, a questionnaire survey had been conducted to collect data from construction workers, and a questions set with cover letter for interviews was designed to collect opinions from the union leaders and project managers in building general contractor firms. This chapter outlines the design of questionnaires, questions design of the interviews, data collection method and method of analysis undertaken in the next chapter. 3.2 Questionnaire Design In order to achieve the research objectives, a 10 questions questionnaire was designed (see Appendix 1). Part I required the respondents to provide their basic information such as gender, age, experience in the construction industry and form of employment. Part II required the respondents to provide their normal daily working hours and weekly work days, overall working hours per week, normal daily rest time and evaluate the current length of working hours. Part III listed the possible reasons for overtime work arrangement from practical cases (see Table 3.1). The respondents were asked to tick the top five reasons faced and sort the chosen reasons with numbers (1=most common, 5=least common). Shortage of Labours There are not enough labours and too many works remained. Poor arrangement of materials and/ or equipments The arrangement of materials and/ or equipments is not satisfied to the construction processes on site. Poor site management Planning is not practical enough and/ or the schedules of work are not up-to-date or poor leadership of supervisor. Reworks needed There are construction mistakes due to unclear instructions, lack of supervisions, poor quality control, careless mistakes made by workers and/ or inappropriate installations. Equipments damaged Equipments are damaged and/ or mal-function under normal operations. Changes of design Temporary scheduling caused by changes of design, preparation and construction of work have to be revised. Period of Contract Period of contract is too short for normal construction process. Unexpected weather Construction processes could not be operated caused by poor or unexpected weather, and then there is a delay. Others There are reasons not mentioned but happen in practical construction site. 3.3 Data Collection The targeted respondents of the questionnaire are the front-line workers who work in construction site. Two pages questionnaire was sent to the contractor firms and distributed to the targeted respondents. And some of the collected questionnaires were interviewed by face-to-face. The targeted interviewees were the project managers or site agents who are working in building general contractor firms and the leaders of the local labour unions. The questions set was sent to the targeted interviewees, email reply and phone interviews were conducted. 3.4 Data Analysis Method In this research, the data analysis was carried out by SPSS 17.0 for windows, including Enjoyment à ¤Ã‚ ½Ã¢â‚¬ Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ ¥Ã‚ ½Ãƒ ¥Ã‚ °Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ

Analysis Of The Bridge Of San :: essays research papers

People who thinks of Thornton Wilder primarily in terms of his classic novella â€Å"Our Town,† The Bridge of San Luis Rey will seem like quite a switch. For one thing, he has switched countries; instead of middle America, he deals here with Peru. He has switched eras, moving from the twentieth century back to the eighteenth. He has also dealt with a much broader society than he did in â€Å"Our Town,† representing the lower classes and the aristocracy with equal ease. But despite these differences, his theme is much the same; life is short, our expectations can be snuffed out with the snap of a finger, and in the end all that remains of us is those we have loved. The novella begins by describing the quest of a Franciscan monk, Brother Juniper, to figure out why some people’s lives are cut short while others, apparently less deserving of life, live well into their eighties and nineties. He has happened to witness a terrible accident (the sudden collapse of a national landmark, the Bridge of San Luis Rey) which five people were crossing at the time of the disaster. All five were killed instantly: a little boy, a young girl, a wealthy old woman, an old man, and a youth. Brother Juniper is shocked into a metaphysical thought: â€Å"If there were any pattern in the universe at all, any plan in a human life, surely it could be discovered mysteriously latent in those lives so suddenly cut off. Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan. And in that instant Brother Juniper made the resolve to inquire into the secret lives of those five persons, that moment falling through the air, and to surprise the reason of their taking off† (Wilder, 5). This is the wonderful premise behind Wilder’s examination of the connected lives of these five people. Several of them never actually meet, any more than we â€Å"meet† people with whom we happen to ride an elevator but, each of them knows someone who knows one of the other victims. Wilder goes on to clear up the stories of their lives, devoting a chapter to each of the major characters: The old woman, The Marquesa; The young man, Esteban; and the old man, Uncle Pio. (The other two victims, the young maid Pepita and the child Jaime, are not really explored, because they are seen primarily in relationship to the adults they accompany.

