Proposing a Solution on Gas Prices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Proposing a Solution on Gas Prices - Essay Example We are currently in the middle of a similar crisis as the national price of gasoline is currently at $3.86 a gallon (Gasbuddy). Due to the problem Americans must find solutions to save money on gasoline. Issues The use of an automobile has become a social norm that many Americans are finding very hard to give up. An automobile gives a person a sense of freedom and it allows the user to be able to transport long distances in relative short periods of time. The normal driving speed in a highway is about 60 miles per hour. Due to the culture of driving is going to be hard to change the culture of America to give up driving. The cost of gasoline is on the rise. We have already reached very uncomfortable levels and the predictions are the prices are going to continue to rise. By the summer of 2012 the price of crude oil might reach $200 a barrel. The price of gasoline is going to continue to go up in the near future. Problem Statement The rise in the price of gasoline is an imminent threa t and the most likely scenario is that gasoline will continue to steadily increase every month through 2011. A problem statement that summarizes the problem is: Americans need to find long term solutions to reduce their dependency on gasoline. Alternative solutions An alternative solution to the problem could be finding a way to reduce the miles per gallon consumption of your current automobile. When cars are not well tuned their mpg rating can be reduced by 15% to 20%. Giving your car proper maintenance can help improve the efficiency of an automobile. A good tuned-up can do wonders to the mpg rating of a car. A second alternative solution is to lower the consumption of gasoline by changing your consumption patterns. Reducing the driving around and staying home more can help a family reduce their monthly gasoline expenses. Changing patters implies making life changes. A good way to lower the usage of gas is by car pooling to work with other colleagues. If five people get together a nd create a car pool system the five individuals could save about 75% in gasoline expenses related to their daily commute to work. A third alternative solution is to purchase a new energy efficient vehicle commonly referred to as a green car. There are two primary options which are to purchase a hybrid vehicle or to purchase a fully electric vehicle. A hybrid vehicle can give upwards of 40 miles per gallon. A unique model that is capable of greater mpg efficiency is the Chevy Volt. The Chevy volt has different driving modes one of them is capable of giving 230 miles per gallon. Nissan Corporation recently released an electric vehicle called the Nissan Leaf. The Nissan Leaf has a battery capable of driving a 100 miles range at speeds of up to 90 miles per gallon. Optimum solution The optimum solution selected to reduce the dependency Americans have on gasoline is to purchase a green vehicle. The alternative that truly enables a person to eliminate gasoline from their lives is to purc hase an electric vehicle such as the Nissan Leaf. The Nissan Leaf cost $32,780, but after tax savings the car has a net value of $25,280 (Nissanusa). The Leaf is an electric car which implies that if a person only used the Leaf to drive they would spend cero money on gas. Based on the average yearly driving of Americans of 15,000 miles per year at a price of $4 gallon a person could save upwards of $2,500 a year. The best way to implement this solution is to have a secondary car such as an old Nissan Sentra that gives a

Attribution Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Attribution Theory - Essay Example For people to interpret the causes of particular behaviour performed by other individuals, it is necessary for them to observe the behaviour, and attribute external or internal causes to it. Any outside body or agent that triggers or causes the event is an external factor while factors that are within the control of an individual and are a part of his/her personality are the internal factors (Shackleton, 1995). An example of how attribution theory can be applied in our daily lives could be our reaction to, say, having a good social circle. An individual who is a loner and has no friends to talk to will always be found complaining about how the world is so cruel and unjust. This is attributing an external factor to the event. However, a person who is the life of a party and is acquainted with a lot of people will be found claiming that it is so because of his being so attractive and smart. As obvious, this case refers to an internal factor or the factor which is within a person. There are many factors which are related to attribution. The determination