The messages of An Inspector Calls Essay Example for Free

The messages of An Inspector Calls Essay An Inspector Calls is a classic play written by J B Priestly shortly before World War II ended. The play however, is set in 1912, which is shortly before the First World War. The play is set in an industrial city in the Midlands of 1912 concerns a wealthy industrialist Arthur Birling, the fianci Gerald Croft, The Birling family and an Inspector. It shows how the family each help to destroy a young womans life Eva Smith through their selfish and callous attitudes, which results in her death. The play takes place in the Birlings dining room where the family are celebrating the engagement of Sheila to Mr Gerald Croft. The dining room is the setting in which the whole play takes place in. As the play takes place in one place only the effects can be later seen within the play and dramatised versions as it creates a sense of Claustrophobia amongst audiences as the play becomes more intense later on when the inspector arrives. Arthur Birling believed he was a fair employer paying only what he had to and no more. If asked for a raise he would say it was his duty to keep costs low and prices high. Eva Smith, an employee was sacked with other colleagues seen as a ringleader for going on strike. It is this arrogance that Priestly was concerned about, he conveys Mr Birling as an arrogant, pompous and greedy man with no sympathy for the lower classes. Eva Smith was one of them. Shed had a lot to say, far too much- so she had to go here we see the blindness of Arthur Birling which can, to some extent be related to events in those times. In 1912 people were divided very subjectively into different classes and social groups. Priestly wanted to make audiences aware of the arrogance and in some sense fear in the upper classes for those lower down in the social and economic ladder. Rubbish! If you dont come down sharply on these people, theyd soon be asking for the earth. This quote from Arthur Birling strengthens the statement above and shows that Mr Birling is a selfish man who fuelled by his greed. The reason why the celebration takes place in the first place is because of his daughters engagement to Mr Gerald Croft of Crofts Limited. Through his daughters engagement to Gerald Croft he sees a new business opportunity in the making: And now youve bought us together we may look forward to the time when Crofts and Birlings are no longer competing but are working together- for lower costs and higher prices! This quote shows and presents the question of if Mr Birling was interested in the engagement for sentimental reasons or just for business Your just the type of son-in-law I wanted .

Key Drivers Of Business Process Changes Commerce Essay

Key Drivers Of Business Process Changes Commerce Essay Harmon (2007) explains about key drivers of business process change. He argues that in economically bad times, companies seek to make their processes more efficient and in good times, companies seek to expand their production and enter into new markets. There is much emphasis on improvement of processes to attract new customers and enter into new markets. Another factor which led to improvement of process is the impact of globalisation on the organisation performance especially to those companies that are engaged in the world trade. In order to compete in the global environment, companies are focusing on mergers and acquisitions to acquire new knowledge and technology. In the same vein, due to advancement of the information technology, it is easier for companies to approach customers and suppliers around the world. The breakthrough development in the information technology is the advent of internet; companies are changing their process to go online. When the buyer and seller are avai lable on one click so there is need to consider the process for redesigning. Levels of process change: To carry out the process change, it is necessary identify the levels of changes that are required for each of the process. Process re-engineering This is strategic level change, when major threats or opportunities in the businesss external environment prompt a fundamental rethinking of the large scale processes critical to the operation of the value chain. Process redesign This is intermediate scale of change in operations, appropriate for medium sized processes that require extensive change or improvement. It results in changes in job description or automation of processes.. Process improvement Appropriate for smaller, stable and existing processes which are tactical in nature and require incremental change (ACCA Student Accountant, Business Process Change, Edition 2008, p66-67) Process identification and Evaluation: Process identification is the way to identify the processes which are required to be reengineered. There are many ways in which process that need to be reengineered is determined. Process evaluation: Peter Keen (1997) explains mechanism by which an organisation evaluates the process. He suggests that by asking questions about the process, the identification of processes is possible which are required to be reengineered. First, Does the process represent an organisation to customers, employees and investors? If the answer is yes then that process is important. But if the answer is no then another question needs to be asked. Is the excellency of the process important for the performance of the company? If the answer is yes then we give priority to this process that dose need to be considered. If the answer is no then another question is asked. Does the process is necessary to support other business process? If the answer is yes then again process need to be considered but the importance is supporting process. But if the answer is no then final question is asked whether there is legal conditions apply for this process? If the answer is yes then that process is mandatory and again ne ed to be considered. Again if the answer is no then its management decision whether to continue to operate or abandoned the process. Rosemann (2001) proposes identification of the processes that need to be change or reengineered. There are two dimension proposes by the Rosemann. First, need to reorganise and second dimension is value of process. If the values of the processes are high and recognise needs are also high then process has high priority. If the process value is low but reorganise need is high then that is the second choice that we need to consider. Third set of process that we need to consider is the low value and low need for organising. If the process value is high and need to reorganise is low then reengineer is required to be carefully planned because it has impact on the other process if problem arises. Hammer and Champy (1993) suggest way to improve the process on the basis of dysfunction, importance and feasibility. Dysfunctional is where the process is in deep trouble. If the process is crucial for the customer satisfaction then it is important and feasibility in terms of that is most ready to successful redesign. Porter value chain: Porter value chain also provides the valuable analysis of the activities or processes that need to be changed or where improvement is required. In the business process reengineering, Porter (1985) is considered one of the most important mechanisms. x larger Size: 500  ÃƒÆ'-  500 Type: 13KB GIF http://www.provenmodels.com/files/2825c320f5910a4647fd289cdcf5a780/value_chain_analysis.gif (Porter Value chain Analysis Diagram- source www.google.co.uk) Porter value chain consists of primary activities and secondary activities. As shown in diagram, primary activities are inbound activities, operations, outbound logistics, sales and services. Whereas, secondary activities consist of the procurement, human resources, technology and infrastructure. When the organisation plan for reengineering, it is important to start from the primary activities because these activities are crucial for the success of the company. Business Process Reengineering: The fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed. (Hammer-1990) A strategy driven organisational initiative to (re) design of business process to achieve competitive breakthroughs performance, differing in scope from