The End of Art Essay Example for Free

The End of Art Essay The end of art is not the death of art, but the wholesale elimination of what used to be considered art and its replacement by a new concept: pluralism. When art has exhausted itself and this concept has been brought into the forefront of the consciousness, this awareness signals the end of art. Art is no longer art in the traditional sense (having a manifesto-aesthetically pleasing, etc. ) because the accessibility to art and to create art has allowed the masses to be exposed to it and to manipulate it. As Danto says any â€Å"art† made after Andy Warhol in the 1960s is not attached to any manifesto, and the art that is produced after the end of art is consider pluralism and cultural artifacts. A shift from the artwork itself evoking an emotional response is no longer relevant. The criterion for which art must stand up to be is gone. Simply, essentially philosophy becomes more important than the art itself. As shown by Hegel, â€Å"We have gone beyond just the emotional response to art, our ideas about the art, our judgments about the art is not for creating art again, but understanding the philosophy behind it. As with Modernism which pushed art to its limit, â€Å"The age of Manifestos is what it took to be philosophy into the heart of artistic production†¦discovery of that philosophical truth† (Danto, 30). An example of common manifesto of the college dorm room: The lava lamp, the Salvador Dali poster, the futon, the psychedelic trinkets overall the place individually, but now it has combined separate manifestos into one manifesto together. What the artist has created become less about the physicality of it and about the philosophy and the idea behind it. He takes the idea that there are no more criterion to what makes â€Å"art† art, that anything can be art, and thus the term â€Å"art† becomes meaningless and needs a new term: pluralism. The freedom that anyone can create something and it may possibly be considered pluralism or a cultural artifact has democratized the whole process and eliminated the critics, the middlemen, in the process. The consumer and the creator are brought together, and the critic is left looking for work. What is considered art is determined by a group of individuals who are involved in the arts either academically, critically, an artist, buyers, sellers, etc. Danto believes that art critics decide what is considered art and then art is assigned a worth. I disagree with Danto. The art critic is obsolete because if anything can be â€Å"art† then there is no real authority on what is art (pluralism) in the post historical phase? What self-respecting art critic would stake his or her reputation on say, beanie babies? But people pay thousands of dollars for something that in an earlier age could only be described as art. It is not that people will not make art, but that â€Å"pluralism† cannot be held up against the traditional criteria of the past historical art, as shown, â€Å"Not that art died or that painters stopped painting, but that the history of art, structured narratively, had come to an end† (Danto, 125). The modernism movement in which art shifted from being about making interpretations of the world to a search for internal meaning. â€Å"Artists were no longer concerned to imitate reality, but to give objective expression to the feelings reality elicited in them† (Danto, 65). Hegel’s idea that art had ended was not accepted widely during his time because much more artwork and the furthering of art would continue for some time. The imitation of reality through painting was mastered when we shifted from the mimesis paradigm in which painting reality as accurately as possible was the goal. The camera was the nail in the coffin. (Danto, 25) Realism was out a job. So what do you do when you don’t have a job? Become a philosopher! Modernism reflects the only thing that taking a brush loaded with paint to a canvas had left to do: make a closing statement. Danto’s claim is fitting because there has not been anything new presented in the ‘artworld’, since Warhol’s paintings, but what about technology. Graphic design was innovative, but is it pluralism or technology? Does technology further pluralism or destroy it? What does Danto mean by the master narrative of history, and how does this explain the end of art? The end of a certain narrative of art and of history as discussed by Danto from the 1400s up until the 1960s had â€Å"progressing innovative development, in which it is only possible when art is preserved, to which the artists can compare their own representations and transform his or her on work beyond the art of their predecessors† (Danto, 66). The imitation of life and reality, in painting, was essential to the furthering of the discipline. The categorical story of painting’s progression, and therefore art’s progression, from classical to medieval to romanticism to renaissance to impressionism, and so on exposed in each period (which is only possible because of history) a new innovation, a new way of representing reality and non-realities. With paintings on the caves to the two dimensional arts to the advent of the camera/photograph which culminated the west’s goal to attain perfection or at least represent reality as closely to the actual object of which it was representing. The master narrative which can only be recognized and understood after enough time has passed is Danto’s idea (Hegel) that the story of Western art and the characteristics of that story include aesthetics, beauty, skill and a certain meaning or statement (manifesto) behind it are rendered meaningless. As Danto describes, â€Å"the master narrative of the history of artin the West but by the end not in the West aloneis that there is an era of