Vanish by Evan Ratliffs Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Vanish by Evan Ratliffs - Essay Example First, while the idea of someone living a life on the run is certainly exciting, Ratliff wasn’t for the most part being physically chased. The people â€Å"hunting him† were largely doing so from their homes, in front of computers, writing code and scanning through Twitter accounts. That’s not very exciting and extremely technical to explain. Secondly, there are really two stories to tell – Ratliff’s story and those of the people who were hunting him down. Since Ratliff himself is writing this article, how can he do that? How can he technically be two places at once? Ratliff immediately tackles the problem of making a very technical story gripping by opening with his â€Å"getaway,† not unlike the way it’s been seen in â€Å"man on the run† movies from The Fugitive to The Bourne Identity. It starts with a first-person explanation of his â€Å"escape† and gives no reference at first to this being part of a magazine-sponsored contest. He uses words loaded with intrigue like â€Å"fleeing my life† and â€Å"going on the lam† (1). He details all the steps he takes to â€Å"confuse investigators† and calls an oil change on a car he is about to sell â€Å"another head fake† (1). This is an exciting language that catches the reader immediately. What could just be a scene of an average guy getting an oil change, picking up business cards, and shopping at Best Buy becomes the set-up for an ingenious plot? This language also makes the sections with all of the technical explanations easier to understand. Most of the tracking down of Ratliff would be done by people sitting alone in rooms, in front of keyboards, using lines of code and IP address tracking software. Too much technical jargon – even in a publication like Wired – does not make for an interesting story. But just as he heightened the tension during his pre-escape shopping trip with his use of word choice, he does the same when describing one of his trackers.  Ã‚  

Just in Time Applications in Construction Projects Essay

Just in Time Applications in Construction Projects - Essay Example to production, general quality of work, design changes, material quality and availability, material handling and movement, safety, labor availability, capacity utilization, etc" (Akintoye, 1995: 105). In certain activities, an excess could be considered as a waste that results in zero-value and therefore needs to be minimized. Managing materials procurement is a vital process that has direct influence on a project’s cost. "A study shows the cost of materials and equipment constitutes approximately 60% of the projects cost" (Akintoye, 1995: 105; Marsh, 1985). Therefore, controlling materials procurement activities starting from the supplier warehouse through the delivery process until storage on construction sites is essential. Nevertheless, there is still a lag in managing materials procurement properly because of changes during execution stage of construction. Bell and Wooten say that "a materials management system could produce an improvement of almost 12% in craft labor productivity" (Bell and Wooten, 1985). Consequently, improved labor productivity leads to a reduction in construction cost; this is beneficial to contractors in terms of profitability and competitive position, to construction clients in terms of reduced bidding prices, and to the construction industry in terms of the increase in construction that can be produced for the same amount. A good practice that has been developed that focuses on organizing and managing the materials procurement process is Just-in-Time (JIT) system. Combining component measures of materials management to formulate decisions the entire process is a very complex obstacle. Based on Construction Industry Institute’s (1988) findings, certain key attributes of components were identified along with their measures of their performance to monitor and help ensure effective materials management. These attributes and measures are listed in the following checklist: Field Material Control: Materials control integrated with other