Monday, September 30, 2019

Particle Size Distribution and Cyclone Efficiency Distribution Essay

In this experiment collection efficiency of a cyclone has been determined for two types of particles – Fly Ash and MgO in an air stream. Such a dust is commonly found in industries using coal and refractories. Particle size distribution of ambient air as well as cyclone exhaust has also been measured using Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI). The collection efficiency of the cyclones was in 85 -95% range for Fly Ash dust and approximately 96% for MgO dust under experimental conditions. The particle size distribution in the ambient air as well as in the cyclone exhaust was showed a log normal distribution and each of these distributions was composed of more than one size distributions. A. Introduction: In modern industrial era we have to live with dust and powders on continuous basis. There are many industrial processes that use raw materials in powder form like powder metallurgy, sintering plants in integrated steel plants, cement industry, polymer engineering etc. to name a few. It is not unreasonable to expect that the industries that use powders as raw material, throws lot of particulate matter into the atmosphere around it. Even in the cases, when the raw material in not a powder, the emissions contains lot of particulate matter. Some examples are emissions from blast furnaces, coal fired plants etc. to name a few. Vehicular pollution is one of the major sources of suspended particulate matter (spm) in the atmosphere in the urban areas. Therefore, the knowledge of particle size distribution is required and very useful in many cases. Some examples are the following: †¢ Estimation of dust hazard to the personal handling powders in industries †¢ Designing an equipment for removing dust from a gas stream like exhaust gas of blast furnace and other furnaces †¢ Selection of a suitable dust cleaning system for a given environment †¢ Estimation of the efficiency of filters and other dust collection systems †¢ Identifying the source of the dust particles †¢ Estimation of properties of an aerosol etc. Therefore, it is useful to understand the method and practices of measuring and describing particle size distribution and also the different methods and instruments that are used to clean dust from a gas stream. This experiment is concerned with sizing distribution of atmospheric dust and the efficiency of a dust collection system will be determined. The following section described different distributions of particle size in a dust sample. A. 1 Description of particle size distributions Dust particle or airborne particles are not of a given size rather there are particles of different sizes in a dust sample. This size range can be very large in the range of tens of nanometers to hundreds of micron. The exact size distribution depends upon the source of the particulate matter. For example size distribution in a blast furnace exhaust will be different from that in a motorcycle emission and so on. A particle size distribution can be described by the following mathematical expression: Here, ‘d’ is the diameter of the dust particle and dN is number of the dust particle in the diameter range ‘d’ to ‘d+dd’. ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘? ’ and ‘? ’ are the constants. Depending on the value of these constants there are two kinds of particle size distributions. One is â€Å"Nukiyama – Tanasawa† distribution and the other is â€Å"Rosin-Rammler† distribution. For â€Å"Nukiyam – Tanasawa† distribution, ? = 2 and ? = 1 and the expression is â€Å"Rosin – Rammler† distribution is described by the following expression: The â€Å"Rosin – Rammler†distribution was developed to represent size distribution of coal particles, that was received by sieving of coal particles. Here di is a particular sieve size or the minimum size of a particle retained by that sieve; R is the weight of the coal particles retained by all the sieves with size d > di and was expressed as percentage of the total coal weight; ‘b’ and ‘n’ are constants. To evaluate these constants in these size distributions, one needs to do curve fitting. Therefore, it is easier to go for simpler statistical distributions based on ‘normal’ distribution. For any distribution, there is a mean and a standard deviation. For a sample these can be calculated by using the following formulae: Sample Mean Sample Standard Deviation From these sample statistics one can calculate population parameters like true mean or population mean, ? and standard distribution ? with certain degree of accuracy. However, if the sample can be considered to be true representative of the true population then one can take sample statistics (mean and standard deviation) as population parameters ? and ?. While the mean is a measure of the central tendency, standard deviation gives distribution of particle size around the mean. If standard deviation is large then the distribution is wide and vice versa. If two more parameters ‘skew’ and ‘kurtosis’ that measure symmetry and peakedness respectively are also used in conjugation with mean and standard deviation, then can completely describe a size distribution. For a normal distribution, ‘skew’ and ‘kurtosis’ are zero and the distribution is mono-modal with peak at the mean and is symmetric about the mean. Such a distribution is applicable for simple distributions with m/s > 2. 5. If this ratio is smaller then the distribution, generally shows large positive skew. To tackle such a problem one goes for log-normal distribution, which is a normal distribution of the logarithm of the particle size. Most of the natural size distributions are best described by log-normal distribution. As mass distribution is more appropriate and used frequently, therefore, one can deduce mass distribution from size distribution. To do this one needs to calculate mean and standard distribution of the mass of the particles and this is done by dividing individual size measurements by while calculating the mean and the standard deviation. For most of the pollution control applications log-normal distribution is used. Probability distribution function (pdf) for such a distribution with mean ? and standard deviation ? is given by the following expression Such a distribution is shown in figure 1, below. In this case, the peak shifts in left direction with increasing standard deviation, ?. Fig. 1: Shift of the probability distribution peak in left direction with increasing standard deviation of the sample There is another very important aspect of particle size distribution. Generally a dust sample collected from certain location does not consist of a single distribution; instead it consists of many size distributions. It is easier to identify and separate these distributions when the peaks are well separated. However, many times the peaks are so close that these distributions mingle up as a single composite size distribution and one needs to extract individual distributions out of this composite distribution by carefully deconvoluting the composite size distribution. Before describing a size distribution, one needs to first measure the size distribution. There are many instruments that help in measurement of particle size and the size distribution. Some important techniques are described in the following section. A. 2 Measurement of Particle Size and Size-Distribution Sieving: This is the most conventional and easiest method for particle size-distribution measurement. In this case a representative sample of the particulate matter is taken by suitable sampling method like divided cone method. In divided cone method, the particulate matter is made as a cone and one quarter of the cone is taken. This process is repeated hill the final sample size is taken. This sample is then sieved by using a series of sieves of different sizes in a consecutive order. The particle that remains above the sieve of a particle number (size) is given that size and in this manner the size-distribution of the entire sample is measured. Sieve size is given by a number. That number represents number of aperture in a linear inch. Thus a sieve of size 75 means, there are 75 apertures in one inch of that sieve and so on. Therefore, a larger sieve number corresponds to a smaller sieve size. This method is very easy and suitable for coarse particles of size greater than 50 ? m. However, for finer sized particles, this technique becomes very unreliable. Optical Microscopy Optical microscope is also very useful method to measure size distribution of particulate matter. This method can be used to measure size distribution of particulate matter from any source. Different sampling methods can be used to collect the sample for size distribution measurement. Some of these are: (i) Filtration: Membrane filters are generally used to collect samples that have different color or refractive index than the filter. (ii) Sedimentation on a glass slide is another useful technique, especially for large particles. However, for getting a representative sample one should be careful. (iii) Thermal precipitation is another useful technique; however, care should be taken to avoid segregation of sizes. (iv) Electrostatic precipitation on a glass slide or electron microscope grid is another technique that is commonly employed. However, optical microscopy is limited to ~ 1 ? m sized particles as maximum magnification is 1000 only. This is because, light is the probing signal and its wavelength is of that order. For measuring the size distribution if still finer particles one needs to use scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). In case of SEM a focused electron beam is scanned in a raster and the image is formed by collecting the different type of electron signals like secondary electron or back scattered electron. In case of TEM, the focused electron beam is transmitted through the particle and an image of the particle is formed at higher magnification ~ 100,000. Cyclones: Cyclones are used mainly as dust removing system; however, these are also used for separating particles into different size groups. One example is use of cyclone in personal dust sampler to separate the powder into two fractions – one which is respirable and another which is not. Cascade impactors: In this system, particles are collected in different size groups in different stages according to the aerodynamic impaction onto a substrate. Each stage can be analyzed chemically, measured using a microscope or can be even weighed electronically. These are used for sampling of particulate matter in atmosphere or in chimney or furnace exhaust gas. These are capable of sizing the particulate matter in 0. 05 to 10 mm range. These systems have evolved considerably and modern systems are equipped with quartz crystal microbalance for detecting mass number of the dust particle and even electrical detection of the particles, which has been charged before classifying into different sizes. One such system is Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI). This equipment will be described in somewhat detail in the next subsection. Diffusion Battery: In this system particles are classified based on their ability to diffuse through a series of mesh screens. Smaller particles diffuse faster and vice versa. Finer particles are thus collected easily than the coarser particles. This system can be used for particles smaller than 1 ? m. Electrical Mobility Analyzers: In this system, the particles are charged prior to separation. The charged particles are separated by applying electric field. Smaller particles have higher mobility due to smaller mass than the larger particles. Therefore, electric field removes the particles in selective manner at different stages according to their sizes. This system can do sizing of particles in the size range 1 ? m to 1 mm. Light Scattering Devices: These are based on scattering of light by the dust particle in the suspension. It can use dry as well as wet suspension. The angle of scattering of light is related to its size. Normally a highly collimated laser light is used. Though the minimum size is limited by the wavelength of the light and is ~ 0. 3 mm; newer systems have been designed that can measure particles in nm size range as well. However, these are costly equipments.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Human Resource Management Process Essay

