Report to your line manager Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Report to your line manager - Essay Example To begin with, training can involve the case-study methods whereby employees solve hypothetical scenarios. In addition, trainees can participate in role-playing. Besides, training can involve self-instruction methods. These training methodologies are beneficial in terms of customization, feedback, and self-discipline. Introduction Training and development entails the continuing efforts of entities to improve the delivery of employees. In the modern organization environment, these activities entail a broad range of elements such as regular instruction giving and continuing professional development. As a formal business function, it is vital for an organization to develop highly effective training programs. There are notable objectives in this research. To begin with, it is essential to determine whether all training programs are beneficial to the trainee. In addition, it is vital to establish whether training can be directed towards individual needs. Lastly, it is crucial to determine the effectiveness of training programs that occur according to individual needs of employees. Main body Responsibility for choosing the training method In assessing the authority that is responsible for choosing the training method, it is crucial to examine this issue in terms of on-job training and off-job training. On-job training occurs while the employee is carrying out one’s duties. On-job training mostly relates to the job. In this sense, an employee gains the skills while carrying out one’s regular assignments (Nicholson, P. 2005, 133). The employees, therefore, receive training in the real-work environment. In the end, employees gain experience by dealing with specific tasks and facing challenges that come with such duties. This means that supervisors are the key players in choosing the right kinds of training methods. The supervisor, in this perspective, is the immediate senior employee to the trainee. The supervisor is an employee in the same department who possesses a higher experience and skills that are necessary for passing down onto the junior employee. This suggests that the supervisor is highly likely to have passed through the same experience and faced similar challenges (Kerzner, H. 2013, 90). These supervisors are responsible for the choice of training method because of notable reasons. To begin with, these individuals possess knowledge of the organization’s policy on training. This is because they had the same experience. A supervisor will tend to hand down the skills and anecdotes that one received from an earlier training. In this view, the supervisor becomes a tool of bequeathing the company’s policy onto the new employees. In addition, the supervisor understands the clients’ requirement. In this sense, the supervisor chooses a training method that suits the needs of the clients. In addition, the supervisor chooses a training method that suits one’s experience in terms of challenges. This means that the supervisor offers training that addresses the daily demands of the job. The daily demands are the duties that an employee should perform on regular basis. In turn, the supervisor offers the real-time skills in carrying out given duties. The supervisors are aware of the special skills that are effective in efficiently handling duties. In addition, the organization is responsible for choosing the training method. The organization, in this

General Mill Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

General Mill - Essay Example Besides that, the company has its joint ventures manufacturing and marketing products in over 130 countries in addition to republics globally. Its operations are categorized into three- Foodservice and baking, International- excludes their partnership with Japan and Cereal Partners Worldwide, CPW and U.S Retail- consisting of seven divisions of the branded retail products; its joint venture with CPW sees them selling ready-to-eat cereals. Overview Recently, the Company made an acquirement of a natural snacks food corporation known as Food Should Taste Good that is located within Needham Heights. Happening within the same year, 2012, "the Company acquired a 50% interest and a 51% interest in Yoplait Marques S.A.S and Yoplait S.A.S. respectively, and later on, during August, it obtained Yoki Alimentos SA" (Reuters, n.d). Following its mission ‘Nourishing Lives’, the Company has its healthy snacks brands such as Nature Valley bars and Yoplait dairy products still having a l arge consumer base worldwide. Most notable is its Gold Medal flour that, till today, has remained the number one selling flour in the United States. The Company also participates in philanthropic efforts through its General Mills Foundation, where "more than half a million dollars has been awarded to nonprofit organizations supporting local communities since 1954" (General Mills -foundation, n.d). Furthermore, it has remained consistent in paying dividends to its investors. Coming after the Kellog Company, General Mills is the number two cereals maker in America, in terms of size. General Mills employs an estimated 35,000 employees across its network in Asia Pacific, Europe, Canada, Latin America and South Africa, its manufacturing companies are situated in beyond 30 countries. Products The Company can be said to have had great success because of its consumer-relating brands on all its products. Other than the Gold Medal flour, its breakfast products fetch a considerable consumer ba se and they include "Cheerios, Lucky Charms, Chex, Wheaties and Trix" (General mills- cereals n.d). The lineup continues on with baking mixes under the name Betty Crocker, frozen bread called Pilsbury and yoghurt called Yoplait and Colombo, the Company also makes vegetables that are frozen and preserved named Green Giant, Progresso soups and Mexican seasonings. General Mills has a natural as well as organic products venture