imitation, followed by an era of ideology, followed by our post-historical era in which, with qualification, anything goes. . . In our narrative, at first only mimesis was art, then several things were art but each tried to extinguish its competitors, and then, finally, it became apparent that there were no stylistic or philosophical constraints. There is no special way works of art have to be. And that is the present and, I should say, the final moment in the master narrative. It is the end of the story(Danto, 47). This story that Danto says has come to an conclusion. The narrative that art should be beautiful or have a struggle or have a certain technique to it no longer applies. Modern art has culminated in its conclusion. This challenged our ideas of painting, instead of painting objects or the external world to painting a surface or idea, â€Å"They were thinking of Robert Ryman’s more or less all-white paintings, or perhaps the aggressive monotonous stripe paintings of the French artist Daniel Buren (Danto, 4). This shows that art (painting) had become completely exhausted externally and all that was left to discover was the internal. The shift in the master narrative for art from realism to abstract (ideas) was essentially depicting the external world to the internal world of the self (or artist). It became about how the artist’s ideas, about emotions and other realities. The master narrative of art has lost its capacity to continue to further art’s progression, it is like the scriptures of the bible, where it is detached and ironic from current times and the individual. What once existed only for the select few is now an egalitarian experiment, thus so no one save the authoritarian longing for the days when he could tyrannically rule over the masses should mourn the end of art. The view that only the select few, the artists, the critics, the buyers, the sellers have reign over the realm of the culturally significant and beautiful ended. 3. How does the development of pop art and music reflect the answers given in previous questions? According to Danto, Pop-art brought about the end of art. Essentially by taking a common object (artifact) or sound or concept that is familiar or well known to people and putting it in a different circumstance thus making it foreign or unfamiliar. Art (pluralism) is stuck in the cyclical loop that just keeps manipulating the familiar making it unfamiliar thus making familiar again. Danto believes that all that is left are the philosophical ideas. This goes back to the idea. The idea is what motivates the art. As with Josef Albers picture, â€Å"Study in Green†, was a new idea at the time, however anybody can do that now. Once something new has been created then it is done and if another creates a similar piece it will not be original art and it will be considered ‘esque’ of the original artist. With the advent of pop art which turns ordinary objects into art, than all things become art rendering the term â€Å"art† meaningless as a term for defining. Warhol said everything can be art; therefore there is beauty in everything. â€Å"The great traditional paradigm of the visual arts had been, in fact, that of mimesis, which served the theoretical purposes of art admirably for several centuries†¦to extirpate competing paradigms (Danto, 29). It was believed that modernism would continue to carry art further. This was not the case. Roy Lichtenstein’s famous comic-book style paintings were not just brute copies, but much detail and intention went into his paintings, however this is the end. One cannot tell the difference between the actual object and the art that it is representing, in which reality and art imploded in on each other. Once Pop-art hit into mainstream through consumerism and once again the idea of taking a popular object and making it unfamiliar. Andy Warhol broke down elitism of high art/low art dichotomy and made it accessible to all. This allowed for more creativity with applying ideas to different mediums. Danto’s idea that we are currently in a state of a cyclical familiarity-unfamiliarity can be shown often times in individual musicians/artists progression, such as Bjork. The progression of Bjork’s pop music in early recordings to currently, with combinations of genres and possibly unclassified types of composition, in which she fuses two or more mechanical instruments together with technology like micro-controllers and turns it into music. However this does not mean that it is unintentional or lacking complex structure. As shown with early electronic music, such as, Xenakis’s â€Å"Chrome† in which he recorded the crackling of a fire in a fireplace, and he was the first to do it. He took something that is common and made it uncommon. Also, it was considered new music because there is no reference point. Unlike music of today where almost everything is piggy-backed on something else it can leave a feeling that music is homogenous. With the term of â€Å"selling-out† it does not just relate to selling to advertisers, or changing the essence of the music, but even getting popular is considered a form of selling out, for one to be artistic one must stay in obscurity. I believe there still is underground music because as long as there is radio and the big wigs determine who is important/big, there will be big acts and small acts. However, it does not seem likely this will last regardless of how many downloaders are sued. We are currently in a story-less moment in history. There are no definitive criteria, no manifesto, and no parameters. We are in an exciting time where anything can be art (pluralism) and anyone can be an artist. We make look back at this time and it will be labeled post-historical, but for now we are in a time of great change in art and thus so in society.

