The history of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent

The history of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent Mesopotamia’s history during the 1st 2nd and 3rd Millenniums BC Mesopotamia has been referred to as the cradle for civilization and has been home most of the important ancient civilizations. The first millennium BC in Mesopotamia was epitomized by imperial dominance. There was dominance by the Neo Assyrian kingdom in the first half of this particular millennium.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The history of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The rise and fall of the Neo- Babylonian Empire led by Nebuchadnezzar characterizes the latter half of this millennium. This was later on followed by the conquest from the East by Cyrus the Great who led the Persians. Hellenism was also an important element that characterized Mesopotamian history. This was followed by the downfall of Alexander the Great around 330BC. It is also important to note that the Minoan period took place in the 2nd mil lennium BC which was between 1900-1300 BC. The legal code was also wrote in this era by Hammurabi and went ahead to conquer Mesopotamia. In the 3rd Millennium BC, there was the building of the great pyramids. Some of the most important pyramids were those of Cheops of Giza (Craig, 2008, p.225) Egypt’s history during the new, old and middle kingdoms It was around 6000 BC when a community of hunter – gathers started settling along the Nile River as they practiced farming. Over time, this community grew and came to be known as the Egyptian Dynasty. Right after Egypt’s unification, the Manetho’s 4th Dynasty began to develop. It was at this particular time that the Egyptian old kingdom was established. The first Egyptian dynasty in this period of time enjoyed the advantages of writing which later on led to the development of the calendar. More so, around 2600BC there was the building of the first pyramid which was known as the Zoser’s monument built at Saqqara (Craig, 2008, p. 65). The middle kingdom period ranged between the 11th and 12th dynasties. This period in time is important because there was a lot of effort by the Egyptian dynasties as they tried to colonize Nubia. Its strategic importance to Egypt is that it was meant to be the Egypt’s trade center in luxurious items. Given that, it was also rich in Gold, Ivory as well as ebony among other items. Due to high demand for manufactured goods and weapons, the Nubians went ahead and established a market place at the second cataract. This place was used by the Egyptians to purchase the very much needed slaves in exchange for the manufactured products.Advertising Looking for essay on ancient history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The new kingdom in Egypt was roughly the last part of the second millennium. That is between (1550-1060). The eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth Dynasties composed this new ki ngdom after the Hyksos were expelled and the country got reunified again by Ahmose. The powers and wealth of the kings in the new kingdom seemed to have been elevated. There was massive construction of buildings, religious centers and mortuary temples all over Thebes. A good number of Egyptian kings led campaigns in areas where they wanted to gain control for instance Palestine. Religion in the history of Mesopotamia and Egypt Religion was an integral part of both Mesopotamia and Egypt. In Early Mesopotamia, the natural happenings were normally attributed to the actions of divine of divine forces which led them to having many gods and goddesses. However, they zeroed down on four creator gods. Egyptians on the other hand relied on religion to guide every aspect of their lives. Egyptians practiced pure polytheism and did not however concentrate on a few specific gods. They apparently had over two thousand gods and goddesses. There were those that were worshiped all over the country su ch as Amun. The Egyptian religion was rather optimistic. This is because it upheld that there would be a rather positive afterlife no matter what one goes through in their earthly lives. Osiris, the most famous god known as the one who gives the law was also considered the guardian for the dead in the other world. On the other hand, Mesopotamian religion was rather dreary and gloomy. The ancient prayers illustrated the need for an establishment of relationships with the gods as well as the goddesses. This is basically because it was assumed that the gods and goddesses viewed humans with not only suspicion. Hence, they would often send catastrophes to act as a reminder to every individual in society of their humanity (Rivstvet, 2006,p.97). Both religions however have one thing in common. They are associated with nature as well as the environment. Most of the gods and goddesses names were for instance derived from nature. More so, most of the natural events were what gave birth to som e gods. For example when there are good rains which lead to a good harvest, the Egyptians in this situation found would give such an event a name. Therefore, whenever they would need a good harvest they would call on the rain god.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The history of Egypt and the Fertile Crescent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The Hebrew historical events in the lush crescent The Hebrews began their journey in Mesopotamia in the 1900s BC travelling through eventually stopping in Egypt in 1500BC. The make up of the Hebrew society consisted of several tribes. During the time with which they were travelling, one of the tribes began considering themselves the chosen ones. Hence they went ahead to use the title, â€Å"soldiers of God† It is sad to note that the Egyptian pharaohs went ahead to enslave them until around 1250BC when Moses their chosen leader led them into freedom. By the 10th century, th e Israelite Kingdom was well established and was economically prosperous. The influence of river valley cultures to their history The ancient Hebrew culture was to some extent suppressed. This was due to the Egyptian imperialism hence many Hebrew generations lived under slavery. Given the situation they could not practice most of their values and beliefs and those who dared to were severely punished. However around 800BC a new culture arose that was more powerful than the Egyptian culture. This was the Greek culture. After the liberation of the Hebrews from slavery the Hebrew and Greek culture were the dominant ones. The dominance of these two cultures gave birth to some sort of conflict between the two as they sort for supremacy. However the Greek were able to win the battle hence the suppression of the Hebrew culture. In spite of all this the unity amongst the Hebrews strengthened and the Hebrew culture was able to influence other cultures such as the European and the Roman (The B ritish Museum, 2011). In short, this paper explains the undertakings of the ancient civilizations. It explains how important contemporary practices such as writing and more so arithmetic’s came into play. The different cultures involved have also been discussed to facilitate better understanding. References Craig, A., et al. (2009). Heritage of world Civilizations (8th Ed.). Prentice Hall: New YorkAdvertising Looking for essay on ancient history? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Rivstvet,L. (2006). Legal and archeological territory of the second millennium BC in Northern Mesopotamia. Web. The British Museum. (2011). Ancient Egypt: the new kingdom. Web. Web.

