From Seeds to Civilizations Bruce D Smith Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

From Seeds to Civilizations Bruce D Smith - Essay Example These factors influence the cultural macroevolution. Here the changes are determined by the environmental factors and not by the social economic and political ones. The important influence of these macro evolutionary factors has been brought to the limelight by Jared Diamond. These factors played a very pivotal role at the dawn of history especially when writing was first invented. For example the Inuit could not invent farming but people in the Middle East could do so because they were surrounded by wild animals/plants which could be domesticated. Cultural microevolution on the other hand generated a need for liquid fuels for industrialized nations. But it was the macro evolutionary factors which shaped the World War II, where Germany and Japan had to use all their efforts to obtain and defend their petroleum supplies since their own territories lacked them. Early historians did not give much importance to the evolutionary view of history. But seventeenth century onwards scholars like Voltaire, Comte and others visualized history as an evolutionary process that was moving towards a goal. Karl Marx was one of the pioneers of the first great theories of historical evolution. Marx tried to find an evolutionary pattern of history based on scientific analysis. Apart from historians even... We are all products of our social and biological backgrounds. It is due to this very reason that the human nature of citizens living for long under democracies is different than those under dictatorships. Evolutionary theory has converted biology into a logical discipline. Evolutionary theory, primarily its cultural aspects can do the same to social sciences. Although some aspects of such a theory can be overshadowed by the story of sociopolitical evolution from hunting and gathering through the establishment of states that can be put together today. Evolutionary theory thus can be formed without making assumptions about genetics. The change in human natures is essentially because of cultural and not biological evolution. Plant domestication i.e. agriculture has played a very pivotal role in human history. It first began in the Fertile Crescent which is now a part of Israel and Lebanon. Population pressure, declining game supplies and increased plant gathering are some of the reasons given for the origins of agriculture .It is believed that the key reason for the spread of farming was due to the episodic periods of scarcity- a discrepancy of the general population pressure speculation. This could explain the rapid spread of agriculture from the Fertile Crescent The second hypothesis is that agriculture developed due to the rapid end of the ice age. The agricultural revolution was accompanied by rising birth rates. This eventually led to the demand of more food and thus led to the pressure of technological change to make more intensive agriculture possible. Due to this intensification and division of labor human society underwent changes through villages, clans to ultimately modern nation states. Differences in the productivity of the physical

The operating statement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The operating statement - Essay Example Variable costs are costs are those, which vary with the level of activity while fixed costs are those, which are constant irrespective of the level of activity. However, the increase or decrease of fixed costs is not related to the level of activity alone as they may though change over a period. Variable costs on the other hand are directly related to the business activity; they include costs such as those for raw materials and inventory. They vary in the sense that the more of each you need in production the more the costs will increase (Czopek 2004). When the budgeted of these costs is more than the actual, then the discrepancy is termed as an adverse and a control measure must be put in place in actual/real time (Czopek 2004). The operation statement will therefore help the management in identification of each of the costs, when they are favorable as well as when they are adverse and formulate the control mechanisms for normal operations. As there is no single direct way or strate gy of cost management and control, the mangers will be forced to examine the whole business strategy and make a determination of how to achieve a cost reduction without interfering with the business operations. Variable cost control Variable costs will rise with expansion in production and fall when production falls; this is quite useful for effective decision-making. They include costs such as those for raw materials, packaging and direct labor (Czopek 2004). The operating statement shows clearly a Budgeted gross profit of 18339.30 pounds. As indicated by the variable costs variances, they are adverse as shown: - Sales volume profit variance = (2,130 – 2,100) ? 8.61 = ?258.3 (A) and Sales price variance = (15.0 – 14.5) ? 2,100 = ?1,050.0 (A). Material M3 price variance = (1.55 ? 1,050) – 1,680 = ?52.5 (A), Material M3 usage variance = ((2,100 ? 0.6) – 1,050) ? 1.55 = ?325.5 (F), Material M7 price variance = (1.75 ? 1,470) – 2,793 = ?220.5 (A) and Material M7 usage variance = ((2,100 ? 0.68) – 1,470) ? 1.75 = ?73.5 (A). Direct labor rate variance = (7.2 ? 525) – 3,675 = ?105.0 (F), Direct labor efficiency variance = ((2,100 ?14/60) – 525) ? 7.2 = ?252.0 (A), Variable overhead expenditure variance = (2.1 ? 525) – 1,260 = ?157.5 (A), Variable overhead efficiency variance = ((2,100 ? 14/60) – 525) ? 2.1 = ?73.5 (A). In order to achieve the budgeted profit, the management will have to do something about the adverse variable cost variances, which include those for labor, raw material in terms of material usage and the variable overheads. Material M3 whose price variance is adverse with its usage favorable, the management can look for a cheaper substitute of the same material to curb the negative variance. Depending on the cause of adverse material price variance as indicated by material M7, management will find out, if it is caused by changes in purchase prices, they can find a substitute. If it is caused by substitution of the original with a new material, the management will decide to go back to the original raw material. The management by help of the operating statement will be able to device other ways of controlling the adverse material cost variance by deciding to look for materials which have cash discounts and buying from suppliers who offer transportation and storage as after sales services. Direct labor rate variance is favorable with direct labor efficiency variance being unfavorable at 252.0 pounds. The management is therefore able to know the causes of