The Invention Of The Revolver History Essay

The Invention Of The Revolver History Essay Revolvers are repeating firearms that consist of a cylinder containing multiple chambers, with at least one barrel for firing. The name revolver comes from the short-form of its original name, revolving gun. As its name suggests, the revolver is uniquely designed such that the chambers of a revolver revolve around an axis. 2. The Invention of the Revolver The first inventor of the revolver was Elisha Haydon Collier. Collier invented the flintlock revolver, which was a single-action, self-priming weapon with automatic release of gunpowder into the pan when the gun hammer was cocked. Patented in 1818, the flintlock revolvers single barrel allowed greater accuracy and faster reloading time (Shaver, 2004 ). Today, the revolvers that we are familiar with are an adaptation of Colliers revolver. One of the most significant pioneers in revolver technology was Samuel Colt. There are many variations as to how Colt first came up with the idea for his revolver, ranging from an eureka moment while shooting whales, to stealing Colliers idea in India (Hosley, 1996 ). Colt patented the percussion cap revolver in December 1835, which enabled muzzle-loading firearms to fire reliably regardless of weather. This was an improvement from Colliers flintlock revolver, which was prone to misfire in wet weather. The shooter would load the chambers of the cylinder with gunpowder and a projectile, and put in place several percussion caps. While this loading procedure might be tedious, it allowed the shooter to have rounds fully prepared ahead of time (Harris, 2011 ). Bullet cartridges were soon introduced in revolvers in the 1870s, replacing gunpowder and caps. The cartridges are a combination of a projectile (the bullet), a propellant (gunpowder) and a primer (the explosive cap), all contained within a metal casing. 3. Evolution of Revolvers 3.1 Type of innovation 3.1.1 Product Innovation The first revolvers invented by Collier were a product innovation. The patent was bought by John Evans and Son of London. It manufactured about 10,000 revolvers to sell mainly to the British forces in India and they are embodied as its outputs (Flemming, 2012). 3.1.2 Incremental Innovation Before the revolvers were invented, other types of handguns such as the single shot and multi barreled pistols existed. Revolvers improved on these handguns and hence were an incremental innovation. Firstly in the past, guns were mostly limited to a single shot except the pepper box however it was heavy and difficult to load since it had multiple barrels for each bullet. The revolver has the capability to deliver multiple loads to a single handgun barrel in quick succession (Delman ,2010). Revolvers are also different in terms of having lower chances of malfunction and thus provide greater reliability. Rounds which fail to fire can usually be cleared by merely pulling the trigger which will cycle the cylinder and place the next available round in a firing position (Riverwalker, 2009). Several malfunctions are however common in pistols that require more complex methods to clear them. Revolvers also have a sturdier design due partly to their heavier construction which allows them to shoot more powerful rounds (Riverwalker, 2009). 3.1.3 Component Innovation The revolver is a component innovation since its major change in handgun design is in creating a rotating cylinder which would come into alignment with a single barrel to fire successive bullets (Harris,2010). Collier combined this with a flintlock mechanism to create the first revolver. 3.1.3 Competence Enhancing vs Competence Destroying Originally, Colliers flintlock revolver was competence enhancing for John Evans and Son of London. However the revolver had several problems and by the 1840s, Colts Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company had adapted the revolvers based on the percussion cap system and mass produced them. This was competence destroying for Colliers company while competence enhancing for Colts (Delman, 2010). 3.2 Mechanics of the Revolver Over the years, the revolver has been constantly evolving and many different variations of the revolver have been invented. Despite this, the fundamental design of the revolver still remains the same, with several firing chambers arranged in a circle in a cylindrical block. This differs from other repeating firearms that use a single firing chamber with a different mechanism to load and extract cartridges. In modern revolvers, there is a spring-loaded hammer located at one end of the cylinder, in line with the barrel (Fig. 1). By cocking the hammer back, a new cartridge is lined up between the hammer and the barrel. To release the bullet, a pull of the trigger would result in the spring throwing the hammer forward so it hits the primer at the back of the bullet. The primer explodes, igniting the propellant and driving the bullet down the barrel. Macintosh HD:Users:helpdesk:Desktop:Screen Shot 2013-03-02 at 1.21.04 AM.png Figure 1 The inside of the barrel is lined with spiralling grooves, which increases the stability of the bullet by spinning it. A longer barrel not only improves stability, but also increases the speed of the bullet. 