Punctuating Complex Sentences

Punctuating Complex Sentences Punctuating Complex Sentences Punctuating Complex Sentences By Mark Nichol Writers often overpunctuate long, involved sentences by fortifying them with the â€Å"supercomma† variety of semicolons in place of commas. Sometimes, a better solution is to break the sentence into shorter, more easily digestible servings, but often, the sentence is navigable when mere commas set off the statement’s elements- and sometimes the syntax requires commas and prohibits semicolons. (See the first paragraph of this post for a refresher about the two nearly distinct functions of a semicolon, and read this overview of the punctuation mark’s roles.) Consider the following sentence: â€Å"Decisions to decrease inventory levels; maintain a sole†source or single†source strategic supplier in any country of the world; and adopt just†in†time manufacturing and delivery techniques versus higher inventory levels, multiple suppliers, and other buffers in the process involve trade†off decisions where quality, time, and cost considerations often win out over business-continuity considerations.† Here, semicolons are inappropriate because using them isolates the predicate (the part of the sentence beginning with involve) so that it appears to apply only to the third item in the list rather than to all items. (This is because a supercomma semicolon partly incorporates the role of a weak-period semicolon, in that it nearly grammatically sequesters whatever it sets off.) The sentence is sufficiently punctuated as shown here: â€Å"Decisions to decrease inventory levels, maintain a sole†source or single†source strategic supplier in any country of the world, and adopt just†in†time manufacturing and delivery techniques versus higher inventory levels, multiple suppliers, and other buffers in the process involve trade†off decisions where quality, time, and cost considerations often win out over business-continuity considerations.† An alternative that somewhat eases the onslaught of comma-laden word groupings is â€Å"The following factors involve trade†off decisions where quality, time, and cost considerations often win out over business-continuity considerations: Decisions to decrease inventory levels, maintain a sole†source or single†source strategic supplier in any country of the world, and adopt just†in†time manufacturing and delivery techniques versus higher inventory levels, multiple suppliers, and other buffers in the process.† (Even though the last item itself includes several subitems, which seemingly necessitates the use of supercomma semicolons, the presence of a verb in each item- and the fact that it is the final item- effectively distinguishes the items so that commas are sufficient.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Cost-Effective vs. Cost-Efficient3 Types of HeadingsHow to Punctuate Introductory Phrases

3 Monthly Business Plan Working as a Sales Consultant Essay

3 Monthly Business Plan Working as a Sales Consultant - Essay Example These days, with a correct business plan, a successful casino business can be established (Stukey 2011, p. 6). Objectives The purpose of this casino business plan to be established in Disbury Manchester includes the following: 1. To retain the existing and attract new clients. 2. To attract cooperate clients. 3. To increase profits made by the casino. Background Disbury Manchester is a place with a large population of people and a lot of youths and old people. The general economy of Disbury Manchester is good and with a prior knowledge of the existing casino business. That means that the general population knows about the gambling business and the casino business at Disbury Manchester would not be a new thing. In knowing ones target group, many casino have established specific clients for their business (Stukey 2011, p. 50). Clients play a very important role in any business and hence casinos with many clients that are financially stable are the best kind of clients to have. Disbury Manchester being a place where people have the spending power, such has been directed in the casino business too and has brought a lot of profits. By proper advertisement and marketing strategies, many casinos have ended up being successful. With a proper business plan, any casino business could maximize its management and increase its profits (Stukey 2011, p. 12). Statistical evaluation In any gambling scenario, if in having clients with a higher financial capability to spend, means the casino business would boom. Such would be attracted to the casino business following the means stated below. In addition, with proper advertisement and marketing, a given casino business would also boom If in a given day, operating 24 hours a day, and having an estimated client number of 150 in a day, the casino business could cash in approximately 3,000 Euros. Hence in a good month, it could get approximately 270,000 Euros. After paying its employees, it could remain with approximately 100,000 Euro s profit. Therefore, in 3 months, the casino business might make approximately 300,000 Euros profit. In order to cash in such profits, a number of things have to be kept in place. Ways of improving the casino business How to attract cooperate clients This can be achieved by intensifying on marketing and advertising campaigns. Proper marketing usually has the effect of attracting people to the gambling place. In addition, by offering free promotions, may still attract some cooperate clients. Identifying cooperate clients from competing businesses and offering better place in your casino may also be another way of attracting them (Stukey 2011, p. 60). Driving away your competitors could also be another means of attracting cooperate clients to the casino. With proper marketing and advertisement and hopes of the casino making profits, cooperate clients would not hesitate to flock into that organization. How to retain existing and attract new clients Ensuring that employees at the casino place are straight in the way they operate with clients may also help in retaining clients. A casino with workers that are friendly may have many customers flocking to their side than that which does not have (Stukey 2011, p. 45). Offering promotions to clients may also be beneficial in retaining existing clients and attract new clients since all people love free things. For example, one may come up with a way to reward clients who win certain amount of money, like giving gifts and vouchers (Stukey 2011, p.88). Having the proper target for the casino business could also have an impact on the number of clients one would wish to attract. In having a multiple market for your business like the age groups 20 to

The Role America's Federal Reserve Played in Contributing to the Essay

The Role America's Federal Reserve Played in Contributing to the Actions Leading to the 2008 Financial Crises - Essay Example While the Federal Reserve is a cornerstone institution of the United States, critics have argued that in the long-term the Fed is actually bad for the economy. This research evaluates the extent that the Federal Reserve contributed to the actions leading to the 2008 financial crises. Analysis One of the most prominent critics of the Federal Reserve has been former Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul. Paul’s perspective follows a line of logic that is directly related to the way the Fed functions. Paul indicates that when the American economy is lagging the Federal Reserve infuses new currency into the system. This new currency results in lowered interest rates. The lowered interest rates correspondingly result in capitalist expansion, as business and individuals increasingly engage in borrowing practices. The problem, as Paul indicates, is that such practices are artificial and don’t reflect the economies’ true and proper functioning. Paul has seminally no ted, â€Å"When central banks like the Fed manage money they are engaging in price fixing, which leads not to prosperity but to disaster† (Paul 2011). ... Kibbe (2011) argues that many Austrian economists predicted the 2008 financial crisis. Kibbe contrasts the Keynesian school of economics, which attempts to implement mathematical models in predicting future economic movements, with the Austrian school that argues later economic shifts can only be understood by examining human behavior. Similar to Ron Paul, Kibbe makes a number of sensational statements regarding the impact the Federal Reserve had on the financial crisis. In both perspectives their criticism is less about specific policy measures the Fed took, but rather with the entire existence of the Fed; as such, they believe that any actions this institution makes is ultimately bad for the economy. Just like Paul, Kibbe (2011) notes, â€Å"we would not experience such dramatic economic swings were it not for monetary policies that distort real prices and encourage improper investment decisions. Boom and bust cycles are inevitable when government interventions confuse market part icipants.† When one couples Kibbe’s perspective regarding boom and busts with statements made by the United States government leading up to the financial meltdown startling consideration emerges. For instance, he notes that Treasury Secretary Paulson said in 2007 that the global economy was at the strongest he had seen it in his career. Additionally, he states â€Å"Between 2001 and 2004, the Federal Reserve injected new credit into the economy, pushing interest rates to their lowest level since the late 1970s. As a result, the economy was booming just a few short years ago† (Kibbe 2011). Still, one recognizes that Kibbe provides little empirical evidence for the predictions of the Austrian economists against the failure of the Keynesian predictive models.

