Reducing Your Energy Bill The Study Of The Effects Of...

Reducing Your Energy Bill: The Study of the Effects of Heat on Roofs Ricardo Medina Cathedral High School Abstract Would painting your house a different color change its overall temperature? The project presented is about the studies of the effects of different colored paints when applied to a building’s roof. In the studies it was discovered that a lighter color will not keep the heat trapped so a light colored house will do well in a hot region, such as El Paso. A darker colored house would trap the heat, so a house that is darker will serve a better purpose in a colder region. The materials needed for this project are acrylic paint in red, white, brown. Apply the paint to three different boxes. When that is done set a timer for 30 min and leave the boxes outside and record the temperatures. Once the time is up, record the readings and input them into a chart. This will make it easier to analyze the results and see the differences between each temperature. This experiment can help you decide what color is the best option to paint your roof. Doing this experiment can help notice what colo rs regulate temperature the best in different environment. Introduction How does the color of your house affect the temperature inside of it? The clothes you wear is an example of this. On a hot sunny day you would rather wear a light colored shirt. If you were to wear a dark colored shirt you would get warmer quicker than if you were in a light colored shirt. Since lightShow MoreRelatedSolar Energy : An Important Part Of Life Essay913 Words   |  4 PagesEnergy will always be an important part of life, producing power of movement, heat, and production of electricity in many ways. Renewable energy producing electricity never runs out having lower environmental impact. Solar energy should be used globally improving architectural design in both residential and commercial buildings expanding living future. With 7 billion people across the world, living future might be one of the solutions of global warming by saving energy, water, electricity and natureRead MoreAlternative Energy1688 Words   |  7 PagesAre alternative energy sources the answer to endi ng human dependence on oil? September 24, 2012 Are alternative energy sources the answer to ending human dependence on oil? Right now there is no one substitute for oil because we use it for a variety of things. We can use alternative sources in areas to preserve or conserve our usage of oil. We use to use wood for fires and light. Then in the industrial revolution we began to use coal. â€Å"Coal can provide much more energy over longer periods thanRead MoreSustainable Building Material...24522 Words   |  99 PagesWorks and Planning, City of Santa Cruz Departments of Public Works and Planning Community Development, and Ecology Action. Many thanks to Ana Maria Rebelo, Dick Stubendorff, Mary Arman, and Virginia Johnson. Thank you, reader, for your attention. We hope to inspire your interest and collaboration to support green building in our region, conserve our environment, strengthen our economy, and create a healthy community. Sitework Grading Paving Resource Efficient Landscapes 8 9 Structural Elements Read MoreMmp 112 Sustainable Construction Trimester2561 Words   |  11 PagesMMP 112 SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION TRIMESTER 1 2015 ASSIGNMENT 1 SUSTAINABILITY ASSESSMENT Table of Contents 1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction 3. Task 1- Energy efficient and sustainable technologies 4. Task 2- Description of house 5. Task 3- How to improve your homes environmental performance TASK 1 – ENERGY EFFICIENT AND SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGIES 1. EVAPORATIVE COOLING One effective form of air conditioning, which is fitting for less humid states of Australia and is basedRead MoreHome Energy Conservation3185 Words   |  13 PagesHome Energy Conservation So you think the cost of gas is outrageous? Most Americans do. The controversies in the Middle East and recent environmental disasters have made the cost of many natural resources, like oil, sky rocket. So imagine the amount of oil needed to power your car and compare that to the amount of oil needed to heat your home. Home energy conservation is a way that Americans can counter-act the estimated high costs to heat, cool or light their residence. In the ‘old days’ energyRead MoreAn Investigation Into Photovoltaic Cells2330 Words   |  10 Pagesup with â€Å"Solar Thermal Panels†, as they are both put on the roofs of the buildings and look very similar, however they provide electricity directly whilst solar thermal panels can have photovoltaic cells used within them but they don’t have to, as well as solar thermal panels are responsible for supplying energy for heating rather than electricity. The difference between solar thermal panels is that it provi des more of the thermal energy, just as the name states, whilst photovoltaic panels can onlyRead MoreGlobal Warming And The Depletion Of Non Renewable Resources3186 Words   |  13 PagesCommunities A Pathway To Net Zero Energy Kara Boboski Abstract: This paper discusses the issues of global warming, and the depletion of non-renewable resources, and how it has lead to the promotion of net zero energy communities. There are many benefits to achieving carbon neutrality, which will be further explored. A wide variety of clean energy is available, which can be harnessed and even stored for future use. This variety of clean energy no negative effect on the earth. Further more, thisRead MoreInnovative Construction Techniques And New Technologies3226 Words   |  13 Pagesthis course, Sustainable Construction. I found the study to be quite interesting, beneficial and knowledgeable. I have tried my best to prepare an effective and creditable paper. This paper is about products, construction techniques and new technologies that can be used to achieve credits toward LEED certification of a building. I want to thank you and thank San Jose State University for this opportunity provided to work on such a great topic. Yours Sincerely, Hanna Saed Table of Contents: AbstractRead MoreDemand Side Management22653 Words   |  91 PagesDemand-side management sustainable energy regulation and policymaking for africa MODULE 14: DEMAND-SIDE MANAGEMENT page iii CONTENTS 1. MODULE OBJECTIVES 14.1 1.1. Module overview 14.1 1.2. Module aims 14.1 1.3. Module learning outcomes 14.2 2. INTRODUCTION 14.3 3. WHY PROMOTE DSM? 14.5 4. WHAT DRIVES DSM? 14.7 4.1. Cost reduction and environmental motives 14.8 4.2. Reliability and network motives 14.10 5. TYPES OF DSM MEASURES 14.13 5.1. Energy reduction programmes 14.13 5.2. LoadRead MoreSwot Analysis : New Zealand Essay3984 Words   |  16 Pagesthan imports because most of the dairy products, kiwi fruits, meat and seafood are exported from New Zealand to other parts of the world. As agriculture exports 2/3 of New Zealand’s export merchandise, the students are taking interest in agriculture studies and plant genetics and seed production. As New Zealand is the most efficient agricultural economy, the government of New Zealand has decided to join hands with some companies who will helps farmer to maximize their crop yield, maximize their profitability

Should Students Wear Uniforms Free Essays

Are Uniforms A Good Way to Improve Students Discipline and Motivation? AED 200 Introduction Uniforms have been a big debate for years. Some educators and parents believe feel uniforms are a great addition to the school system while others feel it is not giving student’s freedom of speech by expressing themselves in what they wear. Should Students Wear Uniforms? Should students wear uniforms is the big debate across school districts across the united states today. We will write a custom essay sample on Should Students Wear Uniforms or any similar topic only for you Order Now According to Eduguide. rg, school uniforms are one step that may break the cycle of violence; truancy and disorder by helping young students understand what really counts. Some feel students benefit from uniforms because it boosts their self-esteem. Students also have feel like they are in a fashion show dressing in uniforms makes students realize what on the inside that counts. Uniforms decrease the influence of gangs and are known to make things difficult for weapons being brought in hidden inside of clothes. Uniforms improve learning. Uniforms reduce distraction and shapes focus on school work and making the classroom a more serious environment. Uniforms improve behavior and increase school attendance. Uniforms save families time and money. Parents report uniforms are cheaper than buying designer clothes or keeping up with the latest trends. Uniforms helps the administrators quickly identify outsiders who could be a danger to the students. Some people believe uniforms shows neatness by requiring students to tuck in their shirts, wear belts and wear shoes similar in color. Students dressing the same decreases teasing about clothing and shoe appearance. Uniforms prepare children for following a dress code for the future when they reach adulthood and join the workforce. Some children form their own groups in school in which wearing a certain thing or color or style. Some children use fashion trends to differentiate the popular ones from the unpopular children according to what they wear. Uniforms make it less possible for kids to be judged based on clothing choices. Uniforms prevent the competition to have the most fashionable clothes. Competition in school causes students to lose focus on schoolwork instead of on who is wearing the latest fashion trends. Uniforms eliminate clothes competiveness. Another article from Proffessorshouse. com states that some people claim that requiring a uniform increase graduation rates and also has an impact on children’s educational experience. Students performed on the uniform debate claim that uniforms encourage discipline, helps prevent social groups from forming opinions based on fashion status, gets rid of economic barriers and makes easily to identify persons at the school who should not be there. The article also talks about how some form of dress codes enforced around 75% of all schools dress codes are in place to outlaws offensive clothing being worn to the school. After reviewing another article from Ezinearticles. com uniforms create a source of identity and provides a sense of belonging according to the article the article some children’s believe the school chosen for them is a sort of achievement and the school uniform is a mark of inclusion, something to brag about and they feel proud and empowered wearing it. It eliminates the child having to worry about what to wear each day. Uniforms also relieve the parent of having to spend money to helping the child to keep up with the latest trends every day. Uniforms allow a sense of unified purpose to develop particular rivalry with other establishments. Uniforms reinforce children’s since of belonging to reassuring communities. In a 1996 Long Beach, Calif. speech, former President Bill Clinton announced his support of that district’s uniform initiative. It didn’t get far in the United States but it also helped start the debate. Uniforms also closes the debate on what children are allowed wear to school, then that makes mornings easier for parents and for children. Everyone knows exactly what the kids need to wear, their regulated school uniform. This leads to a decrease in morning arguments. Some experts believe that when the entire student body is dressed in uniforms, they develop a stronger team mentality. When they are all dressed alike, their all-for-one-and-one-for-all attitude is boosted. With parents saving by not having to buy day to day clothes, they can let their children buy a few nicer and more fashionable clothes for weekends and evenings. Wearing a uniform five days a week can make children appreciate their weekend fashions more. Why Students Should Not Wear Uniforms Parents on the opposing side feel uniforms violate the right to freedom of speech and expression; a uniform cost too much for families struggling financially, uniforms are a band aid on the problem of school violence and does not address the real issues behind it. Uniforms hide warning signs that point to problems that maybe going on with the child. Some feel that uniforms have not been able to prove wither the decreased discipline or violence and uniforms fail to allow children the ability to learn and make good choices based on their own values. Most feel that uniform are not allowing children to be themselves. Some believe that children cannot be themselves clothes are an expression of who they are. Parents feel that uniforms can be more expensive than regular clothes. Some parents may feel they are a big waste of money wither the school paid for them or not. Some feel uniforms made children uncomfortable and made them focus on the uniform rather than focusing on school work. Also uniforms do not change a child’s behavior in school. Wearing uniforms stop children from getting in trouble and acting out in school. Self-expression is an important part of a child’s development and curbing it with uniforms can be determined to children. Some feel if students are not able to express themselves will in another way by excessive make-up or hairstyles or jewelry. Uniform wear delays transitions into adulthood. Some experts feel teenagers to wear uniforms limits their ability to express in their own way in which can delay their transition in adulthood. Studies show uniforms can be a difficult to enforce in public schools. Conclusion Uniforms have many pros and cons, most believe uniforms are a good option for kids while others feel they can compromise who kids are through expressing themselves through the clothes they wear uniforms cuts down on violence and is a solution to economic problems parents may be facing today. My own personal experience with uniforms causes me to look at uniforms in both sides of the issue. I feel uniforms should be forced in middle or high school but voluntary in elementary schools. I feel most kids in elementary school do not notice what each other wear. Middle and high school is the times where students notice what the other person is wearing or form groups based on who they think are popular or the other. Uniforms are a choice based on school officials and it is up to the child or school if uniforms work. References Website: EduGuide. com Website: Ezarticle. com Website: About. com How to cite Should Students Wear Uniforms, Essay examples

