Piaget’s Cognitive development theory Essay

Jean Piaget and his theory of the stages of cognitive development have made significant contributions to a wide cross-section of disciplines including educational psychology and applied developmental psychology. Though his original theory has undergone some amount of changes, the basic tenets are still applicable in understanding how humans develop progressively from birth to adulthood. Several theorists have criticized Piaget’s theory and have proposed alternative approaches to explaining human development. Other theorists have espoused Piaget’s theory with few modifications or additions to the original theory. Nevertheless his theory of cognitive development has had a tremendous impact on developmental psychology and will continue to represent a valid theory in helping to understand the nature and stages of human development. The field of applied developmental psychology has and will continue to benefit from the views put forward by Piaget. Biography of Jean Piaget Jean Piaget was born in Neuchatel, Switzerland on August 9, 1896 to what he described as a ‘tumultuous family environment. From an early age Piaget showed signs of having superior intelligence and acquired an interest in several fields of study including psychoanalytic theory, philosophy, mechanics and natural history. At the very young age of ten he published a study on mollusks (malacology). Several years later, in 1917 he published a philosophical novel. His intellectual and research accomplishments thereafter are numerous. In 1918, at only 21 years of age he obtained his doctoral degree in Biology from the University of Neuchatel continuing his study of mollusks in his thesis. His interest in philosophy and psychology led him to Zurich where he worked with mental patients while studying psychoanalytic theory. His interest in child developmental psychology began in Paris with his work in a laboratory at a grade school. Here he worked along with Alfred Binet, who headed the laboratory, in standardizing reasoning tests for Paris children. He became curious about the thought processes of children that influenced them producing either the correct or incorrect answers. Piaget published a number of articles discussing the research he conducted here. In 1921 Piaget was made director of studies at the Institut J. J. Rousseau in Geneva. In 1923 he married Valentine Chatenay with whom he had three children. He continued his study of child psychology and later published five books on the topic. His background in Biology had a significant amount of influence in his research (Slavin, 2000). These publications subsequently distinguished him in this field of study. His academic and administrative appointments saw him working at the University of Geneva, the Sorbonne, the Institut des Sciences de l’Education, and the Bureau International de l’Education. He is also noted to have founded and directed a center for philosophers and psychologists called the Centre d’Epistemologie Genetique. He worked along with several other researchers including Alina Szeminska, Barbel Inhelder, and Marcel Lambercier. Among the research topics that he conducted extensive studies on have been noted the notions of number, physical quantity, and space; manipulation of objects; and the development of perception. These areas collaboratively contributed to his theory of cognitive development. His platform of study was both at the professional and personal level. It is widely known that he conducted detailed observations of his three children Jacqueline, Lucienne and Laurent throughout their infant and language development years. His wife, herself a psychologist, also worked along with him during his observations, recording the behaviors of their children (Fischer & Hencke, 1996). Piaget’s contributions to the field of developmental psychological are indeed considerable and have been widely acknowledged. He was awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award in 1969 by the American Psychological Association for his contributions. At his death in Geneva on September 16, 1980, Piaget had written and published more than 40 books and over 100 articles or chapters dealing with the topic of child psychology. His earliest works include The Origins of Intelligence in Children (1936/1952), The Construction of Reality in the Child (1937/1954) and Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood (1945/1951) (Fischer & Hencke, 1996). To date his research is believed to have made the single most important contribution to developmental psychology (Slavin, 2000; Beilin, 1992) and to a large extent the field of cognitive development psychology was founded primarily on his work (Goswami, 2001, p. 259). Piaget’s theory of cognitive development Piaget sought to describe how development occurs from the moment of birth unto adulthood and the cognitive changes that occur as physical development takes place. Using his background in Biology and his knowledge of the way organisms behave relative to their environment, Piaget sought to explain how children think along these lines. Piaget’s position that children construct knowledge based on these processes was in antithesis to behaviorist orientation which suggested that behavior was molded exclusively by external environmental forces. Piaget’s theory was more constructivist in nature proposing that each child is actively involved in constructing his own reality. Construction of knowledge, Piaget argued, was facilitated via the interaction of the processes of adaptation, accommodation, assimilation and equilibration. Piaget commenced by proposing that children are born with a natural inclination to interact with and a need to understand their environment (Slavin, 2000). From the earliest stage children develop mental patterns that guide their behavior, what Piaget calls schemes. Schemes are used to â€Å"find out about