Isolation, Cloning, and Translation of Plasmid DNA

Isolation, Cloning, and Translation of Plasmid DNA Abstract: The objective of this experiment was to clone a kanamycin gene into the MCS of a pUC18 plasmid, and then to transform cells with the plasmids. Purified pUC18 and pKan plasmid samples were obtained. A 0.7 % agarose gel was prepared, and the wells loaded with the plasmid samples. Restriction endonucleases were used to cut a kanamycin resistance gene from a pKan plasmid. DNA ligases were used to ligate the kanamycin resistance gene on to the multiple cloning site of the pUC18 plasmid. Escherichia coli (strain DH5ÃŽÂ ±) were then transformed with plasmids. The presence of the kanamycin resistance gene in the pUC18 was determined using the indirect (pUC18 selection) and direct selection methods. The results from the gel image were inadequate. Zero colony counts were recorded on the kanamycin plates for the indirect selection method. Zero colony counts were recorded on the kanamycin/ carbenicillin plate for the direct selection method. In Conclusion it can be said that although the kana mycin gene should have been inserted into the pUC18 plasmid, the results from both selection methods indicate that it wasnt. Introduction: DNA cloning is a process in which a certain piece of DNA is replicated several times [1]. This process in essence involves isolating the gene or DNA fragment of interest, and transferring it to another molecular of DNA [1]. In order for the cloning process to begin, the DNA of interest has to be cut at precise locations [1]. Specific endonucleases are used for this process. After which a small molecule of DNA is chosen, that has restriction sites that are complementary to the DNA of interest and is capable of self-replication [1]. These small molecules of DNA are called cloning vectors (phages, plasmids, Yeast Artificial Chromosomes, or Bacterial Artificial Chromosomes can be used) [1]. The two pieces of DNAs (the vector and DNA of interest) can be joined together by using a DNA ligase [1]. The newly formed composite DNA molecule is called a recombinant DNA [1]. The recombinant DNA can then be introduced into a host cell by a process of transformation [1]. Once transformed multiple c opies of the host cell can be produced, and in doing so multiple copies of the DNA are also produced [1]. Bacterial DNA can carry genes for antibiotic resistance [2]. The antibiotic resistance gene can either be on the chromosomes or on other external chromosomal pieces of DNA (e.g. plasmids) [2]. The pUC18 is a cloning vector plasmid that contains an ampicillin resistance gene [2]. On the other hand the pKan plasmid contains a kanamycin resistance gene [2]. The pUC18 plasmids are extremely useful for transformation with an Escherichia coli host cell [2]. The pUC18 plasmid consist of an origin of DNA replication, pBR322 derived ampicillin resistance gene, and a lacZ gene of E.coli [2]. The lacZ gene is part of something called the lac operon [1]. The lac operon in essence consists of the lacZ, lacY, and lacA genes [1]. The combination of the three genes allows the cell to utilize lactose [1]. When sufficient quantity of lactose is available, the cell is able to utilize the lactose by producing the enzyme beta-galactosidase [2]. pUC18s lacZ gene contains a collection of different restrict ion enzyme recognitions sites [2]. This site within the lacZ gene is called a Multiple Cloning Site (MCS). The MCS of the pUC18 plasmids can be recognized by a number of different enzymes; hence cuts can be made at various different places [2]. In gene cloning experiments, X-gal (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl,-D-galactoside) is used to indicate the presence of the lacZ gene, and hence indicates whether or not a cell is producing the enzyme beta-galactosidase [2][3]. This indication is given by a blue coloration of the colonies growing on a medium containing X-gal [2]. Beta-galactosidase cleaves X-gal into D-galactoside and 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indole [3]. The actual presence of 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indole is what causes the colonies to true blue [3]. The pKan plasmid contains the kanamycin resistance gene. In this experiment the kanamycin resistance of the pKan plasmid will be cloned into the MCS of the pUC18 plasmid [2]. This new recombinant DNA will then be transformed into an E.coli strain DH5ÃŽÂ ± host cell [2]. A brief overview of the isolation, cloning and transformation processes are given above [2]. This process in the end will yield an E. coli strain that is resistance to both ampicillin and kanamycin [2]. As mentioned earlier, the multiple cloning sites (MCS) of the pUC18 plasmid is located with its lacZ gene [2]. This means that when the kanamycin resistance gene is inserted into the multiple cloning sites, the lacZ gene is disturbed [2]. This alters the production of beta-galactosidase [2]. Hence the E.coli cells are not able to utilize X-gal on a growth media, producing white colonies instead of blue [2]. The presence of white colonies can be used as an indication for insertion of the kanamycin gene in pUC18 plasm id [2]. A kanamycin/ampicillin selective media can also be used to make sure that the pUC18 plasmid has the kanamycin gene inserted into it [2]. In summary the main objectives of this experiment is to clone a kanamycin gene into the MCS of a pUC18 plasmid, and then to transforms a cell with the plasmids. The hypothesis is that a kanamycin resistance gene will be inserted onto the MCS of the pUC18 plasmid, and as a result the cells will be resistant to both antibiotics. Materials and Methods: The following materials and methods are taken from: Hausner, M., Jong, M. (2010). Experiments in Biotechnology (BLG888 ed.). Toronto: Ryerson University. Pg 7-19 Materials: Bacterial plasmids, restriction enzymes, solutions and media used: Overnight cultures of DH5ÃŽÂ ±/ pUC18 and MM294/pKan (5x10mL) were used. DNA solution kit that was used consist of solution 1 (glucose/Tris/EDTA to which lysozymes were added), solution 2 (SDS/NaOH), and solution 3 (KOAc). Enzymes RNAase (5mg/ml) and DNA ligase were used. Isopropanol and ethanol were used. TE buffer used contained 10Mm TRIS and 0.1 mM EDTA. Tris borate buffer that was used contained (TBE)(1X)10.8g Tris, 5.5g Boric acid, 10 mM EDTA, and up to 1000 ml distilled water. DNA loading dye and Ethidium bromide solution were used. The plasmids pUC18 and pKan were used. The restriction enzymes that were used were BamHI (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H.) and HinDIII (isolated from Haemophilus influenza). 5M ammonium acetate was used. Phenol:chloroform:isoamyl was used. 50mM EDTA was used. 5 x ligation and restriction buffers were used. TE buffer that was used contained 10Mm Tris, 0.1 Mm EDTA. Cell culture of E. coli strain DH5ÃŽÂ ± was used. 50 ml of LB broth and 3 sterile saline tubes. 2 LB plates, 8 LB + carbenicillin (carb), and 3 LB + carbenicillin (carb) + kanamycin (kan) plates were used. X-gal solution was used. 1 plate of LB+ kanamycin (kan). Methods: Preparation of the plasmid DNA: pUC18 and pKan plasmid were prepared over a period of three days (three weeks). Two centrifuge tubes with the culture sample were centrifuged for 10 minutes and supernatant discarded. 100Â µl of solution 1 was added followed by 10Â µl of RNase. After 20 minutes solution 2 was added. Five minutes later ice cold solution 3 was added, which was centrifuged 10 minutes later for 10 minutes. 400Â µl of the supernatant was extracted to a clean tube, to which 400Â µl of isopropanol was then added and was left for 30 minutes at -20oC. The DNA sample was then centrifuged and the pellet speed vac. The dry pellet was re-suspended in 20Â µl of TE buffer. A gel was prepared with accordance to steps in the lab manual. The DNA samples were then loaded on to the wells and the electrophoresis apparatus ran. The gel images were taken to see presence of the pUC18 and pKan plasmids. Endonuclease restriction digestion of the plasmids and ligation of the kanamycin fragment to pUC18: Two centrifuge tubes were prepared from 10Â µl of pUC18 and 10Â µl of pKan plasmids. To each tube restriction buffers, restriction enzymes and sterile water were added (refer to the lab manual for details). The prepared tubes were centrifuged and left in a water bath. 5Â µl of EDTA was added to each tube. 100Â µl of TE buffer and Phenol:chloroform:isoamyl were added. The tubes were then pulse centrifuged and top layer remove and transferred to new tubes (A1 and B1). 100Â µl of Phenol:chloroform:isoamyl was added, top layer removed and transferred to new tubes again (A2 and B2). Ammonium acetate and ethanol were added to tubes A2 and B2. The tubes were centrifuged, supernatant discarded, pellet speed vacuumed, and finally re-suspended in TE buffer. Tube C and D were prepared with accordance to the lab manual. The new tubes were then centrifuged and incubated. Transformation of an ampicillin sensitive E.coli Strain: The first five steps to prepare the cell culture of DH5ÃŽÂ ± for transformation were done by the lab staff. Details on the steps can be found in the lab manual. Four centrifuge tubes were prepared. Tube 1 contained uncut DNA plasmids, tube 2 contained DNA sample from tube C, tube 3 contained DNA sample from tube D, and tube 4 contained sterile water. The pre-prepared cells were then added to the tubes and heat shocked. LB broth was added to each tube and incubated for 20 minutes. X gal was spread evenly on the 8 LB+ carb plates. 100Â µl from tubes 1, 2, and 4 were spread on 3 of the LB+carb+X-gal plates. 100Â µl from tube three was then plated on the remaining five LB+carb+X-gal plates. Tube 3 was also plated on to 3 LB+carb+kan plate. A dilution series (using 0.1Â µl from the previous) was prepared from tube 3 using 3 sterile saline tubes. 