Manifest Destiny Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Manifest Destiny - Essay Example happy millions.†1 In 1845, O’Sullivan wrote yet another article entitled â€Å"Annexation† where he expounded the doctrine and used it to justify the annexation of Texas to the union and called it â€Å"the fulfillment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence.†2 Since then the ‘imagined’ divine right has been used to justify American expansionism to the west by American politicians. Despite the fact that O’Sullivan first coined the term Manifest Destiny, expansionism however was not his original idea but has already been in practice since the dawn of the country’s history. English settlers first came to the New World, specifically along the eastern seaboard of the North American continent not as a divine right as O’Sullivan would have it but for more practical reasons. England was then at that time experiencing economic difficulties and settlers came to the New World for better opportunities, while others to evade political and religious persecution. The New World likewise became an imprisonment camp outside of England. 3 The first attempt of the English to establish a colony in the New World turned out to be a disaster. In 1585, Sir Walter Raleigh brought a company of soldiers and mercenaries to the outer banks of North Carolina to establish the first English colony in the New World. 4 In 1607, one hundred colonists established the first permanent settlement in the Chesapeake Bay and survived with the help of the Algonquians under the leadership of Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. John Rolfe, an English settler who married Pocahontas, developed the tobacco Virginia became famous of – a hybrid of North American and Indian tobacco – and made the colony a success. However, the English colonists wanted more land from the natives, pushing the latter farther until the Algonquians revolted and launched an attack against the surprised colonists. The war dragged on for ten years but because of the success

A report to president Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A report to president - Essay Example The paper is structured into three core sections; firstly, background information of Business development incentives. Secondly, the imperativeness of this program to the general economy. Thirdly, the document will also reflect on the associated challenges of this program. Business development incentives (Background) This program seeks to provide incentives to business to provide cash or near cash incentives to bail out business through harsh economic times. The program will be a non affiliate to a plethora of non-monetary incentives; for instance, public infrastructure projects. This will endeavor to provide a large list of incentives practices to reduce general costs. The affiliate goal of this program is to ensure that areas within our jurisdiction do not suffer unemployment, due to a blatant fiscal policy. Indeed, the job growth will be expected to generate tax breaks and eventually enable business to plough enough resources back to the required capital threshold. Strategist withi n my jurisdiction realized the necessity to introduce this program based on the long history of interrelation of sectors within this economy (Mulligan, 2012). Large economic experience was based from the aftermath of the 2008-2009 economic recessions, in which, the general economy realized a tendency high cost of business was a primary cause factor of unemployment. Businesses realized in order to make it in a challenging time, reducing manpower was an advisable sacrificial method to realize positive returns, during that surviving period. However, this strategy was not appropriate on how it operated. The resultant situation was that our local economy had weak purchasing power and this was subsequent of a gradually failing economy. Technically, unemployment weakened the household, which in turn weakened the firms and finally the government tax threshold was largely affected. Following the successful introduction of this program, it is imperative to consider that the main objective of this program is to bail out local business during harsh economic times (Wiesner. 2009). Why this particular program There are resounding factors that prompted strategist to approach the economy with these considerations. Firstly, it is imperative to consider that the households who are often engaged directly to the economy needed a security on their jobs. This program will attract incentives to attract new business and generate new jobs. Indeed, the lower income segments in our economy were direct beneficiaries with incentives provided by this program. Secondly, it was fundamental to consider the fiscal need associated with this program. During the recession, our local economy suffered reduced revenues and persistent budget deficit which was a direct result of stagnation. This trend was realized when our local authorities attempted to cut tax gap, leaving the administration vulnerable to harsh economic times. The relation here is political psychology associated with an overtaxed pub lic (Anderson & Wassmer, 2000). Thirdly, there was a close consideration of improving administrative capacity one which never had local bureaucrats dictating to the public about their macroeconomic opinions. This would call for the enrollment of better infrastructure improvements, through use of consultancy of viable strategies. These strategies will primarily address regulatory exemptions and tax increment

Effect of Mutant EDA-A1 Gene on Huvecs

Effect of Mutant EDA-A1 Gene on Huvecs Effect of EDA-A1 gene mutant on proliferation and cell cycle distribution of cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cell Running title: The effect of mutant EDA-A1 gene on HUVECs. Ke Lei, MM; Lunchang Wang, MD; Bing Ma, MM; Ping Shi, MD; Longjiang Li, MD; Tuanjie Che, MD; Xiangyi He, MD Highlights: EDA-A1 gene mutant significantly decreased proliferation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). HUVECs of mutant group were blocked at G0/G1 and S phase. HUVECs of wild group accumulated in S phase and decreased in G2/M phase. Abstract Background: To investigate the effect of ectodysplasin A gene (EDA-A1) on proliferation and cell cycle of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and explore the possible mechanism underlying this process. Methods: Recombinant eukaryotic expression vectors pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M/W (mutant, M; wild, W) containing the coding sequence of EDA-A1-M/W were transfected into HUVECs. EDA-A1-M/W genes were amplified by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the proteins were detected by western blot. Then MTT assay for cell proliferation of HUVECs in each group was performed and cell cycle was detected using flow cytometry. Results: The EDA-A1 gene and protein were detected respectively by RT-PCR and western blot in HUVECs transfected with pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M/W, but not in HUVECs transfected with empty plasmid pcDNA3.1(-) (control group) and cells without transfection. Compared with control group, EDA-A1 gene mutant significantly decreased proliferation of HUVECs and the inhibition rate was 45.70% (PEDA-A1 gene did not cause such growth inhibition (P>0.05). A significant increase of the G0/G1 and S fraction was seen in the HUVECs of mutant group, compared with wild group with an accumulation in S phase and a concomitant decrease in G2/M phase population (P Conclusion: Compared with the wide-type, the mutant EDA-A1 gene could inhibit the proliferation and cell cycle of the HUVEC. Key words: EDA-A1 gene; Mutant; Human umbilical vein endothelial cell; Cell cycle; Proliferation Introduction Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (HED), also called anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia (AED) or Christ-Siemens-Touraine Syndrome, is a kind of X-linked recessive genetic disease (XLHED) (1). HED is a rare congenital genetic disorder with a birth incidence of 1/100,000-1/10,000 (2, 3). It is characterized by the diminution or absence of eccrine sweat glands, oligodontia and peg shaped teeth and sparse hair (1, 4). Previous study indicates that XLHED is caused by the ectodysplasin A gene (EDA-A1) mutant (5). EDA-A1, a major causative gene of HED, locates in Xq12-13.1 and encodes a novel tumor necrosis factor (TNF) ligand family protein ectodysplasin A (EDA-A1) and this protein is associated with the nuclear factor-ÃŽ ºB (NF-ÃŽ ºB) signaling mechanisms (5-9). Bayes M et al. (10) indicates that the full-length of EDA-A1 is 5296bp (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/, AH007059, Gene ID 4007891), the open reading frame (ORF) of EDA-A1 is 1176bp, and it encoding the protein with 391 amino acids (EDA-A1, GeneID1896). Studies showed the combination of EDA-A1 and ectodysplasin receptor (EDAR) could promote programmed cell death and active the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB (8, 11). Recently, the related research on HED are mostly for mutation analysis of EDA-A1, and more than 100 mutations in the EDA gene have been reported to cause XLHED up to now (12, 13). However, there have few reports relating to the function of mutant EDA-A1, and the exact pathological mechanism of mutant EDA-A1 on HED is still unclear. In the present study, EDA-A1 mutant (pcDNA3.1 (-)-EDA-A1-M) and wild type (pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W) eukaryotic expression vector that we used were constructed in our previous study (14). Then the function of transfected EDA-A1 and its mutant for cell proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs were analyzed. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of EDA-A1 on proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs and explore the possible mechanism underlying this process. Material and Method Cell culture HUVECs were kindly provided by professor Wang chunming (Lanzhou University, China). HUVECs were cultured in RPMI-1640 (Huamei Company, Shanghai, China) Medium. The medium were consisted of 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) (Evergreen Company, Hangzhou) and 100U/ml penicillin/streptomycin. All these cells were maintained in humidified incubator of 5% CO2 at 37à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ (0.25% trypsin digestion overnight). Inverted microscope was used for the cell morphology investigation. All the experiments were performed at least in triplicate and repeated at least twice. Plasmid extraction EDA-A1 mutant (pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M) and wild type (pcDNA3.1 (-)-EDA-A1-W) eukaryotic expression vector that we used were constructed in our previous study (14). Totally 3ÃŽ ¼l mutant (M) and Wild-type (W) plasmid DNA was extracted respectively from transfected HUVECs, followed by the sterile deionized water diluted to 1ml. The values of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¹A260nm and A280nm were measured by UV spectrophotometer. Plasmid DNA concentration (ÃŽ ¼g / ÃŽ ¼l) = A260 Ãâ€" dilution factor Ãâ€" 50/1000. The plasmid DNA (positive recombinants and empty control) was precipitated by ethanol. Then the DNA pellet was resuspended in sterile deionized water. Cell transfection Cell transfection was carried out according to the instructions of QIAGEN-Effectene Transfection Reagent Kit (QIAGEN). Transfection was carried out when the cell density was up to 70% after 24 hour-cell passaging. Cells were transferred into a complete medium (CM) 2 hours before transfection. Totally 2.5 µg mutant (M) and Wild-type (W) plasmid DNA was slowly added to the 2 M CaCl2 solution (stand for 10 minutes). DNA-CaCl2 solution was slowly added dropwise to the 2 Ãâ€" HeBS (stand for 30 minutes) until the precipitation of tiny particles. The precipitate was uniformly dropwise added to the culture flasks. After a 12 hours growth under standard conditions, cells were washed 2 times with HeBS, followed by the cultured in CM. HUVECs transfected with empty vector were used as the control group. Semi-quantitative real-time PCR To identify the expression levels of EDA-A1 in HUVECs, semi-quantitative real-time PCR (SqRT-PCR) analysis was performed. Total RNA was extracted from cultured cells in each group (cultured for 48 hours) by using reverse transcription (RT) kit (Fermentas Company), followed by the EDA-A1 primers designation (Primer Premier 5.0 software) and synthesis (Shanghai Biological Engineering Company ). The primers used were as follows, EDA-A1 (408bp): 5’- CGC AGG ATC CAT GGG CTA CCC GGA GGT -3’ (forward) and 5’- ATT AAG CTT GCC AAG CGG GCA CCA GGG AGA C -3’ (reverse), ÃŽ ²-actin (230bp): 5’- ACG CAT TTG GTC GTA TTG GG-3’ (forward) and 5’- TGA TTT TGG AGG GAT CTC GC-3’ (reverse). The 50ÃŽ ¼l PCR reaction system were: cDNA template (2ÃŽ ¼l), 10 Ãâ€" PCR Buffer (5ÃŽ ¼l), dNTP (1ÃŽ ¼l), primer (up and downstream, 1ÃŽ ¼l), Taq DNA polymerase (1ÃŽ ¼l), ddH2O (39ÃŽ ¼l). Products were subjected to electrophoresis (1.5% agarose gel, 120V, 90mA). Western blot analysis For Western blot analysis, proteins were extracted from HUVECs in each group. Proteins were collected after cell lysis. Protein concentration was determined using the Bradford dye-binding method (15). The proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to the 0.45ÃŽ ¼m pore size nitrocellulose (NC) membrane (RPN303E, Amersham Company). NC membranes were blocked with TBS buffer (5% milk and 0.5%-Tween) for 1 hour (37 °C). Then, the membrane was incubated overnight at 4à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™ with the rabbit antibodies EDA-A1 and ÃŽ ²-actin (1:200 dilution with TBST solution), followed by incubation at room temperature for 1h with an anti-rabbit secondary antibody (Sigma). Finally, the expression levels of the target proteins were visualized withchromogenic substrate. MTT assay for cell proliferation detection To determine the proliferation of HUVECs in each group, the 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide (MTT) assay was performed. The 24 hours-transfected and untransfected cells were seeded into 96-well plate with inculation density of 5000 cells/well and incubated at 37à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™. After 12 hours, 100 ÃŽ ¼l serum-free DMEM was added in each well. After 72 hours, 20 ÃŽ ¼l MTT was added into each well to continue incubation at 37à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™(4 hours). Then, the medium was removed and the precipitation was dissolved in DMSO. The absorbance at 560 nm was measured by SpectraMax 190 microplate reader (Moteular Devices Company) for colorimetric analysis. Inhibition rate of cell growth was calculated (n=10) based on the experimentally measured absorbance value (OD value). Cell cycle analysis Flow cytometry was used to detect the cell cycle.After incubation for 48 h, the cells were collected and washed with cold PBS. The washed cells were fixed in 70% cold ethanol with incubation overnight at 4à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã†â€™. To stain the cells, prodium iodide (PI) solution was added. Flow cytometer (Coulter Epics XL, Beckman Coulter Company) was used to analyze the samples. Cell Quest software was used to analyze the cell percentage of G0 / G1 phase, S phase, and G2 / M phase. Statistical analysis All assays were performed in triplicate and datawere expressed as mean values  ±s.d. The SPSS 13.0 software employing ANOVA was used to analyze all data which expressed as mean ±SD. P values less than 0.05 was considered as significantly different. Results EDA-A1 expression pattern in HUVECs influenced by plasmid-mediated transfection To identify the expression level of ED1-A1 in HUVECs transfected with vector pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M or pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W, the RNA samples with an OD260/OD280 ration of 1.8-2.0 were chosen for RT-PCR. The HUVECs with pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M or pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W transfection showed a band nearly 400 bp compared with control using semi-quantitative PCR and primers specific to EDA-A1 (Figure 1). Additionally, ÃŽ ²-actin band between 200 bp and 300 bp have been seen in all the groups. Then, EDA-A1 protein expression in HUVECs were detected by western blot. Figure 1 shows that the EDA-A1 protein was expressed in the transfected cells with pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-M or pcDNA3.1(-)-EDA-A1-W vector, however, it could not be achieved in control group. In conclusion, the EDA-A1 was expressed in HUVECs after exogenous delivered of EDA-A1, but not in the un-treated control cells. Overexpression of EDA-A1 affects HUVECs proliferation To elucidate the effect of EDA-A1 on HUVECs proliferation, the MTT assays were performed. As shown in Figure 2, the HUVECs viability at 96 h transfection was decreased significantly in the mutant group by comparison with wild type and control. The proliferation of mutant group cells was suppressed by 45.7% compaired to control, while the wild type group was suppressed by 16.0% (Table 1, Figure 3). EDA-A1 overexpression regulates the cell cycle of HUVECs To determine the role of plasmid-mediated EDA-A1 transfection in cell cycle of HUVECs, the flow cytometry was used (Figure 4). We observed that 25.45  ± 1.89 % cells were arrested at G0/G1 phase of cell cycle in the mutant group compared with 20.37  ± 0.6% and 20.30  ± 0.68% cells in wild type and control groups, respectively (Table 2). During S phase, both mutant and wild type groups showed significantly higher cell percentages (14.80  ± 1.45% and 12.4 0  ± 1.75%) than that of control (8.55  ± 0.57%). However, both transfection groups had lower cell percentages than control in G2/M phase. The lowest cell percentage with 62.15  ± 1.94% was showed in the mutant group during S phase. We could conclude that the cell cycle distribution in G0/G1, S, and G2/M of HUVECs were regulated by EDA-A1 overexpression. Discussion HED characterized by impaired development of hair, eccrine sweat glands and teeth is caused by mutations in the EDA-A1 gene (3, 16). Recently, the related research on HED are focused on the mutation analysis of EDA-A1, however, the exact pathological mechanism of HED caused by mutant EDA-A1 is still unclear (17). In this study, we investigated the effect of HED related gene EDA-A1 on proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs. The results showed that mutant EDA-A1 gene significantly decreased proliferation of HUVECs (P EDA-A1 protein, a type à ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã‚ ¡ transmembrane protein, is one of the TNF ligand family members involved in ectodermal development (18). EDA-A1 contains a TNF-like domain (aa: 245–391), a collagen domain, and a furin protease recognition sequence (7, 8, 19-21). The TNF-like domain is necessary and sufficient for receptor molecule EDAR binding (22, 23). Furthermore, EDA-A1 has been shown to specifically bind to EDAR, which could promote programmed cell death and active the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB (8, 11). In our study, the reason why EDA-A1 mutant could inhibit the proliferation and block the cell cycle progression in G0/G1 phase and S phase of HUVECs might be the change of protein spatial configuration and biological activity that caused by the EDA-A1 gene mutation and the changed protein could not combined with EDAR and thus inhibit the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB. Maria et al. found that HED was related with the blocked signaling pathway of NF-ÃŽ ºB (9). Pascal et al. found th at point mutations in the TNF-like domain of EDA-A1 strongly decreased EDAR binding to EDA-A1 by altering the folding of EDA (21). Moreover, the substitution of Gln306 with Pro in our study was found to be located in the TNF-like domain of EDA-A1 and may influence the epithelial signaling pathway required for the normal ectodermal development through altering the topology of EDA, which is consistent with previous study. HUVECs are cells derived from the endothelium of veins from the umbilical cord, and they are often used as a laboratory model system for the study of the function and pathology of endothelial cells (24). Some studies showed that during vascular development and pathological angiogenesis, the maintenance of blood vessel homeostasis and its functional execution depend on the integrity of vascular endothelium, which is affected by proliferation, migration and apoptosis of endothelial cells (25, 26). Furthermore, Jie et al. showed that recovery of injured endothelial cells through regulated endothelial cell proliferation plays significant roles in thrombosis disease (27). In our study, mutant EDA-A1 decreased the proliferation of HUVECs, therefore, we suspected that pathological mechanism underlying HED caused by EDA-A1 may be the growth inhibit of endothelial cells which could lead to the defection of eccrine sweat glandsis. Despite of all results mentioned above, there were still some l imitations in the present study, whether the EDA-A1 mutant blocked the combination of EDA-A1 with EDAR required further experiment. In conclusion, our study revealed EDA-A1 gene mutant could inhibit the proliferation and cell cycle of HUVECs. We explored the mechanism of HED caused by mutant EDA-A1. The substitution of Gln306 with Pro may influence the epithelial signaling pathway required for the normal ectodermal development through altering the topology of EDA, which could impair the binding of EDA-A1 to EDAR and further inhibit the signaling of NF-ÃŽ ºB. Our finding broadens the spectrum of EDA-A1 mutations and may help to understand the molecular basis of XLHED and aid genetic counseling. Acknowledgements We wish to express our warm thanks to Fenghe(Shanghai) Information Technology Co., Ltd. Their ideas and help gave a valuable added dimension to our research. Conflict of interest The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Authors’ contributions KL and LW participated in the design of this study, and they both performed the statistical analysis. BM and TC carried out the study, together with PS, collected important background information, and drafted the manuscript. LL and XH conceived of this study, and participated in the design and helped to draft the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Figure legends: Figure 1 Detection of mRNA expression of EDA-A1gene in ECV304 cells by RT-PCR: M: mutant group; W: wild group; C: control group. Figure 2 Expression of ECV304 cells transfected with EDA-A1 gene and mutant: M: mutant group; W: wild group; C: control group. Figure 3 OD560 value of ECV304 cells transfected with EDA-A1 gene after cultured for 96h: M: mutant group; W: wild group; C: control group; a: compared with the control group, P Figure 4 The effect of EDA-A1 gene mutant on cell cycle in ECV304 cells. Table 1 OD560 value of ECV cells transfected with EDA-A1 gene after cultured for 96h Note: a: compared with control group, P Table 2 Effect of EDA-A1 gene mutant on cell cycle in ECV304 cells Note: a: compared with control group, P

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Essay -- History, Atomic Bomb

With the approval of American President Harry S. Truman, the fates of two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were sealed. This decision came with heavy hearts, as the United States attempted to end their involvement in World War II by using nuclear power against the nation of Japan. Truman’s primary goal in this form of attack was to discontinue the war as quickly as possible, while also sending a message to the enemy and establish the United States as the leader in atomic energy. Beginning as a secret operation labeled the Manhattan Project, atomic bombs became the new weapons of mass destruction. The evident frontrunner in nuclear technology, the United States was the first country to release atomic bombs on another nation for war purposes (not including testing), eventually creating a window for today’s modern combat. Even though it was common knowledge between scientists since 1939 that nuclear warfare was a possibility, no specialists understood the process of inventing the explosive devices. The United States, along with the United Kingdom, underhandedly worked on the Manhattan project, doling out and collaborating information until the atom bomb was completed. It was a necessity for this international government project to remain a secret, in order to make sure that Germany did not make any atomic discoveries before the Allied powers, and to surprise the Japanese with the bombings. With this goal in mind, it was essential that information would not Due to this cloak-and-dagger secrecy, the attacks were unexpected to the inhabitants of Japan, especially the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. With specific objectives, the United States’ decision to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima required extensive research lea... ...tops within ten miles of the city there came unofficial and confused reports of a terrible explosion in Hiroshima. All of these reports were transmitted to the Headquarters of the Japanese General Staff† (Avalon Project: Chapter 7, par. 3) .Upon a staff officer’s flight survey of Hiroshima, â€Å" after flying for about three hours, while still nearly 100 miles from Hiroshima, he and his pilot saw a great cloud of smoke from the bomb. In the bright afternoon, the remains of Hiroshima were burning† (Avalon Project: Chapter 7, par. 4-5). While the damage was being observed, â€Å"a great scar on the land, still burning, and covered by a heavy cloud of smoke, was all that was left of a great city. They landed south of the city, and the staff officer immediately began to organize relief measures, after reporting to Tokyo† (Avalon Project: Chapter 7, par. 6).

Consulting Assignment for Advanced Marketing

Table of Content CONSULTING ASSIGNMENT CONSULTING ASSIGNMENT 1 1 KEY ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS & TRENDS 1. 1 Macro-Environmental Analysis Political There are legal requirements to set up retailing shops in Singapore. One can just apply for a retail permit online at the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority of Singapore (ACRA) website. This leads to it being easy to overcome the barriers of entry, which may further cause an increase in the amount of competitors for OSIM.Since OSIM is in the Health industry, its subsidiary company of GNC/RichLife would have to go through the need of applying an additional permit from Health Sciences Authority (HSA). Another major concern would be the product safety issues and requirements in OSIM’s products. OSIM is registered with SPRING Singapore for Consumer Protection Scheme. This scheme ensures the basic safety requirements in OSIM’s products, and is further verified authentic with the â€Å"Safety Mark† label. Economical According to the latest World Health Statistics (2008), Singapore’s total health care expenditure only amounts to 3. % of its gross domestic product, which is substantially lesser than other Asian countries like Malaysia, China and India. However, Singapore spends more dollars per head than Malaysia, China and India, with an average of SGD$1228 per person. Even though Singapore is facing an economy recession since 2009, Singstat has reported an increase of about 4. 5% in sales of medical goods in 2009 as compared to in 2008. This proves that Singaporeans are progressively concerned about healthcare and are more willing to spend on healthcare even in times of economic downturn.With this display of trend in Singapore, more competition and new entrants have penetrated Singapore. This will affect OSIM in terms of sales and many other factors, as new players will be fighting for the same market share. Increasing sales of healthcare products in Singapore shows that the lifestyle he althcare industry will continue to flourish or if not, do better in future. 3 More and more competitors are seeking to reduce production costs by locating their manufacturing plants in countries with low production costs and labor.This will affect OSIM in terms of pricecompetitiveness, as all of their massage chairs are designed and built in Japan. Social As Singapore is expected to continue developing into an increasingly affluent society, this will have substantial impact on trends in consumer behavior. Consumers will progressively become more brand and status conscious, more discerning and health conscious. As the population ages and material comfort grows, consumers are expected to pay more attention to their health, thus an increasing demand for fitness and health clubs, as well as choosing more expensive yet healthier food choices.This is particularly true for â€Å"Baby-Boomers† in their fifties now with larger spending power. More emphasis is placed on leisure activit ies, such as travelling, water sports, golfing and cultural activities. However, being workaholics, Singaporeans are constantly moving forward, hence little time is allocated to work out. Therefore, there is a potential market for OSIM that is in accordance with its philosophy of bringing healthy lifestyle to its consumers without the need of spending hours in the gym. In addition, especially after the recent pandemics such as Bird Flu, H1N1 and SARs, there is a greater need to lead a healthy lifestyle.Speaking of social status, being able to purchase an OSIM uDream would reflect the status symbol of those who can afford it due to its hefty price tag. Technological OSIM stands out from its competitors in terms of technological advances as well as the innovative design for its products. It is further proven and supported by prestigious Singapore Awards such as â€Å"The Brand with Exceptional Performance† and â€Å"RedDot Design Award† on more than one occasion. OSIM al so makes it a point to constantly come up with new designs and products to further attract existing customers as well as new potential buyers.The company has come up with 6 new products catering to different needs in the last two years, such as uKimono, uSqueez Warm in 2009, and also uRobic, uSpace, uYoYo and uCrown, the world’s first anti-stress head massager in 2008. Offering an extensive range of products to suit the different needs of customers, as well as a wide range in product pricing, OSIM seeks out a large range of target market. 4 Improvements in technical functionality such as additional health benefits other than removing muscle aches in the massage chairs, lower electrical consumptions would help give OSIM further competitive advantage.OSIM has also made use of the technological advancements available to almost every household, which is the access of the internet. OSIM’s website allows potential buyers to find out more information, reviews by other users, and even to make online purchases, all at the comfort of their own home as well as at their own time. In order to attract more buyers, OSIM even have exclusive online offers that are not available in the physical shops. 1. 2 FIVE FORCES IMPACTING ON OSIM’S INDUSTRYThreat of New Entrants It is relatively easy to apply for operating license for new businesses in Singapore and it can be reflected in the daily average of 138 (ACRA Annual Report 2008/2009) of new entities that were registered. However, the initial capital requirement is high for the healthcare industry because of the R&D cost and infrastructure of the manufacturing plant. In addition, the increase in imitations also amplifies the competitiveness of the industry posing great price differentials, thus leading to a high threat of new entrant. Despite being less price-competitive, OSIM’s products possess more superior quality.Therefore, threat of new entrants is deemed to be moderate. Threat of Substitute OSIM is highly threatened by the many varieties of substitutes available in the market. Since OSIM’s mission statement is to â€Å"offer their customers total well-being†, customers can also easily find these needs in many other substitutes. For instance, there has been a recent surge of fitness clubs, which serves as a one-stop centre for many consumers. Customers looking for a total workout can obtain all the equipments they need in these fitness clubs, without having to buy them.These fitness clubs also cater to consumers’ needs for lifestyle, for example, by providing plasma televisions fitted all around the clubs. Other substitutes includes, the very well-received spas and massage parlors, low cost manual and electrical massaging equipment, participating in active sports like Yoga or kickboxing, adopting healthier eating habits and consumption of health supplement pills. 5 It can be seen that most of the substitutes provide consumers with lower cost benefit s an d some may even provide the same health advantages as OSIM products, hence, the threat of substitutes for OSIM is relatively high.Power of Buyer Consumers are presented with a wide array of competitive brands and alternatives such as fitness clubs and traditional massages. As Singaporeans are becoming more affluent, an average household income amounts to SGD$7440 which illustrates a high spending power. Hence, power of buyer is moderate. Power of Supplier Supplier Power for OSIM is moderate. They do not own their personal manufacturing plant or factory. Most of their manufacturing is outsourced to external companies in China and Japan. Recently, they have also entered a Joint Venture Agreement with Daito Electric Machine Industry Company.Daito will help OSIM in the molding and manufacturing of healthcare appliances. However, given that OSIM has numerous supplies of manufacturers, they can fall back on other manufacturers if one fails to commit for whatever reasons, thus the power of supplier is low. Intensity of Rivalry in Industry The main rivals in the healthcare industry include OTO and Ogawa. Being the market leader, OSIM is renowned for its quality and constant innovations. This clearly differentiates OSIM from its competitors. Conversely, its price positioning might put off some consumers and encourage consumers to patronage its competitors.Furthermore, as mode of entry to the retail market in Singapore is relatively easy, cost of exiting would be higher as ACRA has the right to reject any application of termination of a retail permit if they feel that the applicant can still â€Å"survive† the business, which simply means that the barriers to exiting the market is high. 6 1. 3 Key issues that are likely to impact on the marketing strategy for OSIM Key Environmental Possible Market Impact / Industry Issues Economical Rising expenditure on health OSIM care in Singapore can offer more attractive Possible Marketing Mix Implications romotions such as a package deal to attract more buyers Social Consumers are more aware of OSIM can educate consumers on the the need to live a healthier products and the health benefits lifestyle Technological Ever-advancing technology OSIM has to constantly update themselves with the latest technology to continuously innovate to retail existing customers Threat Substitutes of Many different forms of It is difficult for OSIM to counter such except to offer more substitutes, some of which substitutes might cost a lot less than the attractive promotions, better products roducts of OSIM or even attempting to reach out to the consumers more readily with well located shops Intensity of Rivalry Mode of entry into a retail The chances of more competitors within Industry business is relatively easy, entering the market and â€Å"lingering†, and while barriers of exit are high since OSIM focuses on quality in its products, it has to counter such new businesses in the form of quality products with newe r technology, rather than low pricing strategies 7 Consulting Assignment 2 2 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS 2. 1 Market Segmentation OSIM OTO OGAWAGeographic ? Residential Areas ? Shopping Areas ? CBD Areas ? All age groups ? Residential Areas ? CBD Areas ? Residential Areas ? Shopping Areas ? CBD Areas ? All age groups Demographic ? Middle-aged Psychographic ? Consumers that seek innovation ? Fast-paced lifestyle ? Family-oriented ? Benefit from consuming novelty ? Seek quality ? Traditionally-oriented ? Family-oriented ? Consumers that seek innovation ? Fast-paced lifestyle ? Benefit from consuming novelty ? Seek value for money Behavioural ? High consumer loyalty ? Seek value for money 2. 2 Strategic Group Map The above strategic map illustrates the positioning of the two closest competitors in comparison with OSIM. Judging from the numbers in the map, OSIM has the strongest global presence with more than 1,100 outlets across 31 countries. OSIM also has the most product offerings that can s atisfy the varieties of needs of consumers. Furthermore, OSIM makes use of their advancement in technology to constantly introduce innovative products to the market. This would allow OSIM to attract new customers and retain existing ones.However, OSIM’s products are priced at a much higher level than its competitors. This gives OTO and OGAWA a competitive edge over OSIM. Despite the attractive prices, they have a weaker brand image. This can be clearly seen in an independent survey conducted where OSIM came up as the number 1 brand of healthy lifestyle products in consumers’ minds, ‘most preferred healthy lifestyle brand’ and ‘the most preferred Massage Chair’ across Asia. 9 2. 3 Competitive Strategy Theory Officially launched in 1993, OSIM is the global leader in branded healthy lifestyle products.The company is constantly developing new products that possess innovation technologies, bringing its consumers healthier lifestyle and overall well -being. The two key direct competitors include OTO Bodycare and OGAWA World. Name of Company OSIM Porter Generic Strategy Differentiation OSIM uses Market Positioning Market Leader advanced PRODUCT INNOVATION: OSIM expand its technology such as Osimotion total demand by constantly introducing Technology that distinguishes new products like uSqueeze and uKimono. tself from conventional devices that rely merely on vibration EFFECTIVE PROMOTION: OSIM recently and innovative Warm Air launched the uKimono that is endorsed by Technology to soothe tired International artiste SHE to reach out to muscles and improve blood the younger crowd so as to increase new circulation. users. INCREASE USERS: OSIM reinforced their global leadership position in the healthy lifestyle industry by their geographical expansion into USA, a large homogenous consumer market with about 100 million household, by entering into a definitive merger agreement with Nasdaq-listed Brookestone Inc.This transaction will br ing OSIM to the next level in its growth and opportunities. OGAWA Cost Leadership Market Challenger Like OSIM, OGAWA does not OGAWA adopts the indirect attack on manufacture its own products. OSIM’s high pricing strategy. OGAWA’s This function is to in China being products are being priced much lower but the with similar functionality as compared to to OSIM thus securing the market share of outsourced manufacturer 10 achieve economies of scale. The more price sensitive customers. savings are then translated to the consumers by retailing the products at a much lower price.Despite the low price, quality is being compromised as the country of origin plays an important role. OTO Cost Leadership Market Challenger OTO focuses on providing lower Most products have similar functions and prices to win a larger share of benefits to OSIM, except that they are the market. Integration therapies of and traditional modern-day priced more competitively. With this, OTO is able to try t o fight for a larger market share. technology allows them to offer OTO tries to indirectly attack OSIM’s high quality at low prices. With most of their outlets in weaknesses, its uncompetitive pricing strategy. eartland malls, they ensure Many of OTO outlets are also situated in maximum exposure in their the same locations as OSIM, strongly targeted market and also challenging them for market share. minimize operational expenses due to low rental costs. This ensures that they remain price competitive. 11 2. 4 OSIM’s Competitive Response Competitors OTO Strategies by Competitors Price Low pricing strategy to gain market share Product Combines traditional therapies with modern-day technology OGAWA Price OSIM should employ Attack. the They OSIM Competitive Response Encirclement hould constantly develop firstin-the-market technologies and innovative products, to avoid Adopted penetration pricing price competition. strategy to gain market share. It is interesting to note th at in They can also employ more Malaysia, an OSIM massage celebrity endorsements to chair is priced at RM 14K where increase their credibility, brand a massage chair from OGAWA awareness and gain market with a similar feature only share. retails at RM 6. 7K Product Product fulfils basic function of providing the total well-being and healthy lifestyle. 12 Consulting Assignment 3 DEMAND FORECASTING 3. 1 Forecast Summary Table FORECASTING METHOD SINGLE MOVING AVERAGES CRITERIA P= 2 P= 3 P= 4 P= 5 P= 2 P= 3 P= 4 P= 5 ? = 0. 