Aqualisa Quartz Case Essay

Aqualisa Quartz In the targeting market, we tend to target plumbers and end users (Middle to high income) because most of the end users are suggested by the plumbers. The others might buy from showrooms. Therefore, we have to target them as well Positioning Statement To middle-high income customers, Aqualisa Quartz is a high premium shower brand which come under mixer shower category that offers quality and latest innovation because Aqualisa Quartz has benefits in water pressure, ease of installation, use and design. HOW 12775 comes ? This number is come from the fact that case study states that unit sold of Quartz is between 30-40 units per day. So we take the mean which is 35 units and times 365 days. Therefore, the unit sold per year is 12775. Problems: The problem for Aqualizer is that Plumbers are lack of knowledge and innovation of Aqualisa Quartz. Moreover, most customer decisions rely on plumbers. Second issue is the bad experience of electronic shower that customers and plumbers had. The last main issue is that brand perception towards Aqualisa Quartz from Customer is very low because customers do not perceive the value of Aqualisa Quartz and the group of only high income customers (Current target) is quite too small. Solutions: 4Ps * Product * Price * Place However, the product, price and place will remain the same, because Aqualisa quartz is a new product and latest innovative shower so the functions and features are the most improvement at the time (Temperature control, ease of installation, design, water pressure and usage). Another reason that we maintain the price to where it is, Aqualisa Quartz is a premium brand so the price should be high to remain brand image. Moreover, the company invested a lot for R&D and wanted to gain profit margin to break-even. And for the places, normally plumbers will buy from trade shop, and end users will buy at showrooms. Therefore, the existing channel is already effective and efficient. From the case (Exhibit 6), trade shops and showrooms can generate 470,000 units per year. This shows that the two places are powerful to sell the products of Aqualisa. Promotion Our first strategy is to go after independent plumbers by providing product orientation events by calling plumber to attend the training and give 150 pounds as the compensation. This will satisfy and make the plumber attend because they do not lose the income when they attend our training. The orientation will be held every 3 months changing by geography. We will gain Plumber information from Database from APHC – Association of Plumbing & Heating. The capacity for one meeting will be 100 seats per group. The  reasons we make 100 seats is because we believe that the larger the sample the higher chance of product achieving success. Another stategy is to create trustworthy of Aqualisa Quartz from existing users to new customers. Opinion leaders will convince the new customers and also build the confidence in the existing users that the electronic shower (Aqualisa Quartz) will last long and not have any problems like the early electronic showers by guarantee the satisfaction by referring the comment from opinion leaders (from showrooms). The third strategy is the use of award will help communicate value of Aqualisa Quartz and build the customer relationship with the brand. By doing this, the company could expand the new target group from only high to high-middle income. This would segmented by the income per year. If we could make the middle income group believes that it is worth for them to spend on our product, sales per unit would dramatically increase since this group is even larger than the high income and higher value perceived as well. Aqualisa Quartz already has the advertisement about the products so all they should do is to specify the beneficial points of the product, and also present the prize of Aqualisa Quartz to inform the target who has the middle income as well as those who has high income. Goal defense Quartz is a representative of the premium product under the brand Aqualisa, and the units sold are lower than the expectation of the Rawlinson (30-40 instead of 100-200 units per day). If we can sell more, it will generate overall sales a lot and potentially increase the market share. Problem defense According to the case, plumbers would like to go for the familiar products which they have much experience. If there is any problem after installation, plumbers are responsible for the fixing costs. Therefore, they avoid trying new product they are not familiar with. Moreover, the percentage of plumbers influencing customers’ decision is more than 50% which is resulted in they do not recommend Quartz to the customers. Another reason is that in year 1980, there were some manufacturers who introduced electronic showers, and the products were not successful because of the poor design and the failure of the usage. After that, it created  skepticism toward anything that is electronic. That makes both customers and plumbers refuse Quartz. The third reason is that Aqualisa Quartz answers all the features that the perfect showers should have in terms of water pressure, stable temperature, design, ease of installation and innovation. Even though the price is quite high the middle income can afford Aqualisa Quartz as well seen from the income information (15,000-30,000 pounds per year). For the problem of value perception, the evidence was in the year 2001. Quartz was awarded in the Bathroom Expo as a top prize since the very beginning of the Quartz but people did not know this information. Therefore, the sales of Aqualisa Quartz are not up to the expected units. Solution defense: The Conducting of orientation meeting will cultivate the perception inside the plumbers’ mind. The content of the meeting will be about the ease of the installation, and to show the convenience of the electronic functions of Quartz. In fact, Quartz’s installation duration is  ¼ of the other competitive products. It is the benefit that the plumbers can do more than one job in a day. It can certainly ensure the increase in sale. To demonstrate, we will definitely gain 12% of plumbers out from 10,000. These 12% of plumbers will generate sales 4 times higher than current sales. How many amount of sale would generate by plumbers? 12% *12775= 1533 ( 12% comes from 1200 that attend in meeting for the whole three years) 1533*4=6132 ( 4 comes from 4 times faster installation which means faster installation will lead to higher sales) As a result, we can get the sale increase about 74% of the goal which increase the chance of success. From the case, customers and plumbers do not trust the shower with electronic system (Aqualisa Quartz included). They will not use this type of products because they have bad experience with the electronic shower before. If Aqualisa can show them that the problems were solved and the Aqualisa Quartz actually works. Some of the plumbers and customers are willing to try it. Because the sales from show room are pretty strong (about 20% of the total sales) we can refer the comments from the real users and show them to the potential target groups. That would make them feel more confident to try our product. In conclusion, Aqualisa Quartz was  awarded in the expo but customers and plumbers do not notice. The problem is about the value perceived and trust. Therefore, this award can guarantee the quality and help with the value that is the awarded brand. We can do it by attaching the detail of award into the communication to make customers notice the â€Å"cleverness† and â€Å"elegant design† of Quartz.

Functional Areas of Business Essay

The functional areas of business are areas that allow the organization to operate, develop, and progress abiding by laws and regulations when implementing policies and procedures in the organization to all employees and management. There are 10 functional areas of business: Management, law, human resources management, leadership, accounting, finance, economics, research and statistics, operations management, marketing, and strategic planning. The two functional areas that will be covered are human resources management and strategic planning because these are the two related to the human resources manager and developing the organization into a successful one. Human Resources Management Employees and applicants may think of human resources management as a department that hires and terminates employees and nothing more, but this is not the case. Human Resources Management is a vital department of any organization because with this the organization is built and develops. The department is responsible recruiting, interviewing, hiring, consulting, strategic planning, and many others tasks that involve operating the organization. It must confirm the personal information, knowledge, skills, experiences, and creativity of all applicants before making them employees while abiding by all laws set forth by the specific state. Organizations must follow these laws to avoid facing fines or facing other implications that could be set forth by the state. Once the applicants become employees, the organization will strengthen the employees’ knowledge, skills, experiences, and creativity by further training and development systems offered. Human Resources Management uses two strategies: buy-bureaucratic strategy that emphasizes outside recruiting, limited training, exact job definitions, and seniority as the criteria; and make-organic strategy that emphasizes internal promotions, extensive training, comprehensive job definitions, and the employees’ abilities or performance as the criteria (Keh-Luh, Chi, & Chiu-Mei, 2012). These strategies are used to gain knowledgeable employees who will benefit the organization. Strategic Planning Strategic planning in any organization is essential to being successful, changing, and growing in the future. â€Å"Strategic planning is a formal, administrative process that calls for an explicit procedure to determine specific, long-range objectives and generate alternative strategies, requires both strict implementation and a system to monitor results† (Song, Im, Bij, & Song, 2011, p 505, para 4). This can be determined by performing a SWOT analysis, which states an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The SWTO will help to determine what needs looked at, what needs improved, and how the organization will improve it. The strategic plan will improve these details and enhance the organization when implemented. Developing a strategic plan involves several steps: developing a clear understanding of opportunities and challenges, assessment of the organization’s strengths and limitations, an inclusive approach, a planning committee, involvement, sharing responsibility, learning from the best practices, clear priorities and plan, patience, and a commitment to change (Mittenthal, 2002). These steps will need broken down and followed closely to develop a plan that will benefit the employees and management it is affecting. The organization will be able to implement the changes and record the results to see if the strategic plan was successful. If the results were negative, the organization will have to look at the information again and try different changes in the organization that will benefit more than the previous changes that were made. Mostly following these steps will provide the organization with the success and progress it is looking to gain moving into the future of its operation. Role in Functional Areas In the Human Resources Management and Strategic Planning areas, the specific role of the human resources manager would be greatly involved. First, because the role is acting as a Human Resources Manager, the role in the Human Resources Management area would be recruiting, interviewing, hiring, consulting, strategic planning, and any other tasks that may be presented. The human resources manager is one, if not the only, key person in the organization. This person staffs the organization while following all laws and regulations associated with the specific state it represents. Along with staffing the organization, this person is also responsible for creating and implementing all policies and procedures for employees to follow. This allows the organization to run smoothly and efficiently to complete the tasks it has to get done. Strategic Planning is also part of a human resources manager role because the human resources manager is involved in the strategic plan process of the organization. The human resources manager is involved in assessing the organization to see where it stands, where it needs to be, and how to get there. This is completed only after following specific steps, performing a SWOT analysis, and implementing what is necessary to change. Once the strategic plan is created, it must be presented and explained to the employees involved. The change must be adhered to by everyone to be successful, if not it will not work, and the organization will be where it started. If the organization needs to relook at the strategic plan, it will need to start at the beginning and follow the steps once again. This will help the organization to determine what needs changed and how to implement to see if this change will make a difference. Conclusion The functional areas of a business are important to develop and build the organization further than it is currently. Human Resources Management and Strategic Planning are two of the key areas that help an organization operate and progress further than what it is currently. These two areas complement each other with Human Resources operating the organization and also working with others to establish the strategic plan. Human Resources are responsible for employing qualified candidates for positions and abiding by all laws and regulations when implementing policies and procedures in the organization. Strategic planning is worked on my upper management, including human resources, to identify problem areas of the organization, what to fix, how to fix it, and where to go once the problem areas are fixed. The key to any organization is everyone working together to complete all tasks assigned and making changes as required to progress even further.

