Henry Ford Biography :: essays research papers

Henry Ford Born July 30, 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan, Henry Ford was the first child of William and Mary Ford. As a young man he became an excellent self-taught mechanic and machinist. At age 16 he left the farm and went to nearby Detroit, a city that was becoming an industrial giant. There he worked as an apprentice at a machine shop, while months later he would begin work with steam engines at the Detroit Dry Dock Co., where he first saw the internal combustion engine, the kind of engine he would later use to make his automobiles. When he was 28 Ford took a job with Thomas Edison's Detroit Illuminating Company, where he became chief engineer. In his spare time he began to build his first car, the Quadricycle. It resembled two bicycles positioned side by side with bicycle-like wheels, a bicycle seat, and a barely visible engine frame. Some said it bore a resemblance to a baby carriage with a two-cylinder engine. In June 1896, Ford took an historic ride in his first automobile that was observed by many curious Detroit on-lookers. The Quadricycle broke down in a humiliating scene. By 1899 Ford created a more proper looking motorcar with the help of wealthy businessman William Murphy. It had high wheels, a padded double bench, brass lamps, mud guards, and a "racy" look. In the same year Ford founded the Detroit Automobile Company. Within 3 years Ford had built an improved, more reliable Quadricycle, using a four-cylinder, 36 horsepower-racing engine. In 1901 his car beat what was then the world's fastest automobile in a race before a crowd of eight thousand people in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. The publicity he received for this victory allowed Ford to finance a practical laboratory for refining his auto ideas. In 1903 Ford launched his own car company, The Ford Motor Car Company, and by January 1904 he had sold 658 vehicles. By 1908 he built the famous Model T, a car that was affordable to the middle class. The automobile was no longer the toy of the rich. Ford was able to make a reliable and inexpensive automobile primarily because of his introduction of the innovative moving assembly line into the process of industrial manufacturing. The assembly line is a system for carrying an item that is being manufactured past a series of stationary workers who each assemble a particular portion of the finished product.

Web 2.0 versus Pedagogy :: Technology, Voice Thread

Web 2.0 is an advance technology which many people used for communication such as blogs, social networking, entertainment and gaining of information about specific issue, events and people. It facilitates an interactive and collaborative application, user centered design and developing World Wide Web (Rad, 2007). This system is not originally intended for teaching a learning purpose but previously some educators was attracted to use this as an educational tool. (Peltier, 2009) Voice thread Integration of literacy and technology is very helpful for learners to fully understand the specific information and as well as in the side of educators that will improve their teaching strategy through adaptability of voice thread. Considering the advancement of the technologies and the knowledge of each educator and the willingness of the learners this progress will not be impossible to achieve as desired. Contributories in making the voice thread effective to the users depending on their capabilities to adapt the process of spreading information and interaction towards feedback mechanism will surely be manageable to which all queries are given that of enough attention. Voice Thread is an online tool which is not originally intended as a classroom tool but in 2008, Burden made a study in which Voice Thread can be used as an educational tool for enhancement of teaching and student learning. This kind of online application showcases a new designed learning tool that engages students to be motivated in exploring and gaining knowledge through video collaborative conversation, images, power point, and audio files. Voice Thread has the ability to securely accommodate learners not only to become readers but to become participants also. (Freyer, 2008) Voice Thread allows interaction within the user and the participants thru exchanging of comments by oral or textual. This application also allows privacy of documents being posted for which you can choose only the audiences or participants which can view your post. To attract learners to be more interested, Voice Thread also allows images or videos to be posted for a better presentation (Anderson, 2010). For better audio comments, Lofton (2008) suggested the usage of Audacity which is a free downloadable application that allows editing and volume adjustments. Another suggestion is to use a better quality microphone (Lofton, 2008). Voice Thread might pose an accessibility problem for those students with low bandwidth. In addition, viewing the application on a mobile phone can be difficult because it employs Flash to deliver content. Web 2.0 versus Pedagogy :: Technology, Voice Thread Web 2.0 is an advance technology which many people used for communication such as blogs, social networking, entertainment and gaining of information about specific issue, events and people. It facilitates an interactive and collaborative application, user centered design and developing World Wide Web (Rad, 2007). This system is not originally intended for teaching a learning purpose but previously some educators was attracted to use this as an educational tool. (Peltier, 2009) Voice thread Integration of literacy and technology is very helpful for learners to fully understand the specific information and as well as in the side of educators that will improve their teaching strategy through adaptability of voice thread. Considering the advancement of the technologies and the knowledge of each educator and the willingness of the learners this progress will not be impossible to achieve as desired. Contributories in making the voice thread effective to the users depending on their capabilities to adapt the process of spreading information and interaction towards feedback mechanism will surely be manageable to which all queries are given that of enough attention. Voice Thread is an online tool which is not originally intended as a classroom tool but in 2008, Burden made a study in which Voice Thread can be used as an educational tool for enhancement of teaching and student learning. This kind of online application showcases a new designed learning tool that engages students to be motivated in exploring and gaining knowledge through video collaborative conversation, images, power point, and audio files. Voice Thread has the ability to securely accommodate learners not only to become readers but to become participants also. (Freyer, 2008) Voice Thread allows interaction within the user and the participants thru exchanging of comments by oral or textual. This application also allows privacy of documents being posted for which you can choose only the audiences or participants which can view your post. To attract learners to be more interested, Voice Thread also allows images or videos to be posted for a better presentation (Anderson, 2010). For better audio comments, Lofton (2008) suggested the usage of Audacity which is a free downloadable application that allows editing and volume adjustments. Another suggestion is to use a better quality microphone (Lofton, 2008). Voice Thread might pose an accessibility problem for those students with low bandwidth. In addition, viewing the application on a mobile phone can be difficult because it employs Flash to deliver content.