named Small Planet Foods that is responsible for marketing Cascadian Farm vegetables plus Muir Glen soups. In addition, it has a joint venture with 8th venture for marketing and selling soy-based products; where that company has a 50-50 partnership with Dupont. Operations Owing to the fact that General Mills’ has a diverse product range where each may have similar or different specifications, the company took up professional IT services from a Management Information Systems company to design a feature in their product specifications system. This feature wo uld make it possible to conduct mass changes and undo designs of the products. The designing entailed rigorous testing with employees from its U.S and abroad operations also participating. This helped the Company to save time and minimize errors and subsequently, maintain consistent levels of quality in their products, their packaging and delivery to various parts of the world; while at the same time adhering to strict regulations. The system has the added advantage of allowing the Company to make more than 10,000 modifications

Harvard business review Essay Example for Free

Harvard business review Essay For each team, by submitting the document online, you claim that the document is original from your own idea. Each team must work on the assignments independently. All the materials submitted will be checked for plagiarism electronically. For more information, please refer to http://www.plagiarism.org/ Should you have questions and concerns in regards to plagiarism, you should contact the course coordinator immediately. Content Tutorial III consists of two parts. The first part includes case discussion while the second part focuses on the feedback to the common mistakes in the intermediate exam. Requirements First, all the students are required to be present and participate in the discussion. Second, all the students are required to read the following two cases: Case Part A: Toyota—Under†the†Radar Recall Response on Page 346 of the textbook; Case – Quality Parts Company on Page 426 of the textbook. Each team is required to write a case note for these two cases. In the case note, you need to give answers to the questions proposed in the corresponding cases. The length of the case note is at most three A4 pages with font size 12 and 1.5 line space, excluding the figure of value stream mapping. For Case – Quality Parts Company, you are NOT required to answer Question 2 and 3. Instead, you need to draw a value stream map for the production process of Model Z based on the symbols which can be found in exhibit 12.3 on Page 409 in the text book. Suppose that customers order every month. After orders are realized, Quality Parts Company orders from suppliers every month. The company does weekly delivery. Inspection is immediately executed after assembly. Every week a production plan is generated which serves as a template for the daily planning activities performed by the production manager. How much value-added time and how much non-value-added time can be found in the production process? Note that you have to ï ¿ ¼Ã¯ ¿ ¼1 use Microsoft Visio 2010 to draw the VSM. Otherwise, no mark is given. You can directly copy the diagram from Visio to Word. Presentation Team 7 of all the groups and Team 12 of IEM groups should present Toyota. Team 8 of all the groups and Team 13 of IEM groups should present Quality Parts. Team 9 of Group 2, 5, 7 should present Quality Parts. The teams present separately. Each presentation takes five minutes. Please use Microsoft Powerpoint to prepare your presentation and the number of slides is at most 5. Please copy your powerpoint file into a USB stick and bring it to the tutorial. To prepare the presentation for cases, you need to present the solutions to the questions proposed in the case description and give a convincing argument for your solutions. The performance of your presentation will be counted for class participation. Submission Your assignment will be graded only if it is submitted online in the fold of Assignment on Nestor by the deadline and a hard copy is passed to your tutorial teacher in class. The deadline is by 24:00 on October 15. Note that write down your names and student numbers at the first page of your document. For the case note, please name your file as groupnumber_teamnumber_case, such as g1_t1_case. Please print your file with a double†sided format. For your presentation file, you only need to give the hard copy of your slides to your tutorial teacher. Topic

Impact of E-Technology on E-Learning

Impact of E-Technology on E-Learning Table of Contents (Jump to) Introduction Application Core Technology Competitors and Market data Future trends and Conclusion References and Bibliography Introduction The term Electronic-Technology (Also referred to Information Communication Technology) or E-Technology originates from the fact that most of these technologies are electronically facilitated. E-Technology has become a commonplace entity in all aspects of life (Carr, 2003). Across the past twenty years the use of E-Technology has fundamentally changed the practices and procedures of nearly all forms of endeavour within business and governance (Oliver, 2002). Every organisation is looking to use the numerous advantages offered by these new evolving technologies and enhance their organisational prospects, be it business houses (E-commerce), banks (E-banking), educational institutions (E-learning, E-Training) etc. For the purpose of this report we will concentrate on the educational use of E-technology in the form of E-Learning. People have always had a need to learn from people who aren’t in their immediate vicinity (Dede, 1995). In the early days, for example, guilds provided opportunities to be trained by skillful teachers and learn from experts. People traveled great distances to learn from the best. Today’s technologies allow us to do similar sharing but at a distance. Early models of such learning were known as correspondence