Nba Lockout

EPPENGER, JALIL MS. HARRIS ENGLISH 10/3/11 #1. ( why the NBA Lockout hasn’t been a success? ) NBA LOCKOUT I feel the NBA Lockout has been one of the worst, incidents to ever happen, in the history of the NBA. It hasn’t made fans happy and the players in the league have been upset too. I’ve noticed that NBA players have tried to overcome this situation by having different leagues, not associated with the NBA to play in. This has shown there passion and love of the game.The NBA lockout has motivated some players and humbled a lot of them. I noticed that a lot of players have kept working hard and are staying on top of their game throughout this puzzling time. I feel the NBA lockout polarized the summer for NBA basketball. There was nothing to look forward to besides European basketball in the summer. The NFL was able to overcome its problems with contracts and business deals and end their lockout before the season started.I don’t understand why the NBA canâ €™t figure their problem out. The NBA doesn’t have nearly the fan base of the NFL. The severe shortage of the season will really hurt the NBA, much more than the NFL. The last NBA lockout was in 1998-99 season. The year Michael Jordan retired for the second time in his career. It was a horrible time also for the NBA much like this one. This also tarnished the sport of basketball. I wouldn’t be surprised if some NBA players left the NBA to play overseas.The game overseas is more orchestrated, hard-nosed, and skill orientated from what I’ve seen. The NBA is more about star-power and athleticism. I feel a lot of role players in the NBA would flourish more overseas, because they can be given the opportunity to showcase their skills, and gain some recognition for themselves. Overall, I feel the NBA and their players’ association will bargain together to make a productive agreement to resolve this problem just like the NFL did. it will just take longer and be more time consuming.

