Indian Marxist Critique Of Law And Justice Essays and Term Papers Essay

Indian Marxist Critique Of Law And Justice Essays and Term Papers â€Å"The Marxist Notion of Law as the Handmaid of Exploitation Is Everywhere in Evidence† (Keith Dickson). Discuss This View of Der Kaukadische Kreidekreis. ‘The Marxist notion of law as the handmaid of exploitation is everywhere in evidence’ (Keith Dickson). Discuss this view of Der kaukasische Kreidekreis. Der kaukasische Kreidekreis, like many of Brecht’s plays, is, at its heart, a platform for the dissemination of Marxist ideology and a critique Premium1623 Words7 Pages International Law The expression ‘Rule of Law’ has been derived from the French phrase ‘la principle de legalite’, i.e. a Government based on the principles of law. In simpplied by the state in the administration of justice. The Rule of law, according to Gamer, is of en used simply to describe the state le words, the Premium33442 Words134 Pages Indian History Indian History and Culture 1. Who wrote â€Å"Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna Ab Hamare Dil Mein Hai† ? (A) Mohammad Iqbal (B) Ramprasad Bismil (C) Kazi Nazrul Islam (D) Firaq Gorakhpuri Ans : (B) 2. Who wrote the play ‘Uttararamacharita’ ? (A) Harsha (B) Tulsidas (C) Bhawabhuti (D) Sudraka Premium24271 Words98 Pages Hindu Law This page intentionally left blank T h e Spi r i T of h i n du L aw Law is too often perceived solely as state-based rules and institutions that provide a rational alternative to religious rites and ancestral customs. The Spirit of Hindu Law uses the hindu legal tradition as a heuristic tool Premium87613 Words351 Pages Study Paper on Prospects for Civil Justice : a Study Paper TUDY PAPER PROSPECTS FOR CIVIL JUSTICE INTARIO LAW REFORM COMMISSION STUDY PAPER on PROSPECTS FOR CIVIL JUSTICE ONTARIO LAW REFORM COMMISSION A Study Paper by Roderick A. Macdonald with commentaries by: Harry W. Arthurs William A. Bogart Premium130821 Words524 Pages Indian Secularism: a Theological Response 1. 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Critique on â€Å"Damages† as a remedy for breach of contract under Indian, American, English and Chinese law. Project: Law of Contracts [pic] |Submitted to: |Submitted by: | |Prof (D Premium8885 Words36 Pages A Critique of Indian Newspapers CONTENTS Introduction Entertainment Story: Sach ka Saamna Political Story: Omar Abdullah and a Sex Scandal Social Story: Swine Flu Conclusions References Archive Introduction We live in Mass Societies where most citizens have little direct involvement in politics and where politicians Premium5216 Words21 Pages Law Justice Modern-day communitarianism began in the upper reaches of Anglo-American  academia in the form of a critical reaction to John Rawls’ landmark 1971 book A Theory of Justice (Rawls 1971). Drawing primarily upon the insights of Aristotle and Hegel, political philosophers such as Alasdair MacIntyre, Mich Premium11624 Words47 Pages Indian Politics Politics of India India is the largest democracy in the world. 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Finanacial Evaluation of Unilever

Table of Contents Table of Content3 List of Tables4 Table 1 6 1. Introduction2 2. Main Body2 3. Management Structure4 4. Ability to Earn Income 5 5. Size of Inventory Held5 6. Relience on Debt Financing5 7. Key Indicators for 2011 and 20126 8. Profitability of var. Product Lines and Geographic Regions 6 Table 28 9. FINANCIAL RATIOS FOR UNILEVER10 9. 1 Operations Analysis10 9. 2 Liquidity Analysis12 9. 3 Debt and Solvency Analysis 14 9. 4 Profitability Analysis15 5. CONCLUSION16 LIST OF REFERENCES17 IntroductionWhen evaluating a company important is to know company’s history, operations and the nature of the business in which it operates. On other hand by reviewing company’s financial statements, operational practices we can evaluate its performance and compare it with the previous years or with the key competitors. By analyzing its financial indicators we can assess how profitable and sound the company is. This research paper will give brief description Unilever, its ma in divisions and products, its managements structure and the financial performance evaluation, with an aim to highlight the best practices and the growth drivers.Main Body 2. 1 Profile of the company, its divisions, products and supply chain Unilever is multinational corporation and is one of the worlds fast moving consumer goods companies with a host of well known brands. The company operates through four segments: Personal Care, Foods, Refreshment, and Home Care. Unilever is a joint venture of two companies that date back from the late nineteen century. It was formed by two Dutch families, Jurgens and Van den Bergh, butter merchants who later started producing margarine and by the British soap producer William Hesketh Lever.Since the early nineteen century the two companies were concentrated on acquisitions and in the early 1929 they signed an agreement to create Unilever (Unilever, 1929 p. 2). Unilever over the last two decades acquired the meat business Zwanenberg's at Oss, Lipt on International, Brooke Bond, Naarden, Calvin Klein and Elizabeth Arden/Faberge, Brayers ice cream, Kibon ice cream, Bestfoods, Slim Fast Foods, Ben & Jerry's and the Amora-Maille. In 1992 Unilever entered the Czech Republic and Hungary, and established UniRus in Russia, also enters in India and other parts of the world. (Unilever, 1995 p. 3) Unilever N.V. operates as a fast-moving consumer goods company in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, Europe, and the Americas Unilever possesses a portfolio of more than 400 brands, from nutritionally balanced foods to indulgent ice creams, affordable soaps, luxurious shampoos and everyday household care products. Their products are sold in more than 190 countries, generating sales of â‚ ¬51 billion in 2012. In the 21st century they launched growth strategies, in order to transform the business, leading to more acquisitions, rationalization of manufacturing and production sites to form centers of excellence.Unilever is responding quickl y to rapid shifts in consumer behavior by investing in Research and Development and changing market conditions. Unilever's sells its product across 170 countries and their procurement teams are purchasing from a network of around 160,000 suppliers worldwide. For the same reason its suppliers' materials and services are an integral part of their commercial operations. Unilever has integrated supply management informational system that helps their local, regional and global supply managers to make appropriate sourcing decisions, allowing them to analyze information quickly and easily.Through this system they can negotiate with their suppliers in a more transparent and efficient way. Unilever's largest international competitors are Procter & Gamble and Nestle. While the competition in local markets or specific product ranges from numerous companies, including Beiersdorf, ConAgra, Danone, Henkel, Mars, Pepsico, and others (Unilever) Management Structure Maintaining good governance is on e of the essentials factors for the long-term success of the company. For the same reason Unilever is engaged in conducting its operations in accordance with internationally accepted principles of good corporate governance.The success of Unilever is due to a combination of structural formality and managerial flexibility. Being a company that is present for more than a century, that operated in changing and transitional environment, is evidence of a flexible management structure that made Unilever successful (Floris 1992,p. 6). Learning through a trial and error Unilever has focused on two reliable and related practices to strengthen all structural changes: recruitment and training of high-quality managers, and the importance of linking decentralized units through a common corporate culture (Annual report 2012 p. 5) Unilever’s companies maintain formal processes to inform, consult and involve employees. They recognize collective bargaining on a number of sites and engage with employees. Their usage of sites tools such as Total Productive Maintenance rely heavily on employee involvement, contribution and commitment (Annual Report 2012 p. 28). The profitable growth that Unilever accomplishes is mainly due and is achieved through the right people working in an organization that is fit to win and with a culture in which performance is aligned with values.Unilever has built an employer brand development tool which leverages best practice, and adapts recruitment models to reach the best people worldwide. The better recruitment, family-friendly working conditions, a culture of accountability, initiatives, and remuneration represent one of the crucial factors for the success which it achieves (Annual Report 2012, p. 66). Ability to earn income Unilever’s ability to earn income has increased due to the increase in revenue. In 2012 their ability to earn income has increased by 8. % compared with 2011, and with no changes from 2010 to 2011 (Annual Report 201 2/11, p. 32 p. 24). Size of inventory held millionsmillionsmillions Inventories 201220112010 Raw materials and consumables1. 5171. 5381. 554 Finished goods and goods for resale2. 9193. 