SHOULD ABORTION BE OPPOSED OR NOT essays

SHOULD ABORTION BE OPPOSED OR NOT essays We, human beings, are social animals, which can not live alone. We all must live in a group because each of us depends on each other. Not only that, living in a group, you need to have rules and regulations in order to keep social stabilities and orders. There are many kinds of rules and regulations, some result in physical punishment and some result in social punishment in the form of peer disapproval. Where do they come from? In fact, they came from the decisions made by the majority of people in the society. There are some actions that result in various punishments and an example of this kind of punishment is abortion. The meaning of abortion is very obvious, abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth, and it causes the embryo or fetus to die. Abortion has been a topic of argument for very long time. People disagree on two basic questions. The first question is whether the law should permit a woman to have an abortion or not and, if is so, in what circumstance. The other is whether the law should protect the unborn. Arguments against abortion are generally based on humanity, on the belief that an abortion is the iniquitous killing of an unborn child. The groups of people who are against abortion believe that the life begins as soon as the egg is fertilized with the sperm. Therefore, it is like murdering an innocent life in a mothers womb. They think that the human embryos should have the right to live and experience this wonderful world. Arguments for abortion, many people would allow abortion in only some circumstances. Some of the approval, a womans life or health is endangered by the pregnancy for example if the woman has serious heart attack; doctor will not allow her to deliver the baby. Other find abortion permissible like when the medical tests are predicted that the child will has short life or born with a serious physical problem. Some people thi ...

Desert Biome Is the Driest

Desert Biome Is the Driest The desert biome is a dry, terrestrial biome. It consists of habitats that receive very little rainfall each year, generally less than 50 centimeters. The desert biome covers about one-fifth of the Earths surface and includes regions at a variety of latitudes and elevations. The desert biome is divided into four basic types of deserts- arid deserts, semi-arid deserts, coastal deserts, and cold deserts. Each of these types of deserts is characterized by different physical characteristics such as aridity, climate, location, and temperature. Daily Temperature Fluctuations   Although deserts are highly varied, there are some general characteristics that can be described. The fluctuation in the temperature throughout a day in a desert is far more extreme than the daily temperature fluctuations in more humid climates. The reason for this is that in damper climates, humidity in the air buffers the daytime and nighttime temperatures. But in deserts, the dry air heats up considerably during the day and cools off quickly at night. The low atmospheric humidity in deserts also means there is often a lack of cloud cover to hold the warmth. How Rainfall in the Desert Is Different Rainfall in deserts is also unique. When it does rain in arid regions, precipitation often comes in short bursts that are separated by long periods of drought. The rain that falls evaporates quickly- in some hot arid deserts, rain sometimes evaporates before it hits the ground. The soils in deserts are often coarse in texture. They are also rocky and dry with good drainage. Desert soils experience little weathering. The plants that grow in deserts are shaped by the arid conditions in which they live. Most desert-dwelling plants are low-growing in stature and have tough leaves that are well-suited to conserve water. Desert plants include vegetation such as yuccas, agaves, brittlebushes, lack sage, prickly pear cacti, and saguaro cactus. Key Characteristics The following are the key characteristics of the desert biome: little rainfall (less than 50 centimeters per year)temperatures vary greatly between day and nighthigh evaporation ratescoarse-textured soilsdrought-resistant vegetation Classification The desert biome is classified within the following habitat hierarchy: Biomes of the World Desert Biome The desert biome is divided into the following habitats: Arid deserts s of coastal deserts include the Atacama Desert of Chile and the Namib Desert of Namibia. Cold deserts - Cold deserts are deserts that have low temperatures and long winters. Cold deserts occur in the Arctic, Antarctic, and above the treelines of mountain ranges. Many areas of the tundra biome can also be considered cold deserts. Cold deserts often have more precipitation than other types of deserts. An example of a cold desert is the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia. Animals of the Desert Biome Some of the animals that inhabit the desert biome include: Desert kangaroo rat (Dipodomys deserti) - The desert kangaroo rat is a species of kangaroo rat that inhabits the deserts of southwestern North America including the Sonoran Desert, Mojave Desert, and the Great Basin Desert. Desert kangaroo rats survive on a diet that consists primarily of seeds.Coyote (Canis latrans) - The coyote is a canid that inhabits a wide range throughout North America, Central America, and Mexico. Coyotes inhabit deserts, grasslands, and scrublands throughout their range. They are carnivores that feed on a variety of small animal prey such as rabbits, rodents, lizards, deer, elk, birds, and snakes.Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) - The greater roadrunner is a year-round resident of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Greater roadrunners are fast on their feet, they can outpace a human and use that speed and their sturdy bill to catch their prey which includes lizards, small mammals, and birds. The species inhabits deserts and scrublands as w ell as open grasslands. Sonoran Desert Toad (Incilius alvarius) - The Sonoran desert toad that inhabits semi-deserts, scrublands, and grasslands in southern Arizona at elevations below 5,800 feet. The Sonoran desert toad is one of the largest toads native to North America, growing to lengths of 7 inches or more. The species is nocturnal and is most active during the monsoonal season. In drier periods of the year, Sonoran desert toads remain underground in rodent burrows and other holes.MeerkatPronghornRattlesnakeBanded Gila MonsterCactus wrenJavelinaThorny devil