Barley Breeding and Pest Control

Barley Breeding and Pest Control Barley represents one of the major crops grown worldwide. It is the fourth largest grown crop in the world. Barley is a short season ,early maturing grain with high yield potential which is utilized in the production of both human and animal feed. The production of 2005 was estimated to be 138 million metric tons (UN Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO). Because of its true diploidy Barley has been used as a genetic model system, along with the similarity of its genome to that of other small grain cereals. It enables genetic engineering approaches towards crop improvement. (Hensel et al. , 2008). Barley has remained a successful cereal crop because of its short growing time and ability to survive in poor conditions. Although it is grown throughout most of the UK it is often the dominant arable crop in the north and west of Britain where growing conditions are most difficult and less favourable for wheat. Barley is striking because of the long spikes that emerge from the end of each grain. These are known as awns. Barley is also easily identifiable on breezy days in the early summer when waves blow through the crop. Although barley is versatile and tolerant it is not as productive as wheat. As a result it is often grown as the second cereal in a rotation where potential yields are lower; for example a field might first grow wheat, then barley, then a break crop like sugar beet or peas before returning to wheat. Barley can also be grown continually in the same field, a process known as continuous cropping. This was relatively common in the 1970s and 1980s but is rarely if ever practiced now. Around half of all the barley produced ends up as stock feed. This is either incorporated into compound rations or rolled on farm and fed to cattle as a supplement to their forage. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L. ) is the only cultivated species. Among the wild barleys there are annuals and perennials, self pollinators and cross pollinators, and self incompatibility species that are found in nature  (Poehlman, 1987). Difficulties in the production of Barley There are various diseases that affect the barley production, like various bacterial, fungal and viral diseases. Nematodes and parasites can also hamper the barley production. Fusarium species Fusarium is a genus of filamentous fungi widely distributed in soil and is mostly in association with plants. Some species produce mycotoxins in cereal crops that can affect human and animal health if they enter the food chain. The main toxins produced by these Fusarium species are fumonisins and trichothecenes. Fusarium graminearum commonly infects barley if there is rain late in the season. It is of economic impact to the malting and brewing industries as well as feed barley. Fusarium contamination in barley can result in head blight and in extreme contaminations the barley can appear pink. It can also cause root rot and seedling blight. Lush, green fields become blighted seemingly overnight.  The factors that favour infection and development of disease in the crop are frequent rainfalls, high humidity, or heavy dews that coincide with the flowering and early kernel-fill period of the crop. Damage from head scab is multifold. It reduces yields, discoloration, shriveled tombstone kernels, contamination with mycotoxins, and reduction in seed quality. The disease also reduces weight and lowers market grade. It causes difficulties in marketing, exporting, processing, and feeding scabby grain. The fungus persists and multiplies on infected crop residues of small grains. The chaff, light weight kernels, and other infected head debris of barley, are returned to the soil surface during harvest. This serves as an important site of overwintering of the fungus. Continued moist weather during the crop growing season favors development of the fungus, and spores are windblown or water-splashed onto heads of cereal crops. Barley is susceptible to head infection from the flowering (pollination) period up through the soft dough stage of kernel development. Spores of the this fungus land on the exposed anthers of the flower and then grow into the kernels, glumes, or other head parts. (McMullen et. al. , 1997). Creating a new variety: Conventional breeding Chevron is six rowed non malting barley originating from Switzerland, and it is most widely used. This can be used as a source for the Fusarium Head Blight (FHB) as it has resistance genes for kernel discolorations. So the wild variety can be crossed with Chevron and the F1 generation can be generated. H. vulgare X Chevron F1 generation F2 generation Depending on the way the genes behave the combination produced from each cross are not to be revealed until the next generation (F2). The most likely plant is then selected to meet the breeding objective. Seeds from the best plant can again be sown in rows or plots and best plants can again be selected. This process is repeated until the best plants are not selected. This technique takes a long time but the results are bred true. Generally, awned genotypes with a short peduncle and a compact spike have faster disease spread than genotypes that are awnless, have a long peduncle, and a lax spike. In addition, short statured genotypes with a long grain filling. On the other hands hybrid breeding technique can also be used, but its just that while hybrid lines breed true year after year, the performance gains of F1 hybrids are not maintained in subsequent generations. QTL analysis can be done at every level to find out the gene where is it situated in the loci. This will give us a genetic