OSHA and the Automotive Workplace Essay Example for Free

OSHA and the Automotive Workplace Essay There are materials used in the automotive industry that are considered highly combustible and can easily catch fire once exposed to such element. Proper handling should be studied well and implemented depending upon the flammability of the material. On the contrary, mishandling of these substances will present risks to people’s lives and assets’ damages. There are classifications made by the concerned agencies with respect to the types of handling risks. A certain department in the United States regulated the shipping procedures of these highly flammable materials. Fire department directive allows containers up to 227 litres for material classes that are considered as explosives. These solvent containers are made up of metals intended for transport of these substances. For highly volatile and flammable materials, tight enclosures are applied to prevent leaks. Proper specifications are set by the concerned department including the maximum allowable amount for every container and other specified parameters. After filling up the containers, proper labeling is the next step. Labeling should include the name of the substance inside the container and the class level of the material to be transported. Safety reminders and other precautionary signs should also be included in labeling the vessel of such highly flammable materials. Conditions of the materials that might cooperate seriously with combustible and flammable liquids must be store separately from them. In particular, oxidizing subsances must be stored independently with other less hazardous to people. What’s more important to every engineer is that planning to build their career working on this line of business. Accidents are unavoidable but less regulated system in dealing with carriages of very sensitive substnaces would attract more of that. Risks can be avoided when all the rules and policies were followed thoroughly. By then, standardized approach can be done in handling highly flammable materials and substances.

Using RStudio to Prepare and Clean Data

Using RStudio to Prepare and Clean Data There is now more data available than ever before, the depth and scope is increasing daily. The explosion of the internet and connected devices has increased this and big data is now big business. With the increase in data available to us, so has the need for analysis of this data. Many companies use this data to predict future trends. Also, what has changed is the tools we use to analysis and present this data in a meaningful way. In the past statistical software was very expensive and often with no graphical capabilities. Enter the R programming language a tool that supports both, first released in 1995 with the first stable build in 2000, now on version 3 which was released in 2013. R is a free open source project with over 7000 add on packages available. Many companies such as Google and Facebook are using R for their data analysis. In this lab book we will look at cleaning and preparing data so it can analysed. We will use R Studio which is an IDE (Integrated development environment) for the R programming language. R Studio is available as an open source or commercial version, it has two editions R Studio desktop and R Studio Server and runs on Windows, macOS and Linux operating systems. The dataset we have is from the UK government, and is based on MOT outlets in England, Scotland, and Wales, it contains data such as name, address, post codes, telephone numbers and categories of vehicles tested. On quick analysis of the dataset there are a lot of blank fields, extra white spaces, typos in the telephone column as well as second telephone numbers separated by the / symbol. Using R Studio we will attempt to tidy and clean the dataset. In this lab book we will explain the various commands and techniques used to prepare the data for analytical analysis. Make a copy of the data to work with: Method: Here we make a copy of the original dataset x2016motsitelist and call it MotList, this is good practice as you will not contaminate the original dataset. Test: Result: From the above screen shot you can see we have renamed our dataset to MotList, by using the name of the dataset in R studio it lists the dataset in a screen dump on the console. Get the Stucture of Our Data Frame Method: by using the str() command in the console we get the structure of our data. Test: Result: by using the structure command str() we can see that our dataset has 22,980 objects and 14 different variables. The next lines which contain $ indicate column headings and display some of the components included in these columns. This command just provides a list with components and names. View the data Method: Using the Head command to view the data. Test: Result: using this command the first 6 records are displayed in the console window. ID names of columns Method: We use the Names command to display column names. Test: Result: this displays the names of our columns in the console window. Summary of what is contained in the columns Method: we use the Summary command to get an overview of the data in our columns. Test: Result: the summary command gives us an overview for every vector in the data frame, tells us in our case that the length is 22980 rows, that all vectors are character classes. Missing values Method: we will use the is.na command, combination of is.na with the any command and lastly the sum command to check for missing values in the data. Test: Result: the result of the is.na command returns a Boolean true or false result on the data set to tell us if a missing value is present or not. Test: Result: with the use of the any command we find that there is indeed missing data in the dataset. Test: Result: with the use of the sum command we get the number of missing records, which is 149097 in this case. Rename columns in our data set. Method: we use the colnames command to change the columns in our data set that are numbered 1,2,3,4,5 and 7. Test: Result: with the use of the above commands we change the name of the columns using the name to identify which column to apply the name change to. We use the names(MotList) to verify the result. Test: Remove NA from the different categories of vehicle that are Mot tested Method: we create another copy of our dataset and call it MotListMod, on this dataset we will change the NA values in the columns that we renamed earlier so that the different categories of vehicles tested will have complete values and no missing data. We do this by giving the dataset name and then the $ column name, we then use the which command and is.na to change the value to the desired result. Test: Result: As can be seen from the screen shot above, we have changed the NA values in the six columns of our dataset, our dataset now tells us if a Mot test centre carries out tests on the different vehicle categories Y or N, were as before it only told us the if the centre did Y with a blank field for N. Again, we run the sum is.na command on both datasets we have, now the MotListMod dataset has far less Nas in the dataset. Remove and tidy up VTS Telephone column. Method: Firstly, using the GSUB command we removed instances of Tel. and TEL. from our column, secondly, we separate the column in two sections number 1 and 2 with the SEPARATE command as some of the test centres have two telephone numbers separated by / in the dataset, thirdly we tidy up the white space. Test: Using GSUB wrongly above didnt produce the desired outcome, but in the two screens below we get the desired outcome. The above screen shows were the VTS Telephone column is split into different sections. Trimming white space from the front of the telephone numbers. Removing the NAs from the VTS Telephone number2 Result: By using GSUB and identifying the column we wanted to target, we replaced the instances of Tel. and TEL. in our dataset with whitespace, we then proceeded to split the column into two different sections, when we did this it created a lot of NAs in the second column because not every test centre has two telephone numbers, so to counter act this we replace the NAs with the value 0. We then tidy up the white space at the start of the two columns. Write to CSV file in R studio Method:ÂÂ   We will write the MotListMod3 dataset to a CSV file with the WRITE.CSV command. Test: Result: The above command writes the dataset to a csv file and can be viewed or shared with others, see above screen shot of the file in excel. Outliers and plot function. Method: using the HIST command we produce a histogram of the cars column, the columns class had to be changed to a factor form to make the function work, also we used the Table command to count the number of Y and N in this column. Test: In the screen shot above you can see a histogram of the cars column. Result: No outliers are present as our columns only have a Y or N present in the different type of vehicles tested columns. Also, our data was of class character, this had to be converted to a factor form so as we could use the histogram function on the column cars. We used the table command on the column to display a numeric result for N = 1054 and Y=21926.

What are Anabolic Steroids? :: essays research papers

What are Anabolic Steroids? Anabolic steroids - or more precisely, anabolic/androgenic steroids - belong to a group known as ergogenic, or so-called "performance-enhancing," drugs. They are synthetic derivatives of testosterone, a natural male hormone. "Anabolic" means growing or building. "Androgenic" means "masculinizing or generating male sexual characteristics. Most healthy males produce between 2 and 10 milligrams of testosterone a day. http://www2.msstate.edu/~jnd2/index.html Reasons for Steroid Use The most common reasons people use anabolic steroids are to: increase muscle mass increase strength train harder reduce the recovery time needed after training Some people believe the benefit from taking steroids is physiological, they make people feel that they are stronger or faster. Others believe that they make people feel that they are more aggressive and so they are able to train harder. Steroid Usage Among Teenagers Steroid usage has often been stereotyped to football players, weightlifters and bodybuilders. New research suggests that this is far from true. Instead, most heavy steroid users are middle class white males, 35% of which do not intend on participating in sporting events. 26% of high school age steroid users cited personal appearance as their primary motive for using the drug. These new trends in steroid use have been attributed to the "new male image" that is being splashed throughout advertisements and magazines. Teenage males develop a desire for the lean, mean and muscular look exemplified by Calvin Klien models and others. The quickest way to success is through anabolic steroids. Many of these teenagers will risk possibility of the side effects associated with steroid usage in exchange for respect. Despite massive weight and muscle gains, many steroid users are never quite happy with their physique. This condition is being labeled as "reverse anorexia" by psychologists and doctors. "I have seen a kid gain 100 pounds in 14 months and still not be satisfied," reports Neil Carolan of BryLin Hospital in Buffalo. Carolan has counseled over 200 teenage steroid users. Arnold Schwarzenegger, once a steroid user himself, addresses the issue of teenage steroid use. "Teenagers should never take anabolic steroids in an attempt to build up the size and strength of their muscle structure. During the teenage years, young males are already in their most anabolic state, with testosterone flooding the system. Adding synthetic anabolic at this point is totally unnecessary." history Greek Olympians used strychnine and hallucinogenic mushrooms to "psyche up" for an event. In 1886 a French cyclist was the first athlete to die from using a performance enhance, called speedballs, a mixture of cocaine and heroin. In the 1920's, physicians inserted slices of monkey testicles into male athletes to help

Advantage Grant

I wish to apply for the Online Advantage Grant at CTU Online. I am currently enrolled in the Business Administration course at CTU Online. I am a mature student at thirty years of age and have returned to formal study as a way to improve my knowledge and skills. My parents have instilled upon myself and my sisters a lifelong desire to study.Often working a lot harder themselves they enabled us to study; my parents have given to me a disciplined study ethic that acknowledges successful completion of tertiary courses as a vital step towards gaining my place in the community.My ethnicity is American Indian; I am excited about my opportunity to bring my cultural diversity to the community once empowered by the completion of the Business Administration course at CTU. A nation wide emphasis has been given to bringing cultural diversity into all fields of American life.I believe that a critical element of bringing true cultural diversity into all American workplaces is the opportunity for e thnic minority group members to complete tertiary studies.I have secured my place to participate in a very direct way in the development of true cultural diversity in the workplace by enrolling and starting the Business Administration Course at CTU. My motivation to complete the online course is high as I see the value not only for myself and my immediate family for my completion of this course but for the benefits that will flow from my education to my community.With the knowledge and skills I gain from the Business Administration course I will be empowered to represent my cultural minority and to promote the sensitivity towards other cultural minorities into the workplace arena.The career path I plan to follow is that of the healthcare industry. I have close relatives who currently work in the healthcare industry and through their insight I feel that this will be the way in which I can pursue a career that will bring the most impact back to my community and to my own sense of sati sfaction and sense of giving back to others.Of particular interest in our country today is the persistent inequity that surrounds people from ethnic or cultural minority groups and access to effective healthcare. Studies have been presented in the popular media that show that minority groups all share an underutilization of healthcare services compared to the majority Caucasian population.Such studies report that lower rates of health insurance amongst people within minority groups accounts for only part of the lower use of healthcare services.Key factors in the underutilization of healthcare services by people within minority groups was the lack of flexibility of healthcare service providers in terms of hours of operation and in terms of cultural sensitivity which led people of minority groups to not use the services or to limit their use of such services.With the knowledge and skills I gain from my studies at CTU Online, I plan to bring the cultural sensitivity that my American In dian background has provided me to the healthcare industry.My cultural background has given to me a unique perspective on the need for cultural sensitivity across all the diverse minority groups that make up the nation today. I am excited about the great advantage my heritage will bring to my effectiveness in the workplace.I appreciate your consideration of my application for the Online Advantage Grant for CTU Online.