10 Â µl from dilution 2 and 100 Â µl from dilution 3 were spread plated onto 2 LB plates. Colonies from each plate were counted. Blue and white colonies from tube 3 plates were then streaked on to a LB+Kan plate. Results from the LB+Kan plates were then recorded. Additional details can be found in the lab manual: Hausner, M., Jong, M. (2010). Experiments in Biotechnology (BLG888 ed.). Toronto: Ryerson University Results: Figure 1: 0.7 % agarose gel digest showing the presence of the pUC18 and pKan plasmids. Lane 3 and 2 were used by Abbas and Jamie. The figure above shows the 0.7% agarose gel image showing the presence of pUC18 and pKan plasmids. If banes appeared in the respective lanes, the plasmid samples would be used in the next part of the experiment. The image above shows bands appearing for lane 3 (pKan), but none for lane 2 (pUC18). This indicates the presence of the pKan plasmid but absences of the pUC18 plasmid. Hence due to inadequate results, additional plasmid sample were prepared by the lab staff. In total results from all 14 plates were recorded. Indirect Method: Table 1: Results for colony counts for the indirect (pUC18) selection method on LB+ carb+ X-gal plates Plate 1 Plate 2 Plate 3 Plate 4 Plate 5 Tube 1 TMTC-Blue N/A Tube 2 5-Blue Tube 4 0 Tube 3 40 Blue/ 5 White 55 Blue/ 15 White 79 Blue/ 22 White 65 Blue/ 3 White 54 Blue/ 12 White The results for tube 1, 2, 3, and 4 plated on the 8 LB+ carb+ X-gal plates are shown above. Tube 1 contained an uncut plasmid which explained the high number of colonies for plate 1. Tube 2 contained a cut pUC18 plasmid, which can be explained by only 5 colonies. Tube 4 contained only sterile water; hence zero colonies appeared on the plates. Tube 3 was plated on 5 plates, showing an average of 59 blue colonies and 11 white colonies. Direct Method: No colonies were obtained from the three plates of LB + carb + kan plates. Competent Cell and Percentage Transformation Calculation: The dilution series was prepared from tube 3, as indicated in the materials and methods section. Dilution 2 had a 100 colonies and dilution 3 had 30 colonies. The CFU (colony forming unit) calculations and values are shown below. CFU = (# of colonies) x (dilution factor) / (volume plated) CFU for dilution 2 = 100 x 104/ 0.1 = 10000000 cells/ml CFU for dilution 3 cant be calculated because it doesnt fall between the 30-300 colony limit. Table 2: Percentage transformation of colonies using competent cells (CFU) Plate 1 Plate 2 Plate 3 Plate 4 Plate 5 Average Percentage Transformation For total colonies (%) (45) 0.0045 (70) 0.007 (101) 0.0101 (68) 0.0068 (66) 0.0066 (70) 0.0070 In order to calculate percentage transformation, calculations from CFU are need. Percentage transformation can be calculated using the total colonies (i.e.. plate 1: 40 blue+5 white =45 total). Percentage Transformation = (Transformed cells per ml /competent cells (CFU) )x 100% So for example for the average of 70 total colonies; =0.007% Discussion: As mentioned in the result section the agarose gel image was inadequate. Lane 2 and 3 in figure 1 represent the pUC18 and pKan plasmids respectively. Clear bands were seen for the pKan plasmid however this is not the case for the pUC18 plasmid. In order for the plasmids to show up, they had to be extracted from their respective E. coli strains(pUC18 (DH5ÃŽÂ ±) and pKan (MM294). The presence of bands on the pKan lane proves that there is actual extraction from the cells. The presence of multiple bands could indicate the presence of multiple size plasmids of pKan. The fact that no bands were seen for pUC18 could be as a consequence of inadequate extraction from the E. coli cells (DH5ÃŽÂ ±). Experimental procedural error could have resulted in this. Both strains of microbes would have been genetically engineered to only contain the plasmid of interest; hence the risk of contamination is reduced. The selection methods for the experiments were divided into indirect (pUC18 selection) and direct selection methods. As mentioned in the materials and method section, cells from tube 1 were streaked on to a plate. The cells were transformed with undigested pUC18 plasmids. The colonies were too many to count and were all blue. The high number of colonies could simply occur because of the stable natural of the undigested pUC18 plasmid. The undigested pUC18 plasmids contain an uninterrupted lacZ gene, capable of producing beta-galactosidase. Beta-galactosidase is hence able to utilize X-gal on the plates and produce the large number of blue colonies. Since the cells were carbenicillin resistance (due to the pUC18 plasmids), they were able to grow on the plates. Cells were transformed with digested pUC18 plasmids from tube 2. Cells from tube 2 formed too few colonies (only 5) when compared to tube 1 (TMTC). This is due to the unstable nature of the digested pUC18 plasmids. These plasmids were digested with HinDIII and BamHI, and it possible that not all of them had an opportunity to re-ligate properly. The restriction enzymes could have cut up the lacZ gene or the carbenicillin (ampicillin) gene making it difficult for the plasmid to come back to its original conformation and survive on the X-gal+carb plate. A large majority of the pUC18 could have been cut in to smaller fragments rendering then inactive. Tube 3 initially contained the digested pUC18 and pKan plasmids. Cells were then transformed with the content of this tube. Since the transformation process is not perfect, there is no way to know what plasmid the cell took up. Hence it can be assumed that cells were transformed with either only the pUC18 plasmids, the pUC18 plasmids with the kanamycin gene, pKan and Puc18 or in some case only the pKan plasmid. Five plates were spread plated with these cells and presence of blue and white colonies were noted. As the results indicate a mixture of both blue and white colonies were obtained with an average of about 59 blue colonies and 11 white colonies. Blue colonies would hypothe tically contain cells (plasmids) with an intact lacZ (producing beta-galactosidase) gene justifying the blue color. The white colonies would have there lacZ gene disturbed (not producing beta-galactosidase), because another piece of DNA would have been inserted into the MCS. However the production of white colonies doesnt dictate the insertion of the kanamycin gene into the pUC18 plasmids. It is highly possible that another gene or DNA fragments from the pKan plasmid got inserted in the pUC18 plasmids. Confirmation of this was performed by streaking white colonies onto a kanamycin plate. The fact that no colonies grew, indicated that the kanamycin gene was in fact not inserted. This proves that the results are false positive because white colonies appeared on the X gal plates, but didnt on the kanamycin plates. This means that the white colonies werent transformed with what we wanted. Finally it is noted that when tube 4 was streaked on to a plate, no growth occurred. This seems log ical as the cells in this tube were only transformed with sterile water, which means no plasmids were present. The cells would not have contained plasmids with the carbenicillin resistance gene, and hence did not survive on the carbenicillin plates. The direct method results were recorded from the LB + carb + kan plates. No growth was observed in any of the plate, which proved to be highly contradictory to our hypothesis. Presence of white colonies on the indirect method plates but none on the direct method plates was suprising. White colonies were assumed to have pUC18 plasmids with both kanamycin and carbenicillin resistance genes. Hence its inability to grow on the carb + kan plates was surprising because white colonies grew on the X-gal plates. However as mentioned earlier it could be possible that another fragment of DNA was inserted into MCS besides the kanamycin gene. The fact that white colonies also didnt appear when they were streaked on to a kanamycin plate, ties in with these results. Both direct and indirect methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. Indirect method involves multiple steps and hence in many cases can be time consuming. More plates are involved in the indirect methods, making it difficult to keep track sometimes, also adding to cost. However the indirect method helps to indentify the false positive/false negative results. The indirect selection method helps to make a comparison between the cut and uncut pUC18 plasmids. Comparison of the colonies shows the effect of restriction enzymes of the activity of the pUC18 plasmids. Moreover the indirect method is much more selective. This is because it first shows which colonies have an insertion in the multiple cloning site through the blue/white screening method. Then the plating of these white colonies on to a kanamycin plate helps to confirm that it was a kanamycin resistance gene that was actually inserted (on the MCS). The direct method is very concise involving only one plate, which save b oth time and money. This selection method has no chance of giving false negative/false positive results. The direct selection method selects for cells that have been transformed with pUC18 plasmids, and have a kanamycin resistance gene in their MCS. Since the pUC18 plasmid already has an ampicillin resistance gene (carbenicillin in this case), the insertion of kanamycin resistance gene allows it to survive on a LB+carb+kan plate. A problem comes when the plasmids dont have the necessary gene inserted in their MCS. So in this case for example it could be possible that the plasmid doesnt contain the kanamycin gene so the kanamycin antibody kills it, even though the carbenicillin resistance gene is there. Another technicality comes when a cell transformed contains both pUC18 and pKan at the same time. Because this selection method only selects for cells that have both carbenicillin and kanamycin resistance, it is difficult to tell whether the cell selected has both plasmids (pUC18 and pKan) or only a pUC18 (with the kanamycin gene). Therefore although more time consuming the indirect method is more useful. Some of the experimental errors that occurred could have been due to improper spreading techniques. The process of cell transformation that was used was through heat shock. It could be possible to use other cell transformation technique such as electroporation. In Conclusion it can be said that although the kanamycin gene should have been inserted into the pUC18 plasmid, the results indicate that it wasnt.