of the causes depends on three things (Kelly, 1967). Distinctiveness, the first one, tells whether the person's actions are distinct and different from other situations. The second is consensus, which tells whether other people behave in the same way to the same situation. The third factor is consistency, which finds out whether the individual behaves the same way consistently to the same situation. The theory predicts that whenever there is high distinctiveness, the causes of the behaviour are external and with low distinctiveness, the factors are internal. For consensus, it is an external factor whenever there is a high consensus and an internal factor when the consensus is low. High consistency indicates an internal factor while low consistency depicts an external factor. In fact, when we apply attribution theory, there are two types of errors which can result in distorted attributions. One is the fundamental attribution error and the other is self-serving bias. (1) Fundamental attribution error: It occurs when people overestimate the effects of internal factors while underestimating the effects of external factors when judging the behavior of others (Martinko, 1995.) It is when the actions of people are attributed to their traits and personality rather than the external influence that may have led them to such an action. (2) Self-serving bias: This error, also known as attributional bias, refers to the tendency of individuals to claim responsibility for successes while attributing failures to other causes or factors (Martinko, 1995.) It is just one way of imaging what is pleasing to us rather than the realistic situation. One factor which can be related to this bias is whether there is a reward or punishment proclaimed for certain behavior (Harvey & Smith, 1977). It is suggestd that when we suceed, we tend to overestimate the internal factors which could be our talent and effort and underestimate the external factor which could be the help of others. Yet, if we were failed, we would overestimate the external factors which could be lack of collegue's co-operation, and underestimate the internal factors such as our laziness. This indicates that people would explain the same behavior to events differently if it occurred differently (. Systematic bias: It is a form of self-serving bias and occurs when people generally tend to think that they are better at tasks that are

Natural Zeolite as a Cost-effective Opacifier

Natural Zeolite as a Cost-effective Opacifier Ali Ghafarinazari1, 2 à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ªÃƒ ¯Ã‚ Ã‚ , Esfandiar Amiri1, Mahnaz Karbassi3, Morteza Soroor1, Talieh Rajabloo3 Abstract Zircon as an opacifier material is under the very real risk of being replaced. This is mainly because of two reasons: the anticipated shortage of high-quality grade zircon, and high costs associated with the production of zircon as an opacifier material, which is resulting in upward pressure on zircon prices. This study aimed at assessing the influence natural zeolite as opacifier of on both the technological behavior during processing and the technical performances of ceramic glaze for tile manufacturers. Moreover, preliminary investigations show this category of tiles has potential at antibacterial activity in a cost-effective way. Keywords: Glass-ceramic; Anti-bacterial Tile; Titanates; Zirconia; 1. Introduction The ceramic tile industry is being progressively moving its worldwide production toward new materials with improved aesthetic and technical properties. The availability of these raw materials in the huge amounts required by the tile industry is a problem in many areas, while in other contexts it is the high price to make the tile manufacture disadvantaged in competition with other producers of building materials, whose manufacturing costs are lower. Thus, the ceramic industry is continuously searching for cheap raw materials able to replace the traditional without altering the process and product characteristics [1]. In glaze production, amongst commercial frits, zircon (ZrSiO4) is most conventional opacifier [2]. Nevertheless, these frits are quite expensive and therefore, there have recently been certain attempts to lower the production cost such as optimizing amount of zircon [3], or taking another suitable glass–ceramic glaze systems [4]. Another common opacifier is titania (TiO2). Although refractive indices of titania (2.52 for anatase and 2.76 for rutile [5]) is higher than zirconium oxide (2.17 [1]), but it has technical problems. First is low chemical stability during melting. In addition, rutile, which is stable structure of titania in standard conditions, is the main problem. Because rutile phase, in opposite of anatase, is yellow and leads to increase roughness of surface. Zeolites