Everyone at MIT should take this class.

Everyone at MIT should take this class. What do you want to do in life?  For some people, the answer to that question comes easy.  Theyre the ones whove been coding since they were out of the womb, who were building robots before they learned how to walk.  But for others, its not so black-and-white.  If you ask them what course theyll in, theyll hedge a little; they might say 6, or 2, or maybe 1 (thats EECS, MechE, and CivilE, for you non-MIT readers). Im in the latter group.  I came to MIT intending to major in something Bio: Course 6-7, or 7, or maybe 20.  I had loved AP Biology in high school, gotten some lab experience at UC Davis trying to develop a fungal-resistant Cavendish banana strain, enjoyed 7.012, and snagged a nice UROP at Langer Lab, the largest biomedical engineering lab in the world. And after first semester, I realized I wascomfortable.  Too comfortable, maybe.  My life seemed mapped out for me: follow the degree requirements for whatever bio major I ended up declaring, go to grad school, get a job at a biotech company, get married with 2.3 children and get a house without a white picket fence because white picket fences are ugly. (okay, maybe I didnt really map my life out that far ahead) But all the same, I had a lil mid-(semester)-life crisis where I asked myself why I wanted to major in bio: was it just because it was all I had lab experience in and would be the easier route, or was it really was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life? Then I fell asleep, because it was 4am and I had been psetting for hours. When I woke up, I decided that the best way to find out what I really wanted to do was to take 5 classes and my 10 hour/week UROP second semester to get as much experience as possible in the fields I was considering (and also to give my advisor a minor heart attack).  One of these classes is 2.00B, Course 2s introductory class to toy product design.  Product design has always interested me whenever Apple came out with a new product, my favorite part was the product design videos they released with Jony Ive pronouncing aluminium soothingly in the background.  I luckily was able to lottery into this overenrolled class. And over the past few weeks, Ive decided that Course 2 is, in the words of Kirsten, super legit. But that doesnt mean Ive given up on bio.  Im interested in interdisciplinary work so 2A-20 (a flexible MechE with a bioengineering track) is also an option. Anyways, wow, this was a really long intro to a post about Toy Product Design.  So lets dive into what weve been doing in the first few weeks. Most first lectures tend to be fairly dull.  Pass out handouts, remind everyone when midterms and finals are, assign psets. Not so in 2.00B.  Our first lecture, we engaged in a littlegraphic design.  And by that, I mean our instructor said: I want you all to design a logo for 2.00B.  With fingerpaint.  With someone elses finger. Here was my masterpiece: But toy design isnt all fun and games.  Or is it?  Our first homework assignment was to write our thoughts about product design.  In the form of a limerick. Mine was: Id say that design is an art, That its not just a factory part, If you try to design When youre rushing for time, Youll make something thats not worth a fart. The best part was that my limerick was selected as one of the highlights, and we all got to hear our instructor say fart.  Har har.  No, my humour hasnt progressed very far beyond grade school. 2.00B is a project-based course, where students are split up into groups of 5 and given a budget of ~$700 to produce a product at the end of the semester.  During the past few weeks, weve been engaging in ideating, a fancy word for trying to think of a good way to spend $700.  Our top ideas are super secret, of course, but heres the result of one of our earlier ideating sessions: Can we all take a moment to appreciate the cheekbones on my Sherlock drawing? Even if you have a great product idea, though, you have to know how to communicate it effectively.  For this, we went old-school: pencil/marker and paper.   This also gave me a great excuse to finally go out and buy a Moleskine notebook, satisfying the hipster in me: Check out this adorable sticker that my friend got me: Yeah, Im cool. For those times when pen-and-paper wont do it, computers are your friend.  Ive recently discovered the joys of Illustrator (by recently, I mean 10 hours ago), which is why I was up at 3am this morning mocking up a logo for my project team.  Its also why this post is prettified.  Dont expect this every time. Thats it for today!  Ill definitely be writing more blog posts in the future about Toy Product Design, because that class is just too cool.  If you want more up-to-date info on 2.00B, check out their Twitter account (page? handle? feed?).  Im told theres a picture of me being very excited about vinyl cutting a sticker. Oh yeah, and if you were wondering about the curve in the Team Camel logo I made its supposed to be an abstract representation of the humps on a camel.  Which reminds me, our team song is totally My Humps. Post Tagged #2.00b Toy Design