Growing telecommunication in society Essay Example for Free

Growing telecommunication in society Essay It is clear that growing telecommunication will help increase the effectiveness of business. Some consulting companies can do not need to hire office, to buy expensive equipment. People can stay at home to do your business. they dont need to strictly come to the office. This is much more convenient than ever before. However life is harder. People both yough and old seem to stick to their computer all the time for their work or and for their entertainment. It is true that there are so many things in a computer. People can explore a lot of things. They can easily contact with a friend far away by email, they can know what is happening and even they can go to the market though Internet and there are many other services in the Internet that I cannot count. But the problem is that some people are now addicted to computers and they lose other habits in life. People become stricter because face to face communication is increasingly dwindling. They spend less time to enjoy the beauty of the nature which is very beautiful with alive scenes with sunshine, with fresh air and a variety of things. As a result, human emotion is also reducing. People are not developed fully in mental and physical strength. In addition, as shown recently by research of scientists , sitting in front of computers for long time will affect people health. The eye is seriously affected. The number of myopic people is increasing. Sitting in a place also makes people feel tired and stressed. Beside, the whole society seem to be running in a strict mechanism which is facilitated by the computer system. If there appear a problem, this system will collapse rapidly. It can be easily seen many cases of computer hacking which cause great damage to the society and business, for example the virus love , originated in the Philippines caused great damage on the global scale in the United States and in south east Asia. The power of the damage is very strong.

Quantitative Research Essay -- Scientific Research Science Essays

Quantitative Research Quantitative research is based on statements such as "anything that exists exists in a certain quantity and can be measured." "While Thorndike’s statement from 1904 appears to be fairly innocent and direct, it staked an important philosophical position that has persisted in social science research throughout most to this century." (Custer, 1996, p. 3). In 1927, William F. Ogburn successfully lobbied to have Lord Kelvin’s motto: "When you cannot measure, your knowledge is meager and unsatisfactory" prominently and permanently carved onto the face of the University of Chicago’s social science research building." In this decade, however, the competing paradigms of quantitative and qualitative research have become almost working partners in educational research. Many researchers today advocate a "paradigm of choices that seeks methodological appropriateness as the primary criterion for judging methodological quality. This will allow for situational responsiveness tha t strict adherence to one paradigm or another will not" (Patton, 1990, p. 30). The ideals of quantitative research call for procedures that are public, that use precise definitions, that use objectivity-seeking methods for data collection and analysis, that are replicable so that findings can be confirmed or disconfirmed, and that are systematic and cumulative—all resulting in knowledge useful for explaining, predicting, and controlling the effects of teaching on student outcomes (Gage, 1994, p. 372). This is the basic definition of quantitative research that will be discussed in this paper. For purposes of comparison, qualitative analysis will be frequently mentioned along with quantitative analysis. The Two Paradigms "A quantitativ... ...litative Research Methodologies." Journal of Industrial Teacher Education 34(2): 3-6. Gage, N. L. (1994). "The Scientific Status of Research on Teaching." Educational Researcher 44(4): 371-383. Hathaway, R. S. (1995). "Assumptions Underlying Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Implications for Institutional Research." Research in Higher Education 36(5): 535-562. Hoepfl, M. C. (1997). "Choosing Qualitative Research: A Primer for Technology Education Researchers." Journal of Technology 9(1): 12-39. Howe, K. R. (1985). "Two Dogmas of Educational Research." Educational Researcher 14(8): 10-18. Liebscher, P. (1998). "Quantity with Quality? Teaching Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in an LIS Master's Program." Library Trends 46(4): 668-680. Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. Newbury Park, CA, Sage Publications, Inc.