0172. 753 4. 4364. 6014. 307 Source: www. unilever. com The size of inventory during the last three years was moving closely. The raw materials and consumables from 2010 to 2011 decreased by 1% and in 2012 by 1. 3%. On the other hand the finished goods and goods for resale increased by 8. 5 in 2011 and a decrease of 3. 35% in 2012. This change in the finished goods and goods for resale was charged to the income statement for damaged, obsolete and lost inventories (Annual Report 2012/11, p. 113). Reliance on debt financing The net debt position in 2011 was 8. 781 billion or â‚ ¬2. 1 billion higher than the last year, in part due to the acquisition of Alberto Culver (Annual Report 2011, p. 28). In 2012 the net debt was 7. 355 billion, or 1. 4 billion lower than 2011.The cash outflow from acquisitions , dividends, tax, net capital expenditure and interest, and the negative impact of foreign exchange rates exceeded the cash inflow from operating activities and business disposals. The leverage ratio reveals that 32% of the financing its covered by debt (Annual Report 2012, p. 36). Key indicators for 2011 and 2012 The sales growth of Unilever in 2011 increased by 6. 5% and volume growth by 1. 6%. Emerging markets delivered 11. 5% underlying sales growth and turnover of 5% compared to 2010 (Annual Report 2011, p. 9). In 2012 the sale growth increased by 6. % and volume growth increase of 3. 4%. Emerging markets represented 55% of the turnover or 11. 6% of sales and turnover of 10. 5% compared to 2011 (Annual Report 2012, p. 9). Profitability of various product lines and geographical regions The region with the highest turnover, sales and volume growth in 2011 and 2012 is Asia, Africa and Central & Eastern Europe with over â‚ ¬20. 5 billion of turnover in 2012 and â‚ ¬18. 9 in 2 011. Followed by Americas â‚ ¬17. 1 billion in 2012 and â‚ ¬15. 3 in 2011. the last is Western Europe with turnover of â‚ ¬ 13. 9 in 2012 and â‚ ¬12. in 2011 (Annual Report 2012/11, p. 10) Table 2 Formulas for Financial Ratios (Methodology) FormulasNumber 1. Activities (Operating) ratios Inventory Turnover = COGS/average inventory1. 1 Average number days in stock =365 days/inventory turnover1. 1. 1 Receivables Turnover = Net Sales/average receivables 1. 2 Av. Number of days receivables outstanding =365days/receivables turnover 1. 2. 1 Account Payable Turnover =Cost of Sale/Average Acc. Payable 1. 3 Av. N. of days payables outstanding =365days/payable turnover1. 3. 1 Working Capital Turnover =Sales/Average Working Capital . 4 Fixed asset turnover =net sales/av. Net fixed assets1. 5 Asset Turnover Ratio= Net Sales/Average Total Asset1. 6 Liquidity ratios Current Ratio= Current Assets/Current Liabilities2. 1. Quick Ratio= ((Cash + Marketable Securities)+ Acc. Receivables)/C urrent Liabilities2. 2 Cash Ratio =(Cash + Marketable Securities)/Current Liabilities2. 3 Cash Flow From Operations Ratio = CFO/Current Liabilities2. 4 Solvency ratios Debt to Capital Ratio= Total Debt/Total Capital3. 1 Times Interest Earned Ratio= EBIT/Interest Expense3. 2 CFO to Debt Ratio=CFO/Total Debt3. 3Total Debt Ratio=Total Liabilities/Total Assets3. 4 Leverage Ratio= Long term debt/ (Long term debt+ Shareholders equity)3. 5 Profitability ratios Gross Profit Margin= Gross Profit/Net Sales4. 1 Operating Profit Margin = Operating Income/Net Sales4. 2 Pre Tax Margin = EBT/Sales4. 3 Return on Assets= EBIT/Average Total Assets4. 4 Return on Total Capital= (Net Income + Interest Expense)/(Long-Term debt +Equity)4. 5 Return On Total Equity = Net Income/Average Total Equity 4. 6 Authors own sources FINANCIAL RATIOS FOR UNILEVER 9. 1. Operational analysis Formula 1. 1 Formula 1. 1. Average inventory2010 =3942. 5 Average inventory2011 =4454 Average inventory2012=4518. 5 Inventory turn over ratio2010 =6. 57 Average number days in stock2010 =55. 6 days Inventory turnover ratio2011 = 6. 27 Average number days in stock2011 = 58. 2 days Inventory turnover ratio2012 = 6. 53 Average number days in stock2012 = 55days Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has performed better. Higher the ratio, better it is. Which means that in 2012 it required 55 days to turnover(renew its inventory) Formula 1. 2 Formula 1. 2. 1 Average receivebles2010 =2424. 5 Average receivebles2011 = 2719Average receivebles2012 =3666. 5 Receivables Turnover 2010 = 18. 23 Av. Number of days receivables outstanding2010 =20days Receivables Turnover 2011 =17. 09 Av. Number of days receivables outstanding2011 =21. 3days Receivables Turnover 2012 =14 Av. Number of days receivables outstanding2012 =26days Conclusion: In year 2010 UN has performed better. Higher the ratio, better it is. Which means that in 2010 it required 20 days to collect its receivables from customers. Formula 1. 3 Formula 1. 3. 1 Average payables2 010 = 5006 Average payables2011 = 6398. 5 Average payables2012 = 9217Account Payable Turnover 2010 = 5. 1 Av. N. of days payables outstanding 2010 =71. 56days Account Payable Turnover 2011 = 4. 36 Av. N. of days payables outstanding 2011 = 83. 6days Account Payable Turnover 2012 = 3. 2 Av. N. of days payables outstanding 2012 =114days Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has performed better. Lower the ratio, better it is. Which means that in 2012 it required 114 days do pay its liabilities. By extending the period the company enables financing of its operation activities. Formula 1. 4 Average working capital2010 = -931 Average working capital2011 = -2356Average working capital2012 = -3653 Working Capital Turnover2010 = -47. 54 Working Capital Turnover2011 = -19. 72 Working Capital Turnover2012 = -14 Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has performed better. Higher the ratio, better it is. Which means that in 2012 UN had more efficient utilization of the working capital, needed for maintaining certai n level of sales, and even though it is negative we can see sharp decrease during the precedent years. Formula 1. 5 Average fix assets2010 = 6218 Average fix assets2011 =7033 Average fix assets2012 =8404 Fixed asset Turnover2010= 7. 11Fixed asset Turnover2011= 6. 6 Fixed asset Turnover2012= 6. 1 Conclusion: In year 2010 UN has higher ratio. This means that in 2010 UN had more efficient utilization of the long-term capital investments. Formula 1. 6 Average total assets2010 =39094 Average total assets2011 =44342 Average total assets2012 =46839 Asset Turnover Ratio 2010 = 1. 13 Asset Turnover Ratio 2011 = 1. 048 Asset Turnover Ratio 2012 = 1. 1 Conclusion: In year 2010 and 2012 UN has higher ratio. This means that had higher and more efficient performance of the company. 9. 2 Liquidity analysis Formula 2. 1Current Ratio2010 = 0. 92 Current Ratio2011 = 0. 79 Current Ratio2012 = 0. 76 Conclusion: In year 2010 UN has higher ratio. A commonly acceptable current ratio is 1. 5-2. This level of ratio may show than UN cannot meet its short-term financial obligations. Formula 2. 2 Quick Ratio2010 = 0. 36 Quick Ratio2011 =0. 37 Quick Ratio2012 =0. 46 Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has higher ratio. This means that in 2012 UN was more financially secure to meet its short-term financial obligations. Commonly acceptable current ratio is 1, but may vary from industry to industry. Formula 2. 3Cash Ratio2010 =0. 179 Cash Ratio2011 = 0. 21 Cash Ratio2012 = 0. 182 Conclusion: In year 2011 UN has higher ratio. This indicates that in 2011 UN has good level of liquid assets which can be easily used to pay its current obligations. Formula 2. 4 CFO Ratio2010 = 0. 4034 CFO Ratio2011 =0. 3 CFO Ratio2012 =0. 432 Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has higher ratio. This indicates that in 2012 UN current liabilities were covered by the cash flow generated from operations. 9. 3 Debt and solvency analysis Formula 3. 1 Debt to Capital Ratio2010 = 1. 18 Debt to Capital Ratio2011 = 1. 44Debt to Capital Ra tio2012 = 1. 308 Conclusion: In year 2011 UN has higher ratio. This means that in 2011 UN has low level of capital that is financed through debt. Formula 3. 2 Times interest earned2010 = 6. 46 Times interest earned2011 = 11. 66 Times interest earned2012 = 12. 87 Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has higher ratio. This means that in 2012 UN can 13 times make the interest payments on its debt with its EBIT, or this means that it easily can pay interest expenses on outstanding debt. Formula 3. 3 CFO to Debt Ratio 2010 = 0. 21 CFO to Debt Ratio 2011 =0. 16 CFO to Debt Ratio 2012 =0. 25 Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has higher ratio. This means that in 2012 UN has higher ability to cover the total debt from the cash flow from operations Formula 3. 4 Total Debt Ratio 2010 =0. 63 Total Debt Ratio 2011 =0. 68 Total Debt Ratio 2012 =0. 66 Conclusion: In year 2010 UN has lower ratio. This means that in 2010 UN risk is lower and the company relies less on debt to finance its assets. Formula 3. 5 Lever age Ratio 2011 =0. 38=38% Leverage Ratio 2012 =0. 32=32% Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has lower ratio. This means that in 2012 Unilever had 32% of its financing covered by debt. . 4 Profitability Analysis Formula 4. 1 Gross Profit Margin 2010 = 0. 41 Gross Profit Margin 2011 = 0. 39 Gross Profit Margin 2012 = 0. 