Tourism Industry Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Tourism Industry - Essay Example Tourism offers avenues and resources for the authorities to politically socialize local residents and foreign tourists through a process of "branding" (Morgan et al. 2004). Such exercises reify particular identities for locals to imagine themselves and their identities (Ooi et al. 2004). Tourism becomes a vehicle for destinations to selectively market their crafts, their own philosophies, and their cultural identities. Routing and zoning provides a framework for reorganizing space. Tourism transforms the cultural and historical life of communities. State authorities may package and redefine customs and cultures, and reframe relationships between cultural groups in society through tourism (Wood 1984). The relationships between state and civil society are always open and responsive. Tourist consumption of local politics is often implicit, rather than explicit. Tourists, despite their relatively short trips, are subjected to many of the same conditions as local inhabitants. Countries perceived as unstable and unsafe do not receive many tourists. Their governments are often portrayed as being out of control, corrupt, or incompetent. When countries draw tourists, it implies that the tourists trust the host environment and system enough to come. Thus, tourists indirectly give a vote of confidence to the political regimes in the places they choose to visit. Howie (2003) points out there is rarely a single owner or manager of a destination, hence, there is less chance of a coherent set of goals and objectives. Poon (1993) states that today's tourists are more experienced travellers and therefore demanding, more informed of his or her rights and less passive in the quest of things to do than the tourist of a previous generation. Tourism success requires the cooperation of various agencies. Public authorities, local government, land control authorities, cultural management agencies, civil groups, and others have to cooperate to develop the industry. How the various agencies and political institutions within a country organize themselves to promote, plan, and develop itself as a tourist destination affects the speed, scope, and effectiveness in realizing its tourism development plan (Pearce 1997). Each agency has its own interests and agendas. Official tourism promotion authorities must take on a leadership role in the industry, and harness cooperation amongst various agencies through coercion and persuasion (Ooi 2004) Leiper (1990) noted that a 'system' can be defined as a set of elements or parts that are connected to each other by at least one distinguishing principle. In this case, tourism is the distinguishing principle which connects the different components in the system around a common theme. Main body How historical perspective in UK change from 1969-2002. The Development of the British Tourism Act of 1969Manufacturing was still Britain's main source of income when the 1969 Tourism Act was created. The development of tourism act was the first statutory legislation in the country specifically concerned with tourism. The primary reason for the introduction of the act

Role of Students Essay Example for Free

Role of Students Essay Students constitute a vast segment of India’s population. They are young and dynamic. They can play a major role in various developmental activities going on in the country. This can come about only if their energies are channelised properly. During the freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi, Pt. Jawahar Lai Nehru and other political leaders gave a lead to the students. The result was that students joined the struggle for Independence in large numbers. India became Independent on 15th August, 1947. It seems that after India achieved Independence, students were left with no worth-while aim. Students have been indulging in acts of indiscipline and rowdyism in different universities, colleges and schools. This shows that the student-power is being misused for destructive purposes. In fact, students lack proper guidance and good leadership. There is no one to tell them how they should use their energies for constructive purposes. Students played a crucial role during the pre-Independence era under the able leadership of leaders and there is no reason why they cannot play the same role in the post-Independence era for the betterment of the country and its people Every university, college and school is in the grip of student indiscipline. Students hold rallies, stage demonstrations, conduct agitations and resort to strikes to press their various demands. They do not respect even their own teachers. They disobey the orders of college authorities. They go to the extent of taking the law into their own hands. They do not spare even the police. All this adversely affects their studies. But no one cares for their future. For this state of affairs, we cannot blame the students alone. Often, it is the political leaders of our country who incite the students against the authorities. They exploit student-power for their own political ends. They do not realise that they are playing with the lives and careers of the students. In fact, students possess great power. Because of the lack of able leadership, they do not know how to use this power in the best interests of the country. If there is a constrictive and healthy leadership, students’ power can be utilized for bringing about social, economic and political reforms in the country. If the students respond to their duty towards their country, there is no doubt that they will become worthy citizens of a worthy country. There are a number of ways in which students can serve their country. First, students should inculcate in them the spirit of discipline. No nation can progress without discipline. If countries like U. S. A. , U. K. , Germany, France and Japan have become advanced countries, it is all due to the discipline of their people. The Indian society suffers from a number of social evils. The worst is the evil of dowry. Dowry deaths are taking place almost every day in all major cities of the country. No doubt the Government has passed a law by virtue of which giving or accepting a dowry has become an offence. But law alone is not enough. Students can help to root out this evil by taking a pledge that they will not demand or accept any dowry at the time of their marriages. The students can also help in the removal of other social evils like child marriage, casteism, untouchability, drinking, gambling, etc. Another important role for the students can be to work for National Integration. They should fight evils like communalism, casteism, linguism, regionalism, etc. They should think of themselves as Indians first and Indians last. Sometimes natural calamities like earthquake, flood, drought, etc. afflict one part or the other of our country resulting in heavy loss of life and property. Students can provide relief to the stricken people by raising funds for them and organising relief works. Students can use their vast knowledge by providing education to the illiterate. The students of today are the citizens of tomorrow. Thus the India of tomorrow belongs to the students. By performing a positive and a constructive role, students can make India strong and prosperous.

