Electrical Engineering Essay Example for Free

Electrical Engineering Essay Mr Rowley wanted a switch board for his new hotel, the Medina Palms in Watamu. It needed to handle enough power for lights, heat and air conditioning in all 50 separate villas, the pool’s filtration system, security cameras, and the hotel’s kitchens and bars: drawing approximately 1000kVA from the national grid and directing it through hundreds of individual switches and control units built into one central console. I picked up my pencil- this was not an electrical engineering exam at school: instead of lounging at the beach with my friends, I had chosen to spend my summer at Specialised Power Systems (â€Å"SPS†), designing and building Mr. Rowleys‘s switchboard. As the engineers and I gathered around and started to draft designs for the switchboard, we quickly recognised several key issues. Mr Rowley wanted the switchboard to have power capacitors to increase general efficiency, and the capability to work coherently with generators and invertors to account for the Kenyan grid’s frequent blackouts and power surges. Both capabilities are extremely important in Africa, not only for luxury hotels but also for the health of national infrastructure. By working on Mr. Rowley’s luxury hotel, I could learn to implement the technical knowledge from study into real-world projects, such as expanding and improving the Kenyan national grid and bringing cost-efficient generators to rural areas. We set to work. Mr. Rowley’s first requirement for his switchboard was to have a power-factor capacitor bank, which allowed me to explore in depth a component I first studied through my A-levels physics classes, and one that is crucial to energy efficiency and modern electrical systems. Essentially, capacitors are used to store electrical charge. Mr. Rowley’s requirement meant that his system, which normally drew 1000kVA from the grid, would have to be able to utilise 100kVA in order to account for the extra power occasionally needed to start water pumps, electric lights, electronics and emergency equipment. Yet an additional multiplier, called the diverse factor (generally calculated to be 80%), is added to the equation to account for the fact that not every piece of equipment is required to turn on at once. We took the textbook equation to determine capacitor requirements: KW = cosÏ• X kVA cosÏ• =0.9 minimum requirement And calculated the Medina Palm’s specific capacitor requirements: KW = 0.8 X 500 = 400kVAr kVAr =1000kVA X 0.5 X 0.8 In order to build a system capable of handling 400kVAR, we determined that a bank of 8 connected 50kVAr power capacitors would be the best solution as a automatic unit. For a generator capability we fitted the control panels with Tem Transfer Relays, devices that work in conjunction with Auto-Start-enabled generators to automatically supply power to the system in case of a power failure. By working with the generators at the Medina Palms, I learned skills that are critical to the infrastructure of Kenya. For example, only 30% of Kenya receives electricity from the national grids, and the grids are unreliable and confined to major cities. Generators can bring power and all its benefits to the rest of Kenya, and projects like the Medina Palms bring the technical skills and economies of scale that can make generator power accessible to the wider population. I hope to leverage my previous study of A-level physics, experience with SPS, and future degree in Engineering to bring such modern, affordable electrical capabilities to Kenya.

Compare Political Systems Of Chile And Argentina Politics Essay

Compare Political Systems Of Chile And Argentina Politics Essay Chile and Argentina are the countries which share their boundaries, have the same official language (Spanish), and they do have the very similar political history. In both countries, they have been under the authoritarian system, and now the democratic systems are very much enforced in their political systems. As they do have very common things, it will be very interesting to have a close look at the difference between these two countries political systems. As many countries are changing to have a democratic society, Chile and Argentina are also trying to use democratic political systems. During the dictatorship regimes in both countries, political situation was very much unstable and as a consequence of political instability, the other systems were very fragile. Throughout the time, these two countries have been changing their political systems as there was not such kind of government that the people willingly supported. However, nowadays, it can be assumed that their political syst ems are strong enough to have the countries function efficiently. In this paper, I will try to compare the political systems of these two countries, much focusing on how the system is based upon on Legislation, Execution, and Judiciary, and political parties in brief. Firstly, I will be discussing the similarity and difference of the legislation system of these two countries. The legislative branch of both countries made up of two houses, Senate and Chamber of Deputies. In the fact that Chamber of Deputies of Argentina represent the people and elected, and it has 275 members which can be variable, and they are proportionally elected from each district, and one term is for four year for the member of the Chamber of Deputies, and have the rights to levy tax, send troop, prosecute the president, state ministers, and Supreme Court ( Gisela, Emilse, Ezequiel, Julio. January, 2006). In Chile, Chamber of Deputies is also directly elected for four year term, and it has 