Life of Stray Cats Essay

Stray animals like dogs and cats wondering around our neighborhood have become a norm across the globe because they reproduce quickly and uncontrollably. One of the pros of it is that they hardly will be extinct and we will always have our furry friends be around with us. But with only very little pros, it can never out power the cons that strays had to go through. They are always the number one victims of abuse, living in a malnutrition state, and involve in too many accidents and in the end of the day, only a small amount of people actually cares and pay attentions to these helpless animals. We always read articles about stray dogs but how many of us actually remember about stray cats? According to myth, cats have nine lives which makes us think that they are stronger, and can live longer compare to any other animals but as all of us know, it is not true. Cats only have one life just like every other animal. What makes us agree to the myths is because a lot of cats actually look alike, that even if one died, another cat will appear hence we will think it’s the same cats. Stray cats have to go through as much pain as stray dogs. They need to hunt for their own food, digging from one garbage bin to another, attacked by other stray cats, and got injuries all over the body. Worst of all, being abuse by immoral people who splash hot water or slash them without any guilty feelings. Cats also meet with accidents very often due to speeding cars, dark roads where drivers couldn’t see, or unhygienic food that they accidentally eat. They were eventually left to rot or being eaten by other animals such as crows and dogs. Who will actually care for their lives Although it’s impossible for us to adopt every stray cat on the street, but imagine if every family manage to keep a pet cat in their home. That can actually save a lot of their lives. Some might have allergies towards animals but you can still help by providing clean water and some food outside of your house for the cats. This can avoid them from eating poisonous or unhygienic foods and also let them have a healthier life. Last but not least, the best way to avoid over reproduction of strays is by spaying or neutering them. Do not just sit back and watch our furry friends die. One day, they might be gone from the surface of the earth forever. They deserve a second chance too. Start saving and adopting.

Investigating Factors That Affect the Rate of Reaction

Investigating Factors that Affect the Rate of Reaction of the Decomposition of Hydrogen Peroxide Emilio Lanza Introduction- In this experiment, the rate of reaction, calculated in kPa sec-1, of the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide will be investigated to see how the change in concentration of hydrogen peroxide and the change in temperature affect the rate of reaction. The data will be collected by measuring the gas pressure. The product of Hydrogen Peroxide is oxygen in a gas state thus it is mandatory to use the gas pressure sensor.By calculating the difference of the gas pressure divided by the amount of time from the raw data collection it is able to find the rate of reaction of the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide. * Control Variable- 1mL of yeast (catalyst) is being used in every trial. The volume of H2O2 is always 4 mL, even though the concentration changes and the sizes and type of test tube was the same because it can change the pressure. * Independent Variable- Concentra tion of H2O2 (M) and the temperature (Â °C) * Dependent Variable- The rate of reaction of the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide > rate of reaction = ?Pressure (kPa)Time (sec) . * Research Question- it is needed to calculate the rate of reaction (kPa sec-1) of the decomposition of H2O2 to understand how different factors such as the change in concentration and the change in temperature of H2O2 affect the rate of reaction. Materials and Method- Materials: * 0. 5 M Yeast solution (the catalyst) – 15 mL * 45 mL of 3 % H2O2 solution * A thermometer * A computer with LoggerPro Program. * A Vernier computer interface * A Vernier Gas Pressure Sensor * A 1 liter beaker * A match to light up the bunsen burner * A tripod Two 10 mL test tubes * Two 10 mL pipette * Distilled water – 15 mL * A matt/cover that is fire resistant * 700 mL of room temperature water from a sink * A one-hole rubber stopper with stem * Two test tube holders * Two 10 mL graduated cylinders * A bunsen burn er * Two solid rubber stopper * Plastic tubing containing two Luer-lock connectors * A one-hole rubber stopper with stem * A test tube rack Procedure: Part 1 of the experiment: Decomposing 3 % of H2O2 solution with 0. 5 Yeast at about 30Â °C 1. Take the 1-liter beaker and add 700 mL of room temperature water.Take the tripod, place a matt/cover that is fire resistant on top of the tripod and onto the matt/cover place the 1-liter beaker that has been filled up with 700 mL of room temperature water from a sink. 2. First hook the rubber tube from the Bunsen burner to a gas source, then take a match and turn on the gas source. Once the gas is on light the match and then light the bunsen burner. (MAKE SURE TO NOT BURN YOURSELF)!! 3. Place the lit bunsen burner underneath the tripod so it can begin to heat the 1 liter beaker with the 700 mL of room temperature water from the sink. . Insert a thermometer into the 1 liter beaker that is being heated and adjust the flame of the bunsen burner so it will heat the water to a temperature of about 30Â °C. 5. Take the 10 mL pipette and the 10 mL-graduated cylinder use the pipette and transfer 4 mL of H2O2 and using a 10 mL pipette transfer 4 mL of H2O2 from a container into the 10 mL graduated cylinder. 6. Take a 10 mL test tube and add fill 4 mL of H2O2 from the 10 mL graduated cylinder into the 10 mL test tube. Once that is done, take a rubber stopper and seal the 10 mL test tube containing the H2O2.Use the test tube holder to hold the test tube into the 1 liter beaker the is being heated to a temperature of about 30Â °C. Make sure that the majority of the test tube is submerged in water. 7. Using the other 10 mL pipette, transfer 1 mL of 0. 5 M Yeast into the other 10 mL graduated cylinder. From this graduated cylinder, transfer the 0. 5 M Yeast to a new 10 mL test tube; seal the test tube with a new solid rubber stopper. With the other test tube holder, place this test tube containing 1 mL of 0. M Yeast into 1 liter be aker that is currently being heated to a temperature of about 30Â °C. 8. Turn on a computer and start the LoggerPro Program. 9. Connect the Gas Pressure Senor to Channel 1of the Vernier computer interface and with the correct cable attach the Vernier computer interface to the computer. 10. Take the plastic tubing with the Leur-lock connectors at either end of the tubing, connect the tubing to the base on the one-hole rubber stopper and the other end of the plastic tubing, it must be connected to the white stem on the end of the Gas Pressure Sensor called a Luer-lock. MAKE SURE THE PLASTIC TUBING TIGHTLY SECURED OR THE GAS WILL ESCAPE AND IT WILL LEAD IT IN ACCURATE READINGS). 11. Once the LoggerPro Program has been opened make sure that the label on the x-axis is time in seconds and that the units on the y-axis is pressure in kPa before collecting the data. 12. Leave the test tubes in the water bath for at least two minutes so that the solutions in the test tube have a temperature of around 30Â °C. Once the water is about 30Â °C, record this temperature into a data table. When two minutes have passed by, commence the reaction and collect the pressure data.Remove both test tubes from the water by holding onto the test tube holder, place them in a test tube rack and remove each seal from the test tubes. Transfer the yeast solution from its test tube into the test tube containing H2O2 solution and shake lightly to mix the two solutions together. 13. As quick as possible seal the test tube with the one-hole stopper connected to the Gas Pressure Sensor and place the test tube back into the water by holding the test tube with the test tube holder. Next click collect data on the LoggerPro Program to begin collecting data. THE LAST TWO STEPS ARE CRUCIAL AND MUSTBE DONE AS QUICK AS POSSIBLE TO AVOID ANY EXTERNAL INFLUENCES). 14. It is needed to collect the data for three minutes once three minutes is up, carefully remove the test tube from the water by holding onto the test tube holder and set it in the test tube rack. Next slowly and carefully begin to tale out the stopper from the test tube allowing the gas pressure to escape. 15. Store the results from the first trial by selecting Store Latest Run from the Experiment menu. After doing this a table of data and the graph will be saved.Then make sure to clean and trash the solution that is in the test tube. Repeat the first part another two more time so you can have three trials in total. Then print the graph and the full data table from each trial. Part 2 of the experiment: Decomposing 1. 5 % of H2O2 solution with 0. 5 Yeast at about 30Â °C 1. Take a 10 mL graduated cylinder and using a 10 mL pipette (make sure you are using the same pipette for the H2O2 as in previous trials and don’t interchange this pipette for the one being used with Yeast) fill 2 mL of H2O2 from the same container like it was done in part 1 into the 10 mL graduated cylinder.Once that is done insert 2 mL of distil led water as well into the graduated cylinder containing H2O2. 2. Now grab the 10 mL test tube (which has been thoroughly washed with water) and insert the 4 mL of H2O2 which has been mixed with the distilled water from the 10 mL graduated cylinder into the 10 mL test tube. Then take the 10 mL test tube and with the H2O2 seal it with a rubber stopper. Use the test tube holder so you can place the test tube in the 1 liter beaker that is being heated to 30Â °C. Be sure that the test tube is deep enough in the 1 liter beaker. . Using the other 10 mL pipette, take the 1 mL of 0. 5 M yeast and our it into the other 10 mL graduated cylinder. Then grab the graduated cylinder and put the 0. 5 M yeast to a new 10 mL test tube; close the test tube so no air comes in with a new rubber stopper. With the other test tube holder, place this test tube containing 1 mL of 0. 5 M KI into 1 liter beaker that is currently being heated to a temperature of about 30Â °C. Repeat steps 13-18 from part I. P art 3 of the experiment: Decomposing 0. 75 % of H2O2 solution with 0. 5 Yeast at about 30Â °C 1.Take a 10 mL graduated cylinder and using a 10 mL pipette (make sure you are using the same pipette for the H2O2 as in previous trials and don’t interchange this pipette for the one being used with KI) transfer 1 mL of H2O2 from the same container like in part I into the 10 mL graduated cylinder. Add 3 mL of distilled water into the graduated cylinder containing H2O2. Mix the solution gently. 2. Take a 10 mL test tube (which has been cleaned after previous trials) and transfer 4 mL of H2O2 mixed with distilled water from the 10 mL graduated cylinder into the 10 mL test tube.Then seal the 10 mL test tube containing the H2O2 with a solid rubber stopper. With one of the test tube holders, place the test tube into the 1 liter beaker that is currently being heated to a temperature of about 30Â °C. Make sure that the majority of the test tube is submerged in water. 3. Using the other 1 0 mL pipette, transfer 1 mL of 0. 5 M yeast into the other 10 mL graduated cylinder. From this graduated cylinder, transfer the 0. 5 M yeast to a new 10 mL test tube; seal the test tube with a new solid rubber stopper.With the other test tube holder, place this test tube containing 1 mL of 0. 5 M yeast into 1 liter beaker that is currently being heated to a temperature of about 30Â °C. Repeat steps 13-15 from part 1. Part 4 of the experiment: Decomposing 3. 0 % of H2O2 solution with 0. 5 Yeast at about 35Â °C 1. For this part repeat the steps 6-7 and 13-15 from part 1. The only thing that is needed to be changed is that the water needs to be about 35Â °C. Part 5 of the experiment: Decomposing 3. 0 % of H2O2 solution with 0. 5 Yeast at about 40Â °C 1. For part 5 redo the steps 6-7 and 13-15 from part 1.The only thing that is needed to be changed is that the water needs to be about 40Â °C. Steps once all the five parts of the experiment are complete 1. Now look at the data table that has been filled in for each trial from each and calculate the average reaction rate (kPa sec-1) of the decomposition of H2O2 that occurred over 3 minutes for each part and put it into the analysis table 2. Insert the concentration of H2O2 and yeast from each part into the analysis table as well. 3. Make sure to find the average temperature (Â °C) and include it in the analysis table. . Then compare and contrast the different effects the rate o reaction caused by the change in concentration of H2O2 and in the change of temperature. (The data table is an example of the data table that will be printed from the computer after each trial and part is done from LoggerPro Progam. The only thing is that it will record the gas pressure until 3 minutes. Again only an example how it should look like). The Gas Pressure from the Decomposition of H2O2 After Every Second| Time (sec)| Gas Pressure (kPa)| 1| | 2| | 3| | 4| | 5| | 6| | 7| | 8| | | | 10| | Data Analysis Table for the Decompositio n of H2O2| Part #| Average Temperature (Â °C)| Average Rate of Reaction (kPa sec-1)| Concentration of H2O2 in %| Concentration of Yeast (M)| Part 1| | | | | Part 2| | | | | Part 3| | | | | Part 4| | | | | Part 5| | | | | The Temperature (Â °C) of the Water During Each Part of the Lab and Each Trial | Parts of Experiments| Trial 1| Trial 2| Trial 3| Part 1 Temperature (Â °C)| | | | Part 2 Temperature (Â °C)| | | | Part 3 Temperature (Â °C)| | | | Part 4 Temperature(Â °C)| | | | Part 5 Temperature (Â °C)| | | |