are high porous and crystalline alumino-silicates with a three-dimensional structure based upon repeated units of silica (SiO4) and alumina (AlO4) tetrahedral [6]. Based on high-temperature phase transformations of natural zeolites [7], possibility of using Iranian natural zeolite as opacifier of tiles are investigated in this study. Zeolites belong to the tectosilicate mineral group and are building up by a framework of corner-sharing. The framework arranges as such to form a microporous structure with large cages (diameters less than 2 nm) connected into channels. They possess special properties, such as ion exchange, molecular sieves, a large surface area, and catalytic activity, which make them a preferable material for tremendous industrial applications in industries such as domestic and commercial water purification, softening, petrochemical industry, biogas industry, heating and refrigeration, detergents, medical, agriculture [8]. Now a days, they are promising for im plementation at ceramic production, such as brick [9], ceramic pigments [10], porcelain and tiles bodies [11] also self-glazing ceramic tiles [12]. The main objective of this study is to use Iranian natural zeolite and develop from this a zeolite opacifier product for glazes, which possesses superior opacifying properties or whiteness values after application on a ceramic body, compared to that of the current zircon, more expensive commercial ceramic or prime grade zircon materials. 2. Experimental Procedure 2.1. Fabrication of Samples In the first part of the experimental study, one single fast-firing opaque tile glaze selected as standard frit (Table 1). The basic Standard frit composition was selected consisting of 6 wt% suspending agent (kaolin), 0.2 wt% deflocculated (sodium tri-poly-phosphate), and 0.1 wt% ligand (Carboxyl Methyl Cellulose, CMC) in an eccentric mill used at selected suspension compositions. At this research, all of materials were of commercial grades (less than 98 wt% purity) from industrial clays. 2.2. Sintering The frit suspensions applied on the surface of tile supports using a regulated glaze applicator for the deposition of raw layers with 0.4 mm thickness. The test specimens were then fired in a roller kiln corresponded to the temperature and rate used industrially to manufacture the product with the support and glaze in question. Heating and cooling rates were about 40  ºC/min and soaking time at 1000  ºC was 3 minutes. 2.3. Characterization of samples The opacity of glaze was evaluated based on a colorimetric analysis using a Minolta CM-2600d spectrophotometer. The results are expressed by the tri-chromatic coordinates: L* means the degree of whiteness, a* indicates the variation between green and red colors, and b* presents the variation between blue and yellow colors, therefore investigation of opacity amount of L* is very important. To better understand the gloss results of the glazes (ÃŽ ²60) was determined by Zehntner ZGM1110 glossiness analyzer. To complement the results, the glazes were characterized micro structurally by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Crystalline phase identification was performed on glazes prepared from ground samples using a X-ray diffractometer (Philips PW 170) operating with (Cu-KÃŽ ± = 1.54056 Ã…, 35 kV, 40 mA) radiation in the range of 10-60 ° 2ÃŽ ¸, using the following settings: 0.1 mm receiving slit, 0.4 s/0.04 ° 2ÃŽ ¸ counting time. FESEM images were taken by Hitachi S-4160. On account of experiments method and results, particularly SEM, we predicted that the new tile has potential for antibacterial activity. The popular method for antibacterial activity is  ½ McFarland. We described in detail this method for antibacterial tile [13]. As briefly speaking, E. coli and S. aureus were deposited on tile slide (5 cm Ãâ€" 5 cm). Each slide was placed in a sterile vial. Tryptone soy broth was then added to each vial. An aliquot (10 ml) of S. aureus or E. coli suspension was added to each vial (1.6 Ãâ€" 103 ml-1) containing the slides. The vials were incubated with agitation at 35  °C, 220 rpm. The bacteriostatic activity was evaluated after 24 h and the percentage of bacteria reduction was calculated using the following equation (1): (1) In which R is the reduction rate, A is the number of bacterial colonies from untreated tiles and B is the number of bacterial colonies from the treated tiles. 