Wyndor Glass Co. Research Paper

18 Chapter Two Linear Programming: Basic Concepts 2. 1 A CASE STUDY: THE WYNDOR GLASS CO. PRODUCT-MIX PROBLEM Jim Baker is excited. The group he heads has really hit the jackpot this time. They have had some notable successes in the past, but he feels that this one will be really special. He can hardly wait for the reaction after his memorandum reaches top management. Jim has had an excellent track record during his seven years as manager of new product development for the Wyndor Glass Company.Although the company is a small one, it has been experiencing considerable growth largely because of the innovative new products developed by Jim’s group. Wyndor’s president, John Hill, has often acknowledged publicly the key role that Jim has played in the recent success of the company. Therefore, John felt considerable confidence six months ago in asking Jim’s group to develop the following new products: †¢ An 8-foot glass door with aluminum framing. †¢ A 4-foot 6-foot double-hung, wood-framed window.Although several other companies already had products meeting these specifications, John felt that Jim would be able to work his usual magic in introducing exciting new features that would establish new industry standards. Now, Jim can’t remove the smile from his face. They have done it. Background The Wyndor Glass Co. produces high-quality glass products, including windows and glass doors that feature handcrafting and the finest workmanship. Although the products are expensive, they fill a market niche by providing the highest quality available in the industry for the most discriminating buyers. The company has three plants.Plant 1 produces aluminum frames and hardware. Plant 2 produces wood frames. Plant 3 produces the glass and assembles the windows and doors. Because of declining sales for certain products, top management has decided to revamp the company’s product line. Unprofitable products are being discontinued, releasing production capacity to launch the two new products developed by Jim Baker’s group if management approves their release. The 8-foot glass door requires some of the production capacity in Plants 1 and 3, but not Plant 2. The 4-foot 6-foot double-hung window needs only Plants 2 and 3. Management now needs to address two issues: 1.Should the company go ahead with launching these two new products? 2. If so, what should be the product mix—the number of units of each produced per week— for the two new products? Management’s Discussion of the Issues Having received Jim Baker’s memorandum describing the two new products, John Hill now has called a meeting to discuss the current issues. In addition to John and Jim, the meeting includes Bill Tasto, vice president for manufacturing, and Ann Lester, vice president for marketing. Let’s eavesdrop on the meeting. John Hill (president): Bill, we will want to rev up to start production of these products as s oon as we can.About how much production output do you think we can achieve? Bill Tasto (vice president for manufacturing): We do have a little available production capacity, because of the products we are discontinuing, but not a lot. We should be able to achieve a production rate of a few units per week for each of these two products. John: Is that all? Bill: Yes. These are complicated products requiring careful crafting. And, as I said, we don’t have much production capacity available. An Application Vignette Swift & Company is a diversified protein-producing business based in Greeley, Colorado.With annual sales of over $8 billion, beef and related products are by far the largest portion of the company’s business. To improve the company’s sales and manufacturing performance, upper management concluded that it needed to achieve three major objectives. One was to enable the company’s customer service representatives to talk to their more than 8,000 custom ers with accurate information about the availability of current and future inventory while considering requested delivery dates and maximum product age upon delivery. A second was to produce an efficient shift-level schedule for each plant over a 28-day horizon.A third was to accurately determine whether a plant can ship a requested order-line-item quantity on the requested date and time given the availability of cattle and constraints on the plant’s capacity. To meet these three challenges, a management science team developed an integrated system of 45 linear programming models based on three model formulations to dynamically schedule its beef-fabrication operations at five plants in real time as it receives orders. The total audited benefits realized in the first year of operation of this system were $12. 74 million, including $12 million due to optimizing the product mix.Other benefits include a reduction in orders lost, a reduction in price discounting, and better on-time delivery. Source: A. Bixby, B. Downs, and M. Self, â€Å"A Scheduling and Capable-to-Promise Application for Swift & Company, Interfaces 36, no. 1 (January–February 2006), pp. 69–86. The issue is to find the most profitable mix of the two new products. John: Ann, will we be able to sell several of each per week? Ann Lester (vice president for marketing): Easily. John: OK, good. I would like to set the launch date for these products in six weeks. Bill and Ann, is that feasible? Bill: Yes.Ann: We’ll have to scramble to give these products a proper marketing launch that soon. But we can do it. John: Good. Now there’s one more issue to resolve. With this limited production capacity, we need to decide how to split it between the two products. Do we want to produce the same number of both products? Or mostly one of them? Or even just produce as much as we can of one and postpone launching the other one for a little while? Jim Baker (manager of new product dev elopment): It would be dangerous to hold one of the products back and give our competition a chance to scoop us. Ann: I agree.Furthermore, launching them together has some advantages from a marketing standpoint. Since they share a lot of the same special features, we can combine the advertising for the two products. This is going to make a big splash. John: OK. But which mixture of the two products is going to be most profitable for the company? Bill: I have a suggestion. John: What’s that? Bill: A couple times in the past, our Management Science Group has helped us with these same kinds of product-mix decisions, and they’ve done a good job. They ferret out all the relevant data and then dig into some detailed analysis of the issue.I’ve found their input very helpful. And this is right down their alley. John: Yes, you’re right. That’s a good idea. Let’s get our Management Science Group working on this issue. Bill, will you coordinate with th em? The meeting ends. The Management Science Group Begins Its Work At the outset, the Management Science Group spends considerable time with Bill Tasto to clarify the general problem and specific issues that management wants addressed. A particular concern is to ascertain the appropriate objective for the problem from management’s viewpoint.Bill points out that John Hill posed the issue as determining which mixture of the two products is going to be most profitable for the company. 19 20 Chapter Two Linear Programming: Basic Concepts Therefore, with Bill’s concurrence, the group defines the key issue to be addressed as follows. Question: Which combination of production rates (the number of units produced per week) for the two new products would maximize the total profit from both of them? The group also concludes that it should consider all possible combinations of production rates of both new products permitted by the available production capacities in the three plant s.For example, one alternative (despite Jim Baker’s and Ann Lester’s objections) is to forgo producing one of the products for now (thereby setting its production rate equal to zero) in order to produce as much as possible of the other product. (We must not neglect the possibility that maximum profit from both products might be attained by producing none of one and as much as possible of the other. ) The Management Science Group next identifies the information it needs to gather to conduct this study: 1. Available production capacity in each of the plants. 2.How much of the production capacity in each plant would be needed by each product. 3. Profitability of each product. Concrete data are not available for any of these quantities, so estimates have to be made. Estimating these quantities requires enlisting the help of key personnel in other units of the company. Bill Tasto’s staff develops the estimates that involve production capacities. Specifically, the sta ff estimates that the production facilities in Plant 1 needed for the new kind of doors will be available approximately four hours per week. (The rest of the time Plant 1 will continue with current products. The production facilities in Plant 2 will be available for the new kind of windows about 12 hours per week. The facilities needed for both products in Plant 3 will be available approximately 18 hours per week. The amount of each plant’s production capacity actually used by each product depends on its production rate. It is estimated that each door will require one hour of production time in Plant 1 and three hours in Plant 3. For each window, about two hours will be needed in Plant 2 and two hours in Plant 3. By analyzing the cost data and the pricing decision, the Accounting Department estimates the profit from the two products.The projection is that the profit per unit will be $300 for the doors and $500 for the windows. Table 2. 1 summarizes the data now gathered. The Management Science Group recognizes this as being a classic product-mix problem. Therefore, the next step is to develop a mathematical model—that is, a linear programming model—to represent the problem so that it can be solved mathematically. The next four sections focus on how to develop this model and then how to solve it to find the most profitable mix between the two products, assuming the estimates in Table 2. 1 are accurate.Review Questions 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. What is the market niche being filled by the Wyndor Glass Co.? What were the two issues addressed by management? The Management Science Group was asked to help analyze which of these issues? How did this group define the key issue to be addressed? What information did the group need to gather to conduct its study? TABLE 2. 1 Data for the Wyndor Glass Co. Product-Mix Problem Plant 1 2 3 Unit profit Production Time Used for Each Unit Produced Doors 1 hour 0 3 hours $300 Windows 0 2 hours 2 hours $500 Available per Week 4 hours 12 hours 18 hours

Production of Brazilian Coffee

A hundred million people in the United States wake up every day to the smell of coffee, a third of which is produced in Brazil, making Brazil by far the world's largest producer of coffee, a position the country has held for the last 150 years. With 80% of the production of Brazilian coffee being the delightfully tasting Arabica coffee, it's the largest producer of low grade Arabica coffee in the world, along with being a large producer of Conilon robusta too. There has been a remarkable increase in the production of Brazilian coffee over the past few years, in order to meet the demand for cheap coffee the world over. Just over the last 12 months, Brazil exported over 46 million bags, a sharp increase from the 18 million bags it exported in 1994. The history of production of Brazilian coffee goes back to 1727 when the first coffee bush was planted in Brazil, supported by curious rumours about the first samples of seeds being smuggled into Brazil by the military Francisco de Melo Palheta who charmed a Lady in French Guiana to part with them. Brazilian economy, then based on the production of sugar, gradually shifted to coffee, helping it become a monopoly in the international coffee market by the first decades of the 20th century, with the economy completely dependent upon coffee. Around the middle of the 19th century, following the decline of slave labour, Brazil pushed for greater influx of immigrants to work in the coffee farms. The success of the State of Sao Paulo as the economic and political centre in the country is often attributed to it being the first and main producer of coffee. Currently, coffee production in Brazil provides income for over 10 million people involved in the coffee trade, fuelling a significant part of the US$60 billion a year industry. Such figures, however, have often led to the misunderstanding that Brazil is heavily dependent on coffee for its economy. Coffee is responsible for only 0. 3% of Brazilian GDP, falling well behind industries such as automotive, aerospace and high tech that make up a massive chunk of the GDP. To encourage coffee farming among this extremely competitive sector, the Brazilian government has recently deregulated the coffee industry, allowing large farms to market their coffees directly to consuming countries without regard to government-mandated grading structures. The industry is not without its problems. Grown in elevations ranging between 2,000 feet to 4,000 feet, the rapid climate change is predicted to hurt the production of beans available for an estimated four years, leading to an increase in price. There have also been concerns about the quality of beans produced, currently being tackled by Brazilian coffee growing associations as they try re-creating the image of Brazilian as exquisite and distinctive Specialty-level coffee. It is the Brazilians’ hard work that gets much of the world its favorite beverage. So next time you sip your coffee, offer a toast to the country that gave us Samba to groove to.