Animal Experimentation Essay examples -- Animal Rights

It is unethical to use the cruel methods of animal experimentation for our own benefit alone. The animals used in research range from birds, dogs, cats, and pigs to name a few. So many innocent creatures put up with the immense pain so that science experiments can be made and new products can be put on the shelves. Many of the animals used in the testing and experiments are blind, severely burned, poisoned, or mutilated (â€Å"Animals in Product Testing.†). Even when a product is labeled â€Å"cruelty free† or â€Å"not tested on animals† the individual ingredients that make up the product are likely to have been tested on animals at some point (Macfarlane et al., 191). Also, anesthesia is not required by law to give to small lab animals such as rats and mice, it is the lab's choice if the animals will receive pain medication or sedatives ("Health Sciences Center Animal Research Facility - Conducting Research with Animals."). The animals are either killed as a re sult of the experiments, or they are injured so severely that they must be euthanized. According to the National Anti-Vivisection Society, animals have had their eyes pried open, their skin burned, and bones broken. The experiments would sometimes result in spinal cord or brain injury (Anderagg et al., 2006). There are two main types of test involved in animal experimentation; the Draize test and the LD-50 test. The Draize test meas... ... middle of paper ... ...98. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. "Health Sciences Center Animal Research Facility - Conducting Research with Animals."UNM Health Sciences Center at the University of New Mexico. 2011. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. "Lab Animal Alternatives - The Three Rs." MSPCA Homepage. 2009. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. MacFarlane, Martin, Penny Jones, Carstin Goebel, Eric Dufour, Joanna Rowland, Daisuke Araki, Margit Costabel-Farkas, Nicola Hewitt, Julila Habatallah, Annette Kirst, Pauline McNamee, Florian Shallauf, and Julia Scheel. "A Tiered Approach to the Use of Alternatives to Animal Testing for the Safety Assessment of Cosmetics: Skin Irritation." Regulatory Toxicology Pharmacology: RTP 54.2 (2009): 188-96.Academic Search Premier. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, â€Å"Annual Report Animal Usage by Fiscal Year," 6 Jul. 2010. Web. 19 Nov. 2011.

Emission Trading Schemes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Emission Trading Schemes - Essay Example [1]. Emissions' trading has emerged over the last two decades as the preferred environmental policy tool. The key advantage of emissions trading is that firms can flexibly choose to meet their targets, rather than use predetermined technologies or standards - i.e., command-and-control policies. Emissions sources with low-cost reduction opportunities can over comply and sell their additional allowances to sources where reductions would be more difficult and costly. This leads to the lowest overall cost, or most economically efficient solution. Emissions' trading is particularly relevant to climate change mitigation as carbon dioxide (CO2) and other green-house gases (GHGs) have the same effect wherever they are emitted and compliance costs differ dramatically across sources. Hence there is considerable scope for trading, and opportunity for considerable gains from these trades. Experience in the United States and other countries have shown that well-designed emissions trading programs can reduce environmental policy costs by as much as 50%. [1]. The origins of the EU-ETS date back to 1992 when 180 countries signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Following negotiations under this agreement, the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, committing the industrialized nations to an averaged 5.2% reduction from 1990 levels by the first commitment period in 2008-2012. The EU-ETS officially began on January 1, 2005 and consists of a "warm-up" phase from 2005-2007 and then successive 5-year periods, with the second phase from 2008-2012 set to coincide with the Kyoto compliance period. Six key industrial sectors are covered, notably electricity and heat production plants greater than 20MW capacity. Other included sectors (with specific facility size thresholds) are oil refineries, coke ovens, metal ore and steel installations, cement kilns, glass manufacturing, ceramics manufacturing, and paper, pulp and board mills. These sectors are likely to account for around 12,000 installations (depending on the final details of the specification process), and represent close to half of the total CO2 emissions from the EU-25 countries. Participating companies are allocated allowances, each allowance representing a ton of the relevant emission, in this case carbon dioxide equivalent. Emissions' trading allows companies to emit in excess of their allocation of a llowances by purchasing allowances from the market. Similarly, a company that emits less than its allocation of allowances can sell its surplus allowances. [1]. Monitoring and reporting of an installation's emissions are carried out based on binding EU-wide guidelines mainly through fuel purchases and use of emissions factors, although continuous monitoring and third party verification are allowed. All self-reported emissions must be verified by an independent third party (similar to an auditor reviewing a firm's financial accounts). [2].Methodologies are under development to allow inclusion of additional sources, greenhouse gases and emissions factors. Hefty fines exists for non-compliance (40 Euro/TCO2 from 2005-2007, then 100Euro/TCO2 from 2008 onwards), levels that are considerably higher than most predictions of allowance prices. [3]. Even though the EU ETS will ultimately be judged on the basis of its effectiveness as a tool to reduce GHG emissions, the underlying rationale for choosing emissions trading was based on economic

Philosophy of Math Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philosophy of Math - Scholarship Essay Example This question turned out to be extraordinarily difficult, and mathematicians have been struggling with it ever since" (Clay Mathematics Institute, 2008). Ornes (2006) finds a way to simply, yet humorously, define the conjecture by saying, "Say you're walking down a street, and you encounter a strange and complicated shape whose surface sports peaks and valleys, mountains and molehills, but no holes. If you were a mathematician, you may want to study the way that functions behave on it. Poincar's conjecture says that no matter what it looks like, it's a sphere. The conjecture gives mathematicians a short and easy way to identify a deformed blob as a sphere in disguise." (2) Read the article by Colyvan on indispensability of math. You will find it at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mathphil-indis/ . Describe the "indispensability argument" and briefly discuss one objection (ie, state an objection and say why you think it a good one or a poor one.) According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2008, pg.