Negotiation: Game Theory

Negotiation| | The use of Game Theory could be a powerful force in negotiation. Investigate the different ways that Game Theory can be used or manipulated to change an outcome in a negotiation. | | Negotiation| | The use of Game Theory could be a powerful force in negotiation. Investigate the different ways that Game Theory can be used or manipulated to change an outcome in a negotiation. | | Quentin Dutartre Yash Ruia Damien Canneva Kilian Bus Emilien Allier David Schil Quentin Dutartre Yash Ruia Damien Canneva Kilian Bus Emilien Allier David Schil Contents Introduction2 What is the Game theory? Theory4 Making commitments: promises and threats4 Basic situation4 Unique Win/Win situation5 Commitments and side payments5 Prisoner’s dilemma7 The Simplest Game: Two Person with a Fixed Pie8 Tacit Barganining8 How to act during a negotiation9 Breakthrough Strategy9 Tactics10 Limits11 The modelisation11 The interpretation12 Conclusion13 Sources13 Introduction Our group decided to work on the topic three: â€Å"The use of Game Theory could be a powerful force in negotiation. Investigate the different ways that Game Theory can be used or manipulated to change an outcome in a negotiation†.The modern Game Theory was created in 1944 with the book â€Å"Theory of games and economic behavior† by Oskar Mogenstern and John Von Neumann. It was also developed a lot in the 1950’s with several studies by John Nash. After our seminary about negotiation we thought it would be very interesting to make some research about the Game Theory. Indeed, we made some researches on the Game Theory in our first year in IESEG in our economic classes. That is why we were a bit surprised to see that this theory could be also used in a negotiation process to analyze it.It seems to be obvious that using the concepts of that theory could change the course of a negotiation and be understood as a manipulation or just a skill to achieve the goals of the agents in a negotiation . We decided to divide our work in three parts. First, we will define the Game Theory and make some examples. Secondly, we will make an synthesis on how to act as a negotiator during a negotiation. Finally, on the third part we will talk about the limits and the interpretation we can make on that subject. Generally, we can say that our goal is to extend the concept of Game Theory.Indeed, we imagined it only in an economic vision and we want to extend it to a negotiation vision. What is the Game theory? The Game theory is a method to study the strategic decision-making. More formally, it is  «the study of the mathematical models of conflict and the cooperation between intelligent reasonable decision-makers. † An alternative term suggested  «as a more descriptive name for the discipline † is the theory of interactive decision. The Game Theory is mainly used in the economy, the political science and the psychology, as well as the logic, negotiation and the biology.The s ubject of the (landed) at first sent zero-sum games, such as the earnings(gains) of a person equal exactly the clear(net) losses of the other participant (s). Today, however, the Game theory applies to a vast range of relations of class and developed in a term of umbrella for the logical side of science, to include both man and non-people, as computers. Classic uses include the direction of the balance in numerous games, where every person found or developed a tactics which cannot successfully better its results, given the other approach.Theory Making commitments: promises and threats The first assumption to be made is that the goal of any negotiation is to enlarge the pay off for both sides, and in most cases agreements has to be made in order to achieve getting a Win/Win situation. These agreements can be made by making either promises or threats. In both cases, the idea is to benefit from an enlargement of the total pie obtained by making commitments. Basic situation In the follo wing example, both sides are looking forward to getting the better pay off.At first sight, Neil seems to have a better hand since he is able to have payments by using both of his strategies while Bob can only win by using strategy 1. It is obvious that Neil would better use strategy 1 in order to maximize his payoffs expectations. But Bob would probably prefer using his second strategy than winning less than Neil, though it would result in a Loose/Loose situation. Bob will probably threatens to take strategy 2 if Neil chooses the first one. The only way to obtain a Win/Win situation though is for Neil to make a commitment: he must promise to choose 2 if Bob chooses 1.This is the most basic commitment example. Unique Win/Win situation In the following one, there is one only scenario which allows the two player to win, but commitments must be made buy both sides in order to reach the best situation for both. Here, Neil will probably initially chose strategy 1 in order to avoid loss, b ut he won’t be able to gain anything though. Bob would probably choose to maximize his payoffs expectations by choosing the first strategy. Finally, neither Bob nor Neil will get payoffs, so that we obtain a Loose/Loose result, which is not acceptable.They both have to promise to choose the second strategy in order to win. Commitments and side payments In this last example, it is not possible to reach a Win/Win agreement but by making side payment. Side payments allows to change the total pie, and though to reach the targeted situation. In this particular scenario, initially Neil would choose the first strategy, which is not acceptable for Bob in both cases. Moreover, Bob can’t threaten Neil to choose either a strategy or another. This is a very bad situation for Bob.He will probably choose strategy 1 in order to minimize Neil’s payoffs, and though gain nothing. But, fortunately he can also promise side payments, which could change the total pie. As a matter of fact, if he pays $2 for Neil to pick strategy 2, we create a Win/Win situation which will allow both sides to get payoffs. Through this part we’re going to apply the concept of promises and threats into a concrete situation of negotiation. We set the situation, we have two participants, one will be selling an apartment two a possible buyer. At first sight, the man in power is the seller as he fixes the price.Nevertheless, the buyer can use the threat technique, saying he won’t accept the offer. This decision would place our two actors in a lose/lose situation. Indeed, if the buyer is in the situation of losing the negotiation he will choose to make his opponent loose too. Thus in order to obtain a win/win situation, the seller must not be too greedy to convince his customer. In another way, if the seller wants to be sure to succeed, he can promise the buyer an offer that will automatically put the buyer in a state of winning. Prisoner’s dilemma The prisoner†™s dilemma is one of the most famous games.It is quite easy to understand and gives a good idea of different possibilities in negociation and the interest of cooperation. The main idea is that two burglars get caught by the police after a robbery, and they are interrogated separately. They have two options: either they say that the other guy is guilty or they say he’s not. Considering one’s interest separately, the best situation for him is to use the guilty option while the other chooses the not guilty option. In this case, the first guy will get only 1year of jail while the other one will get 5 years.Therefore it is very risky to choose the not guilty option. If we consider the two as one, the most interesting situation is that both of them choose the not guilty option, whereas the worst is both choosing the guilty option. This is one of the simplest examples of a Win/Win, Win/Loose or Loose/Loose situation. They can both act individually using the guilty option, a nd get 3 years of jail each, or they can cooperate, use the not guilty strategy and get only 2 years both. The major thing to be remembered is that trust is crucial in negotiations.It leads to the only Win/Win situation possible and credibility is needed to avoid defection. The Simplest Game: Two Person with a Fixed Pie When think of people negotiating, a very simple scenario comes into mind, where one person wins and the other fails to win. This is a very simple scenario and one of the first that game theory attempted to solve. Let’s take a very simple example where Nathan owes Barbara some money and they can’t decide on how much. Both of them have two options available to them, but the final decision depends not only on what strategy they choose, but also on what strategy is chosen by their opponent.Nathan will choose to pay a minimum of 40 and Barbara will want to take the maximum of let’s say, 60. This is a very simple scenario and one can easily figure out that the outcome will be 50. 40| 50| 50| 60| However this illustrated a very important concept called the Minimax theorem which tells us to pick the strategy the minimizes the opponents maximum gain. Nathan will pick strategy 2 in order to not pay 60 while Barbara would pick strategy 1 to avoid only getting paid 40. The more variables one has, the more complex the game becomes to solve.Therefore it is a good idea to have lesser number of variables, similarly we need to have a clear idea of what we need in order to reduce unimportant options. Reducing the number of variables one has is always a good idea, even if one is not really reducing the number of variables it is important to show to the opponent that you only have some variables to win. For example, when a customer asks for something one can refer to standardized guidelines or not having permission from the boss to reduce variables. Tacit Barganining. This term was first coined by Thomas Schelling.Who did some experimental res earch and found out the following facts: * When asked to pick any number, 40% chose the number 1. * When asked to pick any amount of money almost all people chose a figure divisible by 10 * When people were told that they had to meet someone else – but had to guess the time – almost all chose noon. We often succumb to a lot of convections even without doing it consciously. It is normal for people to follow the laws of fairness and equilibrium; no one wants to be seen as deviating from the norm.Therefore its usually a good idea to make the first move in a negotiation so that you can create the framework and make clear that you are precedent. In a negotiation, taking the initiative doesn’t seem to be the best thing to do when you start it. Indeed, when you ask