Hurrican Katrinia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Hurrican Katrinia - Essay Example aled to both the contractors who designed and built the wall as well as the Army Corps Engineers the nature of the weak layer of soft soil that made the base of the floodwall’s steel piling foundation. In addition, the primary design for the steel sheet foundation for the walls indicated a suggested depth of 10 feet having the calculations made with wall base at 12.8 feet. Furthermore, a New Orleans engineer claimed that the depth was later on increased to a depth of up to 17 feet. Nonetheless, although the corps maintained their claim that the wall depth was 17 feet, investigations carried out by a forensic engineering group from Louisiana State University by use of sonar revealed that the piling sheets were 10 feet (Shrum, 2014). Also, investigations of the constructions on the Industrial Canal and London Avenue levees showed that they were below the stated standards. Other reports indicated that homeowners along the 17th Street Canal close to where the site of breach appear ed had previously reported about a constant leakage from the canal that flooded their yards a year before the Hurricane Katrina. Therefore, aside from the fact that the storm heave formed remarkable subterranean pressures under the floodwalls making the soil under the sheet weaker structural problems in the walls played a role as well (Shrum, 2014). Poor levee maintenance was another underlying factor, whereby, investigations suggest that a probable trigger of the breach on the 17th Street Canal levee may be due to a fallen large oak tree planted rather too close to the levee base. In addition, on the London Avenue Canal, burrowing animals had formed enormous through-ways that undermined the already weakened foundations. Therefore, the local levee boards responsible for maintaining had not done their work as they should have. In addition, the destruction of cypress trees and various vegetations that had previously grew in the brackish waters in the intersection between the Gulf of Mexico

Bertrand Russells criticism of direct realism Essay

Bertrand Russells criticism of direct realism - Essay Example To begin with, it may be important to highlight several important aspects of the view which was developed by Bertrand Russell. Thus, he questions whether there is some kind of knowledge that everyone would agree on. He concludes that the knowledge about the objects that exist in reality can be such knowledge as two people who walk into the same room would see in the similar manner. However, that is exactly the kind of approach that he wants to criticism, suggesting that the knowledge that he was of the ordinary objects (he particularly focuses on the example of the table) is, in fact, relative. Russell points out that the perception of a physical object is largely conditioned by the state of the observer; for example the color of the table will change based on the angle of view. The same can be said about texture shape and so on. Keeping in mind that all these states exist simultaneously, he argues that it is not logical to talk about the â€Å"real† color or shape of the tabl e.The philosopher in question then moves to the issue of norm in terms of determining properties of the object. Having established that the color can be bright (under direct sunlight), moderate (under artificial light) and invisible (if perceived in the darkness), Russell notes that most people would agree that the â€Å"real† color is the one found in the second case. However, in his view this leads to â€Å"favoritism† that can hardly be justified since it is grounded on such vague assumptions as â€Å"normal spectator †¦ an ordinary point of view †¦ usual conditions of light†.

The title character of The Great Gatsby Essay Example for Free

The title character of The Great Gatsby Essay How far do you agree with Nick’s view that Gatsby is â€Å"worth the whole damn bunch put together†? The title character of The Great Gatsby is a young man, around thirty years old, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural North Dakota to become fabulously wealthy. Indeed, Gatsby has become famous around New York for the elaborate parties held every weekend at his mansion, ostentatious spectacles to which people long to be invited. And yet, Nick Carraway’s description of the protagonist asserts that Gatsby seems curiously out of place among the ‘whole damn bunch’ which inhabits this lavish, showy world. Indeed, despite the aura of criminality surrounding his occupation, his love and loyalty to Daisy Buchanan and ultimately his capacity to dream, set him apart from the other inhabitants of East Egg and West Egg. A key criticism made in Nick’s first person, self-aware and retrospective narration is that the ‘whole damn bunch’ entertained by Gatsby lives in extravagance. In Chapter Three, comparative adjectives and adverbs imply that the parties they attend grow ever increasingly lavish; the narrator expresses how ‘laughter is easier’, an ‘opera of voices pitches a key higher’ and ‘groups change more quickly’. In fact, the sheer scale of the operation required to keep them excited is emphasised by details that Nick gives, including ‘a machine in the kitchen which could extract the juice of two hundred oranges in half an hour if a little button was pressed two hundred times by a butler’s thumb.’ But the ‘vacuous bursts of laughter’ and the dancing ‘in eternal graceless circles’ lend a degree of artificiality to the proceedings. Indeed, the tone of the narration reveals another major shortcoming, suggesting that this outward show of wealth by the inhabitants of West Egg and East Egg is used to cover up their inner corruption and moral decay. This decadence is first exemplified by the length of the parties held by Gatsby. Although the statement does hold some truth as the contrast between Gatsby and Tom Buchanan. From chapter one, we begin to understand that the relationship between Tom and Daisy is purely superficial, a relationship that seemed to be based on show and wealth. In this chapter, we learn from  Jordan that Tom has been seeing another woman in New York, and Toms attitude toward Daisy does not adopt the most loving manner. Instead of allowing his wife to join in on the conversation or take interest in what she talks of, he is more concerned about the extremist book hes been reading and discussing its racist views The idea is if we dont look out the white race will be will be utterly submerged. This greatly contrasts with Gatsby. He is compassionate toward Daisy unlike Tom who treats her only as a possession, and his determination in refusing to give up on her and this dream world he has created for the two of them. Even in chapter seven when Daisy runs over Myrtle, Gatsby takes the blame himself just to protect her Nick asks, Was Daisy driving? to which Gatsby responds, Yes but of course Ill say I was. By this time Gatsby has already abandoned his elaborate parties, which only existed as a way to lure in the one he so yearned for, which counteracts the argument that he was purely covetous and materialistic. He even shouts at Tom in chapter seven, She only married you because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me, which illustrates how all the effort and his immersion in illegal business was all to build up an Empire big enough and grand enough for Daisy, and also demonstrates how money-orientated and trivial Daisy is. In comparison to Daisy, it may well be said he was worth a lot more than her. Towards the end of the book she and Tom both pack up and move on, recoiling back into all their money and hiding away from the upset and destruction they had both caused. Another reason Gatsby stands for something greater than the other characters is the fact that he died with love still in his heart and a dream to aspire to. He did not die bitter and anguished over the fact he could not have Daisy, over the fact that his whole life had been created with her at the centre, and all for nothing. Gatsby died only with a taste on his tongue of what life could be like with Daisy, of what it would feel like to have her as his own, but this seemed to console him enough to know he was dying a happier and better man. He refused to give in until the very end, when Nick suggests that Gatsby ought to go away, Gatsby is almost in shock when he responds, Go away now, old sport? He could not bear to tear himself away  after how far he had come, how far he had gotten to Daisy being his. And despite his loves own selfishness and shallow ways, he dies still with that green glow of hope in his heart. Gatsby is worth the whole damn bunch put together because he died with love. I agree with this statement completely as despite his involvement in bootlegging and how his life was built around lies, Gatsby stands for something in which the other characters lack. I believe he stands for hope, for love and for dreams. This is shows through his adoration of Daisy and his determination to never give up on her.

