Computer in Life Essay Example for Free

Computer in Life Essay What do you think of when you hear the word ‘computer’? Do you think of technology? Or maybe one of the ways to get on Facebook which I am sure many of you are thinking right now or you might even imagine a boring office full of screens and keys with people typing frantically in front of. All of those visions are correct, but first let’s take a look at the history of several inventions that led the creation of computers which has dramatically changed the world of technology. The first machine that was invented, which worked like a computer, was a gear-powered German device dubbed the Calculating Clock created by Wilhelm Schickard in 1623. It operated by pulling or pushing rods set inside a glass case. 20 years later, in 1640s, a similar device known as a Pascaline was invented and became famous dramatically.. In 1944, the Harvard Mark-1 computer was completed. That computer was approximately similar to a modern computer, but it was a large calculator driven by a camshaft with no stored programs. This massive computer filled a large room and was a joint effort between Harvard University and IBM. Personally, I believe that one of the most important inventions in my life has always been a computer. I was raised in this technological world where computers are a necessity. Computers dramatically transform my life in terms of education. They acknowledge me with the events that happen around the world, which I think are extremely important to learn. They give me an efficient, convenient and cozy way of work and study. Computers do not just provide me with education or learning experiences, but they are also one of the means of entertainment and globalization. They provide me with leisure time watching movies online or listening to music. According to me, it is one of the most relaxing ways to release the stress from studying and working day and night. Also in terms of globalization, with the aid of computers, I can visualize and make conversations with my long distance family and friends. They assist me in keeping relations with my family and friends, even though I am extremely far from them. I, as a student, strongly believe that computers are extremely important in terms of education as I mentioned before. Before computers were invented, I (you were born after computers were invented) as well as everyone else relied on books to provide them with educational knowledge. Now that computers are available, I never search through hundreds of pages of books. I can just surf the Internet in the blink of an eye to research for learning information. If I need to type anything or write an essay, I have easy access to my Microsoft word or Notepad in which I can also save the information and open it whenever I desire to and if I make any errors typing, it provides me with the correct word or information. Isn’t that amazing? It’s like a human sitting in the back of the computer screen reading my essay and correcting it of any mistakes I may make. Furthermore, the computers also assist me when it comes to math, such as math problems like logarithms, sine, cosine, and tangent can be awfully difficult to calculate and may take students a long time to do so manually. Luckily, with the help of computers, students may turn a five-minute problem into a one-minute problem. Computers have also made a major impact in the business field. They have gained importance as they have increased the productivity and efficiency of workload. Large amounts of data in the personal lives as well as in business and industrial sectors are stored on computers. Overall, as I provided you with all the benefits of computers, according to me, computers are one of the necessities in today’s technological world. In today’s world, it is almost impossible to think that one can survive without computers. They have become a gadget of almost daily use for people of every age. With the computer industry growing rapidly, the computer technology has also brought about a revolution of laptops and palmtops replacing the desktop, which are still popular in many of the industries. With the reduction in size, it has become quite easy to carry the computers and use them to the fullest. Computers are extremely helpful in terms of education, entertainment, globalization, etc. People might think that there might be negative aspects to the inventions of computers, but as far as I am concerned, I do not believe that the statement is true. The computers have had numerous positive effects and they will continue to do so in the future as well.

Role of the Line Manager and Devolved Responsibility

Role of the Line Manager and Devolved Responsibility Understanding how HR function equips line manager to deal with devolved responsibility Literature review: Government deregulation, strong competition and big pressure in domestic and overseas market have led many organisations to concentrate on the management of employees in order to meet increasing demands for quality goods and services. It was posited that HRM represented an opportunity for the function to improve its status by making innovative and positive contributions to corporate goals and business success (Tyson, 1987) There is however general agreement over one structural change that has taken place, many organisations have devolved manpower responsibility from a function personnel office to line manager ( Hutchinson and wood,1995) In order to maintain competitive advantage, companies have been forced to come up with a new strategic innovation and devolved some HR responsibility to line managers to keep the business on track and to achieve the overall HRM strategy and thus the business strategy. This new vision of bringing HR task to the line has been dictated by the fast changing business environment, keenoy (1990) tend to see HRM as an instrumental approach to people management, driven by market oriented activities that affect the business as a whole. Cunningham and Hymans (1999) noticed that personnel function was being removed from departments and devolved to line managers because it has consistently failed to achieve results in the past, but other causes that helped to build up a new way in how hr function and line managers work together, many changes in the corporate environment like competition, decentralisation, and privatisation has reformed HR function. Another problem is that HR profession does not control access to personnel job, a non HR manager can become an HR manager when the employers decide so. The rational of why line involvement has become more frequent following the idea of (Brewster, Larsen.2000.p196) is mainly because of five factors: To reduce cost To provide a more comprehensive approach of HRM. To place responsibility for HRM with managers most responsible for it. To speed-up decision making. As an alternative to outsourcing the HR function. Defining line managers role : The literature make a distinction between line and staff function, line function are those who have direct responsibility for achieving the objectives of the organisation (Stewart ,1963). Dalton (1959) said that line officers are lacking skills when translating staff advice into effective working practice. We can notice different layers of line activity within organisations but for the purpose of our research the term line managers refers to section or area heads that exists above supervisory level but doesnt include senior position within the hierarchy (Noreen, Michael, 1995) Drucker (1974) views that the management job consist of five basic  operations: Setting objectives Organising Motivating and communicating Measurement People development March and Gilies (1983) said that industrial relation and day to day personnel activities lie with line and staff manager and subordinate supervisors. A useful typology of senior/middle line manager was proposed by storey (1992), this typology give us better view about different roles that a manager can do in the organisation, he used two key dimension of the line manager described in the matrix figure 1. Source : Storey 1992 , Typology of middle line managers . The first dimension is when a manager is commercially oriented or technically oriented and the second dimension is measuring whether a manager is taking a proactive or reactive attitude. storeys typology is useful because it let us know different role that a manager can do in the area of HRD which is part of the devolved task to line managers. The HR role : We understood from the previous that line manager have the responsibility of HR task in their area, in the other side HR department is responsible for HRM across all the organisation (Henrick , Brewster .2003). Tyson and fell 1992 proposed a conceptualised classification of three models of personnel management as follow: From 1960s clerk of works doing routine works. From 1970s as a contract manager From 1980s as an architect business manager who is responsible of planning , Tyson and fell concluded that personnel managers facilitate other management task to occur, and their most important skills depend in their timing of applying techniques and their ability to sell their services to client line managers. Storey (1992) came up with the intervention /non intervention dimension and a strategic/tactical axis and he presented four main types of personnel practitioner : advisers , handmaiden(reactive, client/contractors of line manager), regulators (intervene to monitor the observance of employment rules) , and last the highest position which is strategic and interventionary change makers, storey findings explain that personnel in the majority of companies wasnt the main drivers of the change wanted , because the regulator still outnumbered the change makers in most of the companies. Source : Storey J 1992, four roles of personnel managers. The HR function is responsible of giving guidance and taking initiative, in order to support and solve all the problems associated to the organisations employee. HR function is a very important part in an organisation providing the advice and services that facilitate organisation to get the job done through people. The HR function is in place to make sure HR strategies, policies and practices are known by everybody in the organisation and maintained, but also providing the support for everything concerning the employment, well being of people and their development and the existent relationship between management and employee. It