Foundations of Mythology Short Answers Essay Example for Free

Foundations of Mythology Short Answers Essay How is the word myth used popularly? For example, what does the statement, â€Å"It’s a myth† mean? In contrast, how is the word myth used in the academic context? After considering the definition in your textbooks and course materials, write a definition in your own words. The statement â€Å"It’s a myth† to me means that it is not true or not fully true. There may be some truth but there is some false information added to the story. Myths- the rich rewards awaiting questioners willing to approach myths from numerous points of view are all open-ended fields of inquiry (Leonard and McClure, 2004). Myths are stories that are based on tradition. Some may have factual origins, while others are completely fictional. But myths are more than mere stories and they serve a more profound purpose in ancient and modern cultures (PBS, 2005). Myths have been around for a long time and they are stories and they have been told for a long time. Not all myths are true but there are cases that they do have some truth to them. There are myths that are throughout history and there is good and evil depending on the story that is being told. Why do myths from different cultures around the world address such similar or universal themes? Think about how myths explain the unknown and the tribulations of mankind. Many of the myths are passed down to all the different generations and they will keep going just like they always have. Some of the myths are the same as another but they are in with a different culture behind it because many people believe in different religions or just different beliefs. Myths explain the unknown and things that we do not even now happen at times. The subjects of myths reflect the universal concerns of mankind throughout history: birth, death, and the afterlife, the origin of man and the world, good and evil and the nature of man himself (PBS, 2005). The myths are made by people and they are then passed down for future generations to come so that they have an idea of what happened past years. With the different cultures there are many different religions and that is also a reason why there are so many different versions of the same myth, they are all just worded differently. What is the relationship between belief, knowledge, mythology, and religion? Where do mythology and religion intersect? Where do they diverge? Think about the function of myth and religion in helping human beings cope with change, suffering, loss, and death. A belief is something that we have been told and that we believe in, knowledge would be having the correct information for the truth. Mythology is the study of myths and can be a collection of myths, religion is what people believe in and it can be a collection of beliefs. Mythology and religion intersect because they both have beliefs and they have stories that are followed by Gods, heroes and so on. With the myths and religions it makes people cope with loss and death a little easier, not that either is ever a good thing but with the thought of seeing your loved one again someday when you go to heaven or to know that they are angels looking over us makes bad times such as these a little more bearable. Myths can be fun stories to believe in because of the meaning behind the stories, and learning about certain religions can be very interesting to where more and more people what to learn the differences that exist. How would you defend mythology’s relevance in contemporary culture? Think about familial and cultural traditions. Also, consider how mythology is used in the arts and in advertising to typify human experience. Mythology has had extensive influence on today and many years to come because there are many things that people research and want to know more about. Many people had to tell stories and talk about what they heard or what they were told because they did not have computers, printing and many other things that we have today. Many of the myths are told today that are interesting and still today makes people want to learn more which is exactly what myths are suppose to do, want to learn and believe in certain things. Today there are a lot of books paintings and many other inspirational things that makes everyone want to know what happened, along with all of us making our own myths today to pass down to future generations to come. The human experiences are great because just like a certain group of people that test the myths and find out if they are true or not but the whole time they are testing the myths they have fun doing so, along with teaching many of the myths that they are testing. References Leonard, S., McClure, M. (2004). Myth knowing: An introduction to world mythology. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. (2005). PBS. What is a Myth? Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/mythsandheroes/myths_what.html.

Stevensons Use of Literary Techniques in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyl

Stevenson's Use of Literary Techniques in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde In his novella "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde", Robert Louis Stevenson explores the dual nature of Victorian man, and his link with an age of hypocrisy. Whilst writing the story he obviously wanted to show the people of the time what happened behind closed doors. In Jekyll's suicide note he makes the following observation " I have observed that when I wore the semblance of Edward Hyde, none could come near to me at first without a visible misgiving of the flesh. This, as I take it, was because all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil." I believe that the underlying moral of this novella is that we are all comprised of good and evil, and that we should possess the ability to control and acknowledge the darker side of ourselves. Dr Jekyll is described as "a large, well made, smooth-faced man of fifty, with something of a slyish cast perhaps, but every mark of capacity and kindness". However, when angered "The large handsome face of Dr Jekyll grew pale to the very lips, and there came a blackness about his eyes". He is a very strong-minded man, as he argues about his will with Mr Utterson, however he does become addicted to Hyde, and too weak to oppose him. Mr Utterson after meeting Hyde for the first time, starts to feel sorry for his friend, however he does suggest that Jekyll has a dark past "was wild when he was young; a long while ago to be sure". Mr Hyde is presented as a very dark and sinister character. Hyde " was small and very plainly dressed, and the look of him, even at a distance, went somehow against the watcher's incli... ...l's mind to kill them both. By Jekyll killing, himself he sets both him, and Hyde free, although it is Hyde who is found when the cabinet door is forced open. This is because when Jekyll dies, he is emotionally and physically venerable, and Hyde shines through. So theoretically, it is Mr Hyde continues to exist temporarily when Dr Jekyll is gone. Therefore, I conclude that Stevenson explores the duality, which lies within man very well and aptly describes this phenomena in Jekyll's suicide note when he writes, " all human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil". However, I feel that he has not truly exploited the capabilities that could have been developed when sculpting Hyde's character. Jekyll's original experiment was to try to create a purely good man, however, he just ends up destroying his experiment and eventually himself.

