Children can’t be disciples so they can’t be Christians either Essay

I believe this statement has many argues for and against this view, I will be looking at both sides of this argument and producing my view. It is very hard when discussing Christianity and in which the age of someone is defined a child or adult, in the Christian world, is a child judged as an adult at the young age of 5 or 6? When a child is confirmed at the age of 14 or 15? Or is when you are legally classified as an adult at the age of 18? But who can put the boundaries on faith, religion and your own personal beliefs? In Marks Gospel we learn that we should have child like qualities, this is telling us that child like qualities is what we need to be a good Christian, Honesty, enthusiasm, trust no matter what the case may be but then on the other hand they may not be spiritually and intellectually developed yet and be able to understand the aspects of being a Christian and disciple of Jesus, they believe in such things as Father Christmas, the Easter Bunny Rabbit and the tooth fairy their beliefs for that is strong. They have faith in these and great enthusiasm but to their knowledge all of this is real not make belief therefore they can not have the complete commitment and understanding of being a Christian but they can learn and develop into one. Some may say that Children are more like Christians then anyone because they disciplined, they attended church, say there prayers and tend not to commit crimes and obey by the 10 commandments as adults tend to be able to do that more. Children such as baby’s cannot make a commitment for life and decide for themselves so they can be baptised and Godparents and parents will help guide you to Jesus until you can make your own decision and choose to get confirmed which is a positive response. A faith of a child can come from their parents who have faith but then how can these young people be able to understand it unless you have experienced something to believe it, which is the case in many stories, so then†¦ When children have had a life changing experience are they criticised for not knowing how to be a Christian? Children may be selfish as they need a lot of care and it is all about themselves but they can do kind deeds spend time with disabled people and do kind gestures which is all about being a disciple of Jesus and following the nature of discipleship in the beginning in Marks Gospel. Based on these arguments I believe to an extent that children can be disciples of Jesus and good Christians because as long as they believe and act as a Christian they have hope and faith in God, and in time their knowledge will grow as they follow the foot steps of Jesus.

Face Recognition Technology To Augment Security Measures At The Sporting Event Essay

Facial recognition technology refers to a computer driven application that automatically identifies an individual from his or her digital image by a comparison of particular facial features in a facial database and in the live image (â€Å"Face Recognition,† 2007). The technology creates a template of people’s facial configurations, such as the lengths of their noses and the angles of their jaws. It thereby functions like the other biometric technologies (e. g. iris scanning) that use biological features for the purposes of recognition. According to Visionics, a manufacturer of face recognition technology, this technology is capable of finding human faces â€Å"anywhere in the field of view and at any distance, and it can continuously track them and crop them out of the scene, matching the face against a watch list† (Kautzer). While iris scanning and other kinds of biometric technologies are known to be far more accurate than the face recognition technology, it is believed that the latter would be more widely accepted because it is least intrusive. The technology also does not require users to push, click, or insert anything into the system. Moreover, companies using the face recognition technology do not require the installation of anything except the new software application. The cameras in place as well as the pictures of their employees on file are enough for companies that use the technology. Hence, face recognition technology is cheaper for organizations than the iris scanning, for instance, which requires reading setups. According to Frances Zelazney of Visionics, yet another advantage of facial recognition technology as compared to the other biometric technologies is that â€Å"[unlike] other biometrics, facial recognition provides for inherent human backup because we naturally recognize one another†¦ If the system goes down, someone can pull out an ID with a picture as backup, something you can’t do with fingerprint devices (Rutherford, 2001). † Unsurprisingly, facial recognition technology is known as the fastest growing biometric technology in our day. Law enforcement agencies and the military have been using the technology successfully for many years without the public being aware of it. In the year 1988, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (Lakewood Division) began using composite sketches of suspects, as well as video images, in order to conduct searches on a database of digital facial shots. The department also has a photo database of sex offenders, and plans to find suspects on this database. Then there is the Gang Reporting Evaluation Tracking system that can be searched with the use of photos of suspects in order for law enforcement to circumvent false identification cards as well as information that has been presented by gang members (Jarvis). There are numerous United States embassies around the world that are already using the face recognition technology to keep criminals from entering the country. The Israel-Palestine border control is similarly equipped with the technology to reduce crime across the border (Jarvis). IQ Biometrix, established in 2001, is a company providing help to thousands of law enforcement agencies around the world with the FACESTM, which is a groundbreaking software tool allowing for the â€Å"creation and recreation of billions of facial images, as well as their encoding, cataloging and transmitting. † The technology incorporates a facial composite tool that the FBI and the CIA also use. The United States Department of Defense, the U. S. Navy, and various local as well as state police agencies have similarly opted for this groundbreaking system of facial recognition (IQ Biometrix, 2004). Given the importance of putting a name to a face, whether it is to solve crimes, protect the public, or to ensure security in jails, face recognition technology is proving itself to be of tremendous value. Sheriff Everett Rice along with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office in Florida employs the Viisage face recognition technology to â€Å"positively identify and verify individuals. † Some of these individuals have just been recently arrested, while others are about to released. The face recognition technology is also of use with people that visit the courthouse. So far, the application of the technology has been successful, and users of the technology believe that it would have a greater impact on crime control in the years to come (â€Å"Facial Recognition,† 2007). The United States Department of Defense, with its focus on perfecting the face recognition technology to spot criminals at the borders of the nation, had been funding scientists’ research on the technology for more than decade. Private companies were similarly convinced that the face recognition technology could help dramatically in combating crime within the borders of the United States. Because of their belief, the marketing of the technology became widespread during the mid-1990s (Rutherford). Then came 9/11 – the day that changed the security concerns of the entire world in the matter of only a few hours. There was increased interest in face recognition technology following the terrorist attacks on the American soil. Although the Americans had viewed the face recognition technology with skepticism before the attacks, they became confident that widespread use of the new technology in security as well as public safety would help protect them from similar attacks in future. Indeed, the face recognition technology could play an important role in the prevention of tragedies. All the same, law enforcement agencies have discovered that in the areas covered by the new technology, no terrorist has ever been identified. What is more, despite the redoubling of efforts to create dependable face recognition systems after 9/11, the technology suffers from problems. The facial recognition technology faces a difficulty, for example, in the recognition of the effects of aging. Digitally compared photos of individuals that had been taken eighteen months apart produced untrue rejections by the software application at least forty three percent of the time. Furthermore, it has been found that the technology is more successful when used by casinos to identify cheaters; in welfare offices; and by driver’s license bureaus, given the uniformity of lighting and the use of the same cameras in these places (Jarvis; O’Harrow, 2001). Seeing that the face recognition technology is not fool proof, albeit useful – and security experts have confirmed this – it is best to use it at the sporting event only to augment security measures. The new technology can help security personnel at the sporting event to spot terrorists, for instance. However, face recognition technology should not be considered a replacement for traditional security measures by any means. What is more, this technology is easy to use, and security personnel would not have a difficult time installing and working through the system. Hence, the use of face recognition technology at the sporting event is definitely recommended as a boost to the traditional security measures. References Face Recognition System. (2007). Wikipedia. Retrieved 25 August 2007, from http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Facial_recognition_system. Facial Recognition in Action. (2007). Penton Media. Retrieved 25 August 2007, from http://govtsecurity. com/current/. Jarvis, A. Are Privacy Rights of Citizens Being Eroded Wholesale? Forensic Evidence. Retrieved 25 August 2007, from http://forensic-evidence. com/site/ID/facialrecog. html. Kautzer, C. Face Recognition Technology. ZMAG. Retrieved 25 August 2007, from http://www. zmag. org/ZMag/articles/march02kautzer. htm. O’Harrow, R. (2001, August 1). Matching Faces With Mug Shots. Washington Post, p. A01. Rutherford, Emelie. (2001, July 17). Facial Recognition Tech Has People Pegged. CNN. Retrieved 25 August 2007, from http://www. cnn. com/2001/TECH/ptech/07/17/face. time. idg.

Customer Service and Order Processors

The Human Side of Management Assignment Repairing Jobs That Fail to Satisfy Learning Goals Companies often divide up work as a way to improve efficiency, but specialisation can lead to negative consequences. DrainFlow is a company that has effectively used specialisation to reduce costs relative to its competitors’ costs for years, but rising customer complaints suggest the firm’s strong position may be slipping. After reading the case, you will suggest some ways it can create more interesting work for employees.You will also tackle the problem of finding people who are qualified and ready to perform the multiple responsibilities required in these jobs. Major Topic Areas Job design Job satisfaction Personality Emotional labour The Scenario DrainFlow is a large residential and commercial plumbing  maintenance firm that operates around the United Kingdom. It has been a major player in residential plumbing  for decades, and its familiar rhyming motto, â€Å"When  Yo ur Drain Won’t Go, Call DrainFlow,† has been plastered  on billboards since the 1940s. Leigh Reynaldo has been a regional manager at DrainFlow for about 2 years.She used to work for a newer  competing chain, Lightning Plumber, that has been  drawing more and more customers from DrainFlow. Although  her job at DrainFlow pays more, Leigh is not happy  with the way things are going. She has noticed the work environment  is not as vital or energetic as the environment  she saw at Lightning. Leigh thinks the problem is that employees are not motivated  to provide the type of customer service Lightning  Plumber employees offer. She recently sent surveys  to customers to collect information about performance,  and the data confirmed her fears.Although 60 percent  of respondents said they were satisfied with their experience  and would use DrainFlow again, 40 percent felt  their experience was not good, and 30 percent said they  would use a competi tor the next time they had a plumbing problem. Leigh is wondering whether DrainFlow’s job design  might be contributing to its problems in retaining customers. DrainFlow has about 2,000 employees in four  basic job categories: plumbers, plumber’s assistants, order  processors, and billing representatives. This structure  is designed to keep costs as low as possible.Plumbers make very high wages, whereas plumber’s assistants  make about one-quarter of what a licensed  plumber makes. Using plumber’s assistants is therefore  a very cost-effective strategy that has enabled DrainFlow  to easily undercut the competition when it comes to  price. Order processors make even less than assistants  but about the same as billing processors. All work is very  specialised, but employees are often dependent on another  job category to perform at their most efficient  level. Like most plumbing companies, DrainFlow gets  business mostly from the Yellow Pages and the Internet.Customers either call in to describe a plumbing problem  or submit an online request for plumbing services,  receiving a return call with information within 24 hours. In either case, DrainFlow’s order processors listen to the  customer’s description of the problem to determine  whether a plumber or a plumber’s assistant should  make the service call. The job is then assigned accordingly,  and a service provider goes to the location. When  the job has been completed, via mobile phone, a billing representative  relays the fee to SHR034-6, 12-13 he service rep, who presents  a bill to the customer for payment. Billing representatives  can take customers’ credit card payments by phone  or e-mail an invoice for online payment. The Problem Although specialisation does cut costs significantly, Leigh  is worried about customer dissatisfaction. According to  her survey, about 25 percent of customer contactsà ‚  ended in no service call because customers were confused  by the diagnostic questions the order processors  asked and because the order processors did not have  sufficient knowledge or skill to explain the situation.That means fully one in four people who call DrainFlow  to hire a plumber are worse than dissatisfied: they  are not customers at all! The remaining 75 percent of calls that did end in a customer service encounter resulted  in other problems. The most frequent complaints Leigh found in the customer  surveys were about response time and cost, especially  when the wrong person was sent to a job. A  plumber’s assistant cannot complete a more technically  complicated job. The appointment has to be rescheduled,  and the customer’s time and the staff’s time have  been wasted.The resulting delay often caused customers  in these situations to decline further contact  with DrainFlow—many of them decided to go with  Ligh tning Plumber. â€Å"When I arrive at a job I can’t take care of,† says  plumber’s assistant Jim Larson, â€Å"the customer gets  annoyed. They thought they were getting a licensed  plumber, since they were calling for a plumber. Telling  them they have to have someone else come out doesn’t  go over well. †Ã‚   On the other hand, when a plumber responds to a  job easily handled by a plumber’s assistant, the customer  is still charged at the plumber’s higher pay rate.Licensed plumber Luis Berger also does not like being in  the position of giving customers bad news. â€Å"If I get  called out to do something like snake a drain, the customer  isn’t expecting a hefty bill. I’m caught in a difficult situation—I don’t set the rates or make the  appointments, but I’m the one who gets it from the customer. †Ã‚  Plumbers also resent being sent to do such simple  work. Obi Ani i s one of DrainFlow’s order processors. She is frustrated too when the wrong person is sent  to a job but feels she and the other order processors are  doing the best they can. We have a survey we’re supposed  to follow with the calls to find out what the problem  is and who needs to take the job,† she explains. â€Å"The  customers don’t know that we have a standard form, so  they think we can answer all their questions. Most of us  don’t know any more about plumbing than the caller. If  they don’t use the terms on the survey, we don’t understand  what they’re talking about. A plumber would, but  we’re not plumbers; we just take the calls. † Customer service issues also involve the billing representatives. They are the ones who have to keep contacting  customers about payment. It’s not my fault the  wrong guy was sent,† says Elisabeth King. â€Å"If two guys  went out, thatâ €™s two trips. If a plumber did the work, you  pay plumber rates. Some of these customers don’t get  that I didn’t take their first call, and so I get yelled at. †Ã‚  The billing representatives also complain that they see  only the tail end of the process, so they don’t know what  the original call entailed. The job is fairly impersonal,  and much of the work is recording customer complaints. Remember—40 percent of customers are not satisfied,  and it is the billing representatives who take the  brunt of their negative reactions on the phone.As you can probably tell, all employees have to engage  in emotional labour, as described in your textbook,  and many lack the skills or personality traits to complete  the customer interaction component of their jobs. They  are not trained to provide customer service, and they see  their work mostly in technical, or mechanical, terms. Quite a few are actually anxious about speaking directly  with customers. The office staff (order processors and  billing representatives) realise customer service is part  of their job, but they also find dealing with negative  feedback from customers and co-workers stressful.Two years ago, a management consulting  company was hired to survey DrainFlow worker attitudes. The results showed they were less satisfied than  workers in other comparable jobs. The following table  provides a breakdown of respondent satisfaction levels  across a number of categories:  Ã‚  Ã‚   SHR034-6, 12-13 DrainFlow Plumbers DrainFlow Plumber Assistants DrainFlow Office Workers Average Plumber Average Office Worker I am satisfied with the work I am asked to do. 3. 7 2. 5 2. 5 4. 3 3. 5 I am satisfied with my working conditions. 3. 8 2. 4 3. 7 4. 1 4. 2 I am satisfied with my interactions with o-workers. 3. 5 3. 2 2. 7 3. 8 3. 9 I am satisfied with my interactions with my supervisor 2. 5 2. 3 2. 2 3. 5 3. 4 The information about avera ge plumbers and average  office workers is taken from the management consulting  company’s records of other companies. They  are not exactly surprising, given some of the complaints DrainFlow employees have made. Top management is  worried about these results, but they have not been able  to formulate a solution. The traditional DrainFlow culture  has been focused on cost containment, and the  Ã¢â‚¬Å"soft areas† like employee satisfaction has not been a major  issue.The Proposed Solution The company is in trouble, and as revenues shrink and  the cost savings that were supposed to be achieved by  dividing up work fail to materialise, a change seems to  be in order. Leigh is proposing using cash rewards to improve performance  among employees. She thinks if employees  were paid based on work outcomes, they would work harder  to satisfy customers. Because it is not easy to measure  how satisfied people are with the initial call-in, Leigh  wo uld like to give the order processors a small reward  for every 20 calls successfully completed.For the hands-on  work, she would like to have each billing representative  collect information about customer satisfaction for each  completed call. If no complaints are made and the job  is handled promptly, a moderate cash reward would be  given to the plumber or plumber’s assistant. If the customer  indicates real satisfaction with the service, a  larger cash reward would be provided. Leigh also wants to find people who are a better fit with  the company’s new goals. Current hiring procedure relies  on unstructured interviews with each location’s general manager, and little consistency is found in the way  these managers choose employees.Most lack training in  customer service and organisational behaviour. Leigh thinks  it would be better if hiring methods were standardised  across all branches in her region to help managers identify  recruits who can actually succeed in the job. Your Assignment Your task is to prepare a persuasive report for Leigh on the potential  effectiveness of her cash reward and structured interview  programmes. Make certain it is in the form of a  professional business document that you would give  to an experienced manager at this level of a fairly large  corporation.Leigh is very smart when it comes to managing  finances and running a plumbing business, but she  will not necessarily know about the organisational behaviour  principles you are describing. As any new  proposals must be passed through top management,  you should also address their concerns about cost containment. You will need to make a strong evidence-based  financial case that changing the management style will  benefit the company. When you write, make sure you touch on the following  points:  Ã‚   SHR034-6, 12-13 1.Although it is clear employees are not especially satisfied  with their wor k, do you think this is a reason  for concern? Does research suggest satisfied workers  are actually better at their jobs? Are any other behavioural  outcomes associated with job satisfaction? 2. Using job characteristics theory, explain why the  present system of job design may be contributing to  employee dissatisfaction. Describe some ways you  could help employees feel more satisfied with their  work by redesigning their jobs. 3. Leigh has a somewhat vague idea about how to implement  the cash rewards system.Describe some of the  specific ways you would make the reward system  work better, based on the case. 4. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of using  financial incentives in a program of this nature. What, if any, potential problems might arise if people  are given money for achieving customer satisfaction  goals? What other types of incentives might  be considered? 5. Create a specific plan to assess whether the reward  system is working. What are the dependent variables  that should change if the system works? How will  you go about measuring success?