process improvement to radical new process design, contingent upon the degree of socio-technical change required. (Grover and Kettinger1995) Goals of BPR: The rapid adoption and radical change by BPR, despite its failure, is fuelled by promise to make drastic improvement in business performance. The improvement results from: Improved customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction is one of most important benefits of reengineering. Its results are high level customers satisfaction. Customers are internal and external to the organisation. Reengineering achieves this by making organisational structure that serves through the organisation rather than department. Cost reduction: In the current dynamic environment, cost effective is considered as core competences. Many companies are focusing on how to improve the cost efficiencies. On the other hand, big cost also effects the customers satisfactions. If the companies try to reduce cost then have to compromise on the quality. Reengineering aims to produce leaner and fitter companies which can easily adapt to new product and circumstances. Gover et al (1997), addressed in their journal, Wal-Mart has been reduced restocking time from six weeks to thirty-six hours. Hewlett Packards assembly time for server computers touches new low- four minutes. Taco Bells sales soar from $500 million to $3 billion. The whole credit goes to reengineering for these breakthrough changes. Improved product and service quality: Quality is one of key determinants in making product or services offerings. In the current competitive environment, sales are made on quality rather than price. Sometimes sales are made on the basis of quality rather than price. Reengineering accomplishes this by breaking organisational structure consisting of functions where the work is passed from one function to another as a package. The responsibilities are centralised in one group rather than splitting over different departments. Harnessing skill: The success of the company depends upon the utilising the skills, knowledge and expertise of the workers. In function based, individuals work in their hierarchical layer rather than contributing their knowledge and expertise. Reengineering breaks this barrier by allowing individuals to share their knowledge and empowering them for their tasks. This enables the company to fully exploit workforce skills. Reduced times: By making work flow through and between different departments in functional structure, the business performance wasting time is quite high. The reengineering approach eliminates this wasting time by bringing together those parts of the disparate organisation working on the same task into one group. The whole process is then considered as in one domain allowing everybody in that domain to focus on the effective operations and improvement of the process. Improving value-added: Business reengineering is an effective way to identify and remove those tasks and activities which result in inefficiencies and repetition factors. This allows focusing on the value adding activities that result in creating high value for the organisation and satisfying customers needs. Faster responsiveness: Business success in todays environment depends upon responding to changes. Horton believed that his major management concern for 90s to create company that can manage surprise (Horton-1989). Functional management structures slow down the decision making procedures and hence reduce the ability of managers to deal with surprises. Reengineering encourages empowering business units to take decisions and thus increase the speed with which they react to events. It also increases the speed by the removal of the time-wasting across functional transaction in the production process. Principles of BPR: The principles of BPR are agreed upon and are reviewed to get familiar with Business Process Reengineering: Achieving step change in performance: One common principle that in favour of pioneers of the reengineering is that incremental improvement is not enough in the global competition. Global competition calls for radical improvement in the quality, services, faster response and lower cost. . Davenport points out that reengineering is all about shifting from 5 to 10m percent annual improvement to 50 percent or even higher improvement in few key processes. Firms strive for multiplicative levels of improvements rather than fractional level. (Davenport- 1993). Function vs. Process oriented organisational Structure: Holtham (2001) suggests that careful thinking is required when the company plans to change business process and especially implementing the reengineering approach to improvement. BPR is used where required and when the management has sufficient potential to follow it. Because BPR is not just process change but it results in the radical redesign of the organisation structure. Normally, process improvement changes results in a change from functional structure to the process oriented structure. People who work in the functional structure also support the process orientated structure. Many organisation try to intervened their processes with the functional structure because dont want to lose benefits of the functional specialization. Thus there is move of flexible organisational structure that has both functional and process orientation. The process improvement enables organisation to think through processes and come up with design which are more efficient and effective. It results in wee ding out of the unnecessary steps within the systems. Create customer focus: Reengineering philosophy believes that the customer is key driver behind process improvement. Hammer indicates that the seller has low bargaining power and the customer now tells the supplier where they need, what they want, how they want it and what they are willing to pay (Hammer-1993). This concept also applies to internal processes where the customer is another person, or group within the organisation. Integrating work: The philosophy of reengineering is to eliminate inefficiencies from the processes by eliminating non value- added activities. The remaining activities are simplified and integrated to create new ways of working. Sometimes the solution is achieved by giving one person the authority to handle a spectrum of operations or solution is to create multidisciplinary teams. The solution achieved by giving one person the ability to handle a spectrum of operations or the solution is to create multidisciplinary teams. The overall emphasis is on giving responsibilities for processes in few hands. Developing a process management culture: The functional management based structure is incompatible with the process culture. The working practices, skills and management responsibilities need to be redefined and more productive ways are found for harnessing the expertise of every individual within company. IT and BPR: IT and BPR have no clear relationship. There is emphasise on technological innovations rather than the organisation itself when BPR was not developed (George-1991). These innovations bring reduction in time, processing, information system and storage cost. This makes the technology as independent variable to determine changes in organisation. This researchers group have been used the technology to automate the complicated as is situation of organisations which, as reported earlier, did not have significant improvements in productivity. Parnaby 1991 states that this time, failure is partly because of wrong use of IT to automate over-complex corporate process. However, it is partly fault of IT directors who have failed to raise the importance of IT to senior executive that IT plays in transforming a business. Other researchers emphasis on organisation and BPR, and believe that people deliberately design IT for intended objectives. Kim defines BPR as that an organisation uses the IT to change the way work is being done (Kim-1994). Renkema (1995) implies that A BPR investment is regarded as long term commitment of organisational resources to achieve ambitious business goals through transformation of business processes with IT as an enabling technology. There are many successful cases of major performance improvement of IT enabled BPR in the