The marketing strategies of Heinz Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The marketing strategies of Heinz - Assignment Example This report is designed to have an insight about an organization that is about to conduct some market research into consumer buying habits for the products and services that this company has for sale. Moreover, this research will address the obstacles in the way of the operations of Heinz and their competitors in order to clarify the current and future market standing of the company. Henry John Heinz, the founder of this company said that he learned from his parents’ idea of business which was, â€Å"Deal with the seller so justly that he will want to sell to you again.† He believed in fair play in the business and this quality of him had made him a successful businessman. He founded Heinz almost 150 years ago. Heinz was formed in Sharpsburg (a suburb of Pittsburgh), Pennsylvania, in 1869 by entrepreneur Henry John Heinz. To this day the company has become a global business dealer in the consumer food industry. Heinz is a $10.7 billion global company. The products of He inz enjoy #1 or #2 market share in more than 50 countries. Every year the company sells 650 million bottles of its iconic Ketchup. Heinz's top 15 power brands are counted as more than two-thirds of its annual sales. There are about 35000 people that are employed by Heinz in almost 50 countries around the globe. Heinz is a liable corporate citizen dedicated to safe practices, environmental stewardship and giving back to the society. The basic task required in this report is to find the appropriate research procedure and outlines its merits and de-merits. Further it is required to analyze the research by proper sampling procedure for accumulating substantial and real results. 4 External or in-house research

Plato, three Socratic Dialogues Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Plato, three Socratic Dialogues - Essay Example Euthyphro is aghast that a wise man like Socrates is being tried for corrupting the young ones and tells him that people do not like others to spread wisdom and are jealous of people who are wise. The two start talking and in the ensuing dialogues Socrates asks Euthyphro to explain the concept of piety. Euthyphro replies that piety is fighting for justice as he is doing by prosecuting his father for a murder. He laments the fact that he is hated for his action by the people although those very people have high regards for Zeus, the king of Gods, even though Zeus had punished his father (Kronos) for devouring his sons! When further pressed for the definition of piety, Euthyphro tells Socrates that whatever is held dear to God is pious and what is not dear to God is impious. He further said that even Gods have enmities and differences. Socrates counters that argument by telling that what may be liked by one God may not necessarily true for another God. Hence difference of opinion may account for the enmities and hatred between Gods and people. He asserts that everyone likes just and honourable things or persons and dislike the opposite. But it is the difference of opinions that brings about enmities and hatred. When Socrates is still not satisfied with the definition of piety, Euthyphro finally says that everything that Gods love is pious and holy and the things or persons they hate is impious and unholy. Socrates confused Euthyphro by questioning whether Gods loved things because they were pious or things were pious because Gods loved them? The dialogues, in the form of questions and answers, between the two are especially relevant even today because they establish the credibility of questions as an important means to reach towards a correct and justified answer. In simple words, the questions make us thinks about the different aspects of the problems and help us to come to a right conclusion. Socrates was a great philosopher who

Operant Conditioning Experiment Essay Example for Free

Operant Conditioning Experiment Essay I chose to involve the 1-year and a couple of months old son of my good friend and neighbor (named Judith) for my Operant Conditioning Experiment. Shawn, as we fondly call the toddler, happens to be extraordinarily shy. He would rather stay around the presence of his mom or dad than enjoy playing with other kids. He shuns most, if not all occasions of interaction with other fellows. I, for my part, have tried to â€Å"sneak† him away from his parents (with their permission, of course), to no avail. Instances in the Experiment I set for myself a modest goal – i. e. , to be able to make Shawn a little more comfortable with the company of someone other than his parents for at least 5 minutes. What I did was to spend some time, about an hour, in my friend’s home after school. I asked my friend to bring Shawn to the living room area, where we would chat while sitting on the couch. In the process, I would give Shawn some cookies (oat meal cookies are his favorite) on the condition that he would sit by my lap. The first day was a complete mess. Judith brought with her Shawn to the living room, but ended up catering to his tantrums. He appeared restless that time. The second day was the formal start of the experiment. Shawn sat near her mom by the couch. I handed him over an oatmeal cookie but he won’t accept. He only got it when Judith convinced him to do so. Come third day, we did the same routine again. I offered Shawn an oatmeal cookie and pulled it back again and again just as he was about to get it. The concept was that I needed to ask him to sit nearer my place before I would give in letting him have the cookie. Still, the experiment proved unsuccessful. I got almost the same results on the fourth day of my experiment. But I was feeling happy that Shawn’s uneasiness with my presence appears to be waning. The fifth day however, I saw a significant development. When I asked him to sit beside me while offering the cookie, Shawn got up to get the cookie from where I was, and sat for a few seconds. He then got up again, holding his cookie, and got back to his mother’s place in the couch. Evaluation of the Experiment Firstly, I must say that I did not meet the goal of my experiment, i. e. , to make Shawn enjoy my company even for 5 minutes. While I got Shawn to become a little less uneasy with my presence, and in fact got him to get his cookie and sit beside me for a few seconds, the fact that I was not able to make him stay with me at least for 5 minutes renders the experiment only as a relative success. Looking back, I have three realizations to make in relation to the experiment. First, I may have set a goal which is too much for Shawn to handle. Second, the experiment duration of 5 days may be too short for someone as timid and shy as Shawn. Third, I realized that Operant Conditioning may entail exploring other motivations to elicit behavioral change. If only I have explored offering him other enjoyable stuff like toys, I may have gotten better results from my experiment. Had I used more appealing reinforcers to help my experiment, I believe that my experiment would have generated better and more successful outcomes.

Free Essays - The Characters of Biff and Happy in Death of a Salesman :: Death Salesman essays

The Characters of Biff and Happy in Death of a Salesman No one has a perfect life; everyone has conflicts that they must face sooner or later. The ways in which people deal with these personal conflicts can differ as much as the people themselves. Some insist on ignoring the problem for as long as possible, while others face up to the problem immediately to get it out of the way. Biff and Happy Loman are good examples of this, although both start from the same point, they end up going in different directions with Happy still living in his world of lies and Biff, being set free by the truth. Happy Loman is Willy's youngest son and is often over shadowed by his older brother Biff and ignored by his parents. As a result of growing up in Biff's shadow, Happy was always striving for Willy's attention, but never really got it. This is shown when the young Happy is always telling his father "I'm losing weight, you notice, Pop?" The need for attention continues as an adult, but Willy and Linda continue to brush Happy off in much the same way they did when he was younger Happy: "I'm gonna get married, Mom. I wanted to tell you." Linda: "Go to sleep, dear." Due to his being over shadowed by his elder brother Happy has grown up to be a stunted version of Willy's vision of the American Dream. Because of this it is difficult to identify with him; throughout the play he is presented as a one-dimensional character. Although Happy grows up to become more financially successful than his older brother, he lacks even a spark of self-knowledge or capacity for self-analysis. He does however share his father's capacity for self-delusion, declaring himself as the assistant buyer at his store, when, in reality, he is only one of the assistants to the assistant buyer. Biff: "You big blow, are you the assistant buyer? You're one of the two assistants to the assistant, aren't you?" Happy: Well I'm practically- Biff: You're practically full of it!" During Willy's funeral, Happy makes an empty vow, declaring that his father's death would not be in vain, as he was going to realise Willy's dream.

