Hofstede Cutlural Dimensions

Hofstede Electronic Submission Coversheet TO BE COMPLETED BY STUDENT By electronically submitting this work, I certify that: †¢ This assignment is my own work †¢ It has not previously been submitted for assessment †¢ Where material from other sources has been used it has been acknowledged properly †¢ This work meets the requirement of the University’s ethics policy Student Name: nidi kumar Student Number : 9048219 Faculty: FBSE Level of study: level 6 Course title: International business management Unit title: Cross-cultural ManagementAssignment title: Airbus and GLOBE Assignment tutor: Peter Jordan Word count: 500 Learner request for feedback: TO BE COMPLETED BY STAFF Tutor feedback: Areas of Strength: Areas for Improvement: Grade mark: Submitted on time (Y/N): Tutor signature: Date: Identify the key cross-cultural issues faced by the Airbus consortium and relate these to the Globe’s projects clusters of business cultures. Critically evaluate the us efulness of this research in understanding the issues involved and in devising viable solutions.What lessons can be learned for companies embarking on international projects? Introduction Cross-cultural management describes â€Å"organisational behaviour within countries and cultures† (Adler and Gundersen, 2008, p 13) as a result it compares the organisational behaviour across various countries and cultures and most importantly it seeks to comprehend and advance the â€Å"interaction of co-workers, managers, executives, clients, suppliers, and alliance partners from countries and cultures around the world. † (Adler and Gundersen, 2008, p 13).A company that has experience of cross-cultural management and thus has its roots in several European countries is Airbus SAS. (Browaeys and Price, 2011). Outlined on the company’s website they express their desire to overcome â€Å"national divides, sharing development costs, collaborating in the interest of a greater mark et share, and even agreeing a common set of measurements and a common language† (Airbus. com cited in Browaeys and Price, 2011, p 67). However, as time progressed evidence suggests that this has not occurred as demonstrated in key cross-cultural issues experienced by the organisation. Introduction not yet complete (Try to make a generic view of CrossCultural Management beyond companies ie consider how CC management is dealt with across industry sectors ( most prevalent in telecoms organizations) also what are the â€Å"roots† of CC management and how does it address new global challenges/provide new solutions)) Method of Research By comparison of 2 companies ie Airbus / Globe highlighting key CC management approaches, issues and solutions (Risk of systemic flaws in approach/repeatable failures)YOU should compare apples with apples ie list all significant issues, select an issue eg Economic Patriotism and evaluate the approach taken by both parties / im arguing for creat ing A table to do this we can talk†¦ Key Cross-Cultural Issues faced by Airbus (Related to Globe’s Cross-Cultural Approach) Problems Faced by Airbus (enumerate and modify in your own words) Socio-cultural & technical problems. †¢ The workforce at the aircraft manufacturer is geographically distributed in proportion to national ownership stakes.In an instance of economic nationalism, government distort private transactions among economic actors by discriminating against foreigners in the name of national interest. This lead to the decrease in the productive efficiency. It is because of the various differences of management styles and way of communication. For e. g. : comparing with the French people, the Germans prefer collective decision making, whereas the French prefer centralised decision. At the same time the Spanish are flexible but have inferiority complex, so they have tendency to be vague and unreliable due to which they respond very less. Ian Stokes, 2006). †¢ The main problem is when EADS company of Airbus was created, two chief executives German and French headed it. It was maintained even due to knowing the fact of the crisis caused by problems in development in A380 began. Looking from the Hofstedes cultural dimensions the French likes high power distance whereas the Germans prefer low power distance. So while making decisions Germans tend to interfere in the conversations while it is being dislike by France people. So this unintentionally hurt the ego's of the French people and creates a conflict between them. Hofstede. G, 1991) 1 †¢ Due to the government involvement respective countries, cost cutting measures were delayed as state aid comes to rescue their respective partner first. From this situation it seems that power id distributed unequally. The government is being self centred and looking after its own motives. Even no action id being undertaken by the group members of the company in order to tackle this issue. I t is in this area that a culture shows the extent to which it ‘tolerates and fosters pecking orders, and how actively members try to reduce them'. Mead, 1994; 66) 1 †¢ One of the main causes in delay of the launch of Airbus A380 for two years was owing to the fact of having a complex wiring design system for it. †¢ There were 1,200 functions to control the plane that takes 98,000 wires & 40,000 connectors. The system has 500,000 models, which needs to be kept in sync from different countries. It was complicated and very much time consuming due the fact of the engineers being at different locations. †¢ Even the aircraft parts were built at different locations.For example: nose sections are built in France, fuselages in Germany, wings in Great Britain and tails in Spain. And the final assembly were done in Toulouse (France). It unnecessarily increased the transportation cost, communication problems and foremost aspect time consumption. †¢ There was a problem with regards to software and knowledge as well. The engineers in Germany and Spain used the older version V4 of the CAD program in order to design the wiring system, while the engineers in France and England used the newer version V5.This created trouble and delay while transferring the data because the some data was lost while transferring files from one system to another. †¢ With regards to knowledge, French were familiar with the software while the Germans were not inexperienced compared to French. According to Hofstedes1 it seem that the French are more of individualistic in nature because they were least concerned about the training of its partner company's. Due to the lack of integration in engineering it resulted failure in execution. When the HRM team was most needed to train the employees ; communicate between them regarding the software problems, they were very busy with responding to the new legislation- such as those concerned with labour working hours and the Frenc h directive on rights of individuals to choose their own training. As the French are more type of individualism because of the preference towards centralised executive, they tend to first sort out their problems that made them busy in doing things which was not important compared to training problem. Ian Stokes, 2006) 1; (Trompenaars, 1993; 8-11) 1 †¢ The top managers were busy struggling for the senior position in the consortium and lobbying for influence. These lead political goals get in the way of project goals. From this it seems that that the top managers were very much individualistic in nature. They were more interested in getting the name an enjoy being superior in the organization. They seemed to be self-achievement oriented and least concerned about the problems going on in the company.This dispersed the decision making power which was most needed in problems like this. (Hofstede, 1991) 1 All this problems lead to the delay in launch of Airbus A380 for two years that was scheduled to launch in 2006. Delay in delivery forced some airlines to cancel their orders. This gave them loss of euro 2 billion due that they had to make drastic cuts in the size of its workforce and closure of some plants, which in turn dented their image in the market. Efforts taken by Airbus to tackle the issues. In order to tackle the design of the wiring system and the software problems, Airbus made special investment to train its employees with the help of the software supplier. †¢ They even tried to set up intercultural sessions to inspire a warm feeling of mutual understanding, but it failed to address adequately the fundamentals of co-operation. †¢ The EADS managers most of the times tried to draw attention to the common areas and similarities, rather than differences in order to tackle the cross-cultural differences with regards to perceptions and doing things. They have distributed their workforce in proportion to the ownership stakes geographically becau se they thought that this would increase their productive efficiency. Put Table A in here Critical Evaluation of Research (based on analysis of table) Economic Patriotism: Many organisations are forced to develop and expand themselves into new markets overseas due to the increasing maturation of domestic markets and foreign competitors. In order to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors they are recognising their identity that can help them to sustain.The main motive behind this step is that by enlightening the only one of its kind personality or character of an organisation or group, all the way through symbols, communications and behaviours, it will help them to create favourable corporate image in the minds of these groups. Such differentiation will help them to create an image based on the uniqueness of its own identity, as well as creating a tendency in the minds of the people or groups as a basis for developing long-term profitable relationships. (Van, 1992) 2. Ec onomic patriotism is most of similarly related on these theories.Economic patriotism means, â€Å"supporting one's country†. Economic patriotism is the coordinated and the promoted behaviour of consumers or companies (both private and public) that consists of favouring the good or services produced in their country or in their group of countries (wikipedia) 3. According to me economic patriotism means favouring the people and practices done in ones own country, right or wrong. The main motive of the people living in their own country is to promote its thoughts, beliefs, way of doing business, etc. this is automatically done because they had been under the influence of such practices since their childhood.It's like expressing that they love their country and ready to sacrifice for it. Economics patriotism can be done with the help of many activities for e. g. : imposing tariffs on imports, quota system, or encouraging consumers to purchase own domestic services and products. N ow a days a new type of economic patriotism has came up that does not allows foreign investors to develop or acquire companies in one's country. For e. g. : Arcelor acquired by Mittal (Largest steel industry). Government and political bodies are playing the main role to promote economic patriotism.Even in the Airbus case study economic patriotism has played a significant role in problems created by government of different countries. The workforce at the company is geographically distributed in proportion to national ownership stakes. So this makes the workforce far from each other. According to the company it may help them to increase productive efficiency. But in an instance of economic nationalism (whereby the people support their respective rights and countries), the government of respective countries changed private transactions