Wednesday, October 30, 2019

The Creation of a New Emotional Language in Art by Bernini with His Literature review

The Creation of a New Emotional Language in Art by Bernini with His Apollo and Daphne - Literature review Example In fact, the statues have improved with the revival of Villa Borghese, which harbors Apollo, and Daphne. The statues get subjected to constant cleaning as well as scientific analysis as well as the commemoration of Bernini’s birth sparkled a lot of interest as seen with the many photographs, essays and bibliographies. In spite of the documentary data connecting to the statue group's formation, the representation that comes out of its sense and approach is anything but apparent (Bolland, 2000, 309). According to most arguments, the Apollo and Daphne are said to commemorate the intelligence based delights of fine art or may be to warn against the evil of passionate poetry brought about by the bitterness of the beauty of the world (Bolland, 2000, 309). The artwork can be seen as erotic the people assume that it might have made for a pleasure seeking client or sponsor. The artwork can also be considered a symbol or metaphor for sensual desire or desires specifically sculptured for a principal person in the society. The artwork can either be viewed as Marinist and Petrarchan when using imagery or anti-Marinist and anti Petrarchan as per its message (Bolland, 2000, 309). ... The essay also has its focus on the contradictory relationships that come under the eroticism that is created, as well as anti sensuality of craving and ploy (Bolland, 2009). Poetry, sculpture, and artwork are regarded as sister arts in that they have common effects on the senses of a person as they rouse the desires and pleasure as well as provide an avenue for obtaining understanding. Vision, although seen as divine, can easily be deceived or mislead and therefore, seen as the most efficacious way to provoke someone to commit a practice any sexual offence. The transformation of Bernini can be seen to emerge from the poet-god who happens to be Apollo and provides him with the model that he utilizes to build his mythical and stylish uniqueness by reproducing the poetics that come from within him. The sculptures were custom-made for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, and were used to beautify his well-lavished villa exterior to Porta Pinciana (Bolland, 2009). Soon after delivery of the colle ction of artworks, it marked the end to production of Bernini’s artwork in large scale for the cardinal as well as an end to production of impressive work that can still be credited today. It also suggested a change or transformation to the existence of both parties that are the cardinal and Bernini (Bolland, 2007). The change in the lives was noted in the life of the cardinal whose status declined soon after the death of Pope Paul V and the taking of the office by Pope Gregory XV. Borghese soon recovered from the changes that took place, and during this period, his influence had quite deteriorated compared to the period that Pope Paul V was in power. The sculpture of Apollo and

Monday, October 28, 2019

Mary Shelley Essay Example for Free

Mary Shelley Essay I dont think the reader feels sorry for Victor because if he hadnt have rejected the monster in the first place he wouldnt have been in that situation. In the era the book was written, people were beginning to question Gods existence. Should God be the only creator of life? Should the power of science be able to create people? We found out the answer to this in Frankenstein. Victor tried to create the monster using scientific knowledge and succeeded. However, the end result of the monster was horrific. He was lonely, had no friends, and resorted to killing people. This proves science can not create life and make them fit into the human race. Only God can achieve this and thats the way it should stay. I think the reader sympathizes for the monster because the monster didnt choose to live, Victor did it for him and he only needed somebody to love. I collected the instruments of life around me that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. This quote shows he was searching for something to bring the monster to life, and that it was his decision to do this. At different stages in the story, Victor and the monster are both altruistic and egotistic. To start with, Victor is very altruistic. Whilst developing the monster he was very focused and in some way addicted to his creation. He became increasingly tired and unhealthy as he wasnt looking after himself properly. Sometimes I grew alarmed at the wreck I perceived. This shows he didnt even realise how he was treating himself, and he was alarmed when he realised. This proves he started off to be very altruistic, thinking of others before himself. At the same time he could be egotistic. He didnt think of the monsters feelings, and just focused on achieving his goal, not thinking of the consequences there were to come. Victor claims he was doing it to be useful to my fellow beings. His mother actually sparked the idea and fame and fortune drove him. So he ended up doing it for himself. The monster starts off to be altruistic as he befriends the family and helps them and generally doesnt focus on just himself. He makes adult suggestions unlike Victor who has stubborn childish responses. Victor could have offered friendship and love, but does the complete opposite making him extremely egotistic. However as the story continues it all changes dramatically and Victor and the monster almost swap places. Eager to love and to be loved, the creature is not born evil. Society makes the monster become egotistical. As society keeps on rejecting him, he becomes more and more egotistic and doesnt really care what anyone else thinks anymore. The monster wanted what Frankenstein and so many other humans had and took for granted a place to belong. Loneliness and isolation motivated the monster to turn to destruction. However, this was through no fault of his own. Victor was the first one to reject him therefore, its mainly his fault. When this starts to happen, I think the reader feels sorry for the monster, as he had no other choice but to do this, and become egotistic. On the other hand, Victor becomes more altruistic and begins to think of others. When the monster starts to kill people close to him, I think he realises he needs to do something. Victor does decide to make the creature a bride which was very altruistic, but turns against the idea. Elizabeth, Victor Frankensteins foster sister, plays a crucial part of Frankenstein. Since Victors mother died, Elizabeth played the mother role and was adored. Everyone loved Elizabeth. At many points in the story Victor is saved by the love of Elizabeth. On Frankensteins wedding day, his creature, the monster kills Elizabeth. Her beauty and innocence are greatly emphasized which takes away a lot of sympathy for the monster. When Frankensteins father knows that she was killed, he dies a few days later. What then became of me? I know not; I lost sensation, and chains and darkness were the only objects that pressed upon me. This shows Victor doesnt want to live anymore and doesnt take any notice of the world around him. He didnt have anything to live for, except to get revenge on the monster hed created. How I have lived I hardly know; many times have I stretched my failing limbs upon the sandy plain and prayed for death. But revenge kept me alive. So Victor decides to find the monster and searches for him. He tracks the monster ever northwards into the ice. He then freezes to death and dies, and when the monster finds this out he kills himself. At this point you sympathize for mainly Victor as he never got his revenge but also the monster, as he had such a horrific, lonely life. To conclude there are many different times in which the reader feels antipathy and mainly sympathy for the monster in Frankenstein, which shows he wasnt treated well at all.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

All Quiet On The Western Front :: essays research papers

Decline of Morality   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The novel All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque shows that war destroys more than just the physical level; the decline of morality has taken place through various circumstances in the novel such as: then incident where Paul Baumer is forced to kill a soldier in a shell hole, when Paul lies to his mother and the mother of his dead friend Kemmerich and when Paul and Kat must beat a recruit unconscious to stop him from leaving the trench; these incidents can be compared to events in the 1990’s such as: rise in the abortion rate, Columbine High School shootings, and the incident between President Clinton and Monica Lewinski.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In Chapter 7 Paul is granted a leave from his duties for about a month and in this time he plans on going home and visiting his family. When he arrives his mother asks him questions about how he is and about the war. More specifically she asks, â€Å"Was it very bad out there, Paul?† He thinks to himself how that is a bad question and that nobody realizes how bad the soldiers actually have so he is forced to lie. He says â€Å"No, Mother, not so very. There are always a lot of us together so it isn’t so bad.† Here the author proves that the war forces some to lie to their parents whom they have always been honest with and this demonstrates the decline of family life that the war causes. Later in the chapter he goes to visit the mother of his dead friend, Kemmerich. While there he tells her that he died instantly and she doesn’t believe him, â€Å"You lie. I know better. I have felt his anguish-tell the truth, I want to know it, I must know it.†(159) He again lies to her, â€Å"No, I was beside him. He died at once† (159). But yet she tells him, â€Å"I know you want to comfort me, but don’t you see, you torment me far more than if you told me the truth? I cannot bear the uncertainty† (159). He sticks to his story telling her, â€Å"He died immediately. He felt absolutely nothing at all. His face was quite calm† (160). Again this incident shows that war has a major affect on family life, if he is able to lie to his mother about the war easily, that makes it easier for him to lie to Mrs. Kemmerich about her son. These incidents can be most closely related to the confrontation involving the President

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Communication Issues in the Workplace

Running head: THE IMPORTANCE OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION IN THE The Importance of Effective Communication in the Workplace Christina Springer University of Phoenix The Importance of Effective Communication in the Workplace Introduction Anyone in a work environment having an understanding of what good effective Intercultural communication in the workplace entails will enhance every person’s ability to experience a successful and professional work experience. People can be exposed to misunderstandings in the workplace due to conflict of interests. These conflicts of interests can be rooted from a variety of cultural differences among distinctive ethnic backgrounds other than our own, and international individuals who are in our country solely for education or temporary work. Lack of proper understanding or skills of diversity in the workplace can cause many discrepancies among coworkers. People live in an increasingly complex world. One element of this complexity is the mixing of different cultures, languages and faiths. Within the business world intercultural communication is vital for success. Effective communication between colleagues from different cultural backgrounds ensures a team is working harmoniously. (The Six Steps to Intercultural Communication, Â ¶ 1) Situation There was a Caucasian tall skinny man with glasses who worked as a Deejay in West Virginia while attending West Virginia University. He was part German with somewhat of an accent. He had previous experience with all genres of music. His plan was to finish school and return to Germany to pursue his dream of being an internationally known Deejay. He was invited to a national hip hop celebration to perform as an artist and as a Deejay. The coordinator informed the African American Deejay’s that there would be a Caucasian Deejay coming to assist with them at the job. When he arrived to the celebration, there was a huge table of all African American Deejay’s setting up their equipment. He was told by the coordinator to set up as soon as he arrived there. So he walked up to the table of Deejay’s and they started laughing at him. They made fun of him and ridiculed him thinking it was a joke that he came to Deejay. They made fun of his appearance and did not take him serious. He went to the coordinator and told the coordinator the situation. The coordinator came over to the table of Deejay’s and explained that he was one of the Deejay’s to be performing and to clear a space for his equipment as they would not do before. Without hesitation they apologized and cleared a space for the German Deejay to set up his equipment. Diagnosis Conflict is a clash of values that is a common occurrence in the workplace. (Teo, 2006, December 13, Â ¶ 1) In this particular situation the Deejay’s at the national celebration being all African American may have misjudged the German Deejay for his appearance and accent. They may have underestimated his ability to Deejay effectively based off of his appearance of different culture and his accent. Because this was a hip hop celebration they seemed to have assumed that he was incapable of livening up the crowd. This common situation of conflict needs to be addressed more in any workplace. More often executives are expected to work internationally, hence business and social contacts between people of various nationalities increased. As these people come from disparate cultural backgrounds, geographical barriers gave way to communication barriers that lead to tensions and conflicts. Teo, Â ¶ 2) The important for leaders of any organization properly to train its employees of cultural differences and how to handle situations that may arise is increasingly important. The coordinator may have not properly informed the German Deejay of what he would be exposed to during this particular job. As a result it was somewhat of a culture shock for the German Deejay . This was a culture shock for the German Deejay especially not knowing what to think or expect. If the coordinator would have notified the African American Deejay’s of the complete extent of the German/Caucasian man’s nationality or description it would have made it easier for everyone involved at the job. The African American Deejay’s were use to working with other African American Deejay’s experienced in hip hop only. The German Deejay felt like an outcast when the African American Deejay’s made fun of him and nonverbally displayed he was unwelcomed by not clearing a space for his equipment due to their poor lack of judgment. Solutions Any person being of a different ethnicity in a completely different country can expect to experience a conflict of interest at any workplace unfortunately. A decision to be made upon the leaders of the organization to enhance its entire employee’s of the importance of diversity skills and how it can lead to success. If the coordinator would have informed the African American Deejay’s of the nationality, talent, skills, and capabilities of the German Deejay then perhaps the African American Deejay’s would have been more welcoming to the German Deejay. The German Deejay could have gone to the human resources department of the organization and he or she could offer help for this situation. Any coordinator of any national event should always inform its employees of any possibility of conflicts of interests or lack of understanding of misjudgments that may occur and how to handle a situation like that. In order to come to appreciate and understand people from different cultures, empathy is vital. Through putting yourself in someone else's shoes he or she will come to see or appreciate their point of view. The Six Steps to Intercultural Communication, Â ¶ 5) Everyone makes or has assumptions about others. Assumptions are beliefs rather than objective truth and are usually influenced by a number of subjective factors. (The Six Steps to Intercultural Communication, Â ¶ 3) Any employee of any workplace must take interest to understand the differences between cultural norms, beliefs, and values within each culture and that they are all d istinctive. People should always respect other cultures in order to create a civil and fair work environment. Conclusion Diversity skills are very important to have in any work environment. Without efficient knowledge or understanding of other cultures and the capabilities of behavior from one culture to the next, conflicts of interest may arise. If employees and leaders can work together to access and prevent any bad situation from happening it would be beneficial to the organization as well as the employee's. Regardless of the ethnic background of a person, monitoring our own behavior can always be a way of building opportunities and the ability to enhance strengths of comprehending the importance of eing equipped with proper knowledge on the expansion of diversity among worker's anywhere. References Teo, A. (2006, December 13). Intercultural Conflict in the Workplace: Every Organization’s Nightmare. Ezine Articles. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles. com/? Intercultural-Conflict-in-the-Workplace:-every-Organizations-Nightmare=385503 The Six Steps to Intercultural Communication. (). Kwintesse ntial. Retrieved from http://www. kwintessential. co. uk/cultural-services/articles/intercultural-communication. html