Successful Approach to Development of Korea and Japan Term Paper

Successful Approach to Development of Korea and Japan - Term Paper Example The paper will generally concentrate on how the two countries; Japan and Korea are similar in their development and how they differ too. Korea has experienced late industrialization as compared to Japan. This is so because it was colonized by Japan from 1910 to 1945. The economic development was definitely influenced by Japan as they left them with some knowledge on how to carry out specific economic development methods. Many scholars and policy makers have seen the need to study Korea and Japan but their main focus is on the economic side only. This is to find out how the two giant economies have managed to grow rapidly over the years. The colonial rule by the Japanese was a great influence on the labor structure of Korea despite all other economic factors. Japan passed on to Korea skilled labor. The importance of skilled labor in uplifting the economic status of a country comes in when there is proper utilization of raw materials thus increase in the rate of production. This simply means that there will be no wastage of raw materials as the human resources know how to carry out specific activities while using the r aw materials. More so, because of specialization and perfect knowledge of a particular activity, an individual increases his or her number of goods produced. This meets the demand of the specific good or service by the general public. Moreover, there is always an addition for exporting (Alice, chapter 1 and 13). In addition, the Onada Cement plant of Japan had put up five branches in Korea and ten in Japan. The study of the workers in this palnt revealed that they were very skilled and this led to the province of South Pyongyang being one of the richest in Korea. Though Koreans were experiencing oppression by the Japanese due to colonization, they did gain modernity as Japan introduced them to new industrial methods. Japan had found cheap labor in Korea while they were colonizing

The Greater Good Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Greater Good - Essay Example Leaders have the greatest responsibility to ensure that the whole society benefits from their leadership more than they benefit themselves. A good leader is the one who believes that leadership is an individual decision and sacrifice to dedicate their time, as well as their energy to bring benefits not to themselves, but to the needs of other people. The greatest problems in the society have been overcome by leaders who have been able to cause a greater good (Burnes, 2012). In doing this, they have been able to bring the society together to share in a common commitment, that is of good to every one. Leaders can achieve a greater good, by ensuring that they always put the needs of their followers first before their own needs. This means that even sometimes sacrificing their ambitions for the sake of the society. To foster greater good, the leaders in any society have to practice ethical leadership. This is where the leaders are mindful of others rights and dignity. Since leaders have social power at their disposal, they always have to ensure that they use this power to make decisions that are beneficial to their followers (Hauser, 2012). Such leaders usually have high level of integrity. Such leaders are always aware that their decisions have great impact to other people, they always ensure that their decision serve the greater good instead of their individual good. In doing this, the leaders ensure that they influence their followers positively by ensuring that their behaviors, as well as characteristics are an encouragement to their admirers. Their followers copy the good behaviors of their leaders, something which have positive effect on the whole society. Leaders can also foster greater good by ensuring that they are servant leaders. This can be achieved by the leaders ensuring that they listen to the views of those that they lead, as well as being sincerer with them. This makes the people under them to freely share their ideas as

Analysis of Genealogy of Morals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Analysis of Genealogy of Morals - Essay Example Instead of understanding as being inherent or natural, he argues, they are the instruments of the privileged few to preserve the status quo and keep themselves in power. In Nietzsche’s point of view, this directly undervalues them. I argue that he perceives this notion of good and evil as philosophically worthless and, moreover, something to be removed from human society. We, as well, just like Nietzsche should begin searching for the origin of the words. The argument of Nietzsche is founded on linguistics; he explores the words in several languages, and terms resembling them. He explores initially the German ‘schlecht’ which means bad. He examines parallel words such as ‘schlicht,’ ‘schlechtweg,’ and ‘schlechterdings.’ These three words are deviations of the word simple, guiding Nietzsche to the assumption that the words are connected; that to a certain extent the meaning of ‘schlecht’ was modified, and this modification stands for the ideals of the German society of that period, that the plebeians, average citizens were, blatantly, bad. Likewise, Nietzsche specifies Latin, mentioning particularly malus which means ‘bad’ and melas which means ‘black’ (Leiter 2002, 41). Nietzsche afterwards mentions the structure of the upper and lower classes of Rome. In Roman traditions, he emphasizes, those with black hair were customarily recognized as lower class, whereas the upper class are those with light and blonde hair. He draws the same thought s in Greek and Celtic traditions, generally making the argument that the terms for good and bad varied basically from classiest concepts in which the privileged few had such power they could even exploit the language to function in their own interest and motive (Leiter 2002). However, there is dissimilarity in the words, certainly the thoughts, being made use of now and those that were presented initially. Good and bad are not synonymous as

Case Study See Attachment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

See Attachment - Case Study Example estos residue in pores and cracks, whether TEG was required to follow the contract specifications rather than its work plan, and whether TEG was entitled to compensation for removing what it alleged were excessive quantities of asbestos. The concept of breach of contract was the vital issue associated with these issues. Court’s Rationale or Reasoning for its Decision: The court adheres to the presumption that any ‘debris and residues’ contains asbestos. The court also made the case clear by going back to the basic law concerning contract, and its interpretation. Key Facts: There was presence of contract between the two parties involved in the case. There was a Board’s decision made. For this matter at hand, the cross-motions for summary judgment on the contractor’s appeal from the Board’s decision were thereafter filed in the United States Court of Claims. Legal Issue(s) Presented before Court: There were three essential issues raised in this case, which include the power outage claim, the claim for delays in obtaining access to the apartments, and the contractor’s right to recover damages. Holding of the Court: The Board’s decision involving the power outage of August 18, 1978 was affirmed. Access claim however, was reversed and both motions for summary judgment were denied, allowing the case to be remanded to the

Inter-vendor Storage Management Application Tools Essay Example for Free

Inter-vendor Storage Management Application Tools Essay Inter-vendor storage application management tools are huge enterprise software applications that are used for robust, reliable, available and effective data management. The applications are both hardware and software dependent. The choice of their implementation depends on the organizational needs and objectives. Various vendors develop and support these tools both for support of business and mission critical applications. Some of the leading Inter-vendor applications tools that have dominated the industry as well as organizational automations in the last two years include VERITAS, Oracle and NetApp (ESM, 2009). VERITAS Its application tools provides for automated storage management software for enterprise business applications which have increased dependence on data from corporate storage infrastructure. VERITAS application tools are vital for boosting administrator productivity and reduce errors in automated storage administration. Among the tools it provides is the Storage Resource Management (SRM) software tools that help to automate the erroneous, tedious and routine tasks in storage administration. The tools are able to predict when the problem is likely to happen and as a result the IT managers are able to head off these problems. The automated storage provisions help the administrators have a continuous, uninterrupted access to the enterprise storage resources. The storage administration by the automated SRM software can accomplish several tasks in use, management and applications of the storage allocations. The automation tools are able to gather data around the storage infrastructure and also give feedback on the successful storage policies and also provide input and reports on the storage environment. The accurate and timely data help managers make informed and intelligent decisions on the future use of the storage. Further administrators are able to report and monitor on resource utilization and performance. When applications crash, the pagers beep and systems panic, it is the administrator that is on the receiving end of a pager to get the problem notification. Such situations prove to be very critical especially for business users due to degraded performance, equipment failure, resource shortages, and corruption of data or storage problem risks. This interruption of application access may in turn lead to incalculable financial losses to the business or organization. Therefore the automated software provisioning has a framework that manages the growing inventory in the components of enterprise storage. When the SRM software tools are deployed into the automated storage provisioning framework, the administrator has an easier access to the event based interventions and rule based policies which adequately resolve and intercept potential problems before they reach their critical levels (Hussain, 2008). The storage management application tool for a web based directory assistance runs on a web server as a data entry component with a more sophisticated management application that runs on a separate application server. When data is entered for the directory assistance, it is updated on the web server and staged on the repository application server and it is then automatically transferred to a relational database in another server by the directory management application. For fault tolerance as provided by the database server, database tables are duplicated using the snapshots from the primary database. The services however are vulnerable to storage failures especially when space allocation to the web server, database and repository is threatened to be exhausted and as a result bring down the system. Organizations of all sizes and in all industries are dependent on enterprise technological infrastructure which means that there is immense need for automated storage management process to avert any failures in the enterprise storage infrastructure. Therefore the SRM software tools and the automated storage provisioning should be implemented to solve the storage management problems. The rule based storage automations streamlines the administrator’s routine which improves productivity, reduces potential errors and system’s availability which impacts business activities and application availability. Oracle and NetApp The Automatic Storage Management (ASM) application tool provides a way to manage storage with an underlying database on a volume manager for the files on the database and an integrated file system. Its gives an alternative to the volume management solutions and file systems for the storage management tasks in the database (Manning Bridge, 2009). On the other hand NetApp filers simplify management and deployment of the enterprise data. The ASM and NetApp storage lower ownership costs and save on costs through the configuration of combined technology. There are combined benefits for using the NetApp for database layered applications and Oracle database which includes practices for deployment of ASM with the storage solutions networked by NetApp. Oracle ASM on NetApp iSAN and SAN storage like Oracle on NAS storage by NetApp has alternative capability for volume management for customers on an Oracle server that can alter, drop and create SQL statements which simplifies the storage provisioning on the database. The NetApp and ASM storage application tools has features that complement one another in performance to avoid errors by balancing of workload and help utilize the disk drive resources available. They also provide for support of online removal and addition of storage capacity that help maximize data availability and at the same time making configuration changes in the storage. The applications tools provide data security and availability since enterprises require high levels of data availability and protection whether there are component failures or faults storage subsystems. These tools include NetApp mirroring solutions that offer protection for disaster recovery requirements and business continuance while ASM provides protection against storage failures. In shared storage, Oracle’s Real Application Clusters (RAC) provides scalability and availability for the Oracle database which requires all servers to have direct read and full access to the database files. The ASM implementation provides a simplified cluster file system with optimized functionality of the volume manager in the shared storage. The NetApp networked storage gives shared access as required by RAC while in SAN environments, ASM provides volume management by Oracle RAC and a capable clustered file system. Both application tools have a rich assortment of storage data management that can be used separately or when combined depending on the customer enterprise requirements or the data infrastructure (Animi et al, 2009). The Automatic Storage Management application tool simplifies the management and configuration of storage management for the Oracle data files in its database. It also complements iSCSI SAN products for storage and NetApp Fibre Channel and while combined, they give full value to both technologies. With several combinations for data storage management and protection exists in the market, the Oracle and NetApp partnership offer powerful combinations that offer best practices to meet business performance and high availability requirements. Storage Management Networking Industry Association (SNIA) SNIA has created Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) application tool in order to standardize and develop storage management technologies for networking and storage. The SMI-S is for a standardized interface like SAN based storage management which are a challenge for interrogators and end-users to manage especially for multivendor SANs. The applications developed in most cases are unable to work together or are uncoordinated to perform tasks and deliver functionality, security and reliability for increased business efficiency. SMI-S therefore specifies protocols to manage communications with incorporated mechanisms for standard based management. It unifies the storage networks and also the management tools. The set of interfaces will allow the control of heterogeneous storage by storage management software packages. This way storage administrator will create and delete volumes and zones and also monitor array controllers, switches and host bus adapters. The enterprises too can manage with a single management framework their storage capacity independent of manufacturers. The application features have a common and extensive management transport, which has unified and complete which provides control of Zones and LUNs in a SAN context. It also has an automated discovery system with a newer approach in application of the CIM/WBEM technology. This specification helps to secure a reliable interface that can allow for the storage management interface classify, identify, control and monitor logical and physical resources in a SAN. The Technical Specification defines the management of a heterogeneous SAN and describes information from a SMI-S compliant CIM server available to a WBEM client. This information is object oriented, message based, XML based interface that is designed to support requirements of the managing devices through and in SANs. Using the CIM-XML on HTTP standard which is an independent management protocol, vendors increase the functions and features of their products without having to redesign the management storage therefore reducing cost and extending functionality. The SMI-S functional capabilities include the version requirements as provided and stated in the interface. Among them is that it will be able to receive the asynchronous notifications incase the SAN configuration changes. It will also be able to identify the health of vital resources in a SAN and also receive the asynchronous notification incase the SAN resource’s health has changed. It will also identify interconnects available performance in a SAN and receive the asynchronous notification incase a SAN’s interconnect performance changes. It will also identify zones that SAN enforces and help enable or disable, delete or create zones in a SAN. It will also identify the access rights and connectivity to SAN Storage Volumes and also enable or disable, delete or create access rights and connectivity to SAN Storage Volumes. These standards and specifications can only be used by a WBEM compliant and authenticated client. The language chosen for managing information and other related operations is the XML language which will help traverse the organizational firewalls and installed at low costs (Cover, 2010). In midrange computing environments and enterprise class, the SANs are highly emerging due to various functions and applications such as sharing of huge storage resources between multiple systems and having a LAN free backup. Other applications include disaster tolerant and remote online mirroring of critical data and clustering fault tolerant applications and systems with one data copy. While emergence of SANs accelerate, the informational industry requires a management interface for different classes of software and hardware products for multiple vendors to allow interoperation and reliability in order to monitor and control resources. For this reason SMI-S was created to define this interface and provide a standard for heterogeneous, functionally secure and reliable control and monitoring of resources in the complex distributed Inter-vendor SAN topologies. The SMI-S standard can simplify the huge storage management and reduced costs in storage administration but has not solved all storage problems. Since storage is an integral part in IT infrastructure to be managed with a combination of servers, applications and networks, management solutions offered by SMI-S work for servers, storages and networks. In the storage infrastructure, it provides the end-users with a consistency for device discovery, configuration and status information. SMI-S defines the behavior and structure of devices and their management and configuration in the storage infrastructure and provides management of multiple storage devices from multivendor. However, it does not solve the problem of incompatibility of hardware devices from the different vendors while its domain in storage management does not cover remote replication and backup. Conclusion There is countless demand by customers for open software from the computer industry vendors which is the reason multiple vendors such as Oracle and NetApp have had to work more closely to develop common standards, protocols and languages for storage and network management. The multipurpose standards could help storage administrators take control of the distributed applications with a resulting inter-vendor, manageable and open information systems. Using standard based storage management application tools can help increase value of IT investments. Before the multivendor standards were developed by SNIA, the individual users would need to manage the storage devices with vendor specific tools while disparate information was integrated manually. Today’s management standards and specifications are increasingly interoperable while still maintaining competitive advantage among vendors through differentiation.

