Critique of Transcultural Nursing

Discuss whether nursing Is a profession or an occupation. What can current and future nurses do to enhance nursing's standing as a profession? Nursing Is a profession. According to Mencken and Wills (2014) â€Å"profession Is a learned vocation or occupation that has a status of superiority and precedence within a Dillon of work† (p. 2). I believe this describes nursing but needed more evidence to make my decision.I considered the â€Å"characteristics off profession: a defined and specialized knowledge base, control and authority over training and education, credentialing system, altruistic service to society, formal training within institutions of higher education, lengthy colonization to the profession and autonomy† (Mencken & Wills, 2014, p. 2). The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (â€Å"NCSA Home,† n. D. Help to define the nursing knowledge base, have authority over training by requiring that training at institutions of higher education meet the standards of approval by boards of nursing and that nurses graduating from an approved nursing program are clinically competent to practice nursing by assign the national council licenser exam (â€Å"UNCLE Examinations,† n. D. ). Nursing at Its core Is an altruistic profession. Altruism Is defined as â€Å"feelings and behavior that show a desire to help other people and a lack of selfishness† (â€Å"Altruism – Merriam- Webster Dictionary,† n. D. ).Nurses provide care because it is needed and not because the nurse will have personal gains from providing such care. Autonomy in nursing can be viewed as a partnership in a multi-disciplinary team in which each ember has a different skill set and working together the patient receives the best possible care. Each member works independently and inter-dependently to meet the varied and unique needs of each individual patient. Nursing as a profession meets or exceeds each characteristic of a profession in my view. Experienced nurses need to help grow the skills and critical thinking of new nurses.Nurses with a wide variety of experiences and skills are better able to act autonomously. When nurses think critically and act In a safe way they provide better, ore efficient care. This leads to Increased patient satisfaction, Increased physician, peer and self-confidence. I find that the area new nurses need the most guidance on is his/her ability to call on knowledge already gained to provide the most effective care. For example, knowing which IV size to choose for a patient who has a possible GIG bleed is something that the preceptor teaches the new nursing graduate.

Reflection About My First Year of College

After ending this first year of college I experienced a lot of things and I will remember most of them for the rest of my life. I have experienced some good things and some others that have not been that good, but probably that is part of college and being away from home. Obviously, I would like to have changed some of those, but some others I would not have changed. I am going to start talking about all the things I would like to have change.During this first year I have lived good and bad moments, but I have learnt a lot about all I lived. I would like to say that one of the things that have affected me the most is living so far from home. I am not used to live away from home and it has been a problem during the all year, especially at the beginning. I missed my family a lot, because we were so close and I missed my friends as well. The other thing I would have change would definitely be my dorm. This year I probably lived in the worse dorm we have on Ohio.I know for fact that it i s one of the oldest ones and it has not been renovated for more than a few years. First of all, the all hall smelled pretty bad. I do not know exactly what it was but it smelled old and it seemed dirty. Another part of it was the rooms. The rooms were small and badly distributed. They had one bed almost next to the other, and then they had just one desk for two people. Another bad thing about my dorm would be the bathrooms. We did not have a private bathroom, and they were pretty badly built.We only had four showers for the whole floor. It means twenty or twenty five people for four showers. The last thing I want to mention that I do not like about my dorm is about the laundry. When I first got in my dorm and I put my first laundry, I took my clothes out of the dryer and they were one or two sizes smaller than usual. After that I thought they would get smaller every time but they did not. Finally, the only thing I like about the rooms is that they have a sink. It is always nice if y ou can wash your hands and brush your teeth in your own room.I came to the United States to play soccer and this year has been a hard year for me. I have not played like I would like to have done it. Probably because of all the things I said above that have not gone very well. This is the reason why this year has not been perfect. After all, I have learnt about it and I am ready to come back next year and try my best again. Definitely I would have changed my first year of tennis and I would like to have been more successful. Moving on I am going to talk about the experiences I would not have changed.The most important one is my friends. I made a lot of friends here through the year and I would not change them for anything. I really like people from the United Stated, I think they are so friendly and they try to help you anytime. I will always remember when I first got here at ohio I was kind a lost on campus and everybody could tell that and most of them tried to help me. Another im portant thing that has affected me is the language. But I want to say that I would not have changed that.I am from Spain and as everybody knows the main language is Spanish, not English. It is true that a lot of people there speak English but when I came I did not know this language really well and I had to work so hard to be able to speak and write it like now. I still think I have a lot to improve but I speak it much better that last semester. I have to say it has been an important issue because I was pretty scared to come in the United States because I knew I had to understand people, talk to them, and write for school.Later on I realized that the only way to improve quickly in another language is by moving to the country and interacting with the people. Finally, I would not have changed my roommate. We are both from Spain and I knew him before we came here in the United States. I have known him since we were twelve because both of us play tennis. That is why we came to ohio, to be able to play tennis and study at the same time and together. I think I was lucky because we had a room together because it must be really hard to live and share a room with somebody that you do not know.I think every country has its own culture and if you have a roommate from another country it can be a little bit hard. Like I said before, I got lucky to share a room with him and even though I knew him from Spain you really only get to know someone when you live with them. It has been hard but we had so much fun and we really enjoyed the experience. In conclusion, I had a lot of fun this year at Ohio, and there are some things I would have changed but I think I learnt from them and I will learn more about other experiences that will happen next year.

Is Hamlet a Tragic Hero Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Is Hamlet a Tragic Hero - Essay Example According to Aristotle, there are six major elements required to make up a tragic hero – three character elements and three behavioral elements. To begin with, the hero must have a noble stature. He must also have excessive pride in some aspect of his being. Finally, he has to have a tragic flaw, usually something related to his source of pride. These three character traits combined lead the character to his or her downfall through a three-step process that comprises the behavioral aspect of Aristotle’s definition. This process begins with a mistake in judgment or action that will eventually cause the hero’s ruin. The second event is when the hero realizes where he made his mistake. The final event is the reversal of fortunes the hero experiences as a result of his mistake (â€Å"Aristotle†, 1998). With this definition in hand, it is easy to see how Shakespeare’s character Hamlet fits within this definition. Hamlet meets all three of the character requirements to be defined as a tragic hero. He is noble first because he is truly of noble blood being the only son of the reigning king and queen and second because he is dedicated to doing the right thing. Although everyone else has come out of mourning less than two months after King Hamlet’s death in honor of the new royal couple, Hamlet is accused of wearing black to seem more upset than the others, showing that he is still mourning the death of the old king which was only proper this early after he died. A lot of his inability to act throughout the play is based on this insistence that he act correctly rather than allowing himself to be fooled by the devil. Hamlet’s pride is in his intellectual abilities. However, his fatal flaw is in allowing himself to analyze a situation too much, which slows his actions considerably and provides his uncle with the knowledge that Hamlet suspects his actions. Hamlet also meets all of the behavioral requirements of Aristotle’s definition of

The Use of Alcohol Rub in Preventing Infection Essay

The Use of Alcohol Rub in Preventing Infection - Essay Example According to Bloom, Fischer & Orme(2009) the ideology is derived from the ethical principle that is required by the clients for the most effective and possible interventions. For evidence based practice, typically, they use reviews of research on intervention effectiveness and then critically assess the reviews on the bases of validity and utility of practice. According to Children’s Workforce Development Council (2011), evidence based practice is a combination of the best external research and practitioner expertise and evaluation that is based on the evidence. I have found that evidence based practice is a way to update knowledge; essentially it can be used in different scenarios. As pointed out by McEwen and Wills (2002), evidence based nursing will fill the gap of research, theory and practice. According to him, it de-emphasizes isolated, rituals and unsystematic clinical experiences and traditions as the basis of practice. Therefore, once a nurse starts opting for evidenc e based practice, they come to know different ways through which they can use the experience of other practitioners (Cluett 2006). This is one of the basic reasons why, as an adult nurse, I prefer evidence based practice. Evidence Based Practice in Nursing: Evidence based practice, help the nurses tend to stay updated on the new discoveries (Beyea & Slattery, 2006).In my experience, I have noticed that as the nurses are sure that their decisions are based on valid information, the confidence in their practice increases, and their decisions power is increased. As cited in Barker J (2010), Pearson et al. (2008) identifies that a nurse is expected to understand the quality of evidence that is... The essay discusses three types of evidences: Systematic review is different from traditional literature review. Systematic review is a way to collect the evidence. In this method, the findings of all methodologically sound studies are summarized. The process reviews can help the practitioners to keep abreast of the medical literature. It involves the application of scientific strategies. In the nutshell, Cochrane Collaboration summaries that a systematic review is a high level overview of primary research on a particular research question that tries to identify, select, synthesize and appraise all high quality research evidence relevant to that question in order to answer it. I believe, when such a form of research is used in nursing, the decision making regarding health and the ratio to get benefits increases. In order to find that alcohol rub helps in preventing the spread of infection, different studies in this area can be reviewed. Through this, particular circumstances can be k nown in which alcoholic hand rubs must be used, and instances where it must not be made use of. Randomised controlled trails help to determine whether a cause-effect relationship exists between treatment and outcome, and to assess the cost effectiveness of a treatment. It is used to examine the effect of interventions on particular outcomes such as death or the recurrence of disease. Some consider randomizing controlled trials as the best research design. Therefore it is considered to be the most powerful type of experimental research.

Globalisation and Identity Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Globalisation and Identity Crisis - Essay Example However, according to me it has gained momentum in the past couple of decades due to the advancement of technology and evolution of the ways of communication especially the role of the media. Since its mere existence, it has provoked controversies and debates all across the world. Some people are true proponents of this philosophy and they have various reasons for their beliefs, for instance, they believe that it has accelerated the sharing of information and transfer of knowledge from one pole of the world to the other. On the other hand, there are people who view this phenomenon with suspicion and see it as a method by which the developed countries are reaping the poor ones of their valuable resources. Some claim that this is the modern form of barbarism that the British practiced in the subcontinent and many other parts of the world in the 19th century. This essay is written to discuss both sides of the coin and to evaluate the effects of globalization with facts and figures. We w ill separate on this work into three parts to see the holistic picture and be able to evaluate it in a better way. These three divisions will be as follows: Individual, micro level and macro level. Examples will also be given at each level to support the point of view presented. In the end, there will be a brief conclusion to sum up our finding and to express my own opinion this particular topic. Individual Level Under this heading, we will discuss both the advantages and disadvantages that are there for a simple citizen from the advance of globalization. I will also share some of my personal opinions and view points with regards to globalization and its influence on students such as me. The aspects of globalization are important to touch base with because these bring to surface the necessary pointers which will mean success for the sake of the business. My viewpoints are based on the understanding that customers need to move ahead with the passage of time, and for that their expans ion is a must (Harvey, 2005). This will ensure that they grow and develop their own selves and thus the organizations that they are reporting to, be it an institution of global repute or simply a street business that they have come to be a part of. 1. Individuals as Customers: Globalization has tremendously increased the options that an individual has. He can obtain any good from any part of the world. Online shopping is just an example of this aspect of globalization. Also as discussed later in this essay globalization also results in healthy competition which in turn provides the customers with improved product and services. For instance, when I go online I even have the option of purchasing from Monsoon which is a Bangladeshi brand. It is a wonderful opportunity for me to view what new products and brands are available online and how I am able to make the best use of these brands for my own benefit. 2. Knowledge Workers: All the universities’ curricula now include a course on global management and cultural diversity. This is due to the global challenges that the current workforce has to face inevitably. This is an interesting challenge for the global savvy individuals and a hurdle for ethnocentric ones. The outlook is made more global with each passing day which helps the people to grow beyond their means and gives them an opportunity to look at areas where they have still not paid any heed as such. The knowledge workers help the

The Court Process Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Court Process - Essay Example I hope that you are well.   Recently, I spoke to you regarding your arrest for trespass of a building and theft of a laptop computer contrary to section 91 (b) of the Theft Act of 1968.You indicated that you would like to enter a plea of not guilty.   I want you to understand that a plea of â€Å"not guilty† does not necessarily mean that you will get off at your trial.The offense you were charged with was a trial by the way which means it could be heard in either the Magistrate or the Crown Court.   There are pros and cons of having a case tried in either court.   The Crown Court is superior to the Magistrate’s Court and the judge has greater sentencing powers. Additionally, there is a jury associated with the Crown Court and they tend to let off more defendants than the Magistrate’s Court.   However, in the Magistrate’s Court the case will be heard sooner and there would be no jury involved.   The Magistrate’s Court will probably decid e that they can take the case and it will not have to go to the Crown Court.   Because only one out of three eyewitnesses to the theft was able to pick you out in the ID procedure, that could work in your favor.   You requested that I apply for bail. You have the right to request bail under the Bail Act of 1976.   However, it is likely that the prosecution will raise objections to bail based on the fact that you failed to surrender to bail when you committed the offense of 3 years ago and a further offense whilst on bail for the TWOC (taking a vehicle without consent).