Legal And Ethical Issues In Robotics

Legal And Ethical Issues In Robotics With the development of the technology over the past decade the Robotics has become one of conversational subject areas. As a result of mankinds ultimate innovations and accomplishments regarding to the Robotics, the social, ethical and professional norms have been affected in both positive and negative manner. Therefore, identify and analyze issues which might occur when implementing robot technologies an important and contemporary need. According to the VEX Robotics, Inc. (2012) the robotics is the science and technology which is used for inventing, accumulating, manufacturing and information processing of robots. With the robots, the tasks which are performed by humans can be automated in order to gain higher effectiveness and efficiency. A robot is an electronic device controlled by a program and able to carry out tasks of various kinds-it is a machine made to perform that humans might otherwise do (Wilson, C. 2007). In the current society robots are used in many different areas like education, entertainment, surgery, surveillance, military, farming, factories etc. The robots are capable of performing tasks accurately, high quality, speedily, safely than human beings and also they can perform dangerous tasks without much effort. Thus the robots and related robot technology provide various advantages for human lives and society with its technology. Currently robots are used to handle sensitive, critical and complex surgeries in accurate and effective manner. The robots are capable of performing surgeries with less pain, miniaturization, decrease blood loss, smaller incisions and quicker healing time. Unlike human surgeons these machines can perform tasks more smoothly with fewer side effects. It is true when there are fewer side effects patients lives will not get negatively impacted in the future after having a surgery. With the use of robots the surgeries can be done remotely, anywhere in the world without requiring the presence of a surgeon. This is very useful when handling surgeries where the surgeon and patient are not in the same geographical location. The technology made specialized surgeons to be accessed globally at anywhere in the world. Thus the robot science enhances the flexibility and availability of the medical field. Although Robots provide numerous benefits for human beings, on the other hand it might lead to create several ethical issues which may affect the patients condition negatively. Will people like to get treated from a soulless, emotionless machine? Most of the people will not like to get treated from robots because those machines dont have any idea or impression about the patients situation. Valuable human qualities like sensitiveness and carefulness is unforeseeable from robots. Another main issue is robots will not get trusted like a human surgeon. But in these cases patients are forced to trust on a machine. Thus, trust and freedom ethical principles are getting invaded. Robots are created by assembling heavy metal arms and other metal gadgets. Occasionally patient will get scared after seeing the robot because its appearance is not pleasant and familiar like a human surgeon. The situations like this might impact negatively for the patients condition. During a surgery, if machine ge ts malfunctioned or misused who will take the responsibility? The soulless, emotionless machine cannot take the responsibility like a specialized, well experienced surgeon. Thus moral responsibility and liability ethical principles are invaded. The researchers at the Harvard University has developed tiny organic DNA robot device to destroy cancer cells by sending important molecular instructions to infected cells (Mowatt 2012). This is significant invention in robot technology which can provide greatest benefit for human being by saving thousands of lives. Although these types of robot devices provide remarkable advantages, the technology can be misused. For an example if robot collected data (DNA) is used for further researchers or tests without having permission from the owner might leads to raise several privacy and security issues. DNA is strictly sensitive and confidential information of an individual where characteristics of a person can be fully exposed by analysing information. According to the Data Protection Act UK 1998 the information must be kept secure and must not be routed in any mode incompatible with the original use. When the data about a patients health is used for further researches without their knowledge, the Data Protection Act will get violated. Under the Public Interest section, British Computer Society (BCS) code of conduct defines to IT professionals that have due regard for public health, privacy, security and wellbeing of others and the environment. When robots are used as surgeons, the professionals who design those robots should concern about public health and wellbeing because it will be used to treat humans. Robots actions are very important during a sensitive and complex surgery as human life will depend on the tasks done by robot. Therefore professionals who design robots should accept the professional responsibility of their creation or design. In present robots are used for military purposes in many countries because it reduces the number of human involvement by saving lives in war. According to the article written by Marchant, G.E. et al. (2011) there are number of robots used for several wars. For an example U.S. military used unmanned aerial vehicles for unmanned air attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries. Further the article mentions that self-directed robots may be able to act more effectively than human beings because they can be designed without emotions, able to act independently, conservatively and also can process more information. When looking at the theoretical perspective according to the Deontological theory killing is wrong as destroying human life, freedom and property is not a right action. But the consequences of the action will be positively impacted on the massive number of people. Because of that from the perspective of Consequentialist theory the war can be a right action. Although robots provide various advantages for military purposes, on the other hand several ethical principles will raise. War is something about killing people and destroying their property. Human lives and property will get severely impacted though use human soldiers or robots. As a result of that right to life, liberty and security ethical principles are getting invaded. Sometimes war can be very unethical when one party uses military unmanned vehicles and other party use humans as soldiers. The situations like that become a war between humans and machines. The value of the human life will be compared with the value of soulless, emotionless machine. Human life is precious because once it lost we cant have it back. But once a machine damaged or malfunctioned, it can be repaired or replaced by another machine. Human life cannot be regenerate or replaced like robots and it is valuable gift. When using military unmanned vehicle robots against human soldiers, the value of human life wi ll be degraded in front of those metal machines. Thus human recognition and dignity ethical principles are getting invaded. The Public Interests section in BCS Code of Conduct mentions that IT professionals should have care for public health, privacy, security and wellbeing of others and the environment. When robots are used in wars human lives, privacy and security will be invaded and as a result of that public interest section of the code of conduct is getting violated. Avoiding injuring others, their property by false or malicious action or inaction is mentioned under Professional Competence and Integrity section of BCS Code of conduct. When robots are used to destroy human life and property in wars, the associated code of conduct is invaded. In wars, human life and property will be severely damaged and destroyed. According to the Human Rights Act 1998, everyone has the right to life and protection of property. Thus destroying human life and their properties in war will violate the act. The article 5 in Human Rights Act mentioned that everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. When war destroys human lives by depriving peoples liberty and protection that will also violates the Human Rights Act. Tracking someone via a robot equipped with surveillance camera can create both positive and negative issues in society. For an example tracking a criminal or terrorism suspicious person by authorized party to expose drug trafficking information and many more illegal activities can be identified as positive effects while secretly spying a person with intent to cause or harm is a negative effect. On the other hand, the privacy and freedom can get invaded when use robots to track whereabouts of an individual as these robots are capable of secretly spying without users knowledge by hiding itself. According to the article written by Hambling (2011), the Lockheed Martins Advanced Technology Laboratories has developed a robot which is capable of spying at night, hide itself when hear footsteps of an unseen guard and move again when the road is clear. Using a robot like this for tracking can be very harmful because it cannot be easily detected. When an individual is tracked or monitored by using surveillance robot wherever that person moves will be notified to a third party and that may leads to affect privacy, security and freedom of that individual. When a third party is more knowledgeable about an individual, that person can be easily controlled or blackmailed. Thus individuals freedom, autonomy and privacy rights are getting affected. Spying or tracking might not only be a risk for the person who is subject to spying but also the people that person interacts or having relationships with. If the tracker has the intention of harm to persons life, the family, relations and the society around that person might get negatively impacted. Under the Public Interest section, BCS code of conduct defines that IT professionals should have due regard for public privacy and security. When the unethical tracking is performed through a surveillance robot, the tracker breaks the public interest section of the code of conduct. Avoiding injuring others, their property by false or malicious action or inaction is characterized under Professional Competence and Integrity section of BCS Code of conduct. If the tracker does tracking with the intention of harm to an individuals life or their property, according to the professional rules the action is guilty. Tracking a person secretly can provide inappropriate ethical, religiously and politically offensive results which may be viewed as the violations of Human Rights Act UK 1998. Currently robots are used by most industries in their manufacturing processes because it is capable of generating accurate, reliable and high quality products when compared to human workers. Robots actions are controlled by programmed computer application or electronic circuit. As a result of that there is a low probability of generating inaccurate outputs unless machine gets malfunctioned. Due to its mechanical nature and computerized control, a robotic arm can carry out a repetitive task with great precision and accuracy, thus providing improved, consistent product quality (Bengtson, H. 2010). Unlike robots, human workforce gets tired and bored when carrying out repetitive tasks under long time periods and as a result that the efficiency of generating output will get degraded. When the efficiency of production gets low, the number profits made by company will become low automatically. The mechanical approach and automated control made manufacturing robots more efficient and speedy which redirects business into higher production rate where company can attain competitive advantage than with human workforce. There are some manufacturing industries where humans are required to work at uncomfortable and dangerous environments like defusing bombs, mixing chemical ingredients, attaching equipments under higher temperature etc. But robots will not get impacted by these environmental conditions as humans. Companies can purchase most suitable robots for their working environment and manufacturing process. Thus manufacture will get benefited greatly by reducing costs involve in production process through replacing human workforce by automated robot workforce. When looking at the shareholders perspective, replacing current workforce by robots will leads to make more profits for them as overall efficiency in production gets increased. Thus shareholders are greatly benefited by using robots in manufacturing processes. Consumers will able to experience accurate, reliable an d high quality products because of robot workforce. Although robots will maximise productivity by reducing costs, this might leads to create serious social issues like unemployment, employee relationships and attitudes towards to the work. When current workforce is replaced by robots the employees will become jobless. According to the studies carried out by American Psychological Association (2009), 78% of Americans reporting money as a significant source of stress. The stress created as a result of unemployment will not only affect negatively for an individual but also individuals family and well-being. The trouble of unemployment can also affect unexpected conclusions for children like sicknesses, distress and depressive symptoms. The unemployment will also create social divide within society by increasing the gap between families with children that both parents are get paid and families with children both parents are not get paid. This is terrible social issue which has indirect relationship on poverty and inequality. When poverty within a society gets increased, there is a high probability of increasing illegal activities like burglary, theft, fraud etc. According to the researches carried out by Carmichael and Ward (2000), there were high accretion in burglary, theft and robbery in 1992, 1993 and 1994 years because overall rates of youth and adult men unemployment get increased during those years. The article illustrate in 1989, 1990 and 1991 the youth unemployment rate varied between 12-18 per 100,000 population and total number of crimes were about 6562.7, 7845.8 and 9213.7. Between 1992 and 1994 the youth unemployment rate has increased and varied between 21.94 -19.5 per 100,000 population and total number of crimes were about 9816.8, 9727.5 and 9234.0. According to the statistics there was a visible increment of crime activities along with the growth of unemployment. It is true there is a fine impact on illegal activities with unemployment and poverty of a society. When human workforce is replaced by ro bots, there is a high possibility of amplifying illegal and crime activities in the society because of the increased unemployment population. Robots in a workplace will also create negative impact on human relationships, employee attitudes towards to the work and employer. When human workforce replaced by robots, the faith that the employees have kept on the organization will be dented as employees will began to think the employer only concerned about the efficiency and productivity of the work not the relationships or friendly working environment. Thus employee attitudes towards to the work and employer will get negatively affected. Robots cant be friendly or emotional like human workers and as a result of that there will not have a pleasant working environment filled with employee relationships. As robots are not able to communicate like humans the relationships and bonds among robots and rest of the employees will remain in a lowest level. Actually it is hard to justify whether the work or individual life is more important but the employer is always responsible for protecting relationships and job security of employees. What will be the impact when employees are fired from job without prior notice and compensations? The situations like this will create pathetic condition around individuals and their families. However in the social perspective, organisations can validate the importance of the robot workforce relating it to rising productivity, efficiency and minimise the wastages. Under the Employment Rights Act 1996, UK dismissing an employee without giving prior dismissal notice is illegal. The law also give right for employees to complaint the tribunal about unfair dismissal. Therefore employers are legally bound to take the responsibility of dismissing an employee. Currently robots are mostly used as human companions for elderly and childish people. Assist elderly or disable people, clean household equipment are some of core functionalities of robot helpers. United Stated National Institute of Standards and Technology (US NIST) has developed a robot to help disabled people move around their home. This robot acts as a wheelchair but also gives a helping hand to get out of bed and get on and off other seats. The robots like this are really useful to overcome physical difficulties that are faced by disable people when performing day to day tasks. The Nuresebot, Pearl is another multi-disciplinary, multi-university effort aimed to provide assistance for elderly people at homes. This robot is capable of reminding elders about regular activities such as eating, drinking, taking medicine, using the bathroom, guiding them through their environments, calling for help if they fall and display messages on the screens for people with hearing loss (Carnegie Mellon University n.d.). Elders need more care and attention because they are more vulnerable to abuse and also physical changes in old age reduce the ability to conduct activities of daily living by maintaining independence. Robot helpers or robot companions mentioned above will be a fair solution for taking care of elders and protecting them by being abused. Using robots for taking care of elders and children is very helpful in current busy life styles. Unlike Asian countries, Europeans are not having strong relationships with their parents after get married or being matured. In a situation like that robot helpers would be a best solution where protection of elders is assured. Although using robot helpers for elders is an effective, opportune solution this will leads to create several ethical issues. Elders will not able to get same experience and exposure like having companion with human being because these robots cant gossip, share ideas, emotions and communicate like humans. Therefore robots will not able to fulfil the emptiness in old heart like a human companion and as a result of that human relationships will get negatively affected. When using robot companions for children, their personality, behaviour and attitudes will get impacted. The robot will do everything that child command without questioning. Then the child began to think everyone will do everything that command without questioning and he/she can get everything without any interference. Thus robot companions will lead to create drastic negative attitude and behavioural change in child. During the infant and child years, children grow quickly and tend to learn about the environment they are interacting with. Without having a proper guiding adult to teach and guide in to the right path, child personality will also get degraded. Soulless, emotionless and inexperienced robot will not able to teach values and norms associated with human lives. Parents are the most important character in childs life and they are capable of understanding childs needs than anyone does. Love, affection and caring are critical requirements for better growth and development in a child. A metal robot is not able to fulfil these emotional feelings which are unique to living beings. Thus effects on human relationships, human personality and changes in attitudes social issues are raised when using robots as human companions or home helper. Experiences with touch, movement, voice sounds, and chances to see faces and their changing expressions these seem to be essential contributors to emotional and mental development (Mercer 2009). Without having these factors, the language development, ability to u nderstanding in the child will be weakened and as a result of that child will become socially isolated. Robots are expensive and everyone cant get the technology experience because of its high price. That will create a digital divide in the society, where only rich people can have robots experience. According to the Public Interest section in BCS code of conduct, the professionals should support equal opportunities and benefits of IT by including all sectors in the society. When robots are unaffordable and cannot experience for every human being as equal, this will breaks the following BCS code of conduct. Every technology has associated limits and vulnerabilities which may create severe negative impacts on individuals. Robots are reacting according to the limited set of tasks they are programmed into and any action that is out of the program might not be fulfilled. For an example a human companion that is programmed to take care of elderly or childish person might not be able to respond emergency situations like fire, explosion, theft etc. The situations like above can harm for people who are vulnerable to abuse. Elders are more vulnerable to abuse because physical changes appear with the age, made them to slow respond or inability of responding properly for actions. Children are also vulnerable like elders because they dont have knowledge or experience to respond emergency situations like matured people. These vulnerable groups may tend to trust on robot machine because it will be the only companion they have to interact in most of their time. If machine gets malfunctioned, the life of these vulnerable groups will be in a danger. Thus the negative implications and possible risks which may arise when adopting technologies like robotics should be much concerned. The individuals have to face both positive and negative Ethical, Social, Legal and Professional issues related to robot technology. The negative implications of robot should be clearly identified by IT professionals in order to make human lives more comfortable via secure information technologies while protecting ethical, social and legal rights of human being. By analysing and understanding both negative and positive impacts prior adopting technology may assist to reduce several issues which may arise related into robotics. In the conclusion, I recommend organisations and individuals to implement suitable policies when using new robotic inventions in their business and household that is transparent to ensure negative effects of the technology has been controlled and prevented.