Prelude to Foundation Chapter 9 Microfarm

MYCOGEN-†¦ The microfarms of Mycogen are legendary, though they survive today only in such oft-used similes as â€Å"rich as the microfarms of Mycogen† or â€Å"tasty as Mycogenian yeast.† Such encomiums tend to intensify with time, to be sure, but Hari Seldon visited those microfarms in the course of The Flight and there are references in his memoirs that would tend to support the popular opinion†¦ Encyclopedia Galactica 41. â€Å"That was good.† said Seldon explosively. â€Å"It was considerably better than the food Graycloud brought-â€Å" Dors said reasonably, â€Å"You have to remember that Graycloud's woman had to prepare it on short notice in the middle of the night.† She paused and said, â€Å"I wish they would say ‘wife.' They make ‘woman' sound like such an appanage, like ‘my house' or my robe.' It is absolutely demeaning.† â€Å"I know. It's infuriating. But they might well make ‘wife' sound like an appanage as well. It's the way they live and the Sisters don't seem to mind. You and I aren't going to change it by lecturing. Anyway, did you see how the Sisters did it?† â€Å"Yes, I did and they made everything seem very simple. I doubted I could remember everything they did, but they insisted I wouldn't have to. I could get away with mere heating. I gathered the bread had some sort of microderivative added to it in the baking that both raised the dough and lent it that crunchy consistency and warm flavor. Just a hint of pepper, didn't you think?† â€Å"I couldn't tell, but whatever it was, I didn't get enough. And the soup. Did you recognize any of the vegetables?† â€Å"No.† â€Å"And what was the sliced meat? Could you tell?† â€Å"I don't think it was sliced meat, actually. We did have a lamb dish back on Cinna that it reminded me of.† â€Å"It was certainly not lamb.† â€Å"I said that I doubted it was meat at all.-I don't think anyone outside Mycogen eats like this either. Not even the Emperor, I'm sure. Whatever the Mycogenians sell is, I'm willing to bet, near the bottom of the line. They save the best for themselves. We had better not stay here too long, Hari. If we get used to eating like this, we'll never be able to acclimatize ourselves to the miserable stuff they have outside.† She laughed. Seldon laughed too. He took another sip at the fruit juice, which tasted far more tantalizing than any fruit juice he had ever sipped before, and said, â€Å"listen, when Hummin took me to the University, we stopped at a roadside diner and had some food that was heavily yeasted. It tasted like- No, never mind what it tasted like, but I wouldn't have thought it conceivable, then, that microfood could taste like this. I wish the Sisters were still here. It would have been polite to thank them.† â€Å"I think they were quite aware of how we would feel. I remarked on the wonderful smell while everything was warming and they said, quite complacently, that it would taste even better.† â€Å"The older one said that, I imagine.† â€Å"Yes. The younger one giggled.-And they'll be back. They're going to bring me a kirtle, so that I can go out to see the shops with them. And they made it clear I would have to wash my face if I was to be seen in public. They will show me where to buy some good-quality kirtles of my own and where I can buy ready-made meals of all kinds. All I'll have to do is heat them up. They explained that decent Sisters wouldn't do that, but would start from scratch. In fact, some of the meal they prepared for us was simply heated and they apologized for that. They managed to imply, though, that tribespeople couldn't be expected to appreciate true artistry in cooking, so that simply heating prepared food would do for us.-They seem to take it for granted, by the way, that I will be doing all the shopping and cooking.† â€Å"As we say at home, ‘When in Trantor, do as the Trantorians do.' â€Å" â€Å"Yes, I was sure that would be your attitude in this case.† â€Å"I'm only human,† said Seldon. â€Å"The usual excuse,† said Dors with a small smile. Seldon leaned back with a satisfactory well-filled feeling and said, â€Å"You've been on Trantor for two years, Dors, so you might understand a few things that I don't. Is it your opinion that this odd social system the Mycogenians have is part of a supernaturalistic view they have?† â€Å"Supernaturalistic?† â€Å"Yes. Would you have heard that this was so?† â€Å"What do you mean by ‘supernaturalistic'?† â€Å"The obvious. A belief in entities that are independent of natural law, that are not bound by the conservation of energy, for instance, or by the existence of a constant of action.† â€Å"I see. You're asking if Mycogen is a religious community.† It was Seldon's turn. â€Å"Religious?† â€Å"Yes. It's an archaic term, but we historians use it-our study is riddled with archaic terms. ‘Religious' is not precisely equivalent to ‘supernaturalistic,' though it contains richly supernaturalistic elements. I can't answer your specific question, however, because I've never made any special investigation of Mycogen. Still, from what little I've seen of the place and from my knowledge of religions in history, I wouldn't be surprised if the Mycogenian society was religious in character.† â€Å"In that case, would it surprise you if Mycogenian legends were also religious in character?† â€Å"No, it wouldn't.† â€Å"And therefore not based on historical matter?† â€Å"That wouldn't necessarily follow. The core of the legends might still be authentically historic, allowing for distortion and supernaturalistic intermixture.† â€Å"Ah,† said Seldon and seemed to retire into his thoughts. Finally Dors broke the silence that followed and said, â€Å"It's not so uncommon, you know. There is a considerable religious element on many worlds. It's grown stronger in the last few centuries as the Empire has grown more turbulent. On my world of Cinna, at least a quarter of the population is tritheistic.† Seldon was again painfully and regretfully conscious of his ignorance of history. He said, â€Å"Were there times in past history when religion was more prominent than it is today?† â€Å"Certainly. In addition, there are new varieties springing up constantly. The Mycogenian religion, whatever it might be, could be relatively new and may be restricted to Mycogen itself. I couldn't really tell without considerable study.† â€Å"But now we get to the point of it, Dors. Is it your opinion that women are more apt to be religious than men are?† Dors Venabili raised her eyebrows. â€Å"I'm not sure if we can assume anything as simple as that.† She thought a bit. â€Å"I suspect that those elements of a population that have a smaller stake in the material natural world are more apt to find solace in what you call supernaturalism-the poor, the disinherited, the downtrodden. Insofar as supernaturalism overlaps religion, they may also be more religious. There are obviously many exceptions in both directions. Many of the downtrodden may lack religion; many of the rich, powerful, and satisfied may possess it.† â€Å"But in Mycogen,† said Seldon, â€Å"where the women seem to be treated as subhuman-would I be right in assuming they would be more religious than the men, more involved in the legends that the society has been preserving?† â€Å"I wouldn't risk my life on it, Hari, but I'd be willing to risk a week's income on it.† â€Å"Good,† said Seldon thoughtfully. Dors smiled at him. â€Å"There's a bit of your psychohistory, Hari. Rule number 47,854: The downtrodden are more religious than the satisfied.† Seldon shook his head. â€Å"Don't joke about psychohistory, Dors. You know I'm not looking for tiny rules but for vast generalizations and for means of manipulation. I don't want comparative religiosity as the result of a hundred specific rules. I want something from which I can, after manipulation through some system of mathematicized logic, say, ‘Aha, this group of people will tend to be more religious than that group, provided that the following criteria are met, and that, therefore, when humanity meets with these stimuli, it will react with these responses.' â€Å" â€Å"How horrible,† said Dors. â€Å"You are picturing human beings as simple mechanical devices. Press this button and you will get that twitch.† â€Å"No, because there will be many buttons pushing simultaneously to varying degrees and eliciting so many responses of different sorts that overall the predictions of the future will be statistical in nature, so that the individual human being will remain a free agent.† â€Å"How can you know this?† â€Å"I can't,† said Seldon. â€Å"At least, I don't know it. I feel it to be so. It is what I consider to be the way things ought to be. If I can find the axioms, the fundamental Laws of Humanics, so to speak, and the necessary mathematical treatment, then I will have my psychohistory. I have proved that, in theory, this is possible-â€Å" â€Å"But impractical, right?† â€Å"I keep saying so.† A small smile curved Dors's lips, â€Å"Is that what you are doing, Hari, looking for some sort of solution to this problem?† â€Å"I don't know. I swear to you I don't know. But Chetter Hummin is so anxious to find a solution and, for some reason, I am anxious to please him. He is so persuasive a man.† â€Å"Yes, I know.† Seldon let that comment pass, although a small frown flitted across his face. Seldon continued. â€Å"Hummin insists the Empire is decaying, that it will collapse, that psychohistory is the only hope for saving it-or cushioning it or ameliorating it-and that without it humanity will be destroyed or, at the very least, go through prolonged misery. He seems to place the responsibility for preventing that on me. Now, the Empire will certainly last my time, but if I'm to live at ease, I must lift that responsibility from my shoulders. I must convince myself-and even convince Hummin-that psychohistory is not a practical way out that, despite theory, it cannot be developed. So I must follow up as many leads as I can and show that each one must fail.† â€Å"Leads? Like going back in history to a time when human society was smaller than it is now?† â€Å"Much smaller. And far less complex.† â€Å"And showing that a solution is still impractical?† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"But who is going to describe the early world for you? If the Mycogenians have some coherent picture of the primordial Galaxy, Sunmaster certainly won't reveal it to a tribesman. No Mycogenian will. This is an ingrown society-how many times have we already said it?-and its members are suspicious of tribesmen to the point of paranoia. They'll tell us nothing.† â€Å"I will have to think of a way to persuade some Mycogenians to talk. Those Sisters, for instance.† â€Å"They won't even hear you, male that you are, any more than Sunmaster hears me. And even if they do talk to you, what would they know but a few catch phrases?† â€Å"I must start somewhere.† Dors said, â€Å"Well, let me think. Hummin says I must protect you and I interpret that as meaning I must help you when I can. What do I know about religion? That's nowhere near my specialty, you know. I have always dealt with economic forces, rather than philosophic forces, but you can't split history into neat little nonoverlapping divisions. For instance, religions tend to accumulate wealth when successful and that eventually tends to distort the economic development of a society. There, incidentally, is one of the numerous rules of human history that you'll have to derive from your basic Laws of Humanics or whatever you called them. But†¦Ã¢â‚¬  And here, Dors's voice faded away as she lapsed into thought. Seldon watched her cautiously and Dors's eyes glazed as though she was looking deep within herself. Finally she said, â€Å"This is not an invariable rule, but it seems to me that on many occasions, a religion has a book-or books-of significance; books that give their ritual, their view of history, their sacred poetry, and who knows what else. Usually, those books are open to all and are a means of proselytization. Sometimes they are secret.