London 2012 Olympic Games Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

London 2012 Olympic Games - Case Study Example Therefore, there are vital lessons to be learnt from the previous events. This is especially true regarding the costs and failures of the events. Nevertheless, the organization faces several challenges. There are challenges in avoiding the repetition of previous failures observed in Beijing and Sydney Olympics. The previous Olympics gained negative acclaims relating to their ineffective consideration for the fans. In Sydney, the tickets were pricy; therefore, the local population was largely uninvolved. In Beijing, the authorities priced the tickets incredibly low, making the locals buy the tickets with no intention of attending. This presented the challenge of empty seats. This presents the challenge of involving the whole nation in the games. However, since this problem is not in isolation, the committee has to factor in the challenge of revenues from the tickets. This means extremely low prices are not an option in involving the nation. Another problem relating with the fans is the choice of funs. The committee bears the challenge of improving the energy of the games through having knowledgeable funs in the stadia. This is an immense challenge since it is impossible to restrict access to tickets to such fans. The other challenge is in controlling the attendance of the fans, to avoid oversubscription in some and low attendance, in some games. The constraints in achieving the goals also include the short period the committee is in operation. Additionally, though the committee can lay potentially effective plans, some of the preparation depends on the city. For example, the construction of new facilities and upgrading of already existing infrastructure is dependent on cooperation from the city. The opportunities in overcoming the challenges lie, in such cases, in establishing amiable communication with other participating authorities. To be able to involve the whole nation, the committee may chose to establish competitions and lotteries based on

Community Sports Projects and Effective Community Empowerment Essay

Community Sports Projects and Effective Community Empowerment - Essay Example Additionally, an action research approach was used in this research revealing the insights into the effective community empowerment that was attributed to sports projects that were introduced in the community by the Rochdale federation. The use of these two approaches created a great advantage for the study (Partington & Totten, 2012). This is because it allowed the researchers to collect insightful and rich data, as well as, empower the tenants from social housing estate about having their thoughts and opinions, as well as, experiences in relation to RCS acted upon in their decision.   The collection tools used in this research include participant observation and in-depth interviews in the community. These data collection methods allowed the triangulation of data, as well as, crosschecking of the existence of common phenomena and theory across all research methods. In terms of data, the researchers collected both primary and secondary data, which was used to create results, and findings that help conclude on the relevance of sports in Rochdale community. The participants in the research were the tenants and residents of the Rochdale Federation of the Tenants and Residents Association. There were was no specific number of the participants as the researcher used participant observation and interviews to carry out the research. Therefore, there were no inclusion or exclusion criteria used in sampling, as the method used for sampling was random to ensure that there was no bias in the selection of the participants.   The research findings established that that engaging community in sports empowered them through citizen participation (Partington & Totten, 2012). The research further established that the tenants endorsed the sports approach as they felt consulted and involved in the decision making the process that allowed them to access support.  

Class,but not race Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Class,but not race - Essay Example story of hardship, slavery, and Jim Crow laws within the South, legislators within the United States government sought to implement what came to be known as â€Å"Affirmative Action†. Effectively, this particular approach was one that sought to consider race as a determining factor and necessary requirements for organizations and firms, as well as educational institutions, when selecting an individual for a job position or in other organizational settings. Although this federally and legislatively mandated program has created a great deal of fairness within the system, many detractors point to the fact that it is inherently unfair due to the fact that it still continues to perpetuate a system in which an individual’s overall worth is predicated upon racial characteristics. Furthermore, individuals that are specifically against affirmative action have pointed to the fact that at its core, it is not much different than the racial interpretations of an individual’s worth that were perpetrated during the Jim Crow era of the Deep South; albeit somewhat in reverse. One of the authors that specifically finds the issue with affirmative action is Richard Kahlenberg. Kahlenberg’s viewpoint is that the practice of Affirmative Action has in fact been more unfair than it has been fair. The rationale behind this seemingly extreme statement is predicated upon the fact that affirmative action only considers racial characteristics with respect to making determinations within the public sphere. However, according to Kahlenberg, a more root cause of disparity that exists between blacks and whites is not predicated upon skin color alone; rather, Kahlenberg argues that it is predicated upon class. Said Kahlenberg, â€Å"Race-based affirmative action tells the most disadvantaged whites that you have very little in common with African Americans, because you have white skin privilege†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"If the goal is to unite people of all races, this policy is a disaster† (Judis 1).

Fulfillment of an American Dream Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Fulfillment of an American Dream - Essay Example How a person decide about economic matters are in line with how one will maximize utilities with the budget that they have. (Kabeer) More people see America as a place where they could gain economic stability because in here, they expect equality for an opportunity. Immigration is not an easy phase for those nationalities coming to America to fulfill their dream. It is free to dream, to hope for good things to come and to wish for a better life but not all were able to live this wonderful dream. There are still some who area victims of inequality in America. There are times when one is being harmed because of the color of their skin. Yes, they say that America is the land of the free but that is the bitter irony. That here in what they call land of the free some are being contained just because the color of their skin is black or brown and not as white as some thinks American color should be. These people have not thought of the fact that America is the land of Immigrants. That if we trace it way back in history, the native dwellers of this country are the Indians. So why should one discriminate another when if we look back, our brothers fought for freedom and equality, the very thing that some are not giving their fellowman. W

Lab report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Lab Report Example They reported seeing a man in jeans, trainers and a T-shirt running away from the house, down Leek Road. The police were informed and responded immediately. The back door of the house had been broken and the sunroof of the VW Polo. Paint and glass of both the car and the property had been damaged. Both of them were damaged so as to allow entry in the property. The police later arrested a suspect who matched the description of the neighbors, two streets away. His clothes were taken for further analysis in the laboratory. This is because clothes might have had contact with the broken glass and damaged paint; hence some of them might have been left on the clothes. The control samples from the broken glass and damaged paint were taken for analysis. The aims of this experiment included to investigate whether the debris recovered from Mark’s clothes had any fragments of glass and paint from the damaged property. The experiment was also meant to determine any kind of relationship between the recovered materials/fragments from the suspect’s clothes with the control samples collected; broken glass of the back door and the damaged paint of the VW sunroof. The final aim of the experiment was to discover any evidence that showed or qualified Mark Jones and the perpetrator of the crime in question. 1. Preparation work: Several petri dishes had been provided that contained the debris from the suspect’s clothes. The contents were observed and described, while the observations were recorded on the results sheet. The identity of each of them was also suggested. Low power microscopy was used to view the contents, while much attention was paid to any presence of glass and paint. The observations were also recorded, and the magnification used. 2. Physical Examination of Evidence: The suspect items were collected carefully, and a physical examination was done as the observations were recorded on the results sheet.