industry (Alter et al, 1990). This group of researchers believe that IT is depended variable that is planned for and configured by managers. Role of IT in BPR: The role of IT in business process reengineering is two-way: as an Implementer or an Enabler, Lyons (1995). For the first role, it is used to support the mapping, analysis and modelling aspects of BPR and helps in transformation process. The second role is to develop major communication and system infrastructure to support the integration and automation of redesigned work process. There are some technologies which are used as enablers of BPR. Technologies such as: Local Area Networks (LANs) and Electronic Mail (Email), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Executive Information Systems (EIS), Document Image Processing (DIP). BPR Methodologies: Lucas methodology: Lucas Engineering and Systems talk about manufacturing system redesign. Their argument is that to survive in todays market, it is necessary to set high targets in current competitive market and think for radical change. In their methodology, emphasise on eliminating the non-value added activities which do not add value to the customers and result in bad system operations. Four-step approaches for waste elimination are suggested by them, namely (Lucas-1991): Simplify the systems Eliminate waste Re-organise into Natural Groups Technology improvements Another idea which is introduced here by Lucas is Natural Group. Natural group is defined in their mini guides. A Natural grouping is a multiskilled group or team who hold a whole flow chart and then sit together in one office, area or cell Davenport and Short methodology Davenport addresses five stage approaches to redesign business process by using information technology capabilities (Davenport-1990). Develop Business Vision and Process Objectives- Organisation develops the vision which leads to the redesign objective and in turn results in improvement of process. Some objectives need to be related to the specified business vision like; cost reduction, time reduction and quality. Identify Processes to Be Redesigned- In this stage; there are two major approaches; the exhaustive approach and high impact approach. In the exhaustive approach, attempts are made to identify all processes within the organisations and then priorities depending upon their urgency. In high impact approach, process is redesign which has great impact on the organisation. Understand and Measure Existing Processes- Before redesigning the process, problems are well understood so that there is no chance of repetition. Secondly, accurate measures are used as basis for future improvement. Identify IT Levers- The major role of IT is to improve coordination and information access across the organisational units. The best approach is to use the IT in the early stages of process redesign rather than developing an IT system and matching with an existing system. Design and Build a Prototype of the Process- Final stage is not final design of the process though it is based on the prototype of the design. It is suggested that the redesigned process after agreement by the process owner be implemented on pilot basis and also examined regularly for problems and objectives. The key factors in process redesign and prototype create include IT design tools and understanding generic design criteria. The redesign is fully implemented after final acceptance of the process Rummler- Brenche methodology: Rummeler- Brache (1990) wrote in their book, Improve Performance: How to manage the White Space on the organisation chart. They explained that the organisation as system and worked down from top down to develop a comprehensive picture of how organisations are defined by processes and how people define that process help in accomplishing the activities. Rummler-Brenche (1990), define three level of performance: organisational level, process level and a job or performance level. They introduce the matrix that they obtain by crossing levels with three perspectives. There are nine different concerns that managers need to consider when changing or improving processes they emphasise that approaches that only focus on process or performance level or process management are limited perspective. Goals and Measure Design and Implementation Management Organisation Level Organisational gaols measures of organisational success Organisational and implementation Organisational management Process Level Process goals and measures of process success Process design and implementation Process management Activity or performance level Activity goals and measures of activity success Activity design and implementation Activity management (Rummeler and Braches Performance framework) Process Redesign Patterns: Paul Harmon (2003) describes four basic process redesign patterns: reà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Ëœengineering, simplification, value-added analysis, and gaps and disconnects. Business Process Re-engineering: Re-engineering pattern relates to a fundamental rethinking of existing processes to achieve major dramatic improvements. To achieve radical improvements in efficiency, it starts from scratch without considering the current situation. This approach ignores the existing processes and emphasises starting by asking what the goals of processes to be achieved are and work is carried out to achieve best outcome using the latest technology.BPR is large scale change and therefore high risk of disruption is involved. Re-engineering is best suited when large scales of changes are required. However, the other three can all be applied on a more modest scale, and could therefore be more relevant to the type of practical situation presented on. Simplification: The simplification pattern assumes that most established processes are likely to have developed elements of duplication or redundancy. Process efficiency is only possible by removing these. This approach is useful on large scale business process or more limited business processes. The best starting point for this approach is to identify the process, sub processes or activities in the existing processes and challenging each activity or sub process in the sequence. This process highlights where there is tendency of duplication or redundancy. Many organisations employ simplification for the process redesign because it is less disruptive and risky in nature. Value-added analysis: Value added analysis looks at the processes from the customer point of view identifies the value adding activities which are perceived to be valued by the customers. Customers may be internal or external. This pattern looks at the process (or sub-process) from a customers perspective. A process or activity is said to add value if it meets three criteria: 1: the customer is willing to pay for the output 2: it physically changes or transforms the output 3: it is performed correctly at the first attempt. The process or activities is said to be non value adding if: 1: preparation and set-up 2: control and inspection 3: simply moving a product from one place to another without physically changing it activities that result from delays or failures of any kind. Harmon (2003) suggests that non-value-adding activities are needed to be eliminated as far as possible. Some of these activities are essential (for example set-up activities) for the value-added activity to take place. These essential support activities are value enabling activities and need to be kept. However, these activities are expected to undertaken if these are simple and cost effective which means allowing resources for the value enabling activities to be employed. Gaps and disconnects This pattern was introduced by the Geary Rummler ad Allen Brache in1990. They argue that many of the problems arise because of failure of communication between the business functions. Manufacturing makes some new product economically but marketing and sales are not aware result in failure of whole system. The gaps and disconnects put an emphasis on the careful analysis of how existing processes are being done and before thinking for its improvement. Process improvement by Six Sigma: Yang and EI-Haik(2009) in their book explain six sigma. They argue that six sigma is best