Construction Trends Enhanced Profitability

Quetstion: Discuss about the Construction Trends for Enhanced Profitability. Answer: Introduction The building industry is one of the major building block for any countrys economy. For this reason, it is crucial that construction companies have clear strategies to use to become more efficient in delivering their services. This will ensure that they also gain maximum profit while providing the best construction facilities to their clients. The current trend in construction industry is undergoing new changes with the improvement of technology and it is necessary that the managers know how to integrate this into their organizations appropriately (Basu, 2016)). Several companies that do not take these strategic approaches in their work end up performing very poorly which results in undesirable structures. Such companies do not survive ell in the industry as they lose most of their clients and they end up being closed. This research report provides measures such as, use of new technology, efficient management of job production for profit, the definition of companys goals and setting prospects, adequate training of staff, and the making of written procedures for the employees which are known to work well in improving their performance (Heap 1987, p. 7). The performance of different construction companies The construction industry is faced with unique challenges different from which other companies in other sectors face. Due to its interactive nature and dependence on different groups of people, the construction industry has particular techniques of managing it. Managers who are not well versed with these methods usually lead their firms astray which makes them suffer dire consequences including huge losses. For instance, delaying of a project may cause very huge financial implications that the company has to pay for ultimately (Hammad, Omran and Kadir, 2011). Such a mistake may lead to the closure of the company or loss of their trusted clients. On the other hand, construction companies that deliver their services within the set time frame, become more successful and they may even make super-normal profits as a result. It is important that managers know the strategies that will ensure they are effective in the industry to enjoy the profits. Each day, the construction industry is receiving new technological inventions that are making the work easier and faster. It is important that managers are receptive to these advancements and implement them to their organizations so as to benefit from the same. Companies that keep up with the latest technologies usually save a lot of time and money that could otherwise be wasted using the former techniques (Naoum, 2001). The fundamental aim of starting any business is usually to make revenue for the same. As such, it is crucial that all construction companies appoint managers who have the desired qualities that will ensure they achieve this goal (Heap 1987, p. 23). Good managers know how to analyze and establish the best construction methods which are most cost effective if used properly. It is, therefore, important that managers make the right decisions in construction as this determines whether they eventually make profits or losses. Definition of companys goals and setting prospects When setting up a construction company, the owners need to have a clear purpose and specification for the services they will handle (Walker, 2007). The construction industry has many branches, and it is prudent that the managers identify the most viable areas to specialize in. All construction companies, therefore, need to set up goals that will act as guides and source of motivation for their employees. The goals should be defined by the management in consultation with their workers to establish the most effective goals that will benefit every stakeholder in the company. It is important that also the clients who engage with the company are notified about these goals to ensure smooth dealings. After recruiting the employees, it is necessary that they are given a thorough training to enhance their skills before they can start working (Rojas, 2008). This is necessary because it is not possible to fully judge the expertise of workers during the interview and appointment stage. As such, training the employees will ensure that they have all the skills and tools necessary to drive the company into good performance. It is important that the company strives to retain their trained employees as this is a form of investment and replacing them may end up being very costly to the firm. Making written procedures for the employees In construction, all the building processes are carried out in a systematic way. As such it is necessary that the company drafts well-structured procedures for performing different tasks which employees can easily follow and implement (Walker, 2007). This will ensure that the tasks are performed in the right way, and it minimizes the chances of making errors while working. Such procedures need to be updated in the event of new technological developments that may occur. The construction industry remains one of the most profitable ventures if done correctly. It is, therefore, necessary that the owners and managers of this organizations are aware of the tactics to use to enhance their performance and maximize their profitability. Some of the methods that were explained above include the use of new technology, efficient management of job production for profit, the definition of companys goals and setting prospects, adequate training of staff, and the making of written procedures for the employees. Every construction company should implement these measures to benefit from their businesses. References Basu, A. (2016). Construction Trends Remain Favorable for Enhanced Profitability. Jobsite. Clair, A. (2017). Strategies to Increase Your Construction Business Revenue. Bplans. [online] Available at: https://articles.bplans.com/strategies-to-increase-construction-business-revenue/ [Accessed 8 Apr. 2017]. COOPER, D. J. (2004). Improving people performance in construction. Aldershot, Hants, England, Gower. Hammad, M., Omran, A. and Kadir, A. (2011). Identifying Ways To Improve Productivity At The Construction Industry. 1st ed. HEAP, A. (1987). Improving site productivity in the construction industry. Geneva, Internat. Labour Office. Naoum, S. (2001). People and Organizational Management in Construction. 1st ed. Technology and Engineering. Rojas, E. (2008). Construction Productivity: A Practical Guide for Building and Electrical Contractors. 1st ed. R.Josh Publishing. Walker, A. (2007). Project Management in Construction. 1st ed. Technology and Engineering.

The Attitude of Andy Warhol Essay Example For Students

The Attitude of Andy Warhol Essay Warhol introduced society to a new kind of art that is now being agonized as real art, he pushed to boundaries and so called standards to the traditional ways. Whorls first major display of pushing the boundaries was in 1948 at an art show given by the Pittsburgh Associated Artists his painting that he submitted was titled The Broad Gave Me My Face but Can Pick My Own Nose, one judge thought it was excellent and another thought it was vulgar and coarse. It hung in the Direct section hut drew a huge crowd of admiring students. From that he felt that he was ready to take on the art scene in New York. Whorls approach to the modern way of art was mass production of everyday items. He was very successful as a commercial artist but was not considered a Dread artist, Andy wanted his art to look impersonal and mechanical. He discovered the use to silkscreen and how it produced slight mistakes and unevenness in his repetitive style of art. He produced his most famous pieces of art after he found silkscreen, he was on an inspirational high. We will write a custom essay on The Attitude of Andy Warhol specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now He produced the Campbell Soup Can series in 1962 and the more famous prints of Marilyn Monroe in 1964. To expand Ands finances, Fred Hughes encouraged him to concentrate on his paintings. Ands Swiss dealer, Bruno Fishmonger, thought Andy should Anita series on a world leader for an exhibit at his gallery. He suggested Albert Einstein. Andy thought that Chairman Mao, the dictator of China, would be a better choice. Ive been reading so much about Chinaware only picture they ever have is Of Mao Sedona. Its great. It looks like a p. 117 price of pop) Bruno insisted that on one, especially Americans, would but them, since Mao was a Widely hated communist. As usual Andy stuck to his instincts and set out to silkscreen a set of prints, line drawings, and paintings of the Chinese leader. Mao symbolized power over the lives Of billions Of people. Although. F Andy had lived in communist China during the Cultural Revelation, he most likely would have been imprisoned. Mao suppressed creativity, especially in the arts, But Andy felt sure that capitalist American collectors would find the images of Chairman Mao, both alien and familiar at the same time, irresistible, Based on the official photograph of Mao, the portraits were done in a freer brushstroke than previous paintings, with a looser background to color over which the image was printed, guy adding lines around the face for emphasis, Warhol tried to make Mao as glamorous as his portraits to Marilyn. He also reduced a series of Mao wallpaper similar to the Cow Wallpaper at Galleria Lean Assonated, Paris in 1365. Warhol emphasized the hand-painted part of his work, stressed the brush stoke at the cost of the printing technique, by partially integrating oil painting into his silkscreen pictures and played down the mechanical effect. But the subject of this series of portraits was taken from the official photograph print of the almighty Para leader, which hung on every Chinese wall. But the studies differ from one another in color as well as in compositions and the selection of detail. By means of a lighter colored aground and the contrast Of colors generates a kind Of halo.

