Sense Making and sustainability in Petroleum industry Dissertation

Sense Making and sustainability in Petroleum industry - Dissertation Example The emergence of globalization along with a fast information exchange and cross cultural amalgamation has led business dynamics to incorporate several new aspects within it (Weiss et al, 2008, p.377). No doubt, the companies are making new ventures in foreign territories for optimizing their profit port folios, but the social and environmental aspects of international productions form a crucial part which forms the main trajectory of several new aspects as stated above. Relying only on maximizing profits and generating mammoth revenues will fetch only short run gains with dynamic decline. In order to become a dominant player in this globalised market with a goodwill establishment, the companies have to first of all become good corporate citizens. They have to incorporate the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) with various codes of conduct which will ensure socially responsible business practices within the business and its overseas as well as domestic operations. But app lying the attributes of CSR is not at all an easy task. Several challenges are faced by the management of companies in its proper implementation and maintaining the proper code of conduct. Geographical, economical, legal, cultural and political barriers act as hindrances in the proper implementation of CSR policies. Adverse conditions like agency problems, moral hazard, corruption and malpractices creep into the system which results in non compliance of the rules and regulation implementation and leads to sub optimal results.... Geographical, economical, legal, cultural and political barriers act as hindrances in the proper implementation of CSR policies. Adverse conditions like agency problems, moral hazard, corruption and malpractices creep into the system which results in non compliance of the rules and regulation implementation and leads to sub optimal results. In case of non compliance the initiator will face negative customer sanctions, capital loss, damaged brand values and so on (Pedersen & Andersen, 2006, p. 228). The oil industry bears a historical trend of malpractices, corruption and violent activities (Beri & Sinha, 2009). The prime agenda with oil is that it is generally scarce and the companies have a tendency to explore it wherever it is available. Thus in the oil companies, there has been a natural trend in participating within a global business paradigm and the emergence of CSR practices becomes a more robust parameter in conducting business in an ethical manner (Spence, 2011, pp.59-60). Hi gh vulnerability comes in short term and long term ways. In the short term, there may occur natural hazards like that of oil spills as well as improper sewage of excess natural gas and so on. The long term vulnerabilities include social risks like poorly paid labor, inadequately maintained equipment and threat to the indigenous people at stake facing atrocities and negligence and in some cases they are even killed (Multiple uses of the coastal zone, n.d.). Thus the historical evidences backed by this obnoxious phenomenon have urged the oil and gas TNCs (Transnational Corporations) to play a pioneering role in developing strong leadership roles in the development of good corporate practices as well as rules of behavior in the place of work and engagements in diverse

Cultural Artifacts Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural Artifacts - Essay Example All these and many other aspects altogether represent our culture and its evolution over time. To prove my point I will concentrate on architecture how it is reflective of the culture. It not only represents the present but also has traces of the past. By observing architecture of any society over the years you can observe the evolution of their culture. It shows our values and beliefs. Architecture actually encompasses all three eras, traces of our past, needs of our present and aspirations of our future. Archeology In order to fully understand evolutionary process of architecture we need to develop sound understanding of archeology and dating methods. Crucially understanding of the past depends on the efficiency of the chronological dating methods employed. Indus civilization As we all know Indus civilization is one the oldest civilizations of the world. Some of the things found in excavations dates back to as early as 2800 BCE (McIntosh). A good understanding of their culture was developed through the literature found in some of the writings, pottery and remains of the buildings. The Indus civilization is distinctive in its indigenous development from the cotemporary civilizations. Its architecture does not bear any sign of warfare of that time. They had elaborate drainage system and well planned urban layout. Although scarcity of any building was observed, which could be identified as temple or monument? Architecture and Sculpture History According to historians large wooden houses, palaces and barns were being built in India from around 1700 BC. Although it does not have much creativity and durability was also questionable. (Subcontinent) Some stone architecture and sculpture started in India in 300 BC under the influence of Greeks and Persians. Artifacts are a good source of studying the economic and cultural conditions of any time. It was well reflected in the buildings of that era also. In fact the understanding we have developed about the older civiliz ations and their evolution and growth was achieved by studying the artifacts of those times. Indians moved from traditional wooden architecture to stone architecture and fine masonry work under the influence of foreigners. But the artifacts they produced had the Indian touch and were reflective of their culture. Rock Architecture History of Rock architecture in India dates back to eighth century. There are remains of a temple in Ellora in central Asia. (William J. Duiker) It was named after the holy mountains and it is beautifully carved out of a hill side. Traces of this form of architecture were also found in Africa. It is reflective of the technological advancement of that time because carving a mountain needed a lot of skill and equipment. It is also reflective of the religious beliefs of the time. Most of the religious architecture of that time consisted of Buddhist cave temples and monasteries. The next millennium witnessed impressive sculptures and paintings. Religious archit ecture evolved from caves to monumental structures. They were even decorated with ceilings, door frames, relevant paintings and other accessories which marked the welfare of the civilization. Islamic Architecture When India was conquered by Mughals Indian architecture took a large leap forward. Mughals were found of architecture. Magnificent buildings all over India are a proof of their taste and love for