according to their thoughts and practices in order to protect the local economic interests.They discriminated foreigners in the name of national interes t. So political bodies came into role in order to support the local people. Their economic motives include the preservation of employment or attraction of economic activity to a certain area. And the company's strategic motives were to include national security in order to capture rents abroad in monopolistic market. But the patriotic approach of the company proved ineffective because it conflicts with the economic efficiency, which derives from the protection of the interests of the local lobbies. pic] The company tried to integrate all its employees and create a sense of togetherness but the â€Å"economic patriotism† practiced by the people and government in respective countries failed the company's objectives. The politicians want to win the votes from people by supporting their interest. The damaged caused by economic nationalism indirectly created inefficiency and poor performance of corporate governance. Due to this damage Airbus reputation was dented. The government d id not supported because it conflicted with the ideas and thoughts of the government.The cost cutting measures were delayed because the state aid first comes to rescue the government-supported company. The competition increased because government supported companies had privileged access to infrastructure and procurement contracts. This delayed all the process in the company and unnecessarily increased the loss and the cost of production. Indirectly the Airbus suffered from takeover threats from the more efficient organisations. Finally, the national efforts to support one's interest proved to be self-defeating as other countries react in kind, neutralising the initial attempt to gain competitive advantage.Reflection of the way the company was organised. One of the causes of the delay was the complex wiring system and the software compatibility. The digital system has 500,000 models that need to be kept in sync. Despite of the fact that even a single mistake can create problems the company operated from different regions further complicating the wiring system. The seems to be communication gap between the employees because engineers in Germany and Spain used the older V4 version of the CAD program to design the wiring whereas engineers in France and England used the newer V5 version.Although it has been said by the software developer that both the version were compatible but the company should not have taken risks of going with different versions. Although there was claim by developer regarding compatibility the data was lost while transferring files from one system to another. The suppliers were also not involved in a collaborative effort to anticipate problems. There was lack of training and communication among the engineers as well. It can be seen because the engineers in France were familiar with the software while the Germans did not have much experience with it.This shows that there is centralised decision in the company that made other engineers lack of knowledge. They built the different parts in different region, which further complicated the assembling system due to the lack of communication related to knowledge and software problems. Author Hellemans notes that ‘what happened in Germany was not just technical problems related to software but it was an execution failure due to lack of efficient knowledge'. (Davis, 2007) 1 From the problems that Airbus faced, the company was not properly organised because it seems that relied mostly on the software developer regarding the solutions.There was even lack of training, communication and transparency within the organisation. It seems that mostly the decision were made in headquarters only, not with the consent of other people. The merger of the national components in 2001 only integrated themselves officially but mentally they were far away from each other. It even seems to be inequality from lack of technological development equally because when France & England upgraded themse lves to V5 version, the German and Spain were still on the V4 versions. Lessons Learned. what are the lessons learnt from this specific research ie outcomes from analysis of the table/also comment on the quality of the research / ie selection of evaluation â€Å"parameters† to compare, what if scenarios / heuristics / deductions / further research) In the real world there is not any specific best way to integrate diverse cultures within an international joint venture. It solely depends upon the situation and the kind of cultures involves. But I am trying to be closer to individual's perception and actions that may lead to a common ground where everyone accept each other.Research: Proper research needs to done before setting up such a culturally diversified company. Research should be on the basis of the cultural dimension of Hofstedes1 i. e. power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculine vs. feminine, short-term vs. long-term orientation, what they like and what they don't. It helps them to integrate all their activities on the common grounds and come up with a solution that maybe acceptable to everyone. Collectivist's approach: As we don't have any idea about what people's want and desires are, a collectivists approach will explore the ideas and perceptions about each other.It will gradually help to know each other's ideas and beliefs that can be helpful to achieve the desired goals and objectives. Initially it may create problems but at the later stage when everybody has been known to each other it help people or employees to understand regarding what to do and what not to do. Diffuse relationships: The company employees need to be considered as members of a group or an organization. They should be involved decision-making process. It helps the employees to build rapport between themselves that in turn explore each other's ideas and beliefs.Their relationships with each other helps us to find how efficient the organization is and what steps need to be taken in order to tackle the cross-cultural issues. Teambuilding session should be conducted in order to create a feeling of oneness, which can increase the efficiency of a company. (Trompenaars, 1993; 8-11) 1. Equality: If we integrate diverse cultures within international joint venture equality should be always there in term development, technological advancement, knowledge, etc. n the Airbus it failed because Germany ; Spain had V4 version of the Cad programme whereas France ; England had the latest V5 version. So always proper standardisation should be adopted within the whole organization at a specific time. Global knowledge, local understanding: the approach should be to indulge diverse cultures but the process should be local. It means any activity done should be on the basis of the activity carries out in the home country of any organisation. Proper training should be given to its employees from the engineers at headquarters because they know it better than anyone else.Th is helps them to consume less time and achieve perfection, stabilisation, which is considered to be vital in any industry in order to achieve goals and objectives. Training can even be of language, way of doing things, actions, etc. Due to lack of proper training the Germans were not familiar with the software, it more delayed the project while executing the fuselages. Time focus (polychromic): Initially the top managers need to be polychromic in time i. e. the top managers need to focus on several tasks ; should be less dependent on detailed information hile doing these tasks. Their main focus should be on involvement with people. This helps the employees or the partners in business to be much more expressive and approach the management whenever they feel to do so. (Hall ; hall, 1990). References. 1. Marie-Joelle Browaeys and Roger Price – Understanding Cross-Cultural Management, 2008. 2. Marlo Thomas; Helene Hill, International Marketing Review, Vol16, Number: 4/5, Year: 19 99, pp: 376-390. 3. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Economic_nationalism. Read more: http://www. ukessays. om/essays/cultural-studies/airbus-case-study. php#ixzz2BNsfYQjM Economic Patriotism A key cross-cultural issue which has been highlighted is the considerable damage caused by economic patriotism to Airbus. An example of this economic patriotism which caused difficulties was the issue of German and Spanish engineers using the older V4 version of the CAD program; whereas the UK and France used the new V5 version. A significant reason for the rejection of the new system has been emphasized by Williams (cited in Clark, 2006) as a matter of national pride.The Germans felt the French were imposing the new system upon them, causing them to reject it. In relation to the GLOBE theory, this act can be identified as an action of assertiveness from German employees, due to the fact that they would rather emphasis on results rather than relationships. Furthermore, Webber (cited in Clark, 200 6) expressed this when he explained that â€Å"changing over to new software is costly and time consuming. As a result, German employees faced French imposition with confrontation. German and French governments also had extensive involvement causing increased economic patriotism. Will add government issues here and relate to individualism from Hofstede Reorganisation of company Airbus required a reorganisation of the company in order to improve â€Å"co-ordination, reduce the costs of production and the time between conception of planes and their introduction into service. † (Browaeys and Price, 2011, p 67), however this was not planned efficiently, due to the fact that culture differences would arise. A significant issue Airbus faced was the problem of having two CEO’s, one from Germany, the other from France.This caused significant concerns because they had to compromise over key decisions due to each country having different cultural approaches to business. †¢ This part will be related to power distance, uncertainty avoidance, collectivism (institutional)(no consideration for others) , future and performance orientation(very little performance as they are not achieving anything) †¢ Will include evidence that relates to the Airbus and globe †¢ Decentralized management †¢ Loss profits †¢ Common language didn’t go as planned Gender egalitarianism I will discuss gender egalitarianism as it’s a key issue because in the case study evidence suggests it’s a male dominated job Critically evaluate In this part of the essay I will evaluate the usefulness of the theory including issues such as: †¢ Data collected from 2004 (therefore not up-to-date) †¢ Quantitative research rather than qualitative Lessons learned †¢ Equality †¢ Rapport between employees †¢ More intensive research needs to be done †¢ Diffuse relationships †¢ Integrate activities on common ground Reference page ADLER, N. , and A. GUNDERSEN, 2008.International Dimensions of Organisational Behaviour. 5th ed. USA: Thomson Higher Education BROWAEYS, M. , and R. PRICE, 2011. Understanding cross cultural management. 2nd ed. England: Pearson Education Limited CLARK, N. , 2006. The airbus saga: crossed wired and a multibillion-euro delay- Business-International Herald Tribune [online] [viewed 25 October 2012]. Available from: http://www. nytimes. com/2006/12/11/business/worldbusiness/11iht-airbus. 3860198. html? pagewanted=all ———————– Important – choose one of the following statements (DELETE TWO THAT DO NOT APPLY): Intermediate submission