An Examination On How Enlightenment Values And Science Have Impacted The 20th Century Society

An Examination On How Enlightenment Values And Science Have Impacted The 20th Century Society Explain how science and enlightenment values (E values) produce various kinds of social engineering in the 20th century that are designed to produce a better world. The Enlightenment values espoused by the philosophers of the 18th century were a significant shift for Western culture, and guided individuals and governments to carry out both good and bad decisions. The core Enlightenment values were based in freeing humans from the old order, or Acien Regime, using reason and power of human intellect. Kant’s essay â€Å"Was ist Aufklarung?† describes the fundamental principle that â€Å"Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his†¦inability to use [his] understanding without another’s guidance†¦Have the courage to use your own understanding is therefore the motto of the Enlightenment.† The notion that the standard of living and human happiness could improve through greater knowledge and progress fueled Rousseau’s argument for a society based on reason, and a new civil order based on natural law and science. During this period, politics began to focus more on the citizenry and the protection of indi vidual rights through a fair rule of law by democratic process, shown in documents such as the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Declaration of Independence. Such political freedom was hard to come by in the feudalistic system. One proponent of such ideas was John Locke, who argued for democracy, individual liberties, and the eradication of religious authority all opposing the old order of Feudalism and religious rule. Locke also proposed an idea that all Enlightenment thinkers could agree on: liberty is impossible without a guarantee of property, which the state must protect. Locke said that â€Å"the State†¦is a society of men established for the sole purpose of the establishment, preservation, and promotion of their civil interests†¦life, freedom, the possession of external goods, such as are money, land, houses, furniture, and things of that nature.† This is based on the idea that only those owning property can defend and take care of the state. Enlighte nment thinkers hoped that all could own property, an impossible concept in previous centuries where property ownership was limited to certain echelons. The progress of man could come through better policies and a better use of reason through not only political thinking but also science. The â€Å"enlightened† saw science’s potential to improve the standard of living through harnessing nature via industrialization and the liberation of man. Andrew Ure theorized that steam-engines not only employ many workers, but also leave â€Å"thousands of fine arable fields free for the production of food to man, which must have been otherwise allotted to the food of horses.† Through industrialization, man could have a better life and consume more. The rise of science and technology through an increasingly literate population contributed to the downfall of religious authority as they delivered tangible benefits in a manner controllable by humans, unlike religion. Additionally, the availability of technology allowed some to gain more wealth from their property. Science and technology resulted in the success of many industries in countries that adopted Enlightenment values. They were embraced by many â€Å"enlightened† politicians and leaders, as it gained them support from the improved lives. For some, science was a means to better technology and a better standard of living, and for others science was practiced to discover more and advance reason. Charles Darwin fell into this second general category, and while his work became the basis for evolutionary studies it was also perverted by those who turned Darwin’s natural evolutionary theory into â€Å"Social Darwinism.† Simply put, Darwin proposed that members of a species that were more suitable for an environment and responsive to change would more likely succeed and reproduce. Species could evolve through changes in populations, not through individuals, and nature is unable to determine who is fit and who is not. His ideas contradicted the Lamarckian Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics, which state an individual’s changes due to its environment could be passed on to its offspring. Interestingly, both theories of evolution would be used to justify social engineering in the 20th century. Through the Enlightenment and its accompanying values, Europeans produced new standards for humanity through quantifying the presence of democracy, social mobility, and individualism for all. One problem with the Enlightenment and factors for the future manipulation of its ideas was their Eurocentric nature. People, namely Europeans, could use reason and could therefore use it to reform less perfect societies into utopias. Those embracing Enlightenment values considered themselves superior to the â€Å"uncivilized,† and believed that the triumph of Europeans was due to a natural superiority in their political and financial skills, which was thought to be grounded in science. Some elites adopted Lamarck’s theory of evolution to justify their position, since they believed their acquired cultural skills could be passed on to offspring, marking the beginning of population genetics. Enlightenment values implied that humans could control their destiny, and had a right to eart h and its resources. While nature could not determine who was fit, the appropriate combination of reason and science could identify the fit (Europeans) for their protection to produce a superior human being. It was through this thought that the success of science and technology began to be used to legitimize social systems/policies and ideologies. The European superiority in science and technology jumpstarted the carving of empires in Africa and Asia through the mission to â€Å"civilize.† Then Prime Minister of France, Julien Ferry, championed colonial expansion using social Darwinist and Lamarckian ideas when he declared la mission civilisatrice: â€Å"indeed the higher races have a right over the lower races†¦because they have a duty†¦to civilize the inferior races†¦I maintain that European nations acquit themselves with generosity, with grandeur, and with sincerity of this superior civilizing duty.† At the same time, however, it was intended to spread French civilization, and therefore a better life, freedom, and ownership of property. This was the beginning of the twisted application of Enlightenment ideas to legitimize superiority abroad and domestically. The beginning of Enlightenment-fueled superiority complexes came through a mixture of the idea that man could progress through advancements of science and reason, and the idea that only finite resources and property exist. As a population depletes resources and takes property, competition will ensue and only the best adapted will survive and possess the right to the available property. Through an interpretation of Darwinist evolution, it was proposed that all populations have a distribution of characteristics, and some members have exclusive advantages making them an elite, favored group that is adaptable to change. Once a favored group became so distinct, it could no longer breed with the original, now deemed lesser group, and the new group became a higher species. It was through prejudices and the previously mentioned quantifiable Enlightenment traits (i.e. democracy, reason) that Europeans could identify the superior group and use social policies to advance it. One glaring issue w ith Enlightenment values was that the emphasis on celebrating reason led some to classify non-homogenous belief systems (i.e. indigenous beliefs) as irrational, therefore making them illegitimate. A divide materialized as some Europeans thought those who were inferior to them could be civilized through education or colonialism, whereas others saw a lack of successful characteristics as a lack of a qualification to breed. Herbert Spencer, who coined the term â€Å"survival of the fittest,† and strongly supported Social Darwinism said that â€Å"the forces which are working out the great scheme of perfect happiness, taking no account of incident suffering, exterminate such sections of mankind as stand in their way, with the same sternness that they exterminate beasts of prey and herds of useless ruminants,† with a comparison of the inferior to beasts of prey and herds of useless ruminants. From here, the tenets of Nazi and Soviet social engineering emerged. While the Nazi and Soviet political elite had differing views on the definition of a perfect society and what the standard of humanity should be, both used Social Darwinism and Enlightenment values to justify social planning and their respective ideology. The NSADP saw value in Social Darwinism, and the perversion of the Enlightenment values manifested themselves in Nazi ideology as they believed they were applying scientific facts to produce the ÃÅ"bermensch. While the application of the ÃÅ"bermensch in Nazi Germany was racial, the concept of the ÃÅ"bermensch from Nietzsche derived from the Enlightenment struggle to free the population from the old religious order. Nietzsche himself declared â€Å"God is dead. God remains dead,† and the â€Å"ÃÅ"bermensch shall be the meaning of the earth!† Humans now created new values, as the value system given by the religious order was dead. To the Nazis, politics was simply applying science to further the struggle for Lebensra um by removing â€Å"lesser† peoples and repopulating the land with the Aryan ÃÅ"bermensch. Hitler stated that â€Å"this earth is a trophy cup for the industrious man. And this rightly so in the service of natural selection. He who does not possess the force to secure his Lebensraum†¦must step aside and allow stronger peoples to pass him by.† The Nazis manipulated science, in this case, natural selection to justify their ideology and programs of racial superiority. From here, the Nazi eugenics program was born to select favorable characteristics for the ideal Aryan and proliferate those, while deselecting unfavorable ones through the extermination of weaker peoples. Another domestic program following this science was the Lebensborn program, which had â€Å"pure-blooded† Aryan women mate with SS officers to birth Aryan children along with kidnapping Aryan-looking children from occupied countries. The Nazis had a vision of the ÃÅ"bermensch and specifically had an image of what the master race would look like, and sought to create that. On the other end of the political spectrum, the idea of the Soviet man came from the Communist Manifesto, which defined liberation through a proletarian revolution, resulting in the rational allocation of property by the state. Soviet planning revolved around the idea that enlightened people could accelerate transformation of the unenlightened to an enlightened, elite, cooperative race through re-programming as according to Kant â€Å"reason†¦requires trial, practice, and instruction†¦to progress gradually from one stage of insight to the next.† Ideally, communism strives for the equality espoused by Enlightenment thinkers, but Soviet materialism sought to create a definite social group. To achieve these goals, the Soviets used Lamarckian theory (genetics was looked down upon), determining party officials could reprogram a society that could pass down cooperative traits. Lamarckian the ory and evolution was the science used by Stalin to legitimize his policies when he declared the â€Å"Party†¦undergoes a process of metabolism: the old and obsolete passes away, the new and growing lives and develops†¦and leads the cause forward†¦it will merely rid the Party of people who are getting in its way and hindering its progress.† This was attempted through the creation of gulags and the disappearances of noncompliant individuals by the NKVD. This thought that the government could control man to control his destiny is reminiscent of Enlightenment ideals of man’s ability to use reason to reform a more perfect society. Based on A, consider whether or not the 19th and 20th Century actions and policies of little e has actually resulted in the achievement of big E goals in the real world. Is the current world Enlightened in the manner that E principles would have anticipated. If so, how. If not, why not? The current world is both in some ways Enlightened and not as anticipated by Enlightenment values. Indeed, many first-world citizens enjoy liberty to an extent, can own property, have their individual rights protected by law, and are not under religious law. These were impossible under the Ancien Regime. Yes, social security, welfare, and insurance are present now in many societies. Science and technology mostly make life better for individuals in the world through technological and medical advances, and the standard of living has greatly increased since the 18th century. However, it is important to note the significance of â€Å"many first-world citizens† and the word â€Å"mostly.† Enlightenment values envisioned equality for all, and that is very much not the case. The equality gap is massive in the current world, and is growing larger through the very means that guarantee Enlightenment-envisioned rights for some. Citizens here in the U.S. can struggle to own propert y and receive care that improves their standards of living and guarantees their rights. Citizens abroad may not be liberated at all and subject to oppression by the government or an entity that considers itself superior. Similarly, science continues to be abused just as it was in previous centuries to either harm individuals (i.e. weaponization of diseases) or to raise individuals above others. While many live under a society that grants them Enlightenment values, even more live under conditions opposing Enlightenment values. Ultimately Enlightenment values are about the relationship between humans, and as a whole we have not, and may not, fully realize these ideals yet.

Patient Education in Diabetes Care Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Patient Education in Diabetes Care - Term Paper Example As previously mentioned, type II diabetes is on the rise in industrialized countries and therefore its management poses a significant problem to clinicians. As the disorder can be self-managed in a majority of cases, it can be useful to educate patients about the best way to approach their own health (Esden & Nichols, 2013). However, many patients may lack the knowledge or the expertise to really understand their disease and their health, meaning that many nurses feel that education could really be beneficial to diabetes patients managing their own care. The purpose of this study was to give sessions to eight diabetes patients who were willing to participate in diabetes in the hope that this would make them feel more in control of their outcomes and overall health. The research study gathered eight patients with informed consent for three group sessions about various topics concerning diabetes and health (Esden & Nichols, 2013). These were held monthly. The first and the last session were slightly longer as these had pre- and post-intervention tests to measure the patient’s knowledge about diabetes to see if the intervention was useful to them (Esden & Nichols, 2013). Additionally, several health measurements were taken (height, weight, blood pressure). The three assessment measures used were the Brief Diabetes Knowledge Test, the Diabetes Empowerment Scale, and the Diabetes Care Profile (Esden & Nichols, 2013). This type of method is good because it covers how the patients improved in their knowledge of diabetes over the time period, and the three scales used are clinically approved and recognized in the community. Results were analyzed using SPSS, another recognized tool, adding support to the results. Overall, all the participants showed a significant improvement on all three scales (Esden & Nichols, 2013). This suggests that these sessions could be useful in improving the knowledge of those with diabetes, which previous studies have shown to improve outcomes. This means that this type of session could have a huge impact on nursing practice if instated correctly.     