Overpopulation of Animals

Millions of companion animals are being euthanized by animal shelters each year nationwide. One might ask why this is. Is there any one person or persons that is responsible for the over population of animals going to our local shelters? These are all questions that need to be answered. If we as the general public want to start tackling these problems, we need to gain further understanding of how and why these problems are created in the first place. As with every topic there are always two sides to every story. This topic is no different. The different voices and opinions vary as much as the different types of breeds of animals. First you have the authority group, like that of your local animal shelters and humane societies. These groups agree primarily on the idea that yes, animal over population is a huge problem, and that spaying and neutering is the number one way to stop domesticated animals from creating more and more offspring. The second solution that many of the authority groups share is the fact that pet owners are not always as informed as they should be about the amount of time, attention, and money it actually takes to properly care for an animal. While speaking with Dr. Joseph Hoelzle, a local veterinarian of 32 years in Cave Junction, OR, he definitely agrees that animal over population is a HUGE problem. He is presented daily with animals that have been lost or abandoned. Dr. Joe and his staff only have a small facility, so when they do receive dogs and cats at their door step, they are very limited in the options they have. If an animal is very sick or injured they have the legal right to euthanize. Otherwise if the animal in question is a dog they have to call the local animal shelter, as they do not have the facilities to facilitate dogs. Cats on the other hand, they can do more with. Dr. Joe and his staff can house them longer and try and find homes for them. When asked his opinion on whether or not he thought the public is lacking in education on the actual amount of responsibility it takes to take care of animals, his response was yes, definitely. Take horses for example, people see horses and how pretty they are and decided to bring one home. If you have never owned a horse before, or have never even been exposed to horses and how to take care of them, then you have no clue how much work it actually takes to maintain one. † Dr. Joe went on to say that the average size dog that is in good health takes approximately $10,000 a year to properly care for them. The first step when making any decis ions on obtaining an animal, no matter what type or breed, is always research. Research how big they will be, what types of health problems are prone to those specific animals, do they require a lot of maintenance, are they high in energy, and so forth. Another interview that was conducted was with Marci, from the Josephine County Animal Shelter in Grants Pass, OR. Not knowing how far out the animal shelter was from my location, I made sure to leave with plenty of time to find the shelter as well as be early for the actual interview its self. As I was sitting out front of the animal shelter waiting for my interview to be had, I can hear all the barking and howling of all the dogs. Through their sad cries you can hear the yearning in their voices to just be loved. This is just one of the many reasons I absolutely love dogs. Although they are locked in â€Å"jail† not know what their final destination might be, they still greet everyone with a smile, and a wagging tail, faithful to the end. The first question to break the ice that I asked Marci was, do you like your job. Marci says she absolutely loves her job and would not change anything she does daily that she is somewhat of an adrenalin junkie. This job is a very rewarding job, frustrating at times but very rewarding. You get the chance to make a difference, a difference with not only the animals that you receive or rescue, but also with the community. † Life as an officer of the animal shelter can be very challenging at times. Some of the challenges they face on a regular basis is a lack of support, a huge lack in funding, lack of man power, and a lack of the proper equipment. They do not have all the fancy equipment that is seen in magazines, or on the popular TV. show on Animal Planet, Animal Police. Marci goes on to state, â€Å"We do not even have the proper funding right now to obtain something as simple as ramps for our trucks. † According to Brad Tally, the animal control supervisor for the Josephine County Animal Shelter, there Annual budget is $400,000. The shelter only receives a total of $75,000 from general funding. The shelter themselves are responsible for raising the remaining balance of $325,000 themselves. They do this through fundraising, donations and the funds they receive from pet owners licensing their pets. Marci explains that it is an Oregon state law that a dog is licensed. Oregon does not recognize cats. If an animal control officer is called out to a residence for something like a disturbance call, and they realize that the dog is not licensed, the owner can be fined for the cost of the original license plus an added thirty dollar penalty fee. If the owner is still not compliant within 30 days of the citation, they can be fined again with a $360 dollar citation. â€Å"We would rather not issue citations; we would rather try and cut the owners a break by giving them a verbal warning. Marci’s thoughts on animal overpopulation and a productive method of reducing the number of animals producing offspring’s that potentially have no homes to go to, are similar to those of Dr. Joe. She says that the overpopulation of domesticated animals can be stopped by spaying and neutering. That there are a lot of programs out there that can and will help with the cost of the procedures. â€Å"If every pet owner decided to get their animals spayed or neutered, the number of animals being picked up and dropped off would decrease significantly. One incentive that is already in place statewide is that, if a pet owner does get there dogs fixed the cost of the licensing is also reduced. The cost goes from thirty five dollars down to eighteen dollars. Another issue Marci raised that contributes to the overpopulation problem was the fact that there are â€Å"back yard† breeders that breed dogs for money. â€Å"They are not breeding their pure bred with another type of pure bred to better the breed; they are breeding these dogs just to gain money. They have no actual intention on ever doing anything with these dogs; they merely do this out of pure greed. An opposing view point to this statement taken from CQ Researcher: America’s Pampered Pets, By Mary H. Cooper Volume 6, issue 48, Para. 29 states that: AKC breeders argue that because their dogs are healthy a nd properly groomed, their rights to bred animals should not be taken away. When Marci was asked about the disturbing fact that millions of animals are being euthanized each year in American shelters and whether or not this was true, her response was actually rather positive. She was able to leave a since of hope, in my now saddened realities. Marci stated that their rates of euthanasia have dropped considerably. That the shelter has started looking for other means of dealing with their animals other than turning directly to euthanizing. Each year animal shelters nationwide receive what is known as â€Å"throw away pets†. What exactly are throw away pets? Picture this; you’re out one day driving around with the family, and all of a sudden you see one of those handmade signs that read â€Å"Free Puppies†. So you decided to pull over†¦ you walk up to see all the adorable puppies, wagging their tails and looking at you with those big innocent eyes. You and the family take one home, not really knowing much about the puppy, let alone its breed. And before you know it, this cute little adorable puppy has turned out to be way more work than you or your family had initially anticipated. So with not wanting to continue to keep up with the daily responsibilities of owning the dog, you decided to take it to the local animal shelter in hopes that it will find a â€Å"better home†. This is where the term â€Å"throw away† dogs comes from. Sadly enough, this is what Marci and the others at the Animal shelter see on a daily basis. The general procedure that is followed when a new animal is received differs from cats to dogs. The first step is the initial paperwork that is involved, getting them â€Å"logged into jail†. After they have done the paper work one of the first things they do is scan the animal in hopes to find a microchip. (Microchips are tiny chips surgically implanted into a dog or cats skin that contains all of the owners contact information. ) If there is not a microchip present and the dog does not have any type of licensing information on them, then the dog is held for seventy two hours. During the holding period the dog is kept in the back kennels away from potential adoptees. A lost and found book is gone through to make sure that the dog in question has not already been called in as lost. If in the seventy two hour period the dog is still not claimed, they perform a temperament test. If the dog passes the temperament test, then they are eligible for adoption. The other means of handling stray dogs other than euthanasia, mentioned earlier in the paper, that the shelter turns to are working with other programs as well as other counties. Some of the programs they work with are PAWS and Dogs for the Deaf. The other county they work with to place dogs into forever homes is Jackson County. PAWS is a non-profit animal shelter located in West Linn, Oregon. According to their website located at www. pawsanimalshelter. org, Since we opened our doors on June 6, 1999, we have found homes for over 1,000 cats, 45 dogs, 1 rabbit, 2 turtles, 1 pigeon, and a miniature horse. According to the website www. dogsforthedeaf. org, Dogs for the Deaf rescue dogs from animal shelters throughout Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California. We choose dogs that are people friendly, confident, and motivated by toys, treats, and affection. We rescue, train, and place 30-40 dogs annually. The dogs are trained with positive reinforcement and lots of love. When asked Marci’s opinion on the lack of public information, and whether or not this could be one of the factors that is contributing to the overpopulation of animals in animal shelters, her response was, â€Å"As far as public information, that is something we do, but with the lack of man power and time we have, this is something that we cannot do enough of. There are only two actual officers working out of the Josephine County Animal Shelter, Marci and her partner Bill. Between the two of them they are expected to answer to every single call placed out of Josephine County. This area is roughly from the California border, to the Glendale off ramp, out to the Applegate area. This is where the lack of man power comes into play. An article in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, (Beyond Overpopulation: A comment on Zawistowski et al. and Salman et al. By: Fehell, Lee Anne, 1999 Vol. , Issue 3. Para. 24) Brings up yet another reason as to why animals start to stack up in animal shelters. â€Å"The general public more times than not are detoured away from their local animal shelters due to the common knowledge that pets is killed at the site. They do not want to be made feel guilty or responsible for that animal’s life if they do not pick that certain one to bring home. † Getting a new animal is and welcoming that animal into your home is supposed to be an exciting joyous event, not something that is associated with death or defeat. Although there is a majority of people who would rather obtain a dog or cat from someone they know rather than going to a shelter and possibly taking home an animal that they were not a hundred percent set on, there is also a large majority of people who feel the complete opposite. They would rather go to the local animal shelter and possibly save that cat or dogs life. This in my opinion gives these individuals a sense of accomplishment. Here is a poem about just that.