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Edmund Burke: French Revolution

Edmund Burke demonstrates in his Conciliation speech that he is a well versed orator. He appears to be quite the moralist, as well as maintaining an air of arrogance at times. My initial thought is that he is s staunch supporter of the Colonists. As I continued to review his speech, I began to think he may just be attempting to dissuade any effort of war by the Colonists, seeking greater revenue for England. Burke seems to be playing to the honorable egos of the House of Commons as he states, â€Å"†¦ ennoble the flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. This is surely an attempt to gain favor by putting at the forefront of thought to the men who passed the various Acts, they are able to recant while maintaining some sort of personal honor and dignity. By using himself and his thoughts as an example of the difficulty of the idea, he brings forth the question of how intelligent men of the time can reject reason. Interesting th ough is Burke’s proposition of peace. As I understand it, he is simply proposing peace in the truest sense. No conditions, no complications, based simply on each man’s own understanding of peace. Burke’s proposal of offering peace, removing any types or forms of conflict, the Colonies will once again gain trust in the Crown. He claims that trust through peace, removing any hindrance, loyalty to the British government can be recovered. Interesting enough, Burke states, â€Å"Let the Colonists always keep the idea of civil rights associated with your government †¦Ã¢â‚¬  The use of the word idea and its meaning must be correct, as Burke is very intelligent and careful with his words. This is an attempt to gain approval by speaking to the egos of the members of Parliament. If the Colonists believe their civil rights are being honored, regardless if it is true or not, allegiance to the crown will remain solid. Liberty and freedom are the rights the Colonists want. If the Colonists believe England is providing liberty, the colonies will be freely bound to England forever. Burke implores that for the Colonists to have the freedom, Parliament must give up its interest. With this revenue will freely return to England. This must have been quite an ironic thought for the members of the House of Commons, surrender to win. Surely Burke was right. Prior to the Act of Navigation, the colonies considered themselves British subjects and freely traded with the Mother Country. With the implementation of The Act, England reverted from a parent-child, superior-subordinate relationship to that of master and slave. The Colonists immigrated to America for a new found freedom, not to be bound by England. As English subjects, Colonists only wanted to be treated as equals to the country men in the Motherland, participating in freedom. Burke shows great insight when he states that papers, notices, clauses do not make the government. It is a feeling of communal participation that provides life and vitality to men. When Burke states, â€Å"It is the spirit of the English Constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivifies every part of the Empire, even down to the minutest member,† he demonstrates a basic understanding of human need. The need to feel dignity, to feel alive, to feel esteem, and most of all to feel free. As Burke ends his conciliation speech it seems as if he changes course and begins to speak to the arrogance of the Parliament members. Surely none of the members of the House would like to think of themselves as arrogant and pompous. Decisions based upon arrogance and ego would cause failure. They represent the people, humbly of course. He informs that his idea of conciliation would only seem chimerical to those â€Å"far from being qualified,† to be in charge of an empire such as England. None of the Lords of the House would like to think of themselves as non-qualified for the positions. A higher calling is needed. Not the idea within the minds of men, the elevated minds of men as called on by providence. Burke is bringing religion into the thought process, as men of the church would make a morally right decision. It is difficult to fully understand the personality and temperament of Edmund Burke reading his speech on Conciliation of America. Burke presents himself in a myriad of different personas. He is humble, yet arrogant. He seems to be looking out for the best interests of the Colonists from a moral standpoint. Although, while reading, it appears that he also is looking out for the best interests of England. Especially towards the end of his speech when he states, â€Å"Let us get an American revenue as we have got an American empire. † This tends to make the reader think that he may have been looking out for the interests only of England, his ideas the most feasible way to reach the end result. Regardless of the motive, if the ideas of Edmund Burke were implemented the course of history would certainly have been different.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Archaeology Clubs for Amateurs

Archaeology Clubs for Amateurs Archaeology clubs and societies are one of the best ways for aspiring amateur and professional archaeologists to get started in their passion: find a group of people who also want to learn about archaeology or work as volunteers on archaeological digs. Even if youre not in school, or ever plan to be a professional archaeologist, you too can explore your passion for the field and even get trained and go on excavations. For that, you need an amateur archaeology club. There are numerous local and regional clubs throughout the world, with activities that range from Saturday morning reading groups to full-fledged societies with publications and conferences and opportunities to work on archaeological excavations. Some amateurs write their own reports and give presentations. If you live in a fairly good-sized city, chances are there are local amateur archaeology clubs right near you. The trouble is, how do you find them, and how do you pick the right one for you? Artifact Collector Groups There are, at heart, two kinds of amateur archaeology clubs. The first kind is an artifact collector club. These clubs are primarily interested in artifacts of the past, looking at artifacts, buying and selling artifacts, telling stories about how they found this artifact or another. Some collector groups have publications and regular swap meets. But most of these groups are not really invested in archaeology as a science. This is not to say that collectors are bad people or not enthusiastic about what they do. In fact, many amateur collectors register their collections and work with professional archaeologists to identify unknown or endangered archaeological sites. But their primary interest is not in the events or people of the past, it is in the objects. Art Versus Science To professional archaeologists (and many amateurs), an artifact is far more interesting within its context, as a part of an ancient culture, as part of the entire collection (assemblage) of artifacts and studies from an archaeological site. That includes intensive artifact studies, like where an artifact came from (called the provenience), what kind of material it was made from (sourcing) when it was used (dating), and what it might have meant to people of the past (interpretation). Bottom line, by and large, collector groups are more interested in the artistic aspects of archaeological artifacts: nothing wrong with that, but thats only a tiny aspect of the totality of learning about the cultures of the past.   Avocational Archaeology Groups The other type of archaeology club is the avocational club. The largest of these in the United States is the professional/amateur run Archaeological Institute of America. This type of club also has newsletters and local and regional meetings. But in addition, they have strong ties to the professional community, and sometimes publish full-fledged publications with reports on archaeological sites. Some sponsor group tours of archaeological sites, have regular talks by professional archaeologists, certification programs so you can get trained to volunteer at excavations, and even special sessions for children. Some even sponsor and help conduct archaeological surveys or even excavations, in conjunction with universities, that amateur members can take part in. They dont sell artifacts, and if they talk about artifacts, it is within context, what the society who made it was like, where it came from, what it was used for. Finding a Local Group So, how do you find an avocational society to join? In every American state, Canadian province, Australian territory, and British county (not to mention almost every other country in the world), you can find a professional archaeological society. Most of them keep strong ties with the avocational societies in their region, and they will know who to contact. For example, in the Americas, the Society for American Archaeology has a special Council of Affiliated Societies, in which it maintains close contact with avocational groups that support professional archaeological ethics. The Archaeological Institute of America has a list of collaborating organizations; and in the UK, try the Council for British Archaeologys website for CBA Groups. We Need You To be perfectly honest, the archaeological profession needs you, needs your support and your passion for archaeology, to grow, to increase our numbers, to help protect the archaeological sites and cultural heritage of the world. Join an amateur society soon. Youll never regret it.