and act in the world† (Slavin, 2000, p. 30). The goal of intellectual development, according to Piaget, was towards adaptation where existing schemes are adjusted in response to modifications in the environment. As new situations arise children either incorporate new objects or events into existing schemes through assimilation or they adjust existing schemes when new objects and events do not fit into those existing schemes in the process of accommodation. When unfamiliar situations arise a state of disequilibrium ensues and the processes of accommodation and assimilation facilitate the return to equilibrium where balance is restored between existing understanding and new experiences – the process of equilibration (Slavin, 2000). The dimensions of the theory Piaget believed that children passed through four different stages of development that are defined by different characteristic features from birth to adulthood. Piaget proposed that each child moves progressively through each of the stages of cognitive development as they mature physically. The four distinct stages of cognitive development that Piaget has specified are the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational periods. He also gives an estimate as to the age at which each child will enter either stage. Wakefield (1996) points out, though, that â€Å"the age range for each stage is only an average† a child may enter a specific stage earlier or later than that estimated by Piaget. However, each child, Piaget argues, must pass through each of these stages of development in the specified order and no child can skip a particular stage. It must also be noted here that his theory is necessarily universal as it examines only how all children will progress and does not seek to analyze individual differences among children. The sensorimotor period represents a child zero (0) to two (2) years old. The main aspects of this stage Slavin (2000) summarizes as where â€Å"infants learn about their surroundings by using their senses and motor skills†. Piaget believes that each child is born with some built in mechanisms and tendencies and these he labels as reflexes. Because a newborn child has not yet developed a concept of his environment, his initial response to this environment up to one month old is instinctive. These reflexes, however, soon become the basis through which the child acquires new perspectives and behaviors (schemes) in an attempt to learn about and understand his environment. From birth to one month children begin to establish schemes as they commence the processing of interacting with and understanding their environment. Initially displaying behaviors by simple reflex children soon begin to modify these reflexes. From one to four months children attempt to reproduce recurring themes in their schemas. Children later begin to establish repetitive patterns in behavior and to associate different behaviors with different schemes. Examples include an infant crying when hungry and laughing when happy. The period two to four months Fischer and Silvern (1985) notes as when the child is developing the ability to intelligently adapt individual actions such as grasping a rattle (p. 634). Between four and eight months children are more object-oriented paying more attention to objects in their external environment, becoming more observant and less preoccupied with issues related to themselves such as hunger and sleep. Children begin to display more coordination in their schemes. From eight to 12 months children become aware of what they want and begin to construct their own schemas in order to achieve their goals. Behaviors are now more deliberate, carried out with a particular purpose in view. From 12 to 18 months children they are exploring new possibilities with objects in their environment. A child’s action at this stage is very experimental using trial and error to discover new schemas. From 18 to 24 months children begin to transition from this stage to the second preoperational stage. They are developing the ability to function using symbolic representations. Of course a child at the sensorimotor stage may not necessarily be able to fully understand every new thing that he perceives in his environment. Wakefield (1996) comments that, even though a child is unable to perform some amount of logical thinking at this stage, there is still some attempt to understand his environment through the use of his sense perceptions and motor skills. The preoperational stage is between ages two and seven years approximately. At this second stage children begin to be able to use symbols to represent things mentally by associating those new things with objects they are familiar with. While they are a little more developed cognitively than the earlier stage they still have a very narrow view of their environment. Within this stage, from age two to four years a child is relatively egocentric believing that everyone else sees things from their perspective. They also possess some amount of animism, believing that objects have characteristics similar to living things such as the ability to move. From age four to seven children further develop their reasoning capacities even though their thought processes are not completely logical. They have difficulty, however, with the concepts of centration and conservation. Slavin (2000) explains these concepts by illustrating that in this stage a child does not understand that the amount of milk in a tall glass is the same when it is poured into a shallower container nor are they able to realize that an object painted a different color is still the same object. The third stage of cognitive development is the concrete operational stage which covers children aged seven to eleven. At this stage children, while experiencing difficult thinking in abstract, are able to form concepts and solve problems. Of course they must be able to relate such operations