Quality Control and Nissan

Milennia Atlantic University Operations Management Juan Hernandez Adriana Rosales NISSAN Introduction Nissan was the sixth largest automaker in the world behind  General Motors,  Volkswagen Group,  Toyota,  Hyundai Motor Group, and  Ford  in 2011. It formerly marketed vehicles under the â€Å"Datsun† brand name. As of 2011, the company's global headquarters is located in  Nishi-ku, Yokohama. In 1999, Nissan entered a two way alliance with  Renault S. A. of France, which owns 43. 4% of Nissan while Nissan holds 15% of Renault shares, as of 2008.Along with its normal range of models, Nissan also produces a range of luxury models branded as  Infiniti. Jidosha-Seizo Kabushiki-Kaisha had been established in December 1933. The company's new name, adopted in June 1934, was an abbreviation for Nippon Sangyo, a â€Å"zaibatsu†Ã‚  (or holding company) belonging to Tobata's founder, Yoshisuke Aikawa. Nissan produced its first Datsun (a descendant of the Dat Car, a small, boxy passenger vehicle designed by Japanese automotive pioneer Masujiro Hashimoto that was first produced in 1914) at its Yokohama plant in April 1935. The company began exporting cars to Australia that same year.Beginning in 1938 and lasting throughout  World War II, Nissan converted entirely from producing small passenger cars to producing trucks and military vehicles. Allied occupation forces seized much of Nissan's production operations in 1945 and didn't return full control to Nissan until a decade later. In 1960, Nissan became the first Japanese automaker to win the Deming Prize for engineering excellence. New Datsun models like the Bluebird (1959), the Cedric (1960) and the Sunny (1966) helped spur Nissan sales in Japan and abroad, and the company experienced phenomenal growth over the course of the  1960s.Nissan has a broad variety of teams focused on building strategies for almost every aspect of Operations Management study, this research shows once more the ou tstanding performance of this company on every aspect of its management. Product and Services 1. Automotive Components Business. Supplies domestic Nissan plants and affiliated component makers with parts and materials from overseas and also exports components to Nissan's overseas facilities. From product development to final delivery, the business' diverse management capabilities enable it to provide invaluable support to the range of clients it proudly serves.The more the global sourcing of automotive components progresses, the more important the logistics efficiency becomes. Nissan’s branches and affiliated companies spread worldwide have warehouses which store inventory of auto parts in order to drastically shorten the lead-time of logistics, as if the foreign parts were purchased domestically, and they have solutions that will fit customer' various needs including emergency orders by utilizing their production control system and know-how as to how to supply the vehicle pr oduction lines with the minimum inventory. . Machinery Business. Nissan’s machinery business is focused on improving domestic, export, import and intermediary trade to meet customer needs and increasing global demand, while continuing to strengthen the relationship with customers and partners. This involves a wide range of categories, such as various kinds of machinery facility, tooling die, plant exportation, MRO (maintenance, repair & operations) parts, jig fixtures, pallets, cutting tools and various consumer goods for automotive distributors.The services offered by Nissan provide a high level of support, including planning support for all kinds of production, optimum purchase in the most suitable country, export & import, delivery & installation, full-turn key services up to the commencement of production and supply spare parts, etc. 3. Chemicals Business. This business handles a diverse range of products including organic and inorganic chemicals, petrochemicals, high per formance and new materials and alloys for the aerospace industry, tailored to customer requirements through sales consultations and customized proposals.In addition, Chemical Business endeavors to develop and supply materials that meet the individual specifications of customers. In addition to dealing with raw materials for resin components used in automobiles, such as general purpose resin, engineering plastic, coatings, adhesives and automotive chemicals, raw materials and seats, instrument panels, leather for door trims, and fabrics are also sold. The purchasing and selling of resin cast components, etc. s done globally. The company is also involved in resin colorization and the outsourcing of logistics alongside our existing business of buying and selling raw and prepared materials. We have gained high marks both from our distributors and suppliers that manufacture the materials for both manufacturing functions and stock logistics. Not only do we focus on expanding domestically, but also on expanding into the global market.Nissan is strongly committed towards environmental conservation by recycling resin components, such as automobile bumpers, and associating its business operation with vendors that also recycle resin. In recent years, Nissan has expanded towards third-country trading with the aim of building a framework that will offer the best materials and prices globally in order to streamline the buying and selling of materials through global SCM, along with the manufacturing of products. 4.Energy and Materials Business. Since the company was established in 1979, it has been involved with the buying and selling of various fuels and lubricants for vessels. In addition to the components that Nissan Trading currently supplies for vessels to various regions of the world, our company has expanded to supplying fuel and lubricants to the key industries that began with Nissan Motor, offering retail services such as gas cards, as well as importing and exportin g various materials for automobiles.The company has also taken steps towards environmental conservation during automobile production by handling biomass fuel. The energy and materials business supports distribution and manufacturing industries through the supply of fuel to factories in Japan and to cargo ships and tankers at major ports worldwide. Also manages a gasoline card system that allows the purchase fuel and have the cost deducted from their monthly salary. Materials such as coke and raw iron are sold to Nissan Motors, foundries and manufacturers of precious metals, etc.In order to collectively increase the corporate awareness of environmental conservation and promote the importance of recycling, they reuse scrap generated from the manufacturing of automobiles and reuse precious metals that are extracted from production waste resulting from the manufacture of stainless steel. 5. Steel Business. Established in 1981 with the aim of providing steel and steel products necessary for automotive production by Nissan Motor, steel business started by delivering steel sheets to Nissan Motor's Kyushu Plant and Nissan's? omponent suppliers. Currently, their main steel operation is to supply steel sheets to all of Nissan's? domestic plants. At Kyushu area, they operate advanced SCM to support our customers through our logistics company. Their overseas business started in 1988 by exporting steel from Japan to Nissan Motor Manufacturing (UK). Nowadays, these operations cover many countries where Nissan has plants and these plants are served through imports, exports and third-country trading.Through offering a wide variety of materials besides steel sheets, such as special steel alloy for engine components, steel bars, steel pipes, and aluminum sheet essential for light-weight cars, a vast amount of expertise in materials procurements has been accumulated. Nissan is also taking an important role to provide experimental steel materials for new development of cars. Niss an Trading's steel businesses will continue to grow and progress to meet rising demand from Nissan Motor's global expansion. 6. Vehicles Group.The vehicle group is expanding the sales of Nissan vehicles in South and Central America, Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world. The group also imports vehicles and accessories and oversees the shipment of non-Japanese-made vehicles to other countries. The Vehicles Group began its operation in 1978 with the purpose of supporting Nissan Motor’s export businesses. Based on unique experience and expertise, Nissan is now providing solution to the vehicles demand of the United Nations and taking care at the same time of marketing and sales to certain individual countries in Asia, Oceania and Africa.For all these customers, their service is not limited to just selling cars, but providing marketing, logistic and financial solution as well. This function is unique but established as an integral part of Nissan Motor’s overseas operatio n. 7. Non-Ferrous Metals Business. This business handles both Light and Precious Metals. With Light Metal operation, it strives to offer a steady supply of materials to customers, such as aluminum bullion for raw materials, aluminum alloy bullion, aluminum base metal, including aluminum scrap to Nissan Motor, aluminum component manufacturers and aluminum alloy manufacturers within its global network.In an increasingly demanding market, Nissan offers more fuel-efficient automobiles with the help of miniaturization and improved reusability of aluminum. The Precious Metals operation also imports precious metals at an optimal price domestically and internationally, and then offers a steady supply of these materials, such as platinum, palladium and rhodium, in response to the growing demand for automobile catalysts brought upon legislation that continues to tighten vehicle emissions. Aluminum alloys are increasingly gaining importance in vehicle manufacturing.This business supplies these products in the form of panels, rods and ingots, and also handles a variety of precious metal. The automotive industry is making greater efforts to use and recycle these metals and other raw materials, reflecting the community’s concern for the world’s limited resources. As the trend of ? â€Å"Producing Eco-Friendly Vehicles† Vehicles? h continues to gain momentum worldwide, the role of our Precious Metals operation will continue to grow in importance. Design and product development processNissan uses an automatic cutting machine. With the better accuracy afforded by evolving CAD systems, data reproduction once done entirely by hand was automated using this machine. A machine for automated measurement of vehicles is also used. In this way, the conventional clay model-based designing formerly used by Nissan has now shifted to digital data-centered design development. Usually, design development is done three to four years prior to the launch, so it is difficult as designers need to forecast the future social trends and customer needs.Recently, the study and design of Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) based on ergonomics (the study of how a workplace or equipment can best be designed for comfort, safety, efficiency and productivity) is a well-established practice for this company. Nissan has been actively researching human-vehicle interfaces since the 1990s. Watanabe, for example, handled instrument panel design for the Infiniti J30 (Leopard J-Ferry), Laurel and Cefiro, and proposed applying â€Å"universal design† in concept cars in the late '90s.Over the past decade, the concept of â€Å"universal design† has come into general parlance for products that are easy for anyone to use, regardless of physical limitations. Nissan took the universal-design concept a step further in 2005, embracing the concept of â€Å"Interaction Design† so that customers will feel that every part of a car works smoothly and attractively. And w hile creating HMIs is usually Research and Development territory, at Nissan it's a priority of the Design Department as well. The involvement of both the Design and R;D Divisions in developing universal design is unique to Nissan. Interaction Design,† can be divided into three areas: – Interfaces: Instruments and graphical user interfaces, like navigation systems, door handles, switches, lighting, etc. – Interior colors and materials – Perceived quality: Individual part textures, joints between parts, etc. The R&D and Design departments pay close attention to these factors in the design of every Nissan vehicle. In 2005, Nissan started a project to create revolutionary car interiors that are easier to use, l leading to the BUI (Best Usability Interior) concept car.Furthermore, in the development stage, Nissan designs their products to avoid using environmentally harmful substances in their construction and make them easier to recycle. Additionally, to reduc e the use of nonrenewable resources, they give consideration to the use of recycled plastics, other recycled materials, and renewable bio-materials. However, Nissan is also examining the possibility of recycling plastic parts from end-of-life products and using this material for new products, searching for ways to overcome the technical challenge of maintaining quality.At the present moment digital data is now mainly used in design development and the role of the clay model is to verify the data. However, no matter how advanced the digital technology, such as virtual reality, may be in the future, cars will continue to be used in the real world. It will not change. Digital data is reproduced three-dimensionally and designers and modelers form attractive shapes and designs with their senses of eyes and hands. Human sensibility continues to be essential to producing emotional designs. Competitive PrioritiesIn operations management one of the most important aspects when evaluating a bu siness strategy or the productivity of a business process are the competitive priorities of the company. In 1984 Hayes and Wheelwright suggested that companies compete in the marketplace by virtue of cost, quality, flexibility, and lead-time (Institute for manufacturing. University of Cambridge). Cost: Some of the aspects that are involved in this classification are:  · Manufacturing cost.  · Value added.  · Selling price. Running cost – cost of keeping the product running.  · Service cost – cost of servicing the product.  · Profit. Nissan approach cost control in Japan utilizing target costing principles that shares some of the elements of just such a strategic approach, but its transplant operations create distinctive problems for cost control. To explain briefly this point we can quote Nissan Motor Company U. K, which was case in study by Chris Carr and Julia Ng about â€Å"Total cost control: Nissan and its U. K supplier partnerships†.This case, in order to analyze the major capital budgeting decisions, the Director of the U. K Finance clarified that Nissan likewise emphasized â€Å"strategic rather than economic factors†, and that this had also been the case in the parent company’s original decision to invest in the U. K. The following chart show how Nissan Motor Manufacturing U. K controlling their costs from the raw material is gotten. Mission and Strategy The mission of Nissan Motor Company to enrich lives with measurable value begins with a Customer Promise that guides employee actions and decisions.Nissan provides unique and innovative automotive products and services that deliver superior measurable values to all stakeholders* in alliance with Renault. Nissan Power 88 identifies six strategies as levers we will use to achieve results according to plan. Pillar 1: Brand power To strengthen Nissan's brand power, we will expand our strengths in engineering and production to the sales, marketing and ownership experience. We will also raise the level of interaction with our customers to create a orld-class standard of service that will help us build lasting relationships with every Nissan and Infiniti vehicle customer. We recognize that having a stronger brand will help close gaps with our top competitors in every measurable area, from revenue generation to overall opinion and purchase intention. Pillar 2: Sales power Sales power in the mid-term plan refers to fully grasping the needs of customers in each market and drastically raising sales volume and market share. Nissan currently has 6,000 major points of sales globally. We will expand our retail network to 7,500 outlets in the mid-term plan period.Nissan is now the leading Japanese brand in China, Russia and Mexico and is on track to become the largest volume Asian brand in Europe by fiscal 2016. We are focusing our efforts to boost sales power in Japan and the United States, as well as in the ASEAN region. Pillar 3: Enhancing quality Nissan aims to make steady progress in improving product quality. During Nissan Power 88, our aim is to raise Nissan into the top group of global automakers in product quality and to elevate Infiniti to leadership status among peer luxury products by fiscal 2016. Pillar 4: Zero-emission leadershipNo other global automaker is as engaged in comprehensive activities to advance the entire system needed to make sustainable mobility a reality. Nissan is taking a leadership role in every aspect, from the development of batteries, chargers and a vehicle lineup to electric grid studies, battery recycling and the use of batteries for energy storage. In 2011, Nissan will take the lead as the all-time volume leader in dedicated electric vehicle sales. The Renault-Nissan Alliance is bringing seven more all-electric models to follow the successful launch of the Nissan LEAF. TheAlliance intends to put 1. 5 million electric vehicles on roads worldwide by 2016. Nissan's emphasis on sustainable mobi lity also encompasses the range of low-carbon and lowemission technologies that support PURE DRIVE. For example, our proprietary hybrid technology will be tailored to future Nissan and Infiniti models, and our next-generation Xtronic Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) will increase fuel efficiency in future Nissan vehicles and maintain our status as the global leader in CVT technology. Pillar 5: Business expansion In 1999, Nissan's global market share was 4. %. In 2010, Nissan achieved a record 5. 8%. For fiscal 2016, we are targeting a global share of 8%, supported by a steady tempo of a new product launch on average every six weeks, a continued focus on growth markets, and the expansion of our Infiniti and light commercial vehicle businesses. We will concentrate on increasing our presence in Brazil, India and Russia, as well as in the next wave of emerging markets, including the ASEAN 5-Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Nissan is the top Japanese ca r maker in China with a 6. % market share, and China will continue to be Nissan's largest single global market into the plan. In 2012, we will have nearly doubled our production capacity, to 1. 2 million units, and we will further increase our capacity to be in line with our goal of 10% market share. With our partner Dong Feng, we will continue to invest in more products and dealers and together build our new local brand, Venucia. In North America, we will invest to expand our manufacturing capacity and retain our number-one position in Mexico, where Nissan leads the market with a 23. 1% share.In Brazil, where we have 1. 2% market share, we target a minimum of 5% market share. We will build a new plant in Brazil, with a capacity of 200,000 units as a first step. In Europe, Nissan will become the largest volume Asian brand. In Russia, we aim to increase Nissan's market share to 7% by 2016. In India, we will add five new models to be built in the new Alliance plant in Chennai, and we will continue to expand our dealer network. In ASEAN, Nissan Motor Thailand now serves as a strategic industrial base and export hub, and we are concentrating on growth in Indonesia.We are increasing the annual production capacity of our plant near Jakarta from 50,000 to 100,000 units to meet local demand. We aim to increase our share in the ASEAN 5 from 5% today to 15% by 2016. Pillar 6: Cost leadership Since we implemented the Nissan Revival Plan, we have been successful in reducing costs by 5% annually, due mainly to cross-functional monozukuri activities involving our supplier base. As our production footprint is increasingly global, we will maintain this pace by enhancing and deepening these activities in every Nissan production base across the regions, particularly in North America, China, India and Russia.By increasing the use of carry-over/carry-across parts and systems, we will further boost overall platform efficiency. Platform and product synergies will be developed with all our partners, especially in small and medium vehicle segments. And with the additional growth in volume, we expect to realize greater cost efficiency. Evaluating not only purchased parts but also logistics and in-house costs, we have set an objective to reduce the total cost by 5% each year. In Japan, we will raise our yen revenue through increased vehicle sales and reduce our yen-based costs through greater localization of parts supply to overseas plants.Enhancing our monozukuri activities in Japan and across the regions is key to our cost-reduction efforts. Through these activities, we will maintain our commitment to produce 1 million vehicles per year in Japan. Leveraging Partner Strengths Nissan's performance will be enhanced by leveraging 12 years of successful collaboration within the Renault-Nissan Alliance and its five established and productive partnerships. Through the Alliance's strategic cooperation with Daimler, Nissan will benefit from diesel engine and power train technologies, including a supply of Mercedes-Benz engines for Infiniti vehicles.With AvtoVAZ in Russia, the Alliance will take a 40% share in the Russian market, with investments in products and localized manufacturing and sourcing. Our partnership with Dong Feng is critical to our reaching 10% market share in China. With Ashok-Leyland in India, Nissan has a partner in the development and manufacture of light commercial vehicles. And with Mitsubishi, we expanded the scope of our cooperation to develop a new mini car joint venture. The Right Plan for Nissan's FutureIn the global automotive industry, Nissan leads in zero-emission mobility, we lead in many emerging markets and we lead in the number of stable, productive partnerships we have established to improve our competitive position. Going forward, our aim is to enhance our brand power, sales power and the quality of our products and services and to continue to lead the way in advancing sustainable mobility and mobility for all. This is what Nissan Power 88 is about, and we are eager to get started and to deliver the full potential of this company. Global operation StrategyNissan Motors global strategy involves its aim to become an industry leader in zero-emission vehicles and to cultivate developing markets with low-cost global cars. As part of zero-emission environmental friendly vehicles, it would be beginning with the launching of the new electric vehicles (EVs) which would be powered by advanced lithium-ion batteries to be jointly developed with electronic maker NEC Corp. The EV to be introduced will have a unique body style on an all-new vehicle platform which would be compact for the city, yet big enough to carry five adults.Importantly, it will be thoroughly usable with brisk performance and a range of 160 kms. It will have the performance of a typical 1. 6-litre petrol-engine car while recharging from a high voltage source will restore 80 per cent of the battery capacity in around 30 minutes. The c ompany with its alliance partner Renault, which holds 44% stake in it, has been developing partnerships with various governments and specialist companies to build a sustainable mobility network and create public awareness towards EVs as its preparing for marketing them on a mass scale.Various understanding has been signed with electricity companies, charging station suppliers and governments to promote the concept of zero emission mobility and provide infrastructure support, craft legislation or offer incentives such as tax relief, parking or toll rebates for EV buyers (Source: The Japan Times online, May 14, 2008). Cultivating developing markets with low-cost global cars, Nissan is globally launching its new small car on a fresh global platform.The common global platform strategy is part of Nissan's endeavour to produce a host of cars, be it hatchbacks or sedans, across five countries in which thus far India, China and Thailand have been identified as key manufacturing locations. T he new small car, touted as a replacement for the Micra, will first go into production in Thailand with shipping out key components from India and then later on the production would be from India. Planning and Management Project We set out to first help Nissan define meaningful and measurable objectives for the project.The rollout’s objectives were to: 1 Deliver a consistent Nissan brand image at all dealerships 2 implement a cost effective program that supports improvement in the business operations of Nissan and the dealer 3 continually improve the program of work being delivered 4 proactively manage each project to ensure completed schemes complied with defined standards Build a high performing team The project entailed working with and managing 600 individual teams – thousands of stakeholders including dealers, local architects, general contractors, subcontractors and materials suppliers.A central Core Team and a Programme Management Office inside Nissan headquarte rs supported Regional Project Managers in the field. We then implemented communication systems to capture learning and build a team of informed, committed stakeholders. Actively manage communications Although communication management was complex due to the geographic diversity and numerous stakeholders, actively collecting and disseminating consistent data ensured that stakeholders had the detail they needed to make quick and informed decisions, whenever the situation required.We opened a digital listening center in Chennai to listen for all the Internet chatter about Nissan or Infiniti, sorting it into categories, and allowing us to react to the real and instantaneous voice of the customer. If someone tweets something about Nissan, we’re listening, and hopefully we’ll react to that. The quicker the reaction, the more you can reinforce that the Brand is very trustful. Balance flexibility and control Due to the varying locations, codes and construction practices, Nissan ’s rebrand had to be flexible but consistent.A customised programme infrastructure incorporated the initiative into Nissan’s other business processes, significantly improving scope control – ultimately we reduced the number of change requests and variances by nearly 20 percent. Use information and innovation to reduce costs To keep the utmost control of costs we developed tools and strategies to tailor our knowledge to this specific programme. For example, an NREDI facility cost calculator was developed to provide a way for people without a cost estimating background to produce quick and reliable NREDI cost stimates, while a bespoke system was developed to capture projected and actual costs from the construction industry and individual projects. Active value engineering enabled us to reduce the cost of construction from the original prototype design by 20 percent without compromising the brand appearance, and we maintained a net construction cost at 2002 price l evels for over five years despite inflationary pressures of around 20 percent in that time. Workshops with team members also generated over 100 ideas to improve the value and quality of the programme.These insights contributed to an additional $40 million real cost savings over the life of the programme. In fiscal year 2012, the firm will introduce 15 new technologies. Examples of new technologies are as following. †¢ Multi-Sensing System which is built on the Around View Monitor image processing technology is now advanced to detect moving objects and notify the driver. †¢ Next generation XTRONIC CVT. Nissan is the recognized global leader in CVTs and this latest generation provides a fuel-economy benefit of up to 10% compared to the current model.We are introducing a large number of innovative technologies. Actively manage quality The NREDI design contained a number of complex components and new products. Through the development of benchmarking documents and active qualit y control checks we had very few issues with the facility branded products. Not to have had recalls or other serious product issues on a programme of this size and duration was an unusual accomplishment. We also developed a range of benchmarking guidance documents which rapidly educated contractors on quality standards and know-how for new products, to further mitigate quality problems.Keep a close eye on the entire supply chain A particular issue for this programme was the maintenance of a robust supply chain. We developed a three tier supply chain system, using separate contracting strategies and tools to deliver a flexible solution. The system was tested in 2009, when Nissan’s signage supplier (with a portfolio of around 200 active projects) filed for bankruptcy. Activating our contingency plan, the team worked with Nissan’s procurement and legal teams to respond to the emergency without major cost implications, delays or adverse effect on individual deals.Quality o f Products Product quality is what allows customers to drive their cars in comfort and with peace of mind over a long period. To enable real improvements in product quality, not only design phase and production phase, but also through robust partnership with suppliers, Nissan is improving its quality component by component. Nissan conducts follow-up inspections on vehicles that have been in the market for several years to gauge their durability. Reinforce both design and production to cut the number of defects occurring within three months of purchase.Upgrading design quality Cars have a vast number of parts. About 65 percent of them have zero defects in the past, and from remaining 35 percent have caused problems. Enhancing design quality before production begins is one crucial way to increase the percentage of products without problems to the maximum level. Increasing the precision of components in the design diagram raises the quality of those that go into mass production. Nissan uses a method called design review (DR) to develop higher-quality parts.During the DR process, design experts work together to review the potential risks for each parts, and devise ways to prevent problems proactively. Nissan has adopted a new DR method that allows quicker and more accurate design inspections. This has extensively expanded the DR area, and bolstered the development of more problem-free parts. Certified personnel conduct these quick DR sessions. The number of people with this certification has been gradually increasing worldwide, so we are better able to apply DR to numerous parts. Pushing production quality higherPrecision testing equipment is an integral part of the production process at every Nissan plant and production line. Digital technology, such as laser measurement, is used to verify precision assembly and paint condition, which are then evaluated through road testing. Our environmental test chambers can accurately reproduce subtle regional differences in t emperature extremes of and road conditions. This enables us to scrupulously safeguard against problems flowing out of the factory. To produce problem-free parts, we carry out inspections at the design diagram stage.So that we never overlook even the slightest vibration, every parts used in every model undergoes immediate testing. The Weatherproof vibrator can be calibrated to simulate various temperature and road surface conditions. By testing here, we can proactively prevent road noise and other problems different driving environments can create. Cutting the defect rate with these preferred suppliers Nissan's network of parts suppliers is expanding throughout the world. To ensure that we always receive quality parts from them, we apply rankings to each supplier and deal only with the ones that maintain a certain ranking.Nissan is working with these preferred suppliers to cut the defect rate. * How Nissan ensures quality assurance together with our suppliers. Using rapid response to cut the breakdown ratio A breakdown is a malfunction serious enough to persuade the driver to stop and call for road service assistance. In many cases the car cannot be driven at all. In other instances, the car may be drivable but doing so would be unwise, such as having a window that will not close properly when the weather is extremely cold. The breakdown ratio in Japan is low, and it is also declining worldwide.In Europe, however, where many people drive for long distances or keep cars for a long time, breakdowns are a serious problem. In 2008, Nissan set up Shift Quality Teams in Germany, France, the U. K. , Spain and Russia to monitor these breakdowns. Within twenty minutes of receiving a report of a breakdown, the Nissan team in the country is dispatched to the site to deal with the problem. The causes and remedies of breakdowns that occur in Europe are immediately incorporated into Nissan car designs worldwide, further reducing the breakdown ratio of Nissan vehicles.Quick r esponse has cut the countermeasure time for defect parts. When a Nissan customer's car has to undergo repairs or needs parts replaced, we probe the cause to prevent similar problems. In addition to using improved parts at the factory, we also have to supply the market with replacement parts. We established a system to radically reduce the time from preparing the defect parts to collecing them. Even when the defect rate is low or the causes are difficult to probe, this allows us to resolve problems at an early stage.Nissan's Field Quality Centers operate flat-out to deal with the following: * Defects that occur within three months after a car is purchased * Defect ratio of components obtained from suppliers * Breakdown ratio * The time between when a defect occurs in the field until replacement parts are developed. The above all have one thing in common: they are handled by our Field Quality Centers (FQCs). Three of these centers were established in 2007 in Japan, the U. S. and Europ e to respond more rapidly to problems occurring in the field, and FQCs are expanding more and more In other regions.Defect parts are collected from the market quickly and in quantities as large as possible. Nissan design and production staff work with representatives from our suppliers to probe the cause of the problems and come up with solutions. We plan to expand this type of joint analysis into defect parts. * Field Quality Centers-the mecca of quality improvement At a Field Quality Center, Nissan design and production staff and supplier representatives investigate the cause together and work out countermeasures. Just in Time (JIT)There are 3 principles of JIT systems that involve a manufacturing process, which are waste minimization and elimination, total quality control and involvement of people. Under this concept, Nissan decided implement a new system to fabric the products (in this case vehicles) in a plant in Smyrna, TN. This system was designed to synchronize output, estab lish a standardized work pace and monitor equipment conditions while continuously storing production data because Nissan had as main objective synchronizing flow, JIT manufacturing and optimizing production.With a just-in-time approach, specific vehicles and their components are produced just-in-time to meet the demand for them. Sub-assemblies move into the final assembly plant just as final assemblers are ready to work on them, components arrive just in time to be installed, and so on. In this way, the amount of cash tied up in stocks and in work-in-progress is kept to a minimum, as is the amount of space devoted to costly warehousing rather than to revenue-generating production. Nissan's just-in-time process depends not on human frailty but on machine precision. Every vehicle is monitored automatically throughout each stage of production.A transponder attached to the chassis leg contains all of a vehicle's production data e. g. its required colour, specification and trim. This tri ggers sensors at various points along the production line thus updating the records. When, for example, the transponder sends a message to the production system at a supplying company to produce a seat in a particular colour and trim, this triggers the relevant response and a seat to the required specification is produced. Further along the production line the specifically produced seat arrives to meet the vehicle to which it belongs – just in time.Supply Chain Design and Control Supply Chain is highly dynamic department that deals with complex supply chains and responds to volatile demand patterns. The role of SCM is key for Nissan in securing supply to support demand, and ensuring we can deliver on our aim of having the â€Å"RIGHT car, at the RIGHT time, in the RIGHT place† for every customer†¦ and of course, â€Å"at the RIGHT cost†. SCM sits in between Manufacturing and Sales, and plays a pivotal role in balancing the often-conflicting drivers of Suppl y and Demand. Life in SCM is never dull.The roles include leading the supply planning for specific production sources, managing our inventory control processes, developing mid-term strategic progression of the supply chain, planning and implementing system and process developments, or dealing with the complexities of an increasingly complex parts supply chain. Nissan realized the benefits of an integrated supply chain and wanted a system to: * Reduce excess stock in the pipeline * Improve customer service by: * Reducing the lead time between placing an order for a vehicle to its delivery * Tracking an order from placement to delivery Provide direct access to manufacturing systems for dealers and distributors, enabling the provision of more accurate information Inventory control Nissan as a company that import and export products and services around the world needs to be prepared to the demand that they drive. The inventory control is a vital tool to supply the whole chain of market because it meet demand, keep operations running, lead time (such as Nissan in Smyrna, Tennessee, that maintain low levels of inventory), hedge, quantity discount, and smoothing requirements. In Nissan there are no raw materials or works in progress stored as inventory.The only inventory that is kept is finished goods. One example of this can be the inventory for cars because they take a list of all the new and used cars that are in the system is printed out while a list from the Nissan Corporation is printed out as well. Both print outs are compared and at the end, any adjustments are made in order to match the statement from the corporation means, Nissan bases its production on demand showing the company’s annual reports, and uses storages to facilitate the access to the inventory in each one of the plants of the corporation. Forecast We expect our global sales to reach 5,350,000 units, an increase of 10. %, which is another record level for Nissan. With a TIV assumption of 79,700,000 units, a 5. 3 % increase year-on-year, our global market share is expected to grow from 6. 4% to 6. 7%. During fiscal 2012, we will completely renew three of our large volume global models. The first was the new Altima which had been revealed at the New York International Auto Show in April 2012. In total, we will launch ten all-new vehicles in fiscal 2012 including the Pathfinder, Sylphy/Sentra, NV350 and a long wheelbase version of the Infiniti M sedan. In Japan, Nissan plans to sell 690,000 units in fiscal 2012, which will be increase of 5. % from fiscal 2011. Fifth generation Cima was launched in April. In China, Nissan will get 1,350,000 units sales, 8. 3% sales volume growth in fiscal 2012. In addition to all-new Sylphy and our new Chinese local brand model, Venucia D50 were launched. Another Venucia model will be launched. In North America, Nissan assume 1,520,000 units sales, 8. 3% growth of sales volume from prior year. In Europe, Nissan will plan 1. 0% sales vol ume growth with 720,000 units sales. Nissan plan to grow up significantly in other regions. 29. 6% growth, 1,070,000 units sales is planned in other regions.

