The Chemistry of Photography essays

The Chemistry of Photography essays Joseph-Nicephore Niepce took he words first photographs in 1824. Many people dont know that he was the person who invented photography; they think that a Frenchman named Daguerre was the inventor but he got the idea from Niepce. Jacqueline Belloni, a chemist at the University of Paris-South at Orsay, is doing research on holes in halide ions. The problem with holes is that they gobble up light-generated electrons. Belloni reasoned that the solution was to dope the film. The dopant would be a negatively charged ion, like halide, so it could substitute for halide in the crystal lattice. Instead of needing ten photons a crystal doped with formate does the job with two. A benefit to consumers will be that it will make high-speed film less grainy and better quality. Rene De Keyzer, a chemist at Agfa-Geveart helps fund Bellonis research, predicts Agfe will have doped films on the market within four years. Film emulsions today are a million times better at capturing photons but th ey still have a long way to go. ~$10 single use camera has 10 times better resolution than todays $1000 digital camera. ~There are 10 billion crystals in a frame of ordinary film. ~The first camera invented was a cubical wooden box about a foot on a side and the film was a tin or stone plate coated in asphalt. I think this article was interesting I never realized how complicated it is to develop a photograph. I think it would be incredible to be able to see one of the first photos Niepce ever made. ...

Profile of the Scandinavian Explorer Erik the Red

Profile of the Scandinavian Explorer Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldson (also spelled Eric or Eirik Torvaldsson; in Norwegian, Eirik Raude). As the son of Thorvald, he was known as Erik Thorvaldson until he was dubbed the Red for his red hair. Notable Accomplishment Founding the first European settlement on Greenland. Occupations LeaderExplorer Places of Residence and Influence Scandinavia Important Dates Born: c. 950 Died: 1003 Biography Much of what scholars understand about Eriks life comes from Eirik the Reds Saga, an epic tale written by an unknown author in the mid-13th century.   Erik was born in Norway to a man named Thorvald and his wife and was thus known as Erik Thorvaldsson. He was given the name Erik the Red because of his red hair; although later sources attribute the moniker to his fiery temper, there is no clear evidence of this. When Erik was still a child, his father was convicted of manslaughter and exiled from Norway. Thorvald went to Iceland and took Erik with him. Thorvald and his son lived in western Iceland. Not long after Thorvald died, Erik married a woman named Thjodhild, whose father, Jorund, may have provided the land that Erik and his bride settled on in Haukadale (Hawkdale). It was while he was living at this homestead, which Erik named Eriksstadr (Eriks farm), that his thralls (servants) caused a landslide that damaged the farm belonging to his neighbor Valthjof. A kinsman of Valthjof, Eyjolf the Foul, killed the thralls. In retaliation, Erik killed Eyjolf and at least one other man. Rather than escalate a blood feud, Eyjolfs family instituted legal proceedings against Erik for these killings. Erik was found guilty of manslaughter and banished from Hawkdale. He then took up residence further north (according to Eiriks Saga, He occupied then Brokey and Eyxney, and dwelt at Tradir, in Sudrey, the first winter.)   While building a new homestead, Erik lent what were apparently valuable pillars for seat-stocks to his neighbor, Thorgest. When he was ready to claim their return, Thorgest refused to give them up. Erik took possession of the pillars himself, and Thorgest gave chase; fighting ensued, and several men were killed, including two sons of Thorgest. Once again legal proceedings took place, and once again Erik was banished from his home for manslaughter. Frustrated with these legal wranglings, Erik turned his eyes westward. The edges of what turned out to be an enormous island were visible from the mountaintops of western Iceland, and the Norwegian Gunnbjà ¶rn Ulfsson had sailed near the island some years earlier, though if hed made landfall its not recorded. There was no doubt that there was some kind of land there, and Erik determined to explore it himself and determine whether or not it could be settled. He set sail with his household and some livestock in 982. The direct approach to the island was unsuccessful, due to drift ice, so Eriks party continued on around the southern tip until they came to present-day Julianehab. According to Eiriks Saga, the expedition spent three years on the island; Erik roved far and wide and named all the places he came to. They didnt encounter any other people. They then went back to Iceland to convince others to return to the land and establish a settlement. Erik called the place Greenland because, he said, men will desire much the more to go there if the land has a good name. Erik succeeded in convincing many colonists to join him on a second expedition. 25 ships set sail, but only 14 ships and about 350 people landed safely. They did establish a settlement, and by about the year 1000 there were approximately 1,000 Scandinavian colonists there. Unfortunately, an epidemic in 1002 reduced their number considerably, and eventually, Eriks colony died out. However, other Norse settlements would survive until the 1400s, when communications mysteriously ceased for more than a century. Eriks son Leif would lead an expedition to America around the turn of the millennium.

Surrealism in Art and Society Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Surrealism in Art and Society - Research Paper Example The paper "Surrealism in Art and Society" states the art society and the surrealism movement. It also includes art that pictured images of paradox and dream devised to change human perception of the world and the world, moreover, the goals of surrealism include revision of the human definition of reality by allowing the free flow of thought with the violation of literal convention in art. Surrealism has its roots from the movement founded by Andre Breton as an artistic and literal movement. However, it borrows plenty of its beliefs and practices from other fields that are not directly related t art. These include politics and psychological fields of society. Politically, surrealism professes communist beliefs following the First World War, its causes and its effects. On the other hand, practices and ideologies are borrowed from the works of Freud due to his assertions on the crucial role of sexuality in human issues. In the case of Freudian influence on surrealism, sexuality is embed ded in the subconscious, which surrealists attempt to utilize to create their works of art; moreover, surrealism is defined as a form of automatism through which it intends to express verbally, in writing and by any other means. As a result, the use of the subconscious in artistic expression must not be limited by sociological and psychological reality, which allows surrealism to violate most conventions. Andre Breton is considered the father of surrealism in the entire world following is experimentation in the artistic field.

