1 Introducing the concept of freedom

What are the limits of individual freedom in a civilised society? Should we tolerate unlimited freedom of speech, no matter how offensive the views expressed? Can the state ever be justified in interfering with what consenting adults choose to do in private? When, if ever, is coercion acceptable? Are all laws obstacles to freedom, or are they the very condition of achieving it? Should we sometimes force people to be free, or is that a contradiction in terms? These are serious questions. They'
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4.1 The boundary of the operations system

The simple transformation model in Figure 1 provides a powerful tool for looking at operations in many different contexts. It helps us to analyse and design operations in many types of organisation at many levels.

This model can be developed by identifying the boundaries of the operations system through which an organisation's goods or services are provided to its customers or clients. Figure 3, shows this boundary an
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3.5 Feedback

A further component of the transformation model in Figure 1 is the feedback loop. Feedback information is used to control the operations system, by adjusting the inputs and transformation processes that are used to achieve desired outputs. For example, a chef relies on a flow of information from the customer, through the waiter, about the quality of the food. Adverse feedback might lead the chef to change the inputs (for example by buying better quality potatoes) or the transformation process
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WildLinAlg12: Generalized dilations and eigenvectors
This video introduces the important idea of changing coordinates in Linear Algebra. A linear transformation can be described using many different matrices, depending on the underlying coordinate system, or ordered basis, which is used to describe the space. The simplest case is when the linear transformation is in diagonal form. Finding such a diagonal form requires finding the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a matrix, which we introduce in this video. We also discuss change of basis matrices.
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Alternative Models Of Differential Pricing For Medicines
Each speaker on this panel proposes a unique approach to the problem of making medicines universally affordable. Dr. David Meeker works in the area of rare diseases. Genzyme’s hormone replacement therapy for Gaucher disease, which affects roughly 30 thousand globally, costs $150k to $200k per year. For patients in natio
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Lost Treasures of the Ancient World - INDIA 5/5
The amazing inventions and extraordinary ideas by East Indians that are still useful today, such as plastic surgery, the number system, wax, yoga, water clock, etc. Suitable for middle school and high school students. run time 8:32
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German Education Index
FIS Bildung Literaturdatenbank (German Education Index) is maintained by the Educational Information System (FIS Bildung), a network of almost 30 documentation institutions, and is hosted by the German Institute for International Education Research (DIPF). It is a searchable index to journal articles, book chapters, reports and other grey literature covering all aspects of education policy, practice and theory. This includes coverage of teaching, the economics of education, and all levels of edu
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4.3 Networks of objects
Enterprise systems are software applications that automate and integrate all many of the key business processes of an organisation. With some understanding of software development, you will learn about current development practices for this type of system and develop relevant skills to apply them to real-world problems. You will develop core skills in object-oriented analysis and design, allowing you to develop software that is fit for purpose, reusable and amenable to change.
Author(s): The Open University

2008.03.14 - Mac Administration - CUPS (Video)
This podcast episode covers Common UNIX Print System (CUPS)
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6.5 Appreciating some implications for practice

I think for most people, the National Health Service would be experienced as a complex situation. If so this would be a good example of perceived complexity. Remember though, if you engaged with it as if it were a difficulty you would not describe the situation as one of perceived complexity. I could not call it a complex system unless I had tried to make sense of it using systems thinking and found, or formulated, a system of interest within it. This means I would have to have a stake in the
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6.4 Choosing to distinguish between complex situations and complex systems

Within some of the lineages of systems thinking and practice (Figure 7), the idea that system complexity is a property of what is observed about some ‘real-world’ system, is known as classical or type 1 complexity. Exploring type 1 complexity, Russell Ackoff (1981, pp.26–33) claimed for a set of elements to be usefully viewed as a system, it was necessary that:

1. the behaviou
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5.5 Distinctions about systems practice

A tension has existed throughout the history of Western thought around whether to focus on parts or the whole. The practice that springs from this history carries the same tension. This tension has been particularly visible within science and philosophy for a long time and it gives rise to different approaches.

Emphasizing the parts has been called mechanistic, reductionist or atomistic. An emphasis on the whole has been called holistic, organismic or ecological. As Fritjof Capra (1996)
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3. Sustainable Aviation: Future Air Transportation and the Environment (January 21, 2009)
science, technology, engineering, aviation, aeronautics, aircraft fuel efficiency, carbon dioxide, sustainability, Global Positioning System (GPS), economics, numerical optimization, climate change, friction, drag, airplane, aerodynamics, National Aerona
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3.1 Protein diversity

Of course, our bodies can't just be made up of squidgy bubbles of phospholipid, or we would collapse in a heap on the floor! Stiffer frameworks, both inside and outside the cells, also exist and help to define shape and add strength. These frameworks are formed largely from structural proteins, a class of polymeric materials that form fibres and filaments to provide mechanical support for cells and tissues. Structural proteins are made inside cells but are often then moved into the spa
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1 Biological materials

Materials engineers have long recognised the impressive range and combination of properties offered by biological materials. Figure 1 shows some representative examples of the combination of tensile strength and toughness (measured by Young's modulus, or elastic modulus for polymers) offered by natural materials, with some more common engineering materials included for comparison.

I'm using the term ‘biological m
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7.7 Planning for quality

Having considered estimating for time and for costs, the third dimension of projects – quality needs to be considered. The need to achieve a particular level of quality may mean that more time must be spent completing certain tasks or that more resources must be made available for a particular purpose. Once the time and cost estimates have been made, review them to ensure that this estimate will allow an outcome of the right quality.

Many organisations have corporate quality assurance
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7.3 Staff costs

The staff time and staff-related costs need to be calculated. These include salaries, taxes, holidays, overtime, training, travel and subsistence, and accommodation for the number of staff for the time they will be needed. This raises all sorts of questions about the basis on which staff are costed and the relationship of the project budgeting system to other budgets and costing systems in the organisation. The basic assumptions underlying allocation of resources need careful consideration ea
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1.8 Maintenance
No idea how relational database systems are constructed? Did you know that they underpin the majority of the managed data storage in computer systems? This unit has been designed to give you an overview of the developmental lifecycle for a database system, explaining the importance of data analysis and highlighting how database development differs from traditional software development.
Author(s): The Open University