Working overtime could boost risk for major depressive episode

Regularly working long hours in the office might increase your risk of a serious depressive episode, according to a new study.

According to findings published in the journal PloS ONE on Wednesday, people who regularly work 11 hours or more each day are more than twice as likely to experience a major episode of depression than colleagues who stick with an eight-hour work day.

Researchers from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and Queen Mary University of London examined records of more than 2,000 London-based white-collar workers in a five-year study. None of the recruits had a recent history of depression when they were enrolled in the study.

Those who worked 11 hours or more each day were between 2.3 and 2.5 times more likely to develop a major depressive episode than those who worked seven-to-eight-hour days. Researchers controlled for other factors, such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and general health.

"Long working hours don't just affect us because of the pressure and intensity of work itself, they affect us because we don't have enough time for all the other things we need for good mental health, such as good quality sleep, relationships, and opportunities for rest and exercise," Paul Farmer, chief executive of leading British mental health charity Mind, told WebMD. "Every time we squeeze more work in, many of us will be squeezing something else out.

While other studies have been done on work hours and depression, "results have not been conclusive because there is no standardized benchmark for what constitutes a 'normal' working day," reports WebMD.

A previous study by the same researchers, which also relied on the same database of London-based workers, found that overtime was linked with a 60 percent increase in coronary heart disease.

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque

The Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque (circa $1500 M) is the 4th biggest mosque in the world built from 300,000 tonnes of sandstone. The main musalla (prayer hall) is square (external dimensions 74.4 x 74.4 metres) with a central dome rising to a height of 50 metres above the floor.

The dome and the main minaret (90 metres) and four flanking minarets (45.5 metres) are the mosque’s chief visual features, facilitating a total capacity of 20,000 worshippers at a time.

The mosque is built on a site occupying 416,000 square metres and the complex extends to cover an area of 40,000 square metres.The job specification was limited to a very specific function at the latter part of the project- evaluation of contractor’s final statements– Wimpey Alawi (UK) - and 35 nominated work package

The ISO 9001 Quality Management

The ISO 9001 quality management standards are the leading quality system that is recognized around the world.  This is the quality system that is currently being used in over 170 countries by nearly 900,000 companies, as a framework to guide their quality management plan.

The ISO 9001 quality management standards are just that, standards and not a process for guaranteed quality into a product. While it is true this process of becoming certified does have a side benefit of usually increasing the quality of the deliverables of a business, it does not occur in all cases.
Plainly put, an ISO 9001 quality management program is taking what a company is saying it is going to do, then make sure they do what they say they are going to do, and then document it. It boils down to that basic principle.

The purpose behind the ISO 9001 quality management system is to bring the highest level of customer satisfaction to a business by way of delivering a quality product. This is done by following the standards that comprise the program.

For a company to be certified in the ISO 9001 quality management standards, they must meet certain requirements. One of the main requirements is to have every procedure that is a part of business is properly documented. These processes must then be overseen to ensure they are being followed as written.

During the certification process of ISO 9001 quality management programs, all of the documents will be examined, so keeping thorough records is a must. The process must be in constant review to see if any improvement can be made. There must be a documented process for changing a process to the new and improved version.

One of the key components to becoming certified in ISO 9001 quality management is to have a working improvement program that itself is well documented. When all of this is in place, then an internal audit should be conducted. Anything that is exposed in the audit must be corrected before the next step should occur.

The last step in ISO 9001 quality management certification is to have your company audited by an independent agency. If it passes the audit, then the company can claim to be ISO 9001 certified.

Any where can play cricket

 

 

Source: http://www.espncricinfo.com/

Impact of Disturbance on Performance

The following reasons are help us to ask excuse from our boss, when we did not complete our task.

• Official meetings and appointments

• Telephone calls

• Personal breaks and lunch breaks

• Official visitors

• A need to interrupt current activity to make a copy of something, sends a fax, or coordinates with another worker

• Fire drills, hazard alarms, or other emergencies

• Adverse weather

• Power outages

• Equipment breakdowns

• Holds for quality checks or coordination

• Absentees whose work must be absorbed by others

• Turnover of key personnel-new ones must be brought up to speed

• Higher headquarters or outside agency inspections, audits, and reviews

• Secretaries/clerks delivering mail and messages

• Noise and conversations from adjacent work areas

• Unusual activity outside office windows

• Running out of something-paper, staples, etc.

• Misplacing something; and

• Forgetting something

Certain actions or policies may minimize the disruption and time loss effect of some of the above items, but the potential is not significant.

Safety-Management

"The quality of being safe; freedom from danger or injury" # Safety

The dictionary definition is not applicable and should not be used in the context of safety management. The word "safety" should be defined with such a meaning that reflects the reality. There are a number of such definitions by various academics and authorities. Some of these definitions are quoted on below:

U.S. National Safety Council

"Safety" is the control of hazards to attain an acceptable level of risk.

Gloss and Wardle in Introduction to Safety Engineering

"Safety" is the measure of the relative freedom from risks of dangers. Safety is the degree of freedom from risks and hazards in any environment.

Willie Hammer in Occupational Safety Management and Engineering

Safety is a matter of relative protection from exposure to hazards; the antonym to danger.

Lowrance in Of Acceptable Risk: Science and the Determination of Safety --

Safety is a judgment of the acceptability of risk...... A thing is safe if its risks are judged to be acceptable.

Everybody is responsible for their safety. It is not depends on a person or a team.

Chinese farmer gets 5 days in jail for his story on alien invasion

A Chinese farmer received a five-day jail sentence after admitting to authorities that he made up a story about electrocuting an alien, reports the Telegraph.

The man, identified as Li, told authorities he was inspired by the 2011 science fiction comedy "Paul" starring Simon Pegg and Seth Rogan as the voice of the titular alien. Li created his own alien out of rubber, wire, and bone glue and then photographed it, claiming that he had electrocuted the space creature, according to a report from Reuters.

He posted a tall tale about the aliens and a UFO on a Chinese website.

"I was setting an electric trap for rabbits by the Yellow river when I saw a bright light," Li wrote, according to the Telegraph. "Above my bike, a UFO was floating. One by one, five aliens came down, but one of them stumbled into one of my rabbit traps and was electrocuted. The others went back into their ship and flew away."

The story and accompanying photos were a hit online and drew the attention of Chinese authorities. They questioned Li, who eventually admitted that he had made the whole thing up because he wanted other people to believe in little green men.

"After the police interrogated me, I confessed I was a fan of UFOs and the alien was a fake. I just wanted other people to believe that aliens existed," Li told the Shandong Evening News, according to the Telegraph.

Li was charged with disturbing the public order.

Qatar has highest density of millionaires

SOURCE: Trade Arabia News Service (http://www.linkedin.com/)

 

Qatar has the highest concentration of millionaires in the world with 143 out of every 1,000 households having private wealth of at least $1 million, according to a new report from Boston Consulting Group.

 

The country is followed by Switzerland (116), Kuwait (115), Hong Kong (94), and Singapore (82). 

 

The US had the largest number of billionaires in 2012, but the highest density of billionaire households was in Hong Kong (15.1 per million), followed by Switzerland (9.4 per million), said the BCG’s annual report on the global wealth-management industry.

 

According to the report, global private financial wealth grew by 7.8 percent in 2012 to a total of $135.5 trillion. The rise was stronger than in either 2011 or 2010, when global wealth grew by 3.6 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.

 

Wealth increased measurably in the old-world regions of North America (7.8 percent), Western Europe (5.2 percent), and Japan (2.4 percent), mainly owing to the sharp rebound in equity markets in most countries, particularly in the second half of the year. 

Meanwhile, new wealth creation fuelled stronger, double-digit growth in the new-world regions of Asia-Pacific ex-Japan (13.8 percent), Eastern Europe (13.2 percent), and Latin America (10.5 percent). 

 

Wealth in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) saw near-double-digit growth (9.1 percent). New-world regions will account for nearly 70 percent of the growth in global private wealth over the next five years.