Well logging Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Well logging - Assignment Example ards the transverse plane present, which is achieved by applying an external magnetic field that is in resonance with the precessing protons, which are polarized. The protons will then continue in their precession process, after rotation, but in a plane that is perpendicular to the aligned protons, which creates a changeable and detectable magnetic field. Dephrasing of the protons may result due to interferences resulting from the polarized magnetic field at the proton’s location. The dephrasing factors can then be quantified, and used to prevent further dephrasing by another time constant (T2). Focused electrons moving horizontally through the formation: Laterlogs are utilized in low-resistive muds. A focused current is made to flow horizontally by placing two guard electrodes that are located above and below the electrode’s current. The central generating electrode and the guard electrodes are balanced and a sheet of current then penetrates the formation. High frequency alternating current: these logs are used in oil-based or fresh-water muds. A high frequency current flows through the transmitter when a receiver coil and transmitter coil are placed at the ends of sonde. This creates a magnetic field, which, in turn, generates an alternating current. The generated current alternates depending on formation resistivity and the quantifiable parameters are recorded in the receiver coil. Rt: is obtained by using Dual Laterlog Borehole correction (both deep and shallow laterlogs). In order to achieve this, Rs, Rm, RLLD, RLLS, Rw, and RSFL should be known. The obtained data must be calculated to substitute the following formulas: Rw: SP log is used to identify the clan sand lines and shale baseline on the SP log. Temperature is then determined to convert (Rm)Tm to (Rmf)Tf. SSP is then calculated by using the invaded resistivity Rf, and the bed thickness, h. the formula for this conversion is converting Rmf@Tf to Rmfe @ Tf, then Calculate Rwe: Rwe=

IR Spectroscopy determination of xylene using an internal standard Essay

IR Spectroscopy determination of xylene using an internal standard - Essay Example This will be used to show the various concentrations of the m-xylene and p-xylene in the unknown sample. Infrared spectroscopy is the spectroscopy that uses the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is a region of lower wavelength than visible light, exciting molecules to higher vibrational states in order to detect energy of the vibrational modes in your sample. The infra-red radiation is passed through a sample by an infra-red spectrometer which uses a detector to represent the transmission in graphical representations. Infra-red spectroscopy can be used to study virtually every sample in any state of matter and the IR spectrometer utilizes FTIR spectroscopy which has improved the infrared spectra quality within a short time of analysis. This technique has been in existence since 1940’s where the instruments relied on prisms as the elements to disperse the radiations but further development has occurred which include the diffraction gratings and finally the most significant the use of interferometers and Fourier-transformation mathematical process. Infrared sp ectroscopy can be used a number of ways, one of which is based on absorption spectroscopy. Isomers of organic molecules display a unique vibrational frequency; thus by analyzing a specific region of the spectrum, overlaying pure and different concentrations of a sample molecule as well as any background spectra it is possible to determine the concentration of an unknown sample From the results the concentration of p-xylene and m-xylene in the two samples was determine using the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer using the internal standards. It was observed it is possible to calculate the exact concentration of both p-xylene and m-xylene in the samples if the exact concentration of the stock solution used is known. This determines their

Evidence of Bergman’s Rule in Indigenous Inhabitants of Different Climates Essay Example for Free

Evidence of Bergman’s Rule in Indigenous Inhabitants of Different Climates Essay From a layman’s point of view, Bergmann’s Rule could be quiet evident in the differences of anatomical physiques of people near the equator and inhabitants of the arctic region. Nordic and Eskimos have relatively larger body mass than the indigenous peoples of the Congo or Papua New Guinea. There are other noticeable differences as well. One of these is postulated by Allen’s rule which states that populations of a geographically widespread species living in warm regions will have longer extremities (arms and legs) than those living in cold regions. On other species, Peter Mayhew came up with the following finding that for bird species, there was a pattern on the variables associated with latitude and body size, though not ubiquitous, that would reinforce Bergmann’s Rule (Mayhew, 2006, p. 70). References Rittner, Don and MacCabe, Timothy L. 2004, Encyclopedia of Biology, New York H. Allen Orr Testing Natural Selection, Scientific America January 2009  ¦ Volume 300 number 1 Scientific American, Inc. , 415 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10017-1111. Copyright  © 2008 Ruff, C. B. 2002, Variation in human body size and shape. Annual Review Anthropology 2002; 231:11–223. Lewin, Roger, 2005 Human Evolution: An Illustrated Introduction. 2005 Blackwell Publishing Limited, p. 69 Mayhew, Peter, 2006. Discovering Evolutionary Ecology 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, p. 76.

Comparisons and Contrasts of the Social Structures Essay Example for Free

Comparisons and Contrasts of the Social Structures Essay There are many comparisons and contrasts of the social structures and religious beliefs between West Africa and Europe from 700-1500 BCE. Some of these include that West Africa was mainly Islam and Europe was Catholic. Both West Africa and Europe had patriarchal societies. Both of these groups are very different but also have some similarities. West Africa was mainly Islam and Europe was Catholic. This is because West Africa was largely affected by sub Saharan trade. During this time period most of Europe was catholic although it was not as widespread as other religions. Both West Africa and Europe had patriarchal societies although in West Africa women had more influence and could actually govern people. The Muslims of Africa during this time period were typically much less strict about the roles of women than their Middle Eastern counterparts. In both Western Africa and Europe, people were born into leadership positions and higher classes. Instead of having elected officials, both of these societies have leaders that live in a royal family. In Europe the top of the social ladder are priests and in West Africa military leaders are the top of the social ladder. In Europe, the catholic religion is a main part of everyday life. The Pope elects many political leaders in European countries displaying the dominance of religion in this region. Many things about West Africa and Europe are similar, but as we can see they are also very different. This is evident in the fact that both regions are patriarchal and that West Africa was Islam and Europe is Catholic between 700-1500 BCE.

