Invasion Of The Zebra Mussels Essays - Dreissenidae,

Invasion Of The Zebra Mussels Invasion of the Zebra Mussels There has been an incursion into the sovereign territory of the United States of America. The Zebra mussel, an animal much akin to the clam, has colonized nearly every hard surface in the Great Lakes area, and many rivers and streams attached to them. These invaders arrived on ships from England, pumped out through the ballast. Zebra mussels are from a different environment (England), thus they are classified as an exotic species. These pesky animals threaten the entire Great Lakes ecosystem. The invasion has created many problems for the local ecosystem. First of all, Zebra mussels take the food for which native species already compete. Each mussel consumes about a liter of different types of plankton. Small fish lose their food, and their numbers dwindle. Big fish no longer have small fish to eat, and the entire food chain is disrupted. Now that the natives don't have enough food to go around, mortality rates are going up and they are starting to die out. Another problem they've created is clogging on industrial units. They reproduce en mass and attach themselves to anything they find, including docks, boat ramps, and waste pipes. All the industries in the area now have to worry about scraping these mini-invaders off. Yet another problem they've created is contaminated drinking water. The intake pipes in Lake Michigan and elsewhere are covered with mussels. Without being removed, they contaminate water and move on to clog up city pipes. Still another problem is their co lonization of rock reefs. With the mussels being several inches deep in places, their waste is poisoning the area and fish that would normally lay their eggs there must look elsewhere for nesting areas. Now natality is down and mortality is up. A final problem they cause is damage to property. By latching onto boats and other floating objects, they can and will damage them. They cause innumerable problems, so now the question has become one of prevention and removal. Several methods are being used to attempt to prevent the mussels from establishing themselves, and to try to reverse the problem. One method being tried is protective coatings on surfaces, such as paints containing TBT or copper have been tried. The problem with this is the paints often erode aluminum and other materials, and some are even illegal. Another method is heat. Zebra mussels are extremely sensitive to heat. They have a 100% mortality rate after 5 hours at 90?, or after only 15 minutes at 104?. The problem with this method is simply the fact that it is hard to apply. A final approach that has been tried is the application of chlorine. The chlorine works well in wells and bilges, but cannot be applied to lakes or streams due to its nature of being toxic to living things. The mussel's history in England is no help, for they have native predators there, diving ducks for example, that help control them. Populations of ducks like these European ducks in the Great Lakes are small , so our situation is quite different from theirs. Some method must be developed to combat these invaders; they are out competing all the native species. They are such a good competitor in the Great Lakes community because they have no natural predators. Nothing eats them! Combined with the fact that they can exist nearly anywhere, this lets them breed and breed and not worry about anything other than breeding and eating, while local populations must concern themselves with escaping predators, finding food, finding shelter, and many other bothers simply to survive. Overall, the Zebra mussels are bad for the Great Lakes biological community. Countless ill effects have been listed, and a single benefit has yet to be listed. They impact everything in the food chain with their negative effects. They eat the bottom of the local food chain, and the top has nothing to eat. They coat everything conceivable. They take up habitats, forcing local populations to look for new territories. Unless this incursion is fought back, the Zebra mussel may well be the cause of the destruction of large sections of the local ecosystem. Nothing nature has produced has the capability to