Voices from Vietnam :: essays research papers

This reader’s rating for this book is average. It is a very well written book but it may not appeal to some people. If the reader was familiar with the war then this would be a wonderful book to read. This reader thought it was interesting but not as enthralling as it should be. The book was mainly made out of quotes or dialogue from the men in the war. This was a very different way of writing but it was interesting. Many of the veterans had interesting stories to tell and how it felt like to be in the war. Overall it was a book to consider if you’re into war stories. The things this reader likes about this book is that it was interesting in the fact that it had real stories from real veterans in the war. Some of the stories were explained in gruesome detail in which this reader thought was very disturbing. It is disgusting to know what happened to some of the Vietnamese and veterans during that war. What this reader also liked was how they explained the war while showing the opinions of some of the veterans. The least thing this reader liked about this book was that it didn’t keep you on the edge. Even though this was a war story it didn’t captivate me as much as I would have wanted it to. It became boring at parts when they explained how the war started and how the Chinese were trying to take control of Vietnam. What the author should have done was explain the war with minimum detail and have many comments from the people who were actually involved in it. In this reader’s opinion this book should be good for older people. Older people would understand the meaning of the war better and how it started. Also older people would probably find it interesting and actually want to read into it. Since older people have most likely lived during the Vietnam War they would appreciate this book much more than a teenager would. Voices from Vietnam is not even close to simple. With the exception of the dialogue the words used in the book were a little advanced for a teenager. This reader didn’t enjoy much of the book because of this reason. The book is also quite long since it explains the war and contains comments from the veterans.

Division Between Ancient and Modern Science Essay -- Religion Philosop

Division Between Ancient and Modern Science Introduction Power has played a significant role in the motivation of scientific progress, specifically in comparing modern science and ancient science. Power-seekers have been greatly attracted to scientific pursuits, seeking monetary, life-giving or glory-earning ends. In ancient science "the lure of health, wealth, and eternal life charmed many an alchemist to the poorhouse, madness, or an untimely death" (Coudert 35), while modern society itself has embraced scientific development with a similar fervor. Amidst many similarities, the rift between ancient and modern science is enormous and has frequently left historians puzzled. Although it is clear to historians that the stagnant science of ancient times developed into the modern scientific pursuit in the 17th century, it is not clear what specifically caused this revolution of scientific thought. This essay will discuss differences in motives which have driven ancient and modern science, arguing that 17th century alterations of power structures led to the ultimate division between modern and ancient science and the eruption of modern science as it is today. Comparisons will be drawn regarding knowledge accessibility, prevailing philosophies and ideologies, and the relationship between science and the church. Knowledge Accessibility: ancient secrets vs. modern community knowledge To begin, a major shift in scientific thinking arrived with the dawn of the printing press and the new-found accessibility of knowledge. "Alchemy was from its origins a secret art;" (Roberts 66) secrecy was an absolute necessity in early science when a powerful recipe or method had been discovered, as such knowledge was a valuable commodit... ... Read, John. Through Alchemy to Chemistry: A Procession of Ideas & Personalities. London: G. Bell, 1957. Roberts, Gareth. The Mirror of Alchemy: Alchemical Ideas and Images in Manuscripts and Books: From Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century. Buffalo: U. of Toronto, 1994. Yearly, Steven. Science, Technology, and Social Change. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1988. Works Consulted: Sazlberg, Hugh W. From Caveman to Chemist: Circumstances and Achievements. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1991. Sirvin, Nathan. Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies. Cambridge: Harvard, 1968. Thorndike, Lynn. History of Magic & Experimental Science. Vol. 1 New York: Colombia, 1964. Waite, Arthur E. Alchemists Through the Ages. Blauvelt, N.Y.: Rudolf Steiner, 1970. Wilson, David A. Alchemy: Creating Gold From Base Metal. Black Mountain, N.C.: Lorien House, 1988. Division Between Ancient and Modern Science Essay -- Religion Philosop Division Between Ancient and Modern Science Introduction Power has played a significant role in the motivation of scientific progress, specifically in comparing modern science and ancient science. Power-seekers have been greatly attracted to scientific pursuits, seeking monetary, life-giving or glory-earning ends. In ancient science "the lure of health, wealth, and eternal life charmed many an alchemist to the poorhouse, madness, or an untimely death" (Coudert 35), while