plays a major role in creating an environment that encourage employee to realize their potential to the benefit of the company and themselves (Armstrong, 2010) HR function, line management set up : Many researchS have been done to prove the consensual relation between hr function and line managers , (Guest 1987) presented a framework which resulted in an HRM approach, according to him the adoption of an HRM should result in an organisational pay-off designed to produce a strategic integration, high commitment , high quality , and flexibility among employees . guest said that integration as a concept is composed of four aspects, firstly the integration of HR policy making and corporate strategic planning process, second HRM policy should be integrated with one another and with other business strategy in the organisation like finance and marketing, the third one is that it should be an integration between attitude and practices of line managers within the organisations HR policies, the fourth aspect is the integration of the employees with the interest of the organisation by showing a high commitment to the organisation. The leadership behaviour and HR practice of line managers will affect the employees commitment, the commitment could be to the organisation or more likely to the line manager as proved by the team at bath university and supported by CIPD, the research showed where people feel positive about their relationship with their front line managers they are more likely to have higher levels of job satisfaction, commitment and loyalty which result in better performance. Sisson (1994) emphasise that the first two aspect of integration are difficult to achieve unless they are seriously managed by top and middle managers in the organisation. Storey (1992) as well refers to three key elements and suggested to associate them with a distinctive approach of HRM, the first element is that the HRM of an organisation is the one that makes the difference. The second element is that in order to make the difference , HRM needs to be managed in a strategic way . The third element is the one that requires line managers to know the link between HRM and the strategic direction of the organisation designed by its top managers. This third element matches the third aspects of integration , and (guest 1987.p514) add that in order to achieve the third outcome of flexibility , managers need to have change agent skills. Hutchinson examined the involvement of line manager in HR and found that HR manager do consult line managers, and some other managers are working in partnership. The empirical evidence from Hutchinson and wood study (1995) shows a joint working between personal and line managers and also an increasing role for line manager in the HR function. Another study from Cunningham and Hymans noted that more line manager are getting involved in HR work, an evidence from Saragota study suggested that the extent that line management were involved in HR task was wide with the line doing around third of core HR department roles.(IRS,1995). Torington and Hall (1996) found HR specialist work in partnership with line manager when they design the HR strategy, the study showed that personnel function was involved in strategy at some point and was developed in cooperation with line managers, the conclusion was that the approach was small rather than holistic and personnel was reactive rather than proactive . the impact of this devolved responsibility to the line was that some line managers supported the move, but others taught that it starts people problem which is the responsibility of HR to deal with , because line managers didnt have the skills to take on these new tasks , some other problem was lack of consistency and inadequacy of train ing and support provided for line management. Pool and Jekins (1997) analysed the extent of line management responsibility for HR practices concluding that line managers were far more responsible than might have been supposed with a central pattern of line dominance in operational responsibility on most personnel HR matters. Mc Govern et al (1997) study of line management practice discovered the reluctance of some managers to take on personnel responsibilities, believing that its not their job but personnels job, as a result many HR department were afraid or reluctant to devolve responsibilities to the line as there was lack of knowledge and ability to take it on. They identified a model of line managers getting involved directly in HR activities with the support of the HR function and personal motivation was the factor motivating the line , but some obstacles were facing them like the quality of practice by line managers, short term managerial approaches another big problem was that the line couldnt devote much time to HR activ ities as their return on effort was not directly quantifiable and they concluded : The prospect for full-blown devolvement to the line are not promising given the current priorities of these business , attempts to devolve HRM to the line may be possible but only by providing support from HR specialist (McGovern et al ,1997 , p 26) Other researcher report a joint working arrangement at two different level, the first one is at director level between HR and other directors, and the second at a subsidiary company level between line managers and personnel managers (Genard, Kelly , 1997) and this resulted in business driven partnership to improve performance and a big importance was given to the influential role that HR director has to play . Tornhill and Saunders (1998) came up with the worst scenario for the HR specialist known as The absentee specialist which suggest the complete devolution of HR task to line managers and could result in negative implication for successful HR outputs. Other researcher argued that overall the personnel function is still vulnerable even though line manager work in managing subordinates could help the presence of personnel to assist the line in less than a strategic function. Some researchers even suspect devolution of HR responsibilities to the line came from the desire to cut cost and the companies wish to free themselves from some responsibilities. Thus the claim (Guest, 1987,P.51) could mislead the reader because to achieve a successful HRM practices within an organisation a qualified HRM specialist is needed and line managers need the appropriate designed HR practices to use in their management activities. (Purcell , Hutchinson , 2007, p .57) However there is an alternative that a close participation between line management and hr function can have a mutual benefit and could help to solve business problems. (Gennard, Kelly , 1997) Partnership between HR and the line : Its argued that people responsible for HR are those directly responsible for supervising staff that there primary purpose is to manufacture products , sell goods or equipments or deliver a public or customer service , but the problem could be that these line managers have a lack of knowledge and skills to supervise staff effectively (Sisson , storey , 2000) and this is why it would be more rewarding if HR specialist and line managers work together in partnership (Witacker , Mick, 2003) Tyson and Fell (1992) noticed that there is no clear communication between management and employee of their personnel function, this gives the opportunity to act as partners with senior line managers to create orderly change storey 1992 called that as full team member where the running of the business is shared between line manager and personnel . Tomlinson (1993) describe partnership as being where HR needs to get involved in more supportive, collaborative relationship with managers. Other researcher described the partnership approach between HR executives and line managers to be an ideal situation, but recognise that we dont find this partnership happening in all companies. The idea of HR professional acting in partnership with senior line managers was raised by (Ulrich , 1997) to identify HR practices that achieve business strategy (figure 2). http://www.stw.de/typo3temp/pics/c98097d6bc.jpg The HR Business Partner (based on an idea by Dave Ulrich, 1997) he says that line managers and HR professionals working separately cannot be HR champions, this is why they have to form a partnership and in this partnerships line managers will have authority , power and sponsorship , and have the overall responsibility for the HR community, and HR professional will bring technical expertise which show a competence credibility, Ulrich (1997,2005) pointed four new HR roles which are as follow ( business partners, change agent, administrative expert and employee champion ) those new roles lead to three important HR function : Centres of excellence. Shared services. Business partners. But this redefinition of roles and reorganisation of HR function was seen by (CIPD 2007) as having some difficulties to define the new roles, to make change, to deal with skills gap and resources deficiency. Maxwell and Watson (2006) argued that the dominant model for HR operation within organisation is the partnership between HR specialist and line managers. We can understand that the concept of partnership is a good one if everybody is making the effort in the same direction for the benefit of the organisation , we can describe this relation as a reciprocal one , where line manager has to do some HR task but in order to do it properly the right support and training is needed from the HR specialist , but for this partnership to be successful a lot of work need to be done and specially a lot of communication is needed to act fast and solve problems quickly, finally getting the line more involved in HR tasks is not a threat for the HR specialist , because the need of specialist is real and their presence is very important to supervise , help and support the line but also their job will be more strategic. Line manager role for devolved responsibility and the obstacles facing them: First of all let see how line manager are involved in making the policy , ( Hutchinson , wood,1995. P. 17) found that HR specialist are the one responsible for making the policy across all area, they noticed that line managers are not leaders in making the policy either on their own or in consultation with personnel colleagues, but in HR practice they found that line managers are more involved in resourcing and employee relation , however in employee development and employee reward the HR