The Global Fast-Food Industry

Colonel Harland Sanders signed up his first franchise in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1952. In 1956 he sold the Corbin, Ky. restaurant he owned, and began traveling across the United States to sell new franchises. Later that year he sold his first international franchise in Canada. By 1960 there were more than 200 Colonel Sanders Recipe Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) outlets. In 1963 revenues were over $500 million and the number of outlets had increased to over 300. In 1974 at the age of 74, he sold the business to Jack Massey and John Brown for $2 million, one of the great bargains in business history. The Colonel stayed on with the company in a ceremonial role, often helping to open new franchises. Brown and Massey grew the business throughout the United States over the next several years and in 1966 took the company public, listing it on the New York Stock Exchange and the Colonel was allowed to purchase the first 100 shares. The year 1969 was a crucial one in the history of the company with the first major penetration into international markets outside North America by acquiring franchises in England and Japan. By 1971, there were more than 2400 franchises and 600 company-owned restaurants spread throughout the United States and 47 other countries. 1971 became another key year in company history with the sale of KFC to Heublein. This was Heublein†s first significant entry into the restaurant business and it did not go smoothly. By 1977 restaurant quality had declined and the Colonel was upset. Only about 20 new restaurants were being opened per year. In response, Heublein implemented a new strategy emphasizing clean restaurants, product consistency across franchises and better service. Old franchise buildings were remodeled. In 1982 R. J. Reynolds Inc. (RJR), in an attempt to diversify beyond the tobacco business, acquired Heublein for $1.2 billion. KFC was profitable and growing again, but Colonel Sanders never saw the end result of Heublein†s strategy in the late 1970†³s, because he died in 1980. RJR continued to run KFC as an autonomous business for several years. In 1985 it acquired Nabisco and in 1986, in preparation for the subsequent move to take RJR Nabisco private, it sold KFC to PepsiCo Inc. for $840 million, over the objections of former Heublein chairman, Stuart Watson. Also this year the Colonel Sanders Technical Center in Louisville, Kentucky was established. The acquisition by PepsiCo was a significant turning point in the company†s history. In previous acquisitions by Heublein and RJR, KFC had been operated as a separate entity, although in different ways. Heublein tried to use its own managers to operate KFC, while RJR adopted a completely hands off approach. PepsiCo was looking to the acquisition of KFC to create some synergy within its other operations. Recently restructured into three major divisions, soft drink, snack foods and restaurants, PepsiCo could cross-pollinate between divisions, for instance by selling its soft drinks in restaurants. PepsiCo†s culture was also much different than KFC. PepsiCo placed a strong emphasis on employee performance, while KFC†s culture was more laid-back in the southern tradition. In 1991 a change was made that was to have unintended consequences. Kentucky Fried Chicken decided to change their name to KFC for several reasons, according to the web site Snopes.com, A move to de-emphasize â€Å"chicken† because KFC planned to offer a varied menu that included other types of food. (The Boston Chicken corporation took the same approach for the same reason, changing their name of their retail food outlets to Boston Market.) A desire to eliminate the word â€Å"fried,† which has negative connotations to the increasingly health-conscious consumer market. A recent trend towards the abbreviation of long commercial titles, as demonstrated by other companies' employing shortened forms of their names, such as The International House of Pancakes (IHOP) and Howard Johnson's (HoJo). As a result of this name change, rumors later began circulating throughout the internet that the government had forced KFC to change its name because it was no longer using chickens. According to the rumor, KFC was producing a genetically altered chicken with more than the normal amount of appendages. In spite of the fact that some of these claims, such as chickens without beaks, feathers or feet, are beyond scientific capabilities, the rumors have persisted. Over the next several years, KFC continued to prosper and undergo changes. It refocused its strategy to increase the traffic in individual franchises by expanding the menu to appeal to a larger group of consumers. In 1993 the company added non-fried chicken to menus in the U.S. and Australia, and in 1994 KFC officially opened its 9,000th restaurant in the world, in Shanghai, China, and announced a $200 million investment over the next four years for 200 restaurants in 48 Chinese cities. 1995 saw the introduction of Colonel's Crispy Strips and Chunky Chicken Pot Pie. The first KFC restaurant in Moscow was opened. In 1996 KFC introduced Tender Roast chicken pieces and brought back one of the world's most recognized packages, the bucket, and in 1997 the company introduced Honey BBQ-flavored Tender Roast, Spicy Buffalo Crispy Strips and Chicken Twister, which are wrapped up chicken and vegetables. In spite of all these innovations and improvements, PepsiCo had become increasingly unhappy with the restaurant division. Aging facilities were requiring much of the parent company†s revenue to be spent on remodeling restaurants and thereby neglecting investment in the soft drink and snack food businesses. In an attempt to return to its roots, PepsiCo spun off the entire restaurant division into a publicly traded company, Tricon Global Restaurants in October 1997. In May 2002, with the acquisition of A&W and Long John Silver's, Tricon changed its name to Yum!. One of the main strategic issues presented in this case is the question of whether or not KFC should continue to expand globally and where. Since the early days of its inception, KFC has been involved outside the United States, having expanded to Canada in 1956 and then in a major move in 1969, to Japan and England. As of 2000, of the thirty-five largest fast-food chains, KFC was second only to McDonalds in the number countries penetrated. It is an arena where KFC has had enormous success and should continue to be involved. As of 2001 KFC had more than 500 outlets in China compared to only about 400 for McDonald†s. KFC beat McDonald†s to China by five years, opening their first outlet in Beijing in 1987. Market surveys in China by AC Nielson have indicated a preference for KFC over McDonald†s, both in terms of products and the outlets themselves. In addition, the Chinese have cultural bias in favor of chicken over beef. This is certainly an area where KFC should continue to exploit its advantage. Latin America is another global area where KFC has a strong presence. In the Central American, Caribbean and Mexican area, KFC is very competitive with McDonald†s and Burger King in terms of number of outlets. It has a particularly strong presence in Mexico and the Caribbean. Only in the Southern part of Latin America does KFC fall sharply behind McDonald†s. With the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) the environment has changed in Mexico. A helpful factor is that one of KFC†s major suppliers, Tyson Foods, has major chicken facilities in Mexico. The political environment has changed with the election of Vicente Fox. KFC†s already strong presence should be expanded aggressively. They should also use this base in Mexico as a means of investing capital to further expand the franchise base throughout South America, in order to negate a first-mover advantage by McDonald†s and Wendy†s. Franchise outlets require less capital than company-owned restaurants, and are thus a quicker way in which to expand. Anther strategic issue facing KFC is the decision to franchise or expand by company-owned restaurants and whether to refranchise. The original strategy of Colonel Sanders and his immediate successors was to franchise and not build company-owned restaurants. This allowed them to grow quicker than they would have if KFC had primarily invested in company-owned restaurants. This strategy continued until the purchase of KFC by PepsiCo. Because of a clash in corporate culture between KFC and PepsiCo, and the presence of a strong franchisee group within KFC, PepsiCo embarked on a strategy of repurchasing weaker franchises and running them. At the time of the spin-off of KFC and the restaurant division into Tricon Restaurant Group in 1994, the percentage of company-owned restaurants was about 40%. After the spin-off, Tricon management began to divest of many of the company-owned outlets. This was the result of a change in attitude on the part of Tricon management. They did not believe in absolute control of all aspects of the local business and were willing to admit that the franchisees knew the local business better than they did. By the year 2000, the number of company-owned outlets had dropped to 27%. As shown in the SWOT analysis below, there are a number of factors in the external environment that KFC should consider when formulating and implementing strategies. Some of the more important aspects are brand name awareness, global market expansion, shrinking resources available to outlets and attacks by activist groups such as PETA. On the positive side, the brand name awareness is a tremendous asset for KFC. The move in 1996 to bring back the bucket was one of the best decisions in its history. Likewise, global market expansion presents an enormous opportunity to KFC to grow. They should build on their existing international base and continue to grow franchises. On the negative side, KFC, along with other fast-food companies, is facing a shrinking of the available potential outlet locations. The proliferation of fast-food outlets in this country has absorbed many of the prime locations. This is another reason to justify continued overseas expansion, where many prime spots remain. Just as potential locations have dwindled, so too has the labor pool. In spite of increased unemployment since 2000, there is still a problem attracting workers in the eighteen to twenty-four year old range. An interesting aspect of the external environment that has negatively impacted KFC has been the virulent attacks on KFC by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other similar groups. A number of celebrities have joined the campaign against KFC, which is focused on trying to force them to change the process of defeathering chickens. KFC has consistently refused to meet with the animal rights group for years, but because of concerns of losing market share in the inner city, has recently attempted to mediate this dispute through the offices of hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and the Reverend Al Sharpton. Examining the list of top fifty U.S. fast-food restaurants for those sectors and companies that might be good investments we observe several companies that have a dominant position in their section. McDonald†s has a 35% market share among sandwich chains, Pizza Hut has a 44% share among pizza chains, KFC a 55% share among chicken chains, Golden Corral a 32% share among grill buffet chains and Dunkin† Donuts a 43% share among non-dinner concepts. Each of these companies would seem to be a good investment over the near term because of that dominant position in their sectors. In addition, financial data available for these companies confirm that the reason each is dominant in their sector is because they consistently produce above average financial returns. KFC continues to have a bright outlook for the future. It is well-positioned both domestically and international for continued growth. While it is unlikely ever to overtake McDonald†s, either in the domestic or overseas market, it is dominant in certain countries such as China and Mexico, and should be able to leverage this advantage to fend off other competitors, like Wendy†s and Burger King. Over the next five years look for KFC to have a strong number two position in the industry, particularly if it can address the problems with activist groups.

The requisite of a good research in making a good paper

In doing this paper, I found the researching more grueling. It is definitely not easy to find out more about the history of Dublin and how they were subjugated by the Britain force. That history is abounding with details that need not only an understanding from the surface. I also had to establish the correlation between these historical facts and the literatures of James Joyce which he wrote to reflect these facts. Meticulous research on James Joyce, his biography and his works, were also needed.I needed that to see the personal context where Joyce was coming from in doing Dubliners, the book which I chose to use in this paper. The difficulty of research is certainly coming from the fact that I have to inform myself with various details which I had to put under a careful interpretation. This interpretation needs to be done to see exactly how literature asserts its presence in the material world where separate events maintained by different groups of people also exist.Once I have col lated the details I gathered, all that is left for me to do is to streamline and organize these details and see the corpus of information I currently have. From there, I already did my outline which finally gave direction to the paper I wrote. Writing the actual paper is not really hard since I am already equipped with a good amount of information which I have already organized.Once I begun facing the computer monitor, the words I needed instantly come into light and I suddenly found myself done with the paper. In conclusion, doing the research is much harder since this is the first step in doing a well-informed paper. This part of the writing process will determine the information that will be included in the final paper. Definitely, a good paper selects the information it will share and a scrupulous research is needed to refine this selection of information.