120 members (variable) and Proportionally elected from different regions, and the power of Senate and Chamber of Deputies are very mixed- they have most power as a whole (mongabay, (n.d.)) If we compare the Chamber of Deputies of both countries, we can see that structure of both are very si milar except that in Argentina, the power separation between Senate and Chamber of Deputies is much clear than Chiles. Chiles Senate is also popularly elected as Chamber of Deputies is, and it has 38 seats depending on the population, so it can be variable; in fact, about third-fourth of the Senators are popularly elected and one-fourth is appointed by the Supreme Court. To become Senator in Chile, they have got certain criteria such as the person must be citizen, forty years old, must finish the secondary source, and a resident for three years in the region they represent ( mongabay, (n.d.)) In Argentinas Senate, there are 72 senators, 3 from each district, so the number of the senators is fixed, and popularly elected for a six year term. (nyulawglobal, 2006, January) Therefore, the differences of these two countries Senate were that the number of the Senators in Chile is variable, but it is not in Argentina, and as I have mentioned above, the power separation between Senate and C hamber of Deputies are clear in Argentinas political system- Senate and Chamber of Deputies have each clear task different to Chiles. In Chile, Senate does not have clear separation power as most of the issues they have to handle go through the Congress as a whole. In these two countries, National Constitution is the most influential on the Legislation process. Taxing system, military, foreign affairs and other system which can affect the whole country are especially controlled by written constitution which I will be discussing later in this paper. In the executive branch of both countries, the president is the head of the state and the head of the government, and the cabinet is appointed by the president, and the president is popularly elected for the four year term. It is very interesting that they do have very alike executive system, even the years of term for the president. And, two of these countries are all presidential (executive) dominant countries. In Chile, the presidential initiatives to make the laws just only take around 205 days to complete all the legislation process and for the legislation, it takes around 487 days for the process (Morgenstern Nacif, 2002, p-87) So, it is obvious that president of the Chile can make law much faster than the Congress does, in other words, it mean that president is favored by the constitution. In Argentina also, in recent years, many scholars preferred to classify Argentina as a executive-dominated Delegated Democracy, and Congress lack any real ability to check the president ( Haggard (Ed.), 2001, p-149) Therefore, we can see how the executive branch play a very important role in both countries political process. Many ministries including department of finance are also controlled by the president alone through the cabinet which mainly focuses on day to day process of the countries. In Argentina, the executive branch is still fragile for not able to reduce the corruption among the executive branch only. As Maki wrote in his thesis named Decentralization and Political Participation, tax evasion is rampant, criminal policemen are common, social welfare such as education, health care are under the standard compare to income per capital (Maki, 2006, p-91) These kinds of worse corruption are because of the weak policies of the executive branch and ineffectiveness of the government actions. Though some scholars said that Argentina is one of the democratic countries in Latin America, their executive branch is not unable to monitor those democratic actions. Likewise in Chile, there are many corruptions inside government, but the corruptions are not only in the executive branch but the executive branch and judicial branch together as there is not much power separation between the executive and judicial. the judges take the briberies in pre-trial detention in exchange f or expediting the case, and those judges are much influenced by the executive branch (especially president) through the appointment process ( Transparency International, 2007, p-188) Therefore, in both countries, the executive branch are very fragile from the democratic point of view though the way the corruption happen is different- corruption is directly for the executive branchs fault in Argentina and the executive and judicial are in Chile. After Legislation and Executive, the branch which is the most powerful branch (in power balance) in most democratic countries is Judicial. Whether the judicial branches in Chile and Argentina are most powerful or not will be discussed in this section. Generally, in Chile, judiciary courts are divided into three levels- Supreme Court, Courts of Appeals, and tribunal of first instance. The most powerful level Supreme Court has 21 judges, appointed by the President and ratified by the Senate. It has the power to control all judges from the two inferior levels (nyulawglobal, November, 2005) So, literally, judges from the Supreme Court are the most powerful persons among all judges, but they are balanced by the executive and legislative branches. Argentinas judicial structure is also much similar with Chiles. The only differences are that the members of the Supreme Court of Justice are ministers, and the provinces are much autonomous which means the each province take the responsibility o f correspondence in the Supreme Court. Related to the case of Independence of Supreme