Red Bulls Market Essay Example for Free

Red Bulls Market Essay A Bulls Market the marketing of Red Bull energy drink Red Bull, Austrias biggest export since Arnold Schwarzenegger, has methodically created and dominated the energy drink category much in the way players of the board game Risk would defeat their opponents. Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull International, created the highly caffeinated beverage in 1987. Five years later, the drink spread into neighboring countries like Hungary and Slovenia, followed by Germany and Switzerland. In 1997, Red Bull prepared to storm the U. S. market. Today, the slinky 8-3-OZ can has completed its invasion into nearly every cold box in the United States. (Ohio, Tennessee and the Dakotas are among the few states without it. ) In less than three years, Red Bull singlehandedly established and then lifted the booming energy drink category from a base of $12 million in (wholesale) dollar sales to $42 million in 1998 and $75 million in 1999, per Beverage Marketing Corp. Others soon followed, building energy drinks to a $130 million business. Now Coke (KMX) and Anheuser-Busch (180) are jumping in. Last year, Red Bulls market share stood at 65%, while the company reportedly pulled in a cool $1 billion in worldwide sales. Just how Red Bull managed to accomplish so much, so quickly has become the stuff of mythology Some have written off the product by calling it a flash in the pan or derisively note that its handlers got lucky. A closer investigation of the companys strategy however, reveals that luck had little to do with Red Bulls success. The companys consistent battle plan has been to open up a market by securing unusual distribution. When Red Bull initially set up camp in Santa Monica, Calif. , it piggybacked on established distributors. Typically distributors will deliver a number of brands; a Pepsi house will handle Pepsi, Diet Pepsi and Mountain Dew, and may even pick up a non-competing rival like Dr Pepper. Sales reps even greased the wheels by paying for their accounts promotional, advertising and sampling costs for three months. But as the drink caught on, the company began taking a more narrow approach. Now, a Red Bull sales rep will contact a small distributor and insist that he or she sell only Red Bull. Otherwise, Red Bull will set up a warehouse and hire kids to load up the vans and deliver product. These start-up distributors can focus their entire energies on getting Red Bull fully stocked in stores with prominent shelf placement. They generally break even within three months and are profitable within six. They buy direct from Red Bull. Theres enough margin and volume to make it work, said one Northeastern distributor. I wish theyd give it to me, but they have the kids with the vans doing it. Im looking forward to getting Snapples Venom [a new energy drink launching June 15] so I can compete with them. Next, the sales team visits key on-premise accounts: hot clubs and trendy bars. When owners begin buying a few cases, they receive a Red Bull branded cooler and other POP items. Thats when we start doing business officially, said Markus Pichler, evp-strategic planning, Red Bull North America. We go to on-premise accounts [vs. retailers] first, because the product gets a lot of visi bility and attention. It goes faster to deal with individual accounts, not big chains and their authorization process. Plus, on-premise provides fertile ground for new drink trends. In clubs, people are open to new things, said Pichler. The most important thing about [Red Bull] is, its working. If you had a tough week and want to dance, the product works. Perhaps a bit too well. Fueling Red Bulls growth is a mystique created by outlandish rumors about its contents: it is liquid Viagra; its secret ingredient is bulls testicles; someone overdosed from the drink because it has drugs in it. (The company shoots down these and other myths in an FAQ section on RedBull. com. Pichler wouldnt talk about Red Bulls natural fit with the speed crowd that frequents raves, taking designer drugs to stay awake for days at a time. Nor does the company endorse the mixing of Red Bull with vodka, Jagermeister or tequila-a ubiquitous bar call whose roots can be traced to Europe. From a sales perspective, Pichler acknowledged, [the mixability] is a nice side effect. Theres more to the guerrilla strategy than building buzz at clubs. Sales teams will open off-premise accounts at convenience stores near colleges, gyms, health-food stores and supermarkets. The company has divided the U. S. into eight decentralized sales units, each of which is handled on a city-by-city basis. One regional office in New York, for example, services Maryland, New Jersey Pennsylvania and Virginia. The Boston office handles the New England states and upstate New York. Each unit is responsible for creating distribution, making sales calls and developing targeted marketing plans. The mission: to find out where the target demo (men and women age 16-29) hangs out and what interests them. Its their job to get the message out to the right clubs and at the right events. While Red Bull relies heavily on bars and night clubs for its sampling events, alternative sports have also proven to be a successful product-trial arena. The company underwrites a number of extreme sports competitions and sponsors about three dozen alterna-athletes. Events include the Red Bull Huckfest, a ski and snowboard freestyle competition held in January in Snowbird, Utah; and the Red Bull Flugtag (German for flying day),premiering in the U. S. this fall. At the latter event, amateur pilots will create exotic flying machines and attempt to soar off the Santa Monica pier. The brand also employs teams of consumer educators, who roam the streets and dangle free samples. With California as its stronghold, Red Bull made its way into Oregon, Settle, Texas and ski resorts in Colorado. It next moved into the Midwest, targeting urban markets like Chicago and its environs. Soon it showed up on the East Coast in Miami and New York. (The Big Apple had a head start: Europe leaked the beverage into the city) Newer markets include the Carolinas, Virginia and Washington, D. C. In the antithesis of any majors marketing plan, Red Bull buys traditional advertising last. Only when a market is deemed mature does the company begin a media push. The idea is to reinforce, not introduce, the brand. Media is not a tool that we use to establish the market, said vp-marketing David Rohdy. It is a critical part. Its just later in the development. Current ads, titled Red Bull gives you wings, focus around an animated bull character. The initial spot is set in the Renaissance era, where an artist is telling the man who commissioned his painting that he has created the perfect piece of art: Red Bull. Itll give you wings, he said. Indeed, in another ad, an energized bull is shown leaping over a city. The ads have begun airing during late-night TV in New York, and radio programs including The Howard Stern Show. A Santa Monica-based shop, Lunch, handles ads and POP materials for the entire U. S. Red Bull typically creates two new TV spots a year and runs them in mature markets. The brand spent $100 million in the U. S. last year, according to the company Measured media spending was only $18. 