PHILOSOPHY QUESTIONS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

PHILOSOPHY QUESTIONS - Essay Example Furthermore, it is immoral for a society to condemn behavior in individuals that does not harm society or other individuals. 2. Find differences between individuality and the uniform type of personality. What conditions are necessary to develop individuality? Individuality depends on freedom, particularly of expression. (Mill 193) Mill also promotes eccentricity in one’s habits and states that in doing so, one will create his life to suit himself and thus promote eccentric, but useful, habits to gain status as customs of society. Uniform types of personality, he says, are the result of constriction of this natural form of self-expression and result in stifled ways of thinking. 3. What is the relationship between individuality, diversity, originality, development, and freedom? Mill states that â€Å"The power of compelling others†¦.is not only inconsistent with the freedom and development of all the rest, but corrupting to the strong man himself.† (Mill 202). In other words, personal freedom and a disinclination to impose one’s will on others develops originality and individuality. 4. How does Mill define liberty? How does he perceive human happiness? Mill closely defines human happiness as â€Å"†Pleasure and the absence of pain,† (Mill 99) and is in the essence of his definition of what Utilitarianism is; the pursuit of happiness by mankind as a whole. He states, â€Å"Human beings have faculties more elevated than the animal appetites.† (Mill 100) and that because of these â€Å"higher faculties† humans find pleasure—and thus, happiness—in the fine arts, especially. Liberty is in the freedom to choose what manner of lifestyle will promote this happiness in the individual, ideally promoting happiness in others, at the same time, but not necessarily. The only form of personal liberty he finds unacceptable is that which infringes on another’s liberty. 5. What is virtue by Mill? What is the function of reason and emotions in

Critique on Movie The Last King of Scotland Review

Critique on The Last King of Scotland - Movie Review Example For most, the journey is hopeless; there is no where to hide or destination to run to in Uganda. It is through characterization, plot, and themes that viewers are lead and eventually dragged violently into the deprived paranoid world of General Idi Amin. There are three profound characters: General Idi Amin, Nicholas Garrigan, and Kay Amin. Forest Whitaker's betrayal of Idi Amin starts to build the psychological drama with the introduction of General Idi Amin. Whitaker the actor is a presence at 6 feet, and, in his portrayal of the dictator, closely resembled him. He has a film history of playing powerful big men. As an actor Whitaker has charisma on screen. The film viewers want to trust and feel safe with him. This adds to the believability of the character, because General Idi Amin is also very charismatic. The magnetic connection that Nicholas Garrigan has to General Idi Amin is compelling. The actor James McAvoy is a compliment to Whitaker's character. He has the power to evoke curiosity, frailty, strength, and manliness in his characters. He showed this same talent when portraying Mr. Tumnus in the screen version of the Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The combination of the larger than life Whitake r and the frail but manly McAvoy opens the movie with undeniable and effective chemistry.The young Scottish doctor although accomplished academically is very idealist and care free. He shows little forward knowledge of the consequences of his actions. This is a sharp contrast to General Idi Amin who examines, judges, and harshly punishes the action of everyone around him. Nicholas Garrigan came to Uganda to escape from what he views as a boring life. He has the same outlook as young men joining the Army with the promise of adventures and the opportunity to seek a new land vastly different from their home. Like General Idi Amin, he insensitively toys with others. He is womanizer. Nicholas Garrison is enthralled and seductively enticed by the benefits of being in General Idi Amin's inner circle. He has no idea of the consequences or power being a personal physician to a dictator brings. The relationship in the beginning is one of infatuation between General Idi Amin and Nicholas Garrison. General Idi Amin admires the young doctor, because he is Scottish and decisive. He is bold enough without permission to use General Idi Amin's gun to shoot a cow. Again Nicholas Garrigan shows his blindness from consequences of his actions. It is through the plot of the movie that both characters of General Idi Amin and Nicholas Garrigan evolve to where the General's character is fully revealed to Garrigan. He wakes up one day to realize that he loves a monster and has been part of his ghoulish dealings. Garrigan finally realizes that consequences can be deadly. Kay Amin's role is the anchor in the plot. She forces Garrigan to acknowledge the horror that he has created in Uganda, and his role in it. Her relationship, death, and wrongly stitched together body put on public display shocks Garrison. It forces him to conspire with the British. Kay Amin, portrayed by Kerry Washington, catalyst Nicholas Garrigan's epiphany. Without her death, Nicholas could not have understood and felt the full horror or General Idi Amin. Although General

Marketing strategy of adidas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Marketing strategy of adidas - Essay Example Adidas is guided by the three principles which were laid down by the founder, Adi Dassler – to aim for the production of the best possible foot wear to serve the requirement of sports, to aim for the protection of the athlete from any possible injury and produce a durable product (Step back in time, n.d.). They company operates out of Europe, Asia, Latin America and North America through a network comprising of more than 170 subsidiaries. The organisation is headquartered at Herzogenaurach, Germany, employing over 31,344 people worldwide (Adidas AG - Financial and Strategic Analysis Review, 2009). The journey for the company began in 1920, when Adi Dassler, with the aid of two shoemakers, produced homemade leather training shoes. A major milestone was achieved, resulting in superb promotion for the company, in 1932, when Arthur Jonath, a German athlete, won a bronze medal in the 1932 Olympics using shoes produced by the company. The company was on its upward spiral and soon the revenues of the company crossed 400,000 Reich mark in 1935. Sportsperson from 120nations used Adidas products in the Seoul Olympics in 1988. The company has seen many highs and undergone major structural changes in the way it has approached the market place. It has been quick to realize that marketing and customer orientation have become vital on the part of a modern company. The company has changed its entire outlook – which resulted in the creation of the three divisions - adidas Sport Performance, adidas Sport Heritage and adidas Sport Style from the existing Footwear and Clothing/Accessories . The company also decided to give its customers to option of customising the products they wanted to buy according to their own specifications – a business model which is now replicated all over the market space. The company went ahead with its aggressive marketing campaign and adopted a new tagline in 2003 -

The Negatives involved in the Afordable Care Act Essay

The Negatives involved in the Afordable Care Act - Essay Example Still in the same front of Affordable Care Act, many Americans tend to lose their previous health insurance which also leads to increase their premiums for individual coverage (Health literacy implications of the affordable care act, 2010). In addition, to further adverse impacts generated by Obama health act is that business expansion became difficult due to employees working hours cut down. This is immensely contributed by employers are liable to provide health insurance to their employees this leading to reduce big business with permanent employees to small business with fewer permanent employees and others being part time employees (Health literacy implications of the affordable care act, 2010). According wall street journal the insurance plan under Obamacare has sternly limited residence of America, fewer options in regards to the preferred doctors and medical care. Obamacare tend to pay doctors a lot than any sort of coverage hence causing to multifarious tribulations with this scheme which is leading to rise in costs of the health care for every individual to afford (Health literacy implications of the affordable care act,

Nielsen MyBestSegments Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Nielsen MyBestSegments - Assignment Example The evaluation of the segmentation using PRIZM indicates that Manhattan is an Urban City with midscale earners where the age range is above sixty five years. The median household earning ranges from $52,000 to $53,000. The city has a household range of 1,059,000-1,060,000 with majority shopping done at Lord and Taylor. There are mixed races but whites make majority of the population. The Asians are the second largest group while Blacks and Hispanics trail behind the two major groups. The majority of the couples in the Blacks and Whites households have children while the Hispanics and other races have a higher number of families without children (Segmentationsolutions.nielsen.com). The evaluation of the household income range provides different values of income range for different households (Segmentationsolutions.nielsen.com). The results acquired from the graphical representation of populations of different age groups. The ease with which the houses are affordable with abundant work opportunities has caused an increase in the number of â€Å"The Booming Town Singles. There are no children in the majority of the household and there is mixed race home ownership. The individuals in the â€Å"Home Sweet Home† are below the age of 55 and it has a majority of married couples living without children in their home owned houses. The city has more learned individuals. The â€Å"New Beginners† in the city are mostly young and unmarried who are doing well professionally. The majority are whites with the rest of other races making the other half. The individuals in this category, below the age of 55, have more modest lifestyles with majority living in rented apartments. The â€Å"Suburban Sprawl† has a collection of individuals from a variation of groups who are living luxurious lifestyles. The majority are home owners hailing from different races. The individuals

PRINCE2 Scenario 1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

PRINCE2 Scenario 1 - Essay Example n would help in tracking processes, generating exception reports in case of failures, taking corrective actions for corresponding sub-processes and rendering appropriate feedback to authors. Proper format would also help in logging in explanations for different sub-processes, understanding the relationships between them and thereby determine what inputs and outputs each process require. 6 The Department of Education and Training (DET) is one of the largest departments of Queensland Government. Prime objective of this department is to enrich the life of the people of Queensland by involving them in a lifelong learning process by the means of education and training. The department wants to be the renowned among the Queenslanders as the prime service provider. The department also wishes to provide more advanced and attractive service to the people and want to become the first point of contact of students, parents, jobseekers, employers and community support organizations. The Department of Education and Training, in order to achieve all above mentioned objectives, has selected online media to introduce all its services and to provide all required information to the people of Queensland. The main objective of choosing online media is department want to provide an integrated view of all its activities and priorities to the internet clients. Currently the department’s websites provide all the information regarding the old Department of Employment and Training. Presently there are two websites of the department. These are http://web.archive.org/web/20020926093202/http://www.det.qld.gov.au/ and http://web.archive.org/web/20021122174416/http://www.tafe.net/. In order to modify and change this web presence department has decided to invest a lot in technology, with the objective of improving the usability, functionality of the websites. A project board has been established; where the practice manager of the department named Jason Kennelly is the executive. Department