Literature Review Of Managing Risk In Farming Concepts Finance Essay - Free Essay Example

Joy Harwood, Richard Heifner, Keith Coble, Janet Perry, and Agapi Somwaru (1999), Managing Risk in Farming: Concepts, Research, and Analysis, Agricultural Economic Report No. 774. Washington DC, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Risk and Risk Management Risk is the possibility of adversity or loss (Bodie and Merton) and refers to uncertainty that matters. Consequently, risk management involves choosing among alternatives to reduce the effects of risk. Risk management typically requires the evaluation of tradeoffs between changes in risk, expected returns, entrepreneurial freedom, and other variables. Understanding risk is a starting point to help producers make good management choices in situations where adversity and loss are possibilities. Some risk management strategies (such as diversification) reduce risk with-in the farms operation, others(such as production contracting) transfer risk outside the farm, and still others (such as maintaining liquid assets) build the farms capacity to bear risk. Sources of Risk in Farming Some risks are unique to agriculture, such as the risk of bad weather significantly reducing yields within a given year. Other risks, such as the price or institutional risks discussed below, while common to all businesses, reflect an added economic cost to the producer. If the farmers benefit-cost tradeoff favors mitigation, then he will attempt to lower the possibility of adverse effects. These risks include the following: (Hardaker, Huirne, and Anderson; Boehlje and Trede;Baquet, Hambleton, and Jose; Fleisher) Production or yield risk Yield risk occurs because agriculture is affected by many uncontrollable events that are often related to weather, including excessive or insufficient rainfall, extreme temperatures, hail, insects, and diseases. Technology plays a key role in production risk in farming. The rapid introduction of new crop varieties and production techniques often offers the potential for improved efficiency, but may at times yield poor results, particularly in the short term. In contrast, the threat of obsolescence exists with certain practices (for example, using machinery for which parts are no longer available), which creates another kind of risk. Price or market risk Price or market risk reflects risks associated with changes in the price of output or of inputs that may occur after the commitment to production has begun. In agriculture, production generally is a lengthy process. Livestock production, for example, typically requires ongoing investments in feed and equipment that may not produce returns for several months or years. Because markets are generally complex and involve both domestic and international considerations, producer returns may be dramatically affected by events in far-removed regions of the world. Institutional risk Institutional risk results from changes in policies and regulations that affect agriculture. This type of risk is generally manifested as unanticipated production constraints or price changes for inputs or for output. For example, changes in government rules regarding the use of pesticides (for crops) or drugs (for livestock) may alter the cost of production or a foreign countrys decision to limit imports of a certain crop may reduce that crops price. Other institutional risks may arise from changes in policies affecting the disposal of animal manure, restrictions in conservation practices or land use, or changes in income tax policy or credit policy. Human or Personal Risks Farmers are also subject to the human or personal risks that are common to all business operators. Disruptive changes may result from such events as death, divorce, injury, or the poor health of a principal in the firm. In addition, the changing objectives of individuals involved in the farming enterprise may have significant effects on the long run performance of the operation. Asset risk is also common to all businesses and involves theft, fire, or other loss or damage to equipment, buildings, and livestock. A type of risk that appears to be of growing importance is contracting risk, which involves opportunistic behavior and the reliability of contracting partners. Financial risks Financial risk differs from the business risks previously described in that it results from the way the firms capital is obtained and financed. A farmer may be subject to fluctuations in interest rates on borrowed capital, or face cash flow difficulties if there are insufficient