Introduction to Computer Aided Engineering with Ansys

Introduction Traditionally, Engineers have used laboratory testing equipment to test the structural behavior of materials. While this method is appreciated and is highly acceptable especially for linear cases the reliance on time consuming and expensive laboratory has hindered progress in the complexity of designed considered. However, the continual rapid advances in computer aided engineering (CAE) over the years have affected this area significantly.In many engineering disciplines, the application of advance finite element tools has not only allowed the introduction of innovative, effective and efficient designs, but also the development of better and more accurate design methods. (M. Mahendren, 2007). In this assignment, an advance Finite element tool (Ansys parametric design Language) is used to analyze the design, material properties, linear stress and modal analysis on components with linear isotropic structural materials.The basis of finite element analysis (FEA) relies on the decomposition of the domain into a finite number of sub-domains (elements) for which the systematic approximate solution is constructed by applying the variation or weighted residual methods (Erdogan Madenci. Ibrahim Guven, 2006). In effect, FEA reduces the problem to that of a finite number of unknowns by dividing the domain into elements and by expressing the unknown field variable in terms of the assumed approximating functions within each element (M. Asghar Bhatti, 2005).These functions (also called interpolation functions) are defined in terms of the values of the field variables at specific points, referred to as nodes. Nodes are usually located along the element boundaries, and they connect adjacent elements. This assignment is a demonstration on how engineers use numerical solutions to refine and validate design in the early stages of product design. For the task1 of this assignment, a bracket with structural isotropic material properties of young’s Modulus, E=200Gpa , v=0. 3 and .Will be analyze, two things are important to the design engineer, what is the applied force on the material that will cause it to begin to fail given the properties and geometry shown in figure 1A below. At what point does it begin to fail (What point has the maximum stress). Having knowledge of these two factors, the engineer will decide to design the bracket to bear this load without failure or if the load to be applied will be reduce provided the design is not necessary a product or component that must bear such load.At every point in the design, the design engineer is inclined to make decisions that will affect the overall functionality of the Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page1 various components involve in the design. Computer aided engineering , has made sure that the engineer will not pass through the cumbersome experience of conducting laboratory test to determine failure, rather few hours spen d on the workstation ( computer system ) with a hightech finite element software, will not only save time, but the resources involve for every laboratory experiment.And with the integration of CAD modeling software to FEA software, the engineer can actually model the real components and conduct test that are closely related to how the system will perform in its application. Task2 of this assignment is to explore the effect of bending moment and torque and the corresponding, shear stress and normal stress respectively. There are some designs that the engineer has to consider the effect at a particular point, element or component. For this task, we will consider the stress at point A due to the effect of the bending moment and torque produce by the applied force.Task 3 is a modal analysis on a simply supported solid brick; two natural frequencies are to be presented. In design, it is essential that the natural frequency of the system is known so as to find out if the system can perfor m effectively without failure due to resonance (vibration). For this the first natural frequency is important. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page2 Task 1 Figure1A: Bracket Model Analysis steps 1. : Preprocessing Preprocessing involves, preparing the model for analysis, defining the type of analysis, discretization of the model into finite elements. For any analysis in the finite element method, this step is very essential as the result is dependent on this stage. 1. 1: Define element type: For this model, element type 8-node-plane82 is defined. And on the option, plane stress w/thk is selected. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page3 Figure1: showing Element selection with option. . 2: Setting real Constant: The thickness of the model is 10mm. Figure2: Showing Real Constants with thickness 10mm. 1. 3: Material Models: A linear elastic isotropic material i s applied with a Young’s Modulus of elasticity of 200GPa and Poisson ratio of 0. 3 Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page4 Figure 3: Showing materials model with Young’s Modulus of elasticity of 200GPa. ( 1. 4: Geometric Model: The steps involve in the modeling bracket to be analyze is shown.To model the geometry correctly, key points are created, lines are created to join the key points, the lines are use to create area, the two circles are drawn and subtracted from the area and so is the slot. 1. 4. 1: Create key points using table 1 below Table 1: key points for bracket KP. No 1 2 3 4 5 6 X 0 30 50 74 74 130 Y 0 0 36 50 25 50 Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page5 7 8 130 0 85 85 0 0 Figure4: key points mapped for bracket 1. 4. 2: Create Line (Preprocessor>>Modeling>>Line>>Straight line: join the keypointsFigure 5: showing line s created from the key points. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page6 Figure 6: Arc created using Larc,3,4,5,25 ( Line arc joining keypoints,3, 4 at center 5 and radius 25mm. ) 1. 4. 3: Create area-(preprocessor>>modeling>>create>>Areas>>Arbitrary>>By lines ) select all lines Figure 7: created area from lines. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page7 1. 4. 4 Create two circles Circle1: x =15, y=15, radius=7. 5 Circle2:x=40,y=62. , radius=7. 5 Cut out the circle from the main area using Preprocessor>>modeling>> Operate>> Boolean>> Subtract (Select the big area and click apply and then the two circles) Figure 8: showing subtracted circular areas. 1. 4. 5: Create the slot- first create the two circles, then the rectangle, use Boolean subtraction operation to cut out the slot. Circle1: x=87. 5, y=67. 5, radius=7. 5; Circle 2: x=112. 5, y=67. 5, r=7. 5 Rectangle: coordinates (87. 5, 60) & (112. 5, 75) Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. WahyudiPage8 Figure 9: showing model with slot 1. 4. 6: mesh: This is a key part of the finite element method. The model is discretized into finite element. This process is necessary as the solution is solved for each element and then a global solution is obtained by combining the result for each element. This involves finding the stiffness matrix for each element, the force matrix for each element, and then obtaining both global stiffness and force matrix. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page9 Figure 10: Meshed Model of the bracketFigure11: Refined mesh model at the slot, circles and arc. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page10 2. 0 Processing (Solution): To obtain the solution for the model, the type of analysis, constraints (di splacement constraints), and the load will be define. This is like defining the boundary conditions. 2. 1: Boundary Conditions (All DOF= 0 at the two circles) Figure 11: Boundary condition (0 displacements to all DOF at the two circles) Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page11 2. Boundary Condition (apply pressure at the slot) Figure 12: Pressure of 19. 26 MPa is applied on the slot 2. 3 Solve the built model to obtain the solution Figure 2. 3: The step use to solve the current Load step Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page12 3. 0 : Post processing In this stage, the result will be listed, plotted and analyzed. Deformed shape to illustrate result has been obtained in the Postprocessor Phase. TASK1B TASK 1B: Maximum Load applied without causing yielding Analytical solution of task1 Free Body Diagram of Bracket W WA L1 0L2 10 47. 5 72. 5 90 Nangi Ebughni Okor ia- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page13 In this analysis, we are going to consider the effect of the uniformly distributed load to act at ? of the width of the bracket; h= 35/2=17. 5mm. First we analyze the system for the shear force, v and bending moment, M. The shear force and bending moment is plotted against x. W is the distributed load along the 25mm slot. is the distribution reaction load along the 10mm length from the center of the circle. ; Sum of vertical forces equals zero ; Where F is the force due to W and ; (i. . I). For the Boundary Condition is the force due to . ) 0 ? x ? 10 < Mx WA x V ; Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page14 ; †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. (2) 10 ? x ? 47. 5 < M wA 10 V FA x ; †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. (3) ; †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (4) Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page15 47. 5 ? x ? 72. 5 V 25w 10 < M x ; ; †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (5) 0; †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (6) Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page16 ; ; †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. (7) ; †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (8)Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page17 Shear Force & Bending Moment Diagram Graph of x against shear force v 0 0 -5 -10 10 X-Axis 47. 5 72. 5 90 V-Axis -15 v -20 -25 -30 Figure1B. Shear Force Diagram (Graph) Graph of x against bending Moment M 1600 1400 1200 Axis Title 1000 800 600 400 200 0 M 0 0 10 125 47. 5 1062. 5 72. 5 1375 90 1375 Figure 1C: Bending Moment diagram. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page18 From the shear force and bending moment diagram, it can be observe that at x=47. the shear force is maximum and the bending moment is maximum at the region , however the shear force at this region is zero. So using x=47. 5 as the point where the stress will begin to be maximum (initiate) value, the value of w and F can be obtained there as followed. mm; note that we are using 17. 5 on the assumption that the uniformly distributed load acts at the center of the bracket. Shear stress, ; Note that this is the shear stress due to the effect of the shear force when the bracket is fully restrained at the two circles. Normal stress, Note that the normal stress above is due to the bending moment, M.Now, in other to find the value of w, Von mises failure criterion is applied. First , we calculate the first and seco nd principal stress, since the bracket is subject and to be analyze under plane stress condition. Von Mises stress, , =2. 11075w Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page19 Now by Von Mises Stress Failure Criteria, ; where is the yield strength of the material use for analysis. Since this uniformly distributed load acts at the slot of 25mm, the force that is been applied due to this uniformly distributed load, .For the purpose of analysis of the bracket as presented in the assignment using ansys APDL, this force could be applied as a pressure; Task1B ( II): Where will the stress initiate From the shear force diagram and bending moment diagram above, the stress will initiate ate x=47. 