Browning Peal Essay

Browning PEAL Essay Robert Browning uses many techniques one such example being his continuous reference to women being similar to roses. Browning uses the imagery of roses throughout the poem to represent women and femininity. It is a common practice in literature for poets to refer to women as flowers, in particular roses; such as Browning has done in ‘Women and Roses’. This is because they represent natural beauty that has been created by God, which compliments the woman Browning is talking about because it shows his feelings on how he believes they don’t have to try to be beautiful.Roses also represent love and passion, the colour red is an intimate colour that represents seduction and sometimes danger as seen in ‘Of Mice and Men’ where Curley’s wife is referred to as having â€Å"full rouged lips† and â€Å"red fingernails†. The thorns on roses continues this theme of potential risk, because the simple idea of men picking ros es for women could injure the man due to the thorns on the stem, this could represent how men have to fight past the hard things in love to get to the beauty or the woman.In ‘Women and Roses’, Browning also uses roses as a representation of the stages through a woman’s life going into womanhood and how she grows from a young shoot full of promise to something incredibly beautiful and natural and eventually to an old and wilted flower, â€Å"bees pass it unimpeached†. The poem is about finding perfect love with a woman, which is represented as finding a rose with no thorns, thorns being the trouble in a relationship or a woman.Browning wrote ‘Prospice’ after his beloved wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, died in 1861. The poem shows Browning’s beliefs on death and how he feels that he will once again be reunited with his love in the afterlife. The title ‘Prospice' can be translated as ‘look forward’, and in this poem, p ublished in 1864, Browning is most likely looking forward to death, when he expects ‘I will clasp thee again’, meaning he will be with Elizabeth once more.Such optimism seems to contrast noticeably with the religious doubt or searching of many Victorian writers. But Browning does not claim that there is anything easy about facing death, instead he shows one way of coping. He gives the ‘Arch Fear’, death, a ‘visible form’ so that he can imagine taking him on in one last fight to show that he will not be taken easily, ‘Barriers’ and ‘guerdon’ suggest a tournament took place. In ‘A Woman’s Last Word’ Browning uses Roman numerals to show the breaking down of a omplex subject such as a woman’s feelings after an argument. By doing this it makes it easier for the reader to follow and distinguish the different stages of feelings the character goes through and also shows the changes in direction of he r attitude until she reaches submission towards her love. This is a good technique used as he wrote the poem from a woman’s point of view and has gone into a lot of detail on how she feels and reacts to the argument.

Is Nationalism best understood as a rational phenomenon Essay

Is Nationalism best understood as a rational phenomenon - Essay Example The specificity of nationalism, that which distinguishes nationality from other types of identity, derives from the fact that nationalism locates the source of individual identity within a â€Å"people†, which for its part has been acknowledged as the bearer of sovereignty, the central object of loyalty, and the basis of collective solidarity. The foundation of nationalism, argued Liah Greenfeld (1992), without which no nationalism is possible, is an idea; nationalism is a particular perspective or a style of thought and that the idea of the nation lies in it core. (p. 3-4) Scholars are at odds as to when did nationalism emerge. However, they are in unison in saying that it started in Europe. For instance, there are those who argue that nationalism came out of Britain in the sixteenth century. There are those who believe such as Andrew Vincent (2002), that nationalism’s groundwork was established during the French and American revolutions. (p. 46) Nonetheless, the concept has signified the beginning of modernity, corresponding with the growth and modernization of states. This does not mean, however, that there were no instances of group loyalty and allegiance in the past. They were not simply considered nationalist as we understand the term today. The membership of an individual in a country is not a voluntary issue, though some times it is said to be voluntary. Nationalism is involuntary when a member of a country is born in a particular nation. It was not a choice to be born there, so it is involuntary. People who decide to change their citizenship and get that of another country are voluntarily members of their country of choice. This argument has become significant when we talk about ability to consider and choose between alternatives, which â€Å"entitle one to decide what was best for oneself and was the basis for the recognition of the autonomy

Some of the Trades Women Practiced in Early America on the Colonial Coursework

Some of the Trades Women Practiced in Early America on the Colonial Williamsburg site - Coursework Example Women showed that they were able to take care of their families and carry out duties like men. 1. Women worked during these situations for various reasons. Women were at home with their children while the men were off at war. Women were left with bills and responsibilities that men once took care of. The industrial and manufacturing industry needed workers to help create items for war and shops quickly began filling up with women. 2. Working affected the lives of women in many different ways. Women felt independent and no longer relied on men. Women were able to see themselves as workers who could earn money and make decisions on their own. Women quickly became use to the fact that men were not needed for survival as once thought before. Women became very busy trying to juggle work, family and household chores. Some women enjoyed all of the responsibilities while others became overwhelmed. Regardless of feelings felt, women of early America paved a way for women of the

What economic advantages did the Europeans gain from their conquests Essay

What economic advantages did the Europeans gain from their conquests in the new world - Essay Example The 19th century can be attributed to the big boost in regards to the economic power experienced by the countries within Europe. This is the time that colonization was taking effect. It is during this time that countries such as Britain, Germany, Italy as well as France emerged as powers entailing industrialization and as such, due to this industrialization, the population in respective countries became high and production rose. During this colonialism era, social Darwinism was becoming increasingly popular and as such, it was natural that these four economic super powers were engaging themselves in fierce competition towards survival. The driving force that led to colonization by these countries was to strengthen themselves in an effort towards securing a competitive edge in regard to the underlying competition between them (Milios 2004). The main reason behind colonialism, regardless of the country colonizing, was to exploit their subjects as well as the individuals who were residing within the boundaries of the colonies in an effort towards generation of the colonizer’s wealth in regards to the economy for the colony as well as the corporations of that colony. The push for generation of the economic power is what led to the presence of slavery, particularly in Africa. People within the colonies being colonized became subjected to coerced labor, that is, slavery or a system of labor characterized by indent. Most of the areas, which were being considered vast in regard to the natural habitats, became cleared and as such, they were being transformed into monoculture plantations (Milios 2004). Therefore, this paper will put a focus on the colonialism endeavors in regard to the European countries during their conquest of the new world and thereby establish what economic gain that these countries actually achieved out of this conquest. In addition to this, the paper will also access the driving force that led to the European countries

Marxist Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Marxist Analysis - Essay Example This is not the same case when it comes to the history of economic original sin; it reveals to us that there are people to whom the whole thing is by no means essential. It happened that those in power accumulated wealth, and the subjects had at last nothing to sell other than their skins. Thus, the majority of people are poor despite their labor which is the only thing they have remained with. The few rich are constantly accumulating wealth despite the fact that they stopped working long time ago. This is usually used in defense of their property because in actual history it’s the enslavement, robbery, murder and force that play greater roles. In the records of political economy this idea has been brought about by Karl Marx. In the analysis of the international trade by economists, the Robinson Crusoe figure is taken as the main starting point. He is pictured as a strong, intelligent and diligent individual who through reasoning masters nature. In addition, he is also portrayed as a promoter of slavery, murder, robbery and force. This is because idyllic existed earlier thus; political economy should not be ignored. The contrast between what actually happens in the international economy and the international trade myths in the economics textbooks is as a result of the contrast between the real Robinson Crusoe and the economist’s Robinson Crusoe. The model of a fisherman and a hunter who exchange their mutual profit under conditions of reciprocity, freedom and equality are paradigmatic to non-Marxist international trade theory. International trade should be based upon a division between equals; unfortunately, it is often based on a division between the subordinate and the superior. It’s more of a trade between the colonizer and the colonized, the hinterland and the center, the servant and the master. It’s based upon the division between lower and higher functions as in the relation of capital to labor; one party does the work while the

Management and Leadership Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Management and Leadership - Case Study Example The company’s mission is to be the partner of choice for customers, employees, and business partners like investors (The Arab Human Development Report 112). They also have a mission to give to its customer’s superior technologies, quality products, and good services. They also focus on growth of the company and the addition of new values. The goals of the company include; providing good returns and growth to the investors input, satisfying every customer’s needs, building profitable relationships with partners and creation of favorable environments to the employees so that they can reach their goals (The Arab Human Development Report 29). Considering the company’s corporate strategy, the company, is set to have integrity in its operations, good communication channels in the organization and to other organizations, effective teamwork for better productivity of the business, accountability in each of the operations it deals in and aims at excellence in its o perations. From the report, it is evident that Lubna Olayan is a good leader to the company and has good management skills. She is seen to be recognized in many other different institutions for her quality management. This is due to her principles and organized corporate strategies (The Arab Human Development Report 122). Discussion Considering Blanchard’s situational leadership model description, Lubna Olayan’s leadership is using the delegating style (Maude 96). This is seen from what she says she believes in. She believes that the most difficult work should be given to the most competent person. This shows that she believes in delegating work to people provided she has confidence that the person will manage to deliver a quality job. This is also evident from what she said when she was asked about taking credit in the achievements they have had as a company (Maude 123). She said that she is humbled with what she has gained as a manager; she focuses on what she will a chieve tomorrow and so sets the plans for delegating duties. The success of a business depends on the overall efforts of each employee. For the Olayan financing company to continue growing and achieving its goals, Lubna Olayan will need to look for means of empowering his employees and managers so that the business will continue to succeed. Empowering the employees and managers, at the firm, will help increase employee trust and loyalty in the business. This is results from the idea that employees will know that the decisions they make will affect the company directly hence will look for means of making the best decisions. This will be healthy for the company as a whole (Maude 115). The other factor that will necessitate the empowerment of the managers and the employees at the firm is because Olayan is a person with a tight schedule, and cannot be available at all times to make decisions for the company (The Arab Human Development Report 61). Empowering employees and managers will e nsure that decisions can be made, even if, the overall leader is not at the business premises. This ensures all the company’s activities continue smoothly whenever Olayan is on errands. Empowering the employees also promotes innovation and creativity at the work place. This can help to develop new and better ways of solving situations. It can also be a channel of evaluating which employee is a better leader.