Pets.com Case Analysis Essay

INTRODUCTION In this report I will analyse Pets.com’s short lived success as America’s number one online supplier of pet foods supplies and accessories. I will also identify what actually went wrong and present a refreshed offensive marketing strategy to the board of the company. It was unbelievable how a public listed company led by some of the world’s best business executives, draped by all the funds that any company in the world would envy, partnered with the world’s number one e-commerce company and became America’s pet industry icon can lose everything in less than two years after its first introduction. In my opinion some of the major factors that contributed to Pets.com failure were: 1. Bad strategic decisions made by the previous leadership including underestimating the cost of operations and overspending on marketing. The management was so obsessed grabbing the market share but at the same time losing their focus altogether on their actual goal and objectives, which is generating revenue for the company and become profitable to ensure sustainability. 2. Despite its success in building brand recognition, Pets.com overestimated the market trend and power of the internet. They were also overconfident in estimating the market real potential and risk due very shallow and weak market research. When everyone was rushing to jump onto the internet e-commerce guaranteed-for-success bandwagon, Pets.com did not realize pet business was not that simple but in fact more complicated compared to selling books and clothes online. After all the costly marketing promotions and advertisements, overnight popularity, having the most complete online product offerings and latest technology at their disposal, still in the end Pets.com failed to show much added value and differentiators in the eyes of the customers. 3. Completely ignored the power of traditional brick and mortar business model. Pets.com failed to understand their rivals strengths and weaknesses well. Better customer care, satisfying personal shopping experience and fast  delivery are some of the advantages physical stores had over online pet portals. Pet owners appreciation of these traditional values affected typical pet-owners’ readiness and willingness to completely abandon their friendly and trusted around-the-corner neighbourhood pet store. COMPETITOR ANALYSIS The previous company did not bring up a good proposal in opposing its competitors. It was so obvious that they ignored the fact that traditional pet store was very much controlling the pet food and supplies market. Underestimating the strengths and advantage of their more traditional brickand-mortar based rivals like Petstore, Petsmart and Petopia was the first biggest mistake they had done. Competitor Analysis  Petopia.com 1. Heavily funded by Petco, market leader in pets accessories and supplies industry 2. Well established physical stores plus e-commerce business model 3. Leverage on Petco’s good and well known reputation as supplier of quality pet products and its commitment to animal care. 4. Petopia will gain invaluable access to Petco’s extensive network of chain stores which both companies can cross-promote each other: a. Have nationwide coverage with 465 chain stores all over US b. Strong international presence with 100 stores globally 5. Potential Pes.com future international expansion thru strategic alliance with another major investor Groupe Arnault (linked to renowned LVHM Moet Henessey Loius Vuitton) PetSmart.com 1. Already a successful brick and mortar business on its own right. Considered as Petco’s main brick and mortar competitor 2. Joint venture with e-commerce entrepreneur Bill Gross of Idealab become direct competition to Pets.com-Amazon’s team up. 3. Well established physical stores plus e-commerce business model 4. Strong back-end warehouse and delivery systems with already 500 stores nationwide and 100 outside US. 5. Strong brand name, marketing clout, close vendor relationships and  efficient product portfolios and fulfilment systems that would greatly benefit their online business. Petstore.com 1. Funded by venture capital firm Battery Ventures 2. Rely entirely on the power of e-commerce. Work on the same business model as Pets.com, establish a leadership position with ‘category killer’ domain name 3. Just like Pets.com, Petstore relied heavily on advertising and promotions 4. No physical store establishment At the end of the day, after the big dotcom bubble burst, only Petopia (now owned by Petco) and PetSmart survived. Petstore and Pets.com itself succumbed to the dotcom bubble burst. Two most obvious factors that set apart the two victors and losers are: 1. PetSmart and Petopia had a strong back-end warehouse backing and chains of physical stores that in the end reduce distribution costs, storage, ensure satisfactory delivery period and value-add traditional shopping experience and satisfaction. Unlike the two, Pets.com and Petstore.com relied entirely on the internet of which later compromised basic pet owners’ needs and customer satisfaction. 2. Pets.com and Petstore relied heavily on funding from venture capital firms while Petopia and PetrSmart already have strong infrastructures and customer network they can always depend on if anything goes wrong over the internet. This proves deadly when Pets.com failed to gain enough added capital injection to save them from becoming dotcom bubble’s biggest casualty. It is very important for us to re-align our goal and strategically repositions ourselves in this industry. The following SWOT analysis shall analyses our key strengths and weaknesses. Pets.com’s SWOT Analysis STRENGTH 1. Huge cash to spend. Heavily funded. Backed by Amazon.com. 2. Direct access to Amazon.com’s network resources and e-commerce skills and expertise, so technology skills and know-how is not an issue. 3. Strategic alliance with Yahoo!, GO.com (Disney), Discovery TV network (Animal Planet) and association with the American Veterinar Medical Foundation can be a very strong network positioning strategy. 4. Pets.com is the most recognizable domain name, highly visible website with most comprehensive website content and best design. Pets.com website is so popular in the internet and mainstream media that at one time becomes the most visited pet supplies website in the world. 5. Most competitive price and service offerings (plus free delivery). Able to offer quality products of which becoming today’s key plus factor to the passionate middle-class and high income pet owners. 6. Largest stock keeping units (SKUs) in America to ensure reliable supply and on time delivery to customers. WEAKNESS 1. Competitors offer similar products. Pets.com still could not find key market differentiator. 2. Huge expectation on online marketing and promotion. Specialized team to maintain up-todate and latest website content and information may incur increasing administration costs. 3. Pets.com have weak brand name as compared to more established rivals. 4. Pets.com don’t have physical stores presence nationwide and globally. 5. Reliability and security on the internet can halt and even destroy online business almost overnight. 