Euthanasia: Death and Life-sustaining Treatment Essay

Physicians are committed to sustaining life and relieving suffering. Where the performance of one duty conflicts with the other; the patient’s wishes should prevail. Physicians are required by the principle of patient autonomy to respect a competent patient’s decision to forgo life-sustaining treatment, which prolongs life without reversing the underlying medical condition. Life-sustaining treatment includes, but is not limited to, mechanical ventilation, renal dialysis, chemotherapy, use of antibiotics, other drugs, and artificial nutrition and hydration. Define euthanasia and identify the difference between the types of euthanasia (passive/active euthanasia) Euthanasia is defined as the administration of a lethal agent by another person to a patient for the purpose of relieving the patient’s intolerable and incurable suffering. Some opponents feel that euthanasia is incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult to control if made public policy, and would pose serious societal risks. Instead of practicing euthanasia, physicians should be sensitive to the needs of dying patients. Patients should not be abandoned when cure is impossible and should continue to receive emotional support, comfort care, adequate pain control, respect for autonomy, and effective communication. Discuss your beliefs regarding euthanasia. Are there any circumstances when you feel it is justified? Explain your answer. When it becomes evident that a patient’s disease is incurable and death is imminent, palliative care may serve the dying patient better than curative care. Palliative care is directed toward providing relief to terminally ill patients through symptom and pain management. The goal is not to cure but to provide comfort and maintain the highest possible quality of life. Going beyond relief of disease symptoms, palliative care includes relief of emotional distress and other problems so that a patient’s last months and days may be as comfortable as possible. Traditionally, in educational Define and describe the special populations as presented on the Pro/Con web site, and how this population might be adversely affected by euthanasia. Discuss your beliefs regarding euthanasia and these special populations. Identify and describe the law(s) concerning physician assisted suicide in the state you reside or the state you consider your â€Å"home state.† Compare and contrast laws in your home state against either Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act or another state of your choice.

Creative industries Essay

The creative industries are those that take traditional creative talents in design, performance, production and writing, and merge these with media production and distribution techniques and new interactive technologies (for customization) in order to create and share out creative content all through the service sector of the new economy. The form of production is ‘Hollywood’ not ‘Detroit’ – project-based and innovative, relatively than industrial and standardized. It is distinguished by networks and partnerships. Consumers have given means to users – interactive partners in further development of the creative product. The creative industries give content products for the new knowledge economy. It is here that the main social and consumer impact of new interactive media technologies is felt, as people are much more involved in content than in technologies as such. The appeal lies in the story, view, song or speech, not in the carrier mechanism. This is increasingly true where the prospective for distribution of creative content via the Internet and other new interactive communication forms is being realized. Additionally, audiences increasingly anticipate high-tech content, interactivity and customization in traditional arts, media and entertainment industries. In this context, creative content is not restricted to leisure and entertainment products, but expands to commercial enterprises generally. As the new interactive media technologies develop from b2b to b2c applications, creative content will be the fundamental requirement, whether the application is for a bank, an educational institution or an entertainment provider, or whether the user is in ‘ sit up ‘ or ‘ sit back ‘ mode. Previously distinctive industries have rapidly incorporated. Advances in technology and increases in system performance have formed a fertile environment for the incubation and growth of new sectors and the prospect for existing disciplines to find new commercial applications. For example, animation and creative writing both found new application in the growth of computer games, which themselves have developed from one-person to interactive games, with several players, via the Internet. The inspiration of the ‘intangible’ sector relies more than ever on creativity, style and risk-taking imagination – on creative enterprises feeding continuously updated new content into technologically advanced knowledge-based industries. But content providers no longer require being located in metropolitan centers or one of the many ‘silicon valleys’ in order to play a global role. â€Å"The creative industries are the key new growth sector of the economy, both nationally and globally, and thus, against a background of manufacturing sector decline, they are the key source of future employment growth and export earnings† . Music, animatronics, design, publishing, interactive media, e-commerce and entertainment are all cottage industries on the creative or supply side, relying on small/medium enterprises (SMEs) and freelance creative talent working through short-lived projects. The requirement in this context is for interdisciplinary clusters, flexible and extremely porous teams, and creative enterprises to a certain extent than large-scale vertically integrated industries. The creative industries are a considerable sector of the global economy.

Case Blanchard Essay

In the course of Operations Management was given to us a Harvard Business case study, â€Å"Blanchard Importing and Distributing Co. , Inc†. The company is a liquor distributer and bottler which, is struggling with inventory management problems. The aim of our work is to help the trainee, Hank Hatch, analyzing the company’s scheduling system and present recommendations with the purpose of solving problems intrinsically related with Inventory management. Firstly, we are going to calculate the EOQ and ROP quantities based on 1971’s demand, then we compare this values with the ones obtained upon the implementation of the Scheduling system, in 1969, as well as with the scheduling system invented by Bob and Elliot . We are also going to approach the differences between the formal and the informal systems, choosing the best one for the company and finally present our recommendations which are aimed to solve the detected problems. Economic Order Quantity Model Operations Managers regularly face with decisions of â€Å"How much† or â€Å"How many† of something to produce or buy in order to satisfy the internal and external requests for a certain item. The majority of those decisions do not always take into account the cost consequences that would occur. The Economic Order Quantity Model, and also so-called â€Å"EOQ Formula†, is often very helpful in guiding managers about the order quantity decision regarding consequences. The EOQ Model was developed by Ford W. Harris in 1913 and it corresponds to the level of inventory that minimizes the total holding costs and ordering costs of the inventory. Graphic In other words, the Economic Order Quantity is known as the cost-minimizing order-quantity which takes in consideration the existing tradeoff between ordering cost and storage cost. Basic assumptions of this Model: Replenishment occurs instantaneously; Demand is constant and not stochastic; There is a fixed setup cost K independent of the order quantity; Only one product is involved; Leadtime is zero, does not vary; There are no quantity discounts. Leadtime According to EOQ Model, the leadtime is zero. The leadtime is the time interval between placing the order and receiving the corresponding order quantity which means that delivery or manufacturing is instantaneous, the replenishment occurs instantaneously. Although this assumption is obviously unrealistic, it removes the question â€Å"When to order? † by answering to order â€Å"Q† units each time inventory falls to zero. Costs The EOQ Model presents three types of costs: Cost of the units themselves; Cost of holding units in inventory; Fixed order cost or manufacturing setup cost. The unit cost is the cost of the units themselves, denotes C, and is assumed to be fixed regardless the number of units ordered or manufactured. The holding cost or carrying costs, denotes h, represents the management’s cost of capital, the time value of money invested in units; includes the costs for storage facilities, handling, insurance, pilferage, breakage, obsolescence, depreciation, taxes, and the opportunity cost of capital. The setup cost, denotes S, represents all the costs associated with placing an order without consider the cost of the units themselves, for instance, any administrative cost of placing and/or receiving an order. Reorder Point The reorder point (ROP) also called reorder level, reorder quantity or replenishment order quantity is the inventory level of an item which signals the need for placement of a replenishment order. So, the ROP occurs when the level of inventory drops down to zero. To compute ROP is necessary to perceive the minimum level of inventory that is held as a protection against shortages, safety stock. Reorder Point = Normal consumption during leadtime + Safety Stock Determinants of the reorder point: Rate of demand; Leadtime; Extent of demand and/or leadtime variability; Degree of stockout risk acceptable to management. Case Analysis 1. Recalculating EOQ and ROP Recalculating EOQ: We have to take into consideration the new information about demand and the relevant costs. The relevant costs are: setup costs, holding costs and Unit Costs. For the Demand we use the total demand of 1971 (exhibit 5). Setup Cost: To calculate the setup costs, we had only taken into account the ones which varied with the number of setups, as we can observe, the only one with this characteristics is the label changeover cost. The time needed to reset machinery to a different kind of label is 30 minutes, during that time all the five part-time workers remain idle. Hence incurring in a cost equal to the salary earned by this five workers in the half an hour stop. Holding Cost: We use the 22. 5% value said on the guidelines of the case. Unit Cost: For the unit cost, we should only consider the expenses that Blanchard supports when producing. Thus, for the calculation we will sum the Materials cost, the bottling labor, the variable overhead, the customs duty and the federal rectification tax. Our selection was based on two assumptions: variable costs and the costs paid before the sales.