Monday, October 21, 2019

The Deepest Point in the Oceans

The Deepest Point in the Oceans The Earths oceans range in depth from the surface to more than 36,000 feet deep. The average depth clocks in at just over 2 miles, or about 12,100 feet. The deepest known point is nearly 7 miles below the surface. Deepest Point in the World's Oceans The oceans deepest area is the Mariana Trench, also called the Marianas Trench, which is in the western part of the Pacific Ocean. The trench is 1,554 miles long and 44 miles wide, or 120 times larger  than the Grand Canyon. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the trench is almost 5 times wider than it is deep. The deepest point  of the trench is called Challenger Deep, after the British ship  Challenger II, which discovered it on a 1951 surveying expedition. Challenger Deep lies at the southern end of the Mariana Trench near the Mariana Islands. Various measurements have been taken of the oceans depth at Challenger Deep, but it is usually described as 11,000 meters deep, or 6.84 miles beneath the oceans surface. At 29,035 feet,  Mount Everest  is the tallest spot on Earth, yet if you submerged the mountain with its base at Challenger Deep, the peak would still be more than a mile below the surface. The water pressure at Challenger Deep is 8 tons per square inch. By comparison, water pressure at a depth of 1 foot is just over 15 pounds per square inch. Creation of the Mariana Trench The Mariana Trench is at the convergence of two of the Earths plates, the massive sections of the planets rigid outer shell just below the crust. The Pacific plate is subducted or dives underneath, the Philippine plate. During this slow dive, the Philippine plate was pulled down, which formed the trench. Human Visits to the Bottom Oceanographers Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh explored the Challenger Deep in January 1960 aboard a bathyscaphe named Trieste. The submersible carried the scientists 36,000 feet down, which took 5 hours. They could spend only 20 minutes on the sea floor, where they viewed an ooze and some shrimp and fish, although their view was hampered by sediment stirred up by their ship. The trip back to the surface took 3 hours. On March 25, 2012, filmmaker and National Geographic Explorer James Cameron became the first person to make a solo voyage to the deepest point on Earth. His 24-foot tall submersible, the  Deepsea Challenger, reached 35,756 feet (10,898 meters) after a 2.5-hour descent. Unlike Piccard and Walshs brief visit, Cameron spent more than 3 hours exploring the trench, although his attempts to take biological samples were hampered by technical glitches. Two unmanned submersibles- one from Japan and the other from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts- have explored the Challenger Deep. Marine Life in the Mariana Trench Despite cold temperatures, extreme pressure, and lack of light, marine life does exist in the Mariana Trench. Single-celled protists called foraminifera, crustaceans, other invertebrates, and even fish have been found there.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Boat Cavitation Causes and Remedies

Boat Cavitation Causes and Remedies Next time you find yourself floating chest deep in water, try this little demonstration of cavitation in action while you are waiting for everyone to stop laughing and pull you out of the water. Hold the palm of your hand vertically and pass it quickly back and forth through the water. You will see a stream of bubbles form opposite the direction of travel. These bubbles are what is called cavitation. In the case of boats and ships, cavitation refers to a pocket, or cavity, of air forming on the backside of a prop or impeller blade. What Is Cavitation? What Are Its Causes? The most simple definition of cavitation is; an action that causes a void to form because of lower pressure. As the definition above says, the condition of cavitation is caused by a low-pressure situation. When you moved your hand back and forth through the water you caused the pressure behind your hand to drop. Thats where the bubbles formed. A prop with too much pitch or too much shaft speed will cause pockets to form on the back side of the blades or even at the tips. The reason these voids form is boiling of the liquid. This is not boiling from heat, but boiling from the vacuum. Physics experts tell us that a liquid will boil if heated to a certain temperature or if the pressure of the liquid is reduced. In the case of cavitation, the reason is lower pressure. This cold boiling technique is good for many industrial uses, but it is not wanted near props or pump impellers. The collapsing bubbles are filled with very low-pressure water vapor and when they collapse damage is done to many surfaces. Cavitation is a drag on efficiency because of the increased friction. The bubbles stick to surfaces and essentially increase the thickness of prop blades and more power is needed to increase or maintain speed. Even worse, cavitation can cause vibration because of uneven prop loads and damage or break equipment. Even worse than vibration damage is pitting. Pitting happens when bubbles collapse and all forces are focused on a tiny spot on the blade surface. Damage from vibration is very noticeable and usually preventable with modifications to operating style. Damage from pitting can be happening at a very subtle level and most of the affected components are out of sight in day-to-day operations. An increase in power caused by a poorly adjusted governor can be enough to start minor cavitation near the prop tips and probably would not be noticed by most crews. Only at haul out would the damage to drive components to be noticed. Pitting increases surface area which causes corrosion and few anti-fouling coatings can withstand forces from collapsing bubbles that can eat into hardened steel. This same set of conditions and the resulting damage can also happen inside things like pump housings and thruster tunnels. Cavitation is actually much easier to produce in an enclosed environment than in an open situation like a prop and shaft. In an enclosed area, there is much less liquid volume to rush in and compress the vacuum bubbles that are forming. Cavitation inside pumps is a leading cause of failure. Turning a centrifugal pump too quickly causes the liquid in a pump chamber to boil from lack of pressure. This is even more of a problem if you are pumping a hot liquid like coolant or heavy fuel oil. In a hot liquid situation, you are applying two sources of energy that will make the liquid boil. The first, heat, is external and is the better-understood form of boiling. The second is the mechanical vacuum caused by the impeller. The technical term for this second force is Net Positive Suction Head or NPSH.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Robots Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Robots - Research Paper Example ..............................................................................7 Recommendations ..........................................................................................................7 REFERENCES................................................................................................................9 The global technological advancement has hit higher notch with a shift to use of robot in several activities. It is important to discuss in lengths and depths the significance of robot technology in regard to the increasing need for efficiency in production and service delivery for a better living in the society. Scientists are making several attempts to develop a wide variety of robots that can reason nearly as a human being and undertake several activities. In this respect, it is important to note that further investigation is critical as far as ethical concerns are concerned in the robot technology. There is more investigation on how to improve robot to human interaction as this would result into break rough in their efficiency. A. Background - Robots are man made virtual artificial agents that are computer programmed and can be guided to carry out several activities normally done by man. More research and development efforts by countries and individuals have led to increased application of robots in the society. Ranging from the medical field, space exploration, military among others, scientists are continuously developing more sophisticated robots. Robots are always electro-mechanically operated and therefore lack human aspects which are the greatest concern. B. Purpose/Audience–The purpose of my research paper is to bring awareness and define possible solutions that robot scientists are studying to solve the problem of human robot interaction. By exposing the problem and its severity, this paper may also motivate scientists to invest in solving this crisis. Robotic research scientist students will be the primary audience for my

Lehman Brother Collapse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Lehman Brother Collapse - Essay Example The news of its bankruptcy sent shock waves not only to the U.S. economy but also to the entire world. It faced around $600 billions of debt from mortgage back securities which caused a significant decline in its stock price. It is considered to be the most formidable case of bankruptcy in the corporate world. Before its bankruptcy, it was a profitable company. According to its 2006 annual Report, the asset under management had jumped to $225 million from the previous year’s $175 million. There were nearly 25936 employees working under the company. It shares were listed in New York stock Exchange and it was traded around $70 during that period. The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers can be attributed to the unfavourable market situation and also to its own policies. According to Luigi Zingale, the three main factors that were instrumental in bringing such depression in the market are market complacency, lack of transparency and bad regulations. Apart from these three market conditions, the financial policy adopted by Lehman was also responsible for its bankruptcy (Zingale. 2008). Delinquency rates dropped during the real estate boom and the banks started providing new innovative mortgage options which led to the decline in lending standards. Bad regulations of money market and The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 accelerated the process. There was a lack of sufficient transparency in major markets. The market for credit default swaps (CDS) became unregulated and lost sufficient transparency. Lehman financial policy was not favourable for that period. Its asset to equity ratio (leverage) was abnormally high and it mostly relied on short term debt financing. However, the company tried to maintain its ratio before the crisis but it was too late to save the company from going bankrupt. The financial turmoil that originated towards the middle of 2007 has

Friday, October 18, 2019

Vivid Description of Mother Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Vivid Description of Mother - Essay Example Whenever my mother smiles, the white, well-shaped teeth brighten her whole face when she grins. She has a well soft developed body of medium height; her skin is smooth, light brown and splendid. She has four boys and one girl thus we are five siblings; two of the boys are twins, my brother and I are the eldest followed by the other siblings. Her beauty is glimpsing, she is lovely and caring about our personal problems and spiritual arena. She maintains high standards of cleanliness and wishes that all of us to follow the same pursuit. She is a hard-working, determined, goal-oriented woman and raised her family as she carried on with her studies. Despite the fact that her studies were involving, she always had time the family. She is eloquent in talking and persuasive while presenting facts that convinces one to agree wholeheartedly with her without any act of opposition. She is an academically oriented person and rarely does she stay without a plan to pursue her higher education in spite of raising her family. She is a professor in Nuclear Physic, and she attained her PhD from the Surrey University in England. She has managed to go up the ladder and fought through the academic levels to reach the highest. Her primary objective in her studies is obtaining and achieving her self-esteem through the exploration of the opportunities that she faces. The drive towards her education and what has facilitated her pursuit of education from the lowest level to the highest level has been made possible by the well financial base that she had developed in the entire life. However, she had to quit the job at the expense of her studies. She has served many institutions that range from colleges to the universities; the University of California and Harvard University just but to mention a few.  

Critically evaluate the evidence suggesting that mTOR inhibitors can Essay

Critically evaluate the evidence suggesting that mTOR inhibitors can help induce tolerance to foreign antigens and discuss the i - Essay Example It integrates the cell signals that give information about the energy status of the cell, nutritional status, mitochondrial potential, oxygen tension, aminoacids, ATP, and growth signals. During nutritional deficiency, the mTOR signaling becomes active and increases the protein synthesis and increases the cell size. If something is lacking inside the cell, then mTOR will decrease the protein synthesis and thus decreases the cell size and there by reduces the energy expenditure of the cell and prevents cell proliferation. The mechanical induced overload-hypertropy is due to the mTOR and their activity is inhibited by the introduction of Rapamycin. (Polunovsky and Houghton, 2010). Immune system consists of many types of regulatory cells. The regulatory cells contribute to the immune tolerance and immune homeostasis through many different mechanisms. The manipulation of these cells therapeutically to improve the transplant tolerance has become the most important field of interest nowada ys. The important subsets of T cells are the CD4 (helper T cells) and CD 8 (Cytotoxic T cells) cells. Of these two types, CD4 T cells are called as regulatory or suppressor T cells. These cells are responsible for the immune toleran ce. (Fernandez 2010). These cells instead of increasing the immune response, decreases it there by enabling the transplant to get adapted to the body. They play an important role in auto immune reaction. The balance between the regulatory and the effector T cells are much necessary for the immune response and also for the controlling of many diseases. The developments of these regulatory cells are mediated by the mammalian target of rapamycin signaling protein. (mTOR protein complex). Rapamycin is isolated from the soil bacterium Streptomyces hygroscopicus. Rapamycin is commonly used as the immune suppressive drug in the transplant recipients and also found to inhibit the intracellular kinase of mTOR. (Polunovsky and Houghton, 2010). mTOR the check point protein kinase was found to have a major effect on the cell proliferation and growth, it is also found to have many downstream targeting based on phosphorylation of the protein. The major inputs for this protein are obtained from the growth factors and growth hormones such as insulin, IGF-1 and IGF-2 and some extracellular amino acids. (Polunovsky and Houghton, 2010).mTOR can also identify the status of the energy requirements and the redox level of the cell. Considerable progress has been made in understanding the signaling network only after the identification of the mTOR protein kinase. If this pathway is dysregulated in the human system, it leads to certain diseases in the human, most importantly some cancers. So a detailed study about the protein is very important. mTORs are high molecular weight molecules with many conserved structural domains. They contain 2549 amino acids with N-terminal containing 20 tandem HEAT repeats. (Hay and Sonenberg 2004). mTOR contains two protein complexes mTORC1 and mTORC2. mTORC1 is the main upstream centre for growth factors, stress signals and nutrients. They also help to convert the anabolic and catabolic pathways of the cell for the normal functioning. The mTORC1 cell signaling is high associated with the human cancer. The signaling network of the mTOR contains many oncogenes such as EGFR, PDGFR, PI3K, Ras, Raf, S6K1, Akt and tumor suppressors such as PTEN, LKB1, PDCD4, NF1 and REDD1. (Polunovsky

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Definition and Meaning of Leadership Research Paper