Skydiving Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Skydiving - Essay Example As the report declares the tourism industry in Kyiv has to entice more of such international tourists so as to generate higher revenues. Compared to group tourists, independent non-packaged or individual tourists spent more cash on meals, entertainment, gambling, lodging sightseeing and local transportation. Casino operators therefore have to focus on attracting more foreign independent tourists so as maximize their earnings. This paper stresses that Tobit analysis was employed to analyze the travel spending of Kyiv visitors. This technique was coined by Tobit. It was meant to estimate equations especially when a set of continuous observations on truncated criterion variable, usually at zero. This model poses two advantages first is that it presents efficient parameter estimates and the accurate estimates of the expected value of the variable. The second one is that it allows estimating both the market participation effect and the conditional quantity effect. The Tobit model used presented the below question to show the correlation between ith visitors’ daily travel expenditure on kth spending category and the independent variables. It is expected that the travel expenditure totals of Kyiv visitors have a positive relation to their per capita income and the people’s number in the party. Senior lecturers from the University of Kyiv helped in translating English questionnaire into simplified C hinese, Korean and French so as to ensure that most of the visitors literacy needs are satisfied. After the translation the questionnaire were verified by employees from Kyiv hotel and students together with staff members from the same university. After verifying the translation, 20 students pre-tested the questionnaire so as to validate it. The questionnaire had two parts designed to gather as much information as possible from the tourists. The first part based on the demographic, behavioral, socio-economic including entry mode, country of origin, party size,