What The Mind Is And How It Wo :: essays research papers

What the Mind is and How it Works The first section of this book addresses the question whether or not the mind actually exists. Some believe the concept that because the mind does not have physical abundance that it does not exist at all. Bros goes on to say that "If we mistake concepts for fact, we will become increasingly ignorant of reality…" After this one would think that the author would go on to explain his view, however Bros does no such thing and rather leaves the issue hanging. The book goes on to talk about insults and how they affect our minds and bodies. Insults are not of physical abundance but our mind generates them and the effects occur within our bodies and hurt. Physical harm is controlled in our society and many times emphasized with. However mental harm is not controlled and the results are many a times looked down upon. Bros believes that there is no difference between a physical blow well aimed and a mental blow well aimed. The 1st crushes muscle and blood from the outside, the 2nd from the inside. He also believes that if there is a difference in degree between the two, it favors the first. The damage from a physical blow comes to an end when the physical impact ends. A mental blow reoccurs whenever we think back. Physical blows hurt! Mental blows keep on hurting. The author also disagrees strongly with the belief that we use only a fraction of our brain-in fact, he refers to it as absurd. He uses Darwin's theory as the basis of his argument. He states that nature does not create a complex of tissue the size of the human brain so that we can utilize 1% of it. I very much agree with Bros on this one. The rest of the book goes on to explain Peter's theory on how our minds actually work and what there functions are. Despite the big words and rambling on, I still find much of this book very hard to swallow because the author makes no attempt to explain the reasons for his beliefs. He also does not cite facts that backup any of his beliefs making the rest of the book sound much more like a bunch of assumptions. Anyway, Bros goes on to tell us his theory, stated as fact, of what our minds do.

Blackberry Winter :: essays research papers

Blackberry Winter   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Robert Penn Warren’s â€Å"Blackberry Winter† is the story of one young boy’s sudden and painfully realistic venture from behind the blissful cloak of childhood innocence into the more brutal reality of the world. Warren captures this transition through the eyes of the young and happily naà ¯ve Middle Tennessee farm boy, Seth. When the story begins, the nine year old Seth is lingering on the very edge of his innocence, but is undoubtedly still in the throws of the methodical and simple life that only a child can truly have. Before that fateful day when the unusual stranger appeared so suddenly and seemingly out of nowhere, Seth led the secure and rhythmic life that comes with both ignorance and innocence. Seth having never left or even given much thought to life outside his small farm community, he had been sheltered from the true evils of the world. He had no concept of time or change, and had never needed one. That day, and that stranger, f orced him to become aware of things that were beyond his control and even made him question the very things that he had always held as the gospel truth.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A child’s coming of age is a universal and inevitable transition that Seth does not foresee or even expect, and until looking back on it almost thirty-five years later, he does not realize the true significance of his passage. That day Seth’s very foundations were rocked as his eyes were opened to the world and its ways. When the story begins Seth’s transition has already begun to take place, and the smooth and repetitive rhythm of his life that has always brought him so much comfort slowly begins to crumble. Even such a small and seemingly insignificant thing as not being allowed to go outside in June without shoes, something which he has always been able to do, puzzles and confuses Seth. The appearance of the odd and out of place stranger even further fascinates and bewilders the small boy. Seth’s world begins to spin even faster and stranger as he sees Dellie, a woman that he has always thought he knew so well and even refers to her as being methodical as a machine, violently strikes her son as he has never seen her do and later as Old Jebb questions Seth’s mother’s very words. Until that day, Seth has never considered the fact that things would ever any different than they always had been.

Analysis of Leroi Jones A Poem Some People Will Have To Understand Ess

Analysis of Leroi Jones' A Poem Some People Will Have To Understand  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   There is an implied threat in "A Poem Some People Will Have To Understand" by Leroi Jones. Ostensibly, there is no intimidation. The poem is confessional, even reflective; the theme is one of mutability and change. However, there is something frightening and ominous in Jones1 vision, which he creates through attention to word choice and structure. Jones' warning is immediately evident in the title through his manipulation of words. The phrase "have to" has two meanings. One the one hand, "have to" is an innocuous statement of the alliance Jones expects to find among his Afro-American readers--these people will "have to" understand the poem because it speaks to their individual, personal lives. On the other hand, there is a more sinister connotation in "have to"--the idea that others will "have to" understand this poem because they will be forced to do so. Beyond the title, Jones creates a forbidding speaker--a man at a crossroads, or rather, at a moment of decision. However, the structure of the first stanza is direct and conservative, almost prosaic. Jones gives us nothing that is revolutionary here. Instead, he lays the groundwork for this piece with the gloomy initial images of "(d)ull unwashed windows of eyes"(1). These eyes are no doubt those of the speaker, and they have been dulled and dirtied by his existence as a black man in the post-segregation 1960s. The "industry" he mentions in lines 2 and 3 is both the industry of the American machine that exploits the underprivileged, and the industry he "practice(s)." The speaker is a self-professed "slick / colored boy, 12 miles from his / home" who practices "no industry" (35). By "... ...The promised "phenomenon" has not come, and it is now up to him to bring it about through violence. Jones does not allow the speaker to lose any of his charm as he politely invites his "machinegunners"--the tools of his new industry--to "please step forward" (26). He is a hustler to the end, a smooth-talker who is now at home in his new ego and his new profession. Jones employs the dynamics of change to his speaker throughout the poem. From an aimless vagrant to a passionate revolutionary, Jones plots his speaker's course using specific words and structural techniques. Through these elements, we witness the evolution of a new black man--one who is not content with the passivity of his earlier spiritual leaders. We are left with a threat--a steel fist in a velvet glove of poetry--and it becomes a poem that we "have to" understand, whether we want to or not.   