† â€Å"Do you think Mycogen has books of that sort?† â€Å"To be truthful,† said Dors thoughtfully, â€Å"I have never heard of any. I might have if they existed openly-which means they either don't exist or are kept secret. In either case, it seems to me you are not going to see them.† â€Å"At least it's a starting point,† said Seldon grimly. 42. The Sisters returned about two hours after Hari and Dors had finished lunch. They were smiling, both of them, and Raindrop Forty-Three, the graver one, held up a gray kirtle for Dors's inspection. â€Å"It is very attractive,† said Dors, smiling widely and nodding her head with a certain sincerity. â€Å"I like the clever embroidery here.† â€Å"It is nothing,† twittered Raindrop Forty-Five. â€Å"It is one of my old things and it won't fit very well, for you are taller than I am. But it will do for a while and we will take you out to the very best kirtlery to get a few that will fit you and your tastes perfectly. You will see.† Raindrop Forty-Three, smiling a little nervously but saying nothing and keeping her eyes fixed on the ground, handed a white kirtle to Dors. It was folded neatly. Dors did not attempt to unfold it, but passed it on to Seldon. â€Å"From the color I should say it's yours, Hari.† â€Å"Presumably,† said Seldon, â€Å"but give it back. She did not give it to me.† â€Å"Oh, Hari,† mouthed Dors, shaking her head slightly. â€Å"No,† said Seldon firmly. â€Å"She did not give it to me. Give it back to her and I'll wait for her to give it to me.† Dors hesitated, then made a half-hearted attempt to pass the kirtle back to Raindrop Forty-Three. The Sister put her hands behind her back and moved away, all life seeming to drain from her face. Raindrop Forty-Five stole a glance at Seldon, a very quick one, then took a quick step toward Raindrop Forty-Three and put her arms about her. Dors said, â€Å"Come, Hari, I'm sure that Sisters are not permitted to talk to men who are not related to them. What's the use of making her miserable? She can't help it.† â€Å"I don't believe it,† said Seldon harshly. â€Å"If there is such a rule, it applies only to Brothers. I doubt very much that she's ever met a tribesman before.† Dors said to Raindrop Forty-Three in a soft voice, â€Å"Have you ever met a tribesman before, Sister, or a tribeswoman?† A long hesitation and then a slow negative shake of the head. Seldon threw out his arms. â€Å"Well, there you are. If there is a rule of silence, it applies only to the Brothers. Would they have sent these young women-these Sisters-to deal with us if there was any rule against speaking to tribesmen?† â€Å"It might be, Hari, that they were meant to speak only to me and I to you.† â€Å"Nonsense. I don't believe it and I won't believe it. I am not merely a tribesman, I am an honored guest in Mycogen, asked to be treated as such by Chetter Hummin and escorted here by Sunmaster Fourteen himself. I will not be treated as though I do not exist. I will be in communication with Sunmaster Fourteen and I will complain bitterly.† Raindrop Forty-Five began to sob and Raindrop Forty-Three, retaining her comparative impassivity, nevertheless flushed faintly. Dors made as though to appeal to Seldon once again, but he stopped her with a brief and angry outward thrust of his right arm and then stared gloweringly at Raindrop Forty-Three. And finally she spoke and did not twitter. Rather, her voice trembled hoarsely, as though she had to force it to sound in the direction of a male being and was doing so against all her instincts and desires. â€Å"You must not complain of us, tribesman. That would be unjust. You force me to break the custom of our people. What do you want of me?† Seldon smiled disarmingly at once and held out his hand. â€Å"The garment you brought me. The kirtle.† Silently, she stretched out her arm and deposited the kirtle in his hand. He bowed slightly and said in a soft warm voice, â€Å"Thank you, Sister.† He then cast a very brief look in Dors's direction, as though to say: You see? But Dors looked away angrily. The kirtle was featureless, Seldon saw as he unfolded it (embroidery and decorativeness were for women, apparently), but it came with a tasseled belt that probably had some particular way of being worn. No doubt he could work it out. He said, â€Å"I'll step into the bathroom and put this thing on. It won't take but a minute, I suppose.† He stepped into the small chamber and found the door would not close behind him because Dors was forcing her way in as well. Only when the two of them were in the bathroom together did the door close. â€Å"What were you doing?† Dors hissed angrily. â€Å"You were an absolute brute, Hari. Why did you treat the poor woman that way?† Seldon said impatiently, â€Å"I had to make her talk to me. I'm counting on her for information. You know that. I'm sorry I had to be cruel, but how else could I have broken down her inhibitions?† And he motioned her out. When he emerged, he found Dors in her kirtle too. Dors, despite the bald head the skincap gave her and the inherent dowdiness of the kirtle, managed to look quite attractive. The stitching on the robe somehow suggested a figure without revealing it in the least. Her belt was wider than his own and was a slightly different shade of gray from her kirtle. What's more, it was held in front by two glittering blue stone snaps. (Women did manage to beautify themselves even under the greatest difficulty, Seldon thought.) Looking over at Hari, Dors said, â€Å"You look quite the Mycogenian now. The two of us are fit to be taken to the stores by the Sisters.† â€Å"Yes,† said Seldon, â€Å"but afterward I want Raindrop Forty-Three to take me on a tour of the microfarms.† Raindrop Forty-Three's eyes widened and she took a rapid step backward. â€Å"I'd like to see them,† said Seldon calmly. Raindrop Forty-Three looked quickly at Dors. â€Å"Tribeswoman-â€Å" Seldon said, â€Å"Perhaps you know nothing of the farms, Sister.† That seemed to touch a nerve. She lifted her chin haughtily as she still carefully addressed Dors. â€Å"I have worked on the microfarms. All Brothers and Sisters do at some point in their lives.† â€Å"Well then, take me on the tour,† said Seldon, â€Å"and lets not go through the argument again. I am not a Brother to whom you are forbidden to speak and with whom you may have no dealings. I am a tribesman and an honored guest. I wear this skincap and this kirtle so as not to attract undue attention, but I am a scholar and while I am here I must learn. I cannot sit in this room and stare at the wall. I want to see the one thing you have that the rest of the Galaxy does not have†¦ your microfarms. I should think you'd be proud to show them.† â€Å"We are proud,† said Raindrop Forty-Three, finally facing Seldon as she spoke, â€Å"and I will show you and don't think you will learn any of our secrets if that is what you are after. I will show you the microfarms tomorrow morning. It will take time to arrange a tour.† Seldon said, â€Å"I will wait till tomorrow morning. But do you promise? Do I have your word of honor?† Raindrop Forty-Three said with clear contempt, â€Å"I am a Sister and I will do as I say. I will keep my word, even to a tribesman.† Her voice grew icy at the last words, while her eyes widened and seemed to glitter. Seldon wondered what was passing through her mind and felt uneasy. 43. Seldon passed a restless night. To begin with, Dors had announced that she must accompany him on the tour of the microfarm and he had objected strenuously. â€Å"The whole purpose,† he said, â€Å"is to make her talk freely, to present her with an unusual environment-alone with a male, even if a tribesman. Having broken custom so far, it will be easier to break it further. If you're along, she will talk to you and I will only get the leavings.† â€Å"And if something happens to you in my absence, as it did Upperside?† â€Å"Nothing will happen. Please! If you want to help me, stay away. If not, I will have nothing further to do with you. I mean it, Dors. This is important to me. Much as I've grown fond of you, you cannot come ahead of this.† She agreed with enormous reluctance and said only, â€Å"Promise me you'll at least be nice to her, then.† And Seldon said, â€Å"Is it me you must protect or her? I assure you that I didn't treat her harshly for pleasure and I won't do so in the future.† The memory of this argument with Dors-their first-helped keep him awake a large part of the night; that, together with the nagging thought that the two Sisters might not arrive in the morning, despite Raindrop Forty-Three's promise. They did arrive, however, not long after Seldon had completed a spare breakfast (he was determined not to grow fat through overindulgence) and had put on a kirtle that fitted him precisely. He had carefully organized the belt so that it hung perfectly. Raindrop Forty-Three, still with a touch of ice in her eye, said, â€Å"if you are ready, Tribesman Seldon, my sister will remain with Tribeswoman Venabili.† Her voice was neither twittery nor hoarse. It was as though she had steadied herself through the night, practicing, in her mind, how to speak to one who was a male but not a Brother. Seldon wondered if she had lost sleep and said, â€Å"I am quite ready.† Together, half an hour later, Raindrop Forty-Three and Hari Seldon were descending level upon level. Though it was daytime by the clock, the light was dusky and dimmer than it had been elsewhere on Trantor. There was no obvious reason for this. Surely, the artificial daylight that slowly progressed around the Trantorian sphere could include the Mycogen Sector. The Mycogenians must want it that way, Seldon thought, clinging to some primitive habit. Slowly Seldon's eyes adjusted to the dim surroundings. Seldon tried to meet the eyes of passersby, whether Brothers or Sisters, calmly. He assumed he and Raindrop Forty-Three would be taken as a Brother and his woman and that they would be given no notice as long as he did nothing to attract attention. Unfortunately, it seemed as if Raindrop Forty-Three wanted to be noticed. She talked to him in few words and in low tones out of a clenched mouth. It was clear that the company of an unauthorized male, even though only she knew this fact, raved her self-confidence. Seldon was quite sure that if he asked her to relax, he would merely make her that much more uneasy. (Seldon wondered what she would do if she met someone who knew her. He felt more relaxed once they reached the lower levels, where human beings were fewer.) The descent was not by elevators either, but by moving staired ramps that existed in pairs, one going up and one going down. Raindrop Forty-Three referred to them as â€Å"escalators.