to already familiar objects or situations in order for them to function properly. They are now able to understand and apply the principles of conservation and centration. Their reasoning is also considerably more logical and can show interrelations between different objects and classes of objects. They are still limited, however, in that they are unable to reason in abstract terms but need concrete circumstances and examples as guides. A child in the final formal operational stage, lasting from age eleven (11) to adulthood, is now able to reason in abstract and to conceptualize situations beyond what they can see and touch. They have now developed the capacity to perform reasoning about events, actions or objects that they cannot see or that are strictly hypothetical and they are also able to use deductive reasoning. They begin to devise plans to solve problems and test their hypothesis against a variety of options. Piaget’s stratification of cognitive development into different stages has considerable implications particularly for educational goals. Because children are able only after having moved through certain stages, to manipulate certain tasks and to be effective in certain cognitive activities, learning situations must be structured so that they match the developmental stages. Education must therefore be developmentally appropriate to the abilities of the child and attempts should be made to help children, as they progress from one stage to the next, to manipulate the operations inherent at each stage. Piaget’s view of cognitive development has been quite formidable and influential in helping researchers understand the processes at work at different stages and ages. There have, however, been several criticisms of the model. One of the major criticisms has focused on the presumed universality of the stages that Piaget describes. He supposes that every child, irrespective of situational context, will go through these stages at a prescribed time and that the principles are therefore applicable to all children everywhere. Some researchers have noted, however, that the rate and stage of development is not at all universal. The ages that Piaget initially suggested as delineating each stage are therefore thought of as rough estimates and children can enter and exit each stage either earlier or later than initially prescribed. Another concern that was raised with regards to Piaget’s theory was that it suggested that as the child progressed through the stages that the abilities at the lower stage no longer become useful or necessary. Piaget later clarified, however, that the concrete thinking and other abilities at the lower stage are not only essential before a child is able to progress to more complex thinking but they are also persistent over time and that a child never loses the lower abilities. He suggests that over time certain tasks become automatic, almost instinctive, but they are still essential even in the later stages of development. Further Piaget’s original theory had not considered the potential impact that the environment may have in impacting behavior. His initial argument much to anti-behaviorist and thus the power of environmental factors to shape behavior was almost ignored. Even though he accounted for these influences in his explanations of the process of adaptation and equilibration, he did not focus much on this aspect. Researchers have found that various social and environmental factors can have a considerable impact on a child’s development. They propose that a child can enter a stage earlier and progress through that stage much quicker than others based on the stimuli available in his environment. Similarly a child’s development may be significantly retarded if adequate stimuli are not provided in the environment. A child would therefore progress through stages later and at a slower pace. The behaviorist position that the environment matters is therefore not completely invalid and their view of the potential influence of the external environment in shaping behavior has some merit. Despite this failure to fully acknowledge and explain the relevance and impact of environmental factors in facilitating knowledge construction based on reality and even though the theory seems to emphasize universal stages of development, Fischer and Hencke (1996) believe that Piaget with his cognitive development theory is notably still the most influential researcher and theorist on developmental that the twentieth century has seen (Fischer & Hencke, 1996, p. 09). Current research Several theorists have arisen in more recent times to expand on Piaget’s original theory, to propose modifications on the areas of weakness or to suggest a complete new approach to understanding cognitive development. Among those worthy of mention are Robbie Case, Kurt Fischer, Michael Shayer and Juan Pascual-Leone. Robbie Case is a neo-Piagetian who agrees with Piaget’s general position that children go through developmental stages. Case also agrees with Piaget that each stage is delineated based on age and is representative of the changing ways that children are able to mentally represent reality and how they process information in their brains. Case also supports that cognitive development occurs in four stages commencing from when a child is around one month old until the period of adulthood. Within each stage he also recognizes substages of development postulating, like Piaget that each successive stage is a continuation or a building on to the former (Sternberg, 1987, p. 08). Beginning in the mid-nineteen seventies Case began to propose alternative interpretations of the stage development theory. He has developed some characteristics in his new theory that are not in complete alignment with original Piagetian thought. His first area of departure is with relation to the way that information is processed in the brain throughout the stages.