Organisational Insights Analytical Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Organisational Insights Analytical - Essay Example nies play at different markets and engage in different industries, they are of equal scale in terms of organisational structure and number of employees. Comparing and contrasting both companies with respect to their individual industries will provide significant insights on the nature of organisations, in general. Strong Market Position in Scarborough – The company has a strong retail brand that built a reputation for selling quality goods at bargain price (Boyes, 2006). Boyes’ strong market position in Scarborough enhances the customer perception, company reputation, provides economies of scale and presents a platform to launch new products. It also enhances the brand image of the company. Strong market position enables the company to penetrate the market more effectively and serve a wide range of customers. (Best R. J., 1997) Balanced Product Mix – Boyes, Scarborough is engaged in operating a chain of department stores. The company’s key products include apparels, accessories, confectionery, cosmetics, electrical appliances, furniture, gifts, groceries, house wares, home decorative, stationery and toys. They sell virtually everything for the home and family (Boyes, 2006). A balanced product mix coupled with friendly and helpful services allowed Boyes to serve multiple customer segments which heighten its revenue growth. It provides greater choice to customers and encourages customer loyalty. (Best R. J., 1997) High dependence on Scarborough – Boyes is heavily dependent on the Scarborough market. Concentration of operations in the Scarborough area makes the company vulnerable to market conditions and environmental instability in this area. It puts the company in a competitive disadvantage relative to rivals and competitors with larger presence in different market geographical areas (Porter, 1985). As a business based largely in UK, Boyes is particularly exposed to any economic downturn which affects customer spending. Expanding product

The Limits of Freedom Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Limits of Freedom - Term Paper Example From the independence of America to the beginning of the New World, White males had superiority and complete freedom as compared to the women, African Americans and American Indian. The religious groups did not enjoy freedom as well. Freedom of Women: In the colonial era, the treatment and behaviour with women varied with colonies and tribes, with the variation in the ethnicity of the tribe. The Puritan settlers from England did not allow the women to work with the men in the fields as they were very religious and believed that the women should look after their men and bring up children who feared God. The German women however could be seen working in the fields along with the men and in the stables as well. The English women did not own their own clothes and had no right to write their wills regarding the things they possessed. On the contrary, German and Dutch women had their own clothes and also had the freedom to make their wills. ... i Single women could vote up to 1807 according to the New Jersey state constitutions but married women could not. ii Freedom of African Americans The African Americans were brought into the country as slaves. They were treated very poorly and had no rights. While being transported on slave ships, these slaves were forced to leave their families and chained below the deck of the ship. Their living conditions were unhygienic and they suffered from severe malnutrition which resulted in an increase in the prevalence of diseases at an alarming rate. They were punished harshly. They first arrived in America in 1619 as servants sold to Englishmen. Killing a slave however was still a crime and some whites were even hanged as a punishment. The owners treated them no better than livestock. iii The African American children were not allowed to study in schools so they made schools for themselves within the community where the children could get educated. White males, either naive or immigrant w ere preferred to be hired by companies rather than the African Americans. During the Civil War, President Lincoln promised the slaves in the Southern states freedom from their slavery if the Union won the war.iv By February 1865, about 200,000 slaves were freed. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 the African Americans were declared as Americans and two years later the African Americans were granted citizenship of America. Freedom of American Indians American Indians are the indigenous natives of the continental United States, Hawaii and Alaska. Difference in culture between the Native Americans and immigrants from Europe and Africa, the constantly changing alliance of different people has been a source of quarrel between the New World and Old World societies. They were

Case Note Record of Key Worker Session Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Case Note Record of Key Worker Session - Essay Example When I inquired about the reason of his insomnia, he informed me that he had been undergoing a lot of stress for the past few days, especially when he stayed with his mother in her house. Since his mother is unemployed, she heavily relies on him for monthly expenses and tends to get abusive, if he does not provide adequately. This has been constant practise for the past 2 months. Since he has high respect and regard for her, he is unsure about how to handle the situation. According to him, the insomnia stems from the fact that he constantly thinks about ways to make additional money to support his mother’s lifestyle. Now its come to a point where he is unable to deal with it anymore, and admitted that as his discharge day gets closer, he is getting increasingly worried about moving in back to his mother’s house. He expressed his desire to buy a house for and live there by himself. He himself suggested that it would be a great way to address his insomnia and bipolar diso rder that he had been admitted for. Mr. Cooper said that he would often move to his friend’s apartment for a few days to clear his mind, when things got worse with his mother. Clearly, one of the reasons for Mr. Cooper’s insomnia and phases of depression is due to his unhappiness when with his mother. I suggested him a counseling session with one of the doctors at the department of psychology. In my opinion, these findings and revelations could be new leads in diagnosing Mr. Cooper’s condition, and prompt action should be taken, before his discharge, which is scheduled on the 3rd of December. Sincerely, Head nurse, Department of Psychiatry Discharge Summary Patients name: Dennis Cooper Age: 45 years Condition: Bipolar disorder Discharge time: 12:45 pm, December 3rd, 2011 Summary: A 45-year old male was admitted due to severe depression and an attempted, failed suicide on November 25th, 2011 at 4pm, by an overdose of Diazepam. The patient is a known case of Bipol ar II disorder. On admission, he was immediately given a gastric lavage. Following the lavage, vital parameters were normal, and BP was 120/80. On awakening, the patient started talking incessantly, smiling constantly and seemed very excited and elated. This lasted for approximately 3 hours, after which he fell asleep. After awakening from a 6-hour nap, the patient had a severe headache, which subsided after administration of Advil, however, he was sobbing inconsolably for no apparent reason and appeared dejected and low. In order to relieve this phase of depression, Divalproex, clonazepam and Lithium were commenced. No more of such acute episodes of either mania or depression were observed during the course of his stay. The patient was under moderate sedation and antidepressants throughout his stay at the center, and this combination was helpful in maintaining a neutral state of mind, without any agitation or depression. On December 1st, he underwent counseling with the department of psychiatry, about certain issues, which in his opinion were causes for his insomnia and bipolar syndrome. A follow up with Dr. Shinde is recommended after a week of discharge. The current medication sheet that he is currently prescribed and needs to be continued is attached with this summary sheet. Medication: Lithium: 0.5 mg OD Divalproex: 250 mg BD Clonazepam: 0.25 mg BD Follow up: Dec. 11, Community Hospital Attending physician: Dr. Jay Shinde Comments: In case of sudden

The secret life of bees Essay Example for Free

The secret life of bees Essay T-Ray, Lilys father comes to collect Lily but leaves Rosaleen in the cell; alone to be with her thoughts and come to terms with what has actually just happened. Youre lucky I got you out he yelled. But she cant stay there She dumped sniff juice on three white men! What the hell was she thinking? Lily is grateful for her father coming and getting her out of jail, but is upset that Rosaleen has been left behind. But Rosaleen has to learn her lesson and that is the impression that the reader gets from her father, youre lucky I got you out' tells us that he might have even left his own daughter in the jail cell for longer than he did, I think that Rosaleen and Lily had no real reason to be in jail in the first place the way the writer describes the incident is that Rosaleen was paying back the man for deeds he had done in the past that severely damaged her family. There is a great turning point to this novel, when Rosaleen and Lily run away together. They went to South Carolina and found a house that they seemed very interested in. Lily wants to run away because the situation with her father is getting too much for her and she also wants to find much more about her mother. The woman moved along a row of white boxes that bordered the woods beside the pink house, a house so pink it remained a scorched shock on the back of my eyelids She looked like an African bride. This was when they first seen the house and where watching the beekeeper go about her duties, which was amazing to them. Lily has a connection towards bees and this is what brought her and Rosaleen towards this house, as if the bees were calling her and showing her the right path in her life. As they watch this woman they feel as if they are getting to know her more and more just by watching her go about her duties. At this house they meet three black calendar sisters: May, June and August, August is the beekeeper who tells Lily the secrets of the Black Madonna mother to thousands. Its from August that Lily unexpectedly receives the keys to her mothers mystery and learns the secrets of beekeeping. This is where I spent my summers, she said Big Mama kept bees; too, right out there in the same spot theyre in today She liked to tell everyone that women made the best beekeepers. This felt like home to Lily the girls were almost her sisters she never had and August was like that special mother that she had always wanted, Rosaleen took on that figure but was more like a best friend than a mother to Lily. As the turning point develops Lily does think back to what life at home was like and whether her Dad is ok, but she knows there will be trouble down the line and will see her father again. Towards the end of the novel Lily starts to realise how important real family is and what they are there to do. Looking back to the old days Lily realises how much she really misses her mother and once told stories of her by August is reminded of her charming nature. August telling Lily the stories of her mother really does trig her memory of having great fun with this special person and makes her look back with Rosaleen at those great days everyone enjoyed with her and how great she really was. Lily loved her mother very much and still does she is reminded of this as she reflects back onto her childhood past and thinks of all the great times the family had together. When T. Ray finds Lily it is an unfortunate yet tragic event at the same time, she wants to see him but doesnt feel love for him. This is the autumn of wonders, yet every day, every single day, I go back to that burned afternoon in August when T. Ray left. and there they were. All these mothers. I have more mothers than any eight girls off the street. They are the moons shining over me. This is when Lily realises although she cannot remember meeting her biological mother she has many other mother figures in her life that will almost fill those shoes until she grows up. I also think that her father leaving her is a very stupid and selfish thing of him to do. Lily goes from having so much sympathy from me to being a young woman who can understand that once something so tragic as your mother dying has happened there really is nothing that you can do about it and all you can do is look for new or replacement mothers for the time being. Lily I feel is a very heroic child dealing with what she does as a main character she develops dramatically changing from very vulnerable to extremely strong and courageous. This is evident through her relationship with her father and Rosaleen. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Miscellaneous section.