Human Resource Management Process Introduction            The role of a Human Resource department is ever changing in today’s volatile business environment. Over the years HR have become strong strategic partners within an organization by providing functions such as recruitment, training and development and retention. Human Resource, in order to be strategic, works directly with all levels of management in an effort to help with strategy and the growth of the company to meet their vision. One very important aspect is talent acquisition. Having the right people in key roles within the organization is vital to the success and growth of any company. Performing this function includes job analysis, task and KSA statements, preparing job descriptions, recruiting, and then setting compensation. The entire process from job analysis to compensation is discussed as follows; Job analysis            When a new job is created or a vacancy occurs, it is the role of a HR representative to fill that void. In order to perform this function they need to first understand what role they are trying fill is and what skills and responsibilities this new role would require. By conducting a job analysis they are able to further define important elements of any job and then search for the person or people that are the most qualified and would be a good fit for the company. Job analysis is the process of describing and recording aspects of jobs and stipulating the skills and other requirements necessary to perform the job. It refers to the process of Gathering and collecting information about responsibilities, duties, skills, the outcomes and the environment that influences working in a particular job field. The job analysis process will help the HR managers find the ideal candidate for the position. Task statement            Task analysis is the process by which a task statement is derived. The task statement is the most important element of task analysis process because it provides a standardized, concise format to describe worker actions. It is a document that defines and describes the specific job to be performed by the candidate. The creation of these task statements may take considerable thought and insight. However, the rewards of conducting this due diligence before taking on the task of hiring a new employee, makes the process very simple and less stressful. Everything is clearly defined and above all, measurable in the future. KSA statement            KSA statements are the job related knowledge, skills and abilities that an applicant must perform successfully in a certain position. It is a statement that helps employees in the process of identifying the employee who best fits in a particular field. KSA statements help hiring managers identify the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to successfully perform a specific job. Knowing the tasks that have to be performed, helps you to identify the KSA that the candidate must possess in order to perform to the companies standards and in return hire the right candidate. Job description            Writing a job description is an important step in the human resource staffing plan. A job description typically outlines the necessary skills, training and education needed by a potential employee for a specified job. It provides an outline of what should be done by a particular employee in a specific position. It should give a brief overview of the role, how it relates to the organizational vision, a list of key responsibilities, requirements and qualifications.Once a job description is prepared, it can serve a basis for interviewing candidates, orienting a new employee and finally in the evaluation of overall job performance. By incorporating and utilizing job descriptions, an organization can better understand the experience and skill set needed to enhance the overall success of the company. Recruitment plan            Once the Job analysis, Task statements, KSA statements and the job description are completed, the next step is to search for candidates. A complete recruitment plan identifies vacant positions in an organization that need to be filled so that so that an adequate job advertisement can be created and placed appropriately for a specific period of time. Most recruitment plans include searching both internally and externally from the organization. When organizations choose the right people for the job, these people are not only great performers with their job, but also tend to stay with the organization longer. Selection method            The key to the selection process is to choose a strategy for screening candidates that will allow an organization to view the most qualified candidates for the vacant position. Employee selection process usually entails reviewing, screening, interviewing, testing then selecting the best available candidates for theavailable position. Organizations also make use of many outside agencies when completing the selection process. Drug screening and reference checks are often done by a third party. Many companies are beginning to incorporate assessment tests and activities into the selection process to insure additional training is not necessary for potential candidates. A selection method chosen by the organization should allow the selection panel of a company to pick the candidate that is most suited to fill the vacant position. Performance evaluation            A performance evaluation is a review and discussion of an employee’s performance of assigned duties and responsibilities. Performance evaluations need to be in place to support decisions made by management and the HR department. The appraisal is based on results obtained by the employee in their job. These evaluations can also be used to teach as they may show areas that need improvement as well as provide backup for recognition of a job well done. It measures skills and accomplishments with reasonable accuracy and uniformity.The performance evaluations need to be structured and performed in a timely manner as well and managers need to be trained appropriately has to how to conduct these evaluations. Compensation plan            Compensation is a systematic approach to proving monetary value to employees in exchange for work performed.Compensation may achieve several purposes assisting in recruitment, job performance, and job satisfaction. Job analysis can be used in compensation to identify or determine skill levels, compensable job factors, fiscal and supervisory responsibilities and required level of education which is related to salary level. Job descriptions are used as a tool for determining salary ranges.Many people associate compensation with money but when looking for a job, many compensation packages are designed with a package of products in mind. Due to the fact that compensation isn’t just about the dollar figure, compensation packages need to be discussed in great detail when hiring new employees.Overall compensation strategies have to be designed to meet the overall objectives of the organization.            Would you change anything in your process at this point? No I wouldn’t change anything. This is because of the following reasons:            I don’t think that I would change anything about my paper because I did do extensive research on a HR Receptionist position to determining the skills, qualifications and experience needed for this type of positions. There is a legal need to do a job analysis. Employers who wish to demonstrate that their selection processes are valid will need to start with the job analysis. There are also management reasons for doing the analysis. It yields an improved process for obtaining, retaining and managing organization’s work. Job description communicates the organization’s expectations to its employees. Conclusion            In conclusion, we have discussed the importance of the job analysis process which includes task statement, KSA statement and job description. Job analysis is the procedure used to determine tasks, duties and responsibilities of each job, and identify knowledge, skills and abilities appropriate to perform the job.The job analysis process can render positive outcomes like increased profits, employee retention and reaching overall organizational goals when implemented successfully within an organization.            We have also discussed importance of human resource department’s ability to recruit, select candidates appropriately and continue ongoing performance evaluations with the organization’s employees.An organization cannot build a good team of working professionals without good Human Resources. The key functions of the Human Resources Management team include recruiting people, training them, performance appraisals, motivating employees as well as workplace communication, workplace safety, and much more. As you can see, human resource plays a very big role in the foundation of an organization. Literature review on compensation Introduction            Compensation can be defined as any rewards obtained by employees in return for their labor. Compensation can be divided into three aspects, that is; direct financial compensation, indirect financial compensation and non-financial compensation. Direct financial compensation consists of pay received in the form of wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions provided at regular intervals. Indirect financial compensation includes all financial rewards which are not included in direct compensation, and form part of the social contract between the employer and employee such as benefits, leaves, retirement plans, education and employee services. Non financial compensation refers to topics such as career development and advancement opportunities, opportunities for recognition as well as work environment and conditions.            As much as many employees focus on direct financial compensation, it is the non-financial rewards that are more effective in the long term employee engagement. Job position covers the various duties such as interesting duties and responsibilities, autonomy, challenges, authority feeling of achievement, advancement opportunities and opportunities for recognition.            Work environment focuses on; competent supervision, fun and effective co-workers, flexible scheduling, modified retirement and fair and consistent practices and policies. Scholarly review            Levels of firms’ productivity widely depend on good compensation strategies. In small businesses, coordination between general resource management practices lacked, hence, diminished productivity levels. Besides, personnel related problems are arising as a result of unclear, outlined policies on human resource management and compensation in small businesses. Inadequate and inefficient management of human resources often adversely affects employee’s perception of equity, resulting in dissatisfaction, inadequate motivation, higher turnover and lower productivity (Tate, et al, 1982). Unlike small businesses, large businesses rely on a well organized, formal personnel development to ensure effective human resource management.            There are various policies that aid in proper human resource management and increment of productivity levels. These policies are based on both wage payment and other fringe benefits. In order for these policies to effectively work, one need to enact proper maintenance practices which include; appropriate induction of an employee, conducting performances review, providing employee service and instituting governance.            However, the surveys were done to come to a conclusion on the gap that was observed between ‘what could be’ and ‘what was’ (in terms of professional human resource management) might be caused by at least four factors; a lack of formal personnel management training, a lack of perception on the part of decision makers that productivity is improved by use of generally accepted human resource management practices, a lack of incentive because employers are family members or an inability to use human resource management practices effectively because of size and monetary constraints.            Compensation can also be achieved through recognition of personnel. Recognition of personnel is done by considering the following; the length of service, above and beyond program, peer to peer, retirements and sales. Rewarding of the recognized personnel is done through; certification and or plaques, cash gifts, certification and company logo merchandise. Recognition is meant to; salute years of service, create a positive work environment, encourage high performance, foster a culture of recognition and raise personnel morale.            Not all gestures succeed. Celebrating employees can also backfire, as far as the research conducted by Business Scholars at Harvard Business School. There were two reasons that emerged; first, â€Å"employees strategically gave the program improving timelines only when eligible for the reward, and call in sick to retain eligibility,† scholars explain. Secondly, â€Å"employees with perfect pre-program attendance or high productivity suffered 6.8% productivity decrease after program introduction, suggesting they were de-motivated by awards for good behavior they already exhibited.†            Compensation related issues have called for relevant compensation plans and decisions in order to cater equally for personnel. There are various decisions that human resource management makes concerning compensation as highlighted below;            Compensation decisions are essential in compensation strategies. Compensation of personnel depends on the market position (level of pay relative to competitors), internal versus external orientation, hierarchy (the pay structure and the basic-job versus skills-for the pay structure reward mix, and the basis of research performance versus seniority, groups versus individual and criteria used) (Lawler 1981). These are issues that determine decision of salary increment.            Increasing list of decisions has raised doubts about the efficacy of a strategic perspective. It brings to mind the multiple facts of job satisfaction that made the constraint more complex than originally conceived (Heneman, 1985), hence, t is necessary to differentiate decision which are strategic from those that are not.            Compensation decision making widely depends on the strategic policies as highlighted below;            Competitiveness, whose degrees vary among various organizations and among occupations within them, from a strategic perspective, competitiveness refers to positioning a firm’s compensation relative to its competitors (Belcher, et al, 1987). It deals with total return trade off decision.            Internal structure- the internal pay structure is a fundamental policy that requires strategic decisions. Typically it refers to the distribution of rates or internal pay differentials. (Simon, et al,1987.) Decisions involved depend on the issue of pay, equity and slope of the hierarchies.            Forms of pay- this is another policy that pertains the forms of the mix of various elements of total compensation (Heneman, et al, 1973). Decisions include the number of forms to offer, the degree to which each is contingent to employees maintaining their membership in the organization like entitlement, or performance like incentives, relative importance of each form and the proportion of the workforce eligible for each firm.            Basis for increase-decisions based on the strategic policies involved in granting pay increase are also involved; they range from an emphasis on short versus long term incentives (Caroll, et al, 1987).            Role in the human resource strategy- description of firm’s human resources strategies plays a very important role in decision making (Dyer, 1985).            Administrative style- this process is used to administer compensation decision, also referred to as strategic properties. It deals with issues such as employee participation, communication centralization and dispute resolutions mechanisms.            Compensation planning and administration has various challenges which require efficient decision making criteria. These compensation related decisions are formulated to do away with disputes that may result from pre hiring pay, ongoing employment, legal compliance, equal pay out and fair labor standards acts. Conclusion            From what we have seen in the scholarly articles, for one to improve business productivity, it is essential to have relevant compensation strategies to provide guidelines on personnel compensation. Many small businesses are characterized by inadequate and insufficient management of human resources which tend to affect employee’s perception of equity, resulting to dissatisfaction, inadequate motivation and lower productivity, hence, proper human resource management strategies are essential in building a well organized, formal, personnel department to ensure high productivity levels.            Compensation can also be achieved through proper recognition of personnel by considering different aspects as highlighted in the articles above. Recognition is essential as it fosters work environment and also encourages high performance through appraisal of morale among the staff.            In order to come up to a proper compensation plan, the human resource department needs to formulate clear policies and procedures to follow. These policies aid in decision making regarding various compensation incentives to personnel or employees. These decisions involve financial compensation which is in form of wages, salaries, bonuses and commissions, leaves, retirement plans and other employee services; non financial compensation decision on job positions and working environment related factors.            In short, it is essential for a good human resource management to have relevant policies which are essential in identifying when and how to compensate personnel properly. References Amba-Rao, S. C. &Pendse, D. (1985).Human Resource Compensation and Maintenance Practices. American Journal of Small Business, 10(2), 19-29. Belcher, D., &Atchinson, T. 1987.Compensation administration.Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. Caroll S. (1987). Business strategies and Compensation Systems.In D.B Balkin&L.R. Gomez Mgia, New Perspectives in Compensation, Pp 343- 355, Prentice Hall. Dyer, L. (1985). Strategic human resource management and planning. InK. Rowland and G. Ferris (eds.), Research in Personnel and HumanResources Management, 3, pp. 1-30, Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. Freedman, S. (1978).Some Determinants of Compensation Decisions.Academy of ManagementJournal, 397-409. Heneman, H. G. (1985), Pay Satisfaction in K. M. Rowland & G. R. Ferns (eds), Research inPersonnel and Human Resource Management, vol 3, p 115-139. Lawler, E. E., III. 1981. Pay and organizational development. Reading, Mass.: Addison- Wesley. Tate, C. E., Jr., Megginson, L. C , Scott, C. R., Jr., &Tnieblood, L. R. (1985). Successful small business management. Piano, TX: Business Publications, Inc. Thompson, K. (2014). Honoring Employees is Good Business. Phi Kappa Phi Forum, 94(2), 26. Source document