3. Results and discussion In order to investigate effect of zeolite in glaze at different chemical conditions, some experiments carried out in the same firing profile. Output of glossiness and spectrophotometer these experiments showed in Table 2. Before going to the results, it is better to remind that depend on type of body, in general acceptable amount of L* for an opaque glaze is 83.24, it is noticed that this reference opaque glaze has 14wt% Zircon. In addition, acceptable amount for glossiness for shiny tile is at least 88 such as standard frit which is perfectly transparent. After checking standard, conventional opacifires, zircon and titania, were added. When 10wt% zircon was added to frit as state of compound, degree of whiteness and covering increased sharply, without significant effect on glossy. Uniformity distribution of unfired zircon powders on standard frit exhibited on Figure 1. Another conventional opacifier, titania, was added in amount of 5 and 10wt% to the standard frit. Outcomes in Table 2 confirm that amounts of whiteness (L*) and covering (a*) is very upper than zircon but yellowish amount (b*) and decreasing of shiny confirm that titania is in rutile crystallographic state. Morphology of titania on glaze is directly depended on crystallographic state. Microstructural studies confirmed that rutile crystals always have had an acicular morphology, however, anatase crystals were observed with cubic and rectangular morphologies [14]. The other stable phase of titanium in glaze is sphene (CaTiSiO5 [15]), which is completely sphere in glaze [4]. Visual effect of sphene and anatase is white, while anatase has benefits such as semiconductor and antibacterial effects. Bou et al. published that in order to improving smoothness and glossiness adding 1-3wt% P2O5, rutile transformed to sphene. The problem of sphene is non-uniform distribution in glass matrix [4], which decrease chemical and mechanical resistant. Based on Figure 2, existence of rutile confirmed. This big crystal leads to roughness of surface and diminishing glossiness to 25. One of interesting results of FESEM of glaze containing titania is elemental distribution on glass-ceramic. In glassy matrix, atomic percentages of fluxes are 0.93, 4.87, 7.01, and 2.36 % for Na, K, Ca, and Zn respectively, but these amounts are 3.46, 5.25, 12.35, and 3.11 %; i.e. around crystalline part flux materials especially sodium and calcium lead to nucleation. And about 3 at% titanium was solved in glass, due to low chemical stability. In order to investigation of effect of natural zeolite in glaze and comparing with other opacifiers, 10wt% natural zeolite supplemented to the standard. Result of XRD shows that the zeolite has crystallinity based on having less amount of background with sharp peaks (Figure 3). The zeolite leads to covering and whitening surface without significant effect on glossy. As it can be seen in Figure 4, there are large amounts of unfired or crystalline materials in glass matrix which is due to existence of zeolite. In contrast, for higher temperature (1100  °C) and time duration (2 h) zeolite acts as a flux [1], but at this condition it acts as a refractory. Although these results (Table 2) were comparable with zircon, we could not achieve a sufficient opaque glaze because of refractive index of zeolite which is about 1.48 – 1.60 [16], and is close to silicate-leadless glasses (1.5 – 1.7) [5]. For sufficient covering with whitening in glaze by zeolite, possibility of using zeolite as a nucleus for titanium oxides was inspected. For this purpose, 3wt% TiO2 and 7wt% zeolite added to the standard. Table 2 confirms that this glaze is an acceptable as an opaque glaze. This glaze has a shiny surface, well covered tile body, high whiteness, and especially low price due to cheap raw materials. To complement the results, FESEM was carried out on these tiles. Figure 5 exhibits rectangular nanoparticles (25-500 nm, 85 nm average) with uniform distribution in glaze. Based on previous lectures, this structure is related to anatase [5]. Owing to EDX analysis, elements distribution on matrix and ceramic generally was the same with previous samples but percentage of Ti in matrix relented to 0.42 (instead of 3 at% in Figure 2). Indeed, natural zeolite is a cheap agent for nucleation of nanocrystalline anatase without side effect on other properties of tiles. One proposed mechanism for this phenomenon from thermodynamic point of view is alumina and silica which leads to stability of anatase [9]. Based upon zeolite is alumino-silica, this reasoning was checked by kaolin, which is a mineral clay contains mainly alumina and silicates. Results of this experiment are illustrated in Table 2 and Figure 6. Kaolin had no effect on phase and morphology of rutile, and it led to increasing of roughness and firing temperature of glaze. In a conclusion ability of natural zeolite in making glass-ceramic by nanoparticles of anatase is unique according to high porosity and crystallinity (Figure 3) structure. Due to the fact that there are anatase nanoparticles in the glaze, it is promising having antibacterial activity [17]. This phenomenon investigated by  ½ McFarland