Construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral

Construction of the Notre Dame Cathedral To start with, it is very known that Notre Dame Cathedral that is found in Paris is one of the worlds first ever to be made, Gothic Cathedral. Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is found near the Ile de la Cite on its eastern half, having to the west its main entrance. Many thought that the Cathedral of Notre Dame was one of the best when it comes to Gothic French architecture. One of the most well known architects in France named Viollet le Duc is the one behind saving and restoring Notre Dame Cathedral from destruction. The meaning of the name, Notre Dame Cathedral is because when this Gothic Cathedral was built it was the centre of beauty in Paris and they decided to name it by Our Lady. The Gothic period was very bewildered by the amazing construction of Notre Dame Cathedral. Gothic architecture was very much influenced by naturalism and that was seen through the stained glass and sculptures found in Notre Dame Cathedral, which in the early Romanesque architecture this was the opposit e. The flying buttress which is arched exterior supports were first seen in the Notre Dame in Paris. When the Cathedral was first built it did not include the flying buttresses in its design but later on it was found surrounding the nave and choir. After many numbers of constructions to Notre Dame in Paris, the thinner walls that were very popular at that time of Gothic style grew to be extremely high which resulted in a lot of stress factors and the walls seems to start pushing outwards. Due to that the architects that were constructing the cathedral decided to build a lot of support surrounding the walls on the outside and then they continued to add them like that on the outside. In the 1970s during the drastic French Revolution a lot of ruin and violation was happening to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris causing many of the religious images to be destroyed and damaged. In the 19th century though the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris went through very severe restoration plans and whe n that was done the Cathedral actually went back to the way it was before. History Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was known for its dominance on the Seine and the Ile de la Cite in addition to the history of Paris. The Romans decided to built right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, a temple for Jupiter and then later on another building was added by the Christian Basilica, last but not least in the end they built Cathedral of St. Etienne which is established in 528 by Childebert (Romanesque church). Bishop of Paris named Maurice de Sully decided to expand the population and built a new cathedral which was devoted for the Virgin Mary. The construction in 1163 was started but it wasnt really completed until around 1345 which is like 180 years later on. The Cathedral tells a lot of stories in the Bible when it comes to its portals and stained glass and paintings, maybe because it was finished and constructed in the illiterate age. The choir was finished around 1183 and later on a lot of work started being done on the nave and it was finished around 1208, the w est front and towers finished in 1225 1250 approximately right after the nave. Around 1235 1250 many never chapels were followed and added to the nave and later during the 1296 1330 some were also added to the apse, (Pierre de Chelles and Jean Ravy). In 1250 1267 transept crossings were established by Pierre de Montreuil which is the architect for the Sainte Chapelle and Jean de Chelles. You can tell the design was very early Gothic because of the slim elements that articulate the wall and the sic part rib vaults. The Interior was very changed and reconstructed in the middle 13th century because of the enlargement downward of the clerestory windows that are exactly from the early Gothic style causing it to be filled with very High Gothic tracery. The triforium was removed because of all the enlargements. Usually you can find four story elevation in the Interior which is normal when it comes to early Gothic churches, in addition to that the triforiun was very different because it had large opening that are round instead of arcades that are very normal. If you look at the buildings youd realize that they are very High Gothic and thats how they look from the exterior. The features are very noticeable and include tracery screen and profusion of colonnettes, it also had vertical and horizontal orders of the facades, the gracefulness of the flying buttresses and the striking the size of the rose windows. The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris had a very flourishing history for centuries. Before crusaders would go to their holy war, they used to always pray there. In addition to that, many polyphonic music was being established inside the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. During the French Revolution a lot of catastrophes occurred. Notre Dame Cathedral ion Paris was very badly damaged, not to mention many other cathedrals located all around France. You can very clearly see that a lot of saints were beheaded at the Cathedrale St Etienne in Bourges. Many citizens though did not understand those statues and they thought the statues of saints found over the portals located on the west front was a kind of representation of their kings and specially in the middle of their passion for the revolution, they were taken down. Those statues were found in the year of 1970, around approximately two hundred years afterwards