study and were text-based because books and paper were the technology that was available at the time. As technologies change and expand, the options for learning expand with them. Because of the ongoing technological evolution and progress, it can and will be harnessed for learning. These new technologies that can be used for learning purposes are collectively better know as E-Learning technologies. There seems to be no agreement on a unified view on the definition of e-learning as per the literature. The author of this report will use the definition of e-learning as proposed by NCSA: â€Å"E-learning is the acquisition and use of knowledge distributed and facilitated primarily by electronic means. This form of learning currently depends on networks and computers but will likely evolve into systems consisting of a variety of channels (e.g., wireless, satellite), and technologies (e.g., cellular phones, PDA’s) as they are developed and adopted. E-learning can take the form of courses as well as modules and smaller learning objects. E-learning may incorporate synchronous or asynchronous access and may be distributed geographically with varied limits of time.† (NCSA, 2000) Applications A growing body of research supports that E-learning technologies, if appropriately used in the classroom, may allow students to create knowledge in a creative way by giving them opportunities to explore, interact, problem solve, and collaborate (Clarkson et al, 1999). Kirschner and Selinger (2003. p.6) elaborates by mentioning that these technologies offer the potential to: meet the learning needs of individual students; to promote equality of opportunity; to offer high-quality learning materials; and to increase self-efficacy and independence of learning amongst students of all ages. In the U.K., the Department of Education and Employment (DfEE) now known as Department for Education and Skills (DfES), believes that ICT can provide new levels of learning support and mentioned that: â€Å"We believe the ambitious and imaginative use of technology will be a central element in improving personalisation and choice across the system† (DfES, 2004, p.88). Some of the widely used appl ications of E-Technology in the form E-Learning in an educational setting are given below. Data – logging and Graphing: In data-logging activities, learners need only to make decisions about what parameter to measure, in a suitably designed experiment, and to select the appro ­priate sensor, to be able to record high-quality data. Bartons (1997) comparative study of graphing using computer and non-computer methods has highlighted the flexibility afforded by the computer approach. Real-time plotting has time advantages over manual methods, in particular in encourag ­ing pupils to focus on trends and patterns rather than individual data items. Spreadsheets and other types of software that provide graphing facilities enable pupils to explore the presentation of data in different graphical forms, and to look for trends and patterns in data. Obtaining and transmitting knowledge: The facility of computers to archive large quantities of information and to permit its ready retrieval was of potential educational benefit for conveying knowledge. Software that is designed to exploit these properties includes multimedia resources such as CD-ROM (O’Bannon, 1997) and web-based materials accessed through internet browsers . Presenting and reporting: The presentational tools provided by word processing, desktop publishing, web-based and other specialized presentation software offer pupils powerful tools for presenting and sharing their ideas with others. As well as deciding what information they may wish to report, pupils can decide on styles and formats for presenting their ideas. This allows for a degree of creativity and exploration in the search for the most appropriate and effective format. We believe that the creative processes involved in producing reports and presentations help pupils to develop and secure their understanding of science. Core Technology E-learning technologies are available in a variety of types and forms. Electronic learning has existed before the Internet came into existence. It was known as computer-based training (CBT), where training materials, some were even interactive, were stored in floppy disks and later in CD-ROMs (Schittek et al, 2001). The CD-ROM version still exists today. The current Web-based form of E-learning is merely an enhanced version, capitalising on the latest computer technologies to incorporate the capability of multimedia and global accessibility of the Web. The technologies could include hardware (e.g. computers and other devices); software applications; and connectivity (e.g. access to the internet, local networking infrastructure and video conferencing) (Toomey, 2001). The capacity of these new technologies to support learning in a creative way through experience of simulations, problem solving, investigating and handling information is considerable. With E-Learning, there is opportunity for high level interaction among students, the lecturers and the computer-mediated material. Teaching is flexible because as it can be conducted synchronously or asynchronously, contact is dynamic and can be as variable as the student or the lecturer desires and communication can take place through a variety of modes, such as email, chat, bulletin boards, etc all facilitated by the computer this can be viewed as distributed learning. It is general knowledge that the most widely used of the E-learning tools in the education sector is electronic communication tool (Email). Academic teaching staffs are making themselves available for 24 through the use of email and bulletin boards. Bates (2000) notes that the use of electronic communication for most lecturers actually increases their contact with students, which can be very beneficial for the students. Lecture notes and other teaching resources are placed on the internet for students to access, and linking