3.2.1 Actions (Mechanism) Single-Action Mechanism Single-action revolvers are revolvers that require the user to cock the weapon manually. The act of pulling back the cock rotates the cylinder and the user can then pull the trigger to fire it. Colts original revolver design involved a ratchet and pawl mechanism to hold the cylinders in place. Double-Action Mechanism Most revolvers today are double-action revolvers that perform two functions: cocking, and then firing the gun. Robert Adams, a British gunsmith, invented double-action revolvers in 1851. In this mechanism, pulling the trigger halfway automatically rotates the cylinder and releases the cocked hammer. Pulling back the trigger even more releases the cocked hammer. This would allow the user to fire the double-action revolver in one trigger pull. 3.3 How it has evolved 4. Uses Applications 4.1 Self Defence In the US where private gun ownership is legalized, a third of all gun sales can be attributed to handguns, including revolvers (Harris, 2013). Many Americans choose the revolver as a self-defense weapon due to its ease of use, maintenance and general reliability. To fire a revolver, a novice gun owner merely needs to aim and pull the trigger for double action revolvers or cock the hammer and then pull the trigger for single action revolvers. Their simplicity in design allows an average person to shoot safely and competently without much training. They are also relatively more affordable and sustainable due to the ability to withstand neglect (Riverwalker, 2009). 4.2 Combat Military The revolver was first adopted in combat by the Texas Rangers against the hostile native Indians who outnumbered them in Texas (Brown, 2013). Later on it was introduced into the U.S army in 1846 when the Mexican War began as Capt. Samuel H. Walker collaborated with Colt to design a novel and more powerful revolver (Colt Defense LLC, 2013). Throughout US military history up till 1985, revolvers had been the standard firearm, to arm the soldiers on battlefields such as during the Civil War, World War I and II. Although later on they were replaced by higher ammunition and faster reloading semi-automatic pistols, today they continued to be employed largely by guards, Navy Shore Patrol, and intelligence and counterintelligence operatives (Olive-Drab, 2013). 4.3 Sporting Hunting Handgun hunting has become a popular sport and most hunters use revolvers since they provide the reliability needed to hunt all types of big game (Hampton, 2013). Hunting with revolvers is more challenging and hones a hunters skills since the guns have comparatively shorter sight radius and less powerful ammunition. Hunters must also stalk closer to the prey to kill it humanely and this gives it greater chance of escaping from the hunters. A significant amount of practice is required to develop accuracy and marksmanship in revolver hunting (Wilson, 2010). 4.4 Law Enforcement Since the 1870s American police forces have relied on revolvers to arrest criminals and protect civilians. The most popular revolver used in law enforcement history was the Colt Official Police invented in 1927 which sold up to 400,000 units by 1970 (Scarlata, 2011). It was the top choice across numerous American police departments for one third of a century. Although production of this model has ceased today, other types of revolvers still play a significant role as back up and off duty firearms among American police officers. 5. Impacts of the Revolver 5.1 Military As an important tool for the military, the revolver has transformed major warfare in history and especially assisted in westward expansion. In the American Civil War in 1860, revolvers were one of the new and powerful weapons that forced armies to change their battle techniques. The Lemat and Colt revolvers were the most common firearms used. For example, Samuel Colt alone produced 200,000 of his guns for the Union and Confederate troops (Elbehri, 2010). These guns were more accurate and required less time to reload since they could fire multiple shots at one time. Combat at the time occurred at short distances and cavalrymen had to charge into formations of the enemy and use firearms and sabers to disrupt them and spread panic. At close ranges, revolvers were very powerful and handy especially while the cavalrymen were in saddles. This allowed armies to attack enemies more easily and aggressively. After the war, the US military adopted the Single Action Army revolver as the standard firearm and they aided the front troops to fight in the Indian war, Spanish-American War and Philippine-American War (military factory, 2011). In World War I, although the Americans had started switching to semi-automatic pistols, the M1917 revolvers continued to play a key role in filling the urgent need for guns. The British-made Webley revolvers also served as the standard sidearm for British soldiers in the war (Lewis, 2012). This sudden popularity in the armies was due to the revolvers small size which allowed airmen and tank operators to be armed under their space constrained environments (Duffey, 2009). Additionally, given its sturdy design and dependability, it was ideally suited to muddy and adverse conditions of trench warfare (Lewis, 2012). In World War II, the British and American troops continued using .38 calibre revolvers until finally afterwards, semi-automatic pistols replaced the revolvers in most militaries worldwide. 