The eNotes Blog Happy Birthday, HelenKeller

Happy Birthday, HelenKeller Helen Keller and Charlie Chaplin On this date in 1880, Helen Keller was born. It is well known that she was blind and deaf, but not as well known that Helen had been a normal, healthy, active toddler until she was nineteen months old. It is now speculated that despite her rudimentary diagnosis of acute congestion of the stomach and brain that the child most likely had either contracted meningitis or scarlet fever. The illness robbed Helen not only of her sight and hearing, but also of her ability to acquire language. Helen stayed in her isolated world of darkness and disorientation until she was six years old. Fortunately, her parents were well-to-do and her mother driven to find help. Kate Adams Keller, Helens mother, was not only educated but a tireless advocate (a fact that the famous film The Miracle Worker does not convey at all). Upon reading an essay about the education of another blind and deaf woman in Charles Dickens American Notes, Kate researched the best specialists on the Eastern seaboard.   She then sent her husband with Helen to Baltimore to visit Dr. Julian Chisholm, who put the Kellers in touch with Alexander Graham Bell. Bell recommended that the family seek help from the Perkins School for the Blind. Anne Sullivan, herself visually impaired and only twenty years old, was selected to be Helens teacher.   It was no easy task to pull the frightened and stubborn Helen out of the darkness. Sullivan spelled words into Helens palm until finally the child understood and her world opened wide. For the next forty-nine years, Anne and Helen were inseparable. Helen became far more than competent. Her accomplishments are still awe-inspiring. They include: Twelve published books, including her autobiography, written at age 22, The Story of My Life Helped found the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) A suffragist and a pacifist; a steadfast socialist who campaigned against Woodrow Wilson Met every president from Grover Cleavland to Lyndon Johnson Counted Mark Twain, Charlie Chaplin, and Alexander Graham Bell among her closest friends Made thirty-nine trips to Japan (along with Anne Sullivan) An interesting bit of trivia: On one of her late trips to Japan, Helen was presented with an Akita dog as a gift.   The puppy died of distemper, but the Japanese soon sent another. Helen Keller is now credited with introducing the Akita breed to the United States. Given what Helen Keller had to overcome, it should come as no surprise that she when she found her voice, she used it to the fullest. Anyone who thought they would meet a demure woman, simply happy to pass the time, had another thing coming. For example, a newspaper editor, whom Keller had know for some time, once called her socialist activity mistakes sprung out of the manifest limitations of her development.   Keller wasted no time in shooting him down, saying: (N)ow that I have come out for socialism he reminds me and the public that I am blind and deaf and especially liable to error. I must have shrunk in intelligence during the years since I met himOh, ridiculous Brooklyn Eagle! Socially blind and deaf, it defends an intolerable system, a system that is the cause of much of the physical blindness and deafness which we are trying to prevent. In her childhood, Helen had struggled to learn how to communicate at all. As an adult, she realized that there was much more to ones character than just the ability to speak. Character, she argued,   cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. Happy birthday, Ms. Keller. May we all remember what constitutes character.

Buyer's Attitude & Marketing Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Buyer's Attitude & Marketing Strategies - Essay Example Country of origin (CoO) cues influence the buyer’s purchasing behaviour. This is recognized in the cognitive mediation process. It is based on the argument that beliefs about a product’s features or attributes are directly influenced by the product’s country of origin information. These influenced beliefs mediate changes in attitude toward the product. Strategically speaking, the country of origin cues is used to promote the products of one country in another. Japan literally spent billions of dollars in the United States to overcome the poor image that its products had in the United States after World War II. Although total Japanese success cannot possibly be attributed to successful of country of origin cues, they certainly played an important role. In fact, the cues or their variations are still playing a critical role in Japan’s success in United States Markets. Managing Country of Origin Perception Buyer attitudes toward certain countries can change, and this has important implications for global competitors. Both Japan and South Korea saw their products rise in esteem over a relatively short period of time. Now Japanese products score higher than U.S. or German products in some countries, including China and Saudi Arabia (Onkvisit, 2005). In recent years, a number of countries, including Portugal, Estonia, and Poland, have employed branding experts to help them project a better image. Finland even undertook a campaign to enhance its image as a center of high tech innovation, hoping that a better national image would help its high-tech companies in the U.S market. But countries must realize branding is more than hype, it must be backed by reality. Consequently, major changes in country brand image can take 20 years to achieve (Czinkota, 2007). Firms that suffer from a negative country of origin commonly settle for lower prices to offset perceptions of lower quality. However, there are a number of strategies that can improve buye r perception of the quality of products that suffer from a negative country of origin effect; A negative country of origin bias may be offset by using a channel that distributes already accepted complementary goods. Communication, marketing and persistence can eventually pay off. Production may be moved to a country with a positive country of origin effect. If it’s too difficult, key parts can be sourced from such countries. The country of origin effect does extend further. For example, the stereotyping relates just as much too developed countries (Gilligan,  2004). For example, there are strong associations between countries and the products that they are known for: Italy and pizza and Germany and Machine tools. Overcoming these stereotypes is often the first challenge for international marketers who must prove that their product does not reinforce negative stereotypes. This is particularly important as customers become more knowledgeable (Cateora, 2002). For example, many new car buyers know where their can has been designed and manufactured as well as the country of origin of the brand. Increasing, of course, the MNE’s headquarters, the brands perceived home, the location of product design and places of manufacture may all be in different countries. Many MNE’s such as Nike are marketing, not manufacturing companies and source products from many countries (Muhlbacher,  2006). Their brand becomes the ‘badge of quality’