useful web sites to these resources enables students to navigate through relevant resources. Academic staff also employs published classroom resources that are directly linked to the internet. Learning or Course management systems are used to create an online environment which houses a multitude of resources – such as course outlines, listed resources, internal email, bulletin boards, discussion forums, synchronous communication and so on. Presentation soft ware’s (PowerPoint etc) are also being widely used to enhance classroom teaching. Compared to preparing a â€Å"Chalk and talk† lecture, the preparation of appropriate presentation software requires more time although it may save time in comparison to preparation of detailed overhead transparencies. However, if one has to concur on a single technology that has resulted in the exponential growth of E-learning, it has to be the internet. The World Wide Web has made it possible for people to access primary sources of information on demand. Mastery of this tool has become essential in order to gain access to an ever-growing body of recent and up-to-date knowledge available electronically. The rate of job change has also caused a rethinking of the skills required for lifelong learning, such as skilful use of ICT. The potential is there for these new technologies to attract a more competitive market, thus making the institution a more financial and viable entity (Bates, 2000). Competitors and Market Data Government along with Industry leaders have identified the potential of E-Learning and this is clearly evident from the amount of investment made governments and the companies. For example the UK government has, â€Å"Programmes to invest an additional  £81m over three years awarded from HEFCE and HEFCW have been earmarked to support central objectives of the DfES’s E-strategy, the Science and Innovation Investment Framework: 2004 – 2014, and ‘Reaching Higher’, the Welsh Assembly Government’s strategy for the higher education sector† (JISC, 2006). The following figure shows the amount that has been set aside for E-learning which is an around 20% increase from the previous investment. The industry is not left far behind either. Organisations view learning increasingly as a competitive advantage rather than just another cost factor (Urdan Weggen, 2000). The industry is to a greater extent divided in two major groups. One that provides centralised learning management systems (LMS) with the most commonly used applications and the other group of companies are the ones who provide bespoke E-learning systems as per the requirements of their clients. The ability to sustain and compete in this growingly competitive market is evident from the increasing number of mergers that we have seen in the past few years especially in the LMS sector. The following table shows a recent market state after the mergers and comprise of the big players in the LMS or E-learning sector. Even though the bespoke E-learning market is growing every day the companies are not as big as the LMS vendors. However, this is a positive sign and it enables small sized organisations to integrate affordable E-Learning solution into their business provided by these companies rather then the ones provided by the LMS vendors which are hugely expensive. Commercial and social impact There is absolutely no doubt that these E-Learning technologies are having a massive impact at commercial as well as social level. Some of them are mentioned below: Online Social Communities – The asynchronous and synchronous communication ability of E-Learning systems has enabled institutions to cater for a variety of users by removing the barriers of time and distance. Users who are normally geographically disadvantaged have access to a variety of educational resources not usually at their disposal (Bates, 2000). This, in a way has lead to the evolution of online social networks (‘Myspace’, ‘second life’ etc). These networks are having an enormous social impact on the society in a positive way to a greater extent. Social networks are playing a instrumental role in learning environments as a major conduit of resource and knowledge exchanges (Cho, Stefanone, Gay, 2002) and as a source of social support and socialisation for distributed learners (Haythornthwaite, 2002). There are abundant discussions emphasising the value and the impact of social networks in the studies of organisational learning (Nahapiet Ghosh al, 1998), knowledge management (Cohen Prusak, 2001), and distance learning (Haythornthwaite, 2002). Pedagogical Improvement and staff renewal – Teaching staff are able to preset information using a variety of tools in order to better relate to the content to the concrete realities of a given field of study. Innovative hands-on learning experiences are also made possible for students through computer simulation software. Asynchronous communication technologies are used outside the classroom to enrich classroom learning through discussion groups, mentoring and coaching (Burg Thomas, 1998). The challenge of teaching with ICT has led to revitalizing teaching practice for academic staff (Bates, 2000). Cost-effectiveness – According to Chute, Thompson and Hancock (1999) the potential financial savings associated with E-learning can be significant when compared to traditional methods. E-Learning can improve the cost-effectiveness of the operation of educational institutions in variety of ways. One way is by the ability to reach different students and in greater numbers. Academic teaching staff can be freed from many routine activities by replacing certain activities with appropriate technology (Deden Carter, 1996). Leading firms such as CISCO, Motorola, IBM and Ford are already reaping benefits associated with E-learning with some of them having cutting costs in the range of a whooping 30 to 50 percent (Greengard, 1999). Future Trends and Bibliography Although the growth of E-Learning is considerable there are those who are sceptical about its