method as wrote in experimental procedure at end of section 2.3. In this case it has been shown achieving stable nanostructural anatase is not enough for antibacterial activity [18]. In fact, anatase must be excited by Ultraviolet illumination. This tile has just about 35% bacteriostatic which is not significant comparison by naked eye and it needs to measure by microscope. This result is very low in comparison with other components which had more than 95% [13]. It would be obvious that titania at glaze initially melted and then solidification carried out in the form of anatase. The increase zeolite anti-bacteria agent is prepared by achieving smaller anatase particles and better distribution which can be realized by chemistry of glass network. However, due to the fact that propose of this research was just opacity, this result also is very interesting and beyond our goal. 4. Conclusion Natural zeolite is a new mineral source for construction and ceramic glass materials. Our research showed that zeolite is economically expedient to use natural zeolite for fabricating opaque glaze. Indeed natural zeolite led to stabilized nano crystalline of anatase. This glaze has potential for antibacterial tiles. Initial investigation showed potential of antibacterial activity if this kind of products in a cost-effective way. References [1] Demirkiran AÃ…Å ¾, R. Artir, and E. Avci. Effect of natural zeolite addition on sintering kinetics of porcelain bodies. Journal of materials processing technology. 2008;203(1-3):465-70. [2] Beals M, et al Study of Particle Size of the Opacifying Phase in Titania Enamels: I, Change of Particle Size with Change of Concentration of Dissolved TiO2. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 1951;45(1):403. [3] Bish DLaJWC. Thermal behavior of natural zeolites. Reviews in mineralogy and geochemistry. 2001;45(1):403. [4] Bou E, et al. Microstructural study of opaque glazes obtained from frits of the system: SiO2-Al2O3-B2O3-(P2O5)-CaO-K2O-TiO2. Journal of the European Ceramic Society. 2007;27 (2-3):1791-6. [5] Casasola R, J. Rincà ³n, and M. Romero. Glass–ceramic glazes for ceramic tiles: a review. Journal of Materials Science. 2012;47(2):553-82. [6] Eppler R. Crystallization and Phase Transformation in TiO2 Opacified Porcelain Enamels: 11, Cornparison of Theory with Experiment. Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 1969;52(2):94-9. [7] Diop MaMG. Sodium silicate activated clay brick. Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment. 2008;67(4):499-505. [8] Osman Gencel a, Mucahit Sutcu b, Ertugrul Erdogmus c, Vahdettin Koc d, Vedat Veli Cay e,, Gok MS. Properties of bricks with waste ferrochromium slag and zeolite. Journal of Cleaner Production 2013;59 111-9. [9] Hanaor DaC, Sorrell. Review of the anatase to rutile phase transformation. Journal of Materials Science. 2011;46(4):855-74. [10] Pekkan KaBK. Production of opaque frits with low ZrO2 and ZnO contents and their industrial uses for fast single-fired wall tile glazes. Journal of Materials Science. 2009;44(10):2533-40. [11] Pogrebenkov VM, Sedelnikova MB, Vereshchagin VI. Zeolites: Raw material for ceramic pigments. Glass and Ceramics. 1998;55(1-2):55-6. [12] Pogrebenkov VM, E.D. Melnik, and V.I. Vereshchagin,. Use of Siberian mineral raw materials in the manufacture of self-glazing ceramic tile. Glass and Ceramics. 1997;54(11-12):373-5. [13] Ghafarinzari A, Moztarzadeh F, Rabiee SM, Rajabloo T, Mozafari M, Tayebi L. Antibacterial activity of silver photodeposited nepheline thin film coatings. Ceramics International. 2012;38(7):5445-51. [14] Teixeira SaAMB. Development of TiO2 white glazes for ceramic tiles. Dyes and Pigments. 2009;80(3):292-6. [15] Frost BR, K.R. Chamberlain, and J.C. Schumacher, Sphene (titanite): phase relations and role as a geochronometer. Chemical Geology. 2001;172(1–2):131-48. [16] Larlus O, et al. Silicalite-1/polymer films with low-k dielectric constants. Applied Surface Science. 2004;226(1-3):155-60. [17] Saeki Y. Application of Antibacterial and Self-Cleaning Effects to Noncementitious Construction Materials. Applications of Titanium Dioxide Photocatalysis to Construction Materials: Springer; 2011. p. 17-22. [18] Niederhà £usern S, Bondi M, Bondioli F. Selfà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ Cleaning and Antibacteric Ceramic Tile Surface. International Journal of Applied Ceramic Technology. 2012. Figure captures Figure1 FESEM of glaze with 10wt% zircon. Figure2 FESEM of standard frit with a) 5 and b) 10wt% titania Figure3. XRD from Iranian natural zeolite Figure4. FESEM of standard frit containing 10wt% natural zeolite Figure5. FESEM of standard frit containing 3wt% TiO2 and 7wt% Zeolite; a) morphology of crystal is in range of 25 – 500 nm, in average of 85 nm; b) fine distribution of crystals. Figure6. FESEM of standard frit containing 3wt% TiO2 and 7wt% kaolin Table captures Table1. Composition of the standard frit Table2. Results of spectrophotometer and glossiness 1 à ¯Ã‚ Ã¢â‚¬ ºÃƒ ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ªÃƒ ¯Ã‚ Ã‚  Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 3886598606 E-mail address: [emailprotected] (A. Ghafarinazari)

