Mark's Ceramics Spent $4000 on a New Kiln Last Year

question 71

Essay

Mark's Ceramics spent $4000 on a new kiln last year in the belief that it would cut energy usage 25% over the old kiln. This kiln is an oven that turns "greenware" into finished pottery. Mark is concerned that the new kiln requires extra labor hours for its operation. Mark wants to check the energy savings of the new oven, and also to look over other measures of their productivity to see if the change really was beneficial. Mark has the following data to work with:
$$\begin{array} { | l | l | l | } \hline & \text { Last Year } & \text { This Year } \\\hline \text { Production (finished units) } & 4000 & 4000 \\\hline \text { Greenware (pounds) } & 5000 & 5000 \\\hline \text { Labor (hrs) } & 350 & 375 \\\hline \text { Capital (\$) } & 15000 & 19000 \\\hline \text { Energy (kWh) } & 3000 & 2600 \\\hline\end{array}$$
Were the modifications beneficial?

Understand the influence and consequences of authority on human behavior.

Recognize the importance of logical support for forming reasonable opinions.

Identify factors that hinder effective critical thinking, such as resistance in various forms and confirmation bias.

Appreciate the role of critical thinking in resisting societal pressures and unjust governance.

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Definitions:

MSCEIT

An acronym for the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, which measures different aspects of emotional intelligence.

Emotional Intelligence

The ability to understand, use, and manage one's own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, and empathize with others.

Cognitive Emotions

Emotions that are experienced as a result of cognitive processing and interpretation of events.

Intelligence

The ability to learn, understand, and make judgments or have opinions that are based on reason.