Saturday, August 31, 2019

Red Bull Case : Digital Marketing

He immediately saw an opportunity to market those functional drinks outside Asia. Mathematics approached the manufacturers of the drink, bought the foreign licensing rights in exchange for a 51 % stake in his company, and launched the drink in Austria. That's how the Red Bull company was founded in 1984. The drink was sold exclusively in Austria for five years and then spread into neighboring countries like Hungary and Slovenia, followed by Germany and Switzerland. It invaded the United States and Canada In 1997, and was authorized in France very recently.A closer look at Red Bulls strategy 2 roof is not really determined by a demographic, but by a â€Å"state of mind†. Red Bull consumers want to be physically and mentally fit and wide awake. It can be young executives who want to face a more and more dynamic and demanding way of life. Or it can be teenagers who want to try new alcoholic mix, and be able to stay awake and to dance all night long. At least, it could be sportsme n who want to improve their performance, increase their physical endurance and boost their energy.These people are very hard to seduce because there are many brands competing on the market. Figure 1 – Examples of competitive products The positioning of Red Bull is : It is the first stimulation drink, for both mind and body, to be used at any time, anywhere, by anyone, not only as a thirst-quencher but also as a cure against tiredness. To build its brand equity, Red Bull developed an eye-catching logo : two bulls and a yellow sun, and an effective,†Red Bull gives you witlings†. Red Bull's brand equity is mainly based on word of mouth, which gives the product a mystical image.Due to this mitosis and the WOOF strategy that build a very strong brand awareness, the reduce has a really strong â€Å"affect† with the customer, which leads to a bunch of rumors, good and bad ones. The strategy Red Bull adopted is totally unusual. They did nod use traditional informat ive or persuasive communications and it restricted the drinks supply. Red Bull used â€Å"buzz marketing† and Moral marketing†. The company has divided the U. S. Into eight decentralized sales units, each of which is handled on a city-by-city basis.Each unit creates distribution, makes sales calls and develops targeted marketing plans. Their mission is to find out where the target nags out and what interests them. It's their Job to get the message out to the right clubs and at the right events. Their entry strategy is to seed happening places such as shops, clubs, bars and stores. They focus initially on opinion leaders who obtain positive direct experience with the brand. Once word of mouth has created a buzz about the product, they then widen distribution to areas surrounding the â€Å"in† spots.Markus Pickier, eve-strategic planning, Red Bull North America said â€Å"We go to on-premise accounts [vs.. Retailers] first, because the product gets a lot of visibi lity and attention. It goes faster to deal with individual accounts, not big chains and their authorization process. Employs teams of â€Å"consumer educators,† who distribute free samples in the street. Bull created and cultivated its brand image by sponsoring extreme and adventure- related sports, such as foreseeing, B. A. S. E Jumping, snowboard, mountain hiking or more recently Formula 1 .The company underwrites a number of extreme sports competitions and sponsors about three dozen athletes from alternative sports. In the antithesis of any major's marketing plan, Red Bull buys traditional advertising sat. Only when a market is deemed mature does the company begin a media push. The idea is to reinforce, not introduce, the brand. â€Å"Media is not a tool that we use to establish the market,† said up-marketing David Rowdy. â€Å"It is a critical part. It's Just later in the development. Red Bull's marketing strategy Contrary to traditional advertising practice, Red bull only advertises after it believes a local market is maturing. Instead of traditional advertising, Red Bull relied on a strategy of word-of-mouth or â€Å"buzz† marketing. Red Bull focused on creating a buzz wrought various stealth marketing techniques, playing on associations with energy, danger and youth culture, carefully cultivating its mystique image. Mathematics invested 35% of turnover in marketing and sponsorship in events.In his words, â€Å"we don't bring the product to the people, we bring people to the product. We make it available and those who love our style come to us,† adding, â€Å"Red Bull isn't a drink, it's a way of life. † The above the line communication: Red Bull gives you wings. The aim of their advertising campaigns is to reflect the brand personality: Cheeky, witty, self-ironic, unpredictable and unique. Opinion leader marketing: Opinion Leaders, especially in the sport and cultural area, are a perfect target group for Red Bull. Red Bull develops relationships with them and treats them like friends.Red Bull worldwide has over 250 agreements with top athletes, but not one written contract. Event marketing: Red Bull's event marketing also covers both areas, sports and culture, through a variety of events like Flag, Crashed Ice, X-Fighters, Creative Contest, Music Academy, and many more. Red Bull doses ‘t sponsor events, Red Bull creates, organizes and supports new, innovative and image. Through its sponsorship of youth culture and extreme sports events, Red Bull developed a cult following among marketing-wary Generation Y-errs, (18- to 29-year olds) who perceived it as an anti- brand.While it was marketed as a sports drink, it was mostly sold in clubs and bars Sampling Sampling is done by highly motivated and well educated employees of Red Bull and not â€Å"professional† promotion teams. Their briefing is simple: Find tired and exhausted people. They do it in a charming, non offensive way. All we g ive them is the product, a free range of clothes and a tiny, but very attractive sampling car. As their core target is very young, Red Bull needed to secure a huge presence on the Internet, which is by far the media that young people use the most.With their word- of-mouth based strategy and their buzz marketing, it was quite obvious that Internet was going to become a very powerful tool for Red Bull. They are aware of the fact that Internet has brought people together and allowed everyone to be connected no matter where they live. Thanks to the new social and digital age, people can share their experiences and knowledge through the building of social networks and communities. Red Bull's online marketing strategy is very cohesive to their overall marketing strategy. It is based on word-of-mouth and creating a buzz around the brand.Whether it be with sport, music or culture, Red Bull offers long-term content that the consumer will enjoy so they can talk about the brand on blobs for ex ample and tell their friends about it. Rather than focusing on selling millions of cans, they just prefer creating a universe that people will love, most of the time through effective storytelling. As I said before, Red Bull's marketing strategy involves a lot of event organization round the world. Red Bull takes the excitement of being in the event and delivering it to people across communication, and most of that is done by digital communication.In fact, 50% of Red Bull's communication budget is dedicated to digital media. Backbone has a presence on many of social platforms, including Backbone, Twitter, Namespace. Yet Red Bull is aware that it is no longer enough to have a fan page on backbone for example, not only because a large majority of companies have one as well, but also because people get bored very easily and their attention is becoming more and more difficult to catch. Red Bull understands this issue and offers a lot more than mere online product promotion. They provide their consumers with meaningful content.Each event organized and sponsored by Red Bull has its own website (for example,www. Redistributable. Com) They offer a number of short pieces of content, such as videos of the previous events, content about the riders, the tricks, behind-the-scenes, parties, etc. Those pieces of content are also displayed in social platforms, Namespace playing generally a role of a hub where all of the content comes together . This is how Red Bull started to build their fan community. It enables Red Bull to create a number of access points that the consumers discover, experience the content and get involved into Red Bull's world.On backbone or Namespace, the one of the most popular pages with over 2 400 000 fans. It is tailored to the consumers' wants and needs. They don't advertise their product directly, they don't even bother giving details about the accompany vision and mission, leaving only a very short description at the bottom of the page. On the othe r hand, they offer some entertaining, simple yet addicting games that consumers enjoy, such as the Red Bull Air Race game. Some others fun applications are available on Backbone, such as Red Bull Roustabout, which is an online version of the old game â€Å"Rock Paper Scissors†.Bart Johnston, Interactive Director of Archival which developed the application said â€Å"We wanted to create a viral application for Backbone Platform that was fun and playful. We think people will ask their friends to install it because it's a really interesting way of saying What's up? To your buddy. † 3 Figure 2 – Red Bull's official fan page on Backbone Video content is a good way to start but it does not necessarily create engagement, which is Red Bull's main objective. Therefore they found other ways to entertain their customers. For instance ‘phone and ‘pod touch users, they developed applications and games.Understanding their consumers is a major concern for Red Bull so they knew about their extensive use of chatting platforms such as mans. They also knew that Mans users tend to be on mans while watching TV, so they are working to get them engaging with it so they could then play, talk, share it with their friends while watching TV programs. Therefore they created a game on mans, that could be shared n backbone as well (that way content remains cohesive). This is a really effective way for Red Bull to get their consumers involved and active in the community.Figure 3 – Red Bull's ‘phone games Taking one step further, Red Bull initiated in 2009 a new project called Red Bull reporter 4. It gives the opportunity to anyone to become a Red Bull reporter, and start working for Red Bull as a writer, photographer, filmmaker or presenter. The consumer has complete control on the creation and sharing of the content. As Red Bull has hundreds of events going on all over the world. It can be huge event that attract over 50000 people on the event site like the Red Bull flagstaffs, but it can also be smaller events like the mascara pit stop in Time Square, or the Donkey cross in Greece.Red Bull is trying to leverage these projects by sending their reporters to these small events so they could write reports, do presentations, videos, and finally come back and submit them on the website. This time it is not Red Bull that creates the content but the consumers themselves and they are in total control of it. They are responsible for sharing it and spreading it. Again for Red Bull it is all about engaging them to greater collaboration.Figure 4 – Red Bull reporter Another example of the content creation process, even more engaging than Red Bull Reporter, would be the Red Bull Bedroom Jam 5, because with this project consumers become the content that is celebrated and discussed. Teen bands submit their music and their peers would vote and Judge which one they think are the best bands. The selected bands get to have a stage set up in their bedrooms by Red Bull, and it gets streamed live across the Internet. A chatting functionality allows people to interact with each other and tell everyone about the bands they like the most for example.The consumer is at the heart of the project. Red Bull steps back and only plays the role of a facilitator. The consumers are the real star, not Red Bull, which is an important point of Red Bull's online marketing strategy. Figure 5 – Red Bull Bedroom Jam Another key point for Red Bull is to cross the boundaries between the digital world and the real world, and treat them both the same way. Red Bull racing for charity was originally created to take Formula 1 from its very exclusive format and make it a more inclusive one, getting people really closer to that world.Red Bull created an inline community where fans could choose a space for their photo on the car that was driven at Siltstone by David Calculator and Mark Webber, chat with people around them, sometimes even celebrities. This resulted in a very unique decoration on the car and raised money for charity. Still trying to get people closer to the world of formula 1, Red Bull created content through Twitter and an Phone application called Redouble Flops, that allows people to have a direct info from the Fl paddock, with little stories and anecdotes that come directly from the inside. Figure 6 – David Calculator's car at Siltstone Creating all those tools, platforms and content allows Red Bull to make the consumer forget that their primary and ultimate goal is to sell energy drink cans. It is all about getting commitment from their customers, trying to engage and excite consumers about the brand by being part of their world and contributing to their world in a way that it does not feel false or fake. Internet could have contributed to harm Red Bull's brand image by spreading all sorts of rumors about the energy drink.One of the rumors that has been circulating for a while says that Re d Bull's secret ingredient is bull's testicles. Another states that it is â€Å"liquid vicarage† and that someone overdosed from the drink because it has drugs in it. Obviously all these rumors are false and they could have been really bad little attention to those rumors, remained silent and let the rumor spread. There is only a FAQ section in the main website confirming that all those rumors are false. This lack of communication contributed to fueling the buzz around the brand, creating Red Bull's mystique and building their fan's community all over the web.Red Bull doesn't really innovate through its products – it doesn't launch new products al the time, instead it innovates through its marketing. Hence, they created Red Bull Media House, which conducts all the media and public relations work, and that is responsible for the launching of other platforms such as Red Bull magazine, Red Bull mobile (which for now is only available in Austria, Switzerland and Germany), or Red Bull TV. As it becomes a bigger part of the consumers lives, Red Bull's marketing actually becomes their product.We saw how Red Bull leverage social media to market their products by provide their customers with meaningful content. Sometimes, they tend to be a little too aggressive by doing what is called ambush marketing. Ambush marketing occurs when a brand pays to become the official sponsor of an event and another brand tries to connect itself to the same event, without paying the sponsorship fee and without breaking any laws. Nikkei used such methods a lot to gain some visibility on sport events that were officially sponsored by their main competitors Rebook and Aids.At the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona, Nikkei sponsored press conferences with the US basketball team despite Rebook being the official sponsor. During the last Olympic Ames in Vancouver, Red Bull also did some online ambush marketing. Red Bull posted some items to encourage their athletes on Twitter and Backbone, even though they weren't officially sponsoring the event. By doing that they were violating the Olympic rules, which say that advertiser who don't pay for an official sponsorship cannot associate their names with the games or the athletes during the events or the weeks surrounding them. We're rooting for you @Landslide's @Shawn_White @Greeted and @Dresses in the 2010 Winter #mimics! † Red Bull removed all Olympic-related Twitter posts, but argued that â€Å"the dynamic and nonuser-driven nature† of social media make it tricky to â€Å"stay within guidelines as they are defined. † 9 How can Red Bull do even better? Red Bull's use of Internet and social media is very innovative. It differs from most companies' strategy in the sense that it really involves the customer in the content creation and sharing process.It engages the customer and get them closer to the brand. Red Bull's online marketing strategy is also very cohesive, every tool they used access to content on Twitter, Namespace and Backbone simultaneously. In my opinion, Red Bull is already one of the best examples of successful online racketing strategies, and this is partly why I chose to talk about it in this paper. It also makes it even more difficult to explain how they could get better. Red Bull's strategy has proven more than efficient so they should keep on offering meaningful and entertaining content to their consumers.