Is it possible to achieve belonging or cultural acceptance without a Essay

Is it possible to achieve belonging or cultural acceptance without a sense of individuality - Essay Example (Grammich, Clifford A.. 2010, 14) The question that one would want to ask is whether it is possible that one would be accepted in a group without losing their individuality. Responding to this message requires appreciation of the fact that being accepted in the group while one is individuated will mean to be accepted in the group without conforming to the norms of that particular group. The possibility that individuals would conform to group norm depend on a number of factors’ first, the group cohesiveness. This is the degree to which individuals are attracted to the group and the benefits that are drawn from that group. The size of the group would also determine whether individuals would conform or not. Smaller groups tend to pile a lot of pressure for conformity than large groups. The concept of individualism has been studied in details by two main theorists, Locke and Mills. According to Locke, individualism has been overcome by the pressure particularly that of the government. He suggests that government is a necessary evil that rope people together to conform. His view of individual’s conformity is authoritarian. Mills however reveals that individualism was grounded on theories of pleasure and pain. He suggests hat individuals are the arbiters of their own actions and therefore they are considered to be one of the strongest  proponents for liberalism, checked only by his harm principle. (Mills, Gordon H, 26) Grammich, Clifford A.. 2010 U.S. religion census: religious congregations & membership study : an enumeration by nation, state, and county based on data reported for 236 religious groups. Kansas City, Mo.: Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, 2012.

Information System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Information System - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that because of the security weaknesses in the information system, there lies a question about the quality of information used in professional studies. This is potent enough to cripple the organizational assets and degrade the reputation or image of the agency. Consequently, this leads to major economic losses. On the one hand, patients would only normally lose confidence or trust in the agency. In extreme cases, those who are especially emotionally unstable may experience severe physical and/or moral injuries which could lead to death. The HIPPA dictates that professionals in the field of health care must protect any pertinent health information, giving due respect to patients and his/her direct kins and relatives. Therefore, they are prohibited to disclose any information outside their line of duty for this kind of disclosure is not merely unethical, but it is both unlawful and unprofessional. However, even without the code of law, as an individual entru sted with sensitive information and in the right mind, this becomes an automatic moral obligation as a person in a value-driven society. Â  

Family Resiliency in Patients on Hemodialysis Essay

Family Resiliency in Patients on Hemodialysis - Essay Example Furthermore, the authors explore the very nature of resiliency and tend to find out whether resiliency is presented in families suffering from hemodialysis treatment. The apparent strength of the article is that it defines the operating terms and introduces examination of differences between patients on hemodialysis and their family caregivers. The differences are found out between ethnic groups as well. The paper suggests potential research approaches to understanding family resiliency and provides resiliency model to be applied. (White et al. 2004) The discussion in the article touches the terms "resiliency" and "behavior". The authors define resiliency as "the positive behavioral patterns and functional competence individuals and the family unit demonstrate under stressful or adverse circumstances, which determine the family's ability to recover by maintaining its integrity as a unit while insuring, and where necessary restoring, the well-being of family members and the family unit as a whole". (White et al. 2004) Moreover the authors state that behavior reflects the resiliency and thus can be easily taught, reinforced and identified. It would allow families to obtain relevant information how to cope with stressors caused by dialysis.

