1.
Engineering
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The term Engineering is derived from the Latin ingenium, meaning cleverness and ingeniare, meaning to contrive, devise. Engineering has existed since ancient times as humans devised fundamental inventions such as the wedge, lever, wheel, each of these inventions is essentially consistent with the modern definition of engineering. The term engineering is derived from the engineer, which itself dates back to 1390 when an engineer originally referred to a constructor of military engines. In this context, now obsolete, a referred to a military machine. Notable examples of the obsolete usage which have survived to the present day are military engineering corps, the word engine itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium, meaning innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention. The earliest civil engineer known by name is Imhotep, as one of the officials of the Pharaoh, Djosèr, he probably designed and supervised the construction of the Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara in Egypt around 2630–2611 BC. Ancient Greece developed machines in both civilian and military domains, the Antikythera mechanism, the first known mechanical computer, and the mechanical inventions of Archimedes are examples of early mechanical engineering. In the Middle Ages, the trebuchet was developed, the first steam engine was built in 1698 by Thomas Savery. The development of this gave rise to the Industrial Revolution in the coming decades. With the rise of engineering as a profession in the 18th century, similarly, in addition to military and civil engineering, the fields then known as the mechanic arts became incorporated into engineering. The inventions of Thomas Newcomen and the Scottish engineer James Watt gave rise to mechanical engineering. The development of specialized machines and machine tools during the revolution led to the rapid growth of mechanical engineering both in its birthplace Britain and abroad. John Smeaton was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer and is regarded as the father of civil engineering. He was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and he was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse where he pioneered the use of hydraulic lime and his lighthouse remained in use until 1877 and was dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe where it is known as Smeatons Tower. The United States census of 1850 listed the occupation of engineer for the first time with a count of 2,000, there were fewer than 50 engineering graduates in the U. S. before 1865. In 1870 there were a dozen U. S. mechanical engineering graduates, in 1890 there were 6,000 engineers in civil, mining, mechanical and electrical. There was no chair of applied mechanism and applied mechanics established at Cambridge until 1875, the theoretical work of James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz in the late 19th century gave rise to the field of electronics
2.
Architecture
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Architecture is both the process and the product of planning, designing, and constructing buildings and other physical structures. Architectural works, in the form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural symbols. Historical civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural achievements, Architecture can mean, A general term to describe buildings and other physical structures. The art and science of designing buildings and nonbuilding structures, the style of design and method of construction of buildings and other physical structures. A unifying or coherent form or structure Knowledge of art, science, technology, the design activity of the architect, from the macro-level to the micro-level. The practice of the architect, where architecture means offering or rendering services in connection with the design and construction of buildings. The earliest surviving work on the subject of architecture is De architectura. According to Vitruvius, a building should satisfy the three principles of firmitas, utilitas, venustas, commonly known by the original translation – firmness, commodity. An equivalent in modern English would be, Durability – a building should stand up robustly, utility – it should be suitable for the purposes for which it is used. Beauty – it should be aesthetically pleasing, according to Vitruvius, the architect should strive to fulfill each of these three attributes as well as possible. Leon Battista Alberti, who elaborates on the ideas of Vitruvius in his treatise, De Re Aedificatoria, saw beauty primarily as a matter of proportion, for Alberti, the rules of proportion were those that governed the idealised human figure, the Golden mean. The most important aspect of beauty was, therefore, an inherent part of an object, rather than something applied superficially, Gothic architecture, Pugin believed, was the only true Christian form of architecture. The 19th-century English art critic, John Ruskin, in his Seven Lamps of Architecture, Architecture was the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by men. That the sight of them contributes to his health, power. For Ruskin, the aesthetic was of overriding significance and his work goes on to state that a building is not truly a work of architecture unless it is in some way adorned. For Ruskin, a well-constructed, well-proportioned, functional building needed string courses or rustication, but suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say, This is beautiful, le Corbusiers contemporary Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. The notable 19th-century architect of skyscrapers, Louis Sullivan, promoted an overriding precept to architectural design, function came to be seen as encompassing all criteria of the use, perception and enjoyment of a building, not only practical but also aesthetic, psychological and cultural
3.