potential. Cuban (2001) argues that although governments are spending substantial sums of money to develop and implement educational policy to fund E-learning; research reveals that these new technologies are often oversold and underused (Cuban 2001, cited in Kirschner and Wopereis 2003). Also, with respect to E-Learning being a driving force behind educational innovation and reform, research indicates that the role of E-Learning is not as profound as one would expect (Kirschner and Wopereis 2003, p. 107). This may be because ICT is too often used as a modern and efficient substitute for existing learning and teaching materials and seldom as a vehicle for innovation and transformation of education (Kirschner et al 1995, cited in Kirschner and Wopereis 2003, p. 107). This has prompted the government to shift its attention from technology to pedagogy as shown below. Whether or not someone is keen on using technology for learning, the fact is that it’s here to stay. Technology has become an essential way to handle the education, training, and retraining needs of an expanding knowledge society. According to a recent report on job skills, 50 percent of all employee skills become outdated in three to five years. In addition, experts say the percentage of jobs that fit into the category of â€Å"knowledge workers† is rapidly increasing (Moe Blodgett, 2000). Even jobs that were traditionally thought to require fewer skills, such as retail sales, now commonly require computer skills and the ability to keep pace with product changes. Many blue-collar workers regularly use computers and databases in their work. We simply don’t have the capacity to support today’s educational and training needs by using traditional methods alone. References Barton, R. (1997). ‘Computer aided graphing: a comparative study.’ Journal of Information Technology for teacher education. 6(1), 59-72. Bates, A. W. (2000). Managing technological change Strategies for college and university leaders. San Fransisco: Jossey Bass. Burg, Jennifer J., and Thomas, Stan J. Computers Across Campus. Communications of the ACM 41, 1 (Jan. 1998), 22-25. Carr, N.G., (2003). IT doesn’t matter. Harvard Business Review cited by McCredie, J., 2003. Does IT matter to higher education? Educause Review 38 (6), 14–22. Cho, H. Stefanone, M. and Gay, G. (2002), Social information sharing in a CSCL community, Proceedings of 2002 ACM CSCL conference, Lawrence Elbaum Associates, Boulder, USA (2002), pp. 43–53 Chute, A,G., Thompson, M. M., Hancock, B W. (1999). The McGraw-Hill handbook of distance learning. New York: McGraw-Hill. Clarkson P, Dunbar A, and Toomey R (1999) Whole School Reform and the use of ICT. An evaluation of the Navigator Schools Project (Cited in Toomey R (2001) Information and Communication Technology for Teaching and Learning. Schooling Issues Digest 2. Canberra: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.) Cohen, D. and Prusak, L. (2001) In good company: how social capital makes organisations work, Harvard Business Press, MA, Boston (2001). Dede, C (1995). The Transformation of Distance Education to Distributed Learning. [Online] Available http://www.hbg.psu.edu/bsed/intro/docs/distlearn/ [Accessed on 06/02/2007] Deden, A. Carter, V. (1996). Using technology to enhance students skills. New Directions for Higher Education, 96, 81-92. DfES (2003) ‘Fulfilling the Potential’ Transforming teaching and learning through ICT in schools, available at http://www.dfes.gov.uk DfES (2004), Five Year Strategy for Children and Learners, July 2004. http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/5yearstrategy/docs/DfES5Yearstrategy1.rtf DfFE (1998) Teaching: High Status. High Standards. Requirements for courses of Initial Teacher Training. Annex B: Initial Teacher Training National Curriculum for the use of Information and. Communications Technology in Subject Teaching (quoted in Pachier N (1999) Theories of Learning and ICT in Leask M and Pachler N (eci) (i 999) Learning to Teach using ICT in the Secondary school New York: Routledge. Greengard, S. (1999). Web-based training yields maximum returns. Workforce, 78(2), 95-96. Haythornthwaite, C. (2002) Building social networks via computer networks: Creating and sustaining distributed learning communities. In: K.A. Renninger and W. Shumar, Editors, Building virtual communities: learning and change in cyberspace, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2002), pp. 159–190. JISC, (2006), Annual Review of Joint Information Systems Committee, UK, Available at http://www.jisc.ac.uk/publications/publications/pub_ar06.aspx [Accessed on 07/02/07] Kirschner P and Selingcr M (2003) The state of affairs of Teacher education with respect to Information and Communication Technology Technology Pedagogy and Education 12 / J / pp. 5-1 Kirschner P, Hermans H J and De Wolf H C (1995) Onderwijsvernieuwing en Informatie Technologie (Educational Reform and Information Technology) (Cited in Kirschner P and Wopereis I (2003) Mind tools for teacher communities: a European perspective Technology Pedagogy and Education 12 (I) pp. 105-124. NCSA (2000), e-learning – A review of literature, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Available at learning.ncsa.uiuc.edu/papers/elearnlit.pdf, [Accessed on 08/02/07] OBannon, B. (1997) CD-Rom Integration peaks student interest in inquiry Computers in the Schools 13 (3/4) pp. 127-134. Oliver, R. (2002). The role of ICT in higher education for the 21st century: ICT as a change agent for education. Available online at: http://elrond.scam.ecu.edu.au/oliver/2002/he21.pdf. Accessed [08/02/07] Schittek M, Mattheos N, Lyon HC, Attstrom R. (2001) Computer assisted learning. A review. Eur J Dent Educ. 2001 Aug;5(3):93-100. Toomey, R. (2001). Information and Communication Technology for Teaching and Learning. Schooling Issues Digest 2. Canberra: Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Urdan, T. A., Weggen C. C. (2000). Corporate e-learning: Exploring a new frontier. WR Hambrecht Co.