specialist had a major role to play . Hall and Torrington (1998) found that a bigger role is played by HR manager in issues relates to pay and benefit , and the least in appraisal , health and safety , quality initiative and communication . It appears that HR specialist have higher involvement when its a matter of consistency and specialist expertise and lower when line managers are dealing with every day responsibilities. Storey (1992) concluded after doing a survey of fifteen companies that the responsibility of line managers are becoming more important in human resources and their task can include : pay award , training and development , motivating teams , appraisal , on the job coaching , reducing cost , improve the quality , respond to customer service needs , continuous improvement and deploying labour. Another research from Renwick (2002, p. 262) has studied three big organisation which has an HR director on the top team management or board of director and has noticed that the most devolved HR task to the line include : Grievance management, performance appraisal, redundancy selection , pay award , communication with employee , recruitment , employee development and handling sickness absence . CIPD (2010) supported a research made by team of researcher from bath university and describe area where line managers make the biggest difference in people management are as follow : Performing appraisal Training , coaching and guidance Employee engagement ( communication between line management and employee ) Openness ( how easy is it for employees to talk about problems ) The devolution of some HR task to the line is a fact but many research has identified some difficulties facing line managers while handling performance management system , and Gratton et al (1999) said that managers dislike the bureaucracy involved in this process , in the other side there was a reluctance to accept responsibility for decision and adjustment taken by line manager from HR managers, and Redman (2001) found that where line managers are doing performance appraisal they are doing it poorly . another research has shown managers attitude to employee involvement and describe it as no more negative than those of senior managers , and in case of failure of the employee involvement , line manager will be the one to blame (Fenton , Ocreavy , 2001) another research concentrate on line management handling of grievance and discipline, the outcomes shows that line managers are more involved than before but not as much as HR managers and this is because of the complexity of the task , and this task being time consuming and the fear of failing in this task which can have a huge impact in the finance of the company (IRS,2001) Cunningham and James (2001) found that line managers handling of sickness and disability was limited and that was because line managers didnt want to attend training session. Many constraints face line managers in achieving the goal of this devolution because of many reasons , even though there are a positive aspects of devolving HR task to line managers as described in Renwick (2003) as a career enhancer for them in doing HR work but also line managers are the one who apply the HR strategy in practice and bring the HR policy to life (Hutchinson .Purcell 2003) One of the major problem is the workload that the line have to perform especially if they know that they are not expert in doing HR tasks, and this workload leads them to be reluctant on doing HR tasks (Brewster, soderstrom.1994). Another big issue is a lack of training because if line managers have a lack of understanding of HR practices it will prevent the organisation from developing a strong learning culture. This lack of support and training show a bit of confusion because if an organisation devolved HR task to the line , it is to be more efficient and more profitable , but if the line lacks the necessary skills as McGovern et al (1997) describes it that a lack of training can lead to a failure in implementing HR policies, and exposing the organisation to tribunals and this is why the line should be equipped with the right tools to enable them to perform the devolved HR tasks properly which means that continuous and well designed training is needed to be able to achieve the goal set by the organisation. And to be able to achieve the goal , the organisation need to put a special budget for training and development of manager and not leaving them to develop themselves on their own. (McGuire et al 2008) Another big problem is the lack of specialist expert to support managers when dealing with HR tasks, this is happening because of the downsizing of the HR departments in most organisations ignoring the precious need of the line to the specialist and just focusing on reducing cost , but as Renwick and Brewster (2003. P. 231) noticed that reducing the size of HR department could reduce the cost but could also increase it, if managers make inappropriate and wrong decision. (Henrick, Brewster , 2003 . p30) noted that when an organisation has an HR department with a high number of specialist it is more likely to be able to influence line management practice directly , there is a case study evidence that shows how important and influent are HR specialist and they were given the name of strategic change makers (Gennard , Kelly 1997.p35) Many of the criticism concerning the lack of contribution from HR specialist to organisational performance were from line managers, firstly personal practitioner are far away from the commercial realities, and its difficult for them to understand the business , the customer and the corporate target. Secondly HR stops line manager to make decision that they feel are in best interest for the company. Third HR manager act slowly and always want to check how many options do they have rather than making a series of appropriate actions (Marchington ,Wilkinson , 2003.p248) The role of line managers in implementing HR policies was not taken seriously by senior managers, or taken for granted by many companies and there is a small evidence of companies that provide a formal training to equip their line manager to undertake the role of facilitating HRM outcomes. (Cunningham , Hyman. 1995) , Brewster and Larsen has identified three main reason for this : Senior managers presume that line managers already knows the technical aspects of HRM to base their decision. Senior managers do not offer appropriate training before delegating tasks. Senior managers believe that line managers will learn HRM by practising it. Lack of training is a negative factor that make line mangers weak when dealing with devolved HR tasks, but also they are very important for delivering a good HR practice because they are working on the shop floor and they are the one that can make change, which means that an HRM strategy without the line playing a major role would never succeed, in the other side HR specialist will have to equip them with the right training to develop their capacity to deal with people management and excessive stress because of the workload. Another negative aspect is reducing the number of HR expert that can provide the line with precious advise and help and equip them with the right training, this partnership will give HR specialist to concentrate more on making positive change in the organisation, another important question which is worth to research in the future is whether reducing the number of HR experts really reduce the cost in organisation or is it just wrong and cost more money to the organisation? Hutchinson and Purcell (2003) proposed the following suggestion on how line manager can better deal with people management: Provide them with time to carry out their people management duties . Pay more attention to the behavioural competencies required while recruiting manager. Support line managers with strong organisational value in relation to leadership and people management. Develop a good working relationship with different level of management. Make sure the line receive sufficient skills training to enable them to perform their people management activities appropriately.

Enders Game :: Literature Books Science Fiction Essays

EndersGamePaper Paradigms are very powerful because they create the lens through which we see the world. Our paradigms, whether correct or incorrect, shape our lives in a profound way. They are the source of our behavior and attitudes and ultimately shape all of our relationships. The power of a paradigm shift, whether it be instantaneous or developmental, allows us to change from one way of seeing the world to another. In the novel Enders Game by Orson Scott Card, the main character Ender Wiggin demonstrates his unique ability to paradigm shift during his training at battle school, and later as a commander in making tactical decisions. In order for a paradigm shift to occur we must take a break from tradition and old ways of thinking. We must not be constrained by what is currently accepted and understood. A great example of a paradigm shift is the story of the Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy who believed the earth was the center of the universe. When Copernicus challenged this paradigm he was met with great resistance and persecution. The idea of the sun, not the earth, being the center of the universe was not something ancient astronomers wanted to accept for many years. The implications of this paradigm shift were far reaching, it changed everything we understood and thought we knew about our universe. Even as a young child of six years old Andrew Ender Wiggin must use his judgment to constantly overcome physical and emotional challenges. During an aggressive confrontation at school, Ender is taunted and tormented by a school bully named Stilson and his gang of followers. Even though Ender is unprepared and outnumbered, he is able to quickly evaluate the situation and conclude that the interaction cannot have a happy ending. Instead of simply deciding on a strategy to win this fight, he looks at the situation in a whole new light. He chooses not to be the victim anymore. Ender engages Stilson in a fight and to his surprise is able to knock him to the ground. As Stilson lies helpless on the ground, Ender proceeds to kick him in the ribs and groin until he can no longer even move or make a sound. Why does Ender continue to beat on someone who is no longer a threat? He knows that he must not only win this fight, but he must win all the next ones too.