Definition and Meaning of Leadership - Research Paper Example Moreover, Kurt Lewin defined leadership as the "manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people" (271-299). In the Army, leadership is defined as "influencing people by providing purpose, direction, motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization." According to Patterns of Aggressive Behaviours, there was a group of researchers that identified different styles of leadership (271-299). Lewin's study recognized there major styles of leadership that have been very influential: 1) autocratic, 2) democratic, and 3) delegate. Groups of school children were allotted to one or three groups where researchers have observed their behaviors in response to the different styles of leadership. The autocratic or authoritarian leadership is well applied to conditions where there is limited time for group decision-making and the leader is the most educated and experienced member of the group (Lewin, 271-299). There is a clear distinction between the role of the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make independent decisions with very little or no input from the rest of the group of what needs to be done when it should be done, and how it should be done. Thus, it was concluded by researchers that decision-making in authoritarian leadership was less creative. Lewin stated that moving from an authoritarian style to a democratic style is more difficult than vice versa. The abuse of this kind of leadership is viewed as controlling, bossy and dictatorial. The authoritarian style is usually used by leaders when employees need close supervision to carry out certain tasks. It occurs when leaders tell their employees what they want doing and accomplished, without getting the opinion of their followers. According to Lewin, participative leadership or the democratic kind, on the other hand, has a leader who encourages group members to participate and give their inputs (271-299). Lewin observed that members of the participative group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group through the inputs were of higher quality and the members feel much more motivated and creative. A participative leadership style is where the leader, including one or more employees, are engaged in the decision-making process. Normally, this happens when the leader has a part of the information and the employees have the other parts. The leader and the employees work closely together to accomplish certain tasks. However, the leader maintains the final decision-making authority which the employees must learn to respect. Â  

Reflective Portfolio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Reflective Portfolio - Essay Example The understanding of how students, students, businesses and companies interact with each other before, during and after the internship is limited. Each stakeholder may have a different role of the internship. Each one will have the way they would like to interact with each other for information and content. Availability of adequate information would provide a better way of their interaction and increase the benefits. In the universities, the most important stakeholders are the employers. The role of higher education in many universities in the developed countries is been strengthened so that at the end it will contribute to the growth of the economy. Such focus by the government is to ensure that the universities are fulfilling the moral purpose they are entitled to. Of the methods used by the government is to initiate and implement performance funding to the universities. Any employer will require fresh graduates to have some form of experience before been employed. Work experience teaches the students something that makes one access skills to apply in the job market (Shah and Nair) These institutions tend to have dissatisfaction to the employer with attributes with the university graduates they do recruit from the universities. The attributes of the graduates are understood as general skills with knowledge and ability beyond the one gained at the tertiary level of the studies. The range of attributes tend to vary from simple technical skills to the intellectual skills that are complex. The top five attributes that an employer will consider in employee include communication skills, interpersonal skills, intelligence and personality (Gault, Leach and Duey). It examines the patterns of interaction between the individual and the working environment. The field theory developed by Lewin Can be can be expressed as B = f (p,e), where B is used

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Definition and Meaning of Leadership Research Paper

Definition and Meaning of Leadership - Research Paper Example Moreover, Kurt Lewin defined leadership as the "manner and approach of providing direction, implementing plans, and motivating people" (271-299). In the Army, leadership is defined as "influencing people by providing purpose, direction, motivation while operating to accomplish the mission and improving the organization." According to Patterns of Aggressive Behaviours, there was a group of researchers that identified different styles of leadership (271-299). Lewin's study recognized there major styles of leadership that have been very influential: 1) autocratic, 2) democratic, and 3) delegate. Groups of school children were allotted to one or three groups where researchers have observed their behaviors in response to the different styles of leadership. The autocratic or authoritarian leadership is well applied to conditions where there is limited time for group decision-making and the leader is the most educated and experienced member of the group (Lewin, 271-299). There is a clear distinction between the role of the leader and the followers. Authoritarian leaders make independent decisions with very little or no input from the rest of the group of what needs to be done when it should be done, and how it should be done. Thus, it was concluded by researchers that decision-making in authoritarian leadership was less creative. Lewin stated that moving from an authoritarian style to a democratic style is more difficult than vice versa. The abuse of this kind of leadership is viewed as controlling, bossy and dictatorial. The authoritarian style is usually used by leaders when employees need close supervision to carry out certain tasks. It occurs when leaders tell their employees what they want doing and accomplished, without getting the opinion of their followers. According to Lewin, participative leadership or the democratic kind, on the other hand, has a leader who encourages group members to participate and give their inputs (271-299). Lewin observed that members of the participative group were less productive than the members of the authoritarian group through the inputs were of higher quality and the members feel much more motivated and creative. A participative leadership style is where the leader, including one or more employees, are engaged in the decision-making process. Normally, this happens when the leader has a part of the information and the employees have the other parts. The leader and the employees work closely together to accomplish certain tasks. However, the leader maintains the final decision-making authority which the employees must learn to respect. Â  

Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Are Small Cap Stocks Influenced Similarly and by the Same Economic Essay

Are Small Cap Stocks Influenced Similarly and by the Same Economic Indicators as Large Cap Stocks An Annotated Bibliography - Essay Example The study used monthly data from 1974 to 1989 for macroeconomic indicators and for the Fed monetary policy (as independent variables) and used 39 portfolios of 10 value weighted stocks from large cap and small cap categories (as dependent variables) to study the volatility in stock return. They found that 32% of the stock market return volatility could be explained by the monetary policy which is similar to the finding of Chang, Yeung, & Yip. (2000) below that macroeconomic indicators do not fully explain the stock market movements. It was also found that 96% of the cases showed that a tightening of the monetary policy (reduced money supply) reduced stock returns. Further, the study found that while both small and large firms were harmed by the disinflationary monetary policy, only large firms benefited from expansionary monetary policy. The study illuminates the bibliographic topic by making a distinction between small and large cap stocks and the difference in effect of macroeconom ic indicators on different stock categories. The authors at the time of the study were Doctoral Students at the University of Pennsylvania. They studied the impact of a set of 21 economic indicators and followed a regression analysis approach to identify whether economic indicators could explain the stock market movements from 1997 to 1999.... They first started with testing for correlation between the economic indicators and excluded some of them based on the statistical correlation. For the remaining indicators, they developed a multiple linear regression model to explain the stock price. They found that even after multiple regressions and excluding the insignificant variables, the resulting regression model could not fully explain the stock market movements. This finding is in line with that of Thorbecke and Coppock (1995) above. This study is of importance for the current research as I intend to use a similar methodology for multiple regression on 9 economic indicators in the US that this study found to be statistically significant in their regression model. Vygodina, A. V. (2006). Effects of size and international exposure of the US firms on the relationship between stock prices and exchange rates. Global Finance Journal 17 , 214-23. The author at the time of the study was a Professor at the Department of Finance, CBA , California State University at Sacramento. The research was aimed at studying whether the changes in exchange rates have a difference in impact on the stock prices based on the size of a firm. The methodology used was to conduct a Granger Causality test to verify the causality from large cap and small cap stocks to the exchange rate. The Granger Causality test was used in the study as it statistically tests whether one time series causes movements in another time series. It was found that while there did exist a statistically significant Granger Causality from large-caps to the exchange rate, there was no causality from small caps. The study also noted that the as both variables are significantly affected by the federal monetary policy and that the nature of relationship

Monday, October 14, 2019

Hip Mask Representing An Iyoba Essay Example for Free

Hip Mask Representing An Iyoba Essay The exquisiteness of the material and the sophistication of the carving indicate that it was created by the exclusive guild of royal ivory carvers for the king. This exquisite piece is made out of ivory, iron and cooper. This piece also contains pieces of inlaid metal and elaborate coral carvings. The piece dimensions are as followed; H. 9 3/8 x W. 5 x D. 3 1/4 in. (23. 8 x 12. 7 x 8. 3 cm). The mask is a sensitive human idealized portrait, depicting its subject with softly modeled features. This piece is framed with an elegant tiara-like coiffure and openwork collar. The pupils were inlaid with iron metal, the forehead has carved scarification marks and also she is wearing bands of coral beads below the chin. In the necklace you can see miniature motifs that represent heads of the Portuguese soldiers depicted with beards and flowing hair. In the crown tiara-like coiffure are carved more Portuguese heads alternated with figures of stylized mudfish, which symbolizes Olokun, the Lord of the Great Waters. You can see that some of the necklace portion is damage or missing and this could be due to the age and fragility of the coral. This piece is from early African art also known as â€Å"Queen Mother Pendant Mask: Iyoba†. Today, you can find this piece at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Although images of women are very rare this piece has come to symbolize the legacy of a dynasty that continues to the present day. In many of the African cultures the head is a very important, powerful and symbolic piece. The head was consider to be the symbolic center of a person’s intelligence, wisdom, and ability to succeed in this world and/or to be a tool to be able to communicate with spiritual forces in the ancestral world. In Art of History, published in 2011, both Professor Marilyn Stokstad and Michael W. Cothren claim that â€Å"one of the honorifics used for the king is the â€Å"Great Head†. The head leads the body as the king leads the people. All of the memorial heads include representation of coral-beaded caps, necklaces and royal costume. Coral, enclosing the head and displayed on the body, is still the ultimate symbol of the oba’s power and authority. † In an article titled â€Å"Iyoba Idia: The Hidden Oba Of Benin† published in 2006, issue 9 of Jenda: A Journal Of Culture And African Women Studies Nkiru Nzegwu wrote â€Å"Iron and copper inserts were embedded in these cavities in the original model and formed part of the decoration. Some have claimed that these cavities were receptacles for embedded magical potions, and there is a historical explanation for them. The striations were the result of incisions a local doctor-diviner made to disfigure Idia and render her unattractive to Oba Ozolua. As narrated by the present Oba Erediauwa, Idias parents did not wish her to become an Obas wife, and the oracle they consulted advised that they mar her beauty to make her ugly to the Oba (Kaplan 1993, 59). The two incisions not only scarred her face but, to make assurance double sure, they also contained potent medicinal potions which the consulting physician-diviner had assured them would repel Oba Ozolua. The royal explanation is that the plan failed because the Oba sensed that something was wrong before he even saw Idia and quickly neutralized the effects of the medicine. † This is a pendant or ornament mask that represents an iyoba (queen mother-the oba’s mother), the senior female member of the royal court. It’s believed that this piece was produced in the early sixteenth century for the King or Oba Esigie, the king of Benin, who ruled from 1504 to 1550. This piece is to honor his mother, Idia. There are different versions of the purpose of this piece. The most common ones is that this was used a as belt ornament and it was worn at the oba’s hip. The Oba may have worn it at rites commemorating his mother, although today such pendants are worn at annual ceremonies of spiritual renewal and purification. Esigie had the support of Ida and the Portuguese soldiers in the expansion of his kingdom. Ida is remembered for raising an army and using magical powers to help her son Esigie to defeat his enemies.