Teenage Drug Abuse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Teenage Drug Abuse - Essay Example Exploration and curiosity has been the best explanation for the prevalence. Many health specialists say that drug addiction prevalence is higher among the adolescents and the teens. The teens, just like other people take drugs in order to change their way of perception on things, how they feel and behave. Medical practitioners use psychoactive substances for these purposes. Kofi Annan says in one of his reports that the teens fall into addiction of three kinds of drugs and substances; depressants, stimulants and hallucinogens (Annan 2). Depressant affects or controls the nervous system and thus are sedatives. Stimulants regulate neural activity while the hallucinogens produce mental effects and changes. According to Annan, â€Å"The growing trend in abuse and production of psychotropic substances must be reversed.† (1). The reasons why teens get hooked up into drug and substance abuse are numerous. A number of studies have been done as to the causes of the phenomena and more o r less alike conclusions and findings were made. Unlike more of the past studies, which showed â€Å"having fun,† as the greatest reason for indulgence, more recent studies reveal that teens indulge into the habit in an attempt to solve problems. Stress, low self-esteem or social acceptance, misinformation, self-medication and easy access to drugs easily explain the scenario. A more recent study was done to ascertain the main reason why teens fall into the problem of abusing drugs (Anon 3- 4). In the study, which took 30 months and 923 youth respondents, one respondent had this to say; â€Å"If I don’t do drugs, I feel like am going insane. Because I have all these thoughts and all this pain, in my heart and I cannot get rid of it, you know? Drugs are the only thing that takes it away. That’s why I do drugs. Because it keeps me, not happy, but it keeps me from being so sad that I want to die.† (Anon 4) Proper ways of addressing stress among the teens woul d go a long way to curb the problem (Staff 1). More so, boosting self-esteem and proper information is vital in dealing with the problem of drug abuse among the teens. Staff says that the prevalence of substance and drug abuse is higher among the teens that are never told by their parents about drug abuse than those that are told (Staff 1, Para 7). She therefore concludes, â€Å"The sooner your teen gets help for drug abuse, the more likely they’ll be able to avoid the long-lasting consequences† (Staff 1, Para 8). Different ways have been advanced to curb the alarming rate of indulgence among the teens. As discussed above, corporate social responsibility, in the fight, is inevitable in order to win the battle. Parents, teachers, mentors and guardians have all a common responsibility of ensuring that drug abuse among the teens is controlled. In addition, another group of findings have shown that religious beliefs and religion have in the past played a critical role in t he battle against drug and substance abuse. According to Wallace, Brown, Bachman and La Veist, â€Å"Religious faithful teens are less likely to indulge in drug use as opposed to the non-religious ones,† (10). High rate of drug abuse is noted among the African and white Americans who are not ascribed to religious movements. Therefore, as the research by Wallace, Brown, Bachman and La Veist ascertains, religious affiliation go a long way in the