The YMCA Essay -- essays research papers

The YMCA The YMCA has a very clear and concise mission statement. Their mission is "to put Christian principles into practice through programs thta build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all". The YMCA is the nation's largest not-for-profit community service organization in America. With more than 2,500 YMCAs, they are able to meet the health and social service needs of 18.9 million men, women and children in over 10,000 communities in the United States. No one is turned away from the Y. It is a place for people fo all faiths, races, abilities, ages and incomes. Inability to pay is never a reason for the YMCA to turn someone away. Their strength lies in fulfilling their goal of bringing people together. Not every community is the same. Therefore, each YMCA is different to accomadate these differing needs. The YMCA in your community may offer child care or teen leadership clubs. In the next town over, swimming lessons or drawing lessons may be of bigger concern. Every Y makes theri won decisions based on the needs of the community around them. They decide which programs to offer and how to operate. The YMCA was founded in London, England, in 1844 by George Williams and some friends who lived and worked as clerks in a drapery, a forerunner of drygoods and department stores. Their goal was to help young men like themselves find God. The first members were evangelical Protestants who prayed and studied the Bible as an alternative to vice. The first U.S. YMCA...

Pneumatic Tyre Characteristics :: essays research papers

Introduction The purpose of this technical report is to communicate the results of the Pneumatic Tyre Characteristics laboratory by investigating the effect of cornering force on slip angle. The technical report is presented to the academic staff of the Engineering Systems Department at the Royal Military College of Science, Shrivenham. It is assumed that the reader is fully familiar with the experiment and with the equipment on which it is preformed. Experimental Conditions †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For this particular experiment the gain of the output for the strain gauges are set to 1 as 0 to 8 degrees slip angle is been measured. If smaller angles are measured a larger gain may be required. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The total displacement of the trolley that runs along the track is approximately 2.17 meters. However, this may slightly vary in the results, especially with higher slip angles due to the reaction force acting on the reversible hydraulic motor that drives the track. For consistency the corresponding point for each distance is taken in the results. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The current details and condition of the tested tyre are given. - Manufacture: Avon. - Dimension: 710 / 22.0 – 13. - Condition: Generally worn all around with patches of the tyre (approximately 60mm in diameter) in worse condition on the inside of the wheel. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The tyre was tested at 14, 16 and 18 psi pressure. For each test at each angle increment the air valve is pointing downwards purely for consistency as the tyres circumference may vary. The increments for each test are as follows. - 0 – 5 degrees in 0.25 degree increments. - 5 – 8 degrees in 0.5 degree increments. †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The experimental equipment is set to output 1000 points of displacement and side force. The computer capture rate is set to 50Hz and a total run time of 20sec †¢Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Final experimental conditions that should be mentioned include: - Before the conduction of the experiment the camber of the wheel should be checked and adjusted to zero degrees. - The track is manufactured to have a sand paper surface. This is important to exert a sufficient side force on the tyre and is in good condition. - For each experiment, initially slip pads are used under the wheel as the mechanical mechanism used to apply the vertical force is applied at a radius and therefore would give an unwanted offset. - A constant vertical load of 1.5kN is applied to the tyre. This load is kept consistent by a mechanism which includes a beam and counter balance weights.