45 Conclusion: In year 2012 UN has higher ratio. This means that in 2012 UN has higher earnings taking into consideration the costs that it incurs for producing its products. Formula 4. 2 Operating Profit Margin 2010 = 0. 144 Operating Profit Margin 2011 = 0. 142 Operating Profit Margin 2012 = 0. 137 Conclusion: In year 2010 UN has higher ratio. This means that in 2010 UN profit left after paying its variable costs was higher.Formula 4. 3 Pre-tax Margin 2010 = 0. 06 Pre-tax Margin 2011 = 0. 123 Pre-tax Margin 2012 = 0. 122 Conclusion: In 2011 and 2012 UN has high ratio. This indicates that in 2011 and 2012 UN had greater profitability, comparing it with 2010 when it was two t imes lower. Formula 4. 4 Average Total assets2010 = 39094 Average Total assets2011 =44342 Average Total assets2012 =46839 ROA 2010 = 10. 8% ROA 2011 = 9. 58% ROA 2012 = 9. 56% Conclusion: : In year 2010 UN has higher ratio which suggest that it has earned more money and invested less in assets. Formula 4. 5ROC2010 = 11. 36% ROC2011 = 21. 14% ROC2012 = 22. 3% Conclusion:In 2012 UN has higher ratio which indicates the return that UN is achieving from the capital employed and this return has doubled from 2010 to 2011/12. Formula 4. 6 ROE2010 = 28. 14% ROE2011 = 28. 49% ROE2012 = 29. 25% Conclusion: In 2012 UN has higher ratio which indicates a high level of profit UN earned in comparison to the total amount of shareholder equity. This ratio measures how profitable Unilever is for the owners of the investment, and how profitably the company employs its equity. ConclusionThe purpose of this paper was to reveal the financial performance of Unilever and to make an evaluation and assessment of the firm’s management structure and what contributes to the success they achieve and key figures and ratios. The financial position of Unilever for 2012 was admirable, due to the fact that had increased revenues, sales and volume growth of its divisions worldwide and decreased net debt. The compared data for 2010,2011, and 2012 show continuous improvement and increase of their financial position. List of references Unilever site www. unilever. comAnnual Report 2012, Available at: http://www. unilever. com/images/ir_Unilever_AR12_tcm13-348376. pdf [Accessed date 05/03/2012] Annual Report 2011, Available at: http://www. unilever. com/images/Unilever_AR11_tcm13-282960_tcm13-348380. pdf [Accessed date 07/03/2012} Floris M. (1992), Inside Unilever: The Evolving Transnational Company, Harvard Business Review; Vol. 70 Issue 5, p46-52, EBSCO Host http://web. ebscohost. com/ehost/detail? vid=4=8aace911-769a-43f3-9949-b4364f9185cf%40sessionmgr111=124=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db =bth=9301105365 [Accessed date 09/03/2012]

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Edexcel GCE Applied Information and Communication Technology Unit 3: The Knowledge Worker January 2013 Scenario Paper Reference 6953/01 The scenario should be distributed to candidates at least three working weeks before the examination. Practice files: whitecaps_practice. xls, fixtures_practice. txt, haway_practice. txt This scenario should be used for the purposes of preparing candidates for the examination. This copy must not be taken into the examination. The information contained in the scenario will be included in the examination paper.Further details are in the Instructions of the Conduct of Examinations (ICE), available from the Edexcel website for this qualification. Edexcel will not accept any request for special consideration should candidates be given the incorrect scenario for the examination they are sitting. Turn over W41049A Â ©2013 Pearson Education Ltd. 6/ *W41049A* Scenario Havering Whitecaps Maddy Wright and Katy Parrish have supported Havering Whitecaps since th eir boyfriends played for the team. Their boyfriends’ careers and the teenage romances are now very much in the past but their support of the team remains as strong as ever.Until 15 years ago the Whitecaps were a struggling non-league team with little support. There were times, on wet and cold November afternoons, when Maddy and Katy were the only supporters. In 1999 a magical thing happened to the Whitecaps. At that time the team’s position, both in football terms and financially, was perilous to say the least. However, a financial backer appeared in the form of Harold Adenyi. Harold had studied at the local college and even played a few games for the Whitecaps. His progress as a footballer was hampered by a lack of ability.He gave up on a career as a footballer to concentrate on what he was good at, which was IT and mathematics. He made a large amount of money by creating an online accountancy website called lesstax. com. Harold was looking for things he could offset against a huge tax bill and a loss-making football club seemed to be a good start. He bought the Whitecaps from the previous owners for ? 1 and immediately started to spend money on it. Harold’s flair for business meant that the loss-making football club did not stay loss-making for long.Harold signed a talented former football league manager and with his advice, spent money on players who all turned out to be good investments. The way the manager had the team playing soon started to increase its fan base, so Harold built a new stadium. The team continued to be successful and the new stadium was soon filled at every match, putting the club on a healthy financial footing. Financial success and playing success went hand-in-hand and, in 2001, Havering Whitecaps was elected to the Football League. After a few seasons, when the Whitecaps struggled to establish themselves, there followed a eriod of gradual success including promotion to the 1st Division and two years later the Cha mpionship. Last season the Whitecaps won the Championship and are currently looking forward to their first season in the Premier League. Throughout this period of development, Maddy and Katy have been screaming encouraging words to their team (and the occasional discouraging one to the opposition) and they have hardly missed a match. It was inevitable that as the Whitecaps’ two most dedicated supporters they would become the chairman and secretary of the supporters’ club.One of their main tasks is to organise away trips for fans. This involves buying the tickets, booking the coaches and deciding what to charge for the ticket and transport packages. With 14,678 registered supporters, organising the away trips is not an easy task. With the possibility of over 400 coaches travelling to an away match, the number of transport firms the pair could use was limited. Since the Whitecaps were promoted to the Championship Maddy and Katy have used ‘Rubicon Transport’ whose rates are reasonable and who can supply enough coaches on a match day. 2 W41049ARubicon charge a fixed sum of ? 350 per coach, plus a ? 1. 50 fuel surcharge for every 100 miles travelled. In addition, Rubicon’s regulations state that a driver cannot be in charge of the coach for more than 9 hours a day. Should the whole trip last more than 9 hours (including the match time) a second driver would be required. There is a charge of ? 75 for the second driver. Premier League ticket prices vary greatly and Maddy has been quoted a range of prices varying between ? 30 and ? 54 by the Premier League clubs. Maddy and Katy do not need to make an overall profit.Their main aim is to get as many fans as possible to away matches. Although they can afford to make a loss on individual trips, they cannot afford to make a loss overall. Therefore an accurate prediction of the number of people who will want to go to a particular match is vital. They are also aware that more people will wan t to go to some matches than others. To help find out how many people are likely to go to each match they ran an online survey. This was completed by 94% of their registered supporters. To make data analysis easier, Katy has classified the teams as shown in the table.EG Teams fighting for European glory MT Mid-table teams RD Teams likely to be involved in the relegation dogfight PR Newly promoted teams In addition to the classification of the team, she found that other things affect the number of people likely to go to away matches. Fewer people would go if the match was played on a weekday rather than a Saturday (or Sunday). The longer the travelling time, the fewer supporters were prepared to travel. Finally, the overall cost of the package would discourage some from attending certain matches. W41049A 3 Turn over Description of the modelMaddy and Katy have to be as accurate as they can when setting the prices as they don’t need to make a profit but cannot afford to make a l oss. Maddy and Katy need a model to help them decide on prices. Therefore, Maddy has persuaded her brother Kieran, who works in IT, to create a model. Kieran wanted to make the model reusable so that he could sell it to other supporters’ clubs. Unfortunately, before he could finish the model, the company Kieran worked for sent him to Dubai on a three-year contract. Maddy has asked you to complete the model and use it to suggest prices for the next season’s away matches.Kieran has left you these notes. Worksheet Description Teams This is the worksheet that will be used to set the