Thinking Nonthinking Essay example

Thinking Nonthinking Essay example Thinking Nonthinking Essay example Nell Bornhorst Philosophy 103 March 2, 2015 Thinking and Non-Thinking In this paper, I will be analyzing and interpreting Arendt Hannah’s lecture, â€Å"Thinking and Moral Considerations†, focusing on her take on evilness and the dangers of non-thinking, and the document â€Å"Letter from Birmingham Jail† written by Martin Luther King Jr., focusing on the necessity of tension within the mind. Arendt’s argues that evilness is a person’s inability to contemplate what is unjust, and King offers a solution. Both Ardent and King relate their arguments to the words of Socrates. Socrates believed in the necessity of a dialogue and a relationship with ones thoughts, and believed tension in the mind allowed a person to evaluate and question to find meaning and truth. Socrates’ concepts will help to support my explanation of the two texts and their idea that evilness is only a product of thoughtlessness, with thinking comes natural morality, and â€Å"creative tension† promotes â€Å"a kind of action† leadi ng to â€Å"positive peace†. In our society what is right and what is wrong is presumably decided for us. Laws and restrictions are taught to be the truth, and with these set standards the need to think for oneself is diminished. The threat of non-thinking becomes dangerous. By following the law instead of following our own virtues, we become tied to a blind obedience. Arendt describes this idea as a clichà © or â€Å"standard codes of expression and conduct†. In her study she contemplates the idea that evilness is caused by the absence of thought and use of clichà ©s. Arendt along with Socrates believes examination is good for the mind, and â€Å"By shielding people against the dangers of examination, it teaches them to hold fast to whatever the prescribed rules of conduct may be at a given time in a given society†(Arendt 436). Socrates, a man who she believes to be a model or professional thinker said, â€Å"an unexamined life is not one worth living†. This is because you have no love or desire to discover or find â€Å"what is not†. Without this love you cannot have a relationship with ones thoughts. This being said, Arendt concludes that â€Å"only people filled with this eros a kind of love), this desiring love of wisdom, beauty, and justice, are capable of thought† (Arendt). When considering evil, such as in Otto Adolf Eichmann, one of the main organizers of the Nazi regime, Arendt does not believe it is inherent. In an article on the capture and trial of Eichmann, for The New Yorker, Arendt describes Eichmann’s character and contemplates the truth of his corruption or evilness. Eichmann was accused of crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, and eventually sentenced to death. Arendt stated, "The deeds were monstrous, but the doer ... was quite ordinary, commonplace, and neither demonic nor monstrous"(Arendt). She believed it was not his character that of the man that was evil, but the â€Å"thoughtlessness† of Eichmann that led him to commit evil acts or his â€Å"authentic inability to think". This example of non-thinking shows the dangers of it. If the conversation we have with ourselves when making decisions is gone, any form of morality goes with it. Especially in the hands of someone like Eichmann, non-thinking is extremely dangerous. If thought is never incited, evilness and corruption can go on unnoticed. However, we were born with a sense of right or wrong. This being said, thinking is natural, and naturally in the opinion of Arendt and Socrates, all humans are good by nature. The idea of non-thinking is in reality unnatural. In the last paragraph, I interpreted Arendt to be saying, in summary, that thinking makes us who we are. If we are who we are only when we think and we are good by nature, then it only makes sense that when we do wrong, we are not who we are and we are non-thinking. By acquiring our human virtues, we can avoid allowing wrong doings and clichà ©s to strip us of our identity. Clichà ©s can be detrimental if they become

Cash for Clunkers Details

Cash for Clunkers Details Question: How does the Cash for Clunkers program work? Cash for Clunkers is a federal program designed to stimulate U.S. auto sales and help the environment by providing an economic incentive for consumers to replace old, low-mileage vehicles with new, fuel-efficient models that are safer and emit less pollution and fewer greenhouse gases. Answer: The basic concept is simple: if you trade in a low-mileage vehicle for one that meets a higher mileage threshold set by the Cash for Clunkers program, the government will provide up to $4,500 to help you purchase the new fuel-efficient vehicle. The details, of course, are more complicated. Under the Cash for Clunkers bill passed by Congress in June 2009, the passenger car you trade in must meet two criteria: The car has been registered and in use for at least a year (this provision prevents people from buying an old beater from a junkyard and trading it in for a new car);The vehicle must have a combined city and highway fuel-economy rating of 18 mpg or less.To qualify for the Cash for Clunkers program, the new car must be priced at $45,000 or less;The new car must have a federal fuel-economy rating that is at least 4 mpg better than the old car you’re trading in to qualify for a $3,500 voucher, or be rated at least 10 mpg better to get the maximum payment of $4,500. The rules for trucks are a little trickier. For light- and standard-duty model trucks, which include most sport utility vehicles (SUVs), vans and pickup trucks: The old vehicle must have a fuel-efficiency mileage rating of 18 mpg or less.The new vehicle must be rated at least 2 mpg better to qualify for the $3,500 voucher or at least 5 mpg better for the $4,500 payment. heavy-duty trucks The old truck you’re trading in must be rated 15 mpg or less.The new truck must be rated at least 1 mpg better to get the $3,500 voucher and at least 2 mpg better to qualify for the $4,500 voucher. work trucks The old truck has to be a 2001 model or older, and $3,500 is the only amount offered to help with the purchase of new work trucks. To compare vehicle mileage ratings for all model years back to 1985, see the interactive chart at www.fueleconomy.gov.