Essay --

Like many other topics, organic food brings up many controversial opinions. A new study out of Stanford University showed how organic fruits and vegetables are the same as conventionally grown products by countering their nutrients intake. Their study included humans that were tested between two days to two years. In the end of their study they concluded that organic goods are no more nutritious than lowly conventional foods. Also, when it comes to meats and dairy production, they claim that they didn’t find any apparent health advantages. To end up with this conclusion, the specialists made thousands of research that included 17 studies of the population that consume organic and non-organic foods in their diet and 223 studies that contain comparisons between the nutrients levels, pesticide, hormones, and bacterial contamination in different organic and non-organic products ( vegetables, fruits, milk, and meats). They strengthen their theory by saying that no long-term studies showed any health difference between people that consume organic foods versus people that eat non-organic products. But still, they said half-heartedly that they found in organic food more phosphorus than in conventionally grown food and higher levels of pesticides in non-organic products. But they quickly covered this by saying that the â€Å"pesticide levels were always within health regulations and below the dangerous levels† (USDA). In the other hand, in the last few years, many studies have been confirmed that organic food is more nutritious than non-organic. According to Crinnion, the mineral and vitamin content in organic products were discussed in earlier studies, while recent studies looked at pesticides and hormones levels. For example, Lairon reported ... ...n). Secondly, sometimes natural hormones are metabolized by the body but the synthetic ones are not. In fact, synthetic hormones act as toxins in the body and can be difficult to get out of your system (U.S Drug and Food Administration). One of the main side effects of synthetic hormones (rBGH and steroid hormone) is weigh gain, especially around the abdomen, hips and thighs. Other major health risks of steroid and rBGH hormones have been correlated with increased risk of many cancers, heart disease and strokes. Simply choosing organic meat and dairy products can help avoid the health risks associated with hormone treated foods including weight gain and obesity. Also, because these steroids and antibiotics are not fully broken down and enter the environment fully intact through waste water and run off choosing organic foods is a good choice for the environment, too.