Merton Truck Co

Case Analysis: Merton Truck Company Linear programming techniques can be used to not only determine the best production mix, but also to provide clues and data suggesting ways to improve profits. In 1988, Merton Truck Company was searching for ways to increase profits and ultimately its poor financial performance. Options being considered included changing their product mix by either removing or adding a product line, or renting capacity. In the following pages, the product mix and capacity options considered by Merton are evaluated, other factors and alternatives are discussed, and final recommendations are provided. Product Mix Based on the financials in 1988, Merton’s president suspected that discontinuing their Model 101 would result in stronger financial performance. With unit costs of $40,205 (including fixed overhead) and a sales price of $39,000, each sale of Model 101 resulted in a $1,205 loss. However, the president did not consider that fixed overhead (OH) was being allocated across all units, and the discontinuation of Model 101 would increase the overhead applied to Model 102. In reality, the $8. M in monthly fixed overhead exists regardless of the product mix and does not need to be allocated on a per unit basis to determine overall profit or financial performance. Therefore, fixed overhead was not considered until the end of each evaluation. In order to evaluate any alternative, we need to compare to current profit. Utilizing the data from Tables B and C to obtain production costs per unit as well as fixed overhead, Merton is currently making a profit of $1. 9M (Exhibit 1A). Since it was the specific request of the president, the impact of discontinuing Model 101 was evaluated. The first step was to determine the capacity of producing only Model 102, which is as follows based on Table A: Engine Assembly4,000 hours / 2 hours per unit = 2,000 units Metal Stamping6,000 hours / 2 hours per unit = 3,000 units Model 102 Assembly4,500 hours / 3 hours per unit = 1,500 units The resulting capacity of 1,500 units is the same as the current production level, so it was suspected immediately that discontinuing Model 101 would likely have a negative result. Without an increase in sales, discontinuing Model 101 would only result in increasing the fixed costs for Model 102 without increasing the revenue. As seen in Exhibit 1B, this would indeed result in a $1. 1M monthly loss for Merton. This is a phenomenon known as the death spiral, when the discontinuation of a seemingly unprofitable product causes otherwise profitable products to become unprofitable. Merton should continue to use that extra capacity to produce Model 101 to generate additional revenue and help absorb costs. The impact of making only Model 101was evaluated by determining the capacity using Table A: Engine Assembly4,000 hours / 1 hour per unit = 4,000 units Metal Stamping6,000 hours / 2 hours per unit = 3,000 units Model 101 Assembly5,000 hours / 2 hours per unit = 2,500 units As shown in Exhibit 1C, producing 2,500 units of Model 101 results in a $1. 1M loss. However, since the bottleneck is the Model 101 Assembly, additional capacity remains to produce Model 102 units: Engine Assembly1,500 hours remaining / 2 hours per unit = 750 units Metal Stamping1,000 hours remaining / 2 hours per unit = 500 units Model 102 Assembly4,500 hours / 3 hours per unit = 1,500 units Exhibit 1D shows that producing 500 units of Model 102 results in a $1. 4M profit; however, Merton is still better off in its current situation. In the current analysis, it is assumed that Model 102 Assembly cannot be used for Model 101, a logical assumptionsince Merton specifies the department where Model 103 will be made. However, if Model 102 Assembly can be used for Model 101, the bottleneck then becomes Metal Stamping at 3,000 units x $3,000 CM = $9. 0M – $8. 6M = $0. 4M profit. In a similar fashion, the ability to use Model 101 Assembly for Model 102 would also drastically change the impact of discontinuing Model 101. The bottleneck for producing only Model 102 would then become Engine Assembly at 2,000 units x $5,000 CM = $10. 0M – $8. 6M = $1. M profit. So far an improved product mix has not been identified, so linear programming was used to identify the production mix that would maximize profits using the following objective function: To maximize c1x1 +c2x2 Where: x1 = Number of Model 101 trucks to produce x2 = Number of Model 102 trucks to produce c1 = Contribution margin of Model 101 (excluding fixed costs) c2 = Contribution margin of Model 102 (excluding fixed costs) The contribution margins (CMs) were calculated in Exhibit 1 as: c1 = $3,000 c2 = $5,000 Subject to Constraints: Engine Assemblyx1 + 2Ãâ€"2 ? 4000 Metal Stamping2x1 + 2Ãâ€"2 ? 000 Model 101 Assembly2x1 ? 5000 Model 102 Assembly3x2 ? 4500 Negativityx1,x2 ? 0 Each constraint was graphed as a line by setting each variable to zero, and then determining which side of the line satisfied the equation by plugging in points (such as the origin). Once the relevant range of all the constraints was determined, the extreme points were clearly identified. The extreme points corresponding to the non-negativity, Model 102 Assembly, and Model 101 Assembly constraints were easy to identify, and the rest was determined by simultaneously solving the equations of intersecting lines. Exhibit 2 shows the graph, including the values in USD obtained when the extreme points are plugged into the equation. Many of the values were in accordance with expectations as they corresponded to the earlier analyses. The optimal product mix was identified as 2000 units of Model 101 and 1000 units of Model 102, which would generate $11. 0M – $8. 6M fixed costs = $2. 4M profit. The same result was obtained when the analysis was done in Excel Solver (see attached Exhibit 3, Model 101 & 102 Solver Results). The binding constraints seen in Exhibit 4 are no longer the Model Assemblies s seen with earlier combinations, but are now the Engine Assembly and Metal Stamping departments. The optimal product mix for Merton given their current product mix and constraints has been determined, but Merton is also considering the addition of a new Model 103. The values for contribution margin (CM) are given as well as the portion of departmental capacity required to produce 103. Based on the capacity information, it was determined that Model 103 would require 0. 8 hours of Engine Assembly, 1. 5 hours of Metal Stamping, and 1 hour of Model 101 Assembly per truck. The constraints and objective function were modified with these new values and run in Excel’s Solver, which determined that Model 103 should not be produced (Exhibit 5). Exhibit 6 provides a sensitivity report indicating a reduced cost of -$350, meaning that the CM of Model 103 would need to increase by $350 before it would make sense for Merton to begin producing Model 103. Capacity Options Given the capacity limitations seen thus far, it is a fair conclusion that increasing capacity may present an opportunity. In the optimal solution, there are limitations in both Engine Assembly and Metal Stamping. If one or both of these was increased, this could have a strong positive impact on profit. By referring to the sensitivity report for the optimal solution found in Exhibit 7, we see that Engine Assembly and Metal Stamping have shadow prices of $2,000 and $500 respectively, which means that an increase in one unit of capacity would result in the corresponding increase in profit. If Merton can rent capacity for less than the shadow price for either department, it should. Note that for each, this is only true for 500 units before the scenario would require reevaluation (see the allowable increase in Exhibit 7). Also, only one variable or department can be increased. If both are modified, the shadow prices may no longer hold true. Merton also has the option of increasing engine capacity by 2,000 hours using overtime. This would also result in a 50% increase in direct labor or: Model 101$4,000 current from Table B x 1. 5 = $6,000 (reducing CM by $2,000) Model 102$4,500 current from Table B x 1. 5 = $6,750 (reducing CM by $2,250) In the overtime tab (Exhibit 8), we add two additional variables epresentative of overtime production o1 and o2, including an additional constraint representing the maximum of 2000 hours. As seen in Exhibit 8, Solver has determined that overtime should be utilized to produce 250 additional units of Model 102. However, fixed OH has not been included in the calculations until afterwards as it does not impact the optimal solution, only the net profit. In this case however, the fixed overhead increases by $0. 75M to $9. 35M if overtime is utilized. Therefore, the $9. 35M is subtracted from this result and compared to our previous optimal solution net profit of $2. M. This was done in Exhibit 8, resulting in a net profit of less than $2. 4M. Therefore, Merton should not assemble engines on overtime under these conditions. Other Factors, Alternatives and Considerations Merton’s president would like to impose a marketing mix constraint requiring Merton to produce at least three times as many units of Model 101 as units of Model 102. By adding this constraint to the analysis in Exhibit 9, the marketing mix moves to producing 2,250 units of Model 101 and 750 units Model 102, and a net profit of $1. M . The marketing constraint hinders the potential total net profit by $500,000 because at optimal production levels, Merton will be able to produce a total net profit of $2. 4M. There are several other options th at Merton did not consider. Renting capacity from an outside supplier was one alternative, but a similar option would be to simply outsource (at a rate less than the shadow prices discussed earlier). It is also mentioned that at present, demand is great enough that the company is selling everything it produces. How much greater than supply is the demand? If it is much greater, Merton should consider raising its prices to reduce demand. If demand is expected to continue, Merton should also evaluate the ROI of investing in capital and permanently increasing capacity as an alternative to renting or outsourcing capacity. Merton should also consider the impact that learning curves and technology may have on their production process. As the Model 101 and 102 life cycle continues, the company should see a reduction in time and costs associated ith every aspect of the truck manufacturing process as a result of learning curves. It can be reasonably estimated that labor hours per vehicle will be reduced due to learning curves (which result from staff experience and familiarity with the production process), and that Merton will therefore be able to increase the total volume of vehicles produced. Technology could also play an important role in reducing the time and costs needed to produce the vehicles, so it is important that Merton maintain a watchful eye on new production methods and machinery. Investments in technologies can reduce the firm's fixed overhead costs and increase profits and improve productivity. In addition, technologies can help reduce the costs of designing, developing, and manufacturing a product which can help the firm to improve product quality and to charge a higher price. Conclusion Merton’s president was absolutely correct in his supposition that the company could improve its financial performance by changing their product mix, though wrong in his initial thoughts on which actions to take. The value of linear programming techniques in evaluating possible solutions is clear, particularly in that it quickly provides clues of other options to consider (such as adding additional Engine Assembly Capacity). Based on the information provided here, further recommendations for Merton would be to (1) immediately change the production mix to 2000 Model 101s and 1000 Model 102s, (2) evaluate anticipated demand and the impact of a capital investment to increase capacity, and (3) seek quotes for capacity rental or outsourcing Engine Assembly.