Analysing Argument - A Way to Pay for College, With Dividends Essay

Analysing Argument - A Way to Pay for College, With Dividends - Essay Example The article is based upon the argument of proving the benefits of human capital contract as the more suitable and appropriate source of study finance that is beneficial for the students as well as for the entire society and labour market. The author has impressively described the pros and cons of several ways of arranging the higher studies finance and has persuasively concluded that the human capital contracts are the most expedient and equitable way for the students to manage finance for their higher education. The author has included the experience of some students who have availed different options for securing the finance for their higher education. In the light of the experiences of these people the author insists that the most suitable, fair and supportive mode of college finance is human capital contract that needs to be further refines and elaborates to provide students will freedom of choice about their professional careers. He also highlight the disadvantages and problems associated with the other modes of higher education finance and argues that the comparison of all the possibilities unveils that human capital contract is the best options among all the choices and schemes available and implemented for providing the finance for the higher education to the students. The article explains that the choice of getting study finance through the "human capital contract" appears to be helpful resource for finance for the low income students of US, Mexico and Colombia etc. The author compares this option with certain other possibilities of getting finance. He also talks about the income based repayment introduced by US government and criticizes the finance schemes like income based repayment. He argues that in these methods the students are bound to repay the loans once they finish their education. This liability limits their freedom and they have little options in front of them to initiate their careers and rather spending time in the job of their choice, th ey are compelled to work for the corporations from where they could earn enough to pay their loans. The author argues that human capital contracts have more options and freedoms for the students and that rather than becoming slaves they could make free choice for their working careers. He shares his opinion â€Å"with human capital contracts, students would have wider options. They would know that, regardless of their career choices, their payments would not be unmanageable†. The author answers the people concerns and criticism regarding the market based mechanism of financing and their demands for the free college financed by the government. The author explains that it is not realistic approach to expect that the government should get enough from the taxes to build the free college for the students because usually the government fail to collect the desired amount of taxes from the citizens. He stresses upon this opinion by explaining that expecting government to provide educ ation finance will cause heavy tax burden on all the citizens that will eventually added to the problems of the people rather facilitating them. The article presents the author’s viewpoint that if the government will take the initiative to provide free college education it will result in the

Exam papers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Exam papers - Essay Example PCBs are organohalogens prepared by having chlorine react with biphenyl, an aromatic hydrocarbon used as a heat-transfer fluid. These compounds are found to have high resistance toward decomposition and due to low levels of environmental degradation, PCBs proceed to dwell in bodies of water, soil, and in an organism’s fatty tissue. They are biologically toxic to aquatic creatures, both vertebrates and invertebrates. As a grave hazard to human health, PCBs may lead to dysfunction of liver, carcinogenic effect, dizziness, and dermatitis. Several factors may affect the soil’s interaction with exogenous organic compounds including soil aggregation by waste products of bacteria. Besides aggregate stability, the interactive potential or resilience of soil to exogenous organic matters may be determined further by factors as land technology used, farming system, and agricultural management employed. In the field of biotechnology, this can be demonstrated in terms of the water’s reaction to break polymeric bonds such as the ester links that are often present between two amino acids in a protein. After such bonds have been broken, a hydroxyl group (-OH) in water is yielded to one of the products while carboxylic acid becomes of the other upon acquisition of H+. Moreover, the environmental degradation of endogenous substances may be hydrolytically carried out with the aid of catalyzing enzymes in the process of decomposing other polymers like nucleotides, complex sugars, starch, and even fats. Atrazine ---ïÆ'   derived from the synthesis reaction involving cyanuric chloride, the chief precursor to the toxicity of atrazine, and isopropyl amine; this reaction is performed in xylene or toluene in the presence of water and addition of NaOH; Benzpyrene ---ïÆ'   the new key reaction for the production of the environmentally carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) includes the method of coupling of naphthalene 2-boronic acid with

Porter’s Five Forces Model Essay Example for Free

Porter’s Five Forces Model Essay Porter’s five forces model helps in accessing where the power lies in a business situation. Porter’s Model is actually a business strategy tool that helps in analyzing the attractiveness in an industry structure. It let you access current strength of your competitive position and the strength of the position that you are planning to attain. Porters Model is considered an important part of planning tool set. When you’re clear about where the power lies, you can take advantage of your strengths and can improve the weaknesses and can compete efficiently and effectively. Porters model of competitive forces assumes that there are five competitive forces that identifies the competitive power in a business situation. These five competitive forces identified by the Michael Porter are: 1. Threat of substitute products 2. Threat of new entrants 3. Intense rivalry among existing players 4. Bargaining power of suppliers 5. Bargaining power of Buyers 1. Threat of substitute products Threat of substitute products means how easily your customers can switch to your competitors product. Threat of substitute is high when: * There are many substitute products available * Customer can easily find the product or service that you’re offering at the same or less price * Quality of the competitors’ product is better * Substitute product is by a company earning high profits so can reduce prices to the lowest level. In the above mentioned situations, Customer can easily switch to substitute products. So substitutes are a threat to your company. When there are actual and potential substitute products available then segment is unattractive. Profits and prices are effected by substitutes so, there is need to closely monitor price trends. In substitute industries, if competition rises or technology modernizes then prices and profits decline. 2. Threat of new entrants A new entry of a competitor into your market also weakens your power. Threat of new entry depends upon entry and exit barriers. Threat of new entry is high when: * Capital requirements to start the business are less * Few economies of scale are in place * Customers can easily switch (low switching cost) * Your key technology is not hard to acquire or isn’t protected well * Your product is not differentiated There is variation in attractiveness of segment depending upon entry and exit barriers. That segment is more attractive which has high entry barriers and low exit barriers. Some new firms enter into industry and low performing companies leave the market easily. When both entry and exit barriers are high then profit margin is also high but companies face more risk because poor performance companies stay in and fight it out. When these barriers are low then firms easily enter and exit the industry, profit is low. The worst condition is when entry barriers are low and exit barriers are high then in good times firms enter and it become very difficult to exit in bad times. 3. Industry Rivalry Industry rivalry mean the intensity of competition among the existing competitors in the market. Intensity of rivalry depends on the number of competitors and their capabilities. Industry rivalry is high when: * There are number of small or equal competitors and less when there’s a clear market leader. * Customers have low switching costs * Industry is growing * Exit barriers are high and rivals stay and compete * Fixed cost are high resulting huge production and reduction in prices These situations make the reasons for advertising wars, price wars, modifications, ultimately costs increase and it is difficult to compete. 4. Bargaining power of suppliers Bargaining Power of supplier means how strong is the position of a seller. How much your supplier have control over increasing the Price of  supplies. Suppliers are more powerful when * Suppliers are concentrated and well organized * a few substitutes available to supplies * Their product is most effective or unique * Switching cost, from one suppliers to another, is high * You are not an important customer to Supplier When suppliers have more control over supplies and its prices that segment is less attractive. It is best way to make win-win relation with suppliers. It’s good idea to have multi-sources of supply. 5. Bargaining power of Buyers Bargaining Power of Buyers means, How much control the buyers have to drive down your products price, Can they work together in ordering large volumes. Buyers have more bargaining power when: * Few buyers chasing too many goods * Buyer purchases in bulk quantities * Product is not differentiated * Buyer’s cost of switching to a competitors’ product is low * Shopping cost is low * Buyers are price sensitive * Credible Threat of integration Buyer’s bargaining power may be lowered down by offering differentiated product. If you’re serving a few but huge quantity ordering buyers, then they have the power to dictate you. Michael Porters five forces model provides useful input for SWOT Analysis and is considered as a strong tool for industry competitive analysis.

Mycoplasma pneumoniae Essay -- Essays Papers

Mycoplasma pneumoniae Background: Mycoplasma pneumoniae is unique because of its small genome and physical size. The bacterium contains only 500-2300 Kba in its genome that produces about 700 different proteins. Its reduced genome has been clearly mapped. M. pneumoniae size range from 0.2 to 0.8 micrometer and are capable of passing through most filters designed to remove bacteria. The bacterium is the smallest living organism capable of replicating itself. The bacterium lacks a cell wall but has a three layered cell membrane with sterols. It can take on any shape from cocci to filamentous. An agar plates the colonies have a specific fried egg look. It lives mainly as a parasite in humans where it can maintain its osmotic balance with its environment. It has a strict dependence on the host for nutrients. They grow aerobically and use glucose as its main food source but need the host for amino acids, lipids, nucleotides and sterols. Disease: M. pneumoniae is generally referred to as primary atypical or walking pneumonia because the symptoms are not as sever as pneumonia. The symptoms include a dry hacking cough, fever, and headache. The symptoms will last for about 2 to 3 weeks. M. pneumoniae affects people worldwide. Typically only 33 % of people who have M. pneumoniae will get atypical pneumonia. The majority, 77 %, will come down with an upper tract infection (tracheaobronchitis). M. pneumoniae is transmitted through aerosol droplets. The bacterium is capable of infecting anyone at any time but it has a pattern of coming in the fall and winter and causing an outbreak every 4 to 8 years, although more tight communities occur more frequently. The pathogen rarely occurs on children less than 4 years of age. Since th... ...r and headache of which, 15 % required hospitalization. Texas: From August 1st through November 15th, 215 workers of 4500 had Mycoplasma infections in a tertiary care center. Patients suffered from abrupt onset of headache, shaking chills, and severe malaise, followed by fever and cough. Only 2 % required hospitalization. New York: From August 1st to October 26th, 48 out 189 people came down with an acute respiratory infection in an autism center in upstate New York. Six percent of the patients required hospitalization. References: http://meded.ucsd.edu/isp/1999/CAP/mycoplas.html http://www.invivogen.com/otherproducts/plasmocin.htm http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic467.htm http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/mycoplasmapneum_t.htm http://www.cdc.gov/epo/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00022322.htm http://www.med.sc.edu:85/mayer/myco.htm