package prices. I have listed the teams in the Premier League along with Katy’s classifications. For ease of viewing I have included information from other worksheets and have calculated the total costs, revenue and profit. There is a profit for each trip and a total profit for the season. The worksheet will also calculate the total number of supporters going to away matches. Cell B2 con tains a drop-down box to choose the team you support. FixturesThis worksheet is a calculated page which lists the dates of the home and away fixtures. Lookups This worksheet contains a number of lookup tables. There are two blank areas, these will contain the fixture information provided by the Premier League. There are other tables to look up the day of the week, the likely support based on the teams’ classification, the number of registered supporters and the ticket costs for the various clubs. Distances, Times These worksheets contain the distances between the grounds and the average times it would take a coach to travel those journeys.I got these from a very helpful man at the RAC. Customer This worksheet is incomplete. Once completed it will predict the number of supporters who would travel to each away match. This is based on the number of registered supporters and then adjusted according to the home team classification, then package price and finally the travel time. I haven’t finished the analysis of the survey yet so I cannot put in formulae to take into account the travelling time and the overall cost. A friend of mine is doing the analysis for me and he will forward the results to you as soon as he has them. TransportIn this worksheet I calculate how many coaches are needed, the cost per coach and the overall transport cost for the trip. Transport Rates In this worksheet I have entered the transport rates as quoted by Rubicon Transport. I hope you find it easy to understand my notes. Good luck completing it. Kieran Wright 4 W41049A Some cells in the model are password protected. Should you wish to experiment with the model, the password is edexcel. Be aware that if you change the contents of any protected cell the model may not work. Please note that the Football League and Premier League referred to in this scenario are fictitious. W41049A 5

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Roca Case Study Essay Example for Free

Roca Case Study Essay Roca Radiadores S. A. is an entirely Spanish-owned company which has achieved extraordinary international expansion. To answer the question what motivated Roca to start internationalization we need to pay attention to the history and further expansion of Roca. Roca began its activities in 1915 as Compania Roca Radiadores S. A, a company that exclusively made cast iron radiators for domestic heating at its factory in Gava, near Barcelona. Over the course of about 60 years, Roca established its first foreign subsidiary in France because by that time, all the possibilities of further expansion in the Spanish market were extremely limited. Roca’s capital is wholly owned by the family group arising from its founders. The shareholders currently comprise over 50 members of the Roca family. The total turnover has been increasing steadily, reaching now over 800 million euro, with profits over 35 million euro per year. Roca has a stable financial statement. Roca makes decisions very slowly, evaluating the risks involved. It hardly uses bank loans, thus financing its growth mainly on reserves. Roca sells its products in over 70 countries in the six continents. Roca began increasing its international commitments as exports volumes rose. It was extremely difficult to start up exports in different countries. It faced technical barriers, varying national customs in different countries, trading limits, social differences in different countries, but there were several factors which motivated Roca to start its expansion and thus gain from internationalization: 1.  All the possibilities of further expansion in the Spanish market were extremely limited. So, it explains desire to grow 2. Stable financial statement (Its growth is based mainly on reserves, not on loans) 3. Higher profitability after entering the international market 4. Obtain prestige in the domestic market 5. There is no information in the case study about competitors, but clearly there are always competitors and this fact must be taken into consideration in discussing Roca’s internationalization process. Assuming that there are competitors, Roca was motivated to internationalize its sales and operations because internationalization would help it reach greater economies of scale in order to be more competitive. Furthermore, Roca would want to move against other competitors in foreign markets Roca has successfully overcome through all the initial stages of internationalization process such as exports or licences and production capacity and now it is on the final fourth stage as a global and multinational company. Roca went beyond the limits of the domestic market in 1974, when it opened the first subsidiary of the ROCA FRANCE in France. Since then, the company has opened a number of subsidiaries in over 70 countries, not only Western Europe, but also the countries of Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Far East, and emerging countries. Since then Roca has became one of the largest exporters of Catalonia. Also, in order to reduce costs Roca inaugurated mostly export-oriented factories for the production of Roca goods; producing in countries such as Settat, Morocco where they entered into a number of external agreements. Roca is always careful when entering into a new country, choosing only those where there is strong demand for their products. With the development of the internationalization process Roca has established the Department of Expansion, which is responsible for gathering information about foreign markets, competition situation, consumers, as well as the economic situation in the country of concern. Also Roca always takes into account the features of each country, like differences in water pressure, type of waste pipes employed, national customs, etc. nd making modifications to production processes in each country. Roca is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of sanitary and heating division, air conditioning and ceramics, and so its organizational process cannot be identified only by one model. A combination of a global-centralized and a decentralized organizational structure is best for the company, since the decisions that Roca must make are highly specialized depending upon whether it pertains to managing the global company or managing a local subsidiary. The model Roca follows entails that the decisions of the global Roca company should be taken at the level of the parent company while at the subsidiary level decisions that must be made to reduce costs by acquiring information about partners, distributors, etc. are under the umbrella of the subsidiary. The parent company, Roca, must address the core issues of development of the whole company as well as control interest, establish new subsidiaries in new regions and look after the work for the company according to a variety of financial and managerial reports that it receives from the subsidiaries. It also should engage subsidiaries to the search for new ways of development on their localizations. In particular, while opening a new production or establishing relations in a new market, the parent company may enter into temporary contracts, which will operate until the subsidiary is established on a new location. These are the decisions that best made in a global-centralized organization structure. At the same time the main aim of each subsidiary is to be responsible to the parent company for a profit and loss basis. Unprofitable subsidiaries can be easily dropped off and their managers should understand it. Although subsidiaries are sovereign they benefit from any goodwill and recognition of the whole company. So the subsidiaries are interested in their profitability, each subsidiary should search for new contacts, watch out for the productive organization of work of the company and then file reports on their operations with their parent companies to the parent company. So each subsidiary is responsible for the reputation of the company on the local level while the parent company is doing it on the global one. Roca has chosen to create production subsidiaries as its entry strategy for various countries because subsidiaries allow the parent company to achieve a closer and more continuous contact with the market. The creation of a subsidiary also decreases the number of intermediaries and makes it possible for the parent company to obtain a deeper knowledge of the market. Financially, the production subsidiaries allow Roca to avoid import barriers, which in turn reduces the final price of the product. Production subsidiaries also provides Roca with a better understanding of the host market, and makes it easier and quicker to adapt products for the foreign market and to respond to market changes. With all these advantages associated with the usage of production subsidiaries, it is evident why Roca chose the creation of production