Discuss the uses of recombinant DNA technology with respect to Essay

Discuss the uses of recombinant DNA technology with respect to medicine - Essay Example From a medical viewpoint, recombinant DNA technology can have immense potential. For example, many diseases are caused by the lack of certain genes or faulty protein production which leads to impaired functioning of important biochemical pathways. By using recombinant DNA technology to complement those defects and producing the lacking protein it is possible to effectively treat these diseases. An extremely successful example of this particular use is the case of insulin production for the treatment of diabetes. Previously, insulin for treatment used to be isolated from bovine sources, by extracting the pancreatic tissue and purifying insulin from here. However, two major problems are immediately obvious: first, this is extremely labor-intensive, yields are low and therefore it becomes expensive and quantities are limiting, thus treatment becomes an expensive option. Second, due to the exquisite specificity of our immune systems, the bovine protein is immediately differentiated from the human and this could lead to rejection by our immune system. Recombinant DNA using the human gene would solve this problem as the gene and therefore protein would be the human variety and would not be rejected. Second, since cloning is most often done in bacteria which have short doubling times, the massive amplification of the gene and therefore the protein leads to cheaper bulk production and lowers costs. Insulin therefore has become far more available for treatment with the advent of recombinant DNA technology. Growth hormone has also been successfully used this way. Another application of this technology is in the production of vaccines. Historically, the identification of antigens and the production of vaccines against them has been a laborious task. It involved purifying various protein components from viruses or bacteria after culturing them, and testing them in animal subjects to determine their antigenicity. The major problems there were, first, the difficulty in purifying those microbial toxins due to contamination, low concentrations etc., and furthermore, viruses and certain bacteria, like Mycobacterium, are obligate parasites and cannot be grown in vitro cultures in order to purify their components. By cloning their genes via PCR amplification and cloning into bacterial expression hosts, we can circumvent these issues and skip past the rate-limiting step of purification since cloning produces proteins in bulk. This strategy has been used with some success for many viruses, including the HBV virus. (Medscape). However this is not without its own problems when one looks at the evolution of viral antigens and the rate of mutation and development of new strains. Nevertheless DNA technology has speeded up the development of vaccines to a point where we now hold a sporting chance against these diseases. The technology is also used in the field of diagnostics. PCR and other DNA technology techniques are used to determine if people are carriers of cystic fibrosis genes, Huntington's disease gene and to help in gene therapy for these diseases. PCR and DNA

Food Nation Essay Example for Free

Food Nation Essay Food connotes more than just an intake to be able to sustain life. It is a reflection of a myriad of culture existing in a society. Looking at food, one can see its various fusions of cultural identities prepared to satisfy one’s appetite. Food is a perfect example of a world that enters into the process of globalization where nations embrace the flow of cultural exchange. Countries such as the United States and Italy are known for having diverse demographics. The diversity of its population brought influences into their food as well. However, although both countries may have fused each other’s culture into their food, there are still differences which make them distinct from each other such as how they handle and view food. The United States is one of the largest countries when it comes to its size and population. It has a wide variety of immigrants which flowed starting from the nineteenth century and as its population continues to grow, its culture has been as dynamic as its food (Counihan, 2002, p. 26). Large part of these immigrants later joined the American workforce as every parent became employed. The absence of either the mother or the father at home veered the majority of the population away from home-cooked meals. Eating out became an alternative for families to have their meals together and eating out means buying food from a restaurant (Schlosser, 2001, p. 4). From this concept of eating outside the confines of a home, the fast food world was born. The term â€Å"fast-food† refers to a speedy availability of food, further described as a â€Å"provision of limited, standard menu with quick service† (Royle Towers, 2002, p. 190). Fast food became not just a way to fill skipped meals at home but it turned out to be a lifestyle. The United States initially became known for its fast food because of the rise of popular food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King. Its convenience of having ready-made food suits the lifestyle of people especially those who go to work early and go home late. Since there are a large number of working people in the United States, they flock to these restaurants to eat. Foods are being prepared in bulks to anticipate the huge numbers of customers. Most ingredients provided are delivered frozen. Cooking methods involved one or a couple of processes to guarantee its speed. Assembling ingredients in a line system like burger patties will be able to cook a dozen of it at the same time (Schlosser, 2001, p. 69). Some of the food ingredients only require adding hot water and it’s ready for preparation. Fast foods are usually packed in paper wraps, foil, and cartons. The materials of these wrappings are disposable which suites the people on-the-go to eat the food wherever they are. Despite the convenience brought about by fast food, healthier ingredients are being given up. As previously mentioned, ingredients are frozen which indicates that these are not fresh and devoid of its natural healthy components with much more added fats. Since Americans are busy with work with no time to prepare food for them, fast food becomes the next available fast option. Italians, on the other hand, became the center of what should be a counterpart of fast food. A country rich in culture, its food gained renowned identity throughout the world. Just like in the United States, Italian food is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle which extends to close interaction with