information of the hybrids. If the QTL analysis is done the phenotype can be identified using biometrics or metabolomics. Enhanced Breeding There are various ways in which breeding can be done. Somatic hybridization, embryo rescue, double haploid breeding, genomics, MAS ,genetic modification Proteomics. Mesterhazy (1995) had described five types of physiological resistance ,expanding on the the two types of barley available. These included (I) resistance to initial infection, (II) resistance to spread within the spike, (III) kernel size and number retention,(IV) yield tolerance, and (V) decomposition or non inherently accumulation of mycotoxins. It is believed that type 1 is very difficult to because the amount of innoculum initially applied is very difficult to quantify. Molecular markers can also be used at every stage of crossing till the final generation is obtained, as in the pure lines are obtain. The use of molecular markers will help us in indentifying the gene integeration. As it is QTL Analysis done will show us the location of the gene on which loci. Different molecular markers have been used till date, so markers like RFLP, AFLP, SSR and many more can be used. Pest and disease tolerance in Barley Barley is infected with many pests and other diseases as mentioned above. The easy and the quickest option is the use of certified seeds obtained after F1 generation. There are various sprays like fungicidal sprays available which can also be used but they decrease the vigor and cause root rot. So in order to avoid these pest resistance genes can also be added in barley. That means you induce the gene already there in the pest which infects,into the barley genes,with selectable ,markers. These markers will help in future to score the gene of interest and its location. Places where these markers are not accepted ,marker free plants can be generated. This multi-faceted and cooperative approach should enable breeders to develop highly resistant barley cultivars thereby, significantly reducing if not eliminating the devastating effects of FHB both nationally and worldwide. (Rudd et al. ,2001) There are as such no problems with drought or any problem with barley, but the major one is that if it rains late the whole of the production cycle of barley is disturbed. Due to less, late or no rains only there is development of these kind of fungal diseases due to the little moisture that is left on the leaf surface. Hence if we can increase the transpiration rate or the WUE (water usage efficency) by changing the leaf area exposed to the sun ,the retention capacity will increase. Conclusion Only by working on a theory on breeding will the investigator be able to achieve real control over the organism- the ultimate aim of modern biology N. I. Vavilov So as rightly said above, plant breeding is a very efficient way to conserve the wild species as well to grow crops that are resistant to the harsh conditions and pathogens and diseases caused by them. Through plant breeding technology we try to build up a perfect plant that has all the necessary resistant genes against all the possible problems faced by a plant to grow. As seen in barley also various other methods can also be inculcated along with these and newer varieties can be introduced which have better yield.

cab calloway :: essays research papers

Cab Calloway was an influential singer and actor in the 1930's. Born in Rochester, NY, on December 25, 1907, he started from rock bottom and worked his way up, until he was discovered and on top. To get to the top, Cab was a part of many different scenes and had much help from family and friends. According to Dan Gediman, Cab was the "Hi De Ho" man, a legendary showman, gifted singer, bandleader, actor, and fashion setter. He was a larger than life figure, who was immortalized in cartoons and caricatures, was also the leader of one of the greatest bands of the Swing Era (Dan Gediman, "Cab Calloway"). Scott Yanow thought Cab was "One of the great entertainers," and Cab's name was a household one by 1932, and never really declined in fame (Scott Yanow, "Cab Calloway's Biography"). Cab grew up in Baltimore, and attended law school there briefly, before hit quit school and set off to try and make it as a singer and dancer. As a young man Cab was following his father's footsteps in becoming a lawyer, going to law school and studying law. Cab wanted to be an entertainer even though his family discouraged him. They thought that it would be more appropriate for him to become a lawyer like his dad. Although, at the time that he was going to law school, his sister, Blanche Calloway, was a popular singer and was producing and singing a few fine records before retiring in the mid 1930's (Yanow). Well, his sister Blanche who was a prominent singer of the time convinced Cab to put more of an effort into his entertainment career. So while Cab was attending law school in Chicago, he also moonlighted at local nightclubs as a performer. While performing in Chicago he met the famous trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong, who taught him to scat. According to the Schoumbrg C enter for Research in black Culture scat singing in music is "a jazz vocal style using emotive, onomatopoeic, and nonsense syllables instead of words in solo improvisations on a melody". Scat has dim antecedents in the West African practice of assigning fixed syllables to percussion patterns, but the style was made popular by trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong from 1927 on. The popular theory that scat singing began when a vocalist forgot the lyrics may be true, but this origin does not explain the persistence of the style.