Free Essays on Cesar Pelli

Cesar Pelli was born in Argentina in 1926 and married in 1950. He got his bachelors degree in architecture at the National University of Tucumn in Argentina. Pelli moved to the United States in 1952. In 1954 Cesar received his masters in architecture from the University of Illinois. After collage he went to work with Eero Saarinen who later would become his partner. In 1977 he formed his own firm Cesar Pelli and Associates in New Haven Connecticut. In that same year he was named Dean of the Yale School of Architecture where he stayed until 1984. He was awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1995. Pelli designs several sketches, which allows client’s to choose their favorite one. I think this makes him a unique architect. He likes to add a blend of the present to his client’s choice. "My works are formulated in the spirit of the present", Pelli says. He changes his design tastes to correspond with certain characteristics such as site, climate, and the building’s purpose. I think Pelli design taste for the present pushes the future to the next level. Most of his buildings have a blue, brown, bronze, mirrored, opaque, and transparent metallic look for the exterior. "I am interested in expressing the exteriors of buildings as enclosures for controlled living environments." Pelli also uses colored brick, limestone, aluminum, and steel for exterior materials along with his favorite, glass. He pays great attention to designing every building with unique detail. Pelli has designed many famous buildings. He says "Cities are our most important responsibility. They are the whole of which our buildings are the parts. Making a building one with its place has been a constant goal of architecture throughout the ages. Technological and cultural changes have weakened this relationship, and it is the responsibility of each one of us today to consider it in our work. " Some of Pelli’s most f... Free Essays on Cesar Pelli Free Essays on Cesar Pelli Cesar Pelli was born in Argentina in 1926 and married in 1950. He got his bachelors degree in architecture at the National University of Tucumn in Argentina. Pelli moved to the United States in 1952. In 1954 Cesar received his masters in architecture from the University of Illinois. After collage he went to work with Eero Saarinen who later would become his partner. In 1977 he formed his own firm Cesar Pelli and Associates in New Haven Connecticut. In that same year he was named Dean of the Yale School of Architecture where he stayed until 1984. He was awarded the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1995. Pelli designs several sketches, which allows client’s to choose their favorite one. I think this makes him a unique architect. He likes to add a blend of the present to his client’s choice. "My works are formulated in the spirit of the present", Pelli says. He changes his design tastes to correspond with certain characteristics such as site, climate, and the building’s purpose. I think Pelli design taste for the present pushes the future to the next level. Most of his buildings have a blue, brown, bronze, mirrored, opaque, and transparent metallic look for the exterior. "I am interested in expressing the exteriors of buildings as enclosures for controlled living environments." Pelli also uses colored brick, limestone, aluminum, and steel for exterior materials along with his favorite, glass. He pays great attention to designing every building with unique detail. Pelli has designed many famous buildings. He says "Cities are our most important responsibility. They are the whole of which our buildings are the parts. Making a building one with its place has been a constant goal of architecture throughout the ages. Technological and cultural changes have weakened this relationship, and it is the responsibility of each one of us today to consider it in our work. " Some of Pelli’s most f...

The Gold Standard vs. Fiat Money

The Gold Standard vs. Fiat Money An extensive essay on the gold standard on The Encyclopedia of Economics and Liberty defines it as: ...a commitment by participating countries to fix the prices of their domestic currencies in terms of a specified amount of gold. National money and other forms of money (bank deposits and notes) were freely converted into gold at the fixed price. A county under the gold standard would set a price for gold, say $100 an ounce and would buy and sell gold at that price. This effectively sets a value for the currency; in our fictional example, $1 would be worth 1/100th of an ounce of gold. Other precious metals could be used to set a monetary standard; silver standards were common in the 1800s. A combination of the gold and silver standard is known as bimetallism. A Brief History of the Gold Standard If you would like to learn about the history of money in detail, there is an excellent site called A Comparative Chronology of Money which details the important places and dates in monetary history. During most of the 1800s, the United States had a bimetallic system of money;  however, it was essentially on a gold standard as very little silver was traded. A true gold standard came to fruition in 1900 with the passage of the Gold Standard Act. The gold standard effectively came to an end in 1933 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt outlawed private gold ownership. The Bretton Woods System, enacted in 1946 created a system of fixed exchange rates that allowed governments to sell their gold to the United States treasury at the price of $35/ounce: The Bretton Woods system ended on August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon ended trading of gold at the fixed price of $35/ounce. At that point for the first time in history, formal links between the major world currencies and real commodities were severed. The gold standard has not been used in any major economy since that time. What system of money do we use today? Almost every country, including the United States, is on a system of fiat money, which the glossary defines as money that is intrinsically useless; is used only as a medium of exchange. The value of money is set by the supply and demand for money and the supply and demand for other goods and services in the economy. The prices for those goods and services, including gold and silver, are allowed to fluctuate based on market forces.   The Benefits and Costs of a Gold Standard The main benefit of a gold standard is that it  ensures  a relatively low level of inflation. In articles such as What Is the Demand for Money? weve seen that inflation is caused by a combination of four factors: The supply of money goes up.The supply of goods goes down.Demand for money goes down.Demand for goods goes up. So long as the supply of gold does not change too quickly, then the supply of money will stay relatively stable. The gold standard prevents a country from printing too much money. If the supply of money rises too fast, then people will exchange money (which has become less scarce) for gold (which has not). If this goes on too long, then the treasury will eventually run out of gold. A gold standard restricts the  Federal Reserve  from enacting policies which significantly alter the growth of the money supply which in turn limits the  inflation rate  of a country. The gold standard also changes the face of the foreign exchange market. If Canada is on the gold standard and has set the price of gold at $100 an ounce, and Mexico is also on the gold standard and set the price of gold at 5000 pesos an ounce, then 1 Canadian Dollar must be worth 50 pesos. The extensive use of gold standards implies a system of fixed exchange rates. If all countries are on a gold standard, there is  then  only one real currency, gold, from which all others derive their value. The stability of the gold standard cause in the foreign exchange market is often cited as one of the benefits of the system. The stability caused by the gold standard is also the biggest drawback in having one.  Exchange rates  are not allowed to respond to changing circumstances in countries. A gold standard severely limits the stabilization policies the Federal Reserve can use. Because of these factors, countries with gold standards tend to have severe economic shocks. Economist  Michael D. Bordo  explains: Because economies under the gold standard were so vulnerable to real and monetary shocks, prices were highly unstable in the short run. A measure of short-term price instability is the coefficient of variation, which is the ratio of the standard deviation of annual percentage changes in the price level to the average annual percentage change. The higher the coefficient of variation, the greater the short-term instability. For the United States between 1879 and 1913, the coefficient was 17.0, which is quite high. Between 1946 and 1990 it was only 0.8. Moreover, because the gold standard gives the government little discretion to use monetary policy, economies on the gold standard are less able to avoid or offset either monetary or real shocks. Real output, therefore, is more variable under the gold standard. The coefficient of variation for real output was 3.5 between 1879 and 1913, and only 1.5 between 1946 and 1990. Not coincidentally, since the government could not have discretion over monetary policy, unemployment was higher during the gold standard. It averaged 6.8 percent in the United States between 1879 and 1913 versus 5.6 percent between 1946 and 1990. So it would appear that the major benefit to the gold standard is that it can prevent long-term inflation in a country. However, as  Brad DeLong  points out: ...if you do not trust a central bank to keep inflation low, why should you trust it to remain on the gold standard for generations? It does not look like the gold standard will make a return to the United States anytime in the foreseeable future.

Movie Gattaca Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Gattaca - Movie Review Example to second-class citizen status and find that they cannot reach their goals, and their dreams severely impeded because society just cannot tolerate them and will obstruct their every hope and aspiration. They also suffer psychologically and emotionally because society not only treats them as pariahs but look at them as pitiful and scornful creatures. But this society itself is grossly myopic because it fails to see defect such as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt who suffered polio and yet campaigned and won the presidency or heptathlete Jackie Joyner Kersee who was asthmatic and yet ruled them all in Olympic heptathlon and the long jump for decades. The list is long and includes Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Albert Einstein, Helen Keller. The list goes on and on and probably include our own ancestors who shone and stood out despite physical limitations stressing the point that the most valuable thing is not what is evident to the eyes. MOVIE SYNOPSIS It is in the above backdrop that Vincent (Ethan Hawke), who was born In-Valid, meaning that because of poverty his parents could not afford to allow the foetal Vincent to undergo pre-implantation genetic diagnosis and DNA selection and thus be genetically engineered with superlative traits from both mother and father, was caught in a trying situation. As such, Vincent cannot qualify for professional jobs such as being an astronaut, which he dearly desired but had to content himself with menial jobs such as the cleaning job at Gattaca Aerospace Corporation, the NASA type of the future era. Unlike his brother Anton, who has the whole world in front of him, Vincent found out that because society practically shut the door in front of him, he had to work double time- learning, working and dreaming to remove the barriers placed before him. Instead of resigning himself to his fate, he saved money, led a frugal life while scavenging

Convergence of Accounting Standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Convergence of Accounting Standards - Essay Example The world markets are increasingly converging due to globalization, and there is a constant flow of investments from one part of the world to another. The use of different accounting standards in a highly globalized world has hampered the flow of investment across borders, which drags the world economic growth and security valuations in its turn. As a result there has been a move among the regulatory bodies to converge the accounting standards globally, and steps have been taken towards this aim. Sir David Tweedie, The Chairman of IASB, says that research shows that if companies are familiar with a country's accounting standards, then they would invest more there than if they are unfamiliar with it. Any company entering another country's market has to learn its accounting principles and even then they remain concerned that they may have overlooked at some points. This increases the risk premium and cost of capital, as well as the interest charged on it. This might lead to a company cutting its investment, thus cutting employment and hence cutting its growth. Hence, a common set of international accounting standards becomes very important. (Heffes, Apr 2006) A global set of principles based accounting standards is the final goal of this international convergence in accounting standards. ... Of these, the most important is the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) of the United States. There has been a marked difference in the accounting standards of FASB and that proposed by IASB. The latter is propagating a principles-based accounting standard, while the former has been following a rule-based accounting standard. A lot of effort has gone into bringing the FASB to the IASB's line of thinking. And a lot of progress is being made. The UK accounting standards have traditionally been principles based and so have not had much disagreement with the efforts to converge with an international accounting standard, which is based on principles. In this paper we analyze the convergence projects undertaken between the IASB and the FASB, and the UK accounting standards and the International Accounting standards. History The FASB is the private sector standard-setting body in the USA. It was established in the year 1972. The standards that FASB sets put recognition, measurement and disclosure principles to be at the heart of preparing the financial statements. The IASB was created when the erstwhile IASC was restructured. The IASB was delegated the responsibility of producing a single set of high quality, understandable and enforceable IFRS's and to encourage convergence on these standards. The first step taken towards convergence between FASB and IASB accounting principles was the Norwalk Agreement, which discussed how the two bodies could work together to "get rid of the reconciliation between US GAAP and International standards." The second step has been the European Union adopting International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which has meant a 100 or more countries adopting it. (Heffes, Apr 2006) In 2002, the EU approved a regulation,