Sucrose Synthase Key Enzyme In Sucrose Metabolism Biology Essay

Sucrose Synthase Key Enzyme In Sucrose Metabolism Biology Essay Sucrose synthase is a key enzyme in sucrose metabolism. Sucrose metabolism is required by the plant to form carbon required for various processes in the plant such as respiration, starch and cell wall formation. The enzyme is encoded by a small multigene family where most plants have at least two isoforms of the enzyme. The kinetics of sucrose synthase show that different Km values and ratios of sucrose breakdown exist for the enzyme. The methods of extracting, assaying and purifying the enzyme are shown in the enzyme characteristics. Factors such as pH, addition of different buffers, metal ions, fungal volatiles as well as environmental factors such as anoxia have all been shown to affect sucrose synthase activity. The enzymes protein sequences have been phylogenetically divided up into six main groups using clustalw. Sucrose synthase is normally present in the cytoplasm but the availability of sucrose in the chloroplast and its ability to use ADP as a substrate would indicate that the enzyme may be able to act in the chloroplast as well as the cytoplasm. Sucrose synthase is an important enzyme in sucrose metabolism in plants cells. (Persia et al., 2008) The main route of entry of carbon from sucrose is commonly known to be sucrose synthase. (Bieniawska et al., 2007) This carbon is used for respiration and in the synthesis of cell wall polymers and starch. (Persia et al., 2008) The main form of reduced carbon in plants is sucrose. It is used to support growth and synthesis of reserve materials e.g. starch in heterotrophic sink tissues. (Matic et al., 2004) The UDP-glucose supplied by sucrose synthase is used for cell wall biosynthesis while working with the cellulose synthase complex. (Baud, Vaultier and Rochat, 2004) In most fruit tissues, an increase in sucrose synthase activity is alongside with sucrose accumulation. This would suggest that sucrose synthase plays a physiologically important role. (Islam, Matsui and Yoshida, 1996) Carbohydrates are transported from photosynthetic source tissues to sink tissues in the form of sucrose . The consequent cleavage of sucrose in the sink tissues is the first step for its use in various metabolic pathways. The sugar is cleaved in vivo by either sucrose synthase (Sus) or by invertase. Invertase catalyses an irreversible reaction where sucrose is cleaved into glucose and fructose (Matic et al., 2004) while sucrose synthase catalyses the reversible conversion of sucrose and uridine-diphosphate (UDP) into uridine-diphosphoglucose and fructose. (Hirose, Scofield and Terao, 2008) (Hardin and Huber, 2004) These enzymes play a crucial role in plant growth and development. (Abid et al., 2009) Sucrose Synthase is cytosolic (Ã…  ebkovà ¡ et al., 1995) and has been characterized in many different plant species such as maize (Hardin and Huber, 2004), rice (Odegard, Liu and Lumen, 1996) and sugarcane (Schà ¤fer, Rohwer and Botha (2005)). Its activity has been studied in many plant organs such as roots, leaves and seeds. (Ã…  ebkovà ¡ et al., 1995) For trees, cellulose biosynthesis is a highly regulated process in which carbon is permanently placed in their primary and secondary cell walls. Sucrose is the main carbon source for cellulose synthesis. The stem is made up of extremely active sink cells which utilise sucrose for cellulose synthesis. Sucrose synthase is the main sucrolytic enzyme in these cells that catalyzes the reversible conversion of sucrose into fructose and UDP-glucose which is needed for cellulose biosynthesis. (Joshi, Bhandari and Ranjan, 2004) It also plays an important role providing adequate sugar supply during anoxic stress. It has been shown that during anoxic germination of rice, sucrose synthase activity was enhanced whereas the activity of invertase was depressed. This would indicate that sucrose synthase is the enzyme predominantly responsible for sucrose breakdown during anoxia. (Joshi, Bhandari and Ranjan, 2004) Fig 1: Diagram of the cleavage and synthesis reaction of sucrose synthase (Rà ¶mer et al., 2004) Different isoforms of the gene are present in most plants. In the case of maize, two non-allelic genes were discovered for sucrose synthase but more investigation lead to the discovery of a third. At least three genes for sucrose synthase have been discovered in rice where the genes show differences in expression between tissues. RSus1 is expressed in root phloem while RSus2 is expressed in leaf phloem. (Schà ¤fer, Rohwer and Botha, 2005) When examining the different isoforms at an amino acid level it is appears that there is less homology between different sucrose synthase genes in a species than when the gene is compared to its corresponding gene in another species. In the case of maize, there is 75% homology between the SS1 gene and SS2 gene of maize but there is 90% homology between rice RSus1 and maize SS2 genes. In sugarcane, the SS1 gene is 97% identical at the amino acid level to maize SS1 gene. (Lingle and Dyer, 2001) Nolte and Koch (1993) undertook a study to determine whether sucrose synthase was localized to certain part of the vascular strand. It is well known that sucrose synthase is present in vascular bundles for example in transgenic tobacco plants phloem specific expression of a maize sucrose synthase gene has been observed. Their study, using immunohistochemistry, found that sucrose synthase was restricted to the cytoplasm of companion cells of the phloem and did not appear to be present in other organelles of the plant. (Nolte and Koch, 1993) The molecular mass of sucrose synthase can be determined by gel filtration. Sucrose synthase elutes from the column with a Kav value of 0.17844 which when using a calibration curve correlates to a molecular mass of 362kDa. Using SDS-PAGE gradient gel the molecular mass of each subunit can be estimated at 92kDa. This can conclude that sucrose synthase is a tetrameric enzyme with a molecular mass of 360kDa and four identical subunits of 90kDa. (Hardin and Huber, 2004) (Elling and Kula, 1993) It can associate with membranes and the actin cytoskeleton where its activity is known to be involved with cellulose synthesis. It does this by channelling uridine-diphosglucose to the growing glucan chain by the enzyme cellulose synthase. (Hardin and Huber, 2004) Analysis of Sucrose Synthase Gene Family: From the results of species examined to date, it is shown that sucrose synthase is encoded by a small multigene family. (Bieniawska et al, 2007) Most species of plants have at least two isoforms of sucrose synthase. These isoforms usually have comparable biochemical properties and highly homologous amino acid sequences. (Wen et al., 2010) Further analysis of transgenic and mutant crop plants show certain isoforms of sucrose synthase have specific functions in the plant. The rug4 mutation of pea removes the SUS1 isoform but has no effect on SUS2 or SUS3. This would indicate that these two isoforms are not able to make up for the loss of SUS1 in the seed or root nodule. It is clear that the loss of different isoforms affect the plant in certain ways. Loss of the SH1 isoform in maize has different outcomes from the loss of SUS1 isoform. SH1 is required for normal cell wall formation during endosperm development while both isoforms are needed for wild-type rates of starch synthesis. Why different isoforms have different functions is unclear. The same functions can be carried out in the cell by different isoforms but can occur in distinct cell types, developmental periods or environmental conditions. It is likely that different isoforms could have non-overlapping, particular functions in the same cell. (Bieniawska et al., 2007) It is difficult to decide on the precise roles of the genes in sucrose synthase gene family when there is not enough information in existence. Although there is some information available on some of the isoforms and theyre functions in the plant, no analysis of the functions of the gene family has been carried out. The model plant Arabidopsis is ideal for carrying out such an analysis. Six sucrose synthase genes are in the Arabidopsis genome. Based on comparisons of the amino acid sequences the isoforms they encode can be divided into three distinct pair groups. The isoforms SUS1 and SUS4 are 89% identical to each other but have less than 68% similar amino acid sequences to other isoforms. Similarly, SUS2 and SUS3 are 74% identical to other isoforms and are 67% less identical to the other forms of enzyme. SUS5 and SUS6 are 585 identical to each other but have less 48% similarity to the other isoforms. When examining other dicotyledonous species it appears that at least two of the thr ee pairs of isoforms are present. When phylogenetic analysis was carried out, it showed that the isoforms AtSUS1 and AtSUS4 are related to pairs of isoforms from pea (Fabacae), carrot (Umbelliferae) and potato (Solanacae). A pair of isoforms from Craterostigma plantagineum (Scrophulariacae) is closely related to the pair of isoforms AtSUS2 and AtSUS3 in the Arabidopsis. The pair AtSUS5 and AtSUS6 is related strongly to a pair of genes from rice. This evidence shows that it is unlikely that the three pairs of isoforms in Arabidopsis are as a result of gene duplication events. It is possible that each isoform has an exact function preserved in a wide range of plants. The members of Arabidopsis gene family are strongly differentially expressed in different organs of the plant through its development and in response to external stimuli e.g. environmental stress. This is seen in gene families of other plants studied. (Bieniawska et al., 2007) Fruit quality is determined by the type and quality of sugars present. A study of the sucrose synthase-encoding gene from the muskmelon fruit was carried out to evaluate how to genetically improve the quality of the fruit. This is done by finding the sugar components in fruit, to identify the enzymes involved in sugar metabolism and distinguish the relationship between sugar accumulation and the activities of related enzymes. It is thought that sucrose synthase is the enzyme involved in metabolising sucrose in developing muskmelon fruit. To examine this, a full length cDNA strand encoding sucrose synthase was extracted from a muskmelon fruit by RT-PCR and RACE and identified as CmSS1. Real time PCR analysis showed that CmSS1 expression changed in among different tissues of the plant e.g. root, stem, leaf. It showed that the mRNA levels are highest in the root and lowest in mature fruit. Fig 2: The patterns of CmSS1 transcript abundance in the different tissues of the muskmelon plant. These results were found using quantitative real-time PCR analysis of total RNA prepared from the root, stem, leaf, flower and mature fruit of muskmelon. During fruit development and ripening it was shown that CmSS1 mRNA was at its maximum level at five days after pollination and decreased steadily during fruit development until it reached its minimum level of maturity. This was discovered using again real-time RT-PCR analysis of mesocarp tissues from five days of pollination to ripening. Fig 3: This graph depicts the patterns of CmSS1 transcript abundance in developing muskmelon fruits found by using quantitative real-time PCR analysis of total RNA prepared from muskmelon. (Wen et al., 2010) The sugar content and SS activity were analysed to show the functions of CmSS1 in regulating fruit quality. It showed that very low concentrations of sucrose are present in young and unripe muskmelons. Between 20 and 30 days after pollination there is a massive rise in the amount of sucrose in the fruit. Sucrose synthase activity increased in the direction of sucrose synthesis and decreased in the direction of sucrose cleavage through fruit development. (Wen et al., 2010) Fig 4: The depiction of sucrose content and sucrose synthase activity during muskmelon fruit development. The first chart shows sucrose content during fruit development. The second shows sucrose activity in the sucrose synthesis direction and the third shows sucrose cleavage direction during muskmelon fruit development. (Wen et al., 2010) Enzyme Kinetics of Sucrose Synthase: An investigation was carried out by Schà ¶fer et al. to the find the properties of three sucrose synthase isoforms present in sugarcane. Kinetic analysis indicated that the three sucrose synthase genes in sugarcane are different isoforms, with major differences in Km values and the ratios of sucrose breakdown synthesis. The kinetic characteristics of the SuSyA and SuSyB isoforms, both expressed in the leaf roll, differ greatly. It was found that SuSyA has almost three times higher affinity for sucrose than the SuSyB isoform whereas SuSyB has a much greater affinity for UDP than SuSyA. Based on the differences in their kinetic properties it can be concluded that SuSyB and SuSyC are different isoforms of sucrose synthase. SuSyC has roughly ten times higher affinity for UDP compared to the other two isoforms. (Schà ¤fer et al., 2005) Fig 5: The graph shows the Lineweaver-Burk plot of 1/v against 1/S for the isoforms SuSys A, B and c where UDP was the variable substrate. The concentration of sucrose was kept constant at 320nM. The Km values were determined from the non-linear fit of the data to the Michaelis-Menten equation. (Schà ¤fer et al., 2005) When examining sucrose synthase in soybean nodules Morell and Copeland (1985) found the kinetic constants of UDP, UDPglucose, sucrose and fructose by fitting the data to the following two equations: 1. v = VA/KiaKh + KhA + KhB + AB 2. v = VA/Ka + A + A/Ki The kinetic constants for ADP, CDP and ADPglucose were found using non linear regression analysis of initial velocity data. Fig 6: Graph showing the effect of sucrose concentration on the cleavage activity of sucrose synthase in soybean nodule. The lines show the fit of data to equation 1. The reaction mixture were composed of 20 µmol Hepes-KOH buffer (pH 7.5) 2 µmol UDP, 1.5 µmol NAD, 25 µg UDPglucose dehydrogenase. Each symbol represents a different concentration of sucrose. The dark circle shows 3.2 µM, the clear circle shows 4 µM, the dark triangle shows 6.25 µM, 10 µM is shown by the clear triangle and the dark square depicts 20 µM. In the cleavage and synthesis direction standard Michaelis-Menten kinetics are observed. The variation of concentration of sucrose at different concentrations of UDP gave an intersecting pattern of linear double reciprocal plots. (Morrell and Copeland, 1985) Parameter Value V (U/mg protein) 13.3 ±2.0 Km sucrose (mM) 31.3 ±7.1 Ki sucrose (mM) 31.9 ±13.1 Km UDP (mM) 0.005 ±0.002 Ki UDP (mM) 0.005 ±0.001 Fig 7: Table showing the kinetic parameters for the cleavage reaction of sucrose synthase in soybean nodules. (Morrell and Copeland, 1985) Fig 8: The graph depicting the effect of UDPglucose concentration on the synthesis reaction of sucrose synthase activity in soybean nodules. The reaction mixtures contained 20 µmol Hepes-KOH buffer, 15  µmol fructose, 5 µmol MgCl2, 0.4  µmol P-enolpyruvate, 0.15  µmol NADH, 20 µmol KCl, 25 µg pyruvate kinase 25 µg lactate dehydrogenase and the required amount of enzyme. As in the previous graph, the amount of UDPglucose was varied in the presence of 2.5mM (dark circle), 3.2mM (clear circle), 4mM (dark triangle), 5mM (clear triangle) and 8mM (dark square) fructose. The results on the graph are representing the fit of data to equation 1. When the concentration of UDPglucose was varied at the concentrations of fructose in the graph, an intersecting pattern of linear double reciprocal plots was seen. From fitting the data from the graph to equation 1, it is noted that substrate inhibition would have occurred at a concentration greater than 15mM fructose. Parameter Value V (U/mg protein) 14.3 ±1.2 Km fructose (mM) 3.7 ±0.8 Ki fructose (mM) 19.6 ±9.9 Km UDPglucose (mM) 0.012 ±0.006 Ki UDPglucose (mM) 0.064 ±0.014 Fig 9: table showing the kinetic results by fitting the figures from the graph to equation 1. When partially purified SuSyA, SuSyB and SuSyC were blotted to a nitrocellulose filter the results showed that all three isoforms are approximately 94kDa. (Schà ¤fer et al., 2005) The would correlate to the findings of Hardin et al and Lothar et al who stated that sucrose synthase is tetrameric enzyme made up of four 90kDa subunits. Fig 10: Immunoblot of sugarcane SuSy. A crude extract of protein from leaf roll was loaded into lane 2 while partially purified isoforms of SuSyA, SuSyB and SuSyC were loaded to lane 3, 4 and 5. The molecular weight ladder was used to identify the bands see in each lane. (Schà ¤fer et al., 2005) Characteristics of Sucrose Synthase: Extraction of Protein: The method for extracting protein from the leaves of maize (Zea mays), rice (Oryza sativa) and tobacco was done as follows: 1-3g of leaves was ground in liquid nitrogen and the powder was mixed in the ratio 1:2 with extraction buffer. The buffer was made up of 0.1M tris-HCl, pH 8, 10mM DTT and 1% polyvinylpolypyrrolidone. The samples were then incubated on ice for 15 minutes and then centrifuged at 1,000g for 10 minutes at 4oC. The pellet was then removed and the supernatant was re centrifuged at 100,000g for one hour at 4oC. After this final centrifugation, the pellet and supernatant which contained the soluble proteins was resuspended in sample buffer for electrophoresis. (Persia et al., 2008) When extracting protein from rice seeds, a similar procedure is followed. Seeds weighing roughly 50-100mg at various stages of growth were homogenized in 400 µl of extraction buffer and kept at 4oC. The buffer was made up of 50mM Tris-HCl, pH7.5, 1.0mM DTT, 1.0mM EDTA and 2mM PMSF. Ammonium sulphate fractions (30-50% w/v) were precipitated and then resuspended in dialysis buffer made up of 50mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 5mM MgSO4, 5mM 2-mercaptoethanol. This was then dialyzed overnight at 4oC. (Odegard, Liu and De Lumen., 1996) The method for extracting protein from tobacco pollen tubes is slightly different to those mentioned previously. The pollen first was slowly thawed from storage at -20oC and hydrated in a humid chamber overnight. It was then germinated in BK medium and allowed to germinate at 25oC for three hours. After this period had elapsed, the pollen was collected by centrifugation at 1,000g for 5 minutes at 25oC. It was then washed twice with BRB25 buffer which is made up of 25mM HEPES, pH 7.5, 2mM EGTA and 2mM MgCl2 and 15% Suc. After washing, the pollen was resuspended in lysis buffer and lysed on ice using a motor-driven Potter-Elvehk-jem homogenizer. The lysis buffer used was made up of BRB25 buffer along with 2mM dithiothreitol, 1mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluo ride (PMSF), 10 µL/mL protease inhibitors, 1mM NaN3 and 10% mannitol. After lysis was carried out, the samples were centrifuged at 1,000g for 10 minutes at 4oC. The supernatant was centrifuged again at 4oC for 45 minutes at 100,000g over a 20% (w/v) Suc cushion. The supernatant was then collected as it contained the soluble protein fraction. (Persia et al., 2008) Enzyme Assays: After extracting protein, the sucrose synthase activity in sugarbeets was found using a spectrophotometric end point assay. The activity of the enzyme was monitored as fructose formed at 35oC. This was carried out in a solution that contained 250mM sucrose, 2mM UDP and 100mM MES. The control was carried out by assaying for activity in the absence of UDP. The total protein concentration was determined using the Bradford method where bovine serum albumin was the standard. (Klotz and Haagenson., 2008) When assaying for protein from rice, the Bradford method was followed to determine protein concentration as was done in Klotz et al. 40mg of protein was used per assay. The assay was carried out in 20mM MES pH 6.4, 200mM sucrose and 4mM UDP for 15 minutes at 30oC. The reaction was stopped by boiling for 2 minutes and the fructose levels were measured. The control tubes did not contain UDP. (Odegard, Liu and De Lumen., 1996) When examining the effect of sucrose synthase on carbon partitioni ng a similar method was followed for assaying the protein. Sucrose synthase was assayed in the direction of sucrose breakdown using 50 µl poplar plant extract. The tetrazolium blue assay was followed to determine the amount of free fructose. As in previously mentioned assays, the absence of UDP in the assay acted as a control. The total protein content was found by employing the Bradford (Bio-Rad) protein assay. (Coleman, Yan and Mansfield., 2009) A similar method was followed for carrying out an assay for the enzyme on tomato tissue. The reaction mixtures contained 50mM Hepes-NaOH buffer, 15mM MgCl2, 25mM fructose and 25mM UDP glucose. This was incubated at 37oC for 30 minutes and was terminated with the addition of 70 µl of 30% KOH. The enzyme blanks were terminated with the addition of KOH at 0 minutes. The tubes were then kept at 100oC for 10 minutes to destroy any fructose. The soluble protein content was determined using the Lowry method whereby bovine serum albumin was th e standard. (Islam, Matsui and Yoshida., 1996) Alkaline copper solution is added to each tube and allowed to stand at room temperature for roughly 30 minutes. Dilute folate reagent is then added to each tube rapidly and after 30 minutes the absorbance is read at 750nm. (Lowry et al., 1951) The results were measured as  µmole of sucrose per minute per mg protein. (Islam et al., 1996) When assaying for sucrose synthase in the cleavage direction Rà ¶mer et al used recombinant SuSy1 gene from potato. In a volume of 100 µl HEPES buffer with a concentration of 200mM and pH 7.6 recombinant sucrose synthase was incubated along with 2mM UDP and 500mM sucrose for ten minutes at 30oC. HPLC analysis was used for the formulation of UDP-glucose. The Bradford assay was used to determine protein concentrations as was carried out by Klotz et al and Coleman et al. The activity of the enzyme was also tested with the nucleoside diphosphates dTDP, CDP, ADP and GDP at 2mM. For assaying recombinant e nzyme in the synthesis direction a similar method was followed as when assaying for standard enzyme. Recombinant sucrose synthase was incubated in a total volume of 100 µl HEPES buffer where this time the pH was 8.0 and the concentration was as in cleavage direction of 200mM. 1mM UDP-Glc and 20mM D-fructose was also added to the mixture and it was incubated for five minutes at 30oC. The reaction was heated to 95oC for five minutes and HPLC analysis was used to establish the formation of UDP. The sucrose synthase activity was also tested using dTDP-Glc, CDP-Glc and ADP-Glc. (Rà ¶mer et al., 2004) Purification of Protein: After extraction of the protein from the crude extract, purification can be carried out. This can be done in a number of ways such as Batch adsorption with Sephadex A50, Anion exchange chromatography and Gelfiltration. SDS-PAGE can be carried out after purification to check the purity of the protein sample. The Sephadex A50 gel is loaded into a glass funnel and washed twice with deionised water. The gel was then washed twice with 300ml standard buffer. The protein sample was loaded to the gel and slowly sucked through the gel for 30 minutes. The gel bed was then washed with 300ml standard buffer and then with 300ml standard buffer containing 100mM KCl. The last washing step contained 300mM KCl. 200ml of the first salt preparation was concentrated to 40-50ml by using a cross-flow ultrafiltration module with YM 30 ultrafiltration membrane that had been pretreated with 55 PEG 4000 solution. This was done to prevent the enzyme sticking to the membrane. In anion exchange chromatography a Sepharose Q column was first equilibrated with 300ml Hepes buffer. This was made up of 200mM pH 8 with 50mM KCl. 70-80mg of protein sample was loaded and the elution was started using two different salt gradients. To prevent enzyme inactivation after elution all the fractions were titrated back to pH 7.2. All fractions that contained enzyme activity were pooled and concentrated by using ultrafiltration. Gelfiltration experiments are carried out on a prepacked HiLoad 16/60 Superdex 200 prep grade column that was connected to FPLC equipment. Four samples containing 2mg of protein were loaded and eluted with a flow rate of 1 ml min-1. The fractions were then pooled and stored at -20oC in 500 µl aliquots. (Elling and Kula., 1993) To determine the purity of the protein, SDS-PAGE is carried out. This is done by loading 100 µg of protein samples to a 125 SDS-polyacrylamide slab gel that was overlaid with stacking gel. The electrophoresis was carried out at 4oC and at 40V for 16 hours a nd followed by 200V for one hour. Coomassie blue R 250 was used to stain the gel followed by destaining. (Kumutha et al., 2008) Factors that affect Sucrose Synthase Activity: Ã…  ebkovà ¡ et al (1995) stated that sucrose synthase has two different pHs for optimal activity. In the cleavage direction it was found that most enzyme activity was observed between pH 6.0 and 8.5 at temperatures between 50 to 55oC. In the synthesis direction, a pH between 8.5 to 9.5 and a temperature of 35oC was optimal for enzyme activity. (Ã…  ebkovà ¡ et al., 1995) This would correlate with the findings of Morell and Copeland (1985) who found that optimal activity of the enzyme in soybean was at pH 6 in the cleavage direction and at a pH of 9.5, sucrose synthase activity in the synthesis direction was at its highest. It was also found that at a pH of 7.5 the cleavage and synthesis activities were their highest. (Morrell and Copeland., 1985) Elling and Kula (1995) examined the effect of buffers TES-NaOH, MOPS-NaOH, TEA-NaOH and Tris-HCl on the pH optimum of sucrose synthase activity. These were determined using UDP and TDP as substrates for the reaction. They found that the e nzyme had its highest activity in Hepes-NaOH buffer. When MOPS-NaOH and TES-NaOH buffer was used, only 60-80% activity was noted. (Elling and Kula 1995) It was also found that the velocity of the reaction could be increased by increasing the temperature where optimal activity was seen between 50 and 60oC. Xu at al (1989) reported that potato and bean are also able to withstand these high temperatures. However once the temperature goes above 60oC enzyme activity starts to decreased rapidly and was destroyed once the temperature reached 70oC. (Xu et al., 1989) The cleavage of sucrose by the sucrose synthase enzyme was investigated to find the rate of cleavage reaction using different nucleosidediphosphates as cosubstrates. They found that the rate of reaction was UDP>TDP>ADP>CDP>GDP. Echt and Chourey (1985) found similar results when examining nucleotide specificity. They found that substrate specificity for SS1 and SS2 were UDP>TDP>ADP>CDP>UTP where each substrate was at a concentrat ion of 4mM. (Echt and Chourey 1985) Low levels of heavy metal ions such as mercurate inhibited cleavage activity of the enzyme. This would lead to the assumption that sulfhydryl groups are involved in the catalytic process. It is also inhibited by Tris-HCl and by small concentrations of MgCl2 and MnCl2. (Ã…  ebkovà ¡ et al., 1995) Cations were shown by Elling and Kula (1995) to have a slight influence on enzyme activity. The activity was lessened slightly (10%) by the presence of 1mM Mn2+ and Mg2+ ions with UDP. The enzyme is completely inactivated in the presence of 1mM Cu2+ or Fe2+. (Elling and Kula., 1993) A recent study was undertaken to examine the effects of volatile emissions on carbohydrate metabolism. Studies on this area have taken place before but it is usually examining the results of physical contact between the host plant and the microbe. No work has taken place until now on the effect on the plant in the absence of physical contact. Many microbes such as Pseudomonas spp, Strepomyces spp, Penicillin spp and a selection of truffles produce ethylene. This gaseous plant hormone plays an important role in many aspects of plant growth and development such as seed germination, root hair initiation, fruit ripening and starch accumulation. In the work of Ezquer et al (2010), the possible effects of volatiles released from gram-negative bacteria, gram-positive bacteria and fungi on starch metabolism was studied. The results showed that the volatile compounds released by microbes promoted high levels of starch accumulation in mono- and dicotyledonous plants. It also revealed fungal vo latiles (FVs) promoted massive changes in expression of genes involved in many important processes in plant such as metabolism of carbohydrates, amino acids, sulphur and lipids, energy production, protein translation and stability, cell wall biosynthesis and photosynthesis. However no changes were noted in the expression in some of the genes that coded for proteins involved in starch and sucrose metabolism such as plastidial hexokinase, plastidial phosphoglucose isomerase, plastidial adenylate kinase, alkaline invertase and UDPglucose (UDPG) pyrophosphorylase. It was found in the study that FVs strongly upregulate the expression of Sucrose Synthase in potato leaves. The plants were cultured in the presence and absence of FVs emitted by A. Alternata. This caused a massive enhancement of expression of Sus4 isoform. A 29.4- and 31.63-fold increase was observed in expression when the plants were cultured in the presence and absence of sucrose. This isoform of the enzyme controls the accumulation of ADPG, UDPG and starch in potato source leaves and tubers. Analyses of the intracellular amounts of starch and nucleotide-sugars in the leaves of the plant show a positive correlation between patterns of enzyme activity and starch, UDPG and ADPG amounts. This was noted when the leaves were cultured in the presence and absence of FVs. Western blot analyses and quantitative RT-PCR confirmed also the increase in expression. (Xu et al., 1989) Environmental Factors affecting Sucrose Synthase Activity: Anoxia: Waterlogging is where oxygen supply is blocked to root leading a severe decrease in the amount of oxygen available to the plant. This leads to inhibition of root respiration that causes a major decline in energy of root cells affecting vital metabolic processes of the plant. This is restriction of oxygen supply is known as anoxia. The presence of glucose in an anoxic incubation medium drastically decreases meristem death and studies have shown that sucrose synthase is the enzyme mainly responsible for sucrose breakdown under anoxia. (Kumutha et al., 2008) The increase in glycolytic demands caused by these demands is the cause of increased sucrose synthase expression. This has been demonstrated in many plant species e.g. sucrose synthase gene is induced in wheat and in rice when oxygen levels are low. (Ricard et al., 1998) Harada et al (2005) also found an increase in sucrose synthase activity in pondweed turins while under anoxia. (Harada et al., 2005) Klotz and Haagenson (2008) foun d that sugarbeet contained two genes for sucrose synthase activity-SBSS1 and SBSS2. They demonstrated that anaerobic conditions caused a large increase in the transcription levels of SBSS1 and a quick increase and succeeding decline in SBSS2 transcription levels. However this did not correlate with a significant increase in sucrose synthase enzyme activity. A 23% increase in sucrose synthase activity was noted after initiation of anaerobic conditions but otherwise the activity of the enzyme did not differ greatly to that of the controls. (Klotz and Haagenson., 2008) Fig 11: The graph outlines the different rates of sucrose synthase activity in the con