The perception of women throughout paintings Essay

The perception of women throughout paintings - Essay Example The ideal was based on offering the same rights in terms of politics, welfare and with work.   Women were known at this time to hold a secondary status to men.   This was combined with the Victorian and Romantic ideologies, which held that social status depicted the outcome of individuals in society, both in terms of monetary resources, education and the connections one had to others in society.   Women during this time were known to work as a secondary component to men, often being redirected away from education and the ability to work.   The status of the women during this time began to be questioned, with the emergence of feminism making claims that women should have equal opportunities within society (Haan et al, 2006: 1). The concept of women as having a secondary status to men in society during the early 20th century also led to different symbols and ideals which were represented in the art.   Women, in general, were noted as a commodity to men, specifically which wer e designated to remain in the home and care for children.   The interests women had as well as the way in which their natures were represented continued with making them appear as a commodity or object in the private and public spheres.   The boundaries which were drawn were not only based on the concept of the feminist object, but also continued with the depiction of the appearance of women that was often misunderstood.   The concept of the other in women during this time.... The boundaries which were drawn were not only based on the concept of the feminist object, but also continued with the depiction of the appearance of women that was often misunderstood. The social stigma was followed by the representation of women in appearance, specifically which created boundaries with women as belonging to the ‘other.’ The social stigma and the interests of women created the belief that women belonged to an outside object of culture, making them as a specimen of artwork that could be used to create links to the other and to the object (Phillips, Steiner, 1999, pg. 3). The concept of the other in women during this time, as well as the conflict with the social status of women, led many artists to creating new approaches to the representation of women in the artworks. Perception and interpretation of the status of women as the other were the main concepts, specifically which were based on the challenges of the time. The changes which occurred were based on the idea of developing a sense of deformity of the women and showing them not only as aesthetic objects, but also ones which were represented as the other and which held a place in society which was second class and outside of the boundaries of others in society. This particular approach to deformity is one which also broke against the concepts of traditional artwork and was a part of the experimentation of the time. The physical appearance not being one of beauty, but instead representing a sense of distortion and an approach to the body as being a part of the other in society became the main ideology which was a part of the paintings during this time

A Comparison of Pericles' Speech and that of Martin Luther King Junior Essay

A Comparison of Pericles' Speech and that of Martin Luther King Junior - Essay Example It is evident from the study that the speech made by Pericles at a funeral in 431 BC is one of the greatest speeches that have ever been made in human history. During this time, long speeches were specifically meant to encourage warriors who were going to the battlefield. The speeches could also be used to encourage families left behind when their sons, husbands or fathers went to war. Among the Greeks, there were burial ceremonies where speech would be made to appreciate the deceased for his or her contributions society. Pericles’s speech was one of them. The two speeches compare closely in terms of the level of emotion they raise. Pericles started his speech in a casual manner by informing the gathering about the importance of speech, as well as how it came into existence. However, he went ahead to explain that the ceremony was established by their ancestors. Like the speech made by Martin Luther King, Pericles acknowledged the role played by ancestors in deliberation of Gre ece. â€Å"I shall begin with our ancestors †¦they dwelt in the country without break†¦Ã¢â‚¬  . This section evoked the past deeds of the previous generations that Pericles believed should be emulated by the current generation. This is very similar to what Martin Luther used in his speech. He said, â€Å"When the architects of this country†¦ they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir†¦Ã¢â‚¬ . This approach of delivering speech has proven to very effective as far as unity is concerned. Pericles was telling the gathering that their ancestors never gave up the fight to protect the country and therefore the current generation was to follow their footsteps. Similarly, Martin Luther reminded all Americans, both blacks and whites, of the fact that when ancestors were fighting for freedom, they did so as a single unit while perceiving each other as brothers. The same should apply in the current American society. Both speeches share a great deal in sentence structure. Pericles said: â€Å"And yet if with habits not of labor but of ease, and courage not of art but of nature, we are still willing to encounter danger†¦ Yet, of course, the doer of the favor is the firmer friend of the two†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Rusten 45) This sentence structure compares closely with that used in the speech â€Å"I Have a Dream.† Martin Luther said, â€Å"†¦ knowing that somehow this situation can and will change†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Echols 14). From the two speeches, it is evident that the current American society and other democracies across the world borrowed much from the Athenian ideals. They realized the importance of using the power of speech to make people take

Middle School Advisory Program Evaluation A Program Evaluation Essay

Middle School Advisory Program Evaluation A Program Evaluation ProposalSelf Reporting can be problematic Disconnect between Likert Scale Responses and Free Responses Low Response Rate on Staff Survey - Essay Example To use of likert scale on such population would not provide accurate result considering that the views of the teachers in the Pacific Cascade Middle School were varied. This means that the scale would not be able to measure the honest attitude of the teachers. Further, this method of collecting data was must have presented the respondents with the opportunity to be influenced by the previous questions. There was tendency that the respondents were leaning towards one side of the scale just to avoid being extreme. Moreover, it was difficult to test whether the respondent were lying, even though the tools were tested for their reliability, it was still difficult to deal with the error that may have accompanied the responses. The law response rate by the respondents particularly on the free response was a major setback to verify the findings that the teachers had provided. This highly reduced the sample size that could have been very significant in obtaining facts. Mugenda & Mugenda (2010) reveals that in a population of 30, accuracy would be yielded with a turnout of over 90%. In this study, only 17 teachers returned their questionnaires. The law of research has not been able to discern how to deal with the problem with the self-reporting. This make such problems part of research. This study was affected by self-reporting that present issues like lie. Though the study attempted to place validity measures, controlling a huge number of students in shaping their attitudes towards the research was a hard

The Evolving Role of Government in Education Essay

The Evolving Role of Government in Education - Essay Example Further concerns of long-term socio-economic as well as political implications that such preparations portend have been a factor that has driven these debates. Therefore, there has been a consensus that the federal government ought to take matters of education holistically with a view to changing policies and streamlining education, which will be relevant in this century and age (Sunderman, 2010). Indeed, the president and the U.S Secretary in charge of education have made policy intervention calls to address education crises in High Schools with a biased concentration on the schools, which perform dismally, as well as in colleges and career configuration. In this line, there have been a number and pieces of legislations proposed or enacted by the national congress driven from research findings and recommendations on the best practices that would adequately inform federal policy (Cross, 2004). For instance, funds have been injected under the federal stimulus program, which has gone f urther in shedding light on the opportunities available to push and create education awareness campaigns for improvement. Further, there have been state-led movements charged with the mandate to evaluate and craft common standardized approaches to greatly way change the American Education (Sunderman, 2010). Such legislations include the reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). This act was proposed with the view to critically assess the high school crisis so that systems and structures are out in place to enable students graduating from high schools to be adequately ready to take on careers in colleges. In this case, the federal policy is seen to play an important role to ensure that in â€Å"reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in away that the policies would be congruent with the changes and common standards initiative† to take the leading role and facilitation of partnership with other players in the education sector (Sunderman, 2010) . The federal role and the Aid Evolution For a long time, about a century, the federal government has been playing a significant role in the enhancement of education in America. It has been the fulcrum about national needs and interests as far as education is concerned. This has been seen in a number of roles over the years in line with democracy and promotion of an educated America. One has been to significantly do away with poverty, promote equity in education access and to respond to the needs of the vulnerable groups in society. The second role has been promotion of security and enhancement of economic stability across the whole country to ensure it economically competes with other countries (Cross, 2004). One of the predominant areas where the federal role has been witnessed has been in its push for aid in education. Today’s advocacy for elementary and secondary education can be traced back to the year 1938 when a report of the advisory committee on education instigated by the then president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, laid significant facts bare. On the whole, the report indicated that there were serious disparities among the American states and went further to lay recommendations that the states that were lagging behind should be assisted to promote equity (Sunderman, 2010).

Ethical consumerism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Ethical consumerism - Essay Example In addition, the company avoids criminal acts such as corruption and fraud. It is also committed to helping the community by participating in charity events. This has contributed to its good reputation in the market. Ethical consumerism refers to buying or using products that are ethically manufactured and delivered. In the current market world consumers highly value ethically produced goods (Payne 2012, P. 1). Examples of ethically produced goods include those that can be recycled. Companies that produced such kind of goods are viewed as ethical companies because they care about environmental sustainability. Such companies indicate how their products can be recycled on their product labels. In addition, the processes of producing the goods have to be ethical. For instance, ethical production includes avoiding child labor and overexploitation of workers. Buying goods that are produced by underpaid workers or slavery is not ethical consumerism (Payne 2012, P. 1). Other products that fall under ethical categories include those that organically produced goods. Such goods do not contain chemicals that may harm the health of consumers. Other products in this category include cosmetic, fashion, electr onic and insurance products. By buying such goods one qualifies to be an ethical consumer. One can be an ethical consumer without knowing, however; ethical consumerism involves being aware of ethically produced goods in order to prevent abuse and exploitation. An example of a firm that claims to operate ethically is Dell Company. The company is ranked among the most ethical firms globally in the year 2014 (Ben 2014, p.1). The ethics and values of the company include carrying out its operations in integrity ways, focusing on accountability, and commitment to engage with its consumers and suppliers in ethical ways. The company has used various approaches in order to achieve the high position

Family business managment Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Family business managment - Case Study Example There was collaborative decision making in the Cohen family as it is documented that the family members met twice a week over lunch to debate and come to a consensus as pertained to the pressing company issues (Ward, 3). However, the Cohen family has its weaknesses that would have proved fatal for the success of the company. Firstly positions in the company were awarded with reference to the predecessor’s position and not with reference to qualifications; Abe and Cohen lineages. Moreover, they held informal meetings hence lack of giving much seriousness to issues that needed intensive decision making. It has been documented that the family members decided when they would have their leaves irrespective of the number yet this was not a privilege accorded to employees who were not family members. The family members seem to be favored other than other employees, creating a loophole for failure of the business (Ward, 4). The issue of succession needs to be resolved to ensure the success of the business. This is following the reassignment of Robert Cohen. It has been documented that no one has yet been appointed to oversee the international relations of the company. This needs to be resolved for the company to maintain its competitive edge in the international business. Consequently, compensation of the next generation and appraisal of the fourth generation was also an issue that needed to be resolved and addressed. There needed to be a top level management, an issue which Abel speculated would raise conflict leading to some family members leaving the company. Subsequently, the issue of diversification of the company needed to be addressed and resolved, this was to inculcate the diversity in the family and also to accommodate all family members (Ward, 7). At first the family meetings were 100% informal as they are documented to occur across a desk shared by Abe and