5. This is because at this point the shear force, v is maximum and the moment, M is maximum between 47. 5 to 72. 5. Note that for this calculation, the assumption use is that since the material is a linear isotropic material, the load is linear ly proportional to the stress. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page20 Figure1B. II: showing that the stress will initiate at 47. 5, this also where the maximum stress exist. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page21 Task1C: Maximum Deflection Figure1. 1C: Nodal Displacement plot showing maximum Deflectionof 0. 136653mm The nodal plot above shows that the maximum deflection at the right end of the bracket is 0. 136653mm. I have included deformed shape plot of the bracket to better show how the bracket deformed.Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page22 Figure1. 2C: Deformed shaped & un-deformed shaped of the bracket Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page23 Figure 1. 3C: Deformed shaped of bracket. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page24 Task 1D: Maximum stress The maximum von Mises stress obtained is259. 676MPa. The Von Mises stress failure criterion is use for this analysis. Figure1. 1D: Maximum Von-mises StressVon Mises Failure Criterion The von Mises Criterion (1913), also known as the maximum distortion energy criterion, octahedral shear stress theory, or Maxwell-Huber-Hencky-von Mises theory, is often used to estimate the yield of ductile materials. The von Mises criterion states that failure occurs when the energy of distortion reaches the same energy for yield/failure in uniaxial tension. Mathematically, this is expressed as, Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page25 In the cases of plane stress, s3 = 0. The von Mises criterion reduces to,This equation represents a principal stress ellipse as illustrated in the following figure, Figure 1. 2D: Illustration of Von Mises Theory. Nangi Ebug hni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page26 Figure 1. 2D: Showing position of maximum Von-Mises Stress Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page27 Task1E: Discussion Of result 1E. 1: Discussion on nodal displacement Figure1. 1E: Nodal Displacement Plot From the nodal displacement plot above, it can be observed that the deflection on the left side of the bracket after the circle.The minimum deflection is on the first circle from the right. This is to say that the displacement at this circle is fully restrained, meaning all DOF is zero. The Blue part of the plot shows that there is no deflection. Also a closer look shows that at the right end of the bracket, the displacement is maximum. The plot shows that maximum deflection occurs at the uppermost right node of the bracket. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page28 Figure 1. 3E: Displacement Vector plot showing the direction of the deflection and how the bracket deflect.IE. 2: Discussion of Maximum Stress Distribution Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page29 Figure1. E1:Arrow diagram the stress at different locations Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page30 Figure 1. E2: stress distribution contour plot. Fig. 1. E1 and Fig. 1. E2 shows that the bracket will experience maximum stress around x= 47. 5 mm, this is to say at the stress is maximum. This is in accordance with the manual calculation obtained in Task1B above. Also comparing Figure 1. E1&1.E2 and the bending moment & shear force diagram shown in figure1B and figure 1C above of task 1B, one could conclude that the assumption used for the manual calculation is correct since the min stress on the model is at the 2nd circle. Also the stress at the top circle is mini mal and is increasing from zero to the maximum value of stress at x=47. 5. This result plotted above is when P=19. 26MPa, though this value is slightly higher than the12. 32MPa obtained from the manual calculation the result is similar. The pressure is less at Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. WahyudiPage31 12. 32 because; the assumption use for the calculation was the uniformly distributed load was acting at the center of the slot. In the application of this bracket, one will be careful not to use a pressure greater than 12. 32MPa on it as this may result to yielding. The design engineer ensured that the applied force on the bracket does not initiate a stress greater than the yield strength of the material. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page32 Task2 Analysis of a lever Arm For the assignment component no2, a lever arm is to be analyzed using ansys.The analysis w ill be conducted to determine the Von-Misses stress at element A as shown in fig. 2. 1 below. A force acts on the components at the 38cm component shown. Figure2. 1: Showing a component of lever arm analyzed in this assignment Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page33 2A: Analysis using Ansys Parametric designs Language (Mechanical APDL). Steps in the analysis Preprocessor 2A-1: Define Element type Element Type>> Add>>Solid>>10 node solid 187>>ok Figure2A. : Element type 2A-2: Material Model Material Props>>Material Model>> Structural>>Linear>>Elastic>>Isotropic Young Modulus of 206 X103 N/mm2 is applied. And poison ratio v=0. 3. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page34 Figure 2B: material properties 2A-3 Geometric model Steps in Modeling the Geometry are as followed: 2A-3. 1 Create Key points using the table below Table 2- Table Key Point No 1 2 3 4 X 0 0 50 50 Y 0 19 19 12. 5 Z 0 0 0 0 Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page35 5 6 7 8 355 355 455 455 12. 5 19 19 0 0 0 0 0 Figure 2A-3. 1 Plot of Key points Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page36 2A-3. 2: Create straight Line between the following key points: Kp1&Kp2; Kp2&Kp3; Kp3&Kp4; Kp4& Kp5; Kp5&Kp6; Kp6&Kp7; Kp7&Kp8; Kp8&Kp1. Figure 2A-3. 2: Line Plot 2A-3. 3: Create Line Fillet Preprocessor>Modeling> Create>lines>line Fillet First fillet is created between lines KP3 &KP4 and line KP4& KP5 fillet radius is 3. mm, click apply. Second Fillet is created between line KP4 & KP5 and KP5 & KP6, fillet radius 3. 2mm, click Ok. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page37 Figure 2A-3. 3 Plot of section to show Fillet 2A-3. 4 Create area: The area is created by selecting all the lines Preprocessor>Modeling>Create >Area>Arbitrary>Byline Figure 2A-3. 4: Plot of created area Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page38 2A-3. : Create an extrusion This is to convert the 2D area created to a 3D solid Cylinder Preprocessor>Modeling>Operate>Extrude>Area>about Axis Please note that I selected the about axis because we want the extrusion to be alike revolving the area 360o around the axis to be selected. The selected line joining KP1 & KP2 is use as the axis of rotation as this is the center line drawn when the lever arm is dissected into two equal halve from the origin. Figure2A-3. 5: Extrude area about axis Kp1& Kp8 (360o revolution) Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H.Wahyudi Page39 2A-3. 6: create the end point of the arm. Solid cylinder command is use to create this end part. After creating this Volume all the Volumes are added together to form one complete component. Table 3: Features for end part of lever arm Attributes WP X WP Y Radius Depth Part1 405mm 0mm 10mm 380mm Part2 405mm 0mm 10mm -80mm Figure 2A-3. 6: Complete Model Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page40 2A-4: Meshing Figure 2A-4: mesh plot of lever arm. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H.Wahyudi Page41 2A-5: Apply Boundary Conditions The first boundary condition applied is to fully restrain the left end of the lever arm. Displacement on area is used, and the area at the left end of the lever arm is picked. All Degree of freedom (ALL DOF) is set to zero. Lastly, the second boundary condition is applied. A force of 1890N in the negative Y-direction is applied to the right end of the lever arm. (Note that 1890N is use because my passport No. is A3543390A; and the last two digits on my passport no is 90 respectively). 2A-6: Solve the analysis The current load step is solved and result obta ined.To view the obtain result, under postprocessor, click load result and then nodal solution, stress, Von Mises stress. The result is plotted. 2A-7: Refined Mesh: for better result, the mesh is refined at the lines to minimum size of 1 as shown in Figure 2A-7 below. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page42 Figure 2A-6: Refined Mesh Plot Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page43 2A-7: Von-Mises stress at Element A The Von Mises stress obtained at A is 866. 984N/mm2Figure2A-8: Von Mises Plot displaying maximum stress obtained at A to be 866. 984 N/mm2. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page44 Task2B: Analytical Solution Y A Z 35. 5cm B F=1890N Figure2B-1 Free Body Diagram of the lever arm 38cm From Figure2B-1 above, the force on the 38cm cylinder, will cause a torque about element A. C The horizont al line from will be the axis upon which it will act. T V=1890N Ansys result 1 M 2nd result ( change position of F) Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. WahyudiPage45 Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page46 Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page47 No3: Modal Analysis of a simply supported rectangular beam Task3A: Finite Element Model Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page48 Figure 3A. 1 Geometric Model of beam. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page49 Figure3A-2: Mesh Plot of beam Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page50 Task3B: Boundary Condition The boundary condition is applied as followed, on the left side all DOF is se t to zero whereas on the right side only the vertical is set to zero ( i. e. Fy=0). Figure 3B-1: Boundary Conditions on the beam. Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page51 Task 3C: Procedure 3. 1. 1: Element Type: Solid Brick 8-node 45 (Solid45) 3. 1. 2: Material properties Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page52Geometric Modeling Create rectangle Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page53 Operate: Extrude for a length of 5cm which is equal to 0. 05m Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page54 Isometric view of model geometry Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page55 Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page56 First Freq uency: Mode shape Deformed shaped Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page57 Def + Undeformed Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page58 2nd mode shape Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page59 3rd Result Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page60 4th mode shape Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page61 Nangi Ebughni Okoria- Cume42-09/10-00089. , February 2012- MED 305-assigt1: Assessor: H. Wahyudi Page62