Psychological learnings of movie “Reign Over me” Essay

Abstracted The types of psychological illnesses that the characters have in the movie â€Å" Reign O’er Me†. Summary of the movie. Over view of Charlie Fineman and his symptoms that he displays. The symptoms that Alan Johnson shows, and the symptoms and characteristics that Donna Remar shows during this movie. What is PTSD, depression, bipolar, co-dependency, narcissistic disorders? What are the symptoms and treatments for these disorders? How does the actual song â€Å"Love, Reign O’er Me† link into this movie? Information about the song. My conclusion of the characters disorders and my thoughts of the movie. Keywords: PTSD, Post traumatic stress disorder, Depression, Co-dependency, Narcissistic disorder. Reign O’er Me is a movie that shows Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler) going through the challenges of what seems to be PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), due to him losing his family in September 11, 2001 attack. Charlie is re-united with his former college roommate Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) who tries to help Charlie with his problems all the while having marital problems himself. Which at first he fails, but in the end helps himself and Charlie. Alan is not the only one helping Charlie. The psychologist Angela (Liv Tyler) has sessions with Charlie to try to get him to open up, but does not have much success. She does however convince Charlie to tell his story to someone. Angela also helps Charlie when he gets committed to a hospital for a 3 day evaluation and then again in court. Donna who is seen struggling with her own problems is also helped by Angela through sessions. It also seems that she helps Charlie by supporting him in court and then again when she comes by his ne w apartment. During the first night of Alan being reunited with his former college  roommate Charlie, he notices that Charlie does not act normal. Charlie doesn’t remember Alan at first, but does take a liking to him soon. It’s mentioned that Charlie likes Alan because he did not know Charlie’s family. Charlie takes Alan to a bar where he plays drums, after his drum playing scene Alan asks Charlie about his family; which infuriates Charlie. He becomes aggressive and throws root beer on Alan all the while accusing Alan that someone sent him there to talk to him. Alan feels that he and his wife are on top of each other, that he has no man hobbies. So when Charlie comes to his home the next night wanting him to go out, he jumps at the idea. Charlie repeadely tells Alan he has to take his shoes off when Alan comes to his house and he is repeatedly remodeling the kitchen. Charlie is always listening to music and especially on particular song called â€Å"Reign O’er Meâ⠂¬ . While watching the movie I concluded that Charlie did have PTSD and possibly depression. Alan would have what I think is a Co-dependency disorder. Donna Remar was in a 10 year marriage and 5 out of the 10 year marriage her husband cheated on her. She is now trying to pursue Alan for sexual relations at his dentist office. She is denied by Alan and turn she writes a letter stating that Alan tried to make sexual intentions to her and that she was going to file a law suit against the practice and him. She later apologizes for her behavior and tells Alan why she must have been acting the way she was due to her past relationship. Later she runs into Alan and Charlie at Angela’s office. This is where I am guessing she takes an interest in Charlie. I would think that Donna is suffering from a Narcissistic disorder. What does the song Reign O’ver Me mean and who is it by? The song sounds like the writer wrote it after losing a loved one, sad and depressing. The song lyrics â€Å"Love, Reign o’er Me† concerns the main character of Quadrophenia, Jimmy, having a personal crisis. With nothing left to live for, he finds a spiritual redemption in pouring rain. As Townshend described the song: [It] refers to Meher Baba’s one time comment that rain was a blessing from God; that thunder was God’s Voice. It’s another plea to drown, only this time in the rain. Jimmy goes through a suicide crisis. He  surrenders to the inevitable, and you know, you know, when it’s over and he goes back to town he’ll be going through the same shit, being in the same terrible family situation and so on, but he’s moved up a level. He’s weak still, but there’s a strength in that weakness. He’s in danger of maturing (Townshend, 1972). I can see why Charlie sings this song over and over again in the court room. I can also see why the producer picked this particular song for the movie. This song has pain like the pain Charlie is feeling from losing his family. It also has the back history of the going hand in hand with the mental disorders in the movie. You can also see that Charlie singing and replaying the song over and over again, somewhere subconsciously he does remember his family. PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder) to my knowledge is something that can happen to someone after a traumatic event such as war for soldiers and then again with mothers who have just given birth and I would say that would be due to the chemical changes in the body. The â€Å"fight-or-flight† response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm. But in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this reaction is changed or damaged. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger. PTSD develops after a terrifying ordeal that involved physical harm or the threat of physical harm. The person who develops PTSD may have been the one who was harmed, the harm may have happened to a loved one, or the person may have witnessed a harmful event that happened to loved ones or strangers. PTSD was first brought to public attention in relation to war veterans, but it can result from a variety of traumatic incidents, such as mugging, rape, torture, being kidnapped or held captive, child abuse, car accidents, train wrecks, plane crashes, bombings, or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes. (NIH, n.d.) Is there treatment for PTSD? The answer is yes there is. There are two types of ways for treatment psychotherapy and/or medication. Various forms of psychotherapy are helpful in PTSD. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) helps a person learn behavioral techniques for relaxation and restructure patterns of thinking that foster anxiety. Exposure therapy involves systematically exposing someone to the memories and events associated with a trauma and reducing the fear response to these events, under the guidance of a trained therapist. EMDR (Eye Movement  Desensitization and Reprocessing) involves presenting the patient with various visual and tactile stimuli meant to release emotional experiences and free the mind of blockages. In addition, support groups help people with PTSD work through their feelings with others who have had similar experiences. The goal of therapy is to encourage the patient to recall all details of the event, express grief, complete the mourning process, and get on with life. For children, this may involve play therapy. Benzodiazepines, such as Valium, Xanax, and Ativan, are often useful for short-term, immediate relief of anxiety symptoms associated with PTSD. Long-term use of these medications is strongly discouraged. A class of antidepressants known as selective-serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Celexa, Paxil, Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft, help modify levels of neurotransmitters (chemicals) that foster appropriate communication between nerve cells, and can improve PTSD. Research also suggests that other medications, such as beta-blockers and corticosteroids, may help diminish the likelihood for forming strong negative emotional memories when given soon after experiencing a highly traumatic event. The blood pressure medicine prazosin has also been shown in preliminary research studies to help alleviate nightmares associated with PTSD Anti-epileptic drugs with mood stabilizing properties, such as Depakote or Tegretol, may lessen mood swings and explosive anger. Anti-psychotic drugs may help people with PTSD who have persistent paranoia. (Goldberg, 2014) This disorder is to be said what Charlie is suffering from. Clinical Depression seems to be a common diagnoses in today’s society. It seems like anytime you talk with someone about medical history or problems it always comes up that they have depression. Now there are many types of depression and it all depends on which one you have been diagnosed with to determine on how your behavior works with this diagnoses. I am classified as having depression and I am classified as to have bipolar. To me I feel that these are the same exact thing. My understanding behind bipolar is you have very wide mood swings from sad, happy, deeply depressed, angry, and aggravated. The depressive phase of bipolar disorder shares many similarities to regular depression, including prolonged sadness, inability to concentrate, loss of energy, difficulty sleeping, and thoughts of  suicide. People with bipolar depression, however, tend to have more unpredictable mood swings, more irritability and guilt, and more feelings of restlessness. They also tend to move and speak slowly, sleep a lot and gain weight. According to HelpGuide.org, your depression might be bipolar disorder if: You’ve experienced repeated episodes of major depression. You had your first episode of major depression before age 25. You have a first-degree relative with bipolar disorder. When you’re not depressed, your mood and energy levels are higher than most people’s. When you’re depressed, you oversleep and overeat. Your episodes of major depression are short (less than 3 months). You’ve lost contact with reality while depressed. You’ve had postpartum depression before. You’ve developed mania or hypomania while taking an antidepressant. Your antidepressant stopped working after several months. You’ve tried 3 or more antidepressants without success. (Staff, 2012) To my knowledge there are at least 2 ways of treatment for depression or bipolar and that is psychotherapy and medication. With myself being classified as both I have done both types of treatments. I have done both treatments with no involvement from the other and with both hand in hand; and I feel that doing both treatments together at the same time is the way to go. You have less episodes of both conditions. I would feel that Charlie is also clinically depressed as well is Alan possibly. What is a Co-dependency disorder? The term codependency has been around for almost four decades. Although it originally applied to spouses of alcoholics, first called co-alcoholics, researchers revealed that the characteristics of codependents were much more prevalent in the general population than had been imagined. In fact, they found that if you were raised in a dysfunctional family or had an ill parent, you’re likely codependent. Don’t feel bad if that includes you. Most American families are dysfunctional. You’re in the majority! Researchers also found that codependent symptoms got worse if left untreated. The good news is that they’re reversible. Following is a list of symptoms of codependents. You needn’t have them all to qualify as codependent (Lancer, 2012). Symptoms of codependency are low self-esteem, people pleasing, poor boundaries, reactivity, caretaking, control, dysfunctional communication, obsessions, dependency, denial, problems wi th intimacy, and painful emotions (Lancer,  2012). Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of their own importance and a deep need for admiration. Those with narcissistic personality disorder believe that they’re superior to others and have little regard for other people’s feelings. But behind this mask of ultra-confidence lies a fragile self-esteem, vulnerable to the slightest criticism. Narcissistic personality disorder is one of several types of personality disorders. Personality disorders are conditions in which people have traits that cause them to feel and behave in socially distressing ways, limiting their ability to function in relationships and in other areas of their life, such as work or school. Narcissistic personality disorder treatment is centered on psychotherapy. Narcissistic personality disorder is characterized by dramatic, emotional behavior, which is in the same category as antisocial and borderline personality disorders. Although some features of narcissistic personality disorder may seem like having confidence or strong self-esteem, it’s not the same. Narcissistic personality disorder crosses the border of healthy confidence and self-esteem into thinking so highly of yourself that you put yourself on a pedestal (Narcissistic Personality Disorder, 2011). After researching these disorders I see that Charlie does indeed suffer from PTSD and in my opinion is clinically depressed as well. I am doubting my earlier statement that Alan is co-dependent due to the research on the topic there. Still there is a part of me that wants to say he is co-dependent. His father and mother are seen in the beginning of the movie in separate rooms and seem to not get along with each other. Is this classified as a dysfunctional family? Alan can’t tell his wife that he wants space for himself and feels suffocated by their relationship, he uses Charlie’s freedom and condition to get him out of the house and away from his wife. To me he does have a Co-dependency disorder. My research on narcissistic personality disorder has really made me think that this is what is wrong with Donna. She has a high confidence when asking Alan if he wants a sexual favor from her. When she is denied and is told that she will not be seen by him or any other dentist there you can then see the fragile self-esteem  rising in her. Although I looks like Angela helped Donna out by talking to her in there sessions as well as helping Alan on the sidewalk and Charlie in their brief short sessions. In my opinion Alan did not just help Charlie with his problems and by being a friend but he helped Donna out by rejecting her then allowing her to come back which gave her the opportunity to admit she had a problem and to apologize. In retrospect I think Donna helped Charlie by supporting him and not trying to judging him. Yes I think it also has to do that she would remind him of his wife as well. Charlie helped her in the same fashion as just letting her be there and not asking for nothing. Charlie also helped Alan without even knowing he did. He got Alan out of his house and gave him some freedom, time away from his wife. In the end Alan admits to his wife he hasn’ t been open with her and apologizes and Charlie admits to his in-laws that he does remember his family but it’s hard for him. There is hope at the end of this movie for all. I enjoyed getting to watch this movie in class. I think it is a great insight on how people’s behaviors are they have suffered a great loss and when they have a psychological disorder. I would absolutely recommend this movie to a friend/ family member to not just watch due to it being a great movie but for a little knowledge when dealing with a loved one in these situations. References Townshend, P. (1973, October 23). Love, Reign o’er Me. Wikipedia. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love,_Reign_o’er_Me#Lyrics Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (n.d.). NIMH RSS. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml Understanding Posttraumatic Stress Disorder — Diagnosis and Treatment. (n.d.).WebMD. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/understanding-posttraumatic-stress-disorde r-treatment Bipolar Disorder vs. Depression: How to Tell the Difference. (n.d.). Casa Palmera. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from http://casapalmera.com/bipolar-disorder-vs-depression-how-to-tell-the-difference/  » Symptoms of Codependency – Psych Central. (n.d.). Psych Central.com. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/symptoms-of-codependency/00011992 Narcissistic personality disorder. (n.d.). Definition. Retrieved June 17, 2014, from http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/narcissistic-personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20025568

