Bell Chemicals Desicion Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Bell Chemicals Desicion - Coursework Example The solution is to chart out a decision that works best for the company's reputation and growth. Here the approach should be to take the sum total of the senior management group's (SMG) knowledge and intuition and work around it for the best results. My decision is to go for the Chemex machine. The characteristic of this decision can be termed as a rational approach to decision making. I have tried optimising in order to reach to this decision. In the words of Rue and Byars, "One rational approach, called optimizing, involves following six steps: (1) recognize the need for a decision; (2) establish, rank, and weigh the criteria; (3) gather available information and data; (4) identify possible alternatives; (5) evaluate each alternative with respect to each criteria; and (6) select the best alternative." (1992, p.73) This approach can be linked to the normative decision-making model, on which I have based the explanation of my decision or in other words the main body of my report. The company accountant has revealed that the company had recently financed nearly all its recent capital investments from its own retained profits for products and capital investments in other parts of the firm. ... Mr. Bell himself is not interested in much of outside funding. Capital required to install a new Chemex machine is much lower than the AFU unit. Internal funding will be a major issue for the firm in this financial year, as the company has exhausted accrued profits for expansion and developments in other parts of the firm. This will affect the funding of regular operations of the firm throughout the year. Operating cost of AFU unit is more than double of Chemex. The company is not in a position to cover additional cost of 18000 as operating cost against advantages, which are hardly visible or relevant to the firm at this market stage. Through the facts and assumptions given by the marketing manager - an experienced old timer of the Bell Chemicals, following information on current & expected market can be derived: Table 1: Bell Chemicals Ltd: Comparison of Current & Expected Market Curent Market Expected Market Annual Market Requirement 200000 Kg 250000 Kg Firm's Production Requirement 90000 Kg 100000 Kg There is no indication of any upsurge in market demand. With new competitors in the market, retaining present market share should be the aim. Research activities of the chief chemist in modifying the Preserve so that it can be used in wider range of food products has not given any fruitful result uptil now. Hence increase in demand of production is not predicted. Thus increase in production capacity by installing a new Chemex machine will be sufficient to cover the market growth for next two years. Production and selling cost estimate of 320 per Kg for AFU unit is advantageous as compared to 350 for Chemex machine. The AFU unit can reduce production and selling cost by 2700000 a year at current production rate (30 on 90000 Kg produced) but this

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

Ethics - Essay Example A background of the text is first important in order for one to understand the different perspectives from which justice can be viewed. Glaucon argues that justice is pursued by man against his will - a matter of necessity rather than for the goodness of it1. He also thinks that the just man would pursue injustice were he to be immune to the consequences and besides, he ultimately ends up the happier of the two. Glaucon asks Socrates to defend the view that justice is better than injustice (358b-362d). Adeimantus also requires of Socrates to demonstrate that there is value to justice, not just a utility for man to gain certain advantages in society. To answer this, Socrates uses an analogy of justice in the city to portray justice in a person. He argues that a just man does not differ in any way from a just city (435b). Justice is the result of a soul that is well ordered, hence Plato creates three classes of people present in his model city Kallipolis; producers, guardians and ruler s. In a just city, these three classes of people are required to display certain virtues that all come into action to ensure that justice prevails in the city: the rulers should create just laws, the soldiers carry out the orders of the rulers and the producers stay in obedience of this authority. The ruler class is supposed to have wisdom to ensure that the entire city operates on the same basis. This wisdom is supposed to trickle down from the governing (ruling) class onto the entire population of the city. It ensures that the city has good judgment (428d). The soldier’s role is to carry out the orders of the rulers and as such is supposed to be well educated to understand the laws as much as possible. Through this, their role in ensuring justice can not be eroded by such things as pleasure, pain, fear and desire (430a). They gain this kind of focus through the virtue of courage and thus help in maintaining justice within the city. The producers on the other hand are requir ed to obey authority. For this to happen, the producers are supposed to possess the virtue of moderation which creates harmony, unanimity and agreement amongst all members of the city. The issue of who is to lead is settled this way and everybody works together thus ensuring justice. Moderation can not be divorced from justice as it enables everybody to play their particular role and â€Å"everyone must practice one of the occupations for which he is naturally suited.† (433a). The three classes of people that work harmoniously to ensure justice in the city now lead us to what justice should be in the human soul. The human soul has more than one single driving force; people are indecisive when making some choices, some part of their soul stops them from pursuing their desires and thus there is internal conflict. The part of the soul that is calculative and questions the other part is the rational part of the soul. Then there is the irrational part which is lustful and appetiti ve (439d). Emotions are created by the part of the soul that is spirited, which in times of internal conflict may ally the rational part against the irrational part of the soul thus the person ends up making a rational decision. The analogy between the city and the person is then clear; that the rational part