† Seldon wasn't sure he had caught the word correctly, never having heard it before. As they sank to lower and lower levels, Seldon's apprehension grew. Most worlds possessed microfarms and most worlds produced their own varieties of microproducts. Seldon, back on Helicon, had occasionally shopped for seasonings in the microfarms and was always aware of an unpleasant stomach-turning stench. The people who worked at the microfarms didn't seem to mind. Even when casual visitors wrinkled their noses, they seemed to acclimate themselves to it. Seldon, however, was always peculiarly susceptible to the smell. He suffered and he expected to suffer now. He tried soothing himself with the thought that he was nobly sacrificing his comfort to his need for information, but that didn't keep his stomach from turning itself into knots in apprehension. After he had lost track of the number of levels they had descended, with the air still seeming reasonably fresh, he asked, â€Å"When do we get to the microfarm levels?† â€Å"We're there now.† Seldon breathed deeply. â€Å"It doesn't smell as though we are.† â€Å"Smell? What do you mean?† Raindrop Forty-Three was offended enough to speak quite loudly. â€Å"There was always a putrid odor associated with microfarms, in my experience. You know, from the fertilizer that bacteria, yeast, fungi, and saprophytes generally need.† â€Å"In your experience?† Her voice lowered again. â€Å"Where was that?† â€Å"On my home world.† The Sister twisted her face into wild repugnance. â€Å"And your people wallow in gabelle?† Seldon had never heard the word before, but from the look and the intonation, he knew what it meant. He said, â€Å"It doesn't smell like that, you understand, once it is ready for consumption.† â€Å"Ours doesn't smell like that at any time. Our biotechnicians have worked out perfect strains. The algae grow in the purest light and the most carefully balanced electrolyte solutions. The saprophytes are fed on beautifully combined organics. The formulas and recipes are something no tribespeople will ever know. Come on, here we are. Sniff all you want. You'll find nothing offensive. That is one reason why our food is in demand throughout the Galaxy and why the Emperor, we are told, eats nothing else, though it is far too good for a tribesman if you ask me, even if he calls himself Emperor.† She said it with an anger that seemed directly aimed at Seldon. Then, as though afraid he might miss that, she added, â€Å"Or even if he calls himself an honored guest.† They stepped out into a narrow corridor, on each side of which were large thick glass tanks in which roiled cloudy green water full of swirling, growing algae, moving about through the force of the gas bubbles that streamed up through it. They would be rich in carbon dioxide, he decided. Rich, rosy light shone down into the tanks, light that was much brighter than that in the corridors. He commented thoughtfully on that. â€Å"Of course,† she said. â€Å"These algae work best at the red end of the spectrum.† â€Å"I presume,† said Seldon, â€Å"that everything is automated.† She shrugged, but did not respond. â€Å"I don't see quantities of Brothers and Sisters in evidence,† Seldon said, persisting. â€Å"Nevertheless, there is work to be done and they do it, even if you don't see them at work. The details are not for you. Don't waste your time by asking about it.† â€Å"Wait. Don't be angry with me. I don't expect to be told state secrets. Come on, dear.† (The word slipped out.) He took her arm as she seemed on the point of hurrying away. She remained in place, but he felt her shudder slightly and he released her in embarrassment. He said, â€Å"It's just that it seems automated.† â€Å"Make what you wish of the seeming. Nevertheless, there is room here for human brains and human judgment. Every Brother and Sister has occasion to work here at some time. Some make a profession of it.† She was speaking more freely now but, to his continuing embarrassment, he noticed her left hand move stealthily toward her right arm and gently rub the spot where he had touched her, as though he had stung her. â€Å"It goes on for kilometers and kilometers,† she said, â€Å"but if we turn here there'll he a portion of the fungal section you can see.† They moved along. Seldon noted how clean everything was. The glass sparkled. The tiled floor seemed moist, though when he seized a moment to bend and touch it, it wasn't. Nor was it slippery-unless his sandals (with his big toe protruding in approved Mycogenian fashion) had nonslip soles. Raindrop Forty-Three was right in one respect. Here and there a Brother or a Sister worked silently, studying gauges, adjusting controls, sometimes engaged in something as unskilled as polishing equipment-always absorbed in whatever they were doing. Seldon was careful not to ask what they were doing, since he did not want to cause the Sister humiliation in having to answer that she did not know or anger in her having to remind him there were things he must not know. They passed through a lightly swinging door and Seldon suddenly noticed the faintest touch of the odor he remembered. He looked at Raindrop Forty-Three, but she seemed unconscious of it and soon he too became used to it. The character of the light changed suddenly. The rosiness was gone and the brightness too. All seemed to be in a twilight except where equipment was spotlighted and wherever there was a spotlight there seemed to be a Brother or a Sister. Some wore lighted headbands that gleamed with a pearly glow and, in the middle distance, Seldon could see, here and there, small sparks of light moving erratically. As they walked, he cast a quick eye on her profile. It was all he could really judge by. At all other times, he could not cease being conscious of her bulging bald head, her bare eyes, her colorless face. They drowned her individuality and seemed to make her invisible. Here in profile, however, he could see something. Nose, chin, full lips, regularity, beauty. The dim light somehow smoothed out and softened the great upper desert. He thought with surprise: She could be very beautiful if she grew her hair and arranged it nicely. And then he thought that she couldn't grow her hair. She would be bald her whole life. Why? Why did they have to do that to her? Sunmaster said it was so that a Mycogenian would know himself (or herself) for a Mycogenian all his (or her) life. Why was that so important that the curse of hairlessness had to be accepted as a badge or mark of identity? And then, because he was used to arguing both sides in his mind, he thought: Custom is second nature. Be accustomed to a bald head, sufficiently accustomed, and hair on it would seem monstrous, would evoke nausea. He himself had shaved his face every morning, removing all the facial hair, uncomfortable at the merest stubble, and yet he did not think of his face as bald or as being in any way unnatural. Of course, he could grow his facial hair at any time he wished-but he didn't wish to do so. He knew that there were worlds on which the men did not shave; in some, they did not even clip or shape the facial hair but let it grow wild. What would they say if they could see his own bald face, his own hairless chin, cheek, and lips? And meanwhile, he walked with Raindrop Forty-Three-endlessly, it seemed-and every once in a while she guided him by the elbow and it seemed to him that she had grown accustomed to that, for she did not withdraw her hand hastily. Sometimes it remained for nearly a minute. She said, â€Å"Here! Come here!† â€Å"What is that?† asked Seldon. They were standing before a small tray filled with little spheres, each about two centimeters in diameter. A Brother who was tending the area and who had just placed the tray where it was looked up in mild inquiry. Raindrop Forty-Three said to Seldon in a low voice, â€Å"Ask for a few.† Seldon realized she could not speak to a Brother until spoken to and said uncertainly, â€Å"May we have a few, B-brother?† â€Å"Have a handful, Brother,† said the other heartily. Seldon plucked out one of the spheres and was on the point of handing it to Raindrop Forty-Three when he noticed that she had accepted the invitation as applying to herself and reached in for two handfuls. The sphere felt glossy, smooth. Seldon said to Raindrop Forty-Three as they moved away from the vat and from the Brother who was in attendance, â€Å"Are these supposed to be eaten?† He lifted the sphere cautiously to his nose. â€Å"They don't smell,† she said sharply. â€Å"What are they?† â€Å"Dainties. Raw dainties. For the outside market they're flavored in different ways, but here in Mycogen we eat them unflavored-the only way.† She put one in her mouth and said, â€Å"I never have enough.† Seldon put his sphere into his mouth and felt it dissolve and disappear rapidly. His mouth, for a moment, ran liquid and then it slid, almost of its own accord, down his throat. He stood for a moment, amazed. It was slightly sweet and, for that matter, had an even fainter bitter aftertaste, but the main sensation eluded him. â€Å"May I have another?† he said. â€Å"Have half a dozen,† said Raindrop Forty-Three, holding out her hand. â€Å"They never have quite the same taste twice and have practically no calories. Just taste.† She was right. He tried to have the dainty linger in his mouth; he tried licking it carefully; tried biting off a piece. However, the most careful lick destroyed it. When a bit was crunched off apiece, the rest of it disappeared at once. And each taste was undefinable and not quite like the one before. â€Å"The only trouble is,† said the Sister happily, â€Å"that every once in a while you have a very unusual one and you never forget it, but you never have it again either. I had one when I was nine-† Her expression suddenly lost its excitement and she said, â€Å"It's a good thing. It teaches you the evanescence of things of the world.† It was a signal, Seldon thought. They had wandered about aimlessly long enough. She had grown used to him and was talking to him. And now the conversation had to come to its point. Now! 44. Seldon said, â€Å"I come from a world which lies out in the open, Sister, as all worlds do but Trantor. Rain comes or doesn't come, the rivers trickle or are in flood, temperature is high or low. That means harvests are good or bad. Here, however, the environment is truly controlled. Harvests have no choice but to be good. How fortunate Mycogen is.† He waited. There were different possible answers and his course of action would depend on which answer came. She was speaking quite freely now and seemed to have no inhibitions concerning his masculinity, so this long tour had served its purpose. Raindrop Forty-Three said, â€Å"The environment is not that easy to control. There are, occasionally, viral infections and there are sometimes unexpected and undesirable mutations. There are times when whole vast batches wither or are worthless.† â€Å"You astonish me. And what happens then?† â€Å"There is usually no recourse but to destroy the spoiled batches, even those that are merely suspected of spoilage. Trays and tanks must be totally sterilized, sometimes disposed of altogether.† â€Å"It amounts to surgery, then,† said Seldon. â€Å"You cut out the diseased tissue.† â€Å"Yes.† â€Å"And what do you do to prevent such things from happening?† â€Å"What can we do? We test constantly for any mutations that may spring up, any new viruses that may appear, any accidental contamination or alteration of the environment. It rarely happens that we detect anything wrong, but if we do, we take drastic action. The result is that bad years are very few and even bad years affect only fractional bits here and there. The worst year we've ever had fell short of the average by only 12 percent-though that was enough to produce hardship. The trouble is that even the most careful forethought and the most cleverly designed computer programs can't always predict what is essentially unpredictable.