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Essay Example for Free

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Essay Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) were the two great figures of the last quarter of the eighteenth century. They were not men of the same generation, but they were contemporaries in the sense that they influenced one another, and there is a kind of likeness about them which makes them belong together as the outstanding representatives of their own particular period. That period, known variously as the Age of Haydn and Mozart, the Viennese Period, or the Classical Period, is susceptible to two interpretations, depending upon whether the emphasis is placed on its relation to the preceding or to the succeeding period. If the relation to the preceding period is to be stressed, the age of Haydn and Mozart should properly be called the Classical Period because it marks the culmination of the principles of monophonic style and pure independent musical form, the growth of which had marked the period of Gluck, Stamitz, and C. P. E. Bach. If, on the other hand, its relation to the succeeding period is to be emphasized, it must be looked upon as a transitional period leading to, or forming the beginning of, the Viennese Period of Beethoven. In the firest case the formal and stylistic perfection of Mozart, and to a less extent of Haydn, is considered as a culmination, as an end in itself; in the second case that perfection is considered as a necessary but secondary step in an evolutionary chain leading to the achievement of a new expressive medium. (Sieghard Brandenburg, 1998) Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, lower Austria, on March 31, 1732. As a child he went to live in the house of a relative, Johann Matthias Frankh, who gave him a thorough musical training. Between 1740 and 1748 Haydn was a chorister at St. Stephens Cathedral in Vienna. During that period he earned his living by teaching, playing the harpsichord, and doing hack work, but all the while immersing himself deeply into serious music study. In 1755 he was engaged by Karl Joseph von Furnberg as conductor of his orchestra, for which he wrote various nocturnes and divertimentos. It was during this period that he also created his first string quartets. While employed at the palace of Count Morzin, between 1758 and 1760, he wrote his first symphonies. In 1760 he married Maria Anna Keller, a marriage that proved unhappy from the beginning and soon gave way to a permanent separation. In 1761, Haydn became second Kapellmeister for Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy at his estate in Eisenstadt. When the Esterhazys built a new palace at Esterhaz, Haydn assumed the status of full Kapellmeister (1766) and held this post for almost a quarter of a century. For the many concert and opera performances at Esterhaz, Haydn produced a vast repertory of compositions in virtually every field and form, arriving at full maturity as creative artist. He rarely left Esterhaz, except for occasional visits to Vienna where he met Mozart and became one of his most devoted friends and admirers. In 1790, Haydn withdrew from his Esterhaz post and went to live in Vienna. In 1791 and 1794, Johann Peter Salomon, impresario and violinist, invited him to London to lead orchestral concerts. For these performances Haydn wrote twelve celebrated symphonies now identified as the London or Salomon Symphonies. Back in Vienna after the second visit, Haydn wrote in 1797 a patriotic hymn which became the Austrian national anthem. Between 1798 and 1801 he completed two choral masterworks, The Creation and The Seasons, his first attempts at writing oratorios. He died in Vienna on May 31, 1809, and was buried in the Hundsthurm churchyard; in 1820 his remains were reinterred in the upper parish church of Eisenstadt. (Jay Parini, Brett C. Millier, 1993) HAYDNS CONNECTION WITH THE ESTERHAZY FAMILY Following the disbanding of Count Morzins musical establishment Haydn secured a post in 1761 with the Esterhazy family, thus forming a relationship which was to continue until the end of his life. First as assistant, and then as first chapelmaster, Haydn was given every incentive necessary to the realization of his genius. Prince Esterhazy was a capable amateur, and in such genial surroundings Haydn gradually developed a remarkable orchestra and a group of singers adequate for the performance of dramatic and religious music. (Ralph De Toledano, 1987) The Esterhazy family, at Eisenstadt and later at Esterhazy, maintained one of the most splendid courts in Europe. Music furnished there, as it did all over Germany, a large part of the entertainment. Almost daily concerts of chamber and orchestral music, interspersed with marionette operas and true operas, to say nothing of the regular use of music at religious services, kept the time of the princes musicians completely filled. Life for men like Haydn was a constant round of concerts, performances and rehearsals, for which most of the music must be composed in otherwise unoccupied moments. The routine was broken by the occasional appearance of troupes of traveling musicians and by the removal of the prince, sometimes accompanied by the whole musical corps, to the capital for the winter season. Fortunately for Haydn, the trips to Vienna furnished opportunity both for the dissemination of his own works and for him constantly to renew his acquaintance with the musical life of the city which had become the musical center of the whole of Europe. (James E. Perone, 1995) THE MUSIC OF THE ESTERHAZY PERIOD A list of the music composed by Haydn during the twenty-nine years of his active connection with the Esterhazy family would be far too long to be included here. His compositions ranged over every musical form characteristic of the time: symphonies, operas, Masses, string quartets, piano sonatas, concertos for various