5.2 Societal Impacts Due to the strong gun culture that exists in U.S., this report will only be studying the societal impacts that revolvers have caused in U.S. Among the developed countries in the world today, U.S. has the highest number of gun owners. About 9 in 10 Americans own more than 270 million guns (Alpers, Philip and Wilson, 2013). That is 5% of the worlds population owning 35-50% of the worlds civilian-owned firearms, of which around 30% are revolvers (Stray, 2013). Sadly, the U.S. is also well known for clinching the highest number of gun homicides. The points below illustrated how the gun industry has severely impacted the society. Homicides Gun-rights advocates might be right when they argue that there might not be a connection between level gun ownership and homicide. However, numerous surveys and studies have concluded that there is an association between the number of homicides and gun ownership in developed countries. A study by Hemenway found that U.S. firearm homicide rates were 19.5 times higher than other developed countries (Kenny, 2013). Accidental Deaths In addition, unintentional firearm deaths in the U.S. were more than five times higher than in the other countries. Among these 23 countries, the U.S. accounted for 80 percent of all firearm deaths; 87 percent of all children under 15 killed by firearms were American children. Homes with guns are 12 times more likely to have household members or guests killed or injured by the weapon than by an intruder (Kenny, 2013). Self Defense and Reassurance of Safety However, the revolver  Data from the National Crime Victimization Survey suggest that a gun is used in self-defense  about 60,000 to 120,000 times each year. Several other surveys confirm this estimate. Facilitating Crimes each year about a million violent crimes involve guns This means guns are used to commit a crime about 10 times as often as they are used for self-defense. 5.3 Government 5.3.1 Laws Policy Making The Federal legislation enacted the Gun Control Act in 1968 that defines who was not allowed to possess a gun and barred anyone under 21 years old from buying handgun. However, they guarantee the right to gun ownership by law. There are restrictions though. The   National Firearms Act of 1934  restricts civilians from owning automatic weapons, short-barrelled shotguns, hand grenades, and other powerful arms without appropriate registration. People are free to carry guns both openly or hidden, outside, with the exception of federal facilities where guns are prohibited. The buyer of firearm is not obliged to allow official background checks before taking possession of guns. However, the  Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act  of 1993 requires licensed gun dealers to perform background checks. Each state may have different jurisdiction, but overall, in the United States, if you do not have a criminal record and have not been adjudicated as mentally incompetent, you can buy guns. 5.4 Economic Impacts Over the years, the U.S. gun industry has been profiting by illegally trafficking firearms into Mexico. However, these firearms were used to arm drug cartels and thus, caused the deaths of thousands of civilians. Nearly 90 percent of weapons seized in Mexico are trafficked from the U.S. The market is extremely strong, especially because of the high demand and lack of strict control in the sale of weapons in U.S. Furthermore, in 2005, the Congress granted gun dealers blanket immunity from civil damages resulting from the misuse. Thus, the tyranny of the drug cartels and mafia reigns on (Kenny, 2013). The gun industry has faced its own share of ups and downs throughout the history but to date, it is still going strong. In 2012, the industry is expected to earn $11.7 billion in sale and $993 million in profit, according to analysts at IBIS World.(Brad, 2012) In 2011, about half of the six million guns manufactured in the United States were pistols and revolvers. Thats up from just one-third in 2001,  according to a report  from First Research.  Rifles now account for 35 percent of the market, with shotguns and other guns making up the rest. U.S. firearms manufacturers will export some $4.4 billion worth of guns and ammunition to other countries this year. The biggest customers are Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, who accounted for nearly 40 percent of exports in 2012 (its mainly law enforcement and military agencies doing the buying, as private gun ownership is heavily regulated in those nations). IBIS World expects exports to keep surging in the coming years, with ammunition and ordnance being an especially popular item overseas. The economic impact of the firearms industry is up 66 percent since the beginning of the Great Recession, providing an unexpected shot in the arm for the economy, according to a new study. The  National Shooting Sports Foundation  says the economic impact of firearm sales a figure that includes jobs. taxes and sales hit $31 billion in 2011, up from $19 billion in 2008. Jobs in the firearms business jumped 30 percent from 2008 to 2011, when the industry employed 98,750. The industry paid $2.5 billion in federal taxes in 2011, up 66 percent in three years. Ours is an industry with a rich history and heritage that remains vital and important to the American economy today,  NSSF  Senior Vice President  Lawrence G. Keane  said in a statement. To millions of Americans our industrys products represent liberty, security and recreation. Some in the industry attribute the jump in sales to fears the  Obama administration  will tighten gun control laws in a possible second term. Theres a concern that in the second term the  Obama administration  would lead an attempt to restrict gun ownership,  Mr. Keane  said. That concern, known in the industry as the Obama factor, has led many gun owners to purchase now in hopes of avoiding more restrictions and regulations later. (Devaney 2012)

The sport of Paintball Essay -- essays research papers