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Patch work - Essay Example Additionally, the company uses marginal costing on sales/production basis to determine the cost of the variables whereas the fixed costs do not depend on the level of activity. This pitch will play a vital role to the investors in persuading them to finance the new product. Turnover measures the ability of a company to use its assets in generating sales (Wild, Bernstein &Subramayan, 2001). there are various turnover ratios that are useful to the investors which include accounts receivable turnover and inventory turnover. The accounts receivable turnover of 0.94 shows that Martez Company is more efficient in managing its credit policy thus eliminating the possibility of realizing bad debts. This is a good indicator to the investors as they are assured that their resources will not be lost to the debtors who refuse to pay. Another turnover ratio is the inventory turnover ratio which is a ratio that shows the efficiency of the company in selling its products so as to generate sales that is the number of times that the inventories are converted into sales within a year. An inventory turnover of 1.25 implies that the Martez Company is very efficient in converting the inventory at hand into sales and therefore more revenue will be generated as shown in the forecast. The investors will be interested to see this forecast of the inventory turnover so as to know the how efficient Martez is in generating revenues. Profit margin is a profitability ratio that shows how effective the cost of production is controlled in relation to distribution and administration expenses and also the financing cost (Eriotis, 2005). One way of measuring the value of the business by using the assets on the balance sheet (Meigs & Meigs, 1993). The total value of the assets on the balance sheet are regarded as the company’s investment and therefore showing the true value of the company. Martez Company has total assets amounting to

Philosophie Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Philosophie - Essay Example The second part, on the other hand, will compare some important concepts that have been forwarded by each of them in order to underscore some important lessons. The last part will conclude this paper by stating the relevance of each of their views in the subsequent studies on the philosophy of the mind—how their analyses guided various schools of thought pertaining to metaphysica and the mind-body problem (philosophies of St. Thomas Aquinas, Rene Descartes, and Martin Heiddeger). To Plato, the physical world is nothing but an immitation of a perfect world, as stated clearly in the article entitled "Plato Overview" (Clark 1). Physical objects are construed as beings lacking the state of perfection. In this regard, the humans’ acquisition of sensible experiences gives them what Plato called ’opinions or beliefs’ (Clark 2). Such position, as reinforced in an academic paper entitled "Temporal Platonic Metaphysics," is based on the assumption that: (1) physical objects can only be regarded as imperfect versions of their perfect counterparts and (2) humans’ senses can only grasp these imperfect characteristics of physical objects (Mikovic 1). Following this reasoning and connecting this to his position on the nature of the human mind, Plato then recognized the need to transcend physicality as he regarded humans as more spiritual than physical. In Plato’s renowned metaphor, humans are souls trapped in physical bodies. Such conception of the state of ’being trapped’ is both revolutionary and developmental—revolutionary because it introduced the concept of non-materiality as another facet of humanity, and developmental because it highlighted the proper way through which the spiritual or ideal state of objects could be grasped. While humans gain sensible experiences through the physical contact with physical objects (as mediated by the five senses), such occurrence is made possible by the author and governor of the visible world of appearances called

Problem statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Problem statement - Essay Example This problem will guide the research study in understanding the situation of the students, especially with regards to the different semesters of their Bachelor’s degree. In addition, the organization of the research study will have to incorporate the students’ input and requires their cooperation, especially in order to match the different semesters in their degree course to different degrees of motivation. These problems, therefore, requires that the study investigates a group of students over different semesters in their school years. The research question for this study will be; what is the degree of motivation for nursing students across different semesters of their Bachelor’s degree course? Twenty students will be chosen at random from each year of the nursing course, which will make sixty students, and they will be studies across the three semesters of their school year. The research methodology will be a quantitative one with data collected using questionnaires that have a scale of 0 to 10, which will range from not motivated at all to highly motivated, respectively. The data will then be stored in a computer-based database for further Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, or SPSS, analysis. The independent variable for this study will be the degree of motivation that the students, while the dependent variable will be the different semesters that the students attend during the course of their school year. For this study, the non-directional hypothesis will be that there is a significant difference in the motivation of nursing students during different semesters of their degree course. The directional hypothesis will be that motivation of nursing students score more highly during the first semester and during the last semester. The reason these hypotheses were reached is that, it is expected that motivation of nursing

DVD player Essay Example for Free

DVD player Essay Keyboard The keyboard is usually a long rectangle shaped piece of plastic with rows keys. The keyboard is used to type letters and numbers into a word processor. They are also used for gaming; some keyboards have with special gaming features. A keyboard used to be used to give commands to operate the computer before there the invention of mice. A keyboard can be connected to the computer by USB port or wirelessly. Some keyboards are designed for use by people who are visually impaired. The Waterside library has a keyboard on every computer; there are two types of keyboard in the library, the average sized plain coloured keyboards (above left) used mostly people without eyesight problems and then the larger sized keyboards (above right) for visually impaired members with a contrasting coloured keyboard. The contrasting coloured keyboard makes it easier for the visually impaired to identify buttons on the keyboard. The good thing about the larger sized keyboard is that the keys help the user to recognise when they have been pressed with a nice distinct click. The libraries facilities are available to the whole community including the visually impaired. It would be unfair for visually impaired people if they were not able to use the same facilities just because the equipment didnt suit their needs. The Library has made a big effort to make sure all sections of the community are able to use the facilities available without feeling excluded and discriminated against. If the library didnt have this specialised equipment the visually impaired members would find that they make lots of mistakes when typing and this would put them off using the library again. Mouse There are two types of mouse, they are optical or roller ball. Mice can be wired or wireless. A mouse is an object that the user holds under one of the users hands. Most mice have two buttons the left and the right. Sometimes the mouse may have a wheel between the left and right buttons. The wheel is used to scroll up and down. The mouse is used to control the motion of the cursor, which is displayed on the monitor. It can be used to open and close windows by clicking on icons and carry out tasks such as printing. All computers in the library have a normal mouse connected to them however there are two mice connected to the computers with a large keyboard, the special mouse (above right) and the Dell wired mouse (above left). The library uses wired mice because wireless mice are easily stolen as they are not attached to the computer, people can not move a wired mouse away from the computer it is wired to. The special mouse is used by people who find it difficult to use a normal mouse, for example a person who had his fingers taken off in an accident and only had a palm left would not be able to hold a mouse or click, however they would be able to use the other mouse as they could their palm to roll the ball around and press the buttons. This equipment can also be used by people with learning difficulties, poor visibility and limited hand movement. All these types of people could not have used a computer independently without assistance from members of staff, by having this special mouse means members of staff spend less time assisting one library members and are more able to help other people and organise stock. This arrangement ensures that people with disabilities are not discriminated against and are made to feel welcome in the library. Barcode scanner A barcode scanner is a laser light that scans barcodes. They save time and money. A barcode scanner can be connected to the computer through USB. They are used in shops to scan items that are purchased, issued or returned. In the library staff use a barcode scanner located at the issue desk to in libraries to scan the barcodes on stock and members cards. Before libraries used barcode scanners had to type the code in by keyboard, this took time and often mistakes were made when typing in codes, resulting in members and stock details being inaccurate. The library needs its information to be accurate as people dont want to find that stock have had taken out under there member number by mistake and that they have to pay for it because it wasnt returned. A barcode scanner is quicker and more accurate then entering in codes by a keyboard. This means that the staff can give their members a good quality service which will encourage them to use the library. Flatbed scanner A scanner scans and converts documents in to a digital image. That can be stored on the computer. It can be use by members of the library and staff. The advantage is that users can scan images/documents so as they can be sent by email or inserted in to documents. The flat bed scanners are available to staff and members in the library. They are not used very often. This is because digital cameras and phone cameras are very common and people can easily get pictures into digital format. However they are available if anyone wants to scan an A4 document. They are free of charge to use but their use is supervised by a member of the library staff. Storage devices Hard drive A hard drive is a storage device that records data. There are two types of hard drives External Hard Drives and Internal Hard Drives. The external hard disk drive is similar to internal hard disk drives; they include a normal hard disk drive which is mounted in a disk enclosure. Key benefits to using external disk drives are adding additional storage space or adding an easily removable backup source. It could also be useful for preventing the heat from the drive increasing the heat inside a computer case. The internal hard disk gives computers the ability to remember things when the power goes out. Key benefits to using internal disk drives are that it stores and retrieves data much faster than a floppy disk and CD-ROM and has a large storage capacity. It does not need connected every time the user needs to use it. In the library members are not allowed to save on to the hard drive, this is because members could be saving viruses on to the computers or filling the computers hard drive up unnecessarily. If members were allowed to save on to the hard drive all the files saved on that computer station would be available to opened, read, viewed and edit the file unless it has been saved as a password protected file. This means that any user could look at another users documents, so long as they are saved on the hard drive of the computer and there is no password. Floppy disk A floppy disk is a data storage device. Floppy disk is a plastic square shaped object with a disk of thin magnetic storage inside it. Floppy disks are read and written by a floppy disk drive. The library computers no longer have floppy disk drives on their computer. This means that members can not use floppy disks on the computers in the library. If the library computers did have a floppy disk drive and people could use floppy disks most people would still prefer to use other storage devices as they are more robust and hold a lot more data. Optical disk There are three types of optical disk they are DVD, CD and blu ray. DVDs are of the same as CDs, but they store more than six times as much data. CDs are used to store music these can be played in CD or DVD player. You cant play blu ray DVD on a normal DVD player but you can play DVDs on a Blue-ray player. Blu ray players are backward compatible; this means that blu ray player can also play normal DVDs. In the library members can not use optical drives because they are blocked instead they must use an external optical drive. The library has two external optical drives these can be borrowed from the issue desk. Members plug them in to the USB port and can then use them to open files saved on a compact disk or save on to a disk, listen to CDs and play DVDs. If a member needed to save his or her work but did not have another compatible storage device like a memory pen or have forgotten to bring it with them they can borrow the external optical drive and buy a compact disk from the issue desk and save on to that. This means that members are still able to save there documents even if they dont own another storage device or havent brought it with them. Members can request the external optical drive and use it to play music, CDs or DVDs. Memory pens Flash memory data storage device are also known Flash Drives, Memory Sticks, Pen Drives, and Memory Pens. Memory pens are more effective at transferring data than floppy disks or burning CDs. Storage capacities can range. The USB is usually protected by a removable cap. There is no external power required. Memory pens easily taken to any library and plugged in to the USB port, the documents can be opened at any computer they are plugged on to. Members of the library can use memory pens to save data on as they are unable to save on to the libraries computers hard drives. The library computers have two USB ports at the front of the computers to make it easy for the members to connect their memory pens. Random access memory RAM is the most common computer memory, it is used by programs to perform tasks while the computer is on. The data which is in the RAM will be lost when the computer power is switched off so it is important to save before switching off. Random access memory can improve performance, the more RAM in a computer the faster it will perform. There are several different types of RAM available for computers; these vary in cost and speed. The amount of RAM on the computers in the library is 512Mbyte memory . The library didnt need to buy extra RAM for their computers as the amount all ready on them was sufficient for general use and more than adequate for use in libraries where people use the computers for basic tasks such as word processing, surfing the internet and checking emails. The memory size is also adequate for the staff to run galaxy and any other software they need. By taking the standard memory the library were able to save some money which they were able to use in other areas. Magnetic tape data storage Magnetic tape is most commonly packaged in cartridges and cassettes. The device that performs actual writing or reading of data is a tape drive. When storing large amounts of data, tape can is less expensive than other data storage. Tape storage is used with large computer systems, mainly for backups and archives. However magnetic tape is much more likely to get damaged. In the library every evening when the library is closed a member of staff will put a back up tape in to the server. Staff will back up the server while the library is closed at night.

The Creation of God and the Universe

The Creation of God and the Universe Does God really exist? How can we know? If God made everything, who made God? In our everyday experience, just about everything seems to have a beginning. In fact, the laws of science show that even things which look the same through our lifetime, like the sun and other stars, are running down. The sun is using up its fuel at millions of tons each second. Since, therefore, it cannot last forever, it had to have a beginning. The same can be shown to be true for the entire universe. So when Christians claim that the God of the Bible created the entire universe, some will ask what seems a logical question, namely â€Å"Where did God come from?† The Bible makes it clear in many places that God is outside of time. He is eternal, with no beginning or end—He is infinite! He also knows all things, being infinitely intelligent. Is this logical? Can modern science allow for such a notion? And how could you recognize the evidence for an intelligent Creator? The existence of God is taken for granted in the Bible. There is nowhere any argument to prove it. He who disbelieves this truth is spoken of as one devoid of understanding . The arguments generally adduced by theologians in proof of Gods existence are: The a priori argument, which is the testimony afforded by reason. The a posteriori argument, by which we proceed logically from the facts of experience to causes. These arguments are: The cosmological, by which it is proved that there must be a First Cause of all things, for every effect must have a cause. The teleological, or the argument from design. We see everywhere the operations of an intelligent Cause in nature. The moral argument, called also the anthropological argument, based on the moral consciousness and the history of mankind, which exhibits a moral order and purpose which can only be explained on the supposition of the existence of God. Conscience and human history testify that â€Å"verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth.† Matthew G. Easton How to recognize intelligence Scientists get excited about finding stone tools in a cave because these speak of intelligence—a tool maker. They could not have designed themselves. Neither would anyone believe that the carved Presidents heads on Mt. Rushmore were the product of millions of years of chance erosion. We can recognize design—the evidence of the outworkings of intelligence—in the man-made objects all around us. Similarly, in William Paleys famous argument, a watch implies a watchmaker.Today, however, a large proportion of people, including many leading scientists, believe that all plants and animals, including the incredibly complex brains of the people who make watches, motor cars, etc., were not designed by an intelligent God but rather came from an unintelligent evolutionary process. But is this a defensible position? Design in living things Molecular biologist Dr. Michael Denton, writing as an agnostic, concluded: Alongside the level of ingenuity and complexity exhibited by the molecular machinery of life, even our most advanced [twentieth century technology appears] clumsy. It would be an illusion to think that what we are aware of at present is any more than a fraction of the full extent of biological design. In practically every field of fundamental biological research ever-increasing levels of design and complexity are being revealed at an ever-accelerating rate. The world-renowned crusader for Darwinism and atheism, Prof. Richard Dawkins, states: We have seen that living things are too improbable and too beautifully â€Å"designed† to have come into existence by chance. Thus, even the most ardent atheist concedes that design is all around us. To a Christian, the design we see all around us is totally consistent with the Bibles explanation that God created all. However, evolutionists like Dawkins reject the idea of a Designer. He comments (emphasis added): All appearance to the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces of physics, albeit deployed in a very special way. A true watchmaker has foresight: he designs his cogs and springs, and plans their interconnections, with future purpose in his minds eye. Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind†¦ It has no mind†¦ It does not plan for the future†¦ it is the blind watchmaker. Selection and design Life is built on information, contained in that molecule of heredity, DNA. Dawkins believes that natural selectionand mutations (blind, purposeless copying mistakes in this DNA) together provide the mechanism for producing the vast amounts of information responsible for the design in living things. Natural selection is a logical process that can be observed. However, selection can only operate on the information already contained in genes—it does not produce new information.distinct kinds of animals and plants, each to reproduce after its own kind. One can observe great variation in a kind,and see the results of natural selection. For instance, dingoes, wolves and coyotes have developed over time as a result of natural selection operating on the information in the genes of the wolf/dog kind. But no new information was produced—these varieties have resulted from rearrangement, and sorting out, of the information in the original dog kind. One kind has never been observed to change into a totally different kind with new information that previously did not exist! Without a way to increase information, natural selection will not work as a mechanism for evolution. Evolutionists agree with this, but they believe that mutations somehow provide the new information for natural selection to act upon. Can mutations produce new information? Actually, it is now clear that the answer is no! Dr. Lee Spetner, a highly qualified scientist who taught information and communication theory at Johns Hopkins University, makes this abundantly clear in his recent book: In this chapter Ill bring several examples of evolution, [i.e., instances alleged to be examples of evolution] particularly mutations, and show that information is not increased But in all the reading Ive done in the life-sciences literature, Ive never found a mutation that added information. All point mutations that have been studied on the molecular level turn out to reduce the genetic information and not to increase it. The NDT [neo-Darwinian theory] is supposed to explain how the information of life has been built up by evolution. The essential biological difference between a human and a bacterium is in the information they contain. All other biological differences follow from that. The human genome has much more information than does the bacterial genome. Information cannot be built up by mutations that lose it. A business cant make money by losing it a little at a time. Evolutionary scientists have no way around the conclusions that many scientists, including Dr. Spetner, have come to. Mutations do not work as a mechanism to fuel the evolutionary process. [For further information, see: Can genetic mutations produce positive changes in living creatures? Answer] More problems! Scientists have found that within the cell, there are thousands of what can be called biochemical machines. All of their parts have to be in place simultaneously or the cell cant function. Things which were thought to be simple mechanisms, such as being able to sense light and turn it into electrical impulses, are in fact highly complicated. Since life is built on these machines, the idea that natural processes could have made a living system is untenable. Biochemist Dr. Michael Behe uses the term irreducible complexity in describing such biochemical machines. †¦systems of horrendous, irreducible complexity inhabit the cell. The resulting realization that life was designed by an intelligence is a shock to us in the twentieth century who have gotten used to thinking of life as the result of simple natural laws. But other centuries have had their shocks, and there is no reason to suppose that we should escape them. Richard Dawkins recognizes this problem of needing machinery to start with when he states: The theory of the blind watchmaker is extremely powerful given that we are allowed to assume replication and hence cumulative selection. But if replication needs complex machinery, since the only way we know for complex machinery ultimately to come into existence is cumulative selection, we have a problem. A problem indeed! The more we look into the workings of life, the more complicated it gets, and the more we see that life could not arise by itself. Not only is a source of information needed, but the complex machines of the chemistry of life need to be in existence right from the start! A greater problem still! Some still try to insist that the machinery of the first cell could have arisen by pure chance. For instance, they say, by randomly drawing alphabet letters in sequence from a hat, sometimes you will get a simple word like BAT.So given long time periods, why couldnt even more complex information arise by chance? However, what would the word BAT mean to a German or Chinese speaker? The point is that an order of letters is meaningless unless there is a language convention and a translation system in place which makes it meaningful! In a cell, there is such a system (other molecules) that makes the order on the DNA meaningful. DNA without the language/translation system is meaningless, and these systems without the DNA wouldnt work either. The other complication is that the translation machinery which reads the order of the letters in the DNA is itself specified by the DNA! This is another one of those machines that needs to be fully-formed or life wont work. Can information arise from non-information? Dr. Werner Gitt, Director and Professor at the German Federal Institute of Physics and Technology, makes it clear that one of the things we know absolutely for sure from science, is that information cannot arise from disorder by chance. It always takes (greater) information to produce information, and ultimately information is the result of intelligence: A code system is always the result of a mental process (it requires an intelligent origin or inventor) It should be emphasized that matter as such is unable to generate any code. All experiences indicate that a thinking being voluntarily exercising his own free will, cognition, and creativity, is required. There is no known natural law through which matter can give rise to information, neither is any physical process or material phenomenon known that can do this. What is the source of the information? We can therefore deduce that the huge amount of information in living things must originally have come from an intelligence, which had to have been far superior to ours, as scientists are revealing every day. But then, some will say that such a source would have to be caused by something with even greater information/intelligence. However, if they reason like this, one could ask where this greater information/intelligence came from? And then where did that one come from . one could extrapolate to infinity, for ever, unless . Unless there was a source of infinite intelligence, beyond our finite understanding. But isnt this what the Bible indicates when we read, In the beginning God .? The God of the Bible is an infinite being not bound by limitations of time, space, knowledge, or anything else. So which is the logically defensible position?—that matter eternally existed (or came into existence by itself for no reason), and then by itself arranged itself into information systems against everything observed in real science? Or that a being with infinite intelligence,created information systems for life to exist, agreeing with real science? The answer seems obvious, so why dont all intelligent scientists accept this? Michael Behe answers: Many people, including many important and well-respected scientists, just dont want there to be anything beyond nature. They dont want a supernatural being to affect nature, no matter how brief or constructive the interaction may have been. In other words . they bring an a priori philosophical commitment to their science that restricts what kinds of explanations they will accept about the physical world. Sometimes this leads to rather odd behavior. The crux of the matter is this: If one accepts there is a God who created us, then that God also owns us. He thus has a right to set the rules by which we must live. In the Bible, He has revealed to us that we are in rebellion against our Creator. Because of this rebellion called sin, our physical bodies are sentenced to death—but we will live on, either with God, or without Him in a place of judgment. But the good news is that our Creator provided, through the cross of Jesus Christ, a means of deliverance for our sin of rebellion, so that those who come to Him in faith, in repentance for their sin, can receive the forgiveness of a Holy God and spend forever with their Lord. [Watch The HOPE on-line (streaming video)] So who created God? By definition, an infinite, eternal being has always existed—no one created God. He is the self-existing one—the great I am of the Bible.19 He is outside of time; in fact, He created time. You might say, â€Å"But that means I have to accept this by faith, as I cant understand it.† We read in the book of Hebrews, But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6). But this is not blind faith, as some think. In fact, the evolutionists who deny God have a blind faith—they have to believe something that is against real science—namely, that information can arise from disorder by chance. Can you believe in the existence of something that you cannot see? Have you ever seen your own brain? We all believe in many things that we have never seen. Have you ever seen the wind? Have you seen history? We see the effects of the wind, but the wind is invisible. We have records of history, but it is by faith we believe that certain historical events happened. Television waves are invisible, but an antenna and a receiver can detect their presence. Do you know that you have a receiver? Prior to becoming a child of God, your receiver (your spirit) is dead because of sin (see Ephesians 2:1). You need to be plugged into the life of God, and then you will come alive and be aware of the invisible spiritual realm. Learn more about God and his plan for your life Adapted from author Ray Comfort See these information sources for evidence of God and the accuracy of His Word†¦ The Christian faith is not a blind faith; it is a logically defensible faith. This is why the Bible makes it clear that anyone who does not believe in God is without excuse: For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse (Romans 1:20). For a more in-depth article, read: Who created God? Who created God? A number of skeptics ask this question. But God by definition is the uncreated creator of the universe, so the question Who created God? is illogical, just like To whom is the bachelor married? So a more sophisticated questioner might ask: If the universe needs a cause, then why doesnt God need a cause? And if God doesnt need a cause, why should the universe need a cause? In reply, Christians should use the following reasoning: Everything which has a beginning has a cause.1 The universe has a beginning. Therefore the universe has a cause. Its important to stress the words in bold type. The universe requires a cause because it had a beginning, as will be shown below. God, unlike the universe, had no beginning, so doesnt need a cause. In addition, Einsteins general relativity, which has much experimental support, shows that time is linked to matter and space. So time itself would have begun along with matter and space. Since God, by definition, is the creator of the whole universe, he is the creator of time. Therefore He is not limited by the time dimension He created, so has no beginning in time God is the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity (Isaiah 57:15). Therefore He doesnt have a cause. In contrast, there is good evidence that the universe had a beginning. This can be shown from the Laws of Thermodynamics, the most fundamental laws of the physical sciences. 1st Law: The total amount of mass-energy in the universe is constant. 2nd Law: The amount of energy available for work is running out, or entropy is increasing to a maximum. If the total amount of mass-energy is limited, and the amount of usable energy is decreasing, then the universe cannot have existed forever, otherwise it would already have exhausted all usable energy the heat death of the universe. For example, all radioactive atoms would have decayed, every part of the universe would be the same temperature, and no further work would be possible. So the obvious corollary is that the universe began a finite time ago with a lot of usable energy, and is now running down. Now, what if the questioner accepts that the universe had a beginning, but not that it needs a cause? But it is self-evident that things that begin have a cause no-one really denies it in his heart. All science and history would collapse if this law of cause and effect were denied. So would all law enforcement, if the police didnt think they needed to find a cause for a stabbed body or a burgled house. Also, the universe cannot be self-caused nothing can create itself, because that would mean that it existed before it came into existence, which is a logical absurdity. IN SUMMARY The universe (including time itself) can be shown to have had a beginning. It is unreasonable to believe something could begin to exist without a cause. The universe therefore requires a cause, just as Romans 1:20 teach. God, as creator of time, is outside of time. Since therefore He has no beginning in time, He has always existed, so doesnt need a cause. OBJECTIONS There are only two ways to refute an argument: Show that it is logically invalid Show that at least one of the premises is false. Is the argument valid? A valid argument is one where it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. Note that validity does not depend on the truth of the premises, but on the form of the argument. The argument in this article is valid; it is of the same form as: All whales have backbones; Moby Dick is a whale; therefore Moby Dick has a backbone. So the only hope for the skeptic is to dispute one or both of the premises. Are the premises true? 1. Does the universe have a beginning? Oscillating universe ideas were popularized by atheists like the late Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov solely to avoid the notion of a beginning, with its implications of a Creator. But as shown above, the Laws of Thermodynamics undercut that argument. Even an oscillating universe cannot overcome those laws. Each one of the hypothetical cycles would exhaust more and more usable energy. This means every cycle would be larger and longer than the previous one, so looking back in time there would be smaller and smaller cycles. So the multicycle model could have an infinite future, but can only have a finite past.2 Also, there are many lines of evidence showing that there is far too little mass for gravity to stop expansion and allow cycling in the first place, i.e., the universe is open. According to the best estimates (even granting old-earth assumptions), the universe still has only about half the mass needed for re-contraction. This includes the combined total of both luminous matter and non-luminous matter (found in galactic halos), as well as any possible contribution of neutrinos to total mass.3 Some recent evidence for an open universe comes from the number of light-bending gravitational lenses in the sky.6 It seems there is only 40-80% of the required matter to cause a big crunch. Incidentally, this low mass is also a major problem for the currently fashionable inflationary version of the big bang theory, as this predicts a mass density just on the threshold of collapse a flat universe. Finally, no known mechanism would allow a bounce back after a hypothetical big crunch.7 As the late Professor Beatrice Tinsley of Yale explained, even though the mathematics say that the universe oscillates, There is no known physical mechanism to reverse a catastrophic big crunch. Off the paper and into the real world of physics, those models start from the Big Bang, expand, collapse, and thats the end. 2. Denial of cause and effect Some physicists assert that quantum mechanics violates this cause/effect principle and can produce something from nothing. For instance, Paul Davies writes: spacetime could appear out of nothingness as a result of a quantum transition. Particles can appear out of nowhere without specific causation Yet the world of quantum mechanics routinely produces something out of nothing.9 But this is a gross misapplication of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics never produces something out of nothing. Davies himself admitted on the previous page that his scenario should not be taken too seriously. Theories that the universe is a quantum fluctuation must presuppose that there was something to fluctuate their quantum vacuum is a lot of matter-antimatter potential not nothing. Also, I have plenty of theoretical and practical experience at quantum mechanics (QM) from my doctoral thesis work. For example, Raman spectroscopy is a QM phenomenon, but from the wavenumber and intensity of the spectral bands, we can work out the masses of the atoms and force constants of the bonds causing the bands. To help the atheist position that the universe came into existence without a cause, one would need to find Raman bands appearing without being caused by transitions in vibrational quantum states, or alpha particles appearing without pre-existing nuclei, etc. If QM was as acausal as some people think, then we should not assume that these phenomena have a cause. Then I may as well burn my Ph.D. thesis, and all the spectroscopy journals should quit, as should any nuclear physics research. Also, if there is no cause, there is no explanation why this particular universe appeared at a particular time, nor why it was a universe and not, say, a banana or cat which appeared. This universe cant have any properties to explain its preferential coming into existence, because it wouldnt have any properties until it actually came into existence. Is creation by God rational? A last desperate tactic by skeptics to avoid a theistic conclusion is to assert that creation in time is incoherent. Davies correctly points out that since time itself began with the beginning of the universe, it is meaningless to talk about what happened before the universe began. But he claims that causes must precede their effects. So if nothing happened before the universe began, then (according to Davies) it is meaningless to discuss the cause of the universes beginning. But the philosopher (and New Testament scholar) William Lane Craig, in a useful critique of Davies,10 pointed out that Davies is deficient in philosophical knowledge. Philosophers have long discussed the notion of simultaneous causation. Immanuel Kant (17241804) gave the example of a weight resting on a cushion simultaneously causing a depression in it. Craig says: The first moment of time is the moment of Gods creative act and of creations simultaneous coming to be. Some skeptics claim that all this analysis is tentative, because that is the nature of science. So this cant be used to prove creation by God. Of course, skeptics cant have it both ways: saying that the Bible is wrong because science has proved it so, but if science appears consistent with the Bible, then well, science is tentative anyway. A final thought The Bible informs us that time is a dimension that God created, into which man was subjected. It even tells us that one day time will no longer exist. That will be called â€Å"eternity.† God Himself dwells outside of the dimension He created (Titus 1:2). He dwells in eternity and is not subject to time. God spoke history before it came into being. He can move through time as a man flips through a history book. Because we live in the dimension of time, it is impossible for us to fully understand anything that does not have a beginning and an end. Simply accept that fact, and believe the concept of Gods eternal nature the same way you believe the concept of space having no beginning and end—by faith—even though such thoughts put a strain on our distinctly insufficient cerebrum. Paul S. Taylor, adapted from author Ray Comfort Further Reading More information can be found in the following works. Unfortunately they are too friendly towards the unscriptural big bang theory with its billions of years of death, suffering and disease before Adams sin. But the above arguments are perfectly consistent with a recent creation in six consecutive normal days, as taught by Scripture. Craig, W.L., Apologetics: An Introduction (Chicago: Moody, 1984). Craig, W.L. online article â€Å"The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe† http://www.leaderu.com/truth/3truth11.html Geisler, N.L., Christian Apologetics (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1976). How does archaeology conclusively demonstrate the Bible to be reliable and unique among all the holy books of world religions? Archaeological discoveries verify the historical reliability of the Old and New Testaments. When compared to other religious books, the titles, and events mentioned in the Bible; and the language and literary formats used to compose the Bible. Many scholars today question the validity of Biblical accounts, supposedly based on the findings of archaeology (i.e. misinterpretation of evidence, lack of evidence, or poor scholarship) and not with the Bible. How can archaeology prove helpful to someone seeking for truth to the basic questions about life? The discoveries of archaeology can be helpful in removing doubts that a person might have about the historical trustworthiness of the Bible. The places, and events of the Bible are real. What Gods Word? Any one discovery can be explained away as coincidence, or an alternative interpretation can be given to disassociate it from the Bible. It is the weight of a myriad of discoveries that demonstrates the Bible to be the Word of God. These discoveries fall into three categories: Archaeological evidence demonstrates the historical and cultural accuracy of the Bible. The Bibles message of a salvation stands in sharp contrast to the pagan fertility religions of the ancient world as, revealed by archaeology. Archaeological findings demonstrate that the Biblical prophets accurately predicted events hundreds of years before they occurred—something that lies beyond the capability of mere men. Where did Cain get his wife? We dont even know her name, yet she was discussed at the wife in history? Scripture and, thus, the Christian faith. For instance, at the historic Scopes trial in Tennessee in 1925, William Jennings Bryan, the prosecutor who stood for the Christian faith, failed to answer the question about [3] lawyer Clarence Darrow. The worlds press was focused on this trial, and what they heard has affected Christianity to this day—Christians are seen as unable to defend the biblical record. And skeptics then make the logically fallacious jump of concluding that the biblical record is indefensible! The agnostic Carl Sagan used this same question in his book ContactContact,† which was based on Sagans book, also used it. In the book, the fictional character Ellie could not get answers about [6] Sagan cleverly used common questions—such as â€Å"Who was Cains wife?†Ã¢â‚¬â€questions that are often directed at Christians in an attempt to prove the Bible cannot be defended. Sadly, most Christians probably could not answer these questions! And yet, there are answers. But, since most churches are lacking in the teaching of 1 Peter 3:15). Why is it important? Many skeptics have claimed that, for New Testament doctrines depend. Defenders of the Genesis 4:1-5:5.) Before we answer this question, we will first show how important it is to the meaning of the gospel. The first man Therefore, even as through one man Romans 5:12). We read in God did not start by making a whole group of men. The sin of rebellion, also passed on to all his descendants. Since return to God! Because a man brought Romans 3:23). What is the solution? The Last Adam pay the penalty for sin: â€Å"For since by a man came [8] God. Since the Bible describes all human beings as gospel could not be explained or defended. The Hebrews 2:11-18). Thus, only descendants of the first man saved. All related Thus, there was only one man at the beginning—made from the Genesis 2:7). This also means that Adams descendants. The first woman In Eve—she was the first woman. marriage of one man to one woman. Also, in animals, he could not find a mate—there was no one of his kind. All this makes it obvious that there was only one woman, Eves descendants. If Christians cannot defend that all humans (including gospel and all that it teaches. Cains brothers and sisters Genesis 4:25), were part of the first generation of children ever born on this earth. Even though only these three males are mentioned by name, Genesis 5:3) before Seth was born. During their lives, Adams children, as says the old tradition, was thirty-three sons and twenty-three daughters.† The Genesis 1:28). The wife If we now work totally from Scripture, without any personal prejudices or other extra-biblical ideas, then back at the beginning, when there was only the first generation, brothers would have had to have married sisters or there would be no more generations! We are not told when marriages and children, but we can say for certain that some brothers had to marry their sisters at the beginning of human history. But what about Gods Laws? Many people immediately reject the conclusion that Gods law originally when close relatives (even brothers and sisters) married each other. Remember that Moses laws that forbade such marriages. Biological deformities Today, brothers and sisters (and half-brothers and half-sisters, etc.) are not permitted by law to marry because their children have an unacceptably high risk of being deformed. The more closely the parents are related, the more likely it is that any offspring will be d