somebody to start negotiations, generally he is reticent to do so. Nevertheless asking the first proposal allows you to be able to negotiate on this basis, that’s why you should do it first. Establish a precedence as we said before is a tool to start negotiating. The thing is, there is always a argaining whereas you don’t even notice it. It’s called the â€Å"tacit bargaining†. How to act during a negotiation Breakthrough Strategy In order to reach your goals through using the game theory to negotiate you will need to apply a strategy you will respect during the entire negotiation. That’s why we can use the breakthrough strategy. This breakthrough strategy is based on five steps and permits to solve issues during the negotiation process. Its aim is to offer the two parties the possibility to work together rather than appearing as two adversaries.Nevertheless, this strategy needs to be remembered and followed as it wouldn’t be the intuitive reaction. These five steps are to firstly stay focused. In fact, the goal is to have your mind clear and not be parasite by your emotions. You need to have an overall view on the entire negotiation and to not get lose on a specific point. Then, you need to accept the counter-party. Indeed, being as empathic as possible is very important throughout the negotiation process as creating a climate of exchange is primordial to obtain a win/win situation.This can be perfectly illustrated by the prisoner dilemma. Both parties searching for their proper interest without regarding his opponent situation will lead to lose/lose. Thereafter, the participant will reframe the negotiation. It is based on rephrasing the opponent arguments enhancing the common interest. This will permit that both side look for the fairest deal possible. Once again you need to look through the other negotiators eyes in building a â€Å"golden bridge. This means trying to understand if, in his situation, you will accept the deal as it is now.You will therefore see when to finalize the negotiation in order that the counter-party doesn’t feel pushed in the conclusion. Finally, to make it hard to refuse by using the p ower game as threats or bluff is the most common mistake made at the end of the negotiation. In fact, by using lowering his chance to refuse you also lower his chance to accept the deal. Thus, by having used the four precedent steps, you have create a negotiation climate that will present your golden bridge as the best common interest for the parties. Tactics Tactic is about anticipating what the negotiator is going to do.You have to prepare several strategies in order to obtain what you want from these negotiations. First, there are the behavioral tactics, whose aim is to differentiate the negotiation in its role of representation of a third person or a company and the person who plays this role. Negotiators when using these tactics can operate in many ways. They can use a spokesman for representation, or the executive person or a delegated representative. You have to create a positive frame if you want to obtain concessions from the person you’re negotiating with.Moreover, you have to establish limits in your area of negotiation. Anchoring is a tool that has to be established in order to be able to make adjustments between the two parties in the future. Adjustments and anchoring are important because they have an impact on negotiators. They lead them to what is possible and doable during the negotiation. Another mean is to influence the negotiator as an individual. As if, the negotiator is using its unique and common sense during an argumentation. Some tactics can be based on ethic and morality.If you think the proposition is unfair or contrary to the usual behavior or even illegal, you can use these tactics by pointing up the fact that the proposition is unethical. Tactics is not only about the human and the social part; there is also a part of a negotiation that is about the balance of power between the two parties. The main goal of this tactic is to let the other party know that accepting one request would have an important impact on the cost and t hat we are going to make them pay for that. The deterrence impact shouldn’t be ignored in a negotiation.Commitment in a negotiation is of paramount importance. It is one of the three strategic strikes with bluff and threat. The thing is that negotiators have naturally the tendency to commit themselves into the negotiation. Instead of trying to develop its requirements and modifying its position, he will start conflict in order to put pressure on its opponent. It puts the opponent in a tough position; accept our request or he will have to face the failure of the negotiation. And that’s exactly what he wants to avoid. Otherwise, its role would be useless.This tactic can lead to a dead-end, but it’s a stuck situation that doesn’t consider the balance of power between the two parties. Threats are different from commitment as they are more flexible and have a longer range of existence. They are various as they can be explicit or implicit. They are the direct c onsequences of the failure of negotiations and can be introduce by the company of the negotiator. They have to be used sparingly because threats without any actions discredited any negotiators and especially its company. In the future, it would have an impact on the approach of the opponent regarding the company.Limits The study of a complex negotiation situation with the help of a model places two major complementary problems: the modeling itself (the passage of the reality to a version idealized of this reality) and the interpretation (inverse approach) The modelisation Modelisation is a very hard job. We can resume it as the stage of transforming reality problem into a matrix. The modelisation consists in creating a representation simplified by a problem: the model. But as every transformation, problems could be highlight. Some characteristics, some influence can be overestimated or less estimated. How to model the respective influences of the parameters (functional dependence, i ndeed if such or such parameter exercises one dominating influence or on the contrary, unimportant in first estimate, etc. ) * How measure the values of the parameters (variables of situation or history of the previous negotiations for example) and how fire of a model of the theoretical results (or of experimental simulation). And at least the human factor is very difficult to imagine and to predict. The process of modelisation tries doing it.But through his experience, his character, his objectives or his approach, each human is different. So a model would try to simplify it but of course will make errors. The interpretation Indeed, we already possess a completely realistic model: it is the real world itself. Yet this model is too much complicated to be understandable. †¦ It is only when a simplifying postulate ends in a model which supplies incorrect answers to the questions which it is supposed to answer that its lack of realism can be considered as an imperfection. †¦ Otherwise, its lack of realism is then a virtue.In that case, the simplifying postulate allows to isolate certain effects and to facilitate the understanding. How to interpret the results supplied by the model, suppose that there is (problem of adequacy of the model to the reality). Does such result of the model express suitably the real situation, in spite of the simplifications and the untidy parameters? Like the modelisation, Interpretation is a tuff job. The human factor is a hard to forecast. Game theoretic predictions may not be confirmed in experiments (the real life). Is this a fault of game theory? Yes: people are simply not rational †¦ * No: maybe we get the information technology wrong (absentmindedness), or payoffs are not specified correctly (altruism). The advantage of assuming rationality is that we can think through situations (how can irrationality be modeled). The advantage of assuming selfish behavior is that it is â€Å"unique† (what means altruism, i nequity aversion etc. ). Conclusion As a conclusion we have studied all the aspects about the Game Theory and that helped us to understand that it is a useful tool not only about economic classes but also for negotiation.Indeed, we have made a link between the different sorts of Game Theory and the different cases you can face during a negotiation process. As it is often the case, we found that one of the strongest conditions to succeed in a negotiation is to be able to adapt your body language and attitude according to the characters and features of your contradictor(s). Using the Game Theory could help you to make a strategy and to adapt your goals to any case which is in front of you.However, it is never possible to make a perfect prediction of how the person who is just in front of you and it is very important to be cautious enough, that means that you must rank the risks of any strategy you will try during a negotiation. We can take a final example: You start a meeting being su re you will use the theory of the prisoner’s dilemma because you thought you perfectly understood the mood of the other agent. Imagine one second that you made a very big mistake because you don’t know that the person in front of you has just been left by his wife (for example) and he is very upset.That situation is a good illustration of the risks of using the Game Theory as a perfect and trusting strategy for negotiation. We can finally say that using the Game Theory can be very positive in a negotiation and you can consider it as a very useful tool. However, we have to be very careful because some parts of this theory can be assimilated as a manipulation and this theory is not a miracle solution: every negotiation is different and you can’t always predict the features and mood of your contradictors. Sources * http://dlhoh. hubpages. com/hub/Negotiation-Skill-Dilemma * http://hbswk. hbs. du/item/2773. html * http://www. digitaltonto. com/2009/game-theory-guide -to-negotiations/ * http://www2. warwick. ac. uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/academic/muthoo/publications/bargwc. pdf * http://www. negotiation. hut. fi/learning-modules/IntroToGTAndNego/index. html * http://www. economist. com/node/21527025 * http://www. google. fr/url? sa=t&rct=j&q=negotiation+game+theory&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CHoQFjAI&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffaculty. haas. berkeley. edu%2Frjmorgan%2Fmba211%2FCourse%2520Overview. ppt&ei=vgibT_juBoek4AS8ys2pDg&usg=AFQjCNF5FpD-1CO77pM9Ae0oXFzY0SeGCQ&cad=rja