Ultrasonic Evaluation of Horizontal Defects

Ultrasonic Evaluation of Horizontal Defects A Novel Method for Ultrasonic Evaluation of Horizontal Defects Using Time-of-Flight Diffraction Abstract Time-of-flight Diffraction method (ToFD) is an amplitude-independent sizing method, which is based on the measurement of time-of-flight of defect tip diffracted waves. Although, ToFD can measure through-wall length of defect accurately, this method is not able to measure horizontal defect size. In this paper, a new time of flight diffraction (ToFD) method for evaluating horizontal planar defects is presented. The finite element method, using ABAQUS software package, is employed to simulate the ultrasonic wave behavior in the test blocks and its interaction with the embedded planar defects. The phased array technology is also used to model the ultrasonic inspection system parameters. FEM simulation of the new ToFD method for different crack sizes shows that, compared to the conventional ToFD method, the accuracy of results is within acceptable range to use the novel technique for measuring the horizontal planar defects. Keywords Ultrasonic wave, diffracted wave, horizontal planar defects, ToFD 1. Introduction Non-destructive testing has been increasingly used to assure the quality and reliability in the oil and gas pipeline industries. The ultrasonic pulse-echo technique uses the pulse flight time to locate the flaw and the echo amplitude to measure the defect size. Since the amplitude of the reflected pulses can be influenced by many parameters, such as beam spread, surface roughness and transparency, using amplitude is not always sufficient for accurate defect sizing (Krautkramer, 1990).The basis of the Time-of-Flight Diffraction (TOFD) technique was invented at the National NDT Centre, Harwell, in the 1970s. Time-of-Flight Diffraction was invented mainly by Silk and his co-workers at the Harwell Laboratory. It was developed over a period of about 10 years starting in the early 1970s, from a laboratory curiosity into a sophisticated full-scale inspection method capable of detecting and sizing defects in components accurately (Silk, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978)[M1][S2]. The ToFD technique is an amplitude-independent sizing method, based on the measurement of time-of-flight of flaw tips diffracted waves. Golan and Sachese suggested a method to calculate crack size from the time delay between the arrival of a surface longitudinal reference beam and a longitudinal or shear beam diffracted from the tips of crack (Golan, 1980). Mak (Mak, 1983) developed a trigonometric method to calculate location, height and angle of defect by a transducer located in different scan positions. The ToFD technique provides the highest possible accuracy in measuring the depth and through-wall length of defects (Charlesworth et al., 2001), (Baby et al., 2003), (Al-Ataby, 2012). In 1986, finite element simulation of ultrasonic wave propagation and its interaction with defects have been conducted by Ludwig and Lord (Ludwig et al., 1986). The numerical analysis of wave propagation for ToFD in an austenitic stainless steel specimen with consideration of the effects of scattering at grain boundaries was carried out by Lin et al. (Lin et al., 2006), and Connolly (Connolly, 2009). They developed an efficient method for modeling the effects of coarse grains in austenitic materials. In 2007, simulation of the ToFD technique, using finite element method, was carried out by Baskaran et al. They used ANSYS finite element package to model the propagation of ultrasonic waves in a thin cracked two dimensional specimen (Baskaran et al., 2006). In 2010, Honarvar and Khorasani used ABAQUS software package to simulate the propagation of ultrasonic waves and diffraction phenomena. They compared simulated results for drilled-hole diffraction with photo elastic snapshots (Honarv ar and Khorasani et al., 2010). Though, ToFD provides better accuracy in locating and sizing defects than other ultrasonic sizing methods and has a high probability of flaw detection (POD), only through-wall length of the defect can be measured and the defect real size cannot be evaluated (Charlesworth et al., 2001). Therefore, ToFD method cannot be used for measuring and sizing horizontal cracks (horizontal planar defects) (ASME, 2010). In this paper, a new time of flight diffraction (ToFD) method is presented for evaluating and measuring horizontal planar defects. The finite element method, using ABAQUS software package, is employed to simulate the ultrasonic wave behavior in the test blocks and its interaction with the embedded planar defects. The finite element results for different crack sizes are used to study and investigate the presence and generation of different wave modes in the test block and the efficiency and efficacy of the new proposed method. 