African American Cinema Essay Example for Free

African American Cinema Essay The subject of African-Americans in Motion Pictures provides some of the most interesting studies along with the many controversial interpretations of the roles as actors they played on screen. As far back as the silent films era, African-Americans have been featured in motion pictures playing roles depicting some aspect of acting and being purveyors of a black image. The messages or themes of these movies have over the years presented a mixture of images based upon what was thought to please the viewers of each particular film. Unfortunately, many of those films showed black characters in negative stereotypical roles, which the average African-Americans would never truly identify as being like themselves. Since many of our American icons and heroes have come from our motion picture stars, we need to understand what this narrow view presented and compare it with what we presently see at our local cinema today. The movies Guess Whos Coming To Dinner (1967), Shaft (1971), Do The Right Thing (1989), Boys n the Hood (1991), and Menace to Society (1993) show a thematic style and stereotypes in the way that black films have progressed over the years. The motion picture industry was never too quick to change their approach in presenting African-Americans in realistic roles depicting social or civil conditions in an integrated context. Many of these roles required scenes showing African-Americans in positions of authority or relating to white Americans in a positive way. This Integration Period therefore brought together African-American actors with scenes along side white actors in roles showing both players dealing with racial conflict and resolution. Guess Whos Coming to Dinner was truly a unique film for its time in that Sidney Poitiers character breaks all the stereotypical views of blacks in American Cinema. In the early 1930s blacks were portrayed as lower class, slow-witted figures of entertainment, often showed in menstrual shows. Poitiers character broke all these stereotypes. 1971 brought to the big screen a successive series of superhero black or blaxploitation films. Shaft was released in 1971, and Richard Roundtree was the superman black hero detective. He was compared by many to the white James Bond. Related to Guess Whos Coming to Dinner, Shaft took it up a notch in showing a black man as a hero. Poitiers role was one to equalize whites and blacks in their roles in American cinema, but Shaft showed a black man who was an authoritative figure. Different themes can be mixed in between the two movies. They both show an intelligent black man that has a grip on reality. Both movies showed themes of how integration has struck America. They differ though on a level in that Shaft was a black dominant cast and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner was predominantly white. Do the Right Thing, Boyz n the Hood, and Menace to Society were all produced in a more modern era, hence the fact that they all have similar racial themes. The films all paint a picture of urban Black America in their time period. All three films are thought to be racially reactionary films aimed at the psyche of both black and white viewers. The movies were all a success due to the touched topics of racial situations, ethnic tensions, and human encounters of anger. The superb casts of both black and white actors made the motion picture industry aware of a newer avenue for films and race relations. African-Americans in motion pictures in todays expanding world of visual imagery can be seen on many expanding fronts. We see the making of motion pictures on subjects or themes which can be taken from history, life experiences, music, and unexplored events. Todays markets are open, and African-Americans are taking advantage of these open door opportunities. Actors and actresses are expanding their roles from stage acting to movies to TV miniseries to video cassettes or discs, and roles taken from books, plus movie soundtracks. In our world today African-American actors and actresses will always have a place in American Cinema and their future looks bright and promising.

The Impact of Computers On Our Lives :: Technology Society Computer Essays Papers

The Impact of Computers On Our Lives Only once in a lifetime will a new invention come about to touch every aspect of our lives. Such a device that changes the way we work, live, and play is a special one, indeed. A machine that has done all this and more now exists in nearly every business in the US and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). This incredible invention is the computer. The electronic computer has been around for over a half-century, but its ancestors have been around for 2000 years. However, only in the last 40 years has it changed the American society. From the first wooden abacus to the latest high-speed microprocessor, the computer has changed nearly every aspect of people’s lives for the better. The very earliest existence of the modern day computer’s ancestor is the abacus. These date back to almost 2000 years ago. It is simply a wooden rack holding parallel wires on which beads are strung. When these beads are moved along the wire according to "programming" rules that the user must memorize, all ordinary arithmetic operations can be performed (Soma, 14). The next innovation in computers took place in 1694 when Blaise Pascal invented the first â€Å"digital calculating machine†. It could only add numbers and they had to be entered by turning dials. It was designed to help Pascal’s father who was a tax collector (Soma, 32). In the early 1800’s, a mathematics professor named Charles Babbage designed an automatic calculation machine. It was steam powered and could store up to 1000 50-digit numbers. Built in to his machine were operations that included everything a modern general-purpose computer would need. It was programmed by--and stored data on--cards with holes punched in them, appropriately called â€Å"punchcards†. His inventions were failures for the most part because of the lack of precision machining techniques used at the time and the lack of demand for such a device (Soma, 46). After Babbage, people began to lose interest in computers. However, between 1850 and 1900 there were great advances in mathematics and physics that began to rekindle the interest (Osborne, 45). Many of these new advances involved complex calculations and formulas that were very time consuming for human calculation. The first major use for a computer in the US was during the 1890 census. Two men, Herman Hollerith and James Powers, developed a new punched-card system that could automatically read information on cards without human intervention (Gulliver, 82).

Research Paper Essay

Review of related literature and studies After the computer became popular to the people, the developers of schools website are taking years after. Only Derrick Meador quoted the â€Å"More and more homes across the country have internet access and having a school website that is up-to-date and well-organized is a great way to reach the school community.† He is also the author of â€Å"The Importance of School Website† sourced (www.teaching.about.com). In past years the proposal of school sites are limited to. Because it’s not affordable to have it only few can make. But now, lots of schools want to be part in the market. Related Reading Base on My reading, school site, is now important to this generation because more students are in advance when it came to studies. And more students want to study in online, because they don’t have time to go to school when it comes to the school class schedule. Related Literature Related Studies In conducting a school webpage, it helps the school to be part of school official site. Today  ¾ of universities and colleges has already webpage, they make their school more demand to the market i.e. the Far Eastern University (FEU), University of the Philippines (UP), De Lassalle State University (DLSU), Anteneo de Manila University (AdMU) they have their school website. It is easy for them that they can have more enrolee’s next semester. Today, the webpage of school is very important and it is the demand to the market even in abroad, the foreign nation schools is more focus in making school website. There is an advantage having an official webpage and today the Schools they have their proposal to make school sites. The people will inquire or visit through online and it is easy for them that they can inquire through online.

How effective an adaptation of the play Macbeth is the film ‘Macbeth on the Estate’?