approach to bring improvement in the sub processes or activities rather than large scale processes. This approach helps the management to develop the process architecture. If architecture is already in place it helps in manager in identifying the projects which have potential of success by improving process. Six Sigma emphasises that measures at any level should be tied back to higher level process and to the strategic goals as well. There are some phases in a six sigma process improvement project: Define customers requirement for the process or services Measure existing performance and compare with customer requirements Analysis existing process Improve the process design and implement it Control the results and maintain the new performance Absecon Textile-New Jersey based company: One supplier of the contract upholstery fabric has found new ways of manufacturing process which make its efforts more efficient, more profitable and more competitive. Absecon textile based in southern New Jersey implements the lean manufacturing system. After one month implementation of lean manufacture systems processes are getting changed and there is seeing 70 percent reduction in the waste material it needlessly stored. I have heard people say lean manufacturing is applicable to every industry but textile says David Adair, Vice President of the Absecon. We dont believe that. We fully expect that lean manufacturing can give us competitive advantage . (Manufacturing Journal 2003) Marketing: Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers requirements profitably. (Chartered Institute of Marketing cited in Rowson Pauline 2009) Levison (2007), author of Gurialla Marketing noted: Marketing is not an event, but a process.. It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it a process. You improve it, perfect it, even pause it. But you never stop it completely. Importance of marketing: Marketing has strategic importance in todays competitive environment even the finance department not able to work without integration with the marketing department. The key to success in the current environment is to satisfy the customer needs and business trends by using marketing skills. Due to its importance, different companies employ marketing at different levels depending upon their need but consider it as essential element for business success. The Conference Board (2007) survey of the top CEO Challenge acknowledges the importance of the marketing. The report highlights the marketing challenges that are different at global level. CEO in Europe focuses on more new and responsive ideas. Due to this reason adoption and flexibility to change is more dominant in the Europe rather than Asia and America. The importance of the marketing for building brands and customers loyalty are accepted by all CEOs. Marketing Practices: Coveille et al (2002) in Contemporary marketing Practice Framework addresses five marketing approaches which the company adopts depending upon the customers and industry: Transactional marketing: is based on management of marketing mix to attract and satisfy customers needs and active communications to buyers in the mass market in order to create an arms length transaction. Database marketing: It involves using database technology to create relationship, thus allowing firms to compete differently from the mass market. E-marketing: It involves the use of internet and other technologies to create and settle dialogue between the company and customers. Interaction marketing: It is based on face to face interaction between individuals. This approach is highly practical because both parties customer and market invest resources to develop mutual relationship with each others. Marketing strategy: Marketing strategy is the process by which an organisation communicate its business objectives and strategy into market activity (Paul Field, 2006) Marketing strategy helps to identify the target market, what directions need to be taken and what actions need to be taken to create dependable position in the market. To this end, the core objectives of the marketing strategy are focused on the buyer behaviour and identifying the market that needs to be target and marketing programme moves around the marketing strategy. Weitz and Wensley (1998) defines marketing strategy as, it is an indicator that is specific towards which activities to be targeted and how to develop and exploit the competitive advantage. In order to get the best outcome, strategy requires clear objectives and focus on the organisation corporate goals; it also involves selecting the right customers and developing the marketing mix to implement the marketing strategy successfully. (Varadarajan 1999) A strategic market plan layouts the methods and resources required to achieve organisation goals within a specific market. Marketing department has responsibility to adopt those policies and procedure which can fulfil the customers needs. It takes into account not only marketing but also involves finance, human resources, research and development and production. The concept of strategic business units is used to define areas of consideration in specific marketing plan. Strategic business unit is a division, product line or other profit centre within a parent company. (Dibb et al 2001) Vass 2006 explains some strategies which the textile companies adopts to improve the growth and prosperity of the business. He also believes that marketing is not just about the sales. It is ongoing process of creating and maintaining relationships and measuring results. Marketing managers are required to implement strategy that helps in satisfying customer need and market targets. Market share strategy: Market share strategy is based on gaining the large share in the operating market. The success of this strategy depends upon the market penetration and the customer has to perceive that your offerings are unique. Before implementing this strategy, target market is defined? How the customers perceive your offering in relation to competitors. This information is helpful in targeting the right customers and develops communication links with the existing and potential customers. Market expansion: Seeks to expand the market size. To implement this strategy, markers are sure about the potential customers in the target market and competitors action. Market segmentation: Market segmentation concentrates on segmenting the market according to their homogenous needs and wants. Position strategy: A positioning strategy is psychological. It is designed to create and maintain a specific image in the customers mind. Its all about how the customers think and feel. Product life cycle strategy: The product life cycle strategy is driven by innovation and can apply to brand or to a product category. Its duration may be only for few months or century. Product life has four stages such as introduction, growth, maturity and decline. At the introduction stage, advertising cost is normally highly for making people aware of company offerings Quality: To implement the quality strategy, it is necessary to have better design or offering more durable product or more reliable services or faster delivery. Vass (2006) suggests that marketer should select one or two areas where they are superior to the competition and implement marketing strategy that identifies these specific attributes. Reminder strategy: Strategy is communication based. It targets regular and loyal customers to remind them to make an additional or replacement order. Simplicity strategy: Simplicity emphasis on the customer convenience. Businesses and customers are overwhelmed with the complexity and choices of goods and services available to them, with the product fully functional and features that only a small number of the users ever use. Strategic Marketing Plan and Planning: Planning: Planning is a process for accomplishing purposes. It is a blue print of business growth and a road map of development. It helps in deciding objectives both in quantitative and qualitative terms. It is setting of goals on the basis of objectives and keeping in the resources. A plan helps to avoid losing direction and to uncover the hidden opportunities. An organisational success depends upon careful planning. So preparing a satisfactory plan of the organization is essential because it helps the business in terms of products, management, finance, market and competitions. If appropriate intention is given to the planning then