2. Review of conventional time-of-flight diffraction method (ToFD) The ToFD technique uses tip diffraction to identify the top, bottom, and ends of a discontinuity. Silk chose to use an angled compression wave for the ToFD technique rather than a shear wave, for two reasons. First, the tip diffraction signal is stronger than a shear wave diffraction signal, and second, a lateral wave is produced that can be used to measure the horizontal distance between the transmitter and receiver. The tip diffraction signal is generated at the tip of the discontinuity; effectively a â€Å"point† source. According to Huygens (Krautkramer et al., 1990), a point source produces a spherical wave. Figure 1-a shows a typical TOFD transducer set-up on a component with a vertical discontinuity. Figure 1-b shows both the lateral wave and a diffraction beam from the tip of a reflector. There are four sound paths from the transmitter to the receiver. Path â€Å"A† is the lateral wave path traveling just below the surface. Path â€Å"B† is the tip diffraction path from the top of the discontinuity. Path â€Å"C† is the tip diffraction path from the bottom of the discontinuity, and path â€Å"D† is the back wall echo path. Figure 2 shows a typical un-rectified received signal using ToFD. Note that the phase relationships A and C are in opposite phase to B and D. The important difference to note is between B and C; the top and bottom diffraction signals ar e in opposite phase. This phase difference allows the practitioner to identify those points.[M3] Assuming[S4] that the diffracting tip is centered between the two transducers, the depth of crack tips below the inspection surface can be calculated from (1) [M5][S6](2) and therefore, (3) Where a is the defect through-wall size, d1 is depth of top edge from surface, d2 is depth of bottom edge from surface and 2S is probe separation (see Figure 1-b). C is the longitudinal wave velocity inside the material, t2 and t3 are, respectively, the travel times of waves diffracted from the top and bottom of the crack. 3. Finite element modelingof time-of-flight diffractionmethod In this section, the finite element method (FEM) is used to simulate the ultrasonic wave propagation in the time of flight diffraction technique. The FEM modeling consists of two basic steps; defining mesh configuration and problem discretization, modeling of the transmitting and receiving transducers. ABAQUS finite element software package is employed for analysis and a two-dimensional four-node quadrilateral plane strain element, CPE4R, is used in ABAQUS to discretize a carbon steel test block including vertical crack. See Figure (1-b). The mesh size depends on the frequency of the propagated wave in the sample and the corresponding wavelength. The piezoelectric angle wave transducer, transmitter, is simulated by a transient single frequency pulse wave applying on the surface of the sample. The transient excitation is modeled using a cyclic single frequency pressure/force function as (Mardani et al., 2012), (4) where f is the excitation wave frequency and N is the number of cycles. Using linear delay law for phased array transducers, the compressional excitations can be applied on the sequential elements so that ultrasonic wave propagates at a specific angle, ÃŽ ¸S. The delay time between adjacent elements, or nodes, is calculated using hyphen’s principle (Olympus NDT, 2007) as, (5) where d is distance between two adjacent elements, ÃŽ ¸s is steering angle of propagation, C is longitudinal wave speed in the media and Δt is time delay between two adjacent elements. To investigate the convergence of the results and the appropriate element size for a 2 MHz frequency ultrasonic wave, the signal-to-noise ratio, SNR, is obtained for different element sizes. As it can be seen in Figure 3, at f = 2 MHz, the maximum SNR and SNR convergence occurs for the element