4 Rules For Creating Awesome Content Your Audience Loves

4 Rules For Creating Awesome Content Your Audience Loves I know you’re not just another aimless blogger (or podcaster, video maker, [insert  what you do  here]) looking to clutter up the Internet. You have a specific purpose behind your content. You want to create content  that is valuable for your audience and grows your business. That’s the good news. The bad news is that, even with a noble purpose like that one, it’s really hard to get your content noticed. 4 Rules For Creating Awesome #ContentMarketing Your Audience Will Love via @sonjajobsonNo one is looking for plain old â€Å"accurate† or â€Å"relevant† content anymore. They don’t have to look for it because it’s flooding their inbox and social streams constantly, like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Your audience wants something more. They want content that not only provides accurate and relevant information, but something that applies to their specific situation, something they can relate with, and something that helps them make real, significant improvement in their life. Whether you’re aiming to teach, inspire, or entertain with your content, use the following 4 rules to create content  that your audience will love, share, and come back for. No one looks for accurate or relevant #content. Thats everywhere. Yours has to be better.Rule #1 – Not All Topics Are Created Equal Your readers are very picky. And why shouldn’t they be? Somewhere around 2 million blog posts are written every day. That’s a heckuva lot of content to choose from. So when it comes to picking a topic for your next blog post or video, it’s worth putting in a little extra time- and research- to get it right. And there’s one more thing to consider: A content topic that sounds great to you might not sound great to your audience. In order to stand out from the sea of content we’re all swimming in, you need to get inside your readers head. And here’s how to do it. Step 1: Stop confusing â€Å"audience† with â€Å"peers†. Sometimes when we sit down to create content, we accidentally slip into peer-mode. This is when we  create content that we  think will be impressive in our  industry. The problem is this: Content that impresses others inside  our industry isnt necessarily what will impress our  audience. Make sure you’re addressing topics that will help your viewers, not your peers. A topic that sounds great to you might not sound great to your audience. #blogging #contentmarketingStep 2: Do some Internet stalking. The very best way to find out what your audience really wants to know about is to go straight to the source. Look at questions your readers are asking, the problems they are struggling with, and the solutions they are searching for. Scour the comments sections on other related blogs to see what people are asking about. Check out QA websites like Qu0ra and Yahoo! Answers. Scan  profiles on social media for complaints, questions, or rants. This is all fodder for your next irresistible piece of content. Research  questions, problems, struggles, and solutions. #contentmarketing #bloggingStep 3: Look before you write (or record). Most topics have already been written about. It’s really hard to come up with a 100% original idea to create content on, so I’m not going to suggest you try and do that. But you should avoid creating content that is nearly interchangeable with what’s already out there. So after youve decided on a topic, do a quick Google search to turn up other content written on the subject. Ask yourself, â€Å"how can I improve on what’s already being said?† and â€Å"were there any questions left unanswered in that post/video/etc.?† and â€Å"how can I put my own spin on this subject?† Connect with your audience by improving on the #content that already exists. #contentmarketingRule #2 – Relate With Your Audience Earlier, we talked about how there is an abundance of blog  posts written every day, and how almost every topic has already been written about. This has led to a very important shift in what people are looking for online. Instead of searching only for accurate information and helpful tips, they are looking for those things piled on top of a style, personality, or a view point they can relate to. Your audience might have read a dozen blog posts on how to choose the right color paint for their kitchen remodel, but they might not really get it until they hear it from you. Your unique perspective, background, opinions, and personality will make your content unique. It won’t appeal to everyone, but it will appeal very strongly to those that relate with you (aka your dream customers or readers). So how, exactly, do you tap into what makes you you in order to create content that your readers can relate with? Start by getting comfortable showing some vulnerability. Get vulnerable with your audience. Share  opinions, values, and failures. #bloggingWhen we put our opinions, values, past failures (and even successes) out there, we open ourselves up to some degree of push back. But we also open ourselves up to a whole new level of connection with our audience. People can find facts anywhere- what they really want is the story. Your story. Rule #3 – Stay Focused Youve probably heard the expression that people have the attention span of a goldfish online. It’s true that almost all of your visitors have their cursor hovering over the back button, so it’s vital that you find a way to capture and keep their attention. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to stay focused. Bunny trails, long-winded introductions, and off-topic side notes are great ways to lose your visitor’s attention. Choose one very specific  topic for each piece of content, and then stick to it. If you try to tackle a topic that’s too large, you’ll feel yourself drifting from point to point. Bunny trails, long-winded introductions, and off-topic side notes lose attention. #bloggingHere’s a trick for making sure your content is focused: Identify the outcome you want for your audience after they view  your content. What one thing do you want them to learn, understand, or get inspired about? At every paragraph, bullet point, and sub-header, ask yourself â€Å"does this help my visitor accomplish that one specific goal?† Does every paragraph, bullet point, and sub-header help your audience accomplish a specific goal? #4 – Give Them An Easy Win Remember the outcome you identified a minute ago for your audience to achieve after viewing your content? This is the step where you drive that home and create  content so valuable that your audience will love it, share it, and come back for more. We know that valuable content should help our audience achieve something (whether it’s a specific goal, a lifestyle change, or even a mindset shift), but achieving it is often a process. We all tend to resist starting a new process- whether it’s for a lack of time, motivation, or courage- so how can you help people act on your content? The simple answer: Make it ridiculously simple to do so. The actual process of achieving the outcome your content was created to produce might take a while (say, losing weight), so break the process down and identify one, tiny step your audience can take in that direction. For our â€Å"losing weight† example, maybe this small step is identifying one thing they could do today to eat just a little bit healthier or get in an extra 10 minutes of exercise. Choose something very small that your audience can do for an easy win. It will build momentum toward that goal. This transforms your content from something abstract into something actionable.

The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Essay Example

The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Essay Example The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Paper The important of Magwitch in Great Expectation Paper We first see Magwitch as a fearful man which gives us the impression that he is an unpleasant character. Magwitch is an escaped convict he is often judge on his appearance, up bringing and lack of education, which is important. Pip who lives with his sister- Mrs Joe- and her husband Joe Gargery, Pip was in a graveyard when he first comes across this fearful man. Magwitch was in grey rags, very hungry and cold he was covered in cuts, smothered in mud and stung by nettles. The convict asks Pip to bring him wittles and a file, its ironic how a simple task will change Pips life forever. The convict threatened to Pips fat cheeks and turned upside, which is also ironic as to what will happen to Pip in the future. Pip obeyed the stranger. Fearing for his life he steals porkpie, mincemeat and brandy for the convict from his home. He also got the convict a file. Pip returns the next morning on the marches. Emptied his pockets, gave Magwitch the wittles and Magwitch gobbles them down like a dog. Pip showed Magwitch kindness and pity. Pip asked him if he had enjoyed the meal, Magwitchs answer was I did, thankyee dear boy. This is important because it shows compassion to Magwitch that he has never received. As he was an orphan and had no one. This is the first time we see a sign of humanity from the fearful man. Later on in chapter 5 soldiers were out looking for two convicts, Magwitch and another Compeyson. Joe, Pips brother-in-law a blacksmith helps the soldiers to look for the two convicts. The two men were found fighting on the marches. Pip was with Joe at the time when the two men were arrested. Magwitch noticed that Pip was with Joe and presumed that Joe was the man Pip lived with. The convict not as bad as he looks owns up for Pip saying that it was him who stole the food he said then Im sorry to say, Ive eaten your pie. Magwitch didnt want Pip to get into trouble at home. The humble blacksmith Pips father figure replies by god knows youre welcome to it. The man Magwitch was fighting with Compeyson was a convict that Magwitch used to do crime with. Compeyson was a gentleman. The two men were tried in court together because of a forgery scam that the men were involved in. The justice system favoured the rich and so Magwitch received 14 years but Compeyson only got 7 years. Compeyson had the benefit of learning and public boarding school Compeysons education and gentlemanly ways convinced the judges that he was innocent. This is a point the Dickens made out about a corrupt legal system. That was why Magwitch is prepared to go to any lengths to kill Compeyson. Magwitch feels that the only way he could get justice is to take matter into his own hands. After the soldiers had caught the two men. Magwitch is transported to Australia. When he has served his time he can make a new life there, but if he returns to England he will face a death sentence. Magwitch farmed sheep, lives cheaply and saves his money for Pip. Pip not knowing any thing about this or the grate amount of money he will receive in the future. Pip thinking that he will not have much of a future becomes Joes apprentice Miss Havisham a wealthy old lady who lives in a big and rather gloomy house called Satis House invited Pip to play at her house.