Compare how the wellness understood in 2 different country(west or Essay

Compare how the wellness understood in 2 different country(west or east) - Essay Example However, the United States of America’s national wellness association has defined wellness as â€Å"an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence† (Walters, VI) The physical well being of individuals encompasses all the physical and psychological process exhibited by individuals and demands the input of energy by the individual. This includes the physiological process as well as the well being of the individual in terms of lack of disabilities. This is understood in the same perspective in which the two nations put more emphasis on the absence of the diseases and the general health of individuals. People with diseases are perceived not to be healthy and hence are looked at in a different view. The physical well being of individuals therefore depends much on the ability of the government to put infrastructures that are mainly meant to improve on the health status of the people. However, for the Romans sex plays an important role in determining an individual wellness and health as a whole. As documented in the writings of Foucault (157), Pleasure that was derived from the ancient practices played an important part in individuals living long lives. However to the Eastern nations like Pakistan sex is looked at a taboo especially sex before marriage and hence an individuals could be disowned by the society. The social element of wellness includes the activities that are mainly directed towards the understanding of the social relationships (Marsela, 142). This includes the communication and interaction activities that are meant in nurturing such relationships. Nurtured relationship does not only begin at the older age within the communities but begin at an early age since it influences the personality and moral behaviors of individuals in the future. With regard to the social well being of the people, the nations to the east such as Pakistan have placed more emphasis on women. For the western nations, richn ess is important and determines an individual’s wellness and respect from the society. Sex, marriage and the general respect to the women is vital component of the social well being in the Pakistan community. Sex before marriage is therefore viewed as loss of social well being of an individual and for the women it can cost dearly. In other words issues of marriage and the sex before marriage define the wellness of an individual in the society. This is different in the Romans in which the social wellbeing is defined by the ability of the people to interact freely without restrictions. Unlike in Pakistan, it does not put more weight on social wellness with regard to the marriage or sex before marriage. In the Romans, wellness is not just a mere absence of disease but it encompasses even more aspects of the well being such as the self assessment. In this context, it is different from health since health is a subjective term while wellness is more of objective. The argument here is that health can be defined as the absence of disease and can therefore be measured and tested with the scientific methods to ascertain the healthy standard of an individual. The determination by the physician through the laboratory methods is enough to assert that an individual is free from disease and hence is healthy. On the other hand, wellness is different. It is more of subjective attribute of human life and hence difficult to measure. Self assessment and

Human Resource Development Essay Example for Free

Human Resource Development Essay In both definitions we see that learning was in some form mentioned as being part of human resource development, and from further understanding of HRD we see that learning is important in all aspects of HRD efforts. According to the text Human Resource Management by Jon M. Werner and Randy L. DeSimone they defined learning a relatively permanent change in behavior, cognition, or affect that occurs as a result of one’s interaction with the environment. There are three basic principles of learning contiguity, the law of effect and practice. Practice is stated to be repeating the event with the hope that it will increase the strength of what is being taught. For example in any sporting area practice is needed to strengthen the players and so to in the business environment. In understanding how practice works in order to maximize learning we look at the primary area of the training design under the categories of conditions of practice and retention of what is learned. There are at least six issues that relate to practice and learning they are; active practice, massed versus spaced practice sessions, whole versus part learning, overlearning ,knowledge of result and task sequences. From the six issues the three that I would considers using are; Active practice proposes that the individual who is being taught should be given the opportunity to repeatedly perform the task or use the knowledge being learned. For example surgeons, rescue squad, pilots, just to name a few should be given avenues to practice hat they learned. Same goes for training the mechanics to install the automobile air-conditioners using the new installation procedures, if the mechanics are allowed to practice the theory that was taught it would leave room for better understanding of what is required of them and result in better outcomes on the jobs confirming , that the new procedures was learnt. Massed versus spaced practice involve whether the training should be conducted in one session or divided into segments separated by a period of time. Studies have shown that spaced practice sessions lead to better performance and longer retention but are more effect for difficult and complex tasks, however the task at hand isn’t difficult and can be taught in one session. Overlearning is practice beyond the point at which the material or task is mastered. This is another condition in which the trainers can implement when training the mechanics to install the air conditioners using the new procedures, giving the mechanics enough opportunities to keep practicing the task will soon become simple The goal goes beyond the trainee learning the task or material but also retaining it. There are three additional issues that influence retention; these are the meaningfulness of the material, the degree of original learning and interference. The more meaningful and factual the information is the easier it is learned and remembered and since the new procedure is important for the installation of the air conditioners the mechanics would seek more interest and retain the information effectively , as they would see it fit to keep their jobs and acquire more customers. Secondly for the mechanics to continually retain the information being learned there should be little or no interference or it should be taken into consideration when training. This meaning that sometimes the knowledge of the old procedure might affect the way the mechanics learn the new procedure also if new steps are added while installing the air conditioner in a different vehicle it can cause confusion in the learning process. The case of the new Employee Assistant Programme Act, since it is an act where information may be presented in a document and the managers can always refer to it when needed, I would suggest using the conditions of active practice. This being the Employees Assistance Programme Act would be something that they would have to implement everyday so it would certainly give the managers the opportunity to perform the task and use the knowledge being used. Also because there is no real step by step process of implementing the act then the conditions of a massed practice session can be put in place, for example a meeting can be held where all managers are taught and given an explanation of the act and why it is necessary, as well as the document of the act where they can refer to when needed. By giving an explanation and ensure the managers what is the purpose and the reason for the Employee Assistant Programme Act , it leaves room for better retention since they are aware of the meaningfulness of they are being taught. Also distinguishing the difference from similar acts can reduce the interference of confusion and misunderstands. In conclusion if the these conditions and retentions are used in the training design both the employees and the managers can experience maximum learning and show that in order to learn practice is required. Read more: http://www. businessdictionary. com/definition/human-resource-development-HRD. html#ixzz2MgJJc071