The Abrasive Jet Machining Engineering Essay

The Abrasive Jet Machining Engineering Essay Abrasive Jet machining is a kind of blasting process and one of the most hopeful micro machining process for hard and brittle materials like glasses and ceramics. Metal is removed due to the erosion caused by impact of high speed abrasive jet. Abrasive Jet machine has precision X-Y axis rigidly mounted to the cutting table and it has programmable Z axis with nozzle assembly. According to the proper design calculations we can select different components of Abrasive Jet Machine. In this project, I develop the model using different CAD packages like AUTO CAD and SOLID WORKS. Moreover I also explain the effect of several AJM operating parameters like standoff distance, size and type of abrasives on metal removal rate of AJM. I explain how we can maximize the efficiency of AJM by controlling their parameters. In this model care has been taken that use less fabricated component rather than directly procuring them because sometimes we find less accuracy in fabricated component so performance of machine can be low. Introduction of Abrasive Jet Machining Material removal processes is a part of manufacturing process and it can be divided into two major groups. One is conventional machining processes and another is Non- conventional machining processes. Different types of Conventional machining processes are Milling, Shaping, Drilling, Slotting, Boring, etc. And the examples of Non Conventional Processes are Abrasive Jet Machining (AJM), Electro-Discharge Machining (EDM), Laser Beam Machining (lBM), Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM) etc.. Abrasive jet machining also called, Abrasive Micro blasting, it is a material removing process and material is removed by a focused steam of abrasive particles carried by high pressure gas or air. A fine abrasive particle strikes on work surface through nozzle and the material is removed by erosion by the high velocity abrasive particle. AJM is used mainly to cut materials that are very sensitive to heat damage and thin section of hard materials that chip easily and it is also used to cut intricate shapes and holes which are more difficult to produce by other processes. Equipments of Abrasive Jet Machine C:UsersVishalDesktoppart01.jpg A layout of Abrasive Jet Machining is shown in fig. Abrasive particles are fed from the hoper into the mixing chamber. High pressure air or gas (such as Carbon Di-oxide or Nitrogen) used as carrier gas is supplied to the mixing chamber which containing abrasive powder and vibrating at 50 c/s. with the help of pressure regulator we can control the gas flow and pressure. The high pressure air/gas entrains the abrasive particles and this mixture comes out from small nozzle at high velocity. This stream of abrasive particles strikes on the surface of work-piece and cut the material. The abrasive stream is directed to the work piece locations by nozzle, which may be manually positioned or mounted in some designed fixture for automatic operation. For automatic operation, cam drives, tracer mechanism or pantographs used to automatically position either nozzle or work piece. Abrasive Jet Machining Mechanism: C:UsersVishalDesktopAjm set up 3d.jpg In this process kinetic energy of abrasive jet is strike on the surface of work piece then it converts into pressure energy. If pressure energy is more than the yield strength or tensile strength of work piece material then material gets cut. List of Components of AJM: Abrasive Delivery System ( Including Hopper) Pressure Regulator Air filter valve Mixer Nozzle Suitable arrangement to hold the work piece Elements of Abrasive Jet Machine There are three main elements of AJM: Nozzle Abrasive Carrier gas The above mentioned three elements of AJM influence: Material removal rate and accuracy of machining Nozzle wear rate Surface roughness Geometry of cut Variables in Abrasive Jet Machine The process can be easily controlled to vary the metal removal rate which Depends on following variables. Nozzle design ( mean Shape of nozzle such as circular, square) Distance between the nozzle and work piece Inclination to the work surface Type of abrasive Size and shape of abrasive Flow rate of abrasive Type of carrier gases Velocity of abrasive jet Work piece material Nozzle design: Nozzle must be resistant under different conditions like pressure and kinetic energy of jet and common materials used for nozzle are tungsten carbide and synthetic sapphire. Pressure losses at the end of nozzle should be low. Distance between nozzle and work piece: Standoff distance affect on material removal rate of AJM. Material removal rate is increase if we increase standoff distance up to certain limit and then fall gradually. Small standoff distance gives better penetration of abrasive particle into the work piece and large standoff distance might cause flaring. Successfully experiments show that effective standoff distance is 0.8mm. Types of abrasive: Aluminum oxide is preferable abrasive in majority of application and silicon carbide abrasive also use in certain cases. Abrasive size also prominent factor in AJM. Best results have been obtained with a abrasive size in the range of 10-50  µm. Abrasive Flow Rate: Maximum material removal rate is achieved with a flow rate at 8-18 g/m. Increase the flow rate above the normal range for a particular nozzle design results in lower stream velocity thus decrease the material removal rate. It is advisable to use acceptable flow rate to conserve abrasives and increase the nozzle life. Grain size: Abrasives with smaller grain size have high density which may cause chocking problem of nozzle. General grain size use in AJM is 10 µ to 50 µ. Fine grains are used for polishing and deburring. Coarse grain size cut faster and cut deeper also. Work piece material: Abrasive jet Machine is generally used for machining brittle material like ceramics and glass and effect of MRR is depends on hardness of material if hardness is high then MRR is low and vice versa. Advantages of Abrasive Jet Machine: Low capital cost Low power consumption Ability to cut intricate shapes in high hardness and toughness material Ability to cut fragile and heat sensitive material without damage because no heat generated and overall forces are low The part produced is free of burs It is flexible process from design point of view Tooling time is substantially reduced Both faces of work piece can be machined simultaneously. Disadvantages of Abrasive Jet Machine It is slow process since metal removal rate is very slow. Larger floor space is required Skilled operators are needed Sharp corner cannot be produced High manufacturing cost Material thickness that can be machined is limited Abrasive grains can stick into soft material so cleaning is required High wear rate of nozzle The process tends to pollute the environment Applications of Abrasive Jet Machine Removing flash and parting lines form the injection molding machine Deburring and polishing plastic components like nylon and Teflon Frosting interior surface of glass tubes Etching marking on glass cylinder High quality surface can be easily produced Glue, paints can be removed effectively form paintings. Different Components of Abrasive Jet Machining set up Abrasive Delivery System CNC Control System Pump Nozzle Different Motion System of Nozzle Catcher plate Abrasive Delivery System: Modern abrasive delivery feed system do not need a vibratory feeders and other metering valves. For smooth and precision cutting operation we need to have fixed and continuous abrasive flow rate. Now days we use orifice metering system metering system which is very reliable and extremely repeatable. During machining set up, once we measured the abrasive flow rate through orifice we can enter that value in control computer programmed and then no adjustment or further tuning of abrasive flow is ever be required. Bulk abrasive delivery system is mounted with the wheel and it is also easy to move and this kind of system is use compressed air to transport garnet from the bulk abrasive hopper to small hopper attached with the machine. Features: can hold approximately 550lbs abrasive Can be located 20 feet away from the Abrasive Jet machine. Height and Width are of following: 1320mm and 960mm Can handle minimum pressure 80 to 95 psi. How it works: Abrasive particles are stored into the hopper and abrasive container has one inlet and one outlet for air passage. The flow rate of abrasive is controlled by rotational speed of motor. Due to rotation of cam, abrasive container gets vibration. The abrasive particle is delivered by rotation of cam and motor arrangement. C:UsersVishalDesktophopper 3d.jpg C:UsersVishalDesktopAbarsive hopper.jpg Control System for Abrasive Water jet Machine: Most of abrasive water jet machine equipped with the CNC control system. G code programming is installed in CNC machine. But the limitations of the G code Controller is that feed rate is held at constant speed and feed rate varies only for some regions like curves and corners. Another limitation of G code controller is that is used for rigid cutting tools. Abrasive water jet machine is not a kind of rigid cutting tool. Every time change the feed rate for curves and corner results in uneven cut. So by considering various parameters like parameters of nozzle and intricate shape of part and variable thickness of the work piece and materials going to cut help to determine the feed rate so that operation can be done smoothly. For that we have to prepare the control algorithm which compute the desired feed rate based on the above parameters. By using G code we can convert this feed rate mechanism into a actual programming. This programming help to drive the servomotors and that controls the X Y motion and this way we can make part with more precision. Pump: Two type of pumps used in the Abrasive water jet system. One is Crankshaft pump which was used in old technology buy nowadays for high pressure cutting technology intensifier pump is used. In this hydraulic power pack system is a type of positive displacement pump. This system drives the intensifier. Hydraulic power pack system is controlled by microcomputers to set up the pressure etc†¦ Electric motor is used to drive the hydraulic pump and as the hydraulic fluid push the large cylinder which generate the high force on small cylinder and this small cylinder pressurize the water at the level which is proportional to the cross section area of larger cylinder to the small cylinder. Nozzle: High pressure water flows into the nozzle and cutting head of nozzle which comprise of an orifice and mixing chamber and an insert where water jet mixed with the abrasive and form an abrasive water jet. Various motion of the nozzle is controlled by motion system across the material. C:UsersVishalDesktopnozzle01.jpg How water jet Forms: Typical diameter of the nozzle is 6mm. High pressure water is then fed into the pipe which can carry the water at 400 Mpa and consisting of different joints without any leakage between them. When water passes through the orifice flow of water convert onto narrow jet and orifice diameter is usually about 0.2 to 0.4mm. When water enters into the cutting head section pressure head of water is converted into velocity head. Velocity of water can be expressed as Vw = 2Pw / Ï w. Where Pw is the pressure of water and Ï w is density of the water. The orifice usually made of sapphire and life of the orifice is about 100-150 hours. From orifice narrow water jet passes through the small section vacuum is created in mixing chamber and that pulls abrasive particles and air into the mixing chamber. Abrasive particles are feed through the different techniques like Vibratory bowl or Belt feeder. Mixing Chamber: Mixing tube is the section where abrasive particles mixed with the water jet. Focusing tube generally made of tungsten carbide because of its good abrasive resistance characteristics. Focusing tube has inner diameter typical about 0.8 to 1.6mm and length of 50 t0 80 mm. To get the maximum accuracy we have to replace the mixing tube frequently. We can replace it when tolerance goes below the acceptable level. Numerical modeling of Mixing process can be described as of follow: If we consider some energy losses at the water jet formation at the end of orifice then water jet velocity described as of following way: Vw = ÃŽ ¦ √ (2Pw/ Ï w) Where ÃŽ ¦ is Velocity coefficient of the orifice. Volume flow rate of water can be expressed as following: Qw = ÃŽ ¨ x Area of orifice x Vw = ÃŽ ¨ x à °Ã‚ Ã…“ «/4 do ² x ÃŽ ¦ √ (2Pw/ Ï w) = Cd x à °Ã‚ Ã…“ « /4 do ² x √ (2Pw/ Ï w) Where ÃŽ ¨ = co efficient of Vena Contracta Cd = Discharge co efficient of orifice. So total power of the water jet can be expressed by Pw = Qw x Pw = = Cd x à °Ã‚ Ã…“ « /4 do ² x √ (2Pw ³/ Ï w) Due to the loss occur in the mixing process both momentum and energy is not conserved. But assumed that no looses occur in momentum at initially. So ÃŽ £ (à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚  x v) before = ÃŽ £ (à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚  x v)After (à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ airvair + à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ wvw + à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ ava)before = ( à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ aivairr + à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ wvw + à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ ava)After As we know that air has very low density so momentum of air, before and after are neglected. Consider one more assumption and is that after mixing abrasive particle has same velocity of water and also neglect the momentum of abrasive then above equation can be expressed by à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ wvw = ( à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ w + à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ a) vaw So vaw = [(1/(1 + R) ] x vw Where R is the loading factor = à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ a/ à ¡Ã‚ ¹Ã‚ w During mixing process momentum losses occur due to the friction between the abrasive particle and inner wall of focusing tube and collision between the abrasive particle and water jet so for time being consider momentum losses and then equation is described by V aw = ÃŽ · x [(1/(1 + R) ] x vw Where ÃŽ · is the momentum loss factor. Motion System: Motion system can be designed in many ways according to the motion of nozzle around a work piece. This mechanism provides excellent operating