Macbeth on the Estate is a modern adaptation of Macbeth. It is set on a modern, run-down housing estate in Birmingham. The major changes from the play are the setting and the characters. There are much fewer noble qualities about the people and places shown. Instead, the setting is very run-down and poor. The characters are also corrupt and indulgent. A lot of the blame for the bad things that happen in the play seems to be given to characters. For example, the possibility that the witches control Macbeth, and he is not in control is implied to be untrue by suggesting that the effects that seem to be supernatural are simply caused by drugs and the poor conditions. There are also some things done that cannot be done in a theatre, such as camerawork to direct the audience. I believe that the film is a reasonable good conversion of the play into a modern film. I believe that it managed to portray the meaning of the original in a modern way that is easy to understand for modern people, as well as making suggestions about the story. I like how every aspect of Shakespearean world was converted into something of the modern world, for example the castle being converted into a social club. What I don't like about it is the fact that the language wasn't changed from the original text. Although it is quite important to keep the film similar to the original, so as not to forget that it is the same play, I think it made the film too much like the original play. I believe that if the setting is changed, the modernisation should be completed by making the language more modern. The point of the film is, after all, to give a modern slant. The language is the most out-of-date part and the most difficult-to-understand part of the play, and I believe that modern language should have been included. I will answer the question of how the ideas have been modernised mainly by giving various examples and explanation of what has been shown in their modernisation. I will answer the question of how the beginning and ending of the play have been changed by describing both beginnings and endings, explaining the changes made and also by giving reasons for changes. I will discuss the change in theatricality by first describing the differences between what can be done in film compared with theatre, and then describing and explaining the particular changes. I will discuss the characters by giving a description of the general change in the characters, and why this is, and then by analysing the change in each character individually, with possible reasons for these changes. I will then discuss how and why the adaptation loses its social and historical meaning and adds a meaning of its own. Shakespeare plays are often modernised to make them more accessible to modern people. This is so that people now can understand the plays, and can understand the meanings behind the plays, because they have been put into a modern context that we can relate to. Some ideas are not actually just translated; they are completed changed, or some are added. For example, the idea of Macbeth being totally evil is changed. Because this modernisation is a film, which means that it has certain ways to direct the audience in a certain way, a select few of the ideas from the original play are translated. An example of these is the idea that Macduff is a complete hero. Although I do not like the fact that only a few ideas are translated, I believe that on the whole, the few that have been translated have been translated well. The beginning and ending of a play or film can be very important for the meaning behind it. Beginnings give the audience a place to start from, to understand the story. They introduce the story and characters, and give the producers a place to start the story from. Endings are useful to round off the story, and give the producers a place to end the story. They are also useful to round off the story for the audience, whether it is a resolved ending or a cliffhanger. The very beginning scene of the play involves the three witches discussing Macbeth. This gives and impression of them controlling the plot, and makes this scene seem like the original source of Macbeth's evil. The beginning of the film is very different to that of the play. Macduff says an invented dialogue, although the audience does not know who he is at the time. The beginning has a lot of subtle references to the setting and the meanings. Macduff recites the new speech on a large wasteland. When the camera first shows this setting, before Macduff enters the scene, there is nothing restricting the view, and the whole of the frame is used, including the very extremities, so there is no particular focus point. This makes suggestions about the idea of confusion and the lack of focus in the story. The fact that the camera fades in re-enforces this with a feeling of fog. This barren landscape could be a battlefield, possibly like one in the play, reflecting the war-like culture. The fact that we don't know what it is re-enforces the idea of confusion, and also the idea about the audience deciding themselves about the true meaning of the play. The shot of Macduff is very close to him, and he looks right into the camera. This gives the impression that he is talking directly to the audience. This and the fact that Macduff is in the very first scene, rather than the witches, give an impression that Macduff is controlling the whole story, instead of the supernatural. I believe that Macduff is used as part of the way that the director makes him a larger part of the story, to ask questions about his true character. There are many differences between a play and a film. The main one is that with a play, the audience can interact much more, and can decide the story for themselves. This mainly comes from lack of direction, and the ability to imagine elements of the story. One way in which this is done is by not directing the audience's view. In a film, because there is a camera, the audience's view can be directed onto a particular character or object. This means that the audience's view can also be sub-consciously directed towards a particular meaning to the film. In a play, on the other hand, the audience is free to look at whichever characters they wish, to watch their actions and reactions to other events. This adds an element of the audience being able to decide what really happens in the play, and being able to decide which ideas are true, as well as the director being able to direct the audience to parts which show their own feelings. Another way in which is this is achieved is the difference in how the setting is portrayed. A film can be shot in different locations, making the setting much more believable, and making it seem much more like the characters are in the place where they are supposed to be. One again, this allows the audience to be directed, and shown exactly what the director believes the setting is, leaving no room for imagining it. A play has a much less vivid, defined setting. It is demonstrated by symbolic references to the actual things, meaning that the audience has to imagine them more. This means that a film is better if the director wants to deliberately highlight a particular idea to the audience, and wants to tell them something that they believe in. A play is better for giving a more open story, in which the audience is independent, and decides what is true about the story. Although the setting and characters are updated in the film, the language is not. As I have already mentioned, personally, I do not believe that this is very effective, because I think that if some parts are modernised, all the parts should be, although it is quite important to keep the conversion similar to the original. Tension can be shown very well in film, by using particular camera angles or special effects. This means that the tension in the film is shown much better, which is good, but only some elements of tension are properly shown, because the director has chosen to use only certain ideas. Because of the differences between film and theatre, the audience can also be directed towards certain elements of tension. In film, visual images can be used very well, because it is a visual medium, by using special effects. I do not believe that visual effects are used to a great extent in Macbeth on the Estate. The images used are not particularly used much more than they would be in a play. I do not believe that the potential for visual effects is used fully. Instead, the film loses some of the quality of the language from the play, which is an oral medium, making the film a less effective adaptation. It may be true, though, that the director has chosen to do this because what she wants to tell us is done much more subtly by using changes in the characters and setting. The soliloquies in the film are not adapted from the play very much. No elements that are exclusive to film are used, such as visual effects, making the soliloquies very similar to the originals. This is again because the director only wanted to make subtle changes. The actor can change their character by showing different body language, for example facial expression, and can use different tones to change the meaning of what the character is saying. The way that an actor can change the character is subtle, by changing subtle things not mentioned in the script. The part can be changed in many different ways. Some of these are quite significant, such as changing the original lines, adding soliloquies and changing things that are described directly in the original script. Others are less significant, and only involve changing parts that are not directly expressed in the original script, for example set locations and body language for the actors to use to help slightly change the emotions and related things, which make up the characters. The main alteration to the characters was to make them seem corrupt and not noble, to put them and society partly to blame for everything. It is mainly the characters that are very noble in the play who are changed, to make them seem less so. The major of these is King Duncan. In the play, he was known as a good and much-loved king. In the film, although he is liked a lot by the main characters, he has lost his nobility and kingliness. Instead of his castle, he has a social club, and he is very indulgent. Although all of the characters drink and smoke, he does these to more extent, and he almost never seen without a pint of beer. As well as having un-noble habits, he is also quite a sleazy character. For example, he hassles Lady Macbeth and is unpleasant to some of his servants. He is the main element in the way that the new director shows the environment around Macbeth as being corrupt and his character is changed more extremely than the others, in this way, because he is seen as the figurehead of the nobility in the play, being the most noble. Duncan's son, Malcolm, seems to be changed to also reflect the corrupt environment, but not as much. As in the play, he does what his father does, and copies him, but this is different in the film. He joins in with the indulgence, but this could just be the result of the world around him. Like in the play, he is quite good-natured, and a good person. The director could have used this to make suggestions about young people, not just now, but always, compared to adults. I believe that the fact that she shows the young people joining in with what the adults are doing, implies that they copy what the people around them do, and they quickly become just like the rest of society. The fact that he is a good person, and is not like his father suggests that people are born good and not corrupt, though, and are not like their environment until it indoctrinates them, and it becomes normality to them. This is one of the suggestions that the director makes about society that is true about today and Shakespeare's day. Donaldbain rarely appears in the film, and he is only slightly changed, in the same way as Malcolm. Banquo is changed much in the same way as the other people around the royalty; he has also lost nobility and is part of the corrupt society. Fleance remains more or less the same as in the play, but he has more of an element of innocence. He is younger than he seems to be in the film, and he has a very close relationship with his father, relying on him heavily. He seems to be very distressed by the events in the story, and there is strange thing at the end of the film: he points his hand at the camera as if it is a gun, and fires. This could be to show that he has been indoctrinated by the corrupt society, and he is no longer fearful of firing a gun, and killing someone, because Macduff shot Macbeth. I think that he could symbolise the pure good in the story which struggles to survive in the terrible environment, and then in the end has to give up and be lost into the corruption. Macduff is changed the most in relation to the other characters. In the play, he is Scottish, like most of the other characters, meaning that his background does not make him stand out from the others. On the other hand, in the film, all of the other characters are changed into English people from Birmingham. He, on the contrary, is from the West Indies, and so stands out from the other characters due to his background. This is to make him more obviously a very significant character in the story. The director has done this because she wants to portray Macduff as more of a main character than in the film, and wants to ask us about whether or not he is really as heroic as he is shown as in the play. This was because the film explores the good and evil in all of the characters more than in the play. In the play, Macduff was very blatantly shown as a purely good character, though in the film, we are made to question ourselves about whether Macduff is really as honourable as he might seem. The director probably did this because she wanted to show that there can be evil in everyone, and no one is either pure good or pure evil. Making Macduff stand out more helps illuminate what she wanted to convey to the audience. Lady Macduff is one of the characters who has been changed relatively little: in the play, she is quite a good person, and does not have too much character that is shown; also in the film she has little character shown, other than her kindness and motherliness. Although she joins in with the corrupt society a bit, she only does to moderation, and seems quite innocent. I believe that this was because the director did not want to dilute her messages, and the characters that could not help her portray her messages and did not have much significance were kept quite bland, so as not to take away the focal point from the more important characters. The innocence may have slightly helped a suggestion of feminism. The three witches are changed a lot from the film: they have become three children. I believe that the director chose to do this to help her argument about the corrupt society; she implies that they may not really have any powers, and they just cause the characters to believe in the supernatural, and so carry out the predictions themselves. This implication can be valid to show that today's society is corrupt, and may have changed since Shakespeare's time, but it could also be used to disagree with Shakespeare, and accuse the supposed supernatural occurrences of his day on the general nature of people. Lady Macbeth is one of the few characters that have had less blame put on her than in the play for the events in the story. The audience is made to feel sympathy for her, unlike in the play, which is done in a number of ways, for example by inventing something about some lost child. The changes to her are all part of the general trend that the characters' personalities are diluted into being partially good and partially bad, to make everyone, and our society, to blame for the events. I believe that the director very strongly and effectively puts across this message, and makes Lady Macbeth seem more innocent very well. This also suggests a hint of feminism. There seems to be a hint of feminism in the conversion because the female characters are shown as much more innocent that the male characters, but it is not a very strong hint. Macbeth is also relieved of some blame. In the play, he was portrayed as a thoroughly evil man, and his evil deeds were blamed solely him or the witches controlling him. He is also part of the suggestion that society creates evil, and just does what he does because of his society. The characters are mainly changed to help put across the message that the director wants to give the audience about the story. She wants to imply certain things about the individual characters, but she also uses this to give a new impression about society. Although she wants to make implications about how today's society, and how it would change the situation in the story, she may also want to make implications about timeless aspects of society that have always existed, and possibly to disagree with Shakespeare about how society was then. Although Shakespeare made a great deal of suggestions about society, I think the new director has taken the story further, and made new ones, as well as making alterations and her own touches to the original ones. Although the film seems quite bland and without many of these meanings at first, and it is difficult for the audience to realise these subtle messages when first seen, I think that she has been very successful in showing us her personal feelings about the play and in making suggestions to us about society, as long as the audience can pick them up. Any modernisation of the play inevitably results in the loss of some of its social and historical significance. This is because to understand what is meant by the play, people would need to know what the world was like at the time, and what was happening. When a play is modernised, it stops being about that world, and is about the modern world. There are a lot of modern issues in the film. Some of these are similar to those found in the original play and are only modified, and some are completely new, and are just relevant to modern life. An example of one which is only modified is the violence. The film shows that violence still exists, but in compliance with the idea of there being no nobility, the fighting is changed into dishonourable gang warfare. The modernisation is equally as much about the original play and modern society. Most of the messages behind it concern both in different ways. The best example of an idea, which complies with both, is the idea of no nobility. It works to do with the modern world because it could imply that the nobility is lost, but it could also imply that it never existed, and the people in Shakespeare's time were just as bad as now. My argument is mainly about how the director has used lots of minor alterations to tell us of her opinion of the original story. I believe that she has used the modernisation to make it easier for modern people to understand, but also as a tool to suggest that what Macbeth does is not entirely the fault of the people who were seen as completely evil before. I think she was very successful in taking Shakespeare's meanings on further, and developing new, separate ideas, as well as some contrasting with him, for example, not showing the main characters as completely good or evil, which I believe adds a very good personal touch to it, and shows very subtly, yet effectively, her personal beliefs. The main ideas I believe she wanted to put across are: nobody is completely to blame; everyone has no evil and some good; a hint of feminism; the world of Shakespeare's time exists with us today; there could be other possibilities of why the events in Macbeth happened, that Shakespeare did not include. I think that the film can be appreciated on many different levels: as a simple modernisation for easy understanding, and also as a subtly constructed message about the personal feelings of one person, which can be enjoyed by the observant audience, and can also prompt us to think about what we think about the story, and to wonder what it is really about.