The Story of Us Essay Example for Free

The Story of Us Essay The film â€Å"The Story of Us† that we have watched last week gave me the full of insights and learned how difficult a marriage could be. This movie was about the story of a couple married for about fifteen years and from their perfect marriage, it almost ends up to divorce. They have two children that through them they still pretend as good parents even if their relationship is not working anymore. They decided to send their children to a summer camp so they can start their trial separation before telling it to their kids. In the end, because they still love each other and also for the best of their children, they had chosen to be strong and set aside all the detestation and hatred from them. People may engage into marriage thru various reasons. The majority of it is usually because of legal and social aspects. But the reality is that a person is not only associated to emotional or a feeling to someone but also it is the spiritual and religious aspects that lead to marriage. For me, a person who entered into a relationship with someone should be committed to the person he loved so the partnership between them will be strong and the marriage will be eternal. Marriage for me is not just a formal contract or agreement of two persons who love each other which is usually followed by a wedding ceremony. It is really important for me because it does not only show how relationship works but it is instituted and destined by God for the permanent relationship between a man and a woman. My point of view towards relationship to a good marriage is that it should not be developed according to our anticipation. With the conformity of a husband and wife that are married, they should not be separated and will stand for every hardship that they will encounter. As shown in the movie, like what almost happened to Ben and Katie Jordan in the film was because of misunderstandings and the exchange of throbbing with each other. There are lots of couples nowadays that encountered similar problems like this. They also run into a situation that a couple cannot stand each other anymore which mostly ends up to divorce. Some of the couples may reconcile and choose to stay what is ordained while thers may lead to worst thing like separation or divorce. This film had given me lot of insights on the views of marriage. I can say that this movie made me realized that in order for a marriage to work well it is important that couples should learn how to reconcile and accept the love of their partners despite of their dissimilarities. People choose to marry the person they like not just because of feelings, affection or likeness to their spouse but because they fated their love to God and willingness to accept all the differences of their partner. I have learned that not all marriage will lead to lifelong relationship unless they truly love and vowed to each other. I also recognized that not all relationships are perfect thus we should continue ourselves to be loyal, devoted and still faithful to love ones. This film also taught me on what we should do or the best thing to perform if a situation happened in the marriage life like this. Also, we should learn how to accompany with others and to forgive and forget the mistakes of a person you love which will direct into a good marriage life.

Anatomy and Physiology Essay Example for Free

Anatomy and Physiology Essay Activity 1: Tissue Types 1-1: List the four types of tissue found in the human body and give an example of each. 1. Epithelial example: Skin 2. Connective example: Tendons 3. Muscle example: Muscles of heart 4. Nervous example: Brain Activity 2: Epithelial tissue 2-1: What are the characteristics of epithelial tissue? Polarity, Specialized contacts, Supported of connective tissue, Avascular but innervated, Regeneration 2-2: What is the function of epithelial tissue? protection, absorption, filtration, secretion, excretion, sensory reception 2-3: Where is epithelial tissue found? Outer layer of skin, lines the open cavities of the cardiovascular, digestive, and respiratory system, also covers the walls and organs of the closed ventral body cavity 2-4: This is a cross section of the esophagus. Number 1 represents the lumen of the esophagus. Identify the tissue types indicated by 2 and 3. 2. Stratified squamous epithel 3. Dense irregular connective tissue 2-5: Below is a picture of intestinal villi. Identify the tissue type at 1 and the cell type at 3. 1. Simple columnar epithelium 3. Goblet cells 2-6: Below is a photo of the trachea. Identify the cell modifications at 1, and the tissue types at 2 and 3. 1. cillia 2. Pseudostratified epithelial layer 3. Pseudostratified columnar epithelium 2-7: Identify the tissue type at 1 below: Simple columnar epithelium 2-8: The picture below shows kidney tubules. Identify the tissue type at 1 and 3: 1. Outer wall composed of simple cuboidal epithelium 3. Nucleus of a simple cuboidal epithelial cell 2-9: The picture below shows a cross-section of a lung. The areas labeled 2 are alveoli, the air sacs of the lungs. What type tissue is 1? Simple squamous epithelium 2-10: Identify the tissue or cell types or component below. 1. (tissue type) Epithelium 2. (tissue type) Lamina Propia 3. Cillia 4. Mucin in globlet cell 5. Cilliated cells of pseudostratified epithelium Activity 3: Connective tissue 3-1: What are the characteristics of connective tissue? Common origin, Degrees of vascularity, Extracelluar matrix 3-2: What are the functions of connective tissue? binding and support, protection, insulation, transportation of substances within the body 3-3: Where would you find connective tissue? everywhere in the body, mostly in the primary tissue 3-4: The slide below is a section of the small intestine. In this tissue, the collagen fibers are interwoven and irregularly arranged (i.e. they run in more than one direction), which provides great structural strength. The tissue is well suited for areas where tension is exerted from many different directions, such as the dermis of the skin, submucosa of the gastrointestinal tract and fibrous capsules of organs and joints. It also forms fascia, the tough, white material that surrounds muscles. What classification of connective tissue is the area marked by 1? Dense irregular 3-5: The tissue below is a loose connective tissue comprised of a semi-fluid ground substance containing several kinds of loosely-arranged fibers and cells. This is the most widespread type of connective tissue. It is found in every microscopic section of the body, fastening down the skin, membranes, vessels and nerves as well as binding muscles and other parts  together. There are two types of fibers, the most numerous of which are thicker, lightly-staining collagenous fibers that crisscross the matrix in a random fashion. Thinner, more darkly stained elastic fibers composed of the protein elastin can also be seen. The principal type of cells seen are lightly-staining fibroblasts that secrete the matrix materials. Identify: 1. Fibroblast nuclei 2. Collagen Fiber 3. Elastic Fibers 3-6: This slide shows a section of a tendon with regularly arranged closely packed collagen fibers running in the same direction. This results in a flexible tissue with great resistance to pulling forces. With its enormous tensile strength, this tissue forms cord like tendons, which join muscles to bones, sheet-like aponeuroses, which attach muscles to muscles or muscles to bones, and ligaments, which bind bones together at joints. What classification of connective tissue is this? Dense regular The nuclei of the cells that secrete the collagen fibers are indicated by the number 1. What type cells are these? Collagen Fibers 3-7: The cells of the connective tissue pictured below in a cross section from the trachea are specialized for fat storage and do not form ground substance or fibers. On prepared slides, this type tissue appears somewhat like a fish net with white spaces connected together in a network. The cytoplasm and nucleus have been pushed to one side by a single, large, fat-filled vacuole that occupies the center of the cell. Identify: 1. Cell membrane 2. Cell nucleus 3. Fat Vacuoles 3-8: The slide below shows a section of the trachea (windpipe). Rings of hyaline cartilage embedded within the walls of the trachea provide support and help to maintain an open airway. Hyaline cartilage is the most common form of cartilage in the body, making up part of the nose, connecting ribs to the sternum and covering the articulating surfaces of bones. When sectioned and stained, the matrix of hyaline cartilage takes on a light purple color. Cartilage-forming cells called chondroblasts produce this matrix, which consists of an amorphous ground substance heavily invested with collagen fibers. Chondrocytes (mature cartilage cells) can be seen singly or in groups within spaces in the matrix called lacunae. The surface of all cartilage (except for articular cartilage) is covered by a membrane of connective tissue fibers called the perichondrium. Although the perichondrium is well-vascularized, cartilage tissue proper is avascular, which means that oxygen and nutrients have to diffu se from blood vessels in the perichondrium to the chondrocytes within the cartilage proper. Identify: 1. Cartilage matrix 2. Chondrocytes 3. Perichondrium 4. Adipose cells (Hint for 4: see previous slide) 3-9: This image shows a dried section of compact bone. Like cartilage, bone cells (osteocytes) occupy spaces (lacunae) found within the dense matrix. A major difference, however, is that the matrix is calcified in bone, which endows bone with the property of hardness and the ability to resist compressive forces. This calcified matrix is deposited in layers called lamellae (singular = lamella) approximately 3-7 microns thick. The most common unit of structure in compact bone is the Haversian system or osteon. In each Haversian system, the lamellae are arranged concentrically around a central Haversian canal which houses nerves and blood vessels (unlike cartilage, bone is well supplied with blood vessels). The lacunae that house  mature osteocytes in living bone appear as tapered, black spaces arranged around the concentric lamellae. Slender, branching tubules called canaliculi (little canals) radiate out from the lacunae to form an extensive network of passageways that connect the b one cells to each other and to the blood supply in the Haversian canal. Identify: 1. Lacunae 2. Haversian canal 3. Lamellae 3-10: What type connective tissue is pictured below? Blood 3-11: What is the matrix of this connective tissue? plasma, no fibers 3-12: What are the living cells of this connective tissue? Erythocytes, Leukocytes, Platelets 3-13: What is the function of this connective tissue? Carry O2, CO2, nutrients, wastes, and other substances 3-14: Identify: 1. platelets 2. neutrophils 3. lymphocytes 4. erthocytes 5. monocytes Activity 4: Muscle tissue 4-1: What are the characteristics of muscle tissue? Conductivity, Contractility, Extensibility, Elasticity The image below shows a longitudinal view of a type of muscle. Note the multiple nuclei that lie at the periphery of the muscle fibers as well as the striations (thin lines) formed by the arrangement of the thick and thin  myofilaments. It is the arrangement of these myofilaments that results in the A bands, I bands and Z lines that run perpendicular to the long axis of the myofibrils. 4-2: What type muscle tissue is this? Skeletal 4-3: Is this type muscle voluntary or involuntary? Voluntary 4-4: What is its function? locomotion, manipulation of the enviroment, facial expression, voluntary control 4-5: Identify: 1. Muscle cell nuclei 2. Muscle fiber Although the muscle below is striated, the striations are not so readily apparent as in the muscle above. These muscle cells are short, branched and interconnected. Each cell usually contains one centrally located nucleus. These muscle cells are joined end-to-end at specialized junctional zones called intercalated discs [pointed to by the blue arrows]. These discs allow force to be transmitted from one cell to another. Additionally, they contain gap junctions that allow an action potential in one cell to pass directly to an adjoining cell through these electrical synapses. 4-6: What type muscle tissue is this? Cardiac 4-7: Is it voluntary, or involuntary? involuntary 4-8: Where is it found? in the walls of the heart 4-9: This slide shows a longitudinal section of muscle that has been teased apart to reveal the individual muscle cells. Note the spindle shaped muscle fibers, each of which has a single, elongated nucleus. This type muscle is the simplest of the three types of muscle tissue. It is found where slow, sustained contractions are needed such as in the digestive tract, uterus and other internal organs. Involuntary in nature, its actions are under control of the autonomic nervous system. What type muscle is this? Smooth 4-10: The picture below is a close-up view of a single cell from above. Identify 1: Nuclei 4-11: This slide shows a cross section of the duodenum (a portion of the small intestine). Note that there are two relatively thick layers of smooth muscle cells that run perpendicular to one another, an outer (thinner) longitudinal layer and an inner (much thicker) circular layer of smooth muscle. Peristaltic contractions of these two opposing layers of muscle keep food moving through the gut. 1. Submucosal connective tissue 2. Circular smooth muscle layer 3. Longitudinal smooth muscle layer Activity 5: Nervous tissue 5-1: Name the functional cell of nervous tissue. Neurons 5-2: The slide below shows a magnified view of a multipolar neuron from the spinal cord. Note the cell body with its prominent nucleus and nucleolus and the origin of cell processes called axons and dendrites. The numerous small, darkly stained dots are the nuclei of glial cells, primarily astrocytes.