funds to repay creditors. The use of borrowed funds means that a share of the returns from the business must be allocated to meeting debt payments. Even when a farm is 100-percent owner financed, the opera-tors capital is still exposed to the probability of losing equity or net worth. How Farmers Can Manage Risk Farmers have many options in managing agricultural risks. They can adjust the enterprise mix (diversify) or the financial structure of the farm (the mix of debt and equity capital). In addition, farmers have access to various tools-such as insurance and hedging-that can help reduce their farm-level risks. Indeed, most producers combine the use of many different strategies and tools. Producers must decide on the scale of the operation, the degree of control over resources (including how much to borrow and the number of hours, if any, worked off the farm), the allocation of resources among enterprises, and how much to insure and price forward. Enterprise Diversification Diversification is a frequently used risk management strategy that involves participating in more than one activity. The motivation for diversifying is based on the idea that returns from various enterprises do not move up and down in lockstep, so that when one activity has low returns, other activities likely would have higher returns. A crop farm, for example, may have several productive enterprises (several different crops or both crops and livestock), or may operate disjoint parcels so that localized weather disasters are less likely to yields risk for all crops simultaneously. Vertical Integration Vertical integration includes all of the ways that output from one stage of production and distribution is transferred to another stage. Farming has traditionally operated in an open production system, where a commodity is purchased from a producer at a market price determined at the time of purchase. The use of open production has declined and vertical coordination has increased as consumers have become increasingly sophisticated and improvements in technology have allowed greater product differentiation (Martinez and Reed). In practice, vertical integration in agriculture often involves owner-ship of both farm production and processing activities; like sorting, assembling, and packaging products for retail sales. While the above examples relate to individual operations, farmers may join together in a cooperative organization that is vertically integrated across functions. Production contracts Production contracts typically give the contractor (the buyer of the commodity) considerable control over the production process (Perry, 1997). These contracts usually specify in detail the production inputs supplied by the contractor, the quality and quantity of a particular commodity that is to be delivered, and the compensation that is to be paid to the grower. Firms commonly enter into production contracts with farmers to ensure timeliness and quality of commodity deliveries, and to gain control over the methods used in the production process. Production contracting is particularly favored when specialized inputs and complex production technologies are used, and the end product must meet rigid quality levels and possess uniform characteristics. Production contracting is also favored when oversupply and undersupply have been problems, the risk-return tradeoffs are advantageous to both the producer and the contracting firm, production technologies are specific, uniform, and knowled ge-based, centralized management is feasible, and the commodity is highly perishable (Kliebenstein and Lawrence; Harris). Evidence suggests that farmers enter production contracts to guarantee market access, improve efficiency, and ensure access to capital. Most production contracts lower farmers price risks when compared with risks on the open market. This suggests that farmers are well aware of the risk-shifting capacity (Perry, 1997). Marketing contracts Marketing contracts are either verbal or written agreements between a buyer and a producer that set a price and/or an outlet for a commodity before harvest or before the commodity is ready to be marketed (Perry, 1997). The contract terms vary across contracts, but typically establish a price (or contain provisions for setting a price at a later date) and provide for delivery of a given quality (or grade) within a specified time period at a flat price (or fixed price). In contrast, minimum-price contracts guarantee the producer a minimum price for harvest delivery, based on futures price quotes at the time the contract