 

The total number of millionaire households reached 13.8 million globally in 2012, or 0.9 percent of all households. The US had the largest number of millionaire households (5.9 million), followed by Japan (1.5 million) and China (1.3 million). China should surpass Japan in 2013.

 

Offshore wealth, defined as assets booked in a country where the investor has no legal residence or tax domicile, rose by 6.1 percent in 2012 to $8.5 trillion. Despite this increase, stronger growth in onshore wealth led to a slight decline—to 6.3 percent from 6.4 percent, compared with 2011—in offshore wealth’s share of global private wealth. While offshore wealth is projected to rise modestly over the next five years, reaching $11.2 trillion by the end of 2017, wealth is increasingly moving onshore due to the intense pressure that tax authorities are exerting on offshore centres, it said.

Construction Company Organization (LLC)

How a construction company organizes for its work depends on number and size of projects, project complexity, and geographical distribution of the work.

 Limited Liability Company

A form of organization known as the limited liability Company (L.L.C.), permitted in most states, and combines many of the attributes and advantages of the corporation and of the partnership. For example, the owners of an L.L.C., who are known as ‘‘members’’ after executing the required legal articles of organization, enter into an operating agreement in which one of their number is designated as the manager of the company.

The company does not pay taxes on its profits, but rather the individual members have the prorate share of their percentage of ownership of the company added to their income for taxation purposes. On the other hand, there is no individual liability of any of the members for losses or debts of the company as there would be if the ownership were in the form of a partnership. Additional members may be added to or dropped from the company by a vote or written consent of 100% of all of the members.

No member, other than the manager, has any power or authority to bind the company, unless such a person has been specifically authorized in writing by the manager to act on behalf of the company. A manager may be removed in the event of his or her neither willful or intentional violation nor rack less disregard of the manager’s duties to the company. The manager’s replacement will be selected by the members who originally selected the manager. Such replacement will be decided by a majority vote of the members.

Reference
BUILDING DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION HANDBOOK

Robert F. Borg

Chairman, Kreisler Borg Florman General Construction Company

Scarsdale, New York

Manage Political Problems as Issues

This article copied from some other website.
The larger your project gets, the more you will find that the issues you encounter are political in nature. "Politics" is all about interacting with people and influencing them to get things done. This can be a good thing, a bad thing, or a neutral thing, depending on the tactics people use. Let’s consider some examples of how utilizing political skills might be good, but can also be bad.

You are able to move your ideas forward in the organization and get people to act on them (good), by currying favor, suppressing other opposing ideas and taking credit for the ideas of your staff (bad).

You have an ability to reach consensus on complex matters with a number of different stakeholders (good), by working behind the scenes with people in power, making deals and destroying people who don’t get on board (bad).

You receive funding for projects that are important to you and to your organization (good), by misrepresenting the costs and benefits, and by going around the existing funding processes (bad).

The point of the examples is to show that influencing people and getting things done in a company is a good thing and “office politics” can have good connotations or bad. 

Dealing with office politics is not a standard project management process. However, once the politics start to impact the project adversely, the situation should be identified as an issue, since it is a problem whose resolution is outside the control of the project team. You can’t utilize a checklist to resolve political issues. Political problems are people-related and situational. What works for one person in one situation may not work for another person in the same situation because people, and their reactions, are different. Identifying the problem as an issue will bring visibility to the situation and hopefully get the proper people involved in the resolution. Keep three things in mind to manage a political issue.

Try to recognize situations and events where politics are most likely to be involved. This could include decision points, competition for budget and resources, and setting project direction and priorities.

Deal with people openly and honestly. When you provide an opinion or recommendation, express the pros and cons to provide a balanced view to other parties. Make sure you distinguish the facts from your opinions so the other parties know the difference. 

If you feel uncomfortable with what you are asked to do, get your sponsor or your functional manager involved. They tend to have more political savvy and positional authority, and they should be able to provide advice and cover for you.