6. High transportation costs and insurance liability due to free delivery policy to customers regardless location 7. Geographical factors, warehouse location and distance may result to 2-3 days for orders to reach American homes OPPORTUNITIES 1. Pets.com can leverage further on Amazon’s full potential-market penetration and trustworthy e-commerce reputation 2. Can take full advantage on average American pet owners passion and spending habits on pet food and supplies 3. The right time to tap into the world’s fast growing and lucrative national and international markets. 4. Can take advantage on the fact that most trusted and high quality pet foods are produced in the US 5. Can take advantage on average American pet owners’ hectic lifestyle. Promote cost and time saving. 6. Average American pet owners are economically stable. Price is not a big issue. 7. Develop own brand name and proprietary products THREAT 1. There will always be a better competitors’ website content and offerings 2. Don’t underestimate internet capabilities-consider problems at remote sites and countryside 3. Simpler user-friendly blogs, mobile applications and smartphones can replace website 4. Increasing transportation and shipping costs 5. Transportation risk-lost and damage 6. Internet customer bad experience, unfavourable comments and reviews can sabotage any 3  online business that is not ready and fully prepared 7.Growing e-commerce safety concerns can influence internet users to just browse and shop at competitor’s outlet 8. Competitors physical stores at almost US neighbourhoods-providing more human approach (touch and feel) and faster delivery time 9. Hard habit to break-still many pet owners prefer visit local neighbourhood stores than buying online 10. Competition by any brick and mortar neighbourhood establishment Pet supplies are not books. People only order pizzas online-Amazon.com strategy may not work at certain environment and condition. Pets.com need to show better  value-add and pull-factor. SEGMENTATION ANALYSIS Pets.com have the best products to offer and the technology to drive this online business model to success, but in the end not understanding the consumer’s real needs, behaviour and spending habits can prove vital to the company’s survival and relevancy. According to study reports by The NPD Group, Inc. and Media Metrix (NASDAQ: MMXI), 75% of pet owners who access the Internet are aware of online pet stores, up from 55% in September 1999. Twenty-seven percent have shopped at an online pet store, while 14% made an actual purchased at an online pet store. Study confirms that almost three times as many pet owners become aware of online pet stores from television advertising compared to last year, while fewer are learning about sites from surfing the Web. Though television advertising in the category is growing, consumers are still more likely to find out about pet e-tailers from some online source, such as clicking on a banner ad or direct link from another site. The good news for marketers is that while category penetration is still low, customer satisfaction is high. Among the 14% who have purchased, a whopping 97% of them are satisfied with their buying experience. More than two-thirds reported being very satisfied (68%), up from just over one-half in September of 1999 (53%). The majority of consumers who have shopped at pet store sites said they are likely to shop again in the next three months (59%), and half would make a purchase sometime in the future (49%). Not surprisingly, those consumers who are very satisfied with their buying experiences at online pet stores in general are much more likely to make a purchase in the future than those who have not. The Pet Industry In 1998, pet industry is a US53billion a year marketplace. Worldwide estimates run about $51 billion, and growing at a rate of about 15 percent a  year. By the end of 2004, online pet-product sales alone should total more than $4.5 billion. Pet food, accessories and supplies tops US household shopping list with Pets leading with USD23 billion a year, Toys US21billion a year. Music recording US13 billion a year and Retail books at US 12 billion a year. Expert prediction is the pet industry may grow to US28billion a year business by 2001. 1. 60% of American households own at least one pet and 40% own more than one pet. Statistics in 1999 shows 53 million are dogs and 59 million are cats. 2. American families with children age 5-15 likely to own pets and families with children younger than 18 will grow over the next several years 3. Even though online shopping for pet foods and supplies are still new to the consumers, nearly 30% of internet users purchase online pet products. Pet owning households wealthier than average thus able to spend more on pets (65% household earning US60000 or more are pet owners). Almost two-thirds of all American households have at least one pet, and that translates into an estimated $23 billion a year in pet expenditures in the U.S. alone. 4. Veterinary,boarding,grooming,training yielded higher margins. 5. Most pet owners buy on impulse during regular shopping trips and they are less price sensitive 6. US pet owners sought veterinary care at least once a year of which 92% are on dogs and 78% on cats care. Between 1991-1999 US vet expenditure grew 9.5% annually 7. By mid 1990s supermarket pet food began losing market share amid growing concern for pet welfare and nutrition. Non-premium low nutrient levels supermarket brands hold 55% of market share mostly thru grocery and convenience stores. They anyhow demonstrate slow annual growth and small gross margins. Premium levels on the other hand promote healthier diet but risk restricted distribution. From 19940-1999 they contributed to 18% annual growth and own 25% of market share. 8. Supermarkets prefer to stock profitable goods but they face problem with space to store bulks. Pet supply stores on the other hand have the storage advantage. Despite that brick-and-mortar margin still low between 2-4%. 9. Internet and retail commerce trends shows estimated 97 million households are using internet worldwide. By 1998-60% households on internet at least once a day compare 35% year before. Surfing the internet has become part of part of daily American life. In 1998 internet companies in the US generated USD301.4 billion revenues from the internet and internet commerce alone contributed 1/3 of total revenue equals to USD101.9 billion 10. Even though pets product online just started in 1999, survey shows high level of satisfaction among online shoppers. More than half of 30% internet users purchase online pet products, more than half very satisfied. Survey shows: a. 68% are females b. 40% bought toys for pets online c. 30% bought foods/treats d. 26% non-food accessories e. 17% health products 11. The main reasons why they buy online was convenience but experts claim it is limited to small market only and it is also outweighed by higher costs and longer waits. THE MARKETING OFFENSIVE When more than one company offers the same kind of product, each company only receives a percentage of all sales of that kind of product. This percentage is called a