9 million last year, up from $9 million in 1999, per Competitive Media Reporting. Red Bulls runaway popularity had given it easy entree into mass merchandisers. It is currently the No. 1 product in Store24, where it is now a bigger seller than beer, milk, water and soda. 7-Eleven is experiencing similar results. We have seen double-digit growth [in the non-carbonated segment]. Red Bull tops the list big time, said Jim Jackson, category manager for non-carbonated beverages at 7-Eleven, Dallas. [Their success is due to] their single-product focus, major advertising dollars and distribution. They create demand before they even get it to retail. The picture may yet change, as Red Bull is now facing more than a dozen imitators, most notably Cokes KMX and A-Bs 180. Knockoffs they may be, but distributors say they have been moving extremely well. Weve done a lot of the dirty work for them, Rohdy said. Pichler was a bit more engaging. Were a fan of competition. Its a positive for us, he said. It validates the energy drink category. Red Bull has already experienced the c opycat phenomenon overseas. The company doesnt appear to be concerned, however, having hit the $1 billion worldwide sales mark. Besides, observers have said the also-rans dont have a prayer. Red Bull seems to have a cooler in every bar in every city. The sales force, thats all they do, said one new age beverage executive. The big guys will not put that much energy into it and will lose interest when they dont make any headway. After conquering the U. S. , the Red Bull army plans to move on. It is currently making headway in Brazil and South Africa, though South America and Africa as a whole remain largely untapped. If history repeats itself, it wont be long before everyone on the planet gets their wings.

The Effect Of Wind Direction On Wind Turbines

The Effect Of Wind Direction On Wind Turbines I expected to learn from this project what the effect wind source direction had on a horizontal wind turbine. I found out that going from one side to the other, depending on how the pinwheel was shaped, that the power generated would increase or decrease. The homemade pinwheel generated power that peaked at the 180 degree mark and gradually went down with a slight spike upwards at the 0 degree mark. The store bought pinwheel had an average power that peaked at 180 degrees and went down gradually and spiked all the way almost to the 180 degree mark at 0 degrees. These results are important because currently, there are wind farms and they have windmills to produce energy, it is important to imply these facts when constructing the windmill to know how to make the windmill most efficient to produce the most energy it can with the given situations. Background Research Introduction My project researches wind turbines and how changes in wind direction affect the amount of work the windmill can do. I will use two types of turbines a store-bought pinwheel and a homemade pinwheel. The two turbines will be exposed to the same amount of wind force and wind source direction. As I change the angle that the wind blows, I will calculate the amount of energy it takes to do the same task haul five paperclips vertically. My project question is: What effect does wind source direction have on a horizontal wind turbine? My hypothesis is: The more indirect the wind source is, the slower the turbine will spin, thereby working harder and using more energy. For many years my family and I have been going to Lake Tahoe. Every time we travel there, we pass a field of windmills. I used to always ask my dad what they were for and how they worked. I always loved to watch them spinning. When I was looking for a science fair topic, I saw an experiment involving wind turbines. I remembered the windmills on the way to Tahoe and thought it would be interesting to find out how they really work. I thought the mechanics of this project would be fun to make and to watch work. I hope to learn how wind turbines generate electricity, the mechanics of windmills, and under what conditions windmills spin the fastest. Scientific Background When it comes to windmills or wind turbines, there are two major types. The more well known type is the Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT). These wind turbines are the ones you typically see; they are your stereotypical type of windmill. The other type is known as the Vertical Axis Wind Turbine (VAWT). These wind turbines are not as common but still have the same capability of the HAWTs. The VAWTs are not used as much because they puts more strain on the support pole, making them more likely to collapse. They also need a small generator to start spinning because most of the time the wind is not strong enough to push it alone. These windmills have generators inside of them that generate electricity when the gears spin. Discovery The first windmill was invented by none other than the Heron of Alexandria, in Greece, in the first century AD. He invented this windwheel to power a musical organ; however, this idea of wind power was not well embraced. At the time, slave labor was cheaper, faster, and more reliable. The first modern designed windmills were invented by the Persians in the 9th century AD. There is no one inventor to which to give the credit, but Persian geographer Estakhri noted the invention. The discovery of wind power is important because it introduced a new, free source of energy other than slave labor. Today our environment is at risk of being destroyed. Due to the increase in population and technological advances, the resources in our world are quickly being depleted and we are damaging our environment. We are using an increased