If you feel good about what you are doing, how you are influencing and how you are getting things done, then you are probably handling office politics the right way. If you feel guilty about how you are treating people and if you have second thoughts about the methods you are using to get things done, you are probably practicing the dark side of office politics.

Terms of the Week-Business Dictionary (Part II)

Cost control
The process or activity on controlling costs associated with an activity, process, or company. Cost control typically includes

(1) Investigative procedures to detect variance of actual costs from budgeted costs

(2) Diagnostic procedures to ascertain the cause(s) of variance

&
(3) Corrective procedures to effect realignment between actual and budgeted costs.

Marginal cost

The increase or decrease in the total cost of a production run for making one additional unit of an item. It is computed in situations where the breakeven point has been reached: the fixed costs have already been absorbed by the already produced items and only the direct (variable) costs have to be accounted for. Marginal costs are variable costs consisting of labor and material costs, plus an estimated portion of fixed costs (such as administration overheads and selling expenses). In companies where average costs are fairly constant, marginal cost is usually equal to average cost. However, in industries that require heavy capital investment (automobile plants, airlines, mines) and have high average costs, it is comparatively very low. The concept of marginal cost is critically important in resource allocation because, for optimum results, management must concentrate its resources where the excess of marginal revenue over the marginal cost is maximum. Also called choice cost, differential cost or incremental cost.

Net price

A final price after deducting all discounts and rebates.

Vision statement

An aspirational description of what an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future. It is intended to serves as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action.

Opportunity cost

A benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost. Opportunity costs are fundamental costs in economics, and are used in computing cost benefit analysis of a project. Such costs, however, are not recorded in the account books but are recognized in decision making by computing the cash outlays and their resulting profit or loss.

Austerity budget

A budget that is imposed on a country by its government with the purpose of reducing the national deficit by way of cutting down on consumer spending.

Earmark

The act of setting something aside for a specific use or purpose in the future. For example, goods may be earmarked prior to being exported in the future. Most commonly used to refer to funds that have been set aside in order to pay for a specific project.

Masters of Business Administration (MBA)

An advanced college degree, earned by those who successfully graduate from their college or university's MBA program. As with other advanced degrees, traditionally a student will have already received a Bachelors degree in some area of study, before working towards his or her MBA. A typical MBA program deals with multiple aspects of business, including finance and management skills. Also called Masters in Business Administration or Master of Business Administration.

Yankee bond

Dollar denominated bond sold in the US by a foreign bank, corporation, or government utility. It the US equivalent of Eurobond.

Tax holiday

A temporary period, during which time the government removes certain taxes (usually sales tax) on certain items, in order to encourage the consumption or purchase of these items. The most common application of this is a tax-free weekend, which most states hold shortly before school begins in the fall, during which time sales tax is removed on clothing, school supplies, and/or other similar items. Not all areas engage in tax holidays; it is up to the government of that area.

How to Read a Financial Statement

A company’s financial statement is used to show a company’s performance over a certain period of time, generally every fiscal quarter. The financial statement really consists of three different statements: balance sheets, cash flow statements and income statements.

 By being able to read a financial statement, you can determine where a company has made or lost money, where the money went and how the company stands financially. The financial statement gives shareholders an accounting of how their investment is performing.

Components of a Financial Statement

Balance Sheets

Represent the assets, liabilities and the net worth or shareholder equity of the company. Assets make up all the property the company owns, including bank accounts, real estate, machinery etc. An asset can also be intangible such as a trademark or patent.

Liabilities consist of the money the company owes others. This can include leases on real estate, loans, accounts payable to suppliers of material, tax liabilities or obligations to deliver product. Liabilities also include employee payrolls and money borrowed from banks.

Shareholder equity represents the company’s net worth if it were liquidated and what each shareholder would receive after paying the creditors of the company.

Cash Flow Statements

Reports on the inflow and outflow of the company’s money. The cash flow statement is divided into financing activities, operating activities and investment activities. In combination, these three parts show the change in capital position the company had over a period of time.