Cisco Systems: SWOT Analysis and Marketing Analysis

Cisco Systems: SWOT Analysis and Marketing Analysis Principles of Marketing Abstract This study aims to provide information on key marketing concepts and strategies adopted by Cisco Systems Inc. It critically analyzes Ciscos business strategies and practices by describing and evaluating its market orientation along with the impact of its marketing practices on business thereby providing an overview of its competitive advantage and SWOT analysis. One of the most vital and comprehensive marketing tools Ansoff Product-Growth Matrix has been implemented for Cisco, identifying its potential development, segmentation and diversification tactics. Porters Five Forces framework has also been included to derive five forces that determine competitive intensity and attractiveness of markets. Ciscos B2B and B2C segments are identified in conjunction with the marketing mix of product, price, promotion and place to support its marketing strategies in order to align it with its adopted business model. Introduction Cisco Systems Inc, a networking systems developer and manufacturer, was founded by two computer scientists at Stanford University in 1984. Cisco went public in 1990. Computers on local networks had not been able to communicate easily with computers outside that network, until Cisco introduced its first commercial router in 1986. Geographically dispersed networks of computers using different networking protocols, were able to be linked together by Ciscos multi-protocol router. Cisco quickly emerged a global leader in networking hardware, software and services, expanding to over 40,000 employees along with annual revenues of $23.8 billion by the end of 2000, although the economic downturn affected Ciscos 2001 revenues and compelled Cisco to layoff close to 14% of its employees (Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2001). Cisco Systems, Inc. is the global leader in computer networking for the Internet. Today, networks form an integral part of education, government, business systems and home communications. Cisco hardware, software and service contributions are used to establish the Internet solutions that make complex networks possible, enabling easy access to information anywhere, at any time, by individuals, organizations and countries. Additionally, Cisco has pioneered the utilization of the Internet in its own business practices and provides consulting services based on its experience and expertise to support other organizations around the globe. Since the companys inception, engineers at Cisco have promptly contributed in the innovation of networking technologies based on Internet Protocol (IP). This tradition of IP innovation endures with the evolution of industry-leading products in the core technologies of switching and routing along with advanced technologies in areas like home networking, security, IP telephony, storage area networking, optical networking, and wireless technology. Cisco offers a broad range of services, including technical support and a dvanced services in addition to its products. Cisco markets its services and products, both directly through its channel partners as well as through its own sales force, to service providers, commercial businesses , large enterprises and consumers. Social responsibility and customer focus are the core values on which Cisco operates as an organization (Cisco Systems Inc 2004). Over time, Cisco has proved its ability to successfully capture market transitions. Commencing in 1997 with the certainty that voice and video would all be converged to one, proceeding to the Network of Networks in 2000 and the network becoming the podium for all related web technologies and the base of customer solutions along with the most recent market transition of collaboration and Web 2.0 technologies. At Cisco, product offerings evolve as per market transitions only to best meet customer requirements. Cisco has emerged from Enterprise and Service Provider solutions to recognizing and approaching customer needs in numerous other segments including Small, Consumer and Commercial. To a large degree, the network has evolved to into a platform for providing one transparent and seamless customer experience. A key aspect of Ciscos culture is connecting and collaborating with others to make the world smaller through innovative technology and use it to enhance life experiences. Thats the Human Network a place where everyone is connected. (Cisco n.d.) Market Orientation Jaworski and Kohli (1996) defined market orientation as the organization wide generation of market intelligence pertaining to current and future customer needs, dissemination of the intelligence across departments, and organization-wide responsiveness to it. Customer and Market Focus In recent years, market-driven organizations have begun to evolve as the new industry giants. The market-driven formula for success in todays marketplace is to produce the right product at the right price at the right time (Bill Barrett 2001). The right product is the one that solves the customers problem and delivers the highest value. The right price is what the customer is willing to pay. The right time is when the customer needs the product. Customer needs and priorities are continuously changing. Therefore, an organization must know how customers wants, needs and values emerge over time to be successful. To gain the desired knowledge of the customer, an organization must focus on the current and prospective markets and customers it serves and put the customer first in every aspect of the organization. Marketing-orientated companies focus on customer needs (Jobber 2007: 6). By including the customer in an organizations mission and goals, market-driven organizations make providing value to the customer a top priority. This commitment to the customer is evident in Cisco Systems mission statement: To shape the future of the Internet by creating unprecedented value and opportunity for our customers, employees, investors and ecosystem partners (Cisco n.d.) Ciscos market focus begins with its emphasis on delivering unprecedented value to its customers, as well as other stakeholders, including employees, investors, and environmental partners. Ciscos mission statement is consistent with market-driven perspective of serving the objectives of all the stakeholders (Bill Barrett 2001). We believe Ciscos market orientation emphasizes continuous improvement of the processes since information gathering is one of the main characteristics of a market driven organization. As the market demands and customers requirements change continuously, it is extremely essential for such organizations to gather relevant data in all environmental sectors competitive, political, cultural, economic, technological, human resources and most importantly the consumer. Thus, it can be said that Ciscos orientation is rightly aligned with its mission statement./p> Relationship Strategies The market-driven concept suggests that putting the customer first in all aspects of an organization results in satisfying all stakeholders, which challenges the belief that multiple stakeholders often have conflicting goals. Market-driven organizations use relationship strategies to form partnerships and alliances with stakeholders to create synergy and minimize or eliminate conflicting goals. Cisco Systems has formed strategic alliances with suppliers and customers to deliver a customer-centric, total solutions approach to solving problems, exploiting business opportunity, and creating sustainable competitive advantage for our customers (Bill Barrett 2001). Cisco and its partners recognized that their products and services, combined with those of suppliers and customers, created a total solution that was more valuable than the sum of the individual pieces (Bill Barrett 2001). The most fundamental way in which Cisco views its strategy is around the idea of change, and how change aff ects customers. Essentially, it believes that market transitions that most affect customers define competitive opportunities. Change is recognized as endemic and adaptation considered to be the Darwinian condition for survival (Jobber 2007: 6). Cisco prepares for market transitions by listening to customers and by taking risks, innovating and investing 3-5 years in advance of a major transition in order to capitalize on it before competitors when the transition is realized in the market (Cisco n.d.). Ciscos vision and innovativeness can be clearly seen from the above statements that promote its connoisseurship in computer networks and the recent developments of the Internet. Its ability to anticipate and prepare for such market transitions is the key plot of its customers and its own success. Changing needs present potential market opportunities, which drive the company (Jobber 2007: 6). Cisco makes every effort in its power and scope to work towards its vision by its innovativeness which has provided enormous potential market opportunities. This approach is by far one of the largest contributors to its success in the Silicon Valley amongst its competitors in the industry. It has led to Cisco being one of the big names among industry giants like Microsoft, Apple, Sun Microsystems etc. Elements of Market Orientation Customers guide where we go and we stay ahead of market shifts so that we are ready to help our customers evolve, as their industry evolves (Cisco n.d). The customer centric approach is vital to the product development at Cisco. It signifies the presence of market orientation in the organization with respect to the customers needs and requirements that form the basis of marketing strategies at Cisco. Some of the most influential market orientation elements are strategies based on providing value for customers, rapid response to negative customer satisfaction, immediate acknowledgement to competitive challenges, and speedy detection of changes in customer product preferences (Pelham 2000). Cisco has been concentrating on the consumer markets as part of their marketing strategies. It transitioned itsLinksyssubsidiary into a dedicated consumer business group, formed a consumer-focused council, and made key changes in the way it builds consumer products. This change has accentuated Cisco s efforts in building brand awareness among customers worldwide. Cisco has tried to adopt a unified approach to consumer market since it acquired Linksys, a home networking company. It can be seen as a strategy based on creating value for customers and its focus on the much fragmented home networking segment where Cisco had expansion plans due to its belief in home networking being on the cusp of a major market transition. Cisco Business Strategies Reaching Market Adjacencies through a New Management Model Cisco business strategy for the fiscal year 2009 was to address not less than 30 market adjacencies, and they concentrated mostly in those areas where the networking technology and protocols have not seen widespread adoption (Chambers 2009). Emerging markets like India and China have provided Cisco ample growth opportunities and value for their customers and shareholders. In order to capture these opportunities, Cisco requires to move with speed and thought leadership. To accomplish this, they have a new management model based on Councils and Boards which will collaborate to set a long term direction for their business strategy. The council and board members decisions will help the organization to ensure that the goals are aligned throughout the company (Chambers 2009). Capturing Market Transitions Ciscos success also comes from capitalizing on market transitions before they