Saturday, September 28, 2019

The Negative Effects of Violence on TV Essay

The sum of force on telecasting presents is inacceptable. The stuff that you see on shows that are â€Å"supposedly for kids† merely don’t seem like it. As more and more violent telecasting shows and plans are aired every individual dark. childs are affected by it in a negative manner. Surveies have shown that disclosures of force to childs at early ages will impact them mentally. They will either get down to believe nil of force. or be over-frightened because of what he/she may hold seen on Television. The Television channels should non be allowed to expose this sort of stuff and force to childs at such early ages. because of the aftereffects it will hold on the adolescents and kids. First of all. there is manner excessively much force on telecasting whether it is on some premier clip channel. or even a Saturday forenoon sketch plan. For some premier clip Television shows. there are three to five hours violent Acts of the Apostless per hr. For every Saturday plan for childs. there are about twenty to 25 violent Acts of the Apostless per hr. ( Frazier ) This shows how much force there is on â€Å"children shows† . In a sample for the National Television Violence Study. it was found that around 60 per centum of ten-thousand telecasting plans contained violent stuff. ( Kunkel ) That is a batch! That survey â€Å"identified an norm of 6. 000 violent interactions in a individual hebdomad of programming across the 23 channels that were examined. including both broadcast and overseas telegram webs. More than half of the violent shows ( 53 % ) contained deadly Acts of the Apostless. and one in four of the plans with force ( 25 % ) depicted the usage of a gun. ( Kunkel ) That means that the bulk of telecasting shows. whether for kids or non. will hold force on that plan more than half the time. ) Statisticss besides showed that the mean plan for kids more frequently contained more force so the mean Adult Television. Even in some â€Å"G† rated films. there is force. That is excessively unhealthy particularly because of the effects it causes. Now. if you put that stat along with how much kids watch Television daily. â€Å"An mean American kid tickers telecasting 21-23 hours per hebdomad. ( Frazier ) That means per hebdomad. 60 per centum of those 20s or so hours will hold something violent that will hold a negative consequence on the kids. Besides. harmonizing to the American Psychiatric Association in 1996. striplings will hold viewed 10. 000 fake slayings and 200. 000 Acts of the Apostless of force by the age of 18. ( Frazier ) Besides repeated exposure to force from telecasting is unhealthy for the child’s character. With childs being around force while watching â€Å"kid’s shows† . â€Å"the child becomes less sensitive towards its effects on victims and the human enduring it causes. ( Boyse ) Research has proven in the past old ages that the force on telecastings so has a negative consequence on kids. Research from the National Institute of Mental Health in 1982. force is said to take to aggressive behaviour by kids and adolescents. Even before this. one of the most well-known surveies done in 1963 by Bandura proved that force has a important consequence on the people that view it. â€Å"He had a group of kids view a Television picture of a theoretical account who kicked and punished an hyperbolic plastic doll. After the screening. the kids were placed in a rumpus room with other kids who had non seen the picture. Those that saw the picture displayed significantly more aggressive behaviour than those who didn’t. † Other surveies showed that childs who saw violent sketchs had a high opportunity to non portion their playthings with others. Another survey made in 1972 with Liebert and Baron. confirmed the findings of Bandura. â€Å"This survey investigated children’s willingness to ache other kids after sing aggressive Television plans. Two groups of kids watched a different Television plan. one of which had aggressive content and one of which was impersonal. Those who saw the aggressive plan ( The Untouchables ) were found to be more willing to ache another kid after sing the plan than those who watched the impersonal plan ( a path race ) . † ( Frazier ) These harmful effects from the force portrayed on telecasting are grouped into three primary classs ; â€Å"children’s acquisition of aggressive attitudes and behaviours ; desensitisation. or an increased unfeelingness towards victims of force ; and increased or overdone fright of being victimized by force. While all of these effects reflect inauspicious results. it is the first – an increased leaning for violent behaviour – that is at the nucleus of public wellness concern about televised force. † ( Kunkel ) Back to desensitisation. â€Å"According to the article â€Å"Media Violence. † the American media shows heroes justifiably utilizing force as a agency to decide struggle. The American Academy of Pediatrics website suggests that drawn-out exposure to this type of force additions credence of force as a agency of work outing jobs. The 1995 to 1997 AAP National Television Study showed that 61 per centum of programming â€Å"portrayed interpersonal force. much of it in an entertaining or glamorized mode. † Children are drawn to such scheduling when the violent act seems phantasmagoric and the deficiency of effect attractive. † ( Adams ) He besides stated that force is both sanitised. â€Å"By sanitized. immediate hurting and agony by victims of force is included in less than half of all scenes of force. More than a 3rd of violent interactions depict unrealistically mild injury to victims. grossly minimizing the badness of hurt that would happen from such actions in the existent universe. In amount. most word pictures sanitize force by doing it look to be much less painful and less harmful than it truly is. By glamorized. I mean that force is performed by attractive function theoretical accounts who are frequently justified for moving sharply and who suffer no compunction. unfavorable judgment. or punishment for their violent behaviour. More than a 3rd of all force is committed by attractive characters. and more than two-thirds of the force they commit occurs without any marks of penalty. † ( Kunkel ) One other job kids might confront is overexposure to force. â€Å"Overexposure to force. and peculiarly realistically depicted force. may take kids to believe that the universe is chiefly a unsafe and insecure topographic point. They may get down to overrate the possibility that they will be victims of force. go forthing them with undue anxiousness and emphasis. ( Frazier ) Other than doing emotional jobs. it can do some harm to a child’s turning character or ethical motives. â€Å"Sigmund Freud believed that kids need to develop a sense of morality by the age of five or they could see troubles later in life. If a kid doesn’t learn to understand the difference between right and incorrect. she will non develop a proper apprehension of guilt or compunction. and will therefore be more likely to prose cute heedlessly in behaviours that are considered socially and morally incorrect. The article â€Å"Children. Adolescents. and Television† states that research has shown telecasting force to hold a negative consequence on the academic public presentation. gender. organic structure constructs. and self-images of immature viewing audiences. which can take to violent or aggressive behaviour and substance maltreatment. † ( Adams ) Nowadays. with all of these â€Å"reality shows† on MTV. The E Network. etc. it’s easy and normal to see force. Childs that watch â€Å"The Kardashians† and â€Å"Teen Mom† see their favourite famous persons act in a manner that is unprofessional on telecasting. but they don’t know better. They want to be merely like them. Television shows like those really use force and â€Å"incidents† to assist raise their evaluation and popularity. ( Caning ) With all of these mental effects caused from excessively much screening of force. this proves how telecasting scheduling should be more sensitive for the content made for kids. In add-on. parents should besides seek and lend in filtrating what their kids watch on telecasting. There are different stairss you can take. that can perchance let your kid to non be exposed to such force on Television shows. You can seek and watch telecasting with your childs. That manner. you’ll know what they watch. and you can command the content. ( Boyse ) Other options include previewing the content of the plan or possibly merely assigning them a shorter sum of clip to watch Television. At least that manner. there is a smaller opportunity for force in the smaller clip slot. ( Frazier ) One other good manner to maintain your child’s mind off of telecasting would be to seek and acquire them involved like other activities. Sports. reading. jobs. etc. ; anything like that. Another good thought would be to seek and speak to your childs about force in media. If you can explicate to them why force is incorrect. so you can be more alleviated and swear them. ( Boyse ) Good communicating is cardinal. If you try to convert to your kid that you are merely seeking to be concerned and caring. they’ll understand the point you are seeking to do. In decision. I believe that kids deserve better than what is presently traveling on. As their function theoretical accounts. we need to assist do their â€Å"future† safe. We need to ban all force from children’s scheduling. Television channels shouldn’t be allowed to expose inappropriate stuff and force to striplings. It causes them a batch of emotional hurting. even physical. Children are like sponges. They absorb what they hear or learn. If at an early age. they are exposed to force. killing. particularly on telecasting. where effects aren’t even addressed†¦ That’s non a healthy manner for kids to turn up. It’s best that we keep that off from the inexperienced person.

