1000+ documents containing “steel”.
Three human resources management tactics that can help to address these issues are the fostering of corporate culture, the integration of new companies and JVs and lastly the path of promotion in the company. The corporate culture is essential to the success of a company like Nucor, which must attract talented individuals from throughout the industry in order to maintain its leadership position. In addition, in an industry focused on low cost production, corporate culture is often a key driver of cost reductions (as at al-Mart, Southwest Airlines, Costco and other low cost providers). In order to implement a low cost strategy, the culture must support that strategy (Mindtools.com, 2010). The integration of new companies and joint ventures into the Nucor fold is partially a strategic issue, but it is one with many HRM applications, from integration of compensation policy to establishing company-wide training programs and the aforementioned cultural initiatives.….
As the world is more thoroughly explored, social scientists seem to find that the words social and science are largely contradictory and an oxymoron. Even rational choice theory bases its conclusions upon statistics and upon a costs and benefits analysis to come up with their conclusions in a more logical manner. Simply put, rationality can not be directly tested. Rather, social scientists that base their ideas upon rational choice theory build dependable and testable models.
In Guns, Germs and Steel, there are no testable models. There are no alternative models whatsoever. The determinism of Mr. Diamond's theory makes his reasoning circular, and therefore not able to be tested. This is what makes his effort amateur history. It is possible that the book due to its apparent originality garnered some awards. However, while Mr. Diamond's efforts to put the science in social science is laudable, it is largely amateurish in its….
HRM Issues
One of the most important HRM issues that must be addressed is represented by the fact that the company does not use job descriptions. Although the practice of Nucor and the appreciation of both managers and employees have revealed that this system seems to be working, the situation must be changed in order to increase and to maintain efficiency.
The company's motivational system is another area of interest in relation with HRM practices. This is because the company admits to not believing in a formal motivational system that would refer to formal rewards and punishments. The company's managers consider that a formal motivational system would be less efficient than the one implemented by Nucor. Also, employees probably feel more at ease with an informal system rather than with a formal one.
Another HRM issue is represented by the company's intention of creating an egalitarian culture within the company, and therefore increasing….
Guns, Germs, and Steel is the documentary film version of Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name. Like the book, the documentary is divided into three separate sections. This allows for the logical development of Diamond's ideas, and for the application of the underlying thesis to different time periods, themes, and human populations. Although extensive ground is covered in the three episodes, the premise and themes are straightforward enough so that the documentary never becomes complicated or clunky. The title explains the primary three issues that have impacted human history, allowing some people to have a strategic advantage over others. When these advantages occur in groups, the results can be dramatic to the victors and devastating to the losers.
Developing guns and other armament depends not only the availability of resources to manufacture weapons of mass destruction, but more importantly, the political situations that warrant their use.….
hat are the symbols of group identity in the United States? Are they good or bad in your opinion?
Symbols of group identity often pertain to foodstuffs (such as the critical evolution of wheat, corn, and the animals consumed) and cultural symbols such as literacy. hat one eats, where one lives, and how one expresses one's self-reflects one's cultural associations -- whether a society was a hunter-gatherer or agrarian in ancient times, and in the United States today. For example -- is a person prosperous and can select a variety of foods from the local market, like a sushi-eating urbanite, or is he or she forced to eat cheap fast food? Is he or part of a particular ethnic group striving to recreate his or her culture in the United States, or striving to assimilate by serving hamburgers and French fries? Apparently functional items like clothing styles, sizes of cars, where….
The company has chosen to make a substantial investment in the Easy Pay Enterprise (EPE) platform that acts as an Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) layer that serves to integrate the many processes areas where accounting and human resources are required to complete internal tasks. EPE is actually an integration layer suite of applications that is tailored only to shared common corporate functions. To date, Smorgon has found this a useful integration suite for their Shared Business Services architecture. Batch-oriented integration of key system updates and financials from operations must be consolidated, analyzed and stored on the SAP /3 instance first. The integration between EPE and the SAP /3 instance is not considered reliable due to the strict formatting and naming convention features SAP uses and that the EPE cannot exactly match on all transactions. As a result, Smorgon continues to spend heavily on consulting and integration projects between EPE….
Iron and Steel
The refining of the heavy metal element iron can be considered as one of the technologies with the greatest impact on today's society. This is primarily because iron makes a series of modern products, particularly commercial iron that is commonly known as steel (which is rich in carbon). Iron and steel are increasingly used to make several modern products and items such as cars, skyscrapers, tractors, rails, guns, bridges, ships, and trains. The increased use of iron and steel in the manufacturing of these products is attributable to the fact that they make them strong. However, the importance of iron can be traced back to the Iron Age period where primitive societies learned how to refine it and use it in making several products, tools, and items. The significance of iron and steel in today's manufacturing processes can be understood through examining these metals with regards to their….