conditions for the operator. C:UsersVishalDesktop3dTable 3Imagetable1.jpg Materials are loaded with the help of overhead crane or fork lift truck to the tank. This mechanism is useful for 5 axis tables and also provides pretty much space to the vertical tilted axis. This structure has restriction to the movement of nozzle that means movement of nozzle has limitation to twist and long distance between the table and work piece result in error due to the deflection of machine. In this type of mechanism, Nozzle is mounted to the Y axis carriage. C:UsersVishalDesktop3dTable 3Imagetable 2.jpg Y axis is moving beam and is mounted with the X axis. Back beam is supported at the two ends. This mechanism is suitable for very large machine. C:UsersVishalDesktop3dTable 3Imagetable 3.jpg In above mechanism, nozzle is very close to the plane of work piece which minimize static and dynamic errors while operation is going on. This system is not suitable for manually material loading and this provide material loading is equal to the access of the tank. Cost estimation ( Bill of material) Item Cost per single item No of items required Total cost Linear motion guide ways hsr30cm $385 3 $1155 Precision Ball screw $188 3 $564 Supporting Unit $144 3 $432 Frl unit air filter $48 1 $48 Diamond nozzle for long service life $900 1 $900 Abrasive hopper with 90lb capacity $132 1 $132 Other accessories $250 $250 Total $3481 Material Removal rate Mechanism and Modeling in Abrasive Jet Machining As we discussed earlier, material removal rate takes place in abrasive jet machining because of the erosion of the work material and erosion take place due to the high impact of jet velocity strikes on the work piece. Following assumption has been considered in mechanism of Material removal rate. Shapes of the abrasives are spherical and abrasive particles are rigid. Kinetic energy of the abrasive particles is fully used in removing material of the work piece. Erosion takes place in brittle material due to the brittle fracture and the volume of fracture is considered as hemispherical with the diameter which is equal to length of the indentation. C:UsersVishalDesktopGeometry.jpg C:UsersVishalDesktopPart2.jpg From the geometry of the erosion of material DE ² = DF ² + EF ² EF ² = r ² = DE ² DF ² r ² = (dg/2) ² (dg/2 H)  ² = -H ² + dg H ≅ dg H r = Volume of the erosion of material is equal to the volume of hemispherical crater and is given by: TB = 2/3 = 2/3 x (dg H) ^3/2 As we know kinetic energy equation is given by  ½ mv ² so the kinetic energy of Abrasive particle grit is given by K.Eg =  ½ mg V ² = /12 x dg Ï g V ² Where V = Velocity of Abrasive Particle Ï g = Density of Abrasive Grit dg = Diameter of Single Abrasive Grit mg = Mass of Abrasive Grit When Abrasive particle strikes on Work piece material, work piece will be subjected to maximum forces which cause the erosion of material which I indicated in figure by symbol H. Therefore work done is given by W =  ½ x F H Impact force F is give by F = Indentation Area x hardness of the material W =  ½ x r ² H S And Work done is equal to Kinetic energy because we assumed that kinetic energy is fully utilized for material removal so W = Kinetic energy K.E  ½ x r ² H = = /12 x dg Ï g V ² So H = (dg Ï g V ²)/ (6r ²S) = dg V (Ï g/6S) ^1/2 Now material removal rate of brittle material can be expressed as of following: MrrB = TB x No. of strikes by abrasive grits per second N = TB x (ma/ /6 dg Ï g) = (6TB ma/ dg Ï g ) Now Put the value of TB = 2/3 x (dg H) ^3/2 = [ 6 x (2/3 x (dg H) ^3/2) x ma] / ( dg Ï g ) = (4 ma Ï g) x (H/dg) ^3/2 As we know that H = dg V (Ï g/6S) ^1/2 So MrrB = (4ma/ Ï g) x (dgV/dg) ^3/2) x (Ï g/6H) ^3/4 = (4maV) ^3/2 / (6^3/4 x Ï g^1/4 x S ^3/4) = (maV^3/2) / (Ï g^1/4 x S^3/4) Fabrication and Assembly of Abrasive Jet Machine Nozzle: A standard length of cylindrical rod typically made of Tungsten Carbide or Synthetic Sapphire or MS was cut into the proper length based on the requirements by using power hack saw. By turning process in Lathe machine we can reduced the diameter of cylindrical rod and bring up to 15mm. On same lathe machine we can make tip by Taper turning process by tapering one end of cylindrical rod. Then make a blind hole of 20mm on planner face of rod by using 12mm drill bit in drilling machine. Due to the tool tip angel, a shape of 118 degree formed at the end of blind hole. To get the 1mm of Tip of nozzle, we can use the 0.74mm drill bit in Drilling process. Cam: Mild steel of 40mm diameter can be used as a raw material of Cam. Turning process is used to bring down the diameter up to 35mm. By using power hack saw we can get the required width (Approximate 25mm). Then both cut faces can be machined in Milling Machine. Through hole can be made by 16mm Drill Bit in Drilling Machine. Abrasive Container: Abrasive container usually made out of the hollow cylinder. On the both end of container two Cast Iron plates were welded. On the top plate, two iron pipes fitted through the holes. There are two pipes in a system, one is inlet which is longer and makes more agitation of abrasive particles and outlet pipe is shorter. Compressed air goes to the abrasive container through inlet pipe and mixed with the abrasive particles then mixture of Air and Abrasive forward to the nozzle to perform operation Vibrator Assembly: Angel section is welded with the base plate by welding process. Induction motor is placed on the angle section which is parallel to the base plate. Induction motor is tightening with the nut and bolt with base plate. Cam is fixed with motor shaft and Abrasive container is connected to the rod and it is freely to rotate around the rod. C:UsersVishalDesktopVribator.jpg Design data and Technical Specification of Various Components: X-Y Table X -Y table is prominent part of the abrasive water jet machine. Various fixturing arrangements have to be provided to hold the work piece while operation is running. The travel of X-Y table has been decided based on the application. Table consists of two parts. One is upper plate and another one is lower plate. Upper table travel in X direction and lower table travel in Y direction. Based the model of Omax 2626, table can travel 730mm x 660mm. Y Axis is responsible for movement of work piece in Y direction. Other components of X-Y are of following. Linear motion guide way Recalculating ball screw Supporting unit for ball screw Couplings Nuts and bolts Other components as required Linear motion guide way: General application of linear motion guide is for the linear motion. Based on the different parameters like travel length, floor space requirement, type of equipment being used, linear motion guide way is selected. With the help of different rollers which provide rolling elements between the rails and block we can get higher precision linear motion system. Frictional losses are reduced between the elements by restraint effects between the rails and block and it can withstand high load in any directions. Assembly of Linear motion Guide way Source: Hiwin linear motion guide way catalog_G99TE13-0809 C:UsersVishalDesktopl m guide way.JPG L M Guide way with Dimensions Structure of linear motion guide way: As shown in fig, each raw of balls have angle contact 45 degree. Retainer plate has facility to hold the recalculating ball screw which guide linear motion guide way in directions. End plate is attached with the linear motion blocks which allow the balls to circulate. Side seal is placed between the row of balls and grease nipple is attached with the end plate. Linear motion guide way can achieve precise motion by setting up the section height smaller as much as possible based on the requirements and also provide rigidity of the model. Compare to all others traditional slides, co efficient of friction of linear motion guide way is 1/50 th. Advantages of linear motion guide way: Provide high accuracy Insufficient lubrications in traditional slides give errors in accuracy and in linear motion guide way frictional contact is rolling contact so it has little wear and therefore it has long life. Due to small frictional resistance a small driving force required to move the load and hence it provides high speed of motion. Provide Equal loads capacity in all four direction Best advantage is the interchangeability of the parts. Ball Screw: Ball screw assembly for linear motion guide way consists of screw and nuts. Helical threads or grooves provided between nuts and screws and balls are rotate between them. Ball return system provides the way to return the balls again that means when ball reach at the end of the nut it return through the return pipe. Ball nuts in ball screw assembly determine the fatigue failure in the system and ratios of number of threads in ball nut to the number of threads on ball screw decide the wear out. By considering the table length, calculation of X axis and Y axis ball screw length is determined. For our table our X axis ball screw length should be 730mm + 200 mm (Breadth for upper table) + 100mm allowances for below cover so it should be 1030mm. For Y axis table it should be 660mm + 200mm + 100mm so it should be 960mm. Based on the ball screw length, rail length is determined and which is 50mm larger than ball screw length. C:UsersVishalDesktopball screw.JPG Ball screw Assembly Supporting Units: Ball screw supported bearing are designed with the high bearing stiffness compare to other conventional bearing. Two kinds of supports are available fixed end support unit and supported end support unit. In fixed end support unit can take all thrust by given work and in another support end support unit acts like usual bearing. Nut bracket is used to bolt the ball screw nut with the work load platform. Vertical motion Module: Vertical motion module comprise of all above components like L M guide way, Pipe holder , Ball screw assemble, supporting units, nozzle holder and nozzle etc. This assembly is used for adjustment of stand of distance between nozzle and work piece. C:UsersVishalDesktopVerticle motion module.jpg Fixture arrangement for work piece in Abrasive Jet Machine As abrasive jet machine is used for various kind of applications that also result in various fixture arrangement of work piece based on the application. So not only one application can use for the applications. Usually Abrasive jet machine requires less fixturing equipment to get start the operation so combination of different components can be used for particular kind of work. Fixture is used to locate the work piece correctly and for quick loading to reduce the machining cycle time. To prevent undesirable movement or rotation of work piece while the work piece is under the process. When work piece is under the processes, high pressure of water and abrasive strikes on the work piece so it can move in sideways or lift up those results in errors. Most of abrasive jets are used to make flat parts or add some features to the existing parts. So for all kind of flat parts 3 parameters has to considered and which are X position , Y- position and angle of rotation with respect to X-Y point. Figure shows the fixture arrangement of work piece for flat parts using square and clamps. As shown in figure parts are lying on the slats and clamping is provided to prevent the side motion of work piece because slats do not provide better support to the work piece. A square plate is bolted with the tank. As shown in fig. Screws which are close to the work piece is a clamping screws and which are far from the work piece for the square to adjust the different thickness of material. This system is used to prevent the rotating motion of slats. Comparison of Abrasive jet Machining process with other Processes: Abrasive Jet machine Vs Laser Beam Machining: Comparison with respect to the material can be cut: Abrasive water jet can cut varieties of material with good conditions compare to laser beam machining. For refractory materials, laser beam machining has poor applicability whereas abrasive water jet has good applicability for same materials. Capital cost and abrasive water jet set up is very low compare to Laser machining. There is no heat produce in Abrasive water jet marching so it minimize the thermal distortion of material also minimize the secondary operation because it provides continuous or uniform smooth surface with little burr on the surface. As the thickness of the work piece increase, higher precision can be obtained by abrasive jet machine with the same or higher tolerance than laser. Abrasive water jets are safer compare to laser machining and abrasive jet nozzle is very simple than laser however life of nozzle is about 100-150 hours of operation. However there are some disadvantages associated with the abrasive water jet process while compare with the laser machining like tool wear is very low and power consumption also very low in laser machining as abrasive water jet has little high compare to laser. Abrasive water jet machine or Abrasive jet machine Vs. EDM. EDM has low applicability for the material like super alloys whereas abrasive water jet machining has good applicability of the same materials. Abrasive water jet machining has facility to make piercing in the parts by itself while EDM process has required pre drilled hole. There is no heat affected zone so this process eliminates secondary operations. Good capabilities to make large parts with economical cost. Rapid software programming which is very simple and less set up with fixturing make this machine considerable to buyers. It can work better in any kind of materials like conductive or non conductive. If the thickness of work piece is less than the 25mm or 1 inch, abrasive jet machine works five to eight times faster than the EDM but less precise as well. Abrasive water jets Vs Plasma Material removal rate efficiency of plasma machining is very low compare to the abrasive water jet machining. Plasma machining is not preferable to refractory material while abrasive water jet machining applicable to wide range of materials. Abrasive water jet provides better edge finish than plasma machining process but plasma machining process is faster than the Abrasive water jet process. Abrasive water jet Vs. Milling Milling can be used for rapid production if set up is already done and fully programmed whereas abrasive jet machining has rapid programming feature and if operator is well trained than set up do not required for the part. Minimal burring problem, less scrap, environmentally friendly, no oil soaked chips are the reasons of abrasive jet machining which replacing milling process in machine shops.