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words - 1

Case study - Essay Example This relationship calls for a change in the way the children perceives things and ends up creating a more successful person in the future. Play therapy is different in a way that it normally provides a safe, trusting, soothing and pleasurable environment to the child under consideration. The result of creating such a climate is the trust of the child in the therapist. The more the individual feels comfortable the easier it gets to understand his problem and solve it accordingly. Play therapy, hence, directs toward a one-to-one relationship where children are encouraged to communicate and express their feelings, fear, views and thoughts. Therapists normally get two kinds of communications from the children, that is, either the children communicate their issues and feelings directly in words (Wilson et. al., 2002) or indirectly by using actions and behaviors. Whatever way the child chooses, a therapist must respond to the messages, either direct or indirect, that he receives from the c hildren. Therapists are required to listen, understand and respond to the children in a way which they feel is suitable for that particular child. The therapists must keep in mind that their behavior and responses would play a significant role in the development of a future relationship between them and the children. They need to flourish the relationship and must respond in a way which strengthens the relationship rather than creating any negative feeling or perception in the child’s mind. The underlying theory is to develop command of children over the feelings which are hidden and controlling them. Non directive approach to play therapy was formed by Axline who gave a way to professionals through which they could treat children. The basic principles laid down by Virginia Axline revolve around non directive play therapy and how a therapist could successfully follow these guidelines. The principles basically revolve around the

Congress U3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Congress U3 - Essay Example According to the U.S. Constitution the Congress retains the power to declare was and through its control of the purse strings can bring about a termination in a war, but it has no control over the actual conduct of the war, the power of which is retained by the President, and through this power defines the military strategy and troop deployments. (2). This separation of power shows that the Congress has a strong control over the purse strings or the expenditure that a President wants for the various agendas that the President believes is required for the nation. Given the current mindset of the Congress, President Obama will find pushing through his agenda will not be easy. Dilution of the agenda is a strong possibility. This is a not a novel situation. Examples of the failure of President Carter to push through his energy agenda, or President Clinton his healthcare agenda, or President Bush his agenda to privatize Social Security highlight the role that Congress can play in making o r breaking the agenda of a President. President Johnson’s success in getting Congressional support for his agenda can be an inspiration to President Obama. Close interaction between President Johnson and his staff with the congress defines the strategy adopted by President Johnson.

Classical Music Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Classical Music - Essay Example ti were the undoubted 18th century music celebrities, with many people associating with their entertaining virtuoso voices that illustrated the musical culture at the time. A critical analysis of the Castro BBC documentary reveals that the documentary investigates the musical aspects of the castrati including private and public details. The castrato involved the use of unbroken soprano voices. It is widely argued that the 18th century performance was done by men castrated during childhood to keep their voices unbroken. Mutilating young boys to achieve this purpose raises numerous ethical issues. The historical context of the castrati reveals the dark aspects of the Baroque opera. From the documentary narrative, it becomes clear that opera had shifted from the use of straight drama to artistic performances using male soprano voices. The male soprano voices could be described as artificial in the sense that they were achieved by castrating boys before they reached maturity. The vocals used in the documentary suggests that the voices are not natural, neither male nor female voices. On the other hand, the documentary illustrates the practice of using male voices for musical voices, especially for sacred music in which women were forbidden. The singers combined unique tempo and musical dynamics with variations in melody and combination of ornamentals to produce entertaining classics. The music was intense and elaborate melodic lines were often used. The use of liturgical musical styles features prominently in the documentary, illustrating the entertaining aspects of the European musical culture. There are also small ensembles of solo performances combined with orchestra tunes. This helps create a unique volume and texture, a feature that characterized European classical music. The documentary depicts the physical perspective and the medical aspects of the operation. The narrator suggests that barber surgeons performed clandestine operations and at times medical

To What Extent Does the Media Affect Body Image in Teens and Their Perception of Beauty Essay Example for Free