families and friends in a laid-back environment dining and drinking wine (Parasecoli, 2004, p. xii). The relaxed atmosphere among most Italian household can be seen as a break from the political and social unrest that reign the Italian state during history. Italian food is famous for the cheese, the wine, and the pasta. Made from a wide array of sea foods, vegetables, and meat; Italian food is prepared picking up the fresh ingredients and served as a craft of art. Ricotta, for example, is bought by locals straight from a shepherd on the day it is made (Harrison, 1989, p. 17). Italians regard their food not just as an energy provider but as a â€Å"medicine for the soul, one of life’s abiding pleasures† (Harrison, 1989, p. 17). Most of the Italian foods are cooked in accordance with traditions and the food preparation varies from the different regions of Milan and Florence (Harrison, 1989, p. 143). Taking this traditional view of Italian cuisine, a movement was established to retain not just the traditional cooking of the Italians but also all traditional cuisines of the world. The Slow Food movement is originally established as a counterpart of fast food. The idea of this movement is to make food from â€Å"scratch in your own kitchen† (Kummer, Cushner, Schlosser, 2002, p. 10) rather than the processed artificial food at fast food chains. Just like Italian food, the movement aims to take food as a pleasurable experience offered by life in contrary to fast foods (Pollan, 2008, p. 194). The Slow Movement suggests making food out of ingredients that are ideally grown in the backyard or farms, harvested, and cooked with other natural recipes. The people who eat the foods are not only consumers but co-producers as well. Just like the Italian food, this movement also promotes the pleasure of food eaten and shared communally (Pollan, 2006, p. 259). Though this movement proved to be promising, some may say that in contrast with fast-food, the Slow Food Movement is more expensive to obtain and to do. Since fast-food is more accessible and cheaper, the movement has been tagged as elitist and cannot be afforded by ordinary people (Kummer, et al. , p. 10). By its term of â€Å"slow-food,† this may not suit the lifestyle of most people coming from the working class due to the lack of time for food preparation. United States and Italy vary from the way they live their life with food. Though nowadays, some of their own cuisines have been inspired from one another. Their views of food have a huge gap as the two nations came from different backgrounds and developed cultures that set them apart from each other. Their cuisine style and food preparation became significant in the world today and though different in principles, people enjoy it nonetheless. References Counihan, C. (2002). Food in the USA: A Reader. New York: Routledge. Harrison, B. G. (1989). Italian Days.New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. Kummer, C. , Cusner, S. , Schlosser, E. (2002). The Pleasures of Slow Food: Celebrating Authentic Traditions, Flavors, and Recipes. USA: Chronicles Books. Parasecoli, F. (2004). Food Culture in Italy. Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. Pollan, M. (2008). In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. New York: The Penguin Press. Royle, T. Towers, B. (2002). Labour Relations in the Global Fast-Food Industry. New York: Routledge. Schlosser, E. (2001). Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Houghton Mifflin Books.

The Most Effective Antibiotic On Bacteria Biology Essay

The Most Effective Antibiotic On Bacteria Biology Essay Before bacteria can multiply and cause symptoms our immune system can usually destroy them. We have special white blood cells that attack harmful bacteria. Even if symptoms do occur, our immune system can usually cope and fight off the infection. There are occasions, however, when it is all too much and our bodies need some help from antibiotics. The first antibiotic was penicillin. Such penicillin-related antibiotics as ampicillin, amoxicillin and benzylpenicilllin are widely used today to treat a variety of infections these antibiotics have been around for a long time. There are several different types of modern antibiotics and they are only available with a doctors prescription in industrialized countries. An antibiotic is given for the treatment of an infection caused by bacteria. They target only bacteria they do not attack other organisms, such as fungi or viruses. If you have an infection it is important to know whether it is caused by bacteria, and not a virus or fungus. Most upper respiratory tract infections, such as the common cold and sore throats are generally caused by viruses antibiotics do not work against viruses. Antibiotics are overused or used incorrectly there is a chance that the bacteria will become resistant the antibiotic becomes less effective against that type of bacterium. A broad-spectrum antibiotic can be used to treat a wide range of infections. A narrow-spectrum antibiotic is only effective against a few types of bacteria. There are antibiotics that attack aerobic bacteria, while others work against anaerobic bacteria. Aerobic bacteria need oxygen, while anaerobic bacteria dont. Antibiotics may be given beforehand, to prevent infection, as might be the case before surgery. This is called prophylactic use of antibiotics. They are commonly used before bowel and orthopedic surgery. Bacteria The word bacteria is the plural of bacterium. Grammatically the headline should just say What are bacteria? The incorrect usage has been included in the headline to remind readers that it is wrong and hopefully help correct an increasingly common mistake in the English language. Bacteria are tiny living beings (microorganisms) they are neither plants nor animals they belong to a group all by themselves. Bacteria are tiny single-cell microorganisms, usually a few micrometers in length that normally exist together in millions. A gram of soil typically contains about 40 million bacterial cells. A milliliter of fresh water usually holds about one million bacterial cells. Planet Earth is estimated to hold at least 5 nonillion bacteria. Scientists say that much of Earths biomass is made up of bacteria. 5 nonillion = 5,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (or 51030) (Nonillion = 30 zeros in USA English. In British English it equals 54 zeros. This text uses the American meaning) Bacterial cell walls Bacterial cell walls consist of layer of peptidoglycan which is made up of many parallel polysaccharide chains with short peptide cross-linkage forming an enormous molecule with net-like structure. However, there are two different types of bacterial cell wall, which can be distinguished by Gram staining, a staining technique developed by Christian Gram in 1984 and still in use today. Before staining, bacteria are colorless. The cell walls of Gram-positive bacteria have a thick layer of peptidoglycan containing chemicals such as teichoic acid within their net-like structure. The crystal violet in the stain binds to the teichoic acid and resists decolouring in the rest of the process, leaving the positive purple/blue color. The cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria have a thinner layer of peptidoglycan with ni teichoic acid between the two layers of membranes and then an outer membrane-like layer made up of lipopolisaccharides. Any crystal violet which does not bind is readily decolourised and replaced with red safranine in the Gram stain. So cells appear red. PROBLEM STATEMENT Which antibiotic is the most effective on bacteria? APPARATUS 200 ml of micropipette, conical flask, forceps, 100 ml beaker MATERIALS Petri dish, sample of E.coli and staphylococcus, 3 different types of antibiotic which are carbenicilin, streptomycin and tetracycline, distilled water, Dettol handwash, 75 % of ethanol, agar, tissue paper VARIABLES Fixed variable : volume of bacteria Manipulated variable : types of antibiotic Responding variable : area of inhibition zone HYPOTHESIS The most effective antibiotic to inhibit bacteria growth is ampicillin PROCEDURE First of all, wash out hands with the soap or handwash. The working area is sprayed thoroughly with the disinfectant spray. It is left for at least 10 minutes, and wiped with a paper towel. An agar plate seeded with is prepared. The petri dish is labeled on the base at the edge out of name, the date and type of bacterium it is inoculated with by usng permanent marker pen. After finishing marking the petri dish, the Esterichia coli bacteria is poured by using micropipette into the petri dish on the marked labeling and distribute it evenly. The agar is taken out from 60 ÃÅ'Ã…  C oven. The mouth of the conical flask containing the agar is warmed in the flame to prevent any different bacteria from surrounding grow inside it. The agar is left for 10 minutes for it to solidify before putting the sterile disc dip into three different antibiotics. The forceps are flamed and used them to pick up disc or Mast ring. It is dip into the antibiotic solution and is placed firmly in the centre of the agar. The dish is taped securely with two pieces of adhesive tape and kept it upside down at room temperature for 24 hours. Step 1 until steps 7 are repeated by using another type of bacteria which is staphylococcus. Our hands are washed with soap or handwash and the bench is cleaned again using the 75 % of ethanol. After the incubation, the plate should be looked at carefully but do not open it. Where bacteria have grown the plate will look opaque, but where the antibiotics have inhibited growth, clear zones called inhibition zones will be seen. The diameter of the inhibition zones is measured in milimetres and the information is used to decide which antibiotic is most effective at inhibiting the growth of the bacterium. The data is collected from other members of the class who used the other bacterial cultures. PRECAUTIONS When carrying out the experiment, we should work very closed to the Bunsen burner to prevent any impurities in each apparatus that is used. Do not seal completely the upper and lower part of petri dish. Both petri dishes contain different bacteria need to be inverted to prevent the water vapour from forming at the upper site of the agar. It might affected or overshadow the inhibition zones that are formed inside the dish. Make sure our hands are constantly being wash with disinfectant before touching any apparatus. Before using any apparatus, they should be sterile to prevent any unwanted impurities to grow in the petri dish. Do not open the petri dish after incubation to prevent from infection. RESULTS Antibiotic Diameter of inhibition area/ cm Inhibition area / cm ² E. Coli Staphylococcus E.Coli Staphylococcus Tetracyclin 2.6 3.0 5.3 7.0 Streptomycin 1.6 2.0 8.0 3.1 Carbenicillin 1.5 3.5 4.9 9.6 Ampicillin 3.6 3.8 10.2 11.3 Control 0 0 0 0 Explanation of the data Table above shows the area of inhibition zone of the bacteria growth on two different bacteria. Four types of antibiotics are used to be investigated which is the most effective on a particular bacteria. They are tetracycline, streptomycin, carbenicillin and ampicillin. Whereas two types of bacteria are used which are staphylococcus and Esterichia Coli. For E.coli, ampicilin showed the greatest inhibition area of bacteria growth with 10.2 cm ². Another antibiotic that showed the closest reading is streptomycin. Tetacyclin and carbenicilin showed 5.3 cm ² and 4.9 cm ² respectively. This result clearly shown that ampicilin is the most effective antibiotic to inhibit the growth of E.coli. Besides that, E.coli is a gram negative bacteria. The cell walls of Gram-negative bacteria have a thinner layer of peptidoglycan with no teichoic acid between the two layers of membranes and then an outer membrane-like layer made up of lipopolisaccharides. In addition to that, Staphylococcus also had a higher inhibition zone of bacteria on ampicilin. Other bacterias have no effect as great as ampicilin which can be consider as a strong antibiotic. Staphy is a gram positive bacteria. The cell walls of Gram-positive bacteria have a thick layer of peptidoglycan containing chemicals such as teichoic acid within their net-like structure. The crystal violet in the stain binds to the teichoic acid and resists decolouring in the rest of the process, leaving the positive purple/blue color. That is why ampicilin is said to be the most effective antibiotic on both bacterias. Limitations There are some limitations that cannot be avoided when carrying out the experiment. The first one was every apparatus that we used had been sterile by the laboratory assistant. Thus we had to wash our hands thoroughly before touching anything. We even could not talk during the preparation. The problem was we carried out the experiment on the labs table, instead of using the cupboard fume to maintain the sterile apparatus. Thus, there might be some of the apparatus that we were using had been contaminated. This condition might affect the reliability of the experiment hence the expected results might not get at the end of the experiment. Besides that, we had to wash our hands by using the dettol hand soap before we start and end the experiment. We had to remove all the impurities and bacteria and that was the purpose of washing hand. The problem rose as we did not know whether we had washed our hand to the maximum cleanliness. Consequently, all the apparatus and materials that we used might be affected by our hand. This is done so that there are no infections or contaminations on the agar that might give problems later. Sources of error There are some sources of error when carrying out this experiment. Firstly, we prepared the experiment at room temperature. It was supposed to carry out in sterile medium to prevent anything from affecting during the preparation of bacteria and antibiotics. Next, the major problem that could be seen during the experiment was most of the groups could not be able to solidify their agar to the maximum hardness. Consequently, when inverting the petri dish, all its contents would be messy inside the petri dish and the disc had mixed to one another. Thus, the antibiotics on each disc also had mixed that could affected the whole result. To overcome this problem, students should let the agar solidify before inverting the petri dish. Another problem was some of the groups do not invert their petri dish before keeping it inside the incubator. This would cause the water vapour to form at the upper part of the petri dish. It would also affect the growth of the bacteria in agar. Fourth, the layer of agar inside the petri dish was too thin that caused it fell to the bottom when inverting it. Besides ruining the shape of the agar and the position of the discs in the agar, the thin layer of agar also inhibits the growth of bacteria because it lacked of nutrients. To prevent this, the layer of agar should be half of the petri dish. Further work To get more reliable and accurate result, this experiment should be repeated by varying the temperature to investigate the activity of antibiotic on bacteria. This means that increase the temperature would cause the antibiotic to act more rapidly compared to the temperature that we used before. Thus we do not have to wait for 24 hours to see the inhibition zone. This manipulated variable also do not waste the time consuming for the experiment. Moreover, as the antibiotic shows more faster effect, thus the bacteria and antibiotic should be put in separately different petri dish to prevent it from overlapping. CONCLUSION The most effective antibiotic is ampicilin. The hypothesis is aceepted. Words = 2200

The Jungle :: essays research papers

Part I In the book The Jungle, there are many characters. The major character is Jurgis Rudkus. The book revolves around his life in Packingtown. Jurgis is originally from Lithuania. When we first meet him he appears as very large and powerful. He has a wife, Ona Lukoszaite, and a son named Antanas. Mike Skully is the powerful political leader in Packingtown. Phil Connor is a foreman in Packingtown â€Å"politically connected† through Skully and causes much trouble for Jurgis. Jack Duane is an experienced and educated criminal who is also â€Å"politically connected†. A man named Ostrinski is a half blind tailor who teachers Jurgis about socialism. There are also members of Ona’s family who play minor roles in the story. The story opens with a feast at Jurgis and Ona’s wedding in America. They have a wedding feast after the ceremony. This is where Ona hopes her and Jurgis get some money. To their surprise, the young do not observe the tradition of giving m oney to the bride to help pay for the feast. Ona becomes worried that they are not going have enough money, but Jurgis simply replies by saying â€Å"I will work harder†. The story then flashbacks to how the two first met. Jurgis met Ona at a horse fair, and they fell in love. They were too poor to have a wedding because Ona’s father had died. In hopes of finding freedom and fortune, they left for America, bringing several members of Ona’s family with them. As soon as Jurgis and his family arrive in America they are faced with a problem. They do not speak English and get lost. Finally, they get a cab. They are let off at the yards and bump into Jonas’s friend. He finds them a place to stay in Packingtown. It is a section of Chicago where the meat packing industry is centralized. Jurgis tours the plant and sees the efficiency. No part of the animal is wasted. The tour guide specifically says, â€Å" they use everything about the hog except the squeal,â₠¬  (The Jungle, pg. 38). Jurgis quickly gets a job, on the cattle killing beds. The other members of the family soon find jobs, except for the children. They are put in schools. Jurgis and Ona decide that they want a home because they do not like where they are staying now. They arrange to see one of the houses. The Jungle :: essays research papers Part I In the book The Jungle, there are many characters. The major character is Jurgis Rudkus. The book revolves around his life in Packingtown. Jurgis is originally from Lithuania. When we first meet him he appears as very large and powerful. He has a wife, Ona Lukoszaite, and a son named Antanas. Mike Skully is the powerful political leader in Packingtown. Phil Connor is a foreman in Packingtown â€Å"politically connected† through Skully and causes much trouble for Jurgis. Jack Duane is an experienced and educated criminal who is also â€Å"politically connected†. A man named Ostrinski is a half blind tailor who teachers Jurgis about socialism. There are also members of Ona’s family who play minor roles in the story. The story opens with a feast at Jurgis and Ona’s wedding in America. They have a wedding feast after the ceremony. This is where Ona hopes her and Jurgis get some money. To their surprise, the young do not observe the tradition of giving m oney to the bride to help pay for the feast. Ona becomes worried that they are not going have enough money, but Jurgis simply replies by saying â€Å"I will work harder†. The story then flashbacks to how the two first met. Jurgis met Ona at a horse fair, and they fell in love. They were too poor to have a wedding because Ona’s father had died. In hopes of finding freedom and fortune, they left for America, bringing several members of Ona’s family with them. As soon as Jurgis and his family arrive in America they are faced with a problem. They do not speak English and get lost. Finally, they get a cab. They are let off at the yards and bump into Jonas’s friend. He finds them a place to stay in Packingtown. It is a section of Chicago where the meat packing industry is centralized. Jurgis tours the plant and sees the efficiency. No part of the animal is wasted. The tour guide specifically says, â€Å" they use everything about the hog except the squeal,â₠¬  (The Jungle, pg. 38). Jurgis quickly gets a job, on the cattle killing beds. The other members of the family soon find jobs, except for the children. They are put in schools. Jurgis and Ona decide that they want a home because they do not like where they are staying now. They arrange to see one of the houses.

Free College Essays - Anse as a Vulture in As I Lay Dying :: As I Lay Dying Essays

Anse as a Vulture in As I Lay Dying Human beings are commonly accepted as social creatures. They are considered evolved due to the fact that they were the first animals to develop a written language to help with communication. In the book, As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner compares the characters to less evolved species. The resemblance between the characters and their inanimate counterparts in nature is used in the book to show how inhuman they are in personality. Many birds are carnivorous, that is, they prey upon other animals for food. In this book, Faulkner uses the character of Anse Bundren to personify a vulture. Anse is compared to predatory birds in order to expose the similarities of the nature and behavior, of the human and the animal species. Anse resembles a vulture when Addie first sees him. She describes him as a tall bird hunched in the cold weather (170). Anse is often depicted as having a humped, motionless, and cold silhouette (51-52). While he gazes at Addie lying in bed, he partakes an "owl-like quality of awry-feathered, disgruntled outrage within (49)." Anse is often unshaven, dirty, seeming dark and dreary. He is selfish and continually on the prowl, like a culture, for more money and extravagance. The Latin meaning for the word "vulture" is the basic nature of these birds: breeze scavengers. Rarely flapping their large wings, vultures cruise by on air currents, searching for dead animals to eat. Anse grabs Addie's attention by driving past the school house watching Addie. He drives by, trying to catch a glimpse, almost stalking her, as a vulture would stalk its prey before attacking. Anse is not gentle and loving. He stands, stiff as a scarecrow, silent, and grotesque. His position evokes fear in others and makes them do what he desires. When Addie excepts Anse's proposal to marriage, he takes her from her home and place of birth, and brings her to his farm. Addie's life, from that point on, is harsh and ungratifying. It is when Addie is with Anse, that she realizes that her father's beliefs are true -- the purpose of life is to get ready to be dead. Anse, like a vulture, is cool and calculating. As Addie is lying in bed, Anse sits on the front doorstep of the house waiting for her to die.

Rupture of Senses

â€Å"In a room full of business people, one would get information about which individuals were important, which were confident, which were sexually receptive, which in conflict, all through smell. The difference is that we don’t have a trigger response. We’re aware of smell, but we don’t automatically react in certain ways because of it, as most animals would.†Ã¢â‚¬â€œApparently something that words alone could not exactly describe, smell envelopes us in a way that it appears to be a sort of aura that we produce around us. In a room where people of different personalities, status, and position are thrown together, the difference in smell could be used to identify who is who.A rich person might smell of a very delicate and expensive fragrance whereas a commoner would have the natural bodily scent, unaltered by colognes or perfumes.â€Å"When a man gets involved with a woman for any length of time, his facial hair starts to grow faster than it did before. Women who are cloistered away from men (in a boarding school, say), enter puberty later than women who are around men.Mothers recognize the odor of their newborn children, and vice versa, so some doctors are experimenting with giving children bursts of their mothers’ odor, along with the anesthetic, during operations. Babies can smell their mother entering a room, even if they can’t see her.† (29)–Smell is always accompanied by much stronger pheromones that all members of the animal kingdom have. These pheromones are not only valuable for marking territories and leaving traces for other animals to find but it is also quite significant for humans. While human pheromones are not yet exactly identified, subconsciously, people can guess at the origin of a certain scent.This is particularly obvious when it concerns mother and child. It may be attributed to the fact that they spent nine months attached to each other that they have established such a strong bond. But smell is something that pretty resembles a fingerprint. And this certain â€Å"print† is what attract babies to their mothers and vice versa.Men, on the other hand, naturally find a female at certain points of their life. Having a woman or being involved with a woman perhaps increases or intensifies the effects of pheromones that it increases the production of hormones, in effect having the facial hairs grow more rapidly than usual.

ModIV Product Development Team

For three people In particular, Mod IV also typified the challenges of working amid new pressures and demands. As director of HAVE Controls, one of the Building Controls Division's four product areas, Linda Whitman was the senior marketing person for the Mod IV product line and had primary profit and loss responsibility for Mod IV. She could see the Impact a delay would have on her area's performance, and she understood the pressing market need to have Mod IV contain attractive features. When she first became director of HAVE Controls in 1 986, she realized that marketing had to play a more active role in development of Mod IV.Since then she had watched her fellow marketers on the Mod IV team work through problems and conflicts with engineers, and she knew some of the most difficult issues still had to be resolved. But addressing any issue required patience, persistence, and tact, and even then Linda often found herself torn. She had to make sure HAVE Controls met its projections, wh ich required collaborating with engineering and manufacturing, both of which seemed at times overburdened and at times unresponsive. Larry Rodgers, lead design engineer on Mod IV, had been Involved In the Mod IV project for five years.He could sense the pressure mounting both on the team and on the division as Mod IV encountered difficulties entering the final months of the project. Larry and six of the engineers he supervised had their hands full trying to reduce the noise the Mod IV motor was generating. He knew the marketers had concerns about Mod Ivy's appeal to customers, but with Bib's limited resources and its stress on fast development, he wondered how he could address himself to marketing's concerns at this time.Like many engineers at BCC, Larry understood the competitive and financial challenges BCC faced, but he wondered if others appreciated the depth and complexity of design work and engineering problems. Research Associate Joshua D. Marigolds prepared this case under t he supervision of Professor Anne Donnelly as the basis for class discussion rather than to Illustrate either effective or Ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Figures In this case have been disguised. Call (617) 495-6117 or write the Publishing Division, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA 02163.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means? electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise?without the permission of Harvard Business School. 1 This document is authorized for use only by Wing Chou in Project MGM taught by George Variations Case Western Reserve University from August 2014 to December 2014. 491-030 John Bailey, general manager of BCC, could all but hear the footsteps of competitors eager to grab business from his division.Although he bristled at the thought of a delay and its effect on Bib's ability to meet corporate financial targets,l he wanted to respect the team's autonomy. John knew the team was grappling with several ribosome issues, and though he focused his attention on making sure the division met its objectives, he wanted to find ways to support the team as it addressed the problems before it. Building Controls Division Honeywell Building Controls Division (BCC) produced climate controls and systems for four market areas: HAVE, burners and boilers, lighting, and water products.BCC employed 1250 people and recorded 1988 sales of more than $150 million. The division dealt with two types of customers, original equipment manufacturers (Moms) and trade customers. The Moms incorporated Honeywell products into their own reduces, which they in turn sold to the market. Trade customers sold Honeywell products directly to the market. BCC placed highest priority on the quality of its products, on the division's flexibility, and on its response to customers.The division's profitability and return on investment?both well above i ndustry averages?were points of pride. 1981 marked the first and only year in Honeywell history that its Residential and Building Controls Division lost money. Controls were Honeywell original business, and the shock of 1981 brought new management to this division, management determined to regain Honeywell competitive edge. As part of the recovery process, Honeywell split residential and building controls into two separate divisions, thus creating the Building Controls Division.To end the days when people from engineering, manufacturing, and marketing/sales worked in different locations, a new building was constructed with enough room to house everyone. To integrate the three major functional areas, BCC introduced a series of changes that intertwined to create a new form of product development. BCC hoped to transform itself into an agile organization capable of outnumbering competitors through faster Product Development and the Controls BusinessIn the old system of product developme nt, the product passed through each functional area in a sequence of discrete steps: marketers conceived of a product idea and passed it along to design engineers, who would design the product and pass the design to process engineers; process engineers determined how to make the product and then dropped the plans into the laps of the manufacturing engineers and the plants. At each stage in the sequence, people encountered problems created by work done at earlier stages.Process engineers, for example, would discover they could not make what the design engineers had crafted. Product development thus became a game of â€Å"tossing the bear over the wall. † When you completed your particular piece of the project, you tossed it over the wall to the next group, not caring what took place on 1 . A widely-cited economic model developed by McKinney and Company â€Å"calculates that going 50% over budget during development to get a product out on time reduces . .. Profits by only 4%. But staying on budget and getting to market six months late reduces profits by a third. (David Woodruff and Stephen Phillips, â€Å"A Smarter Way to Manufacture,† Business Week, April 30, 1990, p. 111 . See also Brian Domains, â€Å"How Managers Can Succeed Through Speed,† Fortune, February 13, 1989. ) 2 the other side. If you had problems with work done at previous stages, you made your changes and tossed the design back to the previous group for them to adjust their work. The process was slow and costly. Every change meant more time, higher cost, and heightened animosity between functional areas. But rapid changes in the controls business inspired the division to look for new approaches.John Bailey explained: In the early sass the move to electronics and microelectronics was accelerating, and e were having a hard time dealing with that by using engineering and manufacturing techniques that had evolved over one-hundred years and were slighted toward a really slow-movi ng industry and slow-moving technology. To suddenly get into a cycle going from products that you could design and have on the line for thirty years, to three years life expectancy?well, we couldn't do a development in three years. So there was a big need for change imposed on us by technology and by the new competitors that technology brought into the market. Layers, to at one point in the early sass we counted 160 competitors?150 of them ere little electric assembly shops, where a couple of engineers would get together, lay out a circuit board, stuff it, and start selling. A few of those competitors grew up, prospered, and became viable. They grew out of that change in technology. But it meant we had to change. We had to change for many reasons. We were coming out of a period when we weren't profitable enough. We were changing because we were going from part of a division to a stand-alone division.Our competitive environment was changing, technology was changing, and our customers were demanding a different set of requirements from us. So there was no alternative but to change. Parallel Development and Teams When BCC abandoned sequential development in the mid-sass, it embraced a new process called â€Å"parallel development. † In this system, a core team of people assembled from the three critical functions?manufacturing, marketing/sales, and engineering?worked together to guide a project from the conceptual stage all the way through final production.People still reported to their functional managers, who continued to supervise and evaluate all employees, and each functional area continued to perform its specialized role on the project; yet all areas now worked on he same project simultaneously. The core team guided and tracked the development, coordinating efforts across functions and addressing issues of mutual concern. A program manager secured resources for the team, orchestrated its work, kept an eye on the complete project, and served as a liai son to senior managers.One BCC employee described the personal effect the new approach had: The team system does not allow people to single-minded defend the position of their functional area, of what's easiest, or best, or cheapest for their own functional area. It forces people to look at a bigger picture. . â€Å"Engineering,† when used alone, refers to both product and process engineering. 3 As BCC made the transition to parallel development, it had to confront its history and discard old habits. Marketing had always enjoyed a sacred position at BCC, as John Bailey explained: â€Å"Marketing called all the shots, controlled the purse strings.Engineering felt it worked for marketing. † To make the team-system work, Bailey and his senior staff felt they would have to create parity among the functional groups. Each area had to see itself as an equal partner and contributor. People had to accept additional responsibility responsibility for the success of the entire pro ject, not Just relevant to their functional area or not. A manufacturing engineer, for example, had to attend team meetings even if the project was only at a design stage.Since people were accustomed simply to completing a task and passing the project on, they felt team meetings stole time from doing actual work and added to total work-load. As people gradually adapted to parallel development and teams, they continued to struggle with their expanded roles and responsibilities. Many people at BCC felt the new product development system exerted too much reassure on them. Because people now worked on projects from beginning to end, not Just when their piece had to be done, they had multiple projects to Juggle at once. Combined with the emphasis on fast development, this at times overwhelmed BCC employees.Several people described the pressures they felt and what they perceived to be their sources: We have to make a decision on the deployment of resources. When it comes to choosing betwe en things to do, the answer from above is, ‘Do both'?with no added resources. Or if we get additional resources, we're Just stealing them from another project. The system is heavily loaded, especially since we're learning a new way of working. There are many things to do with little headcount and no relief with the project schedule. Engineering doesn't have a realistic schedule. This puts stress on the system.Teams could help but there are obstacles to having a team work on a project. You need true support from management. If somebody's supposed to be dedicated to a team, management has to be willing to let that person spend all of his or her time on the project. Logistics also need work. You have to be able to work out the fractions of people's time. You need one fully dedicated person from each function, but you also rely on the entire functional group. So people working on multiple projects have to know how to split their time. How do you prioritize projects? All work is hi gh priority.And how do you reward people? Even John Bailey recognized he would have to alter his management style. The tone of the way the division is managed comes right from the top. If I want teams, and I promote ‘me and cultivate them, then there will be teams. If I'm going to dictate orders, then that's the way my staff will act? dictate orders. I mean those things get reflected right through an organization because I think people look up to see what's happening, and if you don't lead by example, then you're not going to get what you want. People watch actions more than words. I can't be autocratic and dictatorial to my people, as I tended to be when I was vice pretty good dictator. I'm very comfortable with that style. Part of the problem is, I grew up in this business. I understand HAVE. It's real easy for me to tell people what I think they have to do on almost any issue. But if I do that, and my staff does that, it goes right down the line, and we don't have teamwork. We also don't benefit from the ideas and perspectives of the whole work force. So I've tried to learn to have patience, change my style, look for consensus, have involvement of my staff as a team, share more information, be more open.I've had to learn that you take a risk with this and not everything comes out the way you want it, but the potential payoffs far outweigh the risks. I don't know how you legislate dedication, creativity, or motivation into people. I don't think you can. You can't tell people they have to do it a certain way. What you do is create the environment and the responsibility and be flexible. But those are all new things for me. I didn't come to this as a natural team player. I got into this because it looked like the way this business could run best.People throughout BCC spoke highly of John Bailey, crediting him with creating a vibrant climate, but they perceived remnants of an autocratic style. Two stories circulated widely through BCC, highlighting both Jo hn's own struggle to change and the two sides to communication within the division. One story detailed the way John and his staff calmly received a team's decision to cancel a project and start anew after the team determined the initial plan to be unfeasible. The other told of John's visit to a team meeting?to show his support?where he learned of a time delay.Although John made sure not to criticize the team, he was visibly upset and subsequently castigated his senior managers for not informing him of the delay. Some of those managers were themselves unaware of the delay, and the team both sensed and learned of John's displeasure with the news. Using parallel development, BCC management believed the division was now in a position to make better products?and in less time. Because all functional areas participated in the entire development, team members could understand the needs f their teammates and could work on their pieces of the project with those requirements in mind.Engineers could design a product with a better grasp of customer needs and manufacturing requirements, while manufacturing and marketing people would understand the limits of what the engineers could do. Instead of tossing the product and problems back and forth over walls, teams could identify potential problems and prevent them. The walls could come down as people from different functions talked with one another more frequently. Fewer problems and overlapping work would deliver what John Bailey coveted most: reduced placement time.According to the division's estimates, the new product development system had reduced development time from an average of 38 months to an average of 14 months. John saw speed as Bib's weapon for reclaiming competitive prominence, and he campaigned tenaciously to cut the time it took to get products from â€Å"concept to carton. † 5 Although people attributed much of the division's resurgence in the sass to the close working relationships that now existed be tween different functional groups, there was some feeling that antagonism had not evaporated entirely and that finger- pointing still occurred.A marketer and an engineer gave separate examples: From a schedule standpoint, engineering's credibility was no good. They were telling us dates that Just weren't getting met. We tried to arrange shared goals and objectives, and it was like pulling teeth from engineering. They said they had their own milestones. The first shared deadline they suggested wasn't valid since we needed things from them well before that. We in engineering thought we had a minor design problem that we could solve as we worked on other problems. However, the problem didn't go away, so we moved it up on our list of priorities.Finally, we had to blow the whistle on ourselves because we felt the changes would require more time than the schedule allowed. We went to the head of marketing with our position. We said we were making progress but did not feel we would make our introduction date and needed more time. He said we had to stick to the dates we had. It's his prerogative to demand that the target dates be met, so the target dates were not changed, even though the team knew we weren't going to make it. Insisting that a date not change, though, can lead too project problem.I'm not sure what's accomplished by insisting on unrealistic dates. Mod With its new strategy for product development, BCC approached the Mod IV project intent on â€Å"making the dates happen. † John Bailey explained the urgency behind the project: â€Å"Two competitors have introduced new products and retooled. They have overcapacity and are Just waiting to steal market share. We cannot make a mistake. † BCC was spending $19 million to develop Mod IV and planned to have it replace products accounting for over 30% of the division's profit. These figures led one senior manager to call Mod IV â€Å"our golden egg. Although the golden egg was about to hatch, Mod IV had had a long gestation. History of Mod IV In 1981 Jay Lander, process engineer on the current Mod IV team, was asked to examine how the company could improve the quality of its motors and reduce their cost. His study turned into a cost-reduction, quality-improvement initiative executed in three phases. Mod IV represented the final and most ambitious phase. Although inspired by engineering, Mod IV promised the most dramatic innovations in manufacturing and therefore was deemed a â€Å"flexible manufacturing project. With the one Mod IV motor line, BCC planned to automate its entire assembly process and over $20 million in revenue. The project promised to reduce costs and improve profit arising, making it attractive to the manufacturing people. But some marketers were concerned that customers would not accept this new motor and BCC would lose market share. That would reduce revenues, the primary index of marketing's contribution to the organization. The team, 6 however, intended t o offer a product replete with features and enhancements attractive to customers.The team would then use price incentives to encourage customers to convert to the Mod ‘V. BCC began work on Mod IV in 1984, prior to the introduction of teams and parallel development, but the same design and process engineers had worked together on Mod IV from the beginning. They had even carved out an open office area, nicknamed â€Å"the bullpen,† by removing partitions between cubicles and setting up a central conference table. Manufacturing engineers were frequent visitors to the bullpen and initiated many of the impromptu meetings.Design, process, and manufacturing, however, did not collaborate closely with marketing until 1986, when the current Mod IV marketing people began replacing their predecessors on the project. One engineer spoke about marketing's involvement: The marketing people have changed since the project began while the engineers have been the same since the beginning. Marketing decisions changed each time the marketing people changed. We had to do two rounds of market research. This has had a negative psychological effect. It leaves the impression that the rationale developed in marketing is only as good as the people who developed it.So we lived through a change of direction. Not one marketing person is the same as when the project began. For a long time, marketing didn't buy into Mod IV. They were forced enthusiastic. Now they're enthusiastic because it's a better product, but it's been a lot of extra work for them. They would have been better off with the combination of the old reduce and the absence of this extra work. From the time Linda Whitman became director of HAVE Controls in 1986, she had collaborated closely with her peers in other functional areas.As she put it in terms of Mod IV, â€Å"Manufacturing and engineering were a whole lot further ahead in the project. And if it was going to be successful, there had to be a balance in term s of expertise and authority. † Linda stressed equal participation, but her role as director think that's the way business-unit directors are expected to perform. Of all the players, we have ultimate responsibility for the P&L [Profit and Loss]. And I am responsible for my engineering deliverables. The engineers do not report to me, but I am accountable for telling them what projects to work on and in what order.Likewise, sales does not report to me, but my marketing group controls the revenue plan and unit-sales targets they must achieve to earn bonuses. We're also responsible for developing their programs for customers and for authorizing special deals. We're responsible for defining the product road-maps and introducing the products. We provide the technical support to customers the training, the hotlist, the technical support for the field reps. We're in charge of pricing, advertising, and sales promotion activities. We're also responsible for arbitrating unresolved delive ry problems and for determining delivery codes and lead times.It runs the gamut. 7 Linda explained how marketing had to make up for lost time on Mod IV: Marketing was uninvolved for a long time?for two reasons. First, it was never a marketing- driven development, which is highly unusual. Second, marketing was so Johnny- come-lately. By the time we had a solid marketing team established, engineering and manufacturing were entrenched in the way they believed it should be done. That made it much harder when we did come along. The new marketers' concern led the team to revise the project's scope, but marketers still had some lingering uneasiness.A marketer explained: Mod IV is replacing our bread and butter for no market-driven reason. Sure, it's a cost reduction and a quality improvement, but our motors already are very high quality and provide high margins, so from a marketing standpoint, it didn't have to be done. The customer-benefits derived from Mod ‘V, including modules, co uld be developed for our present motor lines. Team Members Linda Whitman Director, HAVE Controls. Linda became the head of marketing for HAVE Controls, one of Bib's four market areas, in early 1986.In nine years with Honeywell, Linda had progressed through five positions, each time dramatically improving the department she supervised. Although Linda succeeded in each of her new positions, with three of her Job changes she replaced an incumbent man who had been relegated to another position; as she acknowledged, â€Å"This was not the Linda described herself as â€Å"results-oriented, hard-driving, intense, and compassionate. † Organization, discipline, and strong strategic planning were Land's llamas, but she insisted on letting her marketers work autonomously.She enjoyed working at BCC and praised its comfortable, diverse environment. Her management style, though, had caused her to think about â€Å"being female in an engineering- dominated, Midwestern manufacturing compan y. † It's extremely difficult for many people to accept a woman who's hardwiring and results-oriented the same way they can accept a man in that role. It's the old classic. A lot of times pejoratives are assigned, whereas if it were a man, it's Just ‘a person doing his Job. ‘ I think there's much more forgiveness for men to have quirks than there is for women.Linda was in her mid thirties. Jack Scott Program Manager, Manufacturing. Jack served as Program Manager while also supervising the project's manufacturing efforts. He also supervised several other manufacturing activities. Jack had Joined the Mod IV team a year and a half earlier, and though he had known all of the project's engineers for ten years, he called himself â€Å"the new kid on the block. † Jack described his role: 8 I try to keep all ends tied together for the net result. Where are we on tooling dollars, engineering design, order and delivery of the production machines?I tie all the ices tog ether to make sure they hit the floor at the same time. I make sure communication is happening so that all things are getting done. I make sure we don't get one of these things where we get all done and someone says, You didn't tell us about that. ‘ Jack was in his forties. Jay Lander Senior Principal Process Engineer. â€Å"Father† of the Mod ‘V. Jay's 1981 study led to development of Mod ‘V, which he now worked on. Jay was in his sixties. Larry Rodgers Mechanical Design Manager. In charge of all engineering efforts on Mod ‘V, Larry supervised all seven design engineers working on HAVE Controls products.Six of those engineers were working on Mod ‘V, and Larry himself had worked on Mod IV since it began in 1984. Larry displayed constant equanimity, rarely letting the pressure of a situation disturb his demeanor, which some considered aloof. However, he readily acknowledged the history of tension on the project: The impetus for the program was inc reased profit. The project is attractive to manufacturing because they're profit-driven. Marketing is revenue-driven, and this product may reduce revenue. Since it will cost less to make the Mod IV, customers will want it for less, and that will reduce revenue. Engineering's objectives are to