Thursday, January 9, 2020

Solutions For Cruelty To Animals - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2785 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/05/23 Category Society Essay Level High school Tags: Cruelty To Animals Essay Did you like this example? Chapter 1: Activism And Activists What is Activism and what are Activists? Activism is when a person, or a group of people is to campaign to bring a change in the society or in the government, usually to do what one believes is right. Activists are the most important component of activism as they are the ones who speak out to bring the change for what they believe in. In the case of animal cruelty, a few activists are Faye Carey, Genesis Butler, and Thomas Ponce. Faye Carey is a teen activist who, aside from her other jobs, and her school work, still makes time every Friday to work at the pound. Faye started at age 16 after working at a pound for a year to still see a puppy still there from the first day she entered the pound. She then got on a website called trade me and advertised the puppy there. Instantly the post got a lot of likes and after a while the puppy found a new home with a loving family. Faye still works, but instead works at her own animal shelter where she is still doing what she has been doing for 5 years. (Newshub, 2013) Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Solutions For Cruelty To Animals" essay for you Create order Genesis Butler is a Activist at only age 10! She spoke to give a speech about animal rights at age 10 and even earlier at age 8 started her own organization to raise money and to justify that animals are not being mistreated, and prior to that at age 4 became a vegetarian, and at age 6 became a vegan and also persuaded her family to do the same. She also won the first ever Carlee and Laurie McGrath Young Hero for Animals Award and the title of PETArs cutest vegan kid in a contest in 2015 according to peta.org. (Kretzer, 2018) Thomas Ponce is a 12 year old activist who created a website called Lobby for animals which helps activists become more active on the topic of animal rights by making persuasive phone calls, putting up posters, and writing letters all to get the attention of people to focus some of their attention to the problem of animal cruelty and animal misuse. Thomasrs other reason to why he wants to do this is because he speaks up for those who cant speak for themselves which led him to say, We have to remember, we are speaking up for those who cant speak up for themselves; we are the voice of the voiceless and we need to be heard! (The Pollination Project, 2018) Activism can happen anywhere at any age from when you learn to speak to the day before you die, and thatrs a good thing because that means that you can act on anything. Activists are everywhere and are continuously trying to stand up for what they believe in and you can do the same. Stand up for what you believe is right and make a difference for the better and also for what is right. Chapter 2: Animal Abandonment Animal Abandonment is a form of animal cruelty. It hurts animals, and it causes a problem. Animal Abandonment can come from anyone owning any sort of pet. It occurs for many reasons but the outcome is always a pet ending up being returned to a pound that is overcrowded or is discarded in a cruel way. Animal Cruelty happens when a owner passes away, cannot maintain to keep a pet anymore, or realizes that keeping a pet is too much responsibility. To solve these problems the owner has multiple choices, to drop the pet off (anonymously or known) to a pet shelter/pound, to release the pet into the wild, and ways that are plain cruel. Examples of cruel abandonment would be selling their pet to companies that only care of profit or dumping their pet in a trash can. (Anders, 2016) Summer is often when animals or pets are abandoned. This is true mainly because during the Summer, the real responsibility of cleaning, walking, and other reasons start to become hard to do thus leaning pet owners to abandon their pet, also during the summer many families go on vacation and decide not to hire a pet sitter therefore another reason to abandon their pet. Because of this about 1.5 animals/pets are being abandoned per hour in the Summer. (Anders, 2016) Animal Abandonment is also one of the biggest problems in Animal Cruelty because many pounds are overcrowded so there will be no place for abandoned animals when their owners abandon them. This happens because owners are constantly abandoning animals more than there is room for them in shelters, and while doing so the animals are having puppies or kittens in the wild increasing the animal population. The AVMA recommends that when you adopt a pet you should spay the pet so that the pet, if you were to abandon it or if it attempts to have a puppy or kitten then it wouldnt and that would help the to the cause of animal overpopulation which would greatly help animal abandonment. Abandonment could also happen if a pet owner owns too many pets forcing the owner to abandon some of his/her pets. (AVMA, 2018) Abandonment is a topic worth fighting for, the animals were here before us and they did nothing to us that could greatly affect us in a bigger way than we affected them. Stand up for Animal abandonment and stand up for animal cruelty so that there will be laws against them that will be mandatory everywhere. To stop this, a pet owner should spay their pet, make a lifelong commitment to their pet, and never treat it like anything less than what it is. Chapter 3: Animal Testing Overpopulation Animal Testing is a very cruel way to torture animals as it allows testers to tie up an animal, do tests on the animal regardless of how the animal feels, and the result will be a animal that will no longer be cared for or a dead animal. Testing also allows testers to do anything to the animal before and after the test weather it is discarding it, giving it drugs, or even killing it if the test fails. (PETA, 2018) Animals In the US that are commonly used in experiments are rats, mice, fish, amphibians, and birds which are not classified as animals in the US allowing companies to test on them legally. Most animals that will eventually be tested on are usually raised for that one experiment when that fully functional animal could have been living a good life in a warm home. Cruelty Free International says,A dog bred for research is still a dog who could otherwise live a happy life in a loving home. (Cruelty Free International, 2018) There is also surprising news from the FDA that drugs or medications that work on animals mostly do not work on humans. There is about a 8% chance that what does work on animals works on humans, which means that what could work on an animal, by coincidence can work on a human, and by using only this information, we can justify that tests on animals are unnecessary and will not make much of a test if it the test is actioned. Also, a essay from new scientist: How human biology can prevent drug deaths states that about 100,000 people in the US die due to medications or drugs that were tested by animals that worked. (Bekoff, 2018) The tests that are often performed in laboratories that involved animals often required the animal to suffer or be tortured. There is no law banning this as the society thinks that it is the only way to make sure that humans are not being poisoned, but as mentioned previously, the success rate of a test on an animal versus a human is only 8%, and because of this, animals are not required to suffer for tests that will most likely not have a effect on us. A test on an animal has also caused many deaths in people who tested the product right after the product passed the animal testing, and when they did try the product, they resulted in a negative effect where the human test subjects were either poisoned to death or the test caused a failure of body parts. (Bekoff, 2018) Overall, when you hear the words: animal testing, you think of a bad thing, and that is exactly what it is. Animal testing does not work and does not prove anything because animal bodies are much different than human bodies, therefore the effect could be anything. Stand up