The Sport of Paintball There you are. You’re hiding behind a hastily constructed bunker made to protect yourself from enemy fire. You can hear the enemy firing on your position, and you can feel the shots screaming above your head. The firing ceases for a moment. You pop out, fire off a few rounds, and duck back in; but as you are going back in the shots start up again, and you feel the rounds whizzing past your head and ear. One catches your sleeve. You glance down. No damage. Suddenly you have a fellow fighter there in your bunker with you. He tells you he’s going to try to take the enemy bunker out. Before you can stop him, he charges out of the bunker, gun blazing. A burst of fire, and a cry. You glance out, and see that your teammate has been hit. Anger sweeps over you. You check your ammunition; close to full. You make a conscious decision to take them out. Taking a breath, you burst from your haven at speeds you did not know you could achieve. The enemy is surprised by this boldness. T hey doubted you, and are now caught off guard. You fire upon the exposed enemy. You see one of your shots find it’s mark, and he goes down. There is one more. Maintaining fire to keep him pinned down, you sweep past his bunker, and place three shots in his chest as you pass. You are victorious. Now, where are you? Are you in Iraq? No. Are you in Vietnam in the past? No. You are in the average American town, and you are out with your buddies live a game of paintball. You are still pumped up on adrenaline, and eager for the next game. One may wonder, what is paintball? Paintball is a sport similar to laser tag but with live ammunition. Players are given a paintball gun, a protective mask, a gas source, and usually some spare paintballs. A paintball gun, also called a marker, uses a pressurized gas source to propel a marble-sized ball out of the marker at anywhere from 250 to 300 feet per second (fps). This ball is fired at another player who is (or at least should be) similarly equipped. If the ball strikes the player, the ball breaks, and the gelatinous, colored filling leaves a bright mark on the player. This is called being â€Å"marked†. The player who was hit is usually out of the game at this point. Some people play multiple hit rules, such as three-hits-and-you’re-out, or scenarios like that. This is a basic overview of the sport of paintball. Now we shall look at the a... ..., country-boy Ritchie White, captured all twelve flags without firing a single shot! Paintball pioneer Bob Gurnsey saw the potential of what went on that day in the woods of New Hampshire, so he went on to secure direct sources of the necessary products from the companies that supplied paintballs and markers to forestry and agricultural markets. He then marketed the first paintball game field franchises under the banner of the "National Survival Game". In 1983, the first official N.S.G. Paintball tournament was held, and the die was cast. Some of the biggest manufacturers include companies like Tippmann Pneumatics, Smart Parts, Worr Games Products (WGP), WDP, Dye, V-Force, JT, and Brass Eagle. Most companies make a full range of products for the industry, as to be competitive. Paintball is the fastest growing sport in the nation. It is easy to see why. It is competitive, team-building, family oriented, athletic, fun, and first and for most safe. Paintball appeals to men and women, young and old. It began with a few friends in the woods, and now is a multi-billion dollar family worldwide industry. The sport of paintball is one that will be around for a very long time.

Hong Kong Disneyland: Where Is The Magic Essay

The case study, â€Å"Hong Kong Disneyland: Where is the Magic†, analyzed Disney’s strategic decision to expand their product into Hong Kong. Disney entered into a joint venture with the Hong Kong government to build their third international theme park. The following analysis reviews why and how Disney entered the South-East Asian market using the CAGE analysis. We review the strategic management issues and decisions that were made as complications arose from the entry into Hong Kong market and opening of the new Hong Kong Disney. Also, we provide the major takeaways from Disney’s entry into the South-East Asian market. Hong Kong Environment By 1999, the year of Disney’s announcement, it was clear Hong Kong was in the throes of a recession for the first time in 20 years. Just two years earlier the Asian financial crisis swept through Hong Kong as reflected in the material drop in property prices and the 1998 contraction of the GDP from first quarter’s 2.6% to 5.1%, 6.9%, and 5.7% in the following quarters resulting in an overall reduction of 5.1%, nearly reversing in full the growth observed in 1997. The pain was felt in all sectors of the economy. While wages stagnated, spending on superfluous wants dropped significantly including tourism – Disney’s target sector in Hong Kong. Total spending dropped 2.4% from 1997 to 1998 though inbound visitors from China crept up 13.1% over 1997. Nevertheless, China’s population was booming and Hong Kong was the beneficiary of their tourism dollars at a time Disney was excited to gain direct access to the fastest growing country in the world. The American market for Disney was mature. They carefully managed the evolution of their theme parks in such a way that uniquely positioned them to branch out into growing markets with a seemingly seamless approach, which they observed in their successful Tokyo endeavor. Their proprietary theme park experience was an untapped opportunity in Hong Kong. Theme parks in general were not in short supply in Asia in the late ‘90s, highlighting their popularity. Between 1994 and ‘99 2,000 new parks were built in China alone. Disney had the benefit of coming in with an established brand and product to take advantage of the popular theme park sector. Since the Disney name and all that comes with it were internationally popular and the notion of the American Dream was popular in Asia, the cultural and even language differences were thought to be largely inconsequential. Decision to Go Global The American market was stagnant which made expansion into