The Staging Techniques and Design Aspects of Silas Marner :: George Eliot Theatre Drama Plays Essays

The Staging Techniques and Design Aspects of Silas Marner A production of George Eliot's novel Silas Marner was held at the "clwyd theatr cyrmru". The Theatre itself is only small but this was used to the best advantage. The novel attempts to prove that love of others is more fulfilling than love of money. The play is set on what appears to be a simple thrust stage, with a simple sky cyclorama. The cyclorama although with a simple design over powered the stage, as the characters shadows where projected on the cyclorama and changed size depending on there positioning on the stage. Often Silas Marner is criticized for being such a simple, unrealistic story. It does seem odd that after fifteen years of almost solitary confinement, Silas can trade his love of gold for his love of a daughter overnight. This point about silas's love for gold is a powerful theme in the play, and needs to be to create the narrative. Heavy representation is used in making one see that Silas has a love for gold, at the same time one needs to know that he is a lonely weaver. This is a difficult situation that the director had to face, but worked perfectly. The Arena stage was revolving and as the theatre was small all the cast stayed round the stage even if they weren't performing. This is an unusual technique as usually too many people on the stage at once may create a clutter. At the edge of the stage benches were placed evenly where the cast sat when they weren't performing. This must have been difficult for the actual actors, as they would have to be performing at all times, even when they are of the stage. The benches in a way turned the actors in the audience. This made it feel that the cast where still; in character and watching over the action. Silas Marner is set in a small village and villages have a representation for knowing all the gossip about everyone in the town. This technique of the cast watching over the performance increased the awareness that the play is set in a village. The cast had another role to play once of the actual stage as they played the instruments that where clearly on show to the whole audience. The musical instruments where rather old fashioned rather than modern electrical instruments. I think that this audio was used to create the setting of the play as electrical instruments would bring it too much into the future. The atmosphere of the cast being on the stage playing the instruments again gave the stereotypical village

Developing Promotional Strategies for Horticultural Products Essay

INTRODUCTION. The horticulture sub-sector of agriculture in Kenya has grown in the last decade to become a major foreign exchange earner, employer and contributor to food needs in the country. Currently the horticulture industry is the fastest growing agricultural subsector in the country and is ranked third in terms of foreign exchange earnings from exports after tourism and tea. Fruits, vegetable and cut flower production are the main aspects of horticultural production in Kenya. In this write up, the horticultural products I will focus on are coriander, courgettes, cabbage, kales, spinach, indigenous vegetables like ‘terere’ and ‘managu’, ginger, garlic, tomatoes and onions. These products will be directly sourced from my farm in Kitengela. IDENTIFICATION OF THE INNATE ANS ACQUIRED NEEDS According to Boyd (2010) humans become motivated when a need is aroused that they have a desire to satisfy. These needs can be physiological also known as innate e.g need for food, water, sex and cloths or they could be acquired needs which are learnt in response to an individual’s culture or surroundings e.g need for affection, self esteem or prestige. The above mentioned horticultural products are food products that satisfy needs in the first level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs i.e the physiological needs. Moreover, through the right packaging and promotion of these products, the acquired needs will be satisfied. THE PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES BASED ON THESE NEEDS Organizations use promotion to communicate with customers about products they offer because promotion is one half of the communication process with customers. It works co-operatively with market research in an iterative feedback loop so that the constantly