The Lilly Ledbetter Act Sociology Essay

The Lilly Ledbetter Act Sociology Essay In January 2009, President Obama signaled his commitment to improving the lives of working women with the signing of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. By signing this act into law, President Obama signed a significant shift in the view of American polity toward the status of women in the workplace. While this change is significant in the upward mobility of women, only a small portion of women in the workforce will benefit from this new law. Introduction Many explanations have been offered by scholars for gender-wage disparity. Pay disparities have often been attributed to the segregation of women in certain female-dominated occupations, disparities in professional skills, education, and experience, and differences in family status, as well as the role of industry and wage structure. What that said, evidence still suggests that at least part of this gender pay gap is due to discrimination which may be subtle and even unconscious. While the pay disparity exists in nearly every traditional field, jobs associated with male roles continue to be better paid than jobs associated with roles that are considered traditionally female even though these jobs may often require the same skill level. Women dominate jobs in nursing, home health assistance, child care, teaching, cleaning, and food preparation; most of which replace things that women historically have performed in the home for free. While women are making strides in our white collar s ections of our economy, working-class America has not yet benefited from this economic and cultural power shift. Jobs held mainly by women are paid at rates that on average are 20% less than those equivalent jobs held mainly by men. Improvements in pay for women have been related to a greater presence of women in the labor force, rising educational attainment, and the movement into professional and managerial jobs, but there still continues to be an unexplained gender pay gap against women. Today, women with the same amount of education and experience earn 81 percent of what men do; although, this is better than the 60 percent they earned in 1980. This pay gap has persisted and remained relatively consistent for the past 2 decades. Historical Relevance Social Welfare Policies Recent research indicates women now make up almost half of the American work force and earn 60% of college degrees in America. Empowerment alone is not entirely responsible for this revolution. Politics has played a big role in the movement of women into the work force. A number of policies in the 1960s seemingly targeted gender discrimination in the labor market. Legislative efforts that have attempted to address this problem include the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and subsequent amendments, the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA), and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Acts of 2009 and 2012. These changes along with the rise of the service sector and the decline in manufacturing have supported and encouraged the entrance of women into the American workforce, but progress has not been uniform as seen in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). The Equal Pay Act On June 10, 1963, the Equal Pay Act (EPA) was passed by Congress dictating that women and men must receive equal pay for equal work on the recommendation of President John F. Kennedys Commission on the Status of Women. Under the mindset that men were the heads of households and therefore where the primary income producer in families, women had previously been paid less when employed in identical jobs. Regardless of the fact that in many homes women were considered the breadwinners for reasons ranging from death or disability of a spouse, divorce, and/or single parenthood. The EPA prohibits gender-based pay discrimination among employees within the same work place who do substantially equal work. Although gender can no longer be viewed as a drawback, demonstrable differences in seniority, merit, the quality or quantity of work, and/or other considerations might merit different pay can be used if proven. The statute of limitations for filing a suit is 2 or 3 three years, depending on w hether the discriminatory act is intentional. In order to recover under the act, a woman must prove that an employer paid higher wages to men, male and female employees conduct an equal amount of work that requires equal skill, effort, and responsibility, and men and women performed the work under similar working conditions. The act establishes four main defenses for employers. An employer may pay a male employee more than a female employee if the employer can establish that payment is based upon a seniority system, a merit system, a system whereby earnings are based upon the quantity and quality of production by the employees, or a differential based upon any other factor other than the sex of the employees. While the first three of these defenses have been the subjects of litigation, the fourth exception if often litigated more frequently. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is considered our nations benchmark legislation. Signed into law on July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act paved the way for future anti-discrimination legislation and President Lyndon Johnson asserted his commitment to President Kennedys legislative agenda, Passage of the Act ended the application of Jim Crow laws, which had been previously upheld by the Supreme Court in the 1896 case Plessy v. Ferguson.   Congress eventually expanded the Civil Rights Act to strengthen enforcement of these fundamental civil rights. These changes were needed to strengthen the original proposal submitted by President Kennedy in response to the racially-motivated violence across the South which occurred during tumultuous summer of 1963. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and subsequent amendments prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of sex in a broader set of categories, including hiring, promotion, and other conditions of employment. It requires filing a comp laint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 180 days after an intentional discriminatory act. Although the inclusion of the word sex in the original draft of this 1964 Act was considered a joke, this inclusion has become the basis for most gender-based discrimination policy in the United States. As a result of fears regarding the impact of this legislation on his predecessor, congress adopted the Bennett Amendment into bill shortly before its passage in 1964. Interested parties feared that an employee filing suit under Title IV could file a wage discrimination case without the need to prove equal pay for equal work as required under the EPA. The Bennett Amendment provides that an employer may pay his employees different wages based on gender if the provisions of the Equal Pay Act authorize such differentiation. Executive Order #11246 On September 24, 1965, President Lyndon Johnson issued Executive Order #11246. Generally considered the nations first affirmative action order, Executive Order #11246 requires companies receiving federal construction contracts to ensure equality in the hiring of minorities. The order was amended in 1967 to include gender discrimination. The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on February 5, 1993. FMLA is considered a labor standard classifying requirements for eligible employers and also a major milestone in the legal support of family life. FMLA recognizes that family life events have an impact on the workplace and requires the workplace to accommodate those events to provide job protection. Entitlements for employees who meet FMLA eligibility requirements include job protection and unpaid leave for a qualified medical and family reason. Eligible employees may take up to 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12 month period for the serious health condition of the employee, parent, spouse or child, or for pregnancy or care of a newborn child, or for adoption or foster care of a child. An FMLA-eligible employee is an employee who has been in the business at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours over the past 12 months. Work must be done at a location where the company employs 50 or more employees within 75 miles. FMLA does not apply to workers in businesses with fewer than 50 employees, part-time workers who have worked fewer than 1,250 hours within the 12 months preceding the leave and a paid vacation, workers who need time off to care for seriously ill relatives other than parents, workers who need time off to recover from short-term or common illness like a cold, or to care for a family member with a short-term illness such as child, and workers who need time off for routine medical care, such as check-ups. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) dictates that families receiving public assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program take personal responsibility for their low-income lives and that paid work is essential to moving the family out of poverty. The PRWORA represents the change in the welfare system that no longer permitted poor families to receive assistance while staying at home with children. With the passage of PRWORA, Congress essentially ended single mothers entitlement to income support by emphasizing paid employment. The Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act In 2009, President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act, which allows victims of pay discrimination to file a complaint with the government against their employer within 180 days of their last paycheck, not as previously stated the first paycheck. Victims were previously allowed 180 days from the date of the first unfair paycheck. Interpretation of Such Policies The 1963 Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act combined are thought to settle the matter of equal pay in law. In 1963, when the Equal Pay Act was passed, full-time working women were paid 59 cents on average for every dollar paid to men. This means it took 49 years for the wage gap to close just 20 cents; a rate of less than half a penny a year.  [1]  In a 2007 U.S. Census Bureau report in, median pay for women is less than of men in each and every one of the 20 industries and 25 occupation groups surveyed. In fact, men working in female-dominated occupations still tend to earn more than women working in those same occupations. According to the Institute for Womens Policy Research, if equal pay for women were instituted immediately across the board, it would result in an annual $319 billion gain nationally for women and their families (in 2008 dollars).  [2]  Over her working life, a typical woman could expect to gain a total of $210,000 in additional incom e if equal pay were the norm (these numbers include part-time workers).  [3]   The Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act are important laws, but they are hard to enforce, and legal cases are extremely difficult to prove and win. Part of the problem is that many women can be underpaid without knowing it. Many companies continue to make it taboo to discuss salaries even though in some cases these policies are unfair and/or sometimes unlawful. In addition, without knowing what a job truly pays, women can devalue themselves when negotiating a new salary. Suing is also not a practical remedy for women since awards are limited under the EPA to 3 years worth of pay, which may make it difficult to find a lawyer to accept the case. In addition, the EPA does not allow participation in class action lawsuits for wage discrimination, and since discrimination is almost never in the form of a smoking gun, women still continue to suffer from the glass ceiling and old boys network. Recent court decisions and settlements reveal women earning low wages, faced with s ystemic discrimination in hiring, pay, promotions, or working conditions. In 2011, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) settled lawsuits against 3 employers in low-wage industries for systemic sex discrimination.  [4]  Although this civil action is promising, the Supreme Court has recognized the fear or retaliation leads many victims of pay discrimination to remain silent. Low-wage workers face substantial risk of retaliation by standing up to an employer to challenge discrimination and often remain silent. Unavailable resources also make options for low-wage workers difficult. Women who complain are labeled troublemakers which may follow them as they seek other employment. Employers often fight back aggressively and seek to ruin the credibility of the employee as they seek to defend the company. Women are often subjected to questioning about their sexual history as well as gynecologic medical records in efforts to intimidate them in court. Legal cases can be extremely difficult to prove and win since enforcement of the laws is complaint-driven and, unfortunately, most of the information needed to prove a complaint is held by employers. Pursuing an equal pay case under these circumstances can be devastating to the personal lives and finances of the plaintiffs. The first Executive Orders addressing discrimination in private sector grew out of the unique labor market conditions created by Americas entry into World War II. The basis for these orders was felt to fall under the Presidents authority to provide for national defense. A significant national commitment was signaled by the Johnson administration to social policy. By issuing Executive Order #11246, President Johnson signaled his belief that to truly level the playing field affirmative measures were required to undo the consequences of the historic exclusion of minorities and women from many areas of the workplace. The Presidents authority to issue this Order derived from his authority to ensure that government procurement was conducted in an economical manner. The relationship between the supply of labor and these Executive Orders is evident in that the eradication of discrimination is empirically related to economy and efficiency in government. As a byproduct, research has determined the effects of affirmative action on the gender pay gap estimating that employment of women increased somewhat faster in contractor firms as a result of the effects of affirmative action, but women have seen greater employment opportunities in the economy as a whole most particularly in the public sector. In the private sector or those contractors that are not subject to affirmative action provisions, affirmative action laws and regulations are few and far between. Under Federal law, only 2 types of private-sector employers are required to implement affirmative action plans; those that have federal contracts or subcontracts in excess of $50,000 and those that have at least 50 employees. This translates to 1 in 4 American workers holding jobs in the private sector covered by mandatory federal affirmative action programs. The role of these policy changes cannot be ruled out in both the increase in the gender pay disparity. Coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 is far from universal and many low-wage, single-income workers simply cannot afford to take time-off from work without pay. Low-wage workers in particular would benefit from expanded paid leave policies as they are less likely to be covered by the federal policy since they are considered the working poor and are in greater need of pay during time-off from work for major life events. Women make up 59% of the low wage service-related work force with nearly two-thirds of those earning minimum wages. Women in low-wage positions often have significant demands on their time including, but not limited to holding down multiple jobs, raising children, pursing education, and training. Many single-mother families live paycheck-to-paycheck and may fear being easily replaced by their employers. Lack of information about better paying jobs or options available to them, lack of transportation, and the inability of low-wage female workers in si ngle income families to easily recover from job loss all factor heavily in a decision to challenge discrimination or remain silent. The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 was at the time considered a reassertion of Americas work ethic. This Act single-handedly increased the poverty rate of low-wage families, most of them headed by single mothers. This legislation was passed in the middle of the strongest labor market in decades, especially for low-wage work, and was followed by sharp increases in the employment of unmarried mothers. The hope was that as former single welfare mothers entered the labor market they would eventually climb the job ladder; although, research has shown that wage profiles for less-educated workers remain stagnant even if earnings profiles slope upward. Female workers with low levels of education not only typically earn less; they are also hit hard by the wage gap. Less-educated, low-wage workers experience little wage growth while working for the same employer and only limited gain. Their experience is also less meaningful than for that of more-educat ed workers when moving to a new employer. The occupational segregation of men and women into different jobs in the service sector explains the single-largest portion of the gender pay gap, 49.3 percent. Many jobs that women have historically held by women are underpaid when compared to mens jobs that require similar levels of skill. A traditionally male job can earn more a traditionally female job. It is not that the male job has a much higher level of skills than the female job, but that our society values these jobs differently and this is a choice we make. Jobs considered traditionally female have been systemically undervalued for such a long time that we think it is natural, but in fact this is an ongoing legacy of past discrimination.  [5]   Finally, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act provides women with a critical tool to challenge discriminatory pay practices, but it will not change pay disparity. The Act amends Title VII and restores the law that existed before the Supreme Courts 2007 decision in the Ledbetter case with regard to the timing of legal challenges. With a record number of women currently participating in the workforce, wage discrimination hurts the majority of American families by compromising their economic security today and their retirement security tomorrow. Rising employment rates have forced an unprecedented number of women into the position of primary breadwinners for their families. This alone makes pay equity even more critical. While the Ledbetter Act does not end pay disparity, it brings women one step closure to making real progress in pay disparity. Stronger incentives are needed for employers to follow the law, women need to be empowered to negotiate for equal pay, strengthen feder al outreach, and education, and enforcement efforts such as those contained in the now failed Paycheck Fairness Act are needed. Discrimination would then be deterred due to strong penalties for equal pay violations as well as retaliation against workers who ask about wage practices or disclose their own wages. Criticism/Critical Debate The consequences of the wage gap are both widespread and numerous. When women are paid less than men, the means by which they support themselves and their families is compromised. The number of single-family households has risen dramatically over the past 4 decades. The increase in the number of single-mother families can be correlated to the increase in child poverty in the United States. Unsurprisingly, single parent families headed by women are nearly twice as likely as single parent families headed by men to live below the poverty level. Although most children reared in mother-only households do well, there may be adverse consequences for others. By earning less, women will automatically experience the disadvantage of a less stable economic status and may be less likely to question their wage status due to fear of poverty. The wage gap disparity is also visible in fringe benefits, which currently make up about 30 percent of total compensation. Lower wages means lower lifetime earnings resulting in lower pension benefits upon retirement. The lack of coverage or lower benefit levels may not be a problem for some women, since they receive benefits through a spouse, but for other women, lack of adequate health or pension benefits from their job is a serious problem. As with wages, the gap in fringe benefits is thought to be related to differences between men and women in human capital and job characteristics. Some studies contribute differences in human capital to motherhood and parenting responsibilities since women are largely responsible for childrearing in our society. The correlation is that women are felt to less likely than men to gain work experience and skills, and therefore, are less likely to qualify for high-paying jobs; however, studies have demonstrated that when controlling for sex-based dif ferences in work hours, work interruptions, and part-time work, childless women earn no more than mothers and single women earned no more than married women. Thus, these wage disparities are not exclusively attributable to motherhood, and factors other than unequal sharing in childrearing duties must be at play. Supporting studies have found that in narrow sections of students graduating from the same law school with the same amount of experience, the human capital argument failed to explain the gender-based wage disparities in the American labor force. Another consideration for the wage disparity can be found in the role of industry and wage structure. This discrimination clearly starts the second women begin their first job, and follows them no matter where they go or what they do. New graduates not only make less, but continue to make less with each subsequent degree and the gap actually widens as they progress. Women make less than men no matter what industry or occupation they enter. This can be attributed to the decline in blue-collar jobs where women are under-represented. The rise of women in blue collar jobs has benefited women in that traditionally men have been more likely to be union members than women. Union representation has historically helped to increase the gender pay gap, but the share of unionized workers who are female has increased as unions have grown in certain public sector and service-related occupations that have a greater share of female workers. This in itself has played a relatively small role in the de clining gender pay gap. Public sector and service-related occupations remain crucial for women. Women have historically been overrepresented in public-sector employment. Public sector jobs generally pay more than jobs in the private sector raising the average pay for women in our contemporary economy, but recent decisions by many state and local governments to respond to diminished revenues and budget shortfalls by cutting public-sector jobs have had substantial economic effects on women. Although state and local public-sector workers have significantly higher levels of education than their private-sector peers, they are consistently underpaid relative to similar private-sector workers in similar jobs, and the disproportionate share of women and minorities working in state and local government has also translated into higher rates of job loss for both groups in these sectors. Affirmative action has played a significant role in public sector jobs, but this has mainly benefited white women, many of which are not coming from the lower-class labor market. According to the United States Labor Department, the primary beneficiaries of affirmative action are white women. The Department of Labor estimated that 6 million women workers are in higher occupational classifications today than they would have been without affirmative action policies. Conclusion The empowerment of women is considered to be one of the greatest changes in the past 50 years. This has been manifested in equal rights acts, changes in social welfare legislation, and changes in employment legislation such as the Lilly Ledbetter Act. The changes have all in one way or another corresponded with the rises in the labor market that have both supported and encouraged the entrance of women and minorities into the American workforce. Improvements in pay for women have been related to a greater presence of women in the labor force, rising education attainment, and the movement into professional and managerial jobs, but pay disparity still persists. Historically, legislation favoring the elimination of discrimination in the workforce has been used also to support economic growth. This would suggest that the driving factor behind this legislation is not discrimination or gender parity, but capitalism/the economy. Executive Order #11246 and The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 are examples of this. The impact of these Acts on low-wage female workers is evident. More low-wage single-mother households are living in poverty at this time than ever before. In fact, there has been no legislation to date to protect part-time and contingent workers at all and their numbers are growing. These workers are not eligible for time-and-a-half overtime, minimum wage protections, and they have very little job security. Most low-wage single-mothers are also not covered by the Family Medical Leave Act. The impacts of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and its subsequent amendments, as well as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Acts of 2009 and 2012, are largely felt to be in the public sector, which is subjected to monitoring and oversight by the EEOC, and in the private sector in the form of blue collar jobs which are dominated by unions. Unions provide better benefit protection, safety protection, and job security. Lilly Ledbetter herself benefit greatly from protection in her job due to her union. Studies have shown that women who have had the benefit of being supported by union membership experience significantly less pay disparity. Low-wage workers often find it hard to unionize, especially in the private sector as this is often discouraged by employers. Workers are often bullied and intimidated to discourage talk of union membership. Strong unions in these sheltered areas would greatly benefit low-wage workers. Better enforcement of existing laws and regulations is also needed as well as stronger laws such as the Paycheck Fairness Act to address this issue. Lawsuits will not have a significant impact on pay disparity as individual wage discrimination cases are very expensive to pursue and difficult to argue. Private cases also do not have an important impact on the labor market. Class-action lawsuits are rare and are usually based on many employees and one employer or a few employers, and are generally not feasible in wage disparity cases. As previously mention, they are forbidden under the EPA. Finally, the fact that this problem is not concentrated in one area or agency makes it difficult to assess. Change is needed from outside these organizations. Federal standards should be adopted to specifically address pay inequality at all levels of government and even in the private sector. Internet Sources American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.com. The ACLU takes an active role in defending the freedoms granted to American citizens by our Constitution and laws of the United States in this country. The ACLU brings many discrimination cases on behalf of workers each year, testifies in front of Congress on behalf of womens issues, and works hard to lobby for womens rights in the workplace. National Committee on Pay Equity, http://www.pay-equity.org/. The National Committee on Pay Equity is a coalition of organizations working to eliminate sex-based and race-based pay discrimination to achieve pay equity. The American Association of University Women, http://www.aauw.org The American Association of University Women advances equality for women and girls through legislation, research, advocacy, and philanthropy. Its mission is a community to break through economic and education barriers so that women have a fair chance.