Impact of the Credit Crunch in the UK

Impact of the Credit Crunch in the UK Factors Influencing the Financial Institutions in the UK With Particular Reference to Credit Crunch A Comparative Study between Barclays and Northern Rock Bank I- Abstract Banks acts as intermediaries between surplus units depositing funds and investors or individuals seeking capital for investments. Thus, banks role is important in maintaining the flow of fund between these different parties. Banks like any other profit maximising firms are influenced by various factors that represent risks or opportunities. Therefore, banks business decisions are founded on aspects such as confidence in the market, the level of risks, the state of the economy, and their competitive strength. Regulation is essential for assuring compliance and integrity in the financial system, but rigid rules stifles the dynamicity of the banking industry and the financial sector as whole. Moreover, Central Bank role as a lender of last resort can rise the issue moral hazard by helping imprudent banks, however because banks are financial intermediaries, the impact of bank failure can have a detrimental effect on the financial system (systemic risk), and also on clients and customers, therefore bank supervision is vital due to their sensitive important role and their extensive impact. Furthermore, the development of events in the US financial market particularly the high default rate of subprime mortgage market led to a decrease in demand for tradable securities. This has affected confidence in the US and the global financial market, and consequently some financial institutions and banks such as northern rock in the UK faced difficulties in obtaining the necessary funds to maintain the business operation and remain solvent due to lack of short term liquidity. However, other banks faced similar difficulties but are using various methods to improve their balance sheets to overcome the current credit crisis. Moreover, governments and regulatory bodies are all taking the necessary measure to stimulate the market and tackle the core sources of the current credit crisis. II- Introduction Sustained economic development is often linked to efficient management of fund that is used to finance investments, which are projected to further create more wealth and opportunities for states, corporate and individual investors. Banks acts as intermediaries between surplus units depositing funds and investors seeking capital for investments. Thus, banks role is fundamental in maintaining the flow of fund between these different parties. Furthermore, the stability of financial and banking system is vital for the sustainability of economic growth and the preserve of investors confidence. Banks like any other profit maximising firms are influenced by various factors, these includes internal and external factors, which represent risks or advantages. Therefore, banks decisions are based on elements such as confidence in the market, the measurement and management of risks, the state of the economy, and their competitive power and market share. This study will look onto various factors influencing the financial institutions in the UK, with particular reference to Credit Crunch. This literature will comprise the banks management of risks, the role of authorities regulating and supervising the financial system, and explore the regulation of the banking industry and the financial system as a whole, in addition of the effect of regulation on banks performances. The analysis will include a comparative study between Barclays and Northern Rock Bank, taking into accounts the differences in their structure, size, as well as their reaction to changes in global financial markets. Furthermore, the Research will examine the fast moving global effect of the credit crunch; discuss the two banks business model, and explore their activities and behaviours. The study will also investigate the two banks high exposure to credit risks arising from risky investments, highlight the consequences of the heavy reliance on money market, and the use of securitisation for liquidity sources. IV- Methodology The research objective is to investigate the various factors that influence financial institutions in the UK, notably the banking industry. This research was based mainly on secondary research, the gathered data and information was sufficient for this research topic. However, sensitive data regarding the value of risk were not disclosed in both banks publication, such data is useful for the researcher to scrutinise banks estimation of risk and how realistic are the projections. Nevertheless, information about estimation of risks may be obtained directly from banks for further analysis of this specified area of banks management of risk. Research material relevant to the topic was collected from various academic sources; this is to explore issues and arguments regarding the regulation and supervision of the banking system. The two banks internet site was used to gather the background information along with the financial statements of the last six years, which were used in the research analysis to perform the comparison between Barclays and Northern Rock bank business strategies and financial performance. Publications from the Bank of England website were collected to study the central bank regulation and the management of the UK banking system, in addition to the historical data regarding interest, LOBOR, and inflation rate changes. Furthermore, articles from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) were gathered to study the role of the organisation and its contribution in supervising and stabilising the UK financial system. Recent publications from the Bank of International Settlement (BIS) were collected to study the role, the objectives and the effect of Basel directives on banks. Besides research the progress of current Basel II implementation along with the development of new requirements arising from the present credit crunch. Recent newspaper articles and various other media sources were gathered to collect the latest information regarding the development of the present credit crunch and its effect on banking industry, these includes sources such as BBC business, yahoo finance and the Financial Times website, and follow recent actions of regulators and banks management of the current crisis. Moreover, data from the two banks financial statements was collected to perform the Gap Analysis using Microsoft excel package to conduct a series of calculations. Other methods could have been used to assess bank risks such as value at risk (VaR) using regression analysis by utilising a computer package such as Microsoft Excel. The regression result will determine the degree of risk that the researched banks possess in their portfolio. However, the banks seldom disclose such sensitive information in published financial statements. This is to avoid adverse reaction by investors and credit rating agencies, which could therefore affect the banks stock prices, their reputation and confidence in the capital market. V- Literature review (Part I): The nature of banking The term bank can be applied to a wide range of financial institutions, from large banks to smallest mutually owned building society in the UK. The provision of deposit and loan distinguishes Banks from other financial institutions. Deposits products supply money on demand or following time notice. Deposits are liabilities for banks, thus must be well managed if banks want to make profit. Similarly, banks manage assets created through lending. Therefore, Banks main activity is being an intermediary between depositors and borrowers. Other non banks financial institutions, such as building societies and stockbrokers, also act as intermediaries; however it is the provision of loans and taking of deposits that distinguishes banks, though many banks provide various other financial services. 1) Management of risks in banking The fact is that bankers are in the business of managing risk. Pure and simple, that is the business of banking. (Walter Winston, former CEO of Citibank; the Economist, 10 April 1993). Banks, like all profit maximising firms, have to deal with macroeconomic risks, such as recession, inflation level, as well as other micro economic risks including political pressure, commercial breakdown of core customers or suppliers, natural disaster, in addition to the emergence of new competitive threats. From a finance theory viewpoint, Bank risk management is primarily composed of four main balance sheet risks, which includes liquidity risk, interest rate risk, credit risk, and capital risk (Hempel et al, 1989). Credit risk has been recognised as the principal risk in its effect on bank performance (Sinkey, 1992, p. 279) and bank failure (Spadaford, 1988). The primary reason why the correct management of credit risk is essential is because banks have restricted ability to absorb loan losses. Generally, the ability of a bank to absorb a loan loss is originated firstly from generated income of other profitable loans, and secondly by bank own capital. 2) Factors influencing financial institutions Banks and other profit maximising firms are influenced by various factors; financial institutions in particular are susceptible to a range of changes that may affect their projected growth. Some of these changes are internal changes, this occurs subsequent to restructuring program that a bank adopt following an expansion strategy such as in mergers and acquisitions or as a defensive strategy to remain competitive and maintain market share and fight competitive predators from acquiring the bank. Moreover, there are other external factors that can influence financial institutions, these includes a countys government monetary policy, the economic condition, the financial stability and the level of confidence in the market, the inflation rate, in addition to other risks such as credit and market risks. There are a range of risks that a bank may encounter, these includes the followings: a) Credit risk and counterparty risk: counterparty risk refers to the risks that after the creation of two parties contract, one party will renege the terms of the contract, while credit risk is the risk that a loan or an asset becomes lost due to default. b) Liquidity or funding risk: these are similar terms that refer to the risk of shortage of liquidity for maintaining operational commitments, that is the ability for the bank to cover its liabilities at due date. A shortage of sufficient liquid assets is often the trigger of financial distress, as it is increasingly difficult for the bank to obtain funds from the wholesale markets. Thus funding risk is the inability for the bank to maintain its daily operations. c) Market or price risk: this type of risk refers to the risk linked to over the counter instruments or traded stocks in a non liquid market, such as equities and bonds. Thus if a bank hold these items in its portfolio, then it is vulnerable to market or price risk, this is the risk that the price of these items is unstable, which is caused by systematic (movement of prices in all traded market instruments, for instance due to changes in economic policy) or specific market risks (the movement of a particular instrument is opposite to the rest of similar instruments, for example, this may be caused by unfavourable information about the issuer of that instrument). d) Interest rate risk: this is similar to price risk, because interest rate is price of money, it represent the opportunity cost of keeping money. This occurs because of interest rate mismatches between assets and liabilities, which differ in volume and maturity arising from the banks performing asset transformation. e) Capital or gearing risk: because banks are highly leveraged firms, they have to set aside some capital to cover the losses. The size of capital is proportional to the level of risk taken by the banks. Basel risk asset ratio principle requires banks to hold up to 8%. Besides, settlement or payments risk. This is when one party in the contract deliver assets or makes payment in advance, which creates exposure to potential loss. Furthermore, operational risk refers to risks from human capital, legal risks such as law suits, fraud, and physical capital. While sovereign and political risk refers to the risk that a government default on its debt obligation to a bank. Moreover, financial regulators has identified three main risks linked to banks, these includes market risks such as risks from exchange rates, interest rates, operational risk, commodity and equity prices. 3) The Asset-Liability Management (ALM) technique Because the fundamental and the primary activity of a bank is intermediation between surplus units that makes deposits and those that seek capital, which acquire fund from the bank, thus this payment system gives the bank the role of intermediation , where the intermediation is key activity, risk management is founded principally on a sound asset liability management (ALM). Furthermore, the ALM is a technique practiced by banks to effectively manage their risks, which was largely utilised by banks in the post war period up to the 1980s. The ALM method was the main tool used to manage banks books, it is essential that the bank maintain its assets and liabilities under control to minimise risks and remain solvent. Besides, banks are keeping their managers updated with newer techniques and skills to maintain their efficiency and competitiveness for the future, for instance, ALMA is an association that comprise around 40 financial institutions, which are international and local banking groups and building societies, mostly UK and Irish. However it is growing its membership and links around Europe. Its objective is to offer an informal and inclusive forum regarding the balance sheet management issues (Byrne, J. 2004). Due to the development of banking activities, innovative instrument became increasingly used by banks to manage their assets such as off balance sheet instruments, where banks moved from interest earning income products to non-interest income sources, thus this required that banks risk management should adopt newer techniques other then just the ALM to includes the risks originating from the off balance sheet instruments. Moreover, one of the new methods included in managing market and then credit risks is the Value at Risk (VaR), which involves giving an estimate of losses arising from the volatility of banks assets. 4) Credit Culture A recent research conducted by the Australian institute of bankers on the issue of Improving Asset Quality (Brice, 1992), which focused on the significance of credit culture. The great emphasis on credit culture was due to its influence on bank performance and in some occurrences bank failure ( Spadaford (1988) and Brice (1992)). Spadaford (1988) stated in his study of 162 bank failures in the United States that the analysis showed that 98% of bank failure occurred due to asset quality problems, among these problems are poor management of loan policy, inadequate systems to ensure compliance with internal rules and procedures, and the lack of supervision on senior and key management members in the organisation. McKinley (1991) has defined four main cultures that influence bank performance. predominantly the immediate performance-driven, which emphasis on earnings targets, followed by Market share/production-driven that focuses on being the biggest with greater production volume, along with Values-driven that balances between credit quality and generated income. In addition to the Unfocused (current priority-driven) bank, such bank lacks vision and appropriate strategy often set short term targets which consequently lead to unsuccessful ventures. VI- Literature review (Part II): Banks regulation The base of regulating financial institutions is founded on three broad frameworks. Primarily, the consumer protection argument, this is based on the notion that investors and depositors cannot be demanded to perform risk assessment of financial institutions they deal with, nor monitor standard of service or performance of these institutions. The consumer protection underlying principle is based on three types of regulation; firstly, compensation schemes created to repay all or part of losses caused by the insolvency of financial institutions; secondly, rules and regulations such as capital adequacy requirements designed to prevent insolvency; and lastly promote fairness in business or market practices by setting rules and standards. The latter regulation reveals market imperfections arising from principle agent problems, asymmetric information, and the issue of determining the true value of financial products or services, which are established well after the transaction or contract was formed (Dale, R and Wolfe, S. 1998). Furthermore, there are other concerns associated with consumer protection rationale. The provision of compensation to depositors and investors for losses sustained from the insolvency of financial institutions will further encourage these institutions to pursue risky investment decisions, thus there will be minimal or no incentive for prudence. This indicates that risky firms will be able to attract trade with identical terms and ease as prudent institutions, thus affecting financial market standards and discipline, and rising potential insolvency incidences. Therefore, the resulting losses must be covered by the deposit insurance scheme, investor protection fund, or in some cases by the tax payer. Thus, prudential controls on financial institutions are essential to minimise losses and to balance the regulatory incentives with the excessive risk-taking. The third aim of financial regulation is to promote integrity of markets, encompassing various issues such as market manipulation, fraud, transparency, and fairness; market integrity emphasis on organising the market as whole beyond just the relationship between financial firms and their consumers. Supervisors implementing the financial regulation consider systematic risk as the factor that causes great concerns. That is the risk that failure of one or more distressed financial institution could spread and cause a contagion effect, which could cause the collapse of other prudent institutions. It is their vulnerability to the contagion effect that single out financial institutions from other non financial firms. 1) Targets of regulation The major objectives of Financial regulation is to set guidelines for the activities of Banks, insurance companies, investment firms, exchanges, and fund management companies. The diverse principles for financial regulation mentioned above vary in their relation to these various institutions of the financial services sector. Banks are distinguished by what is referred to as short- term and unsecured value certain liabilities (deposits) and illiquid value-uncertain assets (loans). Banks conforms to deposits insurance and other type of consumer protection, partly because banks balance sheet consists of a variety of complex instruments and depositors are not capable to measure the riskiness of their deposits. However, depositor protection creates moral hazard problem. Furthermore, banks regulation focuses more on systemic risk. That is the possibility of a bank run that can spread to a number of banks and trigger a wider instability in the financial system. According to this notion, bank runs are the result of action by depositors retrieving their funds in response to amounting fear and uncertainty of the bank future arising from bank asset losses that could render it insolvent. Due to potential risk of losing all or some of their assets, depositors tend to make a run when initial signs indicate some troubles. Moreover, recent research found that the occurrence of a bank run can not be entirety explained by the decline of banks underlying assets (LaWare, J.1991.p34), (Diamond and Dybvig, 1983).The emphasis is on a banks maturity transformation notably the transfer of illiquid assets (bank loans) into liquid claims (bank deposits), taking into account that the banks loan portfolio substantially decline in value in an event of liquidation than on going concern. What triggers a rational bank run is that the uncertainty and the higher probability that the loan portfolio liquid value is less than the value of liquid deposits. This notion demonstrates how bank runs can possibly arise and affect even healthy banks. Thus distressed bank have to liberate its assets at liquidation value, therefore leading to possible insolvency. 