Court, according to a survey of Skaar in a paper called Judicial independence and human rights policies in Argentina and Chile, Chile and Argentina have much more independence after the Constitutional reform (Skaar, 2001, pp-11,12) However, as I discussed about the corruptions of Chiles judges above, judges are taking briberies from the people which means that they are not independent anymore. And one more issue is that those judges are appointed by the president. How much independent the judges will be if they are appointed by the executive branches which themselves are corrupted? As Argentina and Chile have politically similar structure (fragile and corrupt), it will be very difficult to say that they have independent Courts. Generally, all Legislation, Executive, and Judicial are interdependent with the constitutions. Based on the constitution, the legislation, executive, and judicial are mainly structured. Written constitutions in Chile and Argentina also have many effects on these three power-balanced sectors. In comparison of the constitution of Chile and Argentina, as they are intended to provide democratic institutions and actions, they have got how citizens are free, guaranteed to basic rights, powers for the legislation and execution and judicial in common. But, Argentinas constitution is much more like a constitution for the federal state because it has very clear separation between the federal government and the province. The federal government provides for the expenditures of the Nation with the funds of the National treasury. Each province shall enact its own constitution under the republican (argentina constitution, n.d.) So, according to the written constitution of Argentina, the federal gov ernment has its own power and conditions and limits what it can do, and the provinces have their own governing power which is guaranteed by the constitution. But, in Chiles constitution the state of Chile is unitary. Its territory is dived into regions. The law shall provide that administration thereof be functional and territorially decentralized. (Constitution of Republic of Chile, 1980, 21st October) It is said that the state is unitary (not federal) and the administration provided by the law should be decentralized in the constitution; however, the constitution doesnt have clear separation how the administration could be decentralized. In the stability of constitution, Chiles constitution is much fragile compared to the Argentina constitution. It could be because Chiles is struggling at the defensive situation- not to have another kind of Pinochet regime. After Pinochet was defeated in 1988, the democratic position organized (centre and left), the political parties which support the military, and the government altogether constituted the social and political institutions that opposed to the Pinochet regime and its 1980 constitution (Montes Vial, 2005, p-13) As they are focusing on preventing of another Pinochet like regime, they lack of ability to control of the stability of the constitution. But, for Argentina, the constitution first drafted in 1853 was improved through the step by step amendments- 1853 constitution and 1860 amendments enforce for the better civil and political rights, and 1957, 1994 amendments had a great emphasis on economic and social rights ( Human Rights and Constitutional Rights, n.d.) So, Argentinas constitution was much concreted with the amendments and led to the stability. The main actors on the legislation, Executive, and Judicial which all are controlled by the national constitution are political parties. The government is also from the political parties, and the congress men are also members of the political parties. In Chile and Argentina, party politics is very common and the ideologies of the political parties shape the countries structure. If we compare the political parties of these two countries, we will see a lot of similar things such as having multiparty system where two main political parties influence. In Chile, Political parties are Christian Democratic Party, The Party for Democracy, the Radical Party, the Socialist Party which of all are center-left, and Independent Democratic Union, the National Renewal (two center-right parties) stand as the main opposites (nationsencyclopedia, n.d.) Though there are a lot of parties, the center-left parties become one coalition and the center right political parties become one side, so basically, we can say that two main sides influence the political process of Chile. For Argentina, there are also many parties such as Justicialist Party, Union Civica Radical, Civic Coalition, the Republican Proposal, but, the Justicialist Party and Union Civica Radical are the two main political parties which are currently getting a lot of support- the Justicialist Party from labor support and the Union Civica Radical from middle-class support (U.S. Department of State, September 16, 2010) Based on these informations, we can see that coalition is common in Chile, and the parties are very much ideology based, but for Argentina, parties stand single and they are based on civil or territory based (not ideology based) which means they are flexible for the people who support them. We will also observe that political parties in Chile and Argentina played a very important role for the democratization process. In Chile, political parties were the main opposition to the military regime (Pinochet regime). Because of those political parties objection on the dictatorship, the motivation for the democratic government emerged in Chile. The political parties officials who are expelled from the office by Pinochet got the valuable opportunity to contact with pobladores. Altogether political parties and those pobladores become the initial opposition for the military regime (Maki, 2006, p-42) Likewise, in Argentina, the political parties became the main groups to have a broad representation in the country. Because of that broad representation of the different levels of people, the democracy was concreted in Argentina. Traditionally, politics was influenced by Landowners, high clergy, merchants, and professionals representing the aristocracy. But in modern times, new parties are emerging to represent working class, small farmers and intellectuals (nationsencyclopedia, n.d.) By representing all different classes, the democracy becomes much meaningful in Argentina. Therefore, political parties are the ones, in one way, who mainly participate democratic movements in both countries, Chile and Argentina. In conclusion, Chile and Argentina has very similar political history, and their current political structures are also very alike. As I have discussed above, they have got the presidential systems and same rules for the presidential election. In the legislation case, Chile is very unitary centered with the provinces administration and the central government is not clearly power separated, and Argentina is much more federal with the separation of power. Although both countries have some kinds of corruption, it can be said that the whole political system of Argentina is much stable than Chiles because Chile is very much focused on preventing another military regime, and for Argentina, it could develop the systems through the amendments for the problematic issues. The political parties in these two countries also played very important role in developing the democratic institutions and actions. Therefore, at last we can say that Chile and Argentina are going forward by amending the weakn ess of the political system, and they are on the way of developing countries which practices the democratic systems.

The Bush Administrations Relation With Iraq Prior to Iraqs Invasion o

The Bush Administration's Relation With Iraq Prior to Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait Prior to the August 2, 1990 invasion of Kuwait on the part of Iraq, the United States had questionable relations with Iraq dictator, Saddam Hussein, to say the least. In retrospect, which is inherently advantageous as a 20/20 perspective, questions remain unanswered as to whether or not the United States was too appeasing to Saddam Hussein in the years, months, and days leading up to that early August morning. There remains to this day lingering questions as to the role that the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, played in conveying the Administration's message to the Iraqi leader. In addition, questions surrounding the Administrators official policy, the calculations (or miscalculations) on the part of the State Department and other agencies within the US government, the Administrations covert plan to aid an Italian bank in illegal loans to benefit Saddam's military and the advice that the US received from other Arab nations with respect to what US relations should be with Iraq in terms of any impending border dispute, constitute a limited context of the issues that faced the Administration as it tried to deal with the leader of the largest economy of the Persian Gulf region. The Bush Administration's relations with Iraq prior to its invasion of Kuwait were clouded in a context of misperception by both states and further complicated by a lack of credibility on the part of key actors of both sides as well. This tragic sequence of events that led to the invasion of Kuwait cannot solely be attributed to personality traits or even actions by key individuals within the Administration. In retrospect, it is much more complex than that. However, the actions and public and private statements on the part of key personnel on both sides most likely contributed to the eventual invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990. Since, a brief, yet modest account of the history of the events leading up to the invasion and the invasion in itself along with the regional and global actors has been offered in section A, section B will be an analysis of the role of misperception and questions of credibility with respect to key actors on both sides of the issue, from State Department officials to Saddam Hussein himself. While touching on the importance and significance of o... ..., 3/20/91 6 Glaspie, April, Opening Remarks, Hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 3/20/91 7 Iraqi Government, Excerpts from Iraqi Document on Meeting with US Envoy, "The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.19 8 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A1 9 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A1 10 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A1 11 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A18 12 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A18 14 Friedman, Thomas, "US Explains View of Envoy to Iraq," The New York Times, 3/22/31, p.A9, col. 1 15 Sciolino, Elaine, "Envoy's Testimony on Iraq is Assailed," The New York Times, 7/13/91, p.A1, col.1 16 Sciolino, Elaine, "Envoy's Testimony on Iraq is Assailed," The New York Times, 7/13/91, p.A4, col.1 17 McAllister, J.F.O., "The Lessons of Iraq," Time, 11/2/92, pp.57-59 The Bush Administration's Relation With Iraq Prior to Iraq's Invasion o The Bush Administration's Relation With Iraq Prior to Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait Prior to the August 2, 1990 invasion of Kuwait on the part of Iraq, the United States had questionable relations with Iraq dictator, Saddam Hussein, to say the least. In retrospect, which is inherently advantageous as a 20/20 perspective, questions remain unanswered as to whether or not the United States was too appeasing to Saddam Hussein in the years, months, and days leading up to that early August morning. There remains to this day lingering questions as to the role that the US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, played in conveying the Administration's message to the Iraqi leader. In addition, questions surrounding the Administrators official policy, the calculations (or miscalculations) on the part of the State Department and other agencies within the US government, the Administrations covert plan to aid an Italian bank in illegal loans to benefit Saddam's military and the advice that the US received from other Arab nations with respect to what US relations should be with Iraq in terms of any impending border dispute, constitute a limited context of the issues that faced the Administration as it tried to deal with the leader of the largest economy of the Persian Gulf region. The Bush Administration's relations with Iraq prior to its invasion of Kuwait were clouded in a context of misperception by both states and further complicated by a lack of credibility on the part of key actors of both sides as well. This tragic sequence of events that led to the invasion of Kuwait cannot solely be attributed to personality traits or even actions by key individuals within the Administration. In retrospect, it is much more complex than that. However, the actions and public and private statements on the part of key personnel on both sides most likely contributed to the eventual invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990. Since, a brief, yet modest account of the history of the events leading up to the invasion and the invasion in itself along with the regional and global actors has been offered in section A, section B will be an analysis of the role of misperception and questions of credibility with respect to key actors on both sides of the issue, from State Department officials to Saddam Hussein himself. While touching on the importance and significance of o... ..., 3/20/91 6 Glaspie, April, Opening Remarks, Hearing by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 3/20/91 7 Iraqi Government, Excerpts from Iraqi Document on Meeting with US Envoy, "The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.19 8 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A1 9 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A1 10 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A1 11 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A18 12 Sciolino, Elaine, "US Gave Iraq Little Reason Not to Mount Kuwait Assault," The New York Times, 9/23/90, p.A18 14 Friedman, Thomas, "US Explains View of Envoy to Iraq," The New York Times, 3/22/31, p.A9, col. 1 15 Sciolino, Elaine, "Envoy's Testimony on Iraq is Assailed," The New York Times, 7/13/91, p.A1, col.1 16 Sciolino, Elaine, "Envoy's Testimony on Iraq is Assailed," The New York Times, 7/13/91, p.A4, col.1 17 McAllister, J.F.O., "The Lessons of Iraq," Time, 11/2/92, pp.57-59

Terrorism and Patriotism :: September 11 Terrorism Essays

Terrorism and Patriotism The connection between war and patriotism-or better yet, between war and the making of patriots-is evident, maybe even self-evident. But, is a war really required? The answer is no, not as long as we remember past wars, and use those memories to meet current challenges. To help us remember, we have a Memorial Day (Decoration Day when I was young), and the Lincoln, Vietnam, Korean, and (eventually) World War II memorials. To the same end, we have national cemeteries filled with the graves of patriots, and a national anthem composed during a long-past war. This nation was born in a war, and Abraham Lincoln referred to those who fought it as "the patriots of '76." We were "one people" then-we said so. We were made one because King George III and "our British bretheren [were] deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity." What those foes did to rally patriotism in 1776, the terrorists did on Sept. 11. The signs of this upsurge are everywhere. The grass-roots response of the American people has been phenomenal, a display of bottom-up public patriotism unseen in this nation in at least half a century, slicing across boundaries of race, class, age, and gender. American flags fly from the antennas of battered pickup trucks, from stately Victorian porches, from office windows. An Indiana flag company reports it has never had this many orders, 25 times the norm, in its century-long existence. The flag is everywhere, and so is the need of the people to display their love of country. It was only a few years ago that the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans were entitled to burn the flag, that they had a constitutional right to do so. Of course, the ruling did not deny Americans their constitutional right to fly the flag, and millions of people proceeded to do so. Those who did not own a flag rushed out to buy one, in such numbers that supplies were soon exhausted. Americans are flying the flag again, and they are showing their patriotism in other ways. Told that blood was in short supply, they rushed to give their own; volunteers from around the country raced to the scene of devastation in New York with food, blankets, gas masks, whatever they thought was needed. Americans grieved for the dead there, in Washington, and in Pennsylvania as their own, and prayed for the bereaved left behind.

Assisi, Italy Essay example -- Observation Essays, Descriptive Essays

Assisi Before and After Francis and Clare? Assisi is a town located in the province of Perugia and Umbrian region of central Italy (?Assisi?).? It is located at the foot of Monte Subasio, which is 1300 feet or 400 meters above sea level. The narrow, winding streets and the surrounding city walls are indicative of the region?s medieval history (?Assisi?).? Although the town is primarily known as the birthplace of St. Francis, it was an important location for the Umbrians, Etruscans, and Romans (?Assisi?).? As an ancient Umbrian center, the townspeople fought with the neighboring Etruscan cities.? In 89 BC, Assisi became a confederated Roman city and a municipium named Asisium (?12. Franciscan Sanctuaries?).? Today the remains of the Roman forum, the amphitheater, and most noticeably the Temple of Minerva serve as a testament to this city's ancient Roman origins.? In the early Middle Ages, the town was subject to the dukes of Spoleto, and in the 12th century, Assisi became an independent commune involved in internal dispu tes and wars with Perugia.? It joined the Papal States in the 16th century and the Italian kingdom in 1860 (?Assisi?).? The medieval architecture and religious artwork left by the various inhabitants of Assisi have given this town a timeless quality.? Although it is a town of the twenty-first century, millions of tourists and religious pilgrims flock to the area seeking simplicity, reflection, and peace. From Paganism to Christianity Under the Romans Under the Roman Emperor Augustus, the grand Forum was constructed; various temples were built; the city walls were completed; the baths and healing springs of mineral waters were opened; and the theater was constructed along side the amphitheatre.? T... .... Connor, Mary OSC. Personal Interview. 10 November 2003. ?Earthquake Jolts Assisi.? Franciscans and St. Anthony Press. 16 Nov. 2003. . Lattin, Don.? ?A Renaissance in Assisi; St. Francis? Hometowns Rebuilds After 1997 Quakes.? The San Francisco Chronicle. 12-23-99, A-1. Miller, Ramona, O.S.F. In the Footsteps of Saint Clare - A Pilgirms Guide Book. St. Bonaventure, NY: The Franciscan Institute, 1993. ?Temple of Minvera.? Convento S. Antonio. 16 Nov. 2003. . ?1. St. Francis and St. Clare ? Life and Times.? Franciscan Institute Outreach ? Malta. 19 Nov. 2003. < http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/fra/FRAlife1.html>. ? 12. Franciscan Sanctuaries.? Franciscan Institute Outreach ? Malta. 19 Nov. 2003. .

Infection Control & Environmental Safety Essay

Infection Control There are many routes by which infection can enter the body. For example infection can enter the body via blood, saliva, sexual, insect bites. If I wasn’t to wash my hands after using the toilet and went straight into preparing food this good causing infection to the people eating the food that I prepared, I could also have infected cuts and grazes on my hands which again if I didn’t was them I could pass on my infection. Elderly people find it a lot more difficult to fight infections therefore it is vitally important that we do everything we can to prevent infections. It is extremely important to wash your hand correctly when you work in a care setting environment. The most effective way of wash your hands are to firstly wet the hands with water. Apply enough soap and hand wash to cover all hand surfaces. Rub hands palm and palm. Right palm over the other hand with interlaced fingers and vice versa. Palm to palm with fingers interlaced. Backs of fingers to opposing palms with fingers interlocked. Rotational rubbing of left thumb clasped in right palm and vice versa. Rotational rubbing, backwards and forwards with clasped fingers of right hand in left palm and vice versa. Rinse hands with water. Dry hand thoroughly with a towel. Again it is also very important that we wear personal protective equipment when needed. For example if someone is covered in feces I must put on an apron and gloves to make sure that I keep any infection under control. Environmental Safety Fire Make sure a fire risk assessment of the building has been done buy a specialist. Also make sure that all safe have had fire prevention training. Good housekeeping making sure that everything is clean and tidy, so therefore nothing can set a light. Keep chemicals in fire proof cabinets. If there was a fire in the building the first thing to do is ring the fire brigade and set the fire alarm off so you can let everyone in the building know they have to evacuate. Secondly you would take up a zone, meaning a part of the building that you must check to make sure there is nobody in that area. You would then follow everyone else outside to a safe place until the fire brigade told you it was safe to go back in. Gas Leak Remove the gas element by making everything all electric. If this is not possible then gas safety training for all staff members. Makes sure that the gas is turned off at the mains when it is not being used. In the event of a gas leak. You would evacuate the building and open all the windows to ventilate the building. If you know where the mains supply is for the gas and electricity then go and turn them off and contact the emergency services. Floods Make sure that all tapes and showers are turned off once they are finished with. Do regular checks on pipes to make sure they are all stable. In the event of a flood make sure that everyone evacuates the flooded area straight away. Find out what is causing the flooding and then turn of the water supply. Then contact the emergency services. Intrusion Make sure that all rubbish that is in the bin are discarded of correctly. All food is stored away in the correct storage boxes. In the event of an intrusion, contact the council, who will then send of people to catch the pest that has got in. put rat killer down, however make sure that it is well away from the residents reach. Maybe even put rat traps down to eliminate them even more. Security Breach Make sure that everyone’s valuables are safe and accounted for. In the event of a security breach. If someone’s jewellary was to go missing, then we would have to inform the family of the residents that stuff is missing and if nothing was to come of it we would then inform the police.