Environmental Economics Essay Example for Free

Environmental Economics Essay Agriculture has an instrumental role and close association in preservation and conservation of the environment and economic development. It promotes environment diversity and enhances the creation of artificial habitats. The green biomass that covers many fields forms a basis of aesthetic to the human emotions. Intensified uses of chemical in agricultural production threaten the above benefits that arise from agricultural fields. In the recent past, a growing concern has been raised with regard to the negative impact arising from agricultural related activities and policies. Legalization of substances such as pesticide and fertilizer enhance negative consequences on the environment. They contain toxic elements thus causes pollution of surface water and underground water, drainage of wetlands, air pollutions and loss of diverse life forms and habitats. Settlement scheme in implemented on fragile lands such swamps, disturbances the ecological balance in the area. Environmental issues can be resolve by promoting organic agriculture, establishing relevant institutions, formulation of legislation and policies. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members agreed that reforms should, to the extent possible, simultaneously enable progress to be made on trade liberation and environment. They also agreed to uphold the need to integrate agricultural development with environmental issues. (OECD 1993, p, 24-50) The focus of this study is therefore to examine the risk of inorganic agriculture against organic agriculture on the environment and thereafter formulate alternative strategies to foster sustainability. Environmental issues are diverse and multi-disciplinary in nature since they cut across all sectors of the economy and cultures. Unsustainable agriculture and increase in populations in the world modifies environmental issues. Population increase exerts high pressure on the economic processes to stretch, in most cases beyond the natural sustainable limit, to accommodate the excess demand (Sandler, Todd. 1997, p, 34-73) In response, the world has embarked on intensified adoption to scientific invention and advancement in technological development to improve production. Organic means of production are therefore considered redundant and barbaric in favor of inorganic agriculture. Unsustainable means of production, consequently, have widened and continue to widen environmental global challenges that threaten to cripple and suffocate the world’s economy. Studies have shown that increased use of chemical, such as pesticides and fertilizers for production in farming activities perpetuates the environmental global challenges. This puts the future livelihood for mankind at a stake and uncertain. It is therefore important to examine environmental challenges attached to intensive use of chemical for agricultural production and thereafter provide an alternative strategy to enhance sustainability. (Dutch Committee, 1994, p, 30-50) Intensified use of chemical for production is largely attributed to agricultural and industrial revolution. Population has also influenced the need to use chemicals to increase food production to meet the ever growing world demand for food. Initially, the above means of agricultural production were common in Europe and Asian continent. Abject poverty in the world has created great desire and demand for technological innovation to increase food production. Globalization and scientific advancement has therefore provided a solution to the world food demand problem. However, the solution comes with a bundle of side effects. Technological and scientific information transfer, particularly, to African countries, where poverty is obsolete and unsustainable (Andersons, L. and Bruce, Yundle, 2001, p, 50-200) Over the last three decades there has been an increasing global use of chemicals for agricultural production. Traditionally, production was based on organic means thus less environmental concerns. Merchandised agriculture has raised the public concern over the nature of the problems that arises from agricultural production. These problems are diverse and wholly attributed to environmental pollution caused by intensified use of pesticide and fertilizers. (Uri, Noel, 1999, p, 23-123) The problems are aggravated by improper management of agricultural chemicals thereby causing serious environmental issues. These pose a great problem to the survival and well-being of humanity, particularly those living in developing world. This is because fertilizers and pesticides are agent of pollution to water bodies, food sources, land, air and vegetation. The development of agriculture production through specialization and intensification of land use in recent decades has given rise to a wide range of environmental effects, both within the agricultural industry itself and increasingly, externally to it. The recognition and understanding of these consequences of modern high technology agriculture developed in the 1970s and during the 1980s progress was made in addressing these impacts. Some problems still remain however and will be of increasing importance. (OCED, p, 177) The use of chemicals for agricultural production therefore will continue to compromise the environmental sustainability. The World Health Organization estimates that about a quarter of the diseases facing mankind today occur due to prolonged exposure to environmental pollution. Most of these environmental related diseases are however, not easily detected and may be acquired during childhood and manifest later in adulthood. The indiscriminate and excessive use of agrochemicals for crop protection represents by far the greatest threat to human health, to the genetic stock of the population and to sustain agriculture and environment. At a United Nations seminar in Nairobi Kenya in 1984, it was reported that almost 370,000 people suffer from pesticide poisoning and about 10,000annually die due to poisoning. Recently, the World Health Organization estimated 500,000 fatalities due to pesticide poisoning in developing world. This WHO’s report further claims that another 400,000 cases of poisoning were due to pesticide handling and usage. (Mervyns, p, 12) From the quotation above, it is clear that the impacts of agrochemical increases with time and magnitude. This kind of trend is unsustainable and therefore threatens the future of humanity. The impact of pesticide and fertilizer on human health is crucial and therefore should never be under-estimated. The traces of these chemical causes inhalation problems. Accumulation of the elements in the body system affects the free circulation of blood in the body. Biodiversity forms a basis upon which the world’s beauty, emotional fulfillment and aesthetic appeal are based. Agriculture spices up the aesthetic-array of the world. It also creates artificial habitats that shelter migratory organisms such as birds, insects and animals. It therefore follows that agricultural production is a gene bank for scientific development. Intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers puts the existence of nature in it natural form at stake. This is because chemicals kill organisms that perpetuate natural fertilization processes thereby hindering the natural form of nature stabilization. Chemical enhances the process of mutation. This leads to evolution of hybridized species of pests which are resistant to natural mean of pest control and at times even resistant to pesticides. Loss of biodiversity as a result of chemical use in agricultural production is therefore eminent. It has been reported that, â€Å"The first sub lethal effect of a pesticide on a bird was probably the eggshell thinning phenomena first described by Ratcliff. DDE, the stable metabolite of DDE is reported to be the cause of eggshell thinning and consequent decline in the breeding success of birds of prey. † (Mervyns, p, 78) Equity is a controversial aspect of resource distribution in the world. The gap between the rich and the poor is quite disheartening. Economic processes and advancement also work towards widening the gap. Commercialization of agriculture with intensive use of chemicals, poses environmental degradation. This consequently deprives the land of its ability to naturally produce food thereby lowering its production yield. The poor depend totally on the environment for their livelihood. Inorganic agriculture is a world’s strategy to check the gap between the poor and the rich. It is widely believe that many people in the world sleep without food for many days. Increased food production, will therefore help to resolve one of the greatest challenges that is threatening to tear the earth a part. However, inorganic farming has failed to bridge the gap between the poor and the rich. The efficiency of using chemicals to increase food production is questionable. Traditional means of production were more manual, labor intensive and time consuming with minimum negative impacts to the environment. Current means of agricultural production are merchandized and more efficient as compared with the traditional methods. However, with regard to the environmental challenges, the efficiency of inorganic production to address the abject poverty in the world is low. Ecology is defined as the domestic site of organism, knowledge and the sum of the relation of the surrounding world. It is a self sustaining environment. Ecology is always sensitive to changes. Introduction of foreign substances such as traces of pesticides and fertilizer modify the ecological characteristic and identity. Nutrients like nitrate and phosphate are normally washed down into water bodies when it rains. This initiates the process of eutrophication. Eutrophication is a process whereby the water experiences enrichment with nutrients of nitrate and phosphate. Consequently water lilies, phytoplasm and algae blooms to experience luxuriant growth. This phenomenon has negative impacts on the functions of the water body. In the first place, Algae bloom forms a green like layer on top of the water thereby hindering penetration of light to the water body. Due to high accumulation of substance in the water, decaying process increases. This causes a biological oxygen demand which leads to suffocation of aquatic lives in the water body. Bad smell arises from the water body as a result of decaying processes. The value of water for domestic use therefore reduces.

Death of a Salesman - Discuss the Importance of Dreams in the Play Essay Example for Free