Bounce height when a ball is dropped Essay Example for Free

Bounce height when a ball is dropped Essay There maybe the odd factor of staying away from units and corners of tables as you could have a nasty head accident since you could be leaning down to record the results of the bounce height. But I am almost certain that nothing serious can happen unless stupid behaviour occurs. Items During this investigation some items will be needed in order to perform the experiment efficiently and easily as possible. Here is a list of the main items being used throughout the investigation: Metre ruler stick Ball of some type   Pencil and paper to record results Plan cont. Now with the basic outline of the plan sorted all we have to is sort out the variable I will change during the investigation in order to find the best results to conclude my prediction or theory. Here is the list of recordings I will use for the investigation: Height (m)   We felt these would be the right amount of results and would give us a wide range of results good enough to prove and test my prediction or theory and be satisfactory enough for our targets. One more factor we had to consider is how we would make the recordings. Of course all you had to do was drop a ball from a certain height and then see how high it bounces back up again, then work out the energy factors involved, but we were faced with another problem. We had to work out, since it was a rounded tennis ball (a sphere), where we would make the recordings from. We had three options to choose from: the top of the ball, the centre of the ball or the bottom of the ball. After a short discussion we decided to use the bottom of the ball as it would be easier for us to calculate the bounce height and drop height. While doing this a partner would then record the results onto paper while the other performed the experiment. Last of all we had to decide how many times we were going to repeat the experiment. Since we had a good range of recordings, we decided to repeat the experiment six times at each height and therefore leaving us with a nice set of results along with a good average result. We also felt that it was enough to perform this investigation properly with a good set of results. Since we had already done the experiment three times (preliminary work), we only had another three set of results to do. But little did we know that we were not allowed to include our preliminary work with our results and therefore only had three sets of results. Results Height (m) Exp 1 (cm) Exp 2 (cm) Exp 3(cm) Average (1dp) Height (m) Engy Conv 1 (%) Engy Conv 2 (%) Engy Conv 3 (%) Average (1dp) 0Key (m) = metres Exp = Experiment (cm) = centimetres (1dp) = 1 decimal place Engy Conv = Energy Conversion (%) = Percent Conclusion Now from the results you can definitely see many factors that need to be taken into consideration. You can patterns occurring and also see where mistakes were made and need to be fixed. First of all I am reasonably happy with the results except maybe a few values, but then again nothing is perfect and without mistakes, it makes your evaluation shorter. You can see from the first set of results from the first table that there is a wide range of results, enough to perform this investigation. But then once you work out the energy conversions you can see a pattern occurring throughout the table, except for a few values. These values are from Experiment 1 Height 1. 6m, Experiment 2 Height 1. 6m and the first few values in Experiment 3. Now these mistakes can easily be made due to they are recorded by the naked eye and therefore and not all perfect by any point. But since there only a few extreme values, you can cancel them out and take the rest of the appropriate data to create many patterns. For instance in table one you can see from the averages column that the height two of the ball is about twice as great each time you increase the height by 20cm. For example, at 1. 0m, the average is 54. 3cm, then at 1. 2m, the average is 64. 3cm; therefore making a 10cm increase in drop height 2 when you increase the height 1 by 20cm. This means that it loses about half its potential energy from its original drop height. About a 50% energy conversion. In table 2, the energy conversion table, you can also see a regular pattern occurring. But this time its not through the averages as much, but per column. You can see that the energy conversion from a certain start point (0. 2m) gradually increases to another certain point (around 1. 4m) then begins to decrease again. It is a gradual decrease but you can still see that the average energy conversions all stay around 50% which therefore shows you once again, that the potential energy loss is about 50% each time from drop height 1 to drop height 2. Evaluation During this investigation I manage to find many errors and corrections in which needed to be fixed and found much room for improvement in which would benefit the experiment if it was to be performed again. I felt that the experiment did go well in many ways, but then again, improvements can be made from place to place. One thing I would definitely change is the amount of experiments made for the experiment. After I have done my first three experiments I then was told that they are for the preliminary work and therefore couldnt use them in my official experiment and report. This is a shame, because I would liked to of added them to my report as it would have given me a wider range of results. But due to lack of time I was un-able to do this and therefore time was against me. Nevertheless I carried on with the time I was given and managed to produce three separate experiments and put them into tables. You can see from the results, that there is the odd value or values out of place, due to the fact that the figure is different to what it should be. This basically means that the naked eye is not always the best option to use for this experiment. To perform this experiment with the utter most perfection, a machine or tool of some type could be used to record the exact height of both height 1 and 2 to perfection. With this you know your results are done properly and no major mistakes were made. Luckily since I had enough results, I could spot where mistakes were made in judging the height 2 of the ball and therefore you can count them as extreme values but mistakes are always going to be made by accident. Therefore there is not much we could have done to have changed this factor. Another thing I would have liked to have done is to have tried to record the exact mass of the tennis ball, with doing this I can work out Potential and Kinetic Energy at each height and worked out the Potential Energy Loss per result. With this I could have produced more figures in my report which could have supported my prediction with more facts. Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Electricity and Magnetism section.

Bush Essay -- essays research papers

George Bush is not content with the United States being the top dog. His snarling at one international accord after another besmirches the United States and makes the world a more dangerous place. When Bush nixed at the ABM treaty, the comprehensive test ban treaty, the biological weapons protocol, and the small-arms convention, he sent an unmistakable signal that the United States doesn't care about arms control. This will only encourage other nations to bolster their own arsenals, and the arms race will accelerate on every track. And when Bush led the United States out of the Kyoto accord on global warming, he turned Washington into a laughingstock, with 178 nations on one side and the United States on the other. By not requiring U.S. companies, which produce a huge chunk of the world's carbon dioxide, to curb their emissions, Bush showed a reckless disregard for the environmental health of the planet. Like many know-nothings, Bush believes the United States is better than any other country. They're foreigners; what do they know? So what if 178 nations disagree with us? We've got the Holy Grail. We're so different from all these other nations that our interests can't possibly coincide with theirs. After returning from Europe on his first trip, he bragged to Peggy Noonan, his dad's speechwriter, that he stood down more than twenty leaders (no matter they were our allies) so he could stand up for America. Bush also has Kissinger's phobia: the morbid fear that other countries will drag U.S. soldiers or statesmen to The Hague or elsewhere for prosecution. Belgium is already trying to get its hands on Kissinger, and Bush wants to make sure that Americans elude any court outside our borders. The one job Bush takes seriously is that of chief executive of the corporate class. Boeing, Lockheed, and Philip Morris want to be able ply their wares without interference from any international body, so Bush undercuts those bodies at every opportunity. The World Health Organization, for instance, is trying to get countries to sign on to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which would, among other things, limit advertising, raise cigarette taxes, eliminate subsidies, and consider the possibility of expanding the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice so that tobacco companies could be tried for crimes against humanity. Tobacco killed four million p... ...to boycott the Kyoto protocol could cost U.S. companies business in the area of environmental technology." So even if Bush's ultimate objective is to boost the bottom line of U.S. corporations, he may be going about it the wrong way. Note that I haven't even mentioned the appointment of extremists like John Ashcroft and Theodore Olson, who will be advising Bush about whom to appoint to the federal bench; or Gale Norton, the James Watt protà ©gà ©e now heading the Interior Department, who believes polluters should be trusted to be self-policing; or Andrew Card, the automobile industry's chief lobbyist, now Chief of Staff; or Michael Powell, the new head of the FCC, who has no interest in moderating media mergers. And I haven't said a word about so-called social issues. We should not be surprised by the predatory nature of U.S. foreign policy. Until the U.S. government and until the American people get over their superiority complex, until they understand that United States and most other nations have common interests that transcend borders and jingos, that cooperation not domination is the way of the future, the foreign policy of the United States will have a familiar snarl.

BIMS Case Study

The Ballard Integrated Managed Services, Inc. (BIMS) employs a total of 452, of which 409 employees are deployed on a contract-based engagement for providing food and hospitality services to Douglas Medical Center (DMC). The performance of BIMS field personnel has eventually deteriorated and attributed to the sudden increase of operating cost at a rate of 74 percent, divergent to the usual 50-60 percent turnover in the previous months. The disturbing situation has called the attention of BIMS General Manager Barbara Tucker and tasked Human Resource Manager Debra Horner to conduct an initial finding.In this paper, the case study of BIMS will be discussed to examine the overall situation of the workplace, such as the existing problem, underlying causes and development, resolution and procedure, interested parties and challenges to the management. Situational background and description Based on the case review, correlating the question why does the problem exist could be attributed by t he â€Å"low-competencies from managerial to rank-and-file positions†.The managers and supervisors of food catering, housekeeping and maintenance divisions are unaware or misinformed of the prevailing situation on the increase of operating cost at 74 percent from the standard industry cost between 50 to 60 percent. As found, the problem developed upon irregular performance of personnel, such as the higher occurrences of sick leave and dawdling at work that brought about complaints of DMC on sloppiness of BIMS personnel services.Accordingly, an employee survey has been conducted by BIMS HR Manager to evaluate the underlying causes and development of problems, purposely to resolve the problem prior to initial inclination of replacing the personnel. About 78 respondents have participated on the initially conducted survey, representing 17. 3 percent of the overall targeted personnel. Illustrated below was the survey tool: Source: School of Advanced Studies, Pearson Custom Publish ing (2004)The challenge to finding the causes of problems and its resolution has been devised by the HRM through the above illustrated survey tool, primarily reconsidering the employees to convey their views, such as cited on (1) work condition, (2) shift scheduling, (3) skills training, (4) compensation, (5) communication and information, and (7) job security (School of Advanced Studies; in Pearson Publishing, 2004). Evidently, the management itself is the majority stakeholder to meeting the challenging situation of change in the performance of the workforce in order to resolve the issues.Thus, the result of the survey is significant to meeting the challenges. Problem Statement It is known that there are major gaps affecting the work performance of BIMS personnel. The problem is primarily attributed by the issue of unfair compensation and secondarily attributed by weak communication between the employees and the management. This problem statement can be well presented based on the result of survey as illustrated below: Source: Author’s own (2009)As indicated in the illustration above, â€Å"Question #6† obtained 19 respondents with negative responses and â€Å"0† respondents have ever positively responded, similar to â€Å"Question #9† that obtained 17 negative responses and retained â€Å"0† positive results. Therefore, the problem statement relating the â€Å"inferior performance† of the employees must be significantly addressed by the management with reference to the result of primary and secondary issues affecting the problem. Further findings have found the â€Å"range of points† from positive to negative responses of respondents.It shows that the internal or organizational problem is well expressed on the point-to-point responses from â€Å"1 to 5 scoring†. On the other hand, the scoring between 2, 3 and 4 also indicates the relevance of negative responses away from being positive, manifesting that the problems are causal to the dispensation of management, in which is exhibited by the illustration below: Source: Author’s own (2009) The point-to-point scoring from 1 to 5 exhibits the range of responses between 95 (negative) and 163 (positive).It is noticeable that the scoring between positive and negative has a very significant gap or distant difference. As indicated by the â€Å"Median Points between 2, 3 and 4†, the range of points can be noticed to be far different to obtaining positive responses, wherein illustration above has indicated the gaps of scoring at 232, 148 and 113. In sum, the positive responses representing a total of 95 are far distant even from the scoring at median points, of which capsulate the finding of significant problem.