Discuss sex differences in parental investment

Trivers suggests that parental investment differs because of the sex differences that exist between males and females. From the outset of parenthood, females make a greater biological investment then males. Notably, female’s reproductive system is more precious as they produce very few eggs whilst males produce a large number ofcom/exercise-43/"> sperm. This suggests that the biological aspect of conceiving a child is much more costly for females hence their greater parental investment. As a result of this, females have to be much chooser in their selection of a male as they do not want to waste their eggs. It is not just a larger prenatal investment that females make but it is also much larger postnatal investment. Due to the immaturity of human babies at birth compared to other mammals, there is an extended period of childcare featuring breastfeeding. Males are unable to breastfeed as thus the female’s role is much more dominant and explains why they have high levels of investment at this stage and why she may seek a man with good genes and commitment to the relationship. This supports Buss’s cross cultural findings that women value material resources in potential partners, whereas males, who make less parental investment, have multiple mating’s with young females. This greater investment of females can be further explained by parental certainty. Female’s paternity can be certain as the pregnancy is happening internally. However, males cannot be as certain that the child is theirs. For this reason, it is suggested that males protect themselves from the rick of cuckoldry by being reluctant to invest heavily in offspring. Sexual infidelity is not just a risk for males investing in offspring that is not genetically theirs but it is also a risk for females. This is because if a male carries out sexual infidelity, they bear a child with another woman and the male will invest in that offspring, diverting his resources away from the original relationship. This explains why males are more jealous of the sexual act and females are more jealous in the shift of emotional focus. Buss et al support the differences in jealously between males and females, as he found that males showed more distress for the sexual element whereas females showed more distress for the emotional element. As a result of sex differences in parental investment, some women may choose to use cuckoldry as a method of obtaining more resources from multiple men and thus decrease own personal investment. However, this method carries great risk for the female as this could lead to abandonment or retention strategies such as violence. Parental investment theory suggests that men don’t want to father children that aren’t theirs as they will use up all their resources. Anderson found that this wasn’t the case. They found that fathers and stepfathers did not discriminate between children who were biological and those who were their partner’s children. Parental investment models have been critiqued for lacking relevance to real life and modern society because now females and males both work hard to attend to children and do house chores. It is a shared responsibility and investment. This means this idea is outdated. The theory also supports gender stereotyping as males are seen to be evolutionally programmed to be promiscuous. Not all males act in this manner, especially in extreme religious groups where sec is not practised before marriage. Trivers theory also tells us little about homosexual relationships which are not reproductive. It assumed we are all a product of our genes in pursuit of fostering these, which is a determinist viewpoint. The theory is also very nature and evolutionary based. Trivers theory assumes sexual attraction is all about babies and ignores it can be for fun rather than reproduction, highlighted by the wide use of contraception. Not all mating is long term and women do also engage in short term relationships such as one night stands and affairs. Therefore, his theory is oversimplified, animalistic, and deterministic and suffers from evolutionary reductionism. In conclusion, a physiological approach can better explained to show the different parental investments. Geher et al found that males showed a greater AMS arousal when presented with scenarios that showed the real costs of parenting. This is a consistent with the theory of parental investment as males are found to be less prepared than females for dealing with parental issues.