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques

Molecular Docking: Experimental Techniques Experimental techniques for the determination of three-dimensional structure proteins crystallographic and magnetic resonance protocols have contributed for the deposition of over 12,000 protein structures in the Protein Data Bank. Although the number of available experimental protocols is large and improving rapidly, the determination of the structure of all detected protein-molecule interactions experimentally at high resolution is still an impossible task. Hence, reliable computational methods are of increasing importance. Protein docking involves the calculation of the three-dimensional structure of a protein-molecule complex. The molecule can be another protein, a small peptide or other small molecule (e. g. ligand). Ligand docking is nowadays of great importance in the drug discovery area, with great scientific and commercial interest. The main goal of protein docking is to predict how a pair of molecules interact, predicting accurate ligand poses and evaluating the main existi ng interactions. It should be able to adequately search the conformational available space and calculate the free energy of each conformation to identify the minimum energy conformation. Goals and Steps Protein docking requires the structures of the elements that form the complex and aims to predict correctly the binding site on the target, the orientation of the ligand and the conformation of both. At the end, a rank of possible docking poses based on estimated binding affinities or estimated free energies of binding is given. To successfully predict a target/ligand complex three steps are needed: (1) have accurate structures of the molecules involved in the interaction, (2) location of the binding site, and (3) determination of the binding mode and evaluation. According to Gray, the best docking targets are single-domain small proteins with known monomer structures, with experimentally-determined micromolar or better binding affinity, and minimal backbone conformational change after binding. The docking problem becomes more complicated when one of the structures undergoes significant conformational changes upon binding , for proteins whose structure was solves by homology modeling or for molecules with high degrees of freedom. However there have been reported successful docking results with modeled targets. The second step depends on the algorithm behind the docking software. Some of the used algorithms will be described further on. The hypothesis behind docking predictions is that the structure of a complex is the lowest free energy state that is accessible to the system. In Nature a protein-molecule complex change their conformations to become more compatible to one another, shifting two equilibriums progressively from less compatible to most compatible conformations for both, located at the local minimum of their potential energy surfaces. However ligands do not always adopt their lowest potential energy conformations when binding to their protein targets. Combining these two facts, the results can be influenced by the previous knowledge of the system. If a ligand has to explore a large area of the protein surface to find an adequate docking location, there is a lower probability of find the energy minimum than in the case of docking to a well-defined binding site on the protein. If a putative interaction region has been experimentally determined, this information can be used as useful input to guide the docking algorithm. Several new techniques to locate putative binding sites based on physicochemical properties or evolutionary conservation have been developed in recent years and are reviewed elsewhere. However, a good docking algorithm has to be able to predict realistically the docking site and distinguish it from nonspecific and/or energetically unfavorable ones even when performing a blind docking calculation. The third step is the determination of the binding mode and it mainly depends on the atoms surrounding the docking site and the distance between suitable interacting pairs, as well as the specific conformation and orientation of the molecules of the complex. The resulting conformation is ranked according to its evaluation by the used scoring function. Docking Approaches The speed and accuracy of the docking results depends on the used docking approach. Two major docking approaches are used by the available docking softwares. Shape Complementarity/Matching Methods This is the most common docking technique. The molecules are described in terms of descriptors, which may include structural complementarity terms (solvent-accessible area, overall shape and geometric constraints) and binding complementarity terms (hydrogen binding interactions, hydrophobic contacts and van der Waals interactions). Taking these terms into account, a given molecule is docked into the protein target by matching features. A combination of different descriptors is found to be able to enrich the number of near-native solutions in the set of best ranked docking solutions. This is a fast and robust technique that has been used successfully to screen large compound databases. Its main disadvantage is based on the incapacity of modeling accurately large protein motions and dynamic changes in the conformations. Simulation Methods The second approach simulates the real molecular recognition mechanism, a more complicated and detailed process. According to this method, the two molecules from the complex are distanced by a physical distance and the ligand explores its conformational space and finds its docking site after a finite number of moves. These moves can be translations, rotations, torsion angle rotations or others, and each have a different contribution to the final total energy of the system. The advantages of this approach include a better incorporation of ligand flexibility and a physically closer approach to what happens in reality. However, as the ligand has to explore a large energy landscape, this approach takes longer to evaluate the best docking site. Grid-based techniques and fast optimization methods are being developed to overcome this disadvantage. Mechanics of Docking The success of a docking software depends on two components: (1) the search algorithm, and (2) the scoring function. The combination of these two components will dictate the overall results of the docking task. Search Algorithm All possible rotational and translational orientations, distortions, backbone and side chain flexibility and various degrees of freedom make it impossible to perform an exhautive sampling. To lower the possibilities, most docking programs account only for ligand flexibility (e.g. representing it as a ensemble of structures), maintaining the target rigid. Others attempt to insert some target flexibility by using rotamer libraries, or some degree of side-chain flexibility by using soft interfaces and scaling sterical interactions, or a further side-chain refinement stage. Some of the most used search algorithms are described below. Systematic or stochastic torsional searches about rotatable bonds Rigid body methods This searching method is based on a simplified rigid body representation of the protein onto a regular 3D Cartesian grid. Then it distinguishes grid cells according to whether the two molecules are near or intersect the protein surface, or are deeply buried into the protein core and the degree of overlap is scored. This method generates a large number of docked conformations with favorable surface complementarity. The disadvantages of this searching method are that it maintains the target protein rigid and it cannot find binding modes with a high degree of accuracy due to its inherent simplification of the complex. However, most rigid-body procedures result in good docked conformation if the used structure of the target protein used is obtained by experimental data. Molecular dynamics simulations In this approach the protein is kept rigid while the ligand explores freely the conformational space, obtaining a ensemble of states accessible to the complex. The generated conformations are docked and a determined number of minimization steps are performed, followed by an overall ranking. This is a computational complex method, although it does not need a specialized scoring function and it provides a useful tool to generate ligand conformations. In principle, it allows for full atomic flexibility or flexibility restricted to relevant parts of the complex during the docking task. Genetic algorithms These searching algorithms perform global conformational searches particularly well. Based on the language of natural genetics and biological evolution, their goal is to evolve previous conformations into new low energy conformations. Each spatial arrangement of the pair is represented as a gene with a particular energy and the entire genome is a representation of the complete energy landscape which will be explored. Similar to biological evolution, random pairs of individuals are mated using a process of crossover and there is also the possibility of a random mutation in the offspring. During each iteration, high-scoring features in the current generation are preserved in the next cycle. This approach permits exploring of large conformational spaces. The main disadvantages include requiring the target protein to remain fixed during the docking task and multiple runs to obtain reliable results, which makes it a poor candidate to perform large databases screening. Limiting the conform ational space to explore and the explorations of conformational changes at sites of interest can largely increase the performance of the docking task using this algorithm. Scoring Function In docking, the goal of a scoring function is to serve as a mathematical method to predict the strength of the non-covalent interaction between the two molecules. Usually, this value is represented as the binding affinity, and indicates how favorable the binding interaction is. An ideal scoring function should be able to recognize favorable native contacts and discriminate non-native contacts with lower scores, and rank a set of molecules, predicting the correct modes of binding. These scoring functions can be parameterized (trained) against a set of experimental data for combinations of binding affinities, buried surface areas, desolvatation and electrostatic interation energies and hydrophobicity scores of molecular species similar to the species in study. There are four classes of scoring functions, which are described below. Choosing a scoring function should always be based on the resolution of the search method. Most scoring functions are physics-based molecular mechanics force fields that estimate the nonbonded interaction energy of the docking pose. Affinities are estimated based on the total internal energy, which is estimated taking into account the strength of intramolecular van der Waals and electrostatic interactions and the desolvation energy. It is know that the free energy of binding is higly dependent on the system and it is often dominated by desolvation or electrostatic contributions. Other software also take into account the torsional free energy and the unbound systems energy as penalizing terms. At the end, a low (negative) energy indicates a stable complex, with a likely binding interaction. Empirical scoring functions define simple functional forms for interactions between the two molecules of the complex. Some examples include the number atoms in contact between ligand and receptor, change in the solvent accessible surface area, number of hydrogen bonds, conformational entropy, and hydrophobic and hydrophilic contacts. These provide a fast method to rank potential inhibitory candidates. Knowledge-based scoring functions are based on statistical analysis on intermolecular interactions and interactions distances extracted from large databases of protein-ligand complexes (e.g. PDB). This method is based on the assumption that there are intramolecular interactions between certain atoms that occur more frequently, which will be energetically favorable. If detected these interaction will contributed more to a favorable binding affinity. Hybrid scoring functions combined one or more features from the ones described above. There has is always a focus on the scoring function when developing a new docking program. Newly developed scoring functions are evaluated based on their ability to reproduce known ligand-binding patters for well-studied receptors. Despite the development of new and improved scoring functions, there is still a difficulty in identifying the best docking solutions from a list of false positives or decoys. Disadvantages of Molecular Docking Docking calculations can be hampered by a number of reasons: (1) the ligand binds to deep specific pockets of the protein structure; (2) does not consider the presence of solvent, which can be crucial to allow hydrogen bond interactions to occur; (3) if there is an attachment of the ligand to a solid surface (e.g. resin) via a spacer arm; (4) ligands with high flexibility; (5) weak interactions between the ligand and the protein; (6) large-scale motions of the peptide backbone. However, new optimizations and extensions are being developed into existing programs to overcome these drawbacks. AutoDock Autodock (version 4.0.1) was the program package that was used for the docking task in this work. It is used for automated docking of small molecules (e.g. peptides, enzyme inihibitors and drugs) to macromolecules (e.g. proteins, antibodies, DNA and RNA). It is a very complete software package, allowing a robust and accurate procedure and a reasonable computational demand. AutoDock which allows the use of ligand with fixed and flexible degrees of freedom. The searching function used by AutoDock is the Lemarkian Genetic Algorithm (LGA), throughly described by Morris et al. LGA is a hybrid searching algorithm that combines the advantages of the global search of the common genetic algorithms and the advantages of a local search method to perform energy minimization, enhancing the performance relative to genetic algorithms. The local search does not require gradient information about the local energy landscape, facilitating torsional space search and allowing to handle more degrees of freedom. The AutoDock scoring function (described by Huey et al is a semi-empirical free energy force field scoring function that evaluates conformations and calculates the ligand-receptor binding affinity. The force field was parameterized using a large set of complexes with known inhibition constants (Ki), structure and binding energies. It evaluates enthalpic contributions (e.g. repulsion, hydrogen bonding) using a molecular mechanics approach and evaluates de changes in solvation and conformational mobility through an empirical approach. At the end of the docking task, Autodock returns a set of the top ranked answers according to the input system and parameters. Each is accompanied by the information regarding the estimated Ki and estimated free energy of binding, which is decomposed into (1) final intramolecular energy (van der Waals, hydrogen bond, desolvation and electrostatic energy), (2) final total internal energy, (3) torsional free energy, and (4) unbound systems energy and estimated as: (1)+(2)+(3)-(4). Due to its technical characteristics, automated docking with AutoDock is not widely used to screen a large number of compounds. However, Park et al performed a benchmarking which showed the potentialities of this software for database screening, with a overall better average docking time and performance than other tested docking software. The vast conformational sampling, degrees of freedom, complicated steric and chemical complementarity still offer a challenge for the computational approach to molecular docking. The inclusion of all possible conformational changes during docking searches is still impossible, and it would be of particular importance where only homology modeled structures are available. Slight modeling inaccuracies can result in false negatives, weak binding or even wrong docking poses. Better insights into the nature of protein folding and binding, protein dynamics and biomolecular energetics will allow the development of better docking algorithms. Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT Unilever Case Study Analysis: SWOT INTRODUCTION: There are many kinds of business everywhere; where there are many issues related to the growth of the company and Different strategies will enable different companies to reach those goals. Unilever is a company started in 1930 formed of Dutch Margarine Company and British based lever brothers. Unilever holds a wide range of products which include food, personal care, beverages, canned foods, ice creams and many more which are worlds best consumer brands. The case study describes a lot of information regarding Unilevers business strategies, key elements of Unilevers path to growth, how they rejuvenated and restructured the companies slow moving performance to wide range of brands across the world. BRIEF CASE STUDY: Unilever was created in 1930 as an outcome of merger with dual chairpersons and headquarters one in Netherlands and other in United Kingdom. This is of one the giant and best competitors in the industry which holds wide range of products. The two chairpersons have launched a strategy in early 2000 to recover the companys performance which was said to be lackluster. With the new strategies the company showed a significant progress and has gone through many dealings over the next years, this made the company to open 20 new acquisitions worldwide and increased the sales of the company. Thus the companys business was restructured, renovated and improved through its acquisitions. Then their came companies likes nestle which effecting the growth of Unilever. Unilever then started efforts to attract and motivate young, talented and innovative managers from outside its company. TASK 1: SWOT : A planning technique which is used for summarizing the key issues and evaluates the Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O) and Threats (T) in any business is called an SWOT analysis. Analysis is the brief study of any case how they are going to be obtained, who are responsible for causing it and solving it by planning which involves internal and external factors of a business or an organization; internal factors are classified as strengths(S) or weaknesses (W) and external factors are classified as Opportunities (O) or Threats (T). Strengths are those characteristics of a person or a company that are useful to achieve the goals. Weaknesses are the characteristics of a person or a company that is destructive to achieve the objective. Opportunities and threats are the external factors that are helpful in achieving and damaging the business performance respectively. The figure1 show the illustrative diagram of SWOT analysis. The internal factors include personal, finance, manufacturing capabilities, etc and the external factors may include technological changes which may cause changes in products and processes that is inventing a new product or making the product better which include quality of the product and the consumer desire, market influences due to unemployment rates effect the company and price factors is one of the important thing to keep in mind , market place is one more thing which is very important that is the company or a business should be located in a convenient environment to the consumers to attract and the product should be user friendly. Another important factor is that its external appearance the packing and the name of the products should be eye catchy. At last he customer relations should be friendly and consumer satisfaction is very necessary. Other than these there are some more factors which may be changing due to econ omic and social factors and competitive positions which may create new opportunities or threats. SWOT analysis is useful in decision making when most wanted these include nonprofit organizations, individuals. It is the only method for classification and has its own weaknesses. A SWOT which produces no strategies is of no use whereas which generates important strategies is useful. Unilever had a very tough competition during that time when it was bringing about the changes it was probably at this stage that these companies had moved forward with there various strategies. Skills, assets, finance, facilities are the resources which are used in any business to compete in the industry. In the same way Unilever used their own resources to grow as giant company. They have implemented SWOT analysis and implemented new business strategies and rejuvenated their company from lack lust to significant progress in sales. It has concentrated on marketing and advertising its business and gained increased pricing with supermarket vendors. Unilever was lagging in sales when compared with nestle, Procter Gamble, Kelloggs etc its path of growth strategy which met considerable uncertainty which made Unilever to undertake a series of actions by cutting the companies profile to reach corporate goals and introduced 20 new acquisitions worldwide and restructured the company into two divisions one includes all food products and other household and personal care. Then started other two new businesses across the world. The external market factors such as technological changes, social factors, and other companies growth made a very big impact on the consumer preferences and Unilever had to cut its revenue growth. Later it continued to obtain more products across the world and these products gave managers to make their own decision making to set priorities by introducing new initiatives. Unilever has even motivated and attracted young talented managers from outside the company to join their company. According to Unilevers SWOT analysis the strengths of the company are recognized as it is a global company with strong brand profile with worlds best brands and maintains strong relation with its retailers. But coming to its weaknesses it has insufficient management of brands and doesnt not connect with customers. And inability to maximize acquisitions has reduced spending for R D. Thought it has got many opportunities by introducing many products by changing customer preferences and increase in productio n of quality goods. There are threats equally which cause decrease in revenues with high market competition, increasing the number brands and exchange rates. There are many growth expectations, risks, profit margins in food and house hold industry which is composed of many sectors and sub sectors by challenging the change of customers preferences with challenging rival firms to gain market shares. Then with competitive achievement by creating attractive products through acquisitions and with capability of growing sales of the brands which existed and improve margins. For all this the many key to success was advertising the products. By improving the profits of the company not only included shifting sales of the products but also boosting efficiency and unit costs. There were three factors which worried in 2000, the consolidation pressures in food industry which bothered were slower growth rates in food industries, rapid consolidation among grocery markets that is between branded manufactures and private manufactures for good self space in the grocery stores. In the United States for several years the food industry was miserable and was expected to continue for few more years due to more women working and decreasing house hold sizes, single parents and singles. But the food industry in Europe, Asia, Africa and other less developed countries were attractive. Thought the competition between branded and private manufactures was a never ending issue, private manufactures improved their quality of products by growing market shares. Then there came many giant super markets and gave an opportunity for private brands with attractive prices below branded products and even provided checkout scanners to help the customers know price difference which tempt them to BRIEF SWOT ANALYSIS OF UNILEVERS CASE STUDY STRENGHTS WEAKNESSESS Global company. Reduced spending for R D. Best Brands. Inability to maximize acquisitions. Strong relation with retailers. Insufficient management of brands. Dual Leadership. OPPURTUNITIES THREATS Increasing in need of quality products. Decrease in revenues. Changing customer preferences. Strong competition. Increase in brands. shift to the private brands. Due to the heavy competition among them manufactures had to cut down the costs of the products, number of versions of the products and weed out weak brands and concentrate on those brands which were popular among the customers and those could develop into global brands. Introducing dual headquarters by dividing the food industry which consisted of 6 categories and household industry which consisted of 8 categories there were many benefits such as improving food and household industry by focusing more on them regionally and globally. Accelerating decision making and successful integration of R D though there were some critics that Unilever has been paying more for some of its acquisitions such as acquire Amora Maille. Unilever as of then in 2003 had been seen as a growing organization which probably had all the necessary requirements to make it a force to recon with, during the Path to Growth strategy many aspects of the company had come out some of them included the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths, probably the biggest strength that the company had at that time was the correct selection of the brands and the products it had in store unilever had done many researches and had to make many decisions to get the right combinations products that where to be sold it also had the right ideas to increase the sales and all the leading brands to help its cause. Unilever was very good at that time even if the financial aspect was taken into consideration it could experiment with various aspects of its store cause had the financial backup which was required at that time to help it implement various ideas and deal with the market pressures, for any company to improve its sales marke ting always plays a very important role this was probably there biggest strength as the marketing strategy applied by them managed to grab peoples attention as they easy to be connected to and much more simplistic and realistic. Unilever did manage all its clients very well considering that during a phase when they where cutting on the brands it would have been a risk to out anything at that time but it was very well managed by the company. Mainly the fact that unilever was now looking to make the higher range or the brands which where more famous as there core brands which made it much easier for them to advertise considering that it is much easier to promote a very well known and a trusted brand rather than a normal or new brand to increase the sales. Weaknesses, though unilever had a very good policy and all the right objectives to make a difference in the industry it couldnt happen basically due to the lack of proper organization, it was actually much like a bureaucratic organization where things where divided between too many people and it had become difficult to get the ideas moving due to the lack of proper organization, it probably all started with the fact that the company had to deal with too many brands in the first place it would obviously have the impact when the Path to Growth strategy came up cause of the then 1600 brands only 400 brands where retained and rest all where either removed or replaced, that shows that due the lack of proper organization and too many brands being part of it didnt help it in making the changes it wanted to in a better and quickest way. The organization was probably one field in which the company was lacking because it was felt that at the top of the company as there were too many people mak ing decisions and these decisions had to be put forward and this delayed the process of improvement for the company. Opportunities, during this phase of development and renewing it content and upgrading of the stock it turned out to be very fruitful as it provided many working opportunities for people it was at that time that many people where starting to get full time work, during this phase a lot of acquisition also took place with the major brands which resulted in some alterations in plans to that which were planned. SlimFast which is a private company is another acquisition of Unilever after implementing path to growth strategy in 2000 the company bargained an agreement to purchase slimfast diet foods. It had strong sales and network and has a special space in every super market and drugstores these products were made from natural ingredients and added vitamins and minerals to provide good nutritional profile. It also maintained a very good relationship with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other agencies. Unilever has concentrated more on this Slimfast since the company was growing fast and attracted the customers to buy more of it for healthier and long living life .Management of Unilever utilized the opportunity to globalize the product in other countries like Europe, Australia due to increase in the percent of obese. According to the world health organization percent of the obese was increasing gradually. UNILEVERS TOP COMPETITORS ? Figure: Competitors Performance Comparison http://finance.aol.com/company/unilever-plc-amer/ul/nys/top-competitors Ben Jerrys acquisitions which produces one of the finest ice creams anywhere in pint cartons and wholesale at groceries. Their sales slogan was Vermont finest All Natural Ice cream. They never use any artificial flavors thought the cost is little more it is worth the price. According to the time magazine Vermont makes the best ice cream in the world with 29 flavors in pint cartons and 45 flavors in bulk cartons. There products were distributed throughout the world. On demand Ben jerry operated three manufacturing plants where Vermont plant produces super premier ice cream and frozen yogurts where as spring field produces ice cream, lot fat ice creams in bulk, pint cartons and half gallons. Dreyers and Haagen-Dazs were the two major competitors of Ben jerry and other competitors were Colombo frozen yogurts, Kemps ice cream and star bucks. Ben Jerry produces a wide range of ice creams products like sticks, bars, frozen yogurt pops etc. Though Haagen- Dazs was the global market leader followed by Ben jerry it had an insignificant market share in United States where as Haagen- Dazs was more significantly sold in foreign markets. Both Ben jerry and Haagen-Dazs produced ice creams with cookies and candies in it. Bestfoods was a global company across the world almost in 60 countries which was busy in manufacturing and marketing the food products. Bestfoods profits are almost from outside of the United States that is almost 60 percent of its profits. It is one of the best managed food companies among United States who has much number of employees working with in their company in which half of them were at non US locations. The company increased payments for 14 successive years has its revenues grow by7.8 percent annual rate and suddenly slow downed during the period of 1997 and 1999. Then the company introduced a strategy with four core elements. Globalization of the companys core consumers: Products which are new in the market are needed to be globalized that is the products which are less popular among the consumers, are needed to be advertised and market those products to increase its sales and profits of those products. Few such products are knorr product line, salad dressing and food service operations. The advertising of such kind of products was done very well in order to get those products globally recognized and be accepted among many big brands and soon they became household names. Improvement in cost effectiveness: With changing customer preference the quality of the products must be improved and therefore there should also be improvement in cost effectiveness as the quality improves cost increases. Cost effectiveness is nothing but it is a way by which you show to a customer that a certain is product is worth using or is better than other product or the money u spend on it is worth it. Cost effectiveness in simple would be defined as showing the worth of the product. Looking for new market opportunities: Extending the product sales all over the world via new product introductions and extending sales of the products which are existed in the market. It is very important for any company to be always alert and look for opportunities to extend the business to a large scale and see it in a bigger picture based on the opportunities it gets. Using free cash to make new acquisition: With expanding the products and brands company has created 60 acquisitions in the global market. After struggling a lot in June 2000 best foods agreed to be acquired by Unilever. Best foods were the largest acquisition undertaken by Unilever by as far as concerned and which makes a largest combination of food companies in 12 years. Management of Unilever believed that combining and assimilating bestfoods would result in pre tax cost saving, better efficiencies in business process, synergy in distribution marketing, reformation of general and administrative functions and improved economies of scale. By creating robust business in United States market, increasing strengths of Unilever and best foods in Europe, building of best foods in Latin America to speed up the growth of Unilever brands, by distributing strengths in Asia- pacific to grow and sped up Bestfoods brands and increasing the sales of Unilever products by food service channel of Bestfoods. The work culture was so casual to make the atmosphere fun and lively with communication between the management and employees. The company respected the employees suggestions and respected them even paid the employees a reasonable salary Finally Unilever has announced sale of Bestfoods Backing Company to Canadian food and super market group known as George Weston for $ 1.76billion though Unilever declared to divest Bestfoods Baking Company and Unilever other products and bakery products does not exit any more at Unilever. Bestfoods has 19plans across the United States with a strong management team and was entirely US based. It was one of the best distributing for delivering the baked products which are really baked fresh and sent directly to the retail stores. With its dedication and hard work Bestfoods sales has increased its profit margins by 8 percent. Later again Unilever announced to sell 19 Bestfood brands across North America to ACH food companies which is a supplementary of Associated British Food. By successfully combining the operations of bestfoods with Unilever by the year end of 2003 the two companies had been merged in 63countries across the world TASK 2: Path to Growth: Path to growth strategy was initiated in 2000 and was restructured for several years for better and significant results. The key elements of this Unilevers path to growth strategy were cutting down its brands from 1600 brands to 400core brands to achieve top line sales and increase profits by advertising the brands which are more popular and leading brands across the world and concentrating on R D. Another important key element was divesting underperforming brands and theirs companies and introducing more innovated things to enhance the internal development of the organization and making new acquisitions. Unilevers years of slow performance and its lack of corporate strategy in the competition industry with low number of brands and ordinary performance in growing markets with a little global presence made to create a path to growth strategy which was a 5 year growth plan which made them to concentrate on more brands and product innovations for internal and external growth of the company. And made the company to grow with acquisitions. According to FitzGerald and Bergmans path to growth strategy they predicted to manufacture double digit wages per share growth and superior positions. Focusing on the key brands by advertising and marketing made business grow higher and build brand value and increased brands prices. The case study shows Unilever as a global company according to SOWT analysis after introducing the path to growth strategy the company had really increased its sales and with introducing more number of acquisitions and cutting down the cost of revenues. As the acquisitions like Slimfast, Ben jerry and best foods were rapidly growing their market across the world building a very strong profile and providing customers attractive products and offers. Slim fast has 20%anual growth rate with strong sales and distribution all over the world and also maintained good customer relation. Where Ben jerry was worlds giant ice cream products and yogurt maker with strong brand equity. Bestfoods was USs 10 largest foo d products company with a strong global position. The two key elements of the Unilevers new business strategy was to cut down on the number of brands that were being sold or being marketed by the company, at that time Unilever was operating with as many as 1600 brands and much more products due to this the cut down on the number of products and brands was considered, the 1600 brands that where part of the company were cut down to as many as 400 core brands, the core brands mostly included all the famous and popular brands which are generally very popular among people, this idea came up as to make sure that the products where sold and by doing this it would not be much of a problem for the marketi8ng of these products as most of these brands where already day to day and very famous brands which people would generally prefer buying, which would mean that it would take much less an effort to connect to the people and more over the marketing was also done in such a way that people where able to connect to it very easily, the other key e lement of the unilevers strategy was to remove all the underperforming companies or brands and introduce some other new brands or companies in order to enhance the internal development of the organization and make new acquisitions which would enhance the sales of the company and make it more likable for the people this strategy was designed to increase the sales of the company and get rid of the companies which where not much in demand . Weaknesses according to SWOT analysis showed the company has dual leadership, insufficient management of brands and reduced R D after all this slow performance and small global presence the management has introduced path to growth strategy, which increased the company sales with cutting down it costs and introducing more acquisitions resulted in globalizing the company. As a result there were few expectations to achieve a double digit growth and securing a better position in global market for food and household products by increasing the quality of the product to gain pricing power and attract more customers. But according to the strategy plan the targets which were set was really high that is top line sales growth of 5-6 percent annually, increasing profits, and plan to complete by the end of 2004. If we look and analyze the path to growth strategy we can tell whether the strategy is working or not, we can say that it is working by its success rates and increase in profits and increase in brands and acquisitions that is the consumer preferences have changed due to which the products quality has changed and prices have changed the leading brands sales have increased from 75 percent to 93 percent. Food and personal care industry have increased its profits consistently. Operating assets have also improved by 9 percent. Acquisitions like slim fast, Ben jerry and best foods have gradually improved its growth and established its acquisitions all over the world. But the other side it is completely not yes, Unilever was gaining profits significantly after introducing new strategies but it was losing too yes it reported a net loss of $318M as the competitions was increasing and new brands were coming in to the market and rivals were introducing new strategies to compete Unilever. In th e year 2004 sales grew only by .4 percent leading brands by .9 percent so this proves that Unilever was lagging behind competitors in terms of innovation and advertising. Unilevers lack of advertising and marketing failed to improve sales. The company was small and not globalized. In this case Unilever attracted the new young talented manages to join their company with innovated ideas to increase its company profits by new methods of advertising and marketing. To justify Unilever strategies it maintained dual headquarters and dual chairpersons which reduced effective thinking and slow downed the decision making. Unilever is divided into Unilever Plc and Unilever NV. This made Unilever to focus on the needs of the customers and increase its sales profits in various industries like food, personal case, and household industries all over the world. As customers demand the products which are of the best quality and branded but at the same time convenient, cheap and attractive. The market for household products have been decreased its profits as the numbers of single parents have been increased and the rate of females working out have been increased and the demand for the healthy and high quality food has been increased. The consumers preference of the products such as its look, quality of the product and nutritional values has been increased by providing a strong competition against its giant competitors and private manufactures. This allows Unilever to focus on the need of its customers by increasing its sales. In 2003 Unilever executing its path to growth strategy by increasing its operating margins to over 15percent, but the sales of the leading brands growth as slowdown and raised questions among the investors and retailers that whether company brands could deliver some 5-6 percent of growth in revenues in the next coming years. TASK 3: Unilevers current business Strategies: Ever since the ‘Path to Growth strategy ended in 2005 there has been a 15% increase in the sales and development in the overall progress of Unilever. After the ‘Path to Growth came to an end a new process was developed by Unilever called as the Brand Imprint which helped the marketing teams in understanding how the business could face risks as well as opportunities from the social, economic and environmental issues. In this process each brand was scrutinized by a team looking into various aspects of it such as the direct as well the indirect impacts of the product, it also checked how the brand would go ahead in the future looking at the products possibilities of growth both from a customer and a stakeholders point of view. The outcome of the Brand Imprint is that the process has helped in making important decisions for the company keeping the future in perspective it also developed in addressing social missions, social and environmental issues. The Brand Imprint provided a perfect experience to find some systematic and measurable ways to explore different brands and improve the brands by addressing social issues, helping people the product well and reducing the environmental issues. When the S.W.O.T analysis was done on the ‘Path to Growth strategy many different aspects of the strategy where scrutinized using the SWOT analysis in which it dealt with many aspects such as the strength, weakness, opportunities and the threats that are being faced. After the analysis it came out that it had been very useful to determine the various aspects attached to it. Unilever for years had been a slow developing company, though the company had the right infrastructure and the capital but it couldnt utilize it properly that was basically the reason why the path to growth and various other strategies where starting to come up to help the company to increase the sales of the products and improve the business. Path to growth played a major part in the development of the company. The Path to Growth strategy did prove to be quite a useful thing considering the fact that during this period almost all of the unsuccessful brands where removed or replaced and the brands which where trusted and kept managed to increase the sales by 75% to 93%. Unilevers growth was considerably slow during this phase because the company was at that stage making very drastic changes and for these changes to come up and make a difference was something unexpected but the companys growth was obvious in certain fields thanks to the new strategies that had come in to improve the sales of the company so as to improve the business of the company. It was due to the fact that the company probably took way too much time u started and implement its plans that it caused the success to be not as higher as expected. Many business analysts and commentators felt that most of the strategies of the path to growth where working fine but there was always a speculation that what ever progress was talking place was happening too slow considering the competition the market was in with at that time, it was also felt that as the basic functionality of the business was spread among way too many people made the management way to complex and it would have been better off if it was simpler. It did work out fine when it came to the advertising of the product and getting it known to the people as it was more public oriented and it used the sources to the full extent to connect to the people. It did experience a drastic growth during that period as the analysis had proved that the company had the highest growth percentage as compared to any other company during that period it did bring in high profits to the company but looking at the whole picture it did prove to be a huge loss for the company considering the fa ct that they faced a countable loss in the revenue margin and that proved to be the difference, though it did have the right amount of sales and customers due to the slowness of there analysis to sort out and remove or replace the stuff did make a difference to analysis in the larger picture. But the company did grow during that time which might as well have effected the revenue cause many new store where started and large number of employees where starting to be employed on a full time basis. It did do quite well on the international market as well. By looking at the way the company had grown during this stage is quite remarkable many business analysts and commentators had felt that they probably had the right scheme of action because during that time they where handling 1600 brands and which was way too much and among those were quit few brands which hardly made any diff to the company so then the whole idea of brands cut based on the market outlook and sales reports was looked into to classify as to which of the products or brands where fast selling and which had the scope to sell more. It was that idea to cut down on the number of brands and start promoting only few brands which where much easier to be marketed and which where more likable by the people by which it would increase the sales and also make the marketing of these products easier cause when you are promoting bigger brands which are often very well known to public would mean that u don have to spend much on the marketing. Did the company experience growth during this period? Yes, would be the right thing to say voiding the minor things which might effect the outcome but it did see the light of success though slowly and there process and ideas where starting to get implemented in a better way and in a more successful way to deal with the growth of the company, the process of cutting down on the under selling companies was probably the decision that started to turn the tide for the company as it was when the losses where starting to be covered and it was mor