also in the Latin Quarter. A lot of these cathedrals treasures were badly damaged or severely destroyed and the only thing that stayed fine was the great bells that avoided being melted down. Thanks to the revolution a lot of the cathedrals were dedicated to the cult of Reason and afterwards they also became dedicated to the cult of Supreme being instead. The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was found to be a warehouse to store food in the interior. Napoleon decided to crown himself as an emperor thinking that he would emphasize the important and primacy of the state over the church, later own Josephine was also crowned, and his empress was hi s Martinique born wife. Pope Pius the VII raised no objections because any way the job would have been done by an archbishop. A writer called Victor Hugo and another artist like Ingres called a lot of attention to the fact that the state was in dangerous and it was in disrepair where the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris fell which raised a lot of awareness when it comes to the value of art. The creations of the Middle Ages in the 18th century were being ignored by the neoclassicists, the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris stained galas was being replaced by normal glass. In the 19th century many romantics realized how remote the period was with the greater appreciation and the new eyes. Construction When the church found in Paris became the Parisian church of the kinds of Europe in 1160, Maurica de Sully who is the Bishop he decided to consider the old Cathedral in Paris (Saint Etienne/St Stephens), it was built in the 14th century, but it was later on demolished after he assumed the name or title of Bishop of Paris, due to its lofty role and unworthiness. There were many myths when it comes to foundations, this has to be taken into account with a grain of salt, in the 20th century archeological excavations were suggested saying that the Merovingian Cathedral should be Replaced by Sully who was itself a very massive structure having a faà §ade of 36m across and a five aisled nave. In order for the Bishop to justify the rebuilding of the newer style he used the excuse which was the fact that there were many faults of the old structure being exaggerated. It is said that Sully had a very glorious vision about the Cathedral that was rebuilt in Paris and then it is said that he also sketched it on the ground where the actual church was found. In order for them to start the construction the bishop made more than one house become demolished or ruined and he built a new road for the material to be transported through to finish what is left of the Cathedral in Paris. While Louis VII was in reign in 1163 the construction started. There were many conflicts whether it was Pope Alexander the III or Sullt who built and laid out the stone foundation of the Cathedral in Paris but still it wasnt a big deal because they were present in the ceremony question. Most of Bishop de Sully and his life was devoted and dedicated to the construction of the Cathedral in Paris.from 1163 till approximately around 1177 the choir construction started to take place. In addition to that the construction of the new High Altar was set apart in around 1182, that seemed to be a normal thing to have the new churchs eastern end to be finished first in order for the temporary wall would be put up on the west of the choir letting the chapter be used without any interruptions while the shape of the building was slowly being established. Bishop Maurice de Sully died in year 1196 and after that happened, Eudes de Sully was his successor saw the finishing of the transepts and continued with the nave which almost was finished before the time he died which was in the year 1208. (Bishop Maurice de sully and Eudes de Sully are not related). When this was the time, the faà §ade on the west was also being set up even though it was not finished fully until approximately around the middle of the 1240s.More than one architect were working on the site while the construction or building was still taking place, that information was obvious and made sure of due to the difference in heights found on the towers and the west front, and the different styles. The fourth architect saw the difference in the construction when it comes to the great halls beneath the towers and the level with the ros e window. In the latest Rayonnant style the transepts were changes and remodeled, that was the most noticeable and significant change in the design in the middle of the 13th century. Jean de Chelles included to the north transept a gabled portal and he ended it with a very marvelous rose window, that all happened in the 1240s. Pierre de Montreuil a bit after the year 1258 he made a very close scheme that is found on the transept on the South. Transept portals were both very full of embellished sculptures. On the portal to the south you find features that show scenes of the lives of St Stephen many other local saints, on the other hand you can find on the north portal features of the infancy Christ and the story of Theophilus that is in the tympanum, there was also a very influencing statue of Virgin Mary and the Child in the Trumeau. The Notre Dame Cathedral was really and officially finished around the year of 1345. Notre Dame bells In the Palace of Notre Dame in France there are five very popular bells. One is known as the Bourdon bell, this bell weighs more than thirteen tons and it was placed in the South Tower, it mainly was used for announcing the day hours for services and occasions. The other four bells were placed in