The Burden in The Things They Carried by OBrien Essay -- Things The

The Burden in The Things They Carried by O'Brien   In "The Things They Carried," O'Brien made reference to the Vietnam war that was closely associated with the physical, psychological, and emotional weight the soldiers beared.   The overall method of presentation of this story incorporated many different outlooks on the things the soldiers carried, dealt with, and were forced to adapt to.   In addition to this, O'Brien showed us the many reasons why and how the soldiers posessed these things individually and collectively and how they were associated directly and indirectly.   The strong historical content in "The Things They Carried" helped emphasize the focus of the story and establish a clearer understanding of details in the narrative and moods of the war itself.   From this, we are able to draw conclusions and assumptions to the events as it relates to the Vietnam war.   Three areas that "The Things They Carried" established and elaborated were the youthfulness of the Vietnam soldiers, their language and thought pattern s, and the actual tangible and intangible things they carried.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   During Vietnam, soldiers were selected to be bought in to fight by draft.   Many families lost their youth through this process that would immediately force young boys to leave home and train for war.   I found an intriguing website that will tell you according to your birthdate, if you would or would not have been drafted during that time period. (Go)   In O'Brien's narrative, he portrays the soldiers as being young.   In the opening of the story, we immediately see a young man, First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, who is deeply in love with a college girl.   On page 13, we find out that he is only twenty-four.   Throughout the story we find many hin... ...page 15, O'Brien describes that the men carried the whole atmosphere.   On page 15, we are made aware that they carried diseases, parasites, infections and many other ailments.   Page 15 elaborates on how the soldiers carried the land itself.   They carried ghosts, their lives, eachother, pressures, and often the burden of just being alive as explained on page 19.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   "The Things They Carried"   helped recognize particular aspects of the war as it associated with the soldiers and their lives individually and collectively.   Through his story, O'Brien described the overall mood of the war and the soldiers involved.   "The Things They Carried" posed many aspects and angles of the burdens the soldiers packed during throughout the war as well as the emotional stress that was associated along with it. O?Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. NY: Broadway Books, 1998.

What Makes Jack Welch an Effective Leader? Essay -- GCSE Business Mark

What Makes Jack Welch an Effective Leader? ---ideas from the article â€Å"Will Legacy Live On?† Before I talk about what makes Jack an effective leader, I want to explain briefly why I chose him as my study subject. Why do I like him? Jack Welch created a new model for business leaders everywhere. His genius leadership and management techniques are an example to anyone aspiring to a successful career. Why is he so famous? He became the youngest CEO and Chairman of one of America's biggest and most respected companies (General Electric) at age 44, and successfully rewrote the rules of what an incredibly profitable and successful company should be, and had fun in the process. What is leadership? To know what makes an effective leader, one must know what leadership is. According to our textbook, the definition of leadership is the ability to influence a group towards the achievement of goals. In this case, the group is General Electronic Corporation. For a big business empire like GE, obviously, the final goal is to make as much profit as it can to please its shareholders. Let’s see what the article describes about how Jack influences his team to achieve this goal: â€Å"Growing a company that was valued by the market at $13 billion when he took it over in 1981 to a behemoth worth more than $400 billion when he retired last year is what is called wealth creation – big time.† Without Jack, GE couldn’t have today’s accomplishment. What makes Jack be a leader? †¢ Personality According to the â€Å"trait theories of leadership† in the textbook, six traits have been identified as being consistently associated with leadership: 1) ambition and energy; 2) the desire to lead; 3) honesty and integrity; 4) self-confidence; ... ...world has become extremely fast and full of change. If the leader can’t adapt to changing conditions, it is very possible for his firm to be kicked out of the game. How can the firm change, though? The most effective way is to go through new ideas. Here, it reminders me Welch’s famous saying: "Change before you have to." †¢ Arts At last, I want to quote my favorite part in this article, which the following, Leadership is not a science. It’s not a recipe. It’s not the five rules about this or the six effective habits of that. It’s an art, and as Georges Braque wrote, the only thing that matters in art is the part that can’t be explained.† The only reason that I like this part is that I don’t need to apply any leadership theory here. My conclusion is that he is a very effective leader. If I were to become a successful CEO, I would follow his example.

Puente Hills

Puente Hill Toyota Puente Hills Toyota (PHT) is a large Toyota dealership which is owned by the corporation Hitchcock Automotive Services. PHT is situated in city of industry, California, about 25 miles east of Los Angeles. PHT offers a wide variety of new and used cars (this is unique in the industry). Furthermore they offer Toyota incentives, service specials, and Toyota parts savings. The annual profits of PHT totaled about $1. 8, with annual sales of $ 85 million. PHT had a total of 145 employees. The employees are very valuable to PHT due they are the ones who have to advise the customer, sell the vehicles and repair them.But it is hard to keep them al motivated. As said by Howard Hakes; â€Å"It's people who give us our biggest successes as well as our biggest challenges†. The most important is to get all the employees in the same direction, to reach the companies goals. For PHT there are two important things, that both the manufacturers and the customers are happy. PHT is divided in five departments, who are reporting directly to the dealership manager, namely: a sales department, and service department, a body shop department, a parts department and a Finance and Insurance department.The departments are managed as profit centers. Within this profit centers there are different performance measurement and incentive systems. First the performance measures and incentive systems that apply to all the departments will be discussed. Than the Sales and Service department will be discussed separately. All the bonus plans within the sales department start from one. At PHT, most employees’ variable incentive pay increases linearly with performance, however performance is defined; that is, the higher the performance, the larger the bonuses that are paid.In most large companies, however, particularly at managerial levels, no bonuses are paid until a minimum level of performance, such as a budget goal, is exceeded. An advantage hereof is that managers w ill not so fast engage in earnings management; ‘save sales' for a future period to reach their targets. Or ‘take a bath', they make results (look worse) in bad times to get an advance on better results in the subsequent period (Merchant & Van de Stede, 2007 p. 187).An disadvantage for PHT could be that an manager could be satisfied with an certain amount of bonus and will not work as hard as he did before anymore, due there isn't a real target. Goal-setting doesn't seem so important for PHT. But also goal setting can have negative impacts. An example is that the pressure for the managers and employees can be too high. p. 30 In short, we think it is a good way to motivate the employees, because the managers will not ‘take a bath' or ‘save sales'.At the other hand we think that employees always want to increase their bonus because they are self interested so they will be motivated. The other performance measures are CSI and ESI, but it's vague how this performa nce measure are used. They could be used in a positive sense, to provide â€Å"discretionary† bonuses or in a negative sense to limit the amount of the bonus. We think this has to change because of two reasons, first of all it is not clear how it influences the bonus of the employees. Secondly, there isn't a group reward within PHT.By making the CSI an collective measure system a few things improve. The most important is the communication of expectations and mutual monitoring (social control). Evidence suggest that group rewards can have a positive effects on motivation and performance (Mercheant p. 89). Thus they should adapt the survey that customers have to fill in that the final result is an mark. If the average of the marks given by the customers is 7 or higher, the bonus of all the employees who have contact with customers and the managers who are responsible for these employees will increase.If it is lower than 7 the bonus will decrease (see figure 1 for an example). I n this manner group awards could be achieved. Employees will correct