2) Techniques of regulation While procedures of conduct of business regulation do not differ among various types of institutions, but in terms of prudential regulation there are fundamental differences that reveal the distinctive risk features of banks, insurance firms, and investment companies. Because bank failure has a greater effect on the whole market, and can create systemic crisis, governments and central banks have set bank regulation for creating extra protection in provision of extra fund by setting the lender of last resorts facilities, and deposit protection, however, these facilities creates moral hazard. Moreover, the deposit protection fund may exceeds the available protection from deposits insurance schemes, demonstrating policymakers greater emphasis for protecting the banking institutions rather then just depositors, as well showing the regulatory objectives of sustaining the banking system, while preventive regulation focuses more on tackling excessive risk taking by setting capital adequacy requirements for assets. Institutional regulation varies between states; in the UK for instance there was a single mega regulator, all regulation is institutional, each group/ institution have a diversified activity which all work under a single agency that overlook the supervision. Alternatively, in a system of multiple regulatory agencies specialised by duty, a fixed institutional regulation is unattainable due to the fact that these agencies are divers in functions, which calls for the appointment of a lead regulator for diversified groups (Taylor, M. 1995). 3) Regulation of the financial system By tradition banks are providers of loans among other services to firms and individual investors, temporary banks falls in deficits when their expenditure exceeds receipts; however banks generally adjust their liquidity position by using capital or wholesale market. Problems occur when banks capital is misused in funding high risk investments; this is often the consequences of bad governance by senior management in controlling the banks assets or it is the outcome of a contagion effect resulting from systemic risk. Moreover, the central bank controls and monitor commercial banks activities and set rules to regulate the banking system. This is to create stability and to promote confidence in financial market, which are vital elements in maintaining steady economic growth. 4) Bank failure Regulation of banks must be explored in context of bank failure. As any substantial problem produces the need for the introduction of changes in the regulatory framework, because the regulators attempt to correct any loophole in the system. Major bank failures in the history of banking occurred in the US in the year 1929. At that period there were 25,000 operating banks, however by 1934 the number had reduced to 14,000. These incidences consequently led to the implementation of more restrictive bank rules, such as single state operations, which until recently remained the feature of the US banking system. The subsequent major bank failure was the fringe banking crisis in the UK in the year 1973. 5) Reasons for regulating banks The principle reason is the systemic risk, because the financial system is susceptible to level of confidence, therefore external regulation is essential in maintaining the stability and reduces further volatility. The second reason represents the social cost that a failure of bank causes, which have a greater impact then a failure an ordinary firm. The insolvency of a firm affects the shareholders, while the failure of a bank will have a greater number of affected customers (depositors), which could also be spread across larger geographical locations. As well as the effect it will have on providing savings for potential investors which will have a detrimental impact on the economic growth. The third reason is the possible lack of knowledge by the public, it is suggested that they lack the necessary background information to distinguish between safe and risky investments partly due to asymmetric information because depositors do not have access to the same information available for banks. Thus comprehensive risk assessments necessitate additional information to that included in financial reports. Hence for this particular reason regulators had introduced depositor protection. Although the above arguments support regulation, however there should be some caution on the use of excessive control over banks. It is primarily the issue of sustained cost in terms of resources on banks and the regulators. Because the central bank has to set teams of experts to perform the prudential control, likewise banks have to employ skilled resources capable to produce the necessary required returns to the regulator. Such costs can be large, thus it is a matter of cost benefit analysis to establish whether the gain of applying prudential control exceeds the incurred costs. Other possible dangers of excessive regulation are the fall of competition, increase in costs and the diminishing pace of financial innovation and development. Furthermore, heavy regulation on a particular centre may lead to the migration of the activities to locations that have lenient regulation, which has been the principle factor in the development of offshore banking centres that led to the need for a global regulation system for international banks, which is known as a level playing field. 6) The supervision of the financial system in the UK The above arguments about prudential regulation are based on banks but it can also be applied on various other financial institutions. Furthermore, the current UK financial regulation system utilise the same measures in authorising and supervising financial institutions without a distinction between insurance firms, building societies, or banks. The FSA is the principle regulator of the financial system in the UK. The FSA was established in 1997, succeeding the Securities and Investments Board (SIB), which was supervising the investment industry. However, the FSA has progressively thought to become the main controller responsible for regulating insurance and investment industry, building societies, and banks. In addition to regulating financial exchanges such as Euronext.liffe and the Stock exchange besides clearing houses, along with other functions such as the responsibility of regulating the access of companies to Official List in cooperation with the UK Listing Authority. The initial development occurred in 1998, when the Bank of England transferred its responsibility of regulation and supervision of banking to the FSA, which was succeeded with the passing of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000 that provided the FSA with full power as the main regulator. The FSMA requires the FSA to attain the following objectives: Promote public awareness of financial system Maintain confidence in the UK financial market Secure consumer protection Reduce financial crime. 7) The FSA approach to supervision The FSA approach to supervision is risk based; the primary phase is to assess the risks associated with four objectives above. The FSA attain this through gathering information from various sources including customers and supervision of firms. The secondary phase is risk weighing and estimating impact, by giving each risk the probability of occurring, thus giving it a score or value. Thus firms with high magnitude impact require greater supervision. This is to reduce systemic risk and consumer losses. However, firms that possess highly sophisticated and effective risk assessment systems require less supervision by the FSA. Finally, after the risks are identified, assessed and weighted, the FSA select the appropriate measures to respond using various tools, which can be summed as follows: Those aimed to influence the behaviour of consumers, operators, and the industry Those aimed to influence the behaviour particular firms. The first category encompasses consumer education, the discloser of information, and compensation method, while the second category includes the provision of authorisations to firms and discipline, in addition to reimbursement of losses. 8) Capital adequacy (Basel Capital Accord, 1988). Liquidity is essential for any firm to maintain its daily operation, whereas solvency refers to the ability of a bank to meet its commitments in terms of liabilities at due time. However, there is a distinction between liquidity and solvency. There is a general understanding that if a bank is thought to remain solvent then it should be able to borrow fund from open market to meet its short term liquidity requirements. Likewise, the presence of liquidity problems that cannot be resolved through the wholesale market suggests that other lenders believe that the risk of insolvency of that particular bank is great. Furthermore, if a bank struggle to find short term funds in the markets, it will face difficulties in paying its claims. Therefore the Bank of England and the FSA requires banks to efficiently managing their liquidity as a principal policy element of reducing the risk of insolvency. The Basel committee on Banking Supervision has introduced Basel Capital Accord II; it included new amendments to the assessment of capital adequacy of banks. This new approach was ought to be implemented in year 2006, which contains three pillars: Minimum capital requirements Supervisory review of capital adequacy Public disclosure. Basel II accord focuses on credit risk and market risk. In pillar 1, the treatment of market risk was not altered but changes were made on the treatment of credit risk notably operational risk. The bank for international settlement and the Basel committee on banking supervision have founded the financial stability institute (FSI) to assist central banks across the world to improve their financial systems. The new Basel II requirements set challenges on banks to develop and increase efficiency on their capital management. In this section, there is a discussion of the effect of Basel II on Banks in Europe and North America, and how the new directives are going to improve the cohesion of trade between the International Banks. Furthermore, this study will examine the banks resource capability to meet Basel II requirements, and discuss the impact and the implementation of the proposed guidelines. The Basel II framework is a tool that international financial institutions have created to be used by banks around the world as a common standard. The principle of Basel II is that banks are required to hold in reserve certain level of capital as a protection to maintain bank operation when making losses. It promotes transparency of banks activities and encourages efficient management of capital. It is estimated to total 8% of bank assets. The Basel II framework has set standards for banks in managing their capital and requires the discloser of information to detect any risks. The guidelines promote efficien Impact of the Credit Crunch in the UK Impact of the Credit Crunch in the UK Factors Influencing the Financial Institutions in the UK With Particular Reference to Credit Crunch A Comparative Study between Barclays and Northern Rock Bank I- Abstract Banks acts as intermediaries between surplus units depositing funds and investors or individuals seeking capital for investments. Thus, banks role is important in maintaining the flow of fund between these different parties. Banks like any other profit maximising firms are influenced by various factors that represent risks or opportunities. Therefore, banks business decisions are founded on aspects such as confidence in the market, the level of risks, the state of the economy, and their competitive strength. Regulation is essential for assuring compliance and integrity in the financial system, but rigid rules stifles the dynamicity of the banking industry and the financial sector as whole. Moreover, Central Bank role as a lender of last resort can rise the issue moral hazard by helping imprudent banks, however because banks are financial intermediaries, the impact of bank failure can have a detrimental effect on the financial system (systemic risk), and also on clients and customers, therefore bank supervision is vital due to their sensitive important role and their extensive impact. Furthermore, the development of events in the US financial market particularly the high default rate of subprime mortgage market led to a decrease in demand for tradable securities. This has affected confidence in the US and the global financial market, and consequently some financial institutions and banks such as northern rock in the UK faced difficulties in obtaining the necessary funds to maintain the business operation and remain solvent due to lack of short term liquidity. However, other banks faced similar difficulties but are using various methods to improve their balance sheets to overcome the current credit crisis. Moreover, governments and regulatory bodies are all taking the necessary measure to stimulate the market and tackle the core sources of the current credit crisis. II- Introduction Sustained economic development is often linked to efficient management of fund that is used to finance investments, which are projected to further create more wealth and opportunities for states, corporate and individual investors. Banks acts as intermediaries between surplus units depositing funds and investors seeking capital for investments. Thus, banks role is fundamental in maintaining the flow of fund between these different parties. Furthermore, the stability of financial and banking system is vital for the sustainability of economic growth and the preserve of investors confidence. Banks like any other profit maximising firms are influenced by various factors, these includes internal and external factors, which represent risks or advantages. Therefore, banks decisions are based on elements such as confidence in the market, the measurement and management of risks, the state of the economy, and their competitive power and market share. This study will look onto various factors influencing the financial institutions in the UK, with particular reference to Credit Crunch. This literature will comprise the banks management of risks, the role of authorities regulating and supervising the financial system, and explore the regulation of the banking industry and the financial system as a whole, in addition of the effect of regulation on banks performances. The analysis will include a comparative study between Barclays and Northern Rock Bank, taking into accounts the differences in their structure, size, as well as their reaction to changes in global financial markets. Furthermore, the Research will examine the fast moving global effect of the credit crunch; discuss the two banks business model, and explore their activities and behaviours. The study will also investigate the two banks high exposure to credit risks arising from risky investments, highlight the consequences of the heavy reliance on money market, and the use of securitisation for liquidity sources. IV- Methodology The research objective is to investigate the various factors that influence financial institutions in the UK, notably the banking industry. This research was based mainly on secondary research, the gathered data and information was sufficient for this research topic. However, sensitive data regarding the value of risk were not disclosed in both banks publication, such data is useful for the researcher to scrutinise banks estimation of risk and how realistic are the projections. Nevertheless, information about estimation of risks may be obtained directly from banks for further analysis of this specified area of banks management of risk. Research material relevant to the topic was collected from various academic sources; this is to explore issues and arguments regarding the regulation and supervision of the banking system. The two banks internet site was used to gather the background information along with the financial statements of the last six years, which were used in the research analysis to perform the comparison between Barclays and Northern Rock bank business strategies and financial performance. Publications from the Bank of England website were collected to study the central bank regulation and the management of the UK banking system, in addition to the historical data regarding interest, LOBOR, and inflation rate changes. Furthermore, articles from the Financial Services Authority (FSA) were gathered to study the role of the organisation and its contribution in supervising and stabilising the UK financial system. Recent publications from the Bank of International Settlement (BIS) were collected to study the role, the objectives and the effect of Basel directives on banks. Besides research the progress of current Basel II implementation along with the development of new requirements arising from the present credit crunch. Recent newspaper articles and various other media sources were gathered to collect the latest information regarding the development of the present credit crunch and its effect on banking industry, these includes sources such as BBC business, yahoo finance and the Financial Times website, and follow recent actions of regulators and banks management of the current crisis. Moreover, data from the two banks financial statements was collected to perform the Gap Analysis using Microsoft excel package to conduct a series of calculations. Other methods could have been used to assess bank risks such as value at risk (VaR) using regression analysis by utilising a computer package such as Microsoft Excel. The regression result will determine the degree of risk that the researched banks possess in their portfolio. However, the banks seldom disclose such sensitive information in published financial statements. This is to avoid adverse reaction by investors and credit rating agencies, which could therefore affect the banks stock prices, their reputation and confidence in the capital market. V- Literature review (Part I): The nature of banking The term bank can be applied to a wide range of financial institutions, from large banks to smallest mutually owned building society in the UK. The provision of deposit and loan distinguishes Banks from other financial institutions. Deposits products supply money on demand or following time notice. Deposits are liabilities for banks, thus must be well managed if banks want to make profit. Similarly, banks manage assets created through lending. Therefore, Banks main activity is being an intermediary between depositors and borrowers. Other non banks financial institutions, such as building societies and stockbrokers, also act as intermediaries; however it is the provision of loans and taking of deposits that distinguishes banks, though many banks provide various other financial services. 1) Management of risks in banking The fact is that bankers are in the business of managing risk. Pure and simple, that is the business of banking. (Walter Winston, former CEO of Citibank; the Economist, 10 April 1993). Banks, like all profit maximising firms, have to deal with macroeconomic risks, such as recession, inflation level, as well as other micro economic risks including political pressure, commercial breakdown of core customers or suppliers, natural disaster, in addition to the emergence of new competitive threats. From a finance theory viewpoint, Bank risk management is primarily composed of four main balance sheet risks, which includes liquidity risk, interest rate risk, credit risk, and capital risk (Hempel et al, 1989). Credit risk has been recognised as the principal risk in its effect on bank performance (Sinkey, 1992, p. 279) and bank failure (Spadaford, 1988). The primary reason why the correct management of credit risk is essential is because banks have restricted ability to absorb loan losses. Generally, the ability of a bank to absorb a loan loss is originated firstly from generated income of other profitable loans, and secondly by bank own capital. 