Importance of Quality in Different Manufacturing Processes

| Importance of Quality in different manufacturing processes| | | | | | | | TERM PAPER ————————————————- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This term paper would not be accomplished without the generous contributions of individuals and organizations. I am very much grateful to them for their unlimited help and support. Additionally, we thank our course instructor Fateh Pal Singh who believed that I could terminate this term paper on time. His moral guidelines, endless effort, and joyful encouragement made me successful in this paper.Furthermore, I want to show our appreciation to the executives, to the librarians of LPU library, and to the lab-assistants of the computer labs, for their unlimited patience during the time of research writing. Moreover, I are also thankful to our classmates, and friends for their helps and supports. I would like to show our endless gratitude by specifying name o f FATEH PAL SINGH   for her support in this term paper. †¦Mayank Sibal†¦ ROLL NO. :RF4005B37 Contents: 1. Defination of Quality 2. Activities of Quality 3. Quality Control 4.Quality Improvment 5. Steps of Quality Improved in Manufacturing Process 6. Taguchi’s Approach to quality Engineering 7. Robust Design 8. Adverse Performance Shaping Factors DEFINITION OF QUALITY How is quality defined? It is interesting to observe how its definition varies according to the particular emphasis of quality activities. Juran (1964) defines quality as fitness for use. Crosby (1979) describes quality in terms of conformance to requirements. Deming (1986) says that quality is concerned with the present and future needs of the customer.For Feigenbaum (1983) quality is to do with the combined product characteristics of engineering and manufacture that determine the degree to which the product will meet the expectations of the customer. Taguchi (1986) defines quality as the loss a prod uct causes society once it has been shipped, apart from any losses caused by its intrinsic functions. According to ISO 8402 (International Organization for Standardization,1986), quality is the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that have a bearing on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs.Recently, the most widely used definition is that of ISO 9001 (2000). It says that a quality is a characteristic that a product or service must have. For example, products much be reliable, useable, and repairable. These are some of the characteristics that a good quality product must have. Similarly, service should becourteous, efficient, and effective. These are some of the characteristics that a good quality service must have. In short, a quality is a desirable characteristic. However, not all qualities are equal. Some are more important than others. The most important qualities are the ones that customers want.These are the qualities that products and serv ices must have. So providing quality products and services is all about meeting customer requirements. ACTIVITIES OF QUALITY In the manufacturing industry, activities concerned with quality can be divided into six stages: 1. Product planning: planning for the function, price, life cycle, etc. of the product concerned. 2. Product design: designing the product to have the functions decided in product planning. 3. Process design: designing the manufacturing process to have the functions decided in the product design. 4.Production: the process of actually making the product so that it is of the designed quality. 5. Sales: activities to sell the manufactured product. 6. After-sales service: customer service activities such as maintenance and product services. * Note that there are three different characteristics of quality in an overall quality system in the manufacturing industry: 1. Quality of design: quality of product planning, product designand process design. 2. Quality of conforma nce: quality of production. 3. Quality of service: quality of sales and after-sales services. Nowadays, these three aspects of quality are equally important in the manufacturing company. If any one of them is not up to the mark, then the overall quality system is unbalanced, and the company will face serious problems. Quality control Quality control is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects: 1. Elements such as controls, job management, defined and well managed processes performance and integrity criteria, and identification of records 2. Competence, such as knowledge, skills, experience, and qualifications 3.Soft elements, such as, personnel integrity, confidence, organizational culture, motivation, team spirit and quality relationships. 4. The quality of the outputs is at risk if any of these three aspects is deficient in any way. Quality control emphasizes testing of products to uncov er defects, and reporting to management who make the decision to allow or deny the release, whereas quality assurance attempts to improve and stabilize production, and associated processes, to avoid, or at least minimize, issues that led to the defects in the first place. ———————————————— Quality improvement There are many methods for quality improvement. These cover product improvement, process improvement and people based improvement. In the following list are methods of quality management and techniques that incorporate and drive quality improvement: 1. ISO 9004:2008 — guidelines for performance improvement. 2. ISO 15504-4: 2005 — information technology — process assessment — Part 4: Guidance on use for process improvement and process capability determination. 3.QFD — quality function deployment, also known as the house of quality appr oach. 4. Kaizen  Ã¢â‚¬â€ Japanese for change for the better; the common English term is  continuous improvement. 5. Zero Defect Program — created by NEC Corporation of Japan, based upon  statistical process control  and one of the inputs for the inventors of Six Sigma. 6. Six Sigma  Ã¢â‚¬â€ 6? , Six Sigma combines established methods such as statistical process control,  design of experiments  and  FMEA  in an overall framework. 7. PDCA  Ã¢â‚¬â€ plan, do, check, act cycle for quality control purposes. Six Sigma's  DMAIC  method (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) may be viewed as a particular implementation of this. ) 8. Quality circle  Ã¢â‚¬â€ a group (people oriented) approach to improvement. 9. Taguchi methods  Ã¢â‚¬â€ statistical oriented methods including quality robustness, quality loss function, and target specifications. 10. The Toyota Production System — reworked in the west into  lean manufacturing. 11. Kansei Engin eering  Ã¢â‚¬â€ an approach that focuses on capturing customer emotional feedback about products to drive improvement. 12.TQM —  total quality management  is a management strategy aimed at embedding awareness of quality in all organizational processes. First promoted in Japan with the Deming prize which was adopted and adapted in USA as the  Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award  and in Europe as the  European Foundation for Quality Management  award (each with their own variations). 13. TRIZ  Ã¢â‚¬â€ meaning â€Å"theory of inventive problem solving† 14. BPR —  business process reengineering, a management approach aiming at ‘clean slate' improvements (That is, ignoring existing practices). 5. OQM — Object-oriented Quality Management, a model for quality management. Proponents of each approach have sought to improve them as well as apply them for small, medium and large gains. Simple one is Process Approach, which forms the bas is of ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System standard, duly driven from the ‘Eight principles of Quality managagement', process approach being one of them. Thareja[4]  writes about the mechanism and benefits: â€Å"The process (proficiency) may be limited in words, but not in its applicability.While it fulfills the criteria of all-round gains: in terms of the competencies augmented by the participants; the organisation seeks newer directions to the business success, the individual brand image of both the people and the organisation, in turn, goes up. The competencies which were hitherto rated as being smaller, are better recognized and now acclaimed to be more potent and fruitful†. [5]  The more complex Quality improvement tools are tailored for enterprise types not originally targeted. For example, Six Sigma was designed for manufacturing but has spread to service enterprises.Each of these approaches and methods has met with success but also with failures. Some of the common differentiators between success and failure include commitment, knowledge and expertise to guide improvement, scope of change/improvement desired (Big Bang type changes tend to fail more often compared to smaller changes) and adaption to enterprise cultures. For example, quality circles do not work well in every enterprise (and are even discouraged by some managers), and relatively few TQM-participating enterprises have won the national quality awards. There have been well publicized failures of BPR, as well as Six Sigma.Enterprises therefore need to consider carefully which quality improvement methods to adopt, and certainly should not adopt all those listed here. It is important not to underestimate the people factors, such as culture, in selecting a quality improvement approach. Any improvement (change) takes time to implement, gain acceptance and stabilize as accepted practice. Improvement must allow pauses between implementing new changes so that the change is stabi lized and assessed as a real improvement, before the next improvement is made (hence continual improvement, not continuous improvement).Seven step quality manufacturing process improvement Improving quality manufacturing processes can result in decreased waste, better quality products, and an overall improvement in customer satisfaction. The following are tips for seven step quality manufacturing process improvement. Before you start, however, you will want to develop a committee that is in charge of overseeing the steps and making sure they come to fruition. It's best to involve the whole company if possible, but in the beginning a committee can help to ensure the steps are completed and taken from beginning to end.Step one: The first step is to define the actual process. This is important as it provides a foundation for improving your processes. During this first step, you should name the process and its purpose, as well as its starting and ending points, inputs and outputs, and y our overall requirements. It would also be a good idea to identify the customers and suppliers who will be affected by this process Step two: The next step involves identifying areas of improvement that are needed. This process is usually done by selecting a random sampling of a particular product that is being manufactured.This product is then tested for a variety of things that will have an impact on the end user and consumer. This can include durability, materials, toxicity, and so forth. There are a number of ways to go about this in manufacturing. Some of the more common areas of improvement in manufacturing include disintegration of parts, loose fasteners, and so forth and should be a main focus. Step three: Identify potential solutions for the problems. Once the problems have been identified, it is important to then find solutions for them. Brainstorm ith the committee, or consult specialists or higher ups in the manufacturing plants that can help you to arrive at the best po ssible solution. Additionally, you will want to get feedback from those who work on or with the process on a daily basis. Step four: After you have identified problem areas and then brainstormed for improvements, step four involves developing a more detailed solution for each problem area. In detailing how to solve the problem, include a budget, determine what personnel are necessary for making the improvements, conduct a projected cost analysis, and a time frame for completing the overall improvements.You will also need to determine how the rest of the manufacturing plant will be affected by this and whether it will slow production at any level. Step five: Put your plan into action. After a detailed plan has been made, it is time to implement it to improve your processes. Now is the time to involve everyone, from the highest levels of management in the manufacturing company down to the workers who utilize the process. Step six: Evaluate. Once you have put your plan into action and have achieved the results from it, you will need to evaluate your improvement process as a whole.Ask yourselves if the process had its desired effect. Was the process successful? Did it fix the problem? Did it eliminate waste? Did you implement the improvements on time and within budget? All of these factors should be taken into consideration. Step seven: Continue to repeat steps two and six as often as necessary to achieve improvement within the manufacturing plant. The overall goal is to decrease the need for a committee, and instead have all members of the plant continually working to improve. TAGUCHI’S APPROACH TO QUALITY ENGINEERINGA product’s cost can be divided into two main parts: before sale and after sale to the customer. The costs incurred before sale are the manufacturing costs, and the costs incurred after sale are those due to quality loss. A defective product which is scrapped or reworked prior to shipment is viewed by Taguchi as a manufacturing cost to the company, but not a quality loss. Qualityengineering is an interdisciplinary science which is concerned with not only producing satisfactory products for customers but also reducing the total loss (manufacturing cost plus quality loss).Hence, quality engineering involved engineering design, process operations, after-sales services, economics and statistics. Taguchi’s impact on the concept of quality control in the manufacturing industry has been far-reaching. His quality engineering system has been used successfully by many companies in Japan, the USA and elsewhere. Recently it is reported that several companies in Korea have used his methods with great success. He emphasizes the importance of designing quality control into the manufacturing processes.Also, he stresses that quality variation is the main enemy of quality engineering and that every effort should be made to reduce the variation in quality characteristics. Taguchi extensively uses experimental design primarily as a tool to design products more robust (which means less sensitive) to noise factors. Robust design is an engineering methodology for optimizing the product and process conditions which are minimally sensitive to the various causes of variation, and which produce high-quality products with low development and manufacturing costs. Taguchi’s parameter design is an important tool for robust design.His tolerance design can be also classified as a robust design. In a narrow sense robust design is identical to parameter design, but in a wider sense parameter design is a subset of robust design. Two major tools used in robust design are: * signal-to-noise ratio, which measures quality with emphasis on variation. * orthogonal arrays, which accommodate many design factors (parameters) simultaneously. References: 1. Internet: www. mitlecture. com www. wikipidia. com www. google. com/books 2. Books: 1. Kalpeak Jain 2. â€Å"Fundamental of Morden Manufacturing† By, Mp Grover