and support each other to serve the customer in the best way possible because it could increase or decrease their bonus. At this moment some of the salesman are fraudulent with the customer surveys. For this reason the survey should be done by an independent company. This doesn't only give the management more useful management information, but provides them also with a good performance measure.Thereby could this independent company also randomly pick some customers who are willing to make a second survey. This survey is focused on the as we call it ‘aftercare'. In this way the follow-up actions of the salesman and the service advisors can be monitored CSI RatingChange in bonus 1| -11 %| 2| -9 %| 3| -7 %| 4| -5 %| 5| -3 %| 6| -1 %| 7| +1 %| 8| +3 %| 9| +5 %| 10| +7 %| Sales department In the sales department it is all about one thing, sales of vehicles. For the employees of this department two things are impor tant, profit made on a sold car and customer satisfaction (already described).We can make a distinction between five different bonus plans. First the Salesmen and the assistant sales manager they earn respectively 20% and 7% of the gross profit of every deal. It is good that this measure focus on gross profit and not on how many cars sold. Due this reason there is no behavioral displacement, there are no side effects that will deliver extra indirect costs. When they for example should give a fixed bonus for each car sold, sales man will do everything to sell a vehicle and lower the prices in the bargaining process as far as possible.Now the salesmen and the assistant sales manager are motivated to sell as many cars as possible but with a good margin. Secondly the desk sales managers en de general sales manager and the vehicle sales manager get a bonus based on a percentage of departmental profit after overhead expenses before tax. The general sales manager gets a bonus of 2,5%, the sales desk manager gets a bonus of 1,2-1,5% and the used vehicle sales manager gets 5% but this is only from the used vehicle department. It is good that the bonus is based on the departmental profit after overhead expenses.Because in this manner you create an entrepreneurial way of thinking. The better you do your job, the higher your income will be. This for example can also reduce ‘on the job consumption' because, if the expenses are high net income will be lower and this will influence the bonus of the managers. In our opinion it is good that managers get an entrepreneurial way of thinking. They should have the idea that they own the company a little bit. Service departement: Service technicians salary are based upon flag hour. Flag hours are standards set by the manufacturer to complete a specific task' They receive $ 10-23 per ‘flag hour'. Average Technicians at PHT need about 45 minutes to do one flag hour of work, but the top technicians could it do much quickerà ‚  As said in the case service technicians are paid but the job and so they incentives to ‘cut corners'. By completing the task in less minutes then is set standard they receive more salary. Control mechanism: 1. If time spent on the task was very low, the technicians must explain the divergence 2. Monitoring the number of re-checks.Re-checks occur when problems are nog fixed right the first time ( 1% re-check is considered as good) We would recommend no changes in the incentive system for the service technicians. There are incentives for the service technicians to cut corners but this controlled by the PHT management. For example the current re-check percentage of PHT (0. 006%) is far below the 1% that is considered as good in the industry. We agree with the statement of Hakes that this percentage must be significant higher if the service technicians actual are cutting corners.Service Advisors Service advisors at PHT receive a fixed salary of approximately $ 2000 per month. I n addition they receive the following bonus: * 8% commission customer paid labor * 6% commission manufacturer paid labor (under warranty)   * 6% commission part paid on labor internally at PHT So the bonus he could receive are paid on commission, so their earnings are depending on their sale skills. This typically used method for automotive service advisors. We think there a disadvantage of this system that is based n turnover: advisors could also receive bonuses even if the department are not making profits. Bonuses’ that rely on profit don’t have this problem. The service manager: The service manager receives a fixed salary of $ 3000 per month and in addition a bonus based on a percentage of the service department gross profit (before overhead expenses). If he gross profit is above the $ 195. 000 the service manager receives a percentage of 4% and if the gross profit was 195. 00 or lower the manager receives a percentage of 3. 75%.We recommend no changes here All i nterdepartmental transfers were done at market prices. So if the department used vehicles are served in the PHT shop, the sales department paid full retail price for parts and labor. They could give a discount to the sales department or transfer it at cost. In this way you shift profits from the one department to another department. Because each department in PHT is managed as profit centre we think you shouldn’t change the policy of market prices In the whole company incentive pay is used. In our opinion pay for performance plans can be truly effort inducing. 1 ) Individuals tend to improve their work performance when a strong performance pay linkage exist (2) incentives can help make employee behavior consistent with the organizations goals (3) Assessing the performance of each employee individually helps the firm achieve individual equity (otherwise they may leave or reduce effort). Of course there are also some disadvantages of pay for performance plans; for example, Empl oyees may be tempted to do only what they get paid for, ignoring those intangible aspects of the job that are not explicitly rewarded.Cooperation and teamwork may be damaged if individual merit pay is too strongly emphasized. Individual merit systems assume that the employee is in control of the primary factors affecting his or her work output, an assumption that may not be true. In the (Narotama, 2000 , p. 257-286) HOE verwijzen. In the case of Puente Hill none of these problems are discussed and the overall performance of Puente Hill is quite well. Therefore we tend to conclude that the pay for performance plan at Puente Hill are quite effective. Conclusion We have a few recommendations for PHT introducing CSI as performance easurement in order to (maybe) improve communication, motivation and performance. Second, introducing more subjectivity in performance measure. And third, the bonus plan of the service advisor can be changed from turn-over based to profit based so there will n ot be a bonus if the department has no profit. Further we would recommend more non-financial performances measure. In could be useful to introduce more subjectivity. In some cases employees have no influence on the profit or revenues (crisis) although they are judged on this measures and so going backwards on salary.For example by introducing a committee that keeps track of these sort situations this can be prevented. Bonuses are paid on monthly basis. So employees are aware whether they perform well or not and so have motivation to improve their tasks or continue their current tasks. Bonuses at PHT are based upon measures that mostly can be influenced by the employees (positive) in cases they can’t influence, we proposed a committee that can judge of the situation occurs. Altogether we think the current measurement and incentive system is quite alright. Evidence therefore is that PHT had won many awards for excellent performance. ReferencesMerchant, K. A. and Van der Stede W . A. (2012). Management Control Systems. Prentice Hall (Third Edition), expect to be rewarded for their personal accomplishments and contributions. Unfortunately, the more closely pay is tied to particular performance indicators, the more employees tend to focus on those indicators and neglect other important job components that are more difficult to measure. By creating pressure to produce and to â€Å"keep score,† incentives may induce employees to engage in undesirable behaviors, to cut corners, deceive, misinform, hide negative information, take more credit than they deserve, and the likeFor instance, employees may withhold information from a colleague if they believe that it will help the other person get ahead. Those who are receiving less than they feel they deserve may try to â€Å"get back† at those who are receiving more, perhaps by sabotaging a project or spreading rumors. Internal competition may set off rivalries that lead to quality problems or even cheat ing. If employees do not consider the system legitimate and acceptable, it may have negative rather than positive effects on their behavior.A big part of the problem is that, to defend their egos, employees who receive lower performance-related payments than others tend to blame management rather than themselves. Unless an effective performance appraisal and feedback system is in place (see Chapter 7 ), incentive programs are unlikely to produce the expected results. Pay-for-performance systems may lead to greater productivity but lower job satisfaction. 20 Some research suggests that the more pay is tied to performance, the more the work unit begins to unravel and the more unhappy employees become.Pay-for-performance programs may push employees to the point of doing whatever it takes to get the promised monetary reward and in the process stifle their talents and creativity. Thus, an organization that puts too much emphasis on pay in attempting to influence behaviors may reduce empl oyees’ intrinsic drives nog gevonden op internet: Regarding performance measurement : The departments are profit centers, but not all costs are allocated to them. They are more like â€Å"gross profit centers. † The salespeople are held accountable for gross profit on the deals they initiate, so each salesperson is also a little profit center.The service advisors are paid on commission, so each advisor is a revenue center. The service technicians, though, are paid for work accomplished. It is useful to discuss why some seemingly uncontrollable indirect costs are allocated to departments (see Exhibit 3). These allocations are mandated by Toyota, so that they can compare dealership departments on a common basis that treats each department more or less as a standalone business. Allocating the costs also gives the department managers information as to what services are†¦

