Strategic Planning Management in Tesco

Strategic Planning Management in Tesco Introduction Strategic planning is an essential process to be campaigned within, for the success of the organisation. By performing strategic planning an organisation can determine its short term as well as long term goals along with their implementation and scheme to accomplish them. Strategic planning defines strategy, direction, and strength towards the external as well as internal challenges faced by the organisation. It suggests resources and serving allocations, so strategic planning is one of the important liabilities of management. Performing strategic management leads to the answers of following three questions. Where the organisation does stand? What are the goals to be achieved? Financial Brand name How the goals can be accomplishment? Strategic planning and business planning are the basic requirement to be executed by the management members, the former is related to entire organisation while the latter is relate to an individual product or service. Several strategic planning models have been introduces along with the approaches that are used for the welfare of the organisation. The development of a plan is dependent on factors such as culture of organisation, threats to the organisation, structure of the organisation, skilfulness of plan developer. The plan may be of one year or may be of ten years, depending upon the planner and the activities involved in the plan. More the details are included lengthier the plan would be and clear the goals would be. Process of the plan is more important than former sketching of Strategic planning, threats to the organisation, or its current financial status. A good planner emphasize on excelling the organisation rather than victory over competitors. Several organisations view t his process of determining the standpoint of organisation over next years, to forecast they need to know the current status of the organisation and the place where they see the organisation in coming years, this plotting of the direction can be referred as the Strategic Planning. Although over the period of time, each long term strategic plans needs monitoring and modifications. As the plans are made on the basis of assumption of the external and internal environment of the organisation, everything goes well until the prediction turns to be right. Tesco plc. is an internationally recognised organisation, the company was established in 1929 in Middlesex, U.K.. Today the 3rd largest retailer and the 2nd largest profit earning organisation amongst millions of business is Tesco plc. Across the world; this organisation is serving 13 major countries i.e. 32 stores in Malaysia, 81 in Slovakia, 88 in China, 105 in Turkey, 119 in Ireland, 136 in Czech Republic, 142 in Japan, 145 in U.S.A., 176 in Hungary, 305 in South Korea, 336 in Poland, 663 in Thailand, and in United Kingdom the number of stores are more than the numbers of Tesco stores in rest of the countries i.e. 2482 stores. Since Tesco has reached to such heights analysis on strategic planning would be best understood by looking into strategy followed by Tesco plc. Essential Planning Components: Principles, Theories and Tools. The main activity of the organisation is retailing and finance services, finance services such as banking, insurance services and retailing services such as online shopping form television, internet etc. Tesco has reached such heights by applying strategic planning with keen knowledge of its principles and theories. The principles of Strategic planning are Strategic planning serves the foundation of management process. Plans are sort of guidelines to the company for figuring out the financial resources and non-financial resources. Stakeholders play an important role for execution and progress of the plan. Active members of stakeholder will add the strength to the process effectiveness. Performance of an organisation is calculable so a clear strategy leads to accomplish practice goals As the market condition cannot be controlled so its difficult to predict the future environment and as the organisation is dependent on external environment, the plan cannot be exactly designed and few changes may be made in future as required. As the organisation reaches the expected state again the planning is made for the next few years, dew to this characteristic of organisation planning is persistent throughout the life of the organisation. Stakeholders reviews are essential aspect of the planning process, collecting review make out the contribution and commitment of the staff toward the mission and vision of the organisation. These principles are essential to planning process; integrating principles in a strategic planning process may not lead to success but overlooking these principles may cause a failure. A Marketing Plan for Tesco plc. Marketing planning is a process to determine the requirements of customer and a route to fulfil coming requirement, this is done to increase the sales of the product or service provided by the organisation. The diagram below depicts the scheme to increase marketing strategy of Tesco plc. The aim of this marketing strategy is to improve turn a profit and performance of the firm. Examine current market position: Here Tesco must analyse the present position and stand in the market and sketch them. Determine targeted market: Determine where the management wants to be in coming years. Conclude marketing Objectives: Planner may then set achievable goals to be achieved in certain time duration. Choose suitable marketing mix: What scheme should Tesco follow; to achieve determined goals will be chosen in this phase. Develop plan of action: This phase starts to generate the environment to initiate the plan. Implement marketing program: Now Tesco would turn words into action, the journey to achieve determined goals start in this phase. Establish control: The management determines role of each element and intensity of the force applied by the implementation of plan. Implement control: The figured out control over the plan is than implemented. Practising this strategic marketing management, Tesco can plan and implement the marketing goals and achieve the customer satisfaction Role of Stakeholders in Tesco Stakeholders exert a broad range of liability in an organisation; they may be a single person or a group of peoples interested in an organisation. A large amount of weightage is held by the stakeholders on the final consequence of the plan. Stakeholders comprises; shareholders of the company, management members in an organisation, employee or staff of the organisation, businesses supplying services to the organisation, clients who consumes the services or product of the organisation, the local society and the government. Analysing individuals, Stakeholders may be considered as members who are affected by or who may affect the performance and the objectives of an organisation. Lager the organisation is wider the range of stakeholders are. Stakeholders may be classified into several categories Internal and External Narrow and wide Primary and Secondary Active and Passive Internal and external stakeholders are above board differentiated, they are one inside and outside the organisation, internal stakeholders includes staff and management of the organisation, whereas external stakeholders includes customers, businesses providing services to the organisation, the business providing same products or services i.e. competitors and many more. Narrow Stakeholders are those who are affected by the achievements of the organisations such as management and staff, in other words who are dependent on the organisation. Wide stakeholders are those who are affected to a lesser extent such as government, customers with choice of investment to a product etc. Primary stakeholders are those whose participation in the organisation is very important and the survival without them in market is not possible on the other hand secondary stakeholders are those; on whom organisation is dependent to a lesser extent. Active stakeholders are one who monitors and participates directly in an organisation, this does not mean that management and employee always fall in this category, sometimes external bodies fall in this category and internal stakeholders fail to participate in this group. Whilst passive stakeholders are one who does not participate actively in the organisation such as usually role played by shareholders and government towards an organisation. There are many more categories defined by the scholars and researchers on management, such as voluntary stakeholders and involuntary stakeholders, legitimate stakeholders and illegitimate stakeholders, recognised and unrecognised stakeholders and so on. Needs and Expectations of stakeholders in an organisational process Strategic planning emphasises on surrounding of the organisation, the available resources internal and external to the organisation and the potentiality towards the environment. These inputs are not sufficient for the implementation of a plan, as stakeholders have an influence on companies output, a complete research should be made on them. Strategic planning also depends upon the vision of stakeholders. The process starts from Identifying stakeholders who are interested in the organisation, since each party may have different prospects for organisation it is essential for the firm to recognise the and make them realise how important they are to the venture. Then comes the stage of mapping of stakeholders which comprises of determining the expectations of the stakeholders, exercising this establishes policy-making and their priorities. Expectancy assesses two subjects; How much interested the stakeholders are? Do they have the ability to lead the company to determined height? The power/ interest Matrix determine; to which groups of stakeholders should organisation show their interest in. the matrix classifies stakeholders in context of their power and the interest in organisational strategy, this makes easy for the organisation to determine what relation should be maintained with which group?. Intrinsically, this analysis is practicable to know the difficulties and ease of the society in a strategy. It also depicts the proportions of strategic change. Mission and Vision: Tesco plc. Mission statement is that statement which defines about reason behind the existence of the organisation. The aim of an organisation can be determined by the mission statement. Key points and the achievements to be conquered are can be jotted into mission statement. Basically, mission statement is plotted to make the business plans understood by the stakeholders of the company. Since mission statement carries such details of the business it can be said that a mission statement is a base of the organisation. A mission statement should be represented in such a way that it is easy to understand the motto of the firm. It should depict the principles and ethics of a company along with the process of conducting work. Organisation faces ups and downs in the life span of the firm, organisation changes its strategy of planning, marketing and several aspects but the mission of the organisation never changes. The mission of the organisation should be revised in certain time duration so that mana gement can determine that if they are not losing the track. The language used in mission statement should be that easy to be understood by ordinary man. Vision statement is a statement that reflects the state where an organisation seeks itself in coming years. Vision statement depicts the idea, dreams and thoughts of an organisation represented in such a way that employee gets motivated and attracts customers. The ethics and values of an organisation are reflected from a vision statement, the vision statement is accomplished after the determination of mission statement. Vision statement is represented in such a way that it motivates not only employee but also to the customers so as to maintain a long term relation with them. The basic difference between a mission and a vision statement is that vision statement targets on companies value in future whereas the mission statement is one that represents the current status of an organisation. Mission statement is more precise about the present condition in an organisation. Values and objectives of Tesco Tescos main aim is to generate values for customers so as to earn a lifetime loyalty. Tesco believes that its success depends on those people who shops with us and one who works with us. Tesco believes if it serves well to a customer it is more likely that the customer will come back and shop again.