Change Blindness and Visual Memory: Research and Theories

Change Blindness and Visual Memory: Research and Theories What is change blindness and what can it tell us about attention? Recent research on visual memory has shown that people have great difficulty in detecting obvious changes to an object, such as colour and size, if the change occurs simultaneously with a distraction. The term change blindness is used to describe this phenomenon and much research has been carried out to further our understanding of the condition. Research on change blindness has also produced valuable information about how our visual attention is involved in the encoding process. A variety of tests have been developed to test the prevalence of change blindness and the results show that it is a robust phenomenon. Although change blindness was studied many decades ago it is only in the last decade that research in this area has increased dramatically. Earlier research relied on using shapes or novel objects to induce change blindness and therefore some argued that the condition was caused by artificial stimuli. However, Grimes (1996) showed that more natural images could be used to induce change blindness. Using a computer screen he showed observers photographic images of natural scenes and asked the observers to remember as much of the photograph as possible for a later memory test. However, during a saccade (when observers were visually scanning one object to another in the image) the image was altered. The observers were then asked if they noticed if anything had changed to the image. Invariably, observers were oblivious to the changes even when they were ma jor ones, such as two people exchanging heads. Although previous experiments had shown the existence of change blindness, Grimes 1996 study was the first to show that individuals can fail to detect major alterations to images. Moreover, Grimes used everyday natural images thereby bringing demonstrations of change blindness closer to everyday perceptual experience. Other similar studies also showed that different distracters could be used to induce change blindness. For example, during eye blinking (O’Regan et al 2000) or by applying mudsplats in the surrounding area of the objects that were changed (O’Regan et al 1999). The fact that distractions are needed to induce change blindness suggests that attention is needed for change perception. Without distracters it is very easy for an observer to notice any change that has taken place. This led researchers to investigate the role of attention in change blindness and now there is mounting evidence that attention plays a pivotal role in the condition. For example, in change blindness tasks it has been found that attention to objects can vary depending on the objects location and this can influence whether the change is detected. This has been demonstrated by studies such as Rensink et al (1997). They developed the flicker task which involves using an original and altered image that is repeatedly shown to the observer with the two images separated by a blank screen for a fraction of a second. As with other distracters the observers demonstrated change blindness by invariably taking a long time before they noticed the change to the original image (average being 40 repeats). Another interesting finding of this study is that the observers found it easier to detect changes to objects that were the centre of interest of a scene than objects that were of marginal interest even when the changes were of equal physical salience. This has also been found in other change blindness studies. Levin Simons, (1997), for example, found the same effect when they changed movie objects during a film cut. One theory to explain this finding is that focused attention is required to detect change. This makes sense as a change of any object is always accompanied by a motion signal and therefore attracts attention to the site of change. This allows the change to be observed. However, if the signal is too weak (e.g., because of distracters such as saccades or blanking) it will fail to draw attention to the location of the change which will result in change blindness (Rensink et al 1997). Change blindness can also be demonstrated in real-life situations. Simons and Levin (1998) carried out an experiment in which members of the public were approached by an experimenter who asked for directions. During their conversation two actors carrying a large occluder would walk between the experimenter and subject. At this point the experimenter would swap places with a colleague who would continue the conversation with the subject. The findings showed that some individuals failed to notice that the experimenter had swapped places with another person even though the differences between the two were obvious, such as size and different clothes. This study was important because it showed that change blindness could occur using complex stimuli usually found in the real world. Therefore, finding change blindness can occur in more naturalistic settings counteracted some claims that it was only caused by artificial disruptions, such as the blanking-out distracter in the flicker paradigm (Simons Rensink 2005). There are several theories that attempt to explain change blindness in relation to the interaction between attention and visual perception. For example, Rensink (2000, 2001) developed his coherence theory. This theory is based on several assumptions. First, prior to focussed attention there is an initial stage of processing across the visual field of view. This processing produces representations of several objects in the field of view, but the representations are not stable and therefore are quickly replaced by new stimuli at their