The Greek Underwood Essay -- History, The Erinyes, Zeus

THESIS STATEMENT The Greek Underworld can be a dark place, especially for those who have angered the gods, where one can see how the punishments often times fit the crime. PURPOSE STATEMENT Throughout this research paper the Underworld is portrayed as a dark place where those who committed crimes are punished for them which can be extremely brutal. INTRODUCTION The Underworld is often times portrayed only as dark place for criminals, which it is, but it’s where everyone goes after death. â€Å"Souls of the dead who carried an ancient Greek coin in their mouths were ferried across another underworld river, the Styx, by Charon, to begin eternity as citizens of his dark kingdom. Those who did not have a coin remained, lamenting, by the riverside.† (Evans 16). The Underworld is where everyone spent the rest of their afterlife. It was a strict place and there was no escaping. Each person was judged when they entered. â€Å"Osiris became king and judge of the dead in the underworld.† (Ingpen, Perham 18). The Erinyes or the Furies are who punishes the people who have committed crime. Virgil is the one who places them as to where they go. â€Å"The Erinyes – or the Furies – were regarded by some of the poets as his [Hades] daughters, and the three (or sometimes four) of them are often shown standing beside his throne. They were of fearsome appearance, often garbed in black cloaks soaked in blood†¦above all those who murdered their own kin.† (Allen 52-3). The Erinyes ruled with the God of the Underworld, Hades. He was the god who controlled everything that went on in the Underworld. â€Å"Hades was seen as a dark and unattractive god, hard-hearted and merciless.† (Allen 52). Hades was not always the nicest god to be around. But he was ... ...ping from them. They spent the rest of their life being tormented. The underworld has different meanings to it. It’s not just a place for punishment. It is the afterlife for everyone. The underworld is where people go after death. There are different ways to go through it depending on the life that person had lived. They have to sail across different rivers. When they arrive, they are sent to be judged on where they will spend their time in the underworld. If they did not live a good life they will be punished for it. If they lived a good life they go to a place that’s like paradise. Some people who committed serious crimes are sent down right away and they are tortured for all eternity. The underworld cannot always just be a place for those who have not lived the way they should have but also a place for those who did live the life they should live.