Biodiversity Of Punjab Shiwaliks Environmental Sciences Essay

Biodiversity Of Punjab Shiwaliks Environmental Sciences Essay There is an increasing awareness that biodiversity is not only intimately interconnected with long term health and vigor of the biosphere as an indicator of global environment but also as a regulator of ecosystem functioning. Tropical communities are often worse susceptible to loss of biological diversity than temperate communities because tropical species are occur in lower densities and are less widely distributed and often have weaker dispersal capabilities. Increasing human intervention and excessive exploitation of resources have resulted in great changes and provide alarming signals of accelerated biodiversity loss. The conventional species level approach for biodiversity management has major limitations. A major change in the understanding the priorities of biodiversity conservation and management has resulted in a policy shift from conservation of single species to their habitats through interactive network of species at landscape level is considered important (Orians, 1993; Edward et al., 1994). Biodiversity can be represented at various levels of organization, like alleles or genotypes within a population, species or ecosystem across a landscape or even a planet. There is a growing need for better understanding of the biodiversity distribution pattern vis-à  -vis human interventions. India have very varied environmental conditions and are among the countries with high biodiversity. The flowering plants, which provide maximum direct benefit to mankind, comprise about 19395 taxa, which is about 7% of the described species in the world (Karthikeyan, 2000). The vast stretches of coastal belt in south and high mountains species of Himalayas in the north provide a complex environmental set up or niches for plant and animals. It has resulted in the formation micro-endemic centres of plants in the country. The great heights and complex terrain of the Himalayan region, which change frequently, provide endless microclimatic conditions suitable to the species to grow and evolve. The Himalayas have more than 5 micro-endemic centres. Shiwalik ranges are one such mirco-endemic centre. About 125 wild relatives of crop plants have been reported in the western Himalayas and Shiwaliks ranges are part of these. These ranges are among the youngest hills in the world and are active as well as fragile. Shiwalik hills of Punjab state have rich biological diversity and act as major natural green belt of the state. The state is well known for agricultural produce and industries. But the degradational activity coupled with the destruction of forests in the name of developmental activities has altered the natural landscape of the region to a great extent. It is facing threat for its very existence again from mankind in the name development. Because of these increased anthropogenic activities, as a result of population explosion and change in land use practices, the natural landscape has been modified which has resulted in fragmentation of forests with poor species composition. Hence the resulting landscape mosaic is a mixture of natural and human managed patches that vary in size, shape and arrangement. Now it is realized that we must move from the conservation of single species to scales beyond individual sites and levels of organization. Understanding landscape spatial pattern is important since it contains all levels of the biological hierarchy, from ecosystems to species and genes, which are targeted for biodiversity conservation. Remote sensing technology is being widely used world over for the quick assessment of the Earth resources. Because it being a cost effective and repetitive in nature with synoptic coverages technology, has endless application potentials. The technology assumes significance in terms of conservation of natural resources as it provides birds eye view of the ecosystems or landscapes or regions and their status, because conservation is now not limited to a plant or species but much beyond that. Vegetation is composed of several communities and these communities may occur in patches of small to large size and in various shapes. Vegetation composition of these patches is governed by several environmental factors, and there exists a relationship of the biological richness with area of the forest and the influence of biotic factors. Ecologists have established the relationship among these environmental and biotic factors with the biodiversity. Patches can be characterized based on their size, shape, location, area etc. in through geospatial modeling in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Thus various factors can be simultaneously considered and processed in GIS. In this report, vegetation type map derived from satellite data was considered as prime input for landscape ecological analysis of forest ecosystem. Geographic Information System (GIS) is used to derive landscape indices such as fragmentation, porosity, patchiness, patch density, interspersion and juxtaposition, which depict landscape characteristics. These indices were integrated with biotic pressure zones to depict disturbance gradient in the study area. Phytosociological data collected from field sampling was analyzed to derive species richness, biodiversity value and ecosystem uniqueness of various forest types. Ancillary databases such as proximity from the roads/villages, terrain complexity etc. were derived in GIS domain. All above inputs were integrated in systematic manner by assigning relevant weightages to derive maps showing disturbance gradient and biological richness. The resultant maps highlight areas that are biologically rich. 2. Study Area 2.1 Physical Climatic Status The study was carried out in the Shiwalik hills of Punjab state having geographical area of 9448.97 km2 and situated in north western part of the state. It lies between latitude 30o 34 10.82 and 32o 33 02.96 N and longitude 74o 50 30.30 and 76o 52 51.26 E. It is broadly divided into sub-mountainous Himalayas and the eastern and western alluvial plains. The important rivers draining the region are the Sutlej and the Beas. The average annual rainfall varies between 400 to 600 mm and the mean annual temperature ranges from 22.500 C to 25.00 C. 2.2 Geology The composition of the Shiwalik deposits shows they are nothing else than the alluvial detritus derived from the sub aerial waste of mountains, swept down by their numerous rivers and streams and deposited at their foot. This process was very much like what the existing river systems of the Himalayas are doing at present day on their emerging to the plains of Punjab. An important difference is that the former alluvial deposits now making up the Shiwalik systems have been involved in the latest Himalayan systems of upheavals, by which they have been folded and elevated into their outermost foot-hills, although the oldest alluvium of many parts of northern India serves to bridge the gap between the newest Shiwaliks and the present alluvium. 2.3 Lithology The Shiwalik system is a great thickness of detrital rocks, such as coarsely bedded sandstones, sand-rock, clay and conglomerates, measuring between 4,500 and 5,200 m in thickness. The bulk of formation is very closely similar to the materials constituting the modern alluvia of rivers. The lithology of the Shiwliks suggests their origin; they are chiefly the water-worn debris of the granitic core of the central Himalaya, deposited in the long and broad valley of the Shiwaliks. The upper coarse conglomerates are the alluvial fans or talus-cones at the emergence of the mountain streams; the great thickness of the clay and sand represents the silts and finer sediments of the river laid down in the lower plain. The weathering of the Shiwalik rocks has been proceeding at an extraordinally rapid rate since their deposition, and strictly abrupt forms of topography have been evolved in this comparatively brief period. Gigantic escarpments and dip-slopes separated by broad longitudinal strike valleys and intersected by deep meandering ravines of the transverse streams-surface features, which are the most common elements of Shiwalik topography. The strike is remarkably constant in a Northwest-Southeast direction, with only brief local swerves, while it is almost always in strict elevations. 3. Land Use Pattern The recorded forest area (including dry deciduous scrub) of Shiwalik hills of Punjab state is 1599.42 km2, which constitutes 16.93% total geographic area. The major forest types are dry deciduous, moist deciduous, dry deciduous scrub and coniferous forest. The non-forest area such as agriculture, grassland, water body, canals, settlements, riverbed and barren land contributes 7849.55 km2 which constitutes 83.07% of the total geographical area. 3.1 Vegetation type (a) Northern dry mixed deciduous forest (5B/C2) In most localities the tree canopy has been seriously broken by human activities, results in scattered tree and small shrubs. This forest is dominated by Acacia catechu, Anogeissus latifolia with the association of Lannea coromandalica, Aegle marmelos, Ehretia laevis, Mallotus philippensis, Nyctanthus arbor-tritis, Dendrocalamus strictus etc. (b) Dry bamboo brakes (5E9) Only one species Dendrocalamus strictus occurs and forms relatively low brakes with a sprinkling of the tree and shrubs of dry deciduous forest such as Anogeissus latifolia, Lannea coromandelica etc. (c) Dry deciduous scrub (DS1) A low broken soil cover of shrubby growth 3 to 6 m high including some tree species reduced to similar conditions, usually many stemmed from the base. The community is dominated by Woodfordia fruiticosa, Carrissa opaca, and Nyctanthus arbor-tristis with the some association Dodonaea viscosa, Aegle mormelos, Cassia fistula, and Acacia catechu. (d) Khair-Sissu forests (5/1S2) Dalbergia sissoo predominates in this association. The canopy is open associated with Acacia catechu. The older woods have more or less definite under storey, which is mainly composed of young species and few species of Tamarix dioca, Acacia fernesiana, Cannabis sativa and grasses like Saccharum spontaneum, Erianthus munja etc. (e) Shiwalik chirpine forest (9/C1) The pine stands singly or in groups with a scattered with lower deciduous tree story on the ridge and side slopes. There is usually a fairly continuous growth of xerophytic shrubs occurs as under-storey vegetation. Pinus roxburghii is associated with Mallotus philippensis, Pyrus pashia, Syzygium cuminii, Albizzia chinensis, Acacia catechu, and Terminalia chebula. (f) Subtropical Euphorbia scrub (9/C1/DS2) Euphorbia royleana forms consociations sometimes of considerable extent. Their distribution is related to edaphic factors, notably dry rocky ridges, where biotic pressure has been high. 4. Approach Biodiversity characterization satellite remotely sensed data is being used for deriving vegetation cover type map. The vegetation type thus derived represents the habitats and their surroundings. These patches of the different forest types occur randomly as per the existing environmental conditions. Using landscape ecological principals these can be analyzed and quantified. Some of these parameters are fragmentation, porosity, juxtapositions, interspersion etc. and indices are derived to show their characteristics. Proximity of forests to road and villages and their impact is established. All these layers are overlaid to obtain disturbance index. Disturbance index image is the important for characterizing and identifying least or no disturbed areas (Fig. 1). Ground observations are taken through stratified random sampling in all the forest types. Their economic uses have been found from literature. Total Importance Value (TIV) of each plant is established for its value for food, fuel wood, charcoal, timber, medicine etc. Ecosystem uniqueness is established from the list of the species found during survey based on its representativeness, species Fig 1: Approach for Biodiversity Characterization at Landscape Level Using Remote Sensing and GIS (after Roy et al., 1998) endemism etc. Biological richness is obtained after integrating species richness, biological value, disturbance index, ecosystem uniqueness, terrain complexity. 5. Materials and Methodology 5.1 Materials Following satellite remote sensing data have been used for land cover and land use classification of the area (Table 1). Table 1: Details of satellite data used Satellite ID Path Row Date IRS-1D LISS III 93 48 12 Oct. 2000 IRS-1D LISS III 94 48 03 Nov. 2000 IRS-1D LISS III 94 49 03 Nov. 2000 IRS-1D LISS III 95 49 31 Oct. 2000 IRS-1D LISS III 95 50 31 Oct. 2000 5.2 Ancillary data Survey of India topo sheets on 1:50,000 have been used. Relevant literature on flora has been consulted. 5.2 Vegetation Cover type mapping 5.3.1 Preprocessing of satellite data IRS-1D LISS-III data (Oct, 2000 and March, 2001) were used to prepare vegetation cover type map. A total five scenes were loaded and each scene was rectified with respect to 1:50,000 scale SOI toposheet (Total 32 toposheets were used, geometrically corrected and mosaicked to a single image). A second order transformation was followed. Average root mean square error within one pixel was maintained while preparing transformation model. Lambert Conformal Conic projection (LCC) was used during rectification of image (Fig. 2). Each rectified Fig. 2 FCC scene was subjected to radiometric correction before mosaicing it to a single mosaic image. After extraction of required area from this single mosaic image, it was subjected to Supervised Maximum likelihood classification using the ground truth information collected during the fieldwork. 5.3.2 Ground truthing Reconnaissance survey was carried out in the area to acquire the knowledge of the vegetation and other broad land uses. During reconnaissance information on the correlation of image elements with that of ground features was also obtained. Interpretation key was formulated and classification was performed. 