occur. Their goal is to capture these market transitions faster than their competitors by identifying the technologies which play a crucial role in the future of communications and Information Technology. Acting on this differentiated strategy, they made multiple acquisitions in fiscal 2008 2009 (Chambers 2008) including wireless, unified communications and security technologies. Cisco continues to grow through internal development, acquisitions, their global partnerships, and cross-functional teamwork. One area of their differentiated strategy includes a goal of growing each product category in their advanced technologies to capture $1 billion-plus in annual revenue and the number-one market position (Chambers 2008). Providing customer satisfaction is one of Ciscos core values. Creating sustainable customer partner ­ships is a crucial part of Cisco strategy and provides invaluable insight into market tr ansitions. In addition to their technology, Ciscos knowledge of economic development, education, government, healthcare, national security and public safety issues has increased customer trust in Cisco (Chambers 2008). Being close to their customers is they believe the best way to uncover opportunity for the next market transition, long before it becomes obvious to others. Sustained Differentiation across Customer Segments and Geographies Ciscos strategy is made upon four pillars: To capture customer driven market transitions by identifying, investing and positioning. Constant innovation which is enabled through building, buying or collaborating with their partners. Cisco differentiated market approach with their ability to bind together both their business architectures and the technology. Prioritization of initiatives and cross functional teamwork that drive execution across customer segments, products, geographic theaters and value added services. Ciscos differentiated strategy has evolved based on their customer requirements to create sustainable differentiation in the industry and better serving of the needs of all their customers (Chambers 2007). Cisco is continuing to expand their services, product offerings and distribution capabilities to the strategic market. Small and medium sized businesses are increasingly taking on networking technology as they realize efficiencies from their investments in Ciscos products. With the use of efficient networking hardware and software products, SMEs have discovered new ways to work effectively and efficiently (Chambers 2007). From a geographic perspective, Cisco was pleased with the strong and balanced performance they achieved in their four largest theaters. These include European Markets, United States and Canada, Emerging Markets and Asia Pacific. Perhaps Ciscos greatest geographic success of fiscal 2007 was their Emerging Markets Theater, where their revenue grew by 39 percent on a yearly basis (Chambers 2007). Cisco believes that its business processes and collaborative approach to their emerging markets sector have significantly contributed to its growth. Cisco Channel Strategy Cisco is partnering with best in class providers to ensure that their customers receive the highest standard of support and the solutions for its products (Cisco 2009). They consider their partners as an extension of Cisco and their partnerships are truly based on long term commitments and mutual benefits. Cisco is creating market growth through their direct investments, in conjunction with the investment in partnerships which allows them to expand their knowledge, visibility and experience in new technologies. Ciscos strategy is to actively invest in all the major technology segments on a global basis. As with acquisitions, all the investment targets are thoroughly examined and analyzed for both their business and technology. Below are the Cisco acquisitions for the fiscal year 2009 (Cisco 2009). Set-Top Box Business of DVN (Holdings) Ltd.-November 2, 2009 DVN has major operations in China and they are the market leader in digital cable solutions. DVN shares Ciscos vision of performance, scalable and services-rich cable interactive platform extending into every home.Market opportunity for Cisco with this acquisition is cabling solutions. ScanSafe, Inc.-October 27, 2009 The company ScanSafe is a market leader of software services and they provide web security solutions for global enterprises as well as small businesses. By this acquisition Cisco can lead as provider of on-premise content security and their market opportunity from this acquisition turns out to be network security. Starent Networks, Corp.-October 13, 2009 Starent Networks is a leading supplier of IP based mobile infrastructure solutions, targeting mobile and converged carriers. According to Cisco there is an active investment in this market by the service provider, since the global mobile data traffic is expected to double every year. The market opportunity for Cisco with this acquisition is mobility. Tandberg-October 1, 2009 Tandberg is a global leader in video communications. They have a broad range of world class video endpoint and network infrastructure solutions. So with this acquisition, Cisco will expand its collaboration to offer more solutions to a number of customers further accelerating market adoption globally. Tidal Software, Inc.-April 9, 2009 Tidal Software is the creator of intelligent application management and automation solutions. This acquisition will advance Ciscos data center strategy by enhancing product and service delivery offerings. Pure Digital Technologies Inc.-March 19, 2009 Pure Digital, are creators of the best-selling Flip Video brand. They are pioneers in developing consumer friendly video solutions and with this acquisition Cisco can expand in the media enabled home solutions segment and capture the consumer market transition to visual networking (Hooper 2009). Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence, Inc.-January 27, 2009 Richards-Zeta Building Intelligence Inc, they are leading provider of intelligent middleware technology that enables businesses to integrate building infrastructure and information technology (IT) applications over a common Internet Protocol (IP) network, resulting in improved efficiencies, greater energy savings and a reduced carbon footprint. Ciscos market opportunity with this acquisition is physical network security. The Next Market Segmentation for Cisco Cisco has been targeting towards getting a two digit sales growth from the telecommunication sector for the year 2009. Cisco is a market leader in the telecommunication sector and they are very optimistic to realize the target. For Cisco, telecommunication sector is one of the massive market segmentations for their products, especially in the IP technology. Cisco launches 2 to 3 solutions periodically for their technology which consists of updates or some added features as extensions of their current products (Yulyanto 2009). Cisco Key Success Factor After only a few years of its foundation, Cisco became a powerhouse in network technology. It was largely unfamiliar to the average consumer until the dot-com explosion, which resulted in a large customer base, such that it became worthwhile to reach potential decision-makers in a variety of ways. The arrival of the Internet as a ubiquitous part of our lives meant that increasing numbers of small businesses and average consumers rapidly became a part of Ciscos customer base. Both market segments contribute to the addition of extra computers, whether for new employees or for family members who want to surf the web simultaneously, which has driven the demand for simpler networking products that even a non-techie can set up. In fact, sales to small and medium businesses accounted for approximately 20 to 30 percent of Ciscos US$ 18.878 billion in revenue that ended in July 2003 (Cook 2004). While the late 1990s and early 2000s saw an explosion in large computer networks as companies upgr aded their infrastructures or simply set them up for the first time, the next several years likely saw a huge jump in small networks, thanks to the ability of Wi-Fi to share a single broadband connection with several computers without the need to drill holes or run Ethernet cables (Cook 2004). The Impact, Positive and Negative, of the Organizations Marketing Mix Marketing Mix Marketing mix is defined as the tactical tools that the marketers use to implement their strategies mixing the controllableelementsof aproducts marketing plan which arecommonly termed as 4Ps: product,price, place and promotion (Kotler 2008: 202). These elements are adjusted until a balanced proportionis found thatservestheneedsof the customerswhile generatingoptimumincome. Product Product can be defined as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas (Kotler et al. 2008: 539). Ciscooffers a wide range ofproductsand networking solutions designed for enterprises and small businesses across a variety of industries. They are also addressing their customer requirements in many other segments including commercial and small business. The network has become a platform for providing a transparent customer experience (Insight 2009). Managing the Product Mix Positioning and Repositioning A well planned and executed brand repositioning helps Cisco to increase their brand value along with sales. Cisco is very closely aligned with their corporate strategy, regular investments in their brand positioning or repositioning to always renew the brand significance and maintain its connection with their customers. By brand positioning Cisco has gained enormous benefits as shown below: Brand Measure The branding campaigns conducted by Cisco have lifted its brand equity and helped it to gain shares and grow sales. This has also helped them to strengthen their overall brand recognition and exceed the averages on core brand measures. After the campaign launch, Cisco has been positioned into the security space by lifting their IT security brand consideration by 54% among their tech audience in six months (Slideshare 2008). Ciscos success brand repositioning depends upon their close alignment with their overall corporate strategy which includes product positioning, channel/alliance strategy and acquisitions (Slideshare 2008). Market Share Cisco has strengthened its dominant share in the core market by 72% in switching and 80% in routers. It has also expanded their share in the new products by 6% in messaging applications, 41% in web conferencing and 21% in the video conferencing segments respectively (Slideshare 2008).The market share has been increased for the entire r ange of Cisco security products including their firewall applications, VPN and for secure routers. Jobber (2007: 405) explains Product Strategy as: The emphasis on product portfolio analysis is managing an existing set of products in such a way as to maximize their strengths. But companies also need to look to new products and markets for future growth. A useful way of looking at growth opportunities is the Ansoff Matrix. Cisco Ansoff Analysis Market Penetration Market penetration is the fundamental method of a growth strategy in which the business focuses on selling current products into existing markets. It maintains or increases the market share of current products, restructures mature markets by driving out competition and increases the usage by existing customers (Tutor2u 2009). Acquiring competitors may be one of the major ways of gaining market penetration. It may also be achieved by more aggressive ways of promotional campaigns, supporting it with a competitive pricing strategy and dedicate more resources to selling products. Cisco is known for its innovative