location. Second, focused attention produces a very detailed and longer-lasting representation of the object. This allows the representation of the object to be more stable which can withstand brief interruption. Therefore, a change in a focused object will be easily detectable. Third, removing focussed attention will result in the representation of the object disintegrating and returning to the unstable state it was prior to focussed attention. From the above assumptions it follows that only changes made to objects that are the focus of attention will be detected. This can explain why change blindness is a common phenomenon, because any changes to an unattended object will not be detected. The assumption that attentional processes are crucial in underlying change blindness is a common one. For example, Hollingworth and Henderson (2002) agree with the assumption. However, they propose an alternative theory of the relationship between attention and object perception. They argue that detailed perceptions are formed when we look at objects which are the focus of attention. These representations are then incorporated into a mental map and information about these visual representations is then stored in the long-term memory. Therefore, multiple fixations of a scene will result in information accumulating in the long-term memory about local objects from both the attended and previously attended areas, and this forms a detailed representation of the scene as a whole (Hollingworth and Henderson 2002). There are several differences between Hollingworth and Hendersons theory and the coherence theory that have implications about understanding the role of attention in change blindness. First, if objects change, (e.g., disappear or move) sometime after they were attended to, according to Hollingworth and Henderson they would still be mentally visible for some time after the change. Therefore, any change has a good chance of being noticed. Whereas the coherence theory predicts that when attention is withdrawn from objects the mental representation of such objects disintegrate rapidly and therefore any change will result in change blindness. Second, unlike the coherence theory, Hollingworth and Henderson assume that detailed representations of most scenes are stored in the long-term memory. Therefore, any changes made to objects should be detected several minutes later. Finally, in the coherence theory it assumed that focusing attention on an object produces a very detailed image that ca n withstand a brief interruption, such as a saccade. In contrast, Hollingworth and Henderson believe that less detailed visual representations are made when the object is the focus of attention. To date, research has not provided clear evidence to support either Hollingworth and Hendersons theory or the coherence theory (see Simons Rensink 2005 for an overview). Therefore, further investigations are required to better understand the interaction between attention and change blindness. Change blindness is a robust phenomenon that has been demonstrated in many different laboratory and naturalistic studies. The overall assumption of the findings of change-blindness experiments is that attention seems to play a major role in determining the extent of the condition. The importance of attention in change blindness appears to arise because we do not maintain a detailed representation of what we have just seen. Otherwise individuals would have little problem noticing the obvious changes that occur between images. Change blindness studies have proved a useful tool in providing information about the processing mechanisms of attention, such as we direct attention more to objects of interest within a scene. However, although studies on change blindness have increased our understanding of attention there is much debate about the exact role of attention in change blindness. Further research is therefore required to fully understand the relationship between attention and change blindness and what other factors are involved in the condition. References Grimes J. (1996). On the failure to detect changes in scenes across sac-cades. In K. Akins (Ed.), Perception (Vancouver Studies in Cognitive Science, Vol. 5. (89-110). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hollingworth A. Henderson J. M. (2002). Accurate visual memory for previously attended objects in natural scenes. Journal of  Experimental Psychology: Human Perception Performance, 28,  113-136 Levin D.T. Simons D.J. (1997). Failure to detect changes to attended objects in motion pictures. Psychonomic Bulletin Review, 4, 501-506 Mark T. Keane Eysenck W. (2005) Cognitive Psychology: A Students Handbook Psychology Press UK pages 133-136 O’Regan J.K., Rensink R.A., Clark J.J. (1999). Change-blindness as a result of mudsplashes Nature 398, 34 ORegan J.K, Deubel, H., Clark J.J., Rensink R.A. (2000). Picture changes during blinks: Looking without seeing and seeing without looking. Visual Cognition, 7, 191-211 Proctor R. Johnson W (2004) Attention: Theory and Practice. Sage Publications inc pages 212-214 Rensink R. A (2001) Change Blindness: Implications for the Nature of Visual Attention. In Vision Attention. M. Jenkin L. Harris, eds. New York: Springer. 2001. 169-188 Rensink R.A., O’Regan J.K., Clark, J.J. (1997) To see or not to see: The need for attention to perceive changes in scenes. Psychol. S 8, 368–373 Simons D.J. and Levin D.T. (1997) Change blindness. Trends Cogn Sci. 1, 261–267 Simons D.J. and Levin D.T. (1998) Failure to detect changes to people in a real-world interaction. Psychon. Bull. Rev. 5, 644–649 Simons D.J. Rensink R.A (2005) Change blindness: Past, present, and future. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Vol.9 No.1 16