5.3.3 Vegetation Classification Based on the a priori knowledge supervised classification method was followed. Training sites were selected and processed and the features with high classification accuracy were extracted. Using binary image the remaining area was extracted and unsupervised classification method was performed. The classified output was finally subjected hybrid classification approach to prepare vegetation type map of the study area showing various vegetation types. The accuracy of the image was evaluated using field knowledge and the ground truth information. Along with the different types of forest, other general lands use / land cover classes were also classified so as to understand the landscape of the region. Following forest classes have been delineated and a comparison with Champion and Seths (1968) classifications scheme is given below (Table 2). List of the land cover and land use classes identified on the satellite data. Moist deciduous forest Dry deciduous forest Dry deciduous scrub (Lantana) Coniferous forest Grass land Plantation/Avenue trees Agriculture Water body Settlement Riverbed/Barren land Table 2:Vegetation classes compared With Champion Seths Classification: Satellite based classification of vegetation types Champion and Seth Classification (1968) Moist deciduous forest Dry bamboo brakes Khair-sissu forest Dry deciduous forest Northern dry mixed deciduous forest Dry deciduous forest Dry deciduous scrub Subtropical Euphorbiascrub Dry deciduous scrub Pine Shiwalik chirpine forest 5.3 Field data One of the most important components of biodiversity characterization is the information on plants or species richness. Information on plant species is further processed for evaluating other parameters like Total Importance Value, Ecosystem Uniqueness, Biodiversity value etc. There it is important that well distributed enough sample are taken for information on species occurrence. Classified vegetation cover type has been used for finding the sample size. Sampling intensity of 0.021 % has been done. Higher sample intensity is adopted (than recommended) in view of variability in the area. 5.4.1 Sampling design Stratified Random sampling approach was followed and numbers of sample points were distributed to its probability proportional to its size. Field data was collected from 74 sample points of 2020 m size during October 2000 (Table 3). The sample plots of 20x20m were used for tree species and nested approach and nested approach has been followed for laying sample plots of 10x10m for shrubs and 1x1m plot (five plots) for herbaceous layer. The data was collected on following parameters in each of the sample plot. Description of ecosystem and forest type including phenology Species name and number of individuals for every species Girth at breast height in centimeters Economic importance such as grazing, medicinal, human food, fuel, timber, charcoal and other uses such as industrial use, rope making, tanning leather etc. This importance value was collected by interviewing local people interviewing wherever possible and from literature. The data was analyzed for deriving various indices indicating biodiversity value, species richness and ecosystem uniqueness for different forest types. Table 3: The distribution of sample points in each of the forest types found in all the Shiwalik Hills of Punjab state Forest Type No. of sample plots Moist deciduous 32 Dry deciduous 31 Deciduous scrub 7 Pine forest 4 Total 74 Database of all the species collected was created in MS Excel for further processing, details have been provided in the section on phytosociological analysis. 6. Database Creation in GIS In geo-spatial analysis integration of spatial and non-spatial data or vector data is important. As discussed earlier the biotic disturbance had played a very significant role in existing biodiversity of toady. Database in GIS domain provides opportunity to analyze their impact zones. Therefore, the following maps were digitized from ancillary sources for their integration: Village locations point and polygon features) Road and railway networks Contour lines with 20m intervals The road and settlement maps were used as input in further analysis for deriving disturbance gradient. Contour map was used to prepare digital terrain model using ERDAS IMAGINE 8.4 software. 7. Landscape Analysis The approaches for biodiversity characterization discussed in the literature contains several broad categories such as genetically based approach, species based approach, ecosystem based approach, and integrative approach. The approach adopted in present study is integrative method that includes significance of ecological, social, and cultural factors to the biodiversity in addition to biological factors. The approach used for the study focuses on following aspects: Rapid assessment for monitoring of biodiversity loss and/or gain Mapping of biological richness to understand its spatial nature, that helps in planning and execution The customized package Bio_CAP is developed at Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun to carry out multi-criteria spatial analysis. The satellite data provide key input i.e. vegetation type, which is used for deriving several landscape indices (fragmentation, porosity, patchiness, interspersion, and juxtaposition) depicting status of forest ecosystem. Ancillary database on roads and settlements has been used to prepare proximity buffer map and contour map is used to prepare terrain complexity map. All these parameters were integrated together with the field data on species richness, ecosystem uniqueness and biodiversity value. The ultimate result is the map that depicts areas categorized as per disturbance index. 7.1 Landscape analysis using Bio_CAP The field data, vegetation type map and ancillary GIS data (roads, village locations, and contour) were analyzed using Bio_CAP (Biodiversity Characterization Programme) a customized package to prepare various indices depicting landscape characteristics. Fragmentation has been the major cause of biodiversity loss and has been measured as a number of forest and non-forest patches in per unit area. Patchiness is a measure of the density of patches of all forest types or number of clusters in a given mask or area. Porosity is a measure of number of patches or density of patches within a particular type vegetation, normally primary vegetation type(s), regardless of patch size. Interspersion is a count of dissimilar neighbor pixels (feature) with respect to central pixel (feature) of a particular grid or measurement of the spatial intermixing of the vegetation types. Juxtaposition is a measure of proximity and adjacency of two or more vegetation types. Higher weightage is given to the classes who share or are likely to share more boundary. Human influence zone is dependent on socio-economic set-up of the area/region and proximity the forest resources and can vary from 0.5 km to 5 km or even more. Proximity buffer or zone of influence from the roads and human settlements has been prepared. 7.2 Disturbance Index: Disturbance has direct impact on the occurrence of plants and animals or biodiversity. Disturbance regimes provide an insight into the impacted area and its degree of impact under various vegetation or other natural resources. Disturbance Index has been considered here as a function of fragmentation, porosity, patchiness, interspersion, juxtaposition and influence zones or distance for the source. The analysis has been performed in the customized GIS package called Bio-CAP for this purpose. 7.3 Biological Richness Biological forms of any area reflect the environmental conditions supporting the growth and evolution. Recently emphasis has been to look at the ecosystems (micro-climatic variations) or landscape diversity and its utility for conservation rather than one species. Therefore, the biological richness here has been considered as a function of ecosystem uniqueness, biodiversity value, species richness, Terrain complexity (computed through DTM by determining variance in DTM values) and most importantly disturbance index. The details of these parameters have been discussed elsewhere (Roy et al., 1999). 8. Observation Highlights 8.1 Vegetation Classification Hybrid approach has been followed to do the digital classification of the data set (Fig. 3). Table 4 summarizes the results of classification in the region. Forest types viz., moist deciduous, dry deciduous, pine and dry deciduous scrub together constitute about 1404.06 Km ², which is about 14.65 per cent of the total geographical area of the region. Non-forest classes such as agriculture, plantation, riverbed, barren land, settlement, grassland and water body makes up about 85.35 per cent of the geographical area. Amongst the forests, dry deciduous forest has Fig.3 classified map wide distribution in the region from Chandigarh to Pathankot and covers an area of 775.85 Km ². Dry deciduous scrub is the next dominant forest type of the region which is mainly constituted with Lantana scrub distributed throughout the region and then followed by moist deciduous forest found in Dhar, Pathankot, Dholba, Talwara, Nangal, Noorpur in a fragmented patches. And coniferous forest covers an area of 6.51 Km ² and is localized on the higher ridges or side slopes in the northern part of the Pathankot district. Table 4:Area under different Land cover / land use classes in the region Land use / cover class Area in km2 Moist deciduous forest 276.46 Dry deciduous forest 775.85 Dry deciduous scrub (Lantana) 345.24 Coniferous forest 6.51 Grass land 38.24 Plantation/Avenue trees 211.04 Agriculture 7443.22 Water body 78.94 Settlement 178.46 Riverbed/Barren land 238.19 Total 9592.15 9. Phyto-sociological analysis Phytosociological analysis was carried out to understand the floristic and vegetation pattern in the region. For the phytosociological analysis the vegetation types were grouped into five major types. Based on the species area curves developed initially an optimized field plots size of 2020 m was adopted uniformly for all the types. In each plot all the species names; height, girth, herbs and shrubs were recorded. The phytosociological database was created and computed the basic structural parameters viz. frequency, basal area and density. Utilizing these parameters the importance value index (IVI) was calculated for all the types (Annexure-II). Fig.4: Graphical presentation of Land use/land cover types and their Distribution. 9.1 Species richness (Shannon-Weaver Index) Species richness can be described as the number of the species in a sample or habitat per unit area. Higher the value greater the species richness. Species richness (Shannon Weaver Index) was measured using importance value index (Table 5, 6). Dry deciduous forest shows highest diversity (3.5361) with total number of 363 species followed by moist deciduous (3.0959) with moist deciduous forests then dry deciduous scrub (2.2666) having 77 species and coniferous forest shows least diversity (1.6207) with 58 species (Fig. 5). Table 5: Biodiversity status in the Shiwalik hills of Punjab state Forest Type No. of Families No. of Species Total no. of Species Total Importance Value Trees Shrubs Herbs Moist deciduous 36 42 24 95 161 10.46 Dry deciduous 31 141 75 147 363 10.53 Deciduous scrub 25 7 12 58 77 9.75 Pine 11 7 15 36 58 8.01 Table 6: Forest type wise Shannon Weaver Index in the Shiwalik hills of Punjab state Forest Type Average Basal Area (m2) Shannon Weaver Index SWI (H) Moist deciduous 38.412 3.0959 Dry deciduous 22.948 3.5361 Deciduous scrub 8.133 2.2666 Pine 6.53 1.6207 9.2 Economically Important Species Economically Important plants are the species, which have social and economic value. In the Shiwalik hills of Punjab state 240 economically important plants were recorded. The total importance value (TIV) for each species was calculated considering 10 important uses. The parameters considered are (1). Food (2). Fuel (3). Fodder (4). Fiber (5). Timber (6). Medicinal (7). Oil (8). Gums/Resins (9). Tannin and (10). Others. These 10 parameters have been weighted for a scale of 1 to 10 wherein maximum value represents highest economic value. Maximum total importance value was observed in dry deciduous type (TIV of 10.53) and coniferous type has the least value (TIV of 8.01) (Table 7). Some of the economically important species are Acacia catechu, Achyranthes aspera, Adhatoda zeylanica, Ageratum conyzoides, Azadiracta indica, Cannabis sativa, Moringa oleifera, etc. List of 232 economically important species and their uses were given in the Annexure II. Fig 5: Species distribution in each habit type Table 7: Total Importance Value of different vegetation types Forest Type TIV % Moist deciduous 10.46 Dry deciduous 10.53 Deciduous scrub 9.75 Pine 8.01 9.3 Medicinal Plants About 132 medicinally important species have been recorded during the sampling. Medicinal usage of these plants occurring in Shiwalik hills of Punjab have been compiled from available literature sources. Some of the important medicinaly important plants are Adhatoda zeylanica, Aegle marmelos, Azadirachta indica, Bacopa monnieri, Cordia dichotoma, Terminlaia chebula, Terminalia bellirica etc. and the list has bee furnished (Annexure.IV). Table 8 provide overview of the per cent utilizable species. Table 8: Percent utilizable species for Total Importance value (TIV) Forest type USES Food Fuel Fodder Fiber Timber Medicinal Oil Gums/ Resin Tannin Others DD 11.15 0.79 9.09 9.8 10.2 31.66 5.02 3.5 5.18 9.83 MD 12.7 2.36 6.94 7.91 2.6 32.1 0.65 0.86 1.3 8.45 DS 10.05 2.21 9.06 9.31 9.55 31.61 6.37 3.18 6.61 8.09 PN 0 0 8.52 0 0 20.78 0 0 0 2.35 Total 33.9 5.36 33.61 27.02 22.35 116.15 12.04 7.54 13.09 28.72 9.4 Ecological importance: The species recorded during the field data collection were screened for their uniqueness with help of RED DATA BOOK (Anonymous, 1987, 1988, 1990) and many other references. All the species recorded were abundant in nature. However, two species were found to be rare, viz., Delphinium danudatum Wall. ex HK.f.Th and Peristylus constrictus (Lindl.) Lindl. 10. Results of Landscape analysis 10.1 Fragmentation Increasing anthropogenic activities created discontinuity in the natural vegetation cover gets fragmented and the class becomes porous. Thus, fragmentation analysis of a land use class is an important landscape characteristic, which defines the status of that class in the present day context. Among all the characteristics of the landscape, fragmentation is more significant. Hence, the results of fragmentation are being discussed. For analysis of fragmentation in the forest, the vegetation map was reclassified as forest and non-forest classes, which resulted in a new spatial layer. A grid cel