subsidiaries as its entry strategy. Roca’s international organization is flat in order to give subsidiaries greater autonomy since subsidiaries are closer to its markets. This not only provides Roca with better insight into foreign markets but also allows Roca to commence international operations more rapidly since basic infrastructure already exists. Thus, Roca can beat out potential competitors. The flat organizational hierarchy means that decisions can be made more quickly, which is necessary when a company owns so many subsidiaries, as Roca does. From another angle, since one of Roca’s major advantages is its reputation for high-quality, durable products, production subsidiaries will allow Roca to maintain control over its production processes and therefore maintain the high quality of its product offerings. The factors that led Roca to choose creating production subsidiaries as its entry strategy for specific countries such as Portugal, China, India, and Poland because after considering factors such as local costs, market size, tariffs, laws and political considerations, these countries were likely the ones with conditions most amenable to foreign investment through establishment of production subsidiary facilities. These countries in particular have lower costs of production due to lower labor costs. For example, India has many resources and capabilities in the IT business, a high number of English speakers, and significant government support for foreign investment. Furthermore, since Roca has a large product range, it would be difficult to transport the different products from just a few central distribution centers instead of the production subsidiaries. Lastly, the nature of the hygienic furnishings industry is such that not much specialized technological know-how is necessary. There is not a lot of innovation that relates to hygienic furnishings and so there is not a lot to bar competitors from entering the market. Thus, production subsidiaries will allow Roca to begin selling in foreign markets more rapidly, thus preempting potential competitors. The most significant drawback to this method is the high cost involved with creating or acquiring production subsidiaries. Usually, acquiring firms overpay for the assets of the acquired firm. Furthermore, there may be issues of culture clash between Roca and the newly acquired company. Acquiring firms also requires many resources and effort on the part of Roca because Roca must first identify appropriate companies to acquire. Roca Radiadores has had tremendous success in regards to entering new markets. They achieved this by pursuing a strategy which entails primary integration through a distributor and later switching operations to a subsidiary. These tactics were employed by Roca Radiadores in: France, Portugal, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany, Argentina, Poland, China and India. To fully comprehend the success of Roca’s strategies we will dissect some of the big moves Roca made and found success in pursuing this strategy. The first international venture Roca pursued was Roca France, where Roca only employed a sales subsidiary, not a distributor. It would seem frivolous to employ a distributor in France due to its close proximity to Spain. However, the inclusion of the sales subsidiary was a wise tactic, enabling Roca France to isolate and accurately determine who their customer base was. The localized sales subsidiary was able to focus on infiltrating the market and broadening the scope of Roca’s presence in the French market without diverting attention away from Spanish operations. The sales subsidiary offered a means for Roca to exist in the French market, leading them to reduce the responsibilities of the distributor. The expansion into Portugal was the first venture which required cooperation between the distributors who was replaced by a subsidiary. Roca Portugal evolved over a series of years; initial entrance involved distribution of sanitary products and later heating and cooling products. Years after observing market performance and gathering information about the Portuguese market, Roca saw an opportunity to expand further by purchasing a porcelain factory to produce sanitary products; the purchase drove costs down for Roca and eliminated imports. As the process was redefined quality standards were reduced, but the reason for this is because the Portuguese market appeared to be insensitive to changes in quality, but adept to changes in price. Having employed a distributor provided Roca the ability to test their success in the Portuguese market, unlike the French market where they required high quality products similar to those sold in Spain. The switch to a subsidiary was facilitated through a merger with York Portugal, a company specializing in air-conditioning and heating systems and therefore established a new firm Roca York AR E Refrigeroca. To determine demand Roca relied on past performance of the porcelain company acquisition as well as the heating and cooling systems. The merger and the creation of the subsidiary both for sales and distribution allowed Roca to reduce costs of outsourcing responsibilities to third parties, expanding Roca’s scope of control over the product line and expansion process. Granted, by this point in time, Europe had removed any trade barriers and tariffs, but localizing the operation kept costs down and made Roca products highly competitive in the Portuguese market. Similar strategies were pursued in Italy and Latin America. The strategy Roca chose to pursue was tactically sound considering that they were capable of expanding both within and outside of the European continent. It was an ideal strategy for expansion because of said variables: gaining information about the market, competition, capable and knowledgeable sales force, legal knowledge, and language proficiency. This plan allowed Roca to easily identify who the customer base is, how to target them and what their user needs are. If Roca sought the advice of a market researcher, there would be high costs associated with the service. Distributors had a higher incentive to ensure that they reach the target customer; they stand to gain a portion of the sales. Information attained from the distributor will serve a means to gauge if it is worthwhile to subsidize and commit to the market. Distribution methods would allow Roca to accurately gauge who is their key competitor and determine how they can compete, either on price or quality. By valuing their competitors through the research provided, there will be a clearer image whether there is room for growth or if the market is saturated. Access to an experienced sales force provides knowledge as to how to engage the customers and will be knowledgeable of which channels of distribution need attention. Through observation of the distributor’s sales force, Roca can observe and later on replicate the methods they used when they expand to a subsidiary. The final two variables which emphasize why the tactic of entering through a distributor is ideal include fluency in the language and an all encompassing understanding of the legal structure. Language fluency is vital to success in a foreign country, especially where the language varies from the company’s place of origin. The distributor would be responsible for converting any and all information into the language spoken into that area, including: advertisements, websites, packaging, directions and more. Had the distributor not been in place to serve as an intermediary there would be huge costs incurred in an effort to customize informational and marketing processes. Having a reliable source to advise Roca about legal constraints will avert them from violating regulations as well as help them capitalize on all that the law has to offer to protect Roca and its products. Beyond the scope of the distributor is the responsibility of the subsidiary. A simple power transfer occurs where Roca regains control of the operation in the foreign location and reduces the role of the intermediary, the distributor. At this juncture issues with language barriers, legal issues, and customer identification have been dealt with. The subsidiary is therefore a means to solidify Roca’s presence in the market and further expand their market share in this area. There are some drawbacks to this model. Consider the fact that the distributor may be unreliable. Roca had to rely on the distributor to provide accurate information about the market and the customer base. Were the distributor reluctant or unsuccessful in ascertaining this, continued involvement in the market may lead to stagnant sales and possibly a failed international expansion. Furthermore, the strategy entails a significant power shift for Roca. In this case there is a possibility that Roca loses sight of the sanctity of the Roca brand therefore threatening the longevity of Roca. However, the greatest drawback can be expected from the sales force who are not salaried employees. The sales force has no incentive to be loyal to Roca, so there should be a swift transition from distributor to subsidiary to take on salaried employees who will be a bit more consciences about their performance and the success of the company.