† (Seldon felt an involuntary shudder go through him. It was as though she was speaking of psychohistory-but she was only speaking of the microfarm produce of a tiny fraction of humanity, while he himself was considering all the mighty Galactic Empire in every one of all its activities.) Unavoidably disheartened, he said, â€Å"Surely, it's not all unpredictable. There are forces that guide and that care for us all.† The Sister stiffened. She turned around toward him, seeming to study him with her penetrating eyes. But all she said was â€Å"What?† Seldon felt uneasy. â€Å"It seems to me that in speaking of viruses and mutations, we're talking about the natural, about phenomena that are subject to natural law. That leaves out of account the supernatural, doesn't it? It leaves out that which is not subject to natural law and can, therefore, control natural law.† She continued to stare at him, as though he had suddenly begun speaking some distant, unknown dialect of Galactic Standard. Again she said, in half a whisper this time, â€Å"Wharf.† He continued, stumbling over unfamiliar words that half-embarrassed him. â€Å"You must appeal to some great essence, some great spirit, some†¦ I don't know what to call it.† Raindrop Forty-Three said in a voice that rose into higher registers but remained low, â€Å"I thought so. I thought that was what you meant, but I couldn't believe it. You're accusing us of having religion. Why didn't you say so? Why didn't you use the word?† She waited for an answer and Seldon, a little confused at the onslaught, said, â€Å"Because that's not a word I use. I call it ‘supernaturalism.' â€Å" â€Å"Call it what you will. It's religion and we don't have it. Religion is for the tribesmen, for the swarming ho-â€Å" The Sister paused to swallow as though she had come near to choking and Seldon was certain the word she had choked over was-â€Å" She was in control again. Speaking slowly and somewhat below her normal soprano, she said, â€Å"We are not a religious people. Our kingdom is of this Galaxy and always has been. If you have a religion-â€Å" Seldon felt trapped. Somehow he had not counted on this. He raised a hand defensively. â€Å"Not really. I'm a mathematician and my kingdom is also of this Galaxy. It's just that I thought, from the rigidity of your customs, that your kingdom-â€Å" â€Å"Don't think it, tribesman. If our customs are rigid, it is because we are mere millions surrounded by billions. Somehow we must mark ourselves off so that we precious few are not lost among your swarms and hordes. We must be marked off by our hairlessness, our clothing, our behavior, our way of life. We must know who we are and we must be sure that you tribesmen know who we are. We labor in our farms so that we can make ourselves valuable in your eyes and thus make certain that you leave us alone. That's all we ask of you†¦ to leave us alone.† â€Å"I have no intention of harming you or any of your people. I seek only knowledge, here as everywhere.† â€Å"So you insult us by asking about our religion, as though we have ever called on a mysterious, insubstantial spirit to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.† â€Å"There are many people, many worlds who believe in supernaturalism in one form or another†¦ religion, if you like the word better. We may disagree with them in one way or another, but we are as likely to be wrong in our disbelief as they in their belief. In any case, there is no disgrace in such belief and my questions were not intended as insults.† But she was not reconciled. â€Å"Religion!† she said angrily. â€Å"We have no need of it.† Seldon's spirits, having sunk steadily in the course of this exchange, reached bottom. This whole thing, this expedition with Raindrop Forty-Three, had come to nothing. But she went on to say, â€Å"We have something far better. We have history.† And Seldon's feelings rebounded at once and he smiled.

Service quality management

This case study talks about the many service quality issues faced by a local mass transport company, SMRT. The company has to still remain functional amidst mass crltlclsrn amongst the public due to Inefficient communication networks, inefficient maintenance and various problems in the senior management. As a newly appointed senior manager, it is imperative that we work towards delivering a high quality service to our customers. There are many tools and quality improvement frameworks that we can use to improve existing service quality standards.The problems faced by the company start with over 10 breakdowns that have occurred In d span of two years. Due to repetitive service disruptions, the previous CEO, Ms. Saw Phaik Hwa who has apologized publicly and offered false promises, further causing more service disruptions affecting around 127,000 passengers including 1000 passengers stranded in each of the four trains that were stalled. Malntenance Issues This Is one of the main problems that have Impacted the quality of the services provided by SMRT.Various issues such as misalignment of tracks & lack of evacuation nd emergency plans have impacted the customers' health and have caused some of them a lot of inconvenience and stress There has been serious impact on the servicgs productivity due to the same problems as they have not been able to successfully carry out their promised service. Even when the breakdowns happened, the backup power systems did not turn on and this made the people stranded very uncomfortable and claustrophobic. Excuses were given once again to quickly dismiss these accusations.By using Deming's 14 Points of Management, we could find out the root causes of the problem. 1 . Management Commitment: The senior management had not been able to live up to the promises that they have publicly given mainly due to the Inefficiency of the senior management. Had the senior management a closer involvement In the lower-level operations, they might have be en able to take suggested actions. 2. Understand Inspection: Due to the various problems mentioned above, it was important for the senior managers to gather relevant information regarding the frequently occurring problems.This suggests that the communication networks are not very efficient and this wlll be further discussed later In the report, 3. Improve Constantly: The Jepanese have developed d technique called â€Å"Kdlzen†, which means â€Å"Continuous Improvement†. This could be used to ensure that quality standards and customer expectations are met by constantly developing all dimensions of the service prov10ea. 4. Institute Iralnlng: Atter one 0T tne DreaK00wns, around 60 maintenance staff were deployed to gather information and rectify the problem that had caused a 5 hour disruption in the services.However, their inefficiency to analyze and rectify the root cause of the problem suggests that SMRT need to invest in training. . Institute Leadership: Leaders shoul d be coaches and mentor staffs rather than checking on them. The senior management has clearly shown a lack in leadership skills as they have only been giving excuses and false promises. Inefficient Communication Networks: This is another factor that contributed to the reducing service quality of SMRT. Efficient communication between various levels of the business is very important to run an efficient and successful business.SMRT has been facing various barriers in communicating instructions and messages from senior management to the operating evels and vice versa. The problems that have been occurring have not been reported properly to the higher authorities and hence not been able to receive instructions from the senior management on how to proceed further and improve the quality of the service being provided. Using ISO standards as a benchmark, we can see that SMRT is not being able to maintain high service quality standards.Since ISO is internationally recognized, this serves as a suitable benchmark. There are few principles that need to be followed in order to get their certification: 1 . Customer Focus: SMRT needs to meet the equirements of the customers and exceed their expectations but they have failed to do so. They have not improved their service quality and hence, their customer experience. 2. Leadership: As mentioned earlier in the report, the leaders have not been able to achieve the goals set and have disappointed their very large customer base. . Factual approach to decision-making: Since the employees are inefficient and have not been able to analyze data and information, their supervisors have not been able to suggest proper course of action. 4. System approach to management: According to this principle, all processes are interrelated. Since there has been a lack of co-ordination amongst the employees of every level, SMRT has not been able to manage their technologically advanced systems.One other instance of lack of a coordinated communicatio n systems was the humiliating and controversial message template that SMRT sent to its taxi drivers asking them to seize the â€Å"income opportunity' that arose because of the MRT breakdown. The common citizenry has heavily criticized this inappropriate message further contributing to the declining public image of the company. uggested Improvements Using Malcom Balbridge National Quality Award's 7 Criteria of Performance Excellence as the benchmark, there are quite a few improvements that could be suggested.To begin with: Leadership: Effective leadership brings out the best out of every employee of the firm, since the resignation of the previous CEO, the current CEO will take some time to settle into the position and it is important to make sure that he/she receives timely communication and proper assistance from other managers. Strategic Planning: It was very clear that the previous management have ot defined their future strategies clearly and have not prepared proper contingenc y plans and this has made life difficult for the customers and the management of SMRT.To ensure that this does not happen in the future, SMRT could conduct a formal meeting with all stakeholders to develop a strong and effective strategy with the public's opinion also taken in mind. Also, regular track and train maintenance should be conducted to reduce the chances of such problems arising again. Customer Focus: Surveys could be conducted to understand the customer's xpectations and SMRT could work towards fulfilling them.The constant service disruptions have already caused the company's image to decline and to make sure that this does not happen in the future, SMRT could look into developing proper plans. Measurement, Analysis and Knowledge Management: The lapses in information and data have also caused grave problems to the company and SMRT should invest in training existing and hiring new skilled employees to analyze and report field data. Workforce Focus: It is important to cons tantly monitor, motivate and rain the workforce.As a happy workforce is more efficient and can provide higher service quality that an unmotivated one. This would also increase service quality. Process Management: Ensuring proper contingency, emergency and evacuation plans during service disruptions can help increase quality and reduce the risk to customer's, while indirectly improving the image of the brand. Results: Putting everything together, it is still important to get results and improve the customer's image of the company while maintaining very high standards of service quality.

