Smart Grid Resolution, London Waste Dump Site and Maladroits Cosmetics Essay Example for Free

Smart Grid Resolution, London Waste Dump Site and Maladroits Cosmetics Essay One of the benefits of investing in this $100 million project includes rerouting power around bottlenecked lines. This allows Xcel Energy to deliver electricity to areas in Boulder that have a very high demand that the previous conventional electrical grid was unable to service effectively. This smart-grid system also enables Xcel Energy to detect and reduce power outages, identify false alarms more quickly and read customer meters remotely. This in return will lead to a reduction in the number of times the service crews are sent out to those locations, thus making the service crews more productive. Combining the efficiency of the smart-grid electrical system and the reduction of outages will allow Xcel Energy to capture cost-savings more appropriately. Additionally, this electrical smart-grid allows customers to monitor their individual power use reducing household usage by up to 30% in some cases, thereby enhancing customer satisfaction. Although this may lead to a decrease in revenue for Xcel Energy, the smart-grid system enables integration of renewable generation, an increase in overall system efficiency, a more robust electrical system and an ability to recover under-utilized and wasted energy. We can’t say for sure, but this may actually benefit Xcel Energy in the long-run as they will recover lost revenue through their decreased operational costs using the smart-grid electrical system. What conflicts do you suspect might have occurred between all the different stakeholders in this project? In any project there are four main stakeholders. This includes Client, Parent Organization, Project Team and the Public. In the case of Xcel Energy’s smart-grid project, both the client and public would be the population of Boulder, CO. The Parent Organization is Xcel Energy and the project team includes representatives from Accenture consulting for engineering, energy industry consultants, leading technologists, business leaders and IT experts. Accenture provides consulting solutions in many major industrial sectors. According to the text, Accenture consulting for engineering was hired. Additionally, IT experts were also brought onto the team. Accenture provides IT solutions as part of their consulting portfolio so there may be some conflict between the two parties due to their different backgrounds and methods of doing business. Also security and privacy were of utmost importance to protect intellectual property, so it is in the best interests of the project team and the parent organization to control how much information they gave to the public and local media. However, the latter of the two recipients may have wanted more information, specifically, how this affects their electricity costs and demands in the long run causing another source of conflict. Internally, members of the project team will experience conflict caused by belonging to two different teams – their project team and functional team. Often, the head of the teams are two different people with different motives and goals, and the members have the responsibility to report to both and are therefore pulled in two different directions. The members of the project team experience almost total conflict as they compete for project resources and leadership roles. This is caused in part by the different backgrounds, attitudes and biases of each member. This would be especially apparent in the Xcel project where members from many different companies and departments are brought together, each with a unique way of accomplishing the tasks and work packages of the project. Turning London’s Waste Dump into the 2012 Olympics Stadium Which of the â€Å"triple constraints† seems to be the uppermost here? Which constraints was Crockford trading between? The text says Crockford â€Å"quickly† assembled a project team of over 1000 individuals in order to meet the mid-2011 completion date. A constant referral to time is also observed. The start date of construction was noted as May 2008 and although there was a delay due to re-designing the roof, the text ends by stating that the project was still on track to be completed by mid-2011. Therefore, Schedule is the triple constraint uppermost here. The design team for the 2012 Olympics Stadium planned a highly-compact field of play requiring a steel-beamed roof and on discovering that the steel-beamed roof as designed would create turbulence on the compact field, a lighter, more flexible roof was redesigned, which was made in part from recycled materials. This roof required less steel and cost less than the initial steel-beamed roof designed. Thus, Crockford traded between the Scope (Required Deliverables) and the Cost (Budget limit). Was the life cycle for this project S-shaped, J-shaped, or something else? Considering just the purpose of the river dredging as a project itself, what was the shape of its life cycle? The completion of London’s 2012 Olympic Stadium consisted of selecting the project team (consisting of over 1000 members), cleaning up the chosen site, design of the stadium, construction, delays and finally construction until completion. Therefore, the project life-cycle most likely followed a stretched S-shape curve similar to housing construction projects. The S-shaped curve is categorized by a slow start, followed by a quick build-up and a slow finish. This is a result of the changing levels of resources used during the successive stages of the life-cycle. The slow start in this case would be the clearing of the site and design of the stadium. Construction would also begin slowly but would quickly ramp up once all the raw materials are shipped to the location and base infrastructure completed. There is a delay (not uncommon – almost expected) when the team realizes the steel-beamed roof would create turbulence on the compact field. Finally, construction will slow down as specialized parts are ordered for the final touches (luxury spectator rooms, confectionary stands etc). The river dredging project followed a J-shaped curve. This is characterized by a slow start followed by an exponential increase in project completion over time. Moreover, the expenditure of resources has little correlation with overall progress. The team removed 30,000 tons of silt, gravel and garbage from the river. Getting the cranes and other heavy machinery used to remove garbage from the river would take time, but once there, they can quickly and effectively remove the waste from the river. Were there any ancillary goals for this project? What might they have been? The Olympic Delivery Authority’s goal to use recycled materials in the building of the 2012 Olympic Stadium can be considered as an ancillary goal. The use of recycled materials to build a lighter, more flexible roof creates opportunities whereby a stadium can be completely built from recycled materials in the future. An ancillary goal of making 55,000 of the 80,000 seats temporary would create a profitable stadium in the future because the cost of maintaining the area containing the seats is grossly reduced. Furthermore, a successful stadium results in a successful 2012 Olympics and ultimately increases tourism in England. Finally, Ian Crockford has greatly increased his reputation and experience as a project manager (as well as his subordinates and parent company too) which drastically increases his chances of managing future projects on this scale and beyond. Which of the project-defining factors in Section 1. 1 were active here. The project was identified as important by the Olympic Delivery Authority composed of politicians and other high-ranking members of society. The scope was clearly defined from the beginning of the project and was divided into sub-tasks to achieve the project goals. The due date of the project is also clearly defined as Mid-2011. Many interdependencies were at play such as the recycled metal from the police department and dredging of the river. The project was unique in that it had a temporary seating design, a lighter more flexible roof and designed specifically for the 2012 London Olympics. The budget was limited to ? 32 million and not unlike the Xcel Energy case detailed above; conflicts existed between the different stakeholders of the project. Therefore, all 7 of the project defining factors were active in the construction of the 2012 Olympics stadium. Maladroit Cosmetics Company Which of the three choices do you recommend and why? The third choice, that is, the company that manufactures the machines can handle the installation project for a fee close to what the installation would cost Maladroit is recommended for a number of reasons. The first being hat Maladroit becomes the customer in this transaction, and the company installing the machines would be performing the job and would have to do it according Maladroit’s specifications including any unseen delays not identified in the scope. We are also unsure of the qualifications of the members of her staff and if they capable of undertaking such a high risk project worth $4 million. Finally, she cannot handle the project informally out of office because the project is very important and she would not be able to devote as much time to the project as well as her current duties. If the project was one small machine at a total cost of $4,000, would your answer be different? Yes, we would recommend that she assigns the project to a member of her staff that could potentially be suited for a managerial role in the future. This low risk project would be an excellent test to see how well he or she is able to complete the project deliverables in a cost-effective and timely manner. Discuss the relative importance of the capital investment required versus the role of the investment in machinery. Capital investment can be defined as a commitment of the owner’s money to land, buildings or machinery. In this example, it is the commitment of the owner’s money to the installation of 6 machines worth $4million (note: the plant manager does not necessarily own the machines, rather, the shareholders or owners of the actual company do). The role of the investment in machinery is to replace the filling machines that have become obsolete within 6 months so that the company can continue to produce cosmetic products and generate revenue.