Friday, August 30, 2019

Heat Exchanger

Heat exchanger An interchangeable plate heat exchanger Tubular heat exchanger. A heat exchanger is a piece of equipment built for efficient heat transfer from one medium to another. The media may be separated by a solid wall, so that they never mix, or they may be in direct contact. [1] They are widely used in space heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, power plants, chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries, natural gas processing, and sewage treatment.The classic example of a heat exchanger is found in an internal combustion engine in which a circulating fluid known as engine coolant flows through radiator coils and air flows past the coils, which cools the coolant and heats the incoming air. Contents| Flow arrangement Countercurrent (A) and parallel (B) flows * Fig. 1: Shell and tube heat exchanger, single pass (1–1 parallel flow) * Fig. 2: Shell and tube heat exchanger, 2-pass tube side (1–2 crossflow) * Fig. : Shell and tube heat exchanger, 2- pass shell side, 2-pass tube side (2-2 countercurrent) There are three primary classifications of heat exchangers according to their flow arrangement. In parallel-flow heat exchangers, the two fluids enter the exchanger at the same end, and travel in parallel to one another to the other side. In counter-flow heat exchangers the fluids enter the exchanger from opposite ends. The counter current design is the most efficient, in that it can transfer the most heat from the heat (transfer) medium due to the fact that the average temperature difference along any unit length is greater.See countercurrent exchange. In a cross-flow heat exchanger, the fluids travel roughly perpendicular to one another through the exchanger. For efficiency, heat exchangers are designed to maximize the surface area of the wall between the two fluids, while minimizing resistance to fluid flow through the exchanger. The exchanger's performance can also be affected by the addition of fins or corrugations in one o r both directions, which increase surface area and may channel fluid flow or induce turbulence. The driving temperature across the heat transfer surface varies with position, but an appropriate mean temperature can be defined.In most simple systems this is the â€Å"log mean temperature difference† (LMTD). Sometimes direct knowledge of the LMTD is not available and the NTU method is used. Types of heat exchangers Shell and tube heat exchanger A Shell and Tube heat exchanger Main article: Shell and tube heat exchanger Shell and tube heat exchangers consist of a series of tubes. One set of these tubes contains the fluid that must be either heated or cooled. The second fluid runs over the tubes that are being heated or cooled so that it can either provide the heat or absorb the heat required.A set of tubes is called the tube bundle and can be made up of several types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc. Shell and tube heat exchangers are typically used for high-pressure applications (with pressures greater than 30 bar and temperatures greater than 260  Ã‚ °C). [2] This is because the shell and tube heat exchangers are robust due to their shape. Several thermal design features must be considered when designing the tubes in the shell and tube heat exchangers: * Tube diameter: Using a small tube diameter makes the heat exchanger both economical and compact.However, it is more likely for the heat exchanger to foul up faster and the small size makes mechanical cleaning of the fouling difficult. To prevail over the fouling and cleaning problems, larger tube diameters can be used. Thus to determine the tube diameter, the available space, cost and the fouling nature of the fluids must be considered. * Tube thickness: The thickness of the wall of the tubes is usually determined to ensure: * There is enough room for corrosion * That flow-induced vibration has resistance * Axial strength * Availability of spare parts Hoop strength (to withstand internal tub e pressure) * Buckling strength (to withstand overpressure in the shell) * Tube length: heat exchangers are usually cheaper when they have a smaller shell diameter and a long tube length. Thus, typically there is an aim to make the heat exchanger as long as physically possible whilst not exceeding production capabilities. However, there are many limitations for this, including space available at the installation site and the need to ensure tubes are available in lengths that are twice the required length (so they can be withdrawn and replaced).Also, long, thin tubes are difficult to take out and replace. * Tube pitch: when designing the tubes, it is practical to ensure that the tube pitch (i. e. , the centre-centre distance of adjoining tubes) is not less than 1. 25 times the tubes' outside diameter. A larger tube pitch leads to a larger overall shell diameter, which leads to a more expensive heat exchanger. * Tube corrugation: this type of tubes, mainly used for the inner tubes, in creases the turbulence of the fluids and the effect is very important in the heat transfer giving a better performance. Tube Layout: refers to how tubes are positioned within the shell. There are four main types of tube layout, which are, triangular (30 °), rotated triangular (60 °), square (90 °) and rotated square (45 °). The triangular patterns are employed to give greater heat transfer as they force the fluid to flow in a more turbulent fashion around the piping. Square patterns are employed where high fouling is experienced and cleaning is more regular. * Baffle Design: baffles are used in shell and tube heat exchangers to direct fluid across the tube bundle.They run perpendicularly to the shell and hold the bundle, preventing the tubes from sagging over a long length. They can also prevent the tubes from vibrating. The most common type of baffle is the segmental baffle. The semicircular segmental baffles are oriented at 180 degrees to the adjacent baffles forcing the f luid to flow upward and downwards between the tube bundle. Baffle spacing is of large thermodynamic concern when designing shell and tube heat exchangers. Baffles must be spaced with consideration for the conversion of pressure drop and heat transfer.For thermo economic optimization it is suggested that the baffles be spaced no closer than 20% of the shell’s inner diameter. Having baffles spaced too closely causes a greater pressure drop because of flow redirection. Consequently having the baffles spaced too far apart means that there may be cooler spots in the corners between baffles. It is also important to ensure the baffles are spaced close enough that the tubes do not sag. The other main type of baffle is the disc and donut baffle, which consists of two concentric baffles. An outer, wider baffle looks like a donut, whilst the inner baffle is shaped like a disk.This type of baffle forces the fluid to pass around each side of the disk then through the donut baffle generati ng a different type of fluid flow. Fixed tube liquid-cooled heat exchangers especially suitable for marine and harsh applications can be assembled with brass shells, copper tubes, brass baffles, and forged brass integral end hubs. [3] (See: Copper in heat exchangers). Conceptual diagram of a plate and frame heat exchanger. A single plate heat exchanger An interchangeable plate heat exchanger applied to the system of a swimming pool Plate heat exchanger Main article: Plate heat exchangerAnother type of heat exchanger is the plate heat exchanger. One is composed of multiple, thin, slightly separated plates that have very large surface areas and fluid flow passages for heat transfer. This stacked-plate arrangement can be more effective, in a given space, than the shell and tube heat exchanger. Advances in gasket and brazing technology have made the plate-type heat exchanger increasingly practical. In HVAC applications, large heat exchangers of this type are called plate-and-frame; when used in open loops, these heat exchangers are normally of the gasket type to allow periodic disassembly, cleaning, and inspection.There are many types of permanently bonded plate heat exchangers, such as dip-brazed, vacuum-brazed, and welded plate varieties, and they are often specified for closed-loop applications such as refrigeration. Plate heat exchangers also differ in the types of plates that are used, and in the configurations of those plates. Some plates may be stamped with â€Å"chevron†, dimpled, or other patterns, where others may have machined fins and/or grooves. Plate and shell heat exchanger A third type of heat exchanger is a plate and shell heat exchanger, which combines plate heat exchanger with shell and tube heat exchanger technologies.The heart of the heat exchanger contains a fully welded circular plate pack made by pressing and cutting round plates and welding them together. Nozzles carry flow in and out of the platepack (the ‘Plate side' flowpat h). The fully welded platepack is assembled into an outer shell that creates a second flowpath ( the ‘Shell side'). Plate and shell technology offers high heat transfer, high pressure, high operating temperature, compact size, low fouling and close approach temperature. In particular, it does completely without gaskets, which provides security against leakage at high pressures and temperatures.Adiabatic wheel heat exchanger A fourth type of heat exchanger uses an intermediate fluid or solid store to hold heat, which is then moved to the other side of the heat exchanger to be released. Two examples of this are adiabatic wheels, which consist of a large wheel with fine threads rotating through the hot and cold fluids, and fluid heat exchangers. Plate fin heat exchanger Main article: Plate fin heat exchanger This type of heat exchanger uses â€Å"sandwiched† passages containing fins to increase the effectiveness of the unit.The designs include crossflow and counterflow cou pled with various fin configurations such as straight fins, offset fins and wavy fins. Plate and fin heat exchangers are usually made of aluminium alloys, which provide high heat transfer efficiency. The material enables the system to operate at a lower temperature and reduce the weight of the equipment. Plate and fin heat exchangers are mostly used for low temperature services such as natural gas, helium and oxygen liquefaction plants, air separation plants and transport industries such as motor and aircraft engines. Advantages of plate and fin heat exchangers: High heat transfer efficiency especially in gas treatment * Larger heat transfer area * Approximately 5 times lighter in weight than that of shell and tube heat exchanger. * Able to withstand high