Drama Monolouge

All my life I have had aspirations to become an ambitious and strong leader, I wanted to grow up and become the president of the United States of America. I had many dreams and hopes that would make the world I lived in a better place for the people of America. That was all changed because of one man, my father. He was very old fashioned, he wanted me to follow in his ‘footsteps' and have a ‘meagre' job as a farmer. I hated my father, he was a cruel man. He was a heavy drinker – a dire alcoholic. In the end my mother and I had enough of his attitude and problems; he used to become very abusive and violent towards us for the smallest of reasons so my mother and I left home when I was only ten years old. I never heard from him ever again from that day on. I received word that he died a lonely death just last year but I must say that even so I am happy that he was alone after all the suffering he caused on my mother and me. Even Now I hate reminiscing about my child hood, I grew up during the cold war, I despised the fact that I could have been blown to pieces at any moment by a Russian nuclear weapon. I loathed the fact that I could lose my friends and the only family member I had – my mother at any second. That's when it happened, my mother passed away. She committed suicide. She took an overdose of pills, and to think I was only fourteen when this occurred. That was the moment I had no one in my life. All my family was gone. My mother just could not handle life anymore. She was jobless and we had little income. I had to work after school in a little cafà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½, clearing up the place just to earn enough money to feed us that night. I had to go to school and work at such a young age. Her life became unbearable then ‘click' (N.B *click your fingers during the performance) she was gone. That was I had the burden of deciding my future, I had the choice of going back to live with my father or to stay with a foster family that had been found for me to live with. I did not want to live with my father because he would oppress me again. I decided to live with a foster family. My foster father was a colonel in the army so he would always be away working with the government. My foster mother was always at home, she would always tell me amazing stories about her husband and how he was helping America. I appreciated the way she looked after me, and having a foster father who you could look up to and respect was for me truly inspirational. He was the father that my real father could not be. My foster parents encouraged me to follow my dream. I studied and excelled in my work so that one day I could live my dream as a reality and lead America in to a free and peaceful tomorrow. I have almost fulfilled that and can not begin to show my gratitude towards the people who raised me into what I am today. Through all of that though I will never forget my real mother. For her I will become the most patriotic man to walk America. Use of Movement For the opening of the monologue I am going to be positioned near to the corner of the room. I will slowly walk from the corner towards center stage at a diagonal. My facial expression should be firm and strong with a hint of vacancy. When delivering the opening I would inhale deeply so that my chest will push outwards. Facial expression should show some what pride and slightly joyful when speaking. Slowly walking towards the audience for the delivery of the second paragraph. Moving upstage in a straight line. Now with a slightly more grimace tone on my face. When speaking I would be using powerful arm gestures throughout the paragraph. The arm gestures are to be what seems to the audience random, jerky and fast. Ideally when mentioning the facts about my father I would use powerful arm movements. Now I should be walking backwards in a straight line but slowly while delivering this paragraph, I should return to the position at the centre of the stage where I delivered my opening from. My facial expression should be very strong and firm showing my anger but with a certain amount of fear and concern. Showing anger by frowning at this stage will affect the drama positively. Arm gestures should be made specifically on the phrases ‘blown to pieces' and ‘loathed'. When speaking I would be looking down slightly towards the floor. At centre stage before the performance I would have set up a chair specifically for this paragraph. With a bereaved expression, this paragraph is to be acted out while seated. Having my head in my hands would highlight the emotion with me taking my head out of my hands after each sentence and looking up at the audience. Now, for this section I would stand up for this paragraph. Positioned center stage, with smooth arm gestures moving outwards after every sentence. For the final section of this monologue, I would again come towards the audience in a straight line. Slowly getting closer with each word and using arm gestures such as clenching my fists throughout the paragraph with tense but sustained movements. Positioned upstage at the center where I would become noticeable to the audience. Then to end I would finish with a freeze with my hand placed over my heart, with a still and strong finish sustained. Use of Voice The prologue to the monologue should be started in a very proud and optimistic tone, with particular expression put on the adjectives such as ‘ambitious' and ‘strong'. The opening should be at a medium pace but at the same time calm and smooth whilst expressing a joyful opening. Now with the second section bathos – a change in tone should occur. With the emotional content in this part, the tone should change to sad. I would change my voice so it is in a hurried fashion. While sadness is shown at particular points when concentrating on the words ‘footsteps' and ‘meagre' sarcasm should be shown. The paragraph should be sharp and at a quite heavy and loud tone but maintaining the emotion at the same time. A protective tone of voice should be adopted when talking about your mother and yourself becoming subjects to violence. When mentioning that you were happy when your father passed away, a glimmer of hatred and evil would affect the piece positively. When speaking here a similar tone should be maintained as the previous section. Here concentrating on how your childhood had burdens. Subsequently expressing your self through exaggeration when talking about being blown to pieces b a nuclear bomb at any moment. With jealousy expressed when using the word ‘loathed'. This part of the monologue should be performed in a lethargic tone of voice. Speaking slowly with a twitchy voice after every few words or so. Contrasting the first paragraph drastically. Stressing on the points of your mother dying and having a job and school to consider, using deliberately pessimistic tone. With the humorous type of sarcasm when saying ‘click' then she was gone. Mood and tone are again contrasted from the last segment of the monologue. Tone should be a significant amount more formal and with signs of things becoming better for you. Fast pace but with optimistic tones present. Pace should be built up for the conclusion with it going from a slow opening to the end to a climactic finish. Contrast again to the last paragraph. Tones of self belief and strongly sustained. Pauses after every sentence should be invoked. A build up is required for a dramatic ending. Optimism and varied loudness should be used until the last line. A dramatic impact with the uses of the emotions of pride joy but a hint of sadness. A calm expression of voice near the beginning would aid the build up. With a use of a loud voice at the end of the passage to highlight the end. The ending should not be conflicted with any sarcasm because it would ruin the stage for a grand finish with all of your energy inputted into it. Impact on Audience With the opening I want to project the mood of pride and optimism. The audience should get the sensation of a meaningful and joyous introduction. It should engage the audience in to thinking whether the monologue will be †cheerful† or †gloomy† in the simplest of terms. The voice should convey a message that it is an optimistic opening and is filled with happiness. The issue that should raise a question and again make the audience think is where I enter from. Why did I enter from the corner of the room? The reason v=being it has a hidden meaning of despair about it – the despair being obvious later on during the performance. The contrast should stun the audience. With the sarcasm and cruelty with speech it should make the audience feel pathos for me. The movement towards the audience should show tension. I want to communicate the feelings of hatred and anger through my voice so the audience can see that their first possible impression was wrong. I want to show them the frustration that has been built up in me for years. I am projecting myself to show them that I am furious about the past. I want to convey and portray my fear. Again a slight contrast to the previous paragraph. Even though fear and jealousy are invoked, at this point I want to try and make the audience feel what I feel – all the tension and fear from the war. I could make the audience involved by particular messages and use of body language. The audience should feel my emotion and feel they have lost something when they hear my tragic story of losing my mother. I want to portray a grieving relative / family member, but show the variation with the slight sarcasm with the ‘click' section. This has a deeper meaning – the audience may realise certain sarcasm. The burden upon me of choice should reflect the previous paragraph; I want to communicate the idea that still life for me is all hardship. The final paragraph should show the audience that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It shows the variation to them that can be seen throughout the piece. It should make them see that life is a virtue and that not everything is bad. Inspirational things can happen to anyone. The contrast is my method of acting out and showing to the audience a broader variety of emotions, language and movements. Belief and patriotism is another point I am trying to convey through the use of my language – this is shown when talking about my foster father and my dreams to turn America in to a peaceful country. The last line and sustained freeze would make a bold point by giving the piece a climactic finish and endeavour the audience to really see the provocative emotions used; in turn causing the audiences provoked reactions and mixed feelings to the piece. The object of my monologue was to convey many messages about voice, movement and dramatic performance in drama.