lord of the rings :: essays research papers

The Fellowship of the Rings   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I read The Fellowship of the Rings for my book report. It is the first book to the Lord of the Rings, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The settings in this book changed many times from the hills of the Shire where the hobbits live, to the deep darkness of the mines of Moria. The book takes place in a place called Middle Earth, which is described by Tolkien as a mysterious place full of good and evil. The way Tolkien described each place is amazing and it is as if u were looking at a picture and copping it down into your head. The Shire, a peaceful place, full of little people, known as hobbits. The hobbits are friendly folk who don’t pay attention to the outside world. They live in little holes dug in the sides of hills. The hobbits have large gardens of, pipe weed, corn, and their favorite, potatoes. The hobbits are used to their everyday life, and are very content with the lack of adventure. Most do not travel farther then Bree. Bree is a small town mixed with big and little people, (men and hobbits) who live together through the hard time that trouble the old town. The Forest of Lothorien is where the elves live in peace, hidden for the evil not far off. The forest is very magical and full of beautiful trees. The trees were described to have silver bark and rich golden leaves. These were the homes of the elves that had built platforms in the center of the trees, like tree houses. In Lothorien the weather is always as if it were a warm spring day even in the dead of winter. Lothorien is unaffected by time, as if the days just repeat them selves but the people go on with their lives. The lady of the land, Galadriel, has another magical ring that the dark lord is seeking. The magic ring kept the forest protected and healthy along with everyone that lived there. Darkness, silence, emptiness describes the Mines of Moria. The mines cut through the Misty Mountains, and connect the fields of Rohan to the forest of Lothorien. The mines were abandon by the dwarfs in a war with the orcs, who worked for a wizard who wanted the same ring that the dark lord wanted. The are many passages that were crafted bye the dwarves to mines and lookouts but only one way out.

Nation-building refers Essay

Nation-building refers to the process of constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. This process aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. Nation-building can involve the use of propaganda or major infrastructure development to foster social harmony and economic growth. It involves the development of behaviors, values, language, institutions and physical structures that protect the present and insure the future identity and independence of a nation. The nation is a country considered as a group of people living in a certain territory under one Government. â€Å"Building† here means not masonry constructed, instead the development of the nation, the future of our country. There is a great role of men in nation building. In men, youth is the most energetic type. Youth play an important role in nation building. Youth is the spring of life. It is the age of discovery and dreams. They have the power to transform the nation into a better place. They also have the ability to lead their fellow citizens into the right direction. Youths are fighters. They fight for an identity in society, equality, unemployment, exploitation, poverty and other problems which the world faces today. They need good morals and values to handle conflicts in a positive way. That’s why Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah always considered them as a future and insists them to work hard for the betterment of their nation. Quaid-e-Azam never talked about the wealth and property, he always emphasized on education and mental awareness of the young generation. Because education and awareness of people can lead the country to the highest level of success. Men should show humanity in their behaviours and they should work hard. Social harmony and unity is very necessary for building of nation. We should follow our religion because our religious history is filled with the examples of nation building. We can see that how our Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) reformed Arabs and made them a successful and civilized nation. We should remain honest in our relations and deeds despite of all sufferings. Men  should maintain their individuality. As Russel Simmons said: â€Å"Any kind of lasting success is rooted in honesty.† Wealth is not needed to support and build a nation. The necessary thing is bravery and unity of people. As the old nations such as ancient Greeks, the Persians, the Roman Empire and Pharaohs of Egypt are still very famous. Bravery and unity were their uniqueness. A nation’s strength not gold but only men can make people great and strong. Men who for truth and honor’s sake, stand fast and suffer long. Brave men who work while other sleep who dare while other fly they build a nation’s pillars deep and lift them to the sky. (Ralph Weldo Emerson) Conclusion: So wealth has no part in building of a nation. Only men can lift their country to the highest level of success by maintaining their national identity, individuality, social harmony, honesty, humanity, truth and hard work.