Friday, September 27, 2019

Quality in Health Care Administration Research Paper

Quality in Health Care Administration - Research Paper Example The primary role of the Manager-Patient Services is to ensure that the needs of all patients in the hospital are successfully met by effectively collaborating with the medical departments (pharmacy, diagnostics, laboratory, medical records department, nursing, and therapy) and non medical (housekeeping, F&B, security, engineering, personnel, finance, IT and materials). The day to day responsibilities include: In order to provide quality care to external customers viz. patients, the service delivery process has to be made seamless. Both, while implementing a service for the first time, or improving existing service, based on customer feedback, the service delivery process is studied and changed. It involves defining and documenting the process, communicating and then implementing the same. This is followed by feedback to trigger control mechanism and make necessary changes to the process so that desired outcomes are achieved. 1. Define and document the service delivery process: Once a process has been identified which helps in service delivery, its is discussed with the key team members who are involved at the various stages of service delivery to understand the way the process works and brainstorm for ideas that could make it work better. It also helps in ensuring that their acceptance and willingness to implement the process is achieved without which even the best designed processes can fail. 2. Train the staff- Once there is acceptance on the process, it is documented and communicated to all team members. The staff who are the key members of the process, are then trained to work in accordance with process objectives to ensure that the desired outcomes are achieved. 3. Measure the outcomes against what was originally planned: this helps in analysing if the defined process is really working or not. Once implemented, the process is monitored and feedback is received to check whether the process is achieving its objectives at regularly defined intervals.  

Thursday, September 26, 2019

Journal Articles Summaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Journal Articles Summaries - Essay Example rise, as Latin America had utilized the forces of globalization a lot better than the remaining parts of the United States of America before the 1920s. In the decade of 1930, however, the Latin American policies started to edge away from globalization and it was a very critical time period in Latin American history. This article outlines the problems and their possible explanations which are found not from the increase in output from protection as visualized generally, but in the needs of profits, coming up with strategies to respond to the tariffs of their trading partners, and the call for reimbursing those participants of globalization who did not succeed (Coatsworth, John H, and G W. Jeffrey). The article, ‘Always Protectionist? Latin American Tariffs from Independence to Great Depression’ is written by John H. Coatsworth and Jeffrey G. Williamson and is a part of the Latin American Studies compiled and published by Cambridge University Press. The article starts off by exposing the fact that a majority of people do not in a good way, except some groups in Latin America including historians of economics. That fact is, import and export taxes and tolls were much, much higher in Latin America than any other part from the 1860s to 1914, when the First World War ensued. The decades leading to the First World War, also known as the first globalization boom or belle à ©poque of Latin America, were the years in which the tariffs in Latin America kept increasing. Knowledge of this fact gives rise to an economical as well as political question: What caused the taxes to be so high BEFORE the Great Depression and not AFTER it? It is a known fact that he high taxes are the cause of a misshaped local economy and it stunts the economy’s growth with respect to performance as well. But why the tariffs were so high was the real question. Latin America was believed to have made the most of pre World War One belle à ©poque and was way ahead of others in the process of

Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Project Management - Essay Example The project is to launch a new product, a multiple container system that requires minimal cabinet storage space in the consumer’s home, within nine months from now. The product is more described in greater detail as similar to a competitor's product but will have significantly more features. As reported, this product will open new markets for the sales channel, lay the foundation for add-on products, and generate new revenue. The objective therefore is for sales and marketing personnel to make the necessary preparations in terms of designing appropriate marketing strategies encompassing the 4Ps: product, pricing, place and promotions to be used for the launching of the new product. This research aims to evaluate and present such deliverables: 1. Sales Team 1.1 Generate sales forecasts 1.2 Set price for the new product 1.3 Familiarize the team with potential add-on products 1.4 Identify potential customers within sales boundaries 1.5 Conduct sales force education and orientation for the new product 1.6 Synchronize time schedule of designing strategies with manufacturing and marketing team 2. Marketing Team 2.1 Design advertisements and promotional campaign for the new product 2.2 Identify strategic markets 2.3 Monitor prospective competitors’ response to the new product 2.4 Provide all crucial marketing materials (brochures, product specifications and features, packaging) 2.5 Determine schedules for home sales events to launch the new product 2.6 Synchronize time schedule of identified activities with manufacturing and sales team.

Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Report BP Main content ONLY Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Report BP Main content ONLY - Assignment Example BP was privatised in the 1980s. The United Kingdom (U.K.) and the United States (U.S.) have active and extensive stock and bond markets, and a primary purpose of financial reporting in both countries is to provide investors and creditors (i.e., suppliers of capital) with information useful for decision making. Generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) in the U.K. and the U.S. are similar. (Deans, Bob and Peter, 2010, 56) For example, both U.K. and U.S. GAAP require providing for un-collectible accounts and depreciating fixed assets over their useful lives. Nevertheless, differences exist between U.S. GAAP and U.K. GAAP, in terms of accounting standards and financial statement format and terminology. BP uses historical cost accounting, but its income statement also reports replacement cost information about certain earnings components. BP uses the FIFO inventory valuation method. In the U.K., companies may not use the LIFO method for either tax purposes or financial reporting pu rposes. Because under LIFO the costs of the latest goods acquired are treated as the costs of the first goods sold, LIFO based cost of goods sold will approximate cost of goods sold computed on a current or replacement cost basis. ... f gross margin that reflects two components: (a) gross margin on a LIFO basis; and (b) any gains or losses realised over the period from when inventory was acquired until it was sold (referred to as holding gains/ losses or inventory profits/losses). Therefore, gross margin computed under LIFO generally will differ from gross margin computed under FIFO unless changes in inventory costs are small in amount or inventory turns over very rapidly, such that the oldest costs under FIFO approximate current costs. Following graphs describe BP's financial statements and accompanying notes. BP's financial statements, comparative balance sheets, income statements and statements of cash flows are given below. This will build on knowledge of the basic financial statements and of inventory valuation methods. SWOT Analysis on British Petroleum British Petroleum is given position of third largest energy company of the world. BP has its headquarter in the UK and it is as a multinational oil company w hich: Strengths Functions petrochemical businesses globally with the help of its set of connections of other brands and subsidiaries ( Like ARCO; ampm; Amoco and Burmah Castrol etc) Holds prominent position in local Stock Exchange and is included in FTSE 100 Index; Holds enormous amount of trade loyalty in the field of oil; Possesses well-organised management with a slogan of ‘Beyond Petroleum’ . Raised its profit up to 83% for record oil and gas prices. Weaknesses Launch of contentious commerce with the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline; Rise of prices of petrol within the UK; Outburst of British Petroleum plant in Texas resulted in hundred injuries and fifteen deaths; During 2006, Immoral act of spread of 270.000 gallons of crude oil in the Alaskan tundra; Poisonous leak of methanol in the

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Creativity and Play Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Creativity and Play - Essay Example Creativity likewise has many denotations and connotations in the English language. Creativity is hallmarked by intrinsic motivation, intention, adaptiveness and originality. It is what the person does, either the creative act or something aesthetically brand new and purposeful to the individual child. Original means it is not habitual and shies from routine. Creative has the implication of unconventional and intrinsically motivated. Intentional actions are not governed by conventions or extrinsic rewards (Sternberg, 1999). This essay will reflect on the importance of play in developing creativity. It seeks to analyze the different theories that are posited to reference childhood play and offer an evaluation of creativity across the early childhood curriculum’s in the United Kingdom (UK) namely; the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the National Curriculum (NC). Reference will be made to personal experience underpinned by relevant theory. It will begin with theoretical descriptions of creativity and play while exploring each construct separately and in relation to each other. The discussion will then follow early childhood education theories. Furthermore, the roles of teachers and parents in relation to creativity and play will be identified. Creativity is defined as a process involving the production of remote associations through thinking outside the box while possessing divergent or unusual, if not, original ideas. In creative play children develop their practical skills through imagining, designing and creating. Educational experts have developed standards defining what children should know and be able to do by certain grade levels. The content children learn in the creative curriculum is guided by these standards. The creative curriculum explains how to teach content in ways that respect the developmental stages of children. (James C. Kaufman, 2006) Teachers