pressure Disadvantages of plate and fin heat exchangers: * Might cause clogging as the pathways are very narrow * Difficult to clean the pathways * Aluminum alloys are susceptible to Mercury Liquid Embrittlement Failure Pillow plat e heat exchanger A pillow plate exchanger is commonly used in the dairy industry for cooling milk in large direct-expansion stainless steel bulk tanks.The pillow plate allows for cooling across nearly the entire surface area of the tank, without gaps that would occur between pipes welded to the exterior of the tank. The pillow plate is constructed using a thin sheet of metal spot-welded to the surface of another thicker sheet of metal. The thin plate is welded in a regular pattern of dots or with a serpentine pattern of weld lines. After welding the enclosed space is pressurized with sufficient force to cause the thin metal to bulge out around the welds, providing a space for heat exchanger liquids to flow, and creating a characteristic appearance of a swelled pillow formed out of metal.Fluid heat exchangers This is a heat exchanger with a gas passing upwards through a shower of fluid (often water), and the fluid is then taken elsewhere before being cooled. This is commonly used for cooling gases whilst also removing certain impurities, thus solving two problems at once. It is widely used in espresso machines as an energy-saving method of cooling super-heated water to use in the extraction of espresso. Waste heat recovery units A Waste Heat Recovery Unit (WHRU) is a heat exchanger that recovers heat from a hot gas stream while transferring it to a working medium, typically water or oils.The hot gas stream can be the exhaust gas from a gas turbine or a diesel engine or a waste gas from industry or refinery. They can also be integrated into a heatcatcher system that allows an ORC[further explanation needed] generator to produce waste heat to power. Dynamic scraped surface heat exchanger Another type of heat exchanger is called â€Å"(dynamic) scraped surface heat exchanger†. This is mainly used for heating or cooling with high-viscosity products, crystallization processes, evaporation and high-fouling applications.Long running times are achieved due to th e continuous scraping of the surface, thus avoiding fouling and achieving a sustainable heat transfer rate during the process. Phase-change heat exchangers Typical kettle reboiler used for industrial distillation towers Typical water-cooled surface condenser In addition to heating up or cooling down fluids in just a single phase, heat exchangers can be used either to heat a liquid to evaporate (or boil) it or used as condensers to cool a vapor and condense it to a liquid. In chemical plants and refineries, reboilers used to heat incoming feed for distillation towers are often heat exchangers. 4][5] Distillation set-ups typically use condensers to condense distillate vapors back into liquid. Power plants that use steam-driven turbines commonly use heat exchangers to boil water into steam. Heat exchangers or similar units for producing steam from water are often called boilers or steam generators. In the nuclear power plants called pressurized water reactors, special large heat exchan gers pass heat from the primary (reactor plant) system to the secondary (steam plant) system, producing steam from water in the process. These are called steam generators.All fossil-fueled and nuclear power plants using steam-driven turbines have surface condensers to convert the exhaust steam from the turbines into condensate (water) for re-use. [6][7] To conserve energy and cooling capacity in chemical and other plants, regenerative heat exchangers can transfer heat from a stream that must be cooled to another stream that must be heated, such as distillate cooling and reboiler feed pre-heating. This term can also refer to heat exchangers that contain a material within their structure that has a change of phase.This is usually a solid to liquid phase due to the small volume difference between these states. This change of phase effectively acts as a buffer because it occurs at a constant temperature but still allows for the heat exchanger to accept additional heat. One example where this has been investigated is for use in high power aircraft electronics. Direct contact heat exchangers Direct contact heat exchangers involve heat transfer between hot and cold streams of two phases in the absence of a separating wall. [8] Thus such heat exchangers can be classified as: * Gas – liquid * Immiscible liquid – liquid Solid-liquid or solid – gas Most direct contact heat exchangers fall under the Gas- Liquid category, where heat is transferred between a gas and liquid in the form of drops, films or sprays. [2] Such types of heat exchangers are used predominantly in air conditioning, humidification, industrial hot water heating, water cooling and condensing plants. [9] Phases[10]| Continuous phase| Driving force| Change of phase| Examples| Gas – Liquid| Gas| Gravity| No| Spray columns, packed columns| | | | Yes| Cooling towers, falling droplet evaporators| | | Forced| No| Spray coolers/quenchers| | Liquid flow| Yes| Spray condensers/evaporati on, jet condensers| | Liquid| Gravity| No| Bubble columns, perforated tray columns| | | | Yes| Bubble column condensers| | | Forced| No| Gas spargers| | | Gas flow| Yes| Direct contact evaporators, submerged combustion| HVAC air coils One of the widest uses of heat exchangers is for air conditioning of buildings and vehicles. This class of heat exchangers is commonly called air coils, or just coils due to their often-serpentine internal tubing. Liquid-to-air, or air-to-liquid HVAC coils are typically of modified crossflow arrangement. In vehicles, heat coils are often called heater cores.On the liquid side of these heat exchangers, the common fluids are water, a water-glycol solution, steam, or a refrigerant. For heating coils, hot water and steam are the most common, and this heated fluid is supplied by boilers, for example. For cooling coils, chilled water and refrigerant are most common. Chilled water is supplied from a chiller that is potentially located very far away, but refri gerant must come from a nearby condensing unit. When a refrigerant is used, the cooling coil is the evaporator in the vapor-compression refrigeration cycle. HVAC coils that use this direct-expansion of refrigerants are commonly called DX coils.Some DX coils are â€Å"microchannel† type. [11] On the air side of HVAC coils a significant difference exists between those used for heating, and those for cooling. Due to psychrometrics, air that is cooled often has moisture condensing out of it, except with extremely dry air flows. Heating some air increases that airflow's capacity to hold water. So heating coils need not consider moisture condensation on their air-side, but cooling coils must be adequately designed and selected to handle their particular latent (moisture) as well as the sensible (cooling) loads.The water that is removed is called condensate. For many climates, water or steam HVAC coils can be exposed to freezing conditions. Because water expands upon freezing, these somewhat expensive and difficult to replace thin-walled heat exchangers can easily be damaged or destroyed by just one freeze. As such, freeze protection of coils is a major concern of HVAC designers, installers, and operators. The introduction of indentations placed within the heat exchange fins controlled condensation, allowing water molecules to remain in the cooled air.This invention allowed for refrigeration without icing of the cooling mechanism. [12] The heat exchangers in direct-combustion furnaces, typical in many residences, are not ‘coils'. They are, instead, gas-to-air heat exchangers that are typically made of stamped steel sheet metal. The combustion products pass on one side of these heat exchangers, and air to heat on the other. A cracked heat exchanger is therefore a dangerous situation that requires immediate attention because combustion products may enter living space. Spiral heat exchangers Schematic drawing of a spiral heat exchanger.A spiral heat exchang er (SHE), may refer to a helical (coiled) tube configuration, more generally, the term refers to a pair of flat surfaces that are coiled to form the two channels in a counter-flow arrangement. Each of the two channels has one long curved path. A pair of fluid ports are connected tangentially to the outer arms of the spiral, and axial ports are common, but optional. [13] The main advantage of the SHE is its highly efficient use of space. This attribute is often leveraged and partially reallocated to gain other improvements in performance, according to well known tradeoffs in heat exchanger design. A notable tradeoff is capital cost vs operating cost. ) A compact SHE may be used to have a smaller footprint and thus lower all-around capital costs, or an over-sized SHE may be used to have less pressure drop, less pumping energy, higher thermal efficiency, and lower energy costs. Construction The distance between the sheets in the spiral channels are maintained by using spacer studs that were welded prior to rolling. Once the main spiral pack has been rolled, alternate top and bottom edges are welded and each end closed by a gasketed flat or conical cover bolted to the body.This ensures no mixing of the two fluids occurs. Any leakage is from the periphery cover to the atmosphere, or to a passage that contains the same fluid. [14] Self cleaning SHEs are often used in the heating of fluids that contain solids and thus tend to foul the inside of the heat exchanger. The low pressure drop lets the SHE handle fouling more easily. The SHE uses a â€Å"self cleaning† mechanism, whereby fouled surfaces cause a localized increase in fluid velocity, thus increasing the drag (or fluid friction) on the fouled surface, thus helping to dislodge the blockage and keep the heat exchanger clean. The internal walls that make up the heat transfer surface are often rather thick, which makes the SHE very robust, and able to last a long time in demanding environments. † They are also easily cleaned, opening out like an oven where any build up of foulant can be removed by pressure washing. Self-Cleaning Water filters are used to keep the system clean and running without the need to shut down or replace cartridges and bags. Flow arrangements Concurrent and countercurrent flow. There are three main types of flows in a spiral heat exchanger: 1. Counter-current Flow: Fluids flow in opposite directions.These are used for liquid-liquid, condensing and gas cooling applications. Units are usually mounted vertically when condensing vapour and mounted horizontally when handling high concentrations of solids. 2. Spiral Flow/Cross Flow: One fluid is in spiral flow and the other in a cross flow. Spiral flow passages are welded at each side for this type of spiral heat exchanger. This type of flow is suitable for handling low density gas, which passes through the cross flow, avoiding pressure loss. It can be used for liquid-liquid applications if one liquid has a cons iderably greater flow rate than the other. . Distributed Vapour/Spiral flow: This design is that of a condenser, and is usually mounted vertically. It is designed to cater for the sub-cooling of both condensate and non-condensables. The coolant moves in a spiral and leaves via the top. Hot gases that enter leave as condensate via the bottom outlet. Applications The SHE is good for applications such as pasteurization, digester heating, heat recovery, pre-heating (see: recuperator), and effluent cooling. For sludge treatment, SHEs are generally smaller than other types of heat exchangers. [citation needed] SelectionDue to the many variables involved, selecting optimal heat exchangers is challenging. Hand calculations are possible, but many iterations are typically needed. As such, heat exchangers are most often selected via computer programs, either by system designers, who are typically engineers, or by equipment vendors. To select an appropriate heat exchanger, the system designers (or equipment vendors) would firstly consider the design limitations for each heat exchanger type. Though cost is often the primary criterion, several other selection criteria are important: * High/low pressure limits * Thermal performance Temperature ranges * Product mix (liquid/liquid, particulates or high-solids liquid) * Pressure drops across the exchanger * Fluid flow capacity * Cleanability, maintenance and repair * Materials required for construction * Ability and ease of future expansion * Material selection, such as copper, aluminum, carbon steel, stainless steel, nickel alloys, and titanium. Small-diameter coil technologies are becoming more popular in modern air conditioning and refrigeration systems because they have better rates of heat transfer than conventional sized condenser and evaporator coils with round copper tubes and aluminium or opper fin that have been the standard in the HVAC industry. Small diameter coils can withstand the higher pressures required by the new generation of environmentally friendlier refrigerants. Two small diameter coil technologies are currently available for air conditioning and refrigeration products: copper microgroove[15] and brazed aluminium microchannel. [16] Choosing the right heat exchanger (HX) requires some knowledge of the different heat exchanger types, as well as the environment where the unit must operate.Typically in the manufacturing industry, several differing types of heat exchangers are used for just the one process or system to derive the final product. For example, a kettle HX for pre-heating, a double pipe HX for the ‘carrier’ fluid and a plate and frame HX for final cooling. With sufficient knowledge of heat exchanger types and operating requirements, an appropriate selection can be made to optimise the process. [17] Monitoring and maintenance Online monitoring of commercial heat exchangers is done by tracking the overall heat transfer coefficient. The overall heat transfer coeffi cient tends to decline over time due to fouling.U=Q/A? Tlm By periodically calculating the overall heat transfer coefficient from exchanger flow rates and temperatures, the owner of the heat exchanger can estimate when cleaning the heat exchanger is economically attractive. Integrity inspection of plate and tubular heat exchanger can be tested in situ by the conductivity or helium gas methods. These methods confirm the integrity of the plates or tubes to prevent any cross contamination and the condition of the gaskets. Mechanical integrity monitoring of heat exchanger tubes may be conducted through Nondestructive methods such as eddy current testing.Fouling Main article: Fouling A heat exchanger in a steam power station contaminated with macrofouling. Fouling occurs when impurities deposit on the heat exchange surface. Deposition of these impurities can decrease heat transfer effectiveness significantly over time and are caused by: * Low wall shear stress * Low fluid velocities * Hi gh fluid velocities * Reaction product solid precipitation * Precipitation of dissolved impurities due to elevated wall temperatures The rate of heat exchanger fouling is determined by the rate of particle deposition less re-entrainment/suppression.This model was originally proposed in 1959 by Kern and Seaton. Crude Oil Exchanger Fouling. In commercial crude oil refining, crude oil is heated from 21  °C to 343  °C prior to entering the distillation column. A series of shell and tube heat exchangers typically exchange heat between crude oil and other oil streams to heat the crude to 260  °C prior to heating in a furnace. Fouling occurs on the crude side of these exchangers due to asphaltene insolubility. The nature of asphaltene solubility in crude oil was successfully modeled by Wiehe and Kennedy. 18] The precipitation of insoluble asphaltenes in crude preheat trains has been successfully modeled as a first order reaction by Ebert and Panchal[19] who expanded on the work of Ke rn and Seaton. Cooling Water Fouling. Cooling water systems are susceptible to fouling. Cooling water typically has a high total dissolved solids content and suspended colloidal solids. Localized precipitation of dissolved solids occurs at the heat exchange surface due to wall temperatures higher than bulk fluid temperature. Low fluid velocities (less than 3  ft/s) allow suspended solids to settle on the heat exchange surface.Cooling water is typically on the tube side of a shell and tube exchanger because it's easy to clean. To prevent fouling, designers typically ensure that cooling water velocity is greater than 0. 9 m/s and bulk fluid temperature is maintained less than 60  °C. Other approaches to control fouling control combine the â€Å"blind† application of biocides and anti-scale chemicals with periodic lab testing. Maintenance Plate heat exchangers must be disassembled and cleaned periodically. Tubular heat exchangers can be cleaned by such methods as acid cleani ng, sandblasting, high-pressure water jet, bullet cleaning, or drill rods.In large-scale cooling water systems for heat exchangers, water treatment such as purification, addition of chemicals, and testing, is used to minimize fouling of the heat exchange equipment. Other water treatment is also used in steam systems for power plants, etc. to minimize fouling and corrosion of the heat exchange and other equipment. A variety of companies have started using water borne oscillations technology to prevent biofouling. Without the use of chemicals, this type of technology has helped in providing a low-pressure drop in heat exchangers. In nature HumansThe human nasal passages serve as a heat exchanger, which warms air being inhaled and cools air being exhaled. You can demonstrate its effectiveness by putting your hand in front of your face and exhaling, first through your nose and then through your mouth. Air exhaled through your nose is substantially cooler. [20][21] In species that have e xternal testes (such as humans), the artery to the testis is surrounded by a mesh of veins called the pampiniform plexus. This cools the blood heading to the testis, while reheating the returning blood. Birds, fish, marine mammalsCountercurrent exchange conservation circuit Further information: Countercurrent exchange in biological systems â€Å"Countercurrent† heat exchangers occur naturally in the circulation system of fish, whales and other marine mammals. Arteries to the skin carrying warm blood are intertwined with veins from the skin carrying cold blood, causing the warm arterial blood to exchange heat with the cold venous blood. This reduces the overall heat loss in cold waters. Heat exchangers are also present in the tongue of baleen whales as large volumes of water flow through their mouths. 22][23] Wading birds use a similar system to limit heat losses from their body through their legs into the water. Carotid rete The carotid rete is a counter-current heat exchangi ng organ in some ungulates. The blood ascending the carotid arteries on its way to the brain, flows via a network of vessels where heat is discharged to the veins of cooler blood descending from the nasal passages. The carotid rete allows Thomson's gazelle to maintain its brain almost 3 °C cooler than the rest of the body, and therefore aids in tolerating bursts in metabolic heat roduction such as associated with outrunning cheetahs (during which the body temperature exceeds the maximum temperature at which the brain could function). [24] In industry Heat exchangers are widely used in industry both for cooling and heating large scale industrial processes. The type and size of heat exchanger used can be tailored to suit a process depending on the type of fluid, its phase, temperature, density, viscosity, pressures, chemical composition and various other thermodynamic properties.In many industrial processes there is waste of energy or a heat stream that is being exhausted, heat exch angers can be used to recover this heat and put it to use by heating a different stream in the process. This practice saves a lot of money in industry, as the heat supplied to other streams from the heat exchangers would otherwise come from an external source that is more expensive and more harmful to the environment. Heat exchangers are used in many industries, including: * Waste water treatment Refrigeration * Wine and beer making * Petroleum refining In waste water treatment, heat exchangers play a vital role in maintaining optimal temperatures within anaerobic digesters to promote the growth of microbes that remove pollutants. Common types of heat exchangers used in this application are the double pipe heat exchanger as well as the plate and frame heat exchanger. In aircraft In commercial aircraft heat exchangers are used to take heat from the engine's oil system to heat cold fuel. 25] This improves fuel efficiency, as well as reduces the possibility of water entrapped in the fu el freezing in components. [26] Early 2008, a Boeing 777 flying as British Airways Flight 38 crashed just short of the runway. In an early-2009 Boeing-update sent to aircraft operators, the problem was identified as specific to the Rolls-Royce engine oil-fuel flow heat exchangers. [26] Other heat exchangers, or Boeing 777 aircraft powered by GE or Pratt and Whitney engines, were not affected by the problem. [26]