Big Data: Map Reduce Based Outlier Identification for Fraud

Big Data: Map Reduce Based Outlier Identification for Fraud Big Data: Fast, Parallel Map Reduce based outlier identification for Fraud and Intrusion Detection Pooja Vijay Pawar Ann Marie Joy Abstract One of the most challenging aspect of Big Data analytics is real time monitoring of data. Larger and larger amount of data is being collected and stored on a daily basis, thus increasing the need for quick, effective and efficient way of analysing the data in determining potential malicious data. Also network security threats are increasing at an alarming rate and are becoming increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect. Web traffic generated by non-human activities such as botnets or worms consume network resources, delude people and affect network security. Most of the existing work in Fraud Detection/Intrusion Detection regard being an outlier as a binary property. In this paper we use a relative density based approach implemented as a MapReduce job, which gives a sense of degree of a data point being an outlier; this is more meaningful and also better immune to false positives. Keywords Big Data, Fraud detection, Intrusion Detection, Hadoop, Outlier, Cluster, Security, Relative Density, LOF 1. Introduction We are currently living in a world where we are surrounded and ruled by data. Continuously, exponentially huge amounts of data is collected, stored, processed and made available in a variety of forms every day. Recently, Network Intrusion and Fraud detection has received increased attention with regard to network security, mainly due to this. Big Data is drastically changing the way in which we detect fraud and intrusion in real time using advanced analytic solutions that are very powerful, complex and fast. In this paper, we propose a methodology to detect Fraudulent Web traffic and Intrusion in a network using MapReduce-based outlier detection. These features help in filtering out clients that generate abnormal traffic and specifically show different levels of potential anomalous traffic for each suspicious client. The detected abnormal web traffic can be visualized easily and this method can be implemented for large networks and can be scaled accordingly. Outlier can be defined as a data which is very distinct from the other data of the same dataset, based on some distance measure. Outlier detection, being a significant data mining problem has engendered a lot of research interest in the recent past. As a result, various methods for outlier detection have been developed particularly for dealing with numerical data. However, outlier detection for categorical data still remains an unexplored field. Addressing this requirement, we propose a two-phase algorithm for detecting outliers in categorical data based on a novel definition of outliers. This algorithm initially explores a clustering of the given data which is followed by the ranking phase for determining the set of most likely outliers. The proposed methodology is expected to show better results as it can identify different types of outliers, using independent ranking scheme based on the inherent clustering structure of the given data. Hadoop is a very popular open source Apache project, which is used for storing and processing huge volume of data on commodity hardware. Hadoop package mainly consists of MapReduce Engine and Hadoop File system. Many Frameworks have been built on top of Hadoop. Using the distributed architecture of Hadoop in this paper we discuss how we can exploit it for identifying outliers in captured network data. 2. Related Work There has been lot of research and number of techniques which have been developed in the past two decades with respect to fraud detection and Intrusion Detection. Lot of machine learning techniques such as Neural Networks, Markov model, K Nearest Neighbour have drawn special attention. In this paper we use unsupervised Machine Learning techniques to identify fraudulent transactions using Hadoop. Most current practices to the process of detecting intrusions exploit some form of rule-based study. Rule-based analysis depend on sets of predefined rules that are configured by an administrator and are automatically created by the system. The use of automated system techniques in intrusion detection mechanisms was a significant milestone in the development of effective and practical detection based information security systems. Rule-based systems suffer from an incompetence to detect attacks situations that may occur over an extended duration of time. However most significant benefit of neural networks in intrusion detection is the capability of the neural network to learn the characteristics of abnormal attacks and recognize instances that are unlike any which have been detected before by the network. Majority of studies that proposed Hidden Markov Model to implement IDS are related to host-based systems, i.e., IDS that analyses the actions performed on a single host to detect attempts of intrusion. 3. Outlier Detection Algorithms Outliers can be detected using various different techniques. Some of the techniques are discussed below 3.1 Distance-based and Clustering Approaches Distance-based methods do not make conventions for the data since they basically compute the distance between each point. For example, Knorr et al. Proposed a k-NN technique where, if m of the k nearest neighbours of a point are within a specific distance d, then the point can be classified as normal. Knorr et al. points as an outlier if at least p% of the points in the dataset lie more than distance 10 d from it. These methods show high computational complexity (e.g. nearest neighbour based methods have quadratic complexity with respect to the number of data points) which renders them impractical for really large datasets. Several approaches may be engaged to make the k-NN queries faster (to achieve linear or logarithmic time), such as an indexing structure (e.g. KD-tree, or X-tree); however these structures have been shown to break down as the dimensionality grows. Clustering can be defined as the task of grouping a set of objects in such a way that objects in the same group share some feature similarity among each other than to those in other groups. Clustering is one of the very popular techniques currently being used in outlier detection. Any object that has weak membership to the cluster it belongs to is a potential outlier. If there are any small clusters from other clusters, then the smaller cluster could potentially be an outlier. For instance there could be many different kinds of fraudulent transactions which might have high similarity among themselves and form a cluster. There are additional problems with clustering. Clustering algorithms are optimized to find clusters rather than outliers. Hence, sometimes it may be hard to tell whether a cluster belongs to fraudulent transactions or some new emergent buying behaviour of a legitimate user. Hence before making a final call we must perform additional analysis. 3.2 Statistical distribution Statistical outlier detection was one of the most basic approaches dating back to the 19th century. Multivariate statistical methods have been proposed, together with use of robust outlier’s estimates of the multidimensional distribution parameters, e.g. minimum covariance 9 determinant (MCD) and minimum volume ellipsoid (MVE). One critical problem of statistical-based methods is the suitable model for each dataset and application. Also, as data rises in dimensionality, it becomes ever more perplexing to estimate the multidimensional distribution. As the data increases in dimensionality, data ranges through a larger volume and becomes sparse. In addition to the reduction this has on performance, it also spreads the convex hull, thus altering the data distribution. This can be improved by pre selecting the most noteworthy features to work, projecting to a lower-dimensional subspace, or applying Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Another methodology to deal with higher dimensio nalities is to organize data points in convex hull layers according to their peeling depth, based on the idea that outliers are data objects with a shallow depth value. Fig 1 In this approach one main assumption is that data objects follows a certain distribution (E.g. Gaussian) and normal data objects occur in a high probability region of this model. Fig.1 shows an example where there is high concentration of data points lying in the normal region which associates to normal data points; the mini distributions on both sides of the normal distributions are possible outliers. As shown in Fig.1 outliers will deviate strongly from this distribution. There are lot of issues with this technique too, main being the curse of dimensionality, other being lack of robustness. This is because Mean and standard deviation are very sensitive to outliers. 3.3 Density Based approach In this technique we compare the density around a data point with the density around its local neighbours. The computed density is called an outlier score. The main assumption here is that the density around a normal data point is almost similar to the density around its local neighbours. Here Density/Outlier score means that some clusters are densely packed and some others are not. Mathematically, it is defined as the inverse of the average distance to the k nearest neighbours. Lower density of a data point signifies that the probability of it being an outlier is very high. There have been many variants of Density based approaches suggested in the past few decades, majority of which deal with decreasing the computational time complexity. In Fig.2 the points which are densely packed, appearing yellow indicate normal data points, the ones which are away from the cluster are outliers, possible candidates for malicious data. In this paper, we use this technique to determine possible candidates for outliers. 