The Role of Computers in Family Life :: Technology Society

The Role of Computers in Family Life In this paper I will be explaining how computers play both a positive and negative role in the family life. Along with how much computers have changed the â€Å"Family Life†. I will explain how computers open the doors to endless access to the world. All this freedom however comes with a price. One must realize that you will be losing security with every new site signed up for or every purchase made on-line. Not to mention all the other problems that come along with having a computer. You must be ready and aware of the risks so you can be prepared when you hook-up your computer. Right now you can practically do everything you need to do right from your own computer. There are so many tools to work with and things you are capable of doing. You can virtually talk to anyone anywhere at anytime if they have the proper hook-ups. This also includes the newly on-line dating services that has pro’s and con’s of its own. Another plus for computers is instead of the children being glued to the TV for hours, they are now being productive on the computer. They are doing things that force their minds to keep thinking and not just zoning out. The introduction of computers to the family life also helps families come together and spend more quality family time together. The list can go on, but with all these opportunities we have, we also lose a lot. We lose privacy and security. There are also some greater drawbacks when in comes to the net, like Internet related crimes and identity theft. When you think of computers, what do you think about? Conducting business at work or writing assignments at school maybe. There is so much more to do with computers. I don't even know the half of them, but a computer at home can make things a whole lot calmer. First off, you can do all your bills on line. You can check on balances, or check when the payments were received. Also check your savings/checking accounts. This is a great feature because you get away from talking to machines and being put on hold. No more driving out in the cold or in traffic to see if you have enough money to cover your checks.

The Night :: Essays Papers

The Night Characters: Moshe the Beadle— was one of the first of the Jew to be taken away that Elie knew closely. Moshe then escaped the massive ditches of death and was able to return to Sighet to tell them of what the Germans were doing. The rest of the people even Elie, thought that he had gone mad, so he pitied him. Oberkapo— was apart of the 52nd cable unit at Buna who was Dutch. He also sabotaged the PowerStation. He had stocks of arms and was found and arrested. He was tortured for weeks, but never gave names of who else was involved. He was then transferred to Auschwitz. Madame Schachter — she was one of the ladies on the train to Auschwitz that was having illusions and screaming out loud on the train that there was fire outside of the windows. Everytime she that, the other people being gullible as they were, would look out the window. They soon tired of this, so they tied her up and gagged. The ordeal continued as she was able to free herself from her restraints and began yelling again. The other men finally smacked her around a little bit to knock a little common sense back into her, as her 10 year old son watched and tried to comfort her. She must have been suffering from terrible dehydration. Akiba Drumer— He is a man that puts all of his faith into god, no matter what is happening at the moment, he believes that god will save him or protect him. He doesn’t want to open his eyes to the reality of things, where he could be the next one hanged in the middle court of the camp as an example of their relentless power over them. He even calculated that their deliverence was to be only a few weeks away, I think people began to tire of him as Elie did who realized that if their was a true god, they would have to be so many suffering like they were. Settings: Sighet— This is the town that Elie came from with his family in the country of Transylvania. It was a moderate town that was mainly Jews at the time. Auschwitz— The camp they were first taken to when they were deported from their recent country. It didn’t seem to be all that bad in the way they treated them personally, unless the camp itself killed them.

Toyota (target costing)

Toyota Motor Corporation started as a subsidiary of the Toyota Automatic Loom Works, Ltd. It was founded in 1937 as the Toyota Motor Company, Ltd. It changed its name to the Toyota Motor Corporation in 1982 when the parent company merged with Toyota Sales Company, Ltd. In 1 993, Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) was Japan's largest automobile company. It controlled approximately 45% of the domestic market. Its next largest Japanese competitor was Ionians, with approximately 25% market share, followed by Honda and Mazda, which together represented about another 20%.The remaining 10% of the domestic automobile market was made up of several domestic manufacturers, including Issue, and several foreign competitors, such as Mercedes Benz and the â€Å"big three† American firms: General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. The domestic and world automobile markets were characterized by Intense competition. Models were brought out rapidly despite their high development costs. Fractions of a pe rcentage of market share were often viewed as representing the difference between success and failure.No Globalization Over the years, Toyota had evolved into a global firm. In 1993, a considerable part of the firm's overseas markets were serviced by local subsidiaries that frequently designed and manufactured automobiles for local markets. For example, local plants produced almost one-third of the vehicles sold in the North American market. These vehicles were produced in three plants, one in Kentucky, another in Ontario, Canada, and the New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. (MINIMUM) Joint venture plant with General Motors.These plants produced approximately 400,000 vehicles per annum, including 220,000 Camera, 170,000 Corollas, and the remainder being pickup trucks. Production volumes for pickup trucks were expected to increase to approximately 100,000 in the next Professor Robin Cooper of the Peter F. Trucker Graduate Management Center at The Claremont Graduate School and Professo r Take Tanana of Tokyo Aziza University prepared this case as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation.Copyright 1997 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685 or write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means-?electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise-?without the permission of Harvard Business School. This document is authorized for use only by Lingua Wang at Chinese University of Hong Kong until May 2013.Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. [email  protected] Harvard. Du or 617. 783. 7860. 197-031 few years. In 1994, the firm expected to begin exporting vehicles from North America to markets such as Japan and Taiwan. In addition to automobiles, the firm also manufactured and sold forklifts. Toyota controlled 70% of the forklift market in the United States. The same commitment to local manufacture and control was apparent in Toast's other major overseas markets. In Europe, two new UK plants began producing to reach 100,000 by 1995 and 200,000 units before the end of the century.Altogether, Toyota vehicles were either manufactured or assembled in more than 20 nations. These local manufacturing facilities provided Jobs for nationals and business for local supplier firms. The relative importance of the international supplier business to Toyota was increasing. In 1992, for example, Toyota purchased locally approximately 70% of its parts requirements (or $5 billion) for its North American operations. The other 30% was imported from Japan, but this percentage was expected to decrease over time. By 1994, Toyota expected to purchase $6. Billion of parts from local suppliers worldwide and import $2. 9 bi llion for domestic use. Supplier Relationships Product design was also international in scope. Salty Research, Inc. , a Toyota subsidiary formed in California in October 1973, was responsible for the body styling ND interiors of new models scheduled for production in North America. The design styling for European markets was coordinated from the firm's design and technical centers located in Brussels. Third-party suppliers were responsible for approximately 70% of Toast's parts and materials.In particular, the cost and quality of third-party supplied parts was considered critical to the firm's success. In recent years, Toast's expansion into international production had required increased interaction with non-Japanese suppliers to raise their efficiency and quality to the same level as that of Toast's Japanese suppliers. Etc To help non-Japanese supplier firms manufacture acceptable parts, Toyota had developed programs to transfer Japanese manufacturing techniques. At the heart of t hese so-called design-in programs was Joint work by suppliers and Toyota engineers on new components.This Joint work began in the early stages of the vehicle- development process, because prospective suppliers cited a lack of involvement in the early stages of vehicle design as an obstacle to winning business in highballs components. In a typical design-in program, several designers competed for a part interact; the firms were evaluated on the prices bid, the technology applied, and their performance. The winning firm was granted a contract for the life of the model. When the next model was developed the contract was once again thrown open for bidding.By 1993, more than 120 U. S. Suppliers had participated in design-in programs and firms were involved in such programs but had yet to sign contracts for parts. A similar program was in place in Europe. Toyota engineers also helped its overseas suppliers to adopt the Toyota Production System. Many Toyota overseas suppliers had now succe ssfully implemented modified erosion of the Toyota Production System. The system contained four key elements: just-in-time production, Kanata, total quality management, and multi-functional work teams.Just-in-time production avoided the build up of excessive work-in-process inventories and increased the firm's ability to respond quickly to customer demands. Kanata was the driving force behind KIT, tying production closely to customer demand. Total quality management ensured high-quality products and minimized the risk that the reduced levels of inventories would lead to stock-outs because of poor-quality components. Finally, multi-functional workers, capable of performing several tasks, dealt with the increased complexity of the production process. 2 Cost Planning Cost planning at Toyota worked to reduce product costs at the design stage.Toyota first set its cost planning goals and then set out to achieve those goals through aggressive design changes. To correctly assess the gains m ade, the exact amount of cost reduction achieved through design changes was estimated after excluding all other factors that affected costs, such as increases in material and labor prices. The measurement process started with cost tables that helped engineers estimate he current cost of existing models. These cost tables were kept up-to-date for changes in material prices, labor rates, and production volume levels.The updated production volumes helped determine both depreciation and overhead charges that would be allocated to the new model. Comparison of this estimated cost to the vehicle's target cost gave the desired level of savings, or cost-planning goal, as it was called. At the profit-estimation stage, also referred to as the â€Å"target cost-setting stage,† Toyota calculated the differences between the costs of the new and current models, strutted the appropriate portion of the cost-reduction goal to the design divisions, and then assessed the results.Profit targets f or the life of the new model were also calculated as differences between estimates and targets. This process constituted the essence of budget control at Toyota. Toyota clearly specified cost reduction goals for each control unit to ensure that the company's overall goals were attained. Target Costing Toyota invented its target costing