Thursday, August 29, 2019

Simulation Lab

Simulation Lab Group #5 Dynamic Systems 1, ME3211 David Cramer Percentage of Work_______________________________________ Cory Spelman Percentage of Work_______________________________________ Table of Contents Objective Calculations Experimentation Results Appendices Objective The objective of this lab was to understand how to use the Working Model 2D software and to apply this knowledge to create a vibration absorber. Part 1 was to open up a demo file and analyze the force vs. time of the piston. Part 2 was to create a vibration absorber. The reason for creating the vibration absorber was to limit the motion of a punch press. This press causes unwanted vibrations that affect nearby equipment during operation. The vibration of this press was to be dissipated using a mass and spring sized appropriately for the size of the press and its motion. Calculations The reciprocal motion of the press was given by Equation 1: RPM=440+5*group number? (1) where group number was 5 and RPM is the reciprocal motion of the press in revolutions per minute. This motion was converted to radians per second by using Equation 2: ? RPM*2? 60 (2) where (2? )/(60) was used to convert the revolutions per minute to radians per second. The mass of the press and table top was given as 320kg. The mass for the vibration absorber, ma, was calculated using Equation 3: kama=? 2 (3) where ? was found based on Equation 2 and ka was found using Equation 4: ka=(4450+50*group number) (4) where group number was 5 and ka was found in units of Newtons per meter . These values were used to construct a mass spring system suspended from the table top with mass ma and spring ka. Another mass spring system was created with a mass five times larger than the previous mass and an equivalent spring necessary to satisfy Equation 3. The values found from the calculations are summarized below in Table 1 and the calculations are attached in Appendix A. | Table 1: Calculations| | ? (rad/s)| ka (N/m)| ma (kg)| 1| 15. 5| 4700| 19. 6| 2| 15. 5| 23545| 98| Experimentation For Part 1 the demo file Piston2. m2d was used to analyze the forces on a piston on a crank moving at 500 and 6500 RPM. The animation step was changed from the default value to 0. 001 seconds to allow more data points to be plotted. The plot displayed force in X-direction vs. time that was provided by the Working Model simulation and also a second set of data points for the theoretical force that was calculated using the mass of the piston and its X-acceleration. The objective of Part 2 of th is lab was to create a mass spring element to dampen the vibrations of a punch press. For this part the gravity was turned off so that the displacement of the press table caused by the forcing function could be analyzed without the effect of gravity. The punch press table was modeled in Working Model as a rectangle with a mass of 320kg which was given. The two legs were each modeled as a spring damper system with stiffness and damping given as 15N/mm and 500kg/s respectively. The sinusoidal motion of the press was modeled as a force in the Y-direction with the value given by Equation 5: F=-150sin(? t) (5) where F was the force in Newtons and ? was the value found using Equation 2. The force was applied to the center of the press table. The simulation was run on the system and a plot of the displacement of the table vs. time was created. A spring with stiffness ka found using Equation 4 was attached to the bottom of the center of the table and mass ma found using Equation 3 was attached to the other end of the spring to act as a vibration damper. The displacement of t he table top vs. ime was again plotted as well as the displacement of ma vs. time. The test procedure was repeated using a ma value 5 times larger than the previous ma value and a different ka value sized accordingly. The values for displacement for this setup were also plotted. All data series for the displacement of ma were imposed on the same chart to allow comparison between the three tests. The model used for this simulation can be seen below in Figure 1: Figure 1, [ ] Results Using demo file Piston2. wm2d a crank with a running speed of 500 RPM, was analyzed in the program for three seconds. After looking at the calculations, calculate the theoretical force by taking the mass multiplied by the acceleration. Figure 2 below shows the theoretical force compared to the actual force. Figure 1 The calculated theoretical force is similar to the actual force relative to time but differs in the directional force by being less than what the actual value really is. Changing the engine speed to 6500 RPM and repeating the process as mentioned above is the next part. Figure 3 shows the theoretical force compared to the actual force with an engine speed of 6500 RPM. Figure 3 The difference between the theoretical and actual force for 6500 RPM is the same as for the speed of 500 RPM. The theoretical force doesn’t have as much directional force as the actual. As predicted, the 6500 RPM engine moved at a much faster rate than the 500 RPM for the three seconds tested. It created many more data points and more values to compare. For part two of the experiment, a mass spring element to dampen the vibrations of a punch press was created. After calculating the ka and ma values as shown in Table 1,the mass was to be multiplied by five and the spring constant must represent the ass calculated which is also shown in Table 1. A plot was created to show the displacement of the table and displacement of ma after the addition of the absorber for both sets of masses.. Figure 4 below shows the top without dampering, the top with a damper of 19. 6 kg , and a top with a damper of 98 kg. Figure 4 Comparing the three different table top displacements, the second absor ber clearly works the best. Based on figure 4, it shows to be more constant and steadily goes towards zero at a faster rate than the top without dampering and the top with a damper of 19. 6 kg. The displacement of the top with the damper of 19. 6 kg and the top with the damper of 98 kg was plotted based on its displacement of ma. Figure 5 below shows the comparison between the two table tops with different dampering. Figure 5 Based on the given information from the graph, the second absorber works better yet again. The ma of the 19. 6 absorber isn’t as constant and dispersed everywhere while the ma of the 98 absorber is more constant and has a steady range for the seconds that it was tested. References 1 Design Simulation Technologies. (2007). Working Model 2D [Computer program]

Summary of How Motorola put CPFR into Action Cederlund Essay

Summary of How Motorola put CPFR into Action Cederlund - Essay Example la found out that the ordinary limitation of CPFR launch is over-emphasizing and since streamlined replenishment is the primary goal planning and forecasting is driven by spending the time appropriately. In order to ensure a successful CPFR implementation the core company operations team employed successful implementation prerequisites such as sell-through and inventory to its performance and goals’ plan. Additionally, all team members had retail customers’ names indicated on their shirts. In order to reach a successful implementation Motorola ensured that it realigned its business strategy. This is because CPFR fundamentally requires business strategy change from a customer transaction related to a collaborative relationship. In order to rationalize the process of planning, replenishment, and forecasting, Cederlund’s group implemented a formal communication channels at several points along with the supply chain. The Cederlund’s group then assisted in rethinking and redefining the structure of the organization in order to change the structure in a collaborative relationship. One important move that the company made was to form account-based performance teams. Another important move that Motorola made was to tune up Collaborative Information Systems. As a result, Motorola’s relationship with its retailers changed, and in order for the information systems and organizational structure to align with this change, the inter-organizational relationship also changed. Putting CPFR into action brought significant benefits to both Motorola and its retailers. For instance, the mean absolute percent error (MAPE) is currently a fraction of the previous levels. This also brought quick inventory reductions at the distribution centers since the need for buffering stock

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Health Care Finance (Module 1-CBT) Research Paper

Health Care Finance (Module 1-CBT) - Research Paper Example The industry average for health care industry is a current ratio of 2:1. Days in accounts receivables show how many days it will take for OHC to collect its outstanding receivables. As shown from above, OHC took 32.91 days (on average) to collect its receivables in 2007; and this situation has worsened in 2008 where the company took 55.22 days to collect the outstanding amounts. These high values show that there may be a problem in revenue collection process and the company needs to address the issue quickly to ensure that receivables are collected in quick time. The analysis of liquidity ratios shows that the company is fairly liquid. It is able to meet its short term obligations. However, the days in accounts receivable has worsened than 2007 and some action may be required to reduce the number of days to collect outstanding funds. The operating margin ratio was 76.5% in 2007 which shows that the cost of services provided by OHC is small as compared to the revenue generated (that is, for every $1 revenue, the company incurs an operating cost of $0.235. This shows healthy performance. The operating margin ratio has improved in 2008 (as it increases to 78.5%). This shows that the operating cost has gone further down as compared to 2007. As shown from above, OHC was fairly profitable in 2007 and the gross profit margin has increased in 2008. Although, it may be argued that healthcare organization should not have very high profit margins as this indicates that they are charging high fee from patients. c. Return on Assets (ROA) The ROA for OHC is calculated as below: Return on Assets for OHC Medical Center Year Net Income / Total Assets = ROA 2007 $37,370,000 / $44,450,000 = 84.07% 2008 $34,177,000 / $49,370,000 = 69.23% Although the company has been profitable during 2007 and 2008; but the above table shows that OHC has not been able to effectively utilize its assets towards generation of profits. The Return on Assets was 84% in 2007 which was satisfactory but it declined sharply in 2008 to 69%. This may not be acceptable to shareholders as this indicate

Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Net-Centric Computing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Net-Centric Computing - Essay Example Net-centric computing is designed to achieve optimal performance of all the resources. James Robertson, the founder of Step Two designs, a vendor neutral consultancy located in Australia has an article on 10 principles of effective information management  (KM.   1 November 2005). The article describes the concerns that users face in the implementation of information management. He also discusses the challenges in implementing information management effectively (Robertson, 2005). QUESTION: Are Robertson’s 10 principles easier or harder to apply in the context of a network? The application of James Robertson’s principles on a network is much easier (Albert, 2002). This can be attributed to the fact that a network, though varying in complexity, is somewhat less complicated than information management. This is discussed by breaking down the principles in a networking scenario. Recognize (and manage) complexity This principle explains the recognition and management of co mplexity. According to Robertson, this should be done when faced with complexity and a dynamic approach should be taken. When setting up a network, many variables are considered because the network is bound to grow and advance. With advancement complexities are bound to arise. With this principle, the complexities are easily projected, recognized and contingencies put in place to manage them as they arise. Focus on adoption The biggest challenge this principle faces in information management is that the staff need to actively participate and if they don’t, the required information won’t be captured. Before a network is designed the necessity of it has to be thoroughly evaluated, that is, who are the users, are there appropriate applications available, are the services and data coordinated to ensure efficiency? With all this needs evaluated, when it comes to implementation, adoption is not a problem. Deliver tangible and visible benefits Before a network is designed, go als have to be set. Design testing has to be done before implementation. During testing, all the goals have to be met with sufficient results before implementation; this ensures that the network always delivers (Robertson, 2005). Prioritize according to business needs The need for priorities is always there, and it always determines which tasks will be done first. In a network, this eliminates the time wasted on tasks that will not bring efficiency first, so the most important and critical are performed first. Take a journey of a thousand steps Because it is almost impossible to account for every detail in any setting, in a network the principle will dictate that, the most optimal solution be used and the changes, that will occur, will be handled periodically. Provide strong leadership In any project, the capability of the project leader will always determine the success of that project. In networking, a lot of coordination is required between the different sections, and with strong leadership, the project runs smoother, and probability for errors, and failure is significantly reduced. Mitigate risks No matter how well planned a project may be, errors can always happen, for example, the failure of a server is always unseen. Good risk management always reduces the damage that is done when problems occur. For example, frequent backup, will reduce the amount of data lost during a server failure. Communicate extensively Good communication is always essential when many parties are involved. A network is composed

Monday, August 26, 2019

Writer's Chioce Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Writer's Chioce - Movie Review Example For instance, the movie depicts the overflowing of Manhattan as a wind-caused surge, even though this epic wave, which is also known as tsunami could only be stimulated by a marine earthquake or tremor or a meteorite strike, rather than by a hurricane or an alteration in the North Atlantic Current. The stun frosting in the view of the hurricane goes against the laws of thermodynamics (Rehill, 2009). The filmmakers are honest about the truth that it is not a precisely realistic scenario. The promotion material given by the film firm Fox says that once scientists converse about sudden climate change they imply ten or five years, but for theatrical reasons, the whole thing was condensed to a couple of weeks. In order to depict the dramatic impacts of a vital climatic catastrophe in a short time span, they only took acknowledged weather limits such as storm surges, tornados, hailstorms and cyclones blizzards. Conversely, given the constraints and rules of the genre, it is astonishing to what level the filmmakers have attempted to include some sensible background. For instance, in the early moments of the film, the director reveals a United Nations climate convention in Delhi where Jack Hall talks about the probable risk of a blackout of the North Atlantic Current (Ebert, 2005). During the convention, Jack Hall states that a blackout may occur in a thousand years or hundred years, or may not at all. Several real climate experts have said a similar thing. In this manner, the actor shows what climate experts think in a realistic way in the movie. The director of the movie shows the politics of weather change. It is disturbingly realistic how the leader of the United States delegation, who is the vice president in the movie, reacts to Halls speech. This implies that small prospects with few words of dialogue are smartly used to initiate a number of key conflicts and ideas, which are extremely recognizable to climatologists but not

Sunday, August 25, 2019

Dangerous Virus of the 21st Century Dissertation

Dangerous Virus of the 21st Century - Dissertation Example It has also to be appreciated that the virus is even a health risk to the researchers and this may account for the seemingly almost absence research on finding either its cure or treatment. All in all, it can be said that even though the disease is fairly widely known among the medical community, the general public appears not to have enough information and this was clear during the recent outbreak. Going forward, it will be interesting to note the efforts that will be directed towards the disease in the coming months and years given that the latest Ebola outbreak appears to have come under control. The outbreak of Ebola virus in parts of West Africa, and specifically Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea surprised the world and filled people with fear. This is because, for the first time, the scale of the outbreak was simply unprecedented (Bradford, 2014, Close, 1995). Many people like never before were affected and killed by the virus, and within days, it had captured the attention of the world. According to several studies, Ebola virus can first be traced to an outbreak in 1976 which affected Sudan and former Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo or simply DRC) (CDC, 2015, Bradford, 2014 and Cohen, 2001). The name Ebola came from the Ebola River which is found in the DRC (Cohen, 2001). Ebola is a viral disease, popularly known as Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever. It is fatal if left untreated, and fatalities can reach up to 90 percent of the cases (Close, 1995). The most important fact is that Ebola has no known cure and can only be managed by ensuring that the patient is hydrated as it involves a lot of loss of the body fluids. Ebola outbreaks in the past have mainly been confined to rural areas where populations are mostly sparse. This is perhaps why the previous outbreaks were easily contained after a few deaths (Centre for Health Protection, 2014).

Saturday, August 24, 2019

Test for Effectiveness of Appetite-Reducing Drug Essay

Test for Effectiveness of Appetite-Reducing Drug - Essay Example Describe the four different threats to internal validity [intact groups, extraneous variables, subject loss, and expectancies]. How do these threats apply to the following study? There are four threats to internal validity in experiments. The assignment of intact groups, rather than individuals, compromises the randomness of the sample and therefore skews the results. The presence of extraneous variables confounds the findings and renders them uninterpretable. Subject loss due to any one particular condition more than others renders some subjects unable to continue. Finally expectations held by either the subjects or experimenters, or both, tend to affect their conduct during the experiment which may affect the results. Internal validity is compromised in this experiment. The biggest threat to the experiment’s internal validity is the presence of expectations of the experimenter which may create a bias in the results obtained. In the given situation, the experimenter is not bl ind as to who among the students are given the placebo, the tested drug, and the new experimental drug. While it is mentioned that the experimenter is determined to remain unbiased, this is not enough as psychological bias may be unintended but nevertheless present in the results. External validity does not seem to be an issue here, because the sample chosen was randomly selected and therefore may be assumed to represent the relevant population of KU students. Also, since all groups are given the same examination that covers the contents of the full ten week course, and no other variable had been varied except the test variable (the experimental drug), then chance variables... The objective of the experiment to be designed should determine whether or not the experimental drug is effective in reducing the appetite of the individual ingesting it. Â   The procedure would involve administering the drug to the test group and monitoring the progress in the food consumption (proxied by the relative change in weight of the subjects) Â  of the test group against a control group. Â  In order for the control group to be blind to which group they belonged, they will be given placebos which are known to have no effects on the appetite. The experimental method to be used would be the independent group design, the alternative to the repeated measures design group. Â  Repeated measures design is not applicable to this assignment because for repeated measures, the same subjects repeatedly undergo all the procedures at intervals, and reactions to the test condition are observed when the condition is applied and when it is withdrawn. Â  This will not do because the succ essful administration of the drug would presumably include a weight loss, and repeated treatment (to reduce appetite) may reasonably cause a drop in weight. The loss in weight would be a permanent change to the subject, whether as a result of the treatment or not, and withdrawal of the treatment does not necessarily cause a reversal to pre-treatment conditions. It therefore defies the reason for the alternate application and removal of treatment. Â  Furthermore, it is ethically questionable to withdraw a treatment.

Friday, August 23, 2019

Interviewing the Sales Manager of Coke Company Essay

Interviewing the Sales Manager of Coke Company - Essay Example Interviewing the Sales Manager of Coke Company The drink then began selling at a lower price at Jacobs’ pharmacy. However, Asa G. Candler, a famous personality, transformed the invention into a real business when he started to give away coupons to people to taste Coke. Since then, the Coke drink has evolved tremendously to become the largest soft drink company in the world retailing in over two hundred countries globally. Similarly, it has taken steps in rebranding and protecting their brand from the unique bottles that the soft drink comes in. Additionally, loyal customers who compare it with no other similar product have globally appreciated the drink. Interviewer: Thank you for that very comprehensive response. The next question I would like to ask you is what product or service does your organization manufacture or offer. Sales Manager: The Coke Company deals with nonalcoholic drinks as their sole business. It has over 3,500 brands of drinks available in the market. Similarly, they have segmented their market to provid e a brand the suits each segment. The company deals with a range of drinks from fruit drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and soya based drinks. Additionally,the company has greatly diversified enhancing its capacity to meet consumer needs thus maintaining the topmost position at a global level. ... However, the market is incredibly dynamic; something pleasant can be meaningless in the immediate future. For this reason, the Coke Company has significantly invested in engineering their drinks to meet the current needs of the market. Additionally, market diversity in terms of culture, gender, age, race and religion have also played a major role in defining the available types of markets hence even making the Company to go far much deeper to satisfy the needs of these markets without interfering or going against these differences. Interviewer: What is the company’s mission statement? Sales Manager: The Coke Company has assessed the current trend globally and has considered several factors, in coming up with a meaningful vision, mission and core values. This is because they have to ensure that the corporation will be operational in future and retain relevancy. Additionally, the visualization, mission and core value act as a road map for the company hence will provide them with a competitive edge against its rivals. The mission of Coke declares the purpose and provides standards of which actions and decisions are measured. For this reason, the mission is to refresh the world, bring happiness and inspire people to be positive. Additionally, it also brings a difference and adds value. Interviewer: Could you please explain the Social responsibility and ethical policies of the company briefly. Sales Manager: Coke has greatly promoted communal responsibility; for instance, it has sponsored many youth events and organized many tournaments including football and other talent searches. Similarly, the company has also played a significant part in sponsoring the Olympics and