Rhetorical analysis “The Hardest of the Hardcore”

It is believed that the United States allocates approximately 316 billion dollars a year on these groups. Distant from securing companies, they also provide security for the police, and government officials. Most of them are ex-special forces, and veterans. Some are ex-cons. Some people refer to them as mercenaries, and some people call them builders. Others would describe the mission as training other soldiers. They are used all around the world, providing different services in support of the United States Military. What is their role? Student, Dylan Fujitani in his research policy argument, â€Å"The hardest of the hardcore† writes an article suggesting the removal of private contractors from the Middle East. It suggests that there is a common misconception that people are confused between the difference of civilian contractors, mercenaries, people in the military, and that civilian contractors should not adopt a military role. He adopts a serious tone in order to clutch the attention of his audience. There are a lot of misconceptions to what some may believe the key objectives of the support staff/private contractors/ mercenaries are in the Middle East, and Congress must swiftly act to level the playing field between US military personnel and private security contractors. Most of the writer’s points in the essay seem relevant, and consistent with my past experiences in dealing with private contractors. I agree that there is a common misconception about the role of the private contractor/mercenary. Historically, the mercenary is a soldier for hire, however, the private contractor also has different dignitary support roles. Fujitani successfully uses pathos in his essay to persuade his audience particularly when he suggests that the use of mercenaries circumvents public, and congressional scrutiny of some aspects of war (Fujitani 374). The writer’s purpose here is trying to persuade people, by giving an emotional appeal that civilian contractors (who have questionable prior backgrounds) are armed, are given essentially given legal immunity. Another example of Fujitani using pathos is when he said that placing more contractors in the theater of war is a good way to keep US troops numbers down, but politically it’s more expensive. Here he is suggesting that the United States is trying to mask the severity of war. Even though he provided examples from both sides of the case, he’s extremely ineffective in this area because it seems he was not concerned with presenting the counterargument fair-mindedly. Although the writer uses pathos in this particular section part of his essay, most of this paper is logos heavy. These styles of comparison help the writer convey to his audience a sense of importance by using the language that is quite familiar to the military. He indeed uses language that was easy for military, and nonmilitary personnel to understand. The writer seems very prejudiced, however, uses citations to support his opinion. I agree with the writer on the information that was presented, and how he was able to break down the concepts. I understand what he proposes when he references the role of civilian mercenaries. The writer was able to convince readers that his opinion was truly legit using ethos by referencing several published articles from credible sources. The reference New York Times article also gives good examples to support his reasoning. In contrast to what the writer believes, I believe that there is a position that supports the private contracting business overseas. The writer clearly overlooks some important points that should be noted on the contrary. In my experience, I believe civilian contractors provide essential support services to the United States military. It is imperative that the military should not waste valuable resources, and manpower on support positions. To the contrary of what most people think, war is not always shooting at people, capturing prisoners, and kicking down doors 24 hours a day. A lot of essential jobs are in support. The use of private contractors help with convoys, logistics, and food services help free up essential manpower for the military to concentrate on high mission profile assignments. In conclusion, the writer’s essay was ineffective because I believe that his essay appeals to one type of audience. The writer seems to not have any knowledge of how wartime operations are drawn out and conducted. Although not perfect, I believe that the use of private contractors are essential and should not be completely weeded out the process. On the contrary, he was effective because I think he used mostly logos to appeal to his audience. He references essentially six principles on why private contractors/mercenaries should be extremely downscaled. He starts off by reference in how mercenaries disguised the true cost of war. Here he explains how civilian contractors actually disguise the number of deployed troops. He goes on and references how civilian contractors have no loyalties, and ultimately answer only to their employers and not the military. He again uses logos by citing a report on how mercenaries assigned in Saudi Arabia left their post indefinitely, because they were not comfortable. Fujanti then moves to tie the two points together making a clear contrast on how the US military, and civilian mercenaries are accountable to the Geneva Convention. He describes how civilian mercenaries have no accountability to the law to whereas the US military does. The mercenaries are considered â€Å"noncombatants† and therefore it is difficult for them to fall within the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The writer closes his argument by expressing how private contractors frequently hire employees with questionable backgrounds. He appeals to his audience by citing an article from the New York Times how 1500 S. African mercenaries are now in the Iraqi area. He expresses that many of the people that are participating admitted to being former apartheid mercenaries. Fujanti is clearly frustrated knowing that these kinds of practices are frequently carried, nothings done about it, and moves to propose his solution by conveying that the problems that were discussed earlier needs to be addressed by Congress swiftly, and immediately to protect the legitimate uses of war from market forces, lawlessness, and the abuse of power.