is established, with the incorporation of a pricing formula that gives farmers the opportunity to sell at a higher price if futures prices increase before the contract expires. Most types of contracts do not completely eliminate price risk except the flat-price contracts, which establish an exact price to be paid to the grower upon delivery and thus completely eliminate price risk. Liquidity Another aspect of financial risk management is liquidity, which involves the farmers ability to generate cash quickly and efficiently in order to meet his financial obligations (Barry and Baker). The liquidity issue relates to cash flow and addresses the question: When adverse events occur, does a farmer have assets (or other monetary sources) that can easily be converted to cash to meet his financial demands? Examples of liquid assets include grain in storage, cash, and company stock holdings, while illiquid assets include land, machinery, and other fixed assets. Leasing Inputs and Hiring Custom Work Producers can also manage their farming risks by either leasing inputs (including land) or hiring workers during harvest or other peak months. Leasing refers to a capital transfer agreement that provides the renter (the actual operator) with control over assets owned by someone else for a given period, using a mutually agreed-upon rental arrangement (Perry, 1997). Farmers can lease land, machinery, equipment, or livestock. Leasing reduces the long-term fixed payments on borrowed capital that may strain liquidity in years of reduced output, and can reduce both financial and production risk for the renter (Sommer and others, 1998). Crop Insurance Insurance is often used by crop producers to mitigate yield (and hence, revenue) risk, and is obviously prevalent outside of agriculture. Property, health, automobile, and liability insurance are all forms of insurance regularly purchased by individuals to mitigate risk. For an individual, the use of insurance involves the exchange of a fixed, relatively small payment (the premium) for protection from uncertain, but potentially large, losses (Ray). The Government should also reinsures private companies that sell policies (that is, the Government shares in the risk of loss) to help reduce financial losses in years of widespread disasters. Risk protection is greatest when crop-yield insurance (which provides yield risk protection) is combined with forward pricing or hedging (which provide price risk protection). Off-farm Employment and Off-farm Income Earning off-farm income is another strategy that farmers may use to mitigate the effects of agricultural risk on farm family household income. Farm household income can be categorized as earned off-farm income (wages and salaries), unearned off-farm income (social security, pensions, and investments), and farm net cash income. Off-farm income not only can supplement household income, it may also provide a more reliable stream of income than farm returns. In essence, off-farm income can offer a form of diversification to counter negative fluctuations in farm income. Farm household total income has been found significantly less variable if producers and their spouses worked off the farm (Mishra and Goodwin, 1997). Other Ways of Managing Risk Many other diverse strategies for farm risk management are commonly used by producers on their operations. Some of these additional strategies include the following: Adjusting inputs and outputs (Improve Technical and Allocative Efficiency) Producers can respond to risk by altering output levels, input use, or some combination of the two. Research indicates that greater output price risk results in lower levels of both input use and final output. Given that preferences toward risk and circumstances can vary greatly across producers, the final input and output levels chosen by producers can, accordingly, vary considerably for individuals in similar situations. Cultural Practices or Indigenous Knowledge Cultural practices can be used to enhance yield and, hence, reduce income risk. One such practice involves planting short-season varieties that mature earlier in the season, protecting against the risk of early frost and yield loss. Supplemental irrigation due to abnormal weather is another means to protect against yield loss. Excess Machine Capacity A farmer may have enough machine capacity so that planting and harvesting crops can occur more rapidly than needed under normal weather conditions. By having such resources, the farmer can avoid delays at either planting or harvest that may reduce yield losses.