The history of special education

AbstractionThis essay will explicate how over the past 100 old ages particular instruction has become more diverse and invariably altering the manner handicapped pupils are being taught in public schools. How it views of the manner instructors are developing IEP programs for their pupils. I will explicate the different stages of particular instruction in its largest span of clip. It will discourse how the term† learned handicapped â€Å"was derived after it took the topographic point of phrase â€Å"brain injured† . And it will explicate the phases in which the IEP ‘s are developed and how a kid with particular demands should be taught to bring forth success. Additionally, this essay will discourse the tribunal instance of Brown v. Board of Education ‘s determination to demand that all particular demands kids be granted an chance to have a free and appropriate instruction. In past old ages people would lock their handicapped kids up in suites and insulate them from others because they were ashamed of them or because they were different and they did n't cognize how or what to make with them. This made affair worse, handicapped kids were left isolate and entirely, sometimes being abused physically and sexually, they were non considered human. This continued to go on until a few innovator, people who were advocators for kids with particular stood up for them and brought their instances to tribunal, but that ‘s something of the yesteryear now. The Torahs covering with particular instruction have changed for the better now. Particular instruction was one of the major country in instruction that was considered to be outraged and or considered to assist each other. Education for kids with acquisition jobs had emerged from no instruction for kids with particular demands to particular support for plans particularly for those persons with larning jobs. Mos tert, M. , & A ; Crokett, J. ( 2000, June ) The particular instruction for particular demands kids went through adult male Y phases before they were recognized by the tribunal systems. From 1800 ‘s to 1930 ‘s the first stage was called the foundation stage. This is when pupils who were identified and placed in particular instruction plans were treated and labeled as being brainsick, retarded, or encephalon dead. Some pupils were considered to hold some type of encephalon hurt because of the different research workers and surveies that have been performed on me. In the1930 ‘s to the 1960 ‘s. the passage stage began and this was considered to be the best clip of all time for these types of kids. They were taught were taught that they could n't truly assist these people. Researchers developed instruments for appraisals, analyzed specific types of larning jobs and besides presented a program for learning â€Å"brain injured† kids. At this phase the labeling of the kids with larning jobs was non every bit rough as â€Å"brain injured† . The pupils were called â€Å"children with minimum encephalon dysfunction† Then the turning stage for the instruction of pupils with larning jobs was subsequently called the Integration Phase which lasted from, 1960 ‘s to 1980 ‘s. Samuel Kirk, is responsible for the term â€Å"learning disabled† . He took those words and used it to replace the name of the first term â€Å"brain injury† . After this term took the topographic point of† encephalon injured† and minimum encephalon dysfunction† , it seemed like there was hope for kids with larning jobs. The U.S. legislative assembly began to acknowledge the rights of persons with disablements, which prevents schools from know aparting against particular needs pupils. The US legislative assembly Torahs demand that all of the rights be reserved for the rights of an person with particular demands to hold an appropriate instruction, even if the disablements are non covered under the particular needs jurisprudence. The instructors and pedagogues of particular needs pupils remain accountable for the appropriate instruction of these pupils, and they will be held accountable in the tribunal of jurisprudence even if it means losing their occup ation or locked up in gaol. Schools started set uping plans for the acquisition disabled. Support was provided for instructors to be trained in larning disablements. The most of import portion of the Integration Phase is the Education for All Handicapped Children Act ( PL 94-142 ) in 1975. This act was to guarantee that all pupils no affair what type of job they had would have a â€Å"free and appropriate public education.† ( IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities and Special Needs Act ) . The last stage is the Current Phase, from the 1980 ‘s to the present. One of the most of import stages in the plan is inclusion. Inclusion is when schools mainstream pupils into regular categories pupils with disablements in regular schoolrooms in their vicinity schools, with collaborative attempts and support services as needed for each single pupil. Another facet of the Current Phase is when the EMA of 1975 was written as IDEA in 1990. IDEA, persons with Disabilities Education Act, made it difficult to suspend or throw out pupil s with larning disablements because of their behaviour. IDEA besides required that each acquisition disabled kid have an IEP, Individual Education Plan. An IEP is a papers that must include current public presentation of the pupil, the one-year ends the pupils need to accomplish, particular instruction and related services. This Plan besides included the kid demands, engagement, if any, with nondisabled kids, alterations needed to take province trial, day of the months and topographic points of when and where particular services will be provided and the mensurating advancement of the kid, and any particular adjustments that the kid may necessitate. Before a pupil can hold an IEP, they foremost must be labeled as a pupil with a learning disablement. The parents, particular instruction instructors, the school counsel counsellor, regular instructor, the school ‘s psychologist, and the rule are ever notified and included in the programs for this meeting. There are phases to calculate out whether or non a kid has a learning disablement and need particular services. The first phase is detecting if a pupil is holding trouble in one or more capable countries. The following measure is to measure the kid ‘s suspected disablement country, but before this can take topographic point the school must have permission from the parents to measure the kid. The eligibility is decided by a group of qualified professionals along with the parent to find if the kid has a disablement defined in IDEA. If the kid is found eligible, the IEP squad will run into to discourse and compose and IEP for the handicapped kid within 30 yearss of the pupil being identified as handicapped. The IEP squad meeting is held and the IEP is written in collaborative attempts from all members of the IEP squad. ( U.S. Department of Education, 20, Feb, 2001 ) Services are so provided for the pupil. At the terminal of the twelvemonth, advancement is measured and the IEP is r eviewed. After this procedure takes topographic point, every three old ages the pupil is reevaluated. By jurisprudence certain persons must be involved in the authorship of a kid ‘s Individual Education Program. Parents must be involved because they know their kid and what their kid may necessitate. Regular instruction instructors, if the pupil will be mainstreamed into regular schoolrooms some clip during the twenty-four hours, are a demand on the squad, because they know the general course of study of the pupil. They besides have cognition of how to manage pupils with behavior jobs. The following member of the IEP squad should be a particular instruction instructor. This individual will be able to lend their cognition in how to modify general course of study and proving to assist the particular demands kid learn and demo what they have learned. The particular instruction instructor besides has the duty to learn the pupil and transport out the IEP procedure. The persons invol ved in the IEP squad are single who can construe ratings result ‘s, represent the school system, persons with cognition of particular expertness about the kid ‘s, representatives from transitional service bureaus and the pupil who the IEP is being written for. In decision, particular instruction has gone through many stages and phases of the manner a kid should be taught in the past decennary. The jurisprudence has made a way for those with larning jobs and now there is non halting them. Children with larning disablements eventually have a opportunity to stand out in school and the Torahs have made it possible for them to take advantage of the chances for them to hold normal life.