The Pursuit of a MBA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Pursuit of a MBA - Essay Example In his book ‘Managers Not MBAs’, Henry Mintzberg (2004) mentioned that, despite the fact that the MBA is regarded as the ‘education for management’, it actually prepares the ‘wrong people in the wrong ways with the wrong consequences’. One of the major reasons for such criticisms is that the MBA programme gives too much of importance on the management theories while ignoring the need to develop the practical expertise. This leads to an imbalance in the supply and demand of proficient managers in the context of real scenario, opposed to theoretical knowledge. Pfeffer & Fong (2002) questioned the lack of repositioning of the MBA model over the years and discussed that a number of interpersonal and social skills required in the current corporate world cannot be developed through an MBA programme. The authors stated that the fact that the individuals graduating from the most elite MBA programs realized the maximum salary packages is due to the fact that these individuals were chosen by their institutes on the foundation of their competences and qualifications which were way better than the average. Thus, it could be inferred that the personal characteristics of the candidates are more important than what is being taught in the MBA programme. This explanation is consistent with the verity that the curricula of majority of the MBA programmes and the course books utilized are extremely analogous across business schools of different statures. Thus, it can be concluded that there are no significant distinctions in the knowledge being imparted in the different MBA programmes. Nonetheless, the individuals undertaking MBA generally benefit in terms of both intrinsic as well as extrinsic aspects of career development and success. A few of the aspects enhanced by taking up an MBA are confidence, credibility, social status and remuneration among others. The MBA degree prepares the candidates with a perceptive of the variety and miscellan y that they would gradually deal with in their place of work. This enables the individuals to discover the principles, values and conducts suitable for that environment. Moreover, MBA degree is believed to develop the skills necessary in the process of information investigation, interpretation of data as well as the proficiency in taking up new endeavors. Furthermore, the MBA programme also enhances the presentation as well as negotiation ability and the social interaction capability of an individual. The MBA classrooms are the sites of vigorous discussion and arguments amongst the students; the involvement of individuals in such a vibrant atmosphere reinforces their aptitude to investigate, converse, convince, and reach agreement while integrating diverse viewpoints. Thus, on the whole, the MBA programme is linked with attributes for swift career progression. Sturges & Et. Al. (2003) identified that the major result of the MBA programme in addition to enhanced self-assurance, was t he evolution of the ‘knowing why’ and the ‘knowing how’ career proficiencies in the candidates, which are highly esteemed in the management world. In the assessment of changes in terms of management role and function as well as income levels of individuals prior and post their MBA degree,

GREGGS Bakers. A Short-term Digital Marketing Communications Plan Essay

GREGGS Bakers. A Short-term Digital Marketing Communications Plan - Essay Example These competencies reflect the company’s corporate values of being enthusiastic, supportive, honest, open, appreciative, fair, considerate and respectful. These values are not only meant for the customers but also for the employees who are an integral part of the company’s successful run. The company’s product portfolio includes: breakfast items, bread and rolls, sweets, savouries, sandwiches, and drinks. About two-thirds of the sales are generated by the company’s sandwiches category (Greggs). GREEGGS Bakers strongly believe in the role they play in the society. In order to support the society and pay back what the business owe to the society the foundation for GREGG Trust, later to be called GREGG Foundation, was laid by Ian Gregg in 1987. Also the company is strongly focused on creating more jobs in the society. In this endeavour the company plans to open 500 more stores and create 6000 new jobs in the economy (Greggs). As GREEGGS Bakers plan to improve their presence on the online market and enhance their online presence, there have been some important reasons identified that are the cause of low traffic and therefore a need for an e-marketing plan has been created. With the trend of online industry growing in the last few years, it has become increasing important for different firms to capitalise on these opportunities in order to remain competitive as well as satisfy customers. In addition to this, there has been an increasing number of customers buying food products online therefore GREEGGS Bakers need to understand this situation and capitalise on this opportunity. Environmental analysis Before coming up with a well thought and effective marketing plan it is first important to analyse the internal and external environment thoroughly (Fill, 2009). This in turn allows the company to come up with more related and successful marketing strategies (Gay, Charlesworth, and Esen, 2007). With reference to the online and digital marketi ng it is important for the organisation to evaluate the different trends and consumers’ preferences in order to build more strong relationships (Peterson, Koch, Grone, and Vo, 2010). There are several factors which should be considered while devising digital marketing strategies for example the security concerns (Flavian & Guinaliu, 2006). The social technologies have transformed the whole marketplace (Li and Bernhoff, 2011) Trends on the Online Marketplace: Internet has changed the whole scenario of the market place (Fox, 2010). It is important to come up with proper internet and online strategy (Porter, 2001). In order to

Options for Organization Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Options for Organization - Assignment Example Even though there are many advantages in implementing security systems in organizations there are some problems also. Therefore, the implementation of security should be done in an efficient manner, taking into consideration of all relevant factors relating to the business and the flew of information therein. Even though it is difficult to implement security, it is an inevitable part in any organization. Security enables an organization to manage the risks within the organization. The problems in an organization can be reduced to a great extent with the help of proper security measures. A company’s data can be kept confidential only if it has good security policies. The development and implementation of security policies helps an organization to meet the international standards. â€Å"Security touches so many different areas of business," says Allan Carey, program manager of security services and identity management research at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC. "With any type of new initiative or initiatives being driven by lines of business, security needs to be involved" (Kaplan). The analysis of security is done to recognize the exposure of security in a systematic way. Organizations should also be capable of evaluating the security methods adopted by their partners. The growing nu mber of threats has increased the importance of security in an organization. There can be both internal and external threats to any organization. Many organizations have suffered major losses due to the lack of security and leakage of information into unauthorized hands. Hackers, internal spying etc have become common in organizations. Proper security measures are needed to tackle these threats. The awareness about security requirements is thus very essential for every organization. There are some difficulties in setting and implementing a proper security system in an existing organization. It necessitates more funds to be invested for the implementation of

Examining the examples of European Green Energy and the ways to Essay

Examining the examples of European Green Energy and the ways to improve Canadian Green Energy - Essay Example This paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of green energy and further identifies whether the current policy is an effective strategy for addressing climate change. People have become aware of the effects of global warming and for that reason; the world has turned into green energy to reduce the effects of fossil energy. Green energy is energy that comes from resources that are environmental friendly such as solar energy, geothermal heat, wind, and rain that are constantly replaced. Green energy can also be defined as alternative energy that is produced from other sources other than fossil fuels. Green energy is also referred to as renewable energy because it is the source of energy that does not consume the finite resources of the earth and can be quickly and easily replenished. Green energy has been internationally accepted because it has no pollutants that affect the air hence creating a less impact on the environment. Despite the evident need for green energy, global response has been scanty. The paper will begin with a brief introduction on the current issues facing the climate change and the role of green energy in addressing the problems. The introduction will end with a a clear thesis statement based on the topic green energy, which will later build up the main arguments of the paper. The next section will be a comprehensive review of literature that explains and supports the use of green energy. This section will provide an understanding of factors such as environmental and economic benefits. The next section will review the various debates and reasons given against the use of green energy. The next section will be a comprehensive discussion on the facts that have been identified in the body of the paper and finally, a conclusion and recommendation supporting or opposing the thesis statement supported by the facts provided in the discussion. The advantages of green energy include first, green energy is renewable in the sense that it

Marketing. Performance evaluation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Marketing. Performance evaluation - Essay Example It would not be correct, if we only hold the employee responsible or if we hold solely the employee responsible for this immorality. An employee involves himself in such act because there is not adequate check on him, which is the responsibility of the company. However, the primary fault is that of the person himself. It is the immorality of the individual that actually works on promoting such unethical practices at company time. Hence, the person responsible for the act is to be held responsible; however, the boost to these activities given by company environment is also to be considered. Discussion Question 2: Please discuss your views of performance expectations or performance appraisals and how they accurately or not evaluate your performance Do you feel the annual evaluation you have each year accurately reflects your performance on the job What are some ethical implications related to performance evaluations Performance evaluation is said to be a yardstick for measurement and decision of whether an employee has performed according to expectations or not and if yes, how good has been the performance. Performance evaluation techniques have a structured approach followed by discussion to have a conclusion of the employee's performance. An employee is allowed to present his case through self evaluation but the final judgment is that of the boss. The annual frequency of this tool is for ease and convenience. However, there are times when the employee has been a great performer throughout the year, and just when the evaluation time is near, due to some reason the performance has slipped. In such cases, performance evaluation results do not go in the favor of employee in spite of quality and hard work all the year round. This makes performance evaluation a subjective tool to a great extent. So, better frequency can remove this drawback rather than having an annual appraisal. Ethically, it is the employee's responsibility to do a realistic and correct self appraisal and even the boss is morally bound to give the deserved rating. But, in actual scenario, the case does not match ideal needs. The employee does try to inflate and show his performance and aims at maximum rating in spite of whatever the performance is. Exceptions are always there. Also, the boss tries to have personal bias while evaluating. Hence, the ethical sense of the tool gets lost. Summary: The course on critical thinking and ethics offers a pathway to integrate the views on ethics in the professional as well as personal life. It has an impact on the thought process and helps getting a realistic view of things around us and facilitates evaluation of professional and personal development in the light of ethical standings. It also enables to let us apply theoretical topics and discussions for decision making and for assessment of skill sets and talent. The above two discussion questions give a food for thought for the immorality and morality debate at work place. It helps in analysis of the actual scenario versus the expected scenario. The collaborative effort of the course with a structured approach and discussion based topics of real life stimulate the

The key traits to strong organizational cultures Essay

The key traits to strong organizational cultures - Essay Example gement always has a substantial influence on the corporate culture, and their influence is being proportional to the level they are in the hierarchy (Cameron, Kim & Quinn, n.p). In addition, the managers control the organizational culture varying among the managers due to their different level of training and leadership style. The style in which different managers handle employees also affects the workplace culture. In some organizations, the management permits the employees to make own decisions as well as letting them participate in strategy making. This makes an organization to be results-oriented, employee engagement and effective decision-making, key traits of a strong organizational culture. Such organizational culture allows employees to be close to the management and encourages a long-term relationship with the organization. The leadership style and management style must respect the workers to evade the culture of them working for money only. Furthermore, the organizational culture is also affected by individual working with the organization. Employees have a special way in which they influence the culture of a company. The aspects of the employees that affect the culture include their attitudes, interests, perceptions, mentalities and their process of thinking. For instance, organizations that hire persons from defense background tend to operate in a strict culture where all the employees follow set policies. Incidences of lateness to work rarely happen in such organizations. The employees’ mindset creates the culture of the workplace. The founders and the owners of an organization add the list of important factors that influence organizational culture. Mostly, the founders of an organization develop its philosophy as well as establishing the core fundamental values (Schein, n.p). Additionally, the organization owners can exert considerable influence from more perspectives of the category of the owner. The influence of owners becomes even more profound