Reflection Paper On Technology - 1581 Words

In many ways, technological advances are made to improve lives and makes things easier. Since society has entered the twenty-first century, technology has flourished and communication has become instant. The way society communicates, interacts, or goes about a single day is drastically different than twenty years ago. However, when technology is employed ineffectively, it can prove frustrating for both user and developer. Difficulties are bound to arise with new changes. Instituting new technology into old services, is not without its challenges, especially in a small town found in Nebraska. Background Recently, I became a new member of our small town’s Fair and Rodeo Board. I quickly became the person is charge of all marketing done on†¦show more content†¦Hypothetically, this would help increase the number of volunteers. Although success was found in several of these areas, I overlooked several key features. The online signup became a time sink based on my own succumbing to the Law of the Hammer and Last Inch conundrums (Fisk, Grove, John, 2014, pg.43). One study on the effects of social media empowering small communities found that participation is still about the people and not the technology (Hothi, 2012). Certain barriers may be removed with social media but it is still up to the user to decide if he or she thinks they can make a difference and then act on that belief. Networking is used in technology to form the communication link between the user and organization although not in the same physical location (Fisk, Grove, John, 2014, pg.39). By doing this, the hope was that the user felt that connection and would automatically want to volunteer. The user should feel empowered by taking the initiative to sign up and volunteer to help the community. Facebook and the online signup were used as intelligent agents. Intelligent agents are a service tool used in place of the people who previously performed the task for the user (Fisk, Grove, John, 2014, pg.40). In what was meant to be easy and empower, created confusion and frustration for everyone. Service Encounter After creating the online signup, a post and link was made on the Facebook page introducing it to the thousand plus followers of the page. As theShow MoreRelatedTechnology Personal Reflection Paper1395 Words   |  6 Pagesoffer that not many kids had the opportunity to witness. From my constant exposure to Jack, I learned so much about how to navigate group dynamics with all people. These lessons are indispensable even to this day. For the entire semester, in my Technology Strategy class, I’ve worked side-by-side with two other students each week. 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Ultrasound is widely used in currentRead MoreEng 225 Week 5 Film Critique Final Paper836 Words   |  4 PagesENG 225 Week 5 Film Critique Final Paper Click Link Below To Buy: http://hwcampus.com/shop/eng-225/eng-225-week-5-film-critique-final-paper/ Or Visit www.hwcampus.com ENG 225 Week 5 Film Critique Final Paper Focus of the Final Film Critique Throughout this course, you have been compiling a blog and writing essays that analyze various elements of film such as theme, cinematic techniques, and genre. 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What They Are Building at Ground Zero, NYC

Contribution of Munshi Premchand in Fields of Literature

Baffling as certainly an endeavour to provide an exhaustive list of Tagore’s achievements in the various fields like music, dance, painting, histrionics, education, etc., would be, even the effort to describe his output within the limited field of literary and poetic writing would be, difficult. Indeed his contribution to ever so many types and forms of writing is amazing, if not defying adequate enumeration. As one of his admirers, the lateMahamahopadhyaya Harprasada Sastri, said: â€Å"He has tried all phases of literature–couplets, stanzas, short poems, long pieces, short stories, fables, novels and prose romances, dramas, farces, comedies and tragedies, songs, opera, Kirtans, Palas and, last but not least, lyric poems. He has succeeded in†¦show more content†¦For instance, a few poems may speak of a strain of melody and the sweet-throated bird that pours it out. But this does not by itself make all of them same on as repetitions of one single idea in three succeeding pieces. If scanned with care each will be found to possess a particular idea, very near what occurs in the three others, yet not without a distinctiveness that makes the difference. Persons who are familiar with Karnatic music, know that the Sangatis of a Pallavi of great composers like Thyagayya often appear as mere repetitions to the uninformed ear, though containing minute points of elaboration and differentiation, which develop clearly the growth of the song into a surpassing climax of mood and feeling. Of course to those who will not undergo the discipline of a seasoned critic, everything will appear as redundancy of execution and purposeless elaboration. There can be a further argument as to why at all should any poet worth the name, do that sort of thing so as to cause strain on the listener or reader to scan beauty and meaning in them. Well, let us try to comfort such lazy individuals with the answer, that a writer’s emotions require perhaps more than a co uple of lines similar for gaining his own sense of fulfilment. The critic also will have to reconcile himself to the fact that he is under no compulsion to read all of them. Again it may be only on a par with the other criticism that, had the