Under The Spell :: Creative Writing Short Stories Traveling Essays

Under The Spell "The great advantage of having an ancestry like that of a mongrel dog is I have so many ancestral homes to go home to." We caught the ferry from Le Havre, France to Ireland, land of my ancestors. Every since I was a wee lad, my mind has been used as a canvas by every Irishman who has been displaced from the Emerald Isle. A picture of quaintness bordering upon myth. Cute I thought it would be, but never as much as the tourist hype I had read. I donned my suit of armor constructed of cynicism, forged by age. Protected thus from the hype, I the ancestral child would see Ireland as it really is. Mind you, no tourist hype for me. The ship pulled in to Rosslare Harbor near Wexford and lowered its gangplank. I made it most of the way down before I was sucked clean out of my armor into, head over heels, and under the spell of the Emerald Isle. We had arranged for a rental car, to be picked upon arrival at the harbor. I thought perhaps we would be shown how to operate it. Instead the attendant said in his sweet Irish brogue, "It's the wee red one over there," and handed me the keys. Still dazed by the sudden entrance in to "The Spell" we sped off in our wee red Ford Fiesta. Every so many hundred yards along the road signs reminded us to "Drive to the left." On the open road it was no problem, however moments later in the congestion of Wexford I was near panic, yelling at Travis to help remind me what side of the street I was on. It didn't help that he often mixes left and right up in his mind, some sort of hereditary functional disorder. I almost broke out in sweat when I had to make my first right turn feeling as though I was going head on into the oncoming traffic. By the time we got through Wexford I was in desperate need to stop for a wee pee. I saw a small side road and took that hoping to find a secluded spot to relieve myself. I discovered that when you leave the main roads in Ireland you are almost immediately secluded. We stopped in front of an old abandoned barn made of stone with an unusual door shaped like a horseshoe. The earth smelled wet and fresh and was a bit boggy, more so when I departed. It was only a few hundred yards before we learned our first rule of driving in Ireland. Under The Spell :: Creative Writing Short Stories Traveling Essays Under The Spell "The great advantage of having an ancestry like that of a mongrel dog is I have so many ancestral homes to go home to." We caught the ferry from Le Havre, France to Ireland, land of my ancestors. Every since I was a wee lad, my mind has been used as a canvas by every Irishman who has been displaced from the Emerald Isle. A picture of quaintness bordering upon myth. Cute I thought it would be, but never as much as the tourist hype I had read. I donned my suit of armor constructed of cynicism, forged by age. Protected thus from the hype, I the ancestral child would see Ireland as it really is. Mind you, no tourist hype for me. The ship pulled in to Rosslare Harbor near Wexford and lowered its gangplank. I made it most of the way down before I was sucked clean out of my armor into, head over heels, and under the spell of the Emerald Isle. We had arranged for a rental car, to be picked upon arrival at the harbor. I thought perhaps we would be shown how to operate it. Instead the attendant said in his sweet Irish brogue, "It's the wee red one over there," and handed me the keys. Still dazed by the sudden entrance in to "The Spell" we sped off in our wee red Ford Fiesta. Every so many hundred yards along the road signs reminded us to "Drive to the left." On the open road it was no problem, however moments later in the congestion of Wexford I was near panic, yelling at Travis to help remind me what side of the street I was on. It didn't help that he often mixes left and right up in his mind, some sort of hereditary functional disorder. I almost broke out in sweat when I had to make my first right turn feeling as though I was going head on into the oncoming traffic. By the time we got through Wexford I was in desperate need to stop for a wee pee. I saw a small side road and took that hoping to find a secluded spot to relieve myself. I discovered that when you leave the main roads in Ireland you are almost immediately secluded. We stopped in front of an old abandoned barn made of stone with an unusual door shaped like a horseshoe. The earth smelled wet and fresh and was a bit boggy, more so when I departed. It was only a few hundred yards before we learned our first rule of driving in Ireland.

Julia Serano, Whipping Girl Book Review

I found this book as disturbing but yet inspiring as well. This book is about a transsexual male to female. Transsexual is a person who has undergone a sex change operation whose sexual identification is entirely with the opposite sex. I could say that the book is disturbing because as I go through words and sentences, images keep showing up in my head. He was discriminated because of his change of sex and his behavior (girly boy). Being discriminated didn't let him to keep being all sad and sorrow. He stopped himself for being let down by people around him. He really is a brave man for writing the book. In this book, he writes about his experience and his feelings. I could not imagine if I was he. I could not imagine what does it feels like to be in his shoe. After reading the book, I was inspired by him. I think that people need to stop judging and stop discriminating. Everyone either transsexual or normal, we need to be treated the same way. Transsexuals are human too. They have feelings and thoughts. They could be hurt just like the normal people. Normal people don't have the rights to bully just because they think that they are more superior to people like them and try to make them feel like they are the outsiders and make them feel inferior. I did some research and found this video on YouTube. The video is about a transsexual woman, Samantha Lauzon. I think he is the first transsexual ever who has to courage to finally speak out about he life. On the video Samantha Lauzon said that he didn't understand his body and thoughts and Samantha Lauzon didn't know what he was doing. As a child he got bullied and attempted suicide. But finally he realized that he was wrong and he finally realizes the need to change in order for him to be happy. And it is true that as time goes by, it gets better. All the things that happened are really sick and sad. People need to know about them and how they feel. Its people’s job to try to understand transsexuals either from male to female or female to male. It is their job to educate themselves. Ending your life is never the answer. Suicide is the permanent answer or solution to a temporary problem. No matter who we are and no matter what we have accumulated and accomplished and what the position are we in our lives, one thing that we need to know and is certain; you will die and only God knows when. In other words, suicide is really a bad way to solve a problem. One thing that people need to know is; we need to be realistic and true to ourselves. There will always be people who judge us for one thing or another. We are rich or poor or tall or short or fat or thin. What matters is our own self-image. How we see ourselves is what matters no matter what gender you are. To keep a healthy outlook and know that no matter what anyone says you were in fact meant to be here on this earth right now right here just the way you are. Trans, Gay,? Bi or anything. What makes you different makes you special believe that and pass it on the other people.

Consumer Behavior Essay

1) How can understanding consumers’ behavior help companies sell products or services in today’s market? Please cite an example from our text or from our YouTube videos and use a personal example. As Steve Jobs states in the YouTube video, all marketing decisions revolve around your customer. Marketing is all about building profitable customer relationships by creating value for customers and capturing value in return in the form of profits. To effectively sell a product/service, understanding how your customers buy your products and services will help you determine when, how and where you should market your products/services and in turn help you grow your business by responding to their needs. Also, if you know what customers buy and how they go about buying particular products, you can more easily spot a need that has not yet been satisfied. For example, if you run a technology company and notice that many of your customers buy educational software from college bookstores, you may recognize that your customers could use a place to buy and automatically download educational software online. Steve Jobs states in the YouTube video â€Å"Give her not what she wants but give her something that she has never dreamt of, and when she gets it she recognizes it as something she wanted all the time†. A very simple example is that of ITunes, which was discovered 10 years ago. Steve Jobs noticed that music fans clearly wanted to download songs they liked in an affordable and easy way rather than driving to Best Buy or some record store to buy them on $15-to-$18 CDs. Jobs took advantage of this opportunity and came out with the iTunes Music Store, which is today the top most online music retailer, and synced it perfectly with a piece of hardware: the iPod. This eliminated the use of Walkman’s, MP3 Players and CD players. Thus, it is important to understand people’s motives (what drives them to buy), and their attitudes (how they feel about a product/service). Knowledge about these psychological characteristics helps companies design and provide products and services that their customers want and need. The book states an example of McDonalds that first started with providing low priced burgers, fries and shakes. But today, with people becoming more health conscious, McDonalds has a reworked menu that provides more choice and variety such as Chicken Nuggets made with white meat, low fat milk jugs, and a line of premium salads. When people think of McDonalds, people think of value – whether it’s a college student buying a burger for a couple of bucks r a working women at the drive through grabbing a breakfast latte that’s a dollar cheaper than Starbucks. I would like to give a personal example of me shopping at the department store called Safeway. I was a frequent shopper at Safeway and every day I would receive emails regarding the deals and discounts on the products I purchase the most. I would also get emails with recommended products to buy and Safeway was able to do this by keeping track of my shopping history. I would actually get lured by reading these emails and go to the store to buy the recommended discounted products. Marketers can benefit from an understanding of consumer behavior so that they can better predict what consumers want and how best to offer it to them. The importance of understanding the consumer behavior is that to know and understand the preferences of different consumers which will enable the marketers to form the marketing strategies accordingly. Businesses that cannot understand how a consumer’s mind operates will have a more challenging time figuring out how to target a campaign that will attract or catch attention. In order to make the right decision, marketing managers must know how their consumers will react. Before introducing/repositioning any product/service, you must first ask questions like, do people want it? Are there enough people who want it so that it will be profitable to produce that product? Do the people who want it have the economical ability to pay for it? Another important point is that when you know how customers behave in relation to the products you’re selling, you have a better understanding of how to provide good service to them, increasing the chance that you’ll have repeat customers. For example, if you know that customers tend to come to your restaurant because they can get healthy food without waiting for a long time, you could continue training your staff to be as efficient as possible. Identifying the buying behavior of the target market and catering to those behaviors is integral in today’s complex society. 2) How can connecting with a culture help influence consumer behavior? Can you give us an example from your personal experience? A people’s culture includes their beliefs, rules of behavior, rituals, style of dressing, religion, etc. Culture is an external factor influencing consumer behavior. Since people with different cultures have different values, they will have different buying habits. A particular company’s marketing strategies should reflect the culture that is being targeted. Failing to do so can result in lost sales/profits/opportunities. Before advertising or introducing any product/service, it is very important to understand the local culture of the population of a particular area, city, or country. For example, the You Tube Video shows that Thailand and Malaysia have a family oriented culture and so the elderly and tradition play a huge part in the commercials as compared to Australia having a very individualistic culture focusing the advert on youngsters. Another example would be if a given country discourages the use of tobacco or alcohol, the potential pool of consumers for these products would be small. Therefore, companies which distribute these types of products should limit advertising in such areas, and focus on other countries where there are no restrictions on the use of such products. A personal example would be that of McDonalds. In India, meat consumption is prohibited in Hinduism. McDonalds did spend time developing a food menu targeted towards no meat eaters. They now offer a lot of vegetarian options, making it a happy place for both: meat and no meat eaters. Another example would be comparing North India and South India. I have to been to both, and have noticed a vast difference in the culture. People in North India prefer breads over rice which is a favorite with people in South India and East India. So many restaurants in South India have 99% rice based dishes. If a restaurant in South India serves more bread based food options, it would likely make less business as compared to restaurants serving rice based dishes. As part of their efforts to convince customers to purchase their products, marketers often use cultural representations, especially in promotional appeals. The objective is to connect to consumers using cultural references that are easily understood and often embraced by the consumer. By doing so the marketer hopes the consumer feels more comfortable with or can relate better to the product since it corresponds with their cultural values.