global markets an attractive option. Disney has great success operating as a holiday destination so setting up shop in a large city abroad filled with tourists would create a great potential market. One of Disney’s boasted strengths was their ability to create a happy and magical place, where their guests can relive fond memories and become inspired. Disney has been very successful using architecture, landscaping, costumes, music, entertainment, attractions, merchandise and food to create exotic, fairy tale like, and adventurous atmospheres within one theme park at the same time. The parks in America were extremely well managed and organized in which the guest routes throughout the park were pre-determined and the staff had been rigorously trained. The company was confident with local research and hired expertise they could easily adapt for Chinese culture differences and have similar success as Tokyo Disney. The company planned to make a few modifications to Disney’s current management style to meet local expectations, such as architecture and menu items. Disney did not see Ocean Park as a serious competitor and therefore made few changes to their marketing plan. The park was established in 1977, and was marketed as a nature-centered park though performance was described as â€Å"lackluster† and â€Å"not aggressive enough† where advertising and product development were concerned. Disney priced tickets at nearly double the price  of Ocean Park’s tickets and gave little incentive to travel agents for tickets booked. Target: Hong Kong After two vastly different experiences opening international Disney parks, an ownership venture into an Asian country was a given. Tokyo Disneyland had been extremely successful from day one with little demand for cultural assimilation; Disney was ready to open their own park in Asia. In the early 2000’s Hong Kong was showing signs of recovery from the recession. In 2004, the economy experienced an 8.1% increase in GDP and in increase in local consumer spending and confidence. That same year the region also received an enormous number of tourists a year, approximately 21.8 million visitors with 12.45 from mainland China. With the expansion of the Individual Visit Scheme (IVS) the growing presence of the Chinese visitors could be counted on. It was a known fact that the Chinese enjoyed visiting theme parks from the massive number built throughout the mainland in the 90’s. However, the only attraction park in the region was becoming outdated and was no longer viewed as a main attraction. The region’s government was interested in joining Disney in a joint venture which would ease some of the financial concerns of company expansion. With the growing presence of Chinese tourists, one direct competitor, and involvement of the regional government Hong Kong was a very attractive market opportunity. Joint Venture Decision Entering foreign markets is accomplished via three major approaches: export/import, licensing, and/or foreign investment. Disney had experience with all methods prior to entering Hong Kong with varying degrees of success. They have exported products throughout the world, used a licensing approach to enter Japan, and a direct investment approach to enter France/Europe. In deciding the entry mode to Hong Kong, past experiences may have contributed to selecting joint venture as the best entry mode to Hong Kong. The overwhelming success of Tokyo Disneyland suggests licensing is not the best strategy. Disney was not able to fully capitalize on the success of Tokyo Disneyland. They only collected licensing fees, thus missing out on  the opportunity to enhance revenues by limiting their stake to just licensing fees. The success of this entity was at least partially due to the ‘aspirational quality’ of American culture exhibited by the Japanese. Further analysis of past market entry experience suggested direct investment may not be the best option either. Disney chose direct investment when entering the European market being a controlling shareholder in the Euro Disney entity. Euro Disney found itself saddled with large debt struggling to survive. Unlike the Japanese experience, the French believed Disney was practicing cultural imperialism through its operation. Needless to say the French do not share the same aspirational quality of American culture as the Japanese. In looking to Hong Kong, Disney had to look at these past experiences to find a happy medium between the success of Tokyo and the less successful entry to Europe. Thus a joint venture with the government of Hong Kong was born. This entry mode allows Disney to share more risk, unlike Euro Disney, but also reap a greater benefit in the event Hong Kong proves to be as successful as Tokyo Disneyland. The joint venture setup with the Hong Kong government should, in theory at least, allow Disney to avoid the cultural missteps of Euro Disney while making entry smoother and paving the way to greater profits. Having selected a joint venture as the entry method, was their entry successful? The price to enter the park was nearly double the competition. Not necessarily a problem until you look at survey results showing ~70% of respondents expected a lower admission price. Coupled with a poor commission structure for travel agents, Disney was off to a rough start once the park opened. Even before the park opened there were problems. Public criticism was directed at the nature of the joint venture; operating the park as a private entity with public funding was not well-received. Fire ant colonies were found throughout the property. Testing of firework displays led to complaints from area residents and local officials. In response, Disney  refused to use a