Sunday, October 13, 2019

History KFC Holdings MBhd First

History KFC Holdings MBhd First After a successful restructuring exercise, KFCH has emerged as a strong player in the Malaysian corporate world with a high reputation for excellent products, efficient friendly service and financial strength. Indeed, KFCH is the only KFC restaurant operator in the world whose Western Quick Service Restaurant market share is greater than that of McDonalds. KFCH is part of QSR Brands Bhd (QSR Brands) .QSR brands is a leading and fully-integrated quick-service restaurant enterprise and the local franchisee and operator of the KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants. QSR Brands is a subsidiary of Kulim (Malaysia) Berhad which conglomerated focusing mainly on palm oil operations, oleochemicals, biodiesel production and quick service restaurants. Besides that, Kulim (Malaysia) Berhad is under Johor Corporation as well. The first KFC restaurant in Malaysia was opened on Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman in 1973. The Company was operating 475 restaurants across Malaysia, 77 stores in Singapore, 9 restaurants in Brunei and 72 restaurants in India as of December 31, 2009,. The Company had a total of 43 RasaMas restaurants in Malaysia and Brunei and 35 Kedai Ayamas stores across Malaysia in 2009. On December 15, 2009, the Company had acquired the entire issued and paid-up capital of Rasamas Terminal Larkin Sdn Bhd and Rasamas Melaka Sdn Bhd. When KFC Holdings (M) Bhd is going successful in fast food industry, it now is more concern toward to charity and community program. In year 1995, KFCH initially launched a Projek Penyayang but now already become a part of Tabung Penyayang. There are more than 66 charitable homes and institutions get the benefit from their fund around Malaysia. In that year, the company also implemented a special programme that each home will be given a meal treat of the finger licking good fried chicken every quarter of the year. The Tabung Penyayang which launched in year 1997 helped a lot of orphans, disabled, homeless and needy children around Malaysia. They get fund from the companys revenue from the collection of 10 cents from the sale every of Chicky Meals Tabung Penyayang KFC Collection Box as an extension to the Tabung Penyayang KFC programme in August 1999. Collection boxes are placed at all KFC restaurants so that customers can contribute and be part of this charitable effort. Tabung Penya yang has helped strengthen even more our relationship with the Malaysian public in the charity program. Financial Performance of KFC Holdings (M) Bhd According to the RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd on 23 June 2010 of Corporate Highlight about the share split, bonus and warrant issue information, the major shareholder is QSR Venture with holding 50.30% share. The second major shareholder is Lembaga Tabung Hasil with 24.80% while Airsaig Asean Fund also holds 6.9% of share. The share price of KFC (3492) in KLSE is RM10.50 and the volume is 294,000 in last update on 13 August 2010 at time17:10:13. KFC Holdings gained RM167 million and make the profit of RM320, 000 until 30th September 2009. There have a rise of 6% in fast food restaurants profit if compare to previous years profit. The KFC Company reported revenues of RM2, 179.79 million during the fiscal year ended December 2008, and an increase of 25.97% over 2007. The operating profit of the company was RM 175.02 million during the fiscal year 2008, an increase of 8.08% over 2007. The net profit of the company was RM 118.54 million during the fiscal year 2008, an increase of 13.68% over year 2007. The total asset either current asset or non- current asset are increasing from year 2008 to 2009. For the equity part, the retain earning of company increasing RM40, 513 to year 2009. The company still keeps it as reserve for emergency use. The short term loan had been decrease RM20, 000 from year 2008 to 2009. It is a good sign to reduce of borrow loan. But the total equity and liabilities increase from RM603, 539 in year 2008 to RM626, 232 in year 2009. There is an increase of RM22, 873 within one year. KFC Holdings (Malaysia) Bhd. has announced that the company will give a final dividend of RM 0.16 less 25% Malaysian income tax per share for the year ended 31 December 2009. The dividend paid on 27 May 2010.   In next year , the KFC Holdings Malaysia Bhd plans to invest RM 45 million to expand at least 20 new outlets in 2011 .Of the 20 outlets nationwide, 12 outlets will be under the drive-thru concept. In this year, KFC also will launch a new menu- Hot Spicy menu in Kuala Lumpur in coming 3 August. The company was expecting has about increase 10 % sales On the new Hot Spicy Shrimp menu, the company was expecting to drive its during the promotion period from 3 August to 30 September 2010. Besides that, KFC Holding wishes to expand the sausage capacity as it Port Klang plant to double digits sales growth at the end of year 2010 from the currently 500 tonnes to 1000 tonnes. Task 1 KFC Holdings (M) BHD has expanded their business aggressively in these few years. There are lots of new branches being set up in Malaysia. Therefore, the management team also exposed to several new challenges in managing or maintaining their profit level. After viewing the information about the company, we found out that the company has well utilized its labor force, machinery, and managerial skill in expanding their business. There is no doubt that they have implemented their plan very well in managing the company because it is easily for us to see that their outlets have been built up in a very fast rate. However, we also found out that there is an unfavorable issue that has occurred in the company which is, the profit of the company is declining slightly in the last few years. This reduction in the net profit is a big deal that the company should pay more attention in solving it in order to place the company in a well situation. But, what is the main reason that caused a company w ith a very nice performance and a well management team to encounter with such problem? Since the management team of KFC Holdings (M) BHD is well managing, they should have an increasing net profit instead of a decreasing net profit throughout the years. However, after a deep consideration on this unfavorable matter, we have concluded that the company should reduce its cost in order to shift away from this situation and thus, increase their profitability. So, we should primarily focus on the cost issue to help the company to overcome this problem. So, we suggest the company to invest in a new asset which can eventually help the company to save their cost. Since the cash flow of the KFC is tighten up by its cash flow, a high-tech machine likes ice cream maker, which require a large amount of fund for the initial investment is definitely not suitable for the company. We should create a product that can help the company to save up their cost and which will not become a burden for the company. After a discussion, we suggest that the new asset that the company should invest in is a new design of sauces container which can be a replacement for the bottle of sauces that the company is currently used. As we know, the KFC Holdings (M) BHD normally served the customers with two kinds of chili sauces and tomato sauce. So, what is the problem with their sauces? Normally, they will serve the customer with their sauces, either chili sauce or tomato sauce in the original bottle of their supplier. Apart from the problem of cost, as the compan y serves the sauces in the form of bottle, it will actually bring a lot of inconveniences to the company. It is because each bottle of sauces requires the firm to leave out a space to keep the sauces in a safety place which will cause the firm to spend a portion of fund to acquire a store. The money that the company used in maintains the condition of store will increase the cost of the company indirectly. So, back to the main reason of our problem, the bottle that the supplier used in filling up the sauces actually will cost the company more due to its high cost in producing it. As we know, the purpose that the supplier use a glass bottle to fill in the sauces is to longer the expired date of their product. However, it will also increase the cost of firm to acquire such product because the material, which is the glass bottle that being used by the firm to produce it is very high. So, we suggest the company to invest in a new design of sauce container which can eliminate the use of the glass bottle in their retail shops. They can actually save a lot of money from using the well-designed container. The design of the container of the sauces allowed the firm to fill up the sauce in it without using any bottles, which can eventually reduce the cost of the firm. We will design the container in a very creative shape and it will require the customers to squeeze on the plastic form container in order to get the sauces. It will not only save the cost but also increase the customers favorable over this new product. Furthermore, the cost to invest in this new asset will not be very high because it is being created in the high quality plastic form. However, we will require a steel stand to support three of the sauces plastic containers. Although the container is in the plastic form, but each of the containers can fill in about ____ml of sauces which require a stable stand to support its heavy weights. Not forget to mention again, the company will serve the customers with three kinds of sauces which mean there will have three containers being supported by the steel stand. Well, we also know that the cost of obtaining a stand that is made up by steel is not that cheap. However, it will also help the company to save a lot of cost in a long term view. Besides that as the container can be refill for many times, the company can require the supplier to provide the sauces in a plastic form which can eventually eliminate the higher cost of obtaining it in a glass bottle form. Moreover, by obtaining the sauces in plastic form from the supplier, the staff can refill it into the new designed sauce containers easily. Frankly, the cost of obtaining the sauces which is packaging in plastic is definitely lower than the cost to obtain the sauce which is packaging in a bottle. Well, we know that the supplier of the sauce, LIFE brand sauce is a _____ with the company which has already provided the sauce to KFC in a lower price. However, the reduction in the cost of packaging the sauce will then reduce the cost for KFC to obtain the sauce. The KFC Holdings (M) BHD can still get the sauces from its supplier in a rate that is far lower than before. Besides that, with the creativity in the design of the container, the company can actually attract more customers into it indirectly. We have confidence that the creative design of the container will attract the attention of customer, especially kids. This is one of the ways to increase the sales and to ensure that the customers will consume in KFC again. Furthermore, we can see that the stolen case can be happened easily if the company served the sauce in a bo ttle because the customers can get it easily without noticing by the workers. Customers who have the incentive in stealing it will find that it is not hard to be done if the sauces are being served in a glass bottle because they can just put it in their hand bag after dining in the retail shop. So, the stolen cases can be prevented if the company served the sauces in the well design container because the customers do not have a container to fill in the sauces. Thereby, increase the profitability of the company. Replacement Asset Installed cost per outlet Cost of new asset (380+10950) 11,330 Installation cost 100 Total installed cost 11,430 After tax from sale of old asset 27,375 Change in net working capital Current asset 39,570.53 Current liabilities 3,867.37 Total changes 35,703.16 Initial investment 19,758.16 Installed cost per 475 outlets Cost of new asset (11,330 x 475) 5,381,750 Installation cost 47,500 Total installed cost (11,430 x 475) 5,429,250 After tax from sale of old asset (27,375 x 475) 13,003,125 Change in net working capital Current asset 18,796,000 Current liabilities 1,837,000 Total changes 16,959,000 Initial investment 9,385,125 Analysis of Replacement Asset The price for a bottle of sauces either chili sauce or tomato sauce will be RM2.50. We assume that a KFC outlet will used up ten bottles per day which cost RM75 (3 x RM2.50 x 10). Therefore, it will cost RM27375 per annually for the company to acquire the sauces from the supplier. For 475 outlets in Malaysia, it cost up RM13003125. However, by replacing the bottle with sauces container it will only cost the firm with the total amount of RM11430 per year which means RM5429250 for 475 outlets. From the RM11430, it consists of RM380 of three containers for sauces, RM10950 for the sauces which is packaging in a more cost efficiency way, and the RM100 of the installation cost for the containers. Assuming a package of sauce will cost the firm RM3 and the firm will consume ten packages per day for a year. Based on the annual report of KFC Holdings (M) BHD, the changes in net working capital is RM16959. With the entire figure above, we can generate the initial investment of RM 19758.16 per o utlet and RM 9,385,125 for 475 outlets. Operating Cash Flow (Present) 2010 2011 2012 Revenue 77635000 85710000 88801300 Expenses 3327300+13003125 16757925 16900425 (16330425) 61304575 68952075 71900875 (Proposed) 2010 2011 2012 Revenue 77635000 85710000 88801300 Expenses 8756550 9184050 9326550 68878450 76525950 79474750 With present asset 2010 2011 2012 Revenue 77635000 85710000 88801300 Expenses 16330425 16757925 16900425 EBIT 61304575 68952075 71900875 Taxes (40%) 24521830 27580830 28760350 NOPAT 36782745 41371245 43140525 Operating cash inflow 36782745 41371245 43140525 With proposed asset 2010 2011 2012 Revenue 77635000 85710000 88801300 Expenses 8756550 9184050 9326550 EBIT 68878450 76525950 79474750 Taxes (40%) 27551380 30610380 31789900 NOPAT 41327070 45915570 47684850 Operating cash inflow 41327070 45915570 47684850 Initial investment RM 9,385,125 Cost of capital 11 % Cash flow Year 1 RM7573875 Year 2 RM7621375 Year 3 RM7621375 NPV RM 9196548.45 IRR 61.87 % Cost of debt 50% from retained earning ( RM4700000) 50% lending from bank (RM 9,385,125 4700000) RM 4685125 Cost of retained earnings 30%, weighted 0.50 Cost of debt, 61.81% (similar with IRR), weighted 0.50 WACC = (cost of retained earnings x weighted) + (cost of debt x weighted) = ( 30% x 0.50) = (61.81% x 0.50) = 15% + 30.91% = 45.91% IRR > WACC, accept the asset 61. 81% > 45.91% Financial leverage Total dividend to shareholders : RM32715000 Total dividend to common stockholders : RM23793000 Total dividend to preferred stockholders : RM8922000 Number of shareholder: 178,275,000 Income statement Of Leverage (RM000) sales revenue 77,365 Less: cost of good sold Gross Profit 77,365 Plus: Other income 35,598 Less: operating expenses 33,273 Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) 79,690 Less:Interest Net profit before taxes 79,690 Less: Financial cost 1,805 Profit before tax 77,885 Less:Taxes 4,669 Net profit after taxes 73,216 Less: Preferred stock dividends 8,922 Earnings available for common stockholders 64,294 Earnings per share (EPS) 32. 43 Income statement Of Leverage (RM000) sales revenue 77,365 Less: cost of good sold Gross Profit 77,365 Plus: Other income 35,598 Less: operating expenses 33,273 Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) 79,690 Less:Interest Net profit before taxes 79,690 Less: Financial cost 6,490.125 Profit before tax 73,199.875 Less:Taxes 4,388.333 Net profit after taxes 68,811.542 Less: Preferred stock dividends 8,922.000 Earnings available for common stockholders 59,889.542 Earnings per share (EPS) 33. 59 Task 2 Merging Benefit of merging Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad is the company that we choose to merge together with KFC Holdings (M) Berhad. The reasons that we want to merge this two companies together are because this merger will provide a lot of benefits to both of the companies. However, we will discuss about the type of mergers that we used in merging this two companies together first. As what we know, there are four types of mergers which are horizontal merger, vertical merger, congeneric merger and conglomerate merger. After a deep consideration about the condition of these two companies, we have suggested both of the companies to merge through vertical merger. So, what does a vertical merger means? It is a merger in which a firm acquires a supplier or a customer. It is normally happened between two companies that producing different goods and services for one specified finished product. Since the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad is a company that mainly produces natural and nutritious products tha t people are pursuing nowadays. So, we hope that the merger between these two companies can bring out a new product that is primarily focus on the health of the people. So, we will discuss the product that these two companies will produce in more details after the successful of the merger between them. Firstly, KFC Holdings (M) Berhad which is a fast food restaurant will acquire the natural and nutritious products such as milks or yogurts from Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad . After that, it will introduce a new combo set which comes together with the healthy products that is provided by Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad. This idea comes out from our minds because we know that people are showing their great concerns on the problem of healthy nowadays. Normally people will think that having fast food will affect our healthy and adults will inhibit their children from eating fast food as a result. This effect will definitely affect the sales of KFC Holdings (M) Berhad indirectly. So, we must discuss a method to solve this problem upside down. After configuring the factor that caused this problem to arise, which is the peoples mind set of fast food will bring negative effect to our health, we have also come out with a well solution. The solution is that we will acquire the healthy products from Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad and combine with the products of KFC Holdings (M) Berhad which can reflect a good image that the combo set is something good to our health. Furthermore, we have think of two kind of new combo sets after the merger which one is mainly focus on adults and another set is focus on kids. Firstly, we will acquire the package milks from the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad and combine it with the kid meals. Apart from that, we will acquire the milks not only in one flavor but in three different flavors which are original, strawberry and chocolate. It is because we know that the kids nowadays might have different demands on the drink choices. Some of them might show preferences over strawberry flavor and some others might show their preferences on chocolate. So, it is good to have more choices for them to choose in order to prevent any unwanted consequences. As what we know, milks are the best nutrition that everyone needs to maintain their health. So, the parents might not be so aggressive in inhibiting their children from eating the fast foods if we combine it with milks. Then, the sales in KFC Holdings (M) Berhad will boo st up greatly as a result too. Besides that, we will also combine the three flavors of milks with the normal sets in KFC Holdings (M) Berhad. However, we will also provide the yoghurts as a dessert in the combo set. There are so many flavors of yoghurts that are provided by Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad such as aloe Vera, blackberry, strawberry or mix fruits. Yogurts has provided a lot of benefits to people such as preventing yeast infection, strengthening immune system, enhancing digest system and relieving ulcers. Furthermore, people are showing their great concerns on their weight nowadays, especially girl. So, having a yogurt right after their meals can enhance their digestion system which can help them to maintain their weight and health indirectly. So, we have confident that this combination of normal set with yogurt will bring out a good response from the customers. Well, we will discuss in details about the benefits that come along with the vertical merger between this two companies. The benefits from the merger are: Increased managerial skill or technology Increased the competitiveness in the market Growth or diversification Synergy 1. Increased managerial skill or technology A proper merger can enhance the performance of the company when a target company can provide the managerial personnel or technical expertise needed by the acquire company in expanding their business. Sometimes, a firm might fail to participate in a great opportunity in expanding their business due to the deficiencies in certain areas of management or an absence of needed product or production technology. As in our suggestion, the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad will provide some healthy products such as milks and yogurts to the KFC Holdings (M) Berhad which will then produce a nice healthy image to the public. Besides that, the merger of two companies can improves their ability in research and development as both of them can spend a huge amount of money in such process. This will eventually improve the quality of products for the customers and increase the profit for both companies. Both of the companies can actually cooperate in carrying out a research in how to enhance the qua lity of foods that are expected by the customers. After the merger, they can carry out the research together at a cost far more lowly than other individual company. This is the benefit for a merged company as they can keep improving their products and gain sales from it. Furthermore, by acquiring the managerial skills from both of the companies, they can actually share their opinions or suggestion on how to improve the quality of products and boost up the sales indirectly. Normally, different people will have a different view on something, thus, both of the companies can gain different suggestions and think of a best way to deal with the problem. Thereby, the problem that faces by the company can be solved faster and easier. There is no doubt that a merged company will have a better managerial personnel or technical expertise in managing the company. 2. Increased the competitiveness in the market We can easily see that a merged company can increase their competitiveness in the market when compare to their competitor. It is because that the merged company can gain the asset, skill, technology of the target market which will increase their potential in gaining benefit over their competitor. Besides that, their market value will also increase significantly as a result. As in our example, the KFC Holdings (M) Berhad can gain benefit from the healthy image which is being created by the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad. People will change their mind concept towards the fast food due to the healthy image of those natural and nutritious products provided by the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad. Furthermore, Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad can also gain the benefit of the increasing in their sales. Apart from that, they can provide customers with a wide range of services by merging. Nowadays, people are looking for a company that can provide them better services just like what the KFC Holdings (M) Berhad do, such as provide them a product which exceeds what they expected the company can provide. Therefore, the merge company can gain advantages over other company which will help them to hold existing customers and attract new customers into their company. 3. Growth and diversification A proper merge between two companies can help both of them to fulfill a desire rapid growth in size or market share or diversification in the range of their products. Normally, a company will need to pay its supplier the cost to acquire the materials such as the cost of materials or any other extra charges that being charged by the supplier in processing the transaction. Sometimes, the cost for acquiring the materials can be a big burden for the company as it will reduce the revenue of the company. In our example, after the merged, the KFC Holdings (M) Berhad is free to get the products at the base cost and does not have to pay any extra charges to the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad who is currently looking to make a profit from the sale. This allows the company to have less money tied up in production of a good and will increase their revenue. Besides that, the money that being saved up from the cost of material can actually use by the company in expanding their business or ac quiring another asset that is useful to the operation of the company. The company should use the money that is saved from the materials wisely in order to achieve the target of the company which is fulfilling a desire growth. Moreover, the merged company can actually fulfill the target if they invest the money in a profitable investment or use it to extend or expand its product line. By doing so, they can actually experience a rapid growth in their sales and increase the total revenue and net income. Besides that, the growth of the business after merging might remove or scare a potential competitor off. Therefore, the merged company can sustain in that industry with its powerful strength in the future. 4. Synergy The synergy can be considered as the economies of scale that results from the merged companys lower overhead. The economies of scale achieved from lowering the combined overhead increase the earning of the merged company to a level greater than the sum of the earning of each of the independent company. So, what does economies of scale means? An economy of scale is a common thing that applies to most of the company in the market. All of the companies will try their best to strive for economies of scale which is, the average cost incurred in manufacturing a product can be reduced if the company requires a large investment and output. So, when two companies are being merged together, the total output increases can benefit them through economies of scale. When raw materials are purchased in large amount or quantities, the merged company can actually get a huge discount on their purchase. As in our example, after the merger, the KFC Holdings (M) Berhad will acquire the products such as mi lks and yoghurt from the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad and comes out with a new combo set. The product demanded from KFC Holdings (M) Berhad can actually increase the sales of the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad. Therefore, they need to produce the milks and yoghurt in an even large quantity than before in order to produce sufficient quantities that are required by the KFC Holdings (M) Berhad. So, have to get more raw materials in processing the products and they will experience the benefit gained from the economies of scale in the end. Lastly, actually both of the merged company can gain benefit from such merger because the KFC Holdings (M) Berhad can acquire the products at a cost that is far lower than original and the Dutch Lady  Milk Industries Berhad can experience a significant increase in their sales. It has shown that a proper merger will benefits both company and increase their profitability.