sizes smaller than 60 ÃŽ ¼m. 4. The proposed method As it was mentioned before, using the conventional ToFD method in Eqs. (1) to (3), the difference between time-of-flight diffractions of upper and lower crack tips gives the defect through-wall size and the actual defect size cannot be measured. This means that the conventional ToFD technique leads to large errors for oblique defects and cannot also be used for horizontal defects. In the proposed method, a novel configuration and the corresponding formula are used so that the ToFD method can be employed to evaluate horizontal planar defects. Figure 4 shows the proposed ToFD configuration on the specimen with a horizontal planar discontinuity. As it can be seen, in this configuration, two transducers including a transmitter/receiver, No. 1 and a receiver, No. 2, are located at the both sides of defect. The ultrasonic wave propagation, in this configuration, is simulated using ABAQUS to study the behavior of ultrasonic wave modes in the test block and their interaction with the defect. In Figure 5, the different incident ultrasonic wave modes are shown. The transmitting transducer, T1, emits a short pulse of ultrasonic wave, longitudinal wave, into the component and energy spreads out as it propagates into the specimen. If the crack face is smooth, there will be a mirror-like reflection of the wave incident on the face. See Figure 6. For any horizontal planar discontinuity, whether smooth or rough-faced, diffraction from the edges of the defect causes some fraction of the incident energy travel towards the receiving transducers R1and R2 in longitudinal and shear modes with different wave velocity. As it can be seen in Figures 6 and 7, the mode conversion behavior due to the interaction of ultrasonic wave with the defect leads to the presence of longitudinal and shear waves from each tips of the defect. Moreover, three different wave modes, including longitudinal lateral, shear lateral and Rayleigh waves travel from the transmitting transducer, T1, to the receiving transducer, R2. See Figure 5. If the crack is large enough, the signals from the two end of defect will be sufficiently separated in time to be recognized as coming from separate sources. Therefore, using this configuration and the related ultrasonic wave propagation simulation, the time difference between the received longitudinal diffracted waves from the left and right defect tips to each receiver, R1 and R2, can be employed to measure the horizontal defect size. It should be noted that the new method can also be used for evaluating the vertical defects. To calculate the horizontal defect size using Pythagoras’ theorem gives, [M7] (6[S8]) and (7) where t1 is the arrival time of the signal diffracted from the left tip of the defect by receiver 1, R1, and t2 is the arrival time of the signal diffracted from the right tip of the defect by receiver 2, R2. CL is the longitudinal wave velocity and 2S is the separation between the transducers. 5. Results and Discussions To investigate the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed method, using finite element modeling, the novel method is carried out on eight carbon steel blocks with different size embedded horizontal cracks. The test blocks have 100 mm lengths and 20à ¯Ã†â€™Ã‚ 20 mm2 cross sections and are modeled with ABAQUS finite element software package using CPE4R plane strain elements. The acoustic and elastic properties of carbon steel are given in Table 1[M9][S10]. Each block contains a horizontal planar defect. The defects have 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 mm length and 12 mm depth, see Figure 4. The transmitter is modeled as an 8-element 2 MHz phased array transducer. Each element of the phased array transducer has 0.5 mm length and the gap space between two adjacent elements is 0.1 mm. The first receiving transducer is located on the position of the transmitter and the second is located at 35 mm distance from the transmitter on the inspection surface, 2S = 35 mm. The ABAQUS finite elemen t software package is used to simulate the new ultrasonic ToFD method. The received signals at the first and the second receivers are shown in Figures 8 and 9. In Figure 8, the first echo is related to the transient pulse waves, Eq. (4), generated by the eight elements of the phased array transducer using a specific delay times, Eq. (5), which receives at the first receiver, initial pulse. In this signal, the second echo is related to wave diffraction from the left tip of the defect which is detected by the first receiver, R1. The back-wall reflection from back surface of the block is shown as the third echo in this figure. Figure 9 shows the signal received by the second transducer, R2. In this signal, the first echo is due to the longitudinal mode of the lateral wave which travels from transmitter to the receiver 2, R2, and the second echo is diffracted wave from the right tip of the horizontal defect. Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the corresponding waves propagated in the test block. U sing the signals detected by the receiving transducers, the corresponding times due to diffracted echoes from the defect tips (left and right) are determined, and then the horizontal defect size is measured using Eqs. (6) and (7). The new method is carried out on eight carbon steel blocks with different size embedded horizontal cracks. The measured crack size resulting from FEM simulation of each block is shown in Table 2. Comparing the simulated and the measured crack size results shows that the maximum error is %19.7 which occurs at 2 mm crack size. As it can be seen in Table 2, the measured crack size error is minimized within the crack size range of 8 14 mm and is slightly increased for larger defects. This agrees with the conventional ToFD results which show higher measurement errors at smaller crack sizes (Charlesworth et al., 2001). Considering the simulated results of different crack size shown in Table 2, show that accuracy of the proposed method for horizontal cracks, comparing to the conventional method for vertical cracks, is within acceptable range. 6. Conclusions In this paper, a new time of flight diffraction (ToFD) method to evaluate horizontal planar defects was presented. The finite element method was employed to simulate the ultrasonic wave behavior in the test blocks and its interaction with the embedded planar defects, such as crack. The phased array technology was also used to model the ultrasonic inspection system parameters. Simulation of the new ToFD method for different crack sizes, using ABAQUS finite element package, showed that, comparing to the conventional ToFD method, the result accuracies are within acceptable range to use the novel technique for measuring the horizontal planar defects. [M11]Using[S12] the new method for eight carbon steel blocks with different size horizontal cracks (2–16 mm) showed that the maximum error occurs at 2 mm crack length. Also, it was observed that the measured crack size error is minimized within the range of 8 14 mm and is slightly increased for larger defects. References Al-Ataby, A. A., Automatic detection, Sizing and Characterization of Weld Defects Using Ultrasonic Time-of-Flight Diffraction, PhD Dissertation, Liverpool University, p.95-96, 2012. American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Boiler and Pressure Vessel code, Section V, Non Destructive Examination. Appendix N time of flight diffraction (TOFD) Interpretation, Article 4, 2010. Baby, S., Balasubramanian, T. , Pardikar, R.J., Palaniappan, M. , and Subbaratnam, R. , Time-of-Flight Diffraction (TOFD) Technique for Accurate Sizing of Surface-breaking Cracks, Insight, June, Vol. 45, No. 6, p. 426-430, 2003. Baskaran, G., Balasubramaniam, K., and Lakshmana Rao, C., Shear Wave Time-of-flight Diffraction (S-ToFD) Technique, NDTE International, Vol. 39, p.458-467, 2006. Charlesworth, J. P., and Temple, J. A. G., Engineering Applications of Ultrasonic Time of Flight Diffraction, England, RSP Press , p.20-28,2001. Connolly, G.D., Modeling of the Propagation of Ultrasound through Austenitic Steel Welds, Ph.D.Dissertation, UK Research Centre in NDE (RCNDE) Department of Mechanical Engineering Imperial College London, 2009. Golan, S., Sizing of Cracks with Scattered Ultrasonic Waves, Proceeding of First International Symposium Ultrasonic Characterization, p. 29-36, 1980. Hellier, C. J., Handbook of Nondestructive Evaluation, McGraw Hill, 2003. Honarvar, F., and Khorasani, S., Simulation of Time of Flight Diffraction (ToFD) Technique by Finite Element Method, Online Workshop in www.ndt.net, September, 2010. Krautkramer, J., and krautkramer, H., Ultrasonic Testing of Materials, Berlin, Springer-Verlag, 