Evaluation of Balancing Circuits Used in Battery System

Evaluation of Balancing Circuits Used in Battery System CAREER EPISODE 2 2.1 INTRODUCTION My second career episode describes my project that is called Evaluation of balancing circuits used in battery system. This project was completed as a part of my minor thesis in the fulfilment of my masters degree program from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia in December 2016. I completed my masters degree in electrical and electronics engineering science. It was completed under the supervision of Prof. Weixing Shen, senior lecturer at the university. And was also supported by Prof. George Banky. 2.2 BACKGROUND Electric vehicle which operates on battery doesnt operate on a single battery as sufficient energy is not supplied through it. Thus, many batteries that are either connected in series or parallel are required for the generation of required voltage and current for the system to function. The difference in the cell voltage of the stack reduces the string capacity and hence a system is required that will be able to achieve and maintain the voltage and current that is required by the system along with considering the issue of reliability and performance. For this purpose, a BMS is used. Battery Management System (BMS), which can oversee the voltage and the current level and can also charge the battery. 2.3 The main aim and goal behind implementing this project was to design a 48V battery stack power system that consists of 12 lithium ion battery cells. The monitoring and supervision of each cell operation and voltage level and its charging status can be done with the help of LTC3300-1/LTC6803-2 bidirectional cell balancer along with the BMS system. It also considers the safety concern of the batteries that are used. And the other objective behind implementing this project was to understand LTC330-1/LTC6803-2 bidirectional cell balance kits performance along with checking its results based on QuikEval software and DC590B USB serial controller when connected to the computer. 2.4 The idea is to balance the voltage supply of the cells so that it provides constant battery voltage to the shelter of the electric vehicle. The overcharging of the battery results in voltage battery degradation and can have consequences like it may catch fire or explosion. Whereas undercharging of the cell or having voltage under the required level may affect the life of the cells. So, I have made use of lithium ion batteries which are then further connected to LTC3300-1/LTC6803-2 bidirectional cell balancer that would assist in achieving the required voltage level of the cell and it can also help in increasing the life of the cell or battery long with providing the supply voltage of EV. 2.5 The project was completed in a group of two. And I took the opportunity to become the team leader. I first involved with my supervisor in planning the topic and how to start working on the project. Based on that I prepared a flow chart in which all the major task was divided and assigned among team member along with a deadline so that the final project gets completed in time and there will be time for troubleshooting. After deciding the topic and assigning task, I made myself busy with researching and with literature review of the topic by referring various journal, books, and internet material. The later part was designing and implementing the hardware structure along with its software part for its functioning. I had to weekly report to the Professor about my project update and took feedback on my project which helped me improve a lot. Weekly meetings with the supervisor was either done through emails or small presentations. 2.6 PERSONAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITY I started my project with literature review on cell balancing where cell balancing is a process that involves adjusting the cell voltages to same level i.e. where the battery cells are not over charged or over discharged. Also, its internal parameters are the reason for its unbalance like its time of manufacturing, internal resistance etc. It also depends on some of the external resources like thermal difference between battery cells. The process of battery balancing in lithium ion batteries is an easy process due to its property of charge-discharge capability. It also provides increased life span and the right voltage for its application. After understanding the concepts that were going to be used in my project I started performing research on the components that could be used for my system. It took lot of survey and suggestions were taken from seniors and lecturer about it. and later I finalized the following hardware components that suited best for the project. 2.7 1. Lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries this battery was used due to its high-energy efficiency and has relatively longer battery cycle life which is an important feature for my system as the electric vehicle requires battery than can store more as well as can frequently recharge. Basically, there are two parameters that affect the overall performance of the battery. They are power and the battery diving range. 2. LTC3300-1/LTC6803-2 bidirectional cell balancer    for cell balancing and monitoring purpose I made use of two ICs that are functioning as bidirectional cell balancer. Active balancing principle is used by BMS. The two ICs are LTC3300-1, which can balance 6 cells whereas the LTC6803-2 microcontroller IC can support 12 cells when connected to each other in series connection. The function of LTC3300-1 is to equalize the SoC i.e. state of charge when the battery modules are connected in series manner. It can charge the battery stack faster and extent the runtime and enhancing the overall performance by cell balancing and charging. Moreover, this IC can balance 6 cells connected to each other in series when it functions as transformer based on bidirectional active balancing system that has synchronous fly back topology. Looking at the other IC i.e. LTC6803-2 is also a microcontroller IC that can support up-to 12 batteries connected in series connection. It uses different chemical ma terial than the other IC for monitoring the batteries. It gives more accurate results and low error rate, as low as 0.25% of total. It generally operates in three modes: measure, shutdown and standby. 3. DC590B USB serial controller it is a kind of controller that is specially designed using QuikEval software for display and demonstration of the results and for technologies involving linear family circuits. It is a controller that is based on USB. It is generally isolated or separate from the host computer. So therefore, no external or additional power supply is needed to drive the controller. 4. Power supply GPS18500 instrument is one of a kind device which is used in my system as for this project a DC power supply of +5V is required externally to drive the unit. This power supply has many different configurations that include variable voltage and fixed voltage. It has the feature of supplying 2 different power supply which can work and be used independently. In this device, a slot that gives out fixed supply of +5V DC is provided to the LTC3300-1 bidirectional PCB. 2.8 After having finalized the hardware components, they were implemented on the evaluation board. The diagram attached shows the circuit and hardware connection for this project. It can be observed that a DC2064A GUI evaluation board, 14 conductor ribbon cables, computer that has QuikEval software installed and USB/serial port cable along with DB590B USB series controller is been used and a power supply of +5V is supplied externally using the GPS18500 device discussed earlier. Various precaution and safety measure was considered while connecting all the different components to the evaluation board. This was done precisely and carefully as any wrong connection made, it can damage the whole circuitry and the cost of application will increase indirectly. The two ICs LTC3300-1 and LTC6803-2 are soldered or wired to the evaluation board DC2064A GUI along with the capacitors, MOSFET and transformers. The voltage level and the temperate can be monitored with this circuit board and has the capability to balance the cell voltage. This board also has a special feature of advance fault detector that helps to secure the performance of the board in case of any spark or short circuit. 3.7V and 2600mAH configured lithium ion battery is used in my system. Thus 6 batteries giving a output voltage of 22.8V when connected in series are used on the board as the board can withstand a maximum of 12 batteries for balancing. 2.9 After successful implementation of the hardware, testing and trouble shooting was performed. For that a QuikEval software was used to monitor the battery stack. To use the software, it had to be configured accordingly for both the microcontroller ICs that were used in the system. After proper implementation, the screen looked as below. From that it can be depicted that the when we press the button called START CONTINUES READ CELL, voltage level can be retained and measured from each battery connected in the battery stack. From performing the test run, I found the cell voltage for each cell was almost 3.7V. But if there is any minor change in the voltage level of any cell it can be equalized by transferring cell voltage manually for 5sec and charge the required cell by discharging other cells with high voltage to get an equilibrium stage. All the charging/discharging or any error situation status can be seen on the screen as that status will be highlighted. 2.10 The struggle in implementing this project was getting the expected outcome. It different the actual outcome. It took many efforts, there were issues like the hardware didnt receive any signals from the software. The problem was solved by reconnecting few hardware wires. Also, it required changing the voltage level of the components by choosing higher level components. After the final configuration, the hardware received the signal and the voltage level of each cells were determined. The later challenge was the important task and the main idea of our project i.e. cell balancing by voltage levels. The output was taken and written down at each time for charging/discharging function and the experiment was carried out until the satisfied result was attained. There were times when I didnt get the desired result even after performing the experiment several times. During this phase, my faculty members and supervisors helped me a lot and gave me steps or hints on how I can solve the error. 2.11 SUMMARY To conclude, my project used 3.7V lithium ion battery that has 2600mAH of capacity for active cell balancing technique while making use of two microcontroller ICs configured on evaluation board. The transfer of charging from one cell to another is done using the six lithium ion batteries that are connected in series on the evaluation board. Along with that the software QuikEval was used to trace the output. The project has an open window in terms for expansion for future project work based on this system. This project can be used for self-controlling function to detect faulty or imbalance situation in the system along with capability for temperature measurement unit. Though I could only achieve partial results from my experiment as it varied from expected outcome. But this experiment helped me in many other ways. It taught me to handle complex circuits and outcomes, though I didnt partially achieve what I expected from this but it gave me the strength and knowledge on how to overcome such situations. It was a new learning experience by working in groups and team mates. It involved managing different views and coming to one conclusion before implementing the idea. Also, I had the opportunity to apply my previous engineering knowledge into this project.