Tastee Snax Cookies

Managerial Decision Making Led by Professor: Ocampo y Vilas Business Report Business Report MacPherson Refrigeration Tastee Snax Cookie Company By Stefanie By Stefanie Adriaenssens, Astrid de P Astrid de Paep, Soundharya Jayaraman Jayaraman, Evie Tanghe & Yudistira Sa Yudistira Sanggramawi jaya 10th Octob 17th October 2012 Antwerp M Antwerp Management School 1 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. .. 3 1PROBLEM STATEMENT †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚ ¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 4 2 ASSUMPTIONS & APPROXIMATIONS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 4 3 SOLUTION APPROACH †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 5 4 RESULTS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 5 WHAT-IF ANALYSIS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 6 OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 7 APPENDIX †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 8 7. 1 TABLE 1: ACTIVITIES WITH CRASHED TIME AND ADDITIONAL COSTS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7. 2 TABLE 2: CPM DEADLINE INPUT 46,47 & 48 WEEKS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 9 7. 3 TABLE 3: CPM DEADLINE OUTPUT 48 WEEKS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 10 7. 4 TABLE 4: CPM DEADLINE OUTPUT 47 WEEKS†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 11 7. 5 TABLE 5: CPM DEADLINE INPUT 46 WEEKS †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢ € ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 12 7. 6TABLE 6: RECOMMENDATIONS REGARDING CRASH TIME †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 13 7. 7 FIGURE 1: NETWORK OF ACTIVITIES †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 2 Introduction Tastee Snax Cookie Company is a producer of baked-goods snacks in the southeastern United States. Due to negative press reports about fat consumption and introduction of heavy advertisements of no-fat baked goods by other manufacturers, Tastee Snax Cookie Company lost a big share of the ma rket the past year.And thus, the company had to develop and manufacture no-fat cookies soon in order to secure its share in the no-fat baked goods market. The vice president of the company was made to understand by an expert that Critical Path Methodology (CPM), a project-planning scheduling technique, could be used to introduce new products in the market. He put a dynamic project manager in charge to overlook the coordination efforts of different departments in the organization to ensure that the respective assigned tasks were completed on time. In this case study, we start by addressing the problem statement of introducing a new no-fat cookie to the market.Secondly the objective is identified. Thirdly we discuss the assumptions and approximations that need to be considered before determining the solution approach. Keeping in mind the objective of the case, we then analyzed the results. Finally we present our recommendations to Tastee Snax Cookie Company. 3 1. Problem Statement The problem we address in this report is to provide an overall project plan for Tastee Snax Cookie Company to help launch their new product soon enough to gain a share in the no-fat baked goods market. This means certain ecisions will have to be made regarding the time taken to finish all activitivities while keeping the objective in mind. The objective is to determine the most cost effective method to decrease the project’s deadline. The project plan discussed below has been generated through the use of a projectplanning scheduling technique, Critical Path Methodology, to secure the scientific approach. The program schedule provides a quantitative basis to make managerial decisions to shorten the implementation time of the overall project. 2. Assumptions and ApproximationsThe mathematical model created to schedule all the projects is based upon a number of simplifying assumptions and approximations. These need to be taken into account in order to make an independent judgment ab out the model’s usefulness. The assumptions and approximations of this model are: ? The product introduction program has been broken down into three groups of activities: Research & Development, Marketing & Advertising, and Promotion; ? The description of each activity and the indicated time required for its completion in weeks was taken at face value from the case; The tasks to be performed by each department and the estimated durations and deadlines were also considered as given; ? The preceding activities for each activity are considered as such; ? The tasks that could potentially be â€Å"crashed† by increasing resources were decisions based on the information available in the case. 4 3. Solution Approach The problem has been modeled into Critical Path Methodology (CPM). The CPM approach is based on a network representation that reflects activity precedence relations.As shown in Figure 1, the nodes designate activities and their time duration, and the arcs define t he precedence relations between the activities. The Earliest Start (ES) and Earliest Finish time (EF) for each activity is calculated as shown below. ES = Maximum EF of all its immediate predecessors EF = ES + (Activity completion time) ES and EF are represented on the CPM network by a pair of numbers, in black, above the node representing the activity. Subsequently, the Latest start time (LS) and Latest finish time (LF) was determined for each activity which allows the project to be completed by its minimal completion date.LS and LF was calculated as shown below. LS and LF are represented as a pair of numbers, in red, in CPM network. LF = Minimum LS of all immediate successor activities LS = LF – (Activity Completion Time) Based on the information available in the case on slack time in weeks for each activity, the critical path of the model was deduced. A critical path has activities with zero slack and is the longest path in the network. A delay in one of the activities of the critical path results in a delay of the overall project. As can be seen in figure 1, the earliest and latest times are the same in the activities of the critical path. 4. ResultsBased on the CPM network drawn we have deduced the following for each activity: Earliest Start (ES), Earliest Finish Time (EF), Latest Start time (LS) and Latest Finish time (LF) (see Figure 1). The maximum of EF times, 52 weeks, is the estimated completion of the entire project. By taking into consideration the slack times in weeks provided in the case, we then arrived at the critical path. The critical path contained the critical activities with zero slack time. Critical Path: B1-A2-B5-B6-A4-A5-B9-B11-A6-A7-A8 5 5. What-if Analyses The following paragraph discusses additional economical and operational information as provided in the case.The earlier a product would enter the market the quicker it would be able to gain market share. This motivated the Project Manager to develop a list of tasks that coul d be potentially â€Å"crashed† by increasing resources allocated to them (see Table 1). In Table 1, you will find this list of activities that could be performed faster by increasing the cost of operations. According to the crashing analysis, the cheapest way to shorten the project duration by four weeks is to crash three activities. As seen in Table 3 activity A4 should be crashed three weeks and activities B2 and B5 one week.The additional cost to reduce the project duration from 52 weeks to 48 weeks is $7,200. The cheapest way to shorten the project duration by five weeks is to crash four activities. As seen in Table 4 activity A4 should be crashed three weeks and activities A7, B2 and B5 one week. The reduction of the project duration by five weeks costs an additional $ 10,700. The CPM analysis shows that the cheapest way to shorten the project duration by six weeks is to crash four activities. As seen in Table 5, activity A4 should be crashed by three weeks, activity A7 by two weeks and activities B2 and B5 by 1 week.To reduce the project duration by six weeks, the additional cost adds up to $ 14,200. 6 6. Overall Recommendations The objective of the model was to find a solution to shorten the implementation. That is, to determine the most cost effective way to decrease the project’s timeline, which would help Tastee Snax Cookie Company to launch their new product and thereby capturing a market share in the no fat baked foods market. Based on our results, we would state that the maximum number of weeks by which the project can be shortened is 6 weeks.To calculate this, the activities A4, A7, B2 and B5 are crashed resulting the Earliest Finish time (EF) of 46 weeks for the project (See Table 6). Activities A4, A7 and B5 are crashed to their maximum crashed time. The additional cost for crashing the project to 46 weeks can be determined with solver, as already explained in the report, which is $14,200. Hence we recommend that the optimal solu tion would be to reduce the project duration by 6 weeks at an additional cost of $14,200. 7 7. Appendix 7. 1 Table 1: activities with crashed time and additional cost Activity Develop special Crashed Time Additional Cost Weeks) A3 Original Time (Weeks) ($) 5 3 2200 6 3 3900 6 4 7000 10 8 3200 4 3 1700 4 3 3000 equipment list A4 Prepare manufacturing specifications A7 Receive and install equipment B2 Develop and test packaging and product names B5 Perform taste test B6 Review results and choose products 8 7. 2 Table 2: CPM Deadline Input 46, 47 & 48 weeks 46/47 48 PROJECT DEADLINE = IMMEDIATE PREDECESSORS ACTIVITY A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 NODE NORMAL TIME A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y 2 5 5 6 4 1 6 6 3 10 10 3 4 4 7 4 8 4 5 8 5 4 1 5 6 NORMAL COST CRASHTIME 2 5 3 3 4 1 4 6 3 8 10 3 3 3 7 4 8 4 5 8 5 4 1 5 6 CRASH COST 2200 3900 7000 3200 1700 3000 NODE PREDECESS OR B B C D D E F F G H J K L M M N P P P Q Q Q R S T T U V A I B C N D D S F G I J I B L M O X Y E K P Q Q R S I U W X X Y Y U J W J V 9 7. 3 Table 3: CPM Deadline Output 48 weeks CRASHING ANALYSIS 7200 TOTAL PROJECT COST 48 COMPLETION TIME ACTIVITY A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 PROJECT NORMAL COST 0 PROJECT CRASH COST 21000 NODE Completion Time Start Time Finish Time Amount Crashed Cost of Crashing Total Cost A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V WX Y 2 5 5 3 4 1 6 6 3 9 10 3 3 4 7 4 8 4 5 8 5 4 1 5 6 1 3 10 15 18 35 36 42 0 3 12 5 8 11 11 18 22 31 30 35 3 8 12 13 12 3 8 15 18 22 36 42 48 3 12 22 8 11 15 18 22 30 35 35 43 8 12 13 18 18 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3900 0 0 0 0 0 1600 0 0 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3900 0 0 0 0 0 1600 0 0 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 7. 4 Table 4: CPM Deadline Output 47 weeks CRASHING ANALYSIS 10700 TOTAL PROJECT COST 47 COMPLETION TIME ACTIVITY A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 PROJECT NORMAL COST 0 PROJECT CRASH COST 21000 NODE CompletionTime Start Time Finish Time Amount Crashed Cost of Crashing Total Cost A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y 2 5 5 3 4 1 5 6 3 9 10 3 3 4 7 4 8 4 5 8 5 4 1 5 6 1 3 10 15 18 35 36 41 0 3 12 5 8 11 11 18 22 31 30 35 3 8 12 13 12 3 8 15 18 22 36 41 47 3 12 22 8 11 15 18 22 30 35 35 43 8 12 13 18 18 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3900 0 0 3500 0 0 1600 0 0 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3900 0 0 3500 0 0 1600 0 0 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 7. 5 Table 5: CPM Deadline Output 46 weeks CRASHING ANALYSIS 14200 TOTAL PROJECT COST COMPLETION TIME ACTIVITY A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6A7 A8 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 B9 B10 B11 B12 C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y 21000 Start Time Finish Time Amount Crashed Cost of Crashing Total Cost 1 3 10 15 18 35 36 40 0 3 12 5 8 11 11 18 22 31 30 35 3 8 12 13 12 3 8 15 18 22 36 40 46 3 12 22 8 11 15 18 22 30 35 35 43 8 12 13 18 18 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3900 0 0 7000 0 0 1600 0 0 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3900 0 0 7000 0 0 1600 0 0 1700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 46 NODE Completion Time 2 5 5 3 4 1 4 6 3 9 10 3 3 4 7 4 8 4 5 8 5 4 1 5 6 0 PROJECT NORMAL COST PROJECT CRASH COST 12 7. Table 6: Recommendations regarding crash time Activity Required Time Crashed Time ES EF A1 2 – 0 2 A2 5 – 3 8 A3 5 3 8 11 A4 6 3 15 18 A5 4 – 18 22 A6 1 – 35 36 A7 6 4 36 40 A8 6 – 40 46 B1 3 – 0 3 B2 10 8 3 11 B3 10 – 11 21 B4 3 – 3 6 B5 4 3 8 11 B6 4 3 11 15 B7 7 – 0 7 B8 4 – 17 21 B9 8 – 22 30 B10 4 – 30 34 B11 5 – 30 35 B12 8 – 35 43 C1 5 – 3 8 C2 4 – 8 12 C3 1 – 8 9 C4 5 – 11 16 C5 6 – 11 17 13 7. 7 Figure 1: The network of activities It visualises the predecessor relationships, the early start and finish times (black) and the latest start and finish time (red). Nodes and bars in green visualize the critical path.