Death of a Salesman Discuss the Importance of Dreams in the Play Essay The American Dream is strongly linked to a consumer culture and capitalism, and this is the main theme of the play. Dreams are the main structure of the play. Dreams can be many things; they can be divided into two types. They can be your hopes and ambitions, fantasies, hallucinations, and can also the dreams in your subconscious mind whilst you are asleep. The American Dream is what Willy bases his life on. The only way for him is up. Dreams seem to motivate the characters actions, they express and explain their past and present behaviour. The American Dream is the most important part in A Death of a Salesman. Willy strives to achieve for himself and his sons, Biff and Happy, to be rich and successful having money to pay off all the bills and not being in debt is the ideal. The American Dream is literally having the best of everything, owning your own car and land, being popular and having the opportunity and qualifications to be successful. All the way through the play Willy strives for The American Dream. He idolizes two people. His name was Dave Singleman. And he was eighty-four years oldAnd old Dave, hed go up to his room, yunderstand, put on his green velvet slippers-Ill never forget-and pick up his phone and call the buyers, and without leaving his room at eighty-four he, made his living. The other is his elder brother Ben who had found wealth colourfully, romantically, by walking into the jungle and discovering diamonds. To Willy therefore success means two things being rich and being popular. Willy strives to the point of obsession to achieve this end. This obsession of The American Dream pressurises Willy to bring up his sons to think the same and like a tree, the branches representing his sons reach up towards this dream and the subsequent pressure it puts on them. Biff begins to doubt The American Dream when he says its me, Im a bum and Im one dollar an hour. Biff realizes that life is not always happy and sometimes you just have to settle with what you have got. Willy still thinks Biff will actually achieve all the aspects of his dream. Biff tries to tell him Pop! Im a dime a dozen and so are you! Willy responds Im not a dime a dozen I am Willy Loman, and you are Biff Loman! Willy will not accept this and tries to shut and block out what Biff is saying. He cannot work out that there are an exceptional few that achieve the The American Dream. Happy is totally absorbed in his fathers dream, and tries to believe that he will achieve it. Happy tells Biff that he cannot be promoted. All I can do now is wait for the merchandise manager to die. He does not appear to be working for promotion and is stuck in a dead end job. The author uses Bernard, Charleys son as a story contrast to the two Loman brothers. Willy refers to him as an aneamic and says although he gets the best marks at school he is not as popular and does not have the personality of Biff and Happy. But the complete opposite happens when they finish school and get into the big wide world. Bernard becomes part of the Supreme Court. Oh, just a case I got there, Willy. Bernard was a hard working school pupil who seemed to have achieved the dream and also got married and had two children. This proves that popularity and a likeable character is not enough for the American Dream. Both Biff and Happy have many hopes and dreams dominated by their father Willy. Biff tries to fulfill his fathers dreams in the beginning. Well, I spent six or seven years after high-school trying to work myself up. Shopping clerk, salesman, business of one kind or the another. This repeats the theme of the play that one cannot live by anothers dream. What the hell am I doing, playing around with horses, twenty-eight dollars a weekAnd now, I get here, and I dont know what to do with myself. Biff is so confused with life because he was brought up to believe that he should be manager of a big company and will always be rich and successful. He seems to like his job in the open space but thinks that he should be earning more money than he is. Happy is like his brother Biff, lost but in a different way. He is thirty-two and is totally absorbed in his fathers dreams and ambitions. Happy continually boasts about his sex life. About five-hundred women would like to know what was said in this room. he tells Biff. Happys dreams are like his bosses. He should be able to build a large estate and then sell it two months after, because he doesnt like it and then start to build another. The two boys hopes and dreams come from their father. They were brought up to want the very best and are force-fed the wrong hopes and ambitions from childhood. The hopes and dreams that the Loman family have, have affected their lives in many different ways. Biff tries to live up to his fathers expectations but seems to realize that he cannot live other hopes. Happy is the only person with a steady job. Even though he is achieving one part of The American Dream he is lonely and keeps telling Linda and Willy Am gonna get married Pop. He is not content because he still wants everything beyond what his job can provide. He seems to still be absorbed in his father dreams. Willy is all talk and never achieves anything. He blames people for his downfalls in life. The only way he thinks he will resolve all of his problems in life is to commit suicide. Hopes and ambitions are extremely important for the people in the play as they are always striving for success. At the end of the play Biff says at Willys funeral He had the wrong dreams. All, all, wrong. Willy needed to accept that he could not live his dreams and had to settle with what he had and make the best of the situation. Willys memories affect the main structure of the play. There are many types of stagecraft to show the difference between the past and present. Lighting is used in the way that in the present times the stage is very dull and gloomy showing misery and unhappiness. The stage is shown as bright and lively at the points of Willys daydreams and hallucinations of the past. Sounds depend on the mood of the occasion, faint and lifeless sounds seem to be in the background when the play is in the present. The tone of the music changes when Willy goes into the past, it appears chirpy and happy. Clouting plays an important role. The clothing also depended on the mood of the character the colours of the dress indicates what temperament they were in. Willy seems to always be in the past, this is because he feels its a refuge from the life that he is really living in and all the problems in it. The flashbacks Willy gets are all describing what happened in the past and show how the other characters were. I got it, Pop. And remember, pal, when I take of my helmet, that touchdown is for you. Biff tries to impress his father; this shows that Biff was always the centre of his life at this time. These flashbacks show the sides of the characters in the play that we have not seen before. The flashbacks also show the way Willy has brought up his two sons. Willy brings Biff and Happy up in the hope that they will fulfil The American Dream, that popularity and good personalities will get them good jobs. This affects them in later life because they still believe that this doctrine will get those good jobs but it can not. Happy depends on the death of others higher ranked than him for promotion rather than his own skills. The past events are never shown as they actually happened, they are shown the way Willy interprets them. Willy seems to distort the event when Biff finds Willy and The Woman in the bedroom in Brooklyn. He does this to try and block out the bad thoughts, and create a past he can hide in from others. Dreams are so important in the play because they seem to link everything together The American Dream, Hopes and Ambitions and Daydreams, Fantasies and Memories. Throughout this play, Miller is saying to the audience that our society, promotes things to strive for that are way beyond the reaches of that person. Peer pressure is mainly what drives us to want more and the best of everything, getting into debt. Miller says that the characters in the play are affected by the dream, The American Dream. Although the play was written over fifty years ago in 1949, it still has relevance today. In the 1950s, capitalism was taking hold after the Second World War; today commercialism still has a powerful hold in the Western worlds culture. I think Miller is telling us to live our lives according to our own dreams and not others.