less noisy system used in other Disney properties as they argued they were following local regulations. This inflexible approach led to animosity between the company and locals. Additionally, packs of wild dogs were using the park as a location to scour for food leading to visitor safety concerns. Attempting to learn from their experience in France, Disney endeavored to integrate local customs and practices into park design including using feng shui. However, the decision to offer shark’s fin soup caused another problem. Local conservationists argued this was a status symbol and not a local custom. They pointed to the competition not offering this delicacy as a good example. Once the park opened, there were further issues. Reaching park capacity, turning people away and long queues were unforeseen operational issues resulting in further headaches for Disney. Despite looking to their past for guidance, taken as a whole, Disney’s initial entry into Hong Kong was not very successful. Lessons Learned Disney has numerous lessons to be learned from the opening of the Hong Kong theme park, some of which were available to them before making the Hong Kong decision based on their moves into other countries. The common theme among these lessons is that Disney needed to better understand the context of their business venture before starting, throughout the implementation process and post opening. In the case of Disney and Hong Kong, the relevant context includes competition, supporting industries, the cultural setting, and understanding the target customers’ wants and measurement of satisfaction. The first lesson the Walt Disney Company learned while expanding into Hong Kong is to understand pricing structure. Their main competitor, Ocean Park was more aggressive in sales on mainland China by offering better commission rates to travel agents. The university study showed expectations for adult pricing ranged would be in the range of HK$200 – HK$300 while the actual price was HK$295 on weekdays and HK$350 on weekends. This pushed potential  guests out of the Disney market to lower priced Ocean Park. The second lesson learned from the Hong Kong Disney expansion is a better understanding of the overall Honk Kong theme park marketplace. Disney seemed to be fighting back. They were not acting proactively towards employee union work conditions, green initiatives, animal rights activists and the â€Å"Disney Hunters† who brought to light inhuman labor practices. Disney spent a lot of time repairing its reputation from marketplace issues rather than projecting the Disney image to potential guests. The third lesson learned is an operational issue. Disney should have had smaller more manageable openings, leading to larger crowds. Opening the park to maximum occupancy for a charity event was noble but created only downside risk to Disney operations. They saw quickly they could not handle the crowds in every aspect. After the fact they basically blamed their customers believing the problems stemmed from a lack of understanding the flexible ticking system. The last lesson learned is for Disney to be more local in all regards. First, hire local high level managers to run parts of the operation. This could have avoided several issues like the Chinese New Year ticketing problem, management turnover, inspections and catering menu options. Also, the Hong Kong people working on the project would not have felt they were being forced to manage to the Disney policies. In summary, Disney’s strategic decision to enter into the Hong Kong market via joint venture with the government was a logical decision. Tapping into the China market, home to the worlds most populated country and a fast growing economy, Honk Kong Disneyland seem destined for success. However, as with past international expansions Disney faced a whirlwind of cultural, economic and management issues that tainted the original vision to spread Disney magic into South-East Asian market

Blank 2 Essay

Blank 2 Essay Blank 2 Essay frontal lobe is the largest of the four lobes and occupies the upper forward half of each cerebral hemisphere, right behind your forehead. Involved with attention, personality, control of emotions and expression of emotional behaviour. -Higher order functions- Learning and memory -Decision making (making judgements)/reasoning -Planning -Movement -Language -Emotional control -Memory formation (primary motor cortex) Aphasia: Language disorder due to brain damage Damage to Broca's area also known as: Expressive aphasia Motor Aphasia non-fluent Aphasia primary motor cortex is specifically involved in controlling voluntary bodily movements through its control of skeletal muscles. Skeletal muscles are attached directly to bones and include the hand, arm, leg, back and facial muscles. Your skeletal muscles are involved when you smile, wiggle your toes, nod your head and bend to sit in a chair. The motor areas receive and process information about voluntary bodily movements; that is, intentional movements such as when you scratch your nose or pick up a pen and write. Each frontal lobe has a motor area called the primary motor cortex. The primary motor cortex controls our movements by sending neural messages to various parts of the body to make them move in the required way. association areas of each lobe receive and combine information from more specialised areas (such as sensory and motor areas and areas that store memories), allowing us to undertake more complex cognitive (mental) processes such as perceiving, thinking, learning, remembering, reasoning and so on. Broca’s area has a crucial role in the production of articulate speech; that is, speech that is clear and fluent. Broca’s area is also linked to and interacts with areas of the cerebral cortex that are involved with the meaning of words and the structure of sentences, as well as the specific parts of speech such as adjectives, prepositions and conjunctions. parietal lobe in each hemisphere receives and processes sensory information from the body and skin senses (called somatosensory information) and other sensory areas in the brain. It also sends information to other areas of the brain. Recognition Processing sensory information Pressure, pain, and touch & bodily movement sensations Location of objects in space (spatial perception) Motion detection Damage: Inability to feel an object touching you eg. a glove Inability to recognise the object that is touching them or to understand what the object actually does. primary somatosensory cortex (also called the primary sensory area and primary sensory cortex) receives and processes sensory information from the skin and body, enabling us to perceive bodily sensations. This sensory information includes: touch pressure and temperature from sensory receptors in the skin information about muscle movement and the position of limbs from sensory receptors in the muscles, tendons and joints. Narrow strip of cortex that processes sensory information about touch, limb location, pressure, pain and temperature all over Occipital Lobe- Cortical Regions Primary Visual Cortex- This is the primary area of the brain responsible for sight. Temporal Lobe Main function: hearing-auditory processes- Information retrieval (memory formation) (hippocampus) -organisation/comprehension -aspects of visual perception (identifying objects and recognising faces) -Emotional responses to sensory information and memories. Wernicke's Aphasia -Language comprehension is inhibited. Words and sentences are not clearly understood, and sentence formation may be inhibited or non-sensational Brainstem

rev Week 6 Final Paper

rev Week 6 Final Paper rev Week 6 Final Paper Space Age Furniture Problem University Name Abstract The Space Age Furniture Company appropriated a requisition of 1000 Gemini furniture pieces and an alternate for 1000 Saturn furniture pieces. The unit that will generate they said units is equipped for gathering the handling of the requested products, however the quandary is the accessibility of a gifted worker who can proficiently work the extraordinary machine required in the processing of a particular part to finish an unit. The main mechanic of the organization can prepare 30 bits of said part in a hour, 240 pieces in a general 8 hour work day, or what added up to 1,200 pieces in a 5 working days for every week. Anyhow to take care of the demand of the customer for a particular date of conveyance, 2,000 units must be made in one week. Ed, the main gifted machine admin is hesitant to work more extra minutes. In this way, the furniture organization is confronted with the issue of conveying the requested units asked for by the customer on a particular date and influencing Ed to work additional minutes throughout the whole weeks of processing. The organization has one week lead opportunity to transform both requested items. Space Age Furniture Problem Struggling to meet the client satisfaction, by effectively balancing production of goods with employee contentment is always a problem to producers of goods. Take the case of Space Age Furniture Company. The company has only one machine operator who can operate the special lathe that will produce part number 3079 needed in the completion of both Genesis 425 and Saturn 257, part 3079 is essential in the production of both commissioned products. But this essential part is only produced by the special lathe which only Ed can skillfully operate. With Ed opting to work the regular shift, 8 hours in five regular working days, only 1,200 pieces will be made in a week. But with the higher demand for the products and the time element included in the order, more of part 3079 must be produced per day which would translate to overtime work for Ed, if he agrees to it. Hiring another machinist to take over the production after Ed’s shift ends, may yet solve the p roblem but the special lathe requires a highly skilled operator like Ed, to work it efficiently, and not a lot of Ed’s caliber can be immediately hired to do the work. Another alternative is a training anew operator, but that will not be good option, considering that the new recruit may not turn out to be as skilled as Ed. â€Å"With Coral, the operations manager of the company is tasked to address the problem of solving the timely and efficient production of the specific part without the burden of overtime to the only available operator of the lathe† (Gallego G, 2011) Detailed study of demand must be studied comprehensively, that is, in the total of 2,000 units of part 3,079 that must be produced to meet both orders, 1,000 sub-assemblies is for Saturn 257 and the other 1,000 sub-assemblies is for Genesis 435. Every assembly unit is generated by Ed at pretty nearly 0.03 hours, or an unit at regular intervals, 30 gathering units each hour, in an eight hours shift 240 units, so in 5 days and with a 8 hours shift a day, 1200 sub get together units will be processed in a week. Ed, the engineer, supposes whatever he can process is the greatest 1200 sub gathering parts for the week, in any case, 2000 parts or an overabundance of 800 sub get together parts must be processed without much fanfare, which implies that 26.6 hours of extra minutes work must be rendered to take care of the demand of the employment request. The organization has an one week lead opportunity to transform the requested furniture, so what the operations chief needs to do is let Ed produce the greatest number of the aforementioned parts without doing extra time work expecting that the organization has not yet accepted the requests. The prepared parts might then be the organization's stock that might