products and introduction of those products into the market before its competitors that helps in generating mature markets. Its products like Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Network Analysis Module, Cisco 7600 Series routers, Cisco Catalyst 6500 Series Firewall Services Module and many other products have already captured the market (Cisco 2009). It is increasing the market share and customer loyalty through social networking sites, blogs and public interviews. Its main strategy to penetrate the existing market is through acquisitions. It acquired Audium Corporation in June 2006 that gives it opportunity to penetrate into the IP enabled voice telephony market, Cognio, Inc in September 2007 through which it entered into wireless networking, Nuova Systems, Inc in April 2008 that gives it chance to enter into data centers and ScanSafe, Inc in October 2009 that helped Cisco to capture the network security market (Cisco Systems 2009). Market Development Market development can be essentially termed as a growth strategy where the business aims to sell its current products into new markets. Such a strategy can be achieved by venturing into new geographical markets, new product dimensions and new distribution channels. Alternatively, different pricing strategies can be adopted to attract customers and create new market segments (Tutor2u 2009). Cisco recognizes the common strings that exist between sales, engineering, security and marketing groups. Once the main links are identified by its RD Team, it tries to build a suitable interface between the groups which contributes to the companys market development. Develop, Partner or Acquire is the 3 Tier strategy followed by Cisco. It teams up with industrys major companies and then provides persuasive offers to the customers. WirelessLANs, content networking,storage networking, voice over IP and Metro IP includingoptical networking are the extended product dimensions for market development ( Cisco 2001). In addition to this, Cisco is attempting to establish its marketing presence in other potential geographical locations like China, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan etc. Product Development Product development can be defined as a strategy where a business seeks to introduce new products into current markets. It requires the development of new competencies and new products which may appeal to the customers (Tutor2u 2009). Existing product lines may be extended to provide existing customers with greater choice. Cisco sets vision and then makes its strategies to achieve its targeted goals. Its strong RD capitalizes the current market situation and then provides customized business solutions according to customer needs and further plans for new products. Cisco has identified four key requirements to increase acceptance in the business world: security, availability, quality of service, and reliability (Payataqool 2009). Diversification Diversification is the advancement strategy where a business introduces new products in new markets (Tutor2u 2009). This strategy involves high risk since the business targets markets where it has no or very little experience. Cisco has started its diversification in the emerging countries that extend from Russia to the Eastern Europe and Middle East that will also include Africa and Latin America. Industries in developing countries still use limited technology despite of having concentrated wealth, less government transparency and the customers willingness to use the most advanced and high tech products and services. The company not only targets to supply advanced networking equipment but also focuses on the target countrys revolution. Cisco has successfully initiated transformation projects in Chile, Turkey and South Africa as part of its diversification strategy (Deign 2009). Managing product over time Product Life Cycle With the dynamic state of todays economy, an organizational change should not only adapt to the current climate, but it must also encourage growth (Wrage 2009). Cisco has followed this by moving from a traditional silicon based organization to a lifecycle business model. These changes are challenging for Cisco since they have more than 60,000 plus employees supported by their 46 data centers worldwide. This new life cycle consists of six separate stages: In the prepare phase it determines the business case and the project requirements. Plan phase develops the detailed project plan describing the resources and responsibilities. In the design phase it details the alignment of business goals and the technical needs. Implement phase delivers the new capabilities with the integrations. Operate phase monitors and reviews the implementations. Lastly, the Optimize phase has a continuous improvement activity of the existing processes (Wrage 2009). So with these steps in place, Cisco has start ed progressing into an organization that is best suited for the service-oriented network infrastructure organization making the cost savings and efficiency a reality (Wrage 2009). Promotion Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the products and persuade the target customers to buy it (Kotler 1999). Promotion is one of the factors which influence the buying behavior of the customer. It helps to inform people about the product and its usage. Cisco is using many means of introducing their products in global markets. They use advertising as the main tool to introduce new products and to connect with potential customers. They advertise their new products and services through public relationship, direct marketing, internet and online promotions. Cisco also uses the social media channels such as networking and blogs as a tool to promote and to extend their products to the larger audience. Cisco follows the following elements for their promotion strategy: Direct Marketing As stated by Peter Drucker (2009), Marketing is not a function; it is the whole business seen from the customers point of view. Direct marketing captures the customers by avoiding intermediaries. Cisco uses various methods to promote their product such as direct mail, telephone, telemarketing, e-marketing and other tools to directly communicate with the customers. Cisco conducts various direct marketing campaigns such as online shopping, cable television infomercials, which helps them in getting the direct response from their target audience and also to meet their demand generation goals. Advertising Advertisement can be defined as Any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor (Armstrong, Kotler 2009:383). Cisco can be grouped under the product oriented advertiser category, which highlights product features, their services and price through various advertising channels as internet, magazines, television and by e-marketing. AIDA Model AIDA is a model generally adopted by the sellers to stimulate the purchase decision of the customers. Attention The element attention, describes the stage where the brand manages to obtain customer attention, informing the customers about the product. This could be either a positive or a negative attention. The next step is to build a relationship with customers by means of advertising which is a prominent tool in the marketing mix. The product is then launched in order to encourage the customer decision of buying the product. Interest In this stage, it generates the confidence in the buyers about the products that company plans to promote. The seller then explains how this product will meet the customers requirements. Cisco as a brand has interested its customers and built the confidence in the buyer about their product interests the customers. Desire In this stage the seller inspires the customer towards the product and then relates the products to their needs. Here, advertising strategies are best suited. Since customers have the choice of choosing their configuration, it stimulat es the desire to purchase the product. Action This phase deals with persuading the consumers to buy the product and explain them the immediate benefits of the product. Advertising and direct ma Art Therapy: Benefits and Applications Art Therapy: Benefits and Applications Psychology and art therapy might have been in use to heal from thousands of years, for instance, in the 7th century Vaghabhatta in his Ashtanga Hridaya narrates as â€Å"Obeisance be, to that unique, unparalleled, rare physician who has destroyed, without any residue, the diseases like lust, anger, greed, arrogance, jealousy, hatred, fear and many such bad emotions† hinting on psychological treatments and awareness that were existing. Concurrently almost at the same period, The Chitrasutra of the Vishnudharmottara Purana, in his discourse on Indian painting details on various schools, techniques and ideals, significantly, he prescribes art is a form of emotional communication and a healing process. He says: Painting cleanses the mind and curbs anxiety, augments future good, causes the greatest delight, kills the evils of bad dreams and pleases the household deity (Kalmanowitz, Potash, Chan, 2012: 192). These ancient scholars, though have specified these therapies did not expl icate the details as the fields were out of the scope of their literature purview; however, they have left behind remarkable evidence on these therapies. Therefore, it is apparent that Indians worked with the awareness of art’s therapeutic benefits, which can be adverted to as an established concept of art therapy. Kramrisch proclaims that Chitrakara often admits that the knowledge of Vishnudharmothara is a mere transference of the knowledge he pursued from Indian lineage repeated and compiled from older sources [does not mention whether the older source was in the form of text/ verbatim/ training. Nevertheless, it shows the theory was pre-existing prior to the 7th century] (Kramrisch. S 1928: 4). A substantial research remains open for any further literature review and literature search for more details on these supposedly lost therapies. Clinical interventions hinder the healing process, especially in children on the contrary, adapting non-verbal method, e.g., ‘art’ is considerably accommodating. In need of psychologists providing fair and non-verbal communication to assess children The Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT; Bracken McCallum, 1998a) was developed to help multi-cultural and multi-lingual populations and children who have sensory limitations, learning disabilities, psychiatric conditions, and various language-impairing neurological disorders (Reynolds, R. C. Kamphaus, W. R. 2003: 254). Further regarding psychotherapy techniques it is also mentioned that â€Å"all these methods have a number of fundamental limitations† (p. 15). The atmosphere is utmost important for children. Art studio is more welcoming and enables children to believe that they can carry through something over there, while the clinical environment is fearful and fretful (Councill T., 2003, 208). Staricoff in her exhaustive research review[1] (Arts in Health: A review of the medical literature cites nearly 400 papers showing the beneficial impact of the arts on a wide range of health outcomes) summarizes her findings as commitments with local artists and museums can show a significant improvement in medical students. Foreword by Peter Hewitt acknowledges that Artists are well aware regarding the positive impact and benefits of their works in healthcare centers. Art of medicine can be enriched with responsiveness, consciousness, and thoughtfulness by combining art based activity in medical students[2]. Visualizing the art works can improve observation and understanding skills of students during medical training[3]. Art making, aesthetic improvements and installations can be worthwhile during treatment as they reduce the anxiety, provides a positive response to the treatment and speeds up the recovery, thereby reducing a prolonged treatment and increased expenses[4]. All these research reports show that art directly benefits the patient, staff, medical students and families. Art is vital for effective medical training and treatment. Neuroscience has shown amazing advancements using art that does not rely on theoretical explanations or interpretation, e.g., fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) observes direct variations in the brain’s network during visualization[5]. Observing or producing visual art reduces the distress by opting positive distraction from negative feelings and thoughts thereby promoting health benefits[6]. Many scientists explore the use of art; such scientists illustrate and publish more advanced, highly cited research than the average scientists who are not involved in visual arts[7]. Hence, art making not only plays its role in healing but also places itself in the intellectual science camp. This article is intended not to go against art psychotherapy or psychotherapy, but unfortunately, though we have copious evidence on the direct benefits of art, art therapy display predilection towards psychotherapeutic benefits. The concern is in the present situation of art therapy, where art is observed as parasitic on psychotherapy since it believes nothing can be achieved without verbal communication. On taking the risk of compromising with psychotherapy, this article questions whether we have lost the concept of â€Å"Art as therapy†? Have we sacrificed the essential values, viewpoints and integrity of art in the process of reconciling art and psychology? Is it a sacrifice made merely to get recognized as a scientific field? The benefits of art have been discussed throughout the art history, philosophy, psychology, and anthropology literatures. In Dissanayake’s point of view the relationship between evolution and art is assessed sometimes as crucial to survive by making special. Culturally primitives use to pass on the morals and information. Psychologically, they use to relieve from the anxieties of uncertain life (Dissanayake 1992a as cited in Kaplan 2000: 59). Kaplan argues that by enabling language development, creativity, problem solving skills, self-esteem, and mental reparation visual art can support our well-being (Kaplan, Frances, 2000, 62). Art therapy Art therapy has emerged as a prevalent therapeutic module and has a long history of several decades. Art is a powerful tool in communication that can be used to understand emotions, stress and in-built complexities of people. The ability to reduce anxiety, resolve life’s struggle and enhance life without any age bar has elevated art into the realm of therapeutic forms, be it spiritual healing, medications, play therapy, neuroscience, etc. (Malchiodi, 2003, ix), getting involved with the practice of art making improves observation, hand and eye coordination, perception and brings in relaxation and reparation, overall well-being is observed due to the art’s nature of self-soothing (Malchiodi, 2003, 353). In art as therapy it becomes difficult to provide dynamic therapeutic benefits as the client needs to have a rudimentary skill of making art (Nucho 2003: 14), similarly, clients without rudimentary skills of art making may face difficulty in producing their mental discrepancies in art psychotherapy (Nucho 2003: 14), and nothing happens without discourse (needs reference). A further related problem of the art psychotherapy approach is that art work and observations are linked to comfortable explanations made by clients, these descriptions, nevertheless man stem from ignorance, insecurity, uncertainty, cover ups and disparity that a client might possess or poses. Miller without seeing any progress in mentally ill adults from insight-oriented art psychotherapy engaged them in loosely structured art activity which was more satisfying and rehabilitative (Kaplan 2000: 99). This means that in art psychotherapy the evidence supporting empirical research processes, adds little to what can be described, is difficult to disprove and often involves a circular explanation of the relation between art and psychotherapy. Such explanations are of little value, because they fail to enlarge upon what is already known and established in psychotherapy and keeps one in confusion regarding what art can provide more than the benefits of retrieving images for clinical psychol ogy purpose. Not necessarily by means of art psychotherapy, but treatment would any way happen through psychotherapy counselling, as art psychotherapy strongly believes in discourse and its attributes, which leads one to question the subsistence of art psychotherapy concept. Science fails to analyze why a person has depicted a certain image when the circumstance of action and depictions controls the mood and brings out false positive response from the client. Human beings are tuned to oppose the personality analysis whenever they feel discomfort, they refuse to open up or select to feed negatively. Rather than depicting the primary mood disorder, they prefer to depict unaccomplished desires, hoping for mercy and/or fulfillment. This leads to wrong assertion. Crazy artists and suiciding psychologists It appears to be too simple to say that art as therapy is therapy by itself, a self-healing process, or an auto reparative tool. Often the concept strikes to get to its point. For e.g., Regarding addiction and art, the disgraceful act of being addicted can be resolved by involving in art activities (Santora P. B., Dowell, M. L., Henningfield E (Ed), 2010, 6) these, points get blurred as we question what about those crazy drug addict artists who could not cure themselves in the procedure of creating artwork? Does art have self-healing capacities? Can a common man win through art where world renowned artists failed? These questions may make us turn back to psychology, but Tori DeAngelis[8] says â€Å"several studies support the idea that psychologists may have an elevated risk for suicidal ideation and behavior compared to general population†. An astonishing percentage as high as 40 to 60 percent of psychologists faced disruption due to work load, anxiety and depression was reported by A 2009 APA survey, such instances affect clients and psychologists are insufficiently prepared to deal with distressed colleagues comes as a blow in the discipline of psychology. J. S. MAUSNER and R. C. STEPPACHER[9], conducted a study, where weirdly a doubtful, anxious and unsuccessful career were major reasons of psychologists committing suicide. Later, the initial impact of being unsuccessful many people starts planning to die and psychologists are not left behind. Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach (1884–1922), whose ink blot test is prominently popular could not wait to see his work propel, with all the drawback of financial blockage, he reduced his inkblot prints to 10 numbers, the failure of his publication made him to die committing suicide. (Schultz, P, D, Schultz, E, S, 2005: 19). Likewise, we have witnessed Suicides of noted psychologists Michael J. Mahoney, PhD, in 2006, and Lawrence Kohlberg, PhD, in 1987. Reference As an example of addiction Freud encouraged cocaine and he himself was a cocaine user, his biographer Ernst Jones says Freud use to smoke up to twenty cigars a day in the process he developed cancer and begged his physicians to down him[10]. Further, what about the psychologists who suicide one after the other†¦. Why couldn’t they heal themselves as similar to artists who were not cured by their art at all? Did those artists with the process of art, live long being addicted rather than committing suicide? Art definitely has something to present at least the urge to live. Dr Staricoff quotes Swedish research showing that â€Å"engagement with the arts is associated with longer life expectancy† (Staricoff, 2004, 2). What art can afford us and what we can obtain will remain unrevealed till we get pitched to this marvelous concept of art. Reward processing makes a specific contribution to the neural processing of visual art, that artistic status alone is enough to instantiate reward processing, and that the brain thus responds to art for art’s sake[11]. The art instinct therefore has been eternally planted in the heart of man. Art provokes happiness when one lives merrily, and when one is in pain, yet it provokes the happiness by removing the deep rooted grief of the soul, hence it is impossible to destroy the art and appreciation that is imbibed in a man (Davar F. C., 1935, 2). Without readiness, and self-preparedness any therapy would fail in producing beneficial results. What seems most important to remember is that the art made in therapy is not only a source of information for the therapist; it is also a mirror for the youngster, as Edith Kramer once wrote, â€Å"Paintings are valuable not so much because they can tell the adult something about the child, but also because the very act of creating helps the child to learn something new about himself. This process of self-discovery and self-acceptance through art is the core of art therapy† (Rubin, 2005, 120). Unclear and blur mental images become clear and meaningful during art therapy course (Rubin, 2005, 153) and this brain game is not possible, without client’s willingness and enthusiasm which is raised by the foreseen pleasure of creating art itself. All these creative people and psychologists were all aware of their situations, an artist who is addicted need to divert his art activity into other courses of artwork; a psychologist with problems need to confer with other therapists. It was like a story of a fish which decided to lie in the same pond without caring for its spirit, though picked back, time and again, it got back to the same pond where there was no enough oxygen, it was the problem of that fish which cannot be generalized with all those fishes in the sea. [1] Arts in health: a review of the medical literature- www.artscouncil.org.uk [2] Jo Marie Reilly; Jeffrey Ring; Linda Duke. Visual Thinking Strategies: A New Role for Art in Medical Education, Fam Med 2005; 37(4): 250-2. [3] Jasani SK, Saks NS. Utilizing visual art to enhance the clinical observation skills of medical students. Med Teach. 2013 Jul;35(7):e1327-31. [4] Studies show that incorporating the arts can save money, improve the patient experience and do a lot more. http://www.ucira.ucsb.edu/why-we-need-the-arts-in-medicine/ [5] Edward A. Vesse, G. Gabrielle Starr, and Nava Rubin, Art reaches within: aesthetic experience, the self and the default mode network, Front Neurosci. 2013; 7: 258. [6] Lankston., Cusack., Fremantle., Isles, Visual art in hospitals: case studies and review of the evidence, J R Soc Med. Dec 1, 2010; 103(12): 490-499 [7] Daniel Gurnon, Julian Voss-Andreae, and Jacob Stanley, Integrating Art and Science in Undergraduate Education, PLoS Biol. Feb 2013; 11(2): e1001491. [8] DeAngelis, Tori 2011: 19 [9] J. S. Mausner and R. C. Steppacher, Suicide in professionals: A study of male and female psychologists, http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/6/436 [10] http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/tp/facts-about-freud.htm [11] Simon Lacey., Henrik Hagtvedt., Vanessa M. Patrick., Amy Anderson., Randall Stilla., Gopikrishna Deshpande., Xiaoping Hu., Joà £o R. Sato., Srinivas Reddy., and K. Sathian. Art for reward’s sake: Visual art recruits the ventral striatum. Neuroimage. Mar 1, 2011; 55(1): 420–433.