My Path to Success Essays

My Path to Success Essays My Path to Success Essay My Path to Success Essay My Path to Success Growing up, I had spent a lot of my time building and creating different structures with Lego sets and seeing what crazy extravagant model I could create next. My Father was always proud of me and thought of me being an engineer after seeing each Lego model that I had created. The influence of my father led me to believe that engineering would be as easy as a Lego set and therefore, I started out with my major as engineering. Though, now that I know what I want to do, engineering is out of the question. I researched and sought out what I want to do with the rest of my life. I ant to be a geologist. There is not very much that stands in my way on my path to success. I mean of course there is still a lot of college hours I need to acquire, but with time and effort I believe I will get those hours slowly and surely. Money is always another issue cause, no surprise, college is expensive, but I have financial aid and that gives me plenty of extra money I need for text books, living expenses, food, and other necessities needed to help me get through this time in my life. My life at my apartment with my three other roommates is quite the experience. Sometimes my roommate and his irlfriend get into rough arguments and verbally fght but usually it doesnt last long, and if I am studying I can usually Just tone them out. One of my roommates is actually pretty good at math so he helps me out sometimes when he gets the chance to. So, what I need to do to achieve my goal is to continue living life and living up to my responsibilities. There is not a lot I cant handle and I believe that I will reach my goal to become a geologist with time and effort. We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right. Nelson Mandela

An Essay On Metacognition

Humans are naturally curious beings. This curiosity occasionally generates interest into why we think a certain way. What compels us to value one thing over another? Why are some of us naturally better at a certain subject than others? All of these questions are topics that metacognitive research has strived to answer. Metacognition is the awareness and understanding of one’s own thought processes, or, in other words, what we think about thinking. Metacognition has been a topic that has not generated much study until the 1970s, but at that point most of the research was geared towards the memory aspects of metacognition instead of applied use (Sieck 2013). Over the last forty years, there has been a significant increase in the amount of studies conducted on metacognition, but that number is nowhere near the amount that it should be. There are so many ways in which increased study on metacognition can improve our day-to-day lives, as John Flavell said, the ideas brewing in the area of metacognition could someday be used to teach â€Å"children (and adults) to make wise and thoughtful life decisions as well as to comprehend and learn better in formal educational settings† (Sieck 2013). To this end is why it is crucial for the Department of Neuroscience to allocate more funds towards increased research on metacognition, specifically towards how metacognition can assist depressed people in getting rid of unwanted thoughts. The practical applications of metacognitive research are still being discovered. In a study conducted by German scientist Markus Paulus, he and his team discovered that older subjects were more prone to display significant developmental effects in recalling information, compared to a younger age group (Paulus 2014). Paulus shows us how as people grow older, their rate of learning grows as well. Human curiosity is a part of this too, while children can display signs of wondering about oneself, these signs are far more prominent in older people. It has long been thought that the education of our youth should be one of humanity’s foremost priorities, and methods to improve said education should be at the forefront of our minds. What hope do we as a species have if our youth do not surpass us in many ways? This thinking is what caused researcher Bennett Schwartz to conduct a study to discover the implications of metacognition for student learning. Schwartz decided to focus his research on how metacognition can â€Å"influence decisions about studying and how we might use [metacognition] to improve our learning efficiency† (Schwartz 2012). Schwartz discovered that the preconceptions students have towards whether or not something deserves to be studied are usually overconfident, and in many cases â€Å"fail to reflect variables† that could improve efficiency. His findings on how metacognition can affect the education of the youth, mainly the efficiency with which to study, will help said youth become more we ll-organized and disciplined in the future. We do not yet know the full extent to how metacognition affects our moods, but with further study this knowledge can be easily attained. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America found that one in eight children are affected with some form of anxiety. They also found that Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) affects 6.8 million American adults (Anxiety and Depression†¦). If the Department of Neuroscience would allocate more funds towards research on metacognition, we could study more the application of using metacognition to change the way we think. This would further allow us to better treat all the people with some form of depression or anxiety, maybe even going so far as to completely eradicating the disorder from human life. Without further research, we will never know the extent to which metacognition can help people. There is much that is yet to be known about metacognition, because, we still do not understand much about the science behind our thinking. The age-old argument of nurture vs. nature continues to go on, and increased research towards metacognition would go a long way towards possibly settling that argument for good. As you can see, allocating the grant money towards amplified metacognition research would be one of the best choices the Department of Neuroscience could do as improved knowledge of metacognition would allow there to be no limit to what humans could do. Once we learn how we learn, we will be able to learn even more efficiently. References Sieck W. 2013 Feb 13. Metacognition is Knowing Your Mind [Internet]. Global Cognition; [2013 Feb 13, cited 2014 Sep 18]. Available from: http://www.globalcognition.org/head-smart/metacognition-is-knowing-your-mind/ Paulus M, Tsalas N, Proust J, Sodian B. 2014. Metacognitive monitoring of oneself and others: Developmental changes during childhood and adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology [Internet] [2014 Jun 1, cited 2014 Sep 5] 122:153-165. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096513002749 Schwartz B, Efklides A. 2012. Metamemory and memory efficiency: Implications for student learning. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition [Internet]. [2012 Sep 6, cited 2014 Sep 6] 1(3):145-151. Available from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211368112000617 Anxiety and Depression Association of America [Internet]. Silver Spring(MD):Anxiety and Depression Association of America; [cited 2014 Sep 28] . Available from: http://www.adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics

Source Integration Task Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Source Integration Task - Essay Example This has also been maintained that it compels high schools to reduce the range of subjects they teach which is also shown as a significant limitation of the current entrance exam system. Further, university entrance exams of the day cause unreasonable stress on young people. To sum all these arguments up, the university entrance exams should be abolished because they reduce education to the simple memorizing of information, force high schools to reduce the range of subjects they teach, and cause unreasonable stress on young people. University entrance exams also result in limiting the content that high schools teach to their students. Significantly, one of the most essential defects of the current entrance exam system has been that the high schools are forced to reduce the range of subjects they teach as they need more to focus on the university entrance exam syllabus. It is natural for every high school to expect its students to enter the best schools for their further studies. In the attempt to help the students pass the entrance exams and secure admission in the best schools, the high schools are forced to concentrate on the topics of these exams and ultimately sacrifice broad range of subjects. That is to say, these high schools are forced to dedicate the depth of learning to focus on exam content only in order to secure pass in the entrance exams. However, it cannot be ignored that such an educational practice contributes too little for the overall development of the students. On the other hand, such narr ow-based education limits the benefits of education and it does more harm than good. It is indubitable that a system of broad-based education is needed by young learner’s intellectual development and it is important to provide such a curriculum to the overall development of the students. Therefore, it is important to realize the current

Linguistics Examine the idea that adult second langauage learners of Research Paper

Linguistics Examine the idea that adult second langauage learners of English are capable of retaining the collocations to whi - Research Paper Example TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦4 Thesis Statement†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.4 Methodology†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...4 Preliminary Results and Discussion†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦....5 Study Implications†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦...†¦7 Work Plan†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦7 References†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦9 INTRODUCTION Formulaic language has been playing a key role in second language teaching. A beginning learner utilizes more idiomatic English expressions focused on daily communication templates. Alison Wray’s (2002) definition of a formulaic sequence of words has been the most popular one: â€Å"Formulaic Sequence is a sequence, continuous or discontinuous, of words or other elements which is, or appears to be, prefabricated: that is stored and retrieved whole from memory at the time of use, rather than being subject to generation or analysis by the language grammar" (Wray, 2002, p. 9). Wray claims that the adult learner primarily is more focused on individual words and is concentrated on a non-formulaic approach to language learning (Lewis, 2000a; b). This thesis is devoted to identification of an ability of adult language learners to retain information about what words appear together in their input of adj+noun pairs, verb+noun pairs, and or noun+noun pairs. It is supposed that any drawbacks in non-natives’ knowledge of collocation associations between words is caused by an inadequate input. THESIS STATEMENT The fluency-oriented repetition of individual sentence contexts has an impact on collocation learning for L2 learners, and thus participants will primarily notice and remember c hunks of words in their input through an organized testing process using the adj-noun, verb-noun, and noun-noun pairs placed in a sentence. METHODOLGY A general selection criterion was a key trigger for my further research. Theoretical background is based on relevant academic articles, academic texts, and books. The participants were asked to undergo a short training session in which they were exposed to a number of target adjective-noun, verb-noun, and noun-noun combinations embedded in sentences called a â€Å"naming phase.† Sentences were presented to participants on a computer screen in a random order. The participants were asked to say the noun aloud if they recognized it. The respondents are Spanish speaking Americans. All the participants are enrolled in one or two of the ESL programs for a L2 learner of English within their city’s community base. They are all lower level income participants, with lower level educational backgrounds. PRELIMINARY RESULTS AND DISC USSION Of the adjective+noun, verb+ noun, and noun+noun word pairs, the nouns were recognized more reliably when they followed the verb with which it was paired. These collocations were easily

None Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

None - Essay Example However, at the end of his life, he was forced to live; he decided to leave a written record of his life so that someday his family might know about his hidden appreciation of relations (Mauriac, 1933). This paper will attempt to integrate the Lewis’s theories of love with the story named Vipers’ Tangle and focus on finding out the application of these theories at various stages of the story. Lewis identified two important forms of love people experience during their life span. These are Gift and Need Loves (Lewis, 1960); respectively, the first form of love drives an individual to work in order to provide a safe future to his or her family, and the second one compels a person to share his or her worries with the close ones. However, these two loves should keep moving parallel to each other and co-exist in harmony because if an individual shows only need-based love, this will make the family consider him or her as apathetic and unwilling to struggle for his familyâ€⠄¢s better future. On the other hand, if a person keeps on earning millions while devoting virtually no time to his or her family, the family will consider a person greedy, mean and indifferent. The relation between Louis and his son Hubert took a series of interesting turns during Louis’s life. ... At the same time, Louis unsuccessfully tried to give Need Love to his son, but it was too late. Nevertheless, Hubert and Louis’s tendency to care for each other could not play a significant role in bridging the gap between them. So these men lived apart due to their ego, which hindered both of them from accepting their mistakes of the past (Mauriac, 1933). In the light of this story, it is important to appreciate the supportive role of family in the time of difficulty because warmth of family is an effective stress lifter. However, Louis lived away from love of his family and had to face a great deal of stress while fulfilling his professional obligations (Rupert et al., 2012). As a result, his life satisfaction dropped significantly, which made him become agitated. Due to these reasons, his loneliness grew intense in the last years of his life. In Lewis’s view, Louis kept demonstrating Gift Love towards his family members during the all his life, which resulted in his painful loneliness. However, Louis attempted to show his Need Love for his family, but it proved ineffective. In general, both characters had some changes in the kinds of love that they showed; each one of them started with either Need Love or Gift Love and ended up with the other. At first, Louis only showed Gift Love to Hubert, and this is why he was considered as mean, for he was not close to his family. However, after he had become old, Hubert was compelled to provide for him, which is a change from Need Love to Gift Love, whereas Louis, even though it was too late, started giving his son Need Love as he could no longer offer Gift Love. Conclusion Vipers Tangle’s theme is that humans are fundamentally