Thomas Hobbes essays

Thomas Hobbes essays Thomas Hobbes was born in London in 1588. After his receiving his education at Oxford he traveled to various European countries, learning and studying different forms of government. These studies led him to the question of why people allow themselves to be ruled. He also wondered what type of government would best govern in England. In 1651, Hobbes recorded his theories of philosophy in his most famous work entitled Leviathan. In Thomas Hobbes Leviathan, he states that in a humans state of nature he or she is evil, selfish, and cannot be ruled. There is no right or wrong, nor is there justice or injustice. Its basically every man for himself. The world is basically in chaos when humans are in this state. Each individuals main priority is self-preservation. In order to achieve this Hobbes came up with a right each individual possesses in order to achieve this self-preservation, the right of nature. In order to carry out this right, certain laws of nature were created. These laws are acts or forms of behavior that ensure ones safety and preservation. It is here that humans, according to Hobbes, form a society. In fact, Hobbes believed that the only reason individuals left their state of nature was to protect themselves from their own selfishness. A sole leader must be chosen to carry out certain decisions, as well as to set laws. This is why he entitled his philosophy Leviathan, because the word leviathan means sea monster, or overall ruler. Once the people have agreed to follow this ruler, they then have a moral obligation to carry out the law. Because individuals alone do not agree on anything, and are only interested in their own self-interests, a democracy is impossible to accomplish according to Hobbes. Therefore, a monarchy is the best way to govern a society. However, Hobbes ...

The Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas

The Texas Revolution and the Republic of Texas The Texas Revolution (1835–1836) was a political and military insurrection by settlers and inhabitants of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Texas against the Mexican government. Mexican forces under General Santa Anna attempted to crush the rebellion  and had victories at the legendary Battle of the Alamo and the Battle of Coleto Creek, but in the end, they were defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto and forced to leave Texas. The revolution was successful, as the present-day US state of Texas broke off from Mexico and Coahuila and formed the Republic of Texas. The Settlement of Texas In the 1820s, Mexico wished to attract settlers to the vast, sparsely populated State of Coahuila y Texas, which consisted of the present-day Mexican State of Coahuila as well as the US State of Texas. American settlers were eager to go, as the land was plentiful and good for farming and ranching, but Mexican citizens were reluctant to relocate to a backwater province. Mexico reluctantly allowed Americans to settle there, provided they became Mexican citizens and converted to Catholicism. Many took advantage of colonization projects, such as the one led by Stephen F. Austin, while others simply came to Texas and squatted on vacant land. Unrest and Discontent The settlers soon chafed under Mexican rule. Mexico had just won its independence from Spain in 1821, and there was much chaos and infighting in Mexico City as liberals and conservatives struggled for power. Most Texas settlers approved of the Mexican constitution of 1824, which granted many freedoms to states (as opposed to federal control). This constitution was later rescinded, angering the Texans (and many Mexicans as well). The settlers also wanted to split from Coahuila and form a state in Texas. The Texan settlers were initially offered tax breaks which were later taken away, causing further discontent. Texas Breaks from Mexico By 1835, troubles in Texas had reached a boiling point. Tensions were always high between Mexicans and American settlers, and the unstable government in Mexico City made things that much worse. Stephen F. Austin, long a believer in staying loyal to Mexico, was jailed without charges for a year and a half: when he was finally released, even he was in favor of independence. Many Tejanos (Texan-born Mexicans) were in favor of independence: some would go on to fight valiantly at the Alamo and other battles. The Battle of Gonzales The first shots of the Texas Revolution were fired on October 2, 1835, in the town of Gonzales. The Mexican authorities in Texas, nervous about the increased hostility with the Texans, decided to disarm them. A small squad of Mexican soldiers was sent to Gonzales to retrieve a cannon stationed there to fight off Indian attacks. The Texans in the town did not allow the Mexicans entry: after a tense standoff, the Texans fired on the Mexicans. The Mexicans swiftly retreated, and in the whole battle there was but one casualty on the Mexican side. But the war had begun and there was no going back for the Texans. The Siege of San Antonio With the outbreak of hostilities, Mexico began making preparations for a massive punitive expedition north, to be led by President/General Antonio Là ³pez de Santa Anna. The Texans knew they had to move quickly to consolidate their gains. The rebels, led by Austin, marched on San Antonio (then more commonly referred to as Bà ©xar). They laid siege for two months, during which time they fought off a Mexican sally at the Battle of Concepcià ³n. In early December, the Texans attacked the city. Mexican General Martà ­n Perfecto de Cos conceded defeat and surrendered: by December 12 all Mexican forces had left the city. The Alamo and Goliad The Mexican army arrived in Texas, and in late February laid siege to the Alamo, a fortified old mission in San Antonio. Some 200 defenders, among them William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett, held out to the last: the Alamo was overrun on March 6, 1836, and all within were slain. Less than a month later, about 350 rebellious Texans were captured in battle and then executed days later: this was known as the ​Goliad Massacre. These twin setbacks seemed to spell doom for the nascent rebellion. Meanwhile, on March 2, a congress of elected Texans officially declared Texas independent from Mexico. The Battle of San Jacinto After the Alamo and Goliad, Santa Anna assumed he had beaten the Texans and divided his army. Texan General Sam Houston caught up to Santa Anna on the banks of the San Jacinto River. On the afternoon of April 21, 1836, Houston attacked. Surprise was complete and the attack turned first into a rout, then into a massacre. Half of Santa Annas men were killed and most of the others were taken prisoner, including Santa Anna himself. Santa Anna signed papers ordering all Mexican forces out of Texas and recognizing the independence of Texas. The Republic of Texas Mexico would make several half-hearted attempts to re-take Texas, but after all Mexican forces left Texas following San Jacinto, they never had a realistic chance of re-conquering their former territory. Sam Houston became the first President of Texas: he would serve as Governor and Senator later when Texas accepted statehood. Texas was a republic for almost ten years, a time which was marked by many troubles, including tension with Mexico and the US and difficult relations with local Indian tribes. Nevertheless, this period of independence is looked back upon with great pride by modern Texans. Texas Statehood Even before Texas split from Mexico in 1835, there were those in Texas and the USA that were in favor of statehood in the USA. Once Texas became independent, there were repeated calls for annexation. It wasnt so simple, however. Mexico had made it clear that while it was forced to tolerate an independent Texas, annexation would likely lead to war (in fact, the US annexation was a factor in the outbreak of the 1846-1848 Mexican-American War). Other sticking points included whether slavery would be legal in Texas and the federal assumptions of Texas debts, which were considerable. These difficulties were overcome and Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845. Resources and Further Reading Brands, H.W. Lone Star Nation: the Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence. New York: Anchor Books, 2004.Henderson, Timothy J. A Glorious Defeat: Mexico and its War with the United States.New York: Hill and Wang, 2007.