The recent advances in Science and Technology - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 18 Words: 5304 Downloads: 1 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Science Essay Type Research paper Did you like this example? Recent advances in science and technology have delivered sophisticated techniques for almost all the fields for solving versatile problems of human being. One of them is the genetic modification (GM) technology, it is the process of changing genetic constitution of an organism with the help of biotechnology, the organisms produced with the help of GM technology are known as GM organism, and the foods originated from these organism are known as genetically modified food (GMF) (WHO, 2009). The fundamental reason for the application of this technology to food sector is to make desirable changes in the various food attributes as increase in test, flavor, increase in yield, and nutritional value. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The recent advances in Science and Technology" essay for you Create order Currently, opinions around the world for GM foods are very skeptical (Pinstrup and Schioler, 2001). Scientists, research institutes, NGOs, agribusiness companies and food regulatory authorities have unlike impressions about GM food. The Food and Drug Administration observed no difference between GMF and conventional food (FDA, 1992). Agribusiness companies like Monsanto and Syngenta have pro-GMF argument that GM food will help to reduce the world hunger by producing ample food for the developing nations (Council for Biotechnology Information, 2001). Moreover, some researcher argues that cultivation of GM crops around the globe will reduce the pesticide application level and raise the level of environment quality (Johnson, 2002; Qaim, 2003). On the contrary, NGOs like Greenpeace argues that consumption of GM food may cause allergic reactions in human, environmental concerns, and they are suspicious about the market power of the stakeholders involved in GM technology, may be they will behave like monopolist in future (Greenpeace, 2001). Concern to the consumers, despite the expressed benefits of GM food, consumers especialy from Europian nations and Japan have expresed negative attitude towards GM food (Becker, 1999; Burtton et al., 2001; Lusk, 2005; Hall et al., 2006; Dannenberg, 2009). Consumers in developing world and US, have evaluated GM foods as similar or better than conventionally grown foods (De Steur et al, 2010; Kimenju and De Groote 2008; Ganiere et al., 2006; Nelson, 2001; Anand et al, 2007). In the global market, consumers are the final determinants of the success or failure of scientific inventions (Springer et al., 2002). Hence, an understanding of the consumer attitude towards specific scientific invention is very important to understand the future of that invention. The widely accepted theory of formation of consumer attitudes is the Fishbein Multi-attribute model (Fishbein, 1963), which suggests that consumer knowledge about a product and its v arious attributes defines consumer attitude towards the product. While consumer knowledge level depends on the various types of information, they perceive. The sources of information about GM foods are mass media, friends, scientists, and product labels. In the developed nations like US, UK, Greek, Germany, only about fifty percent of the consumers have shown awareness about GM food (Hallman et al., 2003; Batrinou et al., 2005; Moon and Balasubramanian, 2001; Dannenberg et al., 2008). While consumers knowledge level in the developing countries like China, Brazil, and India, is lower than the developing world (Curtis et al. 2004; Guivant, 2006; Anand et al. 2007). Overall, these findings suggest that consumers around the world have reported low level of knowledge about GM technology and GMFs. In the uncertain environment that most of the consumers have insufficient knowledge about GM technology, we cannot deny that the types of information received from various sources are likely to influence consumer attitude formation about GM foods and eventually willingness to pay for GMFs. In the todays competitive market, it is rational that various firms, organization and stakeholders ever passes around biased or asymmetric information about GM foods, to promote their personal interest, i.e. pro-GM food institutes will always disclose positive information about GM food and vice-versa. Therefore, this study examines the effects of different information formats on consumer willingness to pay for GM food. We have used four different information formats about GM foods: positive information, negative information, both positive and negative together, and no information. This is the first study in India, which have analyzed the effect of four types of information formats on consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for GMFs in uncertain environment. The products chosen for the analysis of effects of information formats on consumer WTP, were processed food products, the reason behind th is selection was that plenty of proceeds food products are likely or available in India, which might contain GM ingredients. Therefore, this study will be helpful for the designing of market policy concern to the processed food products, which contains GMFs traces. Food products containing GM ingredients The first GMF available for the consumers in market was GM tomato in US around 1994, though this was disappeared after very short span form the market(GMO Compass, 2010), it has started the new food domain. Since then scientists have applied GM technology for the production of most of the food items as fruits, vegetables, cereals, and animals as well, currently only few of them are cultivated on large scale, and more are a doorstep away for the commercial release (James, 2008; IRRI, 2009; IGMORIS, 2009; GMO Compass, 2010). So far, the cultivation of GM crops is limited to only 25 out of 195 nations, and soybean crop represents the highest area under cultivation (James, 2008). Though GM crops cultivation is limited to few nations only, an increasing international food trade due to the globalization will be the reason for the availability of GM foods in the non-GM growing nations. Some of the GM foods are consumed in the natural form as vegetables, fruits and cereals, while in some c ases they are processed for various regions as value addition, take few examples as maize (corn), whose one of the processed form is popcorns, fruits are processed in to the juice, jam and jelly, moreover, there are some food products as chocolate and nutrient bar, whose constitute includes different types of cereals, pulses, grains, fruits and many more. Currently an increasing supermarket culture increases the availability of processed and fast food for the consumers in developing countries, while in the developed world most of the available food in the supermarkets are in the processed form (Asfaw, A. 2009; Neven et al., 2006; MacInnis and Rausser 2005; USDA, 1995). Hence, in the supermarket processed GM food products are likely to available in the developing countries. The GM nature of food product is hardly possible to understand with only visible evaluation or even after the consumption of food; Derby and Karni (1993) describe this type of attributes of foods as credence attri bute. Therefore, due to this nature of GM foods, a label is the only possible source for the consumer to learn about this attribute of food. Currently available or in use GM food labeling policies are mandatory, voluntary and no labeling policy, which varies nation to nation and moreover in each type the protocols are very different (Gruere and Rao, 2007), further due to this great variation so far there is no universally acceptable labeling policy for GM foods. In India, recently the government has proposed mandatory labeling policy for all GM food products (Gruere and Rao, 2007), but the implementation is not yet done which is facing a delay, and the implementation is unlikely to be seen in recent future. Currently India imports plenty of food products from US as meat products, edible oils, grains, pulses (USDA-FAS, 2010). While, in the US GM crops are cultivated at very high level as compared to other nations (James, 2008). Hence, we cannot deny the presence of GM traces in th e processed food products in Indian market, which comes from US and GM crop growing nations. For the confirmation about the availability of processed food products in Indian market, which were imported from US, Prior to the final survey, we have visited supermarkets in Delhi and Bangalore. We found numbers of food products were imported from US, as potato Chips from Pringles. Some biscuits, nutrient bars contains soybean. Literature review: Effects of information formats on consumer WTP for GM foods The welfare of biotechnology in food production will understood only after the vast empirical and long-term research about the various concerns of GM foods. Still GM food has to go through plenty of food safety tests, which could take decades from now. However, stakeholders in the production of GM foods have to define the marketing policy as early as possible. Before designing marketing policy for GM foods for particular nation, policy makers have to consider the available body of literature about GM foods. Currently substantial level of research work is available on consumer acceptance and willingness to pay (WTP) for GM food products around the World. Recently Lusk et al. (2005); Hall et al., 2006; and Dannenberg 2009, conducted meta-analysis of the available studies on valuation and acceptance of GM food; they reported a great degree of variation in consumer acceptance and valuation for GM food around the world. We think one of the possible reasons behind the variation in consum er WTP for GM foods is that the consumer around the world confronts different types of information about GM foods, which builds consumers knowledge about GM foods. However, some researcher argues that understanding of any subject or the knowledge level of the particular subject does not translate in to the consumer acceptance level despite this it helps for the consumers to make decision (Frewer et al., 1999; Evans and Durant 1995). Therefore, in this section we will discuss the past studies about the influence of various information formats on consumer WTP for GMFs. Since many studies have evidenced that consumers knowledge is an important factor, which determines consumers acceptance or willingness to pay for food products (Colson and Huffman 2009; Anand et al., 2007; Gonzaacute;lez et al., 2009). Moreover, Lusk et al. (2004a) found that those consumers have good knowledge about GMFs, their willingness to accept or pay does not affect significantly by the various kinds of infor mation consumers receive about GM foods. Nevertheless, the problem with developing countries like India is that consumers have very poor knowledge about biotechnology as well as GM foods (Krishan and Qaim, 2008; Anand et al., 2007). Hence, we believe that in developing countries like India the type of information formats consumers perceive about GMFs will influence consumers WTP for GMFs. Concern to GM foods, to our knowledge, Frewer et al. (1999) were the first to start research about the information aspect of GM foods, they found that the information source characteristics as trustworthiness of source is an important factor influencing consumers reaction to the type of information. Fox et al. (2002), conducted a study in US, in this study they used three information treatments: positive information about irradiation of pork, second negative information about irradiation of pork, third both positive and negative information together. They used Vickrey second price auction mec hanism for estimation of