amount of energy, specifically fossil fuels, to power almost everything we use. Instead of using fossil fuels we could and should be using more wind energy to create energy. Despite these masterminds of history, there is still more to be discovered in this area. Scientists could discover a new, more reliable, and more efficient model of wind turbine to replace the HAWTs. They need to discover more in this field in order to replace fossil fuels and stop global warming. Application Today, we use windmills as a renewable source of energy and electricity. If scientists in the future can have a breakthrough with windmills, it could permanently replace fossil fuels, therefore stopping global warming. Residential wind power is becoming more available, but not as accessible as we need them to be. Conclusion From this project, I hope to learn how wind turbines generate energy. I hope to learn some of the mechanics behind windmills, under what conditions windmills spin the fastest, and how they can create energy. Experiment Details Experiment Question What effect does wind source direction have on a horizontal wind turbine? Experiment Hypothesis The more I move the wind source to one side of the turbine, the wind turbine will spin more slowly. Experiment Variables Independent Variable The angle in degrees that the wind source will blow at the rotor. Dependent Variable How much time, in seconds, it will take the wind turbine to pull up 5 paperclips. Controlled Variables The amount of weight the wind turbine will pull up The amount of wind being blown at the wind turbine (hairdryer on high speed) The temperature of the air being blown (hairdryer on cool setting) The height the turbine will have to life the paperclips The wind turbine itself Materials and Procedures Materials Used Pinwheel, store-bought or homemade Scissors 8.5-inch x 8.5-inch sheet of paper Ruler Pen Nail Wooden skewer, available at grocery stores Tape, any kind Empty oatmeal canister with plastic lid Handful of rocks (or heavy objects to keep the oatmeal canister weighted down) Small compression spring (approximately  ½ inch long and able to fit over skewer) Clear tape Spool of thread (1) Paper clips, #1 size (5) Measuring tape Room in your home that is free from drafts Hair dryer Table or chair Sticky notes, small size A helper Stopwatch Lab notebook Graph paper Procedures Building My Rotor For a store-bought pinwheel: STEP 1: I have to remove the rotor blades from the shaft by cutting off the plastic nozzle tip of the shaft. This rotor is now on the skewer and is ready for testing. For a home-made pinwheel: STEP 2: Fold a square piece of paper diagonal then back then diagonal the other direction then back. When I am finished I should have an X crossing the middle of my paper. STEP 3: Measure about 2 inches from the center on each crease and draw a line with my pen. STEP 4: Make four holes in the paper with the nail near the corner. STEP 5: Make a fifth hole in the center of the paper STEP 6: Cut along the creases with the scissors and stop where the lines were drawn 2 inches out from the center. Building my Horizontal-Axis Wind Turbine STEP 7: Use the nail to poke two small holes on corresponding sides of the Oatmeal container about one inch down from the top. STEP 8: Place rocks inside the container and close the lid. STEP 9: Put the skewer between the two holes. STEP 10: Thread the spring on one side of the skewer. STEP 11: Put on one of the rotors (homemade or store bought) next to the spring on the skewer. STEP 12: If I were using the homemade rotor I must first fold the four corner holes onto the middle hole so they are all on top of each other and form one hole. Then thread the skewer through the hole and the rotor is ready. STEP 13: Tape the rotor to the skewer so it will not slip off the skewer. STEP 14: Cut about 2 feet of thread. STEP 15: Tie one end of the thread to the end of the skewer that does not have the rotor taped to it. STEP 16: Tie the other end to one paper clip. Then attach the remaining four paper clips to each other then attach the four to the first one that is tied to the thread. This is the load that the wind turbine will be pulling. STEP 17: Measure the threads full length with the measuring tape from the skewer to the first paper clip. Record measurement in lab notebook. Now I am ready to start testing. Testing My Wind Turbine STEP 18: Place Wind turbine on the edge of a table or chair in a room without drafts. STEP 19: I will be testing my wind turbine at five different points around the rotor, 0 degrees, 45 degrees, 90 degrees, 135 degrees, and 180 degrees. To mark these points on the table, extend and lock the measuring tape so that it is approximately 6 inches longer than the radius of the rotor. Hold one end of the measuring tape directly below the point where the rotor meets the skewer, and the other end of the measuring tape at the approximate points around the pinwheel. Mark the points on the table with small sticky notes. When I begin the test, I will hold the handle of the hair dryer on the sticky notes and the blower end will point at the rotor. The goal is to have 1-2 inches between the rotor and the blower. If I dont have enough room, or have too much space, then I would have to adjust my sticky notes outward or inward. STEP 20: Have the helper manage the stop watch while you hold the hair dryer in position. As a test run, start the hair dryer on low and move it from sticky note to sticky note and record what happens in the notebook. STEP 21: Extend thread to full length STEP 22: Place the handle of the hair dryer on the first sticky note and turn the hair dryer on low and face it away from the rotor. STEP 23: When the helper says go, point the hair dryer at the rotor and leave it there. Keep the hair dryer at the same level for every test. STEP 24: Observe the motion of the paper clips. When the top of the first paperclip reaches the skewer, the helper should stop the stopwatch. If the paper clips do not to rise all the way to the skewer, then stop the stopwatch when the paper clips stop moving. STEP 25: Turn off the hair dryer when the clips reach the top or when they stop moving and record the time in the table drawn in the notebook. STEP 26: Repeat steps 21-25 until all testing is done. Challenges and Technical Issues I experienced several technical challenges relating to timing and angle as I performed this experiment. First, it was difficult to keep the direction of the air source constant. While I held