8 ? = 0. 2 ? = 0. 9 Y= a + bX FORECAST FOR N=9 8,110 7,550 6,963 6,450 8,868 9,970 8,629 9,346 5,292 8,204 8,311 9499 COMPUTED MAD 1,466 1,973 2,490 3,073 507 514 814 413 2,887 1,242 1,121 200 SINGLE MOVING AVERAGES USING ABOSLUTE CHANGE EXPONENTIAL SMOOTHING REGRESSION TABLE 3. 1 3. 2 Analysis of Forecasting Methods Judging from the sales figures, a positive linear trend is identified based on the increasing sales of OSIM in the past 8 periods.There are various reas ons that contributed to the growth. Singaporeans are earning a higher income, thus a greater disposable income which translates into a larger purchasing power. This escalation in spending power allows the consumer to purchase OSIM products as a status symbol. Also, due to the nature of Singaporeans being workaholics, there is little time to be engaged in outdoor activities, hence, resulting in a gradual boost of such healthy lifestyle products. Therefore, due to the stable demand, the time series model best suited to this pattern is the least square method.All in all, this method is deemed to be the most effective as it has the lowest computed MAD which reflects its accuracy in the forecasted sale for period 9. Though said so, OSIM should not rely exclusively on the regression method as the model has problems identifying seasonal impacts, and integrating those fluctuations into the forecast. The alternative would be to use the single moving average using absolute change as the deman d of the products are stable and by adopting this method, small random fluctuations are levelled out.It also has the next lowest MAD which implies the accuracy of forecasted sales in comparison with the other models. 13 Consulting Assignment 4 4 FINANCIAL RATIOS 4. 1 Ratio Summary Table OSIM FLAGSHIP STORE GROSS MARGIN PERCENTAGE NET PROFIT PERCENTAGE STOCKTURN RATE TABLE 4. 1 67. 72% 17. 41 2. 75 INDUSTRY AVERAGE 52% 5% 6 4. 2 Ratio Analysis Gross Margin Percentage The gross margin percentage is a measurement of a company's manufacturing and distribution efficiency during the production process. In comparison with the industry average of 52 percent, OSIM generates a much higher gross margin of 67. 2 percent. This indicates that OSIM is more efficient than most of its competitors from the industry. This disparity could be due to the low manufacturing cost that OSIM obtained from its contract manufacturers, thus the high gross margin. Despite the constant introduction of new products , OSIM still managed to attain a high gross margin percentage, thus reflecting the low inventory level which signifies high sales volume. Net Profit Percentage OSIM has a high net profit percentage of 17. 41 percent as compared to the industry average of 5 percent which is at least 3 times more.The figure implies that OSIM has better control over its costs compared to its competitors. This substantial difference is largely attributed to the high sales volume and low operating costs incurred through economies of scale. Stockturn Rate Stockturn rate basically determines the firm’s efficiency in managing inventories. The stockturn rate of 2. 75 times by OSIM is relatively low as compared to the industry average of 6 times. The figure is still reasonably acceptable despite being a far cry from the rivals within the industry as it indicates that the inventories of OSIM were used and then again replaced almost thrice in one year.The reason for the gap could be attributed to OSIMâ⠂¬â„¢s experience in managing the inventory. It reflects OSIM’s ability to forecast its sales accurately for the next period and thus, do not need to worry about stock out situations. The risk of OSIM having a low stockturn rate could contribute to higher 14 holding costs which would eventually result in a low gross margin. However, with reference to the gross margin percentage of OSIM, the company is doing rather well in managing its resources. Also, a lower stockturn rate

Fractional Distillation Experiment

In the experiment of distillation we separated two miscible liquids. The purpose of distillation is to identify and purify compounds. We began our experiment by setting up an apparatus for macroscale simple distillation. We used 60 ml of Cyclohexane/ Toluene. We began with the temperature at 50 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, we reached an error when the compounds evaporated too rapidly. The compounds evaporated so quickly that we lost data from 2 ml to 13 ml. The heat was lowered and as a result we started to see a constant rate. From 14 ml to 18 ml it stayed at the rate of 90 degrees Celsius, from 19ml to 25 ml it was at 93 from 26ml to 38ml it stayed in the 90’s for several minutes. When it reached the 50ml mark our temperature was at 108 degrees Celsius. Next we conducted the fractional distillation experiment. We tightly packed the fractionating column with a copper metal sponge, poured our mixture into the 100 ml flask and waited for the mixture to reach boiling point. The boiling point temperature started at 83 degrees Celsius we then decreased the temperature until we reached 25ml which was 82 degrees Celsius. Our results for the Toluene were 1. 4810 and 1. 4350 for the Cyclohexane. Unfortunately in the experiment for simple distillation, we reached an error when the compounds evaporated too rapidly. This was one source of error that disarrayed our data. The compounds evaporated so quickly that we lost data from 2 ml to 13 ml. Even though the data was not recorded it still was a successful experiment. This mistake has taught me to always keep a close eye on experiments no matter how slow the rate is. In the experiment of fractional distillation our results were reasonable but I believe that if we would have placed the aluminum foil around the fractionating column we could have minimized the temperature fluctuation during distillation.