consumer WTP. They found that positive information increased consumer WTP for irradiated pork, negative information decreased WTP, while with combined information, the influence of negative information dominated the influence of positive information and eventually the WTP decreased. Further they suggests that negative arguments raised about the modern technologies as irradiation of foods, use of GM technology strongly influences consumers perception and eventually the welfare of new technology, despite the presence of positive information. Tegene et al., 2003; Huffman et al., 2006; and Rousa et al. (2007) conducted nth price experimetal auctions in 2001 in US. They have analysized the influnce of different informaion formats on consumer WTP for GM and non-GM labeled three food products: vgetable oil, potato, and tortila chips. They uses 6 informaiton formats about GM foods: positive, negative, both positive and negative togather, positive plus third party verifiable information (views of scientist, professionals and religious leaders), negative plus third party verifiable information, positive and negative plus third party verifiable information. They found that when consumers were recived positve information about GM foods they bid higher for two out of three GM labeld foods than plane labeld, for negative information consumer purchased GM labeld foods at 34-38% discount, for both negative and positve information consumer bid more for plane labeld foods. when negative and third party verifiable informaiton was given consumers purchsed GM foods at 17-22% discount. When consumers were endowed with positive information they bid more for GM foods than plane labeld foods, when consumers were endowed with positve and third pary verifiable informaton they bid more for plane labeled foods than GM foods. when consumers were endowed with all imnformaiton togather they bid more for two plane labeld foods than GM foods. for the all sample toga ther they found that consumers were WTP pay around 14% price premium for plane labeld foods than GM foods. finallly they argues that verifiable third party information have a strong influnce on consumers WTP for GM foods, which is likely to help acceptance of GM foods. and also they argue that consumers with prior knowledge about GM foods demands more discount to buy GM foods than those with weak GM knowledge. About the benefit of GM foods Lusk et al. (2004a) conducted a study for US, England and France sample. They employed a fifth price auction machansim for estimation of WTP for GM cookies. Four information treatments were employed; envirnomental benefit, health benefit, world benefit and no informaiton. They found that all these beneficial information formats increases consumer WTP for GM foods, but the degree of influnce varies according to the ifnformation formats and across the locations, they also found that consumers prior attitude is important, as they found that those consumers have prior negative attitude about GM foods, their attitude after receving of positive information formats was not changed, moreover they also found that the influnce of specific information formats varies across the location, which suggests that uniform information formats generates different responses among the consumers. Li et al.(2004) employed as double bounded contingent valuation method for the estimation of US consumers response to GM beef which have no genetic problems; the beef derived from the cattle which was feed on GM maize, which have farmer and envirnoment benefits. This information was provided to half of the respondents. They found that those consumers were percived this information were WTP more for GM beef. Frther they argue that pro-GM infromation about GM foods may help to increase consumer WTP for GM foods. Martinez-poveda et al. (2005; 2009) conducted a study for Spain consumers about consumers willingness to accept GM foods. in this study the y found that around 60% of the consumers look for the information on food products. further they found that most of the consumers prior attitude does not change by positive and negative information togather, for very few consumers it changes but only in negative direction, which suggests that consumers put more weight on ngeative than positve information when consumers recive them togather. Moreovere thay also found that healt benefit information have higher positive influnce on acceptance of GM foods than envirnomental benefits. Li et al. (2002) conducted a study in china for the analysis of Chines consumers WTP for GM rice and soybean oil. They found that most of the consumers have positve opinion about biotechnology and which have positve influnce on WTP for GM foods, consumers positive opinion towards biotechnology was due to the positive media coverage about use of GM technology in agriculture sectore. While in other study in China Hu et al. (2006), analyzed consumer WTP for GM soybean, they used three information formats positive and negative and no information formats derived from the real media coverage, they found that positive information increases WTP, and negative information decreases WTP with a very high degree as compared with the influence of positive information. Scholderer and Frewer (2003) used four information formats: Balanced information, product-specific information, conventional product advertising information and no information as a baseline. They tested whether consumers attitude and product selection changes due to the different types of information consumers received. They used four types of two-food products beer and yoghurt including one type as a GM, the sample used was from Denmark, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. They found that all the information formats failed to alter consumers prior attitude. While, all the information formats influenced consumers GM food product selection negatively; the information formats significantly decreased consumers likelihood to select GM foods. Depositario et.al (2009) conducted uniform-price auctions for golden rice in Philippines for student sample. They used four information formats, positive negative, both together and no information. They found that consumer placed highest bid for positive information followed by no information, negative information and combine information. While the difference between the influence of positive information and no information was not high, hence they suggest that positive information about GM foods does not increase WTP with very high degree. The avilable literature about the effects of different information formats on consumer WTP for GM foods is lacking on developing countries. Concern to India, so far only one study is avialble by Anand et al. (2007); they analysed the effect of four information formats: consumer friendly, producer friendly, negative infromation and no information on consumer WTP for chapatti (in dian bread) made from GM wheat. For estimation of consumer WTP they employed double bounded contingent valuaiton method. They found that consumers with no information were willing to pay about 7% price premium, for consumer friendly information 23% premium and for producer friendly information 10% premium, while for negative information consumer demanded high discount of 139%. endowment effect Further, we are also interested to see how an influence of information formats on consumer WTP for GM foods varies according to the consumers disposable income for buying specific food product. For this, we will endow consumers with different amount for biding during the auction experiment. Use of endowment mechanism raises various questions. So far in several studies researchers have endowed consumers with the food products and then asked their WTP to upgrade the better products (see e.g., Lusk et al., 2004; Lusk et al., (2001b) Fox, 1995; Hayes et al., 1995). The advantage of the endowment mechanism is that it helps to attract participants for experiment and engage consumers during the biding process in experiment (Fox, 1995; Lusk et al., 2001a). While, the critics about the endowment with product is associated with the risk of in-kind endowment effect, which means that consumers value the food product which is belong to them than they want to buy (Thaler 1980), hence endowing fo od product likely to give biased results. The possible biasness is likely to avoid by endowing consumers with some amount of money instead of any food products (Lusk and Schroeder, (2002), Corrigan and Rousu, 2003). Concern to GM foods, Huffman et al. (2004); Rousu et al., (2005); and Bansal et al. (2010), endowed consumers with certain amount of money prior to experiment instead of any substitute as non-GM food products. Moreover, endowment with money likely to face house money effect as described by Thaler and Johnson (1990). According to them consumers are likely to bid high when they receive money for biding in auctions, which will lead to biased results. This biasness will not rise in our experiment because we are going to conduct experimental auctions for both GM and non-GM food products one after another. In our experiment if the house money effect arises, it will arise for both the food products and eventually it will nullify because for final discussion we will compare the difference in WTP between both the products. The literature reports that most of the past studies have employed experimental auctions and contingent valuation method to measure the effects of information on consumer attitude. The information formats used were positive information (positive health, positive environment, produce friendly, consumer friendly), negative information (negative health and negative environment), and third party verifiable information about GM foods. Though there is a huge difference in the findings of the past studies, there are some common findings. When consumer receives negative information, they demanded certain amount of discount to choose GM foods. For positive information, consumers were willing to pay a premium. The health information has higher influence than the environmental. Overall, negative information have influence with high magnitude as compared with all other information formats. In developing countries like India and China consumers wer e willing to pay premium for GM foods when no information and positive information was provided but when negative information was provided, consumer demanded very high discount to consume GM food. The huge success of GM cotton in India: around 8.5 million hectares area is under Bt cotton cultivation (Clive, 2009), from this we can not deny the availability of GM foods in Indian market in coming years. In a recent study (Anand et al. 2007) for Indian consumers, they have analyzed the effects of various information formats on consumers WTP for GM chapatti. In this study, they have analyzed the influence of positive and negative information, while combine (positive and negative) information format was not included. Therefore, we extend this study with inclusion of combine information format. Consumers needs few rounds of auctions to understand the concept †¦so we have conducted 1 pre experiment round†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦..Shogren et al., 1994 Hayes et al. 1995). For endowment effect see Kahneman et al., 1990†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. Lusk et al., 2004 While writing about training prior to the exper REF†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ methodology para 2 †¦ Noussair, C., S. Robin, and B. Rufiiew Methodology Valuation methods: The most difficult and important task while analysis of consumer valuation of the nonmarket good is the selection of an appropriate valuation mechanism. The available methods for the estimation of consumer WTP for any object or product are