the hairdryer, I found it difficult to keep it still. It was also difficult to ensure that the angle was kept constant throughout the experiment. I did my best to make several markings on the table to align the hairdryer. I also found that while using the homemade pinwheel, the pinwheel would sometimes push the skewer forward, causing the string to make contact with the canister, therefore slowing it down. To resolve this, I moved the pinwheel to the front end of the skewer and secured it there. Similarly, I found that while using either pinwheel, the string would sometimes wrap part of the way on the skewer but run out of skewer and fall off the edge before it was fully wound. To resolve this, I moved the string closer to the canister so there was more room for it to wind onto. Timing was also one of the human errors. Coordinating the actual start and stop of the stopwatch with the actual wind source (hairdryer) was tricky. My assistant and I counted down 3-2-1 and got as close as possible. There were times that we needed to restart the trial due to timing issues. Experiment Results With my tests results from the store bought pinwheel, the averages in ascending order staring at zero degrees going up are: 27.18 seconds, 36.94 seconds, 47.84 seconds, and 26.53 seconds. In these tests, there was only one outlier. That outlier was in the 90 degree testing when the outlier was below every other time with a time of 28.36 seconds. This was due probably to movement of the wind angle. In the homemade pinwheel, the averages of the times are in ascending order from zero degrees going up are: 57.86 seconds, 1 minute 2.20 seconds, 1 minute 21.66 seconds, 41.67 seconds, and 35.11 seconds. There were four outliers within these tests. One was with the 0 degrees test; it had a time of 1 minute 7.97 seconds. There were two outliers in the 45 degree angle testing. The first had a time of 40 seconds and the next had a time of 1 minute 12.17 seconds. Both of these did not get all the way to the top of the canister. The fourth outlier was in the 135 degree tests with a time of 1 minute 4.91 seconds. All of these faulty times were most likely due to movement of the hairdryer. With all of the outliers in my experiment, I included them into the average and did not change or discard them. Time Data Table Store-Bought Pinwheel Position of Wind Source (degrees) Time to Raise Load (seconds) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average Uncertainty 0 29.78 31.81 23.85 26.90 23.54 27.18 Range: 8.27 sec. Human error possibility: movement 45 38.62 38.87 43.38 33.56 29.78 36.84 Range: 13.6 sec. Human error possibility: movement 90 38.75 36.61 42.22 38.74 28.36 36.94 Range: 13.86 sec. Human error possibility: movement 135 45.41 54.28 49.75 47.82 41.93 47.84 Range: 12.35 sec. Human error possibility: movement 180 28.10 25.98 28.88 27.31 22.38 26.53 Range: 6.5 sec. Human error possibility: movement Time Data Table Home-Made Pinwheel Position of Wind Source (degrees) Time to Raise Load (seconds) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average Uncertainty 0 53.91 54.34 1:07.97 54.66 58.44 57.86 Range: 14.06 sec. Human error possibility: movement 45 40.0 1:12.17 56.06 1:07.59 1:15.18 1:02.20 Range: 35.18 sec. Human error possibility: movement 90 1:30.43 1:29.16 1:04.91 1:23.35 1:20.43 1:21.66 Range: 25.52 sec. Human error possibility: movement 135 45.78 41.59 44.94 39.53 36.50 41.67 Range: 9.28 sec. Human error possibility: movement 180 35.22 37.56 37.31 32.38 33.09 35.11 Range: 5.18 sec. Human error possibility: movement Distance-Work Data Table Store-Bought Pinwheel Average Work Done = Force . Average Distance (N . m ) Mass of load (5 paperclips) = 0.00215 kg Force = Mass x 9.81(m/sec2) = 0.0210915 Newtons Position of Wind Source (degrees) Distance Paper Clips Were Raised (cm) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average Distance (meters) Average Work Done (N . m ) 0 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 45 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 90 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 135 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 180 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 Position vs. Power Data Table Store-Bought Pinwheel Position of Wind Source (degrees) Power=Average Work Done Divided By Average Time (W) 0 .0004782 45 .0003528 90 .0003519 135 .0002717 180 .00049 Distance-Work Data Table Home-Made Pinwheel Average Work Done = Force . Average Distance (N . m ) Mass of load (5 paperclips) = 0.00215 kg Force = Mass x 9.81(m/sec2) = 0.0210915 Newtons Position of Wind Source (degrees) Distance Paper Clips Were Raised (cm) Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5 Average Distance (meters) Average Work Done (N . m ) 0 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 45 16.5 38 61 61 61 0.475 0.010 90 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 135 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 180 61 61 61 61 61 0.61 0.013 Position vs. Power Data Table Store-Bought Pinwheel Position of Wind Source (degrees) Power=Average Work Done Divided By Average Time (W) 0 .0002246 45 .0001607 90 .0001591 135 .0003119 180 .0003702 Data Analysis and Discussion There is one main reason why I got the results I did from my experiments. I got these results because of the way the pinwheel is shaped to spin. For example, the home made pinwheel I shaped, not intentionally, to spin to the right and it had fewer blades than the store bought pinwheel, but the store bought pinwheel was manufactured to spin to the left. In addition, the store bought pinwheel had twice as many blades as the homemade pinwheel; therefore it was able to catch more wind from the hairdryer, making the averages of the store bought much higher than most of the home made pinwheel averages. Windmills, when they spin, produce energy via a generator. The windmills I constructed are the same way but without a generator. I was able to calculate the power the windmills generated by pulling up the five paperclips and by using the time they needed to pull the paperclips all the way to the top. My graph shows the power that was generated using the load pulled (2g) and the time needed to pull the load on a scatter plot graph. The line that is drawn between the points is the trend in increase or decrease of the data. On the x axis, the position of the wind source in degrees is shown. On the y axis, the power in watts that is being generated by the windmill pulling the paper clips. This graph is useful to me because it is an easy way to show which position and windmill produced more power. My results answer my original question with proof from the experiments; it shows that my hypothesis was incorrect. Regarding the store bought pinwheel, the power in watts goes down starting from 0 degrees but then spikes up at 180 degrees. The home made pinwheel goes down all the starting from 180 degrees to 0 degrees. I never stated in my hypothesis that it mattered which direction, whether left or right, it decreased from. / Conclusion My hypothesis was incorrect. I thought the more I moved the wind source from the center to one side of the turbine, the wind turbine would spin more slowly and produce less power. I expected the graph to show an upside down V. This was disproved with my trials. The trend line essentially formed a V, showing an increase in power produced with both pinwheels. Recommendations If someone does want to retry this project or study more in this field, I would give them the following advice. If someone wanted to retry this experiment, I would recommend that they try to eliminate all possible human and mechanical errors such as movement. They could try to make a stand for the hair dryer to ensure that it stays straight and at the same height for each test. Slight movements can make a difference in how the wind catches the blades of the pinwheel. For someone wanting to study in this field, I would recommend that they perform this experiment comparing pinwheels that were equally matched. That is, use pinwheels that have the same number of blades in the same direction. They could also test pinwheels made of different materials and compare them that way. If someone just wanted to know which pinwheel to buy to be most efficient, I would tell them to get one that is made out of sturdy material, has a lot of blades, and one that has blades that are perfectly shaped to catch the wind. Acknowledgements For this experiment, there are a few people that I would like to mention who helped me perform this experiment. First, this project took me about three hours in all to perform and many after that to organize the board and all of the data. Throughout those hours, my mother helped motivate me to get my project done, helped me perform my experiment. She gave me the knowledge of how to make a computerized graph and helped me when I struggled. I would also like to mention Mrs. Roy, my 8th grade science teacher, for giving me initial tips on what to do differently with my experiment to make it the best it could be.

Maternal and Child Health Journal

Maternal and Child Health Journal Coulibaly, Ramata, MD, MSc; Seguin, Louise; Zunzunegui, Maria-Victoria; Gauvin, Lise (2006) â€Å"Links Between Maternal Breast-Feeding Duration and Quebec Infants Health: A Population-Based Study. Are the Effects Different for Poor Children?† Maternal and Child Health Journal. 10:537-543. Coulibaly, et al. examine breast feeding patterns for mothers based on family income and then examine the data for effects on childrens health. The results are in-line with other studies which show that women from higher income groups are more likely to breast feed their babies and to breast feed them for longer durations. Further, the study found that breast feeding regardless of income group, reduced the number of chronic health problems in the infant children and the number of hospital visits. The benefits of breast feeding are well documented with regards to infants health, growth, immunity, and development. According to data assembled by Healthy People 2010, breastfeeding decreases the number of cases and severity of diarrhea, respiratory infections, and ear infections. Further, breast feeding saves mothers and families the additional costs of infant formula and thus is more economical than bottle feeding. Despite these advantages Coulibaly et al. and other authors frequently show that low income households and demographics that traditionally are indicators of lower incomes (African Americans and lower educated women) have lower rates of breast feeding than higher income families and demographic groups traditionally associated with higher incomes (white non-hispanics and college educated women). Healthy People 2010 aims to increase rates of breast feeding to 75% in the early postpartum period, 50% for the first 6 months, and 25 percent for the first year. To meet these goals, more lower income women will need to breast feed their infant children. The facts uncovered by the article and also those cited by Healthy People 2010 with regard to breast feeding rates and income status are counter intuitive. On the surface it would seem that poor women and families would not be able to afford the convenience of bottle feeding and would therefore have higher rates of breastfeeding than their higher income counterparts. However, this is not the case and therefore breastfeeding rates must not be directly related to income. Instead other variables must be restricting lower income women from breastfeeding. It is commonly believed that the benefits of breastfeeding may not be widely understood and that educational efforts would increase breastfeeding rates. This has likely been true and advertisements on city busses and involvement of community health workers and social workers are likely largely responsible for the increase in breast feeding rates that have been documented by healthy people 2010. However to meet the goals of Healthy People 2010, I believe that more action is required to address issues that are likely holding back many mothers from breast feeding their infant children. It is my belief that one of the main impediments for mothers thinking about breastfeeding is their job. The data by healthy people 2010 that shows over 60% of women currently breastfeed their children during the postpartum period when they are most likely to be on maternity leave as well as the precipitous drop in breast feeding rates to 29% at 6 months and 16% at 1 year after mothers have gone back to work support this hypothesis. I also believe that lower income earning women are more hampered by their jobs then women from higher incomes. I believe this to be the case since many lower income work in service related industries as cashiers or other industries where there are limited private spaces for them to use a breast pump or refrigerate their pumped milk. Further, lower income women are more likely to be considered â€Å"expendable employees† due