Lincoln: One of America’s Best Film

Both President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich have referred to Lincoln Electric as an example of an American firm that is one of the best in the world. This statement may be bold, though holds truth in many respects and Lincoln managers like George Willis, who was the CEO in the late 1980s and early 1990s adds to this statement: â€Å"†¦ I believe that we are the best manufacturing company in the world. Lincoln Electric is best known for its productivity incentive program, which has been widely cited over the years, and has attracted thousands of managers to company†s headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio to learn about one of the country†s oldest and most radical pay-for-performance systems. Founded in 1895 by John Cromwell Lincoln to manufacture electric motors and generators, The Lincoln Electric Company shifted its resources into manufacturing arc-welding products in 1911. Today, welding products account for more than 90 percent of net sales and range from basic units for light manufacturing to highly sophisticated machines used in robotics applications and high-production welding and fabrication. The remaining income is generated by electric motors and oxy-fuel and plasma cutting tools. The company is also the leading producer of self-shielded cored-wire electrodes and currently holds ninety percent of the world market in this area. With its over a 100 year existence, Lincoln Electric has had a successful past with a few downtimes, like the one during the 1991 recession because of an ill-conceived foreign-acquisition spree. Even during this time, the company kept its promise to its U. S. workers to pay their bonuses and went to extremes such as borrowing $100 million in 1992 and 1993, even though it lost $84 million in those years. The retired CEO Donald F. Hastings quoted saying: â€Å"We can†t break our trust with this group because of management mistakes and recessions elsewhere. From this unique example, we can understand the company†s genuine commitment to its compensation system. However, some argue that, after the 1995 sale of 40% of the company†s equity to public, this traditional close-knit relationship between management and the workers got affected. Lincoln Electric employs 5,700 workers worldwide and operates 16 manufacturing sites and 17 distribution centers in 11 countries. In 1995, the company celebrated its centennial year by posting record sales of $1. 03 billion. With increasing sales every year after 1995 – $1. 09 in 1996, $1,159 in 1997, the company is holding its leadership position in the manufacture of arc welding equipment and consumables. Lincoln†s longstanding commitments to linking pay to both individual productivity and the profitability of the corporation makes it an ideal case study for any business student. In this paper, I will explain the unique pay-for-performance compensation system of Lincoln Electric as well as investigating this system in our class context, also explaining the international expansion of the company. Incentive Performance System: its strength and weaknesses It was James E. Lincoln, John Lincoln†s younger brother, whose philosophies and beliefs about workplace relations shaped Lincoln Electric†s unique culture during his long term as head of the company from 1914 to 1965. The firm has had only a handful of leaders in a century of operation, which are mostly promoted within the company. Likewise, jobs at Lincoln Electric plants are highly prized and employee turnover is low. I think it is impressive that no one has been laid off since 1948, and the turnover rate is less than 4% among those with at least 180 days on the job. â€Å"There isn†t any other place to work like Lincoln Electric, they take care of you. † says Kathleen Hoenigman, an 18-year veteran. In today†s competitive markets, it is important to have dependable highly skilled workers and Lincoln Electric clearly is a great employer according to some employees like Mrs. Hoenigman. Companies like Lincoln Electric can afford to provide consistent employment, no matter what, by working and managing better. Thinking ahead and having creative solutions for when there is a downturn is what management is all about,† Hastings said. It really makes sense when one thinks about this statement: if no one worried about losing their job, then employees would create change instead and this kind of an ideology would definitely have a great impact on productivity. High wages, high productivity, and a high level of trust between management and workers characterize the laborer-employee relationship and this culture at Lincoln. Policies such as the â€Å"open-door† policy helps build this trust and while encouraging the employees to bring suggestions for improvement also helps the management to have non edited, raw data from their workers. It is true that millions of American workers, from sales representatives to truckers, are paid on a commission basis or according to their output. Many others collect annual bonuses tied to their employers† profits and revenues. But Lincoln is nearly unique among large American companies, paying all shop-floor workers according to a formula based on how much they produce and how much the company earns. Lincoln Electric†s compensation package for factory workers consists of a piecework system for base wages and a year-end bonus. The piecework system however is probably the major part of the total incentive system at Lincoln Electric. With this system, a worker can make more per day or per week or per month during the year with or without a bonus. The workers are paid on the quality of what they produce. Thus, in a way, Lincoln†s 3,400 U. S. employees are supposed to be self-managing entrepreneurs. Each employee is accountable for the quality of his or her own works and is rated twice a year on quality, output, dependability, cooperation and ideas. The ratings determine how much of the total corporate bonus pool each worker will get, which comes on top of his or her hourly wage. There†s minimal supervision and employers only get paid when they work, and there is no sick or holiday pay, which created some problems for Lincoln Electric in their foreign subsidiaries. â€Å"How much money you make is in your own hands,† says Thomas Gadomski, a painting-crew leader. All 3,400 Lincoln Electric shop-floor workers do well, with wages averaging $58,000 in 1995 (the last year for which company would provide data), not counting the value of their decent package of medical, vacation and retirement benefits. On the other hand, the programs developed 40 years ago at Lincoln to boost the production are helping contain workers compensation costs. Gil Frey, director of employee benefits and relations, said the company saves about $44,000 per month as a result of its return-to-work strategies. Despite all the incentives and high salaries, the company, which is publicly traded in NYSE, hardly operates as a charity. 1997†³s net income of $85 million represented a 20 percent return on shareholder equity in a very competitive industry. Donald Hastings who is strong defender of the piecework system argues against the people, who consider the piecework system as a type of 19th Century pay system that was designed to take advantage of the worker, and he adds that it is what killed the piecework system in the U. S. Thus, he believes that the piecework system at Lincoln has fairly set rates. However, very few manufacturers have taken the pay-for-performance route, and the reasons are not actually hard to comprehend. For one thing, it is difficult to sustain large differences in pay for the same job category also measuring individual productivity in industrial settings can be a challenge all by itself, unless if you have a well established system like Lincoln. Yet I am sure that, at times inevitably there is ambiguity at Lincoln too, but clearly it is very minimum. These are some of the reasons why it would be difficult to replicate Lincoln†s success, because it also requires highly disciplined and motivated labor. Moreover, in addition to piecework bonus system, guaranteed employment up to 30 hours and the annual bonus system where employees are paid once a year up to an average of 50% to 60% -recent years† average- of the base pay created a sense of ownership among the