Out, Out

Questions from pg 495 1. How does Frost make the buzz-saw appear sinister? How does he make it seem, in another way, like a friend? a. The first line, â€Å"The buzz-saw snarled and rattled in the yard† and the seventh line â€Å"And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled† both emit a sense of darkness, as if having a â€Å"personality† of its own. b. When the sister came out and told the brother that supper was ready and the saw looked as if it â€Å"leaped† out of the boys hand, it seemed as if the saw was a friend of the boy that did not want to be abandoned, so it pulled away from the boy in anger, causing injury to the boy.The saw and the boy were in essence â€Å"friends† because of the time they spent together sawing firewood, and when faced with the boy leaving was upset. 2. What do you make of the people who surround the boy—the â€Å"they† of the poem. Who might they be? Do they seem to you concerned and compassiona te, cruel, indifferent, or what? a. The â€Å"they† of the poem appear to be his family, possibly his uncles, aunts, or cousins. They could be neighborhood friends of the boys. b.Whoever they were, they did not seem to be very concerned that the boy was injured, let alone dead. They seemed uncompassionate and unconcerned about what they had witnessed. 3. What does Frost’s reverence to Macbeth contribute to your understanding of â€Å" ‘Out, Out—’ †? How would you state the theme of Frost’s poem? a. It seems to me that Macbeth’s verse is about how short life is, that life is just a shadow, a player, in the game of life, that walks around on a stage, then one day is over.Frost uses part of the first line of Macbeth’s verse â€Å"Out, out† as his title as a way to agree with and reference Macbeth as one of his role models in poetry. b. I feel that Frost uses the theme â€Å"life and death† as the main concept o f â€Å"Out, out. † 4. Set this poem side by side with â€Å"Sir Patrick Spence. † How does â€Å" ‘Out, Out—’ † resemble that medieval folk ballad in the subject, or does it differ from it? How is Frost’s poem similar or different in its way of telling a story? a. To me, the common thread of the two poems is life and eath. Day to day, you live your life, never knowing when your last day on earth will be, and when it comes, it is sudden. b. I think they are both similar it its way of telling a story in the sense that you got pulled into the poem, hanging on its every word. Both poems begin with telling the readers what the characters were doing and continue in detail about what happens. Though short, Frost succeeded at his readers gaining an attachment to the day in the life of his character.