Architecture and Avant-garde Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Architecture and Avant-garde - Essay Example The notions of avant-garde architecture provided with an underpinning of modern architecture. The avant-garde architecture gave birth to a German association of architects, designers, and industrials Deutscher Werkbund, meaning German Work Federation, which later on proved to be a springboard for modern industrial architectural designs. Moreover, the notions of avant-garde architecture have now raised the bar for modern architecture. The formation of Deutscher Werkbund in 1907 lead the way to the creation of the Bauhaus school, also originated in Germany in 1919, themed on the rejection of history and viewed architecture as a synthesis of art, craft, and technology. The idea behind architectural avant-garde was to abolish the superseded architectural designs of pre-World War I era and espouse the designs which suit the post-war era and new economic order. Avant-garde architecture paradigm has influenced modern architects and their approach to building design. This has propounded arch itectural themes such as structuralism, post-structuralism, rationalism, empiricism, and phenomenology. Avant-garde approach of architecture relies heavily on reducing buildings to pure forms, removing historical references, and ornament in favor of functionalist details. The United States of American has seen one of its greatest modern (avant-garde) architects in the shape of Ieoh Ming Pei. The Chinese-born American architect is regarded as an icon in modern architectural designs. He is the recipient of the AIA Gold Medal.... Ieoh Ming Pei - American Avant-garde Architect The United States of American has seen one of its greatest modern (avant-garde) architects in the shape of Ieoh Ming Pei. The Chinese-born American architect is regarded as an icon in modern architectural designs. He is the recipient of the AIA Gold Medal, the Alpha Rho Chi Medal, the MIT Traveling Fellowship, and the Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship. Pei is deemed as an expert in the use of steel, grass, concrete, and stone for designing skyscrapers and modern business complexes (I. M. Pei Biography, Bio and Profile from Netglimse.com). The Pritzker Prize-winning (Pritzker Prize: architecture's equivalent of the Pulitzer) architect went to Saint John's University, Shanghai before attending University of Pennsylvania at the age of 18. He completed Bachelor of Architecture from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940 and was also a member of National Defense Research Committee. He was also trained at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (Official biography from Pei Cobb Freed & Partners website). During the late 1940's Pei joined Webb and Knapp as a Director of Architecture. He worked on many large-scale real estate development projects. Later on, in mid-1950's, Pei started his own real estate development enterprise. Ieoh Pei became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1954. During his more than 60-year long career as a modernist architect, Ieoh Pei designed some of the greatest models of modern architectures. They include: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Colorado; Government Center Master Plan, Boston, Massachusetts; Society Hill Towers, Philadelphia, PA; 50 FAA air traffic control towers, in various locations throughout the US; National Airlines terminal at JFK

240 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

240 - Essay Example George needed his son to aid him construct a new house during the summer. However, due to their strained relationship, Sam makes it his mission not to aid his father with the house’s construction George presents himself badly to his neighbours. For instance, during the first scenes, George is shown peeing into the ocean. Subsequently Alyssa and her mom Coleen see him naked. Consequently, Coleen gets mad or angry and goes to inform him that she (Coleen) does not like it when George pees in front of her daughter. Sam had an inadequate or wanting self-concept and identity. However, George considered himself to be an architectural models fabricator who is excellent at his work. Initially, George and Sam present themselves to other people poorly. Sam for instance is a drug addict who tries to be a male prostitute. This image portrays them negatively to other people. In the movie life house, George, Sam, peter and robin had poor communication skills. As such, they communicated poorly with one another. Undoubtedly, good communication is an essential element for any relationship to be successful. Poor communication led to George and robin breaking up. Additionally, the same element of poor communication led peter and robin to grow apart while Sam despised them all. Therefore, the barriers to communication between George and his Sam were many. First, distance acted as the primary barrier to effective communication. Sam and his father George were separated and lived in different areas. For instance, Sam lived with his mother and stepfather while his father lived alone. Distance made them to communicate or interact less often. Secondly, attitudinal barriers prevented Sam form interacting with his father. Attitudinal barriers are as a result of the receiver of the message letting his or her attitude get in the way of the message (Bolton 2009). Attitud inal barriers can also be simply explained as an unwillingness to communicate. For instance, Sam