People Attitude Toward Death and God in the Holocaust Essay

People Attitude Toward Death and God in the Holocaust - Essay Example Over this issue God is autocratic and no leniency is shown to anyone. The meaning and impact of death needs to be known from the spiritual aspect to understand its implications properly. The greatest 'incarnation' of genocide-evil ever to be born on this Plant Earth, Adolph Hitler-did he not say when he finally realized that suicide was the only alternative for him, "Brutal force has not won anything durable" Death is the ultimate prerogative of the human being. It is the unavoidable inevitability. Let us understand it from the point of view of action-reaction theory. Every action has the reaction and the intensity of the reaction is in proportion to the intensity of the action. Over this no dispute exists between the scientists and the spiritualists. One of the rare agreements between the two contending forces; the two opposing forces; the forces that normally do not see eye to eye with each other! As per this theory, death happens to one individual or one million individuals at a t ime, not without a reason. Death is an act of divine retribution. Suddenness involved in the death, one must admit, is the grace of God! Awaiting death is tortuous and leads to serious psychological maladjustments. During war-time, prisoners of war, and the people live in fear of death. Simon Wiesenthal, in his book, "The Sunflower," describes such a situation thus: "And one piece of bad news followed another, each more alarming than the last. Today's news was worse than yesterday's, and tomorrow's would be worse still."(Wiesenthal, 1998, p. 4) The book by Anna Porter deals with the preventive measures to stall holocaust. Many in Israel were jealous of the honest attempts made by Kasztner to save the lives of Jews from certain death in the concentration camps. The man who accused him was Malchiel Greenwad, He "was a disappointed, angry, toothless old man with a black yarmulke and a small beard; his one ambition had been to become a journalist. ...Few people took Grnwald or his frequent outpourings of hate seriously. He was particularly hysterical in his attacks on the ruling Labor Party..." (Porter, 2007, p.375) Kasztner, who negotiated the deal with the Nazis, knew how tough the job was! Porter writes, "Kasztner looked out the window at the bare, grimy bricks of the courtyard. The sun lit up a corner where someone had hung a small basket of blue flowers, now withered. Perhaps the woman who had tended them had been dragged away to the Srvr prison, or Kistarcsa, or was already on her way to Auschwitz-Birkenau. "Because, Herr Hofrat, it was the best I could do. And we have to supply everything: medicines, baby food, blankets if -- God forbid -- winter comes and we are still waiting [for the war to end]Stern nodded."(Porter, 2007, p.203) Anna's book is about tough negotiations of Kasztner to save the lives of Jews and this aspect needs to be viewed from the point of view of political negotiations, for a great humanitarian cause. How can a 14 year old digest the intricacies of philosophical logic related to death The devastating novel by Imre Kertesz, "Fateless" is about the life in concentration camp, of Gyorgy Koves, a Hungarian Jew .He writes, " At the destination station under his feet was

Plant Genome Comparison Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Plant Genome Comparison - Essay Example ecause of its relevance to biosecurity as its seeds contain high levels of highly toxic ricin protein which acts as a ribosome inactivator (Chan et al. 1). For the purpose of the genomic comparison, three studies (The Arabidopsis Genome Initiative, Ming et al. and Chan et al.) exploring the genome content of these plants have been used in the succeeding sections. The Carica papaya genome is three times larger than the Arabidopsis thaliana genome but has fewer genes. In fact, Carica papaya has lesser genes than any angiosperm so far sequenced. Its genome size is 372 Mbp while that of Arabidopsis thaliana is 125 Mbp. The genome of Ricinus communis is also fairly larger compared to Arabidopsis thaliana but smaller than Carica papaya, having a size of 350 Mbp. Compared to the Arabidopsis thaliana genome, Carica papaya genome has lesser disease resistance gene analogues. It also has minimal angiosperm gene set and lacks a recent genome duplication, which is unusual for other angiosperm genomes so far sequenced. The genome of Carica papaya is largely euchromatic but also has highly condensed heterochromatin knobs that represent 30–35% of its genomic DNA. In Arabidopsis thaliana genome too, there are euchromatic and heterochromatic regions. Most protein coding genes in Arabidopsis thaliana reside in the euchromatic regions while heterochromatin regions around the centromere have transposons and other repetitive sequences. In fact, in Arabidopsis thaliana account for around 10% of the genome, almost one-fifth of the intergenic DNA. The genome assembly of Ricinus communis is fairly fragmented with several megabase-sized scaffolds. Fifty percent of the Ricinus communis genome is found to be repetitive DNA, one-third of which is retrotranposons and less than 2% DNA transposons. BLASTZ alignment studies of chromosomal segments of Carica papaya with syntenic regions in Arabidopsis thaliana have shown that 34.8% of Arabidopsis thaliana genes in any one segment correspond