â€Å"market share,† and any effort to take some of the market share away from one company and bring it to another is called an offensive marketing plan. Marketing is all about building relationships. It’s about educating (and maybe even entertaining) your customer. While we must not deny the growing influence of the internet, Pets.com must not underestimate the power of traditional pet business model. Alternative strategies that could improve Pets.com: 1. Decrease the advertising and marketing budgets a. This will create opportunity to relocate funds elsewhere such people development and customer care b. Ability to make-up for low sales volume c. Wasting less money on expensive marketing promotions 2. Open warehouses and brick-and-mortar establishments to increase distribution a. Ability to ship products in shorter distances to reduce transportation costs and risks b. Provide faster delivery time may increase competitive advantage c. More readily available products for easier delivery or for exchanges 3. Redo pricing structure for more competitive prices a. Make profits on the product not on the inflated shipping costs b. Pets.com can offer ‘free shipping’ promotions without selling at price below costs c. Consumer’s assurance on Pets.com product quality will keep existing customers and introduce new ones. Customer satisfaction leads to customer loyalty. 4. Invest the use of new media such social networking and blogs. This may attract younger generation of pet owners 5. Introduce subscription and loyalty program. Other than improving customer retention it can also be used qualification tools to offer free delivery or charge based on geographical location and distance. 6. Improve Pets.com brand name. Association with Amazon and Animal Planet may prove very useful in attracting loyal fans. 7. Collaboration with vets and animal clinics promoted as local distributors can reduce delivery time and stock availability. 8. Identify specific target groups. For example individual consumers will more readily use products used by government facilities and pet care professionals. CONCLUSION The failure of Pets.com was not because the online business model. In fact it was more to mismanagement of funds, business planning based only on short term analysis, poor market understanding and research, underestimating  traditional rivals and overestimating the power of internet. It was a classic case of bad strategy. The failure to face the challenge. â€Å"If you fail to identify and analyse the obstacles, you don’t have a strategy. Instead, you have a stretch goal or a budget or a list of things you wish would happen.† Pets.com was an early entry in the immature online shopping industry and was uncertain whether a substantial market niche even existed. No independent market research preceded the launch of Pets.com. Instead, the management chose a â€Å"land grab† strategy focused on increasing its market share then finding ways to make a profit. The â€Å"land grab† strategy presupposes that your market is large enough or will grow fast enough so that revenue allows a profit before seed money runs out. Pets.com wished that it would magically become profitable while it waited for the market to mature. During its first fiscal year (February to September 1999) Pets.com earned revenues of $619,000, yet spent $11.8 million on advertising. It failed to realize its problem would not be gaining market share, but generating revenue to sustain it until it could place adequate resources into market share focused strategies. Mistaking goals for strategy. â€Å"Create the conditions that will make the push effective, to have a strategy worthy of the effort called upon.†Ã‚  When the company did turn its focus to its business model, it created unrealistic conditions in which to operate effectively. For example, Pets.com offered a guaranteed $4.95 shipping to anywhere in the United States. Unfortunately, Pets.com initially only had one distribution warehouse in California and every shipment to the East Coast cost more than $4.95 and therefore shipped at a loss. It lost money on nearly every sale because, even before the cost of advertising, it was selling merchandise for approximately 1/3rd the price it paid to obtain the products. During its second fiscal year the company continued to sell merchandise for approximately 27% less than cost. The company had it sites on being the number one online pet supplier but failed to leverage key strengths to build on other than a very costly push for brand recogn ition. Bad strategic objectives. â€Å"A scrambled mess of things to accomplish—a dog’s dinner of goals. A long list of things to do, often mislabeled as strategies or objectives, is not a strategy†¦Good strategy, in contrast, works by focusing energy and resources on one, or a very few, pivotal objectives whose accomplishment will lead to a cascade of favorable outcomes.† As I researched Pet.com history, I was amazed by the number of â€Å"strategies† the leadership claimed. Not all inclusive, CEO Julie Wainright and executives focused on numerous initiatives in an attempt to stand out from the competition. 1. Strive to offer a huge variety of product offerings; it listed more stock keeping units than any other online pet supplier 2. Offer abundant editorial advice from veterinarians, animal lawyers, breeders, scientists, and pet experts 3. Extend its brand offline in the Pets.com print magazine 4. Develop and offer its own proprietary brand of Pets.com pet supplies 5. Acquire a key competitor, Petstore.com 6. Create alliances to allow Pets.com to offer animal health insurance, be the featured petstore on the Yahoo! link to pet health advice, be a part of the Go.com (Disney) network, and establish charitable foundations. These all seem like good objectives, if focused on one at a time. They also seem like objectives fueled by capital but not sustained by revenues. The management of the company appeared so focused on several objectives that it never developed a solid business model focused on being profitable and generating sustainable returns. Fluff – â€Å"Superficial abstraction†¦designed to mask the absence of thought.† According to analyst Jacques Chevron, â€Å"Pets.com failed to give its prospective customers a reason for its existence. Its tongue-in-cheek advertising claim (â€Å"Because pets don’t drive†) seemed like an  admission of its lack of a reason for being.† Pets.com seemed focused on being the most comprehensive site for pet owners that it failed to be  successful in any of its objectives. While it continued to claim it was the one-stop site for all pet needs, it never established a reputation as being good at anything other than advertising. Bibliography 1. Pets.com: Rise and Decline of a Pet Supply Retailer by Dr Omar Merlo 2. The Rise and Fall of Pets.com: †Because Pets Can’t Buy† by Cara L.O Peters (University of Georgia) and Marilyn J. Okleshen (Minnesota State University) 3. Pets.com failure and its causes http://my-espace09.blogspot.com/2009/01/petscom-failureand-its-causes.html 4. Pet & Pet Supplies Stores Industry Statistics Research Report – Anything Research 2010. 5. US Pet Market Outlook – Packaged Facts 2009.