4. Experiment For our experiment we used KDD Cup 1999: Computer network intrusion detection dataset for testing and evaluating our approach. We used Relative Density [3] based approach for our system. Which involved 4 Map Reduce Tasks. The Algorithms works as follows: Computing K-NN [3] We begin with the notion of K-Nearest Neighbour of object p. Definition: K-Nearest Neighbour of object p For any positive integer k, the k-distance of object p, denoted as k-distance (p), is defined as the distance d(p,o) between p and an object o ∈ D such that: (i) For at least k objects o’∈D{p} it holds that d(p,o’) ≠¤ d(p,o), and (ii) For at most k-1 objects o’∈D{p} it holds that d(p,o’) . Given the k-distance of p, the k-distance neighbourhood of p contains every object whose distance from p is not greater than the k-distance, i.e. Nk-distance (p) (p) = { q ∈ D{p} | d(p, q) ≠¤ k- distance(p) } These objects q are called the k-nearest neighbours of p. We use 2 MapReduce tasks, one to compute the pairwise distance between data points as explained above and other to compute the density of the data point. The density of a data point is simply the inverse of the average distance to the k nearest neighbours. Finding all the neighbourhood group the data points are associated with and also give them unique id We define one more term reachability distance of an object p w.r.t the data point o to determine the neighbourhood. Definition: Reachability distance of an object p w.r.t. object or Let k be a natural number. The reachability distance of object p with respect to object o is defined as reach-distk(p, o) = max { k-distance(o), d(p, o) }. The higher the value of k, the more similar the reachability distances for objects within the same neighbourhood. We use the same MapReduce class as before with slightly different configuration to identify the neighbourhood. Once neighbourhood are identified they are given a unique ID. Using previous results, create a mapping between data point and its density. In a typical density-based clustering algorithm, there are two parameters that define the notion of density: (i) a parameter MinPts specifying a minimum number of objects; (ii) a parameter specifying a volume. These two parameters determine a density threshold for the clustering algorithms to operate. That is, objects or regions are connected if their neighbourhood densities exceed the given density threshold. To detect density based outliers, however, it is necessary to compare the densities of different sets of objects, which means that we have to determine the density of sets of objects dynamically. Therefore, we keep MinPts as the only parameter and use the values reach-distMinPts(p, o), for o ∈ NMinPts(p), as a measure of the volume to determine the density in the neighbourhood of an object p. Definition: Density of an object p lrdMinPts(p) = 1/ Intuitively, the local reachability density of an object p is the inverse of the average reachability distance based on the MinPts- nearest neighbours of p. Note that the local density can be ∞ if all the reachability distances in the summation are 0. This may occur for an object p if there are at least MinPts objects, different from p, but sharing the same spatial coordinates, i.e. if there are at least MinPts duplicates of p in the dataset. For simplicity, we will not handle this case explicitly but simply assume that there are no duplicates. Hence in our MapReduce implementation, first we sort the data points based on density data and the neighbourhood, such that in the input for the reducer, we get first value as density, and the subsequent values are the neighbourhood ids. Determining the Relative Density or LOF (Local Outlier Factor) Results from the previous step is then used in another MapReduce task to compute the relative density or also called as Local Outlier Factor (LOF). Definition: LOFMinPts(p) = The outlier factor of object p captures the degree to which we call p an outlier. It is the average of the ratio of the local reachability density of p and those of p’s MinPts-nearest neighbours. It is easy to see that the lower ps local reachability density is, and the higher the local reachability densities of ps MinPts-nearest neighbours are, the higher is the LOF value of p. In the following section, the formal properties of LOF are made precise. To simplify notation, we drop the subscript MinPts from reach-dist, lrd and LOF, if no confusion arises. Finally, Data Points which have low relative Density or LOF are determined as possible candidates for outliers. 5. Conclusion Existing Intrusion detection system are in nascent stage in handling extremely large traffic and the data transfers in large Networks. MapReduce Framework can handle large amount of data quickly and efficiently. Thus our proposed methodology for Outlier detection using Relative Density based approach not only can handle large amount of data but also scales easily. In near future full of MapReduce based IDS needs to developed and evaluated. We also plan to explore multiple classifier system compared to single classifier to get improved results. 6. Acknowledgement This work is supported by CSE Department, PES Institute of Technology. 7. References [1] Barnett, V., Lewis, T. (1995). Outliers in Statistical Data. Wiley, 3rd Edition. [2] Davide Ariu, Giorgio Giacinto, and Roberto Perdisci, Sensing attacks in Computers Networks with Hidden Markov Models. [3] Ng, Jorg Sander, Hans-Peter Kriegel, Raymond T, Markus M. Breunig. LOF: Identifying Density-Based Local Outliers [4] Manh Cong Tran, Lee Hee Jeong, Yasuhiro Nakamura. Abnormal Web Traffic Detection Using Connection Graph. [5] Suri, N.N.R.R. Centre for AI Robot., Bangalore, India Murty, M.N. ; Athithan, G..An algorithm for mining outliers in categorical data through ranking. [6] Kuo Zhao, Liang Hu. Intrusion Detection and Prevention in high speed network.[7] Qing He Yunlong Ma, Qun Wang, Fuzhen Zhuang, Zhongzhi Shi.Parallel Outlier Detection Using KD-Tree Based on MapReduce [8] Koufakou, A. Sch, FL Secretan, J., Reeder, J., Cardona, K., Georgiopoulos, M.Fast parallel outlier detection for categorical datasets using MapReduce. [9] Ganesh Ananthanarayanan, Srikanth Kandula, Albe rt Greenberg, Ion Stoica, Yi Lu, Bikas Saha, Edward Harris . Reining in the Outliers in Map-Reduce Clusters using Mantri. [10] H. GuÃÅ'ˆnes KayacÄ ±k, A. Nur Zincir-Heywood, Malcolm I. Heywood. Selecting Features for Intrusion Detection:A Feature Relevance Analysis on KDD 99 Intrusion Detection Datasets. [12] E. Eskin, A. Arnold, M. Prerau, L. Portnoy, S. Stolfo, â€Å"A geometric framework for unsupervised anomaly detection: Detecting intrusions in unlabeled data,† in Applications of Data Mining in Computer Security, Chapter 4, D. Barbara and S. Jajodia (editors), Kluwer. [13] Q. He, F.Z. Zhuang, J.C. Li, Z.Z. Shi. Parallel implementation of classification algorithms based on mapreduce. International Conference on Rough Set and Knowledge Technology. [15]Koufakou, A., Ortiz, E., Georgiopoulos, M., Anagnostopoulos, G., Reynolds, K., A Scalable and Efficient Outlier Detection Strategy for Categorical Data, Intl Conference on Tools with Artificial Intelligence ICTAI, October, 2007. [16] Big Data Analytics for Security Intelligence, CLOUD SECURITY ALLIANCE September 2013. [17] DuMouchel W., Schonlau M.: â€Å"A Fast Computer Intrusion Detection Algorithm based on Hypothesis Testing of Command Transition Probabilities†, Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, New York, NY, AAAI Press, 1998, pp. 189-193. [18] Ramaswamy S., Rastogi R., Kyuseok S.: â€Å"Efficient Algorithms for Mining Outliers from Large Data Sets†, Proc. ACM SIDMOD Int. Conf. on Management of Data, 2000. [19] Fawcett T., Provost F.: â€Å"Adaptive Fraud Detection†, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery Journal, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Vol. 1, No. 3, 1997, pp. 291-316. [20] Holtz, Marcelo D., Bernardo M. David, and Rafael Timà ³teo de Sousa Jà ºnior. Building Scalable Distributed Intrusion Detection Systems Based on the MapReduce Framework. Telecomunicacoes (Santa Rita do Sapucai) 13 (2011): 22-31. [21] DuMouchel W., Schonlau M.:  "A Fast Computer Intrusion Detection Algorithm based on Hypothesis Testing of Command Transition Probabilities†, Proc. 4th Int. Conf. on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, New York, NY, AAAI Press, 1998, pp. 189-193. 1 Onida Electronics: New Product Launch Onida Electronics: New Product Launch LAUNCHING OF A NEW PRODUCT ONIDA LAPTOPS COMPANY DESCRIPTION ONIDA is one of the largest television manufacturing companies in INDIA. It is one of the largest and rapid growing companies in the same field. Onida as a company was founded in 1981 as a public company. Its head quarter is in MUMBAI, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA. Onida deals in a type of industry known as electronic industry. Onida Company started their business with electronics and then expanded their business with various products as LCD TVS, PLASMA TVS, TELEVISIONS, DVD AND HOME THREATER SYSTEM, AIR CONDITIONERS, WASHING MACHINES, MICROWAVES, PRODUCTS RELATED TO PRESENTATION, and INVERTERS AND ALSO MOBILE PHONES. Onida Company is a most popular brand now. It has got his network as 33 branch offices and 208 customer relation centers. Also the company is having 41 depots spread all over the country. Onida is also having a market capitalization of 400 crore approx. also onida electronics won an award as AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN ELECTRONICS in 1999 from MINISTRY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Onida is one of the largest rapid growing companies. It is one of the most successful companies in term of professionalism. The main objective is to prove quality of competitive prices and customer satisfaction. It is one of the objective is to provide NOTEBOOK PC as ensured quality, availability and customer satisfaction. This following marketing plan forms the basis for the launching of ONIDA LAPTOPS by ONIDA COMPANY one of the famous company in India. The analysis will allow us to follow for the achievement of the companys strategic goals. ONIDA LAPTOPS will be marketed to reinforce the companys status as leader in innovation and successful product launching. This new product launching will enable us to add RS.100 crores to companys turnover with a forecasted sales growth prospect of 10-15% over the next 5 years. And while satisfying the need and designing the product to match individuals lifestyle. Success will be reflected by a sizeable capture of market shares within this market, while strategically carrying the company up to the top spot as the market leader in laptop segment. Export potentials in the market will be considered in all the western countries as USA, Russia, France, and Iraq. Nigeria, Yemen and even further expansion can be planed. The main aim of the company is to attract a sizeable market share of the laptop segment. Also the number of customers depending upon laptops rather than personal computers is taken care off. The main aim is to sell one lakh units of laptops in the first year considering as this brand as a new brand and being expertise in the related field having manufactured the product for several brands and having also sold its own televisions. EXPECTED TURNOVER Above chart shows the expected turnovers in crores over the coming years in turnover of onida laptops in various countries. In 2009 as the product is being launching in 2009 only so started expected turnover will be near about 90 lakhs. With the continuous supply of good quality and good work with good customer service expected turnover will start increasing. Company is planning to use new technology and other servicer beneficial for customers and company in terms of turnover which will help in increase the expected turnover to 150 lakhs in 2012. This proves that launching of onida laptops will be beneficial for the organization. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS ONIDA NOTEBOOK PC is a new expansion line of onida. Onida television portfolio has been well received and now ONIDA NOTEBOOK PC is going to be launched for onidas continues success and future profitability. Onida as a company is famous for quality products at reasonable prices and it offer best facilities. It will offer NOTEBOOK PC or LAPTOPS in various configuration as well as prices to satisfy every kind of customer. One important key to success or for the development of the product is to create product awareness and growth of customer base. MARKETING SUMMARY Marketing summary of onida laptops possess sufficient information about the market needs and customer needs, wants, desires and demands. It will also help to give right offer to right customer so that company can achieve customer satisfaction and can communicate with them in a better way. Also this lead to have some important information about customer which will help to make customer a delightful customer. TARGET MARKET The target market of ONIDA LAPTOPS or NOTEBOOK PC is shown below: Above shows that there is a target market of onida laptops as CORPORATE USERS END USERS OTHERS Environmental analysis Macro environmental factors Growing disposable income and low penetration levels would ensure greater share of wallet for the consumer industry and would help in achieving the predetermined targets. The inventions and innovations would help in shaping the industrys future. It would be necessary to catch the changing trends in consumer lifestyles and offer the right product at right time to facilitate further growth and achievement of targets. There is a need to launch a product which will give maximum customer satisfaction and satisfy there needs. Micro environmental factors The cost would further come down with enhanced possibilities of better and easy cross border talks with suppliers worldwide and the range of offerings Would go up. With the increase in number of players, there would be more action and the industry would feel the buzz around it and would need constant high pitch communication with the customers. Network has a strong influence on the buying decision and the organization that would manage the channel better, would have a substantial edge over the others. Competitive Strategy Onida will try to offer more valuable offerings to the customers and would try to manage customer relationships. Onida as a company in order to be effective and ahead of competition would try to maximize benefits to the consumers. They will also react strongly to price changes made by the competitors and organizations would look at integration on backend as well as the front ends. MARKET DEMOGRAPHICS The profile of ONDA NOTEBOOK PC or LAPTOPS customer consists of the following GEOGRAPHIES, DEMOGRAPHICS, and BEHAVIOR FACTOR: GEOGRAPHICAL FACTORS Geographical factors have been classified as: ONIDA NOTEBOOK will have specific domestic geographic target area. They will serve the product to domestic market. Onida will try to cover the Metropolitan area through their own distribution channel. DEMOGRAPHICAL FACTORS Demographical factors have been classified on the basis of the following attributes: There will be almost same featured notebook pc or laptop for the corporate, end users and other users. University teachers and other researchers can use it for their research work and analyzing the environment. High, Middle, Upper middle and middle class use it and reasonable pricing strategy will help to purchase of these notebook pc by every potential users. BEHAVIOUR FACTORS Its a general behavior of every human that NOTEBOOK PC or LAPTOP increases the status and prestige of the user. In todays busy world there is need of a product which is available with consumer anywhere or any time and at every period of time. Customer feel that they have a separate image and prestige by using ONIDA LAPTOPS. MARKET NEED FOR ONIDA LAPTOPS ONDA LAPTOPS will provides its customers the opportunity to choose NOTEBOOKs with different configuration and varieties.These laptops will also fulfill the requirements of customers and also provide benefit as:- Reasonable pricing Consumer needs a high quality product at reasonable price, for that reason ONIDA try to provide high quality product at a reasonable price. So that more and more customer can be attracted towards onida notebook pc. High quality Consumer want high quality product, which is must be high in regard to performance. ONIDA tried to meet this need of consumer at its level best. Quality was the main point to be taken care of by the company as this the main motto of company. Different varieties Choices of customer vary from person to person .So ONIDA provides different laptop with different features. And provide laptops with different configuration. Product availability One of the important things to be taken care of is Customer and customer seeking availability of product so that they can buy the product at any time they need. MARKET TRENDS ONIDA will produce different type of laptop which not only fulfill quality demand of customer but also reasonable price. So that more and more customer will purchase these laptops. Now a days NOTEBOOK PC production company is growing and more competitors are coming in the market. Now even customer are more aware about the product for that reason they want different types of product with different features and different styling features. The market for LAPTOPS with new and new technologies is growing faster, competition are increasing in these markets. Thus, ONIDA made segments for their product. They divided their customer in to three groups, and give emphasis on each of the group. So that company can capture all kind of customers in market. MARKET GROWTH Gradually total ONIDA Company is going upward with a strong competition. With the increase in domestic market, our international market growth statistics is increasing day by day. Now with the launch of new laptops with newer technology the market share of our company is going to increase further. COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES Onida will try to offer more value offerings to the customers and would try to manage CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP. The firms in order to be effective and ahead of competition would try to maximize benefits to the consumers. Firms would react strongly to price changes made by the COMPETITORS and organizations would look at INTEGRATION on BACKEND as well as the FRONTENDS. CURRENT MARKET SITUATION OF LAPTOP MARKET Market Overview Luxury goods are now being perceived as necessities as now customers are having higher disposable incomes being spent on lifestyle products. There is a discernible shift in the consumers preference in favor of higher-end, technologically superior branded products, the demand being spurred by increasing consumer awareness and preference for new models now the modern educated customer is not confined to old technologies and old products. Now customers want to try newer products with newer technologies. Quality products with superior technology and technology up gradation have helped the industry to achieve higher growth in terms of volume and also higher realization in value terms. Rate of growth in production has been more in terms of quantity or in volume growth rather than the growth in value terms for a number of products. This has happened because of constantly falling prices over the years due to competition among the MAJOR PLAYERS, AGGRESSIVE MARKETING STRATEGIES AND DECLINING IMPORT TARIFFS. Competition has forced companies to offer efficient AFTER SALE SERVICE and support and this, in turn, has swayed customer preference for good brands. There are positive growth trends in Technological goods segments white goods and consumer electronics during and points to sustained growth because of emerging opportunities and strong fundamentals of the economy. Because of growth in production in the organized segment and domestic availability of branded products due to lowering of import duties and other liberal measures, the share of unorganized segment has come down sharply to only 8 to 10 per cent from 40 to 50 percent. The price difference between branded and unbranded goods has narrowed down and with branded players providing good after sales services and support consumer prefers to buy branded products. The industry related to technology appears to have two clearly differentiated segments. The MNCs have an edge over their Indian counterparts in terms of technology combined with a steady flow of capital. The domestic companies compete on the basis of their well-acknowledged