The work of Aoude, Cook, and Mitchell (2009) reports a studying which "a series of 13 full-scale axial compression tests was conducted on reinforced concrete (RC) and steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) columns." (p.1) Results of the study are stated to indicate that "the addition of steel fibers can partially substitute for the confinement reinforcement in columns, thereby improving constructability while achieving significant confinement." (p.1) The work of Klemens (2004) entitled: "New Fibers Add Flexibility: Precast Concrete is an Ideal Use for the Product" states that the idea for steel fiber reinforcement for concrete emerged through research at the University of Michigan more than a decade ago. The resulting product, which greatly increases the effectiveness of steel fibers, is just now becoming commercially available." (p.1) It is related in this study that a screw type shape is used to reinforce the steel and that this serves to increase the bonding strength….
Strengths of Author's Argument
On their face, the author's main arguments seem to make sense. The way different societies developed depended largely on the natural resources available to them. Greater resources led to larger and more complex societies that both permitted and promoted subsequent technological development and advancement. By the time Western societies encountered and dominated tropical societies, the means through which they did so were result of earlier (natural) causes rather than the result of inherent differences in ability.
Weakness of Author's Argument
Frankly, it is difficult to critically assess the writing and argument of a writer who is profoundly more qualified in his area of professional expertise than this reviewer. Nevertheless, his characterization of tropical native hunter-gatherers as being more intelligent (because of natural selection) than Western people seems tenuous and speculative, unlike the rest of his arguments that are based on objective evidence and reasonable inferences.
Contribution to World History
On balance,….
Cultural Change:
Guns, Germs and Steel vs. Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology
As indicated by the title of Jared Diamond's book and the films based on his text Guns, Germs and Steel, Diamond takes a relatively fatalistic view of how the environment impacts human culture. From Diamond's perspective, history is shaped through the influences of biological phenomena and changes in technology. For example, the fact that the native inhabitants of Central America had no immunological resistance to the diseases like smallpox carried by the conquistadors, the history of the world was changed. Europeans had some immunological resistance because they lived in close proximity to their livestock while the Incas did not. They also had superior technology: "political competition within Europe fueled a medieval arms race. Pizarro's conquistadors were armed with the latest and greatest in weapons technology -- guns, and swords. The Inca, by comparison, had never worked iron or….
According to Montgomery (2003), "Higher floors of buildings tended to rent at a substantial discount, due to the need to climb several flights of stairs to reach one's workplace or residence. Otis's invention of the safety elevator at mid-century heralded the end of this constraint on vertical real estate development" (495). Likewise, Masden notes that the increasingly confident use of the relatively new ' elevators' also fueled demand for more steel frame structures; such new steel-framed buildings were known during this early period as "elevator buildings" instead of skyscrapers, a term that was first coined in 1883 (Marsden 78).
The underlying theory behind steel frame construction during its early use, though, fueled some well-intentioned but misguided efforts that adversely influenced future applications, selection of building materials, site selection and other salient factors involved in construction. In this regard, Mumford (1959) reports that, "Unfortunately, the skyscraper was an almost automatic response….
They could have ranged from being between 8% and 30% and would have been applied on a wide variety of American goods ("Q&a: U.S.-EU Steel Dispute," Dec. 4, 2003). The exports potentially being affected ranged from Harley Davidson motorcycles to citrus fruit ("EU slaps $200m tariff on U.S. imports," Nov. 5, 2003).
The basis upon which the EU selected goods to impose duties on was the political damage they would cause Bush during his 2004 re-election bid. The majority of affected goods were produced in states that were vital to Bush's success in the election. They included the southern U.S. where items such as citrus fruits, clothing, shoes, tobacco, rice, yachts, paper, and cardboard were produced. They also included many states in the Midwest, where watches, spectacles, hand tools, and steel products were produced (Q&a: U.S.-EU Steel Dispute," Dec. 4, 2003).
The Bush administration finally repealed the steel tariffs for various….
This product may provide "long-term electrochemical protection" against the deterioration of the steel rebar in the concrete, the article states. When this "pressure-sensitive" zinc-hydrogel solution is applied an "iconic current" is conducted. Wires run through the rebar grid once the concrete is covered thoroughly with the adhesive gel. The bottom line here is the zinc slowly corrodes rather than the rebar. Ironically, the 3M companies developed this zinc hydrogel anode in Minneapolis in the year 2,000 -- seven years before I-35 crashed into a river in Minneapolis.