modern society itself has embraced scientific development with a similar fervor. Amidst many similarities, the rift between ancient and modern science is enormous and has frequently left historians puzzled. Although it is clear to historians that the stagnant science of ancient times developed into the modern scientific pursuit in the 17th century, it is not clear what specifically caused this revolution of scientific thought. This essay will discuss differences in motives which have driven ancient and modern science, arguing that 17th century alterations of power structures led to the ultimate division between modern and ancient science and the eruption of modern science as it is today. Comparisons will be drawn regarding knowledge accessibility, prevailing philosophies and ideologies, and the relationship between science and the church. Knowledge Accessibility: ancient secrets vs. modern community knowledge To begin, a major shift in scientific thinking arrived with the dawn of the printing press and the new-found accessibility of knowledge. "Alchemy was from its origins a secret art;" (Roberts 66) secrecy was an absolute necessity in early science when a powerful recipe or method had been discovered, as such knowledge was a valuable commodit... ... Read, John. Through Alchemy to Chemistry: A Procession of Ideas & Personalities. London: G. Bell, 1957. Roberts, Gareth. The Mirror of Alchemy: Alchemical Ideas and Images in Manuscripts and Books: From Antiquity to the Seventeenth Century. Buffalo: U. of Toronto, 1994. Yearly, Steven. Science, Technology, and Social Change. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1988. Works Consulted: Sazlberg, Hugh W. From Caveman to Chemist: Circumstances and Achievements. Washington, D.C.: American Chemical Society, 1991. Sirvin, Nathan. Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies. Cambridge: Harvard, 1968. Thorndike, Lynn. History of Magic & Experimental Science. Vol. 1 New York: Colombia, 1964. Waite, Arthur E. Alchemists Through the Ages. Blauvelt, N.Y.: Rudolf Steiner, 1970. Wilson, David A. Alchemy: Creating Gold From Base Metal. Black Mountain, N.C.: Lorien House, 1988.

An assessment of the first section of the 1992 film Essay

English Media Coursework: An assessment of the first section of the 1992 film â€Å"Of Mice and Men†, including some comparisons with part one of John Steinbeck’s novel In section one of the novel ‘Of Mice and Men’ written by John Steinbeck, begins with a description of the pool and its surroundings in order to familiarize us with the setting, using poetic imagery to describe the â€Å"golden foothill slopes† of the Salinas river valley and the pool on the bank of which â€Å"the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them†. Some rabbits sit in the sand. â€Å"There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores† leading to the sandy rivers edge. The description conveys an idyllic peace to the scene which is disturbed as the novels two main characters emerge from the woods. The rabbits scurry into the scrubs and a heron flies from the pool before George and Lennie enter the clearing. George and Lennie are described as physical opposites, George being â€Å"small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features† while Lennie is described as a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily† but despite the difference in physical appearance John Steinbeck stresses the similarities of dress â€Å"Both were dressed in denim. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls†, this suggests that Lennie maybe trying to copy George as he looks up to him and wants to be like him, as also imitates George actions at the river bank. In the following pages George and Lennie’s conversation and behaviour helps the reader learn that the two are migrant ranch workers, on their way to one job to another. They are going to work on a ranch in Soledad and George makes it clear he is to do all the talking when they arrive; George angrily discovers that Lennie has been concealing a dead mouse (â€Å"I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along†) This informs the reader that Lennie likes to pet soft things, which is to be carefully noted in light of future (and past) events, George has beans for dinner and when Lennie childishly sates he likes ketchup with his beans, George gets angry and muses on the life he could live if he wasn’t with Lennie: â€Å"I got you! You can’t keep a job and you lose me ever’ job I get. Jus’ keep me shovin’ all over the country all the time†¦ You do bad things and I got to get you out†. Through George’s anger we learn about one of the â€Å"bad things† which occurred at their last job, in Weed, when Lennie wanted to pet the girls dress because it was pretty and held on when she tried to jerk away. The two had to flee the town in the night as the town people were looking for them, Lennie responds to George’s anger with self-pity and uses a guilt trip, sorrowfully saying that if George doesn’t want him around, he could go off and live in the hills by himself. This softens George into saying that he wants Lennie to stay, so we know these threats are not serious and that George does genuinely like Lennie as a friend. Lennie urges George to tell â€Å"about the rabbits†, this is when we are first introduced to the dream that George and Lennie share, that they will get their own piece of land and the money and means by which to live off of it. George describes how he and Lennie