To What Extent Does the Media Affect Body Image in Teens and Their Perception of Beauty Essay There is no question that the Media has a massive impact on how we perceive ourselves, particularly when it comes to our beauty. From my own experience, I have questioned my own body due to articles in magazines promoting a slimmer body type to various audiences. We shape our opinions through what the Media tells us is right and wrong. For instance, women and young girls are judged highly on their weight and appearance where as men are judged more on their masculinity and muscularity. As the Media is a massive topic, I will focus on looking at magazines, in particular adverts, and how they portray beauty and how we then observe the Medias idea of ‘perfection’. I will also be looking at the effects of exposure to these magazines and adverts to teenagers; one particular focus will be the influences of the Media on Anorexia. â€Å"Low self-esteem contributes to a distorted body image, and the distorted body image cant be fully corrected until self-esteem issues are reconciled. If we don’t address the problem (the problem being the Media labelling a certain body type as perfect) then the issue of low self-esteem in women is never going to stop. Over 90% of people diagnosed with eating disorders are adolescent or young women, so why do young women and adolescents feel the need to go to these drastic measures to stay skinny? While the Media is not the only factor that can be contributed to the rise in Anorexia, it is a significant aspect. It’s no surprise that teenagers are obsessed with thinness and weight loss because of the way Media promotes a skinny figure to women through the constant images of celebrities’ bodies and also articles that talk about bettering our lives through our appearance. The Media promotes a skinny figure through constant articles in magazines on celebrities’ figures, for example, Star magazine has shown the same front cover advertising â€Å"45 best worst beach bodies† seven times. I believe that this is going to contribute to women having a negative body image as they constantly compare themselves to the celebrities in these magazines and deciding whether they have an â€Å"acceptable figure† due to the ones advertised as the â€Å"best†. Personally, I think it’s the mix of women’s obsession with celebrities and a low self-esteem that creates a negative body image. Approximately one in every one hundred teenage girls may develop an Eating Disorder. Body dissatisfaction is a reoccurring motif especially in women as they are constantly exposed to celebrities and advertisements from such a young age. I had to create a presentation to my peers based on my topic question earlier this year. I decided that I wanted to get real opinions on whether the content of these magazines were suitable for the magazines target audience. I gave them four popular girl magazines (Bliss, Mizz, Shout and Look), which girls ranging from 10-17+ were reading. I asked them to order the magazines from the lowest target audience to the highest, basing the order solely on the content of the magazines. Surprisingly, my peers put the magazines in the right order. However, they were still shocked by the audiences that these magazines were targeted at because the content of these magazines was not appropriate for children of that age. Bliss magazine, is initially targeted at girls aged 13-17; the class all said that â€Å"It was targeted at 16+ because of the ‘Stone’s style solutions’ that promote platform heels which aren’t appropriate for girls of 13 years. † Furthermore, Bliss magazine shows an article on ‘Pamper perfect’ showing young girls how to get the A-list look ‘without the A-list price tag. My peers decided that Bliss magazine is subtlety influencing young girls on how they can better themselves where as Look magazine, which is targeted at girls from 16-34; manipulate girls into changing their body to better themselves. This shows the diversity between magazines that are targeted at girls below 16 and those targeted at girls above 16. In both Bliss and Look magazine, they use a very slim model to advertise their clothes. Even though Bliss uses a teenage model and Look uses an adult, they both use a particular frame of woman. Mizz magazines’ target audience is from 10-14 years. Mizz’ articles, in my opinion, are suitable for the target audience because they don’t focus on celebrity lifestyle and focusing on a negative body image. Shout magazines’ seems to focus on females between 10-15 years. However, Shout magazine, targeted at females between the ages of 11-14, shows little articles involving models and looks more at celebrities and real life stories. As we live in a society, which is more obsessed with how we look, rather than what we do, it’s no wonder that women are both mentally and physically abused by the Media. This is a gut feeling of mine based on the content of agazines. From my own opinion, I see more articles congratulating celebrities on losing weight rather than their success in their career. How the Media advertises products and articles in magazines have a bigger affect on us than we initially think. On average whilst watching television, women come across around 400 to 600 adverts a day. In light of this, if in only 50% of the adverts we see thin models, then even this could have a negative affect on how we perceive our own body and also how we compare it to what the Media label as â€Å"perfect† which is usually undernourished models. By repetitively using the same figure of model, this will also stay in the sub-conscious mind of the audience. This technique of advertising is called subliminal messaging. When subliminal messages are first seen or heard, we are unable to identify what it is. In fact they may be ignored by the conscious brain and be beyond the level of conscious perception. A new study by Prof. Naomi Mandel, as sited in CBS News, has shown companies that feature normal size women, better known, as â€Å"plus-size† are less effective than those that use thin models. It also found out that overweight and normal-weight females have a lower self-esteem after seeing â€Å"plus-size† models in advertisements. I found these results quite interesting as I presumed that women who saw â€Å"plus-size† models would make them have a higher self-esteem because they have a similar body to the models in the advertisement. Additionally Jeremy Kees, a professor at Villanova University, believes that women expect to see beautiful women in advertisements, even if it makes them feel worse about themselves. In one of his studies, Kees found that even though the women felt bad about themselves after looking at the adverts, they evaluated that the brands were selling higher, and those ads which used average size models, their brands sales has decreased. Although, another source reported that women have lower levels of weight concerns after exposure to average and overweight models than after the exposure to ultra thin and even no models. This could be because women would feel accepted by society for their body size because the Media believes its okay. In my eyes, the Media always promote a very slim figure. Furthermore, a social psychologist’s research has suggested that average sized models are just as effective as thin models. But what do the public really want to see? Karl Langerfield, Head Designer of the Fashion house Chanel, said that: â€Å"the world of fashion was all to do ‘with dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women. † After reading both these studies, I decided to create an experiment that was heavily influenced by the experiments that the University of Sussex had conducted on self-discrepancy. One of these experiments was to see if advertisements that use models are more effective than those that don’t use any model. Also, I wanted to see if Prof. Naomi Mandel has the correct theory that advertisements are less effective with ones that use â€Å"plus-size† models or ultra-thin models. Additionally, the experiment that claims women have lower levels of weight concern after exposure to average models wasn’t conducted on teenagers and I wanted to see if teenagers find adverts with â€Å"plus-size† models more or less effective than ultra-thin models. The other experiment that was conducted on children between 5 and 6 years was to see if a specific body image does have an affect on how we perceive ourselves. They had three separate groups of girls who were all told the same story however, one group had images of Barbie, the ultra-thin doll; one group had images of Emme, the average-size doll and one group had no dolls included. Each girl was then told to fill out a self-discrepancy chart and highlighted the body they thought they had compared to the body they would like to have. The results from this showed that the discrepancy was higher in those that saw Barbie compared to the other doll. This shows a link to what heavily influences girls between what they see and their sub-conscious mind. The main objective for my experiment was to see whether adverts that use skinny models are more effective on us as a public, than those that don’t use any type of model and also to explore into the world of subliminal messaging and how it plays on the sub-conscious mind. I wanted to see if this type of advertising really does work. I carried out this experiment twice because I wanted to make sure I had clear and thorough results. I used a group of twenty students between the ages of 14 and 16 of which ten boys and ten were girls. The boys were given adverts targeted at males and the girls were given adverts targeted at females. Half of each gender was given adverts that feature models of the same sex and the other half were given adverts that featured only the products and no models. Each person that had the same booklet was all sat on a table and they would discuss the adverts. As I was walking around, I was listening to what they were asking each other about the adverts shown to them: â€Å"What is your opinion of the advert? What is the focal point for the advert? Whom is this advert targeted at? † I was surprised by the results I got from also the comments I got from both genders. All the girls that had models advertising the perfume in their adverts wanted to lose weight, and out of the 20 girls that took part, 90% overall wanted to lose weight. A lot of the girls described the models as â€Å"plain† and that â€Å"the majority of the models were skinny and blonde. This was a popular opinion with all the girls and I wondered why even though they thought the models looked plain and they weren’t envious of the models, why did all the girls want to lose weight? One girl gave an interesting point that even though Emporio Armani used Beyonce Knowles, who is African-American, to advertise their products; they thought that it was unclear of her skin colour and that they might have used a black and white image so that it would open up to a wider audience. This links back to a previous point that companies always advertise a certain frame of a model to women because this is what they believe as â€Å"perfect. Even though all the girls who didn’t have the models in their adverts had a lower discrepancy, this could be because they might have recognized the adverts from seeing them before or they could genuinely have a low self-esteem. However, what the University of Sussex had discovered was that average size models had no negative affect on body image with women. Even though I had done this experiment on boys too, I decided not to use their results as I felt they didn’t contribute to any of my product. Also, I wanted to focus on teenage girls and their perception of beauty. I was please with how the experiment was carried out and found it was a success with all the participants and the results I received were clear and reliable. However, if I was to carry this experiment out again, then I would do it with adults and also primary school children so then I could compare each set of results with one another and also I would to show how our opinions differ as we mature and also, to show who is more affected by the Medias constant advertise of celebrities and particularly the â€Å"size-0† figure. Also, I wish that I had shown them adverts that used â€Å"plus-size† models to see which one gave them a lower self-discrepancy as this would have been more relevant to the objective of my product. When I first started this topic, I began to realise how much pressure young girls are under to look good through the articles in magazines and the constant need to look at celebrities. After this, I decided that I wanted to find out if young girls and boys are actually affected by this pressure or if it is just my opinion. I created a questionnaire and gave it to secondary pupils between the ages of 11-16. I wanted to keep the questionnaires anonymous because I know these people and it could have influenced the way I interpret their answers. I don’t regret making these questionnaires however I was hoping for more detailed answers. I printed out 100 questionnaires and gave 10 to 10 tutors in my college. I wanted to give them out in tutor because they would have at least half an hour to fill out my questionnaires so they would be able to go into great detail and really think about their answers. However, I had difficulty with my questionnaires and the public doing them. Firstly, I had to print them in black and white to save ink at school; however the images I used were not clear enough in black and white so this could have affected my results. Secondly, when I received the questionnaires, there was minimal detail and also the majority of the participants were pretending to be funny in their questionnaires and didn’t provide the evidence I needed so they were invalid. On the other hand, there were questionnaires that I could use that gave detailed answers. 1% of all the results think the Media are the main cause of having a certain figure however 27% thought their friends pressured them to fit in with everyone else. However, their friends must get this idea of what is acceptable from somewhere. Could this be from the Media? In my appendix, I have included some tables, which include the results from the questionnaires I made. I found the graphs difficult to make, as I wasn’t sure how to break down the categories. Did I do it by year or by gender? The graphs were done on a trial and error basis however I felt like they were done in a correctly in the end. Another study found that 27% of the girls that they carried an experiment out on that felt the Media pressure them to have a perfect body. Even though this shows that other girls in other studies are affected by the Media, it’s not so reliable in my essay as I’m not sure of how many girls were asked, how old they were or where in the world this experiment was carried out. Eating disorders like Anorexia are caused by a physiological disorder within a person and how they view their own body. The sufferer believes that they are overweight so they take extreme actions like dieting, fasting and even starving themselves just so they feel what they believe to be ‘beautiful. ’ There are many reports; mostly around the time of London Fashion Week that fashion models have used this technique. However, it’s not only women in the fashion world who suffer with this disorder, other professions like ballet dancers and athletes show a high number of people who have/had Anorexia. Personality plays a big part in eating disorders. People who suffer with Anorexia Nervosa usually are perfectionists and overachievers’. People who suffer from Anorexia work relentlessly towards a thinner body because they feel that this will promise them beauty, success and happiness. The victims usually want to feel accepted by society however they do not feel valued by others. Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa are most common in white people in western societies. This shows a direct link to how our society looks at behaviours and expectations of the public compared to eating disorders. Not only in the Western hemisphere is there a link towards the ethnicity of people with eating disorders, a study in Fiji showed a sudden increase in eating disorders among young women since the arrival of television in 1995, (Fearn, 1999). This also shows a strong link between the social and cultural factors. I have seen that there is a number of ways that that the Media can alter teenage girls’ perception of beauty. As I have found, magazines use the same frame of model to promote clothing and will openly slate people’s bodies if they feel they are not â€Å"good enough. Also, magazines will always show articles on how girls and women can change or correct themselves so that they are up to a standard that the Media thinks is acceptable. As humans, it has been known that we always want what we can’ have but is this just apart of our human nature? of this will make girls doubt their own body, even though I found from my own research that girls are not envious of the models in advertisements, they still wanted to lose weight and illustrated they were unhappy with themselves. This was proven through my questionnaires as 79% of the girls admitted to not being happy with their body. Although we as a public may claim to want to see women of a normal size modelling products aimed at us, fashion designers that are in charge decide what we are shown, and this could be where the problem is. Referring back to a point that Karl Langerfield, he claims that â€Å"the world of fashion was all to do ‘with dreams and illusions, and no one wants to see round women†. Even though we may openly say that we want to see designers use curvier bodies to promote their range of clothing or do we as a public secretly see want to see a skinnier frame of model? This links in with a point made earlier about my experiments. Even though all the girls admitted they weren’t jealous of the girls frame, they still wanted a lower discrepancy. So are fashion designers after all giving the public what they can’t admit to wanting? Also, Diane Von Furstenberg claimed that â€Å"To be a model, you have to be skinny. In conclusion, I have found that it’s clear that there are so many different opinions and that it’s hard to identify the general overview to this question without finding exceptions. I feel positive that I have found that the Media can affect teenagers and their perception of beauty but that it varies between person to person as my questionnaires have shown. However, if we are aware of the potential effects, then in theory, we ca n find solutions to these issues; surely that is the most important lesson we can take away from this?