Driverless Metro Train With Obstacle Detector Engineering Essay

Driverless Metro Train With Obstacle Detector Engineering Essay INTRODUCTION This project is designed to understand the technology used in driver less metro train. This technology is the future of the metro train. This train will be equipped with the microcontroller as the CPU, Sensors, Displays, and Motors. These trains will be designed for following the specific path. This microcontroller will be programmed such that door opens and close automatically when the train reaches its station. This microcontroller will be programmed for a specific path so that it knows the distance between two stations. It also opens the door when train reaches the station for a certain time and then closes. Also if the train is following its path and in front of train an obstacle is detected the sensor will sense the obstacle from a safer distance so that the train can be stopped before accident. In this project we are using the same pattern described above. Here we are using AT89S52 microcontroller as a CPU. One stepper motor is used for the train so that it can travel between the stations. Second, motor is used for the door open and close. For displaying the number of station and emergency message we are using 2 line LCD displays. Here the train is designed for ten stations numbered 1 to 10. LCD is used to display the message as station number reached. Also buzzer is used as a sound indicator of emergency alarm and door open. Sensor is used to detect the obstacle in front of the train. When the obstacle is detected the buzzer will sound , all the motors stop, and message will be displayed on the LCD. When the obstacle is removed the train will again start moving on its path. The train equipped with microcontroller controls LCD L293D motor driving IC PIR sensor Buzzer Led LIST OF COMPONENTS 1 IC 8051 MC (AT89S52) 1 2 IC L293D 1 3 Transformer (120 V to 12V) 1 4 Voltage Regulator 7806 1 5 Voltage Regulator 7812 1 6 2 X16 LCD display 1 7 Stepper Motor 2 8 Crystal Oscillator (11.0592 MHz) 2 9 Switch 1 10 LED 1 11 Resistors (1k,10k,8.2k,18 SIP10kÃŽÂ ©)- pack of each 12 Capacitors(22pf,10uf,1mf,10nf) pack of each 13 Diode IN4007 4 14 Buzzer 1 15 Transistor (5474A) 1 16 PIR 1 WORKING OF PROJECT: Driver less metro train project is typically based on microcontroller. Where microcontroller used as a CPU is controlling the entire circuit. The micro IC is programmed to follow the sequence of instruction or interrupts generated during the whole operation. The whole project circuit is divided into different parts so that it is easy to understand and debug. The main parts are Main microcontroller circuit L293D motor driving circuit Power supply circuit LCD circuit PIR sensor circuit These four parts are connected together to make the whole project functional. BLOCK DIAGRAM led POWER SUPPLY MICRO 8051 L293D IC MOTOR SENSOR PIR LCD 2X16 BUZZER CIRCUIT DESIGN (MULTISIM DESIGN, ULTIBOARD DESIGN) POWER SUPPLY For explaining the working of the project firstly we explain the architecture of the power supply. For this project we need the power supply that can convert 120V to 12V and 6 V. the main components used in the power supply are: DC POWER SUPPLLY Transformer (120V to 12V Step down, 0.5Amp) IN4007 diodes connected I bridge shape Voltage regulator 7806 and 7812 Capacitor (1uf,10 nf) Resistor (10 kohm) The 120 volts is step down by 12 volts by transformer. Then this 12V is rectified by the bridge rectifier made up of diodes. This bridge rectifier is used to provide DC voltage. Then the 12V is regulated by 7806 to 6V and 7812 to 12V. 1 micro farad capacitor is used to filter the pulsating DC voltage in order to get the pure DC. Here 6V is given to the microcontroller circuit. Other, 12V is given to the motor driving circuit. Here Voltage regulator is used so that no fluctuation occurs in order to get constant voltage. The LED attaches to check the correctness of power supply. PIR SENSOR PIR stands for Passive infrared sensor which detects the motion of the obstacle in front of the train. Its pin 1 is connected to the VCC, pin 3 connected to the ground and pin 2 is connected to the base 0 of the transistor. The output of the sensor is active high which is given to the base of the transistor. This transistor act like a not gate and convert active high input to active low output of the transistor output. The collector of the transistor is connected to the microcontroller port 3.0. Resistance is connected to the base of the transistor to prevent overflow of the current. The output of the PIR sensor is digital. When PIR sensor senses the obstacle in front of the it sends active low input through transistor to the microcontroller as a interrupt. When microcontroller gets this interrupt the programming in the microcontroller stops all the motor bringing the train to stop. Also the led will glow and buzzer will sound showing the presence of obstacle. LCD MODULE In our project we are using 2 line and 16 digit LCD display. This lcd has 16 pins. It is connected as a parallel port to the microcontroller. Here we are using 14 pins two pins are not being used. Out of these 14 pins, 8 pins are used for data lines to communicate with the microcontroller. These 8 pins are connected to the port 2.0 to port 2.7 of the microcontroller. When the message is to be displayed by the microcontroller it is transferred through these data pins. Here data bit D7 is used for showing the busy message. When D7=1 the LCD is busy and when it is D7=0 than it is not. RW, EN, and RD are connected to the port 3 pins P3.5 to P3.7. EN pin is used to detect the high to low pulse. RS=1 is used for register select that is data register to display data coming from microcontroller and RS=0 command register to get command from microcontroller like clrscr. For data register RS =1 and for command register RS=0. For RW we have R=1 and W=0. VCC pin is connected to 5V power supply, G ND pin is connected to ground. CV pin is connected to potentiometer which is used to adjust the contrast of the LCD. MOTOR DRIVING CIRCUIT The motor driving circuit depends upon the output of the microcontroller. 2 motors are connected to L293D IC. This IC is used separately to drive motor because the microcontroller voltage is low to drive the motors. L293D act as a amplifier for driving the motor. Here the output of the IC is same as the input the difference is just that the input voltage is amplified. Two motors are connected to the output of the IC. This L293D IC can rotate motor in either direction. L293D is connected to the port0 of the microcontroller through pull up resistor. In the staring both the motor are in off state. Each motor has two pins that are connected to the IC. Here instead of using both motor we are using CD tray motor that will act like a gate which will open when it get open command from microcontroller and close with the close command. we are using stepper motor that is a electro-mechanical rotary actuator that converts electrical pulses into unique shaft rotations. This rotation is directly r elated to the number of pulses. This motor can be operated in forward/reverse with controllable speed from a microcontroller through a transistor driver circuit. This stepper motor is a (4 phase) 12 VDC, 150 mA motor that takes 3.6 degrees per step. Phase resistance (Ohms): 75 Â · Current (mA): 150 Â · Phase Inductance (mH): 39 Â · Detent torque (g-cm): 80 Â · Holding Torque (g-cm): 600 Â · Mounting hole space diagonal (in.): 1.73 Â · Mounting hole (in.) 0.11 Â · Shaft diameter (in.): 0.197 Â · Shaft length (in.): 0.43 Â · Motor Diameter (in.): 1.66 Â ·Motor height (in.): 1.35 Â · Weight: 0.55 lbs. BUZZER C:UsersAdminDesktopimages (1).jpg In this project buzzer is used as a alarm indicator. Buzzer has 2 pins its positive is connected to the supply voltage and negative pin is connected to microcontroller at port 1 pin p1.0. Buzzer will sound when it receive 0 from the microcontroller and stop when it receive 1 from P1.0. This buzzer will sound when the train reaches the station