approach in 1959. Although many major manufacturers in Japan use target costing, Toast's system is the oldest and insider by many the most technically advanced.While the idea of systematic cost reduction had existed at Toyota since it was founded, the process was first codified in the mid-sass, when the firm set itself the objective of producing a $1,000 car. Existing cost estimation played a role in target costing, but there are differences between the two. First, cost estimates relied upon existing standards while target costs were adjusted for any future savings due to design changes. Second, cost estimates had a horizon of six months while the hor izon for target costs was the time engaging until the launch of the new product.Target costing brought the target cost and the estimated cost of a product into line by better specification and design. Toast's target costing system was designed not simply to estimate the cost of new products but to enable a product to attain its profit targets throughout its life. Product Planning Toyota used two broad categories of product development, one for completely new types of automobiles and the other for changes to existing models. The development of an entirely new model, such as the Lexus, was relatively unusual.Most of the reduce development projects focused on modifications to existing models. Japanese passenger cars usually underwent major model changes every four years. However, recent industry trends suggested that the period between full model changes may The firm used target costing primarily to support model changes, though the same general cost control procedures were applied to the design of entirely new vehicles. Cost estimates for new vehicles involved a greater degree of uncertainty than for model changes. 3 A model change began with a proposal from chief engineers for development of a new model.The proposal usually included: Specifications such as size (length, width, wheelbase, and interior space), weight, mileage, engine (type, displacement, and maximum power), transmission (gear and moderation ratios), chassis (suspension and brake types), and body components; Development budget; Development schedule; and Retail price and sales targets. New models basically maintained the same product concept as their predecessors. Styling was not specified at this stage; usually no more than a vague image was mentioned. Most of the cost incurred in any model change was for prototyping. Retail Prices and Sales Targets oodles.The retail price remained the same unless a change in function or performance altered the perceived value of the vehicle in the eyes of the cus tomer. In theory, therefore, prices changed as the perceived value of the vehicle changed. Formula for List Price of a New Model The selling price of a new car model was composed of the selling price of the equivalent existing model plus any incremental value due to improved functionality. For example, adding air conditioning to the standard version of a model would increase its price by the value of air conditioning as perceived by customers.The incremental value of a new model was determined by analyzing market conditions. Because the automotive industry was mature, most new features already existed in some form on other models. For example, if air conditioning was to be included in the standard version, its added value was determined using the list price of optional air conditioners for other models. In the unlikely event that no equivalent option existed, then the firm's design engineers and market specialists would estimate how much customers were willing to pay for the added f eature.The price increase for an added function did not always equal its selling price as a attendant option. The incremental price for an increase in functionality might be lowered because of the firm's strategy for the vehicle and because of competitors' pricing strategies. As functions were added to the standard version, Toyota increased the selling price until it reached the upper limit for that class of vehicle. When this limit was reached, the only potential benefit from adding functionality was increased sales.Because new models were introduced some four years after the design project began, Toyota delayed setting the functionality of the standard version as long as possible. Therefore, the target price and margin for a new model, and thus the associated target unit price, were set quite some time before product launch. The exact functionality of the standard version was set only when factors such as competitive offerings, foreign exchange rates, and user demand were better u nderstood. Changing the functionality of the standard version increased the probability that the new model would achieve its 4 desired level of profitability.Similarly, the actual selling price was not fixed until Just before product launch. Delaying these two critical decisions reduced significantly the uncertainty faced by the firm. For example, suppose the incremental value assigned to an air bag in the US market was $450 but the competition had set it at $700. In this case, Toyota might increase its price by the difference. Similarly, if the competitive prices were lower, Toyota would drop its prices to match. The sales division proposed anticipated production volumes based upon past sales levels, market trends, and competitors' product offerings.The sales division typically proposed a figure that was considered safe (I. E. , achievable), based upon the model's current sales level. Optimism was restrained in favor of realistic goals. Development Plan Assisted by engineers in the design, test-production, and technical divisions, a chief engineer drafted the development plan for the new model and then led the development project. Well over a hundred engineers from the various divisions worked with a chief engineer on a typical project, but since they belonged to different divisions, probably only about a dozen people reported directly to the chief engineer.In this sense, the chief engineer was more a project leader than a supervisor of product development. The chief engineer coordinated the design process at the design divisions, which were relatively autonomous; the