to their lack of work place skills. In comparison, many women working in office settings have access to quiet rooms with r efrigerators and are working on important projects to their employers and cannot be easily replaced. Thus, to meet the goals of Healthy People 2010, health professionals need to work with governmental leaders to help them understand the importance of this issue in reducing our nations health care costs. All places of business should be forced to establish a â€Å"quiet room† where a women can use a breast pump in privacy and then store her milk until her shift is complete. Further, mothers that return to the work force must be guaranteed work brakes at appropriate intervals to the age of their infant children to maximize the milk pumped. Many employers of low income women will likely never establish a environment that is friendly to the breastfeeding mother without both governmental penalties for failure to comply and incentives to encourage compliance. This article prompted me to think about the data on breastfeeding versus economic level and reflect on my own observations. As a immigrant to this country, I have many friends that at times tried to balance raising a small infants while working a low paying jobs. I have observed their work facilities in parking garages, retail stores, etc. and now understand that they did not have proper facilities for them to operate a breast pump in privacy and store the product milk. Also, because I also have worked some of these same jobs, I know that often I was grateful to have the job and often felt intimidated to ask my manager, many times as that was what the manager wanted me to feel, for anything special. Thus, I understand how difficult it is for women struggling in these jobs and trying to support their baby to ask for things not available at their work place. Because of these experiences, I believe that that many of the restrictions to breastfeeding by low income mothers will not go away without government regulations and protections. Healthy People 2010 is right to set the goals to increase breastfeeding, but to achieve it health professionals like ourselves now need to educate our government leaders.

Essay on the Evil in Hawthornes Young Goodman Brown -- Young Goodman

The Evil in Young Goodman Brown  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In my interpretation of the story, I will be discussing three main topics: the beginning conversation with Faith, the devilish character, and Brown’s wife’s meaning in the story.   Young Goodman Brown is about to take a journey like many others before him, across the threshold separating the young unknowing boys and the elderly sages.   This, however, will not be without peril, because aging is a testing process defined by trial and error, and the errors’ prices are sometimes significant.   This errand he is undertaking has an evil purpose.   It seems as though this night has been foreseen long ago by both Faith and Goodman Brown.   The wife begs him that, of all nights, he should stay this one home because she senses trouble.   The purpose of the journey is not discussed, because it is the passage b... ...; The last paragraph of the story indicates that this was not just a journey to mature, because he died like a heathen, away from the religious community.   He strayed his faith and he was punished for this.   Gloom is a big part of this story, symbolizing the forest, unknown, and evil.   The fact that every person in Salem, sinful or pious, was present in the forest can reflect some humor.   They act as zombies by night, and normal people by day, pretending one faith in the gloom, and returning to church at dawn.        

Retail Inventory :: essays research papers fc

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Retail Inventory-Level Planning consists of retail inventory method (RIM) which is an accounting procedure whose objectives are to maintain a perpetual. It also can book inventory in retail dollars amounts and to maintain records that make it possible to determine the cost value of the inventory at any time without taking a physical inventory. Also known as book inventory system or perpetual book inventory. Retailers also have another important choice to make the stock to sales ratio. The stock to sales ratio is derived directly from the planned inventory to determine monthly additions to stock in the merchandise budget plan.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Retailers generally think of their inventory at retail price levels rather than at cost. Retailers use their initial markups, additional markups, and markdowns, and so forth as percentages of retail. When retailers compare their prices to competitors’, they use retail prices. The problem is that when retailers to design their financial plans, evaluate performance, and prepare financial statements, they need to know the cost value of their inventory. Retailers use physical inventories. This process is time consuming and costly. Retailers take physical inventories once or twice a year.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Many retailers use point of sale terminals that keep track of every item sold its original cost, and its final selling price. The rest of the retailers face a problem of not knowing the cost value of their inventory at one time. These retailers with either computerized or manual systems can use retail inventory method. Their are five advantages for using RIM over a system of inventory at cost. The does not have to â€Å"cost† each time. When retailers have many SKUs, keeping track of each item becomes difficult and expensive. It is easier to determine the value of inventory with the retail prices marked on the merchandise than unmarked or at coded cost prices. The second advantage for using RIM is that it follows the accepted accounting principal of valuing assets at cost or market value, which is lower. This system lowers the value of inventory when markdowns are taken but does not allow inventory’s value increase with additional markups.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  When using RIM, the amounts and percentages of initial markups, markdowns, and shrinkage can be identified. This information can then be compared with historical records or industry norms.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  RIM is useful for determining shrinkage. The difference between the book inventory and the physical inventory can be attributed to shrinkage.

Messages of Strength and Pride in Three Poems

Poems from the Harlem Renaissance provide vibrance and energy for the reader as they enliven a culture and tradition never before seen in the United States.   The poems â€Å"Chicago,’ by Carl Sandburg, â€Å"The Harlem Dancer,† by Claude McKay, and â€Å"Mother to Son,† by Langston Hughes, all embody this strong culture through vivid images an lingering metaphors.   While they show the pride and substance of their subjects, the poems also hint at a bit of vulnerability as well.   Therefore, these three poems metaphorically illicit outward shows of strength and pride which hide pain, toil and even resentment underneath.Strength is an attribute of a person who has toiled and prevailed despite the overwhelming odds against him.   In the first half of the poem, â€Å"Chicago,† the first person speaker is addressing the city through a series of metaphors.   First, he addresses him as a serious of occupations which all require great physical strength but which do not have an association with upper class wealth or power:HOG Butcher for the World,  Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,  Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler (Sandburg, lines. 1-3).  These images create a masculine, hulking mood for the reader.   It is evident that life in this city requires brawn and even a cunning mind. The speaker notes the physical attributes of the city, which can be compared to a man:   Stormy, husky, brawling,  City of the Big Shoulders† (Sandburg, lines. 4-5).The city is personified as a hard-working and proud blue collar worker who may have to resort to underhanded dealings in order to survive.However, as the poem progresses, the metaphors change.   The speaker begins with a parallel series of descriptions – â€Å"wicked,† â€Å"crooked,† and â€Å"brutal,† to characterize the city along with a justification for each.   He notes the city is â€Å"sneering† but with  lifted head singing  so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning† (Sandburg, lines. 18-19).The suggestion is that the city demands more than hard work; it sometimes takes pain and trickery from its inhabitants.   However, the messages notes that sometimes this behavior is necessary for survival, and that the city has no moral problem with crime, corruption and manipulation.Finally, the poem shifts to the metaphor not of a man at all, but a beast.   This creature is Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning  as a savage pitted against the wilderness† (Sandburg lines. 23-24).Now the city is not human, but savage and untamed, reflecting the problems it presents for the survival of its dwellers.   They must endure, the smoke, the dust, the teeth and the burden of the city and somehow manage to laugh,  even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has  never lost a battle† (Sandburg, lns. 34-35).The bottom line for this poem is pride. Sometimes the people had to be dishonest and brutal, but they have an immense pride in getting to where they are.   The personified images of the city portray all of these emotions for the reader.â€Å"The Harlem Dancer,† by Claude McKay, focuses on the single image and experience of a boy watching a girl dance.   While the image is softer, it can correlate with the message from â€Å"Chicago.†Ã‚   Of course, the undertone is that these dancing girls are prostitutes, tempting the boys to wrongdoing, but that is part of the magic of the experience for these Harlem youth.   Despite her degrading occupation, the dancer of note is elevated to idealistic proportions in the eyes of the speaker.First, she is half-clothed, and swaying, which reminds the young man, oddly, of a palm tree.   He notes,  To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm  Grown lovelier for passing through a storm   (McKay, lines. 7-8).With this description, the reader understands that even the boy recog nizes that this girl does not belong in Harlem.   After all, no palm trees grow anywhere near Harlem; they are products of more tropical, exotic climates, as is the dancer.   He also insinuates that she has endured hardships herself, the storm he notes, and finds her more attractive for having survived those hardships.Next, the speaker notes the melodic, otherworldly quality of her voice.   He says,  Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes  Blown by black players upon a picnic day (McKay, lines, 3-4).  he airiness of her voice and their comparison to prayers places the girl in an almost angelic realm, oddly juxtaposed to her actual position as a prostitute. This angelic nature is further emphasized by her â€Å"gauzy† dress, her graceful body, and her â€Å"shiny curls.†Ã‚   To the speaker, she is perfection, something he has never before experienced.However, underneath the beautiful figure of the dancing girl is something else, something that the bo y eventually notices.   She is not the strong and serene figure he initially perceives.   She is, in his words, not there.   He notesBut, looking at her falsely-smiling faceI knew her self was not in that strange place (McKay, lines 13-14).The speaker comes to realize that she is not truly the confident and strong person that he initially perceived her to be.   In order to get through her day, she has to somehow transport herself elsewhere, and he has bought into it for a while.   She is not ideal or perfect but has had her own shares of struggles and deceptions.The poem â€Å"Mother to Son,† by Langston Hughes, also illuminates the theme that life is a struggle, but one that should make a person proud.   The speaker is an African-American mother who is attempting to relate a life lesson to her son.   She uses a metaphor of a crystal staircase to try to emphasize the hardships she has endured in getting to the place she is now.   The clever analogy notes that a crystal staircase would be smooth and easy to climb, unlike the experience the mother relays:Well, son, I'll tell you:  Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.  