the North Tower and they are as well used for many festivals, services and various occasions. Those bells worked manually before, for them to be rung someone had to go and do that, but now it is different and they re rung by electric motors as it was later discovered that when those bells were rung it could put the whole building in danger and making it all vibrate which was considered a threat to the bells reliability. Furthermore, those bells had hammers appointed externally that worked for tune playing that comes from a clavier Piano or the Organ Over the time many things were being added to the Cathedral from which were the several organs that have been installed, but the first several ones were sufficient for the building and did not fit perfectly. Francois Henri Clicquot was responsible for building the first organ to be known that was finished by the 18th century. Today if you visit the Notre Dame Palace in France you can find that Francois Henri Clicquots original pipe work still sounds the same and it comes from the organ found in the pedal division. In the 19th century Aristide Cavaille Coll rebuilt the organ and finished expanding it. The position for the head or chief organist at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in France has been considered marvelous and one of the most extravagant and prestigious posts in France in addition to the post of Saint Sulpice in France which was the largest instrument built by Aristide Cavaille Coll. There are 7800 pipes found inside the organ and 900 of them are considered historical. It also has 110 stops, 32 key pedal board and 56 key manuals. The organ was computerized and controlled by three Local Area Networks (LANs) and it was fully finished by December of the year 1992. Quotes said by people We must remind ourselves that these monumental structures, although they remain intensely alive, are merely the skeletons of the cathedrals of medieval times. Compared with what it was when first created, the cathedral, as we see it now, is like a venerable old lady whose noble carriage barely suggests the striking belle she must have been in her youth. We should not only recall the past splendor of the cathedral, most of whose external adornment is now lost, but also attempt to understand what the cathedral was during the progress of its own creation; the role it played at the heart of the city that saw its birth among the people whose stubborn or enthusiastic will alone caused its skyward thrust. -Zoe Oldenbourg, With Stone and Faith Gothic architecture had a magnificent opportunity of development in the construction of the great cathedrals, which, in France, were all built at the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries. These were civil as well as ecclesiastical buildings; in fact, the distinction between the two provinces was a thing unknown at the time, and is wholly a modern idea, which we never probably would have had except for the differences in religious belief which arose among us at the Reformation. The state is merely the community acting in combination for those purposes in which combined action is more convenient than individual. With us these are now almost confined to justice, police, war, and possibly education. But when religious belief was uniform, as in the Middle Ages, state action included religion. The bishops and abbots were feudal barons, with civil jurisdiction; and, on the other hand, all state action had some religious character and sanction. The cathedrals were the great meeting-places of the city, used for secular purposes, such as the administration of justice, and even for histrionic performances (which, again, were religious in character), as well as formass. -John J. Stevenson, Gothic Architecture;Harpers New Monthly Magazine, 1876 And the cathedral was not only company for him, it was the universe; nay, more, it was Nature itself. He never dreamed that there were other hedgerows than the stained-glass windows in perpetual bloom; other shade than that of the stone foliage always budding, loaded with birds in the thickets of Saxon capitals; other mountains than the colossal towers of the church; or other oceans than Paris roaring at their feet. -Victor Hugo, Notre Dame de Paris, 1831 Historic Timeline 1160   The Cathedral is ordered to be destroyed by Maurice de Sully. 1163   The Construction of Notre Dame Palace in France is started. 1196   The death of Bishop Maurice de Sully. 1200   The Western Faà §ade work starts being established. 1208   The Nave vaults are almost finished/ the death of Bishop Eudes de Sully. 1225   The completion of the Western Faà §ade. 1250   Completion of the North rose window and Western Towers. 1245/1260   Jean de Chelles then Pierre de Montreuil remodeled the transept into the Rayonnant style. 1250/1345   Everything else is finished. Definitions 1) Clavier: it is the bank of keys found on the piano keyboard or a musical instrument. 2) Transept: the wings of the church, it is a church that has a cross shaped portion that goes in a right angle through the long central side of the nave. 3)  Crypt: an underground chamber for burial or a vault or a cellar, usually found under a church. 4) Nave: the centre part or area of a church. 5) Rayonnant style: it is the period where the French Gothic architecture was developed in the 1240 and 1350 century. The Rayonnant style is known by taking the focus away from big scale and spatial rationalism when it comes to buildings, it takes us to a more of a two dimentional style on the surface having decoration that are repetitive with different sizes. References 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame_de_Paris 2) http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Cathedrals/Paris/Notre-Dame.shtml 3) http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/paris-notre-dame-cathedral 4) http://elore.com/Gothic/History/Overview/paris.htm 5) http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Notre_Dame_Cathedral.html 6) http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/The-west-facade 7) http://www.wallpaper-z.com/images/thumbnails/notre-dame-paris-402.jpg 8) http://elore.com/Gothic/History/Overview/paris.htm 9) http://artcolima31.blogspot.com/2009/09/notre-dame-cathedral-alejandra-velasco.html 10) http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/The-Crown-of-Light 11) http://yeinjee.com/travel/2005/cathedrale-notre-dame-de-paris/ 12) http://www.shafe.co.uk/art/Chapels_and_Chapel_Decoration.asp 13) http://www.zimbio.com/Jimmy+Clausen/articles/321/Gargoyles+Notre+Dame+cathedral+Paris+Photos 14) http://vooltour.com/world/?p=167 15) http://www.saulgallery.com/chronicle/stephenson_vaults.html 16) http://www.cca.qc.ca/en/collection/406-laszlo-moholy-nagy-notre-dame-de-paris 17) http://www.mcah.columbia.edu/ha/html/medieval.html 18) http://cterfile.ed.uiuc.edu/mahara/view/view.php?id=79new=1

Photoreceptor Damage: Causes and Possibilities :: Medical Medicine Papers

Photoreceptor Damage: Causes and Possibilities Over 10,000,000 people around the world suffer from some sort of blindness or handicap due to photoreceptor damage. These effects can be caused by a number of afflictions, including retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and tumors. These illnesses vary in severity from being a mere hindrance to completely blinding the individual. Until recently, those affected were left without hope of a cure or even a treatment that would somewhat improve their vision. But over the last few years, several groups of scientists have been working on a partial cure in the form of neuroprostheses, artificial devices which are inserted in the eye behind or on top of the damaged retinal area. These photoreceptive chips, in theory, should provide information too the healthy neurons residing in the retina, substituting for the damaged photoreceptors. When we open our eyes, millions of tiny events occur that allow us to see. Our pupils automatically constrict in accordance to the light level, the variable lens bends and adjusts to fit the distance of what we are looking, and our photoreceptors receive information in accordance to the previous factors. (This is extremely simplified, but it will suffice for now.) Photoreceptors are tiny, specialized neurons located in the retina at the back of the eye. There are two types of photoreceptors, rods and cones. Each follow the same principles: when light hits them they respond with a chemical reaction using a substance known as rhodopsin. Once this reaction occurs a chain of events sends this message down a number of sophisticated and specialized neurons, eventually reaching the brain and resulting in what we call sight. Rods (numbering one hundred million or so in each eye) are primarily in the periphery of our visual field. They are extremely sensitive to light and are often ÒtiedÓ together on a lower level to allow for greater sensitivity. Rods do not see in with good resolution and cannot differentiate colors. Cones (only five million or so exist) are mostly found on the center of the visual field, a place called the fovea. The words you are reading now are being processed by cones in the fovea. They operate in brighter light than rods and detect color (there are three types, each responding to a particular range of wavelengths). Cones do not pool their output and exist for resolution, not mere detection. The only drawback with the cone system is the amount of light saturation necessary to stimulate them and send their signal to the brain.

Langston Hughes and Robert Frost as Role Models Essay

â€Å"The Road Not Taken† and â€Å"Mother to Son† are both parables meant to teach lessons already learned by the experienced narrators. They are meant to teach the lesson that life is precious and once a decision is made it cannot be taken back. Therefore, make decisions careful because they will steer the course of your life. Also, both poems are narrated by a single person, implying that the choices that they have made and the hardships they have endured have been alone. This implies a strength and individuality from either narrator. â€Å"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I — / I took the one less traveled by, / And that has made all the difference.† Robert Frost’s â€Å"The Road Not Taken† is a lyrical poem about the decisions that one must make in life. When a man approaches a fork in the road on which he is traveling, he must choose which path to take. The choice that he makes, as with any choices made in life, affects him in a way that â€Å"has made all the difference.† Thematically, the poem argues that no matter how small a decision is, that decision will affect a person’s life forever. Frost uses the images presented in the poem in a very involved and general way. The paths and the fork no longer refer to their definitions, but instead as keywords in a description of life. Through the poem, Frost is defining life as a series of decisions. Some of these decisions may, at the time, be thought of as insignificant, while others could be thought of as very significant. Frost argues that a decision’s significance at the time is not really important, for any choice will change one’s life. Every day, people, including the narrator of the poem, are presented with â€Å"Two roads† that diverge â€Å"in a yellow wood.† These roads are not concrete or physical, but rather represent choices. The fact that one road is â€Å"grassy and wanted wear† while the other was commonly traversed shows the reader that some choices require one to choose something that is not commonly sought or to do something that is not commonly done. The total of these d ecisions leads people, like the reader, down a new path: a path that the narrator himself created. The narrator comes to the realization that every decision affects him when he says: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –  I took the one less traveled by,  And that has made all the difference. The narrator also comes to the realization that once a choice is made, it is almost impossible to change that choice: â€Å"Oh, I kept the first for another day! / Yet knowing how way leads on to way, / I doubted if I should ever come back.† Frost recognizes something that everyone should realize. The simple picture of a man deciding which path to follow is suddenly changed into a description of life by the mastery of Frost’s poetic hand. No matter how small a decision appears to be at the time that it is made, that decision will affect a person’s life forever, or as Frost puts it, each and every choice will make â€Å"all the difference.† Langston Hughes makes use of an extended metaphor, the staircase, in â€Å"Mother to Son.† There are a multitude of possibilities as to what lies at the top of the staircase. In the context of the timeframe that this poem was written, the top of the staircase may represent the goals of the blacks. This could, for example, be a successful life. The narrator in the poem is a mother. She describes to her son that no matter what obstacles come in her way, she keeps climbing the stairs. â€Å"Tacks,† â€Å"splinters,† and other obstructions impede her ascent, but she refuses to â€Å"set down on the steps.† The nuisances could represent instances of discrimination. To delve deeper into the metaphors used here, a tack on a staircase is an item that must be placed there by another party. The tacks placed in the mother’s path could then be a specific oppressive incident performed by a white person. A splinter in the staircase is a negative by-product of the  staircase itself. Therefore, the mother’s â€Å"splinters† may have been the results of her actions upon her ongoing journey towards success. The mother also makes reference to â€Å"boards torn up.† If part of the staircase were torn up or missing, then that particular step must be skipped. One small step does not comprise an entire staircase, so it is not necessary to actively use each and every step to make it to the top. Some other parts of the stairs may not have carpeting on them. This would mean that if the mother fell, there is nothing to pad her fall, just the hard wood. Not only would it hurt to stumble and fall, knowing there is no kind of â€Å"safety net† degrades one’s sense of security. Despite the hardships that the mother faces, she keeps climbing towards her goal. She turns corners, unknowing of what might lie just beyond each bend. She continues on to where she is â€Å"sometimes goin’ in the dark.† She cannot see what might happen next, but her only two options are to go further or turn back. At this point, the mother advises her son, â€Å"don’t you turn back.† Clearly, the only thing to do is remain on course up the stairs. She insists that he is not to deviate from walking up those steps. If he stops and settles in one spot, he will find out that it is much harder to continue from this point. Near the end of the poem, the mother is stressing to her son that it is imperative that he strives to reach the top of the stairs, regardless of the difficulties. She has done the same and even to this point she continues to climb. The mother is faced with only the choices of succumbing to a difficult life or triumphing in it. The poem is clearly a testament to her perseverance in that she can tell her son what she has done and that she is still trudging up those stairs. In general, both poems show how there really is no such thing as fate and that making decisions will affect a person for the rest of their lives. In fact, these choices will help guide the course of their lives. They tell us that even if one’s choice seems like the less likely one, someone else has  probably already made this decision. They also tell us that every decision, even a small one, is important.

Swisher Mower Case

Swisher Mower and Machine Company Problem: Wayne Swisher the new president and CEO of Swisher Mower Company (SMC), is unsure of what the future holds for his firm. He was contacted by a major national retail merchandising chain about a private-brand distribution arrangement. Wayne Swisher needs to determine if he should accept the offer that was proposed by the national retail merchandising chain or reject it and continue on normal business. SWOT: Strengths: †¢Facilities have an annual production capacity of 10,000 riding mower units on a single 40-hour-per-week shift. †¢Developed great loyalty with dealers and distributors. Produced the first zero turning radius riding mower. †¢Produce high-quality mowers that are reliable and have great longevity. †¢Remained profitable since its founding. Weaknesses: †¢Limited distribution channels to only nonmetropolitan areas. †¢Produce mid-engine riding mowers while front engine mowers are more powerful and can hand le the bigger jobs. †¢Relies heavily and their Ride King and their T-44 trail mower only accounted for 8. 2 % of SMC’s total sales. Opportunities: †¢Plans to develop a walk behind trimmer and edger. †¢Have distributor arrangements in parts of Europe and the South Pacific which made up 5% of total sales. SMC could develop a riding snow thrower with their zero turn radius for the winter months. †¢Private brand distribution. †¢Sales projections for 1995 and 1996 are increasing from previous years. Threats: †¢Sales trends seem to be up and down. The sales are currently on the rise but history shows they could drop. †¢Ten manufactures make up the major competition in the riding lawn mower market. †¢Private label riding lawn mowers have captured a growing percentage of unit sales. †¢Developing a new product, the trim-max, shows that the riding lawn mower is in the mature or decline phase of the product life cycle. Critical Issues: †¢Industry statistics show that the riding mower sales are up and down. Currently, the market is on the rise but history shows it could drop. †¢SMC is a customer oriented company and Max Swisher’s wants to maintain a small company image. †¢The Ride King mower is in its mature or decline stage. †¢SMC produces high quality products that have a simple design for easy customer use and maintenance. †¢Private-label riding lawn mowers sales account for 40% of SMC sales. Private-label mowers account for 65 to 75% of the total industry sales. †¢75% of SMC’s sales are made in nonmetropolitan areas. Alternatives: AlternativeProsConsCost †¢Accept the offer from the major national retail merchandise chain for distribution of a private-brand. †¢The chain will cover all freight costs †¢The chain will do all advertising †¢The chain wants a sample order of 700 units and will place an order of approximately 8,200 units per year. †¢Distribution will broaden to metropolitan areas. †¢Chain wants to purchase the mowers at a price 5% lower than SMC’s manufactures. †¢No seasonal or promotional discounts. †¢SMC is liable for all personal injury claims. †¢Sales of SMC mowers by the chain could cannibalize existing sales. See Exhibit 1 †¢Reject the offer from the major national retail merchandise chain for distribution of a private-brand. †¢This would remain at the status quo. †¢Net Income is $430,200. †¢SMC could concentrate on developing the Trim-Max. †¢Will not get the exposure to the metropolitan areas. †¢If SMC rejects the offer, the chain may present the offer to some one else and this would increase their competition. †¢Private label mowers currently account for 65 to 75% of the total industry sales. SMC will maintain status quo and profit around $400,000 †¢More aggressively advertise the Ride King to try to gain market share in the metropolitan areas. Not necessary†¢This would gain a bigger percentage of the market share. †¢75% of SMC’s sales are made in non-metropolitan areas. SMC has this area covered pretty well. Could be the right time to move to metropolitan areas. †¢Advertising costs will go up. †¢Will need to produce more mowers therefore labor costs will go up. †¢Will need a bigger sales force. †¢Produce the new trimmer and edger product. Not necessary. The major decision is accept or reject the offer. †¢Ride King is in the mature or decline stage of product life cycle it may be time to introduce a new product. Walk behind trimmer is not on the market yet. †¢Labor costs will go up. †¢Storage costs may go up. †¢R&D will go up. †¢New products are sometimes tough to get on the market. Recommendations: I would recommend that SMC reject the offer put on the table by the major national retail merchandising chain that was asking about private band distribution for SMCà ¢â‚¬â„¢s line of riding lawn mowers. As shown in exhibit 1 net income decreases by a great deal. SMC’s current gross profit margin is 15% and this would decrease to 2%. There are also a few other negatives to accepting the offer that will cost SMC money. Sales of SMC mowers by the national chain merchandiser could cannibalize some of their existing sales and this is projected to be about 300 units per year. Also, the liabilities will go up on the SMC balance sheet because the chain wants SMC to assume all liabilities if any worker is hurt while using the mowerproducing the mowers. There are a few good reasons to accept the offer by the chain but I think the cons out weight the pros in this case. I think that SMC should try and advertise their Ride King more aggressively to the metropolitan areas while they are developing their new trimmer and edger product. Firms want to develop new products to stay profitable. Each product has a life cycle and when one product reaches its mature stage and starts to decline it is the best time to introduce a new product. This is the situation that SMC is looking at right now. I think the Ride King is mature and will start to decline. If SMC introduced the Trim-Max they will still be gaining profits because it will be going through its growing stage. They would be the first to the market with a walk behind trimmer. SMC is known for making high quality products and they should not have a problem introducing a trimmer to the market. Based on the information in the case SMC produces many different mowers that are mid-engine riding mowers. These are less powerful mowers and are great for use in metropolitan areas. This would be a great way to market their mowers and get them into the metropolitan areas easier. The national merchandising chain thought that there was a demand in the metropolitan areas for riding lawn mowers but the terms of their contract were not benefiting SMC. If SMC can get their mowers into these areas through their distributors without the national chain putting a private label on them they will become much more profitable.

Free Essays on Response To “The Story Of An Hour“

In â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin, the main character Louise Mallard goes through a mandala like cycle of death and rebirth. The story starts out with Louise receiving news from a family friend that her husband Brently has died in an accident. At first, she reacts as any wife would, inconsolable by anyone, but then while she is sitting alone in her room, a change begins to happen. The change starts while she is looking out the window watching spring as it is born almost before her eyes. She begins to realize that she is no longer tied to the vows she made in marriage and can truly begin to live her life. She grows more and more excited at the endless opportunities her life now holds for her, instead of dreading a long life, she now embraces it. Louise, at this point, is reborn into a new life with endless possibilities, and she cannot wait to get started. She goes to her sister and together they triumphantly go downstairs to experience Louise’s new life together. But, with every birth there is, of course, death and Louise succumbs to this when her husband returns home alive and well, having never been in the accident. She goes from feeling triumphant and free without the burden of marriage, to once again feeling trapped. Louise soon is overcome by the grief she feels over losing her second chance and dies. The story clearly shows a mandala like cycle and all the motions and feelings we experience during that process.... Free Essays on Response To â€Å"The Story Of An Hourâ€Å" Free Essays on Response To â€Å"The Story Of An Hourâ€Å" In â€Å"The Story of an Hour† by Kate Chopin, the main character Louise Mallard goes through a mandala like cycle of death and rebirth. The story starts out with Louise receiving news from a family friend that her husband Brently has died in an accident. At first, she reacts as any wife would, inconsolable by anyone, but then while she is sitting alone in her room, a change begins to happen. The change starts while she is looking out the window watching spring as it is born almost before her eyes. She begins to realize that she is no longer tied to the vows she made in marriage and can truly begin to live her life. She grows more and more excited at the endless opportunities her life now holds for her, instead of dreading a long life, she now embraces it. Louise, at this point, is reborn into a new life with endless possibilities, and she cannot wait to get started. She goes to her sister and together they triumphantly go downstairs to experience Louise’s new life together. But, with every birth there is, of course, death and Louise succumbs to this when her husband returns home alive and well, having never been in the accident. She goes from feeling triumphant and free without the burden of marriage, to once again feeling trapped. Louise soon is overcome by the grief she feels over losing her second chance and dies. The story clearly shows a mandala like cycle and all the motions and feelings we experience during that process....

Summary How Group-Think Makes Killers Essay Example

Summary How Group Summary How Group-Think Makes Killers Paper Summary How Group-Think Makes Killers Paper The article starts by describing the setting in which an experiment, which was designed by psychologist Philip G. Zanzibar of the University of Stanford was conducted. The experiment involved college students who are to be divided into two groups one, the prison guards, and two, the inmates. However, six days after the experiment started, the experiment had to be stopped due to the abusive and sadistic behavior of the prison guards towards the inmates. Zanzibar explained the sudden change in behavior of the young men by saying that in a large group, one loud disregard any laws as he becomes nameless with respect to the crowd. Today, it is often cited to support the idea of the evil collection. Although groups do sway their members into doing things which they would not be doing in their normal daily life, those actions are as equally likely to be positive as it is to be negative. The same experiment, aired by BBC, was conducted by British psychologists Stephen D. Richer and S. Alexander Hassle and was met by a different scenario, that is, the guards in in their experiment acted insecurely which led them to conclude that the behavior of a roof depends on the members expectations of the social role they should play. Although psychologists may disagree over how individuals might behave in a crowd, they do agree on one fundamental point: lost in a collective, the individual outgrows himself, for good or bad. Giving Up l for We The BBC experiment refutes the widespread negative view that in a crowd, an individuals identity dissolves and the person is carried away to commit immoral, irrational deeds. Psychologists have demystified collective behavior, showing that normal, scientifically explainable psychological actions are taking place and that it is tot pathological. However, when an individual Joins a social group, he or she is somehow stripped off of his or her individual identity. Gustavo El Bon, a French physician and sociologist, maintained that individuals in a group lose their identity and thus, self-control; and guided only by emotions and instincts, they operate under a primitive force he called the racial unconscious. Fanatical Norms William McDougall, a British-born psychologist, who formulated the so-called group- mind hypothesis, said that however Joins a crowd, gives up his identity in favor of a collective soul. Another experiment in the sass consisted of participants that were randomly assigned to groups according to trivial criteria and although the assignment was arbitrary, it created a strong group sense and analogous behavior. Henry Taffeta and John C. Turner, psychologists if the University of Bristol in England and the Australian National University in Canberra, formulated in the sass the social identity theory which states that belonging to a group created a we feeling in an individual, a sense of a collective self. Summary How Group-Think Makes Killers By Snowboard

Mt St Helens 1980 Eruption

Mt St Helens 1980 Eruption At 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, the volcano located in southern Washington called Mt. St. Helens erupted. Despite the many warning signs, many were taken by surprise by the blast. The Mt. St. Helens eruption was the worst volcanic disaster in U.S. history, causing the deaths of 57 people and approximately 7,000 large animals. Â   A Long History of Eruptions Mt. St. Helens is a composite volcano within the Cascade Range in what is now southern Washington, approximately 50 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon. Though Mt. St. Helens is approximately 40,000-years old, it is considered a relatively young, active volcano. Mt. St. Helens historically has had four extended periods of volcanic activity (each lasting hundreds of years), interspersed with dormant periods (often lasting thousands of years). The volcano is currently in one of its active periods. Native Americans living in the area have long known that this was not an ordinary mountain, but one that had fiery potential. Even the name, Louwala-Clough, a Native American name for the volcano, means smoking mountain. Mt. St. Helens Discovered by Europeans The volcano was first discovered by Europeans when British Commander George Vancouver of the H.M.S.Discovery spotted Mt. St. Helens from the deck of his ship while he was exploring the northern Pacific Coast from 1792 to 1794. Commander Vancouver named the mountain after his fellow countryman, Alleyne Fitzherbert, the Baron St. Helens, who was serving as the British ambassador to Spain. Piecing together eyewitness descriptions and geologic evidence, it is believed that Mt. St. Helens erupted somewhere between 1600 and 1700, again in 1800, and then quite frequently during the 26-year span of 1831 to 1857. After 1857, the volcano grew quiet. Most people who viewed the 9,677-foot tall mountain during the 20th century, saw a picturesque backdrop rather than a potentially deadly volcano. Thus, not fearing an eruption, many people built houses around the base of the volcano. Warning Signs On March 20, 1980, a 4.1 magnitude earthquake struck underneath Mt. St. Helens. This was the first warning sign that the volcano had reawakened. Scientists flocked to the area. On March 27, a small explosion blew a 250-foot hole in the mountain and released a plume of ash. This caused fears of injuries from rockslides so the entire area was evacuated. Similar eruptions to the one on March 27 continued for the next month. Though some pressure was being released, large amounts were still building. In April, a large bulge was noticed on the north face of the volcano. The bulge grew quickly, pushing outward about five feet a day. Though the bulge had reached a mile in length by the end of April, the plentiful plumes of smoke and seismic activity had begun to dissipate. As April drew to a close, officials were finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the evacuation orders and road closures due to pressures from homeowners and the media as well as from stretched budget issues. Mt. St. Helens Erupts At 8:32 a.m. on May 18, 1980, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck under Mt. St. Helens. Within ten seconds, the bulge and surrounding area fell away in a gigantic, rock avalanche. The avalanche created a gap in the mountain, allowing the release of pent-up pressure that erupted laterally in a huge blast of pumice and ash. The noise from the blast was heard as far away as Montana and California; however, those close to Mt. St. Helens reported hearing nothing. The avalanche, huge to begin with, quickly grew in size as it crashed down the mountain, traveling around 70 to 150 miles per hour and destroying everything in its path. The blast of pumice and ash traveled northward at 300 miles per hour and was a raging hot 660Â ° F (350Â ° C). The blast killed everything in a 200-square mile area. Within ten minutes, the plume of ash had reached 10 miles high. The eruption lasted nine hours. Death and Damage For the scientists and others who were caught in the area, there was no way to outrun either the avalanche or the blast. Fifty-seven people were killed. It is estimated that about 7,000 large animals such as deer, elk, and bears were killed and thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of small animals died from the volcanic eruption. Mt. St. Helens had been surrounded by a lush forest of coniferous trees and numerous clear lakes before the blast. The eruption felled entire forests, leaving only burned tree trunks all flattened in the same direction. The amount of timber destroyed was enough to build about 300,000 two-bedroom homes. A river of mud traveled down the mountain, caused by melted snow and released groundwater, destroying approximately 200 houses, clogging up shipping channels in the Columbia River, and contaminating the beautiful lakes and creeks in the area. Mt. St. Helens is now only 8,363-feet tall, 1,314-feet shorter than it was before the explosion. Though this explosion was devastating, it will certainly not be the last eruption from this very active volcano.