experimental auctions (EA), contingent valuation (CV), conjoint analysis (CA), hedonic price, and recently emerged real purchase experiments. To our knowledge most of these methods are commonly used in the past studies for the valuation of novel food products and food attributes except hedonic price; for detail description of these methods (see e.g., Lusk and Hudson, 2004; Lee and Hatcher, 2001; Powell et al., 2003; Glogger, 2009; Knight et al., 2005 and 2007). Every valuation method have its pros and cons. Lee and Hatcher (2001) argue that the CV methods are the most commonly used and cost effective techniques, while Lusk and Hudson (2004), and Fox et al. (1995) argue that experimental auctions are always better than the hypothetical estimation methods because in these methods consumer experiences market identical situation and the exchange of real goods and money took place, moreover, Lusk et al. (2005); Hall et al., 2006; and Dannenberg (2009) in the meta analysis of the GM food valuation studies available then found that consumers overstate WTP in hypothetical methods than non-hypothetical. Though the experimental auction mechanisms are costly, they deliver a precise WTP, hence are getting more popularity (Lee and Hatcher, 2001). While recent argument is that the real purchase experiments, in which consumers are offered novel food products at different selling locations as food stalls on the roadsides and selling counters on a farm, provides accurate WTP for the novel food products than any other methods (Powell et al., 2003; Glogger, 2009; Knight et al. 2005 and 2007). Despite the benefit of real purchase experiment, we were unable to use this method because of the on going discussion about legal and controversial issu es of GM foods in India, which has caused strong protest against GM foods by NGOs and farmers associations (Scoones; Greenpeace, 2008). Therefore, we have selected experimental auction mechanism to estimate consumer WTP for processed GM food products, and for the analysis of how different information formats affect consumer WTP. The available literature concern to the experimental auctions reports use of various mechanisms as: English, nth price, Vickrey auction, ascending-bid second price, first price, fifth price, BDM auctions and combinatorial private-collective auctions, Dutch auction, Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) auction. For the detail description of these methods (see e.g., Lusk et al., 2004; Lusk et al., 2001a; Lusk et al., 2001b; Melton et al.; Rutstrouml;m; Shogren et al., 1994; Makowski and Ostroy, 1990; Vickrey, 1961; Clarke, 1971; Groves, 1973). Moreover, there are some popular mechanisms like eBay proxy auction, Google Ad Auction and online auctions, which are in pri nciple based on the earlier motioned mechanisms. The criteria for the selection of a valuation method should be the incentive compatibility of the valuation mechanism (Lusk and Hudson, 2004). Therefore, according to this criterion the BDM, nth price, English, and Vickrey auctions are non-hypothetical incentive compatible methods (Lusk et al., 2004; Lusk, 2003). Moreover, for the structure, advantages and disadvantages of these methods see: Lusk et al., (2004) and Lusk, (2003). From these four incentive compatible popular auction mechanisms, we have selected Vickrey second price auction. We will discuss this method in detail in next section. The reasons behind the selection of this method were simple to understand for the consumers, demand revealing, and easy for the implementation (Alfnes 2007; Lusk, 2003), moreover, this method provides truthful willingness to pay and is incentive compatible (Vickrey 1961; McAfee and McMillan 1987; Karni and Safra 1989). Further, our main objective was to understand the effect of different information formats on consumer WTP, not an estimation of consumer WTP; hence, the selection of valuation mechanism was not big concern. The past findings report that the estimations are higher in second price auctions than the other methods (Lusk et al., 2004). To avoid this problem we have valued both GM and non-GM foods alternatively. By doing this we expect that if Vickrey second price auction method reports higher WTP, it will report higher WTP for both the food products, hence the difference in WTP between both the products will be truthful and not very high as argued by Lusk et al. (2004). Vickrey second price auction mechanism Most of the economist believes that William Vickrey was the first who invented second price auction (Milgrom, 1989; McAfee and McMillan, 1987), which got the name of Vickrey after his article on this method in 1961, in which he provided a description about the efficiency and applicability of this method (Vickrey, 1961). Recently, Lucking-Reiley (2000) published a article in which he have described about the history of second price auction, where he motioned that the theoretical proof, efficiency and the description provided by Vickery(1961) is of great degree, but the credit as the inventor of this method should not goes to him. He gave a reason that this method has been in use since 1893, Wainwright and Lewis were the first who employed this method for auctions of Stamps in Massachusetts, US (Wainwright and Lewis, 1993). Despite the argument by Lucking-Reiley about the invention, presently this method is in use as Vickrey auction. Currently, various forms of Vickery auctions are i n use as ascending price Vickery auction (Mishra and Parkes, 2007; Cramton, 1998), Vickery auctions with reserve pricing (Ausubel and Cramton, 2004), Ausubel/dynamic Vickery auction (Ausubel, 1997; Kagel and Levin, 2001). Here we will discuss only about Vickery second price auction mechanism. The experimental procedure is quiet simple for Vickrey auction. The research agent calls all the participants in an experimental hall or at any place where the participants feel comfortable and where the carrying out of the experiment is possible without any disturbance. The agent informs the participants about the experimental procedure before the beginning of the real experiment, sometimes conducts dummy trials for other products prior to real experiments. In this method, All the participants are asked to bid simultaneously for the given good and submit their bids in sealed form to the agent, communication between all the participants is not possible while bidding, so that no one will be a ware about the others bid, which will avoid formation of a collusion among the bidders. Then, the agent collects all the sealed bids, organizes them in to a descending order, and declares the winner who offers highest bid. While the highest bidder pay the amount equal to the second highest bid and get the product. The other participants did not get the product and pay nothing. Use of Vickrey auctions in pasts According to literature, as argued by Lucking-Reiley (2000) Wainwright and Lewis were the first to use Vickery auctions for Stamps in US around 1893. While after the Vickreys famous article in 1961, the use was begun generally for financial purposes as evidences show that around 1973-74 this method was used for the sales of the Treasury bonds in US (Rothkopf, 1990). While, around 1988 some companies used it for repurchase of their own stocks from the market (Jacobs, 1988). Moreover, the use in other fields as sales of spectrum licenses in New Zeeland begun around 1990 (McMillan, 1994). Concern to food sector, as per our knowledge the use of second price auction for valuation of food products (as safe meal, irradiated food, beef cuts in vacuum package, candy bars, coffee mugs, wine), food packaging, food quality and for food safety issues started after 1980. For detail, see (Coursey et al., 1987; Menkhaus et al., 1992; Shin et al., 1992; Buhr et al., 1993; Hoffman et al., 1993; Shog ren et al. 1994; Shogren et al., 1994a; Hayes et al., 1995; Melton et al., 1996; Roosen et al., 1998; Lecocq et al., 1999; List and Shogren, 1999). Currently, second price auction mechanism is popularly for the valuation of quality or novel food products, sales of electronic goods, digital goods as e-books, music, sales of spectrum (Alfnes , 2009; Alfnes and Rickertsen, 2003; Umberger and Feuz, 2004; Rozan et al., 2004; Chen and Takeuchi, 2009; Naldi  and DAcquisto, 2008; Shih et al., 2007; Rodriguez et al., 2006; Anandalingam, 2001). Use of GM technology in food sector started around 1990 (WHO, 2010), since then research about consumer acceptance and valuation of GM foods begun, different valuation methods as contingent valuation, choice experiments, online survey, phone interview and experiential auctions were employed (Dannenberg, 2009; Hall et al., 2006; Lusk et al., 2005). As per our knowledge, Hoban and Burkhardt (1991) were the first to conduct a study in 1990 about cons umer acceptance of GM meat products. While, in 1992, Buhr et al. (1993) employed Vickery auction mechanism for first time for the valuation of meat produced with the help of GM growth hormones in US. Since then plenty of studies have employed Vickrey auction mechanisms for valuation of GM foods: GM corn flakes in France (Noussair et al., 2002), GM corn chips in US (Lusk et al.,2001), GM milk in US (Fox et al., 1994), GM Potato chips, tortilla chips, and milk chocolate in US (Bernard et al., 2006) and GM Canola oil in Japan (Kaneko and Chern, 2005). Concern to the effect of information on consumer WTP for GM foods few studies have employed second price auction mechanism.(need to put some refrances) The surprising results were found in Brtian, that different types of information have no influnce on consumer attitude towards GM foods Frewer et al. (1999). Experimental design As we have discussed in last section, we have used Vickrey second price auction mechanism for the analysis of consumer WTP. Our prime object is not to analyze consumer WTP, rather how the different information formats influences consumer WTP. In experimental auctions real buying and sealing of food products is must. The selection of food products was really a big task because currently labeled GM food products are unavailable in India. While plenty of food products are available in Indian market, which comes from USA. Currently USA ranks first in cultivation of GM crops (James, 2009), hence we can not deny the presence of GM ingredients in some processed food products imported form USA, as nutrient or chocolate bar whose ingredients are soybean. Prior to the experiment auction, we visited different supermarkets in Delhi and Bangalore, where we found plenty of processed food products imported from USA. We have selected two food products soya-chocolate bar and potato chips. The reaso n behind the selection of these two food products was that students (our target sample) are regular buyers of these two food products; hence, they are much familiar with these foods. We have purchased these food products from the market and then repacked, and then we labeled them as GM and non-GM soya-chocolate bar and potato chips, we did this to avoid brand biasness. The labels contain only information about GM nature of food. The chocolate bar was 50 gram and potato chips packet was 138 gram. For the details about the sample selection and other issues about the data collection, see chapter 2.3. Since our target sample was university students. We have conducted experimental auctions at two universities in India: Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and Bangalore University, Bangalore. The auctions locations were as university campus at different locations as university cafeteria, student hostels, and near to different institutes. The numbers of participants in each auction were a round 6 9. For details about the experimental procedure, please see the figure 4.1. As shown in the figure each experimental auction consists of 1-9 steps.