Challenges to the LEGO Group

Challenges to the LEGO Group In the recent times worldwide economy has become highly volatile and was vulnerable to a multitude issues. One such example is the latest financial crisis. Such volatility creates a variety of challenges to small and large enterprises around the globe. One of the biggest challenges for manufacturing companies is to deal with rapidly increasing globalization and competition. The solutions require the development of agile and rapid supply networks in order to cut costs and meet demand. Producers are becoming more aware of supply chain management. This awareness shifts the focus from internal logistics efficiency to the external network of relationships between various parties in the supply chain. The well-known Danish toy manufacturer LEGO has not been insusceptible to these changes. LEGO has faced major challenges, which required drastic changes within the organization. This included a transformation of the companys supply chain management system. LEGO Group had to deal with probably the most significant financial crisis since the company was founded in 1932. LEGOs crisis was not clearly visible from the outside. In fact LEGO had maintained brand recognition. This earned them the title Toy of the Century from the British Association of Toy Retailers and Fortune magazine. LEGO was the fourth largest toy manufacturer in the word and had sold US$1.35 billion worth of toys in 2004. In spite of this success, the company was losing money since 1998. LEGO had various internal operational issues. This included a complex and ineffective supply chain, which at one stage consisted of 11,000 contractors. In an attempt to address this problem, in 2004 LEGO board of directors set a goal t o cut 20 percent of logistic costs. This resulted in the risky decision to outsource a major part of the production to Flextronics, a Singaporean electronics manufacturing services provider. LEGO also established a single distribution center in the Czech Republic operated by DHL. (M. M. Larsen, T. Pedersen, D. Slepniov 2010; K. Oliver, E. Samakh, P. Heckmann 2007; J. A. Cooke 2009) Such a risky decision involved a long-term relationship with Flextronics that was not without challenges. In this research paper an overview of challenges and solutions of the case company LEGO Group will be presented. The main focus will be on LEGOs supply chain management system transformation, which was a major step towards success. The following research questions will serve as guidelines for this paper: What challenges did LEGO Group face and what decisions were made to address those problems? How did Supply Chain Management transformation helped to deal with these issues? In this paper we will first explore the Supply Chain Management (SCM) concepts. Next the case company LEGO Group will be introduced. We will then present overview of the challenges that LEGO Group has faced. The focus of this paper will be the SCM decisions that were made to deal with these problems. SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CONCEPT The globalization is increasing competition and forming new conditions for conducting business. This requires companies worldwide to rapidly respond to their customers demands and develop products. These companies must also apply information technologies in supply chain collaboration (J. S. Arlbjà ¸rn et al. 2006) Such conditions increased the importance of logistics and SCM role within organizations as it can become a major competitive advantage. Commonly, the major improvements in logistical functions may not be needed within the organization itself. It may be more beneficial to analyze the organizations supply chain. This involves various interdependent parties. SCM co-operation is gaining in major strategic importance and usually includes such characteristics: co-operating is based on end user requirements, long term co-operation and high trust between actors in the supply chains or networks, shared risks and benefits, cross coordination on various levels between companies, shared visions and similar company cultures. The advantage of such close co-operation is a more transparent supply chain. This can lead to reduced lead-time, lower uncertainty, optimization of stocks and higher capacity utilization. (T. Skjoett-Larsen 2000) The concept of SCM often represents the broader view of logistics as its main function is to ensure the smooth flow of materials from suppliers to organization and then out to customers through the operations within the organization (D. Waters 2003). The purpose of SCM can be described as to remove redundancies and communication barriers through coordination, monitoring and control functions (D. Power 2005). The supply chain usually consists of different organizations and processes, which are aimed to ensure the smooth flow of materials from the initial supplier to the end customer. In many cases, manufacturers get their materials from a large number of suppliers and sell to different customers, which is the case with LEGO Group. In figure 1, you can see an example of the supply chain around a manufacturer. Materials move from several tiers of suppliers though organization to several tiers of customers, such as wholesalers, retailers and end users. Figure 1: Supply chain of manufacturer (D. Waters 2003, 9) The toy industry is one of the oldest creative industries in the word. However, C. Y. Wong, J. S. Arlbjà ¸rnand J. Johansen in their study named Supply chain management practices in toy supply chains(2005) state that such creative business is very seasonal and volatile with strongly fluctuating demands, very short and specified selling windows as well as short product life cycles. Moreover, the toy industry can be described as intensely competitive on pricing and innovation, where retailers often start competing with their suppliers. The authors conclude that most retailers and manufacturers use a push business model. This model includes low utilization of technology and information sharing as well as slow implementation of supply chain initiatives. INTRODUCTION TO THE CASE COMPANY: LEGO GROUP LEGO can be certainly defined as one of the most famous brands in the toy industry. The Danish companys toys are enjoyed worldwide by children and adults alike, who use thousands of different pieces to construct buildings, robots and other toy. In 1932, Ole Kirk Christiansen, a Danish carpenter founded a company named LEGO (Danish words Leg and Godt, meaning play well). Originally a woodworking business for furniture, LEGO began producing childrens toys in 1934. The company presents itself by stating: It is LEGO philosophy that good play enriches a childs life and its subsequent adulthood. With this in mind, the LEGO Group has developed and marketed a wide range of products, all founded on the same basic philosophy of learning and developing through play. In figure 2 the core building blocks of LEGO Group are presented. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; LEGO Group, Corporate Communications 2009) Figure 2: The LEGO Company (LEGO Group 2010) Pursuing such a philosophy, LEGO has grown tremendously since its establishment. By 2009 the company was the worlds fifth largest toy manufacturer in terms of sale with 290 Million US Dollars in revenues and approximately 7000 employees around the globe. The LEGO brick which is possibly the best known toy was first introduced and patented in 1958. It has since then represented the core success and image of this company. With two just bricks there are 24 different combinations and with six there are 915 million possibilities. This enables limitless creativity. As previously stated, before LEGO brick was named as Toy of the century by Fortune magazine and later by British Association of Toy Retailers as well. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. Tidd, J. Bessant 2009) http://cache.lego.com/r/aboutus/-/media/About%20Us/Media%20Assets%20Library/Logos%20Bricks%20and%20Generic%20images/ts.20120125T101709.2x4brick_red.jpg Picture 1: Lego brick (source lego.com) Segmented product categories include: Pre-school products for the youngest children, who had not started the school yet, includes LEGO DUPLO products. Creative building sets or buckets of LEGO bricks without instructions. Play themes products the products with particular stories, such as airports, racing tracks and hospitals, including LEGO City line and BIONICLE. Licensed products related to movies and books, such Harry Potter, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. MINDSTORM NXT programmable robot kit. LEGO education products that are developed for educational purposes. LEGO Games new product line started in 2009 for board games. LEGO operates in over 130 countries worldwide. The companys largest market in the U.S., with together Australia, New Zealand and UK accounted for 30 percent of revenue in 2007. Despite constant challenges and growing popularity of consumer electronics, LEGO is continuing to expand. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) Crisis and solutions In the late 1990s, the company started to have difficulties. This resulted in a major crisis and almost ended in bankruptcy by 2004. LEGO was losing huge sums of money every day, estimated at economic losses of 375.4 thousand U.S. dollars per day since 1998. When sales dropped 40 percent in 2004, it was clear that radical changes had to take place. There are many speculations, why such a well-known and previously successful company started running on tremendous losses. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) One possible reason was increasing competition in their main product area. This was disruptive at its nature. One such example is the Canadian company Megabloks. This company offers a wide range of building toys at a highly competitive price. Also, the increasing popularity of computer games reduced the demand for traditional toys. Another possible factor was the over diversification of product line as LEGO moved into more areas like theme parks ,apparel, clothing, television and even computer games. Such diversification was a result of, as the company claims, a loss of confidence in their core product the Lego brick. The increased complexity of product portfolio confused not just the customers, but employees as well. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. Tidd, J. Bessant 2009; K. Oliver et al. 2007) It was mentioned before that LEGO GROUP had around 11,000 suppliers, which was twice the number that Boeing used to build its aircraft. Such inefficiency and inflexibility was soon recognized and attention was directed to the supply chain, which was 10 years out of date. Moreover, low quality customer service and product availability decreased the value of companys franchise. Jà ¸rgen Vig Knudstorp, newly appointed CEO, stated: From my perspective, the supply chain is a companys circulation system. You have to fix it to keep the blood flowing. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) It was acknowledged that solving problems related to global supply chain could build a strong base for major changes in the organization. This could also be the needed step forward towards cost-effectiveness and an improved business model. However, such big changes are not easy to implement and presented significant challenges for LEGO Group Transformation of supply chain management LEGO Group decided to optimize their supply chain in order to deal with the most significant crisis in the companys history. LEGO realized that it was dragging behind retail giants such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour. These companies had invested huge amounts of recourses into sophisticated and efficient supply chain management systems. LEGO Group started losing the competition to companies, which optimized their costs and provided just-in-time services to its customers (K. Oliver et al. 2007). Transforming such a gigantic and complex supply chain as well as removing the inefficiencies was a very challenging goal. Keep in mind that by 2004 company had around 7000 employees working mainly in two factories and three packaging centers, located in different countries. Further issues and changes within different areas of supply chain management will be discussed, including product development, distribution and manufacturing. Product development Product development and innovation was extremely important for LEGO as it presented the core of what this company was really about. Changes in this field were difficult to implement. This was in part because of its delicate nature and inside resistance from employees. LEGOs development lab called Kitchen was steadily producing new innovative products and ideas. However, management realized that new products were returning less profit and cost more to produce. Developers and designers did not account for production and supply chain issues, in their designs. Consequently, the variety of various components and features as well as product complexity became overwhelming and started to cause major problems in manufacturing and distribution. LEGO bricks and other elements came in more than 100 color tones. LEGO sets became increasingly elaborate with thousands of different figures. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) Such cost ineffective creativity caused problems like large stocks. This was because of seasonal demand fluctuations and short delivery times. Moreover, large amount of components and products required large investments in molds, while just 30 products generated 80 percent of companys sales. Therefore, LEGO decided to drastically cut down the number of components and features. This reduced costs in the supply chain and created a better opportunity for production outsourcing. Management revised a number of daily solutions in order to cut the costs, simplify production and eliminate inefficiencies. The palette was decreased to around 50 colors. A major reduction in variety of pirates, police officers and other figures was recommended as well. Moreover, resin-sourcing analyzes helped to cut its resin costs in half and reduce supplier number by 80 percent. Simultaneously, LEGO Groups operational team created cost matrixes and revised set of rules concerning creation of new colors, compon ents and ordering of new materials. Such step helped product developers to choose more cost-effective solutions and recognize the limitations. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) Distribution Another area of LEGOs supply chain that required major improvements and cost reductions was distribution. At that time LEGO served thousands of smaller stores with a great responsibility. This came at a very high price, although those shops accounted just for one third of its revenue. Company had increasing amount of inventory and lost sales, because of multiple-tier inventory system to serve smaller customers from different distribution centers. The redefined distribution policies had to be developed in order to avoid costly small deliveries and labor costs associated with pick-packing in the distribution centers. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) In order to serve customers in 130 countries around the world, LEGO had 11 warehouses and distribution centers in high-cost countries like Denmark, France, Germany and Switzerland. LEGO also employed 55 transportation providers for inbound and outbound shipments. In order to move its distributions closer to the customer and reduce exploding transportation costs, the company defined clear service policies. This helped to shift the focus to major retail chains. This also provided for more accurate demand forecasts, reduced complexity and certainly the costs of distribution. Furthermore, LEGO Group decided to centralize its distribution by closing five distribution centers in Europe, and creating a single distribution center near Prague in the Check Republic. The country was mainly chosen because of a high availability of skilled low cost labor. LEGO leased large buildings from the commercial realtor ProLogis. LEGO also decided to outsource operations to third-party logistics company D HL supply chain. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007; J. A. Cooke 2009) By 2007 a newly consolidated distribution center was serving all of LEGOs markets except the U.S., where Exel Inc. was responsible for distribution operations. Such changes reduced the complexity of supply chain, simplified the inventory optimization and reduced average distances to the market. This lead to increased customer satisfaction and significantly reduced overall logistics costs. Despite the outsourcing, LEGO maintained close collaboration with its carriers and still makes many decisions. The results of such collaboration are reduced negative effects of market seasonality. Moreover, by applying developed Web-based transportation management system LEGO was able to change the shipment scheduling and improve load consolidation. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; J. A. Cooke 2009) Manufacturing The improved production in the supply chain was probably the most important and complicated step. The challenges came from the way LEGO organized its production facilities and the complexity of manufacturing operations. In some way chaotic production operations resulted in low 70 percent of overall capacity utilization. There were hundreds of independent production units within the facilities that could place their orders in any manner. This was often without balancing supply capabilities, inventory levels and demand needs. Consequently, such fragmented system did not support long-term planning and resulted in high costs and low efficiency. Moreover, the production sites were located in high-cost countries as Denmark, United States and Switzerland, while just 10 percent of production was outsourced to China. Production sites mainly operated according the branding strategy, where, for example, Swiss factories only manufactured DUPLO and Technic products. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010; K. Oliver et al. 2007) One of the first steps was to set clear production cycles for machines instead of having them available to produce any element at any time. This approach helped to reduce constant and costly retooling as well as balance production operations. Furthermore, orders were set in the monthly meetings in that way eliminating the number of changeovers (K. Oliver et al. 2007). However, the major decision concerning production operations was to outsource large part of the production to external packaging and manufacturing service providers. One of the reasons was to cut the costs by moving the production from high-cost countries. Another reason was to reduce the number of subcontractors and utilize the economies of scale, having in mind that LEGO was producing about 24 billion bricks per year (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010). Consequently, the production capacity in Denmark was reduced and sites in Korea and Switzerland closed. LEGO Group engaged into cooperation with packaging service suppliers: Sonoco, Greiner, Weldenhammer and 2B Pack. The most risky and complex partnership was made in 2006 with Flextronics, a Singaporean based electronics manufacturer. Several product lines, like Bionicle and Technic was still mainly retained by LEGO, but the higher volume and more simple Duplo and System lines were handed to Flextronics production sites in Hungary, Czech Republic and Mexico. This helped to reduce the distance to customers. However, the relationship was not successful and contract with Flextronics was terminated from January 1, 2009, while LEGO continued with smaller outsourcing contracts. The main reasons for the failure are connected with delicate nature of toy industry and could be described in short (H. B. Dinitzen, D. Bohlbro 2010, 71-72; M. M. Larsen et al. 2010): 65% percent of production had to be done during the third quarter of the year main holiday season. Products have a lifetime of 16-18 month. Sales uncertainty is around 30%. In figure 3, the timeline of LEGO and Flextronics cooperation is presented, including goals and challenges. Despite the failure, LEGO Group has learned a lot from this outsourcing attempt, which had a positive impact in the end. Figure 3: The timeline of LEGO and Flextronics collaboration (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010, 16) In 2008 LEGO started the process of sourcing back the production, while the first factory in the Czech Republic was taken over, followed by Hungarian and Mexican facilities. In Mexico, LEGO Group eventually moved the production to a new plant, which started operating in first quarter of 2009. The final benefits of collaboration were connected mainly with gained experience in various operational fields. It helped to establish new facilities in Mexico and Hungary, while production units were no longer following branded approach, but instead serving its respective markets. Moreover, LEGO significantly improved documentation and standardization of business processes. Standardization resulted in almost halved size of components, from 12,000 in 2004 to 6000 in 2008. This enabled more flexible, efficient and smoothly running supply chain. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) CONCLUSIONS In the end it can be stated that by taking clearly defined and harsh restructuring strategy, LEGO Group was able to defeat the crisis and become one of the successful and largest toy producers again. This statement can be backed up by financial figures, which indicate that in 2008 and 2009 company reached profit of DKK 315.6 million and 375 million U.S. Dollars, respectively. This was the highest in LEGO Groups history. (M. M. Larsen et al. 2010) A significantly restructured supply chain helped to increase the efficiency of major business operations as well as increase the overall customer satisfaction. LEGO managed to reach and, in some levels, even pass its competitors, while still cooperating with biggest retailers in such fields as joint forecasting, inventory management and mass customization. However, such transformations required dealing with many challenges, including terminated cooperation with Flextronics. Nevertheless, it gave LEGO valuable knowledge about outsourcing operations and its inner characteristics. In the end, unsuccessful outsourcing practice resulted in factories in Denmark, Czech Republic, Mexico and Hungary, which gave the needed supply chain flexibility in order to meet the global demands. Improved parts of supply chain such as product development, sourcing, distribution and manufacturing creates a well developed business model that serves as a major competitive advantage. Finally, after successful supply chain transformation, LEGO Group can shift more attention to increasing the satisfaction of its customers by developing well-liked toys for children and adults.