Three Theories Of Language Acquisition Psychology Essay

Three Theories Of Language Acquisition Psychology Essay One of the most important things to know as a student of speech and language therapy is the history of language acquisition theories. These theories form the foundation of common practice and have informed the development of the therapies that we will use as speech and language therapists. This essay will discuss and present arguments for three theories of acquisition: the behaviourist model, the social interactionist model, and the information processing model. Each theory will also be discussed in terms of its application to clinical practice. The behaviourist model of language acquisition came about in the 1940-50s when a lot of research was being done on learning theory and B.F. Skinner is probably the most well-known of the behavioural theorists. According to behavioural theory, all human behaviour is learned. When a person does something it is either positively or negatively reinforced; if the behaviour is positively reinforced its frequency will increase and if the behaviour is negatively reinforced its frequency will decrease and eventually stop. For example, if a child wants to put his hand on the hot stove the pain that this causes will be a negatively reinforcement and he will learn not to touch the stove. Behaviourism suggests that more complex behaviours can also be learned in this way. They argue that this can be done by one behaviour triggering the next (chaining) or by, over time reinforcing a behaviour in a way that it moves towards an ultimate target behaviour. According to Skinner (Owens,2008) humans learn everything through this manner of conditioning, including language. Skinner believed that a child sees models of language in adult communication and when the child imitates this communication, this behaviour is positively reinforced by adults. Skinner theorised that during language acquisition, when a child makes an error adults give the child negative reinforcement and when a child produces the correct language the adult gives positive reinforcement thereby conditioning the child to use the correct form. In terms of word learning, behaviourists suggest that when the child realises a word is associated with an object (e.g. ball), the presence of the object becomes the stimulus for that word. Thus, once the child knows the word ball whenever he sees the ball it will activate the word in his mind so he can say it. In terms of learning sentences, behaviourists believe that the child does this in the same manner as words or through the technique of successive approximation. For exampl e, a child hears Please pass the ball but this is too complex so he way say pass ball instead. As the child gets older the adults in his environment gradually shape his utterance into an adult form through the use of modelling, imitation, and reinforcement (Owens,2008) so that eventually he uses the correct form. As the influence of a childs environment on language has become clearer, the importance that behaviourists set on the environment has been supported (Owens, 2008). Over the years, the practice of speech and language therapy has been influenced by the behaviourist model. For example, two techniques from this model that are directly applicable to clinical practice are modelling and reinforcement. In therapy, modelling is often used with children with speech difficulties. One way in which it can be used is for the therapist to model the sound and bring the childs attention to how it is formed so that they can do it themselves. Using reinforcement is also an important aspect of therapy and a therapist can use it by setting up activities in a manner that positively reinforces the correct pronunciation. For example, a minimal pair therapy where the child gets a sweet when he pronounces the phoneme correctly. According to Owens(2008) there is evidence for the importance of modelling and rei nforcement in children as young as 9 months old; this is seen in the fact that by 9 months old a childs inventory of sounds consists mainly of those that have been said in his environment. In other words, although the child is not speaking the same sounds are constantly being modelled and reinforced in his environment and these are the sounds that will be needed for his speech. A third useful technique for therapists that is suggested by the behaviourist model is imitation. An example of a potential use for imitation in therapy would be with a child who needs to become more aware of his speaking volume or rate- the therapist could have him imitate her speaking at different volumes and different paces to increase his awareness. Evidence to support the usefulness of imitation for generalising sentence structure has been found by Whitehurst and Novak (1973)(Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993). The behaviourist model of language acquisition has attracted a lot of criticism over the past decades, much of it brought forward by Chomsky (Owens,2008) who then presented a linguistic model of language acquisition. One of the primary criticisms of the behaviourist model is the fact that it is impossible for a child to be taught every sentence that he ever will have to use- and the behaviourist model doesnt account for an ability to create novel sentences. Another criticism is the fact that parents dont use reinforcement consistently and in fact sometimes positively reinforce childrens errors (Owens,2008). Additionally, Chomsky (Owens, 2008) noted that adult speech is full of errors and ungrammatical utterances and therefore would not provide a good model for children to learn from. As one of the earliest models of language acquisition, this model has been very influential in development of treatments. Our task as future clinicians is to draw ideas from its strengths while keeping in mind the criticisms that have been set forward. The second theory of language acquisition chosen for this essay was social interaction theory. This model was developed in response to the behavioural and linguistic theories of language acquisition and incorporates aspects of both of these. The social interaction theory suggests that language develops because of its social-communicative function. According to this theory, not only do we have an innate predisposition to language but many environmental factors also affect the course of language development (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993); the predisposition to language is seen as innate but the structure of language is not. In this model, the relationship between children and their linguistic environment is seen as a dynamic one in which both are dependent on each other for efficient social communication and development of language skills (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993). According to this model, social interaction is what conventionalises a childs language structure. Social interactionists b elieve that the child uses techniques to develop his or her language such as imitation or rote learning and the environment also adjusts itself to facilitate language learning by the child; as the child shows an increased ability to understand more complex language, the linguistic environment also increases in complexity (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993). The type of language that parents often use with children is referred to by social interactionists as Child Directed Speech (CDS). Child directed speech includes communication techniques such as motherese, imitation, and scaffolding. This model suggests that children cue their parents to supply CDS and that the function of CDS is to activate the linguistic tendencies of the child (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993). According to this model, these techniques are used by adults to slowly build the childs language while enabling adults and children to communicate more effectively (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993). A strength of the social interactionist model is that because it drawn on the behariourist and linguistic models it incorporates strengths from both. Much of the evidence for the social interactionist model comes from studies that look at how caregiver-child interactions and CDS assist in language development. One of the big strengths of this model is the fact that it can account for the pragmatic aspects of language. According to Berko Gleason and Weintraub (1976), imitation and rote learning are used by children to learn things like social conventions (e.g. Thank-you) and Ninio and Snow(1999) (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993) have shown that this model also accounts for the aspects of language that need to be learned socially. E.g. turn-taking, context, cultural conventions. Further evidence has been found for the effect of social interaction on a childs developing vocabulary in a study by Tomasello and Farrar (1986)(Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993)who found that if a mother talks about the objects a child is looking at the child tends to develop a larger and earlier initial vocabulary. Snow (1972, 1977, 1999)(Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993) has also found evidence for the fact that parents adjust their communication and use different communication techniques to help them communicate more effectively with their child. The social interactionist model has also attracted criticisms since its development. One of the most important things to take into account when looking at this model is the fact that because it is quite young many aspects of it have not been tested. Also related to this is the criticism that social interactionists are seeing causation where there is only correlation (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993)- that it is impossible to tell from the studies being done whether a language delay is due to the parents lack of CDS or if the lack of CDS was a response of the parent to the language delay already present in the child (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993). A number of studies have also been carried out related to child directed speech and have found that CDS may not be as simplified as we believe it to be (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993). In addition to this, Shatz (1982)(Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993) argued that there is no mechanism specified for how CDS actually works to improve child language. These crit icisms are important to take into account and place further emphasis on the importance of having a evidence-based practice. The social interactionist model can both inform how an SLT approaches therapy and provide ides for practical application in clinical practice. This model suggests that children learn through the process of scaffolding. As a therapist this would sugest that therapy be approached by starting a child off with easier tasks and then gradually raising the difficulty level as he improves. The principle of scaffolding could also be applied to choosing target sounds for phonological therapy. For example, starting with sounds that are developmentally earlier and easier to say. An example of a therapy that uses scaffolding and that is frequently used by therapists is minimal pair therapy (Williams et al., 2010). Another way to apply the social interactionist model in clinical practice would be to help the parents strengthen their use of child directed speech and show them how to incorporate effective language learning into their daily routines with the child. An example of a program that uses this type of technique is the Hanen approach. This is a therapy technique that emphasises the importance of parental involvement in a childs lan guage development. The program places importance on both the treatment of children and the training of parents to help them incorporate language learning more effectively into their everyday lives. (The Hanen Centre, 2011) The final model of language acquisition used for this essay was the information processing model. The information processing model is a cognitive view of language development which arose along with other interactionist approaches in the 1960s and 70s as a lot of research into the field of cognition was being carried out. As other aspects of human cognition such as memory and perception were coming to be seen as similar to the workings of a computer, some theorists began exploring whether language development could be explained in a similar manner (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993). This model theorises that language is acquired in the same way as many other behaviours; the brain receives stimuli, interprets it, stores it, and then can generate the proper output by retrieving the stored information (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993). According to the information-processing model, humans have an innate ability to learn language due to the presence of a mechanism called the Parallel Distributed Processor (PDP) (Bohannon Bonvillian,1993) however, like other interactionist models this theory also suggests that the environment plays an active role in language acquisition. According to this model, the parallel distributed processor works by enabling children to learn language through example and reinforcement. The PDP is a network of nodes and pathways modelled on the neural pathways in the brain. The nodes are connected by many levels and layers of pathways. The information processing model is sometimes called the connectionist model for this reason. The nodes receive input from pathways coming from many other nodes and if enough pathways stimulate a node the node will activate and a certain output will be generated. One of the most well-known aspects of the information processing theory is the Competition Model (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993) which attempts to explain how exactly these pathways and nodes generate linguistic output. According to this, a child has multiple possible forms of a word in their head (e.g. past tense of Æ’Â   or ) which compete to represent a meaning. The form that ends up being used is determined by the number of nodes and pathways that are activated for each form. For example, a child learning to say the past tense of may not know yet whether the proper form is or . When the child decides to say this word, the pathways for both and would be activated as possible outputs. If the child chooses to say the correct option that pathway will be strengthened and the pathway for the incorrect response will be weakened. If the child chooses to say the incorrect option () and discovers that this is incorrect, that pathway will be slightly downgraded and the other pathway that should have been activated, , will be slightly strengthened. Eventually, over time and through experience the childs PDP system will agree on the true form of a word and produce a consistent, correct output. This is the manner in which children are seen to learn words and grammar. Over the years this model has accumulated evidence both in favour of it and against it. A strength of this model is that it accounts for many aspects of language learning such as how children learn frequently used forms more quickly than other less frequently used forms (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993). It also accounts for both the appearance of overregularisation errors and their disappearance. Additionally, in a study by Meyer and Schwaneveldt (1971) (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993), it was found that when a word is used it primes (subconsciously makes us think of) other related words therefore there must be some spreading activation in the language processor. This provides evidence for the existence of interconnected pathways. Much of the other supporting evidence comes from the experimental computerised model of the PDP. In 1987, Rummelhart and McClelland (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993) ran simulations on this model and found that in the case of simulating past-tense learning and producti on they got very similar learning patterns to those found in children. Additionally, when part of the language network of the PDP was shut down to simulate brain damage, the resulting performance was very similar to the deficits found in brain-damaged human patients (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993). Studies by Elman (1993)(Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993) using the same computerised model have shown that the learning ability of the system extends beyond words and can also account for the development of the syntactic system if enough examples of adult language are given. While this model has many strengths, there are also significant weaknesses. First of all, while it can account for the formation of language, it does not account for the acquisition of semantics. Additionally, as admitted by Rohde and Plaut (1999)(Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993), it doesnt take into account the social aspect of conversation, in other words, how we decipher language in relation to the social situation and how that affects what we say. Another criticism of the model of the PDP mechanism is that while it does well with information that is presented all at once (e.g. a picture), it has trouble with serial processing (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993). This poses a problem since language is serial by nature. Another common criticism of this theory is that information processing theorists make too much of the superficial similarities between the brain and the proposed PDP when there are actually many differences (Bohannon Bonvillian, 1993). A strength of this model is the fact that it may give insight into how to approach the treatment of problems relating to the grammatical structures of language. For example, the PDP system showed it could learn proper grammar through bombardment. Therefore, according to this model, bombardment will allow the child to internalise the desired structure because the input pathways will be provided with enough adult-level examples to form the correct pathway. As an application in therapy then, this suggests that the SLT could choose exercises in which the child hears the correct structure over and over again. The PDP model also suggests that each structure must be worked on separately in treatment because they all use different pathways. For example, if past tense is the problem then regular past tense must be worked on and once that structure overgeneralises then the exceptions should be targeted. As an application in clinical practice then, if the child is trying to acquire regular and irregular past tense, the SLT should start with treatment of the regular past tense, wait for that pattern to overgeneralise and then work on individual irregular past tense verbs. Both imitation and repetition are also implied as practical applications of this model in clinical practice. By having the child imitate the proper form it is suggested that both the proper input and output pathways will be activated, therefore helping the child to solidify the correct one more quickly. Similarly, by eliciting the child to repeat the proper form this model implies that the correct language pathway to solidify more quickly. In a study by Whitehurst and Novak (1973) imitation was shown to be effective in helping children solidify specific rules in their own speech and the techniques of bombardment and repetition were used as part of the treatment in a study by Seeff-Gabriel et al.(2012) which had success in a child learning to generalise the regular past tense. It is important to note that while these treatments may be effective in some cases, as previously mentioned, there is criticism for the information- processing model. It is our duty as future clinicians to look further into the research and study the effectiveness of these approaches before spending long periods of time on them with patients. All of the theories discussed here have strengths and weaknesses and all of them have implications for clinical practice. Depending on which theory an SLT is influenced by, the therapeutic approach will be different. One of the keys to being a good speech and language therapist is the ability to look at these different models and see how their strengths can be applied to create effective therapy for the client. In addition to this however, it should be kept in mind that these are only theories of language acquisition and that while we should be very aware of the theoretical underpinnings that influence the therapy and techniques we use, our aim should not be to create a practice based solely on theories. Our aim needs to be to create an evidence-based practice guided by the continuing advances in theories and current research.