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Thomas Jefferson Essay -- Biography biographies bio

It all began when Peter Jefferson, an ambitious surveyor, farmer, and mapmaker met Jane Rudolph during his trip to England. They married and moved to the British colony of Virginia. Years later, Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Albermarle County. He was the third child out of eight. By the age of five, Jefferson began to be schooled, along with his cousins, by a tutor. When he was nine, Thomas Jefferson was sent to a boarding school where he studied French, Latin, and Greek. He spent his vacations at home with his siblings, and first took interest in learning the violin given to him by his father. Tom and his father were quite close, and every time Thomas visited, he and his father would spend hours riding, canoeing, and enjoying the many pleasures nature had to offer. Thomas Jefferson mentioned in his autobiography, which he wrote many years later, how much he admired his father. Peter Jefferson died when his son was only fourteen years old, and he left behind a large estate of 5000 acres for Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson left for college when he was seventeen years old. He attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. Though he spent the majority of his first year fox hunting and horse racing rather than concentrating on his studies, he promised himself he would work harder his second year. He became studious and realized the importance of a good education. He began to balance excessive studying with his social life. He graduated with highest honors. While in college, Jefferson was a member of a secret organization known then as the Flat Hat Club, now evolved into the William and Mary College newspaper, Thomas Jefferson had a propensity for joining secret associations. Soon he faced a majo... ...ist, architect, archaeologist, paleontologist, author, inventor, and the founder of the University of Virginia, among other roles. People still believe him to be the most multi-faceted president in history. President John F. Kennedy welcomed forty-nine Nobel Prize winners to the White House in 1962, saying, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House?with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone." Thomas Jefferson left behind a great legacy. He gave us the true meaning of freedom and America?s destiny would be very different if it was not for him. One of the Founding Fathers of America, Jefferson?s great debating and compromising talent helped the Unites States through many obstacles. Also, the next time you eat French fries, make sure you thank him.