Monday, September 23, 2019

Choose a crisis and discuss how the Chinese government handled it Essay

Choose a crisis and discuss how the Chinese government handled it - Essay Example Food became a problem to feed the growing population. This was followed by intervention of the government through acceptance of importation of world food crops such as maize and potatoes to eradicate the problem. The government decided to come up with certain strategies to counter the high growth rate situation in the country. This was evident through family planning strategy. This policy was established in 1980 and stated that each family should give rise to one child. This was applicable in reducing the large growth rate. In return, there was a balance in the population compared to the previous years. Though some people were against the policy, it has reduced the cost of living of the people of China. The latest statistics shows that this policy has cut down the growth rate which was standing at 1.34 billion by 0.57 percent, which was below the replacement rate (Greenhalgh & Winckler, p, 287). In conclusion, it is evident that the Chinese government has adopted the right policy and strategy of controlling the high population. That is why there is perfect regulation of birth and population in

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Electronic commerce Essay Example for Free

Electronic commerce Essay TroniXkart is component amp; development tools sourcing division of Hogst Innovative Solutions Pvt. Ltd. With its international tie up with global companies like Sparkfun, Seeedstudio etc, items with international standards is being sold in TroniXkart. Also local items, with Indian standards suitable for Indian work environment is sold after careful testing and benchmarking the reliability. We focus and help the creative minds to come up with an innovative idea, for the completion of their dream projects. Beat it robotics, wireless sensors, digital storage devices, anything can be bought through the site. It has got so many features which gives an edge over upon the competitors. The reviews of products by past customer play an important role in selecting the right equipment. TroniXkart updates the reviews, new arrivals, competitive products reviews, which help the customers to grab the product without making much ambiguity. Another feature of TroniXkart is the shipping amp; returns policy, which makes it available the right products ordered at the right time and at the right place. Bangalore based office unit and warehouse takes care of the delivery and after sale service of TroniXkart. Another attractive feature of TroniXkart is the gift coupons given to the loyal customers. This makes sure that the customers are served properly even after the post purchase stage. Gift coupons provide the chance of getting the products less than the market price without letting down the quality. Its categorised display of products helps to get to know about recent developments in the electronic area. So in this fast moving e-commerce era, where you can order cakes, flowers and even dresses, shoes, TroniXkart provides the electronic components which globally accepted.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Can criminological theories help manage crime in the workplace

Can criminological theories help manage crime in the workplace Security management is a task that required diverse skills which include human management, time management and some fundamental theories as guiding principles. The essence of the knowledge of these theories in relation to criminology to Security Managers should not be undermined in order to have and effectively achieve the organisations set goals or key performance indicators. This essay shall focus on how the knowledge of these theories could enhance the performance of a Security Manager in the work place in relation to theft and theft related offences in the retail business environment. However, if we give heed to the macro theory of criminology, a bigger picture surrounding the cost of theft in the retail industry rather than just focusing on cost of goods stolen in isolation can be fully examined. It should be noted from the onset that there are some other offences which can be perpetrated as part of criminal conduct that can ensue alongside the particular offence of retail theft e.g. assault inflicted on staff who have no choice but to physically engage a thief in the workplace (BRC Retail Crime Survey, 2009). Various reports including the crime survey by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) indicate with interest that thefts in retail shops are also being perpetrated by employees, and therefore note should be made that the offence is not exclusively being perpetrated by customers. As mainstream surveys tend to cover those who are not under the category of the organisations labour force, it is important to consider this dimension in the essay as the impact of such losses to retail industry cannot be ignored. On many occasions, there are complimentary offences but aspects relating to theft shall be considered in this essay. There have been several schools of thought in relation to applying criminological theories to crime management. They suggested that effective crime managements could only be achieved by using these theories conjunctively. Strengths and weaknesses of these theories shall be analysed and their relevance to the theft management in a retail business environment shall also be considered. The class of the offenders guilty of this crime, motivational factors and how they are carried out shall also be discussed using the appropriate theories and a strategy to managing and reducing delinquency. The 1968 theft act proscribes theft as; ..A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriate property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it; and thief and steal shall be construed accordingly (Theft Act 1968, sec 1:1). Shoplifting is a common delinquency in the retail business which impacts on stock shrinkage and cost of business insurance. However in general public and media discourse, it is widely accepted that retail theft is a petty crime and there are attempts to explain this phenomenon using theories such as criminal deviant behaviour. In this context, and in such a class based society as the UK, it is not unusually that retail theft is associated with the underprivileged in the society. Such perceptions make it difficult for the police and security managers to take seriously the impact this crime has on high tax paying industries such the retail sector, which incidentally offers employment to millions of workers in the country. Some other criminological theories such as the expected utility principle can breed compliancy in the work done by security managers as this theory assumes that potential criminals are rational beings who can be deterred from committing offences because people will act in an a manner that will increase their benefits and reduce their losses. In this context, the expected utility principle suggests that the commitment of the supposed petty crime of retail theft by employees is unlikely to occur as workers will give heed to their vested economic interest in remaining employed. However, there may be a lack of indebt knowledge of what constitutes retail theft. For instance, an employee inadvertently using part of the companys inventory such as stationeries, souvenirs for self benefit and is within the ambit of the theft act 1968 is guilty of theft. Another sinister form of retail theft involves employees who connive with criminals and pretend not to see the crime being committed. These usually involve the use of false drivers licence and stolen bank statements. . . . . . . . . . .Fraud is an act of deception carried out for the purpose of unfair, undeserved and/or unlawful gain, especially financial gain. (BRC Retail Crime Survey, 2009:pg24). . . . . . . . . . .Card fraud in the BCS (British Crime Survey) is defined as using plastic payment cards, such as bank, debit, credit or store cards, to take money without permission or prior knowledge from a bank, building society or credit card account (or to charge money to credit/debit cards). (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 08/10:pg25). The 2008/09 BCS report reported that plastic card owners who had fallen victim of card fraud had increased. Only 6.4 per cent of card fraud victim confirmed that they were aware that crimes had been committed with their cards within the last 12 month compared to 4.7 per cent in the previous year (Home Office Statistical Bulletin 08/10:pg25). In a bid to demonstrate why people commit crime, the motivational factors, and various groups of people with criminal behaviours and how combinations of criminological theories help in crime management. Rational Choice and Routine Activities theories shall be considered in relation to their relevance to crime management in a mobile phone retailer like Carphone Warehouse Plc. Rational Choice theorists believe that offenders decision to commit crime is based on the available opportunity and that the benefit of their crime outweighing the costs (Nagin et al, 2002). Rational choice theorists believe that crime is a function of individual choice which is influenced by its costs and benefits (Akers et al, 2004). Researches have shown that out of 50 interviewees in a research on shoplifting, 88% admitted that they had shoplifted and 42% of these people take stealing as the only way to earn their living. The average age of offenders as gathered during the interview was 12 years (Schneider, 2005). It is important to have the indebt knowledge of crime costs and its benefit, proportionate sentence and the types of punishment given to those who have committed similar crimes in the past or whether they avoided punishments. With this knowledge in place, it will be more likely to deter crime if its costs are made higher than the benefits e.g., enhancing the protection in places, target hardening, and more punishments when offenders are caught. In a situation where punishments are certain, motivated offenders may not want to subject themselves to hard work before committing the offence (Cullen Agnew, 2002). Rational choice theory is very extensive in range with simple basic elements which are strong but at the same time flexible. Offenders decisions between choices at every point in time tend to be rational. However, the facts of the theory stands that for any crime to be committed, the perceived benefits associated with the crime outweigh its risk. Some people have taking criminal behaviour as a way of life. In some situations, decisions to commit crime are arrived at due to inadequate information available at the time of decision making and all these put together still reflect the important role opportunity plays in criminal act. In addition to opportunity, importance of the environment on crime cannot be undermined. In certain situations, offenders hardly ever have a detailed thought of all the various costs and benefits of their action as some decisions are taken spontaneously (Felson Clarke, 1998). In theory, there are three broad categories of offenders or workplace violence perpetrators; employees, strangers and the intending or potential customers or clients (Chappell and Di Martino, 2000). Employees in most cases take advantage