Income Statements

Show how much revenue the company took in over a specified time period and how much money was spent to get that revenue. The income statement shows the company’s net earnings or losses on the bottom line and begins with all the cash the company took in at the top, and goes through all the expenses it took to make that money with the net figure on the bottom.

Knowing how to read a financial statement gives an investor or analyst a clear picture of the financial position of a business. Nevertheless, past performance does not generally guarantee future results; keep this in mind before investing in any company.

5 tips for managing scope changes

When you start a project, you think you know exactly what you need to deliver, but then along comes a change. It can be hard to say no to a senior manager, and often the changes suggested are great improvements that you should really incorporate into the project.

So how do you manage the impact on the project scope, the team, the budget and the schedule? That's a lot of things to consider for one change! Here are 5 tips for successfully managing changes to scope on your project.

Tip 1: Record all the changes
First, regardless of where the change comes from, it should be recorded somewhere. Use software (or else use excel) to make this job easier as it helps you prepare a consolidated list of all submitted changes and what happens to them afterwards.

Tip 2: Assess changes
Assess all the changes that have been submitted. Some will be great ideas and some won't be! Work out what impact they will have on the project and the benefits, and then you can put forward your considered recommendation to the project sponsor about whether to incorporate them into the project or not. The sponsor will make the final decision, but will be looking to you for that recommendation to approve or reject the change.

Tip 3: Prioritize changes
Assuming the change is approved, you will have to work out what sort of priority it needs. Is it something that you should drop everything for and work on now? Or can it wait a bit longer? Your team can help with this, and you'll also get a view from your project sponsor. Prioritizing is really useful if you have a number of changes as it will help you plan the work in the right order.

Tip 4: Review your plan accordingly
It is rare that you can incorporate a change without changing anything else on the project. Changes will have an impact on the project budget, schedule, resource plan and even the risks and issues log. Go through your entire project and work out what needs to be updated as a result.

Remember to share all the changes with your project team so they are also aware of anything different that they have to do now.

Tip 5: Don't agree to everything!
Don't say yes to anyone who suggests a change until it has been properly analyzed! Otherwise you could promise to deliver something that turns out to be really difficult or not something the sponsor will agree to. And you don't have to agree with your sponsor either. While they have the final say, if you don't agree with a change you can record this in the issues log but you will have to incorporate the change into the project.

Terms of the Week-Business Dictionary (Part I)

Marketing mix
A planned mix of the controllable elements of a product's marketing plan commonly termed as 4Ps: product, price, place, and promotion. These four elements are adjusted until the right combination is found that serves the needs of the product's customers, while generating optimum income. Sometimes the first P (Product) is substituted by presentation.

Marketing concept
Management philosophy according to which a firm's goals can be best achieved through identification and satisfaction of the customers' stated and unstated needs and wants.

Market segmentation
The process of defining and subdividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. Its objective is to design a marketing mix that precisely matches the expectations of customers in the targeted segment. Few companies are big enough to supply the needs of an entire market; most must breakdown the total demand into segments and choose those that the company is best equipped to handle. Four basic factors that affect market segmentation are (1) clear identification of the segment, (2) measurability of its effective size, (3) its accessibility through promotional efforts, and (4) its appropriateness to the policies and resources of the company. The four basic market segmentation-strategies are based on (a) behavioral (b) demographic, (c) psychographic, and (d) geographical differences.

Globalization
The worldwide movement toward economic, financial, trade, and communications integration. Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested by some economists, may hurt smaller or fragile economies if applied indiscriminately.

Procurement
The act of obtaining or buying goods and services. The process includes preparation and processing of a demand as well as the end receipt and approval of payment. It often involves (1) purchase planning, (2) standards determination, (3) specifications development, (4) supplier research and selection, (5) value analysis, (6) financing, (7) price negotiation, (8) making the purchase, (9) supply contract administration, (10) inventory control and stores, and (11) disposals and other related functions. The process of procurement is often part of a company's strategy because the ability to purchase certain materials will determine if operations will continue. A business will not be able to survive if it's price of procurement is more than the profit it makes on selling the actual product.