My special person essay :: essays research papers

MY SPECIAL PERSON â€Å"When I entered the classroom, for the very last time, I looked around at every little detail, many of which I’d probably ignored, for the past four years. Birds were singing in a synchronised melody as they flew past our classroom window. There was the natural aroma of fresh coffee coming from the teacher’s lounge next door. My classmates were sitting at their usual desk waiting for the first lesson to begin. But something was different today, something wasn’t right. And as I entered the classroom it hit me, like an unseen rocket headed to my heart†¦ †¦ The silence. All eyes were on me, some gave a sorry-you’re-leaving-smile, while others looked liked they were about to jump off the nearest window. These were my friends, not just any old friends of course, they felt like family, I grew up with these people and at that moment as I stared into each of their eyes I realized something, something which had always been staring back at me, these people were special. Each and everyone had something that made them unique and as they sat there shining like a thousand stars, one of them shined the brightest. Her long silky hair covered half of her face, but I knew she’d been crying, he chestnut coloured eyes tried to avoid meeting mine but when we did exchange glances, I have her a sympathetic smile and she returned the favour. The rest of that day was full of tears, hugs, a surprise party, games presents and goodbyes. That day will stay with me forever. However I am glad to say that wasn’t the last time I saw my friends and I’m even more glad to say that wasn’t the last time I saw my best friend. Its funny how two people, who are connected, become even closer when they’re apart. Fortunately Ginevra came to visit me in London twice after that, but I went back to see her in my hometown every year. As the years past, and as we grew, our friendship grew stronger, like an ever-growing tree, sending it’s roots deeper and deeper into the ground. Every year she would wait for me with open arms. Some people get worn-out with long distant friendship, but not her, she would always stick by me and never let me down. When I lived in Italy for all those nine years I never had the privilege to have any brothers or sisters so I considered her as my own flesh and blood.