Capital Punishment Essay: Death Penalty Should Be Reconsidered

Death Penalty Should Be Reconsidered      Ã‚   The Death Penalty is among one of the major punishments given by the United States Department of Justice. The following facts were given by the Office of Justice Program, Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the United States Department of Justice themselves. During the year of 1995, Texas was the leading state with nineteen executions. This is about thirty-four percent of the executions in the United States. Also in that year, out of 56 persons who were executed, there were 33 white, 22 black, and one Asian. The persons executed were under sentence of death an average of eleven years and two months. Thirty-four states and the Federal prison system held 3,054 prisoners under sentence of death. This is a little over five percent more than the previous year. These figures are high for the year, 1995. People consider this fair since all these prisoners have committed murder, but sometimes the US Department of Justice can not bring justice to either parties.    As of December 31, 1995, lethal injection was the predominant method of execution in the United States. Out of 50 states, 32 are using this type of execution. There were some states who are still using the other types of execution. Eleven states authorized electrocution, seven of lethal gas, four of hanging, and three states of firing squad. Among these, the least suffering is lethal injection.    The most recent execution in Texas took place on April 3, 1997. A man who killed a woman during the 1989 robbery of a topless bar was executed the day after he made an unsuccessful suicide attempt. David Lee Herman, 39, tried to take away his life by unsuccessfully slashing his throat and wrist with a broken razor. An officer ... ... someone, we are sending the most cynicism about the value of human life. Also every time we execute someone, we as a society sink to the same level as the common killer. Death is lifeà ­s most powerful enemy. Therefore we are against killing people, and we cannot just take away a human being.   Ã‚   Works Cited   Dr. Gus Roberts. expo-l@listserv.uta.edu. Dr. Gus Roberts. May 04, 1997 roberts@ics.net. listserv email. May 04, 1997 Tracy L. Snell. Status of Death Penalty 1995. December 1996. http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov.pub.bj.April 28, 1997   Michael L. Radelet and Ronald L. Akers. Deterrenc and the Death Penalty: The Views of the Experts. May 01, 1997. http://sun.soci.niu.edu...dppapers/mike.deterence. May, 03 1997. Associated Press. Murderer Executed a Day After Suicide Attempt. Dallas Morning News. April 03, 1997.

Matewan: A John Sayles Film :: Economy Economics Movies Essays

Matewan: A John Sayles' Film John Sayles, the writer and director of the film Matewan, demonstrates an understanding, albeit possibly an unconscious one, of the struggle between two economic systems. This work depicts the historical events of 1920 in the Mingo County, West Virginia town of Matewan, a place that came to be known as "Bloody Mingo". Although many people are accustomed to viewing feudalism as a social system from the past, history is not such an orderly, linear progression of societies and ways of life but is, rather, a dynamic, chaotic process. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that in the 1920s in this part of the United States there was a clash of two different economic systems—capitalism and feudalism. Economic systems are attempts to solve the following questions: Who does the production? Who controls the profits? And what is the social arrangement by which the two previous questions are resolved? There is an interlocking triad of considerations: economic relationships; political relationships; and cultural relationships. We see these relationships brought to life in the events of Matewan. Feudalism exists when free people have to work for a single employer, or not work at all. Capitalism, in contrast, allows free people to choose their employers. There is often in history a struggle between feudal and capitalist structures. The story of the coal miners is the story of one such clash. The Stone Mountain Coal Company owns everything in the town of Matewan. Its owners, the economic elite, could be likened to a collective feudal lord presiding over the estate of Matewan. Theirs is the only game in town and the miners have no choice in where they work This monopoly is feudal because of the absence of free choice. Capitalism requires competition over capital, not just capital. The total lack of competition is exposed in the train scene. The new men are told that they are beholden to the company for expenses—their tools, their train fare, tool sharpening, and even their fuses, caps, and powder. What little pay is left over is issued in company scrip, which is only good at the company’s store. We, the audience, are told at the onset of the film that the pay rate per tonnage has just been lowered. The company’s grip is vise-like; it can charge more and pay less. This combination is the scissors effect, and it leaves the miners in a subservient positio n.

Life in Brave New World and Life in America :: Brave New World

Life in Brave New World and Life in America For more than half a century, science fiction writers have thrilled and challenged readers with visions of the future and future worlds. These authors offered an insight into what they expected man, society, and life to be like at some future time. A society can achieve stability only when everyone is happy, and the brave new world tries hard to ensure that every person is happy. It does its best to eliminate any painful emotion, which means every deep feeling and passion. It uses genetic engineering and conditioning to ensure that everyone is happy with his or her work. Sex is a primary source of happiness. The brave new world basically teaches everyone to be promiscuous. You are allowed to have sex with any partner you want, who wants you, and sooner or later every partner will want you. Children are taught through hypnosis that "everyone belongs to everyone else." In this Utopia, what we think of as true love for one person would lead to a passion for that person and the establishment of family life, both of which would interfere with the community and its stability. Nobody is allowed to become pregnant because nobody is born, everyone is a "test-tube" baby. Many females are born sterile. The ideas and ways of obtaining happiness are not too much different in the brave new world than in our lives here in the United States. The only difference is that these pleasures are looked at in different ways. Sex is a very large part of our society's pleasure and everyone is allowed to have any partner that he/she wants, but this idea is not taught at a young age and everyone in our society does not feel this way towards sex. Our ideas and thoughts on topics of this nature are much more broad, and everyone is entitled to his/her own opinion. Families are established in our culture, which are looked upon as something very good for our society. Women are allowed to become pregnant as freely as they want and the government will even aid them in the process. This is one difference that is totally different from the brave new world. Women were a lot of times not even allowed to have children much less have as many as they so desired. Soma is a drug used by everyone in the brave new world almost everyday It calms people and gets them high at the same time, but without hangovers or nasty side effects. The rulers of the brave new world had put 2000