are different from other ranchers who drift from town to town, who â€Å"don’t belong no place†. Lennie and George are different according to George, because they have future and each other. One day they will have enough money and â€Å"live off the fatta the land†. This shows the reader that George needs Lennie as a Friend so not to be lonely â€Å"I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you† this shows the loyalty and friendship which exists between George and Lennie, and the dream of a better life. All though George does become angry with Lennie resulting in some tension during this section of the novel, the atmosphere at the end is very peaceful and pleasant leavening the reader to feel positive and happy; this is the same in both the film and the novel. The 1992 film version â€Å"Of Mice and Men† opens with white on black credits which are simple and stand out clearly. Gradually sound effects of a wagon/train are added and lighting effects are faded in slowly to show the inside of an old fashioned goods wagon. There is also background music which is very atmospheric, building tension. This is followed by a slow fade and a close up shot of a man’s face, which we later come to realize is George, played by Gary Sinise who is also the director. George pensively, sadly sits alone in a railway car, the shadows of the car’s slats partially covering his face. At the end of the film the same shot is repeated, therefore the audience realise the film is in fact a flash back from George’s memory, The gentle and eerie background music and use of dark, gloomy colours convey a sense of mystery adding interest which makes the audience want to watch on to see what’s going to happen; they also illustrate a mood of sadness along with the miserable expression stressed in the close up shot of Gary Sinises face. At the start of the narrative in the film, the camera jumps to a sequence of a woman in a vivid red dress, running though fields apparently in desperate escape of some undefined terror, She runs towards the camera, As she gets closer to the camera the audience can picks out details in which give clues about the woman such as the tear in her dress and her panicky face which is stressed in a close up shot but the mystery is continued when she runs past the camera and out of the audiences sight. The sound effects of the woman’s gasped breath are very frantic, adding drama and tension to grab the audience’s intention and the red of her dress stands out clearly in contrast to the green fields. The director immediately makes the camera jump to a sequence showing two men, being chased by a group of men on horses armed with rifles and led by hunting dogs. The camera follows this chase, panning along to show the men running though long grass. The camera angle then changes to show the chase from the point of view of the men who are being chased, showing the dogs and men running towards the camera which makes the audience feel as if they are being chased and allowing them to see things from the men’s point of view. Water from the horses splashes on the camera, showing the audience how close they are, adding tension and making the audience feel more involved, helping them to feel how the men are feeling by showing things from the men’s point of view. The two men jump into an irrigation ditch. The man from the start of the film jumps in first, front view and then the other man jumps in after but from a side view. The camera is used as one of the men’s view, to the audience; it helps them to feel how the men are feeling. It creates confusion because at first the audience may not know whose view it is and what they are looking at, since the men are in hiding and the viewer can see the weeds overhanging in front of them; this also creates suspense as the audience can see the two men’s point of view of the situation. The opening film sequence has a very dramatic and tense start in order to grab the audience’s intention, making them want to watch on. In comparison to the novel â€Å"Of Mice and Men† which is very different as it opens with a peaceful, happy and serene scene, making the reader build up hope and creating a joyful atmosphere. The camera jumps from the irrigation ditch to the two men (George and Lennie) hitching a freight train at night in order to escape. Another jump follows to a studio location of a 1930’s Californian town (Salinas); this scene is added to show the audience the time in which the film is set in and giving them an idea of George and Lennies surrounds and their way of life. While they are in the town Lennie asks George were they are going George said â€Å"were going to a ranch to work† this dialog has been added to inform the audience of were they are going and of there current situation. George and Lennie take a bus to the ranch but they are dropped off in the countryside a few miles from the ranch. The serene and tranquil scene was probably set on location. The dialog they use is almost the same as the book, the camera pans along while they walk and talk setting them both in frame emphasizing that they have a close relationship. As the bus goes by George and Lennie, George realises that they have been dropped off in the wrong place and yells out â€Å"son of a bitch† to the bus driver, Lennie copies George and also yells â€Å"son of a bitch† this is improvisation as it is not in the book, it has been added to show how Lennie copies George and what he does suggesting that he looks up to him and