Aviation Business Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Aviation Business - Assignment Example Let us estimate the business cost for this charter company to run Cessna 172 twice a month as mentioned earlier is as follows: Total business cost includes fixed cost, running costs or operational costs and landing and overnight tie down costs. Cost of running the aircraft: Fuel required for running this charter flight is its main component: $ 1500 per one hour 2 Total flying hours in a month: For southern side: (2+3) x 2 = 10 hours For northern side : (2+2+2) x 2 = 12 hours Total flying hours = 10 + 12 = 22 hours Additional flying hours to be considered / month = 10 hours Total flying hours = 12 + 22 + 10 = 44 hours Therefore the total cost accounts to $66000 / month. The total cost per one year = $792000 (Fig 1) Lease costs for aircraft : Aircraft was purchased with 25 % residual cost of flight ($259,500) for 5 years: $64750 Lease cost for one year = $12950 Lease cost for one month = $ 1079 Fixed costs (This is the daily cost of running a business ie. Rent, ------------------------------------------------------------------- 2: Jagson Airlines. 2009. Charter services. Charter rules, terms and conditions. Rates : flying hours. http://www.jagsonairline.com/charter_services.htm. employee wages: It includes the charges for the pilot : Chief pilot is the only one person employed here. His salary component (including the benefit of super annuation) is $60,000 (Fig 2). For additional assisting staff (including the benefit of super annuation) : $25,000 Costs incurred on equipment, insurance, Air operators certificate, test approvals, Pilots annual checks and renewals = $ 10,000. Lease for the office building : $60,000 (Fig 3) Landing and overnight tie down charges for the airfield per year : $24,000 (Fig 4) Detailed description of... The charter aircraft will fly from Groote Eylandt (NT) to southern side in one fortnight and will return to Groote Eylandt (NT) and again from the same place it flies to northern side. Therefore in a month, it has to travel once in southern direction i.e. from Groote Eylandt to: Each time, it has to carry two medical staff and 40 kg medical accessories. All the basic principles of aviation including weather preparedness have to be kept in mind while planning the route plan (Parma, 1999). The net profit calculated by the company is $ 705650 which has been added to all the costs of running aircraft and accordingly annual tender amount of $ 1689600 per year and $140800 per month has been finalized. For successful flying with out any legal complications and for ensuring security norms of the respective nation, Cessna aircraft has to follow the aviation rules and regulations very strictly (Bruckert and Roud, 2007). The federal aviation regulations have to be followed very strictly while carrying out the aviation. The congestion management of aircrafts is essential along with the implementation of emission standards of aircrafts according to the federal regulations3.

The Trial Film Analysis Essay Example for Free

The Trial Film Analysis Essay Brief Biographical Data of Orson Welles George Orson Welles or popularly known as simply Orson Welles, was a great American director, actor, writer, film, television, stage and radio producer. He also won in the prestigious Academy Awards. Welles became famous through his radio broadcast’s The War of the Worlds. It called a large number of avid listeners to panic. His works such as Macbeth and the contemporary figurative adaptation of Julius Caesar became legends. In 1941, Welles directed, co-wrote, starred and produced the critically acclaimed Citizen Kane. The film, according to polls of many film critics, was the greatest film ever made in film history. However, despite the unquestionable talents and several awards won, the rest of his career was usually hindered by incompetent studio interference, lack of funding and other unfortunate happenings. However, despite these difficulties, his film Othello won the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1952. In addition, his Touch of Evil awarded top prize at the Brussels World fair. Anyhow, Welles considered his film Chimes at Midnight and The Trial to be his best works ever. The Trial The Trial is a film that is even more visually extravagant than Orson Welles’ previous films. He used several themes, symbols and filmic devices that had become his trademarks. Depth of field photography, low-angle shooting, elaborate frame composition, visibility of constructed ceilings in the frame, attention to sound editing, expressionistic lighting, gigantic statues, houses in ruins are just some on the themes and filming techniques that Welles employed. The movie opened with animated pin-screen illustration of the parable of the law of Alexander and Claire Parker. Welles dubbed the voice who also played as K.’s advocate. He also dubbed all the authority figures’ voices. The parable is about a man who seeks admission to the Law but rather denied by the guard and thus waited until he can enter. With the film opening with the parable, it positioned the audience in an opportunity position from which to judge the character’s actions since they are certainly refracted through and thus rendered meaningful illustrations of the parable. Kafka’s tale absurdity is somehow interceded by the visual explanation given in advance. The film also raised but did not explore too much the most radical implication of its premise, in which sin, guilt and responsibility are not forced on any man. Demonstrated by the opening parable, the admittance to the law is not closed rather it is man who prevents himself from entering because of the notion of sin, guilt and responsibility that conceived of closing the door. Use of Principles of Design The film opened with a parable and in this opening, Welles executed the used of the designs, such as the unity, repetition and balance very well. The simple illustration of the doors created unity that somehow gave a sense of harmony and unity that pulls the whole picture or story together. The principle of direction and emphasis was also used effectively because we can immediately see the focus of a certain scene that Welles wanted us to see first. I can say that what twined the different episodes is Welles’ vision of the different settings as interconnected through a series of secret dark passages, entrances, staircases and exits that disintegrate the distinction between the private and public spaces. Welles explained in his 1965 interview that his â€Å"original design was to have the number of realistic elements gradually diminish and the number of realistic elements gradually disappear until what remains open is the spaces and as though everything has dissolved.† If compared to the 1993 adaptation of The Trial directed by David Hugh Jones and starred by Kyle MacLachlan, in my opinion, was beautiful and a subtle exploration of Kafka’s masterpiece nuances but still, an ordinary adaptation of the old one. Nevertheless, when it comes to the principles of design, of course, Jones’ adaptation will top the score. Colors, of course add spice and life to the design. The principles of design applied were definitely new and more appealing than the old version of Welles. However, Welles’ The Trial, has its own character and seemed to stand the time and have an eternal presence in each scene. I can also say that it is indeed easier to do an independent film when art and designs are at stakes and better results when you are the one with full control. Despite the lack of funds because of the low commercial value, a film will be outstanding when it comes to the employment of designs, arts, and every element useful for a successful film. Welles’ baroques set design and intelligent use of the principles of design also enhanced the impression that the different settings served as a â€Å"symbolic, nightmarish manifestations of K.’s inner turmoil† and dissipate the absurdity of Kafkaesque, in which straddled the line between the illogical and logical, the unreal and real. I can say that the film, then, is more of an allegory than a novel. Therefore, I can say that Welles was indeed successful in using the principles of design, however limited his budgets and resources were. References: Charles Higham, The Films of Orson Welles, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1970. Albert Camus, â€Å"Hope and the Absurd in the Work of Franz Kafka†, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays, trans. Justin O’Brien, Vintage Books, New York, 1955. Principles of Designs Tips. Life Tips, 2008. http://graphicdesign.lifetips.com/cat/55144/ principles-of-design/index.html. Retrieved, September 9, 2008.