changing requirements of users are met by promotional activities that target or even anticipate these expressed needs. Promotion involves making sure that customers are aware of the products that the organization makes available to them. The objective of my promotional strategy is to provide information about my products, increase demand for these products and to differentiate the product. I will design different advertising messages to be placed in certain magazines like healthy eating magazines as well as Saturday Nation newspaper magazine and television advertisment. Moreover, through the social media i.e twitter and face book I will advertise my products. These adverts will focus on the benefits that clients will get on consump tion of my products. The advert will be designed in such a way that it brings out the different innate and acquired needs that will be met. People have to eat and eat good food that is well presented, I will therefore, do word of mouth advertising and attend networking forums for horticultural products e.g the annual horticultural exhibitions says Wu (2012). As I display my products, I will ensure they are well packaged in clean, labeled packages so that as my purchase my products they are satisfied with the packaging thus meeting both their innate and acquired needs. According to Stern and Adel (1988), word-of-mouth is one of the most credible forms of advertising because people who don’t stand to gain personally by promoting something put their reputations on the line every time they make a recommendation. In the utilization of word of mouth advertising, I will incorporate brand advocates in this word of mouth ad. I will use personal selling as well. This will be one to one communication with a potential buyer. In this case the potential buyers I will focus on for personal selling are the restaurants, schools, hospitals and hotels. I will therefore, employ the use of sales men and use experiential marketing in this case. I will hire a tele-marketing researcher who will make follow up calls to clients who purchase my products to get their feedback on areas that I need to improve on as the researcher identifies their unspoken needs as well as their spoken needs. REFERENCES Boyd, J.C (2010). Consumer Psychology. England:Open University Press. Stern .L. W. & Adel I. E.(1988) Marketing Channels. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice Hall Inc. Wu, J. M ( 2012) Consumer Perception of quality for horticultural products and related agricultural practices. Ontario:Guelph.

My IB chemistry research project Essay

Molecular gastronomy is often thought about in the way of cooking in terms of chemical transformations within food. The real meaning behind molecular gastronomy is a practiced cooking method used both scientists and food professionals that study the physical and chemical processes that occur while cooking. [Feast for the Eyes] Molecular gastronomy seeks to investigate and explain the chemical reasons behind the transformation of ingredients, as well as the social, artistic and technical components of culinary. [Food for Tomorrow?] By studying this topic, it can be applied to the real world, by the means of the whole process of preparing, eating, sensing, and enjoying food involves tremendously on complex chemistry, physics, and biochemistry. Within the lab, I’ll perform control experiments. To complete this experiment, I will cook several versions of the same dish with slight variations, followed by a blind tasting to see if the variations are significant. My IB chemistry IRP will be laid out in this EDD form. Introduction- Research Question: Can we devise new cooking methods that produce unusual and improved results on the texture and flavor of food? * Application Statement: The purpose of this experiment is to determine new culinary technique to create a new and uncommon and enhanced outcome to food. The whole process of preparing, eating, sensing, and enjoying food involves tremendously complex chemistry, physics, and biochemistry. For years, a new culinary trend called ‘molecular cooking’ has been touted as the most exciting development in haute cuisine. [Culinate – Eat to Your Ideal] Molecular Gastronomy will be the change to how we perceive food to our taste buds, and how it will affect the mood we’re in. [Kitchen Chemistry] * Hypothesis: If we are trying to change a main ingredient and the way we cook the dish in a very appetizing dish by adding a new or odd element and new culinary catering skill, then I think that the flavor and texture of the dish made with the new cooking ingredient/cooking method will taste better then the original and have a positive effect on the mood of the taste tester. * Independent Variable (I.V.): The main ingredient of a dish and food preparation