The Recommendations

In the recent past, there have been calls for stricter regulations in terms of supervision and capital adequacy of the banking sector as a result of increased risks faced by banks trading internationally. A committee was therefore formed; Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, to come up with recommendations that would be adopted by banks to mitigate themselves against the risks they face in their operations.The original proposals by the committee were done in 2001 and 2003 although due to changing financial environment, revisions have had to be made that has led to the current financial proposals which were expected to be adopted by member countries after being endorsed by the central bank Governors of G10 countries (BIS, 2009). The Recommendations The framework is set out in 3 pillars; the first one being the minimum capital requirements which touch on the calculation of the minimum capital requirements, capital risk (using standardized approach, internal ratings approach as well as securitization framework), operational risk and market risk.The second pillar touches on the supervisory review process while the third pillar on market discipline (BIS, 2009). 1st Pillar This pillar gives recommendations on the minimum capital requirements and how it is calculated for purposes of credit, market and operational risks. The capital ratio should be lower than 8% with Tier 2 capital being limited to 100% of Tier 1 capital. The capital ratio is calculated using the regulatory capital and risk weighted assets.Regulatory capital framework includes Tier 1 (paid up capital , disclosed reserves), Tier 2 (undisclosed reserves, asset revaluation reserves, general provisions, hybrid capital instruments, subordinated debt and Tier 3 (subordinated short term debts). All these Tiers will be included in the capital base provided total of Tier 2 is subject to maximum of 100% of Tier 1, subordinated debt limited to 50% of Tier 1, Tier 3 capital limited to 250% of Tier 1 capital, ge neral provisions on unidentified losses limited to 1.25 percentage points and unrealized gains being subject to a discount of 55% (BIS, 2009). The internal ratings approach of calculating credit risk is based on unexpected losses and expected losses. Under this method there is categorization of exposures into asset classes with different underlying risk characteristics. These classes are corporate, sovereign, bank, retail and equity. The internal ratings approach should be adopted in the banking group in a phased manner.Standardized approach measures credit risk in a standard manner, with the help of external assessments (BIS, 2009). The other method of determining credit risk is through the use of securitization approach where exposure is determined on the basis of the economic substance rather than the legal form. Traditional securitization is where cash flow from an underlying collection of exposures is used to service a minimum of two different stratified positions showing diffe rent levels of credit risk.Synthetic securitization on the other hand is where at least two different stratified risks reflecting different levels of credit risk where credit risk of an underlying collection of exposures is transferred, partly or wholly through use of funded or unfunded derivatives that mitigate against the credit risk of the portfolio. Operational risk results from insufficient or inadequate internal processes, people and systems or from external events. Operational risk includes legal risk but not strategic or reputational. This risk is measured using standardized and advanced measurement approaches.Market risk is risk of losses in on and off balance sheet positions as a result of changes in the market prices. The risks include risks associated with interest related instruments, forex and commodities. 2nd pillar This pillar of the Basel II provisions touches on supervisory review, risk management as well as supervisory accountability in relation to risks facing th e banks. Supervisory review ensures that banks have enough capital to manage risks develop internal capital assessment , how well banks are assessing their capital requirements as regarding risks as well as amount of capital held against risks.The second pillar also has 4 provisions on banks i. e. banks should have processes of assessing their overall capital adequacy in relation to risk and maintaining capital levels, banks internal capacity and strategies and compliance with capital ratios. , banks operate above regulatory capital ratios and capital requirements, and intervention by supervisors to avoid capital falling bellow minimum capital requirements. Other issues to be addressed under this pillar include interest rate risks, credit risks, operational risks, and market risk (BIS, 2009) 3rd pillarThis touches on the disclosure requirements under Basel II. The disclosure requirements is to complement pillar 1 and 2 thus encouraging market discipline in terms of information acces s on risk, capital, risk assessment process. The disclosures should be in line with the management of these risks thus effectively informing the market on the banks exposure to risks hence enable consistency, understandability and comparability. The information could be made publicly available and in case of non disclosure, penalties may be enforced. These, though, varies across different countries.The disclosure requirements under the framework should not conflict with the accounting standards which are overall and if conflicts arise, they should be explained. Accounting disclosures should also be complemented with the frameworks disclosure requirements to clarify the disclosures (BIS, 2009). Materiality of the disclosures should also be considered. Materiality is determined by the effect of omission or inclusion of an item. The disclosures can also be done on a semi annually, quarterly, or annual basis depending on the nature of information to be disclosed.Confidential and proprie tary information should also be considered in disclosing information to the market. Challenges facing Basel II The implementation of the provisions of Basel II has not been smooth sailing. It has presented some apparent challenges to banks across the globe. The new framework has led to the mobilization of the risk, information systems and finance departments of the banks given the fact that far reaching provisions contained in the accord. This in itself will involve the use of resources in terms of manpower and money (Accenture, 2007).Banks are also faced with the challenge of implementation of the framework in terms of the change in the product portfolios as well as economic environments. This is in terms of the capital requirements which under the accord, should be above the minimum limits. The assessment of capital requirements may also lead to changes in product portfolios thus leading to introduction and withdrawal of other products. Despite the apparent benefits brought about by the new accord, some banks view Basel II as a regulatory bottle neck in their operations.Other challenges that accompany the implementation of Basel II is that of the cost implication. Given the far reaching provisions of the framework, the costs to be incurred in setting up supervisory teams and risk assessment mechanisms may be out of reach of smaller banks or even ‘eat’ into the profits of well established banking institutions. The costs involved have led to uncertainty among many bank heads (Accenture, 2007). The current information systems in most banks around the globe cannot adequately meet the requirements of Basel II.This means that banks will have to either improve on their information systems or overhaul them completely. This brings us back to the issue of cost involved in the implementation of the framework. The need of historical data in the calculation of credit risk, advanced internal rating based approach which requires up to 7 years in historical dat a or advanced measurement approach which requires up to 5 years of historical data will definitely increase the need of databases by banks which also has cost implications attached to it (Accenture, 2007).The implementation of Basel II will lead to the complete change in the existing systems and processes in order to meet the new regulations in risk determination and management as well as capital adequacy. The implementation of the accord will also see the changes in operations of the banks at the same time calling for closer supervision The adoption of the recommendations of the accord has received widespread acceptance although the level of implementation is varied.The effect of this is that there may be lack of uniformity hence making comparisons difficult between different banks (Accenture, 2007). Conclusion Despite all the above mentioned challenges, the benefits brought about by the implementation of Basel II far outweigh the drawbacks. The provisions enable banks to have and develop credit management and assessment systems that will help them to mitigate these risks effectively. The regulatory capital requirements under the accord will also enable the banks to have adequate capital to finance their operations as well as manage any risk arising thereof.The disclosure requirements also ensure that the market is aware of the operations of the banks. References Accenture. (2007, December 10th). Basel II Impacts: Challenges and Opportunities. Retrieved March 16th, 2009, from Accenture: http://www. accenture. com/xdoc/en/industries/financial/banking/capabilities/BII_Survey_SAP. pdf BIS. (2009, March 10th). Basel II:Revised International Capiatl Frameork. Retrieved March 16th, 2009, from Bank for International Settlements: http://www. bis. org/publ/bcbs128. htm