Objective
A specific result that a person or system aims to achieve within a time frame and with available resources. In general, objectives are more specific and easier to measure than goals. Objectives are basic tools that underlie all planning and strategic activities. They serve as the basis for creating policy and evaluating performance. Some examples of business objectives include minimizing expenses, expanding internationally, or making a profit. Neutral (bias free), relating to, or based on verifiable evidence or facts instead of on attitude, belief, or opinion. Opposite of subjective.

Gap analysis
A technique that businesses use to determine what steps need to be taken in order to move from its current state to its desired, future state. Also called need-gap analysis, needs analysis, and needs assessment. Gap analysis consists of (1) listing of characteristic factors (such as attributes, competencies, performance levels) of the present situation ("what is"), (2) listing factors needed to achieve future objectives ("what should be"), and then (3) highlighting the gaps that exist and need to be filled. Gap analysis forces a company to reflect on who it is and ask who they want to be in the future.

Labor market
The nominal market in which workers find paying work, employers find willing workers, and wage rates are determined. Labor markets may be local or national (even international) in their scope and are made up of smaller, interacting labor markets for different qualifications, skills, and geographical locations. They depend on exchange of information between employers and job seekers about wage rates, conditions of employment, level of competition, and job location.

Cycle time
The period required to complete one cycle of an operation; or to complete a function, job, or task from start to finish. Cycle time is used in differentiating total duration of a process from its run time.

Socialization
Process by which individuals acquire the knowledge, language, social skills, and value to conform to the norms and roles required for integration into a group or community. It is a combination of both self-imposed (because the individual wants to conform) and externally-imposed rules, and the expectations of the others. In an organizational setting, socialization refers to the process through which a new employee 'learns the ropes,' by becoming sensitive to the formal and informal power structure and the explicit and implicit rules of behavior. See also organizational culture and orientation.

World's Shortest Man and Woman Meet

For the first time in history, the shortest man and woman in the world have met. The shortest man, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, 72, is from a remote area of Nepal and stands 21.5 inches tall. Eighteen-year-old Jyoti Amge hails from Nagpur, India and measures just less than 25 inches tall.

It was a match made in heaven for Guinness World Records, which arranged the introduction for a photo shoot to promote the upcoming release of Guinness World Records 2013 on September 13. To provide scale, a record book (12 inches in length) was placed between Chandra and Jyoti for one of the photos.

“It was an extraordinary moment,” says Marco Frigatti, the official Guinness World Records Adjudicator, who also took part in the photo shoot. “They’re both such incredible individuals. Everyone knew this was a special moment, and the atmosphere was magical.”

A Record-Breaking Birthday
yoti secured the World’s Shortest Woman title simply by reaching womanhood on her 18^th birthday in December of last year. She has a condition called achondroplasia, a genetic disorder that affects bone growth and cartilage formation. Achondroplasia is the most common cause of dwarfism.

Jyoti won't grow any taller than her current height. Due to her size, she has her clothes specially made. She sleeps in a tiny bed and uses special plates and cutlery to eat. Jyoti is currently pursuing her dream of becoming a successful actress. She has already starred in a number of Indian films.

 

“Since being recognized by Guinness World Records, I have been able to visit lots of different countries,” says Jyoti. “I love travelling. I have visited Japan and parts of Europe, and now I can’t wait to visit the UK.” 

 

 A Record-Breaking Discovery

In February this year, Chandra made headlines around the world when he was crowned the World’s Shortest Man. Until his recent discovery, he had spent his entire life in the remote Nepalese mountain village of Rhimkholi, about 250 miles west of Kathmandu. Because Chandra has never been examined by a doctor, the cause of his short stature is unknown. According to areport from the Daily Mail, doctors suspect he has a form of primordial dwarfism.

Chandra’s 21.5-inch height also snagged him the title of Shortest Man in History, breaking the previous record of India’s Gul Mohammed, who was 22.5 in tall.

“I’m very happy that I’m being recognized by Guinness World Records and that my name will be written in a book,” says Chandra. “It’s a big thing for my family, my village and my country. I am very happy.”