wants to be like him, showing the audience a bit about his character. Lennie’s (played by John Malkovitch )voice is very child like, portraying Lennie like a child trapped in a mans body, which makes sense but at times also seem over the top as in the book I felt that Lennie was just very simple minded, but in the film Lennie seems to be seriously retarded. While George and Lennie are sitting by the pool Lennie decides to drink from the pool then spit the water out of his mouth in a child like fashion, again this is improvisation to show how child like Lennie is, George reacts to this by laughing at him showing he is used to Lennie and his childish behaviour almost to like how a parent would laugh at a child. The camera uses close up shots of Lennie’s face in order to emphases his odd facial expressions and medium close-ups to show George and Lennie’s body language especially Lennie who tends to use various funny hand jesters in order to help express himself which he cant do very well. During George and Lennie’s argument about ketchup the camera is shot in separate frames to show they are now separate, because they are angry. The camera also uses medium close ups of George and Lennie while George is kneeling and Lennie is standing up to show how much bigger Lennie is compared to George and their differences in physical appearance, it also shows that Lennie could be seen as a treat to George. The camera tilts up when showing Lennie to make him seem taller and he probably has used padding in his clothes to make him appear bigger, while when the camera is on George it tends to tilt down to make him appear smaller. During the argument George doesn’t mention the girl in the red dress which he does in the novel, he just said â€Å"you do bad things†, he doesn’t mention it because he doesn’t need to explain this to the audience as the girl in the film as this has already been shown at the start unlike the novel. The argument shows the audience that George and Lennie do fall out sometimes. When the augment is over Lennie uses a guilt trip on George, the guilt is empathised in close up of George’s face. The camera jumps to George and Lennie sitting by a camp fire, this is the last sequence of this section of the film. It is set outside in the dark but the lighting effects make it light enough to see what’s happening, the light from the fire reflects on there faces in order to emphasis them there are many off screen natural sound effects such as cricket noises and other types of bugs and birds. Lennie asks George to tell him about the dream and as George begins to tell the dream background music gradually comes in which is very soft and genital to create an dream like atmosphere. The camera puts both George and Lennie in the frame while telling the dream maybe to show that they both share this dream and to show the friendship between them. When George stops telling the dream he saids â€Å"oh the hell with it† at this point the background music suddenly stops showing that they have come out of the dream and are now back to reality. At the end they are both in frame, lying by the camp fire, the atmosphere is quite and peaceful with the natural sound effects of bugs est. off screen in the background leaving the audiences feeling happy and positive. Overall, I thought the first section of the â€Å"Of Mice and Men† film was good and very well done by Gary Sinise. In the movie you can actually see and hear things that you probably would not catch on to in the book. For example there are the facial expressions of George and Lennie. The music soundtrack to the film â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is very well composed; I especially liked how the music is classical, which is very appealing to all age groups and genders. The music was important as it set the mood for the scene the audience was seeing. The landscaping and camera work was also very good. The setting of the pool was just as it was described in the book. Also, the clothing worn by Lennie and George fitted the time frame allowing the audience to feel that they are back in that time period by watching, and also showed that they were not well off. In many ways the first section of the film is similar to the novel such as the dialog they use is almost identical to the novel and the appearance of the characters in the film are almost exactly like how they are described in the novel, Lennie is very big and bulky, while George is small with a tanned face. The director changed the order of the story at the beginning by starting with the girl in the red dress, this was probably changed in order to grab the audience intension at the beginning of the film so then they would want to watch on to see what’s happening. Right from the start of the movie you can see that Lennie has a mental illness, and George is taking care of him like a father the same as it is with the novel. Also, you can tell that George gets impatient with Lennie numerous times and that he gets frustrated very easily. I thought the role of George was played very well by Gary Sinise who seems to bring out the role of George perfectly as he coveys Georges caring side as well. As for Lennie this role is probably more of a challenge as he is difficult to convey without sounding cartoonish, John Malkovich didn’t work wonders for the role as he used such a silly voice, though if he had used a normal way of speaking the audience would probably find it difficult to see him as mentally handy capped.