Marsupial Reproduction :: Marsupials Reproduction Mammals Biolgoy Essays

Marsupial Reproduction Knowledge can be obtained and conveyed in a variety of ways. One can spend hours upon hours hidden away in the corner of a library, reading the thoughts and discoveries of other researchers and writers. Or, one can allow himself to make his own discoveries through experiments and observations that he makes himself. Both methods are necessary in order to come to a complete understanding of a topic. An experimenter cannot fully appreciate the things that she observes without having a background in that area. In the same way, a man does not truly use the knowledge he has gained from book research without applying it to the real world in some way. Knowledge of marsupial reproduction is this way. There is much to be learned from the writings of scientists of the past, while at the same time there are many new discoveries to be made as researchers of the present apply this knowledge to answering new questions. The purpose of this paper is to compile knowledge that has already been written on marsupial reproduction, including the topics of: marsupial characteristics, reproductive anatomy, sexual behavior, development of young, hormonal control, and ecological implications of reproductive patterns, so that it can be used as a basis for new insights and discoveries. What is a marsupial? Many biologists of the past and present have been intrigued by a group of animals known as marsupials. Marsupials are a subdivision of mammals with several defining characteristics. First, marsupials generally have more incisor teeth than eutherian (placental) mammals. In most marsupials, as in most primates, the first toe of the hind foot is opposable to the other four, and it always lacks a claw. Interestingly, most terrestrial marsupials have lost this toe altogether. Marsupials also tend to have a smaller brain than eutherians of equivalent size and their body temperature and rate of metabolism are slightly lower than eutherians. (Gould, 52) Other important characteristics of marsupials come from their unique reproductive patterns and reproductive system. Externally, differences include à ¬such interesting anatomical features as a prepenal scrotum and biparte penes and vaginae in most groups and typically, but not always, a pouch over the teats.à ® (Bronson, 187) The major difference is the dramatically abbreviated period of gestation marsupials have adopted and the function of this phenomenon. Few marsupials have a gestation period longer than their oestrous cycle. This means that all marsupials give birth to highly altrical

Hotel Reservation System

Online Hotel Reservation System Supervisor Mr. G. J. K. November 2012 Abstract Our project is carried out to develop a web-based application called Online Hotel Reservation System. The purposes of building the Online Hotel Reservation System are for guests to make online reservations and for hotel personnel to manage reservations, housekeeping matters and content of the web application. Problems with the current system which were discovered during business studies are time-consuming reservation process, ambiguity view of hotel condition, static content in online system and lack of housekeeping management system.The Online Hotel Reservation System is significant to optimize the potential of the system, which offer the speed and convenience of one-stop availability check, instant purchase and confirmation in reservation process. The system to be developed would also allow staff to manage housekeeping matters and update all data on the Internet, 24 hours a day, without involving a web d esigner. Research on this project is conducted by visiting the websites of various hotels and material on hotel reservation all from the internet.The methodology applied in developing this system is Waterfall Paradigm. In conclusion, this automated system is aimed to save time and money for users thus resulting in high profit to the hotel and better services to the customers. Hotels will need low maintenance cost to maintain the system. The system to be developed would also provide an economical way for the customers to do room or meal booking, or to obtain information. Contents Figures Tables Part1 INTRODUCTION 1. 1 PreambleThe online Hotel Reservation is developedfor COE 497 PROJECT 1 which is one of the final year courses offered in the Computer Engineering programme. The hotel referred to in this project is the KwamengaHotel located in Fumesua, Kumasi. After studying the current system for reservation at the hotel, it discovered that the system did not provide a way for hotel pe rsonnel to manage the content of the website. The content of the website is managed by the web designer. The system did not provide housekeeping feature for the housekeeper to keep track their daily work.Potential guests are also unable to view full picture of the room their going to reserve. The purposes of developing Online Hotel Reservation System for the hotel are to manage the online hotel reservation and contents of the hotel’s website. The application will be divided willbe divided into two core functions. The first function is developed for the online transaction via Internet, which is mainly used by the hotel’s guests whereas the second function is developed for the hotel’s staff to manage the content of the website and housekeeping matters in hotel.The guests may access the hotel’s official website to get information about the hotel, such as room rates, hotel facilities, location of hotel, and virtual tour on hotel rooms and to make the online h otel reservation that is room booking via the internet. Meanwhile, this application will enable hotel’s administrator to manage the online room reservation,online meal reservation, and housekeeping of hotel rooms. This application is aimed to provide solutions for current system in order to give better services to hotel’s guest.The application also will become a good tool for the hotel staff to manage the reservations, content of portal and housekeeping matters. 1. 2 Problem Statements The problems that influences the motives for creating a new system for the hotel are stated below a) Time consuming reservation process Online guests have to spend more time to confirm or guarantee their reservations b) Ambiguity view of hotel condition There is not much information provided in current system for guests to know the condition of the hotel that they are going to stay in. c) Static content for online systemThe content of their website is static and hotel personnel have no w ay to control content themselves. They are required to contact with system developer or programmer to update their website. d) Lack of housekeeping management system Current system did not provide feature to deal with housekeeping matters. 1. 3 Objectives * To develop an internet based system that results in significant competitive advantage for the hotel in a highly competitive market by effective advertising and promoting over the internet * To maximize the hotels sales and room occupancy by empowering customer to book their hotel rooms online. To support highly integrated processes and services that cross many business functions and reach out directly to the worldwide customers. * To provide improved services for existing customers while creating new business opportunities for the hotel. * To increase the productivity of the staff by automated shared information and simplified booking process. 1. 4 Scope In this project, an online room reservation, meal reservation, package reser vation, managements for reservations, management of system’s content and management for housekeeping is developed.The guest’s will use the online room reservation, meal reservation and package reservation facilities for room, meal and package booking respectively. Guests will use the application to get information for hotel and may have virtual tour on hotel rooms. The authorized hotel staff will access the ‘back office’ to manage room, meal, package reservation and maintain information about the hotel such as room rates and hotel specific offers. This system would also provide schedule for hotel housekeeping.For the online room reservation, the scope for the guest’s usage will be focused on the instant room reservation. Meaning that, the guest may reserve the room in advance. The guests may check for room availability and choose the room type they preferred. Guest’s booking will have an instant confirmation. Guests can guarantee their reserv ation by giving the credit card details in reservation form or by cash deposit. For online meal reservation, guest may reserve their meal from hotel’s restaurant in advance.They can view the set meal available in the restaurant online without calling to the restaurant. For the ‘back office’, the scope for staff usage will be focused on management works. They can manage the room, meal and package reservation by reading the reservation records made by the guest. Staff will have a complete control of the system’s contents through the ‘back office’. They can instantly update the hotel’s room description, availability, rates, news, special promotions and more at any time, at no cost.The housekeeping feature will be providing housekeeper a monthly schedule for their work. Housekeeper Manager may easily generate schedule from the system. This is for the reference of housekeeper in order to keep the hotel rooms’ clean every day. The onli ne Hotel Reservation System will upload to the server so that visitors can browse through this system via Internet. Meanwhile, hotel staff can access ‘back office’ via local area network to manage the system’s content, reservation and housekeeping. 1. 5 Contributions 1. 6 Expected Output Part 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Abortion and Reproductive Choice