and stop the testing of animals, it has caused many deaths already, weather in humans or in animals. Either way, the testing of animals is bad and overall cruel. This doesnt have to happen and definitely should not happen so stop it, it hurts animals and does not affect us in any kind of major way. Chapter 4: Dogfighting And Slaughter Dogfighting is a sport that requires dogs to shed blood even if it is illegal in all 50 states, but it still takes place weather in a closely guarded arena or in a abandoned warehouse. Dogs are commonly bred for dogfights and are often raised in isolation with their tails and ears cut off so that during the fight the dog has lessened senses and so that the opponent cannot rip the parts off to cause a unfair advantage. The dogs are also fed drugs so the fight will be more exciting. A loser in the fight might not be dead in the end but will be when the owner kills the dog and feeds it to the winner, or simply discards it. (ASPCA, 2018) Dogfighting is a way of showing how much someone could hate dogs and also shows how heartless someone could be. Dogs are often forced to fight for multiple reasons, to gain money, for entertainment, or to make bets or to gamble on the winner. During dogfights, dogs are put into a slightly small arena so that the opponent has nowhere to run. The only breeds of dogs that are used in dogfights are more vicious and more muscular dogs like pitbulls. (ASPCA, 2018) Dogfighting and slaughter have their differences but also have many similarities like the cruel killing of an animal, the mistreatment of an disabled or perfectly functional animal, and the slaughter of an animal while it is still alive and can still feel pain. Slaughtering can happen to any animal, especially marine animals. Marine animals are killed by the billions each month and most animals in the oceans are becoming endangered from the great whales to the orcas to the bluefin tuna. (10 Animals Killed For Food, 2018) (Most endangered fish species, 2018) Slaughter involves a animal that is alive and can still live for time to come. The result of slaughter is a dead body of an animal. Slaughter means to kill an animal for food, mainly in a cruel way where the animal is still alive and can still feel pain. A cruel slaughter subject is the horse who (if the horse is considered useless, or disabled) is shipped to the US to be killed by slaughter. The transfer of these horses are in cramped trucks when the horses are provided with no food or water. The steps of this slaughter is to cut off the horsers hooves, then legs, and finally, to cut off all the hair. The horse is usually still awake or alive when this happens and still will survive until the head is cut off. After this process, the shipment of horses are shipped across seas to another country to be consumed by humans. (ASPCA, 2018) The slaughter of animals is a cruel way to end a life and can result in extinction, Yet there is no law banning the slaughter of horses in the US, so we have to stand up for slaughter and try to make the law pass. What we could do instead is to have the animal peacefully fall asleep forever and never wake up. This method could potentially stop any species from being tortured, killed slowly or extinct. There are also many other animal species out there that are already endangered and are set for the course of extinction because of slaughter, so if the bill that is to ban the cruel slaughter of animals passes then maybe the next generations will still be seeing animals that we are just barely seeing today. Chapter 5: Solutions For Cruelty To Animals There are many solutions out there for animal cruelty but we simply choose to ignore them. There are bills that can be passed, and more conservative thoughts to think about rather that thinking about the fact that you are hungry or bored and need animals just for those reasons. Animals are living things too and deserve rights. We have driven more than a simple million animals to extinction and have overpopulated the earth with domesticated animals. We can stop all of this by simply thinking about what could happen to the future and do things like going meatless once a week, or voting yes for bills that protect animals and stop the torture of animals. There are many problems in our society, especially for the future and for mother earth. The problem the article is to address is the problem of animal cruelty and animals in general, and here are some simple solutions. When adopting a pet, make a lifelong commitment to it and never give the pet up for re-adoption or abandon it. While adopting your pet you should also try to spay the pet, therefore the population will stay in control and no pets will have to suffer. You can also vote yes on bills or laws that can possibly protect endangered animals and control the amount of overpopulated species so that there will once again be balance in the food chain like there used to be. (Dog and Cat Population Control, 2018) Many might also think that there is nothing you can do about illegal actions that are still taking place like dogfighting, but you can. In the case of dogfighting, you should call the police to stop the fight and also to stop the breeding of any more dogs for dogfights. If anyone you know is also mistreating their pet then you should tell them why their action is wrong and try to also help the pet that they were mistreating. Any form of animals cruelty should be illegal and should not be committed either way, so help to fight it, and maybe you could become a activist, anything might, and probably will help. Spread the news of Animal Cruelty and stop any form of it, weather it be helping any animal in need by providing it with food, water, and shelter, or by donating, spreading the word, or, if you can, then try acting upon it by creating a statement, giving a speech about it, or by talking through congress and allowing everybody worldwide to hear your thoughts and think to consider making a change or difference. Change is what we need and we need to start thinking about the future, the earth we live on, and others which includes the animals which were on this planet way before us. We can do anything if we are devoted to do it, just look how far we got in our society, If we are devoted, then we can stop any problem, if we are devoted, then we can do anything. So stop the Cruelty to Animals, It is a problem waiting to be solved. Resources: Anders, C. J. (2016) A Pet Is Abandoned Every Single Hour In The Summer. Retrieved From: https://www.thedodo.com/abandoned-pets-summer-1917692034.html ASPCA (2018) Cruelty Issues. Retrieved From: https://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty AVMA (2018). Dog and Cat Population Control. Retrieved From: https://www.avma.org/KB/Policies/Pages/Dog-And-Cat-Population-Control.aspx Bekoff (2018). Fact! Testing Drugs On Animals Does Not Work to Help Humans. Retrieved From: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/animal- emotions/201212/f a ct-testing-drugs-animals-does-not-work-help-humans Cruelty Free International (2018). What is animal testing? Retrieved From: https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/why-we-do-it/what-animal-testing HowStuffWorks (2018). Top 10 Most Endangered Fish Species. Retrieved From: https://animals.howstuffworks.com/endangered-species/top-10-most-endangered-fish.htm Kretzer, M. (2018). Get Ready to Be Inspired by This 11-Year-Old Activist and TEDx Speaker. Retrieved From: https://www.peta.org/blog/genesis-butler-young-hero-for-animals-award/ Newshub (2018). Teenage girl is dogs best friend. Retrieved From: https://www.newshub.co.nz/nznews/teenage-girl-is-dogs-best-friend-2013080912 PETA (2018). Cruelty to Animals in Laboratories. Retrieved From: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-experimentation/animals-laboratories/ The Pollination Project (2018). Meet our 100th Grantee: Thomas Ponce, Founder of Lobby for Animals. Retrieved From: https://thepollinationproject.org /2013/04/15/meet- our-10 0t h-grantee-thomas-ponce-founder-of-lobby-for-animals/ Vegan Souls (2018). Top 10 Animals Killed for Food Worldwide Each Year. Retrieved From: https://www.vegansouls.com/animals-killed-for-food

Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Strategies of uk prescription spectacle market - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 12 Words: 3474 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Uncategorized Essay Type Analytical essay Did you like this example? The introduction of the Opticians Acts in 1958 by the parliament led to the creation of the general optical council (GOC) to regulate the optical professions and put an end to the disputes and debates caused by the public complains about the lack of competence of the non medical practitioners in testing eyesight. In order to protect the public, the main purpose of the GOC has since then been to promote high standards of education, formation of students and introduce a disciplined framework amongst opticians. After the 1958 Optician Act only optometrists registered with the General Optical Council were allowed by law to conduct eye-tests and only optometrists or dispensing opticians were allowed to sell spectacles. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Strategies of uk prescription spectacle market" essay for you Create order The same act of Parliament prevented opticians from advertising their services therefore large firms with many branches or franchises did not dominate the business and competition between colleagues were seen as distasteful. The most obvious change in the market since the 1980s deregulation was to allow advertising and marketing of goods and services. It was a great temptation to come back into optics. We were the first to advertise, have showrooms and let people know what our prices were. Buying glasses then was quite expensive so people were not visiting opticians. There is a health aspect as well, so we wanted to get people to visit opticians on a regular basis and provide more choice at affordable prices for everyone. said Dame Mary Perkins, founder of Specsavers the biggest optical retailer in the UK. The current Opticians Act 1989 which replaced the act of 1959 has been amended in 2005. According to the Act and the powers given to the GOC by the Parliament, any optician h as to be registered and recognised by the council to practice; moreover even the selling of spectacles has to be done under the supervision of a registered optician. Actions that would be considered as criminal offences could be: SECTION 24: dispensing sight testing without being registered SECTION 25: fitting of contact lenses without being registered SECTION 27: sale of optical appliances which do not meet legal requirements SECTION 28: use any of the titles dispensing optician while not being appropriately registered. The principal modification of optician law the optician act from 1989. This involved making it a legal requirement that the ophthalmic optician give the customer a paper prescription, so that they could take that and buy their glasses anywhere (which was under the general supervision of a dispensing optician), not just at the place where their eyes were tested. Regulator the General Optical Council came up with the specifications of exactly what a prescription had to contain and this was made into law by a government regulation. That was an opening opportunity to the online trade. In 2005 for the first time Prescription glasses were sold online the chance was given to people to bypass traditional high street opticians, buy glasses directly from the manufacturer, and pay far less (that was us, by the way). 2. The Electronic Commerce Regulations (EC Directive) In 2002 were introduced the Electronic Commerce Regulations to promote e-business and protect consumers and their privacy. The regulations apply to businesses that sell goods and services and advertise on the internet or by email or text messages. The regulations require online sellers to: Provide their customer with a printable receipt (with company name, place of registration, registered number, details of any professional body with which you are registered, VAT registration number) once an order has been placed. The possibility to print out the Website terms and conditions. Provide details such as the technical stages to conclude a contract. Allow the customer on the website to go back in order to correct any mistakes made in the order before is placed. 3. Distance Selling Regulations 2000 The Distance Selling Regulations 2000 were introduced to protect consumers who are not physically present with the seller at the time of purchase. That covers the selling goods or services to consumers by internet, digital television, mail order, including catalogue shopping, phone or fax giving to the consumer the right to: be given clear information about the goods or services before buying. receive the goods within thirty days unless agreed otherwise. a cooling off period of 7 working days where they can cancel the contract for any reason and receive a full refund within 30 days for the cancelled contract. As for the rule applying to high street purchasing goods in distance selling must be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose. 4. Competition Law Any business should be aware of the competition law so as to meet the requirements first and know its rights and protect its position in the marketplace. In the UK sets of competition rules apply in parallel. Anti-competitive behaviour which may affect trade within the UK is specifically prohibited by Chapters I and II of the Competition Act 1998, the Enterprise Act 2002 and also by Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU). UK and EU competition law prohibit two main types of anti-competitive activity: anti-competitive agreements (under the Chapter I and Article 101 prohibitions); and abuse of dominant market position (under the Chapter II / Article 102 prohibitions). Both UK and EU competition law prohibit: agreements, arrangements, concerted business practices which appreciably prevent, restrict or distort competition and businesses with significant market shares unfairly exploiting their strong market positions. Some co nsequences of breach: fines of up to 10% of group global turnover expose to actions for damages from customers and competitors who can show they have been harmed by the anti-competitive behaviour being disqualified from being a company director and lead to criminal sanctions. Main Threats and Legal Issues 1. Main Threats The deregulations of the Optician Act 1958 has opened up the prescription spectacles market and encouraged competitions among the retailers. The introduction of the internet has brought an unpredictable competitor at time of the deregulation, the online opticians. Ever since, the market demand of prescription spectacles at High Street Opticians have plummeted while the demand on the new online entrants have continue to shore. Below is the illustration of the market demand of prescription spectacles of both markets after the amendment on the original Optician Act; After Before Deregulations Lower prices glasses offered by online retailers contribute to the growing trend of shopping online. More and more consumers are now opting to buy glasses from the online opticians because of the lower prices offered compared to the High Street. The new online entrants are offering items at significantly lower prices because unlike their rivals on the high street, they do not have to spend high cost on the physical stores, the designs, properties rental, staff and maintenance costs, etc. They are saving up all cost spend on these aspects and therefore, they could still make good profit even they are selling items that are half the price of those offered at High Street. In comparison, High Street Opticians cannot avoid spending these costs and these are the attributions to the higher priced prescription glasses. Decline in demand for prescription glasses High Street prescription glasses. The immediate threat brought by the growing trend of purchasing glasses online has lead to the decline in demand for prescription glasses in the High Street retails. The market elasticity towards low price prescription glasses is great. The decrease in price offered by the online retailer has clearly increased the demand. In contrary, the increase demand of online prescription glasses has resulted in the decrease of demand for prescription glasses at High Street retails. With lesser demands, the high street profits plummet. Amendment of The Optician Act 1958 and competition law The amendment of the Optician Act 1958 had posted a great threat to the High Street Opticians. Together with the Competition Law, the original act was amended in order to increase more competition within the industry, thus lower the prices of prescription glasses. However, the introduction of the internet which later leads to e-commerce was an unpredictable obstacle to the business. Internal competition with franchisers Dominant market players such as Specsavers, Vision Express and Boots Opticians have also introduced their own online websites to the public. Albeit many high street opticians are part of large franchises their profits are being eroded by the online services offered by their mother companies. As part of the franchises, high street consumers can opt to purchase cheaper prescription glasses on the main company websites after having their eye tested at the high street retails. In this case, high street opticians are losing their customers to their mother companies while competing with other competitors in the market. Introduction of new technology used by online entrants It is debatable that the advantages of getting personal attention and after-sale care at the High Street Opticians have not yet been threatened however some online opticians are already advancing to take over in these aspects. For example, Specsavers is already giving out eye health and eye care information as well as introducing the try on frame online service, which allows customers to upload their picture and try on the desired frames, on the websites. 2. Legal issues to High Street Opticians and Online Opticians Trades in both High Street and Online optical retails are governed by the Optician Act 1989, the Sale of Goods Act 1979, the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and a number of other regulations. However, the main acts that differentiate these two business operations are the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations (DSRs) and the E-Commerce Regulations (ECRs) 2002. Businesses that are selling goods or services without any face-to- face contact such as through the internet, phone calls and mail order must comply with these two regulations. Trading Information provided Both high street and online optical retails are obliged to the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 and the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations (DSRs) to provide consumers with clear information so that they can make an informed decision to purchase a good or service. This information must include details of the selling organisation, detailed descriptions and the prices of goods or services offered. However the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations further details in the payment methods, the delivery arrangements and the information of the consumers right to cancel an item purchased. Reaching agreements and accepting offers (forming of contract) According to the Law of Contract, at High Street retails a legally binding contract can be formed when the customer agreeing to accept the terms proposed by the vendor. Neither the offer nor the acceptance needs to be made in writing, or even in words. They may be orally made or implied from conduct. The E-Commerce Regulations states contracts conducted online will only become legally binding when the person who made the offer is able to access to the acceptance. The consumer should be able to print and store a copy of the terms and conditions of the contract. Therefore online opticians will have to receive the acceptance from the consumers where in most cases, by means of clicking the I agree button and they must issues receipts or confirmation emails to the consumers after the contracts are formed to indicate a legal binding contract has been concluded. Refund and exchange policy Subject to the Sale of Goods Act 1979, High Street customers are entitled for a refund or exchange an item if the items are incorrectly described, unfit for the purpose, faulty or not of satisfactory quality given the proof of purchase, in most cases receipts. However, according to the act, proof of purchase could also be a credit card transaction or a bank statement. Customers are entitled for the refund as long as they do so quickly and are not informed of the default of the items before the purchase. The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations governs the trading of Online Optician and gives consumers more rights as they are disadvantaged in unable to inspect goods before the purchase. The regulations apply the cooling off period of 7 days policy, during which the consumers have the right to cancel their purchase. Written notice of cancelation must be forwarded to the supplier no later than 7 days from the day the item is received. However, section 13 of the regula tions applied here that unless the consumers are informed beforehand, they do not have the right to cancel the order for the prescription spectacles which are made to the consumers own specification. In conclusion, the legal issues that apply to both High Street and Online Opticians are similar in many ways; the main differences are the governing acts and regulations and also the return and refund policy where online consumers enjoy more privileges. While both High Street and Online Opticians might have their own cancellation and return or refund policy, they do have to make them clear to the consumers before they have agreed to purchase the items. On the High Street these policies or conditions can be made orally or in written forms. With Online Opticians terms and conditions must be presented in a clear written form. Legally binding contracts concluded in High Street shops could be verbal, implied by conduct or in written forms whereas legally binding contracts concluded betwee n online opticians and their consumers must be in written forms and their consumers should have access to the agreements and be able to store a copy of the contracts. Strategy SWOT and PEST analysis. Strategy Research As detailed history of the situation, changes in law and the threat faced by High Street opticians, where discussed on the previous pages, let us have a look at the below analysis. The presented, SWOT and PEST analysis help us to identify the right strategy that will prevent your customers for prescription spectacles defecting to the on-line retailers. Considering the factors, determinants of both analysis, it is strongly suggested to High Street opticians to concentrate on one of the strengths customer service, which physically, cannot be supplied by on-line opticians. (Please refer to the diagrams below, page 11 12.) The research on previous strategies, applied by different companies round the world, proves that it is time to return to basic principles. Customer and value creation are one of them. Karl Albrecht mentions in his essay, in Business: The Ultimate Resource that strategic customer focus can serve as powerful organising principle for reinventing business in the age of the Third Wave The Second Coming of Service.. It is known to everyone how important the way of providing customer service is, and that is the way to compete on-line spectacles retailers. Consumers will always prefer the product, which offers more qualities in form of design, service, convenience and price by purchasing it. A marketing strategy could be, rather than focus on the price, to engage in a non-price competition. There is a need for High Street opticians to ensure that once the customer enters the shop, to make an eye test, he/she will buy what he/she wants and needs. That there is a group of experts to exceed customer expectation, to assist him/her and be with him/her until he/she is fully satisfied and purchase the spectacles. It is important to create a joy of purchasing the product and a joy of having it it will let customers believe that they have simply bought the best spectacles in the world. Strategies Advanced training for assistants A customer, who is suffering from low vision, need to feel that he is helped by an experienced and trained person, similar to a trained clinical assistant, and not just sold a new product in the form of spectacles. An eye-test is good to check if you need new glasses or a new prescription, but it also works well for an eye health check. An advanced eye test can spot many health problems and early signs of eye problems. People who may be more at risk from eye disease than others, are above sixty years old, the ones diagnosed with diabetes or glaucoma, and might be from a family with a history of eye disease. Optician assistants should provide a service which is unique and necessary to attract the attention of customers and make the customer feel at home and caring about his/her eyes. Quality Eye-test Opticians could make more detailed and tailored measurement of eyes, which would allow the customer to find the right lenses. People with multi-focal lenses have to be measured to ensure their eyes look through the right part of the lens. Nobody can sell those over the Internet. The Right glasses for the Right Person Highly trained staff is required, who has an up to date awareness of the recent fashion trends related to glass wear and who can provide an advice on the right eye glass type. For example, the staff should be capable of giving an advice on which type of eye glasses fits a certain dress code (e.g., classic, casual, sport-chic,etc), and on which type of glasses can go well with any dress code (i.e., a generic eye glasses). The staff should also have an understanding of how frame colours should be matching skin colours and customer personalities. This concludes a style oriented product choice. Same day replacement service Customers, who break or lose their spectacles will be provided with a à   la minute service, which means they will receive the same lens or a temporary glasses they can wear until a new one is being prepared. Such type of after-sales service cannot be replicated by online spectacles suppliers. While deciding on the extent to which high street options provide this service, we need, however, to take its cost into consideration. Eye tests at home A patients home can be easily transformed into a consulting room, allowing the visiting optician to provide a full and extensive eye test. The mobile optician can carry up-to-date mobile equipment with a variety of spectacle frames, with a different range depending on each budget. It can be an advantage for people who are home bound such as, older people, mothers, disabled people, etc Free prescription Free prescription should be provided for those customers who will also purchase the eye glasses in store. Customers that will only request a prescription will be charged a significant amount. This could lead that customers will prefer to buy the glasses from the high street opticians. The strategic triangle By observing international business it can be easily spotted and admitted that Japan is one of the leaders in worldwide market. And they are the ones, who are strongly convinced that the customer is a key to success. The most important to them is customer-centricity. Kenichi Ohmae presents the strategic triangle in his book: The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business, and these are the key factors, which will let High Street opticians achieve outstanding performance. The Strategic three Cs Kenichi Ohmae (1982), The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business, New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., pp. 92. Mission statement for High Street opticians I view todays economy as the value economy. Adding value has become more than just a second business principle; it is both the common denominator and the competitive edge. Arthur Levitt Jr, Business: The Ultimate Resource. Key objectives for 2010/11 Focus on customer Invest in employees Ameliorate effectiveness Grow the business Focus on the customer guarantee outstanding customer service maximise unexceptional medical equipment for example: fundus cameras (detailed image of the- back of the eye can be recorded and stored) provide and maximise the sale of the widest range of spectacles, in different designs; provide and maximise the sale of specialised lenses (varifocal, bifocal) improve customer communication by opening call centres, which are open 24/7 and happy to assist the client, when needed. Invest in customer satisfaction random internal checks by mystery clients Invest in employees provide different, regular training for all of the staff including senior one (training centres, training tools, in-store training, distance training, workshops, etc.) reward and motivate the staff by providing competitive salary package improve work conditions make the place to be desired to work in senior management to attract the rest of the staff by working hard and deliver with passion (and vice-versa) Ameliorate effectiveness be able to manage cost risk and sell the spectacles for lower price (provide different promotions, seasonal offers, two-for-one, etc.) Grow the business expend opening hours; provide home visits or mobile appointments invest in advertising (media, as well as, for example: animations on cash machines, etc) if necessary join the companies buying smaller optician companies by giants may let kidnap the higher number of customers, including on-line customers it could allow in the future to globalise the business. In conclusion, it is important for the High Street Opticians to be flexible and fluid, companies need to become amoeba-like able to move one way while always responding to local stimuli and changing direction in response to new information from the environment. Strategy in Turbulent Times by Costas Markides, Business: The Ultimate Resource.

Monday, December 23, 2019

A Essay About A Hot Cuppa Life - 1273 Words

A Hot Cuppa Life Many people pose the question â€Å"Do you like coffee or tea?† If you were to ask me that today, I would wave red flags and scream â€Å"False Dichotomy!† to the heavens, but that hasn t always been the case. Coffee used to be my favorite drink, and at that point in my life I would certainly consider it superior to tea. Tea s for snobby Brits, right? Coffee s functional; It makes you faster, more focused, and more energetic, and it s healthy to boot! Right? Well, all those things seemed true until a little old Irish lady showed me the world of tea, and drastically changed my outlook on the subject. My perspective on the matter begins back in the late 90 s, when I was only around 6 years old. My mother was a big coffee†¦show more content†¦She had to buy a coffee maker, and that rid me of any opportunity to steal a sip here or there, so instead I had to beg for them. Luckily my mom is easy to persuade. I was still at an age where I could cuddle her arm and look at the cup and she would cave nearly instantly. Eventually, for some reason or other, that stopped working. I had to find other ways to steal a sip. If she ever left her cup somewhere I would sneak over have a taste, or if she didn t finish it I d ask if she wanted me to put the cup away. Even if it was cold, I d try to drink the rest before I got to the sink. I remember once, I held her at Nerf gunpoint and demanded a sip, or else. Eventually, say around 12 years old, my shenanigans must have gotten abrasive, because one day she put a rest to them. We were in the living room watching TV, and my mom got up and headed to the kitchen. She was about to go make a cup of coffee, as usual, but I was surprised when she called me over with her. Taking out the coffee, she started explaining how to use the machine and what amount of coffee you need per cup of water, and how much sugar and cream you should put in if you want it strong or sweet. In her mind, I m sure, she was teaching me so she d never have to make a cup herself again, and so I d finally stop bothering her about wanting a taste, but to me this was express permission to have as much coffee as I want, whenever I want. That

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Effects of Media on Adolescents Free Essays

Effects of the Media on Adolescents Effects of the Media on Adolescents Sex and the secular lifestyle, seems to be the biggest selling industry on the marked, next to electronics; however has its fair share of effects on the adolescents of today. The media identifies or portrays the act of sexuality as the norm. The average television show often shows young girls being flirtatious, performing sexual acts, and disrespecting their parents. We will write a custom essay sample on Effects of Media on Adolescents or any similar topic only for you Order Now The media often display young men as sexual predators, acting like horn dogs, pressuring the girls for sex. Homosexuality is now more prevalent in the media, as other aspects of sexuality are. The good thing about the media and its advanced sexual content is that it helps to educate the youths about what is out there in these streets, such as sexually transmitted diseases, sexual predators, and how to deal with people such as homosexuals; who might be considered different. With the exposure to this type of media, the adolescents will be more aware and better equipped to deal with the situations that the might face while growing up. On the other hand, others may disagree with sexuality being so prevalent in the media. On the down side, too much sexual exposure may influence the youths to be more eager, and ready to participate in such acts. Even a young boy may think that the men they see dominating and assaulting women are cool, because of the level of control and power the men assume when the commit rape. It is very difficult to determine what may happen from viewing or listening to sexual media, so its best that some material be limited to the a specific age group; hence the rating on certain films. The media portrayal of sexuality was a big influence on me growing up. Being born on the Island of Jamaica, I grew up with a strong Christian background; loaded with good teachings of how to live with thy neighbor. So treating others as good as I would like to be treated, and honoring the commandments was my guide. However, the Island is also known for its culture of dancing carnival and whining, which are very sexual displays; also reggae music is either roots and culture or usually sexual lyrics. Along with the music, most parents or grandparents usually tell their children, that they know they might be growing pubic hair, but they are still children, and must respect their elders. As a child we could not watch any movies with sex scene, not even kissing, and public television had more fighting omitted romantic scenes. Though we understood sexuality, being limited to its exposure, in my opinion, helped to maintain a safer and less sexual environment, because we were less exposed to sex and more exposed to dancing dirty and fine art. Overall, the media can be good and it can be bad. It is for the parents and adults of today, to help censor some of the things that’s in the media as we deem fit for our youths and their households. At the end of the day, each home differs and people may react differently to the same type of exposure. I am more for less sexuality in the media, because the less a child knows about a certain thing, the less they will explore it. Eventually they will know it, but it will happen over time. How to cite Effects of Media on Adolescents, Papers

Saturday, December 7, 2019

Nestle Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies Management

Question: Discuss about the Nestle Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies Management. Answer: Introduction Nestle is one of the largest brand of the world, it is a Swiss transnational food and drink company, it has the headquarter Switzerland; it has been one of the largest food company in the years 2014 to 2016 by the revenues and other metrics. It was ranked no. 72 in the fortune global 500 in the year 2014 and in 2016 no.33 of 2000 list of largest public companies. The products of nestle include the baby foods, bottled water, coffee and tea, dairy products, pet foods, frozen food, snacks, medical food, breakfast cereals and ice creams. The annual sales of Nestles twenty nine brands is a over one billion, the Nespresso, Nescafe, kit-Kat, Maggie,Vittel, Nesquik, Stouffers, Smarties, these brands have been strongly used and liked by the people around the globe. Nestle has 447 factories in 194 countries of the world and around 339,000 employees working, nestle entered in a joint venture with the Cadbury and was very close to purchase the Hersheys the iconic American company. In the year 2006 it became the worlds largest ice cream maker of about 17.5% of the market share. In the year 2007 it entered into a strategic partnership with the Belgian chocolate maker. Social media can be easily accessed and it is also a meeting point of todays internet audiences. The major possibility of directly accessing the clients without any third party interventions, social media advertising is costly other than any other sources of advertising. It also helps in the search engine and ranking of the website of the company. Analysis On analyzing the company and acknowledging its data, the social media presence shows that as everyone wants to gain the social media recognition for their companies, when it comes to social media presence Nestle uses the highly active social media networks, face book, twitter, Instagram, Google plus, Pinterest etc, there are a number of countless other websites too which are used by the company. It can be highly beneficial for a company to have a good social media presence but it is only possible after developing a large following and giving them what they actually want. Nestle also uses the social networks to socially make people aware about the products and services and also gain competitive advantages and public feedback and use these feedbacks to improve globally. Nestle has socially enlarged and built their consumer engagement center in 2011, the CEC of the Nestle monitors the extensive social media presence. One of most challenging activity of the company is, to analyze the enormous amount of information and data they have been receiving and interactions of the activities with the content they produce. Evaluation The production of the company is about 1,500 pieces of the unique content daily, and the fan following of Nestle on face book is about 210 million, they have also been managing the 2,000 brand profiles in different product categories and markets. Not only the monitoring of the social performance is a critical aspect of their analysis, but also they need the capabilities to ensure their performance of the social strategy against the competition. They also need to recognize the areas where to improve. The social media presence has certain advantages and has brought about a great change in the performance ofNestle and recognizes the competitors by getting an overview of the local companies and local brands (Morgan, 2016). Analysis It is very important to evaluate and plan about the company, connect with the audiences and get engaged socially through social media. It is very likely to know the consumers of your product and who is interested in the product or services. It is also very important to bring up with something unique product that would appeal to a certain audiences through social media by connecting with those who are associated with them directly or indirectly. The word of mouth is rightly a powerful thing that would connect with those who are connected with your target audience in the social media. Now day half of the people interact socially and communicate with each other and analyze the views of one another about a certain product or a brand. There are so many types of audiences that should be looked for: Current clients or customers Potential clients or customers Associates of current/potential clients or customers Journalists and editors Bloggers Suppliers Affiliate businesses Thought-leaders. Evaluation The company nestle has profiled with the certain social networking sites for connecting with people and make them aware with the certain types of products that they come up with. Nestle connects with the people on Twitter, face book, Google plus, LinkedIn and many more other social media networks to reach its audiences. The different efforts are made by the company to make Nestle a public oriented brand. Nestle makes sure that the products have been positioned in the most appropriate audience, it produces and makes advertising ideas that is creative, also ensures the product to be appealed to a wide range of the audiences (Cohen, 2015). Analysis The social media marketing is a form of internet marketing, it uses the various social media networking in order to achieve the products branding, goals and the marketing communications. It covers the various activities that involve the social sharing of the videos, contents, images for the marketing purposes as well as the social media advertising. The process of social media marketing gains traffic and attention using the social media sites for seeking, integrating and developing the marketing concepts, the social media marketing of Nestle is considered to be as one of the leading company in the food and beverage industry and strongly focus on the development and the implementation of the social media strategy. The company nestle uses the social media to drive the innovations marketing and the leadership potential, but very likely the company is focusing on to transforming its operations and the efficiency of the of the supply chain. The social media marketing dynamics of the company has been redefined and raise the effective social media practices. The analysis of the social media marketing of nestle focuses on the overall digital goals: The branding and targeting market strategies: there has been an analysis of the detailed key aspects of the advertising the products digitally and socially. The strategy also analyzes the ways the company implements its social networks and digital formats to achieve its goals(Research and markets, 2015). The channel strategy: the strategy provides an overview on how the social networks implemented initiates the capitalization the various capabilities of the channels (Research and markets, 2015). The format strategy: the analysis of the social media marketing of the Nestls capitalization of the gaming and videos and the interaction with the display formats to engage the customers (Research and markets, 2015). Evaluation The communication to all the consumers must reflect the good taste and social responsibility in relation to the standards. The advertising and the content of the advertising depicts the attitudes and must not be offensive so that it hurts the religious beliefs and ethics of any consumer, it should be in a way that may avoid the media contents that is bad in taste. The company should keep in mind that the products advertised should not misfortune others. The communication to the consumers should show the right consumption of the product in a safe way, it should not depict the people who are engaged in dangerous activities. It is against the principles of Nestle to sponsor or place advertising in the television, radio programmes, magazines or websites, who attracts the viewers by the offensive behavior and exploiting violence or sexual means (PRNewswire, 2014). Ethics, privacy and security The ethics of a company is that which examines the ethical principles, moral or ethical problems that may at times arise in a business environment. It applies to all the aspects of the companies and individuals conduct and also to the entire organization. The survey conducted by the charity Oxfam had scored ten food and beverage companies, out of which Nestle was marked the first rank for the security of the products produced by the company, but the scorecard in the Behinds the Brands magazine had made it clear that, the companies listed in the survey needs to show improvements. The privacy is considered to be one of the most troubling personal and professional issues, but it cannot be addressed without the consideration of the ethics. Evaluation The ethics of nestle aims to determine the fundamental purposes of the organization and also governs the decisions on the daily basis; it is also the internal code that governs the individuals conduct. The actual meaning of privacy in a company or industry cannot be concluded without the actual understanding of the ethical basis and individual motivations in concern of organization. Although considering the fact that Nestle was ranked the number one in the survey, the company itself said in a statement that the improvement of the food security worldwide requires a lot of efforts by all the shareholders (Nestle good food, good life, 2013). Analysis Social media technologies are the technologies that: Facilitate the social interactions, Facilitate the use of techniques by enabling the capability of communication. Use of internet, the mobile devices, the social media software examples are wikis, social networks, communication capabilities and the blogs (Galli, 2017). Technologies are the most important part of the research and development, there are number of engineers working in different fields in the research and development of Nestle, from processing technologies of the foods, to manufacturing of the new beverages and packaging of the products equipments with latest technologies are used. The Nespresso, Nescafe, BabyNesetc are some brands of the Nestle that use these latest techniques for production. Evaluation The food scientists technologies that enable the safe and nutritious foods and beverages keeping in mind the new techniques and methods. Nestle is developing and is a world leader in using the different technologies: Portion dispensing systems. On the eastern edge of the Jonesboro city, a Craighead technology park has been constructed for the frozen food plant on around 73 acres site. The plants in Nestle are customers- built refrigerated warehouses and distribution centre. In prior to the distribution of the Nestle finished products 20.000ft refrigerated warehouse provides temperature controlled storage warehouses (Nestle good food, good life, 2017). Conclusion The company nestle being the largest FMCG Company all around the globe uses its social media presence and audiences for interaction and also leads in the food and beverages industry with its products being highly consumer satisfactory. The report analyzes the social media presence, audiences, marketing, the ethics, privacy and security of the company with its target consumers The company has the annual sales of its brands that have been flourishing all around the globe about a billion, the company has been ranked as one of the leading company amongst the 2000 list of public companies. The social media concerns of nestle has been making it in public recognition and providing an open market opportunities for the company to advertise its products and make it a public iconic brand. The company ensures that the product are so positioned in such a way that; it may reach the right audience of the product, the social networks like face book, Google plus, twitter etc These networks are used by the company to connect with the target audience. The ethics, privacy and security of nestle are in concern with the consumers data privacy, protection and utilization of the information that has been provided by the consumer. The privacy and security of Nestle aims at determining the code of conduct to all of the individuals and the company as a whole. The social media technologies used by Nestle are; Upgraded The tools used are in consideration of the present day environment. Beneficial for the company Worth giving and useful. The large warehouses with the latest technologies for the storage of the finished products of Nestle is constructed, the latest technologies in the RD departments are used by the engineers to produce a number of variety products. Reference Cohen, H, 2015, Social Media Marketing 2015: Where Is Your Audience?, retrieved on 11th of January 2017, from https://heidicohen.com/social-media-marketing-2015/ Galli, A, 2017, Nestl the Digital Acceleration Team Take Social to the Next Level with Socialbakers, retrieved on 11th of January 2017, from https://www.socialbakers.com/social-media-content/client-stories/nestle/ Morgan, W, 2016, Social Marketing Definition, retrieved on 11th January 2017, from https://www.i-socialmarketing.org/index.php?option=com_contentview=articleid=84:social-marketing-definitioncatid=28:front-pagegclid=CLDK6u7TudECFdiGaAodFEYJDA#.WHcN21V97IW Nestle good food, good life, 2013, Nestls efforts on food security recognized by Oxfam, retrieved on 11th January 2017, from https://www.nestle.com/media/newsandfeatures/nestle-food-security-oxfam-behind-the-brands Nestle good food, good life, 2015, Privacy Notes, retrieved on 11th January 2017, from https://www.nestle.com/info/yourdata Nestle good food, good life, 2017, Food science and technology, retrieved on 11th January 2017, from https://www.nestle.com/randd/technologies PRNewswire, 2014, Nestle%s Effectiveness of Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies and Innovations, retrieved on 11th January 2017, from https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nestles-effectiveness-of-digital-and-social-media-marketing-strategies-and-innovations-273846691.html Research and markets, 2015, Nestl Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies - Format Strategy, retrieved on 11th January 2017, from https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/3238998/nestl%C3%A9-digital-and-social-media-marketing#rela1 Research and markets, 2015, Nestl Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies branding targeting strategy, retrieved on 11th January 2017, from https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/3238995/nestl%C3%A9-digital-and-social-media-marketing#rela0 Research and markets, 2015, Nestl Digital and Social Media Marketing Strategies -Channel Strategy, retrieved on 11th January 2017, fromhttps://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/3238997/nestl%C3%A9-digital-and-social-media-marketing#rela0