What Is Organization? Essay -- Management

To organize means to determine what activities are necessary for a specific purpose and to encourage them in groups, which are assigned to individuals. An organisation is a complex social system, which brings together many individuals for a given purpose. It is also an arrangement of personnel to facilitate the accomplishment of a given purpose through the allocation of functions and responsibilities. To further understand the definition of organisation let us consider the definition developed by Max Weber. Like any other field of study, and like organisation themselves, organizational analysis has a tradition. That tradition leans heavily on Max Weber, who is known for his analysis of bureaucracy and authority, topics that will be considered later. Weber also concerned himself with the more general definitions of organisation. In his definition he first distinguishes the "corporate group" from other forms of social organisation (Weber, 1947). The corporate group involves "a social relationship with either closed or limits the admission of outsiders by rules... so far as its order is enforced by the action of specific individuals whose regular function this is, of a chief or `head' and usually also a administrative staff." This aspect of the definition contains a number of elements that need further discussion, since they are basic to most other such definition. In the first place, organisation involves social relationship. That is, individuals interact within the organization. However as the reference to closed or limited boundaries suggests, these individual are not simply in random contact. The organisation (corporate group) includes some parts of the population and exc... ...inciples, developing models of organisation that were overly rational and mechanistic. The Type 2 theorist, to a large degree, represented a counterpoint to the rational-mechanistic view. The current stage of organisation theory more fully reflects the contribution of the type 3. Contingency advocates have taken the insights provided by the earlier theorists and reframed them in a situational context. Nevertheless, we should not conclude that the findings of the earlier management thinkers would be useless in the future. For, example many of the concepts developed by early classical writers are still of value today; the study of the management task in terms of functions performed and the use of management principle as guides to actions are still very much with us and are expected to remain valuable. Few who manage will be able to escape at least some of their impact.

George Gordon Byron Essay -- George Gordon Byron Essays Biography

George Gordon Byron   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Their are many different opinions on the written works of George Gordon Byron which could include one very big question. Was he a natural born poet or simply a product of abuse and mental illness. His writings may have been more a way to ease his pa and suffering rather than a natural talent. Perhaps his writings were a form of self therapy? Throughout his writings and life history there is much evidence to suggest that his poetry was being greatly influenced by his mental instability. I have l rned much on this great poet and I too believe that his writings were influenced greatly because of the pain and abuse he suffered in his youth. I will attempt to point out the many possibilities to this.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  George Gordon Byron was known as Lord Byron during his lifetime. Byron was born in 1788 and died at the early age of thirty-six in the year 1824. His handsome face, riotous living and many love affairs made Byron the most talked-of man of his day. H was known as a romantic, fascinating figure to his fellow Englishmen. In our current century his reputation has dwindled to merely being known as a poet. His childhood was colorful to say the least. There is much evidence to suggest mental instabilit was inherent in his family. Byron was born on Jan.22, 1788 in London. His great-uncle from whom he inherited the title, was known as â€Å"wicked Lord Byron†; his father army officer, was called â€Å"mad Jack† Byron. This wealth and the nick names of the Byron en went back to at least as far a Lord Byron’s’ Grandfather, a Vice Admiral, known as â€Å"Foul Weather Jack†. He was giving this name as he had a reputation of attracting storms. These titles given to his family only adds to the evidence of mental insta lity. Here’s an interesting note: (His family had a long tradition of marrying its cousins, consequently, there were some oddities among their ancestors. Byron’s grandfather â€Å"Foul Weather Jack† hated his sons and spent a great deal of time trying to destroy their estate, Newstead. He hoped to leave nothing for his sons, so he encouraged swarms of crickets o run throughout the house.) (His Life www.edenpr.k12.mn.usephs/ArcadiaWeb)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Born with a clubfoot, he was sensitive about it all his life. When he was just three his father died, leaving the family with nearly nothing to survive on. His parents, Catherine Gordon Byron (of the ... ..., self-sacrificing, and accepting of her ate to the point of victimization. In the early episode, Donna Julia breads somewhat out of this role by being the older (23 years old!) married woman and not the innocent girl. Byron thus somewhat reverses gender roles and has the sexually mature woman take a m e active role in seducing the naive and innocent young man. (Don Juan, Canto I http://citd.scar.untoronto.ca/English/ENGBO2Y/DonJuan.html).  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I believe that Lord Byron was expressing is own pain of the sexual abuse he endured b May Grey at school in his earlier childhood in the character Donna Julia. So in my opinion of all I have discovered about this literary poet is that Lord Byron was not born with a talent for writing poetry. He however did write from his own heart. Wh h is what a truly brilliant poet must do. Had he not have been exposed to physical and sexual abuse in his youth. I feel there is a good possibility he would have never written a single poem He would have had a different profession altogether along w h an entirely different life style. The world was blessed with the many poems of Lord Bryon but only through the suffering of another human being.