instruments with orchestra, and music for numerous other combinations of instruments and voices. The addition of a famous harpist to the musical forces brought forth a series of compositions for harp; having a famous cellist as a member of the orchestra necessitated concertos for cello and orchestra, which Haydn straightway produced; a ball attended by the emperor brought out the whole orchestra with proudly performed new ballroom music. Haydn stood ready to compose, genially and to the best of his lavish ability, music for any occasion. At the death of Prince Esterhazy in 1790, the musical establishment was disbanded, but Haydn retained his title of Kappelmeister, and although he was now free to devote himself to other affairs, he retained an income from his patrons. The story of the rest of his life recounts constantly increasing fame and honor. His works were performed throughout Europe; Naples, Berlin, Madrid, and London were all anxious to hear his latest composition. Pupils flocked to him, and contemporary composers were almost unanimous in acknowledging his greatness. (David Ewen, 2007 ) LONDON: SYMPHONIES AND ORATORIOS Haydns later life was rich in incident, but that aspect must be left to the biographer. The two journeys to London, in 1790-1792 and 1794-1795, during which he composed the twelve great London symphonies, and conceived the desire to compose oratorios, are most important from the historical standpoint. On his first return to Vienna he devoted himself largely to the two oratorios, the Creation, first performed in 1798, and the Seasons, first performed in 1801. In 1803 he made his last public appearance as a conductor, and from then until his death in 1809, in a Vienna conquered by the armies of Napoleon, his life was that of an honored old man gradually succumbing to his infirmities. (Robert L. Marshall, 2003) Work Cited David Ewen. Composers of Yesterday; Kessinger Publishing, 2007 James E. Perone. Musical Anthologies for Analytical Study: A Bibliography; Greenwood Press, 1995 Jay Parini, Brett C. Millier. The Columbia History of American Poetry; Columbia University Press, 1993 Ralph De Toledano. â€Å"Haydn, Beethoven Old Instruments†; National Review, Vol. 39, April 10, 1987 Robert L. Marshall. Eighteenth-Century Keyboard Music; Routledge, 2003 Sieghard Brandenburg. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven: Studies in the Music of the Classical Period; Clarendon Press, 1998

The Pioneers In Animation Animation Essay

The Pioneers In Animation Animation Essay Animation has its roots in traditional art. Its evolution over the years has been facilitated by not only artists but also visionaries and technically skilled experts. Presented below are the noteworthy pioneers and their creations that helped animation reach unprecedented heights as we see today. It was in 1895, three years after Emile Reynaud, inventor of the praxinoscope, an animation system using loops of 12 pictures, showed the first animated film in Theatre Optique system, devised by him, that two French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumiere, presented the first authentic demonstration of what we now think of as cinema. Lumiere Brothers characters which were images of real people became a better alternative to the Emile Reynauds presentations of moving drawings. Georges Melies, a fantasy filmmaker- the maker of Voyage to the Moon (1902), was prided himself as stage-illusionist and used the medium of cinema as a natural extension of his magical arts with their transformations, and mysterious disappearances. Many of the visual tricks employed in his fantasy film Voyage to Moon were achieved by stopping the film, altering the image and photographing the new scene. This later became one of the basic techniques of 3-D animation films. Hence, arguably, George could be termed as the first filmmaker to use Stop Action {or Stop Motion}. Stuart Blackton, a Briton, is the pioneer in Chalk Animation. His work in Humorous Phases of Funny Faces, made in 1906, is based essentially on line animation. It is commonly known that the first animated work on standard picture film was Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) by Blackton. It features a cartoonist drawing faces on a chalkboard, with the faces apparently coming to life. Blacktons process of drawing a picture, photographing it, rubbing a part of it out and then redrawing it was the most basic use of the stop-motion technique. Blackton, along with Albert E Smith, had employed stop motion photography to create wonderful effects in his 1907 live -action film The Haunted Hotel. He is credited with the making of the first stop motion puppet film The Humpty Dumpty. British film maker Arthur Melbourne Cooper also claimed having made the first ever puppet animated film. Cooper is also perhaps the maker of the worlds first animated commercial film using stop -motion photography in his film The Matches: An Appeal, a film of moving matchsticks produced way back in 1899. Coppers other notable creations were Cindrella (1912), Wooden Athletes (1912) and The Toymakers Dream (1913). Another pioneering effort in stop-motion techniques was that of Parisian caricaturist and film maker Emile Cohl who in his film Fantasmagorie, depicting the adventures of a little clown, drawn as a rudimentary stick figure, used some two thousand drawings which ran for under two minutes. Those animators who used the puppet model (the other method being clay model) as the basis of their 3D Animation were Giovanni Pastrone {The war and the Dream of Momi} and Wladyslaw Starewicz { The Magic Clock, Love in Black and White}. Starewicz had enormous passion for drawings and sculpture and was influenced by Emile Cohls 1908 film The Animated Matches. He later became known as Ladislas Starevich (after he moved over to Paris) and is till date acclaimed as the pioneering puppet animator because he created the first puppet-animated film -The Beautiful Lukanida (1912). His cast of insect characters appeared in a series of modern fables viz. The Cameramans Revenge, featuring tiny miracles as a grasshopper on a bicycle and a dragonfly ballet dancer. Other well known puppet films of Starevich were Town Rat, Country Rat and the Tale of Fox. Charlie Chaplin is one of the several Hollywood -inspired performers in Love in Black and White (1927) by Ladislas Starevich. The Mascot'(1934) sh owcased Starevichs live action story with toys. Quirino Cristiani from Argentina is the maker of possibly the first animated feature film -El Apà ³stol, in 1917. He also directed two other animated feature films, including 1931s Padeopilis the first to use synchronized sound. None of these, however, survive to the present day. German Lotte Reiniger and French/Hungarian Berthold Bartosch were the directors of the earliest-surviving animated feature, which used colour-tinted scenes, in their silhouette-animated Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926). Jan Svankmejer brought to the cinema the theatrical skills of masks and puppets through his first film The Last Trick (1964) -he was clearly inspired by Ladislas Starevichs The Mascot, made nearly three decades earlier. Svankmejers films often combined animation with live action, as in Alice and his other feature film Faust (1994). Svankmejer is regarded as an undisputed renegade of animation art because he had a penchant for pixillating live actors or manipulating china dolls. Some of his macabre creations were joints of uncooked meat or as in Dimensions of Dialogue (1982) in which he formed two lumps of deathly-grey clay which form themselves into heads and then eat and regurgitate another! The heritage of Svankmajers animation films was the motivating factor behind many of the earliest puppet movies. The Russian animator Alexander Ptushko was yet another trend setter in 1930s. The New Gulliver made by him in 1935 includes scenes filmed in camera (unlike the usual method of creating through optical techniques in processing,) incorporating a live actor and some 3000 puppets. The other feature films made by Ptushko combining animation and live action were The Fisherman and the Little Fan (1937) and The Little Golden Key (1939). Yet another well known name in stop -motion animation was Hungarian born animator George Pal, maker of a classy film, The Ship of the Ether featuring the voyage of a ship made from blown glass. Pal worked in the biggest puppet -animation studio in Europe and created a series on fairy tale subjects and also produced short entertainment films for commercial sponsors such as Philips Radio, Unilever, and Horlicks. He is the creator of the theatrical shorts called Puppetoons from his studio in America. One of the most popular characters of Pal was a little black boy named Jasper who appeared in nearly twenty films such as Jasper Goes Fishing'(1943), Jasper and Beanstalk'(1945) and Jasper in a Jam'(1946).Those who followed Pal and made successful careers in puppet films were Joop Geesink and Ray Harryhausen. Some of the notable films made by them were Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, The Story of Rapunzel, and The Story of King Midas. Jiri Trnka, the Czech animator, was an illustrator beyond comparison who created what is known as Disneyfied characters in such folk tale films as Grandpa Planted a Beet'(1945) and The Animals and the Brigands'(1946). He later became the maker and operator of marionettes- animating the puppets. Arguably, The Emperors Nightingale was a masterpiece film made by Trnka based on Hans Anderson fairy tale. Trnks last film The Hand (1965) featured the central character with a typical impassive face and dressed to look like a pierrot. With an outsized head, a beaky nose and two large soulful eyes, he is clearly the comic tragedian. Trnkas creative heirs were Brestilav Pojar (Lion and Song) and the Japanese animator Kihachiro Kawamoto (Demon, A Poets Life, House of Flame). In recent times, the puppet animation scaled greater heights through the films made by BBC and the British and American television companies with makers like Jim Henson {Seasame Street and The Muppet Show}. Garry Anderson who made The Adventures of Twizzle and Torchy the Battery Boy is rated as a pioneer in puppet films on the television. Other successful puppet films of Anderson were Supercat (1961), Stingray (1964) and Thunderbirds (1965). There were many artists who advanced animation such as the brilliant American cartoonist Winsor McCay whose comic newspaper strip Little Nemo in Slumberland became an animated picture in 1911. Winsor was the man behind the creation of the interactive GERTIE, The Trained Dinosaur. Raoul Barre, whose film series The Animated Grouch Chasers featured a caricature album that came to life, was credited with several significant developments such as registration holes in animation paper, to stop the drawings from wobbling when filmed etc. J R Bray (creator of the comic character Colonel Heeza Liar) pioneered the technique of drawing the backgrounds on sheets of celluloid and placing them on top pf the animation drawings. This process was later refined by Earl Hurd (maker of Bobby Bump) by animating characters on celluloid sheets that were positioned over painted backgrounds. Some of the talents/ artists who dominated the early years of animation were as follows: Pat Sullivan (creator of Felix the Cat), his collaborator Otto Mesmer; Dave Fleischer (who made the series Out of the Inkwell) Paul Terry, the creator of Aesops Fables Walter Lantz- who made first Dinky Doodle and later Woody Woodpecker It is widely believed that Walt Disney, the genius who created Mickey Mouse, took animation to an entirely new level altogether. In 1928, with the premiere of Steamboat Willie, he became the first animator to add sound to his movie cartoons. Another milestone in Walt Disneys life was the first full length animated feature film, named Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs produced in 1937. Walt Disney, till date, is the synonym for the cartoon film. Flowers and Trees (1932) made by Disney Studios which won an academy award for this work was the first animation to use the full, three-color Technicolor method. Lou Benin made a version of Alice in Wonderland in 1948 using live and puppet players. Tim Burton is another pioneer in a negative sense, because he made the first ever horror animation film for children- Vincent. He also made the macabre film Frankenweenie in 1984 and became a Hollywood legend creating the new dark breed of Batman movies. Burtons A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) was the first stop motion feature film to receive worldwide distribution. BBC and the Moscow based group of animators, Christmas Films have been known, in recent times, for producing finest puppet animation series. Jim Hensons glove-puppets achieved international fame with Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. Garry Anderson is considered yet another pioneer with his fantastic puppet animation shows on the television such as The Adventures of Twizzle, Torchy the Battery Boy, Super Cat Fireball XL5, Stingray and last but not the least Thunderbirds. Cosgrove Hall has the distinction of having achieved live movements animating his rubber moulded heads. His 3-D recreation of Toyland home of Enid Blytons Noddy and Okie Dokie is well known. American Willis O Brien is credited with pioneering work in clay animation. He made pre historic comedies through claymation such as Curious Pets of our Ancestors The Birth of Flivver'( both 1917) which featured dinosaur characters. He also created the special effects for Merian C Coopers classic fantasy King Kong-till date a powerful film for stunning animation sequences. OBriens work has been the inspiration for many, notably his protà ©gà © Ray Harryhousen who even surpassed his master in animation techniques. Might Joe Young (1949), The Animal World'(1956), The Beast 20,000 Fathoms'(1953), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) boast of RayS memorable characters. Max Fleischer and his collaborator Roland Crandall are known for moving away from claymation and using cel-animation. Perhaps, it was Art Clokey who revived claymation with an innovative film based on stop-motion clay animation through his film Gumby (1955). The term Claymation was coined by Will Vinton who made Academy Award winning movies like Closed Mondays followed by Leo Tolstoys Martin the Cobbler, Washington Irwings Rip Van Winkle and Little Prince . Joan Gatz, who worked with Vinton and made claymation films A Claymation Christmas Celebration and the Academy Award winning film Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase'( 1992). Will Vintons classic creations included The Adventures of Mark Twain and Return of Oz. Vinton excelled himself through his advertising films in America which helped claymation to reach new heights of invention and sophistication. The renaissance in clay animation is due to the works of an animator from the age of 13, Peter Lord who has the reputation of having made his first animated film as a school boy. He has thus been involved with animation for more than three decades. Peter is credited with pioneering clay character- MORPH, a simple clay character developed by him when working with BBC that became a well known claymation character on television. It was a simple model yet displaying a personality and charm, a hallmark of Peters characters. Peter Lord and Sproxton focused on plasticine / clay animation, a medium rarely used in Europe. Peter along with Mr. David Sproxton, another pioneer in animation, founded Aardman Animations in 1976, named after a character in an early film of Peter. Peter and David were classmates in Working Grammer School for Boys. Over the years Peter and David, the cofounder of Aardman Studios, have produced many commercials, pop videos, childrens series and short films. Two of Peters own short films- Adam Wats Pig- have been nominated for Academy Awards. The other ground breaking films from Arrdman were Animated Conversations, Conversation Pieces, Confessions of a Foyer Girl and On Probation. The studio also specialised in giving human form to a variety of edible products such as singing sausage man, a fruit-and-vegetable man etc. Aardman have produced remarkable commercials using animation techniques -its characters like Douglas the Butterman for LURPAK are memorable. Peter has been working on a full length feature film with fellow Aardman animator, Nick Pick, son of a professional photographer and the most famous of the filmmakers who joined Aardman Studios. Nick Park completed A Grand Day Out for Aardman in 1989 featuring Wallace and Gromit which was nominated for Academy award-its sequel was The Wrong Tousers followed by A Close Shave which won Oscar and helped clay animation to scale unprecedented heights. Nick Park won his first Academy award for his fifth film in this series- Creature Comforts in 1990. Nick Park and Peter Lord produced the most ambitious project of Aardman Studios- Chicken Run in 2000. Chicken Run was perhaps the earliest of films that made significant use of computer animation techniques. Thanks to the pioneering efforts of Peter, Aardman Animations has become the preferred destination to many talents in animation. Peter Peake who produced Pib and Pog, Richard Goleszowski who made Indent (Rex the Hunt series), Dinosaur and Dreams and Steve Box are the notable animators from Aardman. Peter Lord, along with Mr. Brian Sibley, has authored the much sought after book titled Cracking Animation- a book which is supposed to have opened up the vistas to the World of 3D Animation. Nick Park, in his forward to this book, has commended that Peter and David were the first animators he met with expert knowledge and technique in animation and this book is a pioneering publication to impart detailed information and insights into computer animation. Brian Sibley, as a writer and broadcaster, pioneered in publishing numerous books and programmes in arts and animation. His books include Shadowlands: The Story of C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman and The Disney Story. One of the pioneers in using computers and computer related technology in animation was an MIT student Ivan Sutherland who in 1951 created a computer drawing program, Sketchpad, further giving a boost to animation. Tron made in 1982 was a pioneering effort in computer animation. The rapid transition in the field of computer animation have seen innovative creators like Phil Tippet (Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Jurassic Park), Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings). Pixar Animation Studios has the distinction of having produced the first full length feature film animated totally on computers. While Pixar made marvels of computer animation like Toy Story (1995), followed by A Bugs Life and the super hit Finding Nemo, the rival Studio Dreamworks created Shrek series. Aardman also pioneered Pixillation, the modern technique of computer animation through their films Angry Kid. Certainly, the days ahead are going to witness breathtaking visuals and special effects as more and more technological innovations are pioneered by the large studios across the world.

Human Cloning - The Greatest Danger is Ignorance :: Cloning Argumentative Persuasive Argument

Human Cloning – The Greatest Danger is Ignorance The successful cloning of an adult sheep—in which the sheep's DNA was inserted into an unfertilized sheep egg to produce a lamb with identical DNA—generated an outpouring of ethical concerns. These concerns are not about Dolly, the now famous sheep, nor even about the considerable impact cloning may have on the animal breeding industry, but rather about the possibility of cloning humans. For the most part, however, the ethical concerns being raised are exaggerated and misplaced, because they are based on erroneous views about what genes are and what they can do. The danger, therefore, lies not in the power of the technology, but in the misunderstanding of its significance. Producing a clone of a human being would not amount to creating a "carbon copy"— an automaton of the sort familiar from science fiction. It would be more like producing a delayed identical twin. And just as identical twins are two separate people—biologically, psychologically, morally and legally, though not genetically—so a clone is a separate person from his or her non-contemporaneous twin. To think otherwise is to embrace a belief in genetic determinism—the view that genes determine everything about us, and that environmental factors or the random events in human development are utterly insignificant. The overwhelming consensus among geneticists is that genetic determinism is false. As geneticists have come to understand the ways in which genes operate, they have also become aware of the myriad ways in which the environment affects their "expression." The genetic contribution to the simplest physical traits, such as height and hair color, is significantly mediated by environmental factors. And the genetic contribution to the traits we value most deeply, from intelligence to compassion, is conceded by even the most enthusiastic genetic researchers to be limited and indirect. Indeed, we need only appeal to our ordinary experience with identical twins—that they are different people despite their similarities— to appreciate that genetic determinism is false. Furthermore, because of the extra steps involved, cloning will probably always be riskier—that is, less likely to result in a live birth—than in vitro fertilization (IVF) and embryo transfer. (It took more than 275 attempts before the researchers were able to obtain a successful sheep clone. While cloning methods may improve, we should note that even standard IVF techniques typically have a success rate of less than 20 percent.) So why would anyone go to the trouble of cloning? There are, of course, a few reasons people might go to the trouble, and so it's worth pondering what they think they might accomplish, and what sort of ethical

My Philosophy of Teaching Essay -- Philosophy of Education

Philosophy of Education To be an effective educator, I believe one must have a foundation of moral and ethical principles. An educator should support the learning environment, while being flexible and teachable. He or she must also lay a foundation of beliefs on how individuals learn, seeking to enable individuals to reach their optimal potential. My personal educational philosophy begins with believing all children are unique individuals, with different emotions and different styles of learning. An educator has the incredible challenge of attempting to meet those needs. As an educator, I believe all children deserve the opportunity and resources that would better enable them to reach their maximum potential. Classroom management is essential to effective teaching. While the reasons for misbehavior can be attention seeking, health problems, boredom, or simple frustration, how the problem behavior is dealt with will eliminate, decrease, or increase the behavior. Therefore, teachers should evaluate and determine appropriate strategies to increase or decreas...

System Administrator

Internet Mini Case #10 Intel Corporation J. David Hunger In 1968, Robert N. Noyce, the co-inventor of the integrated circuit, and Gordon E. Moore left Fairchild Semiconductor International to form a new company. They took with them a young chemical engineer, Andrew Grove, and called the new firm Intel, short for integrated electronics. The company successfully made money by manufacturing computer memory modules. The company produced the first microprocessor (also called a â€Å"chip†) in 1971. A key turning point for the new company was IBM’s decision in the early 1980s to select Intel’s processors to run IBM’s new line of personal computers.Today, more than 80% of the world’s PCs run on Intel microprocessors. One of the company’s early innovations was centralizing its manufacturing in giant chip fabrication plants. This allowed Intel to make chips at a lower cost than its competitors who made custom chips in small factories. The founders enc ouraged a corporate culture of â€Å"disagree and commit† in which engineers were encouraged to constantly think of new ways of doing things faster, cheaper, and more reliably. Massive investment by Japanese competitors in the late 1970s led to falling prices in computer memory modules.Faced with possible bankruptcy, CEO Moore, with Grove as his second in command (Noyce had retired from active management), made the strategic decision in 1985 to abandon the computer memory business to focus on microprocessors. Projected growth in microprocessors was based on Moore’s prediction that the number of transistors on a chip would double every 24 months. In what was soon called â€Å"Moore’s Law,† Gordon Moore argued that microprocessor technology would improve exponentially, regardless of the state of the economy, the industry, or any one company.Thus, a company had to be at the cusp of innovation or risk falling behind. According to Moore, â€Å"If you lag behi nd your competition by a generation, you don’t just fall behind in chip performance, you get undercut in cost. † ______________________________________________________________________________ This case was prepared by Professor J. David Hunger, Iowa State University and St. John’s University. Copyright  © 2006 by J. David Hunger. The copyright holder is solely responsible for case content.Reprint permission is solely granted to the publisher, Prentice-Hall, for the books Strategic Management and Business Policy–11th Edition (and the International version of this book) and Cases in Strategic Management and Business Policy–11th Edition, by the copyright holder, J. David Hunger. Any other publication of the case (translation, any form of electronics or other media) or sale (any form of partnership) to another publisher will be in violation of copyright law, unless J. David Hunger has granted an additional written permission.Sources available upon req uest. Reprinted by permission. To raise money, Intel’s management agreed to sell 12% of the company’s stock to IBM for $250 million, a stake it later repurchased. Moore’s Law soon became part of the corporate culture as a fundamental expectation of all employees. Andy Grove replaced Gordon Moore as Intel’s CEO in 1987. Moore continued to serve on Intel’s board of directors until 2001. During Grove’s tenure as CEO from 1987 to 1998, Intel’s stock price rose 31. 6% annually and revenues grew from $1. 9 billion to $25. 1 billion.With 55% of its sales coming from outside the United States, Intel was transformed into a global corporation. The company became central to the growth of personal computers, cell phones, genomic research, and computer-aided design. Strategic Decisions Lead to Market Dominance IN ORDER TO SUCCEED IN THIS HIGH-TECH BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT WAS FORCED TO MAKE A NUMBER OF RISKY STRATEGIC DECISIONS. FOR EXAMPLE, INTELâ₠¬â„¢S BOARD OF DIRECTORS FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO VOTE FOR A PROPOSAL IN THE EARLY 1990S TO COMMIT $5 BILLION TO MAKING THE PENTIUM MICROPROCESSOR CHIP—FIVE TIMES THE AMOUNT NEEDED FOR ITS PREVIOUS CHIP.IN LOOKING BACK ON THAT BOARD MEETING, THEN-CEO ANDY GROVE REMARKED, â€Å"I REMEMBER PEOPLE’S EYES LOOKING AT THAT CHART AND GETTING BIG. I WASN’T EVEN SURE I BELIEVED THOSE NUMBERS AT THE TIME. † THE PROPOSAL COMMITTED THE COMPANY TO BUILDING NEW FACTORIES—SOMETHING INTEL HAD BEEN RELUCTANT TO DO. A WRONG DECISION WOULD MEAN THAT THE COMPANY WOULD END UP WITH A KILLING AMOUNT OF OVERCAPACITY. BASED ON GROVE’S PRESENTATION, THE BOARD DECIDED TO TAKE THE GAMBLE. INTEL’S RESULTING MANUFACTURING EXPANSION EVENTUALLY COST $10 BILLION, BUT RESULTED IN INTEL’S DOMINATION OF THE MICROPROCESSOR BUSINESS AND HUGE CASH PROFITS.In 1994, soon after the introduction of the Pentium microprocessor, users noticed a small defect in the chip and be gan demanding replacement chips. The company soon fixed the problem and quickly sent their computer-maker customers new Pentium chips to replace the defective ones. Even though Intel had no obligation to deal directly with end users, the people to whom the computer makers sold their PCs, Grove and the board decided to replace all defective Pentium chips wherever they might be. This was an expensive decision, but one for which the firm received high praise throughout the industry.Realizing that future development of microprocessors would involve RISC technology—a technology Intel did not then have—CEO Grove persuaded Hewlett-Packard’s CEO in 1994 to combine HP’s work in RISC technology with Intel’s ability in product development. This joint venture took on the multibillion-dollar expense of creating 64-bit chip architecture—thought to be crucial to Intel’s continued success. Along with Bill Gates at Microsoft and Steve Jobs at Apple, A ndy Grove had become a major figure in the computer industry at the dawn of the 21st century.Although Grove retired as CEO in 1998, he continued to serve until 2005 as Intel’s Chairman of the Board. Like Noyce and Moore before him, Grove took on the mantle of corporate guru. His 1996 book, Only the Paranoid Survive, in which Grove described how companies should deal with new competitors that emerge suddenly and change the fundamental shape of the industry, was widely read. Even with no official title, Grove continued to serve the company as its â€Å"senior adviser. † Intel After Andy Grove: A New Strategic Direction CRAIG BARRETT REPLACED ANDY GROVE AS INTEL’S CEO FROM 1998 TO 2005.HE WAS ABLE TO PERSUADE THE BOARD IN 2002 TO INVEST $28 BILLION IN THE LATEST MANUFACTURING PLANTS AND TECHNOLOGIES DURING THE LONGEST DOWNTURN IN THE CHIP INDUSTRY’S HISTORY. THE BOARD HAD BEEN WORRIED THAT NEW PLANTS COULD BURDEN THE INTEL WITH OVERCAPACITY IF DEMAND FAILED TO MATERIALIZE. BY 2005, FIVE FACTORIES WERE ABLE TO MAKE 21? 2 TIMES MORE CHIPS THAN THE OLDER-GENERATION FABRICATION PLANTS—1. 25 MILLION CHIPS DAILY. BECAUSE OF THE HUGE COST TO BUILD THIS TYPE OF PLANT, RIVALS TI, AMD, AND IBM EACH HAD ONLY ONE PLANT OF THIS ADVANCED TYPE IN 2006.TI CONCEDED THAT ITS CAPACITY TO PRODUCE THE LATEST-TECHNOLOGY CHIPS WAS LIMITED TO ONLY 250,000 PER DAY. During Barrett’s tenure, the company also invested billions of dollars in businesses outside the computer market that largely failed. In 2001, the firm exited from making cameras and other consumer electronics gear after key customers Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HP) complained that Intel was competing against them. In 2002, Intel took a $100 million charge against earnings when it cancelled its entry into Web hosting.In 2004, Intel attempted to go after Texas Instruments with its version of digital signal processors, a key ingredient in cell phones. Unfortunately, cell-phone manufacturer s ignored Intel’s product in favor of those by TI. Industry analysts concluded that Intel had a steep learning curve outside of personal computers. Even with this checkered history outside the PC business, in 2004 CEO Barrett launched an ambitious strategic move. Instead of â€Å"Intel Inside,† the plan was to be â€Å"Intel Everywhere. Under the new strategic plan, Intel would offer chips that would be used in all sorts of applications, including PCs, cell phones, flat-panel TVs, portable video players, wireless home networking, and medical diagnostic equipment. The company targeted 10 new product areas for its chips, primarily in the consumer electronics and communications markets. This plan was based on the movement in multiple industries from an analog to a digital format. According to Barrett, â€Å"Communication is going digital. Entertainment is going digital. We are able to bring our expertise into different areas where we really had no unique capability befo re. Supporting this announcement, Intel introduced a chip based on a new technology called WiMax that could be used to deliver high-speed wireless Internet access throughout a small city for about $100,000, one-tenth the cost of fiber-optic lines. Competition Heats Up MEANWHILE, INTEL’S PC CHIP BUSINESS WAS RUNNING INTO SOME DIFFICULTY. WHEN, IN 2004, INTEL AND HEWLETT-PACKARD RELEASED THE ITANIUM SERVER CHIP THEY HAD JOINTLY DEVELOPED THREE YEARS EARLIER, CRITICS CALLED IT â€Å"THE ITANIC. † DELIVERED TWO YEARS LATE AT A COST OF $2 BILLION, THE 64-BIT CHIP PERFORMED MORE SLOWLY THAN INTEL’S OWN 32-BIT CHIP AND SEEMED TO HAVE NO FUTURE.IN FEBRUARY 2004, CEO BARRETT ANNOUNCED THAT THE COMPANY WOULD RECONFIGURE ITS 32-BIT XEON CHIP FOR SERVERS AND ITS PENTIUM 4 FOR DESKTOPS SO THAT THEY COULD HANDLE 64-BIT APPLICATIONS. UNFORTUNATELY, ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES (AMD) HAD ALREADY BEGUN SELLING ITS OPTERON SERVER CHIP IN APRIL 2003. THE OPTERON HAD THE CAPABILITY OF RU NNING BOTH 32-BIT AND 64-BIT APPLICATIONS. SURPRISINGLY, INTEL’S JOINT VENTURE PARTNER HP DECIDED TO SELL SERVERS WITH AMD’S OPTERON CHIP ALONG WITH INTEL’S PRODUCTS. BY DECEMBER 2003, AMD HAD OBTAINED 3. 9% OF THE MAINSTREAM SERVER MARKET AND WAS TAKING AIM AT THE PC MARKET AS WELL.Since 2003, AMD’s chips had been faster, used less power, generated less heat, and cost less than did Intel’s. As a result, Intel’s share of the market in servers fell from almost 100% in 2001 to less than 85% in 2006. Its market share in laptop PCs declined from 88% in 2001 to 86% in 2006. Its share in desktops also dropped from 80% in 2000 to 74% in 2006. Dell, the biggest PC maker in terms of sales, decided in May 2006 to abandon its policy of only using Intel chips in its PCs by offering AMD chips in its computer servers. This was a serious blow to Intel’s continued dominance of the market.AMD was able to make a significant dent in Intel’s marke t share by focusing its limited resources on microprocessors for PCs and servers and letting others supply the remaining chips. When Intel ran into a parts shortage for its desktop PCs in December 2005, AMD quickly dispatched its sales people to fill the void. AMD-based desktop PCs began to dominate the shelves at Best Buy, Circuit City, and other stores. By mid-2006, AMD held a 26% share of the U. S. server chip market and a 48% share of the multi-core processors, which put at least two chips on a single piece of silicon.As a result, AMD’s gross margin of 58. 6% exceeded Intel’s of 55. 1% during the first quarter of 2006. In response, Intel began offering the first in a family of revamped chips called Core 2. These chips used less energy while offering better performance. Intrigued by AMD’s success, industry analysts wondered if AMD would be able to continue offering innovative products without succumbing to the supply problems that had dogged it in the past. R einventing the Company IN MAY 2005, CRAIG BARRETT TRANSFERRED THE CEO POSITION TO PAUL OTELLINI AND BECAME CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD.PAST-PRESIDENT OF INTEL UNDER BARRETT, OTELLINI CONTINUED BARRETT’S STRATEGIC DECISION TO PUSH THE COMPANY INTO MULTIPLE FIELDS WITH NEW CHIP â€Å"PLATFORMS. † PC GROWTH WAS SLOWING. CELLULAR AND HANDHELD DEVICES WERE NOW COMPETING FOR THE PRIMARY SPOT IN PEOPLE’S LIVES. OTELLINI AGREED THAT HE MUST REINVENT INTEL OR FACE A FUTURE OF EVENTUAL DECLINE. THE PC BUSINESS APPEARED TO HAVE REACHED MATURITY. REVENUE GROWTH HAD AVERAGED 13% FROM 2002 TO 2005, BUT ANALYSTS WERE ESTIMATING THAT THE COMPANY’S SALES WOULD ONLY GROW 7% IN 2006 TO $42. BILLION. PROFITS, WHICH HAD BEEN INCREASING ON AVERAGE 40% ANNUALLY FROM 2002 TO 2005, WERE EXPECTED TO RISE ONLY 5% IN 2006 TO $9. 5 MILLION. Ortellini proposed that Intel should not just make PC microprocessors, but should also create many types of chips, as well as software, and then combin e them into what he called â€Å"platforms. † Since taking over as CEO, Ortellini had reorganized the company, created business units for each product area, and scattered the processor experts among the units. He added 20,000 people in 2005. Note: Intel’s annual and quarterly reports and SEC filings are available via the company’s web site at www. intel. com. ) Paul Ortellini was the first non-engineer to serve as Intel’s CEO. He put particular emphasis on marketing because he thought that the only way Intel could succeed in new markets was by communicating more clearly what technology could do for customers. This went contrary to the corporate culture in which engineers had been the key players who made ever-faster chips and then let marketers try to sell them.Ortellini created development teams with people having a cross-section of skills. Chip engineers, software developers, marketers, and market specialists now worked together to develop breakthrough innovations. Many engineers were frustrated with the changes and their loss in status. Some of the design specialists who had been working on the Pentium 4 before it was cancelled left Intel for jobs at TI or AMD. Ortellini’s ultimate goal was to provide the manufacturers of everything from laptops and entertainment PCs to cell phones and hospital gear with complete packages of chips and software.The old logo of â€Å"Intel Inside† was to disappear, replaced by an updated Intel logo with a swirl to signify movement and a tagline of â€Å"Leap Ahead. † Meanwhile, the Pentium brand was to be slowly phased out and replaced by Viiv, Centrino, and Core. Intel was on a new path. It was leaving the Grove era behind and moving into uncharted territory. This was not the first time that the company had bet everything on a new strategy. Would Intel succeed with its new strategic direction?