1990. Lin, S., Futomi, H., and Ogata, T., Analysis of Wave Propagation for the ToFD Method by Finite Eement Method: Optimization of Test Configuration and Proposal of a New ToFD Method, Nondestructive Evaluation, Vol. 25, 2006. Ludwig and, R., and, Lord, W., Developments in the Finite Element Modeling of Ultrasonic NDT Phenomena, Review of Progress in Quantitative Nondestructive Evaluation, 5A, American Institute of Physics, p.73-81, 1986. Mak, D.K., Ultrasonic Method for Measuring Crack Location, Crack Height and Crack Angle, Ultrasonics, p.259-270, 1983. Mardani, M., Sodagar, S., and Rashed, G. R., Modeling of Ultrasonic Phased Array Method Using Finite Element Method, ISME2012, Shiraz, Iran. Olympus NDT, Advances in Phased Array Ultrasonic Technology Applications, Waltham, 2007. Silk, M.G., Defect detection and sizing in metal using ultrasound, Int. Metall, V.27, pp28-50, 1973. Silk, M.G., Accurate Technique for Defect Sizing in Pressurized Components, London, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, V.3, pp155-162, 1974. Silk, M.G., Defect Sizing Using Ultrasonic Diffraction, British Journal of Nondestructive Test, V.21, p.12-15, 1976. Silk, M.G., The Use of Diffraction-based Ttime-of-flight Measurement to Locate and Size Defects, British journal of Nondestructive Test, Vol. 26, p.208-213, 1978. [M1]please shorten this and delete repeated and unnecessary information. [S2]Done [M3]How do you see these in Figure 2? [S4]It can be explained by: The maximum amplitude at first (A) and third (C) echoes at tL and t2 are dip (negative) and the maximum amplitude at second (B) and fifth (D) are peak (positive). [M5]Show â€Å"S† in figure 1-b. [S6]Done [M7]Show all parameters in the figures. [S8]Done. [M9]Give all units in this table. [S10]Done. [M11]This is more like an abstract than conclusions. It adds nothing to the paper. [S12]Done.

Allen Ginsberg :: essays research papers

Allen Ginsberg Allen Ginsberg was born in Newark, New Jersey on June 3, 1926. His father, Louis Ginsberg, was a published poet and a high school teacher. His mother, Naomi, was a radical Communist, paranoid, psychotic, and died in a mental institution in 1956. Ginsberg also had a brother who became a lawyer in Paterson, New Jersey. Ginsberg’s childhood was very complicated. Ginsberg’s mother only trusted him and thought that the rest of the family and the world was plotting against her. Ginsberg attended Columbia college to become a lawyer as his father had planned. However, Ginsberg’s new crowd at Columbia did not encourage him in his studies, and he got suspended from Columbia for various small offenses. He experimented with marijuana, and crused gay bars. Himself and his friends believed that they were working towards some kind of uncertain but great poetic vision, which he called the New Vision. But all of the joyful craziness with his friends it was symboliz ing the real craziness of his mother. Knowing that he was basically sane, Ginsberg embrassed a bizare lifestyle. This all changed as he entered a ‘straight’ phase after his arrest and imprisonment. Ginsberg started to date a woman named Helen Parker and began a job as a marketing researcher. However this ‘straight’ phase did not last long, as he met Carl Solomon in the waiting room of a psychiatric hospital. Ginsberg had many other occupations besides writing poetry. Such as a dishwasher, a welder, and an editor. He was the first Beat writer to gain popularity when he wrote his famous poem Howl. Ginsberg followed Howl with several other important new poems, such as sunflower sutra. Ginsberg had many influences on his writings. One major and very important influence was his mother. His mother was the main topic for the poem Kaddish, which describes his mother’s insanity and death. Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs also had an impact on Ginsbergâ⠂¬â„¢s writings. Ginsberg used Kerouac’s methods of spontaneous composition and expressing poems through music. Burrough’s introduced Ginsberg to the â€Å"druggy-gay-hipster† lifestyle. These three are said to be the founders of the beat generation. Ginsberg also borrowed Walt Whitman and William Blake’s ordinary and unrhymed style and made it his own. Another influence on his writing was the time period. The 1960’s were a period when people started to become aware of government doings. This led the people who disapproved to protest.