Starbucks in Luxembourg

Starbucks in Luxembourg Starbucks is a large American coffee company with a global market coverage. The intention of this firm to enter into Luxembourg market is timely, given its plans to expand its operations. However, Schneider (2011, p. 71) says that before getting into a new country, it is important to conduct a research in order to understand the macro environmental factors that could impact on its operations in this country.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Starbucks in Luxembourg specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is important to understand all the macro factors that may affect its normal operations either positively or negatively. In order to understand the macro environmental factors of this new market better, PEST analysis would be an appropriate tool for the management to know what to expect once in this country. Political environment Luxembourg is a democratic nation that gained full independence in 1890. This country has expe rienced a very stable political environment for a very long time. Successive governments have been very keen to ensure that the country remains very peaceful. This will offer Starbucks a good environment for trading. It will boost its operations if it enters this market (Simerson 2011, p 38). The political class in this country is known to avoid any direct interference with business operations. This means that Starbucks operations will not be affected by politics. Economic environment The economic environment in Luxembourg is very attractive for this firm. The report by Simerson (2011, p 38) shows that Luxembourg has the highest living standards in the world. This means that people of this country has a higher purchasing power. If Starbucks makes an entry into this market, it will be assured of a market for its products. This firm can also consider charging premium prices for its products in this market because of this high purchasing power. When in this market, Starbucks should foc us on satisfying the need of high-end consumers. This is because they make the majority of the people in this country. Social environment The social environment of Luxembourg constitutes the rich Europeans. It is important to note that the social environment of a country is always defined by the cultural practices of people within that environment. This means that the social environment that this firm will experience in Luxembourg will be based on the practices of the citizens of this country.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The total population of this country is slightly over half a million people, most of whom are Christians (Griffin 2010, p. 37). Most of the citizens of this country are relatively rich, a fact that makes the market very attractive. They also like spending a lot. The government has enacted laws that define the relationship between business soci ety and consumers. Starbucks must know these regulations to operate efficiently in this country. Technological environment According to Booker (2006, p. 78), technology plays an important role in a business set-up. Starbucks must understand that in order to be successful, it must embrace the emerging technologies. The emerging technologies have made business environment very dynamic in this country, and in order to manage the unpredictable nature of this business environment, it is important to be flexible. Most firms in Luxembourg are currently using electronic marketing to reach out to the market. This means that Starbucks must have clear plan on how it will embrace electronic marketing if it expects to be successful in this country. Technology is very advanced in this country and therefore, Starbucks cannot ignore it. List of References Booker, J 2006, Financial-planning fundamentals, CCH Canadian Limited, Toronto. Boutellier, R 2008, Managing Global Innovation: Uncovering the Se crets of Future Competitiveness, Springer, Berlin. Griffin, D 2010, Business with a purpose: Starting, building, managing and protecting your new business, Outskirts Press, Denver. Henry, A 2008, Understanding strategic management, Oxford University Press, Oxford.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Starbucks in Luxembourg specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Schneider, G 2011, Electronic commerce, Cengage, Learning Boston. Simerson, B 2011, Strategic planning: A practical guide to strategy formulation and execution, Praeger, Santa Barbara.

The Monkeys Paw Discussion Questions

The Monkeys Paw Discussion Questions The Monkeys Paw, written by W.W. Jacobs in 1902, is a famous supernatural tale of choice and tragic consequences thats been adapted and imitated for both stage and screen. The story revolves around the White family- mother, father, and their son, Herbert- who receive a fateful visit from a friend, Sergeant-Major Morris. Morris, late of India, shows the Whites a monkeys paw fetish hes acquired as a souvenir of his travels. He tells the Whites that the paw is reputed to grant three wishes to any person who possesses it, but also cautions that the talisman is cursed and that those who accept the wishes it grants do so at great cost. When Morris tries to throw the monkeys paw into the fireplace, Mr. White quickly retrieves it, despite his guests earnest protests that the thing is not to be trifled with: It had a spell put on it by an old fakir, said the sergeant-major, a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled peoples lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow.   Ignoring Morris warnings, Mr. White decides to keep the paw, and at Herberts suggestion, he wishes for  Ã‚ £200 to pay off the mortgage. As he makes the wish, White claims to feel the monkeys paw twisting in his grip, however, no money appears. Herbert teases his father for believing the paw might have magic properties. I dont see the money and I bet I never shall, he says, little knowing just how true his statement will turn out to be. A day later, Herbert is killed in an accident at work, mangled to death in the twisting grasp of a piece of machinery. The company disavows liability but does offer the Whites a payment of  £200 for their loss. More than a week after the funeral, a distraught Mrs. White begs her husband to wish their son back to life, to which he eventually agrees. Its only when the couple hears a knock at the door that they realize they dont know if Herbert, who has been dead and buried 10 for days, is going to return to them as he was prior to his accident- or in the form of a mangled, decomposing ghoul. In desperation, Mr. White uses his final wish...and when Mrs. White finally opens the door, theres no one there. Questions for Study and Discussion This is a very short story, and Jacobs has a lot to do in very little time to achieve his goals. How does he reveal which characters are trustworthy and reliable, and which ones may not be?  Why do you think Jacobs chose a monkeys paw as the talisman? Is there symbolism attached to a monkey that isnt associated with another animal?  Is the central theme of the story simply, Be careful what you wish for, or are there broader implications?This story has been compared to the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Is there a work of Poes this story closely relates to? What other works of fiction does The Monkeys Paw evoke?How does Jacobs use foreshadowing in this story? Was it effective in building a sense of dread, or did you find it melodramatic and predictable?Are the characters consistent in their actions? Are they fully developed?  How essential is setting to the story? Could the story have taken place anywhere else?How would this story have been different if it were set in the present day ?The Monkeys Paw is considered a work of supernatural fiction. Do you agree with the classification? Why or why not? What do you think Herbert would have looked like if Mrs. White had opened the door before Mr. White used the final wish? Would it have been an undead Herbert standing on the threshold?Does the story end the way you expected? Do you think the reader is supposed to believe that everything that took place was just a series of coincidences, or that there really were metaphysical forces involved?