and also in case of emergency when obstacle is detected. AT89S52 C:UsersAdminDesktopAT89S52-MICROCONTROLLER-configuration.jpg The AT89S52 is a low-power, high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcontroller with 8K bytes of in-system programmable Flash memory. The device is manufactured using Atmels high-density nonvolatile memory technology and is compatible with the industry-standard 80C51 instruction set and pinout. The on-chip Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed in-system or by a conventional nonvolatile memory programmer. By combining a versatile 8-bit CPU with in-system programmable Flash on a monolithic chip, the Atmel AT89S52 is a powerful microcontroller which provides a highly-flexible and cost-effective solution to many embedded control applications. The AT89S52 provides the following standard features: 8K bytes of Flash, 256 bytes of RAM, 32 I/O lines, Watchdog timer, two data pointers, three 16-bit timer/counters, a six-vector two-level interrupt architecture, a full duplex serial port, on-chip oscillator, and clock circuitry. In addition, the AT89S52 is designed with static logic for operation down to zero frequency and supports two software selectable power saving modes. The Idle Mode stops the CPU while allowing the RAM, timer/counters, serial port, and interrupt system to continue functioning. In this microcontroller 11.0592 crystal oscillator is used to produce clock pulses for the microcontroller functioning. These clock pulses are used for R/W cycle. 2 ceramic capacitor of 22pf are used to provide pure pulse to the microcontroller. A combination of resistance 10 kilo ohm and capacitor of 10uf are used to provide reset circuitry. When we provide power to microcontroller it should be reset for some time. The reset time is given by t= 1.1*R*C. This reset circuitry is connected to port 1 reset pin; this circuit can be manually reset using switch which is also connected to the reset pin. Interrupt pin INTO is connected to the output of the transistor which gives active low input as a interrupt. Port 0 is connected to 18 (10 kohm) SIP resistors to provide the external pull up. Port is used for the output to the motor driver circuit. Port 2 is connected to the LCD module. TROUBLESHOOT 1-Care should be taken while choosing the components with proper rating. 2- Power supply should maintain preventing short circuit. 3- Project should be handled with care since IC is delicate. 4- Project circuit should be simple so that it is to debug. 5-Etching and drilling holes should be done carefully. 6-Soldering should be done with proper precaution Advantages 1-Lower expenditure for staff .However, service and security personnel is common in automated systems. 2-Trains can be shorter and instead run more frequently without increasing expenditure for staff. 3-Service frequency can easily be adjusted to meet sudden unexpected demands.. 4-Intruder detection systems can be more effective than humans in stopping trains if someone is on the tracks. 5-Financial savings in both energy and wear-and-tear costs because trains are driven to an optimum specification. FUTURE SCOPE This project will be useful for the metro trains. This is very low cost project that can be help full in operating the train without driver. One can operate the train from remote distance. It will also be beneficial for the developing countries decreasing the cost of labors. Also the station information and emergency will also be displayed to the passengers. It will going to increase the technology trends. This is just a scratch to start this project there is a lot of improvement can be done in this project APPENDIX CODING FOR PROJECT #include void delay(unsigned int); void lcdcmd(unsigned char); void lcddata(unsigned char); void lcdready(); void welcome(); void obstacle(); void station(); void gate(); sfr ldata = 0xA0; sbit rs = P3^7; sbit rw = P3^6; sbit en = P3^5; sbit busy = P2^7; sbit m11 = P0^0; sbit m12 = P0^1; sbit m21 = P0^2; sbit m22 = P0^3; sbit alarm = P1^0; sbit led = P1^1; void ad(void) interrupt 0 { P0 = 0x00; alarm = 0; obstacle(); } void main(void) { IT0 = 0; // Configure interrupt 0 for falling edge on /INT0 (P3.2) EX0 = 1; // Enable EX0 Interrupt EA = 1; // Enable Global Interrupt Flag P0 = 0x00; alarm = 1; led = 1; m11 = m12 = m21 = m22 = 0; lcdcmd(0x38); lcdcmd(0x0E); lcdcmd(0x01); lcdcmd(0x06); lcdcmd(0x81); while(1) { welcome(); station(); lcddata(1); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(2); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(3); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(4); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(5); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(6); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(7); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(8); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(9); led = 0; gate(); led = 1; m11 = 1; delay(1000); m11 = 0; station(); lcddata(1); lcddata(0); led = 0 ; gate(); led = 1; } } void gate() { m21 = 1; m22 = 0; delay(200); m21 = m22 = 0; delay(300); m21 = 0; m22 = 1; delay(200); m21 = m22 = 0; } void welcome() { unsigned char proj1[] = Metro Rail; unsigned char z; lcdcmd(0x01); lcdcmd(0x83); for(z = 0; z { lcddata(proj1[z]); } delay(200); } void obstacle() { unsigned char obs1[] = Obstacle; unsigned char obs2[] = Detected; unsigned char z; lcdcmd(0x01); lcdcmd(0x84); for(z = 0; z { lcddata(obs1[z]); } delay(100); lcdcmd(0xC4); for(z = 0; z { lcddata(obs2[z]); } } void station() { unsigned char st[] = Station ; unsigned char z; lcdcmd(0x01); lcdcmd(0x83); for(z = 0; z { lcddata(st[z]); } } void delay(unsigned int itime) { unsigned int i,j; for(i=0;i for(j=0;j } void lcdcmd(unsigned char value) { lcdready(); ldata = value; rs = 0; rw = 0; en = 1; delay(1); en = 0; return; } void lcddata(unsigned char value) { lcdready(); ldata = value; rs = 1; rw = 0; en = 1; delay(1); en = 0; return; } void lcdready() { busy = 1; rs = 0; rw = 1; while(busy == 1) { en = 0; delay(1); en = 1; } return; }

Influenza Outbreak :: Journalism Media Studies Health Essays

Influenza Outbreak Four years ago the good citizens of this city voted to allow city funds to be allocated toward a new civic center located in the heart of Irvine. Four years ago the good citizens of this great city had no idea that a terrible pandemic would threaten their very lives and the lives of their loved ones. When signs of the flu season came around in late October this year, no one would have imaged that a disease, often with symptoms like a common cold, would have by the end of the year killed almost half of those killed in the Great War itself. Places all across the nation have had to deal with the sick and dying and Irvine is no exception. This week alone there have been reportedly 3369 new cases of influenza resulting in 60 deaths. This is a staggering jump from last week's amount of 1200 cases. This week's newest count has prompted city officials to call a special session in order to decide on how to deal with the outbreak in monetary terms. The State of California has already given Irvine all that it can until more Federal Aid can be released. In an overwhelming 5-0 vote the city council decided to divert the money set aside for construction of the new civic center and allocate those funds toward medical equipment and vaccines to help fight the deadly disease. Mayor Beth Krom stated that, "It was the only logical thing to do. With the city not receiving anymore State or Federal aid anytime soon it was only right that priorities be rearranged." In a news conference Council member Sukhee Kang was quoted as saying "I mean we're talking about lives here, not a few slabs of concrete and steel. What good is a civic center if there's no one to seat in it?" The civic center, which was set to open May 16, 1919, will be left standing half complete and no new date has been set as to when construction will resume. If things continue to go in this direction then the civic center may never be finished. In the long run this may end up hurting the city financially. A lot of money was invested into the project in hopes that it would help make Irvine the cultural capital of Southern California which would translate into more people and more business.