Corrugated Box Industry

CASE STUDY: EDMUNDS CORRUGATED PARTS AND SERVICES. Larry Edmunds grimaced as he tossed his company’s latest quarterly earnings onto his desk. When Virginia-based Edmunds Corrugated Parts & Service Company’s sales surged past the $10 million mark a while back, he was certain the company was well positioned for steady growth. Today, the company, which provided precision machine parts and service to the domestic corrugated box industry, still enjoys a dominant market share and is showing profit, although not quite the profit seen in years past.However, it is no longer possible to ignore the fact that revenues were beginning to show clear signs of stagnation. More than two decades ago, Larry’s grandfather loaned him the money to start the business and then handed over the barn on what has been the family’s Shenandoah Valley farm to serve as his first factory. Today, he operates from a 50,000 square-foot factory located near I-81 just a few miles from that old barn. The business allowed him to realize what had once seemed an almost impossible goal: He was making a good living without having to leave his close-knit extended family and rural roots.He also felt a sense of satisfaction at employing about 100 people, many of them neighbors. They were among the most hard-working, loyal workers you’d find anywhere. However, many of his original employees were now nearing retirement. Replacing those skilled workers was going to be difficult, he realized from experience. The area’s brightest and best young people were much more likely to move away in search of employment than their parents had been. Those who remained behind just didn’t seem to have the work ethic Larry had come to expect in his employees.He didn’t feel pressured by the emergence of any new direct competitors. After slipping slightly a couple years ago, Edmunds’s formidable market share – based on its reputation for reliability and excepti onal, personalized service – was holding steady at 75 percent. He did feel plagued, however, by higher raw material costs resulting from the steep increase in steel prices. But the main source of concern stemmed from changes in the box industry itself. The industry had never been particularly recession resistant, with demand fluctuating with manufacturing output.Now alternative shipping products were beginning to make their appearance, mostly flexible plastic films and reusable plastic containers. It remained to be seen how much of a dent they’d make in the demand for boxes. More worrying, consolidation in the paper industry had wiped out hundreds of the U. S. plants that Edmunds once served, with many of the survivors either opening overseas facilities or entering into joint ventures abroad. The surviving manufacturers were investing in higher quality machines that broke down less frequently, thus requiring fewer of Edmund’s parts.Still, he had to admit that al though the highly fragmented U. S. corrugated box industry certainly qualified as a mature one, no one seriously expected U. S. manufacturers to be dislodged from their position as major producers for both the domestic and export markets. Edmunds was clearly at a crossroads. If Larry wanted that steady growth he’d assumed he could count on not so long ago, he suspect that business as usual wasn’t going to work. But if he wanted the company to grow, what was the best way to achieve that goal?All he knew for sure was that once he decided where to take the company from here, he would sleep better. QUESTIONS 1. What would the SWOT analysis look like for this company? 2. What role do you expect the Internet to play in the corrugated box industry? What are some ways that Edmunds could better use the Internet to foster growth? 3. Which of Porter’s competitive strategies would you recommend that Edmunds follow? Which of the strategies do you think would be least likely to succeed?

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Essay Essays

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Essay Essays Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Essay Paper Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya Essay Paper Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya born on 15th September 1860 in Muddenahalli. Chikkaballapura District. Karnataka. Sir M Visvesvaraya male parent is Srinivasa Sastry and mother Venkachamma. Sir M Visvesvaraya is an high Indian applied scientist and solon. Today 15th September we observer Sir M Visvesvaraya birthday as Engineers Day in India. Sir M Visvesvaraya was a civil applied scientist. Visvesvaraya Joined PWD section of Bombay ( now its known as Maharashtra province ) . Visvesvaraya was a mastermind. he invented Block System the automatic doors which he devised to halt uneconomical flood of H2O. Sir Visvesvaraya builted many dikes in Maharashtra province. He was designed and patented a system of automatic weir H2O floodgates which were foremost installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla reservoir. Pune. He worked as a main applied scientist during building of Krishna Raja Sagara Dam on the Kaveri River in Mandya. He became the President of All India Manufacturers Association. Sir Visvesvaraya was the shaper of modern Mysore. Sir M. Visvesvaraya lead a really simple life. He was a rigorous vegetarian and a teetotaller. He was known for his honestness and unity. In 1912. Maharaja of Mysore appointed Visvesvaraya as his Dewan. Before accepting the place of Dewan of Mysore. he