Concrete Stitches In Segmental Prestressed Concrete Bridges

Concrete Stitches In Segmental Prestressed Concrete Bridges The in-situ concrete stitches of a segmental prestressed concrete bridge are locations of potential weakness for the entire bridge deck but relatively little work has been carried out in this area. In the current practice, these in-situ stitches are usually designed to be capable of sustaining considerable sagging moment but only minimal hogging moment. Therefore, failure of these joints is possible under exceptional circumstances when the hogging moment is high, which may potentially trigger a progressive collapse. In the light of this, an extensive experimental study on the structural behaviour of the in-situ concrete stitch under different combinations of parameters has been carried out. Two types of specimens are tested in the study, namely the beam specimens and the shear specimens, which both consist of two precast units joined together by in-situ concrete stitch of variable widths. The beam specimens are internally prestressed and subject to different combinations of bending m oment, shear, and prestressing force; while the shear specimens are either internally or externally prestressed and subject to direct shear only. Shear keys are provided to the stitch of several shear specimens to examine the contribution of the keys to the shear strength. The effects of various parameters on the strength of the stitch and ductility of the specimens are investigated. Detailed coverage on the experimental programme and the results of the experimental analyses are presented in this paper. KEYWORDS Experimental study, joints, prestressed concrete, segmental bridges, in-situ stitches. INTRODUCTION Precast segmental concrete bridges have gained popularity over the past 40 years due to their efficiency in coping with difficult site conditions. One of the most commonly used method of constructing this type of bridges is the balanced cantilever method, which essentially involves sequentially extending precast segments outwards from each pier in a balanced manner. A gap of 100 to 200 mm in width is usually provided around the mid-span location between the last two approaching segments to facilitate erection. In-situ concrete is then cast to stitch the segments together, thus making the bridge deck continuous. Under the current practice, the in-situ concrete stitches are usually designed to be capable of sustaining considerable sagging moment but its hogging moment capacity and shear resistance are only nominal. Failure of these joints can only occur under exceptional scenarios when hogging moment is high. However if it really occurs, this could potentially trigger a progressive collapse mechanism because the concrete stitches are locations of potential weakness. Studies on the joints of segmental bridges have been conducted in the past (Buyukozturk et al., 1990; Hewson, 1992; Zhou et al., 2005; Issa and Abdalla, 2007) but the joints studied are either dry or epoxy joints that exists between precast segments and not the in-situ concrete stitching joint that is of interest. As relatively little research work on this area has been conducted, understanding of the actual behaviour of in-situ stitches is limited. In the light of this, an extensive experimental study has been carried out to investigate the behaviour of the in-situ concrete stitches. The study mainly involves a series of loading test on specimens that are comprised of precast units connected by in-situ concrete stitches. The stitch is subjected to different combinations of internal forces by applying loading at different locations along the specimen. Various parameters of the specimens are varied to examine their effect on the strength of the in-situ stitch and its failure mode. These parameters include the width of the stitch, the grade of concrete, the prestressing force, the provision of shear keys, the type of tendon (bonded or unbonded) and the type of prestressing (external or internal). Although the experimental programme is still ongoing, based on the analysis of the current experimental results, several preliminary conclusions have been drawn and are presented in this paper. The experimental programme is also covered i n detail in this paper. TESTING PROGRAMME The experimental study involves load testing on two types of specimens, namely (i) the beam specimens, and (ii) the shear specimens. The beam specimens are used to study the behaviour of the in-situ concrete stitches subjected to different combinations of bending moment and shear, while the shear specimens are used to study the behaviour of the stitches under direct shear. Both the beam and shear specimens consist of two precast units joined together by the in-situ concrete stitches. Control beam specimens have also been fabricated where the entire beam is continuously cast without any stitch along the beam. Typically, the stitch is cast one week after the casting of the precast units. Loading test on the specimens is performed using a testing frame after 28 days from the day of casting of the stitch. Linear variable displacement transducers (LVDTs) are mounted on the specimens at various locations of interest to measure the displacements at these locations. Configuration of the Beam Specimens The length of the beam specimen is 1400 mm with the in-situ concrete stitch at either the mid-span of the beam or offset from the mid-span depending on the internal force that the stitch is subjected to. An actual beam specimen is illustrated in Figure 1. Three cases of internal force at the stitch are examined, namely (i) pure bending moment, (ii) pure shear, and (iii) both moment and shear. The loading test setup to induce the three cases of internal force condition is illustrated in Figure 2. Tendon (a) Case of pure bending moment (b) Case of pure shear (c) Case of moment and shear The section of the beam has an overall depth of 200 mm and a width of 150 mm. A 7-wire steel strand with a nominal area of 100 mm2 is used as the prestressing tendon. The tendon is placed at a depth of 133 mm for Case (i) and Case (ii), and 100 mm for Case (iii). For all beam specimens, Grade 60 concrete is used for both the precast units and the stitch. No shear key is provided to the stitch. Unbonded tendon with an effective prestressing force of 100 kN is applied to all beam specimens. Since the precast units and the in-situ concrete stitch are cast at different time, construction joints exist in the specimen. Prior to casting the in-situ concrete stitch, the laitance at the construction joint area on the surface of the precast unit is removed and the area is roughened by a needle gun until the aggregates are exposed. The construction joint is then wetted for at least 12 hours before casting by laying towels that are completely saturated with water over the joint area. Configuration of the Shear Specimens The shear specimens consist of two L-shaped precast units with the in-situ concrete stitch joining the two units as illustrated in Figure 3. The out-of-plane dimension of the specimen is 200 mm. The specimens are either made of Grade 60 or Grade 45 concrete and both the precast units and the stitch are made of the same grade of concrete. The stitch is subject to a prestress of either 1 MPa or 5 MPa, and stitch widths of 100 mm and 200 mm are examined. The shear specimens are designed in such a way that they are capable of simulating the shear behaviour of box girders of different web configurations. The web of a box girder may or may not be provided with shear keys and some parts of the web may or may not have prestressing tendon running through. Therefore, the specimens are either internally prestressed by bonded tendon or externally prestressed by a clamping device to provide the prestressing force acting on the stitch, while the stitch is either plain or provided with shear keys. For those specimens with shear keys, either one large key with a depth of 50 mm or two smaller keys with a depth of 30 mm are provided. Examples of an externally prestressed specimen with two shear keys and an internally prestressed specimen without shear key are illustrated in Figures 3(a) and 3(b) respectively. For the case where the specimen is internally prestressed, a 7-wire steel strand is used. Prior to casting of the stitch, light roughening is provided at the construction joint area on the precast units to remove the laitance. Similar to the beam specimens, the joint area is wetted for at least 12 hours before casting the stitch. (a) Stitch with shear keys; externally prestressed (b) Stitch without shear key; internally prestressed Figure 4. Examples of setup for shear specimen RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Beam Specimens The load-displacement relationships of the beam specimens tested are plotted in Figures 5(a), 5(b) and 5(c) for the case of the in-situ concrete stitch subjected to pure bending moment (Case (i)), pure shear (Case (ii)), and a combination of moment and shear (Case (iii)), respectively. For the specimens of Cases (b) and (c), only the results of the specimens with 50 mm stitch and 100 mm stitch are available to date. Ductile behaviour is observed for the beam specimens of Case (i). Opening of the construction joints occurs at a load of between 70 kN and 80 kN, while the final mode of failure is concrete crushing in the compression zone at mid-span, as illustrated in Figure 6(a). From Figure 5(a), it is evident that the peak strength of the specimens without stitch (i.e. the control specimen) and those with stitch are approximately the same. The difference in the peak strength between the specimen with a 50 mm stitch and that with a 100 mm stitch is marginal. When the stitch is subject to pure shear, the behaviour of the specimen is brittle. As the peak strength is reached, a large diagonal crack suddenly forms across the stitch (Figure 6(b)) and the strength drops abruptly. It can be seen from Figure 5(b) that regardless of the size of the stitch, the peak strengths of the specimens are nearly the same. (a) Case (i) (b) Case (ii) (c) Case (iii) From Figure 5(c), it is evident that the behaviour of the specimens of Case (c) is ductile. Failure of the specimens is localized at the point of loading where there is significant cracking and crushing of concrete; while at the stitch, slight opening of the construction joint is observed and several diagonal cracks are found propagating from the construction joint towards the point of loading. The condition of the beam at failure is illustrated in Figure 6(c). For the specimen with a 50 mm stitch, the peak strength is approximately 100 kN, while that for the specimen with a 100 mm stitch is approximately 110 kN. The peak strengths of the two specimens are relatively close to each other. The results suggest that the width of the stitch has minimal effect on the strength of the stitch within the maximum width of stitch studied. The ductility of the specimens is also not affected by the width of the stitch but rather by how the specimen is loaded. (a) Case (i) (b) Case (ii) (c) Case (iii) Shear Specimens The load-displacement relationships of the five shear specimens tested are plotted in Figure 7. The shear displacement is the relative vertical displacement between the two precast units. All shear specimens are identified as explained below. Using E-K(M)-100-60-2 as an example, the first field represents the type of prestressing used, with E indicating external prestressing; the second field represents whether the stitch is plain or with shear keys, with K(M) indicating stitch with two shear keys, K(S) indicating stitch with single shear keys, and P indicating plain stitch with no shear key; the third field indicates the width of the stitch in mm; the fourth field indicates the grade of concrete in MPa; and the fifth field indicates the prestress applied to the stitch in MPa. Therefore, a specimen identified as E-K(M)-100-60-2 is composed of Grade 60 concrete with external prestress of 2 MPa applied and two shear keys are provided to the stitch that has a width of 100 mm. The specimens with plain stitch are first discussed. From Figure 7, it can be seen that the behaviour is largely the same for both specimens E-P-100-60-1 and E-P-200-60-1. The peak strengths of the two specimens are between 50 to 60 kN, which once again demonstrates that the width of a plain stitch has little effect on its strength. It is evident that as the prestressing level is increased to 5 MPa (E-P-100-60-5), the peak load-carrying capacity is significantly increased to approximately 220 kN. Therefore, the level of prestressing has marked influence on the load-carrying capacity of the stitch. For specimens with plain stitch, the failure mode is characterized by sudden occurrence of sliding along one or more of the construction joints. Upon failure, the strength of the stitch is mainly contributed by friction from sliding between the surfaces of precast unit and in-situ stitch. As observed from the load-displacement curves, a long smooth plateau is evident in the post peak range for specimens E-P-100-60-1 and E-P-200-60-1, which can be modelled as Coulomb friction. For specimen E-P-100-60-5, the post-peak behaviour as shown in Figure 7 is not as smoothed. Since the prestressing force is substantially higher, the resistance against sliding by the aggregates along the construction joint becomes very large. As the applied load is large enough to overcome that resistance, sudden slippage along the construction joint occurs and the load drops. Subsequently the resistance builds up again and sudden slippage occurs again when the resistance is overcome by the applied load. Therefore the post-peak branch of specimen E-P-100-60-5 has a zig-zag shape. This observation also implies that the roughness of the construction joint should have strong effect on the post-peak strength of plain stitches, which will be examined in due course. Since the post-peak strength of the stitch is mainly contributed by frictional forces, ductility can only be maintained if sufficient pre stressing force is provided. Therefore the presence of adequate prestressing force beyond the peak strength of the stitch is crucial in preventing sudden loss of strength in the stitch. Up to this stage, only two shear specimens with shear keys have been tested. However, the results from the test have already given indication that the behaviour of the stitches with shear keys is quite different from the behaviour of those without shear keys. Upon reaching the peak strength, the stitch of specimen E-K(M)-100-60-1 fails suddenly in a brittle manner by cracking diagonally across the stitch as illustrated in Figure 8 and an abrupt drop in load can be seen in Figure 7. This behaviour is much different from that of the specimens with plain stitches in which the post-peak behaviour is characterized by a long plateau in the load-displacement relationship. This type of stitch has little reserve strength upon reaching the peak load-carrying capacity. No brittle failure is observed for the specimen with one large key and a wider stitch, i.e. specimen E-K(S)-200-60-1. In fact, the specimen was not loaded to failure during the experiment but was stopped at a load of approximately 190 kN because at that load, the prestressing force was increased to a level that had almost reached the capacity of the load cell used to measure the prestressing force. However, at a load of 190 kN, continuous crack had already formed along the construction joint and there was sliding between the precast unit and the stitch along the joint but the stitch still remained intact. From Figure 7, it can be seen that the peak load-carrying capacity of specimens E-K(M)-100-60-2 and E-P-100-60-5 are approximately the same. This observation seems to imply same level of load-carrying capacity can be achieved yet less amount of prestressing can be applied by adding shear keys to the stitch. As aforementioned, there is an increase in prestressing force as load is applied to the specimens with shear keys. This behaviour is caused by dilation in the stitch as the shearing load is applied. Dilation is taken as the displacement between the precast units measured along the horizontal centreline of the stitch. The effect of dilation is much more pronounced for specimens with keyed stitches than those with plain stitches. The relationships between shear displacement and dilation of the various specimens are plotted in Figure 9. For the specimens with plain stitch, dilation is relatively insignificant compared to the dilation in the specimens with keyed stitch. The stress in the tendon can be increased due to dilation. The effect of dilation on tendon stress is rather insignificant for a segmental bridge with unbonded tendon because the strain increase due to dilation will be averaged along the entire length of tendon between end anchorages. However, for segmental bridges prestr essed by bonded tendon, dilation may cause substantial increase in strain at the location of the stitch, which can potentially overstress the tendon. Specimens with stitch prestressed by bonded tendon will be tested in the near future and the effect of dilation on tendon stress will be investigated in due course. CONCLUSIONS Extensive experimental studies have been carried out to investigate the behaviour of in-situ concrete stitches subject to a combination of internal forces and subject to direct shear by conducting a series of loading tests on the beam specimens and shear specimens respectively. Detailed coverage on the setup of the specimens and load testing has been included in this paper. Based on the results of the tests conducted so far, several preliminary conclusions can be drawn: The width of plain in-situ concrete stitch does not appear to have significant effect on the peak-load carrying capacity of the stitch regardless of the combination of internal forces that it is subjected to. The strength of the in-situ concrete stitch is strongly influenced by the level of prestressing applied and the strength of the stitch increases as the level of prestressing increases. For plain in-situ concrete stitches, failure occurs along the construction joint. Strength in the stitch is still present beyond the peak strength and it is mainly contributed by the frictional force from the sliding between the surfaces of precast unit and stitch. By providing shear keys to the concrete stitch, the level of prestressing can be reduced to achieve the same strength as those stitches without key. However, this may result in a brittle failure. For keyed concrete stitches, the amount of dilation is significantly higher than that of plain stitches. For segmental bridges prestressed by bonded tendon, this may have marked effect on the stresses of the tendons. With further testing on the specimens being carried out in the near future, it is expected that more definitive conclusions can be drawn on the behaviour of the in-situ concrete stitches. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The study undertaken is supported by Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (RGC Project No. HKU 710207E).