Art Museum Visit Reflection Paper

Art Museum Visit Reflection Paper Visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New York City Last week I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art at New York City. This museum, also known as The Met is a huge building with nineteen departments and around two billion art pieces stored and displayed in its art galleries. The main art gallery of the museum, i.e. The Met is one of the largest galleries of the world There are several categories of art works displayed in different portions of the museum. The main categories and collections of the art works displayed at the museum are American art, Ancient Near Eastern art, American decorative arts, Asian art, Egyptian art, Greek and Roman art, African art, South American art, art related to arms and armory, European art, Islamic art and religious collections. The art works include various forms, though paintings and sculpture are the main forms. Collections comprising weapons and armory, musical instruments, costumes and building interiors are some other important art forms at display in the museum. Visit to museums has always been a pleasant experience for me. Museums open doors to a world of fantasy. By entering the doors of a good museum, it is possible to close off the doors of mind to the harsh realities of the real world for a while. Visit to a museum is akin to visiting a fairy land. It is a wonderful and refreshing experience to see the relics of past from such close proximity. I have particularly been interested in paintings. A painting is nothing less than an incarnation of the imagination of the painter. The manner in which an artist brings the lifeless canvas to life by using strokes of his or her brush is amazing. It is a life created by the artist using nothing more than few mundane objects like a brush, colors, oil or water and a canvas. Religious art works have always intrigued me a lot due to my interest in comparative study of religions and the collection at the Met was a treat for my eyes. I had a chance to observe many beautiful and mesmerizing artworks at the museum but at the moment I will discuss the following three artworks, since the memories of these artworks are still fresh in my mind due to the strong impact made by them: Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Stoclet Madonna Temple of Dendur Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints were done by Italian painter named Raphael. Raphael belonged to the High Renaissance era of art. This form of art was patronized by Pope Julius II and Italy was the focal point of this era and Michelangelo, Leonardo de Vinci and Raphael were the prominent artists This is a conservative piece of art and it was painted by Raphael when he was about twenty one years old. This painting as the name depicts, shows Saint John, Saint Peter and Saint Paul with Madonna and the child. Raphael had painted this work for the convent of SantAntonio which was held at Perugia. On the desires of the nuns, Raphael painted this work in a very conservative manner and the painted shows Saint John and the Christ fully clothes in this work. Considering that it was an early work, this work has a strong influence of Raphaels teacher Perugino. A significant feature of this piece of art is the fact that there is only one panel of any altarpiece created by Raphael in the Un ited States and apart from this work there is no other similar artwork by Raphael in any American museum.. This art piece was completed in year 1504 and oil and gold have been used as medium on a wooden base. The second piece of art is also about Madonna and child Christ. It is a painting as well. This piece shares another commonality with Raphaels piece in terms that it has also been painted by an Italian artist. This piece was painted by Duccio di Buoninsegna in the medieval era. The medium used by Duccio for this painting is tempera and gold on a base of wood. This painting was bought by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a cost of around forty five million US dollars and it is reportedly the costliest purchase of this museum. Surviving works of Duccio are very rare and this is the reason for the high value of this painting. This painting is known as Stoclet Madonna due to the fact that the name of the family which privately owned this paiting before its acquisition by the museum was Stoclet. The year of completion of this painting is around 1300 A.D and portrays the child Christ and the Virgin Mary only. Significant feature noted in this painting was the simplistic portrayal of the ch ild and the mother and use of rounded forms. The third artwork which I want to write about in this narrative is not a painting but a temple. This temple was gifted by the government of the Republic of Egypt to United States in 1978. The original location of this temple was around Aswan dam on the river Nile. This temple was endangered by submersion due to construction of the dam and hence it was dismantled from its original location to save. In the 15th century BC, Egypt was ruled by a Roman governor named Petronius. This temple was built by Petronius in dedication to ancient Egyptian goddess Isis and her brother Osiris. Emperor Augustus of Rome commissioned this temple. The structure of the temple is made of sandstone and the temple has various engravings and carvings depicting the religious symbols of the Roman-Egyptian era of the 15th century BC. Base of the temple shows carvings of lotus plants and papyrus. These symbols are associated with river Nile and river Nile in turn was religiously a symbol of life for the ancient E gypt in a similar manner as river Ganga is a religious connotations for Hindus in India. The most prominent theme that is repeated in the temple is the carvings of the forms of goddess Isis, her brother Osiris and their son Horus. Another striking feature is graffiti scribbled in English that were left by the visitors when the temple was in its original location.

The Joy Of Laughter :: Biology Essays Research Papers

The Joy Of Laughter Laughter is defined by dictionary.com as "the act of expressing certain emotions, especially mirth or delight, by a series of spontaneous, usually unarticulated sounds often accompanied by corresponding facial and bodily movements."(1) A thesaurus offers immense amounts of synonyms for the word "laugh", including giggle, cackle, chortle, snort, chuckle, crow, howl, snicker, snigger, convulse, titter, and the list goes on.(2) There are many words to describe laughter because it is such an integral part of our lives. The question of why we laugh may first be answered by looking at laughter in the purely physiological sense, which has been studied as gelotology. Then we can look at the effects of laughter, not just physically, but mentally and socially as well. After going over the oft-overlooked background of laughter, we can delve into the motivations behind our laughter. The actual flow of physical effects in the brain after hearing a joke are as follows. First, the left side of the cortex analyzes the words and structure of the joke. Then the brain's large frontal lobe becomes very active. This part of the brain has a lot to do with social emotional responses. After this, the right hemisphere of the cortex helps with comprehension of the joke. Then stimulation of the motor sections occurred, producing the physical responses of laughter.(3) The production of laughter is also highly involved with certain parts of the brain. For example, the central cortex has been found to have a negative electrical wave as a person laughs. The hypothalamus, part of the central cortex, has been found to be a main contributor to the production of loud, uncontrollable laughter. The combination of the set of gestures and production of sound is what makes up laughter. The actual muscles that create a smile are fifteen facial muscles which contract and stimulate the zygomatic major muscle, which basically lifts your upper lip. When the epiglottis half-close the larynx, the respiratory system is upset which causes air intake to occur irregularly, making you gasp. (3) In extreme circumstances, the tear ducts are activated, so that while the mouth is opening and closing and the struggle for oxygen intake continues, the face becomes moist and often red. Laughs can range in sound from virtually silent to noisy guffaws. The overall physical effects of laughter are that laughter stimulates the immune system. The experience of laughter lowers serum cortisol levels.

Ever Heard of Chance Music? :: essays research papers

aleatory music (ā'lēətà ´r'ē) [Lat. alea=dice game], music in which elements traditionally determined by the composer are determined either by a process of random selection chosen by the composer or by the exercise of choice by the performer(s). At the compositional stage, pitches, durations, dynamics, and so forth are made functions of playing card drawings, dice throwings, or mathematical laws of chance, the latter with the possible aid of a computer. Those elements usually left to the performers' discretion include the order of execution of sections of a work, the possible exclusion of such sections, and subjective interpretation of temporal and spatial pitch relations. Also called â€Å"chance music,† aleatory music has been produced in abundance since 1945 by several composers, the most notable being John Cage, Pierre Boulez, and Iannis Xenakis. Aleatoric (or aleatory) music or composition, is music where some element of the composition is left to chance. The term became known to European composers through the lectures which acoustician Werner Meyer-Eppler held at Darmstadt Summer School in the beginning of the fifties. According to his definition, "aleatoric processes are such processes which have been fixed in their outline but the details of which are left to chance". The word alea means "dice" in Latin, and the term has become known as referring to a chance element being applied to a limited number of possibilities, a method employed by European composers who felt more bound than the Americans by tradition and who stressed the importance of compositional control, as opposed to indeterminacy and chance where possibilities tend not to be finite and which is an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon. The term was used by the French composer Pierre Boulez to describe works where the performer was given certain liberties with regard to the order and repetition of parts of a musical work. The term was intended by Boulez to distinguish his work from works composed through the application of chance operations by John Cage and his aesthetic of indeterminacy - see indeterminate music. Other examples of aleatoric music are Klavierstà ¼ck XI by Stockhausen which features a number of elements to be performed in changing sequences and characteristic sequences to be repeated fast, producing a special kind of oscillating sound, in orchestral works of Lutoslawski and Penderecki. An early genre of composition that could be considered a precedent for aleatoric compositions were the Musikalische Wà ¼rfelspiele or Musical Dice Games, popular in the late 18th and early 19th century.

Needs of Customer Essay

Greeting Service When customers walk into a restaurant, whether it is McDonald’s or Chez Pierre, they expect to be acknowledged. This is a small service, but it is imperative to the success of the restaurant, as customers who are not greeted may simply walk out and eat somewhere else. The type of host a restaurant has will depend on the type of restaurant it is as well as how busy it is. Some restaurants pay hosts to greet customers, call names off waiting lists and walk customers to their tables. In other restaurants, management and wait staff take over this duty. Regardless of what you can afford for your restaurant, always make sure someone has the responsibility of greeting the guests and that person knows it is her responsibility. Wait Staff When customers go to a restaurant, they expect a good wait staff, unless they are dining at a fast-food chain. Even then, customers expect the counter workers to get their orders right in an appropriate amount of time and solve problems quickly and courteously. In traditional, sit-down restaurants, customers expect the wait staff to be attentive, but not too attentive. Wait staff should not hover or interrupt, but they also should come back frequently enough to attend to their customers’ needs. In addition, they should bring food in a timely manner and handle problems, such as food that has been sent back pleasantly. Customers also expect wait staff to be friendly and personable. Environment Customers usually go to restaurants to meet with others socially in a friendly environment. Although environment is not usually considered a service, service plays a large role in creating a good environment. In addition to making sure the restaurant is clean, attractive and the decor is consistent with the food and restaurant’s image, restaurant owners need to tell their staff it’s OK to let guests linger. Wait staff should not hint that it is time for the guests to go. For example, they should not rush the food to the table unless the customer requests it. They also should not start to clean nearby tables in an obvious manner or wait for customers to get out their money to pay the check. To the contrary, wait staff should say things like, â€Å"Feel free to chat as long as you like — let me know if you’ll need some dessert or a drink refill.† Food and Drink Probably the most important service that a customer expects to receive when dining out is a good selection of delicious and well-presented food. According to London wine writer Jamie Goode, it is more important that food be simple and good tasting, made with quality ingredients, than to be fancy or pretentious. Goode also notes that customers expect a large wine selection that is not overpriced. Furthermore, customers expect food to be consistent with the image of the restaurant. Customers who are dining at a family restaurant, for example, expect sandwiches, traditional dinners and moderate prices. At a more elegant restaurant, prices can be higher but food needs to be more of the gourmet variety.

Food Processing Essay

Introduc? on Food science is a ? eld embodying the applica? on of modern science and engineering to the produc? on, processing, diversi? ca? on, preserva? on and u? liza? on of food. Food is very essen? al to man’s survival and great a? en? on should be paid to food produc? on, distribu? on, wholesomeness and preserva? on. To ensure that food is clean and safe for human consump? on and having keeping quality, food scien? sts are responsible in seeing that the crop harvested, the ? sh caught, that animal slaughtered, the egg laid and the milk produced reach the consumer in the most acceptable, nutri? ous safe and wholesome condi?on by carefully studying the chemical complexi? es of food, their vulnerability to spoilage, their disease vectors and varying sources of produc? on. Food scien? sts try to eliminate seasonal gluts and shortage by providing a technologically sound base for the levelling out of food surpluses and shortages with and among countries and regions. They also see to the remedy for the malady of post-harvest losses in food grains in the highly industrialised socie? es has been the development, along with increase in yield poten? al of adequate storage and low- cost processing technologies to preserve and store the harvest. The development and produc? on and new nutri? ous foods to improve the diet of people su%ering from malnutri? on, the provision of adequate group – speci? c diets for the young and adults performing under condi? ons of stress, pregnant and lacta? ng mothers, kwashiorkor and diabe? cs pa? ents. Scope of food science The scope of food science is in threefold: 1. To make it possible to assemble the great quan es of food required by a crowded popula? on. 2. To make the food agreeable to the consumers that is to say, to provide them so far as is possible with the kind and quality of food they demand at all ? mes of the year doing this partly by carefully controlling the quan? ty and uni-forrming of the commodi? es produced and partly by constant e%ort to produce something new ( a new breakfast food, a new kind of co%ee essence or indeed a new kind food altogether and by these mean keeping up with popula? on demands). 3. To maintain and improve the nutri? onal value of the total food supply and hence the health of the community ea? ng it. Basic principles of food science Food processing and preserva? on either local or interna? onal mist follow basic principles 1. Working surface and environment must be kept clean and spillage must be wiped o%. 2. Food processor must observe personal hygiene, which involves cleanliness and care of the body to prevent the spread of infec? ons. 3. Cleaning utensils should be used during the processing food in order to prevent food contamina? on. 4. The process ad preserva? on area must be clean always so that the task of the food prepara? on and preserva? on may be performed without hazards to the body. Brief history and growth of food science The history of food science can be traced back to ancient ? mes from ? me immemorial individuals and community have organised themselves in various way to provide for the preven? on of food microorganisms which leads to deteriora? on of food, processing and preserva? on which leads to treatment and promo? on of health eaten wholesome food. In 1840 industrial revolu? on was started in England, which brought about of food science during this period. There was extensive industrial use of newly developed machine e. g. the steam engine and mass produc? on techniques. Also during the ? rst and second world wars, there was increase in the bulk manufacture of food as a result of commercial feeding in most part of the world. Therefore the prepara? on centre became over u? lized including sta%, which eventually results to the gross contamina? on of food. This helps in crea? ng the awareness from ? me to ? me to safeguard the produc? on of food, and totally free from micro organism from food which are meant for consump? on. Rela? onship between food science nutri? on and diete? cs Food science deals with the basic chemical, bio chemical, physical and biophysical proper? es of foods and their cons? tuents, thus very closely related to nutri? on which is the study of the nutrients in rela? on to their func? ons in the body. It also involves the study of the chemical and physical proper? es of the nutrients, their food source, de? ciency symptoms and their appropriate propor? on in a balanced diet. These two (food science and nutri? on) are related to diete? cs in the sense that the diete? c is the prac? cal applica? on of the principle of nutri? on, which includes the planning of meals for the healthy and the sick. Assignment What is rela? onship between food science catering and hotel management. Food processing. There are methods involved in prepara? on of food. These methods include material handling (washing, cleaning e. t. c ) during, mixing, crushing, hea?ng, cooling or freezing and packing). Reasons for food processing 1. To prevent food spoilage. 2. To prolong shelf life. 3. To avoid was? ng of food especially when they are in season. 4. To allow for the use of food during the o% – season. 5. To introduce variety into the family menu. 6. To eliminate the purchase of the food when they are most expensive. 7. To be able to take care of emergency situa? ons. Food preserva? on Food preserva? on is the act of keeping food for a longer period of ? me before it is consumed. It may involve the addi? on of other substances or changing the form of the foodstu% to another food through processing or keeping the food especially designed containers or equipment. Principle underlying food preserva? on The act of food preserva? on is based on the following: a. Destruc? on of microorganisms. b. Preven? on of microorganism entering into the food. c. Arrest of the ac? on of food enzymes. 10 methods of food prepara? on Drying: this is the process which the water content of the food is reduced. Both food enzymes and food microorganisms require water for ac? on and growth. The removal of water from the food creates an unfavourable environment for their ac? on and growth, hence they are unable to cause food spoilage. Drying can be achieved by sun drying or by ar cial dryer or roas? ng on a ? re. Examples of food preserved by drying is legumes, cereals, meat, ? sh etc. the preserva? on of food by drying can either be by dehydra? on or concentra? on. A i. Dehydra? on: is the process by which all the water content of the food is removed and the resul? ng product is very dry and break with a snappy sound, food items usually dehydrated are ? sh, meat, yam cassava, cereals and legumes. ii. Concentra? on: is the removal of a considerate amount of water from food stu%s by the applica? on of heat, cooking e. g. tomato puree, pepper puree etc. There are di%erent types of drying which are solar drying, oven drying, freezing, roller drying, vacuum drying, tunnel drying and spray drying B. Applica? on of low temperature: this is the process of keeping food at a low temperature e. g. chilling and freezing. In chilling, the food is kept in the refrigerator while in freezing, the food is kept in the freezer. Freezing is keeping the food at a temperature below 0oC or 32oF, which solidi? es the food. Freezing keeps food longer and completely arrest the growth o% microorganisms and the ac? on of food enzymes. Chilling on the other hand does not completely arrest enzymes ac?on and bacteria growth. Food items preserved with this method are ? sh, meat, milk, fruits and vegetables C. Applica? on of high temperature: this involves the destruc? on of food enzymes and microorganisms by hea? ng. Both enzymes and microorganisms are proteinous in nature and when they are heated; their protein becomes denatured and hence rendered inac? ve. This method can either be by pasteuriza? on, steriliza? on or blanching. I. Pasteuriza? on: is the applica? on of heat to foodstu% under 10oC. the objec? ves of the heat is not to destroy all the microorganisms present in the food but only the pathogenic ones. Pasteuriza?on has a minimum e%ect on the nutri? onal proper? es of the food. It is usually carried out in three forms. Low temperature long ? me (LTLT), High Temperature Short Time (HTST), Ultra High Temperature (UHT) in this process the hea? ng temperature is very high but the dura? on is very short e. g. milk can be heated at 125. 25oC for 14 seconds. II. Steriliza? on: is the heat treatment of food at a very high temperature. The objec? ve of steriliza? on is the destruc? on of all the microorganisms present in food. Thus it is a more severe heat treatment of food than pasteuriza? on e. g. tomato puree, canned meat and ? sh etc. III. Blanching.