brands, an extensive distribution network and an insight into local market conditions. Competitive strategies revolve around strong brand differentiation and prices. Bargaining power of customers is high due to availability of many brands. Demand is Cyclical and seasonal. Demand is high generally on the basis of requirement of customers as corporate customer or end user. Demand for technology is present throughout the year. There is no preference on the basis of any special month when demand for technology is more in one month than other month. Rural India which accounts for nearly 70% of the total number of households, offers plenty of scope and opportunities for the white goods industry. Increasing consumer awareness and preference for new models have added to the demand in rural areas also. And evolution of education had made more and more people rely on technology. Attractive consumer loan schemes with reduced interest rates over the years by the financial institutions and commercial banks and the hire-purchase schemes have added to the surge in demand. Besides, the consumer goods companies are themselves coming out with attractive financing schemes to consumers through their extensive dealer network. The usage of internet by the market functionaries has lead to intelligence sales of the products. It has helped sustain the demand boom witnessed recently in this sector. SWOT ANALYSIS (STRENGTHS, WEAKNESSES, OPPORTUNITIES, THREATS) STRENGTHS Quality product and services. Popular brand name. Continuous research and development Strong existing distribution channel. Increased share of organized sector as compare to unorganized sector. Attractive design. Body made of silver and plastic and available in many colors. Most of the buyers are satisfied. Presence of established distribution networks in both urban and rural areas. WEAKNESSES Poor government spending in infrastructure and other related things. Lack of promotional activities by companies. Low purchasing power of consumers Insufficient capital. Legal and political barrier regarding import, tax and shipment and other difficulties. Difficulties due to competitors. Old technologies. OPPURTUNITIES Low penetration levels Demand of NOTEBOOK PC is increasing. Improved market portfolio. Greater demand due to changing lifestyles Increasing sales throughout the country and internationally. Availability of easy finance. Promotional activities to increase brand image. Growing disposable income of consumers Increasing demand in rural sector. THREATS Strong competitors Legal political difficulties regarding import duty, tax etc. Entrance of new competitors in the market. The price of NOTEBOOK or laptops is decreasing continuously. Cheap Imports from Singapore, China and other Asian countries Higher import duties on raw materials imposed in the Budget 2008-09. COMPETITORS Onida has established its own market. But still they have to face the competitors. Some of the major competitors of onida laptops are: HP: HPs NOTEBOOK is having maximum market share in capturing the market of NOTEBOOK PC in India as well as internationally. HPS notebooks are produced in China. They are holding a leading position for long time in NOTEBOOK PC in our country. ACER: Acer is the Chinese producer of NOTEBOOK or laptops. ACER has its maximum market share of NOTEBOOK PC in Bangladesh. They have fewer shares in Indian market as compare to acre. COMPAQ: Mitsubishi is Taiwan Company. COMPAQ was an automobile company initially. Now it is producing NOTEBOOK PC also. It is now giving a strong competition to notebook or laptop market. DELL: Firstly they produce televisions. But now they have enhances its business by producing NOTEBOOK PC. And DELL is now giving a strong competition in laptop market as well as technological market. MARKET SHARE OF ONIDA PRODUCT OFFERING ONIDA will offers different type of configuration at different price to our consumer for chooses their expected product. Following are the items:- POINTS OF SUCESS Strong quality Better customer relationship management Better service Operational efficiency and integration Effective channel management Constant product change and product mix management Image of brand and product Distribution channel Retention of customer MARKETING STRATEGIES Marketing strategies are helpful in creating awareness, interest and appeal from our target market. So that more and more market can be capture. Basically marketing strategy is based on superior performance of the following areas: Different configuration. Product quality. Delight user. MISSION The main mission is to provide quality and product at a competitive price. Growth in diversity and continuous contribute to the growth is being the main market challenger. Also To benefit society at large through Innovation, Quality, Productivity, Human Development and Growth, and to generate sustained surpluses, always striving for excellence, within the framework of law, and in nothing but the truth in which we base every action 3.2 Marketing Objective Capture the market as a market leader. To attain quantitative and qualitative leadership in the technological sector. Maintaining positive and increased sales growth than the competitor. Increase the market share by market development and services. To increase product awareness and sales by persuasive promotional activities. Becoming a globally recognized and prestigious company through synergistic business investment. Differentiation through innovation and passion through empowerment. Also cost through economies of scale and world class systems and procedures that bring in delight of stakeholders. FINANCIAL OBJECTIVE The company aims to sell one lakh units of NOTEBOOKS in first year of its launching and is expecting a target turnover of Rs.100 Crores from laptop market in first year. It expects to grow at 10-15% in next five years by satisfying customer needs through its offerings. They aim to make considerable profits and achieve economies through backend and front end integration. And maintaining double digit each year. STP (SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, POSITIONING) SEGMENTATION OF MARKET The company has segmented its target market on the basis of incomes and lifestyles. People who are well educated, have lifestyle as an important element and have high income can buy laptop. TARGET MARKET The potential consumers are separated into various segments- Corporate User End User and others. The primary marketing opportunity is sell laptops to these well defined, accessible target market segments. Corporate User: Corporate users are the users who buy the laptops for their official purpose only. The MD, GM, DGM, CEO and other. Levels in offices are the main corporate users. End User: End users are the users who buy the laptops for their personal use. Teachers, Students of private University, businessman etc are mainly consider as the End users. Others: other then as mention above. POSITIONING IN MARKET Onida is trying to maintain its position as a NOTEBOOK company. The position will be achieved by providing quality product, competitive price, and according to consumers demand and by delighting consumers. There should be experienced managers to make awareness about the product to customer. Company is also promising to offer quality offerings and better services and make a satisfied consumer as its brand ambassador. The companys will advertise its product as the synonym of truth and providing it at a reasonable price. STRATEGIES ONIDAS main primary marketing strategy is to seek and firstly create customer awareness regarding the products as well as availability of product. Other marketing strategy are- Providing Total Quality Management (TQM) Customer Orientation Providing international standard products To increase the product line as well as length as per the expectations of the consumers Competitive prices of product. MARKETING MIX ONIDAS marketing mix is comprised of the following approaches to product, price, promotion, and place or customer service. PRODUCT o BRAND NAME The name of the brand is ONIDA NOTEBOOKS. o PPRDUCT CLASSIFICATION ONIDA NOTEBOOK has five types of product. These are-W125U-T3000, W3001U-T4150, W4200-T4500, W4510U, W5520U o QUALITY OF PRODUCT ONIDA is mainly popular for the maintaining of high quality of its products. Total Quality Management (TQM) is purely practiced here. o DESIGN Attractive Design, Color, configuration, Comfortable weight. o PACKING ONIDA supply the notebooks to the users with attractive packaging. It provides special cartoon with strong handling of the NOTEBOOKs to its dealers. o Size The products size vary from to one product series to other product series o Service ONIDA provides best after sales service and take feedback for its products. PROMOTION o SALES PROMOTION ONIDA provide initially shot-term incentives to encourage and purchase or sale of its products. Occasionally company has decided to give special discounted price for its products. Company also decided to give T-shirts, caps, bags etc. to lure the customers. o ADVERTISEMENT Company decided to gives advertisement for ONIDA NOTEBOOK through newspaper, billboard, popular magazine, leaflets, sponsoring on game competition, internet etc. o PERSONAL SELLING ONIDA company is also deciding to sell laptops through personal selling but till now we havent arrange any kind personal selling. PRICE o LIST PRICING Pricing of the product are being made on the basis of technology used in the product and depending upon the various series of onida. The various pricing of various varieties of laptops are: o DISCOUNT Company has decided to allow discount facilities to all the retailers and dealers. o Payment period ONIDA will sell NOTEBOOK on credit to its distributor and retailers and after the sale e period of 2 months can be given for making payment. PLACE CHANNELS ONIDA has its own distribution channel for the distribution of their products. DISTRIBUTOR ONIDA have own distribution channel for distributing their products. Location ONIDA covers district areas of our country to capture the market for their products. TRANSPORTION FACILITIES ONIDA has its own transportation facility for its distributors. Distributors are