Value Chain Process Of Rak Ceramics Commerce Essay

Value Chain Process Of Rak Ceramics Commerce Essay This is an assigned project of the course Business Strategy the aim of which is to enable us to learn about the overall value chain process of an organization. RAK ceramics is fully backward and forward integrated. This study is providing us with valuable practical knowledge about business strategy in respect to the value chain activities of RAK Ceramics as it is the market leader in ceramic business in Bangladesh at present. Reason for choosing RAK Ceramics: The reason for choosing RAK Ceramics is to learn about value chain process of RAK ceramics which can give us a practical overview of the whole value chain process. Objective of the report: The main objective of the report is described below: An over view on RAK Ceramics Overall value chain process of RAK Ceramics Primary activities of RAK Ceramics (like starts from supply chain management to delivering products to the end user) Support activities of RAK Ceramics( like RD, general administration and human resource management) Scope: The report only focuses on RAK ceramics tiles production Limitation: The limitations are given below: Information unavailability due to confidentiality Inconsistent information Methodology: The research methodology is given as followed: Primary Data: Primary data is collected by visiting RAK ceramics production plant, interviewing office personnel. Secondary Data: Secondary data is collected by visiting relevant websites and published journals. Company overview: RAK ceramics UAE: RAK a global ceramic multinational is in the Ras Al Khaimah. It is a public shareholding company with H.H. Sheikh Saud Bin Saqr Al Qassimi. He is the Crown Prince Deputy Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah as the Chairman and Dr. Khater Massaad as the Chief Executive Officer. It has worldwide sales of over USD one billion. To build a world standard for quality and beauty, the company basically starts manufacturing. They start their first production in 1991. Within 19 years it became a world class organization. 2, 27,000 sq meters of tiles and over 8500 pieces of sanitary ware is producing per day by Ras Al Khaimah alone. It has operation in China, Sudan, Bangladesh, India and Iran. The global production of RAK Ceramics is over 3, 60,000 sq meters of tiles and 11,500 pieces of sanitary ware per day. These huge production of tiles making RAK Ceramics one of the largest multinational ceramic and porcelain tiles and sanitary manufacturing in the world. More than 150 countries across 5 continents, they are now exporting. In the Far East, Australia, USA Canada along with European countries they sells a large quantities of RAK ceramics with regular shipments to all those countries. Among those countries, they have independent agents to fulfill the marketing efforts. With the subsidiaries in Germany, UK, Italy, Belgium, Georgia, Australia, China, India, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Bangladesh Iran, RAK Ceramics plant capacity stands as follows- China 11 million square meter per annum, Sudan 6.5 million square meter per annum, Â   India- 7 million square meter per annum 250,000 pieces of sanitary ware per annum, Iran- 3.0 million square meter/annum and Bangladesh 6 million square meter and 250,000 pieces of sanitary ware per annum. In terms of their model, they also have wide range of variation. They regularly add several new designs in almost every week. Not only in production and design, RAK has wide range of size variety in their products from 10 cm x 10 cm up to 125 cm x 185 cm. They also has 125 x 185 slabs which are the largest Gres Porcellanato slabs in the world and used for a variety of internal and external applications. RAK Ceramics is a ISO 9001: 2008 (ISO 9001:2008 Quality management systems Requirement is a document of 30 pages which sets standards for organizations management ) ISO 14001: 2004 (ISO 14001 is a standard which is provided by international organization for standardization for reducing the negative impact on environment ) certified organization. RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Limited: RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) was incorporated in 26 November, 1998. It is a joint venture company with UAE. It was first incorporated as a public limited company. Now it is public limited company and changed its name from RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Private Limited to RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Limited on 10 June, 2008. They are now manufacturing ceramics tiles, bathroom sets and all types of sanitary ware. They basically came to this position of producing products in some steps which are given below- From 12 November, 2000 they started Commercial production. From 10 January, 2004 they start the production of sanitary ware within their own plant. Further expansion of tiles and sanitary plant ware in the year of 2007. With 90% portion of ownership of RAK Ceramics by RAK Ceramics PSE and its nominees they basically start their business in Bangladesh. Rest 10% is owned by S.A.K. Ekramuzzaman. Within eight years RAK has become one of the leading manufacturing companies with an annual turnover of over BDT 3248 million. They basically produce high quality wall, floor tiles, gres porecellanato and sanitary wares products in Bangladesh. RAK is financed by IFC Bangladesh other than Lafarge Surma Cement Ltd, the only two company financed by IFC. With over 1000 models active ceramics and porcelain they have huge collection of design. Moreover, their R D are adding more new design into their portfolio to meet the preference of the customers. They have more than 40 models of exclusive range of sanitary ware like wash basins, water closets, bathroom sets, bath tubs, shower trays, bathroom cabinets, accessories and decorated sets. . They not only emphasized in the designing part of the RAK Ceramics, but also they emphasized in the size of the tiles. They have different types of tiles from 13 cm * 13 cm to 60 cm * 60 cm. The manufacturing plant has a production capacity of 24,000 square meter tiles and 2,500 pieces of sanitary ware per day. This total production is consumed by local market. RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) Limited is certified by ISO 9001:2008(ISO 9001:2008 Quality management systems Requirement is a document of 30 pages which sets standards for organizations management). RAK ceramics also have a future plan to expand their operation by setting a new production plant in Hobigonj to fulfill the rising domestic demand for tiles. For their reputation and good brand image they have been awarded as Superbrands in 2009-2011 Competitors: RAK is the market leader of the ceramics industry in Bangladesh. RAK has approximately 35% market share in the industry. The major competitions of RAK ceramics are: Fu-Wang Ceramic Industry Ltd: Fu-Wang Ceramic Industry is one of the major competitors of RAK ceramics. Fu-Wangs main emphasis is on the quality of the product and also they are focus on designing also. They are also focused on achieving customer satisfaction by providing standard product with innovation. Fu-Wangs market capital is 2025.375 million BDT (http://dsebd.org/displayCompany.php?name=FUWANGCER). The main production plant of Fu-Wang ceramic industry is in Hotapara, Gazipur. China-Bangla Ceramic Industry: Another major competitor is China Bangla Ceramics Industry. They focus mainly in the quality of the product. For these they basically use machine imported from SACMI, Italy and specialized people recruit from china to operate production process, technology and R D. Great Wall Ceramics Industries Ltd: Great Wall Ceramics Industries has a factory in Gilarchala, Sreepur, Gazipur, Bamgladesh. From Italy and China they basically bring their machines which are being used to make their products. Great Wall Ceramics Industries Ltd is also focused to improve their quality of their products. RAK is not facing any major competition from the local producers. RAK ceramics market capital is 46635.898 million taka (http://dsebd.org/displayCompany.php?name=RAKCERAMIC). But they are facing competition from Chinese Tiles. The main Raw material for Tiles is different clays. And among those clays China clay is a major element. China has an advantage over the cheap raw materials which helps them to reduce their production cost and gain advantage over other competitors. Whereas RAK have to purchase raw materials at a high price and also pay tax for those raw materials. However RAK established them as market leader by providing superior quality product and good brand image which enables them to compete with the competitors effectively. SWOT Matrix analysis of RAK Ceramics: RAK Ceramics is the market leader in ceramic industry. They have huge advantages which differentiate them from other competitors ex: advanced production facility, focus on quality, and huge investment in RD, customization option in product designing etc. These are the major strengths which is helping RAK ceramics to be the market leader. They also have a major weakness in control of sub dealers. RAK ceramics have the opportunity to go for exporting after meeting domestic demand and they can also expand their product line by producing ceramic plates, salt and pepper pots. RAK ceramics is facing threat on competition for the growing Chinese ceramic companies. This is the overview of the SWOT analysis of RAK ceramics, brief explanation and SWOT matrix analysis is given in Appendix 3. The Value Chain Process: RAK ceramics value chain process follows the traditional value chain process which starts from supply chain management to delivering its products to the end users and supporting activates like: RD program, general administration and human resource management. RAK ceramics is fully backward and forward integrated. The value chain process of RAK ceramics is described below in details. Primary Activities: Chapter: 01 Supply chain management: RAK ceramics supply chain management is very strong and fully controlled for getting efficient supply for their production process. The basic raw material of ceramics is different types of clay. RAK ceramics select the best quality clay for their quality floor covering. RAK use different types of clay for their tiles production. The types are: Indonesian Clay Malaysian Clay Indian Clay China Clay Bangladeshi Clay Czech Republican Clay For glazing or coloring there are several raw materials that RAK use to give an edge in color of the tiles. This material arrives from Italy and Spain. The materials are: Color Pigment Cerfrit: a company specialized in the manufacture of frits, glazes, serigraphic printing powders and ceramic colors Adhesive and Chemicals for stabilizing color Raw material Suppliers: 90% of raw materials of RAK ceramics is are imported from outside the country. The main raw materials supplier of RAK is Global Business Association (GBA) and the supplies are dealt in ordering process. GBA is a sister concern of RAK and it also supplies raw materials to other companys also. RAK places an order of the list of raw materials and GBA supplies the raw materials. Cerfrit a company from Spain supplies cerfrit for using in colors. Color pigment is supplied by GBA which is collected from Italy. Shipment of Raw materials: After placing the order to GBA, raw materials are sent by ship to Chittagong port and sometimes in Naryanganj from Chittagong port. From there Cargo trucks are used to carry the clay to their production plant. Spare parts for their machineries are collected from SACMI which is a giant of manufacturing machines and completing plants and its an Italian company. These spare parts are sent by air. Packing Raw Materials: The packets which are used to pack the final products are supplied by KEA Printing and Packaging Company which is also a company of RAK. They provide cartoons that are used to package tiles. KEA Printing and Packaging is situated right in front of RAKs manufacturing plant in Sreepur, Gazipur. Therefore its really easy to collect the cartoons from there. Inventory Management: The inventory management job is mainly assigned to Store department and accounts department. Accounts department is in charge of raw materials inventory. Raw materials are purchased and stored in the amount of 6 to 7 months of production. Store department is in charge of the management of finished goods inventory. RAK takes extra precautions for not damaging or wasting raw materials and extra security for preventing the risk of theft. Utilities: They main utility for RAK is production plant is Electricity. RAK ceramics spent over 50 crore taka for planting an electricity plant which produces 6 Mega Watt electricity inside their production plant. RAK uses 4 Mega Watt and 2 Mega Watt of electricity is given to local people for their usage with an exchange of a small amount of money. Chapter: 02 Manufacturing Process: RAK ceramics have the most advanced production facility for producing tiles and sanitary ware. They have one production plant for tiles which covers all the production activities. RAK also have a Design Development Program under RD department which helps to create new design for the customers. In this department, RAK have invested a huge amount to gain advantage over competitors in designing. They are using SACMI technology in their production plant which comes from Italy. SACMI is the most advanced technology used is ceramics production. RAKs production plant is fully automated and computer operated which helps to reduce the chance of error. SACMIs machineries are sensor based in which it is assigned the specific tasks to be performed with minimum error. In every step of production there is a parameter that is being checked for insuring good quality by ensuring size, moisture; pressing power etc. Step1: RAKs tiles manufacturing process starts from Laboratory There is a miniature version of the whole production plant. In lab master sample of tiles with different shapes are made on the basis of moisture, pressing power, density etc. This master sample is the benchmark of tiles which is used to maintain the standard and quality of tiles. This master samples readings are set into Master CPU for quality assurance of tiles. If the quality of any tiles doesnt meet the standard of master sample, it is destroyed by Master CPU by using a hammer. Step2: Quality assurance department composes the composition of raw materials, which means the percentage of different clay will be used to produce the body of tiles. This composition list is given by lab on the basis of the composition used in Master Sample. Step3: Body preparation sector calculates the weight of different clay which will be used to make the tiles. Step4: Raw materials are given input in BOX FREEDER by the help of wheel loader. Driver of wheel loader checks the list and weight of each clay and inputs in the machine. There is an operator who monitors this procedure. Figure: BOX FEEDER Step5: From BOX FREEDER by the use of conveyr belt, raw materials are passed to BALL MILL. Step 6: In BALL MILL the raw materials are mixed with water to create slip, this procedure is called milling. Figure: BALL MILL Step5: From BALL MILL the present form of clay which is also called slip is stored into SLIP TANK. Step6: From SLIP TANK, slip is moved to SPRAY DRYER, which forms the slip into powder or granule. This powder or granule is stored into SILO or vertical tank. Sttep7: This powder will be passed into PRESSING MACHINE through SILO. In PRESSING MACHINE the powder is given five bar pressing which converts the powder or granule in to raw tiles. Figure: SILO Step8: In PRE-FIRING the raw tiles are taken through 200Â ° degree Celsius, to reduce the moisture of the raw tiles. Step9: The raw tiles will now go through the DISC Glazing BOOTH machine, where it will be covered by the first coat of Coloring or Glazing. Figure: DISC Glazing BOOTH Step10: After the DISC Glazing BOOTH process the tiles will go through the PRINTING MACHINE and there it will get the necessary designs on top. Step11: From the PRINTING MACHINE the tiles are loaded into LOADING CAR by a conveyer belt, and then the LOADING CARs take the tiles to BT KILN LOADING MACHINE. Figure: Loading Car Figure: PRINTING MACHINE Step12: BT KILN LOADING MACHINE is basically a firing machine which gives huge heat on the tiles to increase the hardness and reliability. It is a 75 meter long oven also known as Figure: 75 meter BT KILN LOADING MACHINE firing zone. The tiles is taken through a sequence of temperature starting from 400Â ° to 800Â ° to 1200Â ° to 800Â ° to 400Â ° Celsius. The temperature sequence is kept like this because after reaching to 1200Â ° if the temperature suddenly falls then the heated tiles will break down. To ensure continuous supply of power the kiln machine is connected with a generator to avoid any kind of accident. Granite tiles are kept in firing machine for 41 to 42 minutes, Porosa is kept for 39 to 40 minutes and Red Body tiles are kept in firing zone for 35 to 36 minutes. The time kept in firing zone is the determinant of hardness, reliability and water absorption. Granite tiles are used in floor which has high reliability, hardness and water absorption to 0.5%. On the other hand, Red Body tiles which are wall tiles has less reliability and hardness then Granite but have high water absorption up to 10%. Step13: Master CPU plays a major role in the tiles production. Master CPU is provided with the reading of master sample for quality assurance of the tiles production. Master CPU approves those tiles which match with master tile. If not then Master CPU uses a hammer to destroy the tiles with below quality reading. After passing tiles from BT KILN LOADING MACHINE every tile have to pass through Master CPU and it also checks the level of tolerance for error. ISO 10545 is a British Standard for tiles production which gives approval for 5% error. But RAK ceramics accepts 3% level of error for ensuring more quality for their product. Step14: After checking by Master CPU, the tiles which have 0% error are categorized as Class A tiles and those tiles which have 3% error are categorized as Class B tiles. These two types of tiles are sorted differently in different sorting machines where tiles are placed vertically in numbers for packing which starts from: 4 pieces of tiles to 25 pieces of tiles. Step15: Tiles are packed by PACKAGING MACHINE attached with sensors. These sensors detect Class A and B tiles and uses different packages for both. For Class A tiles white box and for Class B brown boxes are used. Then it is tagged by another sensor using OCRCS system. This system is used to track the type, quality, size and other parameters by which they can track the operator who checked the tiles if there is any complain form dealers or customers. The operators main job is to ensure the quality of the tiles by checking them from 3 feet distance to see whether there is any problem with tiles that can be detected from 3 feet distance. If there is any problem likes this, operator is held responsible. The OCRCS refers: Operator: Number of Operator Choice: A grade or B grade Reference: Model Number Caliber: Accurate size Shade: Color of Shades This OCRCS is used to give customers full guarantee of the quality of the product and also helps to prevent fraud attempt by sellers. Step16: After packaging, the finished goods are stored in warehouse by Stock Department and dealers arrive with order papers of tiles to receive the delivery of the tiles for Stock Department. This is the total manufacturing process of RAK ceramics. Chapter: 03 Distribution Process: RAK ceramics follows simple distribution process to get products to end users by minimizing complications. They follow 4 level distribution channels which consist of manufacturer, dealers, sub dealers, consumers. RAK follows selective distribution which means they distribute products only few distributors. They dont have their own distribution channel; they use dealers to distribute their products. Currently RAK has 32 dealers all over Bangladesh. They directly control their dealers through 4 state managers in six divisions. Dealers are allowed to appoint sub dealers to sell RAKs product but RAK does not control them. RAK ceramics distribution process starts from stock department. Stock department stores finished goods in the warehouse. Dealers are informed from the warehouse that their goods are ready for delivery and they arrive to receive the delivery from warehouse for distribution. RAK ceramics have full control over their selective dealers. They pick dealers from location according to their geographical planning of market capturing. RAK ceramics conduct an in depth analysis before selecting dealers. RAK ceramics first analysis their portfolio ex: capabilities, currently which products they are distributing, control, coverage, continuity and also they are given 3 months evaluation period by which RAK tries to find out if they are appropriate or not. These 32 dealers have sub dealers who are directly under control of dealers which they use to capture more market depth and to cover more geographic coverage. Dealers pick the product from RAK ceramics by huge delivery trucks with good protection for not damaging tiles. By the help of dealers and sub dealers RAK ceramics distribute their product to the end user and also they maintain a strict control for reducing error. Chapter: 04 Marketing, sales and service: RAK ceramics is the market leader in ceramics production in Bangladesh.RAK ceramics mainly emphasize on commercial production for meeting domestic demand but they also have industrial production which is not in massive condition due to low demand and huge affordability issue by industries in Bangladesh. But if a company places order for industrial tiles they fulfill their demand. RAK have a good marketing department for marketing which is in the main headquarters in Uttara. RAK ceramics sales force is mainly used to convince owners of industry firms to use RAK ceramics because industry productions of ceramics product have high durability and price. To provide good support to these buyers, the sales force is mainly used for any complaining and ordering and also providing important information. The process mainly starts from industry placing order with specifications to dealers of RAK, sales force contacts with the buyer to provide more specific informatio n and details along with pricing and choice, sales force confirms their specifications and sends it to RAK. RAK ceramics go to the production and send their product via dealer to the desired person. This is the role of sales force which plays a vital role in selling industrial products. RAK ceramic doesnt use any direct selling in marketing, if a customer place order from RAK head office where they have a showroom, then instead of selling directly to them RAK provides reference of nearby dealers to their location for providing convenient support. As it is mentioned before, RAK ceramics uses sales force for industry buyers and dealers reference for normal customers. Marketing Research and Planning: RAK display new design of tiles and sanitary wares in their main head office for getting feedback from customer about the new design. This new design mainly is the reflection of ongoing global trend around the world or the new design of RAK UAE which is a great success worldwide. This new design is placed in the main showroom for 6 months for gathering customer feedback. After getting feedback and doing market analysis they go for production on those new designs. RAK provide huge emphasize on marketing research to identify new style trends on the basis of global trend and customer preference. Because of their advanced marketing research they are able to visualize the demand of customers. For their good market research, analysis and reading, they are able to respond quickly to the changing customer demand and preference which made them the market leader. Advertising and Promoting: RAK ceramics doesnt follow massive advertising technique for promoting because of their superior position in the market and huge demand helps to promote their product itself. But RAK still do some advertising via billboards and some promotional activities in Boishakhi TV by sponsoring some shows, because the Managing Director of RAK ceramics is the 25% owner of Boishakhi TV. Support from Dealer: RAK ceramics have 32 dealers around the country which are handpicked by them after judging their portfolio. These dealers provide great support to RAK for capturing and enabling the product to get available in market. RAK ceramics tries to give full support on their activities for making them more flexible and dealers also provide support for making the product more available in market. From RAKs point of view, by the support, help and loyalty from these dealers have helped them to spread the product in whole country and they also played a huge role for their current market position. Service: RAK ceramics doesnt have a specialized service center for customers because it isnt required in that extend. But they provide full support to the customers by providing information and details of tiles before purchasing to avoid deceptive selling. Supportive Activities: Chapter: 05 Product RD, Technology and Systems Development: RAK makes a huge investment on RD. They are the only ceramic company in Bangladesh to spend 150 crore in RD. To make continuous innovation on design they have a dedicated Laboratory which focuses on designing new tiles and sanitary wares. RAK use SACMI manufacturing machines and complete plants for the Ceramics making which is the best technology for making ceramics. RAK uses Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) to reduce environmental hazard. RAK ceramics factory have computer controlled guided vehicles which transfers semi finished good from station to station, all of the machines are controlled by laser sensors, skilled technician to operate sophisticated operations. RAK ceramics emphasize more on designing on tiles. For this purpose the MD of the company attends different Ceramics fair to get idea of overall new technology innovation and new design trends. These designs are submitted to Design Development Program which falls under RD depa rtment; they conduct in depth research and develop the design. RAK also has soil scientist who conducts research and test on various types of soil to create quality composition of clay for creating quality tiles. Purchase managers visit to Indonesia, Malaysia, India, China and Czech Republic to monitor Class A and B raw material (clay) and check quality report and sent it to laboratory more researching on clay about the quality. An active team of ceramist is dedicated to find more cost effective solution for gaining competitive advantage over competitors. Due RAKs huge investment and dedication on RD, enables them to compete with competitors and gain competitive advantage. Human Resource Management: Recruitment and Hiring: In RAK Ceramics, HR department is fully co-ordinate according to their standard. The whole recruitment process is described below step by step. Step 1: To recruit employee for RAK Ceramics, they basically go through- Newspaper BD jobs