How Sunscreen SPF Is Measured

How Sunscreen SPF Is Measured SPF (Sun Protection Factor) is a multiplication factor you can use to determine how long you can stay out in the sun before getting a sunburn. If you normally can stay out 10 minutes before burning, a sunscreen with an SPF of 2 will let you stay out twice as long, or 20 minutes, before feeling the burn. An SPF of 70 will let you stay out 70 times longer than if you had no protection (or 700 minutes in this example, which would be over 11 hours or a full day). How Is SPFDetermined? Think SPF is a  calculated value or an experimental lab value, based on how much ultraviolet light penetrates a coating of sunscreen? Nope! SPF is determined using human experimentation. The test involves fair-skinned volunteers (people who burn most quickly). They apply the product and bake in the sun until they start to fry.   What about water resistant? For a sunscreen to be marketed as water resistant, the time required to burn must be the same before and after two consecutive 20 minute soaks in a Jacuzzi. The SPF factors are calculated by rounding down the time required to burn; however, you may get a false sense of protection from an SPF because the amount of sunscreen used in the tests is a lot more product than the average person uses. The tests use 2 milligrams of formula per square centimeter of skin. Thats like using a quarter of an 8-oz bottle of sunscreen for a single application. Still... a high SPF confers more protection than lower SPF.  How Sunless Tanning Works | How Sunscreen Works

Sustainable Tourism with Antalya Personal Statement

Sustainable Tourism with Antalya - Personal Statement Example The poor environmental management programmes that cause heavy damage to the natural resources are other set of issues that was brought to my focus following a review of literature and analyzing other articles on tourism. Further, a total refinement of the research took place after a discussion with my tutor who helped to stretch my imagination and comprehension. The basic approach suggested to me was to have a clear understanding about the term "sustainable development". I was asked to have a thorough analysis of book edited by Brundland that narrated what sustainable development should represent. This book, which turned out be the corner stone for all sustainable development practices across the globe, had given much needed impetus into the research process. This helped to identify the more specific aspect of the research like the impact on the socio-economic, cultural and ecological issues in the region of the study with respect to the tourism development. The reflective learning p rocess that I had with the tutor on the research process design was the important factor that contributed to the successful completion of the research activity. The research process undertaken has given a variety of learning experience besides the success that was achieved in the attaining the project objective. It varied from the realization of own capabilities, the approaches to improve my own information level, understanding the role of secondary sources for improving our conceptual understanding and equipping me to draw appropriate inferences and conclusion from any process. The research on Sustainable Development of Antalya had given me an opportunity to experience all aspect of cognitive - transformative learning and also learning from reflection (Moon, 6-7). The initial idea that I had from the intuition and imagination was the basis of the process. Though I was trying to design various courses of action in this manner, it was soon realized that that inadequate information levels caused severe problems on the design of the research structure. This was eliminated when I had discussion with the tutor and the reflection that I received from him changed the perception of the approach. It gave me more insight to the preparation of the initial road map for the entire process. Further, I soon realized that most of the interfaces that I would have made with the initial set of observation would have been more on my judgment rather than on real aspect of the fact. Similar set of experiences was also reported in the study related to the learning experience of medical students. It is reported that students who were more involved with the reflection based learning showed marked improvement in their learning skills (Andrew, 391-391, Yokawa, 44-49). Thus the reflective learning has helped me to understand the role of realty, values and action in the process of making judgments. The deep learning from discussion and experience from the other was another major learning experience that I had through this research. The importance of understanding the basis of any sustainable tourism initiatives was obtained from enquiry into reported literature on the theories proposed. Thus need for careful observation into the facts that are needed to supplement our observation and the importance