Most Opposition to Abortion Relies Essay Example for Free

Most Opposition to Abortion Relies Essay A Defense of Abortion Author(s): Judith Jarvis Thomson Source: Philosophy and Public Affairs, Vol. 1, No. 1 (Autumn, 1971), pp. 47-66 Published by: Blackwell Publishing Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/2265091 Accessed: 10/01/2010 00:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTORs Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp. JSTORs Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www. jstor. org/action/showPublisher? publisherCode=black. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [emailprotected] org. Blackwell Publishing is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Philosophy and Public Affairs. http://www. jstor. org JUDITH JARVISTHOMSON A Defense of Abortion Most opposition to abortion relies on the premise that the fetus is a human being, a person, from the moment of conception. The premise is argued for, but, as I think, not well. Take, for example, the most common argument. We are asked to notice that the development of a human being from conception through birth into childhood is continuous; then it is said that to draw a line, to choose a point in this development and say before this point the thing is not a person, after this point it is a person is to make an arbitrary choice, a choice for which in the nature of things no good reason can be given. It is concluded that the fetus is, or anyway that we had better say it is, a person from the moment of conception. But this conclusion does not follow. Similar things might be said about the development of an acorn into an oak tree, and it does not follow that acorns are oak trees, or that we had better say they are. Arguments of this form are sometimes called slippery slope arguments-the phrase is perhaps self-explanatory-and it is dismaying that opponents of abortion rely on them so heavily and uncritically. I am inclined to agree, however, that the prospects for drawing a line in the development of the fetus look dim. I am inclined to think also that we shall probably have to agree that the fetus has already become a human person well before birth. Indeed, it comes as a surprise when one first learns how early in its life it begins to acquire human characteristics. By the tenth week, for example, it already has i. I am very much indebted to James Thomson for discussion, criticism, and many helpful suggestions. 48 Philosophy ; Public Affairs a face, arms and legs, fingers and toes; it has internal organs, and brain activity is detectable. 2 On the other hand, I think that the premise is false, that the fetus is not a person from the moment of conception. A newly fertilized ovum, a newly implanted clump of cells, is no more a person than an acorn is an oak tree. But I shall not discuss any of this. For it seems to me to be of great interest to ask what happens if, for the sake of argument, we allow the premise. How, precisely, are we supposed to get from there to the conclusion that abortion is morally impermissible? Opponents of abortion commonly spend most of their time establishing that the fetus is a person, and hardly any time explaining the step from there to the impermissibility of abortion. Perhaps they think the step too simple and obvious to require much comment. Or perhaps instead they are simply being economical in argument. Many of those who defend abortion rely on the premise that the fetus is not a person, but only a bit of tissue that will become a person at birth; and why pay out more arguments than you have to? Whatever the explanation, I suggest that the step they take is neither easy nor obvious, that it calls for closer examination than it is commonly given, and that when we do give it this closer examination we shall feel inclined to reject it. I propose, then, that we grant that the fetus is a person. from the moment of conception. How does the argument go from here? Something like this, I take it. Every person has a right to life. So the fetus has a right to life. No doubt the mother has a right to decide what shall happen in and to her body; everyone would grant that. But surely a persons right to life is stronger and more stringent than the mothers right to decide what happens in and to her body, and so outweighs it. So the fetus may not be killed; an abortion may not be performed. It sounds plausible. But now let me ask you to imagine this. You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers 2. Daniel Callahan, Abortion: Law, Choice and Morality (New York, 1970), p. 373. This book gives a fascinating survey of the available information on abortion. The Jewish tradition is surveyed in David M. Feldman, Birth Control in Jewish Law (New York, i968), Part 5, the Catholic tradition in John T. Noonan, Jr. , An Almost Absolute Value in History, in The Morality of Abortion, ed. John T. Noonan, Jr. (Cambridge, Mass. , 1970). 49 A Defense of Abortion has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinists circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. The director of the hospital now tells you, Look, were sorry the Society of Music Lovers did this to you-we would never have permitted it if we had known. But still, they did it, and the violinist now is plugged into you. To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, its only for nine months. By then he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you. Is it morally incumbent on you to accede to this situation? No doubt it would be very nice of you if you did, a great kindness. But do you have to accede to it? What if it were not nine months, but nine years? Or longer still? What if the director of the hospital says, Tough luck, I agree, but youve now got to stay in bed, with the violinist plugged into you, for the rest of your life. Because remember this. All persons have a right to life, and violinists are persons. Granted you have a right to decide what happens in and to your body, but a persons right to life outweighs your right to decide what happens in and to your body. So you cannot ever be unplugged from him. I imagine you would regard this as outrageous, which suggests that something really is wrong with that plausible-sounding argument I mentioned a moment ago. In this case, of course, you were kidnapped; you didnt volunteer for the operation that plugged the violinist into your kidneys. Can those who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned make an exception for a pregnancy due to rape? Certainly. They can say that persons have a right to life only if they didnt come into existence because of rape; or they can say that all persons have a right to life, but that some have less of a right to life than others, in particular, that those who came into existence because of rape have less. But these statements have a rather unpleasant sound. Surely the question of whether you have a right to life at all, or how much of it you have, shouldnt turn on the question of whether or not you are the product of a rape. And in fact the people who oppose abortion on the ground I mentioned do not make this distinction, and hence do not make an exception in case of rape. 50 Philosophy ; Public Affairs Nor do they make an exception for a case in which the mother has to spend the nine months of her pregnancy in bed. They would agree that would be a great pity, and hard on the mother; but all the same, all persons have a right to ife, the fetus is a person, and so on. I suspect, in fact, that they would not make an exception for a case in which, miraculously enough, the pregnancy went on for nine years, or even the rest of the mothers life. Some wont even make an exception for a case in which continuation of the pregnancy is likely to shorten the mothers life; they regard abortion as impermissible even to save the mothers life. Such case s are nowadays very rare, and many opponents of abortion do not accept this extreme view. Moreover, in killing the child, one would be killing an innocent person, for the child has committed no crime, and is not aiming at his mothers death. And then there are a variety of ways in which this 3. The term direct in the arguments I refer to is a technical one. Roughly, what is meant by direct killing is either killing as an end in itself, or killing as a means to some end, for example, the end of saving someone elses life. See note 6, below, for an example of its use. 51 A Defense of Abortion might be continued. i) But as directly killing an innocent person is always and absolutely impermissible, an abortion may not be performed. Or, (2) as directly killing an innocent person is murder, and murder is always and absolutely impermissible, an abortion may not be performed. Because unplugging you would be directly killing an innocent violinist, and thats murder, and thats impermissible. If anything in the world is true, it is that you do not commit murder, you do not do what is impermissible, if you reach around to your back and unplug yourself from that violinist to save your life. The main focus of attention in writings on abortion has been on what a third party may or may not do in answer to a request from a woman for an abortion. This is in a way understandable. Things being as they are, there isnt much a woman can safely do to abort herself. So the question asked is what a third party may do, and what the mother may do, if it is mentioned at all, is deduced, almost as an afterthought, from what it is concluded that third parties may do. But it seems to me that to treat the matter in this way is to refuse to grant to the mother that very status of person which is so firmly insisted on for the fetus. For we cannot simply read off what a person may do from what a third party may do. Suppose you find yourself trapped in a tiny house with a growing child. I mean a very tiny house, and a rapidly growing child-you are already up against the wall f the house and in a few minutes youll be crushed to death. The child on the other hand wont be crushed to death; if nothing is done to stop him from growing hell be hurt, but in the end hell simply burst open the house and walk out a free man. Now I could well understand it if a bystander were to say, Theres nothing we can do for you. We cannot choose between your life and his, we cann ot be the ones to decide who is to live, we cannot intervene. But it cannot be concluded that you too can do nothing, that you cannot attack it to save your life. However innocent the child may be, you do not have to wait passively while it crushes you to death. Perhaps a pregnant woman is vaguely felt to have the status of house, to which we dont allow the 53 A Defense of Abortion right of self-defense. But if the woman houses the child, it should be remembered that she is a person who houses it. 1 should perhaps stop to say explicitly that I am not claiming that people have a right to do anything whatever to save their lives. I think, rather, that there are drastic limits to the right of self-defense. If someone threatens you with death unless you torture someone else to death, I think you have not the right, even to save your life, to do so. But the case under consideration here is very different. In our case there are only two people involved, one whose life is threatened, and one who threatens it. Both are innocent: the one who is threatened is not threatened because of any fault, the one who threatens does not threaten because of any fault. For this reason we may feel that we bystanders cannot intervene. But the person threatened can. In sum, a woman surely can defend her life against the threat to it posed by the unborn child, even if doing so involves its death. And this shows not merely that the theses in (i) through (4) are false; it shows also that the extreme view of abortion is false, and so we need not canvass any other possible ways of arriving at it from the argument I mentioned at the outset. 2. The extreme view could of course be weakened to say that while abortion is permissible to save the mothers life, it may not be performed by a third party, but only by the mother herself. But this cannot be right either. For what we have to keep in mind is that the mother and the unborn child are not like two tenants in a small house which has, by an unfortunate mistake, been rented to both: the mother owns the house. The fact that she does adds to the offensiveness of deducing that the mother can do nothing from the supposition that third parties can do nothing. But it does more than this: it casts a bright light on the supposition that third parties can do nothing. Certainly it lets us see that a third party who says I cannot choose between you is fooling himself if he thinks this is impartiality. If Jones has found and fastened on a certain coat, which he needs to keep him from freezing, but which Smith also needs to keep him from freezing, then it is not impartiality that says I cannot choose between you when Smith owns the coat. Women have said again and again This body is my body! and they have reason to feel angry, reason to feel that it has been like shouting into the wind. Smith, after all, is 54 Philosophy Public Affairs hardly likely to bless us if we say to him, Of course its your coat, anybody would grant that it is. But no one may choose between you and Jones who is to have it. We should really ask what it is that says no one may choose in the face of the fact that the body that houses the child is the mothers body. It may be simply a failure to appreciate this fact. But it may be something more interesting, namely the sense that one has a right to refuse to lay hands on people, even where it would be just and fair to do so, even where justice seems to require t hat somebody do so. Thus justice might call for somebody to get Smiths coat back from Jones, and yet you have a right to refuse to be the one to lay hands on Jones, a right to refuse to do physical violence to him. This, I think, must be granted. But then what should be said is not no one may choose, but only I cannot choose, and indeed not even this, but I will not act, leaving it open that somebody else can or should, and in particular that anyone in a position of authority, with the job of securing peoples rights, both can and should. So this is no difficulty. I have not been arguing that any given third party must accede to the mothers request that he perform an abortion to save her life, but only that he may. I suppose that in some views of human life the mothers body is only on loan to her, the loan not being one which gives her any prior claim to it. One who held this view might well think it impartiality to say I cannot choose. But I shall simply ignore this possibility. My own view is that if a human being has any just, prior claim to anything at all, he has a just, prior claim to his own body. And perhaps this neednt be argued for here anyway, since, as I mentioned, the arguments against abortion we are looking at do grant that the woman has a right to decide what happens in and to her body. But although they do grant it, I have tried to show that they do not take seriously what is done in granting it. I suggest the same thing will reappear even more clearly when we turn away from cases in which the mothers life is at stake, and attend, as I propose we now do, to the vastly more common cases in which a woman wants an abortion for some less weighty reason than preserving her own life. 3. Where the mothers life is not at stake, the argument I mentioned at the outset seems to have a much stronger pull. Everyone 55 A Defense of Abortion as a right to life, so the unborn person has a right to life. And isnt the childs right to life weightier than anything other than the mothers own right to life, which she might put forward as ground for an abortion? This argument treats the right to life as if it were unproblematic. It is not, and this seems to me to be precisely the source of the mistake. For we should now, at long last, ask what it comes to, to have a right to life. In so me views having a right to life includes having a right to be given at least the bare minimum one needs for continued life. But suppose that what in fact is the bare minimum a man needs for continued life is something he has no right at all to be given? If I am sick unto death, and the only thing that will save my life is the touch of Henry Fondas cool hand on my fevered brow, then all the same, I have no right to be given the touch of Henry Fondas cool hand on my fevered brow. It would be frightfully nice of him to fly in from the West Coast to provide it. It would be less nice, though no doubt well meant, if my friends flew out to the West Coast and carried Henry Fonda back with them. But I have no right at all against anybody that he should do this for me. Or again, to return to the story I told earlier, the fact that for continued life that violinist needs the continued use of your kidneys does not establish that he has a right to be given the continued use of your kidneys. He certainly has no right against you that you should give him continued use of your kidneys. For nobody has any right to use your kidneys unless you give him such a right; and nobody has the right against you that you shall give him this right-if you do allow him to go on using your kidneys, this is a kindness on your part, and not something he can claim from you as his due. Nor has he any right against anybody else that they should give him continued use of your kidneys. Certainly he had no right against the Society of Music Lovers that they should plug him into you in the first place. And if you now start to unplug yourself, having learned that you will otherwise have to spend nine years in bed with him, there is nobody in the world who must try to prevent you, in order to see to it that he is given something he has a right to be given. Some people are rather stricter about the right to life. In their view, it does not include the right to be given anything, but amounts to, 56 Philosophy Public Affairs and only to, the right not to be killed by anybody. But here a related difficulty arises. If everybody is to refrain from killing that violinist, then everybody must refrain from doing a great many different sorts of things. Everybody must refrain from slitting his throat, everybody must refrain from shooting him-and everybody must refrain from unplugging you from him. But does he have a right against everybody that they shall refrain from unplugging you from him? To refrain from doing this is to allow him to continue to use your kidneys. It could be argued that he has a right against us that we should allow him to continue to use your kidneys. That is, while he had no right against us that we should give him the use of your kidneys, it might be argued that he anyway has a right against us that we shall not now intervene and deprive him of the use of your kidneys. I shall come back to third-party interventions later. But certainly the violinist has no right against you that you shall allow him to continue to use your kidneys. As I said, if you do allow him to use them, it is a kindness on your part, and not something you owe him. The difficulty I point to here is not peculiar to the right to life. It reappears in connection with all the other natural rights; and it is something which an adequate account of rights must deal with. For present purposes it is enough just to draw attention to it. But I would stress that I am not arguing that people do not have a right to lifequite to the contrary, it seems to me that the primary control we must place on the acceptability of an account of rights is that it should turn out in that account to be a truth that all persons have a right to life. I am arguing only that having a right to life does not guarantee having either a right to be given the use of or a right to be allowed continued use of another persons body-even if one needs it for life itself. So the right to life will not serve the opponents of abortion in the very simple and clear way in which they seem to have thought it would. 4. There is another way to bring out the difficulty. In the most ordinary sort of case, to deprive someone of what he has a right to is to treat him unjustly. Suppose a boy and his small brother are jointly given a box of chocolates for Christmas. If the older boy takes the box and refuses to give his brother any of the chocolates, he is unjust to -him, for the brother has been given a right to half of them. But 57 A Defense of Abortion uppose that, having learned that otherwise it means nine years in bed with that violinist, you unplug yourself from him. You surely are not being unjust to him, for you gave him no right to use your kidneys, and no one else can have given him any such right. But we have to notice that in unplugging yourself, you are killing him; and violinists, like everybody else, have a right to life, and thus in the view we wer e considering just now, the right not to be killed. So here you do what he supposedly has a right you shall not do, but you do not act unjustly to him in doing it. The emendation which may be made at this point is this: the right to life consists not in the right not to be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly. This runs a risk of circularity, but never mind: it would enable us to square the fact that the violinist has a right to life with the fact that you do not act unjustly toward him in unplugging yourself, thereby killing him. For if you do not kill him unjustly, you do not violate his right to life, and so it is no wonder you do him no injustice. But if this emendation is accepted, the gap in the argument against abortion stares us plainly in the face: it is by no means enough to show that the fetus is a person, and to remind us that all persons have a right to life-we need to be shown also that killing the fetus violates its right to life, i. e. , that abortion is unjust killing. And is it? I suppose we may take it as a datum that in a case of pregnancy due to rape the mother has not given the unborn person a right to the use of her body for food and shelter. Indeed, in what pregnancy could it be supposed that the mother has given the unborn person such a right? It is not as if there were unborn persons drifting about the world, to whom a woman who wants a child says I invite you in. But it might be argued that there are other ways one can have acquired a right to the use of another persons body than by having been invited to use it by that person. Suppose a woman voluntarily indulges in intercourse, knowing of the chance it will issue in pregnancy, and then she does become pregnant; is she not in part responsible for the presence, in fact the very existence, of the unborn person inside her? No doubt she did not invite it in. But doesnt her partial responsibility for its being there itself give it a right to the use of her 58 Philosophy ; Public Affairs body? 7 If so, then her aborting it would be more like the boys taking away the chocolates, and less like your unplugging yourself from the violinist-doing so would be depriving it of what it does have a right to, and thus would be doing it an injustice. And then, too, it might be asked whether or not she can kill it even to save her own life: If she voluntarily called it into existence, how can she now kill it, even in self-defense? The first thing to be said about this is that it is something new. Opponents of abortion have been so concerned to make out the independence of the fetus, in order to establish that it has a right to life, just as its mother does, that they have tended to overlook the possible support they might gain from making out that the fetus is dependent on the mother, in order to establish that she has a special kind of responsibility for it, a responsibility that gives it rights against her which are not possessed by any independent person-such as an ailing violinist who is a stranger to her. On the other hand, this argument would give the unborn person a right to its mothers body only if her pregnancy resulted from a voluntary act, undertaken in full knowledge of the chance a pregnancy might result from it. It would leave out entirely the unborn person whose existence is due to rape. Pending the availability of some further argument, then, we would be left with the conclusion that unborn persons whose existence is due to rape have no right to the use of their mothers bodies, and thus that aborting them is not depriving them of anything they have a right to and hence is not unjust killing. And we should also notice that it is not at all plain that this argument really does go even as far as it purports to. For there are cases and cases, and the details make a difference. If the room is stuffy, and I therefore open a window to air it, and a burglar climbs in, it would be absurd to say,Ah, now he can stay, shes given him a right to the use of her house-for she is partially responsible for his presence there, having voluntarily done what enabled him to get in, in full knowledge that there are such things as burglars, and that burglars 7. The need for a discussion of this argument was brought home to me by members of the Society for Ethical and Legal Philosophy, to whom this paper was originally presented. 59 A Defense of Abortion burgle. It would be still more absurd to say this if I had had bars installed outside my windows, precisely to prevent burglars from getting in, and a burglar got in only because of a defect in the bars. It remains equally absurd if we imagine it is not a burglar who climbs in, but an innocent person who blunders or falls in. Again, suppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets or upholstery. You dont want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective; and a seed drifts in and takes root. Does the person-plant who now develops have a right to the use of your house? Surely not-despite the fact that you voluntarily opened your windows, you knowingly kept carpets and upholstered furniture, and you knew that screens were sometimes defective. Someone may argue that you are responsible for its rooting, that it does have a right to your house, because after all you could have lived out your life with bare floors and furniture, or with sealed windows and doors. But this wont do-for by the same token anyone can avoid a pregnancy due to rape by having a hysterectomy, or anyway by never leaving home without a (reliable! army. It seems to me that the argument we are looking at can establish at most that there are some cases in which the unborn person has a right to the use of its mothers body, and therefore some cases in which abortion is unjust killing. There is room for much discussion and argument as to precisely which, if any. But I think we should sidestep this issue and leave it open, for at any rate the argument certainly does not establish that al l abortion is unjust killing. 5. There is room for yet another argument here, however. We surely must all grant that there may be cases in which it would be morally indecent to detach a person from your body at the cost of his life. Suppose you learn that what the violinist needs is not nine years of your life, but only one hour: all you need do to save his life is to spend one hour in that bed with him. Suppose also that letting him use your kidneys for that one hour would not affect your health in the slightest. Admittedly you were kidnapped. Admittedly you did not give 6o Philosophy Public Affairs anyone permission to plug him into you. Nevertheless it seems to me plain you ought to allow him to use your kidneys for that hour-it would be indecent to refuse. Again, suppose pregnancy lasted only an hour, and constituted no threat to life or health. And suppose that a woman becomes pregnant as a result of rape. Admittedly she did not voluntarily do anything to bring about the existence of a child. Admittedly she did nothing at all which would give the unborn person a right to the use of her body. All the same it might well be said, as in the newly emended violinist story, that she ought to allow it to remain for that hour-that it would be indecent in her to refuse. Now some people are inclined to use the term rightin such a way that it follows from the fact that you ought to allow a person to use your body for the hour he needs, that he has a right to use your body for the hour he needs, even though he has not been given that right by any person or act. They may say that it follows also that if you refuse, you act unjustly toward him. This use of the term is perhaps so common that it cannot be called wrong; nevertheless it seems to me to be an unfortunate loosening of what we would do better to keep a tight rein on. Suppose that box of chocolates I mentioned earlier had not been given to both boys jointly, but was given only to the older boy. There he sits, stolidly eating his way through the box, his small brother watching enviously. Here we are likely to say Youought not to be so mean. You ought to give your brother some of those chocolates. My own view is that it just does not follow from the truth of this that the brother has any right to any of the chocolates. If the boy refuses to give his brother any, he is greedy, stingy, callous-but not unjust. I suppose that the people I have in mind will say it does follow that the brother has a right to some of the chocolates, and thus that the boy does act unjustly if he refuses to give his brother any. But the effect of saying this is to obscure what we should keep distinct, namely the difference between the boys refusal in this case and the boys refusal in the earlier case, in which the box was given to both boys jointly, and in which the small brother thus had what was from any point of view clear title to half. A further objection to so using the term rightthat from the fact that A ought to do a thing for B, it follows that B has a right against A 6I A Defense of Abortion that A do it for him, is that it is going to make the question of whether or not a man has a right to a thing turn on how easy it is to provide him with it; and this seems not merely unfortunate, but morally unacceptable. Take the case of Henry Fonda again. I said earlier that I had no right to the touch of his cool hand on my fevered brow, even though I needed it to save my life. I said it would be frightfully nice of him to fly in from the West Coast to provide me with it, but that I had no right against him that he should do so. But suppose he isnt on the West Coast. Suppose he has only to walk across the room, place a hand briefly on my brow-and lo, my life is saved. Then surely he ought to do it, it would be indecent to refuse. Is it to be said Ah, well, it follows that in this case she has a right to the touch of his hand on her brow, and so it would be an injustice in him to refuse? So that I have a right to it when it is easy for him to provide it, though no right when its hard? Its rather a shocking idea that anyones rights should fade away and disappear as it gets harder and harder to accord them to him. So my own view is that even though you ought to let the violinist use your kidneys for the one hour he needs, we should not conclude that he has a right to do so-we should say that if you refuse, you are, like the boy who owns all the chocolates and will give none away, self-centered and callous, indecent in fact, but not unjust. And similarly, that even supposing a case in which a woman pregnant due to rape ought to allow the unborn person to use her body for the hour he needs, we should not conclude that he has a right to do so; we should conclude that she is self-centered, callous, indecent, but not unjust, if she refuses. The complaints are no less grave; they are just different. However, there is no need to insist on this point. If anyone does wish to deduce he has a ight from you ought, then all the same he must surely grant that there are cases in which it is not morally required of you that you allow that violinist to use your kidneys, and in which he does not have a right to use them, and in which you do not do him an injustice if you refuse. And so also for mother and unborn child. Except in such cases as the unborn person has a right to demand it-and we were leaving open the possibility that there may be such cases-nobody is morally required to make large sacrifices, of health, of all other interes ts and concerns, of all other duties 62 Philosophy Public Affairs and commitments, for nine years, or even for nine months, in order to keep another person alive. 6. We have in fact to distinguish between two kinds of Samaritan: the Good Samaritan and what we might call the Minimally Decent Samaritan. The story of the Good Samaritan, you will remember, goes like this: A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was; and when he saw him he had compassion on him. And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow, when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. (Luke I0:30-35) The Good Samaritan went out of his way, at some cost to himself, to help one in need of it. We are not told what the options were, that is, whether or not the priest and the Levite could have helped by doing less than the Good Samaritan did, but assuming they could have, then the fact they did nothing at all shows they were not even Minimally Decent Samaritans, not because they were not Samaritans, but because they were n ot even minimally decent. These things are a matter of degree, of course, but there is a difference, and it comes out perhaps most clearly in the story of Kitty Genovese, who, as you will remember, was murdered while thirtyeight people watched or listened, and did nothing at all to help her. A Good Samaritan would have rushed out to give direct assistance 63 A Defense of Abortion against the murderer. Or perhaps we had better allow that it would have been a Splendid Samaritan who did this, on the ground that it would have involved a risk of death for himself. But the thirty-eight not only did not do this, they did not even trouble to pick up a phone to call the police. Minimally Decent Samaritanism would call for doing at least that, and their not having done it was monstrous. After telling the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus said Go, and do thou likewise. Perhaps he meant that we are morally required to act as the Good Samaritan did. Perhaps he was urging people to do more than is morally required of them. At all events it seems plain that it was not morally required of any of the thirty-eight that he rush out to give direct assistance at the risk of his own life, and that it is not morally required of anyone that he give long stretches of his lifenine years or nine months-to sustaining the life of a person who has no special right (we were leaving open the possibility of this) to demand it. Indeed, with one rather striking class of exceptions, no one in any country in the world is legally required to do anywhere near as much as this for anyone else.

Phases Of System Development Life Cycle Information Technology Essay

Phases Of System Development Life Cycle Information Technology Essay System development life cycle means combination of various activities. In other words we can say that various activities put together are referred as system development life cycle. In the System Analysis and Design terminology, the system development life cycle means software development life cycle. Following are the different phases of software development cycle: System study Feasibility study System analysis System design Coding Testing Implementation Maintenance   The different phases of software development life cycle is shown in Fig.29.1 Different phases of Software development Life Cycle PHASES OF SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE Let us now describe the different phases and the related activities of system development life cycle in detail. (a) System Study System study is the first stage of system development life cycle. This gives a clear picture of what actually the physical system is? In practice, the system study is done in two phases. In the first phase, the preliminary survey of the system is done which helps in identifying the scope of the system. The second phase of the system study is more detailed and in-depth study in which the identification of users requirement and the limitations and problems of the present system are studied. After completing the system study, a system proposal is prepared by the System Analyst (who studies the system) and placed before the user. The proposed system contains the findings of the present system and recommendations to overcome the limitations and problems of the present system in the light of the users requirements. To describe the system study phase more analytically, we would say that system study phase passes through the following steps: problem identification and project initiation background analysis inference or findings (b) Feasibility Study On the basis of result of the initial study, feasibility study takes place. The feasibility study is basically the test of the proposed system in the light of its workability, meeting users requirements, effective use of resources and .of course, the cost effectiveness. The main goal of feasibility study is not to solve the problem but to achieve the scope. In the process of feasibility study, the cost and benefits are estimated with greater accuracy. (c) System Analysis Assuming that a new system is to be developed, the next phase is system analysis. Analysis involved a detailed study of the current system, leading to specifications of a new system. Analysis is a detailed study of various operations performed by a system and their relationships within and outside the system. During analysis, data are collected on the available files, decision points and transactions handled by the present system. Interviews, on-site observation and questionnaire are the tools used for system analysis. Using the following steps it becomes easy to draw the exact boundary of the new system under consideration: Keeping in view the problems and new requirements Workout the pros and cons including new areas of the system All procedures, requirements must be analyzed and documented in the form of detailed data flow diagrams (DFDs), data dictionary, logical data structures and miniature specifications. System Analysis also includes sub-dividing of complex process involving the entire system, identification of data store and manual processes. The main points to be discussed in system analysis are: Specification of what the new system is to accomplish based on the user requirements. Functional hierarchy showing the functions to be performed by the new system and their relationship with each other. Function network which are similar to function hierarchy but they highlight those functions which are common to more than one procedure. List of attributes of the entities these are the data items which need to be held about each entity (record) (d) System Design Based on the user requirements and the detailed analysis of a new system, the new system must be designed. This is the phase of system designing. It is a most crucial phase in the development of a system. Normally, the design proceeds in two stages: preliminary or general design Structure or detailed design Preliminary or general design: In the preliminary or general design, the features of the new system are specified. The costs of implementing these features and the benefits to be derived are estimated. If the project is still considered to be feasible, we move to the detailed design stage. Structure or Detailed design: In the detailed design stage, computer oriented work begins in earnest. At this stage, the design of the system becomes more structured. Structure design is a blue print of a computer system solution to a given problem having the same components and inter-relationship among the same components as the original problem. Input, output and processing specifications are drawn up in detail. In the design stage, the programming language and the platform in which the new system will run are also decided. There are several tools and techniques used for designing. These tools and techniques are: Flowchart Data flow diagram (DFDs) Data dictionary Structured English Decision table Decision tree (e) Coding After designing the new system, the whole system is required to be converted into computer understanding language. Coding the new system into computer programming language does this. It is an important stage where the defined procedures are transformed into control specifications by the help of a computer language. This is also called the programming phase in which the programmer converts the program specifications into computer instructions, which we refer as programs. The programs coordinate the data movements and control the entire process in a system. It is generally felt that the programs must be modular in nature. This helps in fast development, maintenance and future change, if required. (f) Testing Before actually implementing the new system into operations, a test run of the system is done removing all the bugs, if any. It is an important phase of a successful system. After codifying the whole programs of the system, a test plan should be developed and run on a given set of test data. The output of the test run should match the expected results. Using the test data following test run are carried out: Unit test System test Unit test: When the programs have been coded and compiled and brought to working conditions, they must be individually tested with the prepared test data. Any undesirable happening must be noted and debugged (error corrections). System Test: After carrying out the unit test for each of the programs of the system and when errors are removed, then system test is done. At this stage the test is done on actual data. The complete system is executed on the actual data. At each stage of the execution, the results or output of the system is analyzed. During the result analysis, it may be found that the outputs are not matching the expected out of the system. In such case, the errors in the particular programs are identified and are fixed and further tested for the expected output. When it is ensured that the system is running error-free, the users are called with their own actual data so that the system could be shown running as per their requirements. (g) Implementation After having the user acceptance of the new system developed, the implementation phase begins. Implementation is the stage of a project during which theory is turned into practice. During this phase, all the programs of the system are loaded onto the users computer. After loading the system, training of the users starts. Main topics of such type of training are: How to execute the package How to enter the data How to process the data (processing details) How to take out the reports After the users are trained about the computerized system, manual working has to shift from manual to computerized working. The following two strategies are followed for running the system: Parallel run: In such run for a certain defined period, both the systems i.e. computerized and manual are executed in parallel. This strategy is helpful because of the following: Manual results can be compared with the results of the computerized system. Failure of the computerized system at the early stage, does not affect the working of the organization, because the manual system continues to work, as it used to do. Pilot run: In this type of run, the new system is installed in parts. Some part of the new system is installed first and executed successfully for considerable time period. When the results are found satisfactory then only other parts are implemented. This strategy builds the confidence and the errors are traced easily. (h) Maintenance Maintenance is necessary to eliminate errors in the system during its working life and to tune the system to any variations in its working environment. It has been seen that there are always some errors found in the system that must be noted and corrected. It also means the review of the system from time to time. The review of the system is done for: knowing the full capabilities of the system knowing the required changes or the additional requirements studying the performance If a major change to a system is needed, a new project may have to be set up to carry out the change. The new project will then proceed through all the above life cycle phases. Task: 4.2 Life Cycle Models Waterfall model Prototyping model Evolutionary model The spiral model Formal development Incremental development Rapid application model V-Shaped model Requirements analysis Definition Integration and Software testing Software dDesign Implementation and unit testing Operation and Maintenance Waterfall Model Figure: 7 This takes the fundamentals process activities of specification, development, validation and evolution and represents them as separate process phase such as requirement specification, software design, implementation and testing and so on. Requirement Analysis and Definition The systems services, constraints and goals are established by consultation with the software users. They are then defined in detail and serve as a software specification. how the current software works and what it does Producing a detailed model in subject terms of what the new software will do and how it will work. Producing a high-level description of new software Software Design The software design process partitions the requirements to either hardware or software system. It establishes overall software architecture. Software design involves identifying and describing the fundamental software system abstraction and their relationships. Implementation and Unit Testing During this stage, the software design is realized as a set of programs or program units. Unit testing involves verifying that each unit meets its specification. Integration and Software Testing The individual program units or programs are integrated and tested as complete software to ensure that the software requirements have been met. After testing, the software system is delivered to the customer. Operation and Maintenance Normally this is the longest life cycle phase. The software is installed and put into practical use. Maintenance involves correcting errors which were not discovered in earlier stages of the life cycle; improving the implementation of the software units and enhancing the softwares services as new requirement are discovered.

Can Artificial Drainage of Wetlands Have Detrimental Effects on the Cha

Introduction: Wetland soils are widely diverse. They are found from the arctic to the tropics. They can be mineral or organic, seasonal or year-round, marine or freshwater. The one thing they all have in common is that, for at least part of the year, they are saturated with water. This saturation has a significant impact on the soil's characteristics such as the biota, chemistry, and physics. However, over the past century more than half of all the wetlands in the United States have been drained for agriculture and other uses such as construction. When the soils are drained the characteristics are drastically changed. This paper is an attempt to describe the changes in artificially drained soils and to consider a few of the consequences of these changes. Body: The physical properties of saturated soils vary somewhat from wetland to wetland but are characterized by certain processes. One is the interaction of the soil with the watertable. Three patterns of possible groundwater flow have been considered: water could flow into the saturated areas from the surrounding area (discharge), making the saturated area the focal point; water could flow through swamps because of local relief (flow-through); or water could flow from the saturated zone into surrounding areas (recharge) possibly due to differential water use by plant communities or pumping (Crownover et al, 1995). There can also be vertical exchange of water between the groundwater and saturated soil. For example, capillary effects pull water upward into the soil from the water table. Besides the vertical and horizontal flow of water, the area of the soil taken up by water is important. Wetland soils are either saturated or nearly saturated so that much of the pore space is... ...ne flatwood landscape: Soil Science Society of America Journal, 59, 1199-1206. Fausey, N.R., Brown, L.C., Belcher, H.W. and Kanwar, R.S. (1995) Drainage and water quality in the Great Lakes and cornbelt states: Journal of Irrigation Drainage Engineering, 121, 283-288. Leventhal, E. (1990). Alternative uses of wetlands other than conventional farming in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska: EPA/171/R-92/006, 145 p. McBride, M. B. (2003) Environmental Chemistry of Soils: Advances in Environmental Research, 8, 5-19 Mitsch, W.J. and Gosselink, J.G. (2000). The value of wetlands: importance of scale and landscape setting. Ecological Economics, 35, 25-33 Schipper, L.A., Harfoot, C.G., McFarlane, P.N., and Cooper, (1994) Anaerobic decomposition and denitrification during plant decomposition in an organic soil: Journal of Environmental Quality, 23, 923-928

The Massia Cultural Breakdown Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Maasai Cultural Breakdown Paper â€Å"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people† Proverbs 14:34. This is a quote from a web site (http://www.peopleteams.org/maasai/culture.htm), that defines parallels to the culture of the Maasai. The Maasai Culture is from Southern Kenya. The culture is very family based, with many families being quite large. The Maasai own a total land area of 160,000 kilometers ( http://maasai-infoline.org/TheMaasaipeople.html ). Some of the physical characteristics include, but are not limited to, tall height, long pierced earlobes, and thin bodies. The Maasai have a saying for how they believe â€Å"it takes one day to destroy a house but to build a new one will take months, perhaps years. If we destroy our way of life to construct a new one, it will take thousands of years† (http://maasai-infoline.org/Maasaiceremonies.html). The Maasai culture has been around since the latter part of the first millennium (http://www.environmentalaction.net/kenya/kenya_policy_failure.html). They generally stay in the same area, unless they need to hunt the lion. Only when they are forced out by Westeners or animals will they abondon their homeplace. WORLD VIEW When looking at the World View it is important to remember it is timeless and must represent a fundamental set of assumptions, thoughts and options; how they see the Universe. The World View categories are: 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Supreme being: Above all, beyond all, Culture. One and only one. 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Super natural forces: exist on spiritual plan 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human beings: leader of the tribe 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nature: storms, grass, moon, and stars 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Animals: Lions, cattle, 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inanimate: nonliving objects, a special rock. Now we will look at how the Maasai rank and define these categories based on Richard Porter’s research of their World Veiw (Samovar, Porter 2000, p. 90-98). 1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Nature: 2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Supreme Being: 3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Human beings: 4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Animals: 5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Inanimate: 6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Super natural forces: NATURE: The Maasai tribe live in the out-of-doors, literally- so the climate is extremely important. D... ...is tribe for they have survived for over 100 years with only oral traditions, which demonstrate the strength and commitment to their culture. Bibliography Cheeseman, T (2002). Conservation and the Maasia in Kenya. Tradeoff or Lost Mutualism? Retrieved on April 20th, 2002, from the World Wide Web: (http://www.environmentalaction.net/kenya/kenya_policy_failure.html Hamisi, K (2002). Maasai Rituals and Ceremonies. Retrieved on April 22nd, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://maasai-infoline.org/Maasaiceremonies.html Hamisi, K (2002). The Practice of Lion Hunting. Retrieved on April 23rd, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://maasai-infoline.org/lion.html. Martin M (2002). Society-MASAI. Retrieved on April 24th, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/EthnoAtlas/Hmar/Cult_dir/Culture.7860 Samovar, L. R., Porter, (2000). Intercultural Communication A Reader, (9th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing Company Unknown Author, (2002). Maasai Culture. Retrieved on April 24th, 2002, from the World Wide Web: http://www.peopleteams.org/maasai/culture.htm Youngman, J. (2002). The Maasai. Retrieved on April 25th, 2002, from the World Wide Web: (http://www.masai-mara.com/mmmaa.htm

Welfare System and Poverty in the UK Essay -- Social Issues, Poverty,

This essay will consider whether the welfare state has eliminated poverty. It will examine what poverty is and how the definition varies from societies. The essay will look at the aims of the welfare state from conception and how it has changed to present times. The welfare state being analysed is the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It will discuss the nature of the social democratic welfare state and liberal criticisms of the problems this type of state brings. The recent changes to the welfare state will be reviewed and what the consequences of the changes may be. It will then look at recent statistics to determine whether the welfare state has eradicated poverty. Poverty is a difficult condition to define because it is often used to mean different things by different people. The United Nations definition states that ‘... poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate in society†¦.it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation’ (UN statement, 1998). Poverty is generally split into two types; absolute and relative. Absolute poverty can be defined in different ways but, regardless of the definition, it is generally agreed that is in an intolerable situation that requires action to reverse (Schwartzman, 1997). Absolute poverty can be described as ‘a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation, facilities, health, shelter, education and information’ (World Summit on Social Development, 1995). The UN measures absolute poverty by a lack of two or more deprivations of human basic need. The needs are; food, safe drinking w... ... will still leave more than 12 million in poverty though the indirect consequences of reform may prove to offer further help to those living below the poverty line. In many ways the welfare state has succeeded in bringing about a fairer society at the most basic level. All citizens are entitled to free education, health care, and benefits when needed, which are the most fundamental needs. Liberals might argue that the welfare state has, in fact, worked too well by creating a society in which one can choose whether or not to work and still be given a decent standard of living while contributing nothing to the overall standard of society. Beyond this, it can be argued, the welfare state has failed. The UK is the fifth richest country in the world (www.worldsrichestcountries.com) yet still struggles with raising a large percentage of its citizens out of poverty.

Autonomous Jumping-Microrobots Essay

1.1 Background of the study Despite their relative simplicity, modern day mobile robots capture the imagination by offering mobility in robust and controllable packages. Each of these robots is relatively large and works alone or requires a human operator. Science fiction novels have long imagined very small robots working by themselves or in groups to do the same tasks of a larger robot, or even accomplishing jobs much larger robots would find impossible. In The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson describes microscopic robots used for surveillance and inherent in everyday life. A great deal of progress has been made in the decades since Feynman’s speech, but microrobots still have a long way to go to reach the fantastic capabilities attributed to them in fictional works and Feynman’s imagination. Even the term ‘microrobot’ is not well defined. The autonomous mobile microrobots in this dissertation are defined as robots with dimensions on the order of millimeters and feature sizes on the order of microns. They carry power and control on-board for autonomy and their mobility allows them to move through a specified (and preferably arbitrary) environment. At this size, even mobility proves difficult. Ants and other insects can easily crawl over obstacles, but it is much more difficult for robots to do so, even at larger size scales. To overcome the limitation of leg length, the microrobots of this dissertation are designed to jump over obstacles instead.