Construction
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Construction is the process of constructing a building or infrastructure. Construction as an industry comprises six to nine percent of the domestic product of developed countries. Construction starts with planning, design, and financing, and continues until the project is built, large-scale construction requires collaboration across multiple disciplines. An architect normally manages the job, and a manager, design engineer. For the successful execution of a project, effective planning is essential, the largest construction projects are referred to as megaprojects. Construction is a term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations. Construction is used as a verb, the act of building, and a noun, how a building was built, in general, there are three sectors of construction, buildings, infrastructure and industrial. Building construction is further divided into residential and non-residential. Infrastructure is often called heavy/highway, heavy civil or heavy engineering and it includes large public works, dams, bridges, highways, water/wastewater and utility distribution. Industrial includes refineries, process chemical, power generation, mills, there are other ways to break the industry into sectors or markets. Engineering News-Record is a magazine for the construction industry. Each year, ENR compiles and reports on data about the size of design and they publish a list of the largest companies in the United States and also a list the largest global firms. In 2014, ENR compiled the data in nine market segments and it was divided as transportation, petroleum, buildings, power, industrial, water, manufacturing, sewer/waste, telecom, hazardous waste plus a tenth category for other projects. In their reporting on the Top 400, they used data on transportation, sewer, hazardous waste, the Standard Industrial Classification and the newer North American Industry Classification System have a classification system for companies that perform or otherwise engage in construction. To recognize the differences of companies in this sector, it is divided into three subsectors, building construction, heavy and civil engineering construction, and specialty trade contractors, there are also categories for construction service firms and construction managers. Building construction is the process of adding structure to real property or construction of buildings, the majority of building construction jobs are small renovations, such as addition of a room, or renovation of a bathroom. Often, the owner of the property acts as laborer, paymaster, for this reason, those with experience in the field make detailed plans and maintain careful oversight during the project to ensure a positive outcome. Residential construction practices, technologies, and resources must conform to local building authority regulations, materials readily available in the area generally dictate the construction materials used
4.
Planning
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Planning is the process of thinking about and organizing the activities required to achieve a desired goal. It involves the creation and maintenance of a plan, such as aspects that require conceptual skills. There are even a couple of tests to measure someone’s capability of planning well, as such, planning is a fundamental property of intelligent behavior. Also, planning has a process and is necessary for multiple occupations. In each field there are different types of plans that help companies achieve efficiency, an important, albeit often ignored aspect of planning, is the relationship it holds to forecasting. Forecasting can be described as predicting what the future look like. Planning combines forecasting with preparation of scenarios and how to react to them, Planning is one of the most important project management and time management techniques. Planning is preparing a sequence of steps to achieve some specific goal. If a person does it effectively, they can reduce much the necessary time, when following a plan, a person can see how much they have progressed towards their project goal and how far they are from their destination. Individuals who were born Very Low Birth Weight and Extremely Low BirthWeight are at risk for various cognitive deficits including planning ability. There are a variety of tests which can be used to measure variance of planning ability between the subject and controls. Tower of Hanoi, a puzzle invented in 1883 by the French mathematician Édouard Lucas, there are different variations of the puzzle, the classic version consists of three rods and usually seven to nine discs of subsequently smaller size. Each move consists of taking the upper disk from one of the rods and sliding it onto another rod, no disk may be placed on top of a smaller disk. Tower of London is another test that was developed in 1992 specifically to detect deficits in planning as may occur with damage to the frontal lobe, test participants with damage to the left anterior frontal lobe demonstrated planning deficits. In test participants with damage to the anterior, and left or right posterior areas of the frontal lobes showed no impairment. Public policy planning includes environmental, land use, regional, urban, in many countries, the operation of a town and country planning system is often referred to as planning and the professionals which operate the system are known as planners. It is a conscious as well as sub-conscious activity and it is an anticipatory decision making process that helps in coping with complexities. It is deciding future course of action from amongst alternatives and it is a process that involves making and evaluating each set of interrelated decisions
5.