Attitudes of War in Ancient Civilizations Essay -- essays research pap

Chapter Eight War and Society reveals the attitudes about war in both ancient Rome and China. These attitudes prove that in these cases perhaps it is safe to say that wars are not inevitable or natural but were caused by warlike societies and social situations. After reading bits and pieces of both the ancient Roman and Chinese history, one can only gain a greater perspective on how these attitudes derived. In 391 nomads called the Gauls defeated a small army of Roman aristocrats and burnt down the town of Rome. After this attack, Rome rebuilt its town and changed it into an empire, which spread its laws, culture, and peace from the North. Rome was convinced that after this first invasion, it was necessary to change their military. Over time the Romans were able to conquer most of Italy. As the Romans began to gain power and land, they set their eyes on larger obstacles. This is when Roman attitude was perhaps revealed about the subject of war. Romans believed that their expansion had been inevitable so they were to believe that they were blameless, and that their ancestors had been more than a passive tool of destiny. They believed that other areas, posed as possible threats and that it was necessary â€Å"for defensive reasons† to attack first. Today, these can be viewed as possibly preventive wars. But during the time of the expansion of the Roman Empire, a preventive war wasn’t a concern. Other views were demonstrated in their actions, that although at first Romans were unable to take Carthage, they kept trying, and over time, and most likely many deaths, the Roman soldiers wore them down. Rome was like a bulldozer and used their skilled military to their advantage, to take over and destroy anything that it set its eyes on. Their actions, such as later completely destroying Carthage and massacring the majority of its population all because it posed as a potential economic threat to Roman land. These views or attitudes of war can be easily seen, war was not considered a preventive war, but a necessary war, although many times, it was clearly unnecessary and the fall of the Roman Empire, eventually gave the Roman commanders what they deserved. On the flipside, ancient Chinese attitude toward war was quite similar to that of the Romans. Warfare in this society was common and accepted, the idea of honor also coincides with their attitude toward war. â€Å"When ... ...e end. I believe that this closely relates to the early context of â€Å"Is the Glory of War a Boy Thing?† Because I believe one can easily glorify both the rise of the empires as a courageous and powerful movement, rather then closely looking at the true outcome of these wars. A Pericles type of funeral oration would have possibly been effective in ancient Rome or China, because at the time both were such powerful empires, people would have easily been convinced to believe practically anything. How can one find it just, to kill practically a whole society because they pose as a possible threat to economy because they too, are growing grapes? Pericles states in his oration that the people under his society are the best, and that it was perfectly acceptable to dominate other areas. He also mentions ancestors, and the pride in Athens, so its important to praise and glorify those who died. Isn’t it funny how history repeats itself? The Romans believed that because felt threatened it was okay to dominate other lands, and their ancestors faced hardships with the nomads it was acceptable to do so in return. Or the Chinese, who believed that war a proper, powerful, and masculine act of man.

Images and Imagery within Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

The Reinforcing Imagery Within Macbeth      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the classic Shakespearean drama Macbeth it seems that every scene is laden with copious imagery - and for a purpose. Its intended purpose is to play a supporting role for more important facets of the play, for example theme.    In his book, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, H. S. Wilson interprets the imagery of Macbeth:    Macbeth is a play in which the poetic atmosphere is very important; so important, indeed, that some recent commentators give the impression that this atmosphere, as created by the imagery of the play, is its determining quality. For those who pay most attention to these powerful atmospheric suggestions, this is doubtless true. Mr. Kenneth Muir, in his introduction to the play - which does not, by the way, interpret it simply from this point of view - aptly describes the cumulative effect of the imagery: "The contrast between light and darkness is part of a general antithesis between good and evil, devils and angels, evil and grace, hell and heaven . . . and the disease images of IV, iii and in the last act clearly reflect both the evil which is a disease, and Macbeth himself who is the disease from which his country suffers."(67-68)    Roger Warren comments in Shakespeare Survey 30 , regarding Trervor Nunn's direction of Macbeth at Stratford-upon-Avon in 1974-75, on opposing imagery used to support the opposing notions of purity and black magic:    Much of the approach and detail was carried over, particularly the clash between religious purity and black magic. Purity was embodied by Duncan, very infirm (in 1974 he was blind), dressed in white and accompanied by church organ music, set against the black magic of the witches, who even chanted 'Double, double to the Dies Irae. (283)    L.C. Knights in the essay "Macbeth" explains the supporting role which imagery plays in Macbeth's descent into darkness:    To listen to the witches, it is suggested, is like eating "the insane root, That takes the reason prisoner" (I.iii.84-5); for Macbeth, in the moment of temptation, "function," or intellectual activity, is "smother'd in surmise"; and everywhere the imagery of darkness suggests not only the absence or withdrawal of light but - "light thickens" - the presence of something positively oppressive and impeding.   (101)    In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye shows how the playwright uses imagery to reinforce the theme:

Culture adaptation and survival Essay

With communication and transportation more readily available than before, the interpenetration of cultural facets between groups have become easier if not more frequent. However, this flow of data cannot be solely attributed to the presence of devices that allow information dissemination; people take an active part whether consciously or not, in spreading and reforming cultures by their global movements and actions. This paper will look into this event, focusing on how adopting cultural features from other groups can resemble biological adaptation in that they both can lead to higher survival rates in a given environment. Historical and relevant situations gathered from related literature will be used to develop and provide grounds for this statement. Jia, Lu and Heisey posit that â€Å"globalization is not only penetrating the economic sphere but also threatening the cultural boundaries of many nations†¦ † (Jia, Lu & Heisey, 2002, p. 155). A part of the globalization trend is the influx of different peoples to different countries. Due to exposure to new environments and possibly new cultural practices, the sense of stability of the migrating peoples is compromised. According to Kim, in order to once more achieve internal equilibrium and reduce the stress the situation has affected upon them, â€Å"a person adapts by altering his or her internal conditions† (as cited in Liu, 2001, p. 14). During the nineteenth century, strong sentiments of Anglo-conformity pervaded the Americas as new immigrants came in droves. There was a strong notion that the formation of the American peoples and identity had ended and there was doubt whether the newcomers can be assimilated (Dicker, 2003, p. 44). The assumption that the immigrants had a strong desire for assimilation was not completely true. Though they did have a strong desire to acquire English and several traits of mainstream America, this is mostly to open paths to reach their goals and not for total incorporation (Dicker, p. 39). This partial cultural assimilation can be likened to temporary biological adaptations such as acclimatization; here the body’s biological functions work hard to tolerate the current environmental condition. This process is not immediate, requiring time for the body to adjust itself to the climate; such as for a climber to survive high altitude conditions, it is recommended for them to climb slowly, resting a few times (Backer, et al. , 2005, p. 223). These adaptations may be partial and temporary but they allow people moving in that environment to function and achieve their goals. Environments, whether social or natural, hold a certain amount of resources and if these are limited the existing groups compete to gain access to these. In the case of the Spanish settlers in the Americas, a tri-racial society- the Spaniards, the natives and those that were borne out of relations between the two- was created and â€Å"access to power and prestige depended on a person’s degree of acculturation† (Dicker, 2003, p. 48). According to Daniels: â€Å"An individual who spoke Spanish, wore European clothes, and ate European style food was considered, if not Spanish, not any longer Indian† (as cited in Dicker, p. 48). People had to adhere to the standards that the Spanish had set in order to gain access to resources and survive, for those that are no longer Indian were set to help manage the state (Daniels as cited in Dicker, p. 48). Grasping the basic ideas of survival of the fittest, those that are able to adjust to some current norms of the society are able to survive, have access to resources and thus achieve more reproductive success than those ostracized, cut off and with limited offspring. Kim’s theory (as cited in Liu, 2001, p. 14) assumes that â€Å"stress and growth are inseparable and that both are necessary for successful adaptation†. A culture or a species must be able to grow and adapt to surrounding cultural facets to lessen the stress that is affecting them. According to Cohen (1974, p. 3) â€Å"A population’s adaptation is its relationship to its habitat†. The population adapts when it changes key factors in itself so that the environment can be a more fitting place for them to live, such as adapting the language of the place, the standards set by those that control the resources etc. Adopting cultural features from other groups allow the people to be integrated, whether partially or completely, into that community and lessen the stress that limit them from surviving. Biological evolution is similar to this as success in here is measured by how a population manages to reproduce generations and provide for them. Backer, H. D. , Bowman, W. D. , Paton, B. C. , Steele, P. Thygerson, A. L. & Gulli, B. (2005). Wilderness first aid: emergency care for remote locations (2nd ed. ). Massachusetts, USA: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Cohen, Y. A. (1974). Man in adaptation: the cultural present (2nd ed. ). Chicago, USA: Aldine Transaction. Dicker, S. J. (2003) Languages in America: a pluralist view (2nd ed. ). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters. Jia, W. Lu, X. & Heisey, D. R. (2002). Chinese communication theory and research: reflections, new frontiers, and new directions. Connecticut. USA: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002 Liu, J. (2001). Asian students’ classroom communication patterns in U. S. universities: an emic perspective. Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Publishing Group.