Culture and Communication Essay -- Literature Analysis, Edward Hall

Culture and Communication Introduction In The Silent Language, Edward Hall’s (1959) seminal examination of non-verbal communication, it is ambiguous asserted that â€Å"culture is communication and communication is culture,† (217). Though this statement is obviously lacks for broad explanatory power, Hall nevertheless aptly articulates the crucial roles that culture plays in communication research. From its role in theories of communication to its treatment as a both the independent and the dependent variable in experimental studies, culture shapes the nature of what communication researchers, and speaks to the very heart of what communication is. This literature review will first briefly mention the historical origins of culture in communication research, and identify what has become the primary area of quantitative communication research into culture: intercultural communication. Next, we will examine the definition of culture that intercultural communication researchers have adopted. Last, we will explo re how this definition is applied through an exploration of the variables, levels of analysis, and other salient dimensions of communication. History & Motivation Even before Hall’s pithy equation of communication with culture, the earliest Communication scholars had identified the importance of culture in matters of communication. As Delia (1985) noted, Chicago sociologists were actively concerned with understanding how the flood of immigrants entering American cities at the turn of the century would integrate within this new society. In these earliest studies, communication was seen as a way to shape a culture that would allow immigrants to feel more American, with a unified culture acting as a mechanism for mitigati... ... individualism-collectivism refers to the degree to which a culture emphasizes the goals of an individual compared to the goals of the collective. (e.g. citations from Gudykunst p 40). Low-high uncertainty avoidance indicates shows the degree to which a culture tends towards consensus, and how much it is tolerant of deviant behavior. Power distance varies according to "the extent to which the less powerful members of institutions and organizations accept that power is distributed unequally," (Hofstede & Bond, 1984, p419). Last, masculinity-femininity refer to the amount that cultural systems "emphasize differentiated sex roles, performance, ambition, and independence," (Gudykunst & Ting-Tully, 1988, p. 48). Unlike work on acculturation, this work is generally cross-sectional, using surveys to determine the dimensions of acculturation at particular points in time.

Essay --

No Jail Time for Big Bankers In the article â€Å"Why DOJ Deemed Bank Execs Too Big to Jail,† author Ted Kaufman reports how banking executives never serve jail time for their part in financial fraud. There are three main reasons that executives are not prosecuted: the American government is showing little effort in bringing the big corporation executives to justice, if the banks and executives are prosecuted, thousands of innocent people could be out of jobs, and the health of the financial industry may crumble. Mr. Kaufman wants his readers to understand that although the citizen’s deserve for these financial executives deserve to go to jail, over that past few years, it has been shown that not only that it hasn’t happened; it probably will not happen in the future either. Is it right that they can dodge going to prison for their greed and illegal activities, but a man who steals food from the grocery store to feed his hungry family serves years in prison? The answer is no, because some o f these banking executives have robbed the American people of their life savings and have put America’s banking system’s in a downward spiral with no real help by the government to help stop this and help bring the executives to justice. The American government has done very little to help in the efforts to bring these executive’s to justice. Congress didn’t oppose strengthening criminal enforcement of federal fraud laws regarding financial institutions after the 2009 financial crisis. They passed the House’s bill by a very large margin. The bill is called the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act. Even the Obama administration established a task force to oversee the investigations. Attorney General Eric Holder even said, â€Å"We will be relentless in our... ...ir jobs, their homes, and their financial stability. If the financial industry crumbles, it will be felt worldwide. When people lose their jobs, they are no longer to take out loans and make payments on the loans they already have. There is no money going into the banks. If the American financial institutions fail and the industry crumbles, stocks will plummet and businesses will close. So what’s the solution to the problem? Mr. Kaufman definitely is on to something. â€Å"Justice for All† should mean something. Why shouldn’t CEO’s be held accountable for their actions? If we continue to let them get away with it, they will continue to take their bonuses, cut corners, and not care that they are doing anything illegal, or at the very least, unethical. If we want to prevent the failing economy from happening again, we must stop these executives and hold them accountable.