Management
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Management is the administration of an organization, whether it be a business, a not-for-profit organization, or government body. The term management may also refer to the people who manage an organization, management is also an academic discipline, a social science whose objective is to study social organization and organizational leadership. Individuals who aim at becoming management researchers or professors may complete the Doctor of Business Administration or the PhD in business administration or management, in larger organizations, there are generally three levels of managers, which are typically organized in a hierarchical, pyramid structure. Senior managers provide direction to the managers who report to them. Middle managers, examples of which would include branch managers, regional managers and section managers, middle managers communicate the strategic goals of senior management to the front-line managers. Lower managers, such as supervisors and front-line team leaders, oversee the work of regular employees, in smaller organizations, the roles of managers have much wider scopes. A manager can perform several roles or even all of the commonly observed in a large organization. There are many smaller organizations than larger ones. Views on the definition and scope of management include, According to Henri Fayol, to manage is to forecast and to plan, to organise, to command, to co-ordinate, fredmund Malik defines it as the transformation of resources into utility. Management included as one of the factors of production - along with machines, materials, peter Drucker saw the basic task of management as twofold, marketing and innovation. Nevertheless, innovation is also linked to marketing, peter Drucker identifies marketing as a key essence for business success, but management and marketing are generally understood as two different branches of business administration knowledge. Management involves identifying the mission, objective, procedures, rules and this implies effective communication, an enterprise environment implies human motivation and implies some sort of successful progress or system outcome. As such, management is not the manipulation of a mechanism, not the herding of animals, management does not need to be seen from enterprise point of view alone, because management is an essential function to improve ones life and relationships. Management is therefore everywhere and it has a range of application. Based on this, management must have humans, communication, plans, measurements, motivational psychological tools, goals, and economic measures may or may not be necessary components for there to be management. At first, one views management functionally, such as measuring quantity, adjusting plans and this applies even in situations where planning does not take place. Critics, however, find this definition useful but far too narrow, one habit of thought regards management as equivalent to business administration and thus excludes management in places outside commerce, as for example in charities and in the public sector. More broadly, every organization must manage its work, people, processes, technology, nonetheless, many people refer to university departments that teach management as business schools
6.
Information technology
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Information technology is the application of computers to store, study, retrieve, transmit, and manipulate data, or information, often in the context of a business or other enterprise. IT is considered a subset of information and communications technology, the term is commonly used as a synonym for computers and computer networks, but it also encompasses other information distribution technologies such as television and telephones. Several industries are associated with technology, including computer hardware, software, electronics, semiconductors, internet, telecom equipment. Leavitt and Thomas L. Whisler commented that the new technology not yet have a single established name. We shall call it information technology, based on the storage and processing technologies employed, it is possible to distinguish four distinct phases of IT development, pre-mechanical, mechanical, electromechanical, electronic. This article focuses on the most recent period, which began in about 1940, devices have been used to aid computation for thousands of years, probably initially in the form of a tally stick. Electronic computers, using either relays or valves, began to appear in the early 1940s, the electromechanical Zuse Z3, completed in 1941, was the worlds first programmable computer, and by modern standards one of the first machines that could be considered a complete computing machine. Colossus, developed during the Second World War to decrypt German messages was the first electronic digital computer, although it was programmable, it was not general-purpose, being designed to perform only a single task. It also lacked the ability to store its program in memory, programming was carried out using plugs, the first recognisably modern electronic digital stored-program computer was the Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine, which ran its first program on 21 June 1948. The development of transistors in the late 1940s at Bell Laboratories allowed a new generation of computers to be designed with reduced power consumption. The first commercially available stored-program computer, the Ferranti Mark I, by comparison the first transistorised computer, developed at the University of Manchester and operational by November 1953, consumed only 150 watts in its final version. Early electronic computers such as Colossus made use of punched tape, a strip of paper on which data was represented by a series of holes. IBM introduced the first hard drive in 1956, as a component of their 305 RAMAC computer system. Most digital data today is stored magnetically on hard disks. Until 2002 most information was stored on analog devices, but that year digital storage capacity exceeded analog for the first time. As of 2007 almost 94% of the data stored worldwide was held digitally, 52% on hard disks, 28% on optical devices and 11% on digital magnetic tape. It has been estimated that the capacity to store information on electronic devices grew from less than 3 exabytes in 1986 to 295 exabytes in 2007. Database management systems emerged in the 1960s to address the problem of storing and retrieving large amounts of data accurately and quickly, one of the earliest such systems was IBMs Information Management System, which is still widely deployed more than 50 years later
7.