The Practice Of African American Slavery As We Are Familiar

The practice of African American slavery as we are familiar with today, began with a Portuguese expedition. Portugal was a small and poor country, so Prince Henry and other leaders wanted to acquire wealth and compete with Arab traders who traded these slaves to North Africa and Europe, so they began to send ships to Africa in order to capture and enslave people. Religion played a big role in promoting and justifying taking Africans as slaves. In the fifteenth century, many medieval European societies started to believe it improper for Christians to enslave other Christians. Because Africans were black and therefore not Christians, they became the prime target for enslavement. It was also believed that God was helping sailors to†¦show more content†¦Gradually, over the seventeenth century, laws were passed to institutionalize the practice, usually by articulating divisions between blacks and whites. By keeping the two racial groups socially apart, lawmakers were able t o firmly put slavery into place. In 1640, Virginia gave everyone the right to bear arms except â€Å"negroes†, as it was too risky to arm slaves (Williams, 26). The same year, the court in Virginia outlined the ways in which black people were to be treated. In one example, where three indentured servants escaped together from their master, two of which who were white (Victor and Gregory) and the other black (Punch), Punch received a much harsher punishment of being locked into servitude while Victor and Gregory were only given four extra years of service. The court made it clear that this harsher sentence was given to Punch simply because he was black (Williams, 27). Later in 1662, Virginia passed a law making slavery hereditary and declaring that the status passed through the mother (Williams, 28). So a child of a white man and a black woman could be claimed a slave by the owner of the mother, however a child of a black man and a white woman would immediately be free. It’s important to note that interracial sex in and of itself was looked down upon and made illegal. It was considered a â€Å"dishonor of God† and the colony disapproved of interracialShow MoreRelatedThe Transatlantic Slave Trade And The United States1012 Words   |  5 PagesMy ancestors, along with many other African Americans living in society today are decedents of African slaves. I can remember as far back as age 5 listening to the elders in my family talk about slavery. The word slavery originated when millions of African men and women were forcible taken from their families and the familiar surroundings of their African villages. 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