Competitive Landscape in Commercial Real Estate

Home  » Property Types  » Retail  » Clash of the Titans: Regional Mall REITs Fight for Limited Outlet Development Opportunities Clash of the Titans: Regional Mall REITs Fight for Limited Outlet Development Opportunities May 9, 2012 12:54 PM, By Elaine Misonzhnik, Senior Associate Editor In the fall of 2010 executives with Taubman Centers Inc. , a Bloomfield Hills, Mich. -based regional mall REIT, began talking about the REIT’s new avenue for growth: outlet centers. Article Tools ? Latest NewsMore Latest News Taubman had recently completed the conversion of its Great Lakes Crossing property in Auburn Hills, Mich. , a 1. 35-million-sq. -ft. enclosed regional mall, into Great Lakes Crossing Outlets. Taubman was able to sign up many tenants that were not present elsewhere in Michigan, including Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Disney Store Outlet and Rainforest Cafe. Great Lakes Crossing Outlets was attracting both local shoppers and Canadians from across the Detroit River. As a result, the center’s sales per sq. ft. umbers rose significantly, company officials said during earnings calls. The success in Auburn Hills helped convince Taubman’s management to capitalize on additional outlet center opportunities. Besides, in a market saturated with fortress malls and lifestyle centers, outlet centers represented one of the last opportunities for ground-up construction. Robert S. Taubman, the REIT’s chairman, president and CEO, laid out a goal of developing from five to 10 outlet centers in the span of a decade. Among the first such undertakings Taubman pursued was a site in Manvel, Texas, near Houston.The site seemed a good fit for Taubman’s target outlet center sales level of at least $400 per sq. ft. The median household income in Manvel is $65,864 a year, more than $15,000 higher than the median household income for the state as a whole. In addition, the town’s proximity to Houston would give Taubman access to 2 million po tential shoppers. Taubman’s Texas ambitions, however, did not pan out. Both Tanger Factory Outlet Centers, a Greensboro, N. C. -based REIT that specializes in outlet center development, and Simon PropertyGroup, the largest retail landlord in the country in both the regional mall and outlet center arenas, had laid claims to outlet center development sites in nearby Texas City, just 22 miles away. According to brokers familiar with the market, the greater Houston area could not support two, let alone three, outlet centers. In June 2011, Simon and Tanger took a decisive step to win the market by announcing that they would partner to build a 350,000-sq. -ft. joint development in Texas City under Tanger’s brand name. It marked the first joint venture development partnership in Tanger’s history.Ultimately, the two firms decided to work together on one large outlet center rather than spend money fighting each other, says Michael Rodenas, principal with Rodenas Consulti ng, a national consulting firm that specializes in shopping centers and malls. As a result, Taubman quietly retreated from the market. In July 2011, while discussing the company’s earnings for the second quarter, Robert Taubman admitted to analysts that outlets constitute â€Å"a very competitive space. It’s a very competitive world out there in development generally. † He reiterated the company’s commitment to investing in outlet centers both in U.S. and in Asia, but refused to discuss the Texas project. The Houston saga wasn’t the only time Taubman and Simon came to loggerheads in the outlet space. In early April, Simon and Taubman each issued press releases about competing outlet center projects in Chesterfield, Mo. , another market where trade area demographics seem to dictate that only one outlet development can succeed. On Apr. 3, Simon revealed that Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th agreed to anchor its St. Louis Premium Outlets, an outlet center sl ated to contain at least 350,000 sq. ft. of space. (St.Louis Premium Outlets is a product of a joint venture between Simon, Woodmont Outlets and EWB Development LLC, all experienced outlet center developers. ) Two days later, Taubman announced it broke ground for Taubman Prestige Outlets Chesterfield, a 450,000-sq. -ft. center. Taubman’s press release noted that it had firm commitments from a number of tenants, but did not identify any retailers by name. It is likely that only one of those two centers will get built in Chesterfield. â€Å"We’ve said publicly, I think, Simon has said publicly that there is only going to be one project built in St.Louis,† Robert Taubman said during the firm’s first quarter earnings call. â€Å"We are way ahead, on a much better site with much better access, much better visibility. †¦ So to us it’s very clear as to which project is going to be built. † Most industry sources, however, are putting their mone y on Simon because of the firm’s size, its existing network of relationships in the outlet center industry and the fact that it has already bagged a major tenant. The large regional mall players, including Simon, Taubman, Macerich Co. CBL & Associates Properties and others, have all made overtures to enter the outlet space. But with limited opportunities for development and an existing group of experienced landlords already competing there, these battles—competing press releases, wars of words and unconventional partnerships— are likely to continue to play out repeatedly throughout the country. CBL & Associates recently invested in The Outlet Shoppes in El Paso (Texas). Last spring, both Simon and Tanger announced outlet center projects in the town of Halton Hills, a suburb of Toronto.Tanger has since moved its project further away and will build it as an outlet addition to Heartland Town Centre, one of Canada’s largest power centers. Simon, meanwhile, st arted construction on its original site in Halton Hills in April. And in the Chicago area, Macerich and AWE Talisman have announced plans to build a $200 million, 528,000-sq. -ft. outlet center in Rosemont while Craig Realty Group, a privately held outlet center developer, has ambitions to develop Chicagoland Outlets at Country Club Hills, a 408,500-sq. -ft. project.Simon Property Group declined to comment for this article. Tanger, Taubman, Macerich and Craig Realty Group, meanwhile, did not respond to calls for comments. â€Å"The problem is—as we saw when developers started to roll out lifestyle centers—that everyone goes after the same markets,† says Jeff Green, president of Jeff Green Partners, a Phoenix-based consulting firm. â€Å"And many times the newer folks to the outlet industry are going to find that it’s a much harder industry to get into when there are relationships that have been in place for so many years. † In certain isolated inst ances, uch as the one near Houston, two big developers might form joint ventures because one of them holds a better site while the other wields more power with retailers. Such examples, however, will be few and far between, according to Richard Hauer, managing director of business restructuring services at BDO, a New York City-based consulting firm. â€Å"Let me put it this way: Neither Simon nor Taubman is going to build a second-rate outlet mall,† he says. â€Å"So if the first guy can get Coach and Polo and Saks and a few of those names that every outlet mall really wants, you’ll see the other guy back down. Mass appeal The reasons the outlet sector has suddenly become overcrowded are easy to trace. During the downturn, outlet center sales rose while mall sales fell or remained flat because shoppers were suddenly attracted to outlets’ value proposition. What’s more, as these centers moved closer to urban areas and proved that they can work in close pr oximity to regional malls, the number of markets that could support new projects increased. With limited opportunity for growth elsewhere, regional mall REITs began to focus on the outlet sector.Real estate owners that want to gain market share in a new property segment typically have two avenues for growth: either through acquisition of multiple assets or another operating company or though development. But when Simon bought Prime Outlets Inc. in 2010 it snapped up the last big privately-held outlet center operator in the market. Today, â€Å"no private guy controls 20 or 30 centers that could be sold,† says Gerard Mason, executive managing director with Savills LLC. What’s more, there is a wide spread on yields between development and investment.For instance, CBL & Associates, a Chattanooga, Tenn. -based REIT, recently invested more than $108 million to provide financing for two outlet centers developed by Horizon Group Properties, a Rosemont, Ill. -based outlet cent er developer. (CBL has also partnered with Horizon on groundup projects in Oklahoma City and Woodstock, Ga. ) But CBL CEO Stephen Lebovitz admits that development projects offer double-digit returns while investing in existing centers brings returns in the 8 percent range. I would expect that our growth will be mainly through new development,† he says. At the same time, Lebovitz notes that the number of markets in the U. S. that would meet CBL’s development criteria, including a trade area of approximately a million people, a sizeable tourist base and lack of existing competition, is limited. One high-ranking industry source says that for developers targeting outlet center sales on par with Simon’s levels, which average about $550 per sq. ft. , there are maybe 10 untapped markets left that fit the necessary trade area characteristics.For developers targeting Tanger’s sales levels, which currently average $371 per sq. ft. , there are about 40 untapped marke ts. â€Å"But there aren’t 100,† the anonymous source notes. By the end of the 2012, there will be 187 outlet centers containing 71 million sq. ft. , according to Value Retail News, a publication that covers the outlet industry. Linda Humphers, editor-in-chief of Value Retail News, estimates that in the long term, the country may be able to support another 250 centers, but that would include conversions.Occasionally, a developer will be able to find a site in an offbeat location that nobody else has thought about, says Gerard Mason. But for the most part, all the REITs are looking at the same markets, and in many cases, at the same piece of land. â€Å"There is clearly room for growth in the sector—every major metro area can certainly support outlet retail,† says Michael P. Glimcher, CEO of Glimcher Realty Trust, a Columbus, Ohiobased regional mall REIT that also owns outlet centers in Elizabeth, N. J. and Auburn, Wash. I just think the reality is there a re a lot of people in that category and only a small percentage of what’s being announced will actually get built,† Glimcher says. Bloodless war When it comes to handling competition on new developments the big retail REITs have acquired a reputation for being ruthless, employing tactics such as funding community opposition groups to derail each others’ projects, says Patrick Fox, president of Saint Consulting Group, a firm that specializes in zoning and land-use battles. These are mature markets, they are largely over-built and the battle for market share is tremendous,† he notes. But unlike large regional malls that tend to be located in major urban areas, outlet centers don’t normally inspire the same kind of opposition from local residents, according to James Schutter, senior managing director with Newmark Knight Frank Retail, a retail real estate services firm. In fact, many communities want to see outlet centers built because of the tremendous amount of sales tax revenue they bring in. The real battle in outlets’ case is for tenant commitments.Although the outlet industry doesn’t have anchors in the same sense that the regional mall industry does, there are certain key stores that are necessary to attract shoppers and that the rest of outlet retailers follow, notes Hauer. These include Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th, Coach and Polo, as well as Neiman Marcus Last Call and Nordstrom Rack. About a decade ago, Hauer tried to develop an outlet center near Syracuse, N. Y. When he started negotiating with potential tenants the answer was â€Å"if you can get Polo, we’ll sign. Otherwise, we are not interested. †When there are two developers competing to build a center in a market that can support only one project it becomes a race to be the first to announce leases with major tenants. The developers try to convince expanding retailers that their center is the one that’s going to happen by putting out announcements about land permits and ground-breakings. Ultimately, however, it’s the line-up of tenants that determines whose center gets built. â€Å"Developers announce that they will put together a mall [all the time], they don’t always make it happen,† says Schutter. If you’ve got this tenant and this tenant and this tenant coming, the other guys in the marketplace say, ‘Let’s go into this project. ’† â€Å"A ground-breaking is not as strong as being able to announce a strong anchor tenant,† Fox adds. So how do those key retailers decide who to go with when the choice is between Simon and Tanger, or Simon and Taubman or Macerich and Craig Realty Group? After Taubman converted its Great Lakes Crossing project into an outlet center, sales rose significantly.Having the best site certainly makes a difference, which is why Simon may be willing to partner with Tanger if Tanger has secured a better location, according to Mic hael Rodenas. When the projects are in the same trade area, the choice might come down to seemingly small differences like which side of the highway the center will be located on or which zip codes in a given area are missing from the retailer’s customer base. But in the outlet industry, having existing relationships with a potential landlord is also very important, according to Hauer, Green,Lebovitz and others. And in this, Simon, which controls the largest mall portfolio and the largest outlet center portfolio in the country, has a tremendous advantage. That might not come into play as much in the Simon/Tanger relationship because the two REITs specialize in slightly different projects, but it will likely loom large in any battle between Simon and other regional mall REITs. â€Å"If you [as a tenant] get Simon angry with you on the outlet side, they can be angry with you on the traditional retail side also,† says Green. Let’s just say that in that case the dev eloper has a large hammer, a larger hammer than any mall-only developer would have. † That’s why most retail industry insiders feel that while Taubman and the other regional mall REITs will eventually be able to build a handful of outlet centers, they will not be able to break into the business in the big way they had imagined. â€Å"The outlet mall industry is kind of a closed world,† says Schutter. Sidebar: Eastern Promises While U. S. retail REIT executives try to build up their outlet portfolios at home, most of them realize that growth opportunities here are limited.So in recent months they’ve been announcing outlet center projects elsewhere in the world, including Canada, Brazil, Japan, China, South Korea and Malaysia. In April, Simon signed a deal with BR Malls Participacoes S. A. to develop outlet centers in Brazil, with the first project scheduled to be built in Sao Paulo by 2013 and started construction on Phase I of Shisui Premium Outlets, a 234 ,000-sq. -ft. outlet center in Shisui, Japan. Both Simon and Tanger have been working on outlet centers in Canada, including Simon’s 500,000-sq. ft. Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills and Tanger’s 312,000-sq. -ft. outlet addition to Heartland Town Centre in Mississauga. And Taubman executives have told analysts they are looking to build outlet centers in Asia, where Taubman already has offices in Hong Kong and Seoul, South Korea. â€Å"In the U. S. , you are not going to see outlet centers double in number,† says Gerard Mason, executive managing director with Savills LLC, a global real estate services firm. â€Å"That’s why Simon is in Brazil and China.In Brazil they might be able to do 15 outlet centers because their middle class is just emerging and they need shopping centers. † —E. M. Sidebar: Mini-Malls With the increase in outlet centers’ popularity, the concept has evolved to represent something different than a small colle ction of factory stores in the middle of nowhere. In the 1980s and 1990s, the rule of thumb was that an outlet center had to be located at least 70 miles away from the closest phone line, jokes one broker. Today, if a shopper goes to Central New Jersey, â€Å"you have the Freehold Raceway Mall [a 1. -million-sq. -ft. superregional center] and then 10 to 15 minutes away, there is an outlet mall,† according to Richard Hauer. Today’s outlet centers have grown larger, sometimes containing up to 450,000 sq. ft. or 500,000 sq. ft. of space, whereas the outlet centers of yesterday tended to average 150,000 sq. ft. The tenant line-up has changed from manufacturers to big retail chains, many of which, including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Gap, J. Crew and Aeropostale, have established off-price and outlet divisions.Plus, outlet centers now feature mall-like amenities, such as food courts, restaurants and movie theaters, because people are staying on the properties longer than they used to, notes Michael Rodenas. And when CBL & Associates Properties and Horizon Group Properties were working on the plan for The Outlet Shoppes at Oklahoma City, a 350,000-sq. -ft. center that opened last summer, CBL marked land around the property for the addition of restaurants and hotel facilities. â€Å"We feel it adds critical mass,† says Stephen Lebovitz. —E. M.