Do Educated Women Makes Better Mother Essay

â€Å"The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. ’’ Mothers play a vital role in the upbringing of children and they nurture the babies with all the important values to make them great leaders, tycoons, corporate kings and masters of their professions. Therefore, educated women indeed make great mothers as they are more aware of the needs, norms and necessities of this challenging world that their children are going to face. An educated mother knows how to use psychology to her advantage and pave the way for the child to attain great heights. Some educated mothers force their children to excel which puts these children into a planetarium of success. â€Å"You have to be cruel in order to be kind. † Therefore, they may exercise force on their children but it is only a good education will pave the way to a brighter future. Prominent lawyers, doctors and lecturers, writers and other professional pay great tribute to their mothers who took great care for them to emerge the victorious lot and to become the best in the society. â€Å"Behind every successful man is a woman. The educated mother is aware of the perils of illiteracy and will ignorance and being ill-equipped for the future. So, educated mothers will leave no stone unturned in ensuring that their offspring are healthy, strong, fit and most importantly multi-talented. This positive approach allows the children to be the best and to reach for the sky. Education helps these mothers to steer their children away from bad habits, immoral behavior and wrong ways. An educational mother can teach her children when they lag behind in their schoolwork. Some teachers are mothers too and it is not uncommon to see their children doing profoundly well in examinations. Apart from that, educated mothers are a source of inspiration for their children. When the children are aware of the high capability and integrity of their mothers, they will follow suit in their mother’s footsteps. Educated mothers motivate their children in all aspects. These mothers are also aware of setbacks, failure, frustrations and peer pressure. Being educated allows these mothers to use professional approaches in handling children to help them overcome these obstacles in life. Educated mothers indeed know the strength and the weakness of their children. They will teach their children to capitalize on their strengths but not in weakness. This positive approach will go a long way in life. We can, therefore, come to conclusion that educated mothers create a future generation of capable, intelligent, highly skilled and profound individuals.