Free Essays on Krispy Kreme Case

SWOT Analysis Strengths: Product cost Strong business history Long standing company ethics Strong customer base Nationally known brand of donuts Donut-making â€Å"theatres† Strong Community relationships â€Å"One-of-a-kind taste† Weaknesses: Limited menu items Markets are leaning towards healthier food products Heavy competition Lack of advertising Opportunities: Expansion into premium coffee lines Diversification of product offerings Co-Branding opportunities Expansion into a more global marketplace Web based sales of Krispy Kreme merchandise Threats: Stiff competition from several similar companies Healthier product alternatives available Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. is a specialty retailer of doughnuts. The company's business owns and franchises Krispy Kreme doughnut stores, where it makes and sells over 20 varieties of doughnuts, including its signature Hot Original Glazed and nine other varieties. Each of its stores is a doughnut factory with the capacity to produce from 4,000 dozen to over 10,000 dozen doughnuts daily. The Company also sells in its stores coffee, other beverages, other bakery items and collectible memorabilia such as tee shirts, sweatshirts and hats. There are currently 368 Krispy Kreme stores in 44 states and 4 countries and the company also accomplishes off-premises sales through its direct store delivery system. Krispy Kreme also has plans to expand on its international presence. Currently they are looking to open up markets in Europe, Asia, and Mexico. Krispy Kreme's strong marketing focus is their charitable efforts through giveaways and wholesale charges to charities. By using this particular approach they continue to emphasize their small town, southern hospitality, commitment to community and brand value. With this strong ethical platform Krispy Kreme should prove to be a long standing me... Free Essays on Krispy Kreme Case Free Essays on Krispy Kreme Case SWOT Analysis Strengths: Product cost Strong business history Long standing company ethics Strong customer base Nationally known brand of donuts Donut-making â€Å"theatres† Strong Community relationships â€Å"One-of-a-kind taste† Weaknesses: Limited menu items Markets are leaning towards healthier food products Heavy competition Lack of advertising Opportunities: Expansion into premium coffee lines Diversification of product offerings Co-Branding opportunities Expansion into a more global marketplace Web based sales of Krispy Kreme merchandise Threats: Stiff competition from several similar companies Healthier product alternatives available Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc. is a specialty retailer of doughnuts. The company's business owns and franchises Krispy Kreme doughnut stores, where it makes and sells over 20 varieties of doughnuts, including its signature Hot Original Glazed and nine other varieties. Each of its stores is a doughnut factory with the capacity to produce from 4,000 dozen to over 10,000 dozen doughnuts daily. The Company also sells in its stores coffee, other beverages, other bakery items and collectible memorabilia such as tee shirts, sweatshirts and hats. There are currently 368 Krispy Kreme stores in 44 states and 4 countries and the company also accomplishes off-premises sales through its direct store delivery system. Krispy Kreme also has plans to expand on its international presence. Currently they are looking to open up markets in Europe, Asia, and Mexico. Krispy Kreme's strong marketing focus is their charitable efforts through giveaways and wholesale charges to charities. By using this particular approach they continue to emphasize their small town, southern hospitality, commitment to community and brand value. With this strong ethical platform Krispy Kreme should prove to be a long standing me...