Bacteria Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Bacteria - Essay Example They help the bacteria to move away from the chemicals that can harm them. They play a great role in increasing bacteria pathogenicity because they enable them to move to the targeted locations and to survive. For any infection to occur, the pathogenic bacteria have contacted the target tissues. All organism whether plants or animal deal with flagellated bacteria. The main locations of most flagellated bacteria are the mucosal areas. Pathogenic bacteria have flagella that help them in attacking and colonizing the mucosa. The flagella attack the mucosa through the production of the virulence and adhesion factors (Wassenaar, 2009). Flagella increase pathogenicity through motility. The glycocalyx and mucus obstruct the pathogens. As a result, the pathogens have to counterbalance the upward movement of mucus in the bronchial epithelia and the intestines through motility in order to achieve colonization. Chemotaxis and motility enables the bacteria to aim the mucosal tissues. For instance, the motility of the bacteria like helicobacter pylori and the pseudomonas aeruginosa are responsible for the stomach and the lung infections. Additionally, the motility of the Vibrio cholerae enhances the infection of the intestinal mucosa. The infection of the rabbit appendix by the S. enterica also relies on their motility. Consequently, flagella plays a great role in enhancing pathogenicity since motility makes it easier for pathogens to interact with the hosts (Winn & Koneman, 2006). The structure also contributes to the increase in pathogenity though adhesion. Flagella enable bacteria to occupy a certain niche by acting as adhesin. For instance, the flagella of the Clostridium difficile stick to cecal mucus in mice through adhesion. Cystic fibrosis also occurs when the bacteria called the P. aeruginosa sticks at the airway lumen through adhesion. The bacteria cause infection when the flagella bind it to the mucin Muc 1 which is found in the airway mucus. In addition, the

Retail Marketing Master Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Retail Marketing Master - Case Study Example It also is a multi-billion pound food retailer. Most of its shops sell both of these categories. Marks & Spencer also has a third product line related to home wares such as bed linen, but this is far smaller than the other two. For much of the 20th century M&S was regarded as the leading retailer in the United Kingdom, and an icon of British business. In 1997 it became the first British retailer to make a profit before tax of over 1 billion, though within a couple of years it plunged into a crisis from which it has not yet fully recovered. It is now less than one quarter of the size of the UK's largest and most profitable retailer, Tesco(http://www.marks-and-spencer.co.uk) Marks & Spencer unlike most of its rivals didn't instantly jump into the television advertising for its marketing and to draw customers. Marks & Spencer launched its first advertisement as late as in the mid 1990s. By selling British-made goods Marks & Spencer made their reputation. They entered into long term relationships with British manufacturers, and sold the goods under the "St Michael" brand (trademark registered in 1928), which was used for both clothes and food (Wall Street Journal,2006). Initially Marks & Spencer accepted the return of unwanted goods, with no time restriction, giving full cash refunds if the receipt was shown. Now it has changed that policy and has adopted a 90-day returns policy. This act made many loyal customers of Marks & Spencer to refrain from buying. The company's main prominence is of quality, but initially it also had a reputation for offering a good value for money. When this reputation began to waver, it encountered serious difficulties. It is a fact that M&S has historically been an iconic retailer of 'British Quality Goods.'(http://www.marks-and-spencer.co.uk) In 1988, Marks & Spencer acquired an American clothing company and a US food chain, naming Brooks Brothers and Kings Super Markets respectively. Marks & Spencer profits were maximized during 1997-98. But these profits were short term due to the rising cost of using British suppliers. Customer loyalty eroded quickly as rival retailers increasingly imported their goods from low-cost countries. In addition, it also lost its fame in the young generation who were reluctant to shop with it. These factors further plunged Marks & Spencer profits into a sudden slump, which took every one by surprise. The company's share price fell by more than two thirds, and its profits fell from more than a billion pounds in 1997 and 1998 to 145 million in the year ended 31 March 2001 (Fort Worth Star-Telegram). In 2001, with changes in their business focus such as the introduction of the "Per Una" clothing range designed by George Davies, accompanied by a redesign of their underlying business model, profits recovered somewhat and M&S recovered some of its market share but this these profits were also short lived(Karen Barth, 2001). Place: Marks & Spencer have adopted an indirect marketing channel i.e. it maintains distribution channel as follows Producer Retailer Consumer Marks & Spencer usually have its own retail stores Promotion: Advertisement: