Monday, December 30, 2019

Where Did the Term Horsepower Come From

Today, it has become common knowledge that the term â€Å"horsepower† refers to the power of an engine. We have come to assume that a car with a 400-horsepower engine will go faster than a car with a 130-horsepower engine. But with all due respect to the noble steed, some animals are stronger. Why, for example, don’t we brag about our engine’s â€Å"oxenpower† or â€Å"bullpower† today? Scottish engineer James Watt knew he had a good thing going for him in the late 1760s when he came up with a greatly improved version of the first commercially available steam engine Thomas Newcomen had designed in 1712. By adding a separate condenser, Watt’s design eliminated the constant coal-wasting cycles of cooling and re-heating required by Newcomen’s steam engine. Besides being an accomplished inventor, Watt was also a dedicated realist. He knew that in order to prosper from his ingenuity, he had to actually sell his new steam engine — to lots of people. So, Watt went back to work, this time to â€Å"invent† a simple way to explain the power of his improved steam engine in a way that his potential customers could easily understand. Knowing that most people who owned Newcomen’s steam engines used them for tasks involving pulling, pushing, or lifting heavy objects, Watt recalled a passage from an early book in which the author had calculated the potential energy output of mechanical â€Å"engines† that could be used to replace horses for such jobs. In his 1702 book The Miner’s Friend, English inventor and engineer Thomas Savery has written: â€Å"So that an engine which will raise as much water as two horses, working together at one time in such a work, can do, and for which there must be constantly kept ten or twelve horses for doing the same. Then I say, such an engine may be made large enough to do the work required in employing eight, ten, fifteen, or twenty horses to be constantly maintained and kept for doing such a work†¦Ã¢â‚¬  After doing some very rough calculations, Watt decided to claim that just one of his improved steam engines could produce enough power to replace 10 of cart-pulling horses — or 10 â€Å"horsepower.† Voila! As Watt’s steam engine business soared, his competitors started advertising the power of their engines in â€Å"horsepower,† thus making the term a standard measure of engine power still used today. By 1804, Watt’s steam engine had replaced the Newcomen engine, leading directly to the invention of the first steam-driven locomotive. Oh, and yes, the term â€Å"watt,† as a standard unit of measurement of electrical and mechanical power that appears nearly every light bulb sold today, was named in honor of the same James Watt in 1882. Watt Missed the True ‘Horsepower’ In rating his steam engines at â€Å"10 horsepower,† Watt had made a slight error. He had based his math on the power of Shetland or â€Å"pit† ponies that, because of their diminutive size, were typically used to pull carts through the shafts of coal mines. A well-known calculation at the time, one pit pony could haul one cart filled with 220lb of coal 100 feet up a mineshaft in 1 minute, or 22,000 lb-ft per minute. Watt then incorrectly assumed that regular horses must be at least 50% stronger than pit ponies, thus making one horsepower equal to 33,000 lb-ft per minute. In fact, a standard horse is only slightly more powerful than a pit pony or equal to about 0.7 horsepower as measured today. In a Famous Race of Horse vs. Steam, Horse Wins In the early days of American railroading, steam locomotives, like those based on Watt’s steam engine, were considered too dangerous, weak, and unreliable to be trusted with transporting human passengers. Finally, in 1827, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad company, the BO, was granted the first U.S. charter to transport both freight and passengers using steam-driven locomotives. Despite having the charter, the BO struggled to find a steam engine capable of traveling over steep hills and rough terrain, forcing the company to rely mainly on horse-drawn trains. To the rescue came industrialist Peter Cooper who offered to design and build, at no charge to the BO, a steam locomotive he claimed would render horse-drawn railcars obsolete. Cooper’s creation, the famed â€Å"Tom Thumb† became the first American-built steam locomotive running on a commercially-operated, public railroad. Replica of the Baltimore Ohios Early Steam Engine, Tom Thumb Beside a Modern Diesel Locomotive. Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain As designed by Cooper, the Tom Thumb was a four-wheel (0-4-0) locomotive with a vertical, coal-fired water boiler and vertically mounted cylinders that drove the wheels on one of the axles. Weighing about 810 pounds, the locomotive was characterized by a host of improvisations, including boiler tubes made from rifle barrels. Of course, there was a motive behind Cooper’s apparent generosity. He just happened to own acre-upon-acre of land located along the BO’s proposed routes, the value of which would grow exponentially should the railroad, powered by his Tom Thumb steam locomotives, succeed. On August 28, 1830, Cooper’s Tom Thumb was undergoing performance testing on the BO tracks outside of Baltimore, Maryland, when a horse-drawn train stopped alongside on the adjacent tracks. Casting the steam-powered machine a disrespectful glance, the driver of the horse-drawn train challenged the Tom Thumb to a race. Seeing winning such an event as a great, and free, advertising showcase for his engine, Cooper eagerly accepted and the race was on. The Tom Thumb quickly steamed to a large and growing lead, but when one of its drive belts broke, bringing the steam locomotive to a stop, the old reliable horse-drawn train won the race. While he had lost the battle, Cooper won the war. Executives of the BO had been so impressed by his engine’s speed and power that they decided to begin using his steam locomotives on all of their trains. While it carried passengers until at least March 1831, the Tom Thumb was never placed into regular commercial service and was salvaged for parts in 1834. The BO grew to become one of the largest and most financially successful railways in the United States. Profiting handsomely from sales of his steam engines and land to the railroad, Peter Cooper enjoyed a long career as an investor and philanthropist. In 1859, money donated by Cooper was used to open the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City.

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Masculinity As Homophobi Fear, Shame, And Silence - 864 Words

In Michael Kimmel’s pieces â€Å"Masculinity as Homophobia: Fear, Shame, and Silence in the Construction of Gender Identity† and â€Å"Who’s Afraid of Men Doing Feminism† he gives us a description of masculinity and explains what this concept of masculinity means for both men and women. He argues that men can, and should be feminist; that they should advocate for gender equality, because gender equality will benefit both men and women. In this paper I will use Kimmel’s analysis of masculinity, which he uses in his arguments for the necessity of profeminist men, along with some assertions made by Jean-Jacques Rousseau about the education of young boys and girls, to show the strengths and weaknesses of Kimmel’s argument. His assertions can seem strong when read alone, however by looking at his argument for profeminist men together with his and Rousseau’s assertions about masculinity one can see a fundamental flaw in his argument. In his analysis of masculinity he not only points out the significant problems with the way men, especially American men, are forced to subscribe to this barbaric concept of manliness, he also expresses concern for this ‘boys club’ atmosphere. However, in his argument for profeminist men, he takes what could be a strong argument and weakens it when he feeds into this desperate need for reassurance by telling men that feminism will benefit them too. The concept of masculinity has been around for an eminently long time. However, the qualifications for being

Friday, December 13, 2019

Clean Well Lighted Place Free Essays

â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place† â€Å"A Clean Well-Lighted Place† is written by Ernest Hemingway. The subject of this story is life as nothingness. The story starts off with an old deaf man sitting alone in a caf ©. We will write a custom essay sample on Clean Well Lighted Place or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are two waiters who watch and wait on the old man because he has a tendency to drink too much and if this happens they know he will walk out and not pay. The waiter talks about how the old man tried to kill himself because he was in despair; the other waiter asks why he felt despair and the first waiter said the reason was nothing because the old man has a lot of money. The old man is a very nteresting character; we know he once had a wife, but now is alone with his niece. This story portrays the cycle of life and how surroundings can affect our emotional state. In this story there aren’t a lot of details that pop out at the readers. The readers have to read the story over and over again to finally understand it. As the text is read, the old man gets drunk at night at the caf © and likes drinking there because it’s clean and well lighted. The younger waiter tells the old man that there are bars open this late, but the old man likes the caf © because bars are completely opposite of what he ikes. The caf © is well lighted, clean and quiet; bars are loud, dark and dirty which is something the old man doesn’t want to be around. In the caf © there are two waiters that are working; one is older and the other is younger. When reading the story the readers can get an idea of the waiters’ age Just by the dialect. The younger waiter wants the old man to go home so he can go home to his wife. The older waiter tries to explain to the younger waiter that that old man was once married once, maybe even had a family at one point of time in his life, but now all he has is his niece. His niece saved the old man’s life when he tried to kill himself; she cut down the rope when he tried to hang himself. They don’t know why he would kill himself, he had plenty of money. The waiters talked about how he tried to commit suicide and how he did it because he was in despair. The older waiter asked why and the younger waiter said â€Å"nothing†. They were waiting to close up the caf ©, but the old man was still there; yes he was deaf and drunk but he was very quiet and didn’t make much noise. The old man asked for another drink and the young waiter gives him the drink and says the old man, mfou should have killed ourself last week. † (Hemmingway 143). The older waiter tries to explain to the younger waiter that old age is a terrible thing, that one day he will be there and he doesn’t know how he will be or how he will act when he is an old man. The old man waved for another drink but the young waiter refused; the old man paid and left the caf ©. The younger waiter is impatient and insensitive as some would like to argue. He’s excited to go home to his wife, and wants to leave because unlike the old man he isn’t lonely. The text show that the younger waiter says immature comments about the old an because he wants to go home, but he doesn’t think about the old man, he only thinks about himselt. The younger waiter doesn’t think like the old man, old man thinks about many thinks very deeply, yet the younger waiter doesn’t think about anyone, but what the younger waiter doesn’t seem to realize is that he won’t be young forever. In a way he is Just like the younger people in our society now: carefree, young and reckless. As readers can argue young individuals have their whole life ahead of them, so youngsters should be carefree in a way. The older aiter likes to stay late at the caf © Just like the old man and he tries to explain to the younger waiter that the old man likes to stay up because he likes it; the younger waiter Just ignores it and says that he is lonely. The older waiter knows how the old man is because they are both in a way reluctant to go home. The older waiter can relate to the old man because of their age similarity, besides, he walks out without paying. The reason he sides with the old man is because maybe one day he will need someone to keep a caf © open late Just for him. The old man likes staying out late ecause he has nothing to go home to, he says he has insomnia and that many people have that. As readers can argue the older waiter probably tells himself that so he really doesn’t seem alone because older people who have nothing to go home to try to occupy their mind so they don’t wither away in their own depression. Some would also argue Hemingway contrasts light and shadow, maybe the contrast between young and old; impatient and relaxed; family guy and no family guy. Since the old man is deaf, some readers could say it’s a way to distance himself from everyone, like a symbol of separation form the world because he is older. How to cite Clean Well Lighted Place, Papers

Thursday, December 5, 2019

Ethical Revival of Prudence System †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Ethical Revival of Prudence System. Answer: Introduction Qantas Airways owns Jetstar is considered as one of the discount priced airline operator in Australia. JetStar carries more than 8.5% passenger from Australia itself. It has been further seen to operate as per the home and the international network from Melbourne Airport. The primary fleet of the airline operator has been seen to be acknowledged with the A320 and Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Virgin Australia Airlines is discerned as the second principal airline carrier after Qantas Airways. The airline company is seen to be based in Bowen Hills in Brisbane. It has been further seen to be considered in 1999 and operated in one route. The airline carrier is considered to expand itself in 29 cities in areas such as Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. The objective has been seen to be based on the important concept which has been seen to be related to the show the methods adopted by both the companies and various types of the other notes from the Auditors Report, Remuneration Report and Financial reports. The final section of the segment of the lessons has been further able to discuss on the rational for the shareholders to invest. Conceptual framework of Accounting for both the companies It has been observed that both the companies have been seen with AASB and Corporations Act 2001. It has been seen that financial report of both the companies has been prepared as the IFRS. This standard is further seen to be issued by the international accounting board. The important consideration for this has been based on the various types of the consideration taken from the financial statements of both Jetstar Airways and Virgin Australia Airlines. This is further seen to be considered as per the historical cost evaluation except in sections of asset and liabilities which needs assessment as per the fair value and other relevant accounting policies (Steenkamp Steenkamp, 2016). The import aspect of the accounting aspect of revenue recognition is seen to be considered as per AASB 118 Revenue, AASB 111 Construction Contracts and Interpretation 13 Customer Loyalty Programmes. The company is yet to implement the AASB 15 Revenue from contracts with the customers, this has been seen to be based on the existing nature of the standards which has been set to be implemented as per the commence date of on or after 1st January 2018. The main activities of the company have been further able to decide if they will be able to swap the AASB 117 for leases and able to change the various considerations of the framework based on AASB 16. AASB 136: Impairment of Assets, is applicable for the recognition of the financial guarantees and the agreement which is seen to be related to the financial guarantees based on the implementation of AASB 137 Provisions, Contingent Liabilities and Contingent Assets (Marshall et al., 2013). Prudence theory applied in both the companies Theoretical application of prudence has been further seen to be based on the fact that none of the company overestimate of total revenues. Virgin Australia and Jetstar has applied the prudence concept based on the financial information which is conservative and the recording of the assets is not underestimated based on the liabilities. It has been further seen that the financial statements has considered the probable transaction into considerations. A variety of the important consideration for the prudence has not been applied as per the AASB 15 Revenue from Contracts with Customers (AASB 15) and the application of AASB 16 Leases (AASB 16). It is seen to be convinced of replacing the existing standards. For testing the viability of the various types of the methods, the companies have been able to decide on test the new method for lease only after 01.01.2019. Other considerations of prudence have been depicted with the regular review of the assets and in terms of assessment of the dec reasing values of these assets. The most important consideration for prudence is evident among both the companies by writing off the values in terms of fixed assets (Barker, 2015). Criteria followed for financial data Total Assets- The total asset of Qantas Airways is standing at $ 17708m in 2016; however the entire asset of virgin Australia is seen to be $ 6886.9 m in 2016. In addition to this, Virgin Australia is not having any amount of the dependent liabilities as on 30 June 2016. In terms of Qantas Airways Ltd, the assets have been seen to be categorised as per the assets held for sale and measured in terms of the fair value less cost of selling. The main benefit of Qantas Airways is seen with the measurement of fair value of plan assets less the present value. The different types of the other consideration has been further seen to be made with the preparation of financial statements of Virgin Australia Airlines with the assets which are not held for the assessment based on financial leases to be recognised at fair value (Wan Norhishamuddinet al., 2015). Tangible Assets and Intangible Assets- It has been depicted with the recognition of the intangible and the intangible assets, with the consideration of non-current tangible assets, which are further seen to be regarded for revenue as per the recoverable amount of the assets. The amortisation is considered as per residual life and useful life as per the date of reporting (Guthrie Pang, 2013). Depreciation The important aspect of Qantas Group has been seen with the depreciation recognition as per straight line basis for PPE except for freehold land. The rate of depreciation of the assets is calculated by total assessment cost is estimated as per the residual values for the various types the useful life of the assets. In a similar way the depreciation and amortisation of the Virgin Airlines is taken into consideration as per the date on which they are classified as held for sale. The depreciation on the PPE is stated as per cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses. Same as Qantas, Virgin Airlines recognises the depreciation of the assets with the straight line and estimate the same, with the useful life of the residual value (Microsoft, 2015). Rationale for the shareholders investing in the companies The different types of the considerations made from the directors report has been able to state on the various implication on the shareholders investing in both Qantas Airline and Virgin Airlines. Based on the report of Virgin Airlines, the revenue of the company has been observed to rise from $4,749.2 million to $5,021.0 million. The comparative period has been able to reflect on the total equity which is accounted as 60% of the equity from Tigerair Australia in 16 October 2014. The investor need to further consider on increasing the net operating expenditure from $4,802.7 million to $5,278.7 million. This particular aspect has been seen to be negative for Qantas. The increasing equity has been considered to be conducive for investing in Virgin Airlines (Kober, Lee, Ng, 2013). As per the CEO statement as per the annual report of 2016, is seen to significantly contribute with high figures in 2015-16. The total add to in financial performance is also obvious with the growing operating margin recognised with the increasing EBIT for Jetstar Group, Qantas Loyalty, Qantas International and Qantas Domestic. It has been further discerned that over two thirds of the total remuneration of Qantas has been measured with the international operations, strategy of the portfolio and loyalty business. It needs to be considered by the investors the increasing in the profit before tax from $ 975 m in 2015 to $ 1532 in 2016. As per the financial examination it has been observed that Jetstar (Qantas) is not only in better position than Virgin Airlines and the operating expenses is lower, which makes it a better contender than the latter (Menegatti, 2014). Conclusion The main aspects of the study have able to highlight the present framework of accounting for both Qantas Airways and Virgin Airlines. The a variety of aspect of the study has been able to check for the compliance of the financial report as per the prescribed standard. The conceptual framework of the report has been further seen to be considered as per the AASB and Corporations Act 2001. It has been further discerned from the financial statements that the main accounting framework is seen to be based IFRS. This standard is issued by the international board of accounts. The main consideration of the financial statement has been based on previous cost evaluation, except in some of the areas where the possessions and liabilities needs assessment based on fair value and the relevant accounting policies. Reference List Barker, R. (2015). Conservatism, prudence and the IASBs conceptual framework. Accounting and Business Research, 45(4, SI), 514538. https://doi.org/10.1080/00014788.2015.1031983 Guthrie, J., Pang, T. T. (2013). Disclosure of goodwill impairment under aasb 136 from 2005-2010. Australian Accounting Review, 23(3), 216231. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1835-2561.2013.00204.x Kober, R., Lee, J., Ng, J. (2013). GAAP, GFS and AASB 1049: Perceptions of public sector stakeholders. Accounting and Finance, 53(2), 471496. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-629X.2012.00469.x Marshall, A., Baden, D., Guidi, M. (2013). Can an Ethical Revival of Prudence Within Prudential Regulation Tackle Corporate Psychopathy? Journal of Business Ethics, 117(3), 559568. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1547-4 Menegatti, M. (2014). New results on the relationship among risk aversion, prudence and temperance. European Journal of Operational Research, 232(3), 613617. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2013.08.003 Microsoft. (2015). Entity Framework. Data Developer Center, 0117. Retrieved from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/data/ef.aspx Steenkamp, N., Steenkamp, S. (2016). AASB 138: catalyst for managerial decisions reducing RD spending? Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, 14(1), 116130. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRA-02-2015-0026 Wan Norhishamuddin, W. R., Hwa, T. K., Nur Medeena, M., Ahmad Shahrin, S., Mohd Isa, A. (2015). Depreciation between Conventional and Green Office Buildings. Procedia Economics and Finance, 31(15), 661670. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(15)01154-5