Life in Mars Essay

For centuries people have speculated about the possibility of life on Mars owing to the planet’s proximity and similarity to Earth. Serious searches for evidence of life began in the 19th century, and continue via telescopic investigations and landed missions. While early work focused on phenomenology and bordered on fantasy, modern scientific inquiry has emphasized the search for chemical biosignatures of life in the soil and rocks at the planet’s surface, and the search for biomarker gases in the atmosphere. Fictional Martians have been a recurring feature of popular entertainment of the 20th and 21st centuries, and it remains an open question whether life currently exists on Mars, or has existed there in the past. Early speculation Mars’ polar ice caps were observed as early as the mid-17th century, and they were first proven to grow and shrink alternately, in the summer and winter of each hemisphere, by William Herschel in the latter part of the 18th century. By the mid-19th century, astronomers knew that Mars had certain other similarities to Earth, for example that the length of a day on Mars was almost the same as a day on Earth. They also knew that its axial tilt was similar to Earth’s, which meant it experienced seasons just as Earth does — but of nearly double the length owing to its much longer year. These observations led to the increase in speculation that the darker albedo features were water, and brighter ones were land. It was therefore natural to suppose that Mars may be inhabited by some form of life. In 1854, William Whewell, a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who popularized the word scientist, theorized that Mars had seas, land and possibly life forms. Speculation about life on Mars exploded in the late 19th century, following telescopic observation by some observers of apparent Martian canals — which were however soon found to be optical illusions. Despite this, in 1895, American astronomer Percival Lowell published his book Mars, followed by Mars and its Canals in 1906, proposing that the canals were the work of a long-gone civilization. [2] This idea led British writer H. G. Wells to write The War of the Worlds in 1897, telling of an invasion by aliens from Mars who were fleeing the planet’s desiccation. Spectroscopic analysis of Mars’ atmosphere began in earnest in 1894, when U. S. astronomer William Wallace Campbell showed that neither water nor oxygen were present in the Martian atmosphere. [3] By 1909 better telescopes and the best perihelic opposition of Mars since 1877 conclusively put an end to the canal theory. Missions Mariner 4 Mariner 4 probe performed the first successful flyby of the planet Mars, returning the first pictures of the Martian surface in 1965. The photographs showed an arid Mars without rivers, oceans, or any signs of life. Further, it revealed that the surface (at least the parts that it photographed) was covered in craters, indicating a lack of plate tectonics and weathering of any kind for the last 4 billion years. The probe also found that Mars has no global magnetic field that would protect the planet from potentially life-threatening cosmic rays. The probe was able to calculate the atmospheric pressure on the planet to be about 0. 6 kPa (compared to Earth’s 101. 3 kPa), meaning that liquid water could not exist on the planet’s surface. 3] After Mariner 4, the search for life on Mars changed to a search for bacteria-like living organisms rather than for multicellular organisms, as the environment was clearly too harsh for these. Viking orbiters Liquid water is necessary for known life and metabolism, so if water was present on Mars, the chances of it having supported life may have been determinant. The Viking orbiters found evidence of possible river valleys in many areas, erosion and , in the southern hemisphere, branched streams. Viking experiments The primary mission of the Viking probes of the mid-1970s was to carry out experiments designed to detect microorganisms in Martian soil because the favorable conditions for the evolution of multicellular organisms ceased some four billion years ago on Mars. The tests were formulated to look for microbial life similar to that found on Earth. Of the four experiments, only the Labeled Release (LR) experiment returned a positive result, showing increased 14CO2 production on first exposure of soil to water and nutrients. All scientists agree on two points from the Viking missions: that radiolabeled 14CO2 was evolved in the Labeled Release experiment, and that the GC-MS detected no organic molecules. However, there are vastly different interpretations of what those results imply. The image taken by Viking probes resembling a human face caused many to speculate that it was the work of an extraterrestrial civilization. One of the designers of the Labeled Release experiment, Gilbert Levin, believes his results are a definitive diagnostic for life on Mars. However, this result is disputed by many scientists, who argue that superoxidant chemicals in the soil could have produced this effect without life being present. An almost general consensus discarded the Labeled Release data as evidence of life, because the gas chromatograph & mass spectrometer, designed to identify natural organic matter, did not detect organic molecules. The results of the Viking mission concerning life are considered by the general expert community, at best, as inconclusive. In 2007, during a Seminar of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution (Washington, D. C. , USA), Gilbert Levin’s investigation was assessed once more. Levin still maintains that his original data were correct, as the positive and negative control experiments were in order. Moreover, Levin’s team, on 12 April 2012, reported a statistical speculation, based on old data —reinterpreted mathematically through complexity analysis— of the Labeled Release experiments, that may suggest evidence of â€Å"extant microbial life on Mars. Critics counter that the method has not yet been proven effective for differentiating between biological and non-biological processes on Earth so it is premature to draw any conclusions. Ronald Paepe, an edaphologist (soil scientist), communicated to the European Geosciences Union Congress that the discovery of the recent detection of silicate minerals on Mars may indicate pedogenesis, or soil development processes, extended over the entire surface of Mars. Paepe’s interpretation views most of Mars surface as active soil, colored red by eons of widespread wearing by water, vegetation and microbial activity. A research team from the National Autonomous University of Mexico headed by Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez, concluded that the equipment (TV-GC-MS) used by the Viking program to search for organic molecules, may not be sensitive enough to detect low levels of organics. Because of the simplicity of sample handling, TV–GC–MS is still considered the standard method for organic detection on future Mars missions, so Navarro-Gonzalez suggests that the design of future organic instruments for Mars should include other methods of detection. Gillevinia straata The claim for life on Mars, in the form of Gillevinia straata, is based on old data reinterpreted as sufficient evidence of life, mainly by professors Gilbert Levin, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez and Ronalds Paepe. The evidence supporting the existence of Gillevinia straata microorganisms relies on the data collected by the two Mars Viking landers that searched for biosignatures of life, but the analytical results were, officially, inconclusive. In 2006, Mario Crocco, a neurobiologist at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital Borda in Buenos Aires, Argentina, proposed the creation of a new nomenclatural rank that classified the Viking landers’ results as ‘metabolic’ and therefore belonging to a form of life. Crocco proposed to create new biological ranking categories (taxa), in the new kingdom system of life, in order to be able to accommodate the genus of Martian microorganisms. Crocco proposed the following taxonomical entry: * Organic life system: Solaria * Biosphere: Marciana Kingdom: Jakobia (named after neurobiologist Christfried Jakob) * Genus et species: Gillevinia straata As a result, the hypothetical Gillevinia straata would not be a bacterium (which rather is a terrestrial taxon), but a member of the kingdom ‘Jakobia’ in the biosphere ‘Marciana’ of the ‘Solaria’ system. The intended effect of the new nomenclature was to reverse the burden of proof concerning the life issue, but the taxonomy proposed by Crocco has not been accepted by the scientific community and is considered a single nomen nudum. Further, no Mars mission has found traces of biomolecules. Phoenix lander, 2008 The Phoenix mission landed a robotic spacecraft in the polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008 and it operated until November 10, 2008. One of the mission’s two primary objectives was to search for a â€Å"habitable zone† in the Martian regolith where microbial life could exist, the other main goal being to study the geological history of water on Mars. The lander has a 2. 