Organizational Behavior Assignment

Since this business has been around and owned by my family for over 40 years, we still have leadership harries from 40 years ago that has kept them going for so long. We have adapted new leadership theories from the times changing but most of them have stuck. The owner in our business it not really a leader, since she is retired from her other job, it is up to the manager to lead the employees in the right direction. Some of the aspects of leadership that has stuck with the business over the years would be, what the main focuses are (the customers), the training process and how the manager interacts with the employees.In this business it is like a family so there is a close relationship between the anger and the employees. I believe the theory that best goes along with this family business would be a combination of traditional and contemporary. We have many factors of the traditional but also contemporary because we are always trying to keep up with what is going around us but we als o are stuck with the old leadership from 40 years ago that has gotten us this far in the business. Overall, each leadership will work but for different businesses. You need to find the one that will work the best for you business.Working at a family business creates a lot of stress for not only the family UT the employees also. Since there is only five employees it is hard to get off or call in sick at times; this causes stress between the employees and we have been able to figure a way out to create less stress. We have a sheet where people can list when they need off and another list that people can sign up for the hours that are going to need to be filled. It is almost as if the employees have control but we just put the outline there. Next there is the job roles, each and every person does everything, not just one part.This causes stress sometimes because the employees are not sure what to do first hen there is so much work to get done. We recently fixed this problem, making a l ist of priorities. So when there are many tasks to get done they know what to do first and then they can work their way down the list Also we have made it so if they do not get something done, that list gets passed down to the next shift. I have noticed that this has lifted a lot Of stress Off of all the employees because they have some type of structure and order. The one good aspect that I have noticed in this business is that there are great working conditions.Customers and employees have mentioned that they love working here because of the working conditions and they feel safe and their moods are brought up. The next part of stresses would be within each worker themselves. This honestly has been a hard one to overcome with this business. The top one would be type of personality; the manager here has the type of personality that it is their way or no way. That is good that they have a strong head on their shoulders but that is not always good for a business. When she is around ev erything gets done but all the employees are extremely stressed out when she is here.We have tried to fix this problem but it has not been successful. This is why family business can be hard to work for sometimes, each family member has their own personality and sometimes it clashes and it would be hard on the family if you had to fire them. Other than the type of personality, the individual stresses are not really an aspect at this business. Overall, stresses are a huge part in a business and the faster you catch it the easier it is to fix the problem or work with it to work around it. Group work is a large part in any business.For Franks Beer Stein, it makes up the whole business; since there are no specific tasks dedicated to any specific person, it all takes teamwork to get everything done. We have many steps to make sure everyone is working together; the top one would be everyone's mood that day. We have a policy that you leave your problems at the door unless it deals with wor k itself. If you have a problem with work you can either call the manager or the owner to talk about the problem. This has seemed to work so far, and there has been a huge turn around while everyone is working together.Next would be make a list of what needs to get done and you assign people to do a certain task so everyone knows what each person is doing and does not get frustrated when you do not know where everyone is. Finally, like mentioned before, if the list is not completed by the time your shift is over, that is k, you hand it off to the next shift and so forth. This way it relieves the stress of having to get everything done and rushing instead of taking your time and doing it correctly. Overall, that is not many steps but being a small business it has seemed to work wonderful here ND could possibly work at other companies.There are many potential sources of conflict within a group; these link with the five conflict management styles. The first one is competing; this would be when the workers are competing to either finish first or do a better job. Either way the work is not going to be done the way it should on one of the sides. Also, this would not be working together in a group but working against each other, which from experience does not turn out to be good. Next there is compromising; this would be where to parties would not agree and end up owing to an agreement which they would fall short on each side because they had to come to an agreement.I have never experienced this at my work but if it came to that no one would be making progress so there would have to be changes. Then there is avoiding which I have seen many times and it always has ended horribly. When two or more people would avoid someone because of either they did not get along or they are avoiding a problem that is going on. This overall is not a good thing if you are avoiding something or someone that means something is not getting done at your job and it could urn out with someon e getting fired just because of not facing the problem but rather avoiding it.Next there is accommodating; when you are doing things the way someone else says and it could be working against your full potential. Finally there is collaborating this could be good and it could also be bad. This would be teamwork but two people coming together to work on both of your tasks. This could take up more time because you both are working on one task at a time but it also could make sure you are doing everything correctly because you have two eyes on what you are working on.Overall, most of these management styles are huge conflicts but some can also be good at times to. There are many barriers in communication but there is always a way to fix it. One barrier would be cultural; this is when Someone knows their own culture but not another persons, this could lead to them understanding something differently then one another. This could highly impact teamwork because if a task is said and they mea n one thing but the other person heard it differently, this could impact the relationship and business.The one person would think hat they did it wrong but they could have done exactly what they heard and understood. One way of addressing this would be writing things down and showing at the same time. This will make sure they understand because they will see what you said and physically see what to do, this will limit a lot of problems with cultural barrier. Another barrier would be biases; this would be if someone does not talk to another person because they think that they will not understand or agree with us. This aspect is very common and could effect the teamwork.If you are working with a couple people and you always talk to the same person because in your conscious you know that they are most likely to understand you the most, other employees could see this and it could cause a problem. I have personally seen this happen is my work, with different ages and different genders of the employees. Other employees might get mad or think that you do not like them which would create a whole different situation. A way to solve this would be try' to see who you talk to the most and try and talk to everyone else instead, equally.It would make everyone feel like they are involved and that you do not just favor one person over the rest. Overall, most businesses have these communication problems and there are many different ways to work around them and fix them. But if you do not fix them when they first start happening it could grow into a much larger problem and would be so much more stress on the whole company. Furthermore, there are many problems and conflicts that can come across in every business. Many people thin their lifetime will see most of them and might not even realize what the true problem is.