Business Decision Making Assiment Essay

You should sign this sheet to show that you comply with these regulations. Student’s Signature Date Acknowledgement I take this chance to thank Miss. M. PriyanthimalaWho helped me to improve and developed this particular project. She explained well about the project and sacrificed her most of the time to explain and also made sure that all the students understood. She was ready to help out in any time and gave her full support for this particular project. I finally would like to thank my parents, friends and others for helping to do this project. Thank you TASKS| PAGE NO| Task 01| 04| Task 02| 09| Task 03| 14| Task 04| 16| Task 05| 24| Task 06| 27| Task 07| 31| Task 08| 32| Task 09| 34| Task 10| 35| Task 11| 38| Task 12| 43| Task 13| 44| Task 14| 47| Task 15| 49| Reference | 51| Task 1 T 1. 1 Difference between a sample and a population Population| Sample| * Population is the area in which you are trying to get information from. * This meaning of population is also used in survey research, but this is only one of many possible definitions of population. Examples: Cedar Crest students; trees in North America; automobiles with four wheels; people who consume olive oil. | * Sample is a section of your population that you are actually going to survey. It is important to have a sample that will represent your entire population in order to minimize biases. Survey research is based on sampling, which involves getting information from only some members of the population. * Samples can be drawn in several different ways, such as probability samples, quota samples, purposive samples, and volunteer samples. Examples assuming the populations stated above: 47 Cedar Crest students chosen randomly; 8463 trees randomly selected in North America; 20 sample autos from each make (e. g. , GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, etc. ); 1% of the oil consuming population per country| T 1. 2 Describe the advantages of sampling * Sampling  saves money  as it is much cheaper to  collect  the desired information from a small  sample  than from the whole population. * Sampling  saves a lot of time and energy as the needed data are collected and processed much faster than census information. And this is a very important consideration in all types of investigations or surveys. * Sampling  provides information that is almost as accurate as that obtained from a complete census; rather a properly designed and carefully executed  sample  survey will provide more accurate results. Moreover, owing to the reduced volume of work, persons of higher caliber and properly trained can be employed to analyze the data. * Sampling  makes it possible to obtain more detailed information from each unit of the  sample  as collecting data from a few units of the population (i. e. ample) can be more complete and thorough. * Sampling  is essential to obtaining the data when the measurement process  physically  damages or destroys the  sampling  unit under  investigation. For example, in order to measure the average lifetime of  light bulbs, the measurement process destroys the  sampling  units, i. e. the bulbs, as they are used until they burn out. A manufacturer will therefore use only a  sample  of  light bulbs  for this purpose and will not burn out all the bulbs produced. Similarly, the whole pot of soup cannot be tasted to determine if it has an acceptable flavor. Sampling  may be the only means available for obtaining the needed information when the population appears to be infinite or is inaccessible such as the population of mountainous or thickly forested areas. In such cases, taking $ complete census to  collect  data would neither be  physically  possible nor practically feasible. * Sampling  has much smaller â€Å"non-response†, following up of which is much easier. The term non-response means the no availability of information from some  sampling  units included in the  sample  for any reason such as failure to locate or measure some of the units, refusals, not-at-home, etc. Sampling  is extensively used to obtain some of the census information. * The most important advantage of   sampling  is that it provides a valid measure of reliability for the  sample  estimates  and this is one of the two basic purposes of  sampling. * Reliability: If we collect the information about all the units of population, the collected information may be true. But we are never sure about it. We do not know whether the information is true or is completely false. Thus we cannot say anything with confidence about the quality of information. We say that the reliability is not possible. This is a very important advantage of sampling. The inference about the population parameters is possible only when the sample data is collected from the selected sample. * Sometimes the experiments are done on sample basis. The fertilizers, the seeds and the medicines are initially tested on samples and if found useful, then they are applied on large scale. Most of the research work is done on the samples. * Sample data is also used to check the accuracy of the census data. T 1. 3 Difference between primary data and secondary data T1. 4 Difference between a statistic and a parameter Parameter is any characteristic of the population. Statistic on the other hand is a characteristic of the sample. Statistic is used to estimate the value of the parameter. Note that the value of statistic changes from one sample to the next which leads to a study of the sampling distribution of statistic. When we draw a sample from a population, it is just one of many samples that might have been drawn and, therefore, observations made on any one sample are likely to be different from the ‘true value’ in the population (although some will be the same). Imagine we were to draw an infinite (or very large) number of samples of individuals and calculate a statistic, say the arithmetic mean, on each one of these samples and that we then plotted the mean value obtained from each sample on a histogram (a chart using bars to represent the number of times a particular value occurred). This would represent the sampling distribution of the arithmetic mean. T1. 5 Define sampling errors with example? Sampling error is an error that occurs when using samples to make inferences about the populations from which they are drawn. There are two kinds of sampling error: random error and bias. Random error is a pattern of errors that tend to cancel one another out so that the overall result still accurately reflects the true value. Every sample design will generate a certain amount of random error. Bias, on the other hand, is more serious because the pattern of errors is loaded in one direction or another and therefore do not balance each other out, producing a true distortion. These are the errors which occur due to the nature of  sampling. The  sample  selected from the population is one of all possible samples. Any value calculated from the  sample  is based on the sample  data and is called  sample  statistic. Task 2 T2. 1 Advantages and disadvantages of arithmetic mean. Advantages * Fast and easy to calculate- As the most basic measure in statistics,  arithmetic average is very easy to calculate. For a small data set, you can calculate the arithmetic mean quickly in your head or on a piece of paper. In  computer programs  like Excel, the arithmetic average is always one of the most basic and best known functions. Here you can see the  basics of arithmetic average calculation. * Easy to work with and use in further analysis- Because its calculation is straightforward and its meaning known to everybody,  arithmetic average  is also more comfortable to  use as input to further analyses and calculations. When you work in a team of more people, the others will much more likely be familiar with  arithmetic average  than  geometric average  or  mode. Disadvantages * Sensitive to extreme values- Arithmetic average is extremely sensitive to extreme values. Therefore,  arithmetic average  is not the best measure to use with data sets containing a few extreme values  or with more  dispersed (volatile) data sets  in general. Median  can be a better alternative in such cases. * Not suitable for time series type of data- Arithmetic average  is perfect for measuring central tendency when you’re working with data sets of independent values taken at one point of time. There was an example of this in one of the previous articles, when we were  year. However, in finance you often work with percentage returns over a series of multiple time periods. For  calculating average percentage return over multiple periods of time,  arithmetic average is useless; as it fails to take the different basis in every year into consideration (100% equals a different price or portfolio value at the beginning of each year). The more volatile the returns are, the more significant this weakness of arithmetic average is. Here you can see the example and reason why  arithmetic average fails when measuring average percentage returns over time. * Works only when all values are equally important- Arithmetic average treats all the individual observations equally. In finance and investing, you often need to work with unequal weights. For example, you have a portfolio of stocks and it is highly unlikely that all stocks will have the same weight and therefore the same impact on the total performance of the portfolio. Calculating the average performance of the total portfolio or a basket of stocks is a typical case when  arithmetic average is not suitable  and it is better to use weighted average instead. You can find more details and an example here:  Why you need weighted average for calculating total portfolio return. T2. 2 Comparative picture of median, mode, mean The Median The Median is the ‘middle value’ in your list. When the totals of the list are odd, the median is the middle entry in the list after sorting the list into increasing order. When the totals of the list are even, the median is equal to the sum of the two middle (after sorting the list into increasing order) numbers divided by two. Thus, remember to line up your values, the middle number is the median! Be sure to remember the odd and even rule. That is, if the data is in meters, the standard deviation is in meters as well. The variance is in meters2, which is more difficult to interpret. Neither the standard deviation nor the variance is robust to outliers. A data value that is separate from the body of the data can increase the value of the statistics by an arbitrarily large amount. The mean  absolute deviation (MAD) is also sensitive to outliers. But the MAD does not move quite as much as the standard deviation or variance in response to bad data. The  interquartile range (IQR) is the difference between the 75th and 25th percentile of the data. Since only the middle 50% of the data affects this measure, it is robust to outliers. T3. 2 What are the different characteristics of the following measures of dispersion. The  range  is the simplest measure of  dispersion. The range can be thought of in two ways. 1. As a quantity: the difference between the highest and lowest scores in a distribution. 2. As an interval; the lowest and highest scores may be reported as the range. By far the most commonly used measures of dispersion in the social sciences are  variance  and  standard deviation. Variance  is the average squared difference of scores from the mean score of a distribution.

Dickinson’s Poetry Is Startling and Eccentric Essay

Perhaps one of the aspects that draw us to the poetry of Dickinson is its eccentricity and startling nature. In her poetry, Emily Dickinson explores a number of different themes including death, hope, nature, pain and love. The trademark signs of a Dickinson poem are her hallmark dashes she uses. Her dashes suggest that there is more to the story than she is writing down. Another characteristic of Dickinson’s poetry is the capitalization of random words throughout her poems. This could suggest importance of the words that she is highlighting. A large number of Dickinson’s poetry revolves around the theme of death; both psychological and physical. She makes the reader question what our place in the universe is. Her sharply contrasting moods and her laconic images make her poems appealing to scrutinize. Evidence of Dickinson’s unique and unusual style strikes us in ‘I Felt a Funeral in my Brain’. We’re given a comprehensive look at her delicate state of mind through her magnificent imagery. Here, Dickinson compares her psychological deterioration to the rites of a funeral. The opening stanza of the poem divulges that she is in a coffin and ‘’mourners’’ are going ‘’to and fro’’. The ‘’treading – treading’’ of the mourners as they move ‘’to and fro’’ combined with the ‘’beating – beating’’ of the ‘’Service like a drum’’ emphasizes her inner turmoil. The depth of her vulnerability astonishes us as she says her world is reduced to ‘’And Being but an ear,’’ She likens herself to a ‘’strange race’’. We can clearly sense her isolation. I felt this was very abstract. It reminded me almost of a Picasso painting. We are left in no doubt of her deepening crisis with her startling image of the coffin crashing downwards as a ‘’plank in reason, broke. And I dropped down and down—‘’. I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—†¦ † was equally eccentric and startling. Once again the imagery played a significant role in evoking this idea. The poem opens to a vibrant image of Dickinson lying in her bed surrounded by her nearest and dearest. ‘’The eyes had wrung them dry, / And breathes were gathering sure’’. I was struck by the startling contrast created here when she compares the stillness in the room to ‘’the air/ Between the Heaves of Storms’’ The poem strikingly describes the mental distraction posed by irrelevant details at even the most crucial moments—even at the moment of death. The poem then becomes even more bizarre and more macabre by transforming the tiny, normally disregarded fly into the figure of death itself, as the fly’s wing cuts the speaker off from the light until she cannot â€Å"see to see. † One of the most peculiar aspects of ‘‘I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—†¦ † is the odd introduction of the fly into this environment. Again, the imagery plays a significant role. Flies can often be associated with death and decay and I think that is the message Dickinson was trying to convey by using the image of the fly in this particular poem. It is a poem that examines what is possible with hope and how far hope can carry a person. The poem uses a bird as a symbol to define the feeling that hope can give an individual. ‘’Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul,  Ã¢â‚¬ËœÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ This proves that Dickinson is eccentric as most people would never compare hope to ‘the Thing with Feathers’. What is striking about the poem is its absolute simplicity, both in structure and in the words the poem presents. The idea of hope in the â€Å"chillest land/And on the strangest sea,† is a quite philosophical way of viewing the world. There is a contrast within the poem between hope, represented with words like â€Å"warm,† â€Å"Soul† â€Å"sweetest† and the pain of life shown in words like â€Å"storm† â€Å"gale† â€Å"chillest†. There is a battle between hope and the pain of life; it is clear which one comes out on top as hope can still be found through gales and storms. I think the poem is trying to convey that even though things can seem bleak, hope can always pull you through it. Dickinson’s poem ‘I Could Bring You Jewels — had I a mind to –‘ is similar to ‘Hope is the Thing with Feathers’ in regards to the tone of the poem. It is a joyful, optimistic poem. In ‘I Could Bring You Jewels’, Dickinson is corresponding with an unknown person in a coy, teasing tone. This poem is very different to most of Dickinson’s poetry because unlike many of her other poems she is not discussing death or loneliness and is instead, conversing with someone and seems to be enjoying herself. She is talking to this person about what gift she is going to buy him/her. ‘I could bring You Odors from St. Domingo – Colors — from Vera Cruz — Berries of the Bahamas –‘ Although I would not consider Emily Dickinson to be my favourite poet, I found her work intriguing and uniquely eccentric. This could be because of the contrast between each of her poems and the different themes she uses in each poem. It may be as a result of its bleak, distressing nature. I personally felt that her fixation with physical and psychological death was quite shocking to be honest. The imagery Dickinson uses in her poetry could definitely be interpreted as very eccentric and startling. You would not expect all of the pain and hurt that is expressed in her poetry to be coming from a young woman from a well-to-do family who lived a very privileged existence.