Elements of Design in the Green Mile Essay

The Green Mile is an exceptional film that was created in the year 1999. This film was nominated for four academy awards: Best Supporting Actor, Best Picture, Best Sound, and Best Adapted Screenplay. This movie teaches us how different the times were back in the 1900s compared to the way it is now. The movie is set in 1935 which was during the times of the Great Depression. It also illustrates death row and how execution is still a problem to where it is not just and fair. There are several well-known actors that cast in this film. Each actor plays a very unique role and elements of design have a role where it puts everything about this movie into perspective. The cinematographer that helped to create this film had a vital role in putting all of his screen shots together to generate the perfect lighting, images that are seen by the camera, and images that the audience sees upon completion of the film (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). The director, producer, screenwriter, and composer all played important roles in putting this film together to show its exceptional potential at being nominated for four academy awards. The elements of design in the Green Mile are a form of art which cannot be duplicated in a way that they have come together to create this finished product. There is a scene in this film called â€Å"Miracle Worker†. In this particular clip, illustrates how the actors are placed into the scene and positioned on the set. You will see how well their costumes and makeup are done which is part of what makes up the mise en scene. The mise en scene is all of the elements in a film that the audience sees such as the setting, make up and costumes, as well as the movement and placement of the actors. The director, Frank Darabont, is responsible for shooting many different versions on a scene (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). The director will then create the final film based upon the best of those elements. Some directors will allow improvisation which is when actors come up with their own lines that they feel will fit into a particular scene. The production designer, who is also sometimes called the art director, is responsible for maintaining the sets, props and the costumes so that they are in sync with the story and the character’s role (Goodykontz & Jacobs, 2011). Production designers are head of the department on film crews and they are responsible for the art department. Basically, they may be asked to look at scripts to decide how much time the art department needs to spend on films. They also calculate the budgets to figure out how much money will be spent as well. Furthermore, they will provide their design sketches expressing detailing mood, lighting, composition and color to the art directors who oversees the production (Anonymous, 2012). In this scene, the â€Å"Miracle Worker†, the lighting is low because it is night time, but there are lights on inside of the house in the bedroom where the warden wife is lying in bed. The lighting is very dim which evokes a depressing and gloomy mood. It draws the audience into the scene to where they can feel the same pain and sorrow that the actors feel. John Coffey places his lips over the warden’s wife’s lips to retrieve the sickness of the cancer from her body. The chandelier begins to brighten and the sound of the music increases as the scene becomes more intense. There is a sign of bright lighting coming from the woman’s mouth illustrating the cancer leaving her body and going into Coffey’s body as his mouth brightens as well. That lighting is symbolic for the cancer that Coffey took away from her. Then he closes his mouth and the light goes away. However, there is still a bright light on the woman’s face for a couple of seconds as she lies there with her eyes closed, but now her face looks healthy and so young. The lighting in this scene affects the overall story of what the director is trying to tell the audience because it tells you without words what the characters in the film are feeling. It tells you that they are saddened when the light is dim and then in awe and disbelief as it brightens. The warden was in tears and was in disbelief from what he had just scene. So were the rest of the guards. Although, they were in disbelief, they also displayed a sign of relief in that the sickness has left the woman’s body. The film setting was the summer of 1935 when Hanks was a corrections officer in charge of death row inmates at Cold Mountain Penitentiary during the Great Depression days. This is during the time where unemployment was very high. It only got worse in time before it got better. Even taxes had increased which made it that much more difficult for people to survive. During this period of time racism still existed in this culture. John Coffey was beaten, convicted and sentenced for execution all because he was a black man suspected of raping and killing two little white girls with no valid proof. Costuming can tell us almost everything we need to know about a character. The costuming of the woman showed a great deal of sickness within her face. The makeup on her looked so believable that it almost looked like she was a rotting corpse. Then the costuming took a turn as she was healed from the sickness. She became beautiful and peaceful. Elements play a significant role in affecting the film’s plot. For example, Coffey was dirty and sweaty because it was hot. So this illustrated that he was not clean and did not have any clean clothes. He did not come from a place where he had nice attire. Now if he was clean and had on fresh clothes, the scene would not be as emotional. Nobody really expected Coffey and the way he looked to have such supernatural powers except for Hanks because he had already experienced it for himself. Hairstyle and makeup can help tell the story by showing how the character may feel at that point and time in a scene. It can also set the tone of the scene and the audience can feel exactly what the characters are feeling based on how they look. As the warden puts his hand over his mouth, and the screen zooms in on his face, you can see the stress and pain in his eyes when they start to tear up. The three guards are well dressed in uniform. They have ties and hats. They all look very sharp like they’re about to conduct a ceremony. They are well groomed with no facial hair just like military service members in uniform. The guard’s hairstyle and make up tell the audience that they care about their appearance and how they carry themselves as correction officers. They guards display a sense of caution because Coffey is a convicted criminal, but at the same time they display hope as Coffey talks to the warden’s wife and begin to use his supernatural power. In my personal opinion, I think that the mise en scene was very well put in this movie. The use of color which made the room dim definitely heightened the suspense of the film especially during the particular scene where the light goes from dim to bright and then dim again. The warden and the guards were in well placed positions while Coffey sat on the bed and performed his supernatural miracle to cure the warden’s wife from her sickness. The mise en scene was done very well by illustrating that the woman was sick and then healed by a miracle performed by a black man who was wrongfully convicted and sent to death row while he awaited death by electric chair. All of the elements flowed in a harmonious way because the music went well with the lighting when it was dark, and then became bright when Coffey used his super natural powers to heal the sickened woman. The audience is easily drawn into the film because of the cinematography that takes place in the movie. The actors, lighting, music and setting go hand in hand together. Therefore, it is not discordant at all. The design elements are definitely in sync with Frank Darabont’s vision. From the beginning of the scene, the elements in the film were symbolic to his vision. He wanted the audience to feel every bit of emotion that the characters were feeling. The intensity as Coffey spoke to the warden’s wife grew as he introduced himself to the time he ridded her from the illness. Not only did it make the warden cry and the guards emotional, but I’m sure that the audiences who watched this movie were just as emotional as everyone in the film. So Darabont did a great job by piecing everything together to get the right vision for the scene. The Green Mile had great chemistry as everyone played key roles in making this film. The film could not have been accomplished without the help of everyone coming together and doing their part, from the directors to the actors. The elements of the mise en scene were symbolic throughout the movie so that it really touched the audiences. It placed the viewers in the film as if they were part of the script. The director and the cinematography of the film gave it the extra edge that was needed aside from the actors. The elements worked so well together harmoniously that once the film was put together, it couldn’t be done again the way it was the first time around. References Anonymous (2012). Production Designer. http://www.media- match.com/usa/jobtypes/production-designer-jobs-402758.php Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From Watching to Seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. https://content.ashford.edu

Mental Disorder

Project In Health Submitted by: Rochel Marie Jaranilla 4th- Jade Submitted to: Ms. Amarro Health & PE Teacher A  mental disorder  or  mental illness  is a  psychological  pattern, potentially reflected in behavior, that is generally associated with  distress  or  disability, and which is not considered part of  normal  development  of a person's  culture. Mental disorders are generally defined by a combination of how a person  feels,  acts,  thinks  or  perceives. This may be associated with particular regions or functions of the  brain  or rest of the  nervous system, often in a  social context.The recognition and understanding of  mental health  conditions have changed over time and across cultures and there are still variations in definition, assessment and  classification, although standard guideline criteria are widely used. In many cases, there appears to be a  continuum  between mental health and mental illness, making diag nosis complex. According to the  World Health Organisation  (WHO), over a third of people in most countries report problems at some time in their life which meet criteria for diagnosis of one or more of the common types of mental disorder.The  causes of mental disorders  are varied and in some cases unclear, and theories may incorporate findings from a range of fields. Services  are based in  psychiatric hospitals  or in the  community, and assessments are carried out by  psychiatrists,  clinical psychologistsand  clinical social workers, using various methods but often relying on observation and questioning. Clinical treatments are provided by various  mental health professionals. Psychotherapy  and  psychiatric medication  are two major treatment options, as are  social  interventions,  peer support  and  self-help.In a minority of cases there might be  involuntary detention  or  involuntary treatment, where legislation allows. Stigmaà ‚  and  discrimination  can add to the suffering and disability associated with mental disorders (or with being diagnosed or judged as having a mental disorder), leading to various  social movements  attempting to increase understanding and challenge  social exclusion. Prevention is now appearing in some mental health strategies. ConclusionStigma is both a proximate and a distal cause of employment inequity for people with a mental disability who experience direct discrimination because of prejudicial attitudes from employers and workmates and indirect discrimination owing to historical patterns of disadvantage, structural disincentives against competitive employment and generalized policy neglect. Against this background, modern mental health rehabilitation models and legislative philosophies, which focus on citizenship rights and full social participation, are to be welcomed.Yet, recent findings demonstrate that the legislation remains vulnerable to the very prejudicial attitudes they are intended to abate. Research conducted during the past year continues to highlight the multiple attitudinal and structural barriers that prevent people with mental disabilities from becoming active participants in the competitive labour market. Project In Health Submitted by: Jiovanni Kim Agustino Submitted to: Ms. Amarro

Boucheron Luxury Brands Market Research

Legend has it that he chose 26 Place Vendome, where Boucheron remains to our days, because it was sunniest corner of this square. He believed that the diamonds in the windows will sparkle all brilliantly. Czar Alexander III was a client, as was his son, the doomed Nicholas II. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was especially fond of Boucheron tiara which she inherited from Lady Greville, who originally purchased it from the House. Her grand son Prince Charles passed the tiara onto his wife Camille, Duchess of Cornwall as a wedding gift. Queen Elizabeth of England also has a collection of Boucheron jewels as did Wallis Simpson the Duchess of Windsor. American royalty are also collectors of Boucheron creations. Household names like Astors, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers have returned again and again to this jeweler for exceptional pieces of High Jewelry. Actors and artisits have also been fans of Boucheron since it opened its doors 150 years ago. Caroline otero, the temptress known as La Belle Otero, when she was a cabaret dancer at the return of the 19th century was a Boucheron enthusiast as was the famed theater actress Sarah Bernhardt and the writers Oscar Wilde and Marcel Proust. Why film stars including Greta Garbo, Rita Hayworth, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rachel Weisz and Diane Kruger have all come under the Boucheron spell of spectacular creations. TIMELINE: 858- Frederic Boucheron opens his first store in the Galerie de Valois at Palais Royal, during the heyday of the Second Empire. 1866- Boucheron creates its atelier. 1867- Paris Universal Exhibition: Frederic Boucheron wins his first Gold Medal only 9 years after opening his firs boutique. 1878 – Paris Universal Exhibition: The Foliage necklace, a sapphire and diamond set with a central sapphire of 159 carats, created for Mrs. H. Mackay, wins the Grand Prize. 1883- The Russian Prince Felix Yousoupoff purchases a corsage decorated with 6 detachable diamond bows during one of his visits to Paris. 893- Frederic Boucheron moves to 26 Place Vendome in the residence of the Countess of Castiglione. He opens the largest boutique on the square. 1898- Boucheron opens a store in Moscow, later transferred to St. Petersburg in 1911. 1902- Frederic Boucheron dies, his son Louis cucceeds him. 1921- Boucheron is commissioned to make tiara for Lady Greville; it was later given to England`s Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. 1928- Louis Boucheron is asked by the Maharajah of Patiala to Set the stones of his treasure, which are brought to the Place Vendome boutique by the private guards of the Prince. 930- The Shah of Iran asks Louis Boucheron to assess the Imperial Treasure of Persia and issues a decree naming him Official Curator and Guardian of the Treasure. 1959- Louis Boucheron dies, leaving his sons Fred and Gerard in charge of the business. Edith Piaf, the most popular French Singer of her time, purchases a Boucheron watch for the love of her life, Marcel Cerdan. 1962- Fred Boucheron retires, leaving his brother Gerard as head of the establishment. 1970- In the 1970s the best selling snake line was created. 1973- Boucheron`s first boutique opens in Japan. 980- Gerard Boucheron retires and Alain Boucheron becomes a president and General Director. 1988- Boucheron launches its first women`s fragrance in a ring shaped bottle. 1994- Boucheron takes of a new development in the sector of fashion accessories: The Boucheron Eyewear Collection. Boucheron sells to Schweizerhall. 2000- Gucci Group acquires the House of Boucheron. 2002- Boucheron launches the â€Å"Beaute geois† collection. 2003- Boucheron launches the â€Å"Not Bourgeois† collection 2004- Gucci Group is fully acquired by PPR. Jean-Christophe Bedois is appointed CEO. The â€Å"Jaipur† High Jewelry line and the â€Å"Dechainee† collections are launched. 2005- Launch of four new jewelry lines: Trouble, Quatre, Diablotine, Vingt-Six. Boucheron opens its firs boutique in Shanghai and its first flagship in Dubai. The start of the â€Å"Trouble Desir† High Jewelry Collection. 2006- Boucheron and Alexander McQueen collaborates together to create a limited edition Novak bag that incorporates the snake motif of Boucheron`s Trouble line. Boucheron opens its first boutique in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Launch of the â€Å" Exquises Confinces† line. 008- Boucheron marks its 150th anniversary with a yearlong celebration. CONCEPT AND UNIQUENESS The concept of Boucheron is to appeal to high-end customers who look for something unique in their jewelry. Through meeting target customers standards about design, materials, price and brand Boucheron has created a market for luxury haute couture jewelry. Customers also appreciate the fact that all collections are manufactured in small quantities and that stones of the highest quality are used; in addition to diamonds, also sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, coral, onyx, and jade. We wanted to develop innovative and creative way to introduce our rich heritage and approach to fine jewelry in way that enchants, amazes and amuses. We have a rich history that is beautifully brought alive. † Jean Christophe-Bedos, President, Boucheron The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has announced in 2011 that Boucheron has achieved certification by meeting the ethical, human rights, social and environmental standards as established by the RJC’s Member Certification System. â€Å"RJC warmly congratulates Boucheron on its certification. The successful verification assessment of Boucheron was conducted by Philippe Arnaud from KPMG France, one of the independent third-party auditing firms accredited to the RJC’s Member Certification System† Michael Rae, RJC’s Chief Executive Officer. â€Å"Since 1858, Boucheron has adhered to the highest standards not only in the spectacular designs of its creations but also in upholding its strong ethical code. The RJC certification corresponds to the House’s continued endeavor to embody excellence and responsible business practices both internally and externally; a commitment we share across the PPR Group† Pierre Bouissou, Boucheron’s CEO BUSINESS STRATEGY With the understanding that the conservative way was not an option, Boucheron plays on its long history of rousing the passions of sensual desire. This attitude has driven Boucheron’s design and delicate craftsmanship and resulted in a heritage of enthusiastic stories and myths. Today it could motivate an entirely new approach to the market. The House’s individual legacy sharped a way to connect the new luxury consumer on a essentially more personal, more passionate and less superficial level. Boucheron has formed a marketplace approach that brings many industry innovations – a new service that redefines how the HNWI can experience and enjoy luxury jewelry; an exclusive retail concept that can voyage to the client rather than sit and wait for them; and product idea that raises the craft of the brand to the peak levels of art and business When Boucheron has entered the US market the first element of the strategy was a â€Å"Desir†, a collaboration with the creators of Spiegelworld, that brings alive the rich history of Boucheron in an personal and inspirational 100 year old hall of mirrors. It was launched in New York in August 2008 and was set to benefit from a sellout three-month run at the South Seaport before opening two-year tour of US’s most significant Luxury markets. â€Å"Set in a turn of the fin-de-siecle nightclub, Desir is meeting place for showgirls and soldiers, bejeweled courtesans and maharajahs, a carnival world devoted to the pursuit of beauty, clever seductions and breathtaking displays of acrobatic wonder. It is a sparkling merry-go-round where the last love affair is merely an entree to the next encounter. More than any show in New York I can think of, Desir, with its cavalcade of professional beauties, does inspire thoughts of a time when well-dressed admirers queued up at dressing-room doors bearing gifts of flowers and jewelry. As for me, I’m thinking of coming back with a bouquet of catnip for that charming, fluffy-haired Persian who stopped the show when it walked a tightrope. † Ben Brantley, New York Times. Additionally to the show there was the Boutique Desir, a traveling boutique where, guests can find out Boucheron’s universe and its creations; can touch, try and familiarize themselves with the pieces in a private ambiance. Clients were then invited to the exclusive Bar Vendome, a VIP lounge where they could get pleasure from an memorable evening under the stars. Boucheron chose to launch their products in the BRIC countries as well, which consists of some of the most emerging markets in the world today. Additionally, the Middle East and India are also two extremely important markets for Boucheron, partly due to the strong responsiveness for jewelry. The sales in these countries are larger than in the western countries and the luxury company is exploiting the new wealth of the generations with high luxury awareness and taste. MARKETING MIX Product: Boucheron sells hand-made haute-couture luxury jewelry made from fine materials like gold, platinum, diamonds, emeralds and sapphires. Along with every purchase the buyer receives superior service and is entitled to service which assists users with exclusive services like delivery and customization. One of the Boucheron`s specialties is color. Clients easily can distinguish  Boucheron’s line of jewelry  by its designs. Its signature is visible in the form of motifs like floral, peacock feathers and snakes. Boucheron produces: * Necklaces * Pendants Bracelets * Brooches * Cufflinks * Earrings * Rings * Wedding Jewelry * Watches * Perfumes (18 editions) * Sunglasses Price: Boucheron prices range: Rings from 2. 000 eur up to 30. 000 eur Earrings from 4. 000 eur to 41. 800 eur Necklaces from 12. 000 eur to 1. 000. 000 eur Brooches from 5. 000eur to 10. 400 eur The prices vary with the different collections and the materials that are used in them. Place: Boucheron jewelry is very selectively distributed. It is available at company-owned boutiques and flagship stores like London Jewelers, Goldsmiths, and Colette. They recent store was opened in Doha`s West Bay community in Middle East. In keeping with its global design concept, the space is decorated using its signature aubergine and gold colour palette and affluent wooden decor. The Doha boutique domiciled Boucheron’s iconic most collections, along with a range of exquisite high jeweler’s creations. Boucheron locates its stores in luxury shopping districts, famous â€Å"Golden Triangles† of large metropolitan areas and opens relatively few stores. Today, Boucheron operates more than 50 boutiques and over 100 certified retailers worldwide in addition to an online sales website. The boutiques are, intimate and have a luxury feeling. All sale locations can be found on www. boucheron. fr . Promotion: Boucheron acquires much publicity from sales to celebrities like: * Chanel Iman * Diane Kruger * Natalia Vodianova * Kira Knightley * Julianne Moore * Raquel Zimmermann * Anne Hathaway * Mary-Kate Olsen * Natsha Poly * Lily Donaldson * Salma Hayek * And many others As well Boucheron has collaborated with Vertu. Boucheron launches diverse collections at different times and only makes a certain number of some jewels in order to keep a prestigious image and be a focus for HNWI. Boucheron has an own website for publicity which features product descriptions and prices. Mostly promotion is running in Fashion Magazines like Vogue. POSITIONING Seeking to embody the opulence and grandeur of Parisienne life, Boucheron draws often upon iconic French women, each epitomizing a facet of the golden age, to act as muses in the creation of distinct sets of jewelry. Each woman has its own distinctive way of wearing jewelry, which is the privilege of a woman, but she can vary own excitement strategy. Blink of an eye, the center will become a decorative pattern of brooches, pendants into earrings, necklace, or a deduction into a multifaceted hairpin. Boucheron blends the art of seduction and a charm with a woman`s desire to wear jewelry. Boucheron has positioned itself as the top-of-the-line targeting HNWI. Boucheron achieving this by using only the finest materials to create their products which are all handcrafted ensuring that every product is of perfect quality. Boucheron will launch different collections each featuring different materials and designs which make the collections unique and prestigious; their most expensive line ever was a necklace Julia which cost 800,000eur and Boucheron snake necklace for Maison du Chocolat which costs 900. 000 eur. Boucheron collaborated with VERU luxury mobile phone maker, to extend their success and increase awareness in the luxury product world. Boucheron offers superior and personalized service to its clients, guaranteeing customer satisfaction and loyalty. They also position hemselves by showcasing the celebrities who own their products as an indication that their products are for the rich and famous. Boucheron has flagship stores all over the world in 50 countries however they open relatively few boutiques solely in luxury shopping districts of large cities and thus are considered selectively distributed. Boucheron boutiques are decadent, small, intimate venues which offer personalized service to cli ents wishing to make a purchase. Boucheron house very successfully preserves a prominent image with its ultra-luxurious products and superior service through its positioning. TARGET CONSUMER The Boucheron jewelry is a highly luxurious product, which doubtlessly is made to fit the extremely wealthy population of this world. The main customers are rich and found in the urban areas, who are constantly searching for the extraordinary products. Furthermore, their flagship stores are situated in the finest areas, in order to attract the highly rich international shoppers. CONSUMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY PYRAMID Brand Salience For Boucheron achieving right brand identity involves brand salience. Only richest people are aware of Boucheron because promotion is quite narrow. However their target consumer for sure can recall and recognize this brand. So conclusion here is that Brand salience is more depth than breadth. This basically means that even thou there are not yet many people knowing Boucheron, but those who do, they know all insights of it, can easily remember it and realize what this brand is about. Brand Performance The product itself is at the heart of brand equity, as it is the primary influence of what consumers experience with a brand, what they hear about the brand from others, and what the brand can tell customers about the brand in their communication. Brand Performance relates to the ways in which the product or service attempts to meet customers` functional needs. This is on top level for Boucheron brand. It is crucial to contribute to customers` desires, wants and needs. Boucheron brand highly represents all what their HNWI customers want to have for paying a high price. The product is highly durable; it has distinctive logo, premium pricing and quality handcraft. All customer services provided for clients by Boucheron also attributes to brand`s performance. Brand Imagery Another variable CBBE Pyramid is second type of brand meaning which involves brand imagery. Imagery deals with such a properties of a product, which meets customers` psychological needs. It is more about what people think of it, how they see it. Boucheron imagery is extremely individualistic and stylish. When customer is buying Boucheron cell he/she buys a beauty of it. As of Boucheron customer has a strong judgment of a brand as high quality luxury product. Credibility is high and customer see Boucheron as superior, advantageous brand. Brand Judgments Brand judgments focus upon customers` personal opinions and evaluation with regard to brand. This involves how consumer put together all from performance and imagery association to make kind of an evaluation. Boucheron clients evaluate this brand as a high quality luxury brand. Brand Feelings This variable shows emotional response with respect to Boucheron brand. It shows what feelings are evoked by the marketing strategy for the Boucheron and how does it affect feelings about themselves and relationships with others. Customer of Boucheron is for sure status-conscious person. Customers of Boucheron have a unique and warmth feeling about the brand. It can be exciting due to special relationship of beauty and handcraft in brand`s products. Customer feels it is trendy and relates to special status and therefore social approval. Customer feels high security within this brand due to all advantages provided. As Boucheron makes consumer feel better self-respect, pride, fulfillment and accomplishment also occurs. Brand Resonance Final variable of pyramid shows brand relationships with a customer based on Salience, Performance, Imagery, Judgments and Feelings. As for Boucheron even if general awareness is low the behavioral loyalty is very high, customer want to get back to this brand, consequently repeat purchase is possible. Brand loyalty is necessary but not sufficient for resonance to occur. Within Boucheron brand customer is not returning to this brand again due to, for example, scarce of substitutes. Boucheron attained their main goal- strong personal attachment to brand. SWOT ANALISYS FOR BOUCHERON STRENGTH * Masterpiece of design and craftsmanship * Innovative brand Strong reputation (Products have established strong reputation in their field) * Global expansion (Includes significant growth over last 10 years) * Customer service * Control of Quality WEAKNESSES * Extremely high production price (which leads to high product price) * Limited access as distribution is exclusive and limited * Not enough practical promotion and advertising OPPORTUNITIES * Emerging markets * Mix Boucheron styling with some big Fashion Brand like Gucci * C hange of consumer lifestyle (growing demand from young and senior people) THREATS Increasing Quality of Competing Products and Number of those * Importance of counterfeiting COMPETITORS * GRAFF * VAN CLEEF ; ARPELS * PIAGET REFERENCES http://luxurysociety. com/articles/2012/01/the-latest-boutiques-burberry-bally-boucheron http://www. luxury-insider. com/luxury-news/2010/03/boucheron-jewellery-show-at-mandarin-oriental-hk http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Boucheron http://www. verybest. com/cat/49/jewelry/235/2/ http://jewelhistory. com/2010/10/27/in-and-around-town/ http://www. mycompanion. cz/en/list/boucheron-paris-boutique Boucheron Luxury Brands Market Research Legend has it that he chose 26 Place Vendome, where Boucheron remains to our days, because it was sunniest corner of this square. He believed that the diamonds in the windows will sparkle all brilliantly. Czar Alexander III was a client, as was his son, the doomed Nicholas II. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was especially fond of Boucheron tiara which she inherited from Lady Greville, who originally purchased it from the House. Her grand son Prince Charles passed the tiara onto his wife Camille, Duchess of Cornwall as a wedding gift. Queen Elizabeth of England also has a collection of Boucheron jewels as did Wallis Simpson the Duchess of Windsor. American royalty are also collectors of Boucheron creations. Household names like Astors, Vanderbilts and Rockefellers have returned again and again to this jeweler for exceptional pieces of High Jewelry. Actors and artisits have also been fans of Boucheron since it opened its doors 150 years ago. Caroline otero, the temptress known as La Belle Otero, when she was a cabaret dancer at the return of the 19th century was a Boucheron enthusiast as was the famed theater actress Sarah Bernhardt and the writers Oscar Wilde and Marcel Proust. Why film stars including Greta Garbo, Rita Hayworth, Penelope Cruz, Cameron Diaz, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rachel Weisz and Diane Kruger have all come under the Boucheron spell of spectacular creations. TIMELINE: 858- Frederic Boucheron opens his first store in the Galerie de Valois at Palais Royal, during the heyday of the Second Empire. 1866- Boucheron creates its atelier. 1867- Paris Universal Exhibition: Frederic Boucheron wins his first Gold Medal only 9 years after opening his firs boutique. 1878 – Paris Universal Exhibition: The Foliage necklace, a sapphire and diamond set with a central sapphire of 159 carats, created for Mrs. H. Mackay, wins the Grand Prize. 1883- The Russian Prince Felix Yousoupoff purchases a corsage decorated with 6 detachable diamond bows during one of his visits to Paris. 893- Frederic Boucheron moves to 26 Place Vendome in the residence of the Countess of Castiglione. He opens the largest boutique on the square. 1898- Boucheron opens a store in Moscow, later transferred to St. Petersburg in 1911. 1902- Frederic Boucheron dies, his son Louis cucceeds him. 1921- Boucheron is commissioned to make tiara for Lady Greville; it was later given to England`s Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. 1928- Louis Boucheron is asked by the Maharajah of Patiala to Set the stones of his treasure, which are brought to the Place Vendome boutique by the private guards of the Prince. 930- The Shah of Iran asks Louis Boucheron to assess the Imperial Treasure of Persia and issues a decree naming him Official Curator and Guardian of the Treasure. 1959- Louis Boucheron dies, leaving his sons Fred and Gerard in charge of the business. Edith Piaf, the most popular French Singer of her time, purchases a Boucheron watch for the love of her life, Marcel Cerdan. 1962- Fred Boucheron retires, leaving his brother Gerard as head of the establishment. 1970- In the 1970s the best selling snake line was created. 1973- Boucheron`s first boutique opens in Japan. 980- Gerard Boucheron retires and Alain Boucheron becomes a president and General Director. 1988- Boucheron launches its first women`s fragrance in a ring shaped bottle. 1994- Boucheron takes of a new development in the sector of fashion accessories: The Boucheron Eyewear Collection. Boucheron sells to Schweizerhall. 2000- Gucci Group acquires the House of Boucheron. 2002- Boucheron launches the â€Å"Beaute geois† collection. 2003- Boucheron launches the â€Å"Not Bourgeois† collection 2004- Gucci Group is fully acquired by PPR. Jean-Christophe Bedois is appointed CEO. The â€Å"Jaipur† High Jewelry line and the â€Å"Dechainee† collections are launched. 2005- Launch of four new jewelry lines: Trouble, Quatre, Diablotine, Vingt-Six. Boucheron opens its firs boutique in Shanghai and its first flagship in Dubai. The start of the â€Å"Trouble Desir† High Jewelry Collection. 2006- Boucheron and Alexander McQueen collaborates together to create a limited edition Novak bag that incorporates the snake motif of Boucheron`s Trouble line. Boucheron opens its first boutique in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Launch of the â€Å" Exquises Confinces† line. 008- Boucheron marks its 150th anniversary with a yearlong celebration. CONCEPT AND UNIQUENESS The concept of Boucheron is to appeal to high-end customers who look for something unique in their jewelry. Through meeting target customers standards about design, materials, price and brand Boucheron has created a market for luxury haute couture jewelry. Customers also appreciate the fact that all collections are manufactured in small quantities and that stones of the highest quality are used; in addition to diamonds, also sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, coral, onyx, and jade. We wanted to develop innovative and creative way to introduce our rich heritage and approach to fine jewelry in way that enchants, amazes and amuses. We have a rich history that is beautifully brought alive. † Jean Christophe-Bedos, President, Boucheron The Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) has announced in 2011 that Boucheron has achieved certification by meeting the ethical, human rights, social and environmental standards as established by the RJC’s Member Certification System. â€Å"RJC warmly congratulates Boucheron on its certification. The successful verification assessment of Boucheron was conducted by Philippe Arnaud from KPMG France, one of the independent third-party auditing firms accredited to the RJC’s Member Certification System† Michael Rae, RJC’s Chief Executive Officer. â€Å"Since 1858, Boucheron has adhered to the highest standards not only in the spectacular designs of its creations but also in upholding its strong ethical code. The RJC certification corresponds to the House’s continued endeavor to embody excellence and responsible business practices both internally and externally; a commitment we share across the PPR Group† Pierre Bouissou, Boucheron’s CEO BUSINESS STRATEGY With the understanding that the conservative way was not an option, Boucheron plays on its long history of rousing the passions of sensual desire. This attitude has driven Boucheron’s design and delicate craftsmanship and resulted in a heritage of enthusiastic stories and myths. Today it could motivate an entirely new approach to the market. The House’s individual legacy sharped a way to connect the new luxury consumer on a essentially more personal, more passionate and less superficial level. Boucheron has formed a marketplace approach that brings many industry innovations – a new service that redefines how the HNWI can experience and enjoy luxury jewelry; an exclusive retail concept that can voyage to the client rather than sit and wait for them; and product idea that raises the craft of the brand to the peak levels of art and business When Boucheron has entered the US market the first element of the strategy was a â€Å"Desir†, a collaboration with the creators of Spiegelworld, that brings alive the rich history of Boucheron in an personal and inspirational 100 year old hall of mirrors. It was launched in New York in August 2008 and was set to benefit from a sellout three-month run at the South Seaport before opening two-year tour of US’s most significant Luxury markets. â€Å"Set in a turn of the fin-de-siecle nightclub, Desir is meeting place for showgirls and soldiers, bejeweled courtesans and maharajahs, a carnival world devoted to the pursuit of beauty, clever seductions and breathtaking displays of acrobatic wonder. It is a sparkling merry-go-round where the last love affair is merely an entree to the next encounter. More than any show in New York I can think of, Desir, with its cavalcade of professional beauties, does inspire thoughts of a time when well-dressed admirers queued up at dressing-room doors bearing gifts of flowers and jewelry. As for me, I’m thinking of coming back with a bouquet of catnip for that charming, fluffy-haired Persian who stopped the show when it walked a tightrope. † Ben Brantley, New York Times. Additionally to the show there was the Boutique Desir, a traveling boutique where, guests can find out Boucheron’s universe and its creations; can touch, try and familiarize themselves with the pieces in a private ambiance. Clients were then invited to the exclusive Bar Vendome, a VIP lounge where they could get pleasure from an memorable evening under the stars. Boucheron chose to launch their products in the BRIC countries as well, which consists of some of the most emerging markets in the world today. Additionally, the Middle East and India are also two extremely important markets for Boucheron, partly due to the strong responsiveness for jewelry. The sales in these countries are larger than in the western countries and the luxury company is exploiting the new wealth of the generations with high luxury awareness and taste. MARKETING MIX Product: Boucheron sells hand-made haute-couture luxury jewelry made from fine materials like gold, platinum, diamonds, emeralds and sapphires. Along with every purchase the buyer receives superior service and is entitled to service which assists users with exclusive services like delivery and customization. One of the Boucheron`s specialties is color. Clients easily can distinguish  Boucheron’s line of jewelry  by its designs. Its signature is visible in the form of motifs like floral, peacock feathers and snakes. Boucheron produces: * Necklaces * Pendants Bracelets * Brooches * Cufflinks * Earrings * Rings * Wedding Jewelry * Watches * Perfumes (18 editions) * Sunglasses Price: Boucheron prices range: Rings from 2. 000 eur up to 30. 000 eur Earrings from 4. 000 eur to 41. 800 eur Necklaces from 12. 000 eur to 1. 000. 000 eur Brooches from 5. 000eur to 10. 400 eur The prices vary with the different collections and the materials that are used in them. Place: Boucheron jewelry is very selectively distributed. It is available at company-owned boutiques and flagship stores like London Jewelers, Goldsmiths, and Colette. They recent store was opened in Doha`s West Bay community in Middle East. In keeping with its global design concept, the space is decorated using its signature aubergine and gold colour palette and affluent wooden decor. The Doha boutique domiciled Boucheron’s iconic most collections, along with a range of exquisite high jeweler’s creations. Boucheron locates its stores in luxury shopping districts, famous â€Å"Golden Triangles† of large metropolitan areas and opens relatively few stores. Today, Boucheron operates more than 50 boutiques and over 100 certified retailers worldwide in addition to an online sales website. The boutiques are, intimate and have a luxury feeling. All sale locations can be found on www. boucheron. fr . Promotion: Boucheron acquires much publicity from sales to celebrities like: * Chanel Iman * Diane Kruger * Natalia Vodianova * Kira Knightley * Julianne Moore * Raquel Zimmermann * Anne Hathaway * Mary-Kate Olsen * Natsha Poly * Lily Donaldson * Salma Hayek * And many others As well Boucheron has collaborated with Vertu. Boucheron launches diverse collections at different times and only makes a certain number of some jewels in order to keep a prestigious image and be a focus for HNWI. Boucheron has an own website for publicity which features product descriptions and prices. Mostly promotion is running in Fashion Magazines like Vogue. POSITIONING Seeking to embody the opulence and grandeur of Parisienne life, Boucheron draws often upon iconic French women, each epitomizing a facet of the golden age, to act as muses in the creation of distinct sets of jewelry. Each woman has its own distinctive way of wearing jewelry, which is the privilege of a woman, but she can vary own excitement strategy. Blink of an eye, the center will become a decorative pattern of brooches, pendants into earrings, necklace, or a deduction into a multifaceted hairpin. Boucheron blends the art of seduction and a charm with a woman`s desire to wear jewelry. Boucheron has positioned itself as the top-of-the-line targeting HNWI. Boucheron achieving this by using only the finest materials to create their products which are all handcrafted ensuring that every product is of perfect quality. Boucheron will launch different collections each featuring different materials and designs which make the collections unique and prestigious; their most expensive line ever was a necklace Julia which cost 800,000eur and Boucheron snake necklace for Maison du Chocolat which costs 900. 000 eur. Boucheron collaborated with VERU luxury mobile phone maker, to extend their success and increase awareness in the luxury product world. Boucheron offers superior and personalized service to its clients, guaranteeing customer satisfaction and loyalty. They also position hemselves by showcasing the celebrities who own their products as an indication that their products are for the rich and famous. Boucheron has flagship stores all over the world in 50 countries however they open relatively few boutiques solely in luxury shopping districts of large cities and thus are considered selectively distributed. Boucheron boutiques are decadent, small, intimate venues which offer personalized service to cli ents wishing to make a purchase. Boucheron house very successfully preserves a prominent image with its ultra-luxurious products and superior service through its positioning. TARGET CONSUMER The Boucheron jewelry is a highly luxurious product, which doubtlessly is made to fit the extremely wealthy population of this world. The main customers are rich and found in the urban areas, who are constantly searching for the extraordinary products. Furthermore, their flagship stores are situated in the finest areas, in order to attract the highly rich international shoppers. CONSUMER-BASED BRAND EQUITY PYRAMID Brand Salience For Boucheron achieving right brand identity involves brand salience. Only richest people are aware of Boucheron because promotion is quite narrow. However their target consumer for sure can recall and recognize this brand. So conclusion here is that Brand salience is more depth than breadth. This basically means that even thou there are not yet many people knowing Boucheron, but those who do, they know all insights of it, can easily remember it and realize what this brand is about. Brand Performance The product itself is at the heart of brand equity, as it is the primary influence of what consumers experience with a brand, what they hear about the brand from others, and what the brand can tell customers about the brand in their communication. Brand Performance relates to the ways in which the product or service attempts to meet customers` functional needs. This is on top level for Boucheron brand. It is crucial to contribute to customers` desires, wants and needs. Boucheron brand highly represents all what their HNWI customers want to have for paying a high price. The product is highly durable; it has distinctive logo, premium pricing and quality handcraft. All customer services provided for clients by Boucheron also attributes to brand`s performance. Brand Imagery Another variable CBBE Pyramid is second type of brand meaning which involves brand imagery. Imagery deals with such a properties of a product, which meets customers` psychological needs. It is more about what people think of it, how they see it. Boucheron imagery is extremely individualistic and stylish. When customer is buying Boucheron cell he/she buys a beauty of it. As of Boucheron customer has a strong judgment of a brand as high quality luxury product. Credibility is high and customer see Boucheron as superior, advantageous brand. Brand Judgments Brand judgments focus upon customers` personal opinions and evaluation with regard to brand. This involves how consumer put together all from performance and imagery association to make kind of an evaluation. Boucheron clients evaluate this brand as a high quality luxury brand. Brand Feelings This variable shows emotional response with respect to Boucheron brand. It shows what feelings are evoked by the marketing strategy for the Boucheron and how does it affect feelings about themselves and relationships with others. Customer of Boucheron is for sure status-conscious person. Customers of Boucheron have a unique and warmth feeling about the brand. It can be exciting due to special relationship of beauty and handcraft in brand`s products. Customer feels it is trendy and relates to special status and therefore social approval. Customer feels high security within this brand due to all advantages provided. As Boucheron makes consumer feel better self-respect, pride, fulfillment and accomplishment also occurs. Brand Resonance Final variable of pyramid shows brand relationships with a customer based on Salience, Performance, Imagery, Judgments and Feelings. As for Boucheron even if general awareness is low the behavioral loyalty is very high, customer want to get back to this brand, consequently repeat purchase is possible. Brand loyalty is necessary but not sufficient for resonance to occur. Within Boucheron brand customer is not returning to this brand again due to, for example, scarce of substitutes. Boucheron attained their main goal- strong personal attachment to brand. SWOT ANALISYS FOR BOUCHERON STRENGTH * Masterpiece of design and craftsmanship * Innovative brand Strong reputation (Products have established strong reputation in their field) * Global expansion (Includes significant growth over last 10 years) * Customer service * Control of Quality WEAKNESSES * Extremely high production price (which leads to high product price) * Limited access as distribution is exclusive and limited * Not enough practical promotion and advertising OPPORTUNITIES * Emerging markets * Mix Boucheron styling with some big Fashion Brand like Gucci * C hange of consumer lifestyle (growing demand from young and senior people) THREATS Increasing Quality of Competing Products and Number of those * Importance of counterfeiting COMPETITORS * GRAFF * VAN CLEEF ; ARPELS * PIAGET REFERENCES http://luxurysociety. com/articles/2012/01/the-latest-boutiques-burberry-bally-boucheron http://www. luxury-insider. com/luxury-news/2010/03/boucheron-jewellery-show-at-mandarin-oriental-hk http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Boucheron http://www. verybest. com/cat/49/jewelry/235/2/ http://jewelhistory. com/2010/10/27/in-and-around-town/ http://www. mycompanion. cz/en/list/boucheron-paris-boutique