2) Factors influencing financial institutions Banks and other profit maximising firms are influenced by various factors; financial institutions in particular are susceptible to a range of changes that may affect their projected growth. Some of these changes are internal changes, this occurs subsequent to restructuring program that a bank adopt following an expansion strategy such as in mergers and acquisitions or as a defensive strategy to remain competitive and maintain market share and fight competitive predators from acquiring the bank. Moreover, there are other external factors that can influence financial institutions, these includes a countys government monetary policy, the economic condition, the financial stability and the level of confidence in the market, the inflation rate, in addition to other risks such as credit and market risks. There are a range of risks that a bank may encounter, these includes the followings: a) Credit risk and counterparty risk: counterparty risk refers to the risks that after the creation of two parties contract, one party will renege the terms of the contract, while credit risk is the risk that a loan or an asset becomes lost due to default. b) Liquidity or funding risk: these are similar terms that refer to the risk of shortage of liquidity for maintaining operational commitments, that is the ability for the bank to cover its liabilities at due date. A shortage of sufficient liquid assets is often the trigger of financial distress, as it is increasingly difficult for the bank to obtain funds from the wholesale markets. Thus funding risk is the inability for the bank to maintain its daily operations. c) Market or price risk: this type of risk refers to the risk linked to over the counter instruments or traded stocks in a non liquid market, such as equities and bonds. Thus if a bank hold these items in its portfolio, then it is vulnerable to market or price risk, this is the risk that the price of these items is unstable, which is caused by systematic (movement of prices in all traded market instruments, for instance due to changes in economic policy) or specific market risks (the movement of a particular instrument is opposite to the rest of similar instruments, for example, this may be caused by unfavourable information about the issuer of that instrument). d) Interest rate risk: this is similar to price risk, because interest rate is price of money, it represent the opportunity cost of keeping money. This occurs because of interest rate mismatches between assets and liabilities, which differ in volume and maturity arising from the banks performing asset transformation. e) Capital or gearing risk: because banks are highly leveraged firms, they have to set aside some capital to cover the losses. The size of capital is proportional to the level of risk taken by the banks. Basel risk asset ratio principle requires banks to hold up to 8%. Besides, settlement or payments risk. This is when one party in the contract deliver assets or makes payment in advance, which creates exposure to potential loss. Furthermore, operational risk refers to risks from human capital, legal risks such as law suits, fraud, and physical capital. While sovereign and political risk refers to the risk that a government default on its debt obligation to a bank. Moreover, financial regulators has identified three main risks linked to banks, these includes market risks such as risks from exchange rates, interest rates, operational risk, commodity and equity prices. 3) The Asset-Liability Management (ALM) technique Because the fundamental and the primary activity of a bank is intermediation between surplus units that makes deposits and those that seek capital, which acquire fund from the bank, thus this payment system gives the bank the role of intermediation , where the intermediation is key activity, risk management is founded principally on a sound asset liability management (ALM). Furthermore, the ALM is a technique practiced by banks to effectively manage their risks, which was largely utilised by banks in the post war period up to the 1980s. The ALM method was the main tool used to manage banks books, it is essential that the bank maintain its assets and liabilities under control to minimise risks and remain solvent. Besides, banks are keeping their managers updated with newer techniques and skills to maintain their efficiency and competitiveness for the future, for instance, ALMA is an association that comprise around 40 financial institutions, which are international and local banking groups and building societies, mostly UK and Irish. However it is growing its membership and links around Europe. Its objective is to offer an informal and inclusive forum regarding the balance sheet management issues (Byrne, J. 2004). Due to the development of banking activities, innovative instrument became increasingly used by banks to manage their assets such as off balance sheet instruments, where banks moved from interest earning income products to non-interest income sources, thus this required that banks risk management should adopt newer techniques other then just the ALM to includes the risks originating from the off balance sheet instruments. Moreover, one of the new methods included in managing market and then credit risks is the Value at Risk (VaR), which involves giving an estimate of losses arising from the volatility of banks assets. 4) Credit Culture A recent research conducted by the Australian institute of bankers on the issue of Improving Asset Quality (Brice, 1992), which focused on the significance of credit culture. The great emphasis on credit culture was due to its influence on bank performance and in some occurrences bank failure ( Spadaford (1988) and Brice (1992)). Spadaford (1988) stated in his study of 162 bank failures in the United States that the analysis showed that 98% of bank failure occurred due to asset quality problems, among these problems are poor management of loan policy, inadequate systems to ensure compliance with internal rules and procedures, and the lack of supervision on senior and key management members in the organisation. McKinley (1991) has defined four main cultures that influence bank performance. predominantly the immediate performance-driven, which emphasis on earnings targets, followed by Market share/production-driven that focuses on being the biggest with greater production volume, along with Values-driven that balances between credit quality and generated income. In addition to the Unfocused (current priority-driven) bank, such bank lacks vision and appropriate strategy often set short term targets which consequently lead to unsuccessful ventures. VI- Literature review (Part II): Banks regulation The base of regulating financial institutions is founded on three broad frameworks. Primarily, the consumer protection argument, this is based on the notion that investors and depositors cannot be demanded to perform risk assessment of financial institutions they deal with, nor monitor standard of service or performance of these institutions. The consumer protection underlying principle is based on three types of regulation; firstly, compensation schemes created to repay all or part of losses caused by the insolvency of financial institutions; secondly, rules and regulations such as capital adequacy requirements designed to prevent insolvency; and lastly promote fairness in business or market practices by setting rules and standards. The latter regulation reveals market imperfections arising from principle agent problems, asymmetric information, and the issue of determining the true value of financial products or services, which are established well after the transaction or contract was formed (Dale, R and Wolfe, S. 1998). Furthermore, there are other concerns associated with consumer protection rationale. The provision of compensation to depositors and investors for losses sustained from the insolvency of financial institutions will further encourage these institutions to pursue risky investment decisions, thus there will be minimal or no incentive for prudence. This indicates that risky firms will be able to attract trade with identical terms and ease as prudent institutions, thus affecting financial market standards and discipline, and rising potential insolvency incidences. Therefore, the resulting losses must be covered by the deposit insurance scheme, investor protection fund, or in some cases by the tax payer. Thus, prudential controls on financial institutions are essential to minimise losses and to balance the regulatory incentives with the excessive risk-taking. The third aim of financial regulation is to promote integrity of markets, encompassing various issues such as market manipulation, fraud, transparency, and fairness; market integrity emphasis on organising the market as whole beyond just the relationship between financial firms and their consumers. Supervisors implementing the financial regulation consider systematic risk as the factor that causes great concerns. That is the risk that failure of one or more distressed financial institution could spread and cause a contagion effect, which could cause the collapse of other prudent institutions. It is their vulnerability to the contagion effect that single out financial institutions from other non financial firms. 1) Targets of regulation The major objectives of Financial regulation is to set guidelines for the activities of Banks, insurance companies, investment firms, exchanges, and fund management companies. The diverse principles for financial regulation mentioned above vary in their relation to these various institutions of the financial services sector. Banks are distinguished by what is referred to as short- term and unsecured value certain liabilities (deposits) and illiquid value-uncertain assets (loans). Banks conforms to deposits insurance and other type of consumer protection, partly because banks balance sheet consists of a variety of complex instruments and depositors are not capable to measure the riskiness of their deposits. However, depositor protection creates moral hazard problem. Furthermore, banks regulation focuses more on systemic risk. That is the possibility of a bank run that can spread to a number of banks and trigger a wider instability in the financial system. According to this notion, bank runs are the result of action by depositors retrieving their funds in response to amounting fear and uncertainty of the bank future arising from bank asset losses that could render it insolvent. Due to potential risk of losing all or some of their assets, depositors tend to make a run when initial signs indicate some troubles. Moreover, recent research found that the occurrence of a bank run can not be entirety explained by the decline of banks underlying assets (LaWare, J.1991.p34), (Diamond and Dybvig, 1983).The emphasis is on a banks maturity transformation notably the transfer of illiquid assets (bank loans) into liquid claims (bank deposits), taking into account that the banks loan portfolio substantially decline in value in an event of liquidation than on going concern. What triggers a rational bank run is that the uncertainty and the higher probability that the loan portfolio liquid value is less than the value of liquid deposits. This notion demonstrates how bank runs can possibly arise and affect even healthy banks. Thus distressed bank have to liberate its assets at liquidation value, therefore leading to possible insolvency. 2) Techniques of regulation While procedures of conduct of business regulation do not differ among various types of institutions, but in terms of prudential regulation there are fundamental differences that reveal the distinctive risk features of banks, insurance firms, and investment companies. Because bank failure has a greater effect on the whole market, and can create systemic crisis, governments and central banks have set bank regulation for creating extra protection in provision of extra fund by setting the lender of last resorts facilities, and deposit protection, however, these facilities creates moral hazard. Moreover, the deposit protection fund may exceeds the available protection from deposits insurance schemes, demonstrating policymakers greater emphasis for protecting the banking institutions rather then just depositors, as well showing the regulatory objectives of sustaining the banking system, while preventive regulation focuses more on tackling excessive risk taking by setting capital adequacy requirements for assets. Institutional regulation varies between states; in the UK for instance there was a single mega regulator, all regulation is institutional, each group/ institution have a diversified activity which all work under a single agency that overlook the supervision. Alternatively, in a system of multiple regulatory agencies specialised by duty, a fixed institutional regulation is unattainable due to the fact that these agencies are divers in functions, which calls for the appointment of a lead regulator for diversified groups (Taylor, M. 1995). 3) Regulation of the financial system By tradition banks are providers of loans among other services to firms and individual investors, temporary banks falls in deficits when their expenditure exceeds receipts; however banks generally adjust their liquidity position by using capital or wholesale market. Problems occur when banks capital is misused in funding high risk investments; this is often the consequences of bad governance by senior management in controlling the banks assets or it is the outcome of a contagion effect resulting from systemic risk. Moreover, the central bank controls and monitor commercial banks activities and set rules to regulate the banking system. This is to create stability and to promote confidence in financial market, which are vital elements in maintaining steady economic growth. 4) Bank failure Regulation of banks must be explored in context of bank failure. As any substantial problem produces the need for the introduction of changes in the regulatory framework, because the regulators attempt to correct any loophole in the system. Major bank failures in the history of banking occurred in the US in the year 1929. At that period there were 25,000 operating banks, however by 1934 the number had reduced to 14,000. These incidences consequently led to the implementation of more restrictive bank rules, such as single state operations, which until recently remained the feature of the US banking system. The subsequent major bank failure was the fringe banking crisis in the UK in the year 1973. 5) Reasons for regulating banks The principle reason is the systemic risk, because the financial system is susceptible to level of confidence, therefore external regulation is essential in maintaining the stability and reduces further volatility. The second reason represents the social cost that a failure of bank causes, which have a greater impact then a failure an ordinary firm. The insolvency of a firm affects the shareholders, while the failure of a bank will have a greater number of affected customers (depositors), which could also be spread across larger geographical locations. As well as the effect it will have on providing savings for potential investors which will have a detrimental impact on the economic growth. The third reason is the possible lack of knowledge by the public, it is suggested that they lack the necessary background information to distinguish between safe and risky investments partly due to asymmetric information because depositors do not have access to the same information available for banks. Thus comprehensive risk assessments necessitate additional information to that included in financial reports. Hence for this particular reason regulators had introduced depositor protection. Although the above arguments support regulation, however there should be some caution on the use of excessive control over banks. It is primarily the issue of sustained cost in terms of resources on banks and the regulators. Because the central bank has to set teams of experts to perform the prudential control, likewise banks have to employ skilled resources capable to produce the necessary required returns to the regulator. Such costs can be large, thus it is a matter of cost benefit analysis to establish whether the gain of applying prudential control exceeds the incurred costs. Other possible dangers of excessive regulation are the fall of competition, increase in costs and the diminishing pace of financial innovation and development. Furthermore, heavy regulation on a particular centre may lead to the migration of the activities to locations that have lenient regulation, which has been the principle factor in the development of offshore banking centres that led to the need for a global regulation system for international banks, which is known as a level playing field. 6) The supervision of the financial system in the UK The above arguments about prudential regulation are based on banks but it can also be applied on various other financial institutions. Furthermore, the current UK financial regulation system utilise the same measures in authorising and supervising financial institutions without a distinction between insurance firms, building societies, or banks. The FSA is the principle regulator of the financial system in the UK. The FSA was established in 1997, succeeding the Securities and Investments Board (SIB), which was supervising the investment industry. However, the FSA has progressively thought to become the main controller responsible for regulating insurance and investment industry, building societies, and banks. In addition to regulating financial exchanges such as Euronext.liffe and the Stock exchange besides clearing houses, along with other functions such as the responsibility of regulating the access of companies to Official List in cooperation with the UK Listing Authority. The initial development occurred in 1998, when the Bank of England transferred its responsibility of regulation and supervision of banking to the FSA, which was succeeded with the passing of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000 that provided the FSA with full power as the main regulator. The FSMA requires the FSA to attain the following objectives: Promote public awareness of financial system Maintain confidence in the UK financial market Secure consumer protection Reduce financial crime. 7) The FSA approach to supervision The FSA approach to supervision is risk based; the primary phase is to assess the risks associated with four objectives above. The FSA attain this through gathering information from various sources including customers and supervision of firms. The secondary phase is risk weighing and estimating impact, by giving each risk the probability of occurring, thus giving it a score or value. Thus firms with high magnitude impact require greater supervision. This is to reduce systemic risk and consumer losses. However, firms that possess highly sophisticated and effective risk assessment systems require less supervision by the FSA. Finally, after the risks are identified, assessed and weighted, the FSA select the appropriate measures to respond using various tools, which can be summed as follows: Those aimed to influence the behaviour of consumers, operators, and the industry Those aimed to influence the behaviour particular firms. The first category encompasses consumer education, the discloser of information, and compensation method, while the second category includes the provision of authorisations to firms and discipline, in addition to reimbursement of losses. 8) Capital adequacy (Basel Capital Accord, 1988). Liquidity is essential for any firm to maintain its daily operation, whereas solvency refers to the ability of a bank to meet its commitments in terms of liabilities at due time. However, there is a distinction between liquidity and solvency. There is a general understanding that if a bank is thought to remain solvent then it should be able to borrow fund from open market to meet its short term liquidity requirements. Likewise, the presence of liquidity problems that cannot be resolved through the wholesale market suggests that other lenders believe that the risk of insolvency of that particular bank is great. Furthermore, if a bank struggle to find short term funds in the markets, it will face difficulties in paying its claims. Therefore the Bank of England and the FSA requires banks to efficiently managing their liquidity as a principal policy element of reducing the risk of insolvency. The Basel committee on Banking Supervision has introduced Basel Capital Accord II; it included new amendments to the assessment of capital adequacy of banks. This new approach was ought to be implemented in year 2006, which contains three pillars: Minimum capital requirements Supervisory review of capital adequacy Public disclosure. Basel II accord focuses on credit risk and market risk. In pillar 1, the treatment of market risk was not altered but changes were made on the treatment of credit risk notably operational risk. The bank for international settlement and the Basel committee on banking supervision have founded the financial stability institute (FSI) to assist central banks across the world to improve their financial systems. The new Basel II requirements set challenges on banks to develop and increase efficiency on their capital management. In this section, there is a discussion of the effect of Basel II on Banks in Europe and North America, and how the new directives are going to improve the cohesion of trade between the International Banks. Furthermore, this study will examine the banks resource capability to meet Basel II requirements, and discuss the impact and the implementation of the proposed guidelines. The Basel II framework is a tool that international financial institutions have created to be used by banks around the world as a common standard. The principle of Basel II is that banks are required to hold in reserve certain level of capital as a protection to maintain bank operation when making losses. It promotes transparency of banks activities and encourages efficient management of capital. It is estimated to total 8% of bank assets. The Basel II framework has set standards for banks in managing their capital and requires the discloser of information to detect any risks. The guidelines promote efficien