themselves responsible for taking the products to their showrooms. MARKETING RESEARCH One of the important things is research work. Research is very vital for any company to know about current market position and also to predict future needs. Information is collected through the dealer and retailer. o Question How did you hear about our ONIDA NOTEBOOK product? note the answer and this answer can be use for the promotional activities. o Customer suggestion New feedback service and customers suggestions system to gain additional information. They want to know from the customers about- à ¼ What suggestion do you want to give to company to improve our product? à ¼ Why do you need a laptop and why onida laptop only? FINANCIALS It is very important while the launching of a product to take care of the financial overview of ONIDA NOTEBOOK related to marketing activities. ONIDA address brake even analysis (BEA), sales forecast, expense forecast, and showed how this activity are link to the marketing activity. BREAK EVEN ANALYSIS Break even is a point where cost is equals to sales. The break-even analysis below shows the number of single sales, or units, that we must realize to break-even. Analysis of breakeven point is based on the cost and the sales of a company. SALES FORECAST: Sales forecast means planning or estimation of sales so that future sales can be assessed. ONIDA thinks that the sales forecast will be achieve into the five main streams; W1250U-T3000, W3001U-T4150, W4200U-T4500, W4510U and W5520U. This will steadily increase the sales. As the advertising budget allows the target market forecast, the listed of all the potential customers get divided into separate groups. The forecasted customers group divided into various categories: Corporate Users, End Users and others. EXPENSE FORECAST Every company has to make a prior forecast of expenses. It is important to mark such forecast to limit the expenses made in future. These expenses are to be budgeted at approximately 5% of total sales for 2007-08 and 6% for 2008-09. Mainly expenses are to be tracked in the major marketing categories as:-NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT, PROMOTIONAL EVENTS, BILLBOARDS, PRINTED LEAFLETS, and ADVERTISEMENT IN TELEVISIONS ETC. CONTROLING FACTORS The main purpose of ONIDA NOTEBOOKs marketing plan is to serve as a guide for the organization while launching of the laptops successfully. This plan is all about implementation and changing the business and also to make it better. In this marketing plan we look at specific implementation programs, and the details that it takes to make it happen. The following are the areas which will be specially monitored to enhance the performance of company and launching of laptops. Contingency Planning Contingencies likely to arise: Price War New Technologies in the market More Competitors Companys Strategy to counter the same: Creating value preposition Continuous innovation and product development Creating distinct brand identity

Sickle Cell Disease Essay -- Diseases Health Medical Medicine Essays

Sickle Cell Disease Sickle Cell Disease is an illness that affects people all across the globe. This paper will give a description of the sickness through the discussion of the causes, symptoms, and possible cures. Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is a "group of inherited red blood cell disorders."(1) These disorders can have various afflictions, such as pain, damage and a low blood count--Sickle Cell Anemia. The overall incidence of SCD is eight out of 100,000 people. However, it is much more widespread in some people. "One out of 600 African Americans and one out of 1,000 to 1, 400 Hispanic Americans" are affected. (2). However, there are other populations who are especially affected, as well. These include, but are not limited to "Arabs, Greeks, Italians, and people from India."(1) As it is plain to see, the disease can affect many different types of people. Now that we know whom this illness should concern, we must discuss what exactly the disease is. "The genetic defect that causes sickle cell anemia affects hemoglobin." (3). Hemoglobin is a constituent of red blood cells. Its job is to take oxygen to all the cells and tissues in the body. "Red blood cells that contain normal hemoglobin are soft and round. Their soft texture enables them to squeeze through the body's small blood vessels."(3) People with SCD, however, have a type of irregular hemoglobin. "A genetic error makes the hemoglobin molecules stick together in a long, rigid rods after they release oxygen. These rods cause the red blood cells to become hard and sickle-shaped, unable to squeeze through tiny blood vessels. The misshapen cells can get stuck in the small blood vessels, causing a blockage that deprives the body's cells and tissues of b... ...ealthy and fulfilling lives. Treatments such the ones mentioned make this a possibility. Also, people affected by the disease can help themselves by living a healthy life which includes eating a proper diet, getting adequate exercise, and reducing stress. As people who are not afflicted by the disease we can do something to help. We can donate blood and bone marrow in hopes of being a match to a suffering patient. This disease does not only affect the African American community, as is popular known, it affects us all. Internet Sources: 1)Sickle Cell Anemia http://www.pediatrics.emory.edu/SICKLE/sicklept.htm 2) Sickle Cell Anemia http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000527.htm 3)New Hope for People with Sickle Cell Anemia , http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/496_sick.html 4)Sickle Cell Anemia, http://www.mamashealth.com/Sickle_Cell.asp

The Role of Consciousness in To Kill a Mockingbird :: Literary Analysis, Critical Analysis

When an old tired town does not have any good economic sources you might think that a parent won’t care about his or her children. In the novel â€Å"To Kill a Mockingbird† Atticus is the father of Jem and Scout. Atticus is like middle class in his society and is as one parent he is a good father unlike the Ewells father. The Finches are a loving family and sharing because the father teaches them different things about life he tells them how a gentleman and a lady would act and should say. Also theirs other people in the novel that also help Jem and Scout understand about life and what it leads to. One thing about learning conscience is that everything in life is not a joke. Atticus has thought Jem and Scout a lot of things in life. Atticus hasn’t been a bad father he is like a mom and dad in one. He also tries not to be so hard on his kids because their children and sometimes don’t know what they’re doing. Jem and Scout also have Calpurnia to take care of them and teach them something’s. But the Ewells are different from the Finches family. The Ewells are a poor and lonely family that nobody really is friendly with. Bob Ewells was a father of 8 kids and he was not that nice he dranked a lot and didn’t have respect for no one. Calpurnia had thought Scout some lessons in life to, Scout once had invited one of her classmate she got in a fight with to eat at her house. Scout had insult the boy because of the way he ate and Calpurnia told her â€Å"Theres some folks who don’t eat like us, but you aint called to contradiet ‘em at the table when they don’t. That boy’s yo’ comp’ny and if he wants to eat up the table cloth you let him, you hear† (24). Calpurnia was trying to tell Scout not to judge the boy because they all had different lives. Scout also had Aunt Alexandra to teach her about life because she was also like a mother to Scout. Aunt Alexandra acts a little more like a high rich standard she talks about how to act and pick her friends.

Casablanca as Political Propaganda Essay -- Film Movies Cinema

Casablanca debuted in 1942, shortly following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the United States' entrance into World War Two, although there was plenty of anti-Nazism sentiment, the movie fueled these feelings. There is pro-Allied forces propaganda to support the war, from the scene with La Marseillaise, to the characters of Renault and Rick, and to the last scene. Although the majority of the French patriots were elated to sing their national anthem, it created tension with the German soldiers who imposed their patriotic songs on the crowd, representing the imposition of Germany on France during the war. Captain Louis Renault, who tries to placate who he believes will be the winning side, seems flimsy when compared to Rick, the firm patriot who believes in freedom at all costs. The phrase, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" represents the new strong bond between France and the United States once Nazi-Germany has fallen. Although the film is propaga nda against the Nazis, the political language in the movie does not glorify American courage and valor, nor is it militaristic. The movie presents the facts while emphasizing the poor qualities of the Nazis. The Nazis are not portrayed in a good or friendly manner throughout the entire movie, especially during the La Marseillaise scene. When the German soldiers, led by Strasser, begin to sing their patriotic song, ?Die Wacht am Rhein? in French territory, it does not sit well with the French patriots. This singing represents the German invasion of France in their government, culture and territory because the Germans come into foreign land with their military and control all aspects of society. The movie depicts the soldiers as drunk and tone-dea... ...gain refers to the relationship that America hopes for after the war. It illustrates a strengthened France and America with the collapse of Germany. Entering a war is an effort that is best when it has popular support and enthusiasm. Casablanca is propaganda for the Allied forces to help rally support. There is clear evidence of this idea in the scene with the French national anthem, the character development, and the ending. France and the United States prevail as Germany falls and dies. ?Casablanca.? Variety. 26 Nov. 1942. Variety 100. 22 May 2008 . Crowther, Bosley. "Casablanca (1942)." New York Times. 7 Nov. 1942. 21 May 2008 .