The Case Against Science Essay -- Philosophy Religion Papers

The Case Against Science Science has become an unreliable epistemological resource for several reasons. First, the assumptions of science are suspect. Second, the scientific method exhibits narrow limits to the acquisition of universal knowledge. Third, the conclusions of the scientific community at large are questionable and inadequate. Fourth, the practice of science has developed a particular perspective about its place in the world of knowing that diminishes all other avenues of knowledge, to its detriment. Finally, the practice of science involves a philosophical approach which makes scientism and "pure science" hard to differentiate. Thus, science itself, as an epistemological discipline, has been discovered to be unworthy of the extreme admiration granted it by the present technology-loving world. 1. The assumptions of science are suspect. Historically and philosophically, empiricism has been shown to have clear limitations, since many persons recognize that reality consists of things which can be known through the human senses as well as things which are not known by them. In fact, the very foundational assumptions of science are suspect. Markos indicates that "many of the givens we take for granted (most notably, that the foundation of all true knowledge is material, empirical, and quantifiable) are as recent as they are unproven" [1]. There also appear statements that seem to indicate that scientific assumptions should not be challenged. "No one would today think to ask why the interior angles of a Euclidian triangle sum to precisely 180 degrees. The question is closed because the answer is necessary "[2]. The answer may be necessary but perhaps is not true; perhaps it is only a convention for the use of th... ...rk: New American Library and University of Chicago Press, 1986. Lewis. C.S. Miracles. New York: Macmillan, 1978. Markos, Louis A. "Myth Matters," Christianity Today. Christianity.com, 16 April 2002. Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non- Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and Its Relation to the Rational. London: Oxford University Press, 1970. Park, Robert. Voodoo Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Schleiermacher, Friedrich. On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers. New York: Harper and Bros, Publ., 1958. Singh, Jagjit. Great Ideas of Modern Mathematics. New York: Dover Publ., Inc., 1959. Trefil, James and Robert M. Hazen. The Sciences: An Integrated Approach. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2000. Trueblood, D. Elton. Philosophy of Religion. New York: Harper and Bros. Publ., 1957.

The Xerox Company Essay

They help many businesses to be able to function and communicate. Xerox is a family business. The CEO’s brother and husband both work for the company. However the fact that Xerox is a family business has in no way affected the CEO’s ability to make business or personal decisions. The company’s best interest is always her top priority. The ability to keep her personal and business life separate is a unique characteristic that all successful management staff posses. After watching the Xerox video and thinking about the characteristics for managerial decisions, made me have no envy for the CEO’s position. The typical characteristics of managerial decisions are lack of structure, uncertainty of risk, as well as conflict. In fact, the way the CEO obtained her position was full of uncertainty and I am sure there was conflict as well. The way the former CEO was forced out of office seemed to show a lack of structure with no contingency plan. There was a past scare of bankruptcy that may have future investors and employees questioning the structure of the company. The new CEO has made several positive moves for the company but is still forced to eliminate jobs to reduce costs. The CEO of Xerox is much like many other CEO’s of other large corporations, humble, down to earth and they value their company as well as their employees. They understand that each one of their decisions will affect the rest of the company and those who keep it running. Unfortunately as the CEO she was faced with having no other positive alterative to correcting the deficit other than eliminating positions. The CEO understood that to ensure the future of Xerox was protected that she must make changes immediately. She measured the risks and the consequences and felt that it was in the best interest of the company to merge. In the end Xerox was faced with a grim future and tough choices. The CEO showed her skills in the decision making process while remaining equal and ethical to all interested parties. We all learned that in a management roll, especially the role of a CEO is faced with nasty ugly decisions. Every choice that person makes can make or break another person’s life. Choices are not always easy nor do they always come with an immediate positive solution. This CEO was Xerox’s last chance to remain a successful company in the future. The company took a huge risk for a sinking company and it paid off!. Risk assessment at it’s finest.