Friday, October 11, 2019

How to Be a Chef Essay

Bodily/Kinesthetic My first intelligence was Bodily/ Kinesthetic. I’m very athletic and I love to play sports a lot. I play basketball after school on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at my local community center. I even play basketball outside when I have spare time on my hands. I play a lot of 2K13 on my PS3 and my favourite team in the NBA is Oklahoma City Thunders because they have good players like Russell Westbrook, Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka. I get better by shooting at certain spots on the court and practicing my lay ups. I play rugby for the Newman Knights. I started in grade 9 and I love to go to practice. When I scored my first try in rugby, it felt all my hard work and determination paid off. Interpersonal My second intelligence is Interpersonal. I have many friends from my old elementary school and I also made new friends when I came to Newman. I socialize with many people at Newman; having laughs, tears of joy and always joking around a lot. I always go out with my closest friends to malls like STC or Eaton’s Center, after hanging out at my school or in my house to play PS3 and to other people’s house. I keep in touch with my friends on Twitter and texting them on my phone. I have fun texting people; it keeps me occupied and keeps my friends close to me no matter where I am. I also enjoy having group work with people, it’s easier to work with people because I don’t like working by myself. Visual/Spatial My third intelligence is Visual/Spatial. I like to draw and do art when I’m bored. I like to draw Pokà ©mon when I was a kid and I still do Pokà ©mon drawings sometimes. I don’t like reading novels but I love to read manga and its Japanese base where you read it left to right. I love these types of books because I like to see the manga panels instead of reading books without pictures. I learn better when they show me a drawing, a demonstration, or an activity because I sometimes don’t understand when teachers explain without a visual representation. Such as in science, history and math. Personality and True Colours My dominant color is gold and the main characteristic of gold to me is dependable. I chose the picture of a quote saying â€Å"You’re even more dependable than alcohol† because I can always depend on my friends and they can also depend on me to be there by their side no matter what. People know that I’m nice, so they always say that I’m such a good friend to them. I always say yes to favors from my friends and they know I always finish the job no matter how big or small it is. I am always loyal to my friends and to my work in school. I chose an image of a wolf on top of a rock saying loyalty because as I said before, I’m always there when you need me like a dog. As the saying goes, â€Å"a man’s best friend is a dog†. I’m very loyal to people when they need me to do work or to get them something for someone. I never tell any of my friend’s secrets to people because they trust me and I trust them with my personal things as well. I’m as loyal as a knight to the king or a friend who’s there to the end. I’m also a very responsible person. I’m responsible at home, school and in my life. I’m always on top of my chores and sometimes on top of my school work. I chose a picture of a dog cleaning up his feces because I always clean up after myself. I have chores at home like washing the dishes, cook and to look after my little brother and sister. At school, I try to be on top of my work and to my studies but sometimes I slack off with my work. When I make a big mess, I take responsibility to clean up and to say sorry to them if I made the mess. Values The value I cherished in life is being a humanitarian. The picture that represent humanitarian to me is the Canadian Red Cross organization because I love what they do all over Canada; by donating food and money to people in need. I’m just like them because I help people who are in need. I help people at school with work and understanding concept in certain subjects like math or science. I help at home by doing chores and helping my sister with her homework. When I’m in public I help hold the door or pick up and return their belongings. I do these nice things out of the kindness of my heart. My second most cherished value in life is my beloved family. I love them no matter what happens in life, through thick or thin. I chose a picture of my family at my grade 8 graduation because they love and support me in my accomplishments. Sometimes I have trouble with my family but I always say to myself that they love me no matter the kind of attitude I give them, if it’s me being nice or being rude to them. I use to have fights with my brother and sister but later on we would forgive each other and we would just laugh about it. I know my family would support me whatever I do in life. My last most cherished value is money. I love to make a lot of money in the future so I can go to college and one day to support my own family. The picture I chose was a person buying something in a store because I would love to spend my first paycheck on things I want. I know money doesn’t give people joy but it can make you happy by buying people things and to donate to organizations that will help the poor and people in third world countries. Work/Life Balance My career choice is one that relates to my strengths at this very moment and allows me to do what I love to do. That is to make people smile with my passion to cook food. The work environment that would allow me to cook is one where I can cook for families and to earn more experience from cook’s that could pass their knowledge to me and it would help me in the future. I wouldn’t quit my job in life because if I can make nice tasting food for people, it would make my job easy and enjoyable. My love in food is very strong and it’s my only passion in life that I would hold on to forever. If I choose to be a chef, it would make my life complete because it can help me feed my family and have fun cooking with them. It can benefit me by helping me strengthen my relationships with my friends by teaching them how to cook and to make them happy when they come over to my house. It can help me in the future by cooking in community kitchen for all ages and it would fill my heart to see people in need eating my food, smiling at the food and thanking me. I cook a lot when I feel hungry at home. I would pop out my cook books and choose my favorite recipe. The way I cook makes me happy because it can bring people together and bring my friends closer to me. The hardship I would go through to get the job is to work my way up to an experience chef from what I know now. When I graduate from high school, I would like to take a culinary course in college and to gain more experience so I can improve my cooking skills. No matter the hardship it would take to become a chef, I will be dedicated to earn a cooking degree.