Mindful Wonders of Temple Grandin Essay

The mind is an endless space of possibilities that people usually take for granted. But this was definitely not the case for Temple Grandin. Despite her learning disability, Temple discovered her own exceptional way of thinking. The movie shows us all the different examples in which Temple uses her unique mind for the better. By describing Temple’s appearance and persona, we can try to better understand how looks and character of a person won’t change their intellect. Through discussion of her distinctive ways of learning, I will be able to relate them to my own learning styles which are similar to Temple’s. The movie â€Å"Temple Grandin,† begins with Temple on her way to visit her aunt for the summer where she will be working with the horses and cows in their ranch. Since the beginning, the film had been showing Temple’s interest in animals. While observing the ranch, she notices a machine that hugs the cows and calms their nerves. Then, one day Temple had a panic attack; Temple thinks of the â€Å"hugging device† and places herself in the machine. To her surprise, it instantly calms her. Since she was young, she always felt uncomfortable with any human contact, including her own mother’s touch and affection. From there on out, the device substitutes as a human â€Å"hug† for Temple. After that summer, It was time for Temple to go to college, in which she hesitantly and nervously agreed to her mother’s request. When Temple arrived at her dorm, she had another panic attack. Her mother immediately knew that she had to give her some space and so she went outside. A recollection appeared, revealing Temple’s diagnosis of autism when she was younger. During the diagnosis at the doctor’s office, the mother was in disbelief when the doctor explained that it was her cold and distant actions towards Temple which caused her to be this way. The doctor also suggested placing Temple in a mental institution, which enraged the mother even more and decided to take care of Temple herself which led to where they were now. Temple decided to stay in college despite her anxiety. She remembers the device that calmed her back at the ranch and decided to build one for herself. With the machine at hand, Temple was able to cope with the stresses of college life. Even with all the benefits it gave Temple, the school forced her to get rid of it. For some reason, the school board thought it was used for a sexual purpose. After a short break from school, her aunt decided to help her persuade the school to let her keep the machine. To prove the real usage of her machine, Temple surveyed several students. She asked them to try out the machine and tell her how they felt using it. Temple did eventually prove that the machine was and is only used for personal calming purposes; the school then allowed her to keep it in her dorm. With that, Temple is now able to function well in school. Afterward, the film shows Temple’s old high school where she didn’t really seem to fit in. Just when most of the teachers felt hopeless for Temple, a teacher named Dr. Carlock saw something in Temple and decided to help her. Little by little, Dr. Carlock discovers Temple’s unique abilities and notices her strong interest in science. With encouragement from Dr. Carlock and her family, Temple finally graduated from college and started working at a ranch. She notices all the pros and cons of the ranch’s current routine working with the cattle. With Temple’s unique mind, she tries to change the slaughterhouse so that it would be more efficient and humane. During her efforts in doing so, she receives several gender discriminations from her fellow ranchers. Such as banning her from the ranch, spoiling her vehicle with cattle meat, and even just ignoring her altogether. But, with her strong will, she chose to ignore these nuisances and kept trying until someone notices. Some men finally studied her plans and considered her intentions. All her efforts paid off when they built one of her blueprints and tried it with the cattle. The success of the experiment opened up more opportunities to her, like being in a well-known local magazine and soon, being known in the whole ranch/cattle world as well. By the end of the movie, Temple and her mother attends a gathering of all the people who are affected by autism. Temple tells people how she overcame her own difficulties with school and with life in general. Everyone was so amazed by her situation that they coached her into talking in front of the whole audience. Temple Grandin is definitely not just your average cowgirl. She certainly shows a higher way of thinking than most of us could even imagine. Striking people with her average appearance, nobody would even have a clue of what her mind is really capable of. Temple has thick, curly, reddish-brown hair which goes fine with her well-structured and all American facial structure. She is also average in height, which might be between the lines of 5’3 to 5’6. As far as clothing goes, Temple has her own interesting sense of style. She definitely carries the cowboy shirt, tie, and a pair of the typical blue jeans very well. This regular outfit of hers definitely goes with her relaxed and cowboy persona; this ended up being her signature look as well. Temple is a very sweet and well-mannered girl. Although, she did not like being touched, even by her own mother, she shows how she cares for others by talking in her relaxed and reassuring tone. Another admiring trait that she has is her strong sense of will. She trained herself to be good at something and worked really hard at it. Her goal is to sell her work, rather than selling herself. Temple’s imaginative and detail-oriented mind allowed her to think of things other people would not. Being a visual thinker that she is, she sorts things into different specific categories, so this allows her to see each and every detail that would and would not work logically for a specific system. An example of this would be the times in the movie where she tries to feel and experience what cattle are going through. One amazing power that Temple’s mind possesses is the