Outline And Evaluate The Working Model Of Memory

Baddeley and Hitch proposed that memory has 4 components. The central executive, phonological loop, visuospatial sketchpad and the episodic buffer. The central executive decides how to share out and direct attention to incoming information. The phonological loop can be thought of as a maintenance rehearsal mechanism for retaining verbal information. It is sub-divided into two other components, the phonological store (inner ear), which holds acoustically coded information, and the articulatory process (inner voice), which allows for sub vocal rehearsal (words you are about to say).Furthermore, the visuospatial sketchpad (inner eye) is responsible for storing visual and spatial information. In other words, it codes information in images and can create and manipulate visual and spatial images. Finally, the episodic buffer. This component takes information from different sources and integrates them together. For example, Baddeley suggested if we imagine an elephant playing ice hockey, we have to draw out images stored in long term memory and combine them into a moving image.The working memory model is good and is an improvement over the multi-store model. It demonstrates how the short term memory works because it explains how we can store information briefly and simultaneously manipulate it, for example, mental arithmetic. This shows that the model has face validity, which means that the test appears to measure what it is intended to. There is evidence to prove the existence of the phonological loop.Baddeley thought that because longer chunks of information take longer to say, this may affect how much the short term memory can hold, rather than the capacity. This is known as the word length effect and it supports the existence of a phonological loop. However, there are also arguments to suggest weaknesses of the working memory model. The main limitation is the lack of clarity about the central executive. A psychologist argued that the central executive may be more than just one system, possibly consisting of more than one component.This could make the working memory model appear reductionist because it has only been described as being unitary and over simplified. From this, it could be suggested that it is lacking in detail and is not fully reliable. Finally, much of the supporting evidence for this model was by one of the psychologists who proposed it (Baddeley). Here, assumptions could be made as to whether investigator effects play a part as Baddeley may want to prove his beliefs. This means that the supporting evidence many not always be fully reliable.

Kilogram and Density

CHAPTER 1 1. List the seven SI base quantities, units, and symbols. TIME Second (s) 2. Give the correct SI derived units of the following quantities. Density Speed Acceleration Force Pressure kg/m3 Energy 3. Convert the following: ? m (Ans. 1. 22) a. 1. 22 x 10-9 km = b. 6. 523 x 10-4 nm = c. 2. 5x 10-9 nm3 = d. 30. 5 cm/? s = e. 9. 6 ng/mm2 = 4. Mm (Ans. 6. 523 x 10-19) mm3 (Ans. 2. 5 x 10-27) km/h (Ans. 1. 09 x 106) kg/m2 (Ans. 9. 6 x 10-6) Perform the following calculations and report each answer with the correct number of significant figures and units. b. 2. 457 m x 1. 2 m x 2. 45 m d. 3. 6050 cm x (24. 10 cm – 23. 0 cm) a. 3. 45 m – 3. 4 m c. (50. 214 g – 49. 93 g) x 1. 224 cm / 55. 22 cm3 e. 4. 0 x 102 cm – 3 cm f. ?2. 7612g ? 2. 7601g ? 2. 20cm 3 g 26. 167m ? 83m 5. 100m h. 12. 64 cm – 48 mm + 0. 246 m (answer in meters) 7. 87 g/m2 (16. 1 m – 8. 44 m) i. Ans. a) 0. 1 m; b) 7. 2 m3; c) 6. 3 x 10-3 g/cm2; d) 3. 61 cm2; e) 4. 0 x 102 cm; f) 5. 0 x 10-4 g/cm3; g) 21. 4 g/m3; h) 0. 324 m ; i) 1. 03 g/cm3 5. The element beryllium is considered toxic at a concentration of 3. 0 x 10-12 g/cm3. What is this concentration in ng/m3? (Ans. 3. 0 x 103) 6. The average density of the earth is 5. 52 g/cm 3. What is its density in: a) ? /mm3? (Ans. 5. 52 x 103) b) lb/ft3? (1 lb = 453. 6 g; 1 in = 2. 54 cm) (Ans. 345) 7. Diamond has a density of 3. 513 g/cm3. The mass of diamonds is often measured in â€Å"carats† where 1 carat = 200 mg. What is the volume (in cm 3) of a 2. 5 carat diamond? (Ans. 0. 14) The density of a liquid alcohol is 0. 79 g/cm 3. A tank measuring 3. 2 m x 0. 0020 km x 4. 1 mm is filled with the alcohol. What is the mass of the contents in kg? (Ans. 21) The density of gold is 19. 3 g/ cm 3. A 3. 4 mg sample of gold is hammered into a square foil that is 8. 6 ? 10? 6 cm thick. What is the length of a side of the square, in cm? Ans. 4. 5) A 14-karat gold ring contains 58. 3% gold and weighs 12. 41 g. If go ld sells for $276. 00/ounce, what is the value of the gold in the ring? (1 oz = 28. 35 g) (Ans. $70. 4) A packing material has a density of 12. 8 kg/m 3. How many lbs of this material are needed to fill a 2. 00 ft3 box? (1lb = 454 g; 1in = 2. 54 cm) (Ans. 1. 60 lb) 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. A jogger runs at an average speed of 6. 5 mi/h. (1 mile = 1. 609 km; 1 in = 2. 54 cm) a) How fast is she running in m/s? (Ans. 2. 91 m/s) b) How many kilometers does she run in 98 min? (Ans. 17 km) c) How long should it take her to cover 12 km? (Ans. 1. h) d) If she starts a run at 11:15 am, what time is it after she covers 4. 75 x 10 4 ft? (Ans 12:38pm) 13. Manganese makes up 1. 3 x 10-4 percent by mass of the elements found in a normal healthy body. How many grams of manganese would be found in the body of person weighing 183 lbs? (2. 2 lb = 1. 0 kg) (Ans. 0. 11 g) If 5. 00 lbs of mercury cost $175 and mercury has a density of 13. 6 g/cm3, what is the cost of 2. 00 L of mercury? (1 lb = 454 g) (Ans. $ 2. 10 x 103) If a raindrop weighs 65 mg on average and 5. 1 x 10 5 raindrops fall on a lawn every minute. What mass (in kg) of rain falls on a lawn in 2. h? (Ans. 5. 0 x 103 kg) A concentrated sulfuric acid solution has a density of 1. 84 g/cm3 and contains is 95. 7% H2SO4 by mass. (Note: density of a solution means mass of solution divided by volume of solution. ) a) How many grams of pure H 2SO4 are contained in 1. 00 gallon of this solution? 3. 785 L) (Ans. 6. 66 x 103) (1 gallon = 14. 15. 16. b) How many mm3 of this solution contain 100. 0 mg of pure H2SO4? ( Ans 56. 8 mm3) 17. A gold alloy has a density of 12. 4 g/ml and contains 75. 0% gold by mass. Calculate the volume of this alloy that can be made from 255 g of pure gold. (Ans. 27. 4 mL) 18.Whole milk contains 8. 0 % butterfat by mass. If 5. 0 g butterfat supplies 15 calories, how many calories are contained in 1. 45 gallons of whole milk ( density of milk = 0. 8 g/ml; 1 gallon = 3. 785 L) (Ans. 1. 1 x 103 cal) Earthâ€℠¢s oceans have an average depth of 3. 800 x 10 3 m, a total area of 3. 63 x 108 km2, and an average concentration of dissolved gold equal to 5. 80 ng/L. 19. a) Caculate the volume of the oceans in cm3. (Ans. 1. 38 x 1024) b) How many kilograms of gold are in the oceans? (Ans. 8. 00 x 109 kg) c) If a recent price of gold was $370. 00/troy oz, what is the value of gold in the oceans? 1 troy oz =31. 1g) (Ans. $ 9. 52 x 1013) 20. When combining the masses 0. 0562 kg, 124. 213 g and 1635 mg, the total should be reported to ______ significant figures. (Ans. 4) 21. What is the best answer to report for the following mathematical operation? 15. 415 ? 14. 515 + 0. 0402597 (Ans. 0. 300) 3. 465 22. How many vials of volume 24. 2 mm 3 can be filled from a bulk sample of 0. 525 kg of a liquid of density 0. 900 g/cm3? (Ans. 2. 41 x 104) It is estimated that uranium is relatively common in the earth’s crust, occurring in amounts of 4 g/metric ton. A metric ton is 1000 kg.At this concentrati on, what mass of uranium is present in 1. 0 mg of the earth’s crust? A. B. C. D. E. 4 nanograms 4 micrograms 4 milligrams 4 x 10-5 g 4 centigrams 23. 24. Which of the following are intensive properties? W. mass X. density Y. volume Z. boiling point Which one of the following is not a physical property of water? A. B. C. D. E. It exists in solid, liquid, and gaseous forms It reacts with sodium to form sodium hydroxide It is clear and colorless It freezes at 100? C at 1 atm pressure It boils at 100? C at 1 atm pressure 25. ————————————–ANSWERS: 23 A; 24 X and Z; 25 B.