Thursday, October 10, 2019

Nisbett Summary Essay

Main Points: Evidence shows that there may be little or no direct introspective access to higher order cognitive processes. Subjects are sometimes (a.) unaware of the existence of a stimulus that importantly influenced a response, (b) unaware of the existence of the response and (c) unaware that the stimulus has affected the response. It is proposed that when people attempt to report on their cognitive processes, they do not do so based on any true introspection. Their reports are based on a priori, implicit casual theories or judgments about the extent to which a particular stimulus is a plausible cause of a given response. Although the evidence points that people are unable to use introspection in respect to cognitive processes, they may sometimes be able to report accurately about them. Accurate reports will occur when influential stimuli are salient and plausible causes of the responses they produce. Notes: * Social psychologists routinely ask subjects in their experiments why they behaved as they did (i.e., why did you choose that graduate school) * Mandler, Miller and Neisser proposed that people may have no direct access to higher order mental processes, such as used in evaluating judgment, problem solving and behavior * Problems with new anti-introspectivist view: (1) Mandler, Miller and Neisser never stated that people have no direct access to higher order mental processes. Instead, the speculation is not based on research on higher order processes, such as â€Å"thinking,† but rather research on more basic processes of perception and memory. There is no conscious awareness of perceptual and memorial processes. (2) People readily answer questions about the reasons for his behavior or evaluations. Subjects usually appear stumped when asked about perceptual or memorial processes, but are quite able to describe why they behaved in such a manner or why they dislike a person. The refore, it would appear like people have some introspective access to a memory or the process involved. (3) The anti-introspectivist view does not allow for the possibility that people are ever correct about their higher order mental processes (intuitively unlikely that such reports are ALWAYS inaccurate). * Much of the evidence that casts doubt on the ability of people to report on their cognitive processes comes from a consideration of what was not published in that literature. A review of the nonpublic research leads to three conclusions: (1) subjects frequently cannot report on the existence of the chief response that was produced by the manipulation (2) even if they can report the existence of the responses, they do not report that a change process (evaluational or attitudinal response underwent any alterations) occurred (3) subjects cannot correctly identify the stimuli that produced the response. * Insufficient justification or dissonance research states if the behavior is intrinsically undesirable will, when performed for inadequate extrinsic reasons, be seen as more attractive if done for adequate reasons. For example, if people have done something unpleasant without adequate justification, it becomes painful – therefore, people will revise his opinion about the behavior in order to avoid the psychic discomfort * Attribution theory – people strive to discover the causes of attitudinal, emotional and behavioral responses (their own and others) and the resulting casual attributions are a chief determinant of a host of additional attitudinal and behavioral effects. For example, if someone tells us that he likes a horror film, our acceptance of the opinion is based on our causal analysis of the persons’ reasons for the evaluation – does he like movies, does he normally like horror films, etc. Insufficient-justification studies and attribution studies where the subject makes inferences about himself have employed behavioral dependent variables. Two studies are discussed, one regarding painful electric shocks and the other with snake-phobic subjects. In the one with the electric shocks, patients were subject to shocks and asked to learn a task. Those with insufficient justification justified taking the shots, by deciding that they were not that painful, so their evaluation of the painfulness of the shots was lowered and their physiological and behavioral indicators reflected this indication. In the second study, subjects underwent the attribution paradigm in which snake-phobic subjects were exposed to slides of snakes and a second slide that stated â€Å"shock† in which they were electrically shocked. As a result, the subjects learned that they were frightened of the shock slide because of the electric shock that accompanied it, but not frightened of the snake slides and realized that they may not be as afraid of snakes as they thought. They were armed with a new self-attribution of snake fearlessness. * Verbal stimuli in the form of instructions from the experimenter can result in a changed evaluation of the relevant stimuli and an altered motivational state, which are reflected in subsequent physiological and behav ioral events. Stimuli => cognitive process => evaluative and motivational state change => behavior change * There is a problem with the assumption that the subject consciously decides how he feels about an object and this evaluation determines his behavior towards it. Typically, behavioral and physiological differences are obtained in the absence of verbally reported differences in evaluations or motive states. * Three generalizations made about the electric shock and snake-phobic studies are: * No significant verbal report differences were found at all. * The behavioral effects were in most cases stronger than the verbal report effects * The correlation between verbal report about motive state and behavioral measures of motive state was found to be zero. Negative/zero correlation are difficult to understand/interpret in terms of the cognitive process involved. * Results from studies confounded the assumption that conscious, verbal cognitive processes result in conscious, verbalizable changes in evaluations or motive states which then mediate changed behavior. * Author provides evidence that casts doubt on the studies that find differences in the verbal reports of experimental and control subjects. There is an important difference between awareness of the existence of an evaluation (does not imply true recognition of the process induced by insufficient justification and attribution manipulations – they are not aware that a change has taken place in consequence of such manipulations) and awareness of a changed evaluation or motive state. An experiment was done in which people had to write essays opposing their own views. Subjects who were coerced into writing essays showed no change in evaluation of the topic. Those who were given insufficient justification or manipulated shifted their evaluations in the direction of the position they originally opposed. However, those who were given insufficient justification or manipulation reported that their attitudes towards the subject were no different after the essay than they were one week prior-this suggests that they were unaware that the evaluation has changed. * Thought process – a study is described in which a control group was subjected to electric shocks while the experimental group was given a placebo pill that reportedly helped with the electric shocks. The experimental group was able to take more shock. After the study, 9 out of 12 subjects stated that the pill did not cause some physical effects and that they were only worried about the shock. * The explanations that subjects offer for their behavior in insufficient-justification and attribution experiments are so removed from the processes that investigators doubt there is direct access to higher level cognitive processes. * Results of insufficient justification experiments could never be obtained if subjects were aware of the critical role played by the social pressure from the experimenter. If subjects realized that their behavior was produced by this social pressure, they would not change their attitudes. If people were aware of position effects on their evaluations, they would attempt to overcome these effects or counteract the influence (i.e., see below about helping someone in distress with many people around – may be more willing to help someone knowing that naturally people are less likely to help others with more people around). * The theory that people can respond to a stimulus in the absence of the ability to verbally report on its existence is more widely accepted now than years before. The new acceptance is due to (1) methodological innovations in the form chiefly of signal detection techniques and dichotic listening procedures and (2) persuasive theoretical arguments in regards to deriving the subliminal perception phenomenon from the notion of selective attention and filtering. An experiment was done regarding playing tone sequences into an attended and unattended auditory channel while subjects tracked a human voice in the attended channel. Subjects reported hearing nothing at all in the unattended channel. Subjects were unable to discriminate new from old stimuli at a level exceeding change, but preferred tone sequences previously presented to the unattended channel over novel stimuli. The conclusion is that affective processes are triggered by information that is too weak to provide verbal recognition. * Many more stimuli are apprehended than can be stored in short-term or long-term memory. Subliminal perception (we perceive without perceiving) can be derived as a logical consequence of the principle of selective filtering. We can perceive without remembering. The subliminal perception hypothesis: some stimuli may affect ongoing mental processes, without being registered in short-term memory or long-term memory. It also suggests that people may sometimes be unable to report even the existence of influential stimuli and, as reported by creative people (see next bullet point), this may frequently be the case in problem-solving. * How creative people (artists, writers, mathematicians, scientists and philosophers) speak about the process of production and problem solving: they state they are the first to witness the fruits of a problem-solving process that is almost completely hidden from conscious view. For these people, the y have no idea what factors prompted the solution and the fact that a process is taking place is sometimes unknown to them prior to the point that a solution appears in consciousness. * People are increasingly less likely to help others in distress as the number of witnesses or bystanders increases. However, subjects always claim that their behavior was not influenced by other people around them. * The authors performed a series of small studies to fill in the gaps from the other studies, choosing cognitive processes that were used routinely with minimal deception. The results were not as expected: most of the stimuli the authors expected to influence subjects’ responses turned out to have no effect, and many of the stimuli that the authors expected to have no effect turned out to be influential. Subjects were virtually never accurate in their reports – if the stimulus component had a significant effect on responses, subjects typically reported that it was noninfluential. * Erroneous reports about stimuli influencing associative behavior: 81 students in introductory psychology were asked to memorize a list of words that may target them towards a response. When asked if the words memorized affected them, they stated distinctive features of the product (Tide is the b est known detergent) rather than the words leading them to say Tide. They also did an awareness ratio for the target words – the results were that for some of the target words the subjects reported no influence and for others many more subjects reported an influence than were probably influenced. * Erroneous reports about the influence of an individual’s personality on reactions to his physical characteristics: A study, known as the halo effect, showed that the manipulated warmth or coldness of an individual’s personality had a large effect on rating of the attractiveness of his appearance, speech and mannerisms. Many subjects actually insisted that their feelings about the individual’s appearance, etc. had influenced their liking of him/her. * The studies discussed do not suffice that people could never be accurate about the processes involved. The studies indicate that introspective access as may exist is not sufficient to produce accurate reports about the role of critical stimuli in response to questions asked a few min utes or seconds after the stimuli have been processed or response produced. People often make assertions about mental events to which they may have no access and these assertions may bear little resemblance to the actual events. * Evidence indicates it may be misleading for social scientists to ask their subjects about the influences on their evaluations, choices or behavior – those reports may have little value. Observers who read reports from experiments reported similarly to how subjects themselves predicted how they would react to the stimulus situation (e.g., other people around would not affect their behavior) – therefore, since their reports are similar, it is unnecessary to assume that observers are drawing on â€Å"a fount of privileged knowledge† when they make their predictions on how they would act. * A Priori Casual theories may have any of several origins: * The culture of subculture may have explicit rules stating the relationship between a particular stimulus and a particular response (I came to a stop because the light changed) * The culture of subculture may supply implicit theories about causal relations (one particular stimulus may â€Å"psychologically imply† a particular response) – Jim gave flowers to Amy so she’s acting nice today. * An individual may hold a particular causal theory on the basis of empirical observation of covariation between stimuli of the general type and responses of the general type (I’m groggy today – I always get grouchy when I don’t break 100 in golf). However, it has been found that powerful covariations may go undetected when the individual lacks a theory leading him to suspect covariation and, conversely, that the individual may perceive covariation where there is none if he has a theory leading him to expect it. * In absence of a culturally supplied rule, implicit causal theory or assumption about covariation, people may be able to generate causal hypotheses linking even novel stimuli and novel responses. If the stimulus is connotatively similar to the response, then it may be reported as having influenced the response. * The authors state that they are not implying that a priori causal theories are wrong – verbal reports relying on such theories will typically be wrong because they are incorrectly applied in the particular instance. * Therefore, when subjects were asked about their cognitive processes, they may have done something that felt like introspection, but was only merely a simple judgment of the extent to which input was a representative or plausible cause of output. It seems like people, when interrogated about cognitive processes, resort to a pool of culturally supplied explanations for behavior or search through a network of connotative relations until they find an explan ation. * Criterion for awareness: should not be equated with â€Å"correct verbal report† but, instead, â€Å"verbal report which exceeds in accuracy that obtained from observers provided with a general description of the stimulus and response in question.† * Accuracy and inaccuracy in verbal explanations: Tversky and Kahneman proposed that a chief determinant of judgments about the frequency and probability of events is the availability in memory of the events at the time of judgment. Events are judged as frequent in proportion to their availability, and their availability is determined by such factors as the strength of the network of verbal associations that spontaneously call the events to mind. The representativeness and availability heuristics are undoubtedly intertwine in the appraisal of cause and effect relations. If a particular stimulus is not available, then it will not be adduced in explanation of a given effect, even thought it might be highly representative or plausible once called to mind. A second circumstance that decreases accuracy in self-report is a separation in time between the report of the actual occurrence of the process. If asked immediately after the occurrence about a cognitive process, the subjects are leas t aware of the existence of the effective stimuli at this point although here may be no direct access to process. Subjects have some chance of accurately reporting that a particular stimulus was influential. At a later point, the existence of the stimulus may be forgotten or the vagaries of memory may invent factors that were not there, and there would be little chance it would be correctly identified as influential. * Reports will be accurate when influential stimuli are (1) available and (2) plausible causes of the response and when (3) few or no plausible but noninfluential factors are available (if a stranger hits you, you respond afterwards that you do not like the person) * There is some evidence that when even relatively minor steps are taken to disguise the connection between stimulus and response, subjects will fail to report such a connection. * In general, people will be accurate in reports about the causes of their behavior and evaluations wherever the culture, or a subculture, specifies clearly what stimuli should produce which responses, and especially where there is continuing feedback from the culture or subculture concerning the extent to which the individual is following the prescribed rules for input and output. * It seems likely that there are regularities concerning the conditions that give rise to introspective certainty about cognitive processes. Confidence should be high when the causal candidates are (1) few in number, (2) perceptually or memorially salient, (3) highly plausible causes of the given outcome (especially where the basis of plausibility is an explicitly cultural rule) and (4) where the causes have been observed to be associated with the outcome in the past. * Confusion between content and process: an important source of the authors’ belief in introspective awareness is undoubtedly related to the fact that people do have direct access to a great storehouse of private knowledge. People do have access to a host of personal historical facts, they know the focus of their attention at any given point in time and have knowledge concerning his emotions, evaluations and plans superior to that of observers. Therefore, it is less surprising that people would persist in believing that they have direct access to their own cognitive processes. The only mystery lies in why people are so poor at telling the difference between private facts that can be known with near certainty and mental processes to which there may be no access at all. We are also often capable of describing intermediate results (or intermediate output) of a series of mental operations in a way that promotes the feeling that we are describing the operations themselves. For example, one psychology professor may state that they envisioned monkeys swinging from trees, which lead to finding a cord-swinging solution – however, it is scarcely reasonable to propose that such imagery was the process by which the problem was solved. * The authors argued that perceived covariation between stimuli and responses is determined more by causal theories than by actual covariation. There are probably some cases where individuals have idiosyncratic reactions to a particular stimulus that only have knowledge of. For example, a person may believe that he generally loathes strangers who slap him on the back and this belief may make him superior to observers in explaining his feelings in such a situation – however, the authors believe this situation is rare. * Occasionally, noninfluential stimuli may be more vivid and available to the individual than to an outside observer and thus the observer might sometimes be more accurate by virtue of disregarding noninfluential stimuli. * Another reason for the writers belief in introspective awareness stems from lack of feedback. Disconfirmation of hypotheses about the workings of our minds is hard to come by. If an insomniac believes that he is unable to get to sleep because of the stress of his life situation, he will always be able to find evidence supporting this view. * Final belief to sustain the writers’ belief in direct introspective awareness is motivational. It is naturally preferable for us to believe that we have access to the workings of our own mind. Conclusions: * People often cannot report accurately on the effects of particular stimuli on higher order, inference-based responses. Indeed, sometimes they cannot report on the existence of critical stimuli, sometimes cannot report on the existence of their responses, and sometimes cannot e even report that an inferential process of any kind has occurred. The accuracy of subjective reports is so poor as to suggest that any introspective access that may exist is not sufficient to produce generally reliable reports. * When people report on the effects of stimuli, they may base their reports on implicit, a priori theories about the casual connection between stimulus and response instead of discussing a memory of the cognitive process that operated on the stimuli. If the stimulus psychologically implies the response in some way or seems â€Å"representative† of the types of stimuli that influence the response, the stimulus is reported to have influenced the response. If the stimulus does not seem to be a plausible cause of the response, it is reported to be noninfluential. * Sometimes subjective reports about higher mental processes are correct, but these instances are not due to direct introspective awareness. Rather, they are due to the incdentially correct employment of a priori causal theories.