employees. Lastly, as a result of all these incentive systems, the high productivity and high output rate with less defects, and innovation gives Lincoln Electric the competitive edge in the market. One manufacturing manager explained it perfectly: â€Å"We strive for high productivity based on employee effort, continuous improvement in production processes, and a seven-day-a-week utilization of equipment. By passing on cost savings to our customers, we generate very high demand that allows you to send everything you make straight out the door. † These are the main strengths of Lincoln Electric, but just like any other organization, Lincoln Electric have some weaknesses too. Unfortunately, the Lincoln incentive model is not quite the smashing success it once was. Problems started with the recession in 1991, and in 1995, after management stumbles forced the family-controlled manufacturer to sell more shares to the public. From that point on, Lincoln started looking more like a public company. With new shareholders, and new board members came new ideas, which had impacts on some of the core values of the company, and the worker bonuses has started getting smaller. At the same time, management was readying itself for an expansion to remain globally competitive, putting even more pressure on the balance sheet. Even though that very same year, the company celebrated its centennial year by posting record sales of over $1 billion and record earnings, this was a year of change for the workers. All those factors I listed above crimped bonuses. For workers who expect high bonuses if they deliver in output, this shift must have hurt their morale. As new global markets are emerging for Lincoln†s business, the company has started questioning and reviewing their one-of-a-kind pay system. The company is by no means ready to completely change or get rid of the incentive plan, which once paid employees 100% of their annual wages in annual performance linked bonuses. But now with the new markets that the company is in too, the executives are considering ways to move toward a more traditional pay scheme and away from the regular percentage-bonus formula, or may be a mixture of the two. â€Å"The bonus program is a good program, and it has worked well, but it†s got to be modified some,† says director David C. Lincoln, whose father John C. Lincoln founded Lincoln Electric. So, the question is for how long more Lincoln†s pay plan can survive rapid growth of the company and globalization? Also the wide range of wages cause some problems within the company. The average Lincoln factory worker earns $16. 54 an hour, vs. the $14. 25 average manufacturing wage in the Cleveland area. With a 56% average bonus in 1995 – the lowest in years – production employees came out ahead of workers elsewhere even after paying for health-care benefits. But unlike at other companies, Lincoln has huge variations in production-worker pay: from roughly $32,000 to more than $100,000 for the most hard-driving. There is also a tremendous pressure to produce, but an employee board meets regularly with the top management to report workers† concerns. And Lincoln guarantees work to employees with three years† experience. Still, it gets harder and harder everyday to live up to the old deal. Even though, the company has bounced back from stumbling overseas, it has yet more problems to overcome. During this period, Lincoln had financially weakened. To make better acquisitions and expand further, Lincoln made its first public offering in July 1995, pushing outsiders† stake to 40%. It also slashed total debt by 40% to $130 million, and paid a lower bonus per person, though the total bonus pool was a record $64 million. Naturally, slimmer bonuses somewhat changed employees† attitude towards the system and the company. In November of 1995, some employees protested outside headquarters after they learned of the bonus size. Also again during this period, the turnover among the new hires was high, and the disparate pay upset the veteran Lincoln employees. â€Å"If an individual shows he can handle the workload, he should be rewarded with full pay† commented Joseph Tuck, an inspector with 18 years at Lincoln. Because of the protests, CEO Hastings eliminated the two-tier wage on December 1, 1995. This was a dilemma for both the company and the workers, both of which had never experienced this kind of a situation before. To edit the pay system without causing any resentment, the company set up a committee to study the bonus program and had even hired Price Waterhouse to study productivity. Even though, Hastings pledged at the time that the incentive system would remain the same, over time, he wants employees to focus on the overall earnings, not just the percentage bonus they receive. And that should be a tough job to do, to implement this kind of an ideology in employees† mind, who has worked so many number of years in a fixed, particular system. Lincoln Electric†s International Expansion On other hand, as I have mentioned earlier in the paper, because of both legal and cultural issues, Lincoln†s basic systems like the incentive system and annual bonus pay system did not work in many of the overseas operations in the long run, even though at the beginning it was successful. And, I think Lincoln Electric had especially a hard time understanding that operating and international business calls for a lot more than just technological skill. Also, I believe that the company didn†t truly understand the cultures of those countries where it expanded. The general assumptions made, such as the belief that everybody in the world would be willing to work a little harder to enhance their lives and their families and their homes didn†t turn out to be true for everyone. It was an inaccurate assumption and this was one of the main reasons why the company had to pull out of Germany. The underlying reason for this was mainly because Lincoln Electric executives didn†t know how to manage an international operation, nor did they have the international experience. Furthermore, the way Lincoln had gone about expanding internationally was too rapid an unstructured. Also, there were other barriers such as high tariffs, high manufacturing costs, highly unionization and misconception of Lincoln Electric†s incentive system. After closing down plants in Germany, Brazil, Japan and Venezuela, and reporting losses from these operations in 1992 and 1993, I am sure Lincoln Electric is going to be very careful about not starting another acquisition spree. During these losses however, the company expanded the number of employees in the United States, but I am sure that the firm will be going back to overseas in the future. This time though, they want to be very careful in selecting the region for the new facility, as well as the managers and the workers. One of these new markets that Lincoln has interest in is the Asia-Pacific area, including mainland China, and the company is already in the process of getting some alliances in Indonesia and Malaysia. These new interest regions may shape the future of Lincoln Electric. If we were to make a cost-benefit analysis for Lincoln Electric, we would find out that the company has a lot of pluses. Even after all these charges against it, Lincoln†s pay system is likely to remain innovative than most. But as it tries to hire more outsiders, expand further abroad and modernize, â€Å"we†re getting to be a more normal company,† says Director Frank L. Steingass. That may not be quite what eager visitors to the headquarters in Cleveland, who want to learn the secret of incentive system expect to hear. But if Lincoln can adapt to new times without sacrificing employee good will, another model pay plan may yet emerge out of this company. The over century long history and tradition, along with great organizational and pay systems, Lincoln Electric has a very strong organizational culture, especially in the United States. However, with the new emerging markets around the world today, Lincoln Electric can not afford to stay out of the global competition. Finally, I believe that its employees will always move Lincoln Electric to greater heights, no matter what. The former CEO Donald Hastings states this idea in a very profound way: â€Å"It†s a two-way street at Lincoln. We look after our people and they look after us. â€Å"