5 meter robotic arm that was capable of digging shallow trenches in the regolith. There was an electrochemistry experiment which analysed the ions in the regolith and the amount and type of antioxidants on Mars. The Viking program data indicate that oxidants on Mars may vary with latitude, noting that Viking 2 saw fewer oxidants than Viking 1 in its more northerly position. Phoenix landed further north still. Phoenix’s preliminary data revealed that Mars soil contains perchlorate, and thus may not be as life-friendly as thought earlier. The pH and salinity level were viewed as benign from the standpoint of biology. The analysers also indicated the presence of bound water and CO2. Mars Science Laboratory Main articles: Mars Science Laboratory and Curiosity rover The Mars Science Laboratory mission is a NASA spacecraft launched on November 26, 2011 that deployed the Curiosity rover, a nuclear-powered robot bearing instruments designed to look for past or present conditions relevant to biological activity (planetary habitability). The Curiosity rover landed on Mars on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater, near Aeolis Mons (a. k. a. Mount Sharp), on August 6, 2012. Future missions * ExoMars is a European-led multi-spacecraft programme currently under development by the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA for launch in 2016 and 2018. Its primary scientific mission will be to search for possible biosignatures on Mars, past or present. Two rovers with a 2 m core drill each will be used to sample various depths beneath the surface where liquid water may be found and where microorganisms might survive cosmic radiation. * Mars Sample Return Mission — The best life detection experiment proposed is the examination on Earth of a soil sample from Mars. However, the difficulty of providing and maintaining life support over the months of transit from Mars to Earth remains to be solved. Providing for still unknown environmental and nutritional requirements is daunting. Should dead organisms be found in a sample, it would be difficult to conclude that those organisms were alive when obtained. Meteorites NASA maintains a catalog of 34 Mars meteorites. These assets are highly valuable since they are the only physical samples available of Mars. Studies conducted by NASA’s Johnson Space Center show that at least three of the meteorites contain potential evidence of past life on Mars, in the form of microscopic structures resembling fossilized bacteria (so-called biomorphs). Although the scientific evidence collected is reliable, its interpretation varies. To date, none of the original lines of scientific evidence for the hypothesis that the biomorphs are of exobiological origin (the so-called biogenic hypothesis) have been either discredited or positively ascribed to non-biological explanations. Over the past few decades, seven criteria have been established for the recognition of past life within terrestrial geologic samples. Those criteria are: 1. Is the geologic context of the sample compatible with past life? 2. Is the age of the sample and its stratigraphic location compatible with possible life? 3. Does the sample contain evidence of cellular morphology and colonies? 4.  Is there any evidence of biominerals showing chemical or mineral disequilibria? 5. Is there any evidence of stable isotope patterns unique to biology? 6. Are there any organic biomarkers present? 7. Are the features indigenous to the sample? For general acceptance of past life in a geologic sample, essentially most or all of these criteria must be met. All seven criteria have not yet been met for any of the Martian samples, but continued investigations are in progress. As of 2010, reexaminations of the biomorphs found in the three Martian meteorites are underway with more advanced analytical instruments than previously available. The scientists conducting the study at Johnson Space Center believed that before the end of the year they would find in the meteorites definitive evidence for past life on Mars. ALH84001 meteorite The ALH84001 meteorite was found in December 1984 in Antarctica, by members of the ANSMET project; the meteorite weighs 1. 93 kilograms (4. 3 lb). The sample was ejected from Mars about 17 million years ago and spent 11,000 years in or on the Antarctic ice sheets. Composition analysis by NASA revealed a kind of magnetite that on Earth, is only found in association with certain microorganisms. Then, in August 2002, another NASA team led by Thomas-Keptra published a study indicating that 25% of the magnetite in ALH 84001 occurs as small, uniform-sized crystals that, on Earth, is associated only with biologic activity, and that the remainder of the material appears to be normal inorganic magnetite. The extraction technique did not permit determination as to whether the possibly biological magnetite was organized into chains as would be expected. The meteorite displays indication of relatively low temperature secondary mineralization by water and shows evidence of preterrestrial aqueous alteration. Evidence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have been identified with the levels increasing away from the surface. Some structures resembling the mineralized casts of terrestrial bacteria and their appendages (fibrils) or by-products (extracellular polymeric substances) occur in the rims of carbonate globules and preterrestrial aqueous alteration regions. The size and shape of the objects is consistent with Earthly fossilized nanobacteria, but the existence of nanobacteria itself is controversial. In November 2009, NASA scientists said that a recent, more detailed analysis showed that the meteorite â€Å"contains strong evidence that life may have existed on ancient Mars†. Nakhla Meteorite The Nakhla meteorite fell on Earth on June 28, 1911 on the locality of Nakhla, Alexandria, Egypt. In 1998, a team from NASA’s Johnson Space Center obtained a small sample for analysis. Researchers found preterrestrial aqueous alteration phases and objects of the size and shape consistent with Earthly fossilized nanobacteria, but the existence of nanobacteria itself is controversial. Analysis with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) studied its high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in 2000, and NASA scientists concluded that as much as 75% of the organic matter in Nakhla â€Å"may not be recent terrestrial contamination†. This caused additional interest in this meteorite, so in 2006, NASA managed to obtain an additional and larger sample from the London Natural History Museum. On this second sample, a large dendritic carbon content was observed. When the results and evidence were published on 2006, some independent researchers claimed that the carbon deposits are of biologic origin. However, it was remarked that since carbon is the fourth most abundant element in the Universe, finding it in curious patterns is not indicative or suggestive of biological origin. Shergotty meteorite The Shergotty meteorite, a 4 kg Martian meteorite, fell on Earth on Shergotty, India on August 25, 1865 and was retrieved by witnesses almost immediately. [45] This meteorite is relatively young, calculated to have been formed on Mars only 165 million years ago from volcanic origin. It is composed mostly of pyroxene and thought to have undergone preterrestrial aqueous alteration for several centuries. Certain features in its interior suggest to be remnants of biofilm and their associated microbial communities. [33] Work is in progress on searching for magnetites within alteration phases. Liquid water No Mars probe since Viking has tested the Martian regolith specifically for metabolism which is the ultimate sign of current life. NASA’s recent missions have focused on another question: whether Mars held lakes or oceans of liquid water on its surface in the ancient past. Scientists have found hematite, a mineral that forms in the presence of water. Thus, the mission of the Mars Exploration Rovers of 2004 was not to look for present or past life, but for evidence of liquid water on the surface of Mars in the planet’s ancient past. Liquid water, necessary for Earth life and for metabolism as generally conducted by species on Earth, cannot exist on the surface of Mars under its present low atmospheric pressure and temperature, except at the lowest shaded elevations for short periods and liquid water does not appear at the surface itself. In June 2000, evidence for water currently under the surface of Mars was discovered in the form of flood-like gullies. Deep subsurface water deposits near the planet’s liquid core might form a present-day habitat for life. However, in March 2006, astronomers announced the discovery of similar gullies on the Moon, which is believed never to have had liquid water on its surface. The astronomers suggest that the gullies could be the result of micrometeorite impacts. In March 2004, NASA announced that its rover Opportunity had discovered evidence that Mars was, in the ancient past, a wet planet. This had raised hopes that evidence of past life might be found on the planet today. ESA confirmed that the Mars Express orbiter had directly detected huge reserves of water ice at Mars’ south pole in January 2004. On July 28, 2005, ESA announced that they had recorded photographic evidence of surface water ice near Mars’ North pole. In December 2006, NASA showed images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor that suggested that water occasionally flows on the surface of Mars. The images did not actually show flowing water. Rather, they showed changes in craters and sediment deposits, providing the strongest evidence yet that water oursed through them as recently as several years ago, and is perhaps doing so even now. Some researchers were skeptical that liquid water was responsible for the surface feature changes seen by the spacecraft. They said other materials such as sand or dust can flow like a liquid and produce similar results. Recent analysis of Martian sandstones, using data obtained from orbital spectrometry, suggests that the waters that previously existed on the surface of Mars would have had too high a salinity to support most Earth-like life. Tosca et al. found that the Martian water in the locations they studied all had water activity, aw ? . 78 to 0. 86—a level fatal to most Terrestrial life. Haloarchaea, however, are able to live in hypersaline solutions, up to the saturation point. The Phoenix Mars lander from NASA, which landed in the Mars Arctic plain in May 2008, confirmed the presence of frozen water near the surface. This was confirmed when bright material, exposed by the digging arm of the lander, was found to have vaporized and disappeared in 3 to 4 days. This has been attributed to sub-surface ice, exposed by the digging and sublimated on exposure to the atmosphere. Methane Trace amounts of methane in the atmosphere of Mars were discovered in 2003 and verified in 2004. As methane is an unstable gas, its presence indicates that there must be an active source on the planet in order to keep such levels in the atmosphere. It is estimated that Mars must produce 270 ton/year of methane, but asteroid impacts account for only 0. 8% of the total methane production. Although geologic sources of methane such as serpentinization are possible, the lack of current volcanism, hydrothermal activity or hotspots are not favorable for geologic methane. It has been suggested that the methane was produced by chemical reactions in meteorites, driven by the intense heat during entry through the atmosphere. Although research published in December 2009 ruled out this possibility, research published in 2012 suggest that a source may be organic compounds on meteorites that are converted to methane by ultraviolet radiation. The existence of life in the form of microorganisms such as methanogens is among possible, but as yet unproven sources. If microscopic Martian life is producing the methane, it likely resides far below the surface, where it is still warm enough for liquid water to exist. Since the 2003 discovery of methane in the atmosphere, some scientists have been designing models and in vitro experiments testing growth of methanogenic bacteria on simulated Martian soil, where all four methanogen strains tested produced substantial levels of methane, even in the presence of 1. 0wt% perchlorate salt. The results reported indicate that the perchlorates discovered by the Phoenix Lander would not rule out the possible presence of methanogens on Mars. A team led by Levin suggested that both phenomena—methane production and degradation—could be accounted for by an ecology of methane-producing and methane-consuming microorganisms. In June 2012, scientists reported that measuring the ratio of hydrogen and methane levels on Mars may help determine the likelihood of life on Mars. According to the scientists, â€Å"†¦ low H2/CH4 ratios (less than approximately 40) indicate that life is likely present and active. † Other scientists have recently reported methods of detecting hydrogen and methane in extraterrestrial atmospheres. Formaldehyde In February 2005, it was announced that the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Orbiter, detected traces of formaldehyde in the atmosphere of Mars. Vittorio Formisano, the director of the PFS, has speculated that the formaldehyde could be the byproduct of the oxidation of methane, and according to him, would provide evidence that Mars is either extremely geologically active, or harbouring colonies of microbial life. NASA scientists consider the preliminary findings are well worth a follow-up, but have also rejected the claims of life. Silica In May 2007, the Spirit rover disturbed a patch of ground with its inoperative wheel, uncovering an area extremely rich in silica (90%). The feature is reminiscent of the effect of hot spring water or steam coming into contact with volcanic rocks. Scientists consider this as evidence of a past environment that may have been favorable for microbial life, and theorize that one possible origin for the silica may have been produced by the interaction of soil with acid vapors produced by volcanic activity in the presence of water. Another possible origin could have been from water in a hot spring environment. Based on Earth analogs, hydrothermal systems on Mars would be highly attractive for their potential for preserving organic and inorganic biosignatures. For example, iron oxidizing bacteria are abundant in marine and terrestrial hydrothermal systems, where they often display distinctive cell morphologies and are commonly encrusted by minerals, especially bacteriogenic iron oxides and silica. Microfossils of iron oxidizing bacteria have been found in ancient Si-Fe deposits and iron oxidation may be an ancient and widespread metabolic pathway. 83] If possible, future rover missions will target extinct hydrothermal vent systems on Mars. Geysers on Mars The seasonal frosting and defrosting of the southern ice cap results in the formation of spider-like radial channels carved on 1 meter thick ice by sunlight. Then, sublimed CO2 – and probably water –increase pressure in their interior producing geyser-like eruptions of cold fluids often mixed with dark basaltic sand or mud. This process is rapid, observed happening in the space of a few days, weeks or months, a growth rate rather unusual in geology – especially for Mars. A team of Hungarian scientists proposes that the geysers’ most visible features, dark dune spots and spider channels, may be colonies of photosynthetic Martian microorganisms, which over-winter beneath the ice cap, and as the sunlight returns to the pole during early spring, light penetrates the ice, the microorganisms photosynthesize and heat their immediate surroundings. A pocket of liquid water, which would normally evaporate instantly in the thin Martian atmosphere, is trapped around them by the overlying ice. As this ice layer thins, the microorganisms show through grey. When the layer has completely melted, the microorganisms rapidly desiccate and turn black, surrounded by a grey aureole. The Hungarian scientists believe that even a complex sublimation process is insufficient to explain the formation and evolution of the dark dune spots in space and time. Since their discovery, fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke promoted these formations as deserving of study from an astrobiological perspective. A multinational European team suggests that if liquid water is present in the spiders’ channels during their annual defrost cycle, they might provide a niche where certain microscopic life forms could have retreated and adapted while sheltered from solar radiation. A British team also considers the possibility that organic matter, microbes, or even simple plants might co-exist with these inorganic formations, especially if the mechanism includes liquid water and a geothermal energy source. However, they also remark that the majority of geological structures may be accounted for without invoking any organic â€Å"life on Mars† hypothesis. It has been proposed to develop the Mars Geyser Hopper lander to study the geysers up close. Cosmic radiation In 1965, the Mariner 4 probe discovered that Mars had no global magnetic field that would protect the planet from potentially life-threatening cosmic radiation and solar radiation; observations made in the late 1990s by the Mars Global Surveyor confirmed this discovery. Scientists speculate that the lack of magnetic shielding helped the solar wind blow away much of Mars’s atmosphere over the course of several billion years. After mapping cosmic radiation levels at various depths on Mars, researchers have concluded that any life within the first several meters of the planet’s surface would be killed by lethal doses of cosmic radiation. In 2007, it was calculated that DNA and RNA damage by cosmic radiation would limit life on Mars to depths greater than 7. 5 metres below the planet’s surface. Therefore, the best potential locations for discovering life on Mars may be at subsurface environments that have not been studied yet.