Operations management
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Operations management is an area of management concerned with designing and controlling the process of production and redesigning business operations in the production of goods or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as needed and it is concerned with managing the process that converts inputs into outputs. Operations management is concerned with managing the operations function in an organization, Operations is one of the major functions in an organization along with marketing, finance and human resources. The operations function requires management of both the strategic and day-to-day production of goods and services, each of these requires an ability to analyze the current situation and find better solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of manufacturing or service operations. The history of production and operation began around 5000 B. C. when Sumerian priests developed the ancient system of recording inventories, loans, taxes. The next major application of operation systems occurred in 4000 B. C. It was during this time that the Egyptians started using planning, organization, by 1100 B. C. labor was being specialized in China, by about 370 B. C. Xenophon described the advantages of dividing the various operations necessary for the production of shoes among different individuals in ancient Greece. It follows, therefore, as a matter of course, that he who devotes himself to a highly specialized line of work is bound to do it in the best possible manner. In the Middle Ages, kings and queens ruled over areas of land. Loyal noblemen maintained large sections of the monarch’s territory and this hierarchical organization in which people were divided into classes based on social position and wealth became known as the feudal system. In the feudal system, vassals and serfs produced for themselves and people of higher classes by using the ruler’s land, although a large part of labor was employed in agriculture, artisans contributed to economic output and formed guilds. The guild system, operating mainly between 1100 and 1500, consisted of two types, merchant guilds, who bought and sold goods, and craft guilds, which made goods. Although guilds were regulated as to the quality of work performed, Services were also performed in the middle ages by servants. They provided service to the nobility for cooking, cleaning and entertainment, the medieval army could also be considered a service since they defended the nobility. The industrial revolution was facilitated by two elements, interchangeability of parts and division of labor, division of labor has always been a feature from the beginning of civilization, the extent to which the division is carried out varied considerably depending on period and location. Compared to the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Age of Discovery were characterized by a specialization in labor, one of the characteristics of growing European cities. It was in the eighteenth century that Eli Whitney popularized the concept of interchangeability of parts when he manufactured 10,000 muskets
8.