An Astrologers Day, Dusk and The Umbrella Man Essays

An Astrologers Day, Dusk and The Umbrella Man Essays An Astrologers Day, Dusk and The Umbrella Man Essay An Astrologers Day, Dusk and The Umbrella Man Essay An Astrologers Day by R.K Narayan Dusk by H.H Munro (Saki) The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl In many ways, An Astrologers Day, is a thriller and is filled with an uncanny suspense which is revealed only at the end. And yet, like all his other stories, here R.K Narayan deals with the life of an ordinary Indian man whose life, when touched by Fate, had altered dramatically. The suspense which is cleverly maintained till the haunting end ensures that the reader will keep turning the pages, and when the end does arrive there is not just a sense of relief alone but also a sense of simple astonishment that is breathtaking. Indeed, this is a fine suspense story. The story of Dusk begins on a very pessimistic note as the author, H.H Munro describes all the defeated people of the world who come out of their homes in the dusk time so that they do not have to meet successful people. However, the rest of the story has little to do with this pessimism and we are drawn into the brilliant plan of a confidence trickster who was out to make money on some gullible victim. The end of the story is bound to make the reader laugh and wonder at the wit and creativity of a master storyteller. The Umbrella Man by Roald Dahl, is about a confidence trickster, but unlike the other stories this is told from a childs perspective which adds to the humor and charm of this narration. A mother and her little daughter are tricked into buying an expensive umbrella for a throwaway price; but they soon realize that not only the seller is a genuine seller but has a strange reason for selling the umbrella, and that they have been shortchanged in spite of buying the umbrella dirt cheap. There is an element of suspense in all three stories which keeps the readers on pins and needles till the very end. R.K Narayan kicks off the story by subtly narrating the life of the lower class Indian i.e the astrologer and the surroundings in which he works. The narrator does not re

Good Comedy is tragedy narrowly averted Essays

Good Comedy is tragedy narrowly averted Essays Good Comedy is tragedy narrowly averted Essay Good Comedy is tragedy narrowly averted Essay the deception towards Beatrice is performed by Hero and Ursula. This is significant as Hero is first portrayed as quiet and innocent and then is shown to insult Beatrice behind her back. This could be seen in two different ways, the reader could interpret this to be as a means for Beatrice own good so that she will change who she s for Benedict, or this could be a subtle way of Hero telling Beatrice what she really thinks of her in a clever way that doesnt look as though she is insulting her. The method of deception for the women is a lot harsher than that of the men, they insult Beatrice and try to make he feel bad about herself by calling her self-endeared an agate very vilely cut and saying that she cannot love this appears to hurt Beatrice and she says that she will change who she is for Benedict. However, if the play was a tragedy then this could have easily been taken the wrong way and hurting Benedict and Beatrice relationship further y making Beatrice believe the things that are said and possibly becoming bitterer. By describing Beatrice as an agate very vilely cut it suggests that she is beautiful on the inside but her harsh persona makes her seem like a shrew. An agate is a type of semi- precious stone that is blue in color, the connotations of the color blue is that of sadness, portraying the idea that Beatrice appears sad with her life and that is why she has to change so that she can be happy with Benedict.

Fin 370 Week 2 Chapter Problems Essay Example

Fin 370 Week 2 Chapter Problems Essay Example Fin 370 Week 2 Chapter Problems Essay Fin 370 Week 2 Chapter Problems Essay What are financial markets? What function do they perform? How would an economy be worse off without them? Financial markets report price for each good; they are institutions and procedures that facilitate transactions in all types of financial claims (securities). They exist in order to allocate the supply of savings from those economic units with a surplus to those with a deficit. Each financial market has a different function that they perform. For example, the stock markets primary function is to provide a platform for investors to buy shares of ownership of a public corporation which are sold to investors to allow the companies to raise a lot of cash at once. The investors profit when the companies increase their earnings which keeps the United States economy growing. With mutual funds give you the ability to buy a lot of stocks at once. In a way this makes them an easier tool to invest in than individual stocks. By reducing stock market volatility, they have also had a calming effect on the United States economy. In commodities, such as oil, the price is determined in the commodities futures market. The futures market are a way to pay for something today that is delivered tomorrow, which helps to remove some of the volatility in the United States economy. However, futures also increase the trader’s leverage by allowing him to borrow the money to purchase the commodity. Hedge funds are supposed have higher returns for high-end investors. Since edge funds invest heavily in futures, some argue that they have decreased the volatility of the stock market and the United States economy. Bonds also provide some of the liquidity that helps keep the United States economy lubricated. However, when stock prices go up the bond prices go down. The economy would suffer without a developed financial market system because the wealth of the economy would be less without them. Rate of capital formation would not be as high, followed by the slowed rate of stock contribution to (1) dwellings, (2) productive plant and equipment, (3) inventory, and (4) consumer durables. : Normal business activities would be funded slowly or not at all. Business firms in the aggregate usually spend more during a specific period than they earn. Households in the aggregate spend less on current consumption than they earn. As a result, some mechanism is needed to facilitate the transfer of savings from those economic units with a surplus to those with a deficit. That is precisely the function of financial markets. Financial markets exist in order to allocate the supply of savings in the economy to the demanders of those savings. The central characteristic of a financial market is that it acts as the vehicle through which the forces of demand and supply for a specific type of financial claim are brought together. If, specifically, the United States did not have a financial market then there would not be a way for the economy to move money around to facilitate progress and profit. Question 14-3 Distinguish between the money and capital markets. Money Markets facilitates transactions using short-term financial instruments; whereas, Capital Markets facilitates transactions using long-term financial instruments. A money market is a market for short term debt securities such as banker’s acceptances, commercial paper, repos, negotiable certificates of deposit, and Treasury Bills with a maturity of one year or less and often 30 days or less. Money market securities are generally very safe investment which returns a relatively low interest rate that is most appropriate for temporary cash storage or short-term time horizons. A capital market is where debt or equity securities are traded. Question 14-4 What major benefits do corporations and investors enjoy because of the existence of organized security exchanges? a) continuous market – price volatility reduced b) establishing publicizing fair security prices – objective auction-type determination of price c) helping business raise new capital – new firms have a place to publicize security offerings whose price will be subjected to a competitive determinant rather than having to assign prices Question 15-12 A You are a hard-working analyst in the office of financial operations for a manufacturing firm that produces a single product. You have developed the following cost structure information for this company. All of it pertains to an output level of 10 million units. Using this information, find the break-even point in units of output for the firm. |Return on operating assets |= 25% | |Operating asset turnover |= 5 times | |Operating assets |= $20 million | |Degree of operating leverage |= 4 times | 1) Compute the operating profit margin: Margin) x (Turnover) = Return on operating assets (M) x (5) = 0. 25 M = . 05 2) Compute the sales level associated with the given output level: [pic] [pic] = $100,000,000 3) Compute EBIT: (. 05) ($100,000,000) = $5,000,000 4) Compute revenue before fixed costs. Since the degree of operating leverage is 4 times, revenue before fixed costs (RBF) is 4 times EBIT as follows: RBF = (4) ($5,000,000) = $20,000,000 5) Compute total variable costs: (Sales) (Total variable costs) = $20,000,000 100,000,000 (Total variable costs) = $20,000,000 Total variable costs = $80,000,000 6) Comput e total fixed costs: RBF Fixed costs = $5,000,000 $20,000,000 fixed costs = $5,000,000 Fixed costs = $15,000,000 7) Find the selling price per unit, and the variable cost per unit: [pic] = $10 [pic] = $8 8) Compute the breakeven point: [pic] = 7,500,000 Units[pic] Question 15-13 A Allison Radios manufactures a complete line of radio and communication equipment for law enforcement agencies. The average selling price of its finished product is $180 per unit. The variable cost for these same units is $126. Allison Radios incurs fixed costs of $540,000 per year. a. What is the break-even point in units for the company? [pic] [pic] = 10,000 units b. What is the dollar sales volume the firm must achieve in order to reach the break-even point? = 10,000 ? $180 = $1,800,000 c. What would be the firms profit or loss at the following units of production sold: 12,000 units? 15,000 units? 20,000 units? Allison Radios |Â   | |Unit |Price |Total |Fixed |Unit |Total |Total |Total Profit (Loss) | |Sales | |Sales |Costs |Variable Cost |Variable Costs |Costs | | |12000 |$180 |$2,160,000 |$540,000 |$126 |$1,512,000 |$2,052,000 |$108,000 | |15000 |$180 |$2,700,000 |$540,000 |$126 |$1,890,000 |$2,430,000 |$270,000 | |20000 |$180 |$3,600,000 |$540,000 |$126 |$2,520,000 |$3,060,000 |$540,000 | d. Find the degree of operating leverage for the production and sales levels given in part c. |Unit s |Contribution Margin |EBIT |DOL | |12000 |$648,000 |$108,000 |6 | |15000 |$810,000 |$270,000 |3 | |20000 |$1,080,000 |$540,000 |2 |