Senior Science Half Yearly Revision

Senior Science Half-Yearly Revision 1. Surface tension – A property of the surface of a liquid. It is what causes the surface portion of liquid to be attracted to another surface, such as that of another portion of liquid. Surface tension is caused by cohesion (the attraction of molecules to like molecules). Since the molecules on the surface of the liquid are not surrounded by like molecules on all sides, they are more attracted to their neighbours on the surface. Mercury has a high surface tension. The meniscus of water is concave whilst the meniscus of mercury is convex. When a water strider is on the surface of the fluid, the surface under tension will behave like an elastic membrane. There will be a small depression on the surface of the water. The vertical components of the forces by the molecules on the object will balance out the weight of the object. 2. Biomaterials are special materials that are biocompatible. They are able to function in contact with the living tissue with minimal rejection from the body. A biomedical device are implants that are engineered from biomaterial and designed to perform specific functions of the body. Titanium alloy – low-density, non-toxic, biocompatible, strong, and non-corrosive. Plastics (polymers) – biocompatible, not-toxic, non-corrosive, smooth, flexible, and low-density. 3. Muscles – Muscles look like bundles of pale pink tissue which pull the bone. Tendons – Tendons are shiny white tissues at the ends of the muscles that attach muscles to bones. Ligaments – Ligaments connect bones to other bones at joints. They look like a shiny white covering of the joint surfaces. Cartilage – Between the bones is another shiny white material that is slippery. This is cartilage, which helps the bones move without grinding against one another, or without causing trauma. 4. Why is it important for detergents to be biodegradable – Non-biodegradable detergents could build up in waterways and cause significant and long-term damage. Biodegradable can be broken down by the action of living things like bacteria and other microbes. 5. Transdermal Patches – Slow and steady drug release directly into the bloodstream is the main benefit of skin patches. The drug is encased in a polymer which slowly releases the drug. E. g. Nicotine patches. Subdermal Implants – Devices implanted under the skin are also being developed to deliver drugs at a controlled rate. E. g. Contraceptives. It consists of six flexible silicon tubes filled with a five-year supply of the contraceptive hormone. It is implanted in the upper arm, and small amounts of the hormone continuously seep through the permeable tubes into the bloodstream. 6. Water is important in making medicines because generally, the more water soluble a drug, the quicker will be its absorption. It can be administered orally (as solutions, or in capsules or tablets) and by injection. Water acts as a solvent. . What causes the sound of a heartbeat – The first heart sound (lub) is caused by the acceleration and deceleration of blood and a vibration of the heart at the time of the closure of the tricuspid and mitral valves. The second heart sound (dub) is caused by the same acceleration and deceleration of blood and vibrations at the time of closure of the pulmonic an d aortic valves. Basically, the sound comes from the heart valves closing. 8. Surfactants are wetting agents that lower the surface tension of a liquid, allowing easier spreading, and lower the interfacial tension between two liquids. Surfactants improve water's ability to wet things, spread over surfaces, and seep into dirty clothes fibres. One end of their molecule is attracted to water, while the other end is attracted to dirt and grease. So the surfactant molecules help water to get a hold of grease, break it up, and wash it away. Soaps and detergents are both emulsifying agents and surfactants. 9. Colloid – a type of mixture in which one substance is dispersed evenly throughout another. Particles that remain suspended for a long time. Suspension – a mixture containing particles that settle out or form layers. Particles that settle out or form layers. Solute – the substance to be dissolved. Solvent – the substance in which to be dissolved in. Solution – a group of molecules that are mixed up in a completely even distribution. Dissolved substances. Mixture – is when two or more different substances are mixed together but not combined chemically. 10. Non-invasive medical techniques – X-ray and Ultrasound. Advantages – does make an incision into the skin and short or no hospital stay. Disadvantages – may not be able to detect all problems. Minimally invasive – Keyhole surgery and Angioplasty. Advantages – get a detailed diagnostic report. Disadvantages – long hospital stay. 11. Hydrophilic – refers to a physical property of a molecule that can transiently bond with water (H2O) through hydrogen bonding. Heads stick in the water, tails stick out of the water. Hydrophobic – is the physical property of a molecule that is repelled from a mass of water. Tails stick in the water, heads stick out of the water. 12. If plaque or fats get deposited in the arteries, it slowly blocks blood from flowing freely to the heart. Plaque deposits that have built up inside arteries can be reduced by the technique called angioplasty. An empty and collapsed balloon on a guide wire, known as a balloon catheter, is passed into the narrowed locations and then inflated to a fixed size. The balloon crushes the fatty deposits, so opening up the blood vessel to improved flow, and the balloon is then collapsed and withdrawn. 13. Lubricants: Use – Reduces friction between moving parts. Precautions – Some are flammable-keep away from flames. Pesticides: Use – Kills pests. Precautions – Toxic-do not swallow, inhale or spill on skin. Solvents: Use – Dissolves dirt on clothes, turpentine to clean paintbrushes, oven cleaners to dissolve fat. Precautions – Some are flammable and toxic. Drain and oven cleaners are corrosive and will burn skin badly. Do not swallow, inhale or spill on skin. Cosmetics: Use – Perfumes to produce a fragrant and pleasant scent. Make-up to change appearance. Hair gel to change a particular hairstyle. Precautions – May cause an allergic reaction in susceptible people. Sprays may be dangerous to inhale. Preservatives: Use – Prevent bacteria growing in food. Precautions – May cause illness if eaten. Sulphur dioxide may cause asthma. May cause learning difficulties. 14. Diagram of the Heart 15. Parts of the Digestive System 16. The pH of the stomach is between 2 -3. This acidic condition will help kill bacteria and mix the food with digestive juices. The pH of the small intestine is between 7. 5-8. This alkaline condition helps in complete digestion and absorption of the food. 17. Role of skin – Helps maintain a constant body temperature. Micro-flora – Protects the body from disease. 18. Water-soluble vitamins: 8 B vitamins and vitamin C. Fat-soluble vitamins: Vitamins A, D, E and K. Water-soluble vitamins dissolve easily in water, and in general, are readily excreted from the body, to the degree that urinary output is a strong predictor of vitamin consumption. Because they are not readily stored, consistent daily intake is important. Fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed through the intestinal tract with the help of lipids (fats). They are more likely to accumulate in the body.

An Event in Your Life

Chapter 1 The Bertolini: Summary: We open in Florence at the Pension Bertolini, a pension for British travelers. Young  Lucy Honeychurch  and her cousin,  Charlotte Bartlett, are bemoaning the poor rooms that they have been given. They were promised rooms with views. The two women sit at dinner in their pension, along with the other guests. Lucy is disappointed because the pension hostess has turned out to be British, and the decor of the pension seems lifted right out of a room in London. While Miss Bartlett and Lucy talk, an old man interrupts them to tell them that his room has a nice view. The man is  Mr.Emerson; he introduces his son,  George Emerson. Mr. Emerson offers Miss Bartlett and Lucy a room swap. The men will take the rooms over the courtyard, and Lucy and Charlotte will take the more pleasant rooms that have views. Miss Bartlett is horrified by the offer, and refuses to accept; she begins to ignore the Emersons and resolves to switch pensions the next day. Ju st then,  Mr. Beebe, a clergyman that Lucy and Charlotte know from England, enters. Lucy is delighted to meet someone she knows, and she shows it; now that Mr. Beebe is here, they must stay at the Pension Bertolini. Lucy has heard in letters from her mother that Mr.Beebe has just accepted a position at the parish of Summer Street, the parish of which Lucy is a member. Mr. Beebe and Lucy have a pleasant talk over dinner, in which he gives Lucy advice about the sites of Florence. This vacation is Lucy's first time in Florence. Soon, almost everyone at the table is giving Lucy and Miss. Bartlett advice. The torrent of advice signifies the acceptance of Lucy and Miss Bartlett into the good graces of the pension guests; Lucy notes that the Emersons are outside of this fold. After the meal, some of the guests move to the drawing room. Miss Bartlett discusses the Emersons with Mr.Beebe; Beebe does not have a very high opinion of Mr. Emerson, but he thinks him harmless, and he believes no harm would have come from Miss Bartlett accepting Mr. Emerson's offer. Mr. Emerson is a Socialist, a term that is used by Mr. Beebe and Miss Bartlett with clear disapproval. Miss Bartlett continues to ask Mr. Beebe about what she should have done about the offer, and if she should apologize, until Mr. Beebe becomes annoyed and leaves. An old lady approaches the two women and talks with Miss Bartlett about Mr. Emerson's offer. Lucy asks if perhaps there was something beautiful about the offer, even if it was not delicate.Miss Bartlett is puzzled by the question; to her, beauty and delicacy are the same thing. Mr. Beebe returns: he has arranged with Mr. Emerson to have the women take the room. Miss Bartlett is not quite sure what to do, but she accepts. She takes the larger room, which was occupied by George, because she does not want Lucy to be indebted to a young man. She bids Lucy goodnight and inspect her new quarters, and she finds a piece of paper pinned to the washstand that h as an enormous â€Å"note of interrogation† scrawled on it. Though she feels threatened by it, she saves it for George between two pieces of blotting paper.Chapter Two In Santa Croce with No Baedeker: Summary: Lucy looks out her window onto the beautiful scene of a Florence morning. Miss Bartlett interrupts her reverie and encourages Lucy