Thursday, August 22, 2019

NA Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

NA - Essay Example Blanchard, Ken Blanchard (Author) †º Visit Amazon's Ken Blanchard Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Zigarmi and Patricia Zigarmi (Author) †º Visit Amazon's Patricia Zigarmi Page Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author Are you an author? Learn about Author Central Drea categorized the different types of people in four classes, according to their level of competence and commitment. The categorization is as follows: C1: These employees show low levels of skills but high level of commitment. These individuals are highly motivated therefore they cooperate and show eagerness to improve their skills. They take directions in a very positive and productive manner. C2: These employees possess reasonable level of skills, however, not enough to take the responsibility of the task independently. It might be a new task or nature of work for them but they show willingness to do the work. C3: Such employees possess high levels of skills and are very experienced in their line of work. However, they lack the confidence to take responsibility of the task independently. C4: These types of employees are very skilled and confident enough to take the whole responsibility of tasks on their own shoulders. ... styles of leadership for the management of different types of individuals (depending on their level of commitment and expertise): Directing: The roles are defined for the subordinates by the leader and the tasks are explained to them. The tasks are monitored very closely for their precision and accuracy. The leader has full power to make decisions therefore minimal suggestions are taken from the subordinates. Coaching: The leader is responsible for the definition of roles and tasks. However, the leader takes suggestions from the subordinates in the decision making process. Supporting: The decisions are made with mutual consent (between the subordinates and the leader) about the approaches that should be followed in the execution of tasks. More control is with the individuals who actually perform the task. Delegating: The leader participates in the decision making processes, however, the extent and time of his participation is decided by the subordinate. The subordinates (who are assi gned the work) have full control over the tasks. 2. Utilization of the Information in the Practical Field The book highlights an important aspect of leadership that is often ignored in the organizations; the match between the leadership style of the leader with the maturity level of his group members. Productivity can only be witnessed if the tasks and roles that are assigned by the leader fall under the competence level of the subordinates. The reader of the book gains useful knowledge about the different styles of leadership that seem to be simple enough to be practiced in real life. The authors have given simple explanations and details about the situational leadership theory that can be grasped and adapted by readers in an effective manner. The first step in the application of this

Family Movie Essay Example for Free

Family Movie Essay Mrs. Doubtfire is a movie about something that almost every American family faces, divorce. The film stars Sally Field and Robin Williams as parents with conflicting parenting styles and beliefs, who end up divorcing with a bloody battle for the children’s custody. The children are thrown into this mess and the movie showcases how each of them deal with the divorce. Lydia is the rebellious preteen who doesn’t understand why the family dynamic has to change. Chris, the younger brother is the athletic member of the family. Natalie is the small wide eyed child who is still trying to comprehend why daddy doesn’t live at home anymore. The theme of the movie centers around many parenting and family questions such as: How does one properly raise children? Is there really one single parenting style that works? Is it really possible for divorcing parents to set aside their differences for the sake of the children? It is a glimpse into how differently a father would raise his children if given a chance to do so without interference or boundaries. It reminds us that once parents learn to listen to each other instead of fighting with each other during divorce proceedings they will finally come around to doing what is best for their children. The movie introduces the viewers to the changing dynamic of the American family. Mothers are no longer stay at home moms who simply tend to children and cook meals. These days women like Miranda Hillard (Sally Field) are career driven heads of industries. It is also not uncommon these days to find a stay at home dad like Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams). The problem with this situation is that even though mothers bring home the bacon, they are still expected to come home and perform their wifely and motherly duties. Something that society has not once, throughout the history or marriages expected from the husband and father. Such a situation indeed takes its toll on any marriage and weakens the foundation of the family For fathers who are forced to stay home to care for the children, such a move is taken as an insult to their manhood and makes him feel dominated in the process. Let’s face it, men still find it insulting to take orders from a woman, even if that woman happens to be his wife or the mother of his children. In such a situation, the man will rebel the only way he knows how. By playing the good cop, bad cop game with the children. As you watch the  movie you are exposed to two highly different parenting styles. The mother’s rigid parenting style that is meant to instill discipline in the children and the laid back relationship between the father and the three children. Not to say that one style is better than the other but the truth is that, when children are in the middle of their parent’s divorce, they definitely need structure and balance to keep them focused and centered on their own lives and their attention deviated from the chaos brought on by divorce. In such situations, it would help if the parents could agree on how the children will be cared for and what their day to day routine will consist of. Once Mrs. Doubtfire is introduced to the family unit everyone seems to take something away from the experience. The children especially, they are able to convey their feelings and emotions to her as well as the father who is hiding in t he old woman’s costume. The mother, Hillary, also confides in Mrs. Doubtfire about her divorce and how she felt about her ex-husband. This type of communication was healthy for all members of the family including the father even though he was not really being himself. Once the movie hits the turning point and the cat is out of the bag sort of speaks, the children as well as Hillary are very sad to have lost their nanny. As she has become part of the family in just a short amount of time. They mourn the loss of here as if she actually died. But when they find out that Mrs. Doubtfire was there father the children become ecstatic and are overjoyed to see him. The mother is reluctant to communicate with the father after the great lengths he went through to see his children and also after what she had confided in Mrs. Doubtfire who she just found out was her ex-husband. But in the end the divorce worked out for the best and everybody grew as a result of the ensuing changes that they faced. The father was able to get a job and also was able to set up visitation services to see his children and the mother was able to find new love in a new man. This movie is just one of the pioneers in witnessing divorce and the many tolls it can take not only on the couple but the children and also their friends and family. With a little bit of comedy they were able to keep the audience entertained but also tell their story of divorce and how each person was able to deal with the issue.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Literature Review on Recruitment and Selection Process

Literature Review on Recruitment and Selection Process Employee selection is the process of collecting and evaluating information about an individual in order to extend an offer of employment (R.D. Gate wood and H.S. Field) Employee selection is part of the overall staffing process of the organization, which also includes human resource (HR) planning, recruitment, and retention activities. By doing human resource planning, the organization projects its likely demand for personnel with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), and compares that to the anticipated availability of such personnel in the internal or external labour markets. During the recruitment phase of staffing, the organization attempts to establish contact with potential job applicants by job postings within the organization, advertising to attract external applicants, employee referrals, and many other methods, depending on the type of organization and the nature of the job in question. Employee selection begins when a pool of applicants is generated by the or ganizations recruitment efforts. During the employee selection process, a firm decides which of the recruited candidates will be offered a position. Effective employee selection is a critical component of a successful organization. How employees perform their jobs is a major factor in determining how successful an organization will be. Job performance is essentially determined by the ability of an individual to do a particular job and the effort the individual is willing to put forth in performing the job. Through effective selection, the organization can maximize the probability that its new employees will have the necessary KSAs to do the jobs they were hired to do. Thus, employee selection is one of the two major ways (along with orientation and training) to make sure that new employees have the abilities required to do their jobs. It also provides the base for other HR practices-such as effective job design, goal setting, and compensation-that motivate workers to exert the effort needed to do their jobs effectively, according to Gatewood and Field. Job applicants differ along many dimensions, such as educational and work experience, personality characteristics, and innate ability and motivation levels. The logic of employee selection begins with the assumption that at least some of these individual differences are relevant to a persons suitability for a particular job. Thus, in employee selection the organization must: Determine the relevant individual differences (KSAs) needed to do the job and Identify and utilize selection methods that will reliably and validly assess the extent to which job applicants possess the needed KSAs. The organization must achieve these tasks in a way that does not illegally discriminate against any job applicants on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or veterans status. An Overview of the Selection process: Employee selection is itself a process consisting of several important stages, as shown in Exhibit 1. Since the organization must determine the individual KSAs needed to perform a job, the selection process begins with job analysis, which is the systematic study of the content of jobs in an organization. Effective job analysis tells the organization what people occupying particular jobs do in the course of performing their jobs. It also helps the organization determine the major duties and responsibilities of the job, as well as aspects of the job that are of minor or tangential importance to job performance. The job analysis often results in a document called the job description, which is a comprehensive document that details the duties, responsibilities, and tasks that make up a job. Because job analysis can be complex, time-consuming, and expensive, standardized job descriptions have been developed that can be adapted to thousands of jobs in organizations across the world. Two exa mples of such databases are the U.S. governments Standard Occupational Classification (SOC), which has information on at least 821 occupations, and the Occupational Information Network, which is also known as O*NET. O*NET provides job descriptions for thousands of jobs. An understanding of the content of a job assists an organization in specifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to do the job. These KSAs can be expressed in terms of a job specification, which is an 2.2 Main Responsibilities of HRM 2.2.1 Getting the Best Employees Workforce planning Specifying Jobs and Roles Recruiting Outsourcing Screening Applicants Staffing Selecting (Hiring) New Employees. 2.2.1.1 Workforce planning a) Objective of Workforce Planning Workforce planning is one of the most important activities in any organisation. It starts with analysis of the strategic position of the business. The results of this analysis then feed into a forecast of the required demand for labour by the organisation and how this is likely to be supplied. The final stage involves the creation and implementation of a human resources plan which aims to deliver the right number of the right people for the Organisation. b) Strategy for workforce plan The strategic position and requirement of the organisation have the most important influence on workforce planning: Organisation objectives and scope of activities: what are the objectives of the organisation? What products are to be sold, in which markets; using what kind of distribution? Organisation location where is the organisation located? How are the various business units, divisions, functions distributed across the various locations? What specialist skills are essential in each location? What are the workforce implications of decisions on organisation location? Labour environment: what is happening to the size of the labour force? What key population and employment trends (e.g. the increasing numbers of people working on temporary or short-term contracts) affect the ability of the business to recruit staff? What provision needs to be made for employee pension; what employment legislation Timetables to what extent does the strategic needs of the business require short-term changes in the workforce or can change be achieved over a longer period. For example, are new retailing or distribution locations to be opened in the next 12 months that require staff? c) Forecasting Workforce Demand Putting a good Human Resources plan together requires an organisation to make a reasonably accurate forecast of workforce size. Key factors to consider in this forecast are: Demand for existing and new products/projects Organisation disposals and product closures Introduction of new technology (e.g. new production equipment) Cost reduction programmes (most usually involve a reduction in staff numbers somewhere within the business) Changes to the business organisational structure Business acquisitions, joint ventures, strategic partnerships Forecasting Workforce Supply The starting point for estimating supply is the existing workforce: an Organisation should take account of: Scheduled changes to the composition of the existing workforce (e.g. promotions; job rotation) Normal loss of workforce e.g. through retirement, normal labour turnover Potential exceptional factors e.g. actions of competitors that create problems of staff retention By comparing the forecast workforce demand and supply it is possible to compile a forecast of net workforce size. This then needs to be compared with the strategic requirements for the organisation. The result is the workforce gap (which is a forecast of too few or too many workers). The role of HRM is to close the gap! HRM Policies to Close the Workforce Gap The key HRM activities to manage the workforce gap comprise: Recruitment plans (how many people, where, what type, how) Training plans Redundancy plans Staff Retention Plans (how the business intends to keep the staff it wants to retain) 2.2.1.2 Specifying jobs and roles This phenomenon includes two processes; Job specification Job description Job Specification Derived from job analysis, it is a statement of employee characteristics and qualifications required for satisfactory performance of defined duties and tasks comprising a specific job or function. A job specification describes the knowledge, skills, education, experience, and abilities organisation believes are essential to performing a particular job. The job specification is developed from the job analysis. A job specification cuts to the quick with organisation requirements whereas the job description defines the duties and requirements of an employees job in detail. The job specification provides detailed characteristics, knowledge, education, skills, and experience needed to perform the job, with an overview of the specific job requirements. Job Description Job descriptions are essential. Job descriptions are required for recruitment so that organisation and the applicants can understand the role. Job descriptions are necessary for all people in the organisation. A job description defines a persons role and accountability. Without a job description it is not possible for a person to properly commit to, or be held accountable for, a role. Smaller organisations commonly require staff and managers to cover a wider or more mixed range of responsibilities than in larger organisations (for example, the office manager role can comprise financial, HR, stock-control, scheduling and other duties). Therefore in smaller organisations, job descriptions might necessarily contain a greater number of listed responsibilities, perhaps 15-16. However, whatever the circumstances, the number of responsibilities should not exceed this, or the job description becomes unwieldy and ineffective. Some feature in most job descriptions are as following; communicating ( How to communicate with upper and lower level of management from his/her level) Panning and organising. Managing information and general administration support. Monitoring and reporting. Financial budgeting and control Producing things. Maintaining and repairing. Quality control. Health and safety. Using equipment and system. Developing and creating things. Importance of Job Description: Job descriptions improve an organisations ability to manage people and roles in the following ways: Clarifies organisation expectations for employees. Provides basis of measuring job performance Provides clear description of role for job candidates Provides a structure and discipline for company to understand and structure all jobs and ensure necessary activities, duties and responsibilities are covered by one job or another Provides continuity of role parameters irrespective of manager interpretation Enables pay and grading systems to be structured fairly and logically Prevents arbitrary interpretation of role content and limit by employee and employer and manager Essential reference tool in issues of employee/employer dispute Essential reference tool for discipline issues Provides important reference points for training and development areas Provides neutral and objective reference points for appraisals, performance reviews and counselling Enables formulation of skill set and behaviour set requirements per role Enables organisation to structure and manage roles in a uniform way, thus increasing efficiency and effectiveness of recruitment, training and development, organisational structure, work flow and activities, customer service, etc Enables factual view (as opposed to instinctual) to be taken by employees and managers in career progression and succession planning Job Description Components: Job Title Based at (Business Unit, Section if applicable) Position reports to (Line Manager title, location, and Functional Manager, location if matrix management structure) Job Purpose Summary (ideally one sentence) Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities, (or Duties. 8-15 numbered points) Dimensions/Territory/Scope/Scale indicators (the areas to which responsibilities extend and the scale of responsibilities staff, customers, territory, products, equipment, premises, etc) Date and other relevant internal references Hiring: Organisation basically has two main resources to get Human resources Internal Promotion Recruitment Outsourcing Internal Promotions: In this scenario existing employees of the organisation are promoted to fill the required place in the organisation. Recruitment: In this case organisation takes new employees in the organisation to fill the vacant places. Outsourcing: Outsourcing refers to a company those contracts with another company to provide services. Recruitment and Selection: Recruitment is the process of identifying that the organisation needs to employ someone up to the point at which application forms for the post have arrived at the organisation. Employee selection is the process of collecting and evaluating information about an individual in order to extend an offer of employment (R.D. Gate wood and H.S. Field) Employee selection is part of the overall staffing process of the organization, which also includes human resource (HR) planning, recruitment, and retention activities. By doing human resource planning, the organization projects its likely demand for personnel with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), and compares that to the anticipated availability of such personnel in the internal or external labour markets. During the recruitment phase of staffing, the organization attempts to establish contact with potential job applicants by job postings within the organization, advertising to attract external applicants, employee referrals, and many other methods, depending on the type of organization and the nature of the job in question. Employee selection begins when a pool of applicants is generated by the or ganizations recruitment efforts. During the employee selection process, a firm decides which of the recruited candidates will be offered a position. Effective employee selection is a critical component of a successful organization. How employees perform their jobs is a major factor in determining how successful an organization will be. Job performance is essentially determined by the ability of an individual to do a particular job and the effort the individual is willing to put forth in performing the job. Through effective selection, the organization can maximize the probability that its new employees will have the necessary KSAs to do the jobs they were hired to do. Thus, employee selection is one of the two major ways (along with orientation and training) to make sure that new employees have the abilities required to do their jobs. It also provides the base for other HR practices-such as effective job design, goal setting, and compensation-that motivate workers to exert the effort needed to do their jobs effectively. Gate wood and Field. Organisational document that details what is required to successfully perform a given job. The necessary KSAs are called job requirements, which is simply means they are thought to be necessary to perform the job. Job requirements are expressed in terms of desired education or training, work experience, specific aptitudes or abilities, and in many other ways. Care must be taken to ensure that the job requirements are based on the actual duties and responsibilities of the job and that they do not include irrelevant requirements that may discriminate against some applicants. For example, many organizations have revamped their job descriptions and specifications in the years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act to ensure that these documents contain only job-relevant content. Validity of selection methods Validity refers to the quality of a measure that exists when the measure assesses a construct. In the selection context, validity refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness, and usefulness of the inferences made about applicants during the selection process. It is concerned with the issue of whether applicants will actually perform the job as well as expected based on the inferences made during the selection process. The closer the applicants actual job performances match their expected performances, the greater the validity of the selection process. Selection methods A Organisation should use selection methods that reliably and accurately measure the needed qualifications. The reliability of a measure refers to its consistency. It is defined as the degree of self-consistency among the scores earned by an individual. Reliable evaluations are consistent across both people and time. Reliability is maximized when two people evaluating the same candidate provide the same ratings, and when the ratings of a candidate taken at two different times are the same. When selection scores are unreliable, their validity is diminished. Some of the factors affecting the reliability of selection measures are: Emotional and physical state of the candidate. Reliability suffers if candidates are particularly nervous during the assessment process. Lack of rapport with the administrator of the measure. Reliability suffers if candidates are turned off by the interviewer and thus do not show their stuff during the interview. Inadequate knowledge of how to respond to a measure. Reliability suffers if candidates are asked questions that are vague or confusing. Individual differences among respondents. If the range or differences in scores on the attribute measured by a selection device is large, that means the device can reliably distinguish among people. Question difficulty. Questions of moderate difficulty produce the most reliable measures. If questions are too easy, many applicants will give the correct answer and individual differences are lessened; if questions are too difficult, few applicants will give the correct answer and, again, individual differences are lessened. Length of measure. As the length of a measure increases, its reliability also increases. For example, an interviewer can better gauge an applicants level of interpersonal skills by asking several questions, rather than just one or two. Up to this point, our discussion has assumed that an employer needs to validate each of its: Studies summarizing a selection measures validity for similar jobs in other settings. Data showing the similarity between the jobs for which the validity evidence is reported and the job in the new employment setting. Data showing the similarity between the selection measures in the other studies composing the validity evidence and those measures to be used in the new employment setting. Making final selection: The extensiveness and complexity of selection processes vary greatly depending on factors such as the nature of the job, the number of applicants for each opening, and the size of the organization. A typical way of applying selection methods to a large number of applicants for a job requiring relatively high levels of KSAs would be the following: Use application blanks, resumes, and short interviews to determine which job applicants meet the minimum requirements for the job. If the number of applicants is not too large, the information provided by applicants can be verified with reference and/or background checks. Use extensive interviews and appropriate testing to determine which of the minimally qualified job candidates have the highest degree of the KSAs required by the job. Make contingent offers to one or more job finalists as identified by Step 2. Job offers may be contingent upon successful completion of a drug test or other forms of back-ground checks. General medical exams can only be given after a contingent offer is given.