Devil Slavery and Dr. Faust Essay

Devil Slavery and Dr. Faust In the essay from Dr. Faust’s â€Å"Community, Culture, and Conflict on an Antebellum Plantation†, she explores the balance of power between slave owners and their bondsmen, primarily, on the Hammond Plantation, Silver Bluff. She will focus on four areas of research, religion, work patterns, and payments/privileges, escape attempts/rebellion and external influences. She maintains that there was an intricate communal order among the slaves of the Silver Bluff Plantation. Using primary and secondary sources I will either verify or disprove Dr. Faust’s thesis. Dr. Faust has used the journal writings of James Hammond as her main primary source for her essay. I will use Dr. Faust’s essay for my secondary and writings from former slaves (primary) for my sources. As master of the plantation, Silver Bluff, James Hammond strived to gain complete control over every aspect of his slave’s lives. It was a struggle that spanned decades, and one he never fully realized. Through his journal entries we see the daily struggle for control, and the means he used to uphold his authority. They also show how the slaves resisted Hammond’s attempts while holding on to their own society. Dr. Faust shows through Hammond’s own words how he tried to control the slave’s religion by replacing Black worship with White belief. (pg. 220) He first tried by taking away all Black churches and forcing the slave to attend White churches. He then changed track by hiring traveling preachers for the slaves Sunday worship. In 1845 he built his own church on the plantation. He was admired for the conformity his slaves showed for the white social norms. However, his slaves had learned to show Hammond the behavior he wanted all the while still holding true to their own religious beliefs. Even after twenty years Hammond was still trying to eradicate the Blacks religion. â€Å"Have ordered all church meetings to be broken up except at the church with a white preacher. † (pg. 220) To have Silver Bluff run more efficiently, Hammond wanted more control over the work habits of his slaves. For the first year he stepped up the discipline in regards to inferior or slack work. His slaves not being used to the strong-armed policies resisted. Hammond responded with more beatings. Over time the slaves conformed somewhat as the physical punishment slowed. pg 221) A more efficient form of working was the gang method, so Hammond thought. This gang method took away what little independence the slaves had. No longer could they manage their own time. Hammond knew that by stripping the slaves of their right to order their own day he would have more control. Once again the slaves resisted, by doing inferior work. (pg. 221) Over time a quiet compromise arose, and to some extent wor k seemed to go back the way it used to be for the slaves. Hammond also instituted a system of rewards to go along with the punishments. He felt that by offering something the slave wanted/needed he would have that slave’s compliance that the slaves would work harder to obtain the reward. Here to, the slaves learned how to use this system for themselves. As punishment for a poor work season Hammond shortened the Christmas break but as his journal shows for December 26 â€Å"persuaded out of my decision by the Negros† (pg. 221) Like all plantations of the era, Silver Bluff had its share of escape attempts although no successful escapes were recorded. Through Hammonds writing Dr. Faust has devised a profile for the runaway. Most were young males without strong family ties. The weather played an important part in determining the length of time away. Female slaves only ran with their husbands or to their husbands. Once the slaves escaped they did not travel far, mostly stayed in nearby swamps. The plantation slaves would then help the runaways by giving them supplies. At first Hammond sent men with horses and dogs out to search for the missing slaves, but after awhile he chose to just let others catch them , wait for them to end up in jail or wait for them to return on their own volition. Here too Hammond set some ground rules. If the slaves returned on their own they only received three lashes for each day gone, where as on the other hand if they were forcibly brought back the punishment was ten lashes for each day off of the plantation. Hammond also realized that the runaways and those slaves left behind still held close bonds. Based on this he also punished those still on the plantation. With holding food rations and beatings hoping that the runaway would hear of it and return on his own. (pg 223) What Hammond was really trying to do was to create a micro-world on his plantation where he was in charge and all else where his minions. His greatest fear was interference from the outside. To combat that he cut his slaves off from the outside, forbidding them to go to town, or from inter-acting with neighbors or the steamboat people. (pg. 223) As the war approached, he worried about which side his slaves were on. He felt that they were becoming riled and uneasy. Thefts of goods appeared more common and Hammond thought his slaves demeanor was changing and not for the good. He could feel the loss of control slipping away as the cannon’s roar rolled over his Silver Bluff. The first primary source I chose was Sarah Fitzpatrick (1938) (Hollitz, Doc. ) Part of her interview dealt with the issue of religion. If they wanted to attend their own church they needed a pass to allow them off the plantation. Many slaves though attended church with their masters. The preacher in the white church would first tend to his white flock then after that service he would preach to the slaves. Telling the slaves that they must listen and behave their masters and by doing so they would surly get to heaven. They were also taught catechism. The slaves preferred to attend their own service for they would get joyful and loud and that was not allowed during the white man’s service. This experience of Sarah’s almost parallels what Hammond tried to do on Silver Bluff. I feel that this primary source supports Dr. Faust views on how religion was used as a tool to enforce the white man’s way upon the Black there by peeling away a layer of their culture. The story of Brer Rabbit Outsmarts Brer Fox (Hollitz, Doc. 10) I feel is an analogy for one of the slave’s survival mechanism. In this story Brer Fox stops Brer Rabbit on his way to church. Brer Fox is hungry and wants to eat Brer Rabbit. Thinking fast Brer Rabbit tells Brer Fox that there are hogs at the man’s house that would be better for his breakfast and if Brer Fox did not believe him, he would agree to be tied up till Brer Fox checked it out. Brer Fox found no hogs and the man let his dog loose on Brer Fox. The dogs hunted Brer Fox and ate him up. Brer Rabbit was set loose and thanked the dogs. I feel Brer Rabbit represents the slaves, Brer Fox is the master and the dogs can represent many things depending on the story’s use. They might represent freedom, the war, or Heaven. Brer Rabbit used cunning and trickery to outsmart Brer Fox. The slaves needed to learn how to put one face on for the master while keeping their true face concealed. They needed to learn cunning and trickery to outsmart their masters at times In my opinon the document also supports Dr. Faust’s essay. It shows how the slaves learned to use the reward system that Hammond put in place to their own advantage. Also by slowing work up to get what they wanted. I chose my next primary source, (Mary Reynolds, Dallas Texas, ASN) because she was a slave from the deep south. She tells of her life from the time she was born up till the time of her interview. She eemed proud of the fact that she knew her father and the he was a free man who chose to live as a slave for the love of her mother who was a slave. She describes her life as a slave as a harsh one. Being sold off because she was to close to the masters own child. When his daughter became ill and was told it was because his daughter was pining away for her Black friend the master relented an d bought Mary back to the plantation. She tells of working the fields, not having enough food or proper clothing. She tells of the beatings she received from Solomon the overseer and how he kept a tight rein on the slaves. She explains how the runaways are tracked down and then punished All these experiences mirror plantation life at Silver Bluff and so once again supports Dr. Faust’s thesis. What does not seem to support it though is Mary’s master allowed some of the slave’s culture. There were marriage ceremonies and there were funerals and allowed outside contact. The last document I chose was an interview of a former slave whose master was a Creek Indian. (Lucinda Davis Tulsa, Oklahoma,ASN). She tells her life story as if she were part of her master’s extended family not like she was a slave. She was well cared for, well fed and had clothes. Her only chore was to care for a young child. The slaves were allowed to marry and did not have to live on their master’s farm. When the war was over and Lucinda parents wanted her back her master freely gave her up and sent her back. Her hardships did not seem any worse than any member of her master’s family. This document does not support Dr. Faust’s thesis. Maybe it is because the slave group was smaller and mostly men. There was no strife so they did not bond as the slaves on Hammonds plantation did.