ability to remember every single detail of every single thing she encounters every single day. Basically, Temple doesn’t think how most of us usually do; we mostly overgeneralize, which is thinking top to bottom. Temple, on the other hand, thinks from the bottom to the top. Temple Grandin’s appearance never hindered her descriptive ability when it comes to learning and working with animals. A descriptive portrayal of a person, in this case, of Temple Grandin, can never outweigh a person’s capabilities and outlook of his/her life. The themes of the movie are very distinct. Since the beginning of the film, we notice Temple’s anxieties from one thing to another. Starting with her fear of new places and situations, such as the time when she first got to her aunt’s ranch, the first time she got to her college dorm, and opening doors to new and unfamiliar places. Fear is a big part of Temple’s story because it shows the different ways she overcame them. At first, she thought of change negatively. She assumed that new things would inflict more stress and anxiety in her. Due to this, she created the â€Å"hugging machine† that she once observed being used in her aunt’s ranch. Meeting Dr. Carlock dramatically changed Temple’s view of new things. He taught her that every door opens to new opportunities and that she just had to go through them. Ever since then, Temple built up all the courage she could gain and did as she was told. As a result, she went through a number of doors which led her to amazing opportunities such as meeting people who had connections to slaughterhouse owners and the beginning of her long-awaited future. Another factor that led Temple to endure and overcome her fears is the amount of perseverance she had within her. Her determination to get things done is unbelievable. It almost seemed like giving up was never the choice for Temple. Even at times, where she didn’t have a choice she made ways. For instance, Temple was cruelly discriminated for being a female working in a â€Å"male environment† by spoiling her truck with bull testicles and eventually banning her from entering the ranch. However, with Temple’s brilliant mind she came up with the best ideas to make the ranch allow her back in. She observed all the people that were allowed in that particular ranch and noticed that they only permitted the stereotypical â€Å"ranch men† and â€Å"special personnel† to come inside. With that in mind, she traded her car with a pickup truck, in which she purposely ruined, changed her wardrobe into a more male-friendly style and convinced the local newspaper to give her a badge. To her surprise, the ranch let her in without the slightest suspicion that she was actually a female. Another example would be the time where she needed a blueprint made, but the draftsman was very busy and she didn’t have time to wait. As determined as she was, Temple knew what her mind can do so she observed the draftsman working on other blueprints. She watched closely as he carefully drew them with great precision. Soon after that, she found herself making her own blueprints accurately enough that later on, a meeting of slaughterhouse officials gathered around her self-made blueprints and were practically stunned with what she had in store for them. Temple’s ways of overcoming her fears and willpower despite her autism only broadened my admiration for her. With her unique way of thinking, Temple discovered a new way of learning despite her condition. She discovered that visual thinking is what works best for her. Thinking of my own learning experiences, I realized that Temple and I have a number of similarities when it comes to learning. For me, I always knew that visual learning is the most effective way, as well. Since I was young, colors and movement catches my attention every time; while reading and listening always seemed to bore me after a certain amount of time. This is probably why English isn’t really my forte. Among my family, I am known to be the crafty and creative one. I noticed that I think well when it involves something visual. When participating in presentations, projects, and experiments, I always go over a little more than what is really needed because for some reason it helps me learn the material in more depth. The proof is all in my report card; my grades soared when it came to art and sciences. The diagrams and examples that were given are the ones that always get stuck in my head. I am also a very keen observer. I am one of those students who stand to the side and just watch. So it when comes to me trying it for myself, I get it done. Connecting my experience to Temple’s, I remember the time when I was younger and very curious about computers. My parents didn’t want to teach me how to use them because they thought I was too young. But as I watched my dad use the computer, I noticed all the buttons he pressed and the functions they served. Until one day, I decided that it was time for me to get my hands on the machine. My dad told me that I knew exactly what button to press to turn it on and where to move the mouse to get to the games. Temple’s abilities will never be close to what I am able to do with my mind. But our similarities of being visual learners made me realize that being unique with your own learning style would be best. Also, the weaknesses that you possess shouldn’t hold you back from achieving your plans and goals. The mind is the most powerful weapon a human possesses. Despite Temple Grandin’s learning disability, she learned a different way to make her mind work wonders by thinking in more visual terms rather than thinking logically. Seeing how Temple uses this technique for the better during the film, I realize that my own learning technique is very similar to hers. Temple’s rather average, yet unique persona allowed her to be known as an individual full of hope and perseverance for a lot of people today, including myself. Temple established the idea of self-perseverance and almost suggests the small power of generalized gender roles in society. As of today, she continues her influence in our world in terms of animal treatments and in the world of autism.