Archive for the ‘Office Supplies’ Category
Careers in Engineering: Architectural Engineering
If you have ever considered a career in the field of engineering, you know that you have a large variety of specialties to choose from. There are at least twenty five recognized fields in the area of engineering including aerospace engineering, architectural engineering, bioengineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, environmental engineering, industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, and software engineering. Careers in engineering have a very good economic outlook as well. Engineers are generally highly sought after and they earn salaries in the high to very high range.
Architectural engineering is probably one of the first specialized engineering fields that comes to mind when a person thinks of a career in engineering. While this may be true, many people do not understand exactly what it is that an architectural engineer does. Basically, architectural engineers apply engineering principles to the construction, planning, and design of buildings and other types of structures. Architectural engineering may be somewhat similar to mechanical and civil engineering, however, architectural engineering focuses mainly on buildings and structures. The field of Architectural Engineering often includes areas of other engineering specialties, such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and fire protection, just to name a few. The architectural engineers are responsible for the different systems within a building, structure, or complex. These areas include the structural soundness of a building, the design and analysis of heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, efficiency and design of the plumbing systems, fire protection and electrical systems, acoustic and lighting planning, and energy conservation issues.
Architectural engineers may work along side other engineers and architects. They may work in office buildings producing plans and systems designs. These documents may be printed on large format printers using rolls of engineering paper. Architectural engineers may also visit other offices to consult on projects with clients or other teams. Other architectural engineers may work directly on job sites. When working on a job site an architectural engineer may oversee various stages of construction and make adjustments to plans and designs as necessary. Some architectural engineers will spend time traveling to different locations so that they may be closer to a project or job site. Architectural engineers generally are scheduled to work a regular forty hour work week, but working nights or weekends may be necessary to meet certain deadlines.
If you are interested in a career in the field of architectural engineering, you will have some fairly rigorous preparation to do. Most architectural engineering programs require a that you have a strong background in the fields of math and science. Courses you should consider taking in high school are algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, biology, chemistry, physics. A bachelors program in architectural engineering will usually take four to five years to complete. The first two years or so of your architectural engineering program, you will be studying basic engineering principals. In the last two years of your architectural engineering program, you will begin to take courses in your area of specialization. You will typically take courses that focus on engineering design, structures, mechanical and electrical systems, and construction management.
ATM Machines
An automated teller machine (ATM) is a computerized system used to deposit and withdraw money without the need for another person, such as a teller. Most banks provide this service to their customers as a way to deposit or withdraw money into their own individual checking and savings account when the bank is not open. However, now ATM machines are located everywhere – grocery stores, movie theaters and restaurants. This allows someone to gain access to cash without even going to the bank.
An ATM machine is basically a large computer that works like a vending machine for money. In order to provide all the services it does, it has many different parts. The computer inside has an interface and keypad. This keypad is how the customer provides information regarding PIN numbers and amounts to the computer. It also includes a magnetic card reader to read information from each individual ATM card. This information includes the person’s name, bank account information including routing and account numbers. When a person inserts their ATM card, the machines reads it and returns it after the transaction is complete. If you forget to take your ATM card out of the machine, it will retract it so that the next person cannot have access to it.
Inside the ATM is a cash drawer that has to be refilled and counted by an employee each day. For instance, if the machine runs out of $10 bills it will simply not allow any more $10 transactions so the bank wants to keep it fully functional by checking the bills and balancing the machine at least once a day. There is also a printer that will give the customer a receipt of their transaction, usually on thermal paper. This receipt will include balance information, fees access and details of the specific transaction. Some ATM’s also provide envelopes for your cash and/or receipt. Many ATM companies are now installing security cameras to have a record of the person conducting each transaction. This also helps prevent against theft of the machine.
In order to access accounts, the computers inside ATM machines are connected to a complex interbank network. This network will allow customers from many different banks to access accounts through this machine even if it’s not at their bank. ATM’s must gain permission from a person’s bank through this network to allow them to withdraw money from their account. When the transaction is complete the bank then relays the information back to the customers bank so they can reflect the appropriate addition or subtraction of money to the correct account.
ATM machines located at a branch of your bank are usually free to customers, however independent ATM’s must charge a fee to customers to cover costs of operations, employee labor to maintain the machine and fees to use the interbank network. These fees can range from .75 cents to 2 dollars! Most ATM’s will give you an opportunity to cancel the transaction if you don’t agree with the fee amount.