Ship commissioning
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Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its countrys military forces, the ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries old naval tradition. Ship naming and launching endow a ship hull with her identity, the engineering plant, weapon and electronic systems, galley, and multitudinous other equipment required to transform the new hull into an operating and habitable warship are installed and tested. The prospective commanding officer, ships officers, the petty officers, prior to commissioning, the new ship undergoes sea trials to identify any deficiencies needing correction. USS Monitor, of American Civil War fame, was commissioned less than three weeks after launch, regardless of the type of ship in question, a vessels journey towards commissioning in its nations navy begins with process known as sea trials. Sea trials begin when the ship in question is floated out of its dry dock, after a ship has successfully cleared its sea trial period, it will officially be accepted into service with its nations navy. At this point, the ship in question will undergo a process of degaussing and/or deperming, once a ships sea trials are successfully completed plans for the actual commissioning ceremony will take shape. If the ships ceremony is an affair the Captain may make a speech to the audience. Religious ceremonies, such as blessing the ship or the singing of hymns or songs. Once a ship has been commissioned its final step toward becoming a unit of the navy it now serves is to report to its home port. To decommission a ship is to terminate its career in service in the forces of a nation. Decommissioning of the vessel may also occur due to treaty agreements or for safety reasons, vessels preserved in this manner typically do not relinquish their names to other, more modern ships that may be in the design, planning, or construction phase of the parent nations navy. Prior to its decommissioning, the ship in question will begin the process of decommissioning by going through a preliminary step called inactivation or deactivation. The removed material from a ship usually ends up either rotating to another ship in the class with similar weapons and/or capabilities, or in storage pending a decision on equipments fate. During this time a crew may be thinned out via transfers. When a ship finishes its inactivation, it is then formally decommissioned, often, but not always, ships that are decommissioned end up spending the next few years in a reserve fleet before their ultimate fate is decided. Commissioning in the early United States Navy under sail was attended by no ceremony, thus, the ship was placed in commission. Commissionings were not public affairs, and unlike christening-and-launching ceremonies, were not recorded by newspapers, the first specific reference to commissioning located in naval records is a letter of November 6,1863, from Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles to all navy yards and stations
9.
Transamerica Pyramid
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The Transamerica Pyramid is the tallest skyscraper in the San Francisco skyline. Its height is surpassed by Salesforce Tower, currently under construction, designed by architect William Pereira and built by Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction Company, at 853 ft, on completion in 1972 it was the eighth tallest building in the world. The Transamerica building was commissioned by Transamerica CEO John R. Beckett, built on the site of the historic Montgomery Block, it has a structural height of 853 ft and has 48 floors of retail and office space. Construction began in 1969 and finished in 1972, and was overseen by San Francisco-based contractor Dinwiddie Construction, Transamerica moved its headquarters to the new building from across the street, where it had been based in a flatiron-shaped building now occupied by the Church of Scientology of San Francisco. Although the tower is no longer Transamerica Corporation headquarters, it is associated with the company and is depicted in the companys logo. The building is evocative of San Francisco and has one of the many symbols of the city. Designed by architect William Pereira, it faced opposition during planning, John King of the San Francisco Chronicle summed up the improved opinion of the building in 2009 as an architectural icon of the best sort - one that fits its location and gets better with age. The Transamerica Pyramid was the tallest skyscraper west of Chicago from 1972 to 1974 surpassing the then Bank of America Center and it was surpassed by the Aon Center in Los Angeles. The building is thought to have been the target of a foiled terrorist attack, involving the hijacking of airplanes as part of the Bojinka plot. In 1999, Transamerica was acquired by Dutch insurance company Aegon, when the non-insurance operations of Transamerica were later sold to GE Capital, Aegon retained the building as an investment. The Transamerica Pyramid has been the tallest skyscraper in San Francisco since 1972, the land use and zoning restrictions for the parcel limited the number of square feet of office that could be built upon the lot, which sits at the north boundary of the financial district. The building is a tall, four-sided pyramid with two wings to accommodate an elevator shaft on the east and a stairwell and a tower on the west. The top 212 feet of the building is the spire, there are four cameras pointed in the four cardinal directions at the top of this spire forming a virtual observation deck. Four monitors in the lobby, whose direction and zoom can be controlled by visitors, an observation deck on the 27th floor was closed after the September 11,2001 attacks, and replaced by the virtual observation deck. The top of the Transamerica Pyramid is covered with aluminum panels, the buildings façade is covered in crushed quartz, giving the building its light color. The four-story base contains 16,000 cu yd of concrete, the buildings foundation is 9 feet thick, the result of a 3-day, 24-hour continuous concrete pour. Several thousand dollars in quarters and change were thrown into the pit by observers surrounding the site at street level during the pouring, only two of the buildings 18 elevators reach the top floor. The original proposal was for a 1,150 ft building, the proposal was rejected by the city planning commission, saying it would interfere with views of San Francisco Bay from Nob Hill
US$ 10.6 billion (2012)