invited all his relations for dinner. He told them really clearly that he would accept the esteemed office on the status that none of them would near him for favor. As Dewan of Mysore. he worked indefatigably for educational and industrial development of the province. When he was the Dewan many new industries came up. The Sandal Oil Factory. the Soap Factory. the Metals Factory. the Chrome Tanning Factory. were some of them. Of the many mills he started the most of import is the Bhadravati Iron and Steel Works. He was besides knighted by the British for his countless parts to the public good. After voluntary retirement in 1908. sir Visvesvaraya was appointed as a curate of the province of Mysore. Besides Sir Visvesvaraya designed a inundation protection system to protect Hyderabad metropolis from the inundation. He is a receiver of the Indian republic’s highest honor. the Bharat Ratna. in 1955. Sir Visvesvaraya died on 14th April 1962 Dear Engineer Colleague. every twelvemonth. 15 September is celebrated as the Engineer’s Day in India in the memory of one of the great boy of India on his birth twenty-four hours. He is held in high respect as the first and pre-eminent Engineer of India. He is Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. who was a noteworthy applied scientist. bookman. and statesman. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was called a ace in technology. He was besides called the precursor of economic planning in India. He took an involvement non in technology entirely. but was capable of using his endowment to many allied affairs connected with the development of the state. Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born to Srinivasa Sastry and Venkachamma. at Muddenahalli. small town. in Chikballapur District of Karnataka State. He earned his B. A. from the Madras University in 1881 and subsequently studied civil technology at the College of Science. Pune. now known as the College of Engineering. Pune Upon graduating as an applied scientist. Visvesvaraya took up a occupation with the Public Works Department ( PWD ) of Bombay and was subsequently invited to fall in the Indian Irrigation Commission. He implemented an highly intricate system of irrigation in the Deccan country. He besides designed and patented a system of automatic weir H2O floodgates which were foremost installed in 1903 at the Khadakvasla reservoir near Pune. These Gatess were employed to raise the inundation supply degree of storage in the reservoir to the highest degree probably to be attained by its inundation without doing any harm to the dike. Based on the success of these Gatess. the same system was installed at the Tigra dike in Gwalior and the Krishnaraja Sagara ( KRS ) dike in Mandya. Sir M. V. supervised the building of the KRS dike across the Cauvery River from construct to startup. This dike created the biggest reservoir in Asia at the clip it was built. Sir MV was justly called the â€Å"Father of modern Mysore state† ( now Karnataka ) . During his period of service with the Government of Mysore province. he was responsible for the initiation of. under the auspices of that authorities. the Mysore Soap Factory. the Parasitoide research lab. the Bhadravati Iron A ; Steel Works. the Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute. the Bangalore Agricultural University. the State Bank of Mysore. The Century Club. Mysore Chambers of Commerce and legion other industrial ventures. Subsequently. during November 1909. Visvesvaraya was appointed as Chief Engineer of Mysore State. Further. during the twelvemonth. 1912. he was appointed as Diwan or First Minister of the deluxe province of Mysore. With the support of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. Maharaja of Mysore. Visvesvaraya made an arguably unprecedented part as Diwan to the all-around development of the province. Not merely the Krishnaraja Sagara dike and reservoir. the steel plants at Bhadravathi. the Sri Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic Institute at Bangalore. the University of Mysore. Bank of Mysore Limited ( now State Bank of Mysore ) at Bangalore [ 1913 ] Karnataka Soaps A ; Detergents Limited ( KSDL ) – Govt Soap Factory [ 1916 ] and many other industries and public plants owe their origin or active nurturing to him. He was instrumental in the initiation of the â€Å"Government Engineering College† at Bangalore in 1917. one of the first technology institutes in India. This establishment was subsequently named the â€Å"University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering. after its laminitis. After India attained independency. Sir M. Visvesvaraya was given the nation’s highest honor. the Bharat Ratna. in 1955. Sir Visvesvaraya died on 14th April 1962 â€Å"The expletive of our state is laziness. At first sight every one seems to be working. But in fact. one adult male works and the others watch him. As person said with disdain. ‘it looks as if five work forces are working. But truly merely one-person plants. One adult male will be making nil. One adult male will be resting. Another adult male will be watching them. Yet another adult male will be assisting these three. † – Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya â€Å"Remember. your work may be merely to brush a railroad crossing. but it is your responsibility to maintain it so clean that no other crossing in the universe is every bit clean as yours. † – Bharat Ratna Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya