Lux Brand Promotion Essay Example for Free

Lux Brand Promotion Essay Promotion Lux campaigns have wooed millions of hearts over the decades. Popularly know as the beauty soap of film stars, Lux has been an intimate partner of the brightest stars on the silver screen for decades. An ode to their beauty, an announcer of their stardom, advertising campaigns on Lux have featured film stars across the nation, promising their beauty to ordinary women. In Bangladesh, almost all of the beautiful faces in media from different generations have been associated with Lux over the years. To name a few re Doyel, Champa, Suborna Mustafa, Nipa, Shakila Zafar, Bipasha Hayat, Afsana Mimi, Shomi Kaiser, Mou, Kushum Shikder and Aupi Karim. However, this star depended communication was slowly seen to be losing relevance, as consumers were beginning to question if the film stars actually used the brand. Thus, for the first time the film star was used as a communication device and not as the main feature of the ad. With the new communication strategy, the film star is used purely as a communication device to portray star quality in every Lux user. Branding story:  What is the common seductive link between Hollywood actor Paul Newman, Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief J. Jayalalithaa? They have all tried selling a soap at some point or the other. And the soap is Lux, the premium beauty soap from consumer products company HUL. â€Å"Lux has been the epitome of beauty for the Indian woman and inspires all women in India to enjoy the process of beautifying without any constraints,† says Srikanth Srinivasamadhavan, category head, personal wash, HUL. Lux—derived from the word luxury— was launched in 1899 as a laundry soap in the UK. In 1925, the brand was extended to the toilet soap category. It was positioned as a beauty soap in India, and HUL has since used successful film actors of the time—such as Leela Chitnis, Madhubala, Hema Malini and Kareena Kapoor—to endorse the product. Lux’s secret of longevity has been its consistent evolution—be it the soap colour, packaging or new variants, the brand has banked on innovation to keep its youthful image intact. Extending the soap cake to a range of shower gels, liquid soaps and moisturizing bars has helped the brand keep consumers excited and the competition at bay. What has not changed is the consistency in its communication and its positioning. Its tag lines—If it’s good enough for a film star, then it’s good for you too to Play with beauty—have conveyed the same message over the years. â€Å"Lux is a brand like Mills Boon. While the packaging and content could change, the romance angle doesn’t. It taps into an emotion very close to humanity’s basic need—social interaction. The brand has always hired celebrities when they have reached a certain height rather than using them at the start of their careers. This avoids the issue of celebrities overshadowing the brand,† says Agnello Dias, national creative director, JWT, which handles the account. Competitor pod Godrej(9. 2%)- Cinthol,  Fair glow Nikhar Nirma soaps(6. 74%) Wipro-Santoor Chandrika Itc(1. 75%)-Superia,Fiama di wills, vivel Internally-Lifebouy Dove

The Taguchi Methods for Quality Improvement

The Taguchi Methods for Quality Improvement INTRODUCTION: Taguchi methods are statistical methods developed by Genichi Taguchi to improve the quality of manufactured goods, and more recently also applied to, engineering, biotechnology, marketing and advertising. Professional statisticians have welcomed the goals and improvements brought about by Taguchi methods, particularly by Taguchis development of designs for studying variation, but have criticized the inefficiency of some of Taguchis proposals. Taguchis work includes three principal contributions to statistics: A specific loss function see Taguchi loss function; The philosophy of off-line quality control; and Innovations in the design of experiments. Loss functions Loss functions in statistical theory Traditionally, statistical methods have relied on mean-unbiased estimators of treatment effects: Under the conditions of the Gauss-Markov theorem, least squares estimators have minimum variance among all mean-unbiased estimators. The emphasis on comparisons of means also draws (limiting) comfort from the law of large numbers, according to which the sample means converge to the true mean. Fishers textbook on the design of experiments emphasized comparisons of treatment means. Gauss proved that the sample-mean minimizes the expected squared-error loss-function (while Laplace proved that a median-unbiased estimator minimizes the absolute-error loss function). In statistical theory, the central role of the loss function was renewed by the statistical decision theory of Abraham Wald. However, loss functions were avoided by Ronald A. Fisher.[6] Taguchis use of loss functions Taguchi knew statistical theory mainly from the followers of Ronald A. Fisher, who also avoided loss functions. Reacting to Fishers methods in the design of experiments, Taguchi interpreted Fishers methods as being adapted for seeking to improve the mean outcome of a process. Indeed, Fishers work had been largely motivated by programmes to compare agricultural yields under different treatments and blocks, and such experiments were done as part of a long-term programme to improve harvests. However, Taguchi realised that in much industrial production, there is a need to produce an outcome on target, for example, to machine a hole to a specified diameter, or to manufacture a cell to produce a given voltage. He also realised, as had Walter A. Shewhart and others before him, that excessive variation lay at the root of poor manufactured quality and that reacting to individual items inside and outside specification was counterproductive. He therefore argued that quality engineering should start with an understanding of quality costs in various situations. In much conventional industrial engineering, the quality costs are simply represented by the number of items outside specification multiplied by the cost of rework or scrap. However, Taguchi insisted that manufacturers broaden their horizons to consider cost to society. Though the short-term costs may simply be those of non-conformance, any item manufactured away from nominal would result in some loss to the customer or the wider community through early wear-out; difficulties in interfacing with other parts, themselves probably wide of nominal; or the need to build in safety margins. These losses are externalities and are usually ignored by manufacturers, which are more interested in their private costs than social costs. Such externalities prevent markets from operating efficiently, according to analyses of public economics. Taguchi argued that such losses would in evitably find their way back to the originating corporation (in an effect similar to the tragedy of the commons), and that by working to minimise them, manufacturers would enhance brand reputation, win markets and generate profits. Such losses are, of course, very small when an item is near to negligible. Donald J. Wheeler characterised the region within specification limits as where we deny that losses exist. As we diverge from nominal, losses grow until the point where losses are too great to deny and the specification limit is drawn. All these losses are, as W. Edwards Deming would describe them, unknown and unknowable, but Taguchi wanted to find a useful way of representing them statistically. Taguchi specified three situations: Larger the better (for example, agricultural yield); Smaller the better (for example, carbon dioxide emissions); and On-target, minimum-variation (for example, a mating part in an assembly). The first two cases are represented by simple monotonic loss functions. In the third case, Taguchi adopted a squared-error loss function for several reasons: It is the first symmetric term in the Taylor series expansion of real analytic loss-functions. Total loss is measured by the variance. As variance is additive (for uncorrelated random variables), the total loss is an additive measurement of cost (for uncorrelated random variables). The squared-error loss function is widely used in statistics, following Gausss use of the squared-error loss function in justifying the method of least squares. Reception of Taguchis ideas by statisticians Though many of Taguchis concerns and conclusions are welcomed by statisticians and economists, some ideas have been especially criticized. For example, Taguchis recommendation that industrial experiments maximise some signal-to-noise ratio (representing the magnitude of the mean of a process compared to its variation) has been criticized widely. Off-line quality control Taguchis rule for manufacturing Taguchi realized that the best opportunity to eliminate variation is during the design of a product and its manufacturing process. Consequently, he developed a strategy for quality engineering that can be used in both contexts. The process has three stages: System design Parameter design Tolerance design System design This is design at the conceptual level, involving creativity and innovation. Parameter design Once the concept is established, the nominal values of the various dimensions and design parameters need to be set, the detail design phase of conventional engineering. Taguchis radical insight was that the exact choice of values required is under-specified by the performance requirements of the system. In many circumstances, this allows the parameters to be chosen so as to minimise the effects on performance arising from variation in manufacture, environment and cumulative damage. This is sometimes called robustification. Tolerance design With a successfully completed parameter design, and an understanding of the effect that the various parameters have on performance, resources can be focused on reducing and controlling variation in the critical few dimensions (see Pareto principle). Design of experiments Taguchi developed his experimental theories independently. Taguchi read works following R. A. Fisher only in 1954. Taguchis framework for design of experiments is idiosyncratic and often flawed, but contains much that is of enormous value. He made a number of innovations. Outer arrays Taguchis designs aimed to allow greater understanding of variation than did many of the traditional designs from the analysis of variance (following Fisher). Taguchi contended that conventional sampling is inadequate here as there is no way of obtaining a random sample of future conditions.[7] In Fishers design of experiments and analysis of variance, experiments aim to reduce the influence of nuisance factors to allow comparisons of the mean treatment-effects. Variation becomes even more central in Taguchis thinking. Taguchi proposed extending each experiment with an outer array (possibly an orthogonal array); the outer array should simulate the random environment in which the product would function. This is an example of judgmental sampling. Many quality specialists have been using outer arrays. Later innovations in outer arrays resulted in compounded noise. This involves combining a few noise factors to create two levels in the outer array: First, noise factors that drive output lower, and second, noise factors that drive output higher. Compounded noise simulates the extremes of noise variation but uses fewer experimental runs than would previous Taguchi designs. Management of interactions Interactions, as treated by Taguchi Many of the orthogonal arrays that Taguchi has advocated are saturated arrays, allowing no scope for estimation of interactions. This is a continuing topic of controversy. However, this is only true for control factors or factors in the inner array. By combining an inner array of control factors with an outer array of noise factors, Taguchis approach provides full information on control-by-noise interactions, it is claimed. Taguchi argues that such interactions have the greatest importance in achieving a design that is robust to noise factor variation. The Taguchi approach provides more complete interaction information than typical fractional factorial designs, its adherents claim. * Followers of Taguchi argue that the designs offer rapid results and that interactions can be eliminated by proper choice of quality characteristics. That notwithstanding, a confirmation experiment offers protection against any residual interactions. If the quality characteristic represents the energy transformation of the system, then the likelihood of control factor-by-control factor interactions is greatly reduced, since energy is additive. Inefficencies of Taguchis designs * Interactions are part of the real world. In Taguchis arrays, interactions are confounded and difficult to resolve. Statisticians in response surface methodology (RSM) advocate the sequential assembly of designs: In the RSM approach, a screening design is followed by a follow-up design that resolves only the confounded interactions that are judged to merit resolution. A second follow-up design may be added, time and resources allowing, to explore possible high-order univariate effects of the remaining variables, as high-order univariate effects are less likely in variables already eliminated for having no linear effect. With the economy of screening designs and the flexibility of follow-up designs, sequential designs have great statistical efficiency. The sequential designs of response surface methodology require far fewer experimental runs than would a sequence of Taguchis designs.[ TAGUCHI METHODS There has been a great deal of controversy about Genichi Taguchis methodology since it was first introduced in the United States. This controversy has lessened considerably in recent years due to modifications and extensions of his methodology. The main controversy, however, is still about Taguchis statistical methods, not about his philosophical concepts concerning quality or robust design. Furthermore, it is generally accepted that Taguchis philosophy has promoted, on a worldwide scale, the design of experiments for quality improvement upstream, or at the product and process design stage. Taguchis philosophy and methods support, and are consistent with, the Japanese quality control approach that asserts that higher quality generally results in lower cost. This is in contrast to the widely prevailing view in the United States that asserts that quality improvement is associated with higher cost. Furthermore, Taguchis philosophy and methods support the Japanese approach to move quality improvement upstream. Taguchis methods help design engineers build quality into products and processes. As George Box, Soren Bisgaard, and Conrad Fung observed: Today the ultimate goal of quality improvement is to design quality into every product and process and to follow up at every stage from design to final manufacture and sale. An important element is the extensive and innovative use of statistically designed experiments. TAGUCHIS DEFINITION OF QUALITY The old traditional definition of quality states quality is conformance to specifications. This definition was expanded by Joseph M. Juran (1904-) in 1974 and then by the American Society for Quality Control (ASQC) in 1983. Juran observed that quality is fitness for use. The ASQC defined quality as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy given needs. Taguchi presented another definition of quality. His definition stressed the losses associated with a product. Taguchi stated that quality is the loss a product causes to society after being shipped, other than losses caused by its intrinsic functions. Taguchi asserted that losses in his definition should be restricted to two categories: (1) loss caused by variability of function, and (2) loss caused by harmful side effects. Taguchi is saying that a product or service has good quality if it performs its intended functions without variability, and causes little loss through harmful side effects, including the cost of using it. It must be kept in mind here that society includes both the manufacturer and the customer. Loss associated with function variability includes, for example, energy and time (problem fixing), and money (replacement cost of parts). Losses associated with harmful side effects could be market shares for the manufacturer and/or the physical effects, such as of the drug thalidomide, for the consumer. Consequently, a company should provide products and services such that possible losses to society are minimized, or, the purpose of quality improvement is to discover innovative ways of designing products and processes that will save society more than they cost in the long run. The concept of reliability is appropriate here. The next section will clearly show that Taguchis loss function yields an operational definition of the term loss to society in his definition of quality. TAGUCHIS LOSS FUNCTION We have seen that Taguchis quality philosophy strongly emphasizes losses or costs. W. H. Moore asserted that this is an enlightened approach that embodies three important premises: for every product quality characteristic there is a target value which results in the smallest loss; deviations from target value always results in increased loss to society; [and] loss should be measured in monetary units (dollars, pesos, francs, etc.). Figure I depicts Taguchis typically loss function. The figure also contrasts Taguchis function with the traditional view that states there are no losses if specifications are met. Taguchis Loss Function It can be seen that small deviations from the target value result in small losses. These losses, however, increase in a nonlinear fashion as deviations from the target value increase. The function shown above is a simple quadratic equation that compares the measured value of a unit of output Y to the target T.: Essentially, this equation states that the loss is proportional to the square of the deviation of the measured value, Y, from the target value, T. This implies that any deviation from the target (based on customers desires and needs) will diminish customer satisfaction. This is in contrast to the traditional definition of quality that states that quality is conformance to specifications. It should be recognized that the constant k can be determined if the value of L(Y) associated with some Y value are both known. Of course, under many circumstances a quadratic function is only an approximation. Since Taguchis loss function is presented in monetary terms, it provides a common language for all the departments or components within a company. Finally, the loss function can be used to define performance measures of a quality characteristic of a product or service. This property of Taguchis loss function will be taken up in the next section. But to anticipate the discussion of this property, Taguchis quadratic function can be converted to: This can be accomplished by assuming Y has some probability distribution with mean, a and variance o.2 This second mathematical expression states that average or expected loss is due either to process variation or to being off target (called bias), or both. TAGUCHI, ROBUST DESIGN, AND THEÂ  DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS Taguchi asserted that the development of his methods of experimental design started in Japan about 1948. These methods were then refined over the next several decades. They were introduced in the United States around 1980. Although, Taguchis approach was built on traditional concepts of design of experiments (DOE), such as factorial and fractional factorial designs and orthogonal arrays, he created and promoted some new DOE techniques such as signal-to-noise ratios, robust designs, and parameter and tolerance designs. Some experts in the field have shown that some of these techniques, especially signal-to-noise ratios, are not optimal under certain conditions. Nonetheless, Taguchis ideas concerning robust design and the design of experiments will now be discussed. DOE is a body of statistical techniques for the effective and efficient collection of data for a number of purposes. Two significant ones are the investigation of research hypotheses and the accurate determination of the relative effects of the many different factors that influence the quality of a product or process. DOE can be employed in both the product design phase and production phase. A crucial component of quality is a products ability to perform its tasks under a variety of conditions. Furthermore, the operating environmental conditions are usually beyond the control of the product designers, and, therefore robust designs are essential. Robust designs are based on the use of DOE techniques for finding product parameter settings (e.g., temperature settings or drill speeds), which enable products to be resilient to changes and variations in working environments. It is generally recognized that Taguchi deserves much of the credit for introducing the statistical study of robust design. We have seen how Taguchis loss function sets variation reduction as a primary goal for quality improvement. Taguchis DOE techniques employ the loss function concept to investigate both product parameters and key environmental factors. His DOE techniques are part of his philosophy of achieving economical quality design. To achieve economical product quality design, Taguchi proposed three phases: system design, parameter design, and tolerance design. In the first phase, system design, design engineers use their practical experience, along with scientific and engineering principles, to create a viably functional design. To elaborate, system design uses current technology, processes, materials, and engineering methods to define and construct a new system. The system can be a new product or process, or an improved modification of an existing product or process. The parameter design phase determines the optimal settings for the product or process parameters. These parameters have been identified during the system design phase. DOE methods are applied here to determine the optimal parameter settings. Taguchi constructed a limited number of experimental designs, from which U.S. engineers have found it easy to select and apply in their manufacturing environments. The goal of the parameter design is to design a robust product or process, which, as a result of minimizing performance variation, minimizes manufacturing and product lifetime costs. Robust design means that the performance of the product or process is insensitive to noise factors such as variation in environmental conditions, machine wear, or product to-product variation due to raw material differences. Taguchis DOE parameter design techniques are used to determine which controllable factors and which noise factors are the significant variables. The aim is to set the controllable factors at those levels that will result in a product or process being robust with respect to the noise factors. In our previous discussion of Taguchis loss function, two equations were discussed. It was observed that the second equation could be used to establish quality performance measures that permit the optimization of a given products quality characteristic. In improving quality, both the average response of a quality and its variation are important. The second equation suggests that it may be advantageous to combine both the average response and variation into a single measure. And Taguchi did this with his signal-to-noise ratios (S/N). Consequently, Taguchis approach is to select design parameter levels that will maximize the appropriate S/N ratio. These S/N ratios can be used to get closer to a given target value (such as tensile strength or baked tile dimensions), or to reduce variation in the products quality characteristic(s). For example, one S/N ratio corresponds to what Taguchi called nominal is best. Such a ratio is selected when a specific target value, such as tensile strength, is the design goal. For the nominal is best case, Taguchi recommended finding an adjustment factor (some parameter setting) that will eliminate the bias discussed in the second equation. Sometimes a factor can be found that will control the average response without affecting the variance. If this is the case, our second equation tells us that the expected loss becomes: Consequently, the aim now is to reduce the variation. Therefore, Taguchis S/N ratio is: where S 2 is the samples standard deviation. In this formula, by minimizing S 2 , 10 log 10 S 2 , is maximized. Recall that all of Taguchis S/N ratios are to be maximized. Finally, a few brief comments concerning the tolerance design phase. This phase establishes tolerances, or specification limits, for either the product or process parameters that have been identified as critical during the second phase, the parameter design phase. The goal here is to establish tolerances wide enough to reduce manufacturing costs, while at the same time assuring that the product or process characteristics are within certain bounds. EXAMPLES AND CONCLUSIONS As Thomas P. Ryan has stated, Taguchi at the very least, has focused our attention on new objectives in achieving quality improvement. The statistical tools for accomplishing these objectives will likely continue to be developed. Quality management gurus, such as W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) and Kaoru Ishikawa (1915-), have stressed the importance of continuous quality improvement by concentrating on processes upstream. This is a fundamental break with the traditional practice of relying on inspection downstream. Taguchi emphasized the importance of DOE in improving the quality of the engineering design of products and processes. As previously mentioned, however, his methods are frequently statistically inefficient and cumbersome. Nonetheless, Taguchis design of experiments have been widely applied and theoretically refined and extended. Two application cases and one refinement example will now be discussed. K. N. Anand, in an article in Quality Engineering, discussed a welding problem. Welding was performed to repair cracks and blown holes on the cast-iron housing of an assembled electrical machine. Customers wanted a defect-free quality weld, however the welding process had resulted in a fairly high percentage of welding defects. Management and welders identified five variables and two interactions that were considered the key factors in improving quality. A Taguchi orthogonal design was performed resulting in the identification of two highly significant interactions and a defect-free welding process. The second application, presented by M. W. Sonius and B. W. Tew in a Quality Engineering article, involved reducing stress components in the connection between a composite component and a metallic end fitting for a composite structure. Bonding, pinning, or riveting the fitting in place traditionally made the connections. Nine significant variables that could affect the performance of the entrapped fiber connections were identified and a Taguchi experimental design was performed. The experiment identified two of the nine factors and their respective optimal settings. Therefore, stress levels were significantly reduced. The theoretical refinement example involves Taguchi robust designs. We have seen where such a design can result in products and processes that are insensitive to noise factors. Using Taguchis quadratic loss function, however, may provide a poor approximation of true loss and suboptimal product or process quality. John F. Kros and Christina M. Mastrangelo established relationships between nonquadratic loss functions and Taguchis signal-to-noise ratios. Applying these relationships in an experimental design can change the recommended selection of the respective settings of the key parameters and result in smaller losses.

Greek Gods And Human Connections Essay -- essays research papers

The Greek gods and goddess carry many attributes, most human. They are very much like humans in the way that they have weaknesses and strengths. Even though the gods display their characteristics much more drastically than humans do, the similarities are obvious. In Rosenberg and Baker’s book, the Greek gods have many human characteristics such as vengeance, jealously, and love. An example of a human trait is that the Greek gods and goddess displayed excessive vengeance. Whenever anyone committed a crime against him or her, they always take revenge. Zeus is a good example because he often exercised his full authority as head of the Olympians. “When Zeus looked down from Mount Olympus and fire gleaming among Prometheus’ mortals, he controlled the fire in his heart. With cruel laughter he decided how he would punish the mankind'; (Rosenberg and Baker 106). Sometimes it is not a direct insult against the gods but an error in judgement. The gods were very unforgiving of human mistakes. “Apollo took revenge on Midas for his poor taste and even poorer judgement'; (Rosenberg and Baker 144). The gods usually carried the punishment out as soon as the crime was committed. They would not hesitate to use their powers to punish a mortal. It is the strong characteristic of vengeance that make the Greek gods strong and feared. Jealousy was a characteristic just as strong as vengeance. The Greek gods and goddess were jealous of mortals and each othe...

ECON 4131, International Finance, Spring 2002, Exam 1 :: UMN Minnesota Business Economics Finance

Midterm Exam International Finance April 8, 2002 Answer all questions in examination booklets 1. (10 points) Use the BOP accounts guide on the last page of this exam to indicate where each of the following transactions should be recorded in the U.S. balance of payments (e.g.: â€Å"i3†, â€Å"e2†, etc.). Bear in mind that each transaction should generate a capital account and a current account entry. a) The U.S. buys $1m. of lumber from Canada b) Japan buys $500K of fish from an Alaskan fishing outfit c) The U.S. contracts a Panamanian flagged vessel for shipping on the Mississippi d) Mexican migrant workers wire $2m. home for Cinco de Mayo celebrations e) A Panamanian flagged ship purchases a $100K insurance contract from a U.S. firm 2. (10 points) The nation of Pecunia had a current account deficit of $2 billion and a nonreserve capital account surplus of $900 million in 1998. a) What was the â€Å"balance of payments† of Pecunia that year? What happened to the country’s net foreign assets? b) Assume that the foreign central banks neither buy nor sell Pecunian assets. How did the Pecunian central bank’s foreign reserves change in 1998? How would this official intervention show up in the balance of payments accounts of Pecunia? c) How would your answer to (b) change if you learned that foreign central banks had purchased $1.2 billion of Pecunian assets in 1998? How would these official purchases enter the foreign balance of payments accounts? 3. (15 points) Derive (show your work) the following, and provide a brief explanation: a) Uncovered interest rate parity b) Covered interest rate parity 4. (10 points) Define â€Å"neutrality of money† and discuss why money is thought to be â€Å"neutral† in the long-run. 5. (10) Define â€Å"Purchasing Power Parity† and discuss the reasons why it might or might not hold. 6. (15 points) In our formal model of exchange rate determination under â€Å"sticky prices† a) What do the two curves represent?

The Discovery of DNA’s Molecular Structure :: Science Genetics Papers

Theoretical models for the molecular structure of DNA can be likened to scientific theories. DNA’s structure was determined largely because scientists scrutinized the relationship between theory (a particular theoretical model of DNA) and observation (x-ray crystallographic patterns, or bonding patterns between bases and sugar-phosphate groups, for example). Inductivists, falsificationists, Kuhn, and Feyerabend all have different accounts of how scientists have related theory to observation. These accounts are important because, not only do they delineate frameworks scientists use to develop their theories, but because these frameworks subsequently became important in developing a theory for the molecular structure of DNA. The inductivist account of science recognizes five steps that are essential to scientific progress, and consequently, the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA. First, scientists compile a large body of facts from observation and experiment. Using the principle of induction, these facts can, often with severe logical difficulties, be generalized to form the basis for a theory or law. Then, once a theory has been developed, scientists can use the theory as part of a valid logical argument to make new predictions or explanations of phenomena. According to Chalmers, the inductivist account has â€Å"a certain appeal† to it, namely, that all of scientific progress can be seen as the result of a linear, highly structured inductive scientific method (54). â€Å"Its attraction lies in the fact that it does seem to capture in a formal way some of the commonly held intuitions about the special characteristics of scientific knowledge, namely its objectivity, its reliability, and its usefulness† (57). An inductivist account of the discovery of DNA’s molecular structure might proceed in the following way. First, early molecular biologists compiled a large body of facts from observation and experiment, such as Rosalind Franklin’s findings on the structure of DNA based on her x-ray crystallography work. From these facts, a theory of DNA structure was developed. Watson demonstrates, in The Double Helix how one aspect of DNA structure was determined from factual experimental observations. In the b-model of DNA, †¦the meridional reflection at 3.4 A was much stronger than any other reflection. This could only mean that the 3.4 A-thick purine and pyrimidine bases were stacked on top of each other in a direction perpendicular to the helical axis. In addition we could feel sure from both electron-microscope and X-ray evidence that the helix diameter was about 20 A (110).

Titus Salt and Saltaire

Titus Salt was born on the 20th September 1803 in the Morely area of Leeds. He came from quite a wealthy background and he had a very reasonable education. When he and his parents moved to Bradford, Titus' life in the textile trade prospered. Salts father was once a white cloth merchandise, so this helped greatly in the set-up of ‘Daniel Salt and Son' wool buyers, based in Bradford. As Titus was the eldest of Daniel Salts seven children he was expected to inherit and run the family business. Titus was a Sunday worker at the local church, and it was here that he met and fell in love with his wife Caroline Whitlam of Grimsby. There is a street in Saltaire that is named after his wife, showing true love and compassion for both his wife and Saltaire. Titus built Saltaire because he wanted a model village- at the time Leeds and the Bradford area were very polluted and dirty places to live in. At Titus' time Bradford was known as the ‘City of the Industrial Revolution.' It was acknowledged as the worsted capital of the world. Bradford was becoming a very wealthy city indeed. However behind the good reputation it boasted, the life was the worst they had had for years. Manual labourers became very poor as they were not needed anymore- machines were taking over. They were, in fact, poorer than ever. Bradford was a dirty city, sanitation was bad. People caught diseases more easily, making workers in factories die in their dozens. For example if one person in a factory caught cholera or the consumption, by the next week most of the other workers would have it. This meant that the production of work was not as good as it should be. The factories were grossly overcrowded; this was so that there were more product made. But this also had major disadvantages, such as contagious infections or accidents that happened in the workplace. Homes were also overcrowded. This was so that Landlords could get more rent. But, again, contagious infections were spread more easily and life, in general, was made more difficult and cramped. Ironically, it was Sir Titus himself who owned five of the major factories in Bradford. Some of the factories that he owned at the time had the worst working conditions around. So why did he want to build Saltaire? Some could argue that it was purely for the money. He may have built it because of his theory: ‘Healthy workers mean that less people are sick, more people come to work, more money is made, and so Titus will make more and more money.' So if everybody had a decent place to live, with a decent wage, then surely this will make their life easier and less complicated. People will want to live there and will enjoy working in the factory. This is because it is clean and healthy. This would mean that Titus makes more money and that he can expand his business further. Titus may have been Paternalistic, which means to exercise authority in a way that limits ones individual responsibility. Titus was appalled at the living conditions of the people of Bradford, he thought that his theory was very true. If Titus was already a very well off gentle man then why would he need to make even more money? Some would argue that he didn't do it purely for money but for care and compassion to those who were worse-off than he was. He may have really wanted people to have a good and healthy lifestyle. He may have really cared for the community, and observed the poor conditions that were such in factories all over Bradford and Leeds. Titus may wanted to give the next generation a life to look forward to and make sure that children got the education and homes that they deserved. Titus quotes: â€Å"†¦ I also hope to do good to my fellow men†¦Ã¢â‚¬  The site that he chose was that in Shipley, which was near the River Aire, hence the name Saltaire. It was also near a railway, canal and roads. This was the ideal sit for Titus to build on. Trading would be very easy, but that not near the dirty cities of Leeds and Bradford. Obviously, it needed to be relatively near so that trading could commence but far away enough so that his workers wouldn't have to put up with the pollution problems that they had to face in the city. Titus may have been a believer of ‘Megalomania' which means having mental delusions of power over something, he may have loved himself and his family so much that he would name a village after himself. If he owned a village with over 800 cottages with people living in them, that would surely mean that he had ultimate power over them. For example, he could sack a worker simply because he could. Titus had enough money already, even if he didn't make a model village. He didn't need it; maybe he thought that this village would be something to remember him by when he dies. If he was just another factory owner in Bradford, not a lot of people would have been sorry that he died, but if he built a perfect village for people to live happy care-free lives then that would be a very great achievement. People will love him for it, and give him respect. They would remember him and he may go down in history. I think that Titus built Saltaire because he genuinely cared about the people's health. Titus already had enough money to set him and his family up for life but he still carried on doing what he believed in- helping others who were worse off than himself. Q2) What do the streets and buildings in Saltaire suggest about Salts values and beliefs? To value means something that you regard as important, you think it improves things and you want others to have it. To have a belief in something it means that it is the central core, the platform underlining your existence. Beliefs relate to key things in your life, eg, Religion, Society, and Country. In Saltaire virtually all of the streets are named after either Royalty or his family. This shows what his values are. For example he has named a street after his wife, Caroline Street. This shows that he must have really cared about his wife, to name a street after her. This also shows that she must have had great faith in him, to have stayed with him for so long. He has also named streets after his wife's family, showing that he has thought greatly about his family during the building of the village. This suggests that he was maybe building the model village as something to pass on to his family when he dies as it really shows that they mean that much to him. There are streets named after Royalty, such as Albert Road and Victoria Road. This emphasises his beliefs and values in the Royal Family. He valued their strong and powerful beliefs in both religion and society. He wanted everyone to know that he was proud of both his family and the Royals. From going round Saltaire I noticed that the Mill was the heart of Saltaire. It was very large and looked very well patented from the outside. You could clearly see from the stern structure that Salt wanted it to be the main focal point of the village. When I looked around inside I saw that it was very tall and airy. This was probably so that the workers would have more space to work in. I noticed that the beams that are usually present on the inside of old buildings weren't there, which made it look even more spacious. The outside had a very nice looking pattern and this made it look pretty and most unlike the ugly factories that you got in Bradford. The hospital is quite a large building on one of the main roads of the town suggesting the importance of it to the townspeople, and indeed Titus himself. The building of this hospital suggests Titus' beliefs were kind hearted. He had a hospital built especially for the convenience to the workers. He believed a healthy workforce was a happy workforce, thus Titus would make more money. The United Reformed Church suggests a great deal to us about Titus' beliefs. It is situated nearly in the centre of the town, and is facing the most important building in the village- the Mill. The interior is decorated tastefully, with lots of patterns and dear looking artefacts. This is where Titus' family was laid to rest. This suggests that Titus had a great love towards the church and the beliefs behind it. The actual name of Saltaire suggests that Titus really did believe in himself. And also that he was quite bigheaded. Usually people only get named after things when they are dead but Titus was still alive when he gave the village that name. The ending ‘Aire' is after the River Aire, which was the main trading route from the village, this suggest how important is was to Titus and the rest of the villagers. Q3) Do you think Saltaire was a substantial achievement? At the time Saltaire was a breath of fresh air for workers. This meant clean air, a proper place to live, and a wage guaranteed every week. The new workers could hardly complain. In Bradford, living and working conditions were very poor. Life for them was harder than ever. Salt saw how poor they were and he decided to do something about it. Build a model village. He thought that if workers had better conditions in which to live and work then they would produce better work standards. It took just over twenty years to complete fully. But as the mill was finished in 1853, his fiftieth birthday, people started to move to Bradford. To say that he built a model village from scratch says a lot about what sort of man he really was- hardworking. At the time people thought Saltaire was a good idea, and with Salt in parliament, being a successful businessman, and a magistrate, he was the ideal man to do the job. People saw Titus as kind and considerate with a great public spirit, who else could fit the job description? Over they years Saltaire has changed a great deal. It has moved on with the rest of the world. Although it is still a relatively quiet little village. There are now pubs and other shops that weren't allowed back then, but since Titus' death in December 1876, things have changed, and different people took over the running of the village. Church going is optional and just about anyone can live and work in Saltaire. Nobody actually owns the village, and the mills have ceased trading. The cotton traders of the north no longer trade, making Saltaire just another normal village. I think that Titus Salt would not have liked the Saltaire that has become now. The Mills seemed like his livelihood, he was proud of them. There is also no particular order- anyone can live where they want and work where they like. He also hated pubs and other places where you could go to waste your money. Although Saltaire has grown and is an attraction, I don't think he would have liked what it has become. I do think Saltaire was a substantial achievement at the time because he managed to build a model village and create a model life. He had complete control over everything that went on in the village. It was kept clean and tidy, and he also made a lot of money in doing so. Titus has made this village a tourist attraction, because he designed it from scratch- and he made a model village. Everyone wanted to be there, and people gave him respect for his great achievement.

African Wild Dogs

Lycaon pictus, the scientific name for the African Wild Dog, literally translates into â€Å"painted or ornate wolf† (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). African Wild Dogs are some of the most beautiful and social canines in the world, but, sadly, this species is endangered. This essay will focus on a basic description of the African Wild Dog, along with the threats it faces and the projected outlook for this species. (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). The African Wild Dog has a slender body with long, muscular legs (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†).Typically, they will weigh between forty and eighty lbs. and can be anywhere from three and a half to five ft. long (including the length of the tail). African Wild Dogs are usually between two and two and a half ft. tall at the shoulder. The males also tend to be slightly larger than the females. Compared to wolves or coyotes, they are very lea n and tall. Unlike other canines, the African Wild Dog has only four toes on its front feet, as opposed to the typical five. This is because their dew-claw is missing.Other distinctive qualities are their large, round ears. (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). It is said that these ears are essential for hunting, during which a pack may use long distance vocal calls (G. Rhodes, and R. Rhodes). These ears also help with heat loss and regulation (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). However, an African Wild Dogs most distinctive quality is its coat; this species has a coat blotched in yellow, gray, black, white, and brown (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†).Most of the variation in color is on the body and legs (Creel, and Creel). The coloration on the dogs faces are all very similar, with a black muzzle shading to brown on the cheeks and forehead, a black line extending up the forehead, and blackish-br own on the backs of the ears. There is never white on the head. The back part of the head and the top of the neck are consistently brown or yellow. However, colors on the body and legs are unpredictable. (Creel, and Creel). The fur on its bushy tail is almost always white (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†).An African Wild Dog’s fur is slightly longer around the head and body, and shorter on the legs (â€Å"African wild dog (Lycaon pictus)†). However, wild dogs tend to have sparse hair, though there is variation among individuals (Creel, and Creel). This variation is related to age—young pups and dogs have more hair than adult dogs, and old dogs can become almost hairless. Hair is particularly lost on the head, which begins to look grey as the skin shows through. (Creel, and Creel). Underneath its fur, African Wild Dogs have blackish/grey skin (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†).Every wild dog has a differe nt patterned coat with all the individuality of a snowflake or a fingerprint. It is the coat that can allow scientists to tell each animal apart. There has also been evidence to suggest that the dogs are able to use their distinctive coats to tell each other apart; this is why dogs can easily identify other wild dogs that are not in their pack, or spate packs that might pose a threat. (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). African Wild Dogs live in packs, and have a very unusual social system (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†).In their packs, only the dominant male and female are allowed to reproduce, which leads to alliances among dogs of the same sex. Packs can range anywhere from two to twenty seven individuals, and new packs form when a subgroup (usually females, and sisters) separate from their pack and join with another subgroup that is composed of males. The sisters typically separate once they reach sexual maturity. Afri can Wild Dogs usually hunt in the cool of dusk and dawn in order to avoid other predators like lions, and the pups are usually allowed to eat first after prey has been killed. (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†).As stated previously, only the dominant male and female are allowed to reproduce (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). However, all African Wild Dogs will reach sexual maturity in about two years, though mating does not usually occur until much later. The dominant female can give birth during any time of the year, though birthing tends to be more common between March and June. Gestation averages around ten weeks, and the litter averages around ten pups, though twenty pups have been recorded in one litter. The African Wild Dog has one of the largest litters in the canine world.Pups are born in a den (usually an abandoned aardvark hole) and will stay there with their mother for three-four weeks. While the mother and pups a re refined to the den, other pack members will regurgitate food for them. Once the pups mature enough to leave the den, they become the responsibility of the whole pack, often nursing off of females that are not their mother. However, pups are weaned anywhere from one-three months after birth. It generally takes twelve-fourteen months before another litter is born. (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†).The African Wild Dog (which has a life expectancy of about ten years in the wild) typically lives in savannas (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). Savannas are found on either side of the equator on the edges of tropical rainforests most typically in Africa, though also occurring in select parts of South America and Australia (â€Å"Savanna†). In savannas, it is warm all year round, and there is not enough rainfall to support a forest. During its dry season, a savanna will only receive an average of four inches of rain fall. However, during the wet season, a savanna might get up to twenty five inches.In savannas, there is a lot of grassland, with scattered shrubs and isolated trees. Animal life includes many herbivores that consume grass, and also predators that control the herbivore populations. (â€Å"Savanna†). When African Wild Dogs are not breeding, they become nomadic and wander over large distances in search of prey; home ranges can be as large as 5,000 square kilometers, but are often much smaller (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). These dogs are on the third trophic level because they eat herbivores, usually impala, antelope, and sometimes prey as large as wildebeests.There have been cases where a hungry wild dog will consume seventeen to nineteen lbs. of meat, or about 1/3 of its own weight. However, African Wild Dogs will never scavenge. Therefore, the African Wild Dogs fill a carnivorous predator niche, helping to regulate and control ungulate (animals w ith hooves) populations. (â€Å"Lycaon pictus — Details African Wild Dog†). African Wild Dogs are considered endangered because they have disappeared from much of their range (McNutt et al. ). These dogs are virtually nonexistent in West Africa, and greatly reduced in central and north-east Africa.The largest populations remain in southern Africa, and studies suggest that between 3,000–5,500 wild African Wild Dogs remain in Africa today. These dogs are in danger for several reasons, one of which being habitat loss and fragmentation. When their habitat is broken up, it increases contact with humans which can lead to issues such as poaching (when wild dogs prey on livestock) and road kill. These dogs need a lot of space to roam in search of prey (because of other predators that fill the same niche), so even reserves aren’t always effective because humans live right on the border.While smaller fenced reserves have been able to effectively contain these anima ls, fencing can be expensive and allow an outbreak of disease to wipe out the entire population. This is because wild dogs live at low population densities due to predation by lions and competition with hyenas. Such low population density makes the dogs susceptible to disease, and makes the epidemic that much more deadly. (McNutt et al. ). African Wild Dogs were declared vulnerable in 1986, and became endangered in 1990 and their population is decreasing (McNutt et al. . Wild dogs are legally protected across much of their range. However, this protection is rarely enforced and wild dogs are extinct in several countries despite severe legal protection. Conservation priorities include maintenance and expansion of habitat available to wild dogs, working with local people to reduce deliberate killing of wild dogs, establishing effective techniques for protecting small wild dog populations from infections, and continuation of long-term monitoring of populations in order to identify emerg ing threats.Re-establishment of extinct populations through reintroduction currently has a low priority in most areas, although natural recolonizations should be encouraged. (McNutt et al. ). Due to their decreasing populations, need for expansive space, and susceptibility to disease, it appears as if the future for this amazing species is grim. Not enough is being done to preserve this animal because laws are not being enforced, and humans are crowding and destroying their habitat.If African Wild Dogs are to survive, humans need to be extremely proactive in their protection of this species. African Wild Dogs should be reintroduced into habitat where they used to survive, and laws for the protection of these dogs need to be more regulated and enforced. These animals will also need a lot more habitat than they have now, and it will probably be very difficult to find the space for reserves necessary for the survival of this species. If humans truly decide to save the African Wild Dog from extinction, it can certainly be done, but it won’t be easy.