Basic Senior Year Financial Questions Assignment - 1

Basic Senior Year Financial Questions - Assignment Example Net present value recognizes time value of money and such appreciates that a shilling now is more valuable than a shilling tomorrow and the two can only be compared if they are at their present value. This is another modern method of discounting cash flow because the technique uses the principle of NPV. It is defined as the rate which the present value of cash outflows of an investment equates the initial capital invested. IRR will accept a venture if its IRR is higher than or equal to the minimum required rate of return which is usually the cost of finance also known as the cut off rate or hurdle rate, and in this case IRR will be the highest rate of interest a firm would be ready to pay to finance a project using borrowed funds and without being financially worse off by paying back the loan (the principal and accrued interest) out of the cash flows generated by that project. Thus, IRR is the break-even rate of borrowing from commercial banks. This method gauges the viability of a venture by taking the inflows and outflows over time to ascertain how soon a venture can payback and for this reason PBP (or payout period or payoff) is that period of time or duration it will take an investment venture to generate sufficient cash inflows to payback the cost of such investment. This is a popular approach among the traditional financial managers because it helps them ascertain the time it will take to recoup in form of cash from operations the original cost of the venture. This method is usually an important preliminary screening stage of the viability of the venture and it may yield clues to profitability although in principle it will measure how fast a venture may payback rather than how much a venture will generate in profits and yet the main objectives of an investment is not to recoup the original cost but also to earn a profit for the owners or

Materials Engineering - Career Outlook and Responsibilities Research Paper

Materials Engineering - Career Outlook and Responsibilities - Research Paper Example The research was conducted by going through written sources of information found within the Penn state university library system, the study of this engineering material leads to an occupation known as material engineering. Material engineers deal with the development, processing and testing of materials used to create a wide range of products. They employ the use of metals, ceramics, semiconductors, composites and plastics to create new materials that exhibit certain mechanical, electrical, chemical properties superior to the individual constituent materials, and they also come up with new ways of utilizing new materials. The general roles covered by material engineers in all the occupations include: Monitoring performance of materials and evaluation of their deterioration, determining causes of product failure and developing necessary solutions, supervision of the work of other cadres of employees like technicians, designing and directing the processing and testing procedures , plan ning and evaluating new projects in consultation with other necessary personnel. In order to do this they study materials at an atomic level with the aid of computers to help in replicating the characteristics of the materials and their constituents, through this they are able to solve problems cutting across all engineering fields like: chemical, electrical, civil, nuclear and aerospace. Material engineer may specialize in understanding specific types of materials like ceramics, composites, metallurgical materials, plastics or semiconductor materials. INTRODUCTION This research is based on the occupation of the various material engineers. The term material engineering stems from the word engineering materials, the in-depth understanding of materials used in engineering qualifies one to be called materials engineer. The information used in this research was gathered through written sources of information through the Penn state university library system, occupational handbook of the federal government of the United States of America and non commercial websites as indicated herein in the citations. The content of the research majorly covers the study of engineering materials. Engineering materials refer to the materials that constitute part of structures, products, devices and mechanisms that are used daily to maintain or improve life and uplift the living standards of the people. Materials engineering refers to the process of the study of engineering materials, developing, processing and testing materials used to create a wide range of products. It also entails the creation of new materials and new ways of their application (Kenneth and Michael). This research covers the career outlook of material engineers and their responsibilities in their respective fields, material engineering as a profession entails numerous carriers depending on the continuous and unending needs of the society. In every occupation discussed below in the major section covers the following ; Description of the job and responsibilities, Education