How to Be Independent in a Relationship - 793 Words

Often, if you look around, you will find that most people give utmost importance to their partners. Surely, it is a good sign, until you reach the state wherein you constantly think about ways to keep him//her happy. So what does it take to be independent in a relationship, without jeopardizing your own happiness? Well, for most, the idea of an independent relationship relates to be able to go out with pals, relaxing on a Sunday morning and having some sort of command over the remote when watching television with the partner. The List of Do’s To be independent in a relationship, certain things must be observed with care. The following points may be useful to you: †¢ Create Your Own Space: Sometimes it is very easy to lose yourself in a†¦show more content†¦Identify the things that you do not want to sacrifice for your lover and make short/ long term plans without him/her. †¢ Don’t Keep A Constant Check: Pledging to be independent, while chatting with your partner over the phone every 5 minutes does not count. You need to disconnect with your partner to pursue your own interests like reading a book or exercising in order to maintain the person you are. †¢ Try Out New Things: When your partner wants to introduce something new to you, embrace the opportunity. Give it a try and if you don’t like it, don’t be afraid to express your aversion. †¢ Right or Wrong: If you feel that your partner does not appreciate the best version of you, it’s time you seriously thought about your relationship. 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What is the time frame for conducting you search? And remember advertising is not the only, or necessarily the best way to recruit. The methods I must use to select the right person for the available positions: First I must understand the company need-job analysis by critically evaluating the company existing resources. How does that measureRead MoreThe Impact Of Income On Home Prices1087 Words   |  5 PagesReview of Subject In this report, the question â€Å"How much of the changes in the median selling price of homes in a city can be explained by the changes in median income of that city?† is answered. Home ownership is an important aspect of one’s life stages, and home prices are determined by demand and supply. The demand curve is affected by the one’s income, such that as one’s income increases, one is more willing to pay a higher price for the same quantity of goods (Baye Prince, 2014). However

Strategic Management Process Free Essays

Organizations develop some form of a strategic management plan to enter, maintain, or continue to enhance their position with other competitors within their industry. The primary goal of any organization is to provide a product or service to produce a profit. Though the objective remains the same regardless of the organization, the strategic management processes may vary. We will write a custom essay sample on Strategic Management Process or any similar topic only for you Order Now Prior to describing the components of a strategic management process, one must first understand the definition of strategic management. Strategic management is â€Å"a set of managerial decisions and actions that determines the long-run performance of a corporation† (Wheelan Hunger, 2010). The concept of strategic management allows a company to set goals in order to secure sustainability for the future. There are four steps in a strategic management plan: situation analysis, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation (Whelan Hunger, 2010). These steps are performed in this specific order when developing a new plan of management. Situation analysis involves reviewing the internal and external environment as well as the organizational framework of a company. When focusing on internal environment of a company one must focus on the different working relationships within the organization. To analyze the external environment would include evaluation of relationships the company has with its customers, suppliers, creditors and competitors. (Coulter, 2005). The second step in strategic management plan is strategy formulation. In this step the strategies for the company are formulated focusing on its strengths. Strategy formulation can be categorized into three organizational levels: operational, competitive and corporate (Coulter, 2005). Strategy implementation is the next step. In this step the strategies that were formulated in the previous step are put into action. This includes development of operating procedures necessary to implement the strategies set forth. To be successful the problems should be prioritized based on the seriousness of the issue and should focus on the important issues first (Coulter, 2005). The final step is strategy evaluation. In this step the entire process is under scrutiny. This includes how the strategy was executed and the effectiveness of it. In this step changes are made as necessary. For example if goals were not met the strategy should be modified (Coulter, 2005). The Internal Revenue Service began using a strategic management plan in 1985. They use the plan to fulfill the requirements of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. As part of the strategic management process The IRS plans and budgets, develops measures, implements the plan, and evaluates the results (http://govinfo. library. unt. edu/npr/library/studies/caseirsa. pdf). In conclusion a strategic management plan is a continuous process and is important to the successful future of a company. Strategies will change as objectives and goals change. The use of a strategic management process is important to the sustainability and longevity of a company. References Coulter, M. (2005). Strategic Management in Action. (3rd ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. http://govinfo. library. unt. edu/npr/library/studies/caseirsa. pdf Wheelen, T. L. , Hunger, J. D. , (2010). Concepts in strategic management and business policy (12th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education How to cite Strategic Management Process, Essay examples