of imperfect systems. In an ideal business environment, organisation should have records of their inventory through regular stock counts. The UK shrinkage rate as a percentage of retail sales stood at 1.29% which was Europes average in 2010 (Bamfield, 2010). In a bid to control and manage crime, Opportunity-reducing techniques are a vital approach which could be achieved by increasing the perceived effort of crime by target hardening, security control access to target and deflecting offenders from target. In cases of card theft, crime facilitators could be controlled by having the owners photos on credit cards, using plastic beer glasses in pubs etc. Another technique involves increasing the perceived risks of crime by security screening, formal surveillance by employees, manned guarding, CCTV and effective lightning which could take the place of a Natural surveillance and help in obtaining footage through the use of technology. Anticipated rewards of crime should also be reduced so as to discourage criminal act. Targets could be removed; there could be property marking, and reducing temptations by ensuring that every motivational factor is put under control. Educating everyone on codes of conducts, and acceptable norms would eliminate t he excuses of being ignorant (Clarke, 1997). It is important to understand the opportunities that facilitate workplace crime in order to combat or reduce the criminal act. In America, introduction of Caller identification devices have removed obscene and threatening phone calls which ordinarily depends upon telephone access and the ability of the caller to hide his own identity. However, rates of other crimes such as car theft and burglary would also be higher when, in fact, they are lower in Britain and some other countries in Europe. Customer theft remains a major source of retail crime in line with general acquisitive crime trends reported by the Home Office. The survey recorded 498,405 incidents of customer theft in total. The previous years survey revealed that retailers suspected they identified perhaps as little as half of all customer theft. The real level of customer theft experienced by respondents was probably somewhere in the region of 750,000 to 1 million thefts or even as high as 2 million for the whole industry (BRC Retail Crime Survey, 2009: Pg 12-13). During 2008-09, the value stolen per incident has continued to decline as retailers continue to improve the protection of high value items. The average value of goods stolen fell by 34 per cent to  £45 per theft. Whilst individual customer thefts may be many times this value, this figure falls comfortably within the range of Penalty Notices for Disorder, a disposal available to the police for first time offenders involved in low value crimes. Nevertheless, only about one third (37 per cent) of customer thefts are reported to the police. (BRC Retail Crime Survey, 2009: Pg 12-13). As a result, the Police Authorities, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and Neighbourhood Policing Teams are unlikely to be aware of the true level of customer theft occurring in an area. This is reflected in national figures of reported crime which differ significantly from retailers experience (BRC Retail Crime Survey, 2009: Pg 12-13). Contrary to rational choice theory which believes that opportunity is the main factor responsible for crime occurrence, routine activity theory as described by Cohen Felson explained in one of their published articles in 1979 suggests that Crime occurs when there is an intersection in time and space of a motivated offender, an attractive target and lack of capable guardianship. Changes in routine activities in society (e.g. where both couples are working, construction of new roads) can influence crime rates. Peoples daily routine activities affect the likelihood of crime being committed (Cullen Agnew, 2002). . . . . .The routine activity approach still offers the best explanation for the rise in burglary in the United States and Western Europe during the 1960s and 1970s. Included in this explanation is the finding that the best predictor of annual burglary rates is the weight of the smallest television set sold each year. Another important component of the explanation is that far more homes in this period were left unguarded in the day as more women entered Full-time paid work. In fact, the most general explanation of crime rate trends is an indicator of the dispersion of activities away from family and household settings. As people spend more time among strangers and away from their own homes, their risk of personal and property victimization rises (Felson and Clarke, 1998). Every individual has specific areas in which they carry out their daily routine activities and this is called the activity space, domain or a potential path area. This area includes both the places that are visited and routes to such locations from their places of abode. In as much as people are not static, crime will have a non-static nature. In reality, some places, properties or facilities attract more crime than others. It is important to understand that in routine activity theory, crime do occur when there is interaction between a potential offender and a suitable target in time and space; opportunity which is being created by the lack of capable guardianship cannot be undermined. It is very essential to identify the available opportunities and put in place measures to either make these opportunities less attractive or show that the cost outweighs the benefits. These could be achieved through the use of Security devices and technology, proper lighting of an area, orientation and educating staff and visitors through various audio visual devices etc. Many businesses and organisations combine some of these procedures to control and manage crime (Hayes, 1991). Criminological theories play important roles in crime control and management as guidelines to what a Manager should look out for and how these factors should be managed in order to reduce crime. In some occasions where the capable guardianship is available, thefts are being attacked by the detectives in the store or those on patrol (Hayes, 1993; Jones, 1998). à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦Fraud costs the UK in excess of  £20 Billion. It recognised fraud as a low priority within UK Policing and the UK itself as having an uncoordinated approach (Simms C, Chief Constable West Midlands Police, 2010). In theory, victims are protected by law and most of the conveniences extended to them in the past will no longer be available when the credit reporting agencies have been contacted to report the crimes that thereby impress a theft flag on the victims credit file. Future lenders would be sceptical in exposing themselves to such customers and as such would be demanding for additional information and documents to verify the genuineness of the person requesting for credit facilities. Though, there are different types of customers who visit the organisations on daily basis, some visit with the intention to shoplift, window shop, to see demonstration of new products and to purchase products. It is certain that these groups of customers, with different motives behave differently when they are in the shop and their approaches to staff differ. This is where the level of education on delinquent and staff awareness about customers behaviour have to be improved upon. Security and safety at work place is every employees responsibility. Theft as a workplace crime impacts negatively on all parties involved with the organisation. The business operational costs are increased as a result of losses due to theft and these costs are passed on to their clients and employees. In most cases, it results to increasing costs of security maintenance, insurance premium and other elements of operational costs which will affect employees benefits depending on the magnitude of losses suffered by the organisation. In recent years, retailers have taken action to reduce theft by employees which accounted for 7 per cent of all retail crime by value in 2008-09. Employee theft includes theft of anything of value from the retailer by an employee or an accomplice, such as stealing merchandise, cash, retaining receipts, voiding a sale after a customer has paid and taking the cash, overcharging, short-changing, false mark-downs, coupon and voucher stuffing, credits for non-existent returns or exchanging counterfeit goods for genuine merchandise, and sliding a product through a lane without charging. It can also include serious financial fraud, involving senior or managerial staff. Improved security measures and investigations by expert staff appear to have reduced the opportunity for offences therefore deterring employee-related theft (BRC Retail Crime Survey, 2008: Pg 15). It is apparent that the true cost of theft crime in the workplace is unknown as some factors cannot be quantified. This includes business disruptions, employee morale, loss of customs, management time wasted on incident reporting and documentation (British Chambers of Commerce, 2002). High level workplace theft may also lead to company insolvency. Based on this, it is very important to understand the workplace and the nature of crime facing the business before putting in place any crime anticipatory measures or displacement measures. Rational choice emphasises that opportunity is core in the decision making by offenders when it comes to delinquencies. It is obvious from all indications that once the opportunity is displaced or appears to be of any value, a motivated offender may not notice a likely target. As a result of this, opportunities have to be identified and modified before the related crime can be perpetrated. By virtue of the fact that opportunity is requisite to crime occurrence, it is agreeable that rational choice theory interrelates with the routine activity theory which believes that crime can only happen when there is interception of certain elements. Working in an environment where there is an opportunity of having access to money and property does not translate to committing crime. This shows a subjective aspect of opportunity. It is therefore important to understand that certain factors like social desirability for the product or property, conceal ability of target and proximity do have supportive role to play in conjunction with opportunity for theft to occur (Hollinger and Clarke, 1983). In conclusion, it is therefore compulsory that a Security Manager, who has understood the surroundings where he works, should recognize the risk component, opportunities, and inspirational factors for possible offenders; use the mix understanding of these theories to design an approach to prevent the entire potential crime avenues. The combine knowledge of rational choice and routine activities theories give an insight into what to look out for and how to put in place the preventive measures to control crime. Theft as a workplace crime that can be managed by understanding what items offenders are looking out for, opportunities surrounding such items, characteristics of the targets and detailed understanding of the environment where the targets are situated. It is therefore evident that the knowledge of criminological theories has an immense role to play in assisting the security Manager to manage crimes such as theft in the workplace.

Friday, September 20, 2019

The Manufacturing Of DNA Vaccines

The Manufacturing Of DNA Vaccines A detailed design and layout of the facility for the manufacturing of DNA vaccines was developed. The factors foremost in the design and layout of the DNA vaccines facility were compliance to current good manufacturing practices (cGMP), regulatory guidelines, health, safety and environment, effective production, optimum material and personnel flow, effective cleanliness, minimisation of contamination and enhance maintenance. The total site area is 108m X 91m (9828m2) and plant/production area is 32m X 20m (640m2) with space for future expansion. To reduce the impact of airborne particles, relative humidity, pressure and temperature on the purity, efficacy, and safety DNA vaccines product, a containment/cleanrooms of class 100 was design with controlled-air environment with access via airlock, HVAC and high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters. In order to conform and comply to current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) and regulations, the following key component of cGMP were i ncorporated into the design, validation master plan (VMP), standard operating procedures (SOPs), appropriate quality control (QC), cleaning-in-place (CIP), sterilisation-in-place (SIP), trained personnel, documentation, health, safety and environment, utilities required and waste treatment process. The entire project timeline was estimated with the aid of Gantt chart project management technique to be a year and 4.5 months with reference to literatures on similar projects. 1.1 Introduction The demand for DNA vaccines for gene therapy, vaccination and for the treatment of diseases such as cancer, malaria, swine flu, HIV, melanoma, etc. is on the increase (Prather et al., 2003; Williams et al., 2009). This is because DNA vaccines triggers cellular and humoral immune responses, safe and stable (Prather et al., 2003). Therefore, there is need to design manufacturing facility for DNA vaccines production to meet the rising demand. However, the design, operations and layout of the manufacturing facility must conform and comply to standards, specifications and guidelines stipulated by regulatory authorities such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), European Medicines Evaluation Agency (EMEA), World Health Organisation (WHO) and the regulation of the country in which the facility is to be constructed. In addition to meeting this regulations and guidelines the DNA vaccines production process, design and premi ses of its manufacture must conform to good design practices (GDP) and current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) (Shamlou, 2003; Przybylowski et al., 2007). The commercial scale production of DNA vaccines is justified by economics/cost, health, safety and environment, compliance to legal standards and production under Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) (Shamlou, 2003). This is to ensure that manufacturing processes are controlled and performed according to design specifications and operational procedures in order to ensure that quality is built into the product (DNA vaccines) to assure safety, efficacy, purity and identity consistently (Przybylowski et al., 2007). In addition, GMP requirements are open ended, however the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE) has enumerated the principal steps to current GMP which include standard operational procedures (SOPs), qualification and validation of process performance, design, quality control testing, adequate process control, sterilization in place (SIP), cleaning in place (CIP), layout design, quality management, documentation and audit of facility as necessary to ensuring specification and maintenance of product identity and compliance to regulations (WHO, FDA, MHRA, etc.) and current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) (Day, 2004). The issue of location for the manufacturing facility is crucial to its profitability as it is influenced by raw material supply, transportation, utilities, environmental impact, waste disposal, local community considerations, personnel, climate, plant size and availability of land (Sinnott, 2005). Moreover, before the design and installation of a new facility for pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical product manufacture, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is perform and approved (Davda, 2004). Hitherto, the design of any manufacturing facility must integrate the design of a treatment process and safe disposal of the waste generated to specified legal standards by regulatory authorities and eliminate/minimise harm to health and safety of personnel, environment and product contamination. The manufacturing facility layout must be designed to aid good raw material flow, waste flow and personnel flow around the factory to reduce risk, cross contamination and ensure that production ac tivities and factory operations are performed smoothly and follow a defined procedure. The pharmaceutical manufacturing process must be conducted in clean environment and clean rooms in which the temperature, pressure, air borne particles and relative humidity are controlled to specified conditions by regulators (U.S. FDA, WHO, ISO, MHRA, etc). All these are the component of current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) to build quality assurance, consistency and safety of therapeutic product (DNA vaccines) to human life (Signore and Terry, 2008). The entire operations and activity should be performed by trained and competent personnel and quality management for a satisfactory quality assurance (QA/QC). 1.2 Aims and objectives 1. The defined goal of this project is to develop a detailed design and layout of a manufacturing facility for the production of DNA vaccines for commercial scale, applying current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) and in compliance to regulatory guideline (FDA, FDA, MHRA, WHO, etc.). 2. Provide detail methods for qualification and validation of the design and layout, performance, quality control and enumerate the personnel/staff involved in the project. 3. Estimate the timeline of the project. 2.1 Process overview DNA vaccines production mainly starts on a bench scale through pilot scale to large scale production (Ferreira et al., 2000; Bequette et al., 2004). The design of a large scale facility for the manufacturing of DNA vaccines involves the selection of suitable plasmid DNA constructs/vectors (ColE1-type vectors, pUC vectors, pBR322 plasmid vector, etc.) that will replicate at high copy numbers, the production microorganism cell bank (Escherichia Coli), subsequently followed by fermentation process in the bioreactor under optimum conditions and control media (temperature, pH, pressure, etc.) to maximise cell growth, cell lysis to break the cells to release the DNA, isolation by precipitation of genomic DNA, cell debris, proteins and RNA, purification by anion exchange chromatographic technique because DNA is negatively charged, formulation and blending, sterile filling, packaging and storage in the fridge (Ferreira et al., 2000; Prather et al., 2003; Przybylowski et al., 2007).   2.2 Design of flowsheet The conceptual design of the process flowsheet for DNA vaccines production under cGMP was based on the knowledge of the process block diagram in Fig.1 above and the performance of the associated unit operations. The process flowsheet shown in Fig.2 is interconnection of the various unit operations, fermentation, the downstream processing (cell lysis, precipitation, clarification and concentration, primary purification (anion-exchange chromatography) and secondary purification (size exclusion chromatography)) and blending and formulation of the bulk product into usable form (Prazeres and Ferreira, 2004). Each pieces of equipment in the process flow sheet are designed to conform and comply with standard and code of practice of either International Organisation for Standardization (ISO), British Standard Institution (BSI), American Petroleum Institute (API), American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), American National Standard Institution (ANSI), etc. to ensure safety, selection of suitable material of construction, and also equipment manufacturers work to produce facilities according to standardized design and size (Sinnott, 2005). Also each pieces of equipment are hygienically designed with good polished surfaces and piping for easy CIP and SIP, elimination of dead zones and sharp edges to avoid microbial growth and contamination and constructed with stainless steel material to eliminate contamination. The final product DNA vaccines are sterilely filled into vials and stored at -20oC in the freezer (Przybylowski et al., 2007). 3.1 Site layout design The site layout was designed to prevent product contamination, environmental pollution and to safeguard the health and safety of personnel. The various unit operations shown on the process flowsheet in Fig.2 and the ancillary buildings required to support the manufacturing facility for DNA vaccine production are laid out to give an economical flow of raw materials to final product storage, flow of personnel and waste around the production site to conform to good manufacturing practice (GMP), reduce risk and product contamination (Sinnott, 2005; Signore and Terry, 2008). The site layout design in Fig.3 was done with consideration to future expansion of the DNA production. Clean rooms, waste treatment area, hazardous process and raw materials were isolated and arranged for safety of product, personnel and environment. The size of the site is 108m X 91m (9828m2) as shown in Fig.3 and the ancillary buildings and support services required for the manufacturing facility are: Storages for raw materials and DNA vaccines. Quality control laboratory. Maintenance workshops and warehouse. Utilities: steam, compressed air, power generation, refrigeration, water (WFI), CO2, N2 etc. Cleaning-in-place (CIP) and Sterilisation-in-place (SIP). Effluent treatment and disposal plant. Process control room Administrative offices Fire stations and other emergency services Amenities required include: roads and car parks, first aid centre, canteen, security, rest room, changing room, training room and visitors centre. 3.2 Facility layout design The detailed design and layout of the DNA vaccines production rooms and equipment is designed to minimise risk, reduce cross contamination, permit effective cleaning and sterilisation of external and internal surfaces of process equipment by the use of clean in place (CIP) and sterilisation in place (SIP), enhance maintenance and control of clean rooms temperature, pressure and relative humidity (RH) under standard operating procedures (SOPs) (Przybylowski et al., 2007). The facility layout design also considered the cleanrooms, equipment and the flow of materials and personnel as key factors that impact on manufacturing cost, operational procedures and productivity (Drira et al., 2007). The DNA vaccines manufacturing facility layout design is 32m X 20m (640m2) in size as shown in Fig.4 to ensure efficiency and safety of the production environment and manufacturing process which are dependent on the layout of the facility (Jacobson et al., 2002). 3.2.1 Cleanrooms/containment design One of the principles of GMP is cleanliness and aseptic operations to prevent product contamination by microorganisms, particulate generated during plant operations and changes in room conditions (temperature, relative humidity, etc.). Therefore, DNA vaccines which are biological drugs are manufactured in clean rooms, that is, a room in which the air quality (airborne particles), the temperature, the pressure and relative humidity are controlled to prevent contamination by impurities, dust and microorganisms in the atmosphere and in the ambient air, in order to protect its purity, efficacy and safety (Sutherland, 2008). The layout and design of the production rooms was according to the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 14644-1 cleanrooms classification shown in Table 2 below. The raw materials, fermentation, purification, blending and formulation and product storage clean rooms are designed for class 100 biosafety cabinet fitted with high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) fi lters and HVAC systems to ensure the entry of clean air into the cleanrooms and exit of dirty air inside the rooms (Sutherland, 2008). The flow of air in and out of the cleanrooms is laminar. Other components of the cleanrooms include: Separate airlocks for entry and exit doors for personnel, raw materials and waste products. An inlet port for fresh purified air. An exit vents fitted with activated carbon filter to purify contaminated air before discharge to ensure environmental safety (Sutherland, 2008). Cleanrooms air pressure is maintained below atmospheric to prevent outward leakage. Nonslip floors, electricity, light appropriate and aseptic processing hood. Humidifiers to maintain and control cleanrooms relative humidity and temperatures 4.1 Raw materials Variations in raw materials composition is known to impact on the quality of DNA vaccines produced and also the operations of the plant. Therefore, raw materials require quality control check before used. The raw materials, reagents and utilities required for the DNA vaccines manufacturing facility are: plasmid DNA vectors, nutrients, glucose, water for injection (WFI), sterile air, salt, buffer capacity (to stabilise pH of fermentation), liquid nitrogen N2, and antibiotic, alkaline, master cell bank (MCB) and working cell banks (WCB). These are placed in the quarantine storage room and undergo quality control testing to ensure that specification are met before used for DNA vaccines production for quality assurance (QA/QC). The flow of materials from the raw materials to the final product (DNA vaccines) is shown in FIG. above and the final DNA vaccines products are stored in a sterile room in a freezer at -20oC (Przybylowski et al., 2007). 4.2 Personnel The compliance to current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) and regulatory guideline depends on people and good management structure. It is essential when developing new facility to integrate all relevant personnel from production, logistics, quality control and engineering in the inception phase of the design and layout. Therefore, for a satisfactory quality assurance of the DNA vaccines production, facility design and layout, the interactions and inputs from various disciplines such as chemists, chemical engineers, biochemical engineers, biologists, microbiologist, pharmacists, civil engineers, project managers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, architect, cost engineer and many others are required to carry out defined tasks and responsibilities. The flow of personnel around the designed facility layout during operations is shown in FIG. 4.3 Qualification and validation The qualification and validation of pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities at regular intervals is an integral part of good manufacturing practices (GMP). This is documentary evidence that assures that the DNA vaccines production facility is performing satisfactorily and consistently to specification for the intended purpose (Day, 2004). To do this, a validation master plan (VMP) is drawn up which include: design qualification (DQ), installation qualification (IQ), operational qualification (OQ) and performance qualification (PQ) to confirm that all was done according to specifications (Day, 2004; Chaloner-larsson et al., 1997). However, an internal audit of the facility and instruments is also conducted to ensure compliance and implementation of cGMP and regulatory guidelines. 4.3.1 Design qualification (DQ) Design qualification is carried on the following production pieces of equipment of the manufacturing facility such as bioreactor, centrifuge, anion-exchange chromatography, size exclusion chromatography, microfiltration system, ultra-filtration system, HVAC systems and lyophilizer, for verification and documentation as a prove to show that the equipment designs conforms to regulatory standards such as ISO 9000, BSI, etc. 4.3.2 Installation qualification (IQ) The IQ is a documented verification that confirms that the manufacturing facility layout, HVAC systems, supporting utilities (steam, CIP, SIP, etc.) and process equipment are built and installed in compliance to the designed specification and manufacturers recommendations (Chaloner-Larsson et al., 1997). The IQ document for each equipment/system contains name of equipment/system, description, model and identification number, the location, utility requirements, any safety feature, date, personnel and approver. 4.3.3 Operational qualification (OQ) The OQ is the documentary verification of the manufacturing facility to confirm that each pieces of equipment operates in accordance to designed specifications and operation conditions and will consistently (Day, 2004). This is accomplished by testing control systems, alarms, switches, and providing standard operations procedures (SOPs) for the operations of the manufacturing facility. 4.3.4 Performance qualification (PQ) Performance qualification (PQ) is a documented verification that confirms that the manufacturing facility and the supporting utilities will consistently perform to required specification under the designed operating ranges to production the DNA vaccines. The following systems and pieces of equipment are validated for performance check: purification processes, bioreactor, HVAC systems, autoclave, CIP, SIP, oven, pure steam generation system, purified water and water for injection systems, centrifuge and lyophilizer. 4.4 Quality assurance and Quality control (QA/QC) The consistent production of DNA vaccines to meet therapeutic specification of safety, purity, efficacy and potency depends on good quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) performed by qualified persons (QP). Quality control of the DNA vaccines is one of the key component of current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) and regulatory guideline of U.S. FDA, WHO, MHRA, ISO 9000 etc. It involves testing procedures employed to check that the DNA vaccines product are uniform from batch-to-batch and raw materials used for its production meet the specification, quality and standard. The quality control testing laboratory consists of the following assays for determining quality of raw materials and product purity, efficacy and safety: High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine the percentage of RNA, supercoiled and nicked. pH meter test for residual buffer salts and alkaline. Agarose gel electrophoresis (AGE) test for plasmid DNA vaccine purity, determine RNA and genomic DNA presence in the product. Gas chromatography test for the presence of ethanol, determine plasmid size Flame ionization detector (FID) test for the presence of isopropanol in the product. Transfection/Immunofluorescent staining test for potency of plasmid DNA vaccines. Kinetic chromogenic limulus amoebacyte lysate (LAL) test to quantify the presence of endotoxin in the product Sodium dodecylsulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) test for the quantity of proteins in the product (DNA vaccines). GeneQuant spectrophotometer test to quantify the purity of the DNA vaccines product. Bicinchoninic acid (BCA) assay quantify the amount of proteins present in the bulk product. Mass spectrometer, measuring, weighing, recording and control instruments calibrated regularly. The analytical instruments are validated to ensure performance. The DNA vaccines must meet at least minimum specification, purity, efficacy, safety and quality set by regulatory authority after sterile filling before released (Przybylowski et al., 2007; Prather et al., 2003). 4.4.1 Product testing Prior to the release of the DNA vaccines after blending and formulation, the quality control department must test each batch for purity, identity, efficacy, safety and potency using the analytical assays mentioned above, and if the result does not meet regulatory specifications the batch will not be released (Prazeres and Ferreira, 2004). Table 1 below shows an example of DNA vaccines purity and quality specification. 4.5 Documentation Documentation of all the activities and operations is a key requirement for GMP, regulatory bodies, and helpful for management structure, traceability of every batch history, planning, elimination of errors, effective communication, records keeping and design and layout of the DNA vaccines facility. Regulatory authorities such as FDA, EMEA and WHO require documentary evidence as prove that the DNA vaccines facility will perform consistently in compliance to cGMP. The DNA vaccines project documentation include: standard operational procedures (SOPs), design qualification, installation qualification, facility layout design, specification sheets for each pieces of equipment, performance qualification, quality control records, process flow sheet, site plan, personnel records, licence, commissioning, validation master plan (VMP), packaging, labelling, etc. both on paper and electronically (Signore and Terry, 2008; Sinnott, 2005). 4.6 Utilities Utilities are the support services required for effective design, layout and manufacturing process of DNA vaccines, they include: Potable water, USP purified water used for cleaning in place (CIP) to clean process equipment. Water for injection (WFI) used for media preparation, fermentation media and rinsing of equipment after CIP. Clean steam for sterilisation in place (SIP) to sterilise the process equipment after each batch. Electricity for lightening, instrumentation, analytical instrument, etc. Sterile gases such as filtered sterile air for fermentation process, nitrogen N2 for working cell bank storage, heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. Refrigeration for the storage of the DNA vaccines product at -20oC. 4.6.1 Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) System Heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system is a component of the production clean rooms design and layout, it plays a vital role in ensuring that the manufactured DNA vaccines product quality, efficacy, safety and purity is not impacted by room temperature, relative humidity (RH), air borne particles, pressure and cross contamination in accordance to standards and classifications of rooms by ISO 14644-1, US Fed. Std. 209, BSS5295, EEC, etc. (Zyl, 2005). The HVAC systems for this manufacturing facility include: High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters to control air borne particles, dust and microorganisms of the clean rooms. Desiccant dehumidifiers/refrigerated dehumidifiers are used to monitor and control the temperature and relative humidity (RH) of the rooms in order to comply with raw materials and DNA vaccines product requirement. Airlocks and air handling unit (AHU) are put in place for pressure monitoring, control and maintenance of pressure cascade with the production rooms. 4.6.2 Water and clean steam systems Purified water, water for injection (WFI) and clean steam are essential utilities generated on site and distributed for use in DNA vaccines production, clean-in-place (CIP), sterilisation-in-place (SIP), and media preparation (Robbins, 2010). In order to ensure safety, purity and efficacy of the DNA vaccines the water used for its production is sterile water for injection (WFI). The WFI is produced from purified water by distillation/reverse osmosis to meet the required standard of purity specified by the United State Pharmacopeia (USP) (pH 5.0-7.0, nonpyrogenic and antimicrobial agent). The WFI is stored at elevated temperature (80-95oC) to eliminated microbial growth, and the system constructed with stainless steel to eliminate contamination (Robbins, 2010). The WFI system design is shown in FIG. 4.7 Waste treatment and management The system for treating the waste generate from the DNA vaccines manufacturing facility is an integral part of the design of the facility, layout and good manufacturing practices (GMP). The major waste generate from the production process are genomic DNA of the host cells, RNA, proteins, cell debris, salts, endotoxins and plasmid isoforms (Ferreira et al., 2000). The waste is treated to regulatory standards (BS, ISO, etc.) to avoid harm to health and safety of personnel and environment (HSE), pollution and eliminate cross contamination of the product. The system for treating the waste is illustrated in FIG. below WWWW Incineration Autoclaved Waste Discharge Autoclave 4.7.1 Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) The DNA vaccines production microorganism poses some hazard. The environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the DNA vaccines production system therefore becomes a key part of the design and layout of the manufacturing facility (Prazeres and Ferreira, 2004). However, the environmental impact assessment (EIA) study and the design will require approval from environmental protection agency before the facility is built (Davda, 2004). To ensure that health, safety and environmental regulations are met, the process design and layout is geared towards minimisation of waste generation, safety of product, safety and health of personnel and incorporation of waste treatment process before discharge to the environment. In addition, the personnel will also be provided with personal protective equipment (PPE) such as hand gloves, gowns, goggles, etc. to work with. 4.8 Legislation and regulation The manufacture of DNA vaccines is highly regulated to ensure that it is safe, efficacious and pure for humans, and also its production carried out in accordance to current GMP (Plumb, 2005). Therefore, before the DNA vaccines can be marketed they must be licence from the relevant regulatory bodies such as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, the EMEA, WHO and so on (Smith and Dennis, 2001). The manufacturing facility used for the production of the DNA vaccines must be licence too (Plumb, 2005). These licences are obtained if and only if the manufacturing facility design, layout and premises of its manufacture conform and comply to current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) and with regulatory standards, guidelines and specifications stipulated by MHRA, FDA, WHO, EMEA, ISO, etc. Hitherto, the company must also provide detailed documentary evidence about the safety, purity an d efficacy of the DNA vaccines and the consistency of its manufacturing process. Signor and Terry reported that the incorporation of current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) into good design practices (GDP) at the inception of the manufacturing facility will ensure that regulatory conditions are met (Signor and Terry, 2008). The regulatory guidelines specify the requirements for the pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, not the methods to achieving it. The regulatory bodies functions include: safeguard public health, licensing, monitoring DNA vaccines post-marketing, regulating clinical trials and publish quality standards. 5.1 Project timeline This project has a definite start, middle and end, which consist of several activities ranging from the environmental impact assessment and design approval, construction to commissioning executed in a defined order to bring the project to completion. It is the function of the project manager to plan, schedule and control these tasks/activities in a specified sequence and allocate materials, manpower, machinery and money to ensure that the project is completed on time (Gray and Erik, 2008). There are several project management techniques available in the literature, but to estimate the timeline of this project the Gantt chart technique was employed, which a plot of each task against time. Each bar represents a task/activity, length of the bar corresponds to the duration of the task and the position indicate the start and finish times. The timeline for key activities of the project are shown in FIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! below, the Gantt chart was prepared with reference to (Davda, 2004). The e ntire project is expected to take a year and 4.5 months from the Gantt chart. 6.1 Recommendations 1. Legislations and regulations are subject to changes with emergent of robust technology, therefore the design of the manufacturing facility should be above the current specifications and standards. 2. A well defined and detail engineering drawings and specifications that does not require much interpretation. 3. A good relationship between project design team with relevant regulatory authorities and encouragement of their input will fortify the design of the facility and compliance to cGMP. 4. Ensure that all designs, installations and utilities are validated according to validation master plan (VMP) and are working according to design and specification of regulatory bodies. 5. Compliance with current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) at the inception of the design phase of the facility. 6. The DNA vaccines production facility should be designed and layout to harmonized the various regulations by different bodies such the US FDA, UK MHRA, EU, Japan, ISO, WHO, etc. to boost market for the product. 7. The process parameters such as temperature, pH and pressure must be carefully controlled to assure batch-to-batch identity in final product. 7.1 Conclusion Incorporating current good manufacturing practices (cGMP) from the beginning of the design and layout phase of the DNA vaccines facility, the production processes and to the manufacturing premises will ensure that all regulatory specifications are met.