Sippican Case

1 SIPPICAN CORPORATION CASE ANALYSYS 20229 Cost Management System 2 Executive Summary ? Company Overview ? Accounting method ? Production process ? Activities performed ? Q1. Should Sippican use a contribution margin approach? Explanation ? Q2. Capacity cost rates for resources ? Q3. ? a. Revised costs and profits ? b. Product costs and profitability analysis with the new allocation method. Cause of the shifts in values. ? Q4. What actions should the management take to improve Sippican’s profitability? 3 Company overview †¢ Sippican is a company manufacturing hydraulic control devices: alves, pumps and flow controllers †¢ Recent trends (March 2006) ? Valves: margin remained at standard 35% ? Pumps: Sippican’s main business, gross margin fell to 5% (below expect. 35%) ? Flow controllers: price increase by 10% with no effect on demand †¢ Issue Sippican had to react to competitors pumps price reductions to maintain volumes Decline in profitability: pre tax m argin to less than 2% 4 Competitive scenario Sippican †¢ High quality †¢ Unique design †¢ Loyal customer base †¢ Major supplier †¢ High volumes †¢ Commodities †¢ Major presence †¢ Customized †¢ Various typesIndustry Able to match Sippican’s quality, but no bids for market share with price cuts Sippican’sReaction Stable 35% gross margin Valves Pumps Price reduction Price reduction & consequent decline in profitability More production runs and shipments to meet demand + 10% Price increase w/o affecting demand Flow Controllers Much variety of types in the industry 5 Accounting method †¢ Simple cost accounting system , full cost method: ? DM costs= price of components (annual agreement) ? DL= 32. 5$/h (fringe benefits are included); charged on std run times for each product ?OH allocated as % of production-run DL cost (185% current OH rate) †¢ Variable costs are only DL and DM Meeting to consider the possibility of ado pting a contribution margin approach 6 Production process Purchase Machine Assembly ? A unique product department ? Same equipments and labor for all the 3 product lines ? Just in time Valves †¢ 4 components †¢ Standardized †¢ Large lots Pumps †¢ 5 components †¢ Standardized †¢ Products go to industrial distributors after assembly Flow Controllers †¢ Varied&customized: more components, more labor , more products runs 7 Activities Set up 2x 7. h/d shifts; 20 days per month †¢ each time batch components is machined in a production run †¢ 15 workers per shift (25% production workforce) †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ 62 machines Workers simultaneously at more machines 45 workers per shift (production&assembly workers) 5,400$/month operating expense Productivity: 6 per shift Production run Receiving and production control †¢ Orderind, processing, inspecting, moving batch componetnts to production runs †¢ 75’ (regardle ss type of production run & components price) †¢ 4 people over the 2 shifts †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ 50’ per shipment 8’ bubble wrap and pack 14 workers per shift (tot28) 7. h/d shift; 30’ training; 2Ãâ€"15’ breaks *Production& assembly workers: – 2x 15’ breaks 30’ training 30’ preventive mainteinance Packaging and shipping New product design and development †¢ 9750$/m compensation †¢ 7. 5h/d shift 8 Q1: Should executive adopt a contribution margin approach? Yes Costs-volumeprofits analysis No Variable costs:dm&dl significant contribution to oh Pricing decisions No account of all costs related to products Significant fixed costs JIT: no need to incorporate inventories NO: company cost structure significant fixed overhead costs and significant activities influencing the values of the final products the whole analysis will based on the contribution margin approach. The results which will be obtained will be influenced by the use of Time-driven ABC, with the right cost driver allocation to cost pools. It will make the difference for perfoming a more accurate analysis 9 Q2: Compute capacity rates for resources Hrs/month Monthly cost* Production workers 20 $3. 900 Indirect workers 20 $3. 900 Engineers 20 $9. 750 Machines 20 $5. 400 x Paid hrs 7,5 7,5 7,5 Productive hrs 6 6,5 6 12 ? Monthly hrs 120 130 120 240 Cost per hr $32,50 $30,00 $81,25 $22,50 DL Set up Machines Rec&Prod Pack&Shp Eng units 90 30 62 4 28 8 Monthly hrs 120 120 240 130 130 120 Hrs available Hrs used % Capacity used 10800 10700 99,07% 3600 3400 94,44% 14880 14600 98,12% 520 431,25 82,93% 3640 3483,33 95,70% 960 900 93,75% *given by the text Q2 Product data March 2006: 10 Product Lines Valves Pumps Flow Contr. DM units 4 5 10 DM cost 16 20 22 DL h/unit 0,38 0,50 0,4 Machine h/unit 0,5 0,5 0,3 Set up h/unit 5 6 12 Production Units Machine hrs (run time) Production runs Setup hrs(labor&machine) #of shipments Hrs engineerin g work Valves Pumps Flow Contr. 7500 12500 4000 3750 6250 1200 20 100 225 100 600 2700 40 100 200 60 240 600Total 24000 11200 345 3400 340 900 Actual quantities per activity: Activities Set up hrs Machine hrs Receiving& control hrs Packaging & Shipment hrs Engeneering hrs Pr Units x DLhrs Mhrs+set up hrs(machine) 75’/60) x production runs (50’/60’) x #ship + (8’/60’) x pr. Units Eng hrs Valves 2850 3850 25 1. 033,33 60 Pumps 6250 6850 125 1750 240 Flow contr 1600 3900 281,25 700 600 Total hrs used 10700 14600 431,25 3483,33 900 Q3 Valves Pumps Flow Controllers Tot $592. 500,0 $875. 000,0 $380. 000,0 $1. 847. 500,0 $212. 625,0 $453. 125,0 $140. 000,0 $805. 750,0 $120. 000,0 $92. 625,0 $250. 00,0 $203. 125,0 $88. 000,0 $52. 000,0 $458. 000,0 $347. 750,0 11 Q3. a: Revised costs and profits for the 3 product lines Revenues VC DM* DL* Contribution Margin TOH* Machine related expenses Setup labor Setup Machine R&P Control P&S Engeneering $379. 875,0 $421 . 875,0 $126. 499,0 $249. 374,1 $84. 375,0 $3. 250,0 $2. 250,0 $750,0 $30. 999,0 $4. 875,0 $140. 625,0 $19. 500,0 $13. 500,0 $3. 750,0 $52. 499,1 $19. 500,0 $240. 000,0 $253. 687,8 $27. 000,0 $87. 750,0 $60. 750,0 $8. 437,5 $21. 000,3 $48. 750,0 $1. 041. 750,0 $629. 560,9 $252. 000,0 $110. 500,0 $76. 500,0 $12. 937,5 $104. 498,4 $73. 25,0 Gross Margin GS&A Operating Income % Gross Margin * Cost allocation slide 11 $253. 376,0 $172. 500,9 -$13. 687,8 $412. 189,1 $350. 000,0 $62. 189,1 22,31% 42,76% 19,71% -3,60% 12 Cost Allocation: †¢ DM&DL: SQxSP Valves Prod. Units 7500 DM costs 16 DL costs 12. 35 Pumps 12500 20 16. 25 Flow Contr. 4000 22 13 †¢ OH: Activities Set up hrs Machine hrs Receiving& control hrs Packaging & Shipment hrs Engeneering hrs Pr Units x DLhrs Mhrs+set up hrs(machine) (75’/60) x production runs (50’/60’) x #ship + (8’/60’) x pr. Units Eng hrs Valves 2850 3850 25 1. 033,33 60 Pumps 6250 6850 125 1750 240Flow contr 1600 39 00 281,25 700 600 Total hrs used 10700 14600 431,25 3483,33 900 Capacity Costs Production workers 32,5 Indirect workers 30 Machines 81,25 Engineers 22,5 13 Q3. b Product costs and profitability with new cost assignment ? old cost assignment DL cost DM cost Man OH cost (185%) Std Unit cost Target selling price Planned gross margin Actual selling price Actual Gross margin Actual gross margin% Valves Pumps $12,35 $16,25 $16,00 $20,00 $22,85 $30,06 $51,20 $66,31 $78,77 $102,02 35% 35% $79,00 $70,00 $27,80 $3,69 35% 5% Flow C $13,00 $22,00 $24,05 $59,05 $90,85 35% $95,00 $35,95 38% ? new cost assignment:DL cost DM cost Man OH cost Std Unit cost Target selling price Planned gross margin Actual selling price Actual Gross margin Actual gross margin% Valves $12,35 $16,00 $16,87 $45,22 $78,77 43% $79,00 $33,78 43% Pumps $16,25 $20,00 $19,95 $56,20 $102,02 45% $70,00 $13,80 20% Flow C $13,00 $22,00 $63,42 $98,42 $90,85 -8% $95,00 -$3,42 -4% †¢ †¢ – Valves more profitable: 35%( old) vs (43%) No changes in expectations Lower cost allocated: less activities dedicated to their production(std products, large lots) Pumps No meet expectations, but still profitable 20% Lower cost allocated: less activities dedicated to their production (std products) – Flow controllers No profitable: -4% Higher cost: many activities and people used in their production Q3. B 14 †¢ The shift is caused by the Time-driven ABC method: – Costs are allocated to product lines which absorb more costs: more detailed and long production process for flow controllers †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 15 Q4. What actions should the management take to improve Sippican’s profitability? Flow Controllers †¢ Flow controllers not profitable as expected $253. 87,8 $27. 000,0 $87. 750,0 $60. 750,0 $8. 437,5 $21. 000,3 $48. 750,0 †¢ High setup costs (148000) compared to the other overheads TOH* Machine related expenses Setup labor Setup Machine R&P Control P&S Engeneering Potential s olutions: – Impose a minimum quantity order to lower set up costs Gross margin -3,6 (how to convince customers to buy a minimum quantity? ) – Production process improvement, with lower set up times 16 Q&A