to begin her day; in the dining room, they argue politely about whether or not Miss Bartlett should accompany Lucy on a bit of sightseeing. Lucy is eager to go but does not wish to tire her cousin, and Miss Bartlett, though tired, does not want Lucy to go alone. A â€Å"clever lady,† whose name is Miss Lavish, intercedes. After some discussion, it is agreed that Miss Lavish and Lucy will go out together to the church of Santa Croce.The two women go out, and have a lively (but not too involved) conversation about politics and people they know in England. Suddenly, they are lost. Lucy tries to consult her Baedeker travel guide, but Miss Lavish will have none of it. She takes the guide book away. In their wanderings, they cross the Square of the Annunziata; the buildings and sculptures are the most beautiful things Lucy has ever seen, but Miss Lavish drags her forward. The women eventually reach Santa Croce, and Miss Lavish spots Mr. Emerson and George. She does not want to run into them, and seems disgusted by the two men. Lucy defends them.As they reach the steps of the church, Miss Lavish sees someone she knows and rushes off. Lucy waits for a while, but then she sees Miss Lavish wander down the street with her friend and Lucy realizes she has been abandoned. Upset, she goes into Santa Croce alone. The church is cold, and without her Baedeker travel guide Lucy feels unable to correctly view the many famous works of art housed there. She sees a child hurt his foot on a tomb sculpture and rushes to help him. She then finds herself side-by-side with Mr. Emerson, who is also helping the child. The child's mother app ears and sets the boy on his way.Lucy feels determined to be good to the Emersons despite the disapproval of the other pension guests. But when Mr. Emerson and George invite her to join them in their little tour of the church, she knows that she should be offended by such an invitation. She tries to seem offended, but Mr. Emerson sees immediately that she is trying to behave as she has seen others behave, and tells her so. Strangely, Lucy is not angry about his forwardness but is instead somewhat impressed. She asks to be taken to look at the Giotto frescoes. The trio comes across a tour group, including some tourists from the pension, led by a clergyman named  Mr.Eager. Mr. Eager spews commentary on the frescoes, which Mr. Emerson heartily disagrees with; he is skeptical of the praise and romanticizing of the past. The clergyman icily leads the group away. Mr. Emerson, worried that he has offended them, rushes off to apologize. George confides in Lucy that his father always has t hat effect on people. His earnestness and bluntness are repellent to others. Mr. Emerson returns, having been snubbed. Mr. Emerson and Lucy go off to see other works. Mr. Emerson, sincere and earnest, shares his concerns for his son. George is unhappy. Lucy is not sure how to react to this direct and honest talk; Mr.Emerson asks her to befriend his son. She is close to his age and Mr. Emerson sense much that is good in the girl. He hopes that these two young people can learn from each other. George is deeply saddened by life itself and the transience of human existence; this cerebral sorrow all seems very strange to Lucy. George suddenly approaches them, to tell Lucy that Miss Bartlett is here. Lucy realizes that one of the old women in the tour group must have told Charlotte that Lucy was with the Emersons. When she seems distressed, Mr. Emerson expresses sympathy for her. Lucy becomes cold, and she informs him that she has no need for his pity.She goes to join her cousin. Chapter Three Music, Violets, and the Letter â€Å"S†: Summary: One day after lunch Lucy decides to play the piano. The narrator tells us that Lucy has a great love for playing; she is no genius, but she is talented and passionate, always playing â€Å"on the side of Victory. † Mr. Beebe recalls the first time he heard her play, back in England, at Tunbridge Wells. She chose an unusual and intense piece by Beethoven. At the time, Mr. Beebe remarked to someone that if Lucy ever learned to live as she plays, it would be a great event. Now, Mr. Beebe makes the same remark to Lucy directly.Miss Bartlett and Miss Lavish are out sightseeing, but it is raining hard outside. Lucy asks about Miss Lavish's novel, which is in progress. Lately, Miss Lavish and Miss Bartlett have become close, leaving Lucy feeling like a third wheel. Miss Catharine Alan enters, complimenting Lucy's playing. She discusses the impropriety of the Italians with Mr. Beebe, who half-agrees with her in a subtly a nd playfully mocking way. They discuss Miss Lavish, who once wrote a novel but lost the thing in heavy rains. She is working on a new book, set in modern Italy. Miss Alan talks about Miss Lavish' first meeting with the Emersons.Mr. Emerson made a comment about acidity of the stomach, trying to be helpful to another pension guest. Miss Lavish was drawn to his directness. She tried to stand up for the Emersons for a while, talking about commerce and how it is the heart of England's empire. But after dinner, she went into the smoking room with them. A few minutes later, she emerged, silent. No one knows what happened, but since then, Miss Lavish has made no attempt to be friendly to the men. Lucy asks Miss Alan and Mr. Beebe if the Emersons are nice; after some discussion, Mr. Beebe gives a qualified yes and Miss Alan a no. Mr.Beebe, though he does not say it, does not approve of the Emerson's attempts to befriend Lucy. Mr. Beebe feels badly for the Emersons nonetheless; they are thoro ughly isolated at the pension. He silently resolves to organize a group outing so that everyone will have a good time. Evening comes on and the rain stops. Lucy decides to go out for a walk and enjoy the last bit of daylight. Clearly, Miss Alan disapproves and Mr. Beebe does not approve entirely. But Lucy goes out anyway; Mr. Beebe chalks her behavior up to too much Beethoven. Analysis: Music and Lucy's relationship to her music is one of the novel's themes.Mr. Beebe's comment becomes the reader's hope for Lucy: perhaps one day she will play as well as she lives. Forster speaks in this chapter's opening pages of music's transcendent abilities. It can be the gift of anyone regardless of social class or education. Through Beebe's statement, Forster is suggesting that these qualities also apply to passionate living. To live life well is within the grasp of anyone, despite the prejudices and proprieties of Lucy's world. Her choice of unusual Beethoven pieces is indicative of her passion . She needs more of an outlet than music, but for now her music will have to do.Music puts her in touch with her desires and feelings; the passion of Beethoven makes her resolve to go out alone, despite the disapproval of others. Chapter Four: Summary: Lucy goes out longing for adventure, hoping for something great. She buys some photographs of great artworks at a junk shop, but remains unsatisfied. She wanders into the Piazza Signoria; it is nearing twilight, and the world takes on an aura of unreality. Nearby, she sees two Italians arguing. One of them is struck lightly on the chest; he wanders toward Lucy, trying to say something, and blood trickles from his lips.The light strike was actually a stabbing. A crowd surrounds them and carries the man away. She sees George Emerson, and then the world seems to fall on top of Lucy; suddenly, she is with George Emerson, sitting on some steps some distance away. She fainted, and George has carried her here. She thanks George and asks him to fetch her photographs, which she dropped in the square; when he leaves to get them, she tries to sneak away. George calls to her and persuades her to sit down. The man who approached her is dead or dying. A crowd surrounds the man, down by the fountain, and George goes to investigate.George returns, and they talk of the murder. They walk back to the pension along the river, and George suddenly tosses something into the water. Lucy angrily demands to know what he threw away, suspecting that they might be her photographs. After some hesitation, George admits that they were. He threw them away because they were covered with blood. At George's request, they stop for a moment. He feels something incredible has happened, and he wants to figure it out. Leaning over a parapet, Lucy apologizes for her fainting and asks that he not tell anyone at the pension what happened.She realizes that he is not a chivalrous man, meaning he is a stranger to old-fashioned ideas of courtesy and propriety , but she also realizes that George is intelligent, trustworthy, and kind. She says that events like the murder happen, and that the witnesses go on living life as usual. George replies that he does not go on living life as usual. Now, he will want to live. Analysis: Forster spends the first part of the chapter explaining Lucy's character. She is naive, but she has some strength and passion. She is frustrated by the constraints on her gender, but she is also no firebrand by nature.She feels that she should be ladylike, in the old-fashioned sense of the word, but in practice she wants to be more free and adventurous than that label allows. She feels her emotions most passionately and deeply after she has played piano. Forster often uses the landscape to mirror Lucy's mood. After she finished playing the piano, the rain cleared, mirroring Lucy's tendency to know her own desires most clearly after playing music. As she wanders into the square, the world seems touched by unreality. She longs for an adventure, and she is conscious of being in a different place and wanting to see something rule.It is twilight, a transitional time between day and night, and Lucy is about to have a very confusing and important experience. She is rescued by George, and she cannot seem to decide what to think about it. For his part, George is as taciturn and strange as ever. Forster lets us into his characters' heads, but with George and Mr. Emerson we have only their outward actions and dialogue. Lucy's experience is confusing not only because she watches a man die, but also because she is not sure how to deal with George and how he makes her feel.She recognizes that he is not chivalrous or proper, but she sees goodness in him. She stops by the river and feels somehow comfortable with him, but she nervously asks him not to tell anyone that she fainted and he carried her. For George too, the experience is important. For whatever reason, and in ways that Forster will not allow us to see directly, he is changed. He tells Lucy that he will not return to life as he lived it before; now, he wants to live. The experience has made him appreciate life, perhaps in part because he shared something extraordinary with Lucy.