process * Dependent Variable (D.V.): The effect of the finished cuisine has on the tester, and how the texture/flavor have changed from the original dish. * Constants (C.V.): * * Same cooking Pan * Same Food products * All the same utensils * For the olives: * 1/2 cup oil-cured black olives, pitted and finely chopped * 1 tablespoon agave nectar, or light maple syrup * 1 teaspoon sugar * Salt * For the fennel: * 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil * 2 tablespoons butter * Blind Fold * 1 large bulb fennel, trimmed and cut lengthwise into 8 pieces with the core intact * Salt and freshly ground black pepper * Cup dry white wine * 2 to 3 cups chicken broth * 1 teaspoons honey * 20 raisins * For the snapper: 4 (6-ounce) skin-on red snapper fillets, deboned * Salt * 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil * Passion-fruit vinegar (optional). * Beef * Variety of veggies * Procedure: 1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, stir together the olives, agave nectar, sugar and a pinch of salt. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. (They will be sticky.) Let cool. They can be stored in a cool, dry place for several days. 2. Place the oil and butter in a medium-size heavy saucepan set over medium-high heat. Once the butter starts to brown, add the fennel. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the fennel begins to color around the edges, 2 to 3 minutes. 3. Add the wine, bring to a boil and let reduce by half. Pour in at least 2 cups chicken broth to almost cover the fennel. Stir in the honey and raisins. Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the tip of a paring knife easily pierces the core of the fennel, 20 to 25 minutes. Season the broth and fennel with salt to taste. 4. When ready to serve, generously season the fish on all sides with salt. Pour the oil in a large nonstick skillet set over high heat. When the oil is hot, add a piece of fish, skin-side down, pressing on the flesh with a fish spatula for the first few seconds to keep it from curling. Repeat with the remaining pieces. Cook until the edges of the skin are golden and three-fourths of the flesh turns opaque, 4 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook for an additional 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel. 5. To serve, place two pieces of fennel, 2 to 3 tablespoons of the braising liquid and a few raisins in the center of a shallow bowl. Lay the fish, skin-side up, against the fennel and place about 1 tablespoon of the candied olives on top. If desired, drizzle the edge of the plate with a few drops of passion-fruit vinegar. 6. Repeat steps two through nine as trial two and three, but with the ingredient of beef and veggies, instead of red snapper. 7. Have tester be blindfolded and have them taste the variety of food after each trial, and record data. 8. Once done clean up area and dispose of dirty ingredients/ package up non-used food. Data Collecting & Processing- Data Table: Flavor of the dish before and after cooking on scale of Bad (1) to excellent (10). Testers Trial 1 (Fish) Before After Trial 2 (Beef) Before After Trial 3 (Veggies) Before After Texture Test Before and after the cooking on scale of soft (1)- rough (10). Testers Trial 1 Before After Trial 2 Before After Trial 3 Before After Qualitative Data: Quantitative Data: Conclusion & Evaluation: Since I will complete this experiment, I hopefully will be able to conclude and make a distinct correlation on how ingredients are changed by different cooking methods, how all the senses play their own roles in our appreciation of food, how cooking methods affect the eventual flavor and texture of food ingredients, how new cooking methods might produce improved results of texture and flavor, how our enjoyment of food is affected by other influences, our environment, our mood, how it is presented, who prepares it. Work Cited Barham, Peter. â€Å"Kitchen Chemistry: Taste and Flavour Facts – Feature – Discovery Channel.† Discovery Channel International. Web. 13 Oct. 2010. . Crain, Liz. â€Å"Edible Experiments – A Norwegian Blogger Goes Molecular :: by Liz Crain :: Culinate.† Culinate – Eat to Your Ideal. 9 Aug. 2007. Web. 14 Nov. 2010. . Goldberg, Elyssa. â€Å"Feast for the Eyes: Molecular Gastronomy Puts Chemistry to Work in the Kitchen.† Columbia Daily Spectator | News, Sports, and Entertainment Coverage for Morningside Heights. Web. 14 Dec. 2010. . MUHLKE, CHRISTINE. â€Å"Too Cool for School.† New York Times. 30 Sept. 2007. Web. 12 Sept. 2010. . This, Hervà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. â€Å"Food for Tomorrow? : Article : EMBO Reports.† Nature Publishing Group : Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. July-Aug. 1999. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. .