Another Story Began On Show †Creative Writing Story

Another Story Began On Show – Creative Writing Story Free Online Research Papers Another Story Began On Show Creative Writing Story Time ran very fast. The Grade Nine’s lessons have been taught. Someone said, â€Å"Time is the best medicine to cure your broken heart.† Alice became ration than before. At the same time, my lessons were the heavier in the whole Junior Time. I couldn’t go bed until 12:00 every night. Everybody was busy in prepare the big test that relate to high school. Everyone felt tons of pressure on the shoulder. Because my classmates and I participated in the big test, which also is a test to schools quantify teaching quality. So my teacher and principle managed us very strict, especially the couple. In this hypersensitive time, Cathy made a boyfriend. Another story began on show. â€Å"Cathy, don’t you scare that the teacher would know it?† â€Å"I don’t know, but I know my parents would do something crazy to me if they know that.† So Cathy’s issue only Alice and I knew I don’t know and even been her good friend, I still didn’t know who her boyfriend was. It became a top national secret. Under our teacher rigorous stakeout, Cathy only hoped she could last this relationship for this year. Unfortunately, the teachers would know that. Three days after we knew Cathy had a boyfriend, I was called into the teacher’s office. â€Å"Michelle is Cathy’s roommate?† my headmaster’s voice was even colder than the robot, without any emotion. â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"So do you know she has a boyfriend?† Was he a spy? I was astonishing. How could he know that? â€Å"I know you won’t say anything even you give me an answer, I won’t trust. However, you had better tell Cathy that stop making this dirty thing, or I will call her parents and expel her out of school!† his tones were still frozen. â€Å"When I saw her again, she was packing her luggage. â€Å"Where are you going, Cathy? Stop!† I was moving said. â€Å"Michelle, I was expel by the school.† â€Å"Shit!† Cathy said with a sorrow smile. â€Å"Shit happened every day. Don’t feel frustrate. Michelle, you should know that you are a lucky girl. Actually, I was quite jealous you, because your mark always in the top 10 of our grade and you don’t make any big mistake. I am different from you. School said my mark was too low and broke the school rule. What I did was influence school’s image. So they asked my parents to take me home. Tell Alice that I am history. Don’t miss me. Michelle, you’re my good roommate, I’ll miss you guys. Bye.† â€Å"What about him?† â€Å"He is still in here, but we are†¦game over.† She pretended degage said. â€Å"Why he can stay here, but not expel from school?† â€Å"Because his mark is higher than mine!† When I am writing here, my story is close to the end. However, I still want to write more about them, especially Cathy’s story, there are many details that worth me to continue moving my pen, but I find that’s a tough job, because their unfair treatments are full of my mind. I don’t know why the adult always treat us as the puppet. When we seek for more freedom, they would say that â€Å"I have already given you broad space.† But they never teach us how to manager our lives or how to make a rational decision, but once we make a mistake, then they would immediately dominate you again and we just like the chick, can’t fight for ourselves. They didn’t teach us some useful things, except engraft a thought that we need to get a high mark. The reason I choose to talk about my roommates’ love story is because their stories are the mark’s tragedy. Yep, the textbook is not my life, in our lives, we still have many things need to learn. Like how to work and communicate well with other people, how to manager our own money. These skills will follow us until the moment we die, but textbook cannot be as useful as these skills. Unfortunately, we can’t learn this from my textbook. Cathy’s leaving gave me a big shock. I used to think that school was a place can develop a person, now when I though about it again, my though used to be so childish. Chinese school is only a place can upgrade your mark, but only the practical skill. That’s Chinese education’s tragedy. Do you think a student who often gets a high mark would be an outstanding person and contribute more than the other student whose mark is not as high as him? Love is a blooming flower. My friends often say that the first love is a saline immature apple. It’s a foredoom failure’s love from the beginning. I wonder why people see the love in a negative attitude. Now that each girl dreams to meet her Mr. Right and have a romantic love, why we are so sorrow? I felt hurt when I saw Cathy leaving. She didn’t do anything wrong. Why school can’t be use a soft and human way to educate her? Why school can’t give student a correct attitude to treat it? I wanna tell Cathy: Seeking for love is right. You are not the study machine. You are young and you still need to figure out many things. Please bravely seek for your love. Good mark can’t follow you forever, but your lover can beside you and walking with you to the end of your life. I will support you forever. Research Papers on Another Story Began On Show - Creative Writing StoryStandardized TestingHip-Hop is ArtMind TravelThe Masque of the Red Death Room meaningsHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows EssayPersonal Experience with Teen PregnancyHonest Iagos Truth through DeceptionThe Spring and AutumnEffects of Television Violence on ChildrenThe Relationship Between Delinquency and Drug Use