Seymour Cray and the Supercomputer

Seymour Cray and the Supercomputer Many of us are familiar with computers. You’re likely using one now to read this blog post as devices such as laptops, smartphones and tablets are essentially the same underlying computing technology. Supercomputers, on the other hand, are somewhat esoteric as they’re often thought of as hulking, costly, energy-sucking machines developed, by and large, for government institutions, research centers, and large firms. Take for instance China’s Sunway TaihuLight, currently the world’s fastest supercomputer, according to Top500’s supercomputer rankings. It’s comprised of 41,000 chips (the processors alone weigh over 150 tons), cost about $270 million and has a power rating of 15,371 kW. On the plus side, however, it’s capable of performing quadrillions of calculations per second and can store up to 100 million books. And like other supercomputers, it’ll be used to tackle some of the most complex tasks in the fields of science such as weather forecasting and drug research. When Supercomputers Were Invented The notion of a supercomputer first arose in the 1960s when an electrical engineer named Seymour Cray, embarked on creating the world’s fastest computer. Cray, considered the â€Å"father of supercomputing,† had left his post at business computing giant Sperry-Rand to join the newly formed Control Data Corporation so that he can focus on developing scientific computers. The title of world’s fastest computer was held at the time by the IBM 7030 â€Å"Stretch,† one of the first to use transistors instead of vacuum tubes.   In 1964, Cray introduced the CDC 6600, which featured innovations such as switching out germanium transistors in favor of silicon and a Freon-based cooling system. More importantly, it ran at a speed of 40 MHz, executing roughly three million floating-point operations per second, which made it the fastest computer in the world. Often considered to be the world’s first supercomputer, the CDC 6600 was 10 times faster than most computers and three times faster than the IBM 7030 Stretch. The title was eventually relinquished in 1969 to its successor the CDC 7600.  Ã‚   Seymour Cray Goes Solo In 1972, Cray left Control Data Corporation to form his own company, Cray Research. After some time raising seed capital and financing from investors, Cray debuted the Cray 1, which again raised the bar for computer performance by a wide margin. The new system ran at a clock speed of 80 MHz and performed 136 million floating-point operations per second (136 megaflops). Other unique features include a newer type of processor (vector processing) and a speed-optimized horseshoe-shaped design that minimized the length of the circuits. The Cray 1 was installed at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1976. By the 1980s Cray had established himself as the preeminent name in supercomputing and any new release was widely expected to topple his previous efforts. So while Cray was busy working on a successor to the Cray 1, a separate team at the company put out the Cray X-MP, a model that was billed as a more â€Å"cleaned up† version of the Cray 1. It shared the same horseshoe-shape design, but boasted multiple processors, shared memory and is sometimes described as two Cray 1s linked together as one. The Cray X-MP (800 megaflops) was one of the first â€Å"multiprocessor† designs and helped open the door to parallel processing, wherein computing tasks are split into parts and executed simultaneously by different processors.   The Cray X-MP, which was continually updated, served as the standard bearer until the long-anticipated launch of the Cray 2 in 1985. Like its predecessors, Cray’s latest and greatest took on the same horseshoe-shaped design and basic layout with integrated circuits stacked together on logic boards. This time, however, the components were crammed so tightly that the computer had to be immersed in a liquid cooling system to dissipate the heat. The Cray 2 came equipped with eight processors, with a â€Å"foreground processor† in charge of handling storage, memory and giving instructions to the â€Å"background processors,† which were tasked with the actual computation. Altogether, it packed a processing speed of 1.9 billion floating point operations per second (1.9 Gigaflops), two times faster than the Cray X-MP. More Computer Designers Emerge Needless to say, Cray and his designs ruled the early era of the supercomputer. But he wasn’t the only one advancing the field. The early ’80s also saw the emergence of massively parallel computers, powered by thousands of processors all working in tandem to smash though performance barriers. Some of the first multiprocessor systems were created by W. Daniel Hillis, who came up with the idea as a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The goal at the time was to overcome to the speed limitations of having a CPU direct computations among the other processors by developing a decentralized network of processors that functioned similarly to the brain’s neural network. His implemented solution, introduced in 1985 as the Connection Machine or CM-1, featured 65,536 interconnected single-bit processors. The early ’90s marked the beginning of the end for Cray’s stranglehold on supercomputing. By then, the supercomputing pioneer had split off from Cray Research to form Cray Computer Corporation. Things started to go south for the company when the Cray 3 project, the intended successor to the Cray 2, ran into a whole host of problems. One of Cray’s major mistakes was opting for gallium arsenide semiconductors – a newer technology as a way to achieve his stated goal of a twelvefold improvement in processing speed. Ultimately, the difficulty in producing them, along with other technical complications, ended up delaying the project for years and resulted in many of the company’s potential customers eventually losing interest. Before long, the company ran out of money and filed for bankruptcy in 1995. Cray’s struggles would give way to a changing of the guard of sorts as competing Japanese computing systems would come to dominate the field for much of the decade. Tokyo-based NEC Corporation first came onto the scene in 1989 with the SX-3 and a year later unveiled a four-processor version that took over as the world’s fastest computer, only to be eclipsed in 1993. That year, Fujitsu’s Numerical Wind Tunnel, with the brute force of 166 vector processors became the first supercomputer to surpass 100 gigaflops (Side note: To give you an idea of how rapidly the technology advances, the fastest consumer processors in 2016 can easily do more than 100 gigaflops, but at the time, it was particularly impressive). In 1996, the Hitachi SR2201 upped the ante with 2048 processors to reach a peak performance of 600 gigaflops. Intel Joins the Race Now, where was Intel? The company that had established itself as the consumer market’s leading chipmaker didn’t really make a splash in the realm of supercomputing until towards the end of the century. This was because the technologies were altogether very different animals. Supercomputers, for instance, were designed to jam in as much processing power as possible while personal computers were all about squeezing efficiency from minimal cooling capabilities and limited energy supply. So in 1993 Intel engineers finally took the plunge by taking the bold approach of going massively parallel with the 3,680 processor Intel XP/S 140 Paragon, which by June of 1994 had climbed to the summit of the supercomputer rankings. It was the first massively parallel processor supercomputer to be indisputably the fastest system in the world.   Up to this point, supercomputing has been mainly the domain of those with the kind of deep pockets to fund such ambitious projects. That all changed in 1994 when contractors at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, who didn’t have that kind of luxury, came up with a clever way to harness the power of parallel computing by linking and configuring a series of personal computers using an ethernet network. The â€Å"Beowulf cluster† system they developed was comprised of 16 486DX processors, capable of operating in the gigaflops range and cost less than $50,000 to build. It also had the distinction of running Linux rather than Unix before the Linux became the operating systems of choice for supercomputers. Pretty soon, do-it-yourselfers everywhere were followed similar blueprints to set up their own Beowulf clusters.  Ã‚   After relinquishing the title in 1996 to the Hitachi SR2201, Intel came back that year with a design based on the Paragon called ASCI Red, which was comprised of more than 6,000 200MHz Pentium Pro processors. Despite moving away from vector processors in favor of off-the-shelf components, the ASCI Red gained the distinction of being the first computer to break the one trillion flops barrier (1 teraflops). By 1999, upgrades enabled it to surpass three trillion flops (3 teraflops). The ASCI Red was installed at Sandia National Laboratories and was used primarily to simulate nuclear explosions and assist in the maintenance of the country’s nuclear arsenal. After Japan retook the supercomputing lead for a period with the 35.9 teraflops NEC Earth Simulator, IBM brought supercomputing to unprecedented heights starting in 2004 with the Blue Gene/L. That year, IBM debuted a prototype that just barely edged the Earth Simulator (36 teraflops). And by 2007, engineers would ramp up the hardware to push its processing capability to a peak of nearly 600 teraflops. Interestingly, the team was able to reach such speeds by going with the approach of using more chips that were relatively low power, but more energy efficient. In 2008, IBM broke ground again when it switched on the Roadrunner, the first supercomputer to exceed one quadrillion floating point operations per second (1 petaflops).

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Marketing - Essay Example Financial Data and Projections 9 Executive summary Our business will be situated in New York. It will focus on fast foods, with the unique selling point drawn from the offer of dazzling food products in a fulfilling atmosphere that will make customers enjoy their stay in our premises. Our business will target people doing shopping or students from schools, universities, and colleges from the neighborhood. Dizzy seeks to produce merchandise ranging from pre-packaged sauces and coffee to branded T-shirts (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011). The business will need a capital of $20,000 to start, whereby $15,000 will come from my personal savings and the remaining $5,000 will be obtained from a short-term loan. The business is expected to make revenues of $10,000 during the first year and $100,000 in the fifth year. The projected operating loss for the first year is -$1,500, while the projected operating profits for the fifth year is projected at $ 60,000. Evaluation and control If I will not achi eve the marketing goals that I have set, I will increase the marketing budget so that I can include more aggressive strategies such as roadshow promotions. In addition, I will drastically lower my prices and give incentives to my staff to improve their service to customers. If after marketing efforts I do not achieve my goals, I will try to apply alternative marketing campaigns until I realize my goals. I will especially try to apply al the marketing startgeies that are used by our major competitors such as AFC and Mcdonad. 2. Company description My business will be a New York-based Fast food restaurant, which will go by the name Dizzy Restaurant. Dizzy will offer a recipe of outstanding foods products in a fulfilling ambiance that will offer customers value for their money. This idea was hatched in response to the growing demand for high quality snack-based Fast food, especially by people doing shopping or students from schools, universities, and colleges from the neighborhood. I w ill start the business as a sole proprietor, but with the intentions of expanding the business into a partnership from the second year and into a limited company from the third year. The business will need a capital of $20,000 to start, whereby $15,000 will come from my personal savings and the remaining $5,000 will be sources as a short-term loan. 3. Strategic focus and plan a. Mission/vision statements Mission Dizzy comprises of a dedicated group of professionals who have a powerful devotion and zeal of providing high quality fast-foods, as well as an aspiration to pull their efforts together to deliver a great value to the customers. Vision We strive for broad appeal. We aspire to be the restaurant of preference for everyone, including young and old, families and singles, as well as male or female (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011). b. Goals Company Objectives 1 To establish a first class restaurant that will attract Fast food lovers and gain a substantial market share in New Yorkâ€℠¢s Fast food industry. 2 To make Dizzy an attractive destination for New York shoppers and students. 3 To open at-least 2 new outlets by the end of the third year. Operational financial Objectives 1. To generate up to $100,000 profits by the end of the third year 2. To generate up to $30,000 gross margin by the end of the first fiscal year c. Core Competency and Sustainable Competitive Advantage We shall rely on variety of marketing programs to