chief engineer was expected to develop a â€Å"concept† for the new vehicle that spanned multiple design divisions. Toyota considered the tensions created by this matrix approach beneficial to the creative design process and worth any conflict that might arise. Toyota set the cost-planning goal based upon the product plan and the targets for the product's retail price and production volum e.Because an estimated price had the expected profit from product sales over its production life (usually, four years). The product's target cost was the unit cost upon which the profit target was based. Calculating Target Profit and Target Cost Toyota calculated the lifetime target profit for a product, such as the Celiac, by multiplying the target sales volume by the model's return on sales (or, as it was known at Toyota, profit ratio of sales). Toyota set the sales profit ratio with reference to the corporation's long-term target profit ratio.Estimated cost was determined from the firm's cost tables. Estimated profit was calculated using this figure. Estimated profit was less than the target profit because the target cost included the estimated cost savings due to value engineering and other cost reduction activities. The difference between target and estimated profit was the amount to be cut from costs through cost planning. The cost-planning goal was obtained by subtracting the estimated total profits from the target profits.The goal of cost planning was to determine the unit profit needed to achieve the profit target, and thus the amount to be trimmed from the new product's cost through cost planning activities. Estimated profit equaled the retail price minus the estimated cost per unit times the production volume. As cost reduction activities were implemented, the product's estimated costs decreased. If the goal was achieved, the target cost and expected cost became equal, as did the expected and target profits. Estimating Difference Costs Rather than adding together all of the costs for a new model, Toyota added the determined at the major function level. Thus, cost planning could begin even before blueprints for the first test model were drawn. Also, estimating the total difference instead of the total cost tended to be more accurate because the typical new model was heavily based upon existing designs. Trying to estimate the cost of a new vehicle fro m scratch would, in management's opinion, introduce more errors than using existing data and modifying it accordingly. And it helped the related divisions understand cost fluctuations. The approach was more helpful to the design divisions because it highlighted the areas of the new model that were different from existing designs. New designs required most of the work in the design divisions. Thus, the estimated cost of a new model was the cost of the current model plus the cost of any design change. Thus, for every increment in the functionality of a new del there was an estimated incremental price and cost.This approach allowed the firm to measure the incremental profitability of each new function it built into a new model. A full model change required many design modifications. Consequently, the cost of the design change was broken out into the costs of a number of different design modifications. The design team analyzed each modification and assigned it an estimated cost. The sum of these cost estimates had to equal the cost planning goals for the new model. Estimating differences helped clarify the cost-planning goal and wowed accurately how much was accomplished through cost planning.Cost planning focused on new model design. Its effectiveness was measured as the amount of cost reduction achieved through design. Therefore, other factors that affected cost, including wages and fluctuations in indirect costs incurred by related divisions, had to be eliminated from overall cost reduction in order to identify the portion due to cost planning. By fixing the cost of the current model and calculating the differences between the current and new models, Toast's system dealt only with cost changes resulting from changes in design and production volume.Without actual drawings for the new model, the estimate often began with Just an idea. Since rough sketches provided by the design division were often the only sources of information, estimates were made under the gui dance of the cost planning division rather than the accounting division. Toast's 20 design divisions designed each major function of the new vehicle, including the engine, transmission, air conditioner, and audio system Because the people at the design and cost planning divisions had the latest in-house

School Daze

School Daze is a film that was directed, produced, written, and starred in by the legendary filmmaker Spike Lee. Spike Lee was once again trying to make America conscience and aware of racial issues, but this time it was focused on internalized racism at historical black colleges and universities (HBCU). Lee explored an issue that is still prominent in today's society, light-skinned versus dark-skinned African Americans, good hair versus bad hair, and the Greeks versus the Afro-centric students.School Daze is a very enlightening film, but it took a lot of different elements to complete a film of this magnitude to make others aware of this racial issue. School Daze is a film about internalized racism amongst the African American community at a fictitious historical black college called Mission College. The student body has divided itself into groups that are the epidemy of groupthink.In a newspaper called the Journal-Gazette by author Greg Braxton mentioned the battle between good hai r versus bad hair among African American women, by mentioning the 1988 film School Daze were Spike Lee staged a musical production number in a beauty salon, and two warring female college cliques battled over this topic (2009).In a newspaper called the Journal-Gazette author Greg Braxton mentioned the battle between good hair versus bad hair among African American women, by mentioning the 1988 film School Daze were Spike Lee staged a musical production number in a beauty salon, and two warring female college cliques battled over this topic (2009).