Easements: Solar Access Protection Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow :: Essays Papers

Easements: Solar Access Protection Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow At tropical latitudes the sun is directly overhead the majority of the time, therefore, solar access is guaranteed without regulation. However, in the United States, solar access is influenced by many factors including; latitude, time of day, season, and angle of the sun. Furthermore, shade and shadows due to vegetation and structure greatly diminish the productive capacity of solar collection. Unfortunately, the right to unhindered solar access does not accompany land ownership rights in the United States. Federal and state governments encourage uses of alternative energy sources by appropriating funds for research and development of alternative energy technologies and through tax credits. Laws and/or regulations that guarantee landowner rights to solar access are critical for continued application of solar collection. Many states have introduced legislation to protect solar access rights, in effect removing barriers for solar energy utilization. Without legal safeguards, tim e and monetary investments in solar collection are fruitless and unwise. Although protected in ancient Greece, it was not until the 1970s and the OPEC oil embargo that U.S. courts and lawmakers began to create legal protection for landowners right to solar access. Consequently, twenty-four states enacted legislation to protect solar access, largely by recognizing the validity of solar access easements (Bradbrook 1988). This paper will attempt to explain easements and their historical context in terms of solar access rights. Additionally, we will explore the future of solar access regulation and law in terms of what needs to be done to create successful legislation that guarantees solar access for all. Balancing is a key aspect of legal challenges to solar access. This term refers to the balance between the rights of one landowner to use the sun as a source of energy versus the rights of neighboring landowners to fully exercise their private property rights including economic gain as a result of using their land (Charter 1983). Easements are collectively viewed as a mechanism of solar access protection that successfully weighs political, economic and legal concerns (Beaumont and Imperati1984). Easements can be complex especially when dealing with property rights. To simplify our discussion we will consider easements to be a property right transfer, agreed upon in a written covenant that guarantees one landowner a limited right to access a benefit from another’s land.

Great Gatsby :: essays papers

Great Gatsby The great gatsby and the fall of the american dream. The book 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald was an 'icon of its time.' The book discusses topics that were important, controversial and interesting back in 1920's America. The novel is 'an exploration of the American Dream as it exists in a corrupt period of history.' The main themes in the book are the decay of morals and values and the frustration of a 'modern' society. The Great Gatsby describes the decay of the American Dream and the want for money and materialism. This novel also describes the gap between the rich and the poor (Gatsby and the Wilsons, West Egg and the Valley of the Ashes) by comparing the differences between the Western United States (traditional western culture) and the Eastern United States (money obsessed values). On a smaller scale this could be seen as the difference between the West Egg (the 'new, money) and the East egg (the 'old' money). The 1920's were a time of corruption and the degradation of moral values for the United States and many other countries. World War One had just ended and people were reveling in the materialism that came with the end of it, new mass produced commodities such as motor cars and radios were filling people's driveways and houses, money was more accessible (before the Great Depression). Cars were becoming a social symbol in the 1920s as we can see with Gatsby's five cars, one of which he gives to Nick and one of which kills Myrtle Wilson later on in the novel. Herbert Hoover (an American President) said in 1925 "We will root out poverty and put two cars in every garage." The parties that Gatsby held every week in the summer were a symbol of the carelessness of the time. Gatsby would hide in the house while the 'guests', most of whom were not even invited, would party, eat and drink until the early hours of the morning without even meeting the guest or even knowing who he was. People would turn up just to be seen or reported in the local newspapers "In his blue garden people came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne." This shows the carelessness of the guests. Another quote about the parties refers to the way the guests devour the endless supply of food and never give a thought as to who gave it to them. "Every Friday five crates of oranges and Lemons arrived from a fruiterer In New York- Every Monday these same oranges

Foundation :: essays research papers

Foundation I believe that all children should have a strong foundation in Ethnicity because ethnicity plays a role in everyone’s life. You can’t avoid ethnicity, no matter where you go. Ethnicity is not just race, but religious beliefs and other ways of life too. That is why I believe that you can’t avoid it. Children should be introduced to this foundation early in life because the earlier they learn, the more accepting of it they’ll be. Also, by learning about ethnicity at an early age, children can create their own perspective on life as they grow older. Also, children can learn what is important to other people. If they know about the way this person lives and feels, they will be closer to that person. Ethnicity is something we take for granted too often. If you ask people what ethnicity is in their minds, they’ll say Italians, Hispanics, Germans and so forth. Yes, this is true, this is part of ethnicity, but people in the same groups(i.e. Italians) donâ⠂¬â„¢t all view a subject in similar way. Often, they have different views. To educate a child in this foundation is very important. Without it, children will view everything as the same, and if that happens, people get angry with you and have ill feelings toward you. Therefore, we must educate children thoroughly in ethnicity so that they will understand life better. The Wizard of Oz- Dorothy leaves Kansas and is taken to a mysterious land. She has to adapt to the lifestyle to survive. The Emperor’s New Clothes- the emperor views the tailors as smart. When he realizes that he’s wearing nothing, he must deal with the people of his kingdom. A Christmas Carol- Scrooge sees how the families of his employees live. He realizes that he is wealthy and should share his money with others. Reading- You can read books about other countries or people. Math- You can play a game using numbers from other languages Science- You can match scientists to the country they come from

Suicide in the Trenches Analysis

Suicide in the Trenches – an analysis What is the meaning of war? What is war like? How do soldiers feel in a war? Glorious? Depressed? This poem accurately shows the harsh but sadly true reality of war – death, suicide and depression. Indeed, as quoted by Sir Williams Henry – â€Å"Nobody in his right mind would enjoy war†. The point of view is third person. This is effective in showing one case of suicide, in third person observation, representing the depression and desire to quickly die in everyone else. Life is really worse than death – and this is shown through the eye-catching title â€Å"Suicide in the Trenches†.The word â€Å"trenches† further emphasized that not only is this depression possessed by one young soldier boy, but also by many others in war. The setting is in depressing, smelly, and stuffy trenches as the title has blatantly stated. The story is about a young soldier boy’s transformation from a happy and inno cent person into a depressed soldier who desires to kill himself, because life is really worse than death. The poet deliberately uses the small boy as an example to gain the reader’s sympathy. The structure of the poem is three stanzas with four lines in each. The rhyme scheme is A-A-B-B in each stanza.This seems to be a rigid structure, but it really does bring out how one’s initial carefree innocence and freedom is being lost once he enters the cruel and depressing battlefield, or in this case, trenches. The tone in the poem is obviously a bitter and sarcastic one as we can see from the last stanza – â€Å"You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye†¦ †. Sassoon strongly feels the general public is unable to empathize with soldiers because there is no way to understand what war is like. Through this bitter and sad poem, the poet tries to bring out the theme of the poem – nobody can understand what war is like without personal experience.The lang uage the poet uses is clever in conveying the theme – a balance of symbolism, diction and alliteration is put to effective use in this poem. Something we cannot miss is the alliteration in the first stanza â€Å"slept soundly†. The repetition of the letter ‘s’ produces a harsh hissing sound, and this contributes to the bitter tone throughout the poem. Also, it puts emphasis on the phrase â€Å"slept soundly†. As we all know, people who can sleep soundly are those who have no worries and nagging troubles before going to bed. This highlights how the boy was so innocent, without any worries at all, at the start of his xperience in war. This is also brought out in â€Å"whistling†, an action done only when one is happy and carefree. The trenches symbolize the rotting function of war in the case of the poem. Throughout the year till winter, the trenches had apparently transformed a carefree, innocent and happy boy into a depressed, boy who â€Å" put a bullet through his brain†. The alliteration of the letter ‘b’ here also further