It's had tacks in it,  And splinters,  And boards torn up,  And places with no carpet on the floor —  Bare. (Hugues, lines 1-7)Her life journey was painful and filled with obstacles, and she wants her son to realize this so that he will be ready for his own obstacles and hardships in life.   Ã‚  She does not want him to grow up expecting to have things handed to him, but to expect to have to work hard for the things he wants.Another message that she wants to convey to her son is that he should never give up despite these hardships.   She wants to encourage him:So boy, don't you turn back. Don't you set down on the steps ‘Cause you finds it's kinder hard (Hughes, lines 14-16).In addition to warning him about the condition of the stairs and the difficulty of traversing them, the mother is also w arning her son of the dangers.   She notes that sometimes the stairs are dark, and she warns him against falling.   Of course, the grand metaphor for life is apparent.   Life is sometimes dark, full of pitfalls, and daunting, but she has continued the journey and is endeavoring to make her son do the same.She is not making the journey sound easy; clearly, they were not the privileged individuals, but she is attempting to instill endurance through her message.   After all, she is still climbing the stairs, and if she can do it, so can he.All three of these poems address issues of life and perseverance.   None of the lives described seem easy.   Life in â€Å"Chicago† is compared ultimately to a beast that laughs and sneers.   Life as   Ã¢â‚¬Å"TheHarlem Dancer† is empty for her, as she continually desires to be somewhere else.   Life on the broken staircase is uncertain and treacherous.   However, all three scenarios represent the continual toil of lif e, and the pride that these individuals have.   They may not have riches, easy jobs, or crystals stairs, but they have their work ethic and their sense of self-worth, and that is all that matters.WORKS CITEDMcKay, Claude.   â€Å"The Harlem Dancer.† Retrieved 9 April 2007 fromhttp://www.poetry-archive.com/m/the_harlem_dancer.htmlSandburg, Carl.   â€Å"Chicago.† Retrieved 9 April 2007 from http://carl-sandburg.com/chicago.htm

Technology and Modern Communication Technologies

Modern communication technologies such as mobile phones, e-mails and internet chat programs like the MSN Messenger have brought significant changes to our lives in recent years. Yet, there remains some disagreement as to whether the overall effect of this innovation has been positive or negative. Although there are valid arguments to the contrary, it is my belief that the majority of people in the globe have benefited greatly from these powerful and effective means of modern communication. To begin with, mobile phones and other tools of modern communication facilitate not only contact with friends and relatives in faraway places but also global business. With the click of a button, the vast amount of information can be transmitted from America to China in just a few seconds. Furthermore, it is generally felt that the access to these tools of communication is available in every corner of the world. With a mobile phone or a laptop, a person can talk or send messages online at a bus stop, in a corner shop or anywhere they could imagine. Therefore, it seems that these new forms of communication do bring a great deal of convenience to humankind. Nevertheless, opponents of modern communications claim that only the more privileged are able to enjoy the benefits. They further point out that the wide spread use of these efficient and effective ways of communication costs a considerable amount of money. Anyone who aims to use these innovations have to not only pay for the appliances such as a mobile phone or a computer but also cover up costs for communication services. Consequently, people who live in poverty are less likely to be benefited from modern communication technologies. By way of conclusion, I believe that modern communication technologies will benefit more people in the future as the pace of life increases; however, the have-nots cannot be ignored simply because they couldn't afford it. Modern technology has increased material wealth but not happiness To what extend do you agree / disagree with the statement? According to recent statistics, the number of people who are stressed by the influence of a modern lifestyle is increasing. While having to suffer quick developments in advanced technology, people are always busy at work. Undeniably, modern technology makes people's standard of living higher, however, I am convinced that people will not be happy while they live in a modern society with modern technology all around them. First, technological advances, resulting in increased degrees of industrialisation, have changed a lot of things in society, therefore, people living in that society have to suffer influences of these big changes, e. . , instead of working for eight hours a day and spending time with their families or going out to enjoy chatting over coffee with friends, people must be in their office and do a lot of work, maybe ten working hours per day, even they have to take works to do at home and their meals are always fast food. Do you think is that a happy life? Moreover, modern technology makes people's life boring, after working time people often sit by their computer to play games or reading some information on internet. That means they do not refresh their mind and by accident they turn their own into slave of modern technology. In fact, a lot of teenage get stuck in their lives, they think that there is nothing to learn and to enjoy because they know everything thanks to technological advances, thus, they choose the death for their solution. For all above reasons, I thoroughly believe that modern technology can not decide the happiness, it has improved people's standard of living but not happiness.