As Well As Does Not Mean And

As Well As Does Not Mean And â€Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And† â€Å"As Well As† Does Not Mean â€Å"And† By Maeve Maddox A reader asks, Will you please comment on the use of â€Å"as well as† as used below: â€Å"Deng Xiaoping made a significant contribution with his theoretical courage of Marxism,  matter-of-fact attitude, rich experience, as well as his foresight and sagacity.† â€Å"As well as† doesn’t seem to me to be equivalent to â€Å"and.† According to Merriam-Webster, â€Å"as well as† is equivalent to and: as well as conjunction: and in addition, and. According to The Chicago Manual of Style, however, it is not: Note that the phrase as well as is not equivalent to and. WRONG: The team fielded one Mazda, two Corvettes, three Bugattis, as well as a battered Plymouth Belvedere. RIGHT: The team fielded one Mazda, two Corvettes, and three Bugattis, as well as a battered Plymouth Belvedere.- 6.18 The phrase â€Å"as well as† and the single word and are not equivalents because and joins two elements of equal importance, but â€Å"as well as† places more emphasis on one of the elements. Compare: My dog and cat bring me things to throw. My cat and dog bring me things to throw. My cat, as well as my dog, brings me things to throw. In the first two sentences, no distinction is made between cat and dog. In the third sentence, an unequal emphasis is placed upon cat, suggesting that there is something notable about the action as it applies to the cat. This use of â€Å"as well as† is similar to the correlative â€Å"not onlybut also,† but the emphasis falls on the element that precedes â€Å"as well as.† Note: When â€Å"as well as† is mistakenly perceived to mean and, problems of agreement arise. Chicago addresses this in Paragraph 5.133: [The intervening â€Å"as well as†] seems to create a compound subject, and [a] modifying prepositional phrase may itself contain one or more plural objects. If the singular verb sounds awkward in such a sentence, it may be better to use the conjunction and instead: WRONG: The bride as well as her bridesmaids were dressed in mauve. RIGHT: The bride as well as her bridesmaids was dressed in mauve. BETTER: The bride and her bridesmaids were dressed in mauve. If no contrasting emphasis is intended, and is the better choice. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Expressions category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:The Yiddish Handbook: 40 Words You Should KnowThat vs. WhichUses of the Past Participle

Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE)

Light Rare Earth Elements (LREE) The light rare earth elements, light-group rare earths, or LREE are a subset of the lanthanide series of  the rare earth elements, which are themselves a special set of transition metals. Like other metals, the light rare earths have a shiny metallic appearance. They tend to produce colored complexes in solution, conduct heat and electricity, and form numerous compounds. None of these elements occurs in pure form naturally. Although the elements are not that rare in terms of element abundance, they are extremely difficult to isolate from each other. Also, the minerals that bear rare earth elements are not uniformly distributed across the globe, so the elements are uncommon in most countries and must be imported. Elements That Are Light Rare Earth Elements Youll see different sources site slightly different lists of elements classified as LREEs, but the US Department of Energy, US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey, and national labs use a very specific set of criteria to assign elements to this group. The light-group rare earth elements are based on the configuration of  4f electrons. LREEs have no paired electrons. This makes the LREE group consist of 8 elements with atomic number 57 (lanthanum, with no unpaired 4f electrons) through atomic number 64 (gadolinium, with 7 unpaired 4f electrons): lanthanum (La) - used in high-end optical lenses and in  lanthanum nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteriescerium (Ce) - the 25th most abundant element in the Earths crust (so not rare at all), used in catalytic converters and the oxide as a polishing powder  praseodymium (Pr) - oxide is used as a catalyst in plastic manufacturing and is combined with zirconium oxide to produce a vivid yellow pigment used in ceramicsneodymium (Nd) - used to make super-strong magnets; neodymium-iron-boron (NeFeB) magnets are used to make cell phones vibratepromethium (Pm) - used to make a phosphorescent pigment and to make the starter switch for fluorescent lampssamarium (Sm) - used in high strength magnets and to make servo-motorseuropium (Eu) - used to make phosphors, notably the reddish-orange color of screens and monitorsgadolinium (Gd) - used in a reactor to control rods to control fission reaction and as a contrast agent to improve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) Uses of the LREE All of the rare earth metals have great economic importance. There are many practical applications of the light rare earth elements, including: lasermagnetsphosphorsluminous paintscatalystsmetallurgysuperconductorssensorsflat panel displaysmedical tracersmicrophones and speakersrechargeable batteriesfiber opticsnumerous defense applications The Special Case of Scandium The element scandium is considered to be one of the rare earth elements. Although it is the lightest of the rare earths, with atomic number 21, it is not classified as a light rare earth metal. Why is this? Basically, its because an atom of scandium does not have an electron configuration comparable to that of the light rare earths. Like other rare earths, scandium typically exists in a trivalent state, but its chemical and physical properties dont warrant grouping it with either the light rare earths or the heavy rare earths. There are no middle rare earths or other classification, so scandium is in a class by itself.

Superstition & Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Superstition & Science - Essay Example Neville discovered that the infected beings possessed both the human and vampire-like characteristics and only came out after dawn (Matheson 17). The other characteristic trait was that they could be repelled using garlic. It became a constant battle of survival for this resourceful man who had to go against extreme odds to get what he aspired. At one point Neville captured Ruth, a creature possessing both human and vampire characteristics and one that could go out during the day. Neville’s reaction was that there was nothing eye-catching about them during the day (Matheson 30). Neville was suspicious as to whether Ruth was truly human as she portrayed herself adding to the fact that she was opposed to killing of vampires. Ruth and Neville soon became companion to a point where it developed into a relationship. On his quest to identify the cure for the disease, Neville and the readers discovered that Ruth’s blood samples were indeed infected. Ruth left Neville and revea led that she lived in colony of people who were infected and planned to rebuild their lives. Given that Neville had formed a habit of killing many of Ruth’s kind, he only seems to be in their way and had to be converted before he destroyed her people. The novel concludes by depicting the final thoughts of Neville before he was executed. Part 2: Argument Using the evidence put into play by Richard Matheson, in connection with the 1940s and 1950s timelines, it is clear that there were universal human fears among the American public in 1954. The fear could also be directly linked to the existing, cultural conditions and existing custom of individual identity. From the timelines given, year 1940 to year 1954, it is clear that the American public was fearful of the Cold War and the effects it had on individuals, their health and social aspects. Vampires represented American’s xenophobic fear which manifested with time and was made worse with the onset of a few films made in New York for entertaining the Elite. Hence, most Americans were not fully reassured that the vampire syndrome would come to an end. The sale of surplus war material in 1940s posed a serious risk to the lives of Americans who were at war with other nations. Vampire-like symptoms can be indirectly compared to American public’s fear of the devastating physical changes, illness and decreasing faculties when exposed to biological war materials that were used by their enemies. The public was fearful of loss of individuality as a nation. The manifestation of decaying being that still lingered in the world can be compared to the individual fear of being incapable of recognizing and preventing oneself from encountering pain and suffering that was inflicted once a loved one was lost in the war. The drinking of blood as depicted in Matheson’s book, page 10, of Vampires’ craving to drink Neville’s blood represented the public’s fear of re-occurring problems w hich surfaced during the Second World War. It reprieved the public off its financial and emotional aspects of life. The compelling universal fears manifested in an average American’s mind in 1942 and 1943 where there were atomic bombs being developed as a form of weapon. This may be compared to the views of Americans in regard to Vampires in the society. When the world war two occurred, most countries were affected on a global scope and so was Neville’