A study conducted by Korean civil engineers Hyo-Gyoung Kwak and Young-Jae Seo puts forward, in short, another methodology in terms of predicting the life expectancy of a concrete bridge. The authors suggest the behaviors of "pre-stressed concrete" (PCS) girders can be predicted fairly accurately. This is because the PCS girders are constructed by placing in-situ concrete decks on the girders "at time intervals."….
Winston "Spree" Simon is credited with crafting the first convex, tuned steel pan instrument (Berre). Steel pans are now custom-designed from lead and other materials.
Steel drum music flourished in Trinidad and Tobago during and after World War Two. Since their original development in the early 20th century, steel drum sounds have come to characterize Caribbean music in general. Since the 1960s, steel drum bands flourished not only on Trinidad and Tobago but throughout the Caribbean islands.
The influence of steelpan extends far beyond the Caribbean as well, as steelpan music integrates well with other types of world music and jazz, lending an its distinctive sound to any band arrangement. Hundreds of steel drum bands perform regularly worldwide, but Trinidad and Tobago remain the epicenter of steel drum music.
eferences
Berre, M. Steel Pans: A Brief History. Latin American Folk Institute. etrieved June 26, 2007 at http://www.lafi.org/magazine/articles/steel.html
Guppy, a. About Steelpan. Official Website of….
Lower quenching temperatures create microstructures that demonstrate a greater elasticity, with smaller and less brittle connections forming between microstructures.
12) Martensite is a high-carbon steel formed from the rapid cooling of austenite in a process that does not allow carbon to diffuse out of the heated metal. Tempered Martensite has reduced hardness but increased toughness, and the metal is partially decomposed into ferrite and cementite by the tempering process.
13) Yes; there are some limited applications where the brittleness of quench-hardened steel will not pose a significant barrier to use. In most applications, however, tempering is required after quench hardening in order to reduce brittleness and increase the toughness of the steel.
14) Furnace: All heat shields must be in place, and the area in and around the furnace must be kept clear of all dust, debris, and other equipment. Ventilation paths must be substantial and remain free from blockages, and indicators….
Business - Management
Three human resources management tactics that can help to address these issues are the fostering of corporate culture, the integration of new companies and JVs and lastly the path…
Read Full Paper ❯Drama - World
As the world is more thoroughly explored, social scientists seem to find that the words social and science are largely contradictory and an oxymoron. Even rational choice theory…
Read Full Paper ❯Business - Management
HRM Issues One of the most important HRM issues that must be addressed is represented by the fact that the company does not use job descriptions. Although the practice of…
Read Full Paper ❯Sociology
Guns, Germs, and Steel is the documentary film version of Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize winning book of the same name. Like the book, the documentary is divided into…
Read Full Paper ❯Agriculture
hat are the symbols of group identity in the United States? Are they good or bad in your opinion? Symbols of group identity often pertain to foodstuffs (such as the…
Read Full Paper ❯Business
The company has chosen to make a substantial investment in the Easy Pay Enterprise (EPE) platform that acts as an Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) layer that serves to…
Read Full Paper ❯Science
Iron and Steel The refining of the heavy metal element iron can be considered as one of the technologies with the greatest impact on today's society. This is primarily because…
Read Full Paper ❯Weather
The work of Aoude, Cook, and Mitchell (2009) reports a studying which "a series of 13 full-scale axial compression tests was conducted on reinforced concrete (RC) and steel fiber-reinforced…
Read Full Paper ❯Sociology
Strengths of Author's Argument On their face, the author's main arguments seem to make sense. The way different societies developed depended largely on the natural resources available to them. Greater…
Read Full Paper ❯Business - Ethics
Cultural Change: Guns, Germs and Steel vs. Culture Sketches: Case Studies in Anthropology As indicated by the title of Jared Diamond's book and the films based on his text Guns,…
Read Full Paper ❯Architecture
According to Montgomery (2003), "Higher floors of buildings tended to rent at a substantial discount, due to the need to climb several flights of stairs to reach one's…
Read Full Paper ❯Economics
They could have ranged from being between 8% and 30% and would have been applied on a wide variety of American goods ("Q&a: U.S.-EU Steel Dispute," Dec. 4,…
Read Full Paper ❯Engineering
This product may provide "long-term electrochemical protection" against the deterioration of the steel rebar in the concrete, the article states. When this "pressure-sensitive" zinc-hydrogel solution is applied an…
Read Full Paper ❯Music
Winston "Spree" Simon is credited with crafting the first convex, tuned steel pan instrument (Berre). Steel pans are now custom-designed from lead and other materials. Steel drum music flourished…
Read Full Paper ❯Engineering
Lower quenching temperatures create microstructures that demonstrate a greater elasticity, with smaller and less brittle connections forming between microstructures. 12) Martensite is a high-carbon steel formed from the rapid…
Read Full Paper ❯