Examining Ethnic Differences in Achievemen Essay

1. The definition of an ethnic group is a group of people of the same race or nationality that share the same cultural norms and values. 2. Three ways in which the education system may encourage separation between children of different ethnic backgrounds are: Labelling and teacher racism, many teachers label their students and studies by interactionist sociologists found out that many teachers labelled black children as disruptive and they didn’t want them in their class. Another reason is the ethnocentric curriculum. Troyna and Williams describe the curriculum in British schools as ethnocentric because it gives priority to white culture and the English language; this causes separation between white pupils and other ethnic pupils. A final reason is the selection and segregation available to schools. David Gillborn argues that marketization has given schools greater scope to select pupils. This puts some ethnic minority pupils at a disadvantage because selection gives more scope for negative stereotypes to influence decisions about school admissions. 3. There are many ways in which factors in children’s home background may lead to differences in achievement levels between ethnic groups. The first way is cultural deprivation; this is split into 3 aspects. The first is intellectual and linguistic skills. Cultural deprivation theorists argue that many children from low-income black families lack intellectual stimulation and enriching experiences. Bereiter and Engelmann consider the language spoken by low-income black American families as inadequate for educational success. The next aspect is attitudes and values. Cultural deprivation theorists say that some black children are socialised into a subculture that instils a fatalistic ‘live for toady’ attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success. The final aspect of cultural deprivation is family structure and parental support. Daniel Moynihan argues that because many black families are headed by a lone mother, their children are deprived of adequate care because she has to struggle financially in the absence of a male breadwinner. Also Ken Pryce claims that Asians are higher achievers because their cukture is more resistant to racism and gives them a greater sense of self-worth. However, he argues, black Caribbean culture is less cohesive and less resistant to racism. As a result, many balck pupils have low self-esteem and under-achieve. Another reason is Material deprivation and class. According to Flaherty; Pakistani’s and Bangladeshis are over three times more likely than whites to be in the poorest fifth of the population, as a result statistics show that Pakistani and Bangladeshi boys are among the lowest ethnic groups in the country to obtain 5 A-C GCSE’s. A final reason is racism in wider society. David Mason says â€Å" discrimination is a continuing and persistent feature of the experience of Britain’s citizens of minority ethnic origin. † 4. The differences in educational attainment between different groups of pupils have been a major focus of much sociological research. These differences can often be seen to be largely due to different social class, but also gender or ethnicity. Social class is the most significant and dominant factor when looking at these differences, but ethnicity also has a relative impact on educational achievement. Education has a key role to play in eradicating racism and valuing diversity and it a responsibility for all educational establishments, including those with few or no ethnic minority pupils. Promoting racial equality demands a whole school approach and commitment from all those who are involved in the life and work of their school. Racism is linked to the educational achievement of minority ethnic groups, however the connections are complex. Gilborn and Mirza conclude that ‘social class and gender differences are also associated with differences in attainment but neither can account for persistent underlying ethnic inequalities: comparing like with like, African Caribbean, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils do not enjoy equal opportunities. ’ They also argue that in promoting educational inclusion as a means of raising standards, there is a need ‘for clarity and guidance in translating the commitment to equality and inclusion into policy proposals and practice at the local and school level. Many cultural deprivation theorists see the lack of intellectual and linguistic skills as a major cause of under-achievement. Gordon Bowker identifies their lack of standard English as a major barrier to progress in education and integration into wider society. However the Swann Report found that language was not a major factor in under-achievement. Other cultural deprivation theorists suc as Charles Murray argue that a high rate of lone parenthood and a lack of positive male role models lead to the under-achievement of some minorities. Also Anthony Flew believes that ethnic differences in achievement stem from cultural differences outside the education system, not discrimination within it. However Geoffrey Driver criticises the cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. He shows that the black Caribbean family, far from being dysfunctional, provides girls with positive role models of strong independent wome Driver argues this is why black girls tend to be more successful in education than black boys. Some socilogists that the ethnic differences in education are cause by racism. John Rex shows how racial discrimination leads to social exclusion and how this worsens the poverty faced by ethnic minorities. In housing, for instance, discrimination means that minorities are more likely to be forced into substandard acoomodation than white people of the same class. This creates separation due to the ethnic children not being able to study at home and therefore getting lower grades than the white children who are able to study at home.

Do Major Cities Reflect the Most Important Characteristics of a Society Essay

My opinion is that when analyzing the most important characteristics of a society, it is true that one must study its major cities; however focusing only in major cities would generate a biased result. They concentrate an important part of the population of a country and they can represent well the main characteristics of the urban life of a particular society, however they fail in reflecting the rural world, ethnic minorities and local languages. Major cities reflect the characteristics of the best-educated segments of the population, the ones with higher incomes and better job opportunities, on the other hand, small towns and rural communities may have totally different characteristics and probably will have lower quality education, lower income and worse jobs in terms of remuneration. One example is China, if one were to look at major cities like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing and only focusing on those cities, the conclusions would be wrong. One would conclude that China is very industrialized, that its society organizes in crowded, modern and congested cities. The truth about China is that there are two realities, the urban China represented in major cities and the rural one, depicted in its small communities, both with contrasting characteristics. In short, looking at the major cities is extremely important to assess an important group of the society, however we should always keep in mind that a society is composed by different groups and realities and in order to understand it correctly we must look into a representative set of communities whether they are big or small.