Friday, November 29, 2019

Outsiders Essays - Films, The Outsiders, Greaser, Grease, Plot

Outsiders In this book analysis, about the book "The Outsiders" by S. E. Hinton I will discuss character and plot development, as well as the setting, the author's style and my opinions about the book. In this part of the analysis I will give some information about the subjects of the book, and about the author. The author wrote the story when she was just 16 years old, in the 1950s. The book was successful, and it was sold, and still being sold, in many copies as a young adults novel. There was a movie made about it, and today there are still many schools that use this book in junior high and high schools for English classes. There were plays made about the book too. The Outsiders is about a gang. They live in a city in Oklahoma. Ponyboy Curtis, a 14 year old greaser, tells the story. Other characters include Sodapop and Darry, Ponyboy's brothers, Johnny, Dallas, and Two- Bit, that were also gang members and Ponyboy's friends. This story deals with two forms of social classes: the socs, the rich kids, and the greasers, the poor kids. The socs go around looking for trouble and greasers to beat up, and then the greasers are blamed for it, because they are poor and cannot affect the authorities. I hope you would enjoy and learn something about the book from reading this analysis. Plot Development The plot development in the book, "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, was easy to follow. In this part of the book analysis I will give some more details about the plot development. There were no hooks or hurdles in the beginning of the book, the first sentence starts right away with the plot?without any forewords. This is the beginning of the first sentence: "When I stepped out into the bright sunlight from the darkness of the movie house..." (page 9). As you can see, it goes straight to the point without any prologues or any kind of introduction. The plot development in the middle of the story was sensible and easy to understand. It was clear and simple, and the events have occurred in a reasonable order. The ending of the story was a bit expected. I anticipated the death of Johnny because a broken neck usually means death. The death of Dally was not as predictable as Johnny's death because it was said that: "He was tougher than the rest of us?tougher, colder, meaner." (page 19). I did not think that such a tough person would get himself killed because of a death of a friend, although it was said a short time before the death of Dally that: "Johnny was the only thing Dally loved." (page 160). The climaxes at the end of the story were the deaths of Johnny and Dally. Here are quotations about the deaths: Johnny's death: "The pillow seemed to sink a little, and Johnny died." (page 157). Dally's death: "He was jerked half around by the impact of the bullets, then slowly crumpled with a look of grim triumph on his face. He was dead before he hit the ground." (page 162). To conclude I can say that the plot development was simple and easy to understand and to follow. The author organized it in a way that fits the actual content of the plot. Character Development The characters in the book, "The Outsiders" by S.E. Hinton, were not very heroic?they were just humans?it was easy to believe that this is the way they should be. The characters in the plot give the reader a feeling this can be a true story. The author has created the personality of the characters through the descriptions of Ponyboy?the narrator?and through their actions. Following are some examples of these methods of getting familiar with a character. Here is an example for a description of Ponyboy: "Steve Randle was seventeen, tall and lean, with thick greasy hair he kept combed in complicated swirls. He was cocky, smart, and Soda's best buddy since grade school. Steve's specialty was cars..." (page 17). The reader can find this kind of descriptions almost everywhere in the story, but especially in the beginning. I think the author put them there because the reader does not know the characters, and he needs to get familiar with them. The descriptions make the reader know the characters better and understand their actions. A good example of an action that was taken and suggested something about a character is the way Dally was killed. He wanted the

Monday, November 25, 2019

Where to Buy Saltpeter or Potassium Nitrate

Where to Buy Saltpeter or Potassium Nitrate You used to be able to buy potassium nitrate as saltpeter in many garden supply stores. While it is difficult to find saltpeter, you can still purchase potassium nitrate, which is used to make smoke bombs and certain other fireworks. Stores That Sell Potassium Nitrate One of the most common sources of pure potassium nitrate is stump remover. In the United States, you can find it at Lowes or Home Depot, among other places. Look for the Spectracide brand in those stores near the insecticides. Be sure to check the label to make certain potassium nitrate is the first (and preferably only) ingredient. If you cant find potassium nitrate  at a store in your area, you can  order it online at Amazon, plus its a chemical you can make it yourself. Make Potassium Nitrate Even if you cant find potassium nitrate, you can make it. All you need is a cold pack that lists potassium nitrate as an ingredient and salt substitute that lists potassium chloride as the only ingredient. It has to be salt substitute and not lite salt, because the latter also contains sodium chloride. If you use lite salt, youll end up with a mixture of sodium nitrate and potassium nitrate, which might be useful for your purpose, but isnt the same as pure potassium nitrate and will burn yellow rather than purple. You need; 40 grams ammonium nitrate from the cold pack37 grams potassium chloride from the salt substitute100 milliliters water Dissolve the ammonium nitrate in the water.Filter the solution to remove any undissolved matter. You can use a coffee filter or a paper towel.Add the potassium chloride to the liquid and gently heat the mixture to dissolve the salt. Dont boil it.Filter the solution to remove solids.Chill the liquid on ice or in the freezer. The potassium chloride will freeze out as crystals, leaving ammonium chloride in solution.Pour off the liquid and let the crystals dry. This is your potassium nitrate. You could also save the ammonium chloride, too. If you want the ammonium chloride, let the water evaporate and recover the solid material. The reaction exchanges the ions in the compounds: NH4NO3   KCl → KNO3   NH4Cl The products can be separated because they have different solubilities. As you chill the mixture, potassium nitrate readily solidifies. Ammonium chloride is more soluble, so it remains in solution. Even though the solution is on ice or in the freezer, it wont freeze because the particles cause freezing point depression of the water. This is why these chemicals can be used to de-ice roads! Keep in mind, the potassium nitrate you get from the reaction wont be reagent-grade purity. However, it should be pure enough for most chemistry experiments and fireworks projects.