The Haber Process Essays - Industrial Gases, Equilibrium Chemistry

The Haber Process Essays - Industrial Gases, Equilibrium Chemistry The Haber Process 1. The Haber Process During the first decade of the twentieth century the world-wide demand for ammonia for use in fertilisers (in the form of nitrates) and in the production of explosives for use in mining and warfare could only be satisfied on a large scale from deposits of guano in Chile (2). Though this deposit was of huge size (approximately five feet thick and 385 kilometres long) it represented a rapidly depleting resource when compared to world-wide demand. As a result of this there was much research into how ammonia could be produced from atmospheric nitrogen. The problem was eventually solved by Fritz Haber (1868 - 1934) in a process which came to be known as the Haber Process or the Haber - Bosch Process. Haber developed a method for synthesising ammonia utilising atmospheric nitrogen and had established the conditions for large scale synthesis of ammonia by 1909 and the process was handed over to Carl Bosch for industrial development (1). the reaction is a simple equilibrium reaction which occurs in gaseous state as follows; N2 (g) + 3H2 (g) = 2NH3 (g) heat of enthalpy = -92.6 kJ/mol In predicting how to obtain the highest yield from this reaction we must refer to Le Chatlier's Principle. This states that for an equilibrium reaction the equilibrium will work in the opposite direction to the conditions forced upon it. The conditions most pertinent to the above reaction are temperature and pressure. The pressure exerted by any gas or mixture of gasses in an enclosed space is directly proportional to the number of atoms or molecules of gas regardless of their size or molecular mass. Reference to the above reaction shows that, as the reaction moves to the right the number of molecules and hence the pressure decreases. Therefore the reaction moving to the right (i.e. towards the product required) is favoured by an increase in pressure. With regard to temperature, the reaction moving to the right is exothermic i.e. it gives off energy (in the form of heat). Therefore reference to Le Chatlier's Principle shows that the reaction to the right is favoured by low temperatures. However, when Haber placed the reactants together under these conditions it was shown that the rate of reaction was so slow as to render the process unfeasible as an industrial process. This is because of an unusually high activation energy. The activation energy of a reaction is the energy required by the reactants to achieve an intermediate state required before they form the products. In the case of the above reaction the intermediate state requires the dissociation of diatomic gaseous nitrogen. The triple bond found between two nitrogen atoms when they form diatomic nitrogen is amongst the strongest chemical bonds known. this leads to an extremely high activation energy. At extremely high temperature the nitrogen molecule will dissociate and so, as the temperature approaches this point the rate at which the reaction to the right occurs and therefore the speed with which equilibrium is reached increases rapidly. Unfortunately experimentation showed that, as temperature approached the point at which the speed of the reaction was sufficient to produce a viable reaction the amount of ammonia produced was so low that the reaction was still unfeasible on as an industrial process. Faced with this failure to find conditions suitable for an industrial process Haber began to experiment to find a catalyst that would facilitate the reaction. A catalyst is a substance that reduces the activation energy of a reaction, thus increasing the speed at which the reaction occurs, or in the case of equilibrium reactions the speed at which equilibrium is reached. After hundreds of experiments Haber discovered that a fast enough reaction with a high enough yield of ammonia would occur with a pressure between 200 and 400 atmospheres and at a temperature between 670K and 920K in the presence of a catalyst of iron (in the form of iron filings to increase its active surface area) plus a few percent of oxides of potassium and aluminium. This process was first demonstrated in 1909 and patented as the Haber Process in 1910 (3). Experiments aimed at finding the most efficient conditions for the reaction have since resulted in the process described by the flow diagram

Entrepreneurship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 1

Entrepreneurship - Essay Example These theorists argue that social networks provide privileged access to entrepreneurs to their required resources which helps them progress in the business. On the other hand, there are factors other than knowing others which contribute to successful entrepreneurship. The paper develops a critical view towards the notion of social networking and contact-building and its relationship with entrepreneurship. The significance of social relations in entrepreneurship has since long been recognized with the same being used by entrepreneurs to obtain resources and advice on starting their business. This is because the need for contacts is evident at various phases of the new business. Relationships between entrepreneurs and those who possess resources required for the startup are quintessential to the success of a new business. Although the entrepreneur possesses the competence and knowledge as well as a novel idea to run the business, complementary resources may be required. Contacts provid e the resources, knowledge and/or market accessibility required for making the business idea work. Knowing individuals and organizations that operate amongst themselves broadens the resource base available to entrepreneurs for successfully running the business. Contacts that enable success of the new firm comprise the social capital and are essential components of entrepreneurial networks. The social capital, therefore, refers to the individuals who help entrepreneurs in getting things done. These contacts include, but are not limited to, individuals in the professional networks as well as friends and peers from past jobs. They form the basis of the wider entrepreneurial networks that comprise of not just individuals but clusters of companies and organizations. By increasing the size of their networks and number of contacts, entrepreneurs can get access to greater information and resources from those who are knowledgeable. Furthermore, the way in which entrepreneurs â€Å"positionà ¢â‚¬  themselves in the network determines the extent to which they are able to take advantage of their contacts. The aim of such positioning is to shorten the path to the contacts in order to get tasks done. Finally, members of the social network often tend to organize themselves by interacting amongst themselves which leads to the development of ‘multiplex’ ties that benefit the entrepreneur even more. Furthermore, family members too can play an important role in entrepreneurial success. In fact, they play a critical role in so far as entrepreneurship is examined in the context of family business (Rosenblatt et al., 1985). Therefore, knowing family members who have been involved in entrepreneurial business in the past is definitely an ingredient for success for family-run entrepreneurial businesses. Entrepreneurs can benefit from the unique business-specific knowledge that is possessed by their family members including parents. Most importantly, for maintaining confi dentiality of the business idea, most entrepreneurs may find it easier to obtain advice and guidance from their kin rather than non-kin contacts. On the other hand, having strong family ties may inhibit entrepreneurs from accessing a much larger pool of resources and information from non-kin contacts (Birley, 1985) (Renzulli et al., 2000). It is rare to have knowledgeable individuals from all disciplines of business (such as operations, marketing, HR) in one’s family (Renzulli et al., 2000). Hence, entrepreneurs will, at various times acquire the support of their acquaintances for this purpose. However, this social network is not developed instantaneously and may

Front-end and back-end processes of office automation Essay

Front-end and back-end processes of office automation - Essay Example The back-end system, on the other hand, serves as the back-up system. The main tasks include organization, administration and maintenance of the data pooled in the system from the front-end. Another indispensable task is analysis of data mainly through the creation of programs that can automatically complete the synthesis of information fundamental to the operation. Thus, the back-end system commonly involves the concluding stage of data processing ("Back-end," 2005; Goldfield, 1987). The typical system that is being utilized is that which involves a network of hardware stations. The main job of the front end of the system is to input the raw data regarding the main task of the establishment. The back-end system, on the other hand, concludes and analyzes the processes involved in the system and produced output for the business. The utilization of the system of automation that employs workflow database technology can perform important advantages in any business establishment. One of the benefits of such system is that can adopt on the basis of the scale of the institution or the business. Thus, the applicability ranges from small business to a large scale and complex operations.