creates a harsh, brute and bitter sound that adds on to the bitter mood, especially at the climax of the story told – the suicide.The clever rhyme of â€Å"brain† with â€Å"again† at line 8 tries to strike a connection that although a young innocent boy was dragged into war and fought violently for his country and himself, in the end, when he is being pushed to his limit, still â€Å"nobody spoke of him again†. This shows how cruel and selfish war is. It forces you to help – at such a young age – but yet does not remember or appreciate what you have done and sacrificed. In this case, the boy sacrificed his childhood fun, laughter, innocence and carefree life in return for nothing at all – not even a memory of him.How is war cruel? This is the perfect example. The diction used in the poem is especially strong. In the last stanza, t he word â€Å"kindling† is being used to describe the â€Å"eye(s)† of the â€Å"smug-faced crowd†. One must notice that this line is only devoted to facial description, and the â€Å"kindling† seems to be also a superficial countenance feature only. However, Siegfried tries to show with a sarcastic tone that they think that war is a glorious thing, they feel proud of these children, and seem to understand and appreciate what they are doing.But in reality, they can never imagine what these children are going through, and in reality, they don’t care or feel appreciative of what the children did. Therefore, the word kindling reveals the hypocrisy behind people who support war. In my personal opinion, the last stanza is the strongest and most impactful stanza. While the previous two stanza show the transformation of a single boy when he enters war, the last stanza directly attacks people who support war itself, at the thought of its glory and honor, b ut not give a thought about the â€Å"pawns† dying and suffering in war. Sneak home and pray you’ll never know† shows that while the hypocrites support war, under the glorious facade, they are not willing or are too afraid to think of the consequences, sacrifice and price of this meaningless war – a big price that separates thousands of families and destroy tens of thousands of children. The poet is just trying to use an extreme and most serious example to illustrate his point. Indeed, war is just so cruel – it takes away, but does not return – not even a single memory for dead people.It totally transform people from their happy and carefree state, into murderers constantly depressed and worried for their lives, yet guilty they killed their own kind. In war where humans are just pawns for a game of chess, nobody will understand how a soldier feels – constantly killing his own kind to defend himself, lacking in sleep, separated, maybe f orever, from their families and friends – unless they undergo war itself. I would like to end off with this quote from the U. S. Military force – â€Å"Nobody would understand a soldier, except for the soldier himself†.Contrastingly the Second Stanza curtails the mood of happiness and innocence, abruptly introducing the horrors of war, using descriptive language such as describing the trenches to be, â€Å"Winter trenches. † It is Sassoon's Juxtaposition in the swing of mood and ultimately the contrast between the characters love of life to his sudden hatred of life, resulting in suicide†¦ â€Å"He put a bullet through his brain† that shows the audience both the thematic idea and Sassoon's criticism of War's destruction of Innocence.

The War of Americans

Over the course of the last half-century the U. S. has enjoyed unprecedented power in every aspect whether it be politically, economically, militarily, or by any other means. In its dominance of world politics since WWII, the U. S. has been able to cast its influence around the globe. However, the U. S. experienced a gradual decline in its sovereignty over the course of this era as well. A prime example was in 1973 when OPEC raised oil prices drastically over the course of the next two years. â€Å"OPEC†s ability to increase at will the world price of its precious product highlighted the industrial world†s dependence on foreign sources of energy. (Keylor, p. 346) Being a sovereign nation requires not being subject to external forces, being able to conduct an independent foreign policy, and being able to control events within your own borders. Today, U. S. sovereignty continues to decline for a number of reasons. The only question is whether it is healthy or harmful for the U. S. to do so. The first reason why U. S. sovereignty is declining is due to what is known as interdependence. This phenomenon developed after WWII with the creation of the UN, GATT, the IMF and other such intergovernmental organizations. All of these served to create linkages between the major nations of the world in the postwar era. Membership in such organizations makes the U. S. subject to international law. Rosecrance†s identification of the trading state signifies the shift away from geopolitical influence and towards a global economy. Both the roles of international trade and foreign investment have increasingly become a greater element of U. S. economic importance. Additionally, the tying together of economies from around the world has lead to an increase in economic warfare. The increased use of economic sanctions and other such measures can be contributed to their perceived effectiveness in obtaining foreign policy goals. The U. S. integration into the world economy leaves it susceptible to the economic decisions of its trading partners and providers of raw materials. Reliance on import and export goods is an essential part of the U. S. economy. This can be seen in every day life. Just think about how much gas prices have increased recently as the result of a few nations restricting their oil supplies in order to raise prices. While the countries responsible for this could all be readily defeated by the U. S. in war, the U. S. is powerless to combat their practices. Aside from its place in the world market, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction also serves to limit the sovereignty of the U. S. First off, new nuclear powers, which would likely include a number of aggressive authoritarian states, will lack the resources to manage the elaborate command and control capabilities required. â€Å"Even if hostile countries somehow catch up in an arms race, their military organizations and cultures are unlikely to catch up in the competence race for management, technology assimilation, and combat command skills. (Betts, p. 29) In addition to proliferation of nuclear weapons, there is also wide concern among U. S. leaders about the spread and development of biological weapons. The rise of religious nationalism and anti-U. S. sentiments in nations such as Iraq give cause for concern to the U. S. that an attack using biological weapons is possible. â€Å"One simple fact should worry Americans more about biological than about nuclear or chemical arms: unlike either of the other two, biological weapons combine maximum destructiveness and easy availability. † (Betts, p. 32) Even more threatening to U. S. sovereignty is the treat of terrorist attack to our nation†s soil. The proliferation of the aforementioned weapons is worrisome to U. S. officials that a horrendous nuclear of biological terrorist attack is feasible. The possibility of such and attack places a serious hindrance on the U. S. ability to protect its citizens within its borders. Conspirators of such an attack could be based within the U. S. or abroad, which makes it increasingly difficult to guard against. Additionally, it is impossible to deter such a course of action. When a nation is attacked, the government behind the attack is readily identified and a counterattack can be undertaken. However, when it is unknown as to who is behind the attack, it makes it impossible to deter it from occurring since â€Å"retaliation requires knowledge of who has launched an attack and the address at which they reside. † (Betts, p. 34) Such concerns have increased since the end of the Cold War as there is widespread doubt surrounding the degree of control Russia used in disposing of their nuclear weapons. The information revolution also poses a serious threat to U. S. overeignty. The increasing opportunities for interaction through technological advances in communications and transportation make information more readily accessible. The strong reliance on the behalf of the U. S. on information infrastructure makes it vulnerable to attack. (Wriston, p. 179) â€Å"The smallest nation, terrorist group, or drug cartel could hire a computer programmer to plant a Trojan horse virus in software, take down a vital network, or cause a missile to misfire†¦ The United States† increasing reliance on massive networks may make it more, not less vulnerable. † (Wriston, p. 80) As with the problem of an armed terrorist attack, it is extremely difficult to determine who is responsible for a break-in of a private, supposedly secure, U. S. government web page. Fortunately, we have not yet witnessed any such form of information warfare; however, imagining the form it might take and protecting against it has become the preoccupation of a presidential commission and numerous task forces. (Wriston, p. 179) Despite the erosion of U. S. sovereignty, it is still by far the most powerful nation in the world today. I for one would welcome the erosion of U. S. overeignty since it furthers interdependence in world politics and serves to perpetuate world peace. The greater the economies of the world are intertwined, the less likely it is that a nation will go to war with another that it is linked to by a web of transnational relationships. It may also be in the best interests of the U. S. to lose some of its sovereignty since the world is moving towards civilizational entities (Western, African, Islamic, etc. ) as identified by Samuel Huntington. (Huntington) If he is correct in his prediction, then the U. S. is better off belonging to one of these civilizations rather than standing alone.