Do the Writings of Clausewitz have contemporary relevance? Essay

Carl Von Clausewitz has long been considered one of the most important writers in the field of military strategy and tactics. Born in 1780 he first saw action in 1793 when he was a Lance Corporal in the Prussian Army.1 He was to serve throughout the Napoleonic wars working for both the Prussians and the Russians. However: â€Å"throughout his military career he never held a command and was probably unsuited for such. He was essentially a student of war†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 2 However, despite this lack of command, Clausewitz had certainly gained enough experience during the Napoleonic wars to have a fairly comprehensive idea about what war was: â€Å"Before he was forty, he had taken part in some of the greatest battles in the history of warfare and had seen the armies of Napoleon storm their way across Europe to Moscow†¦ Alls this had been the result of military operations, but it was clear to Clausewitz as a young man that the explanation for the success or failure of these operations was not to be sought on the battlefield alone†.3 As a result of this, during his career he came up with many ideas of views on the nature and conduct of war, writing literally thousands of pages of manuscripts on a wide range of areas ranging from politics to tactics.4 After the wars end, he set about trying to write a comprehensive eight part ‘guide’ on his ideas. This collection of essays and manuscripts became known as â€Å"Vom Kriege† (On War). Clausewitz died in 1831 having only completed six of the eight parts.5 Indeed it is important to realise that despite the importance of his work, it is still unfinished and does not cover a number of areas: â€Å"On War contains a comprehensive analysis of the strategy operations and tactics of Napoleonic War, and of their 18th Century background. Left out of the account are most technological, administrative and organisational factors†¦ On War deals almost entirely with the ultimate issues as Clausewitz saw them: Political and strategic planning and the conduct of hostilities†6 Since his death, Clausewitz’s work has come to be regarded as probably one of the most important works on military thinking ever written. Bernard Brodie once wrote that: â€Å"His is not simply the greatest, but the only great book about war†7 Although Clausewitz is still seen as one of the greatest thinkers on war, the question remains – is he still relevant today? Given the immense changes in not only the way we conduct war, but also our attitudes towards war, does his thinking still have any relevance in an era of information warfare and peacekeeping missions? Also given the dramatic changes in the conduct of warfare are his works still important: â€Å"As one US army general has (said) â€Å"the digitisation of the battlefield means the end of Clausewitz†8 Given the large size of Clausewitz’s work it is impossible look at the whole of On War for its continuing relevance. Instead for this essay I have chosen to examine a number of ideas in detail including the idea of war as part of policy, the notion of decisive battle and also his idea of a ‘centre of gravity’. Due to lack of space I have decided not focus on other areas such as the trinity between the politicians, the people and the armed forces, as well as looking at other areas. At it’s simplest Clausewitz’s first book attempts to understand what war actually is and what it does. At it’s simplest he defined it as: â€Å"War is an act of force to compel an enemy to do our will†9 This seems to be true, even today it is hard to imagine a nation state going to war without a rational reason to do so – be it to regain territory or to right a wrong. More recently the growth of Peace enforcement operations such as the war in Kosovo is a classic example of forcing a nation state to bow to the will of others. As such it seems that Clausewitz’s most simple definition still rings true today Clausewitz’s next statement is far more controversial though: â€Å"Kind hearted people might of course think there was some ingenious way to disarm or defeat an enemy without too much bloodshed, and might imagine this is the true goal of the art of war. Pleasant as it sounds, it is a fallacy that must be exposed: War is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst†10 The above paragraph seems to be aimed at those who have studied the writings of Sun Tzu – the Chinese strategist to which Clausewitz is frequently compared. Sun Tzu felt that war was not about bloodshed – instead he felt that: â€Å"all warfare is based on deception†¦Ã¢â‚¬ 11 Michael Handle wrote that â€Å"Sun Tzu devotes considerable attention to the actions that precede war†¦ for him diplomacy is the best means of achieving his ideal of victory without fighting or bloodshed†.12 It seems that Sun Tzu’s theory of warfare is based more on the notion of avoidance of war rather than the fighting of war itself, whereas Clausewitz feels that war occurs once all other policy choices have been exhausted: â€Å"War is merely the continuation of policy by other means†13 This seems to suggest that in Clausewitz’s mind, War should be seen as merely as a logical progression in policy once other policies such as diplomacy have failed – essentially war is pursued in order to further a States national interest. However some question whether this is still the case: â€Å"Future war will be fought not to pursue national interests, but to kill enemy leaders, to convert opponents to one’s religion, to obtain booty, or sometimes for simple entertainment. Thus the core of Clausewitz’s .philosophy of war – that states wage war using armies in pursuit of political objectives will disappear. Others have maintained that nuclear weaponry, trans-national constabulary warfare, counter-terrorism, counter-narcotrafficking†¦ have rendered obsolete Clausewitz’s definition of war as an act of policy†.14 I believe though that his views are still relevant, in that once a war has begun it should be fought aggressively until its logical conclusion, however unlike in Clausewitz’s time, today the conditions required for victory may be very different and as such it may be harder to achieve a logical conclusion.15 Clausewitz seems more focussed on the idea that the only means of resolving a war is bloodshed (the so called idea of decisive battle) â€Å"The destruction of the enemies forces in war must always be the dominant consideration†16 While this may have been the ideal way of winning wars in the 19th Century it is arguable that in today’s world this view is obsolete for a variety of reasons. Firstly in the 19th Century the only real way of waging war was through lining up two opposing armies and fighting it out until one side one. This procedure was repeated until one country won the war. In today’s world the methods available to fight wars have changed – in place of armies, generals can use precision strikes with guided missiles fired from thousands of miles away to eliminate enemy units with minimal casualties. Special forces units can be used to eliminate key figures and deprive armies of leadership at critical times17. However the main reason why Clausewitz’s views of the objectives in warfare could be seen as obsolete is due to the changing nature of warfare itself. When On War was written, war was a two dimensional affair – fought primarily on land and sea.18 In 2001 though war can be fought on land, sea, air, space and also in cyberspace. In addition there are a wide variety of unconventional types of wars to be fought. As James Adams notes: â€Å"Today we are at war on several fronts. The fights against terrorism, organized crime, economic espionage and weapons proliferation are permanent conflicts that are likely to confront us through the next century†¦ In this new world the soldier will be the young geek in uniform who can insert a virus into Tehran’s electricity supply to plunge the city into darkness†19 There have been suggestions that since 1990 the world (or at least the West) has undergone a so called Revolution in Military Affairs – i.e. a total change in the way that war is fought. Given this, is the idea of decisive battle still relevant? Some institutions clearly feel that it is not – especially as the types of wars that will be fought are so different: â€Å"ironically the dominance that the US will gain from the RMA†¦ will be such that the nature of future conflict will force competitors to deliver asymmetric strategies, including weapons of mass destruction, to counter the US superiority.20 In these new types of conflicts, the search for Clausewitzian decisive victory will be far more elusive and far less relevant than in conventional conflicts†.21 Despite the above quote, I believe that the idea is still relevant – but that the methods that can be used to bring about a decisive victory have changed. As has been seen an enemy can be defeated without using conventional ground troops at all – instead a wide range of different assets could be used. Indeed one view of future warfare suggests that victory (but not necessarily destruction) over an enemy force could be achieved without the use of weapons: â€Å"First a computer virus is inserted into the aggressors telephone switching stations, bringing about a total failure of the phone system. Next computer logic bombs set to activate at certain times, destroy the electronic routers that control rail lines and military convoys†¦ meanwhile enemy field officers obey the orders they receive over the radios unaware that the commands are phoney†¦ US planes, specially outfitted for psychological operations, then jam the enemy’s TV broadcasts with propaganda messages that turn the populace against the ruler. When the despot boots up his PC, he finds that millions of dollars he has hoarded in his Swiss bank account have been zeroed out. Zapped. All without firing a shot†22 This example is quite interesting as it simultaneously supports the relevance of Clausewitz, while at the same time proving how his writings have become dated in places It supports the notion of decisive victory in that it shows how a country can conclusively defeat an enemy – thus supporting his idea of decisive victory. But at the same time it shows clearly that not all of Clausewitz is still relevant. For example Clausewitz seemed cynical about the idea of achieving victory without much (or any) violence: â€Å"How are we to counter the highly sophisticated theory that supposes it is possible for a particularly ingenious method of inflicting minor direct damage on the enemy’s forces to lead to major indirect destruction; or that claims to produce by means of limited but skilfully applied blows, such paralysis of the enemy’s forces and control of his willpower as to constitute a significant shortcut to victory†23 This argument clearly shows that not all of Clausewitz has aged well – obviously during the Napoleonic era the idea of information warfare did not exist – so it would have been next to impossible to win a war using non violent means – however as has been shown in this age it is at least technically possible to achieve such a victory. It suggests that some parts of Clausewitz’s work should perhaps be seen as less relevant to certain situations than others. One area which appears to still be relevant is Clausewitz’s comments on the application of force. In the West today public opinion seems to favour engagements with minimal casualties – the public seem to want intervention when scenes of suffering are on TV (the so called CNN effect), but at the same time seem unwilling to tolerate the idea of people dying to stop the suffering24. This is a situation where Clausewitz noted that: â€Å"If one side uses force without compunction, undeterred by the bloodshed it involves while the other side refrain, the first will gain the upper hand†.25 This idea seems to have been taken onboard by a number of third world leaders who have engaged in some form of conflict with Western Countries (primarily the USA). A good example of this is the conflicts in Somalia – when the USA sent in troops to help restore order to the country they were hampered by restrictive rules of engagement and limited amounts of equipment – for example tanks as these were felt inappropriate. 26On the other hand, the opposition led by self styled Warlord General Aideed had no such restrictions – and it showed – he was repeatedly able to gain the upper hand and when US/UN troops attempted to capture him he was able to ambush and kill literally dozens of them.27 The images of American bodies being abused were enough to force an immediate and humiliating withdrawal from Somalia – a classic Clausewitzian example of one side using force when the other was unwilling and gaining the advantage – in this case over the strongest power in the world. This lesson illustrates an area where Clausewitz’s views on war are still highly relevant – indeed it appears that other countries learnt from this experience – in Haiti for example when the US sent a landing ship into the country to enforce a UN brokered peace agreement in 1994 they were met by a bunch of thugs who: â€Å"shook their fists, waved placards and shouted threats at the US ship. They were hooligans who would have dispersed at the first sign of well armed troops. But among their slogans was one in particular â€Å"we are going to turn this place into another Somalia†. News of the ‘Welcome Party’ and its curses were flashed to Washington where it provoked a panic†¦. The Clinton administration immediately ordered the (USS) Harlan County to withdraw from Haitian waters and to sail back to the USA†28 Again this is another good example of how even the threat to employ violence against a country which is not prepared to do so can have a major influence out of all proportion to the size of the protestors. It also demonstrates the continuing influence of Clausewitzian ideas. The example used above of the American experience in Somalia and Haiti is also relevant to Clausewitz’s ideas on ‘The centre of gravity’ – an idea which Clausewitz defined as follows: â€Å"What the theorist has to say here is this: one must keep the dominant characteristics of both belligerents in mind. Out of those characteristics a certain centre of gravity develops, the hub of all power and movement on which everything depends. That is the point at which all our energies should be directed†29 Furthermore Clausewitz identified three key components of this idea: â€Å"The Opponents army, his capital and, if he had a stronger protector the army of his ally. Since all of these were vulnerable to attack, said Clausewitz, ‘the defeat and destruction of his fighting force remains the best way to begin, and will in any case be a very significant feature of the campaign'†30 A good example of this would be the case of the Royal Navy during the Falklands War – Argentina identified the carriers as the centre of gravity for the UK operation and spent a good deal of time trying to sink them. As the commander of the Task Force noted: â€Å"If they hit Hermes or Invincible the Royal Navy will somehow be publicly disgraced†¦Worse yet, the British military will become the laughing stock of the world, limping home in defeat. John Bull humbled at last. At sea.†31 Although Clausewitz did not write on maritime warfare this is a clear example of how important the destruction of a naval fighting component can be to the success of a war. Other good examples of a country identifying and targeting the centre of gravity include Iraq’s use of Scud missiles against Israel during the Gulf war – had Israel responded militarily then it is likely that the coalition against Iraq would have collapsed as it seems doubtful that Arab powers such as Egypt and Syria would willingly fight on the same side as Israel. This supports Clausewitz’s ideas of attacking the armies (or at least cities) of allies to win the war. 32 For the coalition however attacking and destroying the Iraqi army (primarily the Republican Guard) was of vital importance – not only as knocking it out would win the war – but also destroying the Republican Guard would remove Saddam Hussein’s power base and hopefully make it impossible for him to remain as leader of Iraq. The Gulf War is a good example then of Clausewitz’s ideas continuing to be highly relevant to the planning of a military campaign. However some commentators (QUOTE!!) feel that the Gulf War was probably the last large conventional war to be fought by the West and that the nature of war in the future has changed. I believe then that the centre of gravity idea is still highly relevant – however I feel that it has become more refined since Clausewitz’s time. Although Clausewitz feels that there are only three key areas to which it applies, I feel that today the centre of gravity can be practically anything. For example in Somalia and Haiti – the use of force and the threat to use force proved the Americans centre – when faced with even the possibility of casualties, the Americans withdrew. This suggests that today the centre of gravity can be anything from a capital city to a single infantryman – who if killed could cause a change in policy. Another change is that Clausewitz assumed that the centre of gravity would be identical for both sides – whereas today that is not the case – a good example is that of the asymmetric warfare that is being waged between the USA and the terrorist Osama Bin Laden – he recognised the Pentagon and World Trade Centre as key examples of American power and prestige and saw them as their centre of gravity in any terrorist action. The Americans on the other hand see Bin Laden as the key centre of gravity – The most powerful country on earth is fighting a war, with a single man as their key target. This is a dramatic change from the days of mass warfare which Clausewitz was used to, and demonstrates not only the rapidly changing nature of warfare, but also illustrates the way that Clausewitz’s ideas can continue to be adapted to look at warfare in the present day. During this essay I have looked at a number of Clausewitz’s ideas in an attempt to see whether they have continuing relevance in a world where warfare is very different from the time when On War was written. By and large I feel that Clausewitz’s ideas are still relevant – or at least able to be adapted into the present day. Where he is not so relevant is more due to the development of weapons and styles of warfare that he could not have possibly been aware of, rather than through any fault of his own. I feel that the following quote sums up nicely the relevance of Clausewitz to this day: â€Å"Of course not all of Clausewitz’s military thought has remained relevant. His vision of war did not include its economic, air, sea and space dimensions for example. But his concept of war†¦will remain valid as long as states, drug lords, warrior clans and terrorist groups have mind to wage it†33 1 Information taken from On War, p5, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press. 2 The Conduct of War 1789-1961, Chapter 4, p59. Major General J.F.C.Fuller, 1972 Methuen 3 Clausewitz, Michael Howard, p11, 1983, Oxford University Press. 4 Information taken from On War, p5, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 5 Indeed there is evidence to suggest that by 1827 he considered only the first chapter of book one to be complete – the remainder needing revision. Source The Conduct of War 1789-1961, Chapter 4, p59. Major General J.F.C.Fuller, 1972 Methuen 6 Makers of Modern Strategy, p208, Oxford University Press, 2000 edition. 7 Clausewitz, Michael Howard, p01, 1983, Oxford University Press. 8 Quote taken from www.gov.au/lwsc/publications/CA%eEssays/RMA 9 On War, p75, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 10 On War, p75, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 11 Sun Tzu’s art of War, The modern Chinese interpretation, p95 General Tao Hanzhang, 1987, David and Charles 12 Masters of War, Sun Tzu, Clausewitz and Jomini, p32, Michael I.Handel 1992, Frank Cass 13 On War, p87, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 14 Quote taken from www.Clausewitz.com, however text is from an article originally published in Joint Forces Quarterly, Winter 1995-1996 which is reproduced on the website. 15 For example – what are the current victory objectives in the campaign in Afghanistan and how will we know when victory has been achieved? 16 On War, p230, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 17 For example the possible attempts at the time of writing by US/UK special forces to capture or eliminate Osama Bin Laden. 18 Even then Clausewitz did not attempt to write on maritime operations – concentrating solely on land warfare. 19 The Next World War,p14, James Adams, 1998 Hutchinson. 20 A good example of this prediction was seen with the terrorist attack on the 11th of September. 21 Quote taken from www.gov.au/lwsc/publications/CA%eEssays/RMA 22 Flashpoint World War Three, p153-154, Andrew Murray, 1997, Pluto Press 23 On War, p228, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 24 Given the current situation in the USA it will be interesting to see whether the so called ‘body bag’ syndrome has ended or whether once US troops are killed, public opinion will change to demand a more peaceful solution. 25 On War, p75-76, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 26 Information taken from Deliver us From Evil, (Chapter 4), William Shawcross,2000, Bloomsbury. 27 Total American losses in Somalia were 30 dead, 175 wounded, the UN lost 72 killed and 87 wounded (Source World Conflicts, Patrick Brogan, 1998, Bloomsbury) 28 Deliver us from evil, p103, William Shawcross, 2000 Bloomsbury. 29 On War, p596, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press 30 Clausewitz, Michael Howard, p39, 1983, Oxford University Press. (Professor Howard incorporates a quote from On War, p596, Carl Von Clausewitz, (edited by Michael Howard & Peter Paret), 1984, Princeton University Press) 31 One Hundred Days, p100, Admiral Sandy Woodward, 1992, Harper Collins 32 However – given the overwhelming amount of Western military power in the region and the political willpower to fight the war, it seems likely that Iraq would still